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HAMPSTEAD,    FROM    THE    KILBURN    ROAD. 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON: 

A    NARRATIVE  OF 

ITS  HISTORY,  ITS  PEOPLE,  AND  ITS  PLACES. 

Illustrate*  toft  numerous  Cnsrabinfffi  from  t*e  most  aut&entic  Sources. 


THE  WESTERN  AND  NORTHERN  SUBURBS 

BY 

EDWARD  WALFORD. 

A   NEW  EDITION,    CAREFULLY   REVISED    AND    CORRECTED. 

VOL.  V. 


CASSELL     &     COMPANY,      LIMITED 

LONDON,   PARIS,   NEW   YORK  &>   MELBOURNE. 
[ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED.] 


CONTENTS. 

THE  WESTERN   AND   NORTHERN   SUBURBS. 
CHAPTER    I. 


Prefatory  Remarks-The  Building  of  the  District-De  Moret,'  ancfth&'Flyingimachiiie-NatLire  of  the  Soil  of  Belgravia-"  Slender  Billy" 
—The  Spanish  Monkey  "Mukako"  and  Tom  Cribb's  Fighting  Dogs— The  Orosvenor  Family— Enormous  Rent-rolls— Belgravia  and 
Bethnal  Green  compared— Lanesborough  House— St.  George's  Hospital— Old  "  Tattersall's  "— St.  George's  Place— Liston,  the  Comedian 
—Pope's  SchooI-days-The  Alexandra  Hotel— The  Old  Toll-gate  at  Hyde  Park  Corner-Grosvenor  Place— The  "  Feathers"  Tavern, 
and  how  George  Prince  of  Wales  was  made  an  Odd  Fellow'there— Arabella  Row— A  Witty  Lord  Chancellor— The  "  Bag  o'  Nails"— 
The  "Three  Compasses  "-Belgrava  Square -" Gentleman  Jones "-Eccleston  Street-Sir  Francis  Chantrey-St.  Paul's  Church, 
Wilton  Place— The  Pantechnicon— Halkin  Street— Upper  and  Lower  Belgrave  Streets— Suicide  of  Lord  Minister— Eaton  Square— Chester 
Square-Ebury  Street-Lowndes  Square-Cadogdn PUce -William  Wilberforce-The  Locality  in  Former  Times I 

CHAPTER    II. 

KNIGHTSBRIDGE. 

Derivation  of  the  Name  of  Knightsbridge-Early  History  of  the  Locality-The  Old  Bridge-Insecurity  of  the  Roads,  and  Bad  Reputation  of 
the  Innkeepers— Historical  Events  connected  with  Knightsbridge— The  Old  "Swan"  Inn— Electioneering  Riots— An  Eccentric  Old 
Lady— The  "  Spring  Garden  "  and  the  "  World's  End  "—Knightsbridge  Grove— Mrs.  Cornelys  as  a  Vendor  of  Asses'  Milk— Albert 
Gate— The  "Fox  and  Bull  "—The  French  Embassy— George  Hudson,  the  "Railway  King"— The  Cannon  Brewery— Dunn's  Chinese 
Gallery-Trinity  Chapel  and  the  Lazar  House— "  Irregular  "  Marriages— Knightsbridge  Barracks— Smith  and  Barber's  Floor-cloth 
Manufactory— Edward  Stirling,  the  "  Thunderer  "  of  the  Times— Kent  House— Kingston  House— Rutland  Gate— Ennismore  Place— 
Brompton  Oratory— Brompton  Church— Count  Rumford  and  other  Distinguished  Residents— New  "  Tattcrsall's "— The  Green— 
Chalker  House-The  "Rose  and  Crown  "Inn-The"  Rising  Sun  "-Knightsbridge  Cattle  Market  ....  .  .  15 

CHAPTER   III. 

THE   GREAT   EXHIBITION    OF    1851. 

Previous  Exhibitions  of  a  somewhat  similar  Character— The  Marquis  d'Aveze's  projected  Exhibition — Various  French  Expositions— Competitive 
Exhibitions  in  England-Prince  Albert's  Proposal  for  holding  an  Industrial  Exhibition  of  All  Natious-His  Royal  Highness  becomes 
Chairman  of  the  Royal  Commission— Banquet  at  the  Mansion  House-Lecturers  and  Agents  sent  all  over  the  Country,  to  Explain 
the  Objects  of  the  Exhibition— Reception  of  Plans  and  Designs— Mr.  Paxton's  Design  accepted— Realisation  of  one  of  the  Earliest 
Poetical  Dreams  in  the  English  Language-General  Description  of  the  Building-Opening  of  the  Exhibition  by  Her  Majesty- 
Number  of  Visitors-Removal  of  the  Build:ng-The  National  Albert  Memorial 28 

CHAPTER     IV. 
PIMLICO. 

Etymology  of  Pimlico— The  Locality  Half  a  Century  Ago— Warwick  Square— Vauxhall  Bridge  Road— The  Army  Clothing  Depot— St. 
George's  Square-The  Church  of  St.  James  the  Less-Victoria  Railway  Station-New  Chelsea  Bridge-The  Western  Pumping  Station, 
and  Metropolitan  Main-Drainage  Works-St.  Barnabas  Church-St.  Barnabas  Mission  House  and  Orphanage-Bramah,  the  Engineer 
and  Locksmith-Thomas  Cubitt,  the  Builder-Trie  "  Monster"  Tavern-The  "Gun,"  the  "Star  and  Garter,"  and  the  " Orange "  Tea- 
Gardens— "  Jenny's  Whim  "—Tart  Hall-Stafford  Row— St.  Peter's  Chapel  and  Dr.  Dodd  -Richard  Heber  and  his  famous  Library  .  30 

CHAPTER    V. 
CHELSEA. 

Boundary  of  the  Parish-Etymology  of  its  Name-Charles  II.  and  Colonel  Blood-Chelsea  Fields-The  "Dwarfs  Tavern  "-Chapels  of 
French  Huguenot  Refugees— Gardens  and  Nurseries— Appearance  of  Chelsea  from  the  River— Chelsea  in  the  Last  Century— A  Stag 


CONTENTS. 


Hunt  in  Chelsea-History  of  the  Manor-The  Old  Manor  House  and  its  ^^ 


CHAPTER    VI. 
CHELSEA    (continued). 


Coat  and  Badge-The  Botanic  Gardens-The  Old  Bun-house  .        .        - 

CHAPTER   VII. 
CHELSEA   (continued). -THE   HOSPITAL,  &C. 

York's  School-Ranelagh  Gardens,  and  its  Former  Glories-The  Victoria  Hospital  for  S.ck  Cluldrer 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

CHELSEA  (*>«tfaa«*).-CREMORNE   GARDENS,   &c. 

Chelsea   Farm,  the  Residence  of  Lord.  Cr_    Cremorne  ^--empts  R^  ^^^0^^,^^^^ 
burnhamTournamcnt-The  "  Lapt.ve     1"^3-| urner  f,  ^  »°_m=     , "* J  Common-Famous   Nurseries-Chelsea  Park-The   "Goat 
Bunal-ground-St^Mark's^College-Th^   ^j^™^^^^  House-The  Workhouse-Sir  John  C<^R?^£°^ejj! 
and  Chemist -The  Earl  of  Orrery-Mr.  Adria^**°"?^r\^^I^,?^^nt^1^!lju»tice  WaBc-Tlw  Old 


'wcsleyan  Chapel-Chelsea  China-Lawrence  Street-Tobias ^ollett     ™ow^-*h^V^'l^™A  LUerarTand  Scientific 

SS^^SSS'^^^^^^^^^SSiSffs.-SiSZ 

« 

Pavihon-St.  Saviour's  Church-Prince's  Cricket -ground  and  Skating-rink-The  "  South  Austrahan          .        . 

CHAPTER    IX. 
WEST   BROMPTON,   SOUTH   KENSINGTON   MUSEUM,   &c. 

Situation  of  Brompton-Its  Nurseries  and  Flower-gardens- Cromwell  or  Hale  Ho^J^'^  C^^^^^l^rS1e'>H<«Tilml 

London  Cemeterj-Brompton  Hall-St.  M^hael's  Grove-lirompton  Grove-John  b.aney^  ^    g  _CromweU 

.         for  Consump.ion-The   Cancer   Hwpital-Mham  Crescent-On,  o»  S*T^J*' £J^  Cookcrj-Exhibicion  of  Scientific  Appa- 

Road-The  International  Inhibition  of  ,862-Anm.al  Internat.onal  Exhibitions-A  School  o '  ^°   J^          South  Kensington  Museum 

ratus-The  National  Portrait  Gallery-The  Meyrick  Collection  of  Arms  and  Armour      1  he  inman  eU          The  Museum  of  Patents 

-^:^—^is*^ 

Fisheries  Exhibition 

CHAPTER    X. 
"THE  OLD   COURT    SUBURB. "-KENSINGTON. 

— <^r^r^^ 

=^0^0^ 

^^^^^^^^•^^^^     •   •   :   • 

CHAPTER    XI. 
KENSINGTON   (continued), 
t  Suburb-Pepy: 


s  Early  H.storv -I amo  .  Waltzer-Macaulays  Description  of  Talleyrand-The  New  Parish  Church 

BeHslTl/Parish  Registers-The  Charity  ^^^^^^tS 


-Scarsdale  House-The  Roman  Catholic  University  College 
^Roman"cathoUc  Chapels— The  Pro-Cathedral— The  "Adam  and  Eve  " 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XII. 
KENSINGTON  PALACE.  PAGF 

Situation  of  Kensington  Palace-Houses  near  it— Kensington  Palace  Gardens-The  "  King's  Arms  "-Henry  VIII.'s  Conduit-Palace  Green 
—The  Kensington  Volunteers— The  Water  Tower— Thackeray's  House  :  his  Death— Description  of  the  Palace— The  Chapel— The 
Principal  Pictures  formerly  shown  here-Early  History  of  the  Building— William  III.  and  Dr.  Radcliffe— A  "Scene"  in  the  Royal 
Apartments— Death  of  Queen  Mary  and  William  III.— Queen  Anne  and  the  Jacobites— "  Scholar  Dick,"  and  his  Fondness  for  the 
Bottle— Lax  Manners  of  the  Court  under  the  Early  Georges— Death  of  George  II.— The  Princess  Sophia— Caroline,  Princess  of  Wales 
—Balls  and  Parties  given  by  her  Royal  Highness— An  Undignified  Act— The  Duke  of  Sussex's  Hospitality—  Birth  of  the  Princess 
Victoria-Her  Baptism-Death  of  William  IV.,  and  Accession  of  Queea  Victoria-Her  First  Council-Death  of  the  Duke  of  Sussex— 
The  Duchess  of  Inverness— Other  Royal  Inhabitants 138 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

KENSINGTON    GARDENS. 

"Military"  Appearance  of  the  Gardens,  as  laid  out  by  Wise  and  Loudon-Addison's  Comments  on  the  Horticultural  Improvements  of  his 
Time — The  Gardens  as  they  appeared  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Last  Century — Queen  Anne's  Banqueting  House— Statue  of  Dr.  Jenner— 
Bridgeman's  Additions  to  the  Gardens — The  "Ha!  ha!" — "  Capability "  Brown — The  Gardens  first  opened  to  the  Public — A 
Foreigner's  Opinion  of  Kensington  Gardens— " Tommy  Hill"  and  John  Poole— Introduction  of  Rare  Plants  and  Shrubs— Scotch  Pines 
and  other  Trees— A  Friendly  Flash  of  Lightning— The  Reservoir  and  Fountains— Tickell,  and  his  Poem  on  Kensington  Gardens- 
Chateaubriand — Introduction  of  Hooped  Petticoats— The  Broad  Walk  becomes  a  Fashionable  Promenade— Eccentricities  in  Costume — 
The  Childhood  of  Queen  Victoria,  and  her  Early  Intercourse  with  her  Future  Subjects— A  Critical  Review  of  the  Gardens  .  .  .  i$2 

CHAPTER    XIV. 
HOLLAND  HOUSE,  AND  ITS  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATIONS. 

Earl's  Court-John  Hunter's  House-Mrs.  Inchbald-Edwardes  Square-Warwick  Road  and  Warwick  Gardens-Addison  Road-Holland 
House— An  Antique  Relic— The  Pictures  and  Curiosities— The  Library— The  Rooms  occupied  by  Addison,  Charles  Fox,  Rogers,  and 
Sheridan— Holland  House  under  the  Family  of  Rich— Theatrical  Performances  carried  on  by  Stealth  during  the  Commonwealth- 
Subsequent  Owners  of  the  Mansion-Oliver  Goldsmith-Addison-The  House  purchased  by  Henry  Fox,  afterwards  Lord  Holland-The 
Story  of  Henry  Fox's  Elopement  with  the  Daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Richmond-Lady  Sarah  Lennox  and  the  Private  Theatricals- 
Charles  James  Fox— Henry  Richard,  third  Lord  Holland,  and  his  Imperious  Wife— Lord  Macaulay,  and  other  Distinguished  Guests— 
"Who  is  Junius?"— Lord  Holland  and  the  Emperor  Napoleon— Death  of  Lord  Holland,  and  his  Character,  as  written  by  a  Friend— 
A  Curious  Custom — The  Duel  between  Lord  Camelford  and  Captain  Best— Rogers'  Grotto — The  Gardens  and  Grounds— Canova's  Bust 
of  Napoleon— The  Highland  and  Scottish  Societies'  Sports  and  Pastimes— A  Tradition  concerning  Cromwell  and  Ireton-Little 
Holland  House— The  Residence  of  General  Fox— The  Nursery-grounds jg; 

CHAPTER   XV. 

NOTTING   HILL  AND   BAYSWATER. 

The  Old  Turnpike  Gate— Derivation  of  the  Name  of  Netting  Hill— The  Manor  of  Netting  or  Nutting  Barns— Present  Aspect  of  Netting  Hill—1 
Old  Inns  and  Taverns— Gallows  Close— The  Road  where  Lord  Holland  drew  up  his  Forces  previous  to  the  Battle  of  Brentford — 
Kensington  Gravel  Pits — Tradesmen's  Tokens— A  Favourite  Locality  for  Artists  and  Laundresses— Appearance  of  the  District  at  the 
Beginning  of  the  Present  Century— Reservoirs  of  the  Grand  Junction  Waterworks  Company— Ladbroke  Square  and  Grove— Ken- 
sington Park  Gardens— St.  John's  Church— Netting  Hill  Farm— Norland  Square— Orme  Square— Bayswater  House,  the  Residence  of 
Fauntleroy,  the  Forger— St.  Petersburg!]  Place— The  Hippodrome— St.  Stephen's  Church— Portobello  Farm— The  Convent  of  the  Little 
Sisters  of  the  Poor— Bayswater— The  Cultivation  of  Watercresses— An  Ancient  Conduit— Public  Tea  Gardens— Sir  John  Hill,  the 
Botanist-Craven  House-Craven  Road,  and  Craven  Hill  Gardens-The  Pest-house  Fields-Upton  Farm-The  Toxophilite  Suciety- 
Westbourne  Grove  and  Terrace— The  Residence  of  John  Sadleir,  the  Fraudulent  M.  P.—  Lancaster  Gate— The  Pioneer  of  Tramways- 
Queen  Charlotte's  Lying-in  Hospital— Death  of  Dr.  Adam  Clarke— The  Burial-ground  of  St.  George's,  Hanover  Square  .  .  -177 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

TYBURN   AND  TYBURNIA. 

Derivation  of  the  Name  of  Tyburn— Earliest  Executions  on  this  Spot— Sir  Roger  Bolinbroke,  the  Conjuror— Elizabeth  Barton,  the  "Holy 
Maid  of  Kent  "—Execution  of  Roman  Catholics— Morocco  Men— Mrs.  Turner,  the  Poisoner,  and  Inventor  of  the  Yellow  Starched  Ruffs 
and  Cuffs— Resuscitation  of  a  Criminal  after  Execution— Colonel  Blood— Jack  Sheppard  and  Jonathan  Wild— Mrs.  Catherine  Hayes 
— "  Clever  Tom  Clinch  "— "  Execution  Day  "—The  Execution  of  Lord  Ferrers— The  Rev.  Mr.  Hackman— Dr.  Podd— The  Last  Act  of 
a  Highwayman's  Life—"  Sixteen-string  Jack"— McLean,  the  "  Fashionable  Highwayman  "—Claude  Duval— John  Twyn,  an  Offending 
Printer— John  Haynes,  and  his  Resuscitation  after  Hanging— Ryland,  the  Forger— An  Unlucky  Jest— "Jack  Ketch  "—Tyburn  Tickets 
—Hogarth's  "Tom  Idle"— The  Gallows  and  its  Surroundings— The  Story  of  the  Penance  of  Queen  Henrietta  Maria— An  Anecdote 
about  George  III.— The  Site  of  Tyburn  Tree— The  Tyburn  Pew-opener— Tyburnia— Connaught  Place— The  Princess  Charlotte  and 
the  Prince  of  Orange— The  Residence  of  Mr.  T.  Assheton- Smith,  and  of  Haydon  the  Painter IJ$ 

CHAPTER     XVII. 
PADDINGTON. 

Rustic  Appearance  of  Paddington  at  the  Commencement  of  this  Century— Intellectual  Condition  of  the  Inhabitants— Gradual  Increase  of 
the  Population— The  Manor  of  Paddington— The  Feast  of  Abbot  Walter,  of  Westminster— The  Prior  of  St.  Bartholomew's  and  his 
Brethren -Dr.  Sheldon's  Claim  of  the  Manor— The  Old  Parish  Church— Hogarth's  Marriage— Building  of  the  New  Parish  Church— A 


CONTENTS. 


,s  of  the  Living-The ^«^T»?£ ^^^^y^S^^^^ 

-Th1ed':We°errI^tyer-Woerks-Imyperial  Gas    Company-Kensal  Green   Cemetery-Eminent   Persons  buned   here-Great  Western 
Railway  Terminus 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 
UNDERGROUND    LONDON:    ITS    RAILWAYS,    SUBWAYS,    AND   SEWERS. 

CHAPTER    XIX. 
KILBURN    AND   ST.  JOHN'S   WOOD. 
Rura,  Aspect  ofKilburn  in  Former  T^^ 


Richard  Brothers  and  Joanna  Southcotl 

CHAPTER    XX. 
MARYLEBONE,    NORTH:    ITS    HISTORICAL   ASSOCIATIONS. 


, 
Residence-The  Notorious  Richard  Brothers-Invention  of  the  •  •  Tilbury  »  .        .        .        . 


CHAPTER    XXI. 
THE    REGENT'S    PARK:    THE    ZOOLOGICAL    GARDENS,    &c. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 
PRIMROSE    HILL    AND    CHALK  FARM. 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 

EUSTON    ROAD,    HAMPSTEAD    ROAD,   AND   THE    ADJACENT    NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
Pastoral  Character  of  the  Locality  in  the  L.t^^^ 

,agerie-A  Spring-water  Bath-Eden  Street-Hampstead  Road-The  "  Sol's 


CONTENTS. 


Arms  "Tavern— David  Wilkie's  Residence— Granby  Street— Mornington  Crescent— Charles  Dickens' School-days— Clarkson  Stanfield— 
George  Cruikshank— The  "  Old  King's  Head  "  Tavern— Tolmer's  Square— Urummond  Street— St.  James's  Church— St.  Pancras  Female 
Charity  School— The  Original  Distillery  of  "  Old  Tom  "—Bedford  New  Town-Ampthill  Square— The  "  Infant  Roscius  "—Harrington 
Square 307 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
CAMDEN    TOWN    AND    KENTISH    TOWN. 

Camdon  Town-Statue  of  Richard  Cobden-Oakley  Square-The  "  Bedford  Arms  "-The  Royal  Park  Theatre-The  "  Mother  Red  Cap"- 
The  "  Mother  Shipton  "—The  Alderney  Dairy— The  Grand  Junction  Canal— Bayham  Street,  and  its  Former  Inhabitants— Camden 
Road— Camden  Town  Railway  Station-The  Tailors'  Almshouses— St.  Pancras  Almshouses— Maitland  Park— The  Orphan  Working 
School— The  Dominican  Monastery— Gospel  Oak— St.  Martin's  Church— Kentish  Town  :  its  Buildings  and  its  Residents-Great  College 
Street— The  Royal  Veterinary  College— Pratt  Street— St.  Stephen's  Church— Sir  Henry  Bishop— Agar  Town 309 

CHAPTER     XXV. 

ST.    PANCRAS. 

Biographical  Sketch  of  St.  Pancras— Churches  bearing  his  Name— Corruption  of  the  Name— The  Neighbourhood  of  St.  Pancras  in  Former 
Times— Population  of  the  Parish— Ancient  Manors— Desolate  Condition  of  the  Locality  in  the  Sixteenth  Century— Notices  of  the  Manors 
in  Domesday  Book  and  Early  Surveys— The  Fleet  River  and  its  Occasional  Floods— The  "  Elephant  and  Castle  "  Tavern— The  Work- 
house—The  Vestry— Old  St.  Pancras  Church  and  its  Antiquarian  Associations— Celebrated  Persons  interred  in  the  Churchyard— Ned 
Ward's  Will—  Father  O'Leary— Chatterton's  Visit  to  the  Churchyard— Mary  Wollstoncroft  Godwin— Roman  Catholic  Burials— St.  Giles's 
Burial-ground  and  the  Midland  Railway— Wholesale  Desecration  of  the  Graveyards— The  "  Adam  and  Eve  "  Tavern  and  Tea- 
gardens— St.  Pancras  Wells— Antiquities  of  the  Parish— Extensive  Demolition  of  Houses  for  the  Midland  Railway 324 

CHAPTER    XXVI. 
SOMER'S  TOWN    AND    EUSTON    SQUARE. 

Gradual  Rise  and  Decline  of  Somers  Town-The  Place  largely  Colonised  by  Foreigners-A  Modern  Miracle-Skinner  Street-The  Brill-A 
Wholesale  Clearance  'of  Dwelling-houses— Ossulston  Street— Charlton  Street— The  "Coffee  House  "—Clarendon  Square  and  the 
Polygon-Mary  Wollstoncraft  Godwin-The  Chapel  of  St.  Aloysius-The  Abb<<  Carron-The  Rev.  John  Nerinckx- Seymour  Street- 
The  Railway  Clearing  House-The  Euston  Day  Schools-St.  Mary's  Episcopal  Chapel-Drummond  Street-The  Railway  Benevolent 
Institution-The  London  and  North- Western  Railway  Terminus-Huston  Square-Dr.  Wolcot  (Peter  Pindar)-The  Euston  Road- 
Gower  Street-Sir  George  Rose  and  Jack  Bannister-New  St.  Pancras  Church-The  Rev.  Thomas  Dale-Woburn  Place  .  .  .340 

CHAPTER    XXVII. 
THE    FOUNDLING    HOSPITAL    AND    NEIGHBOURHOOD. 

Establishment  of  the  Hospital  by  Captain  Coram  in  Hatton  Garden— Its  Removal  to  Lamb's  Conduit  Fields— Parliamentary  Grant  to  the 
Hospital— Wholesale  Admission  of  Children— Tokens  for  the  Identification  of  Children  deposited  in  the  Hospital— Withdrawal  of  the 
Parliamentary  Grant— Rules  and  Regulations— Form  of  Petition  for  the  Admission  of  Children— Baptism  of  the  Infants— Wet-nurses 
—Education  of  the  Children— Expenditure  of  the  Establishment— Extracts  from  the  Report  of  the  Royal  Commission— Origin  of  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Arts-Hogarth's  Liberality  to  the  Institution-His  "  March  of  the  Guards  to  Finchky  Common"-The  Picture 
Gallery— The  Chapel— Handel's  Benefactions  to  the  Hospital— Lamb's  Conduit  Fields— Biographical  Notice  of  Captain  Coram— 
Hunter  Street— A  Domestic  Episode  in  High  Life -Tonbridge  Chapel— The  British  College  of  Health jjg 

CHAPTER    XXVIII. 
AGAR    TOWN    AND    THE    MIDLAND    RAILWAY. 

it  was— A  Good  Clearance— Underground  Operations  for  the  Construction  of  the  Midland 
Roman  Catholic  Dignitary— The  Midland  Railway— Mr.  William  Agar— Tom  Sayers.  the 
Pugilist— The  English  "  Connemara  "— A  Monster  Hotel— The  Midland  Terminus:  Vast  Size  of  the  Roof  of  the  Station— A  Railway 
Goods  Bank— The  Imperial  Gas  Works— York  Road ,gg 

CHAPTER     XXIX. 

HOLLOWAY. 

The  Work  of  an  Amiable  Hermit— Copenhagen  Fields— The  New  Cattle  Market— Our  Meat  Supply— The  "  Brecknock  Arms  "  Tavern— Duel 
between  Colonel  Fawcett  and  Lieutenant  Munro-The  City  Prison— The  Camden  Town  Athenaeum— The  New  Jerusalem  Church— 
Holloway  Congregational  Chapel— Seven  Sisters'  Road— Holloway  Hall— The  Old  "  Half  Moon  "  and  "  Mother  Red  Cap  "  Taverns— 
St.  Saviour's  Hospital  and  Refuge  for  Women  and  Children— St.  John's  Church— The  "Archway"  Tavern-Dangers  of  the  Roads- 
Descendants  of  the  Poet  Milton— The  Lazar  House— The  Small-pox  Hospital— Whittington's  Stone— Wlvttington's  Almshouses— 
Benefactions  of  Sir  Richard  Whittington '  •  373 

CHAPTER      XXX. 
HIGHGATE. 

Population  of  Highgate  it  the  Commencement  of  the  Century-The  Heights  of  Highgate-The  Old  Roadway-Erection  of  the  Gate- 
Healthiness  of  the  Locality-Growth  of  London  Northwards-Highgate  Hill-Roman  Catholic  Schools-St.  Joseph's  Retreat-"  Father 
Ignatius  "-The  "Black  Dog  "  Tavern-Highgate  InfJrmarv-The  "Old  Crown"  Tavern  and  Tea-gardens-Winchester  Hall-Hornsev 
Lane-Highgate  Archway-The  Archway  Road-The  "  Woodman  "  Tavern-The  Alexandra  Orphanage  for  Infants-Asylum  of  the 


CONTENTS. 


Aged  Pilgrims'  Friend  Society— Lauderdale  House— Anecdote  of  Nell  Gwynne— The  Duchess  of  St.  Albans— Andrew  Marvell's 
Cottage— Cromwell  House— Convalescent  Hospital  for  Sick  Children— Arundell  House— The  Flight  of  Arabella  Stuart— Death  of 
Lord  Bacon— Fairscat,  the  Residence  of  Sir  Sydney  Waterlow 389 

CHAPTER   XXXI. 
H  I  G  H  G  A  T  E    (continued). 

Swaine's  Lane-Traitors' Hill,  or  Parliament  Hill- St.  Anne's  Church,  Brookfield-Dr.  Coysh-Highgate  Cemetery-Arrangement  of  the 
Ground— The  Catacombs— A  Stroll  among  the  Tombs— Eminent  Persons  buried  here— Stray  Notes  on  Cemeteries— Sir  William  Ashursfs 
Mansion— Charles  Mathews,  the  Actor— Anecdotes  of  Mathews— Ivy  Cottage— Holly  Lodge,  the  Residence  of  Lady  Burdett-Coutts— 
Holly  Village— Highgate  Ponds— The  "Fox  and  Crown  "Public-house— West  Hill  Lodge— The  Hermitage 405 

CHAPTER    XXXII. 
HIGHGATE    (continued}. 

Charles  Knight— Sir  John  Wollaston— The  Custom  of  "Swearing  on  the  Horns"— Mr.  Mark  Boyd's  Reminiscence  of  this  Curious  Cere- 
monial—A  Poetical  Version  of  the  Proceedings— Old  Taverns  at  Highgate— The  "  Angel  Inn"— The  Sunday  Ordinary— A  Touching 
Story— The  Chapel  and  School  of  Highgate— Tomb  of  Coleridge,  the  Poet— Sir  Roger  Cholmeley,  the  Founder  of  the  Grammar 
School-Southwood  Lane-The  Almshouses-Park  House-St.  Michael's  Church -Tablet  erected  to  Coleridge- Fitzroy  House-Mrs. 
Caroline  Chisholm— Dr.  Sacheverel— Dorchester  House— Coleridge's  Residence— The  Grove— Anecdote  of  Hogarth— Sir  John  Hawkins' 
House-A  Proclamation  in  the  Time  of  Henry  VIII.-North  Hill-The  "  Bull  Inn" 413 

CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

HORNSEY. 

Etymology  of  Hornsey-Its  Situation  and  Gradual  Growth-The  Manor  of  Hornsey-Lodge  Hill-The  Bishops'  Park-Historical  Memora- 
bilia—The New  River— Hornsey  Wood  and  "  Hornsey  Wood  House  "—An  Incident  in  the  Life  of  Crabbe—  Finsbury  Park— Appearance 
of  this  District  at  the  Commencement  of  the  Present  Century— Mount  Pleasant— Hornsey  Church— The  Grave  of  Samuel  Rogers,  Author 
of  "  The  Pleasures  of  Memory  "-A  Nervous  Man-Lalla  Rookh  Cottage-Thomas  Moore-Muswell  Hill-The  Alexandra  Palace 
and  Park— Neighbourhood  of  Muswell  Hill,  as  seen  from  its  Summit— Noted  Residents  at  Hornsey— Crouch  End  .....  428 

CHAPTER    XXXIV. 
HAMPSTEAD.— CAEN    WOOD    AND    NORTH    END. 

The 'Etymology  and  Early  History  of  Hampstead-"  Hot  Gospellers  "-The  Hollow  Tree-An  Inland  Watering-place-Caen  Wood  Towers- 
Dufferin  Lodge-Origin  of  the  Name  of  Caen  (or  Ken)  Wood-Thomas  Venner  and  the  Fifth  Monarchy  Men-Caen  Wood  House  and 
( bounds— Lord  Mansfield— The  House  saved  from  a  Riotous  Attack  by  a  Clever  Ruse— Visit  of  William  IV.— Highgate  and  Hamp- 
stcad  Ponds— The  Fleet  River— Bishop's  Wood— The  "  Spaniards  "—New  Georgia— Erskine  House— The  Great  Lord  Erskine— Heath 
House— The  Firs— North  End -Lord  Chatham's  Gloomy  Retirement— Wildwood  House— Jackson,  the  Highwayman— Akenside— 
William  Blake,  the  Artist  and  Poet— Coventry  Patmore—  Miss  Meteyard— Sir  T.  Powell  Button— The  "Hull  and  Bush"  .  .  .  438 

CHAPTER   XXXV. 
HAMPSTEAD  (continitctt).—THK    HEATH    AND    THE   "UPPER    FLASK". 

The  View  from  the  Heath— Attempted  Encroachments  by  the  Lord  of  the  Manor— His  Examination  before  a  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons— Purchase  of  the  Heath  by  the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works  as  a  Public  Recreation-ground -The  Donkeys  and  Donkey- 
drivers— Historic  Memorabilia— Mr.  Hoare's  House,  and  Crabbe's  Visits  there— The  Hampstead  Coaches  in  Former  Times— Dickens's 
Partiality  for  Hampstead  Heath-Jack  Straw's  Castle-The  Race-course-Suicide  of  John  Sadleir,  M.P.-The  Vale  of  Health-John 

"Upper  Flask  "-Sir  Richard  Steele  and  the  Kit-Kat  Club-"  Clarissa  Harlowe"      ....'.  449 

CHAPTER    XXXVI. 
HAMPSTEAD    (continue,!).— THE    TOWN. 

Description  of  the  Town-Heath  Street-The  Baptist  Chapel-Whitefiekt's  Preaching  at  Hampstead-The  Public  Library-Romney,  the 
Painter— The  "  Hollybush "— The  Assembly  Rooms— Agnes  and  Joanna  Kaillie— The  Clock  House  r,r.mch  Hill  Lodge— The  Fire 
Brigade  Station— The  "  Lower  Flask  Inn"— Flask  Walk— Fairs  held  there— The  Militia  Barracks- Mrs.  Tennyson— Christ  Church— 
The  Wells— Concerts  and  Balls— Irregular  Marriages— The  Raffling  Shops— Well  Walk— John  Constable— John  Keats-Geological 
Formation  of  the  Northern  Heights 462 

CHAPTER    XXXVII. 
HAMPSTEAD    (continued).— ITS    LITERARY   ASSOCIATIONS,    &C. 

Church  Row—  Fashionable  Frequenters  of  "  the  Row  "  in  the  Last  Century— Dr.  Sherlock— Dr.  John  Arbuthnot— Dr.  Anthony  Askew— Dr. 
George  Sewell— The  Rev.  Rochmont  Barbauld— Mr.  J.  Park— Miss  Lucy  Aikin— Reformatory  Schools— John  Rogers  Herbert- 
Henry  Fuseli— Hannah  Lightfoot— Charles  Dickens— Charles  Knight— An  Artistic  Gift  rejected  by  Hampstead-The  Parish  Church- 
Repairs  and  Alterations  in  the  Building— Eminent  Incumbents—  The  Graves  of  Joanna  Baillie,  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  John  Constable, 
Lord  Erskine,  and  Others— St.  Mary's  Roman  Catholic  Chapel— Grove  Lodge  and  Montagu  Grove— The  Old  Workhouse  .  .  .  473 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   XXXVIII. 
HAMPSTEAD    (continued).— ROSSLYN    HILL,    &c.  PAGE 

Sailors'  Orphan  Girls'  School  and  Home— Clarkson  Stanfield— The  Residence  of  the  Longmans— Vane  House,  now  the  Soldiers'  Daughters' 
Home— Bishop  Butler— The  "Red  Lion"  Inn— The  Chicken  House— Queen  Elizabeth's  House— Carlisle  House- The  Presbyterian 
Chapel— Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barbauld— Rosslyn  House— Lord  Loughborough— Belsize  Lane— Downshire  Hill— Hampstead  Green— Sir  Row- 
'land  Hill— Sir  Francis  Palgrave— Kenmore  House  and  the  Rev.  Edward  Irving— St.  Stephen's  Church— The  "George"  Inn— The 
Hampstead  Waterworks— Pond  Street— The  New  Spa— The  Small-pox  Hospital— The  Hampstead  Town  Hall— The  "  Load  of  Hay" 
—Sir  Richard  Steele's  Cottage—  Nancy  Dawson— Moll  King's  House-Tunnels  made  under  Rosslyn  and  Haverstock  Hills  .  .  48  j 

CHAPTER    XXXIX. 
HAMPSTEAD    (continued).— BELSIZE    AND    FROGNAL. 

Grant  of  the  Manor  of  Belsize  to  Westminster  Abbey— Belsize  Avenue— Old  Belsize  House— The  Family  of  Waad— Lord  Wotton— Pepys' 
Account  of  the  Gardens  of  Belsize— The  House  attacked  by  Highway  Robbers— A  Zealous  Protestant— Belsize  converted  into  a 
Place  of  Public  Amusement,  and  becomes  an  "Academy"  for  Dissipation  and  Lewdness— The  House  again  becomes  a  Private 
Residence— The  Right  Hon.  Spencer  Perceval— Demolition  of  the  House— The  Murder  of  Mr.  James  Delarue— St.  Peter's  Church— 
Belsize  Square-New  College-The  Shepherds'  or  Conduit  Fields-Shepherds  Well-Leigh  Hunt,  Shelley,  and  Keats-Fitzjohn's 
Avenue— Finchley  Road-Frognal  Priory  and  Memory-Corner  Thompson— Dr.  Johnson  and  other  Residents  at  Frognal— Oak  Hill 
Park— Upper  Terrace— West  End— Rural  Festivities— The  Cemetery— Child's  Hill— Concluding  Remarks  on  Hampstead  .  .  .  494 

CHAPTER    XL. 

THE    NORTH-EASTERN    SUBURBS.-HAGGERSTON,    HACKNEY,    &c. 

Appearance  of  Haggerston  in  the  Last  Century-Cambridge  Heath-Nova  Scotia  Gardens- Columbia  Buildings-Columbia  Marltet-The 
"  New  "  Burial-ground  of  St.  Leonard's,  Shoreditch-Halley,  the  Astronomer-Nichols  Square-St.  Chad's  Church- St.  Mary's  Church 
—Brunswick  Square  Almshouses— Mutton  Lane— The  "Cat  and  Mutton  "  Tavern— London  Fields— The  Hackney  Bun-house— Gold- 
smiths' Row— The  Goldsmiths'  Almshouses— The  North-Eastern  Hospital  for  Sick  Children— The  Orphan  Asylum,  Bonncr's  Road- 
City  of  London  Hospital  for  Diseases  of  the  Chest— Bonncr's  Hall— Bishop  Bonner's  Fields-Hotany  Bay— Victoria  Park— The  East- 
enders'  Fondness  for  Flowers— Amateur  Yachting— The  Jews'  Burial-ground— The  French  Hospital— The  Church  of  St.  John  of  Jeru- 
salem—The  Etymology  of  "  Hackney  " 505 

CHAPTER    XLI. 

THE    NORTH-EASTERN    SUBURBS.— HACKNEY   (continued}. 

Hacb.ey  in  the  Last  Century— Its  Gradual  Growth-Well  Street— Hackney  College— Monger's  Almshouses— The  Residence  of  Dr. 
Frampton— St.  John's  Priory— St.  John's  Church— Mare  Street— Hackney  a  Great  Centre  of  Nonconformity— The  Roman  Catholic 
Church  of  St.  John  the  Baptist— The  "  Flying  Horse  "  Tavern— Elizabeth  Fry's  Refuge— Dr.  Spurstowe's  Almshouses— Hackney  Town 
Hall — The  New  Line  of  the  Great  Eastern  Railway— John  Milton's  Visits  to  Hackney— Barber's  Barn— Loddidge's  Nursery — Water- 
cress-beds—The  Gravel-pit  Meeting  House— The  Church  House— The  Parish  Church— The  "Three  Cranes"— The  Old  Church  Tower 
—The  Churchyard— The  New  Church  of  St.  John— The  Black  and  White  House— Boarding  Schools  for  Young  Ladies  -Button  Place— 
The  "  Mermaid  "  Tavern—"  Ward's  Corner  "—The  Templars'  House— Brooke  House— Noted  Residents  at  Hackney-Homerton— The 
City  of  London  Union-Lower  Clapton-John  Howard,  the  Prison  Reformer— The  London  Orphan  Asylum— Salvation  Army  Barracks 
and  Congress  Hall— The  Asylum  for  Deaf  and  Dumb  Females— Concluding  Remarks  on  Hackney ,  .512 

CHAPTER    XLI1. 
HOXTON,     KINGSLAND,     DALSTON,    &C. 

Kingsland  Road— Harmer's  Almshouses— Gefferey's  Almshouses- -The  Almshouses  of  the  Framework  Knitters— Shoreditch  Workhouse 
—St.  Columba's  Church— Hoxton— "  Pimlico  "—Discovery  of  a  Medicinal  Spring— Charles  Square— A»ke's  Hospital— Balmes,  or 
Baumes  House -The  Practising  Ground  of  the  Artillery  Company— De  Beauvoir  Town— The  Tyssen  Family— St.  Peter's  Church, 
De  Beauvoir  Square— The  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  Our  Lady  and  St.  Joseph— Ball's  Pond— Kingsland— A  Hospital  for  Lepers— 
Dalston— The  Refuge  for  Destitute  Females— The  German  Hospital— Shacklewell 524 

CHAPTER    XLI1I. 

STOKE      N  K W I N  G  T  O  N  . 

Stoke  Newington  in  the  Last  Century— The  Old  Roman  Road,  called  Ermine  Street— Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  Reference  to  May-day  Doings 
atNewington  in  the  Olden  Times- Mildmay  Park -The  Village  Green— Mildmay  House— Remains  of  the  King's  House— King 
Henry's  Walk— St.  Jude's  Church  and  the  Conference  Hall— Bishop's  Place— The  Residence  of  Samuel  Rogers,  the  Poet— James 
Burgh's  Academy— Mary  Woll.-tonecraft  Godwin— St.  Matthias'  Church- The  New  and  Old  Parish  Churches— Sir  John  Hartopp  and 
his  Family— Queen  Elizabeth's  Walk— The  Old  Rectory  House— The  Green  Lanes— Church  Street— The  House  of  Isaac  D'Israeli— The 
School  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe-John  Howard,  the  Prison  Reformer-Sandford  House-Defoe  Street-Defoe's  House-The  Mansion  of 
the  Old  Earls  of  Essex— The  Manor  House— Fleetwood  Road— The  Old  "  Rose  and  Crown  "^The  Residence  of  Dr.  John  Aikin  and 
Mrs.  Barbauld-The  "  Three  Crowns  "-The  Reservoirs  of  the  New  River  Company -Remarks  on  the  Gradual  Extension  of  London  .  530 

CHAPTER    XLIV. 
STOKE    NEWINGTON    (continued),    AND    STAMFORD    HILL. 

Abney  House-Sir  Thomas  and  Lady  Abney-The  Visit  of  Dr.  Isaac  Watts  to  Abney  Home-His  Library  and  Study- The  Death  of  Dr. 
Watts— Sale  of  Abney  Park,  and  the  Formation  of  the  Cemetery— Abney  House  converted  into  a  School— Monument  of  Isaac  Watts— 
The  Mound  and  Grotto  in  the  Cemetery— Distinguished  Personages  buried  here— Stamford  Hill— Meeting  of  King  James  and  the 
Lord  Mayor  at  Stamford  Hill-The  River  Lea-Izaak  Walton  and  the  "Complete  Angler" 539 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER     XLV. 

TOTTENHAM.  PACE 

The  Division  of  the  Parish  into  Wards— Extent  and  Boundaries  of  the  Parish— Early  History  of  Tottenham— The  Manor  owned  by  King 
David  Bruce  of  Scotland-Other  Owners  of  the  Manor- The  Village  of  Tottenham-The  Hermitage  and  Chapel  of  St.  Anne- 
The  "Seven  Sisters  "—The  Village  Green— The  High  Cross— The  River  Lea  at  Tottenham -Bleak  Hall— Old  Almshouses— The 
"George  and  Vulture  "-The  Roman  Catholic  Chapel  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales -Bruce  Castlc-The  Parish  Church-The  Chapel  and 
Well  of  St.  Loy— Bishop's  Well— White  Hart  Lane— Wood  Green— Tottenham  Wood— Concluding  Remarks 548 

CHAPTER    XLVI. 
NORTH    TOTTENHAM,    EDMONTON,    &c. 

The  "  Bell"  and  "Johnny  Gilpin's  Ride"— Mrs.  Gilpin  on  the  Stile— How  Cowper  came  to  write  "Johnny  Gilpin  "—A  Supplement  to  the 

Story Historic  Reminiscences  of  the  "  Dell"  at  Edmonton— Charles  Lamb's  Visit  there — Lamb's  Residence  at  Edmonton— The  Grave 

of  Charles  Lamb—  Edmonton  Church — The  "  Merry  Devil  of  Edmonton  " — The  Witch  of  Edmonton— Archbishop  Tillotson — Edmonton 
Fairs— Southgate— Arno's  Grove— Bush  Hill  Park 564 

CHAPTER    XLVII. 
THE    LEA,    STRATFORD-LE-BOW,    &c. 

The  River  Lea— Bow  Bridge—  Stratford-atte-Bowe,  and  Chaucer's  Allusion  thereto- Construction  of  the  Road  through  Stratford— Altera- 
tions and  Repairs  of  the  Bridge— Don  Antonio  Perez,  and  other  Noted  Residents  at  Stratford— The  Parish  Church  of  Stratford-lc- 
Bow— The  School  and  Market  House— The  Parish  Workhouse— Cow  and  Bromley  Institute- King  John's  Palace  at  Old  Ford— St. 
John's  Church-The  Town  Hall-West  Ham  Park-West  Ham  Abbey-Abbey  Mill  Pumping  Station-Stratford  New  Town-The 
Great  Eastern  Railway  Works—"  Hudson  Town  "—West  Ham  Cemetery  and  Jews'  Cemetery^St.  Leonard's  Convent,  Bromley— 
The  Chapel  converted  into  a  Parish  Church— Bromley  Church  rebuilt— Allhallows'  Church-The  Church  of  St.  Michael  and  all 
Angels— The  Manor  House— The  Old  Palace  -Wesley  House— The  Old  Jews'  Cemetery-The  City  of  London  and  Tower  Hamlets 
Cemetery 5/C 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Hampstead,  from  Kilbum  Road  .     (frontispiece) 

Entrance  to  Old  "  Tattersall's  "  . 

St.  George's  Hospital,  1745 

Sale  of  Hyde  Park  Turnpike 

Interior  of  the  Court-yard  of  Old  "Tattersall's" 

Map  of  Belgravia,  1814       .         . 

The  Spring  Garden,  "  World's  End  "... 

Knightsbridge  in  1820 

The  "  White  Hart,"  Knightsbridge,  1820    . 

Kingston  House,  Knightsbridge 

Court-yard  of  the  "  Rose  and  Crown,"  1820 

Exterior  of  the.  Great  Exhibition  of  1851      . 

Nave  of  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1851  . 

The  Albert  Memorial 

The  "  Monster  "  Tea-Gardens,  1820   . 

"Jenny's  Whim  "Bridge,  1750 

The  "Gun"   Tavern,  1820 

The  Old  Chelsea  Manor  House 

Chelsea  Farm,  1829 

Old  Mansions  in  Chelsea 

Cheyne  Walk  and  Cadogan  Pier,  1860 

Carlyle's  House,  Great  Cheyne  Row  .... 

The  Botanical  Gardens,  Chelsea,  1790 

Thomas  Carlyle 

The.Chelsea  Bun  House,  1810 

Chelsea  Hospital 

A  Card  of  Invitation  to  Ranelagh        .... 

The  Rotunda,  Ranelagh  Gardens,  in  1750  . 

Chelsea  Waterworks,  in  1750       ..... 

The  "World's  End,"  in  1790 

Chelsea  Church,  1860 

Old  Chelsea  in  1750 

The  "  Black  Lion,"  Church  Street,  Chelsea,  in  1820  . 

The  Pavilion,  Hans  Place,  in  iSoo      . 

Entrance  to  Brompton  Cemetery          .... 

The  Consumption  Hospital,  Brompton 

The  International  Exhibition  of  1862  .         . 

The  Court  of  the  South  Kensington  Museum 

The  Horticultural  Gardens  and  Exhibition  Building    . 

Interior  of  the  Albert  Hall 

Old  Gore  House  in  1830 

The  Old  Turnpike,  Kensington,  in  1820      . 

The  "  Halfway  House,"  Kensington,  1850  . 

Interior  of  Kensington  Church,  1850 . 

Old  Kensington  Church,  about  1750   .... 

Old  View  of  Kensington,  about  1750  .... 

Campden  House,  1720 

Kensington  High  Street,  in  1860  .... 
West  Front  of  Kensington  Palace  .... 
Kensington  Palace,  from  the  Gardens .... 
Henry  VIII. 's  Conduit 


Queen  Caroline's  Drawing-Room,  Kensington  Palace 

Kensington  in  1764.     (From  Kocqufs  Map) 

The  Round  Pond,  Kensington  Gardens 

The  Scotch  Firs,  Kensington  Gardens 

The  Flower  Walks,  Kensington  Gardens     .        .        ; 

Outfall  of  Westbourne,  1850 

Earl's  Court  House  (formerly  John  Hunter's)      . 

Old  Kensington 

Rogers'  Seat  and  Inigo  Jones'  Gateway,  Holland  House 

Holland  House 

Holland  House,  from  the  North          .... 
Grand  Staircase,  Holland  House         .... 

House  at  Craven  Hill  in  1760 

Netting  Barn  Farm,  1830 

TheBayswater  Conduit  in  1798 

Notting  Hill  in  1750 

The  Place  of  Execution,  Tyburn,  in  1 750    . 
Execution  of  Lord  Ferrers  at  Tyburn 

Connaught  Place 

The  Idle  Apprentice  Executed  at  Tyburn    . 

Paddington  Canal,  1820 

The  Paddington  Canal,  1840 

Map  of  Paddington,  in  1815 

Paddington  Green  in  1750 

Mrs.  Siddons'  House  at  Westbourne  Green,  1800 
Paddington  Church  :  1750  and  1805    . 
The  "  Plough  "  at  Kensal  Green,  1820 

Kensal  Green  Cemetery 

Trial  Trip  on  the  Underground  Railway,  1863     . 
Entrance  to  the  Clerkenwell  Tunnel  from  Farringdon 

Street 

Interior  of  Subway,  Holborn  Viaduct 

Section  of  the  Holborn  Viaduct,  showing  the  Subways 

King's  Cross  Underground  Station  in  1868 

Section  of  the  Thames  Embankment,  1867 

The  "Bell  Inn,"  Kilbum,  1750  .... 

The  Priory,  Kilburn,  1750 

Lord's  Ground  in  1837 

The  "  Eyre  Arms  "  in  1820 

The  "  Queen's  Head  and  Artichoke  " 
Lisson  Green  in  the  Eighteenth  Century     . 
Farm  in  the  Regent's  Park,  1750 

The  Holme,  Regent's  Park 

Old  Bridge  over  the  Lake,  Regent's  Park,  in  1817      . 

The  Colosseum  in  1827 

St.  Katharine's  Hospital 

The  Botanical  Gardens,  Regent's  Park 

Entrance  to  the  Zoological  Gardens  in  1840 

The  Monkey  House,  and  Houses  for  the  Carnivora     . 

Medal  to  Commemorate  the  Murder  of  Godfrey  . 

Primrose  Hill  in  1780 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Old  Chalk  Farm  in  1 730 

Trinity  Church,  Albany  Street 

Sir  Richard  Steele's  House,  Haverstock  Hill      . 
Ground  Plan  of  New  Road,  from  Islington  to  Edgware 

Road  (1755) 

Camden  Town,  from  the  Hampstead  Road,  Maryle- 

bone,  1780 

H.  W.  Betty  (the  Infant  Roscius)        .         .         .         . 
Turnpike  in  the  Hampstead  Road,  and  St.  James's 

Church,  in  1820 

The  old  "Mother  Red  Cap,"  in  1746 

The  Assembly  Rooms,  Kentish  Town,  1750 

The  "Castle"  Tavern,  Kentish  Town  Road,  in  1800  . 

General  View  of  Old  Kentish  Town,  1820  . 

The  Royal  Veterinary  College,  1825   . 

The  Fleet  River,  near  St.  Pancras,  1825      . 

Fortifications  of  Old  St.  Pancras         .... 

St.  Pancras  Church  in  1820 

St.  Pancras  Wells  and  Church,  in  1700 

Dr.  Stukeley's  Plan  of  the  Camp  at  St.  Pancras  , 

The  "Brill,"  Somers  Town,  in  1780. 

The  Polygon,  Somers  Town,  in  1850 

Entrance  to  Euston  Square  Station     .... 

New  St.  Pancras  Church 

Gateway  of  the  Foundling  Hospital    .... 
Front  of  the  Foundling  Hospital         .... 
Interior  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Foundling  Hospital 
The  Small-pox  Hospital,  King's  Cross,  in  1800  . 
Councillor  Agar's  House,  Somers  Town,  in  1830 
Front  of  St  Pancras  Station  and  Hotel       . 
The  Dust  Heaps,  Somers  Town,  in  1836    . 

The  "  Seven  Sisters,"  in  1830 

Claude  Duval's  House,  in  1825 

Ilighgate,  from  Upper  Holloway         .... 
The  Roman  Road,  Tufnell  Park,  in  1838    . 

Whittington's  Stone  in  1820 

The  Gate  House,  Highgate,  in  1820  .... 
Highgate  Archway  Gate  and  Tavern,  in  1825      . 

Lauderdale  House,  in  1820 

Marvell's  House,  1825 

Staircase  of  Cromwell  House,  1876     .... 

View  in  Highgate  Cemetery 

Cromwell  House,  Highgate 

Ivy  Cottage,  Highgate,  1825 

The  "  Old  Crown  Inn,"  Highgate,  in  1830 

Views  in  Highgate 

The  Old  Chapel,  Highgate,  1830 

Dorchester  House,   1700 


289     Hornsey  Wood  House,  1800 426 

294  Homsey  Church  in  1 750 427 

295  Map  of  Hornsey  and  Neighbourhood  in  1819.      .         .  432 
The  Alexandra  Palace,  1876 433 

300  The  Vale  of  Health 438 

Caen  Wood,  Lord  Mansfield's  House,  in  1785     .        .  439 

301  Highgate  Ponds .  444 

306  The  "  Spaniards,"  Hampstead  Heath          ...  445 
Jack  Straw's  Castle 450 

307  Hampstead  Heath  in  1840 451 

312  The  "  Upper  Flask,"  about  1800        ....  456 

313  John  Keats 457 

318  Joanna  Baillie 462 

319  The  Old  Well  Walk,  Hampstead,  about  1750     .         .  463 

324  The  Old  Clock  House,  1780 468 

325  Keats'  Seat,  Old  Well  Walk 469 

330  Old  Houses  in  Church  Row 474 

331  Church  Row,  Hampstead,  in  1750      .        .         .         -475 

336  Vane  House  in  1800 480 

337  Rosslyn  House   ........  481 

342  Sir  Richard  Steele 486 

343  View  from  "Moll  King's  House,"  Hampstead,  in  1 760  487 

348  Belsize  House  in  1800 492 

349  Shepherd's  Well  in  1820 '      •  493 

354  Frognal  Priory -498 

355  Pond  Street,  Hampstead,  in  1750        ....  499 

360  Columbia  Market,  Hackney 505 

361  Hackney,  looking  towards  the  Church,  1840       .         .510 

366  Bits  of  Old  Hackney 5" 

367  Hackney  Church,  1750 5 '6 

372  The  Black  and  White  House,  1800    .         .         .        .517 

373  Howard's  House  at  Clapton,  about  1800     .         .         .  522 

378  Views  in  Kingsland 523 

379  Balmes  House  in  1750 528 

384  The  Manor  House,  Dalston 529 

385  Stoke  Newington  Church,  1750 534 

390  Views  in  Stoke  Newington 535 

391  The  Old  Rectory,  Stoke  Newington,  in  1858      .         .  540 

396  Abney  House,  1845 541 

397  Dr.  Watts'  Monument,  Abney  Park  Cemetery    .         .  546 

402  Views  on  the  River  Lea 547 

403  Tottenham  High  Cross,  1820 552 

408  Bruce  Castle 553 

409  |  Tottenham  Church 558 

414  Views  in  Tottenham 559 

415  The  "Bell  "at  Edmonton 564 

420  '  Edmonton  Church,  1790 565 

421  Old  Bow  Bridge S7o 


LONDON. 

THE    WESTERN    SUBURBS. 
C  H  A  P  T  E  R     I. 


"  Tis  hard  to  say— such  space  the  city  wins— 
Where  country  ends  and  where  the  town  begins." 

"  Prolusiones  Paulina,"  1876. 

Prefatory  Remarks— The  Building  of  the  District— De  Moret,  and 
his  Flying-machine— Nature  of  the  Soil  of  Belgravia— "  Slender 
Billy"— The  Spanish  Monkey  "Mukako"  and  Tom  Cribb's 
Fighting  Dogs— The  Grosvenor  Family— Enormous  Rent-rolls— 
Belgravia  and  Bethnal  Green  compared— Lanesborough  House— 
St.  George's  Hospital-Old  "  Tattersall's  "-St.  George's  Place 
— Liston,  the  Comedian— Pope's  School-days -The  Alexandra 
Hotel— The  Old  Toll-gate  at  Hyde  Park  Corner— Grosvenor 
Place— The  "Feathers"  Tavern,"  and  how  George  Prince  of 
Wales  was  made  an  Odd  Fellow  there— Arabella  Row— A  Witty 
Lord  Chancellor— The  "Bag  o'  Nails  "—The  "Three  Com- 
passes "  —  Belgrave  Square  —  "  Gentleman  Jones  "—  Eccleston 
Street— Sir  Francis  Chantrey— St.  Paul's  Church,  Wilton  Place 
-The  Pantechnicon-Halkin  Street-Upper  and  Lower  Belgrave 
Streets— Suicide  of  Lord  Munster— Eaton  Square— Chester 
Square— Ebury  Street— Lowndes  Square— Cadogan  Place- 
William  Wilbcrforce-The  Locality  in  Former  Times. 

y_Y  AVING,  in  the  previous  volume,  completed 
XX  our  peregrination  of  what  may  be  called 
the  interior  gyrus — the  innermost  circle — of 
the  great  metropolis,  we  may  now  venture  on 
a  somewhat  wider  journey  afield,  and  roam 
over  that  portion  of  the  next  circle — but  still 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


fax  from  the  outermost  of  all— which,  not  above  I  as  a  sobriquet  to  Belgrave  and  Eaton  Squares  and 
half  a  century  ago,  certainly  was  not  London,  but    the  streets  radiating  immediately  from  them,  but  is 


as  certainly  now  forms  part  of  it.  We  hope,  at 
all  events,  to  find  much  that  will  be  interesting 
to  our  readers  even  in  modern  "Belgravia;"  but 
Knightsbridge  and  Paddington,  Chelsea  and  Ken- 
sington, are  each  and  all  old  enough  to  have  his- 
tories of  their  own;  and  the  two  last-named  villages 
have  played  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  annals  of  the 
Court  under  our  Hanoverian  sovereigns,  and  in 
those  of  the  aristocracy  for  even  a  longer  period. 

We  purpose,  therefore,  to  traverse  in  turn  the 
fashionable  area  which  has  its  centre  fixed  about 
Eaton  and  Belgrave  Squares;  then  the  undefined 
region  of  Knightsbridge,  and  that  portion  of  Hyde 
Park  which  lies  to  the  south  of  the  Serpentine,  and 
formed  the  site  of  the  first  Great  Exhibition  of  1851. 
Then  across  Pimlico  to  Chelsea,  rich  in  its  memories 
of  Sir  Hans  Sloane  and  Nell  Gwynne ;  to  look  in 
upon  the  household  of  good  Sir  Thomas  More ;  and 
to  speak  of  Chelsea's  famous  bun-house,  and  its 
ancient  china-ware.  Next  we  shall  visit  Brompton, 
the  "  Montpelier  "  of  the  metropolis  ;  and  then  be  off 
to  the  "  old  Court  suburb  "  of  Kensington,  familiar 
to  all  Englishmen  and  Englishwomen  as  the  home 
of  William  III.,  and  of  most  of  our  Hanoverian 
sovereigns,  and  clear  to  them  as  the  birthplace  of 
Queen  Victoria.  We  shall  linger  for  a  time  under 
the  shade  of  the  trees  which  compose  its  pleasant 
gardens,  and  call  up  the  royal  memories  of  nearly 
two  centuries.  Then,  bearing  westwards,  we  shall 
look  in  upon  the  long  galleries  of  Holland  House, 
and  see  the  chamber  in  which  Addison  died,  and 
the  rooms  in  which  Charles  James  Fox  and  the 
leading  Whigs  of  the  last  three  reigns  talked  politics 
and  fashionable  news ;  thence  to  Percy  Cross,  and 
Walham  Green  and  Parsons'  Green,  and  to  Fulham, 
for  a  thousand  years  the  country  seat  of  the  Bishops 
of  London  both  before  and  since  the  Reformation. 
Then  we  will  saunter  about  the  quaint  old  suburban 
village  of  Hammersmith,  with  its  red-brick  cottages 
and  cedar-planted  lawns,  and  so  work  our  way 
round  by  way  of  Shepherd's  Bush  and  Netting  Hill 
—two  names  of  truly  rural  sound— to  Paddington 
and  St.  John's  Wood— once  the  property  of  the 
Knights  of  St.  John— and  so  to  Kilburn,  Hamp- 
stead,  and  Highgate,  and  Camden  and  Kentish 
Towns,  till  we  once  more  arrive  at  St.  Pancras. 

With  these  few  words  by  way  of  preface  to  the 
present  volume,  we  again  take  our  staff  in  hand, 
and  turning  our  back  on  the  "  congestion  "  of  traffic 
at  Hyde  Park  Corner,  which  has  lately  been  an 
object  of  legislation  in  Parliament,  we  turn  our 
faces  westward,  and  prepare  to  go  on  our  way. 

The  name  of  "  Belgravia  "  was  originally  applied 


now  received  as  a  collective  popular  appellation  of 
that  "  City  of  Palaces "  which  lies  to  the  south- 
west  of  Hyde  Park  Corner,  stretching  away  towards 
Pimlico  and  Chelsea.  The  district  was  first  laid  out 
and  built  by  Messrs.  Cubitt,  under  a  special  Act 
of  Parliament,  passed  in  1826,  empowering  Lord 
Grosvenor  to  drain  the  site,  raise  the  level,  and 
erect  bars,  &c.  "  During  the  late  reign— that  of 
George  IV.,"  observes  a  writer  in  1831 — "Lord 
Grosvenor  has  built  a  new  and  elegant  town  on  the 
site  of  fields  of  no  healthy  aspect,  thus  connecting 
London  and  Chelsea,  and  improving  the  western 
entrance  to  the  metropolis,  at  a  great  expense." 

Where  now  rise  Belgrave  and  Eaton  Squares,  the 
most  fashionable  in  the  metropolis,  there  was, 
down  to  about  the  year  above  mentioned,  an 
open  and  rural  space,  known  as  the  "Five  Fields." 
It  was  infested,  as  recently  as  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century,  by  footpads  and  robbers.  These 
fields  formed  the  scene  of  one  of  the  first,  but 
unsuccessful,  attempts  at  ballooning  in  London. 
De  Moret,  a  Frenchman,  and  a  bit  of  an  adven- 
turer, proposed,  in  1784,  to  ascend  from  some 
tea-gardens  in  this  place,  having  attached  to  his 
balloon  a  car,  not  unlike  some  of  the  unwieldy 
summer-houses  which  may  be  seen  in  suburban 
gardens,  and  even  provided  with  wheels,  so  that, 
if  needful,  it  could  be  used  as  a  travelling  carriage. 
"Whether,"  says  Chambers,  in  his  "Book  of  Days," 
"  M.  Moret  ever  really  intended  to  attempt  an 
ascent  in  such  an  unwieldy  machine,  has  nevei 


been   clearly  ascertained. 


However,  having 


collected  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  he  was 
preparing  for  his  ascent,  on  the  loth  of  August  in 
that  year,  when  his  machine  caught  fire  and  was 
burnt ;  the  unruly  mob  avenging  their  disappoint- 
ment by  destroying  the  adjoining  property.  The 
adventurer  himself  made  a  timely  escape ;  and  a 
caricature  of  the  day  represents  him  flying  off  to 
Ostend  with  a  bag  of  British  guineas,  leaving  the 
Stockwell  Ghost,  the  Bottle  Conjurer,  Elizabeth 
Canning,  Mary  Toft,  and  other  cheats,  enveloped  in 
the  smoke  of  his  burning  balloon." 

There  was  a  time,  and  not  so  very  distant  in  the 
lapse  of  ages,  when  much  of  Belgravia,  and  other 
parts  of  the  valley  bordering  upon  London,  was  a 
"lagoon  of  the  Thames;"*  indeed,  the  clayey 
swamp  in  this  particular  region  retained  so  much 
water  that  no  one  would  build  there.  At  length, 
Mr.  Thomas  Cubitt  found  ':he  strata  to  consist  of 
gravel  and  clay,  of  inconsiderable  depth.  The  clay 


In  this  lagoon  there  were  i 


,sland»,  as  Chel«o-,  Bermonds<y,  &o. 


Belgravia.] 


THE  WEALTH   OF  THE  GROSVENORS. 


he  removed  and  burned  into  bricks,  and  by  build- 
ing upon  the  substratum  of  gravel,  he  converted  this 
spot  from  the  most  unhealthy  to  one  of  the  most 
healthy  in  the  metropolis,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
its  surface  is  but  a  few  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
river  Thames  at  high  water,  during  spring-tides. 

This  mine  of  wealth — the  present  suburb,  or 
rather  city,  of  Belgravia,  for  such  it  has  becom 
passed  into  the  possession  of  the  Grosvenor  family 
in  1656,  when  the  daughter  and  sole  heiress  ol 
Alexander  Davies,  Esq.,  of  Ebury  Farm,  married 
Sir  Thomas  Grosvenor,  the  ancestor  of  the  presen 
Duke  of  Westminster.  This  Mr.  Davies  died  in 
1663,  three  years  after  the  Restoration,  little  con- 
scious of  the  future  value  of  his  five  pasturing  fields. 
"In  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,"  observes  a  writer  in 
the  Belgravia  magazine,  "  this  sumptuous  property 
was  only  plain  Eabury,  or  Ebury  Farm,  a  plot  of  a,y. 
acres,  meadow  and  pasture,  let  on  lease  to  a  trouble 
some  '  untoward '  person  named  Wharle ;  and  he, 
to  her  farthingaled  Majesty's  infinite  annoyance, 
had  let  out  the  same  to  various  other  scurvy  fellows, 
who  insisted  on  enclosing  the  arable  land,  driving 
out  the  ploughs,  and  laying  down  grass,  to  the 
hindrance  of  all  pleasant  hawking  and  coursing 
parties.  Nor  was  this  all  the  large-hearted  queen 
alone  cared  about ;  she  had  a  feeling  for  the  poor, 
and  she  saw  how  these  enclosures  were  just  so 
much  sheer  stark  robbery  of  the  poor  man's  right 
of  common  after  Lammas-tide.  In  the  Regency, 
when  Belgrave  Square  was  a  ground  for  hanging 
out  clothes,  all  the  space  between  Westminster  and 
Vauxhall  Bridge  was  known  as  '  Tothill  Fields,'  or 
'The  Downs.'  It  was  a  dreary  tract  of  stunted, 
dusty,  trodden  grass,  beloved  by  bull-baiters, 
badger-drawers,  and  dog-fighters.  Beyond  this 
Campus  Martius  of  prize-fighting  days  loomed  a 
garden  region  of  cabbage-beds,  stagnant  ditches 
fringed  with  pollard  withes.  There  was  then  no 
Penitentiary  at  Millbank,  no  Vauxhall  Bridge,  but  a 
haunted  house  half-way  to  Chelsea,  and  a  halfpenny 
hatch,  that  led  through  a  cabbage-plot  to  a  tavern 
known  by  the  agreeable  name  of  '  The  Monster.' 
Beyond  this  came  an  embankment  called  the  Willow 
Walk  (a  convenient  place  for  quiet  murder) ;  and  at 
one  end  of  this  lived  that  eminent  public  character, 
Mr.  William  Aberfield,  generally  known  to  the  sport- 
ing peers,  thieves,  and  dog-fanciers  of  the  Regency 
as  'Slender  Billy.'  Mr.  Grantley  Berkeley  once 
had  the  honour  of  making  this  gentleman's  ac- 
quaintance, and  visited  his  house  to  see  the  great 
Spanish  monkey  'Mukako'  (' Muchacho ')  fight 
Tom  Cribb's  dogs,  and  cut  their  throats  one  after 
the  other — apparently,  at  least — for  the  'gentleman' 
who  really  bled  the  dogs  and  the  peers  was  Mr. 


Cribb  himself,  who  had  a  lancet  hidden  in  his  hand, 
with  which,  under  the  pretence  of  rendering  the 
bitten  and  bruised  dogs  help,  he  contrived,  in  a 
frank  and  friendly  way,  to  open  the  jugular  vein. 
A  good  many  of  the  Prince  Regent's  friends  were 
Slender  Billy's  also.  Mr.  Slender  Billy  died,  how- 
ever, much  more  regretted  than  the  Regent,  being 
a  most  useful  and  trusty  member  of  a  gang  of 
forgers." 

The  Grosvenors,  as  already  mentioned  by  us,* 
are  one  of  the  most  ancient  of  the  untitled  English 
aristocracy,  their  ancestor  having  been  the  chief 
hunter  (Le  Gros  veneur)  to  the  Dukes  of  Normandy 
befoie  the  Conquest.  It  was  not  till  a  century 
ago  that  they  condescended  to  bear  a  title,  but 
since  that  time  their  growth  to  the  very  foremost 
rank  in  the  peerage  has  been  steady  and  well- 
earned,  if  personal  worth  and  high  honour,  com- 
bined with  immense  wealth,  are  to  be  reckoned  as 
any  claim  to  a  coronet. 

The  chief  wealth  of  the  Grosvenors,  prior  to  the 
marriage  of  their  head  with  Miss  Davies,  of  Ebury 
Farm,  was  drawn  out  of  the  bowels  of  the  earth  in 
the  north  of  England.  Hence  Pope  writes — 

"  All  Townshend's  turnips,  and  all  Grosvenor's  mines." 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that,  in  right  of  his 
Manor  of  Ebury,  the  Duke  of  Westminster  enjoys 
one  of  the  largest  rent-rolls,  if  not  the  very  largest, 
in  the  kingdom.  The  current  rumour  of  the  day 
sets  it  down  at  ,£1,000  a  day,  or  .£365,000  a 
year.  Other  noblemen,  especially  the  Dukes  of 
Sutherland,  Buccleuch,  and  Northumberland,  are 
thought  to  approach  very  nearly  to  a  like  rental. 
As  far  back  as  the  year  1819,  the  head  of  the 
Grosvenors  was  returned  to  the  property-tax  com- 
issioners  as  one  of  the  four  richest  noblemen  in 
the  kingdom,  the  three  others  being  the  Duke  of 
Northumberland,  the  Marquis  of  Stafford  (after- 
wards Duke  of  Sutherland),  and  the  Earl  of 
Bridgevvater,  the  annual  income  in  each  case  being 
'n  excess  of  .£100,000.  No  other  peers  exceeded 
that  sum  at  that  time ;  but  now,  owing  to  the 
ncreased  value  of  land  in  London,  and  the  steady 
growth  of  the  productiveness  of  the  agricultural 
and  mining  industries,  the  owners  of  the  above 
properties  have  much  larger  rent-rolls  ;  and  the 
probability  is  that  there  are  ten  or,  perhaps,  a 
dozen  other  peers  whose  incomes  would  reach  the 
above-mentioned  standard.  A  very  different  state 
of  things,  it  must  be  said,  from  that  which  prevailed 
when  Charles  II.  was  on  the  throne,  if  Macaulay 
may  be  trusted  when  he  writes  of  the  year  1683  : — - 
"The  greatest  estates  in  the  kingdom  then  very 


•  See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  371. 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


little  exceeded  twenty  thousand  a  year.  The  Duke 
of  Ormond  had  twenty-two  thousand  a  year.  The 
Duke  of  Buckingham,  before  his jxtravagance  had 


Duke  o      ucnga, 

impaired  his  great  property,  had  nineteen  thousand 

six  hundred  a   year.       George   Monk,    Duke   of 

Albemarle,  who  had  been  rewarded  for  his  eminent 

services 

who  had  been 


with  immense  grants  of  crown  land,  and 
wuo  uau  been  notorious  both  for  covetousness  and 
for  parsimony,  left  fifteen  thousand  a  year  of  real 
estate,  and  sixty  thousand  pounds  in  money,  which 
probably  yielded  seven  per  cent.  These  three 
dukes  were  supposed  to  be  three  of  the  very 
richest  subjects  in  England."  The  building  of  this 
great  city  of  Belgravia,  for  such  we  are  compelled 
to  call  it,  fully  justified  William  IV.  in  bestowing 
on  his  lordship  the  territorial  title  of  "  Marquis  of 
Westminster,"  which  has  blossomed  into  a  duke 
dom  under  Queen  Victoria. 

Viewing  the  great  metropolis  as  a  world  in  itself 
as  Addison  and  Dr.  Johnson,  and,  indeed,  al 
observant  and  thoughtful  persons  for  these  twc 
centuries  past  have  done,  Belgravia  and  Bethn; 
Green  become,  both  morally  and  physically,  th 


[Belgravia. 


rs  for 


opposite  poles  of  the  sphere  of  London— the  frigid 
zones,  so  to  speak,  of  the  capital:  the  former,  iq 
cold,  from  its  stiff  and  unbending  habit  of  fashion 
form,  and  ceremony  ;  the  other,  wrapped  in  a  per 
petual  winter  of  never-ending  poverty  and  squalor. 
But  it  is  now  time  for  us  to  proceed  with  ou 
perambulation.      Close  by  Hyde  Park  Corner,  a 
the    north   end   of    Grosvenor    Place,    stands   St 
George's  Hospital.     It  was  built  upon  the  site  c 
a  pleasant  suburban  residence  of  the  first   Lon 
Lanesborough,  who  died  in  1723.      Here  he  was 
out  of  the  sound  of  the  noisy  streets,  and  could 
enjoy    in    private    his    favourite    amusement    of 
dancing.     The  reader  will  not  forget  the  line  of 
Pope,  in  which  he  is  immortalised  as— 

"  Sober  Lanesborough,  dancing  with  the  gout." 

Mr.  Jesse  writes  :  "  So  paramount  is  said  to  have 
been  his  lordship's  passion  for  dancing,  that  when 
Queen  Anne  lost  her  Consort,  Prince  George  of 
Denmark,  he  seriously  advised  her  Majesty  to 
dispel  her  grief  by  applying  to  his  favourite 
exercise."  But  this  may  be  possibly  a  piece  of 
scandal  and  a  canard  of  the  day.  Lord  Lanes- 
borough's  house  was  beyond  the  turnpike  gate, 
and  Pennant  says  it  was  his  lordship's  "  country 
house." 

In  1733,  Lanesborough  House  was  converted  int. 
an  infirmary  by  some  seceding  governors  of  West 
minster  Hospital.  The  old  house  for  many  year:, 
formed  the  central  part  of  the  hospital,  two  wing 
having  been  added  to  it  when  it  was  converted  t< 


tTTevTpurposes.     A  report  of  the  governo 
he   year"  i?34,    for   which   we    are    indebted    to 
MaitLd,  tells  us  that  "the  hospital  „ .now  fined 
lp,  and  made  much  more   complete   than   could 
iave  been  expected  out  of  a  dwelling-house.      It 
will  at  present  contain  sixty  patients  ;  but,  as  th« 
boundaries   of  their  grounds  will   admit   of  new 
buildings  for  several  spacious  and  airy  wards,  th< 
subscribers  propose  to  erect  such  bui  dings  as  soon 
as  their  circumstances  shall  enable  them.      These 
>xtra  wards  have  since  been  supplied  at  a  con- 
siderable  expense,   and  in   process   of  time    the 
entire  building  has   been   reconstructed.      From 
its  commencement  the  hospital  has  been  mainly 
dependent  upon  voluntary  contributions,  not  being 
richly  endowed  like  Guy's,  St.  Bartholomews,  and 
St  Thomas's.     Fifty  years  after  its  foundation,  the 
subscriptions  amounted  to  a  little  over  ,£2,000  a 
year.     The  hospital  was  aided  by  one  third  c 
proceeds  of  musical  entertainments  in  the  Abbey. 
In  its  first  half  century  it  had  numbered  150,000 
patients.     The    present    edifice    was    commenced 
towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of  George  IV.,  by 
William  Wilkins,  R.A.,  the  architect  of  the  National 
Gallery,  University  College  in  Gower  Street,  and 
other  important  buildings ;   but  several   additions 
have  since  been  made  to  the  original  design,  the 
latest  being  the  erection   of  a  new  wing  on  the 
south-west  side,  in  Grosvenor  Crescent,  which  was 
completed  about  the  year  1868. 

The  principal  front  of  the  hospital,  facing  the 
Green  Park,  is  now  nearly  200  feet  in  length,  and 
forms  a  rather  handsome  elevation.  The  building 
contains  a  lecture  theatre  and  an  anatomical 

lefrayed  by  voluntary  contributions,  and  by  the 
nterest  of  funded  property  arising  from  legacies. 
:n  the  year  1880,  including  some  special  gifts,  its 
ncome  amounted  to  upwards  of  .£23,000  ;  and  the 
number  of  persons  benefited  during  the  year  was 
ibove  20,000. 
Mr.  John  Timbs,  in  his  "Curiosities  of  London," 


.  , 

mentions  an  "  ingenious  telegraph,"  which  has  been 
devised  here  for  the  transmission  of  orders  through 
the  different  wards.  "  In  the  hall,"  he  writes,  "is 
a  column  three  feet  high,  with  a  dial  of  engraved 
signals,  and  on  the  walls  of  the  different  wards  are 
corresponding  dials;  so  that  when  the  pointer  to 
the  hall  dial  is  moved  to  any  signal,  all  the  others 
move  accordingly,  and  a  little  hammer  strikes  a 
bell,  by  which  means  about  fifty  signals  are  trans- 
mitted daily  to  each  ward,  without  the  possibility 
of  error  or  the  least  noise." 

The  Atkinson   Morley  Convalescent   Home  at 
Wimbledon  is  connected  with   this   hospital,  and 


Belgravia 


OLD    "TATTERSALL'S." 


there  is  also  a  medical  school  in  connection  with 
the  institution.  Of  the  many  celebrated  men 
whose  names  are  more  or  less  intimately  associated 
with  St.  George's  Hospital,  may  be  mentioned 
those  of  Dr.  Baily,  Dr.  W.  Hunter,  and  his  brother, 
John  Hunter  (who  died  here  suddenly,  having 
been  violently  excited  by  a  quarrel  in  the  board- 
room, while  suffering  under  disease  of  the  heart), 
Sir  Benjamin  Brodie,  Sir  Everard  Home,  and 
Dr.  James  Hope,  the  author  of  "A  Treatise  on 
the  Diseases  of  the  Heart,"  and  on  "Morbid 


and  horse-fanciers.  On  the  left,  an  open  gateway 
led  into  a  garden-like  enclosure,  with  a  single  tree 
in  the  centre  rising  from  the  middle  of  a  grass-plot, 
surrounded  by  a  circular  path  of  yellow  sand  or 
gravel.  Immediately  beyond  the  gateway  was  the 
subscription-room;  this  building,  though  small,  was 
admirably  adapted  for  the  purposes  for  which  it 
was  designed,  and  it  contained  merely  a  set  of 
desks  arranged  in  an  octagonal  form  in  the  centre, 
where  bets  were  recorded,  and  money  paid  over. 
On  the  right  of  the  passage,  a  covered  gateway  led 


Anatomy/'  who  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  over-    into  the  court-yard,  where  the  principal  business  of 


coming  the  prejudice  that  formerly  existed  in 
England,  and  especially  at  this  hospital,  against 
the  use  of  the  stethoscope  in  the  examination  of 
diseases  of  the  chest. 

In  June,  1876,  a  curious  accident  occurred  here. 
Through  the  bursting  of  a  large  tank  on  the  roof, 
several  tons  of  water  suddenly  broke  through  and 
deluged  the  lower  floors,  injuring  some  of  the 
patients  and  the  medical  students,  and  causing  the 
death  of  two  or  three  of  the  patients.  It  need 
scarcely  be  added  that,  in  the  sanitary  arrangements 
of  the  hospital,  and  also  more  especially  in  the 
important  matter  of  ventilation,  recourse  has  been 
had  to  the  latest  scientific  improvements  and  dis- 
coveries. 

Like  other  London  hospitals,  St.  George's  draws 
its  patients  very  largely  from  the  most  unfriended 
classes  in  its  vicinity,  very  much  from  the  poor  of 
all  parts  of  London,  and  in  no  small  degree  from 
the  poor  of  all  parts  of  England.  In  1870,  an 
inquiry  showed  that  there  were  above  330  in- 
patients.  Of  these,  100  resided  within  a  mile  of 
the  hospital;  150  beyond  that  radius,  but  within 
four  miles  of  Charing  Cross ;  while  the  remainder 
came  from  all  parts  of  the  country. 

At  the  south-eastern  corner  of  St.  George's  Hos 
pital,  where  now  is  Grosvenor  Crescent,  was  for- 
merly the  entrance  to  Tattersall's  celebrated  auction- 
mart,  "  so  renowned  through  all  the  breadth  and 
length  of  horse-loving,  horse-breeding,  horse-racing 
Europe,"  which  from  all  parts  sends  hither  its 
representatives,  when  the  more  important  sales  are 
going  on,  and,  with  a  confidence  justified  by  the 
known  character  of  the  house,  commissions  the 


:he  place  was  carried  on ;  this  was  surrounded  on 
hree  sides  by  a  covered  way,  and  at  the  extremity 
of  one  side  stood  the  auctioneer's  rostrum,  over- 
looking the  whole  area.  The  stables,  where  the 
horses  to  be  sold  were  kept  in  the  interim,  were 
close  at  hand,  and  admirably  arranged  for  light  and 
ventilation.  In  the  centre  of  the  enclosure  was  a 
domed  structure  to  an  humble  but  important 
appendage- — a  pump,  and  the  structure  itself  was 
crowned  by  a  bust  of  George  IV.  About  the  year 
1864,  "Tattersall's" — as  this  celebrated  auction- 
mart  was  familiarly  called  throughout  Europe — was 
removed  further  westward  to  Knightsbridge,  where 
we  shall  come  to  it  shortly. 

The  public  days  at  old  "Tattersall's"  were  the 
Mondays  in  each  week  through  the  year,  with  the 
addition  of  Thursday  during  the  height  of  the 
season.  The  horses  of  the  chief  sale,  that  of  the 
Monday,  arrived  on  the  Friday  previous.  "  When 
the  settling-times  arrive,"  observes  a  writer  in  the 
Penny  Magazine  for  1831,  "great  is  the  bustle  and 
excitement  that  prevails  throughout  Tattersall's. 
Vehicles  of  all  kinds  dash  to  and  fro  in  incessant 
motion,  or  linger  altogether  inactive  in  rows  about 
the  neighbourhood,  while  their  masters  are  bidding 
for  a  good  hunter  or  a  pair  of  carriage-horses. 
A  more  motley  assemblage  than  the  buyers  or 
lookers-on  at  such  times  it  would  be  impossible  to 
find.  Noblemen  and  ambitious  costermongers, 
bishops  and  blacklegs,  horse-breeders,  grooms, 
jockeys,  mingling  promiscuously  with  the  man  of 
retired  and  studious  habits  fond  of  riding  and 
breeding  the  wherewithal  to  ride ;  tradesmen  about 
to  set  up  their  little  pleasure-chaise  or  business- 


proprietor  himself  to  procure  for  the  nobles  and    cart ;  and  commercial  travellers,  whose  calling  has 
gentry   of  the  Continent   fresh   supplies  for   their    inoculated  them  with   a  passion  for  dabbling  in 


studs  of  the  finest  English  horses.  The  building 
itself,  at  the  back,  occupied  part  of  the  grounds  of 
Lanesborough  House.  The  entry  was  through  an 
arched  passage  and  down  an  inclined  "  drive,"  at  the 
bottom  of  which  was  a  public-house  or  "  tap,"  desig- 
nated "  The  Turf,"  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
throngs  of  grooms,  jockeys,  and  poorer  horse-dealers 


horseflesh,  and  who,  in  their  inns  on  the  road,  talk 
with  great  gusto  and  decision  of  all  that  pertains 
to  Tattersall's,  on  the  strength  of  some  occasional 
half-hour's  experience  in  the  court-yard." 

Richard  Tattersall,  the  founder  of  the  above 
establishment,  was  training-groom  to  the  last  Duke 
of  Kingston,  brother  of  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Mon- 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Bclgrav 


tagu,  and  husband  of  the  notorious  duchess.  On 
the  death  of  his  patron,  in  1773,  he  appears  to  have 
opened  his  auction-mart ;  but  the  foundation  of  his 
fortune  was  laid  by  his  purchase  of  the  racehorse 
"  Highflyer,"  for  the  enormous  sum  of  £2,500,  and, 
it  is  supposed,  on  credit— an  evidence  of  the  high 
character  for  integrity  which  he  must  have  already 
acquired.  "  Of  his  personal  qualities,"  it  has  been 
observed,  "'perhaps  the  establishment  itself  is  the 
best  testimony;  what  Tattersali's  is  now,  it  seems  to 


and  extended  as  far  as  the  Alexandra  Hotel. 
Here  Dr.  Parr  used  to  stay  when  he  came  up  to 
London  from  his  parsonage  at  Hatton.  Here, 
too,  lived  for  some  years  John  Liston,  the  come- 
dian, who  had  removed  hither  after  his  retirement 
from  the  stage.  "  He  had  long  outlived  the  use  of 
his  faculties,"  writes  Leigh  Hunt,  "and  used  to 
stand  at  his  window  at  'the  Corner'  sadly  gazing 
at  the  tide  of  human  existence  which  was  going  by, 
and  which  he  had  once  helped  to  enliven."  Mr. 


have  essentially  been  from  the  very  outset — a  place 
where  men  of  honour  might  congregate  without 
breathing,  or,  at  all  events,  in  but  a  greatly  lessened 
degree,  the  pestilential  vapour  that  usually  but  too 
often  surrounds  the  stable ;  where  men  of  taste 
might  enjoy  the  glimpses  afforded  of  the  most 
beautiful  specimens  of  an  exquisitely  beautiful 
race,  without  being  perpetually  disgusted  with  the 
worst  of  all  things — that  of  the  jockey  or  horse- 
dealer."  We  shall  have  more  to  say  of  "  Tatter- 
sail's,"  however,  when  we  come  to  Knightsbridge. 

St.  George's  Place,  or  Terrace,  now  a  series  of 
princely  mansions,  was,  till  lately,  a  long  row  of 
low  brick  houses,  of  only  one  or  two  storeys,  on 
the  west  side  of  the  hospital,  fronting  Hyde  Park, 


Planche,  who  was  one  of  his  most  intimate  friends, 
writes  thus  of  this  singular  monomaniac :  "  His 
sole  occupation  was  sitting  all  day  long  at  the 
window  of  his  residence,  timing  the  omnibuses, 
and  expressing  the  greatest  distress  and  displeasure 
if  any  of  them  happened  to  be  late.  This  had 
become  a  sort  of  monomania ;  his  spirits  had  com- 
pletely forsaken  him.  He  never  smiled  or  entered 
into  conversation,  and  eventually  he  sunk  into  a 
lethargy,  from  which  he  woke  no  more  in  this 
world." 

In  this  terrace,  probably,  was  the  school  to  which 
Pope  was  sent  at  ten  or  eleven  years  of  age,  and 
where,  as  he  tells  us,  he  forgot  nearly  all  that  he 
had  learnt  from  his  first  instructor,  a  worthy  priest ; 


Belgravia.1 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Bdgravia. 


and  it  is  to  his  stay  at  this  school  that  the  poet  thus 
refers  later  in  life  : — 

"  Soon  as  I  enter  at  my  country  door, 
My  mind  resumes  the  thread  it  dropt  before  ; 
Thoughts,  which  at  Hyde  Park  Corner  I  forgot, 
Meet  and  rejoin  me  in  my  pensive  grot." 

The  Alexandra  Hotel,  which  covers  the  ground 
formerly  occupied  by  some  half-dozen  of  the  houses 
in  St.  George's  Place,  is  one  of  the  most  important 
and  largest  hotels  in  the  metropolis.  It  was  built 
shortly  after  the  marriage  of  the  Prince  of  Wales 
with  the  Princess  Alexandra  of  Denmark,  after 
whom  it  is  named.  The  hotel  is  largely  patronised 
by  families  of  distinction  from  the  country,  and 
also  by  foreign  notabilities,  who,  during  their  stay 
in  London,  desire  to  be  within  easy  reach  of  the 
Court  and  the  principal  quarters  of  the  West  End. 
A  few  short  yards  westward  beyond  the  Alexandra 
Hotel  the  roadway  enters  Knightsbridge,  which  we 
shall  deal  with  in  the  next  chapter. 

The  old  toll-gate  at  Hyde  Park  Corner,  between 
Piccadilly  and  Knightsbridge,  considerably  nar- 
rowed the  entrance  into  Piccadilly  at  its  western 
end ;  and  its  removal,  as  we  have  mentioned  in  our 
account  of  that  thoroughfare,*  was  a  great  improve- 
ment not  only  to  Piccadilly  itself,  but  to  Knights- 
bridge as  well.  Our  illustration  (see  page  10) 
shows  the  auctioneer  in  the  act  of  brandishing  his 
hammer,  and  exclaiming,  de  more,  "  Once,  twice, 
thrice  !  Going,  going,  gone  !  "  to  the  great  satis- 
faction, no  doubt,  of  the  speculative  contractor 
who  purchased  the  old  materials  in  order  to  mend 
the  roads. 

Grosvenor  Place  forms  the  eastern  boundary  of 
Belgravia,  extending  southward  from  St.  George's 
Hospital,  and  overlooking  the  gardens  of  Bucking- 
ham Palace,  of  which  we  have  already  spoken.  It 
was  till  recently  described  as  "  a  pleasant  row  of 
houses,"  mostly  built  during  the  Grenville  Adminis- 
tration, in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century. 
"  When  George  III.  was  adding  a  portion  of  the 
Green  Park  to  the  new  garden  at  Buckingham 
House,"  says  Mr.  Peter  Cunningham,  quoting  from 
Walpole's  "  George  III.,"  "  the  fields  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  road  were  to  be  sold,  at  the  price 
of  ,£20,000.  This  sum  Grenville  refused  to  issue 
from  the  Treasury.  The  ground  was  consequently 
leased  to  builders,  and  a  new  row  of  houses,  over- 
looking the  king  in  his  private  walks,  was  erected, 
to  his  great  annoyance." 

Lord  Hatherton  removed,  in  1830,  from  Port- 
man  Square  to  a  house  in  Grosvenor  Place,  which 
Macaulay  terms  a  palace.  Macaulay  tells  about 

*  See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  390. 


this  neighbourhood  a  good  story,  which  would  not 
gratify  the  pride  of  the  head  of  the  house  of  Gros- 
venor. "  When  Lord  Hatherton  changed  his  resi- 
dence his  servants  gave  him  warning,  as  they  could 
not,  they  said,  go  into  such  an  unheard-of  part  of 
the  world  as  Grosvenor  Place.  I  can  only  say 
that  I  have  never  been  in  a  finer  house."  Verily 
there  is  as  much  truth  to-day,  as  there  was  two 
thousand  years  ago,  in  the  old  Roman  satirist's 
line— 

"  Maxima  quseque  domus  servis  est  plena  superbis." 

Lord  Hatherton  continued  to  reside  here  for  many 
years.  He  had  a  choice  gallery  of  paintings,  which 
are  mentioned,  in  some  detail,  by  Dr.  Waagen, 
in  his  work  on  "  Art  and  Artists  in  England." 

During  the  years  1873-76  the  appearance  of  a 
great  part  of  this  street  was  totally  changed.  In 
place  of  some  dozen  or  so  houses  of  ordinary 
appearance,  which  formerly  stood  at  the  north  end, 
five  princely  mansions  have  been  erected,  in  the 
most  ornate  Italian  style ;  one  of  these  is  occu- 
pied by  the  Duke  of  Grafton,  and  another  by 
the  Duke  of  Northumberland,  since  his  expulsion 
from  Charing  Cross.  Lower  down  is  the  residence 
of  the  head  of  the  Rothschild  family.  In  the 
adjoining  house  lived  for  some  time  the  late  Earl 
Stanhope  (better  known  by  his  courtesy  title  of 
Lord  Mahon),  the  historian  and  essayist,  author 
of  a  "  History  of  the  War  of  the  Succession  in 
Spain,"  "  A  History  of  England,  from  the  Peace 
of  Utrecht,"  and  other  works.  Lord  Stanhope, 
who  was  many  years  President  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries,  was  grandson  of  the  inventor  of  the 
Stanhope  printing-press. 

At  the  southern  end,  in  Hobart  Place,  formerly 
Grosvenor  Street  West,  was  an  inn  called  "The 
Feathers,"  about  which  a  good  story  is  told  by  Mr. 
J.  Larwood  in  his  "  History  of  Sign-boards  :  " — 
"  A  lodge  of  Odd  Fellows  was  held  at  this  house, 
into  the  private  chamber  of  which  George  Prince 
of  Wales  one  night  intruded  very  abruptly,  with  a 
roystering  friend.  The  society  at  that  moment  was 
celebrating  some  of  its  awful  mysteries,  which  no 
uninitiated  eye  might  behold,  and  these  were  wit- 
nessed by  the  profane  intruders.  The  only  way  to 
repair  the  sacrilege  was  to  make  the  Prince  and  his 
companion  'Odd  Fellows' — a  title  which  they  cer- 
tainly deserved  as  richly  as  any  members  of  the  club. 
The  initiatory  rites  were  quickly  gone  through,  and 
the  Prince  was  chairman  for  the  remainder  of  the 
evening.  In  1851  the  old  public-house  was  pulled 
down,  and  a  new  gin-palace  built  on  its  site,  in  the 
parlour  of  which,"  adds  Mr.  Larwood,  "  the  chair 
used  by  the  distinguished  '  Odd  Fellow '  is  still 
preserved,  along  with  a  portrait  of  his  Royal  High- 


BELGRAVE  SQUARE. 


ness  in  the  robes  of  the  order."  Another  public- 
house  in  Grosvenor  Street  perpetuated,  writes  Mr. 
J.  Larwood,  the  well-known  fable  of  the  "  Wolf 
and  the  Lamb,"  which  was  pictured  by  a  sign  repre- 
senting a  lion  and  a  kid.  The  house  was  known 
as  the  "  Lion  and  Goat." 

At  the  bottom  of  Grosvenor  Place,  and  reaching 
to  Buckingham  Palace  Road,  is  a  large  triangular 
piece  of  ground,  intersected  by  a  part  of  Ebury 
Street,  and  covered  with  lofty  and  handsomely- 
constructed  houses,  known  respectively  as  Gros- 
venor Gardens  and  Belgrave  Mansions.  On  the 
east  side  of  this  triangular  plot  is  Arabella  Row, 
one  side  of  which  is  occupied  by  the  royal  stables 
of  Buckingham  Palace,  which  we  have  already  de- 
scribed.* This  row  was  once,  not  so  very  long  ago, 
well  tenanted.  Among  others,  here  lived  Lord 
Erskine,  after  he  had  ceased  to  hold  the  seals  as 
Lord  Chancellor.  His  lordship,  who  held  them 
only  a  year,  was  not  only  an  orator,  but  a  wit,  as 
the  following  anecdote  will  show  :— Captain  Parry 
was  once  at  dinner  in  his  company,  when  Lord 
Erskine  asked  him  what  he  and  his  crew  lived  upon 
in  the  Frozen  Sea.  Parry  said  that  they  lived 
upon  seals.  "  And  capital  things,  too,  seals  are,  if 
you  only  keep  them  long  enough,"  was  the  reply. 
One  of  the  houses  in  Arabella  Row  is  the  official 
Residence  of  the  Queen's  Librarian  at  Windsor 
Castle. 

At  the  corner  of  Arabella  Row  and  Buckingham 
Palace  Road,  is  a  public-house,  rejoicing  in  the 
once  common  sign  of  the  "  Bag  o'  Nails"— a  per- 
version of  "  The  Bacchanals  "  of  Ben  Jonson. 
"About  fifty  years  ago,"  writes  the  author  of 
"Tavern  Anecdotes,"  in  1825,  "the  original  sign 
might  have  been  seen  at  the  front  of  the  house . 
it  was  a  Satyr  of  the  Woods,  with  a  group  of  '  jolly 
dogs,'  ycleped  Bacchanals.  But  the  Satyr  having 
been  painted  black,  and  with  cloven  feet,  it  was 
called  by  the  common  people  'The  Devil;'  while 
the  Bacchanalian  revellers  were  transmuted,  by  a 
comic  process,  into  the  '  Bag  of  Nails.'" 

In  Grosvenor  Row,  a  thoroughfare  which  ha 
disappeared  in  the  march  of  modern  improvement 
that  have  recently  taken  place  in  this  neighbour 
hood,  was  another  inn,  "The  Three  Compasses, 
well  known  as  a  starting-point  for  the  Pimlic 
omnibuses.  It  was  generally  known  as  the  "Goa 
and  Compasses"— possibly  a  corruption  of  th 
text,  "  God  encompasseth  us ;"  though  Mr.  P.  Cun 
ningham  sees  in  it  a  reproduction  of  the  arms  o 
the  Wine  Coopers'  Company,  as  they  appear  on 
vault  in  the  Church  of  S.  Maria  di  Capitolo,  a 


'  See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  69. 


Cologne— a  shield,  with  a  pair  of  compasses,  an 
axe,  and  a  dray,  or  truck,  with  goats  for  supporters. 
'  In  a  country  like  England,  dealing  so  much  at 
one  time  in  Rhenish  wine,  a  more  likely  origin," 
he  observes,  "could  hardly  be  imagined."  Mr. 
Larwood,  however,  points  out  that  possibly  the 
"  Goat "  was  the  original  sign,  and  that  the  host 
afterwards  added  the  Masonic  "  Compasses,"  as  is 
often  done  now. 

Belgrave  Square,  into  which  we  now  pass,  was 
so  named  after  the  Viscountcy  of  Belgrave,  the 
second  title  of  Earl  Grosvenor  before  he  was  raised 
to  his  superior  titles.  It  was  built  in  the  year  1825, 
and  covers  an  area  of  about  ten  acres.  It  was 
designed  by  George  Basevi,  the  detached  mansions 
at  the  angles  being  the  work  of  Hardwick,  Kendall, 
and  others.  It  is  nearly  700  feet  in  length  by  a 
little  over  600.  The  houses  are  uniform,  except 
the  large  detached  mansions  at  the  angles.  Those 
in  the  sides  are  adorned  with  Corinthian  columns 
and  capitals. 

Belgrave  Square  has  always  been  occupied  by 
the  heads  of  the  highest  titled  nobility,  and  by 
many  foreigners  of  distinction.      Lord   Ellesmere 
ved  here  till  he  built  Bridgewater  House.    Among 
her  notabilities  who  have  resided  here  may  be 
amed  the  first  Lord  Combermere,  Sir  Roderick 
Murchison,    the    geologist,    Sir    Charles    Wood, 
fterwards  Lord  Halifax,  and  General  Sir  George 
Murray,  who  acted  as  Quartermaster-General  to  the 
jritish  army  during  the  Peninsular  War.     At  the 
outh-west  corner  lived  for  some  years  another  dis- 
nguished  General,  Lord  Hill,  the  hero  of  Almarez. 
n  this  square  the  Count  de  Chambord  and  his 
lother  held  their  court,  during  a  short  visit  which 
hey  paid   to   England   in    1843.      The   Austrian 
Embassy  has  been  for  several  years  located  in  this 
quare. 

In  Chapel  Street,  which  runs  from  the  south-east 
corner  of  Belgrave  Square  into  Grosvenor  Place, 
esided  Mr.  Richard  Jones,  a  teacher  of  elocution, 
generally  known  as  "Gentleman  Jones,"  who  is 
mentioned  by  Lord  William  Lennox,  and  by 
nearly  all  the  writers  of  modern  London  anecdote. 
Here  he  used  to  have  scores  of  pupils  practising 
"or  the  pulpit,  the  bar,  or  the  senate.  "  Under  his 
able  tuition,"  says  Lord  W.  Lennox,  "many  a 
reverend  gentleman,  who  mumbled  over  the  service, 
became  a  shining  light ;  many  an  embryo  lawyer, 
who  spoke  as  if  he  had  a  ball  of  worsted  in  his 
mouth,  became  a  great  orator ;  and  many  a  member 
of  Parliament,  who  '  hummed  and  hawed,'  and  was 
unintelligible  in  the  gallery,  turned  out  a  dis- 
tinguished speaker." 

Eccleston  Street  derives  its  name  from  Eccleston, 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Belgrava. 


in  Cheshire,  where  the  Grosvenors  own  a  property. 
The  large  house  at  the  corner  of  this  street  was 
for  many  years  the  residence  of  Sir  Francis 
Chantrey,  the  sculptor.  He  was  born  at  Norton, 
near  Sheffield,  in  1781,  and,  as  a  boy,  used  to 
ride  a  donkey,  carrying  milk  into  the  town.  "  On 
a  certain  day,  when  returning  home  upon  his 
donkey,  Chantrey  was  observed  by  a  gentleman 
to  be  very  intently  engaged  in  cutting  a  stick  with 


There  is,  or  was,  in  it  a  small  gallery  with  a  lanthorn, 
by  Sir  John  Soane.  Sir  F.  Chantrey  was  pronounced 
by  the  "  Foreigner,"  who  is  known  as  the  author  ol 
"  An  Historical  and  Literary  Tour  in  England,"  to 
be  the  only  English  sculptor  of  his  age  who  was 
distinguished  by  true  originality,  though  still  young 
in  reputation. 

Macaulay  tells  a   good  story  of  him,  and  one 
most  creditable  to  his  magnanimity,  which  kept  him 


his  penknife.  Excited  by  his  curiosity,  he  asked 
the  lad  what  he  was  doing,  when,  with  great  sim- 
plicity of  manner,  but  with  courtesy,  the  lad  replied, 
'  I  am  cutting  old  FoxJs  head.'  Foxe  was  the 
schoolmaster  of  the  village.  On  this,  the  gentleman 
asked  to  see  what  he  had  done,  pronounced  it  to 
be  an  excellent  likeness,  and  presented  the  youth 
with  sixpence;  and  this  may,  perhaps,  be  reckoned 
the  first  money  which  Chantrey  ever  obtained  for 
his  ingenuity." 

He  took  up  his  residence  here  shortly  after 
his  marriage  in  jSog.  The  house  was  then  two 
separate  residences— Nos.  29  and  30,  Lower  Bel- 
grave  Place — but  Chantrey  threw  the  two  houses 
into  one,  and  named  them  anew  as  part  of  Eccle- 
ston  Street..  In  the  studios  at  the  back,  all  his  best 
works— his  bust  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  his  "Sleeping 
Children,"  and  his  statue  of  Watt — were  executed. 


(Seepage?,.} 


from  being  ashamed  of  his  early  struggles  in  life. 
When  Chantrey  dined  with  Rogers,  he  took  par- 
ticular notice  of  a  certain  vase,  and  of  the  table  on 
which  it  stood,  and  asked  Rogers  who  made  the 
latter.  "  A  common  carpenter,"  said  Rogers.  "  Do 
you  remember  the  making  of  it  ?  "  asked  Chantrey. 
"  Certainly,"  replied  Rogers,  in  some  surprise ;  "  I 
was  in  the  room  while  it  was  finished  with  the 
chisel,  and  gave  the  workmen  directions  about 
placing  it."  "  Yes,"  said  Chantrey,  "  I  was  the 
carpenter ;  I  remember  the  room  well,  and  all  the 
circumstances."  Chantrey  died  at  the  close  of  the 
year  1841  :  he  expired  whilst  sitting  in  an  easy- 
chair  in  his  drawing-room.  By  his  will  Sir  Francis 
left  a  considerable  sum  to  the  Royal  Academy,  to 
be  devoted  to  endowing  the  Presidentship  of  that 
institution,  and  in  other  ways  to  "the  encourage- 
ment of  British  Fine  Art  in  Painting  and  Sculp 


Belgravia.] 


EATON   SQUARE. 


ture,"  the  bequest  to  take  effect  on  the  death  o: 
second  marriage  of  his  wife.  Lady  Chantrey  diec 
in  1875,  when  the  above  legacy,  which  had  gon 
on  accumulating,  became  available  for  the  purposes 
to  which  it  was  to  be  devoted. 

On  the  north-west  side  of  Belgrave  Square  ar 
Wilton  Crescent  and  Wilton  Place.  In  the  latter 
which  opens  into  Knightsbridge  Road,  a  little  west 
•ward  of  the  Alexandra  Hotel,  is  St.  Paul's  Church 
which  is  deserving  of  notice,  from  the  fact  of  its 
clergy  having  always  been  prominent  leaders  o 
the  Ritualistic  or  extreme  "high  church"  party 
The  first  incumbent  was  the  Rev.  W.  J.  E.  Bennett 
who  was  succeeded  by  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Rober 
Liddell,  and  he  by  Lord  Russell's  son-in-law,  Mr 
Villiers.  The  church,  which  was  consecrated  in 
1 843,  is  built  in  the  Early  Perpendicular  style,  and 
was  erected  at  a  cost  of  £i  1,000.  It  consists  only 
of  a  nave  and  chancel,  and  a  lofty  tower  crowned 
with  eight  pinnacles ;  the  windows  are  filled  with 
stained  glass,  and  the  interior  is  rich  in  ornamenta- 
tion. This  church  has  been  the  scene  of  many 
a  strong  conflict  between  the  parishioners  and  the 
incumbent  respecting  the  ceremonials  carried  on 
here,  which  culminated  in  one  of  the  vestrymen, 
more  courageous  than  the  rest — a  Mr.  Westerton — 
bringing  the  matter  in  dispute  before  the  courts  of 
law. 

Between  Motcomb,  Lowndes,  and  Kinnerton 
Streets,  all  of  which  are  on  the  western  side  of  the 
square,  is  a  large  building,  called  the  Pantechnicon, 
used  of  late  years  for  storing  furniture,  carriages, 
works  of  art,  &c.  It  was  originally  built  about  the 
year  1834,  as  a  bazaar,  and  was  established  prin- 
cipally for  the  sale  of  carriages  and  household 
furniture.  There  was  also  a  "wine  department," 
consisting  of  a  range  of  dry  vaults  for  the  reception 
and  display  of  wines;  and  the  bazaar  contained 
likewise  a  "  toy  department."  The  building,  which 
covered  about  two  acres,  was  burnt  to  the  ground 
in  1874,  when  a  large  quantity  of  valuable  property 
was  destroyed.  The  work  of  rebuilding  was  soon 
afterwards  commenced,  the  new  structure  being 
erected  on  detached  blocks,  and  of  fire-proof 
materials,  so  that  the  chances  of  the  building  being 
again  destroyed  in  a  similar  way  are  considerably 
reduced. 

Halkin  Street,  on  the  northern  side  of  the 
square,  was  so  called  from  Halkin  Castle,  in  Flint- 
shire, one  of  the  seats  of  the  ducal  owner.  In  this 
street  is  a  chapel,  which  has  been  since  1866  used 
by  the  Presbyterian  body.  The  building  is  some- 
what singular  in  shape,  neither  square  nor  oblong, 
the  end  opposite  the  entrance  being  considerably 
wider  than  the  other. 


Connecting  the  south-east  corner  of  Belgrave 
Square  with  Ebury  Street,  and  skirting  the  east 
ends  of  Eaton  and  Chester  Squares,  are  Upper  and 
Lower  Belgrave  Streets.  In  the  former,  in  1842, 
the  Earl  of  Munster  committed  suicide.  He  was 
the  eldest  son  of  William  IV.  by  Mrs.  Jordan. 
He  married  Miss  Wyndham,  one  of  the  natural 
daughters  of  Lord  Egremont,  with  whom  he  had 
a  fortune  of  ,£40,000  or  ,£50,000.  He  had  the 
place  of  Constable  of  Windsor  Castle,  which  was 
continued  to  him  by  the  Queen,  and  he  had  just 
been  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  troops  at 
Plymouth,  with  which  he  was  much  pleased.  Mr. 
Raikes,  in  his  "Journal,"  speaks  of  him  as  "a  very 
amiable  man  in  private  life,  not  without  some 
talent,  and  given  to  study  Eastern  languages."  As 
Colonel  Fitz-Clarence,  he  had  shown  great  bravery 
and  energy  in  arresting  the  leaders  of  the  Cato 
Street  conspiracy.  He  was  raised  to  a  peerage  on 
his  father's  accession  to  the  throne. 

Eaton  Square  was  designed  and  built  by  Messrs. 
Cubitt  in  1827.  It  was  named  after  Eaton  Hall,  in 
Cheshire,  the  principal  seat  of  the  Duke  of  West- 
minster. It  occupies  an  oblong  piece  of  ground, 
and  the  centre  is  divided  by  roadways  into  six 
separate  enclosures.  No.  71  was  for  some  time, 
during  the  rebuilding  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament, 
the  official  residence  of  the  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  Most  of  the  mansions,  in  fact,  have 
at  different  times  been  occupied  by  members  of 
one  or  other  division  of  the  Legislature.  No.  75 
was  for  many  years  the  residence  of  the  late  Mr. 
Ralph  Bernal,  M.P.  for  Rochester,  and  Chairman 
of  Committees  in  the  House  of  Commons.  He 
was  a  distinguished  antiquary  and  connoisseur,  and 
made  here  his  superb  collection  of  works  of  art, 
including  china,  armour,  articles  of  virtu,  and  anti- 
quities of  every  description,  the  sale  of  which,  occu- 
pying thirty-two  days,  was  one  of  the  "  events  "  of 
the  season  of  1855. 

At  No.  83  lived,  during  the  closing  years  of  his 
ife,  the  late  Lord  Truro.  The  son  of  an  attorney 
on  College  Hill,  in  London,  Thomas  Wilde  began 
fe  in  his  father's  office ;  but  having  afterwards 
studied  for  the  higher  branch  of  the  profession,  he 
ras,  at  the  age  of  thirty-five,  called  to  the  bar  at 
the  Inner  Temple.  In  1820  he  was  engaged  as 
me  of  the  counsel  for  Queen  Caroline  on  her 
'  trial "  in  the  House  of  Lords,  which,  doubtless, 
>rought  him  a  handsome  fee ;  and  he  is  said  to 
lave  had  a  retaining  fee  of  3,000  guineas  in  the 
case  of  the  British  Iron  Company  against  Mr.  John 
\ttwood.  Before  his  accession  to  the  Upper 
Jouse  on  being  made  Lord  Chancellor,  he  sat 
n  the  House  of  Commons  as  member  for  Newark 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Belgravi: 


and  also  for  the  City  of  Worcester.  He  died  in 
.  1855,  immensely  rich,  having  married,  as  his  second 
wife,  a  daughter  of  the  late  Duke  of  Sussex. 

At  the   east   end   of  the  square  is  St.  Peter's 
Church,  an  Ionic  building  designed  by  Hakewill, 


western  end  of  the  square,  was  erected  in  1844, 
the  foundation-stone  being  laid  by  Earl  Grosvenor, 
father  of  the  present  Duke  of  Westminster  ;  and  it 
was  built  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  Thomas  Cundy 
in  the  Decorated  style  of  the  fourteenth  century. 


INTERIOR   OF  THE  COU 


and  consecrated  in  1827.  The  altar-piece,  "Christ 
crowned  with  thorns,"  was  painted  by  W.  Hilton, 
R.A.,  and  presented  to  the  church  by  the  British 
Institution. 

Chester  Square,  which  almost  abuts  upon  the 
north  side  of  Eaton  Square,  was  commenced  about 
the  year  1840,  and  was  so  called  after  the  City  of 
Chester,  near  which  place  Eaton  Hall  is  situated. 
The  picturesque  Gothic  church  of  St.  Michael, 
which  stands  in  a  commanding  position  at  the 


(See  page  5.) 


Its  principal  external  feature  is  the  tower,  with  a 
lofty  spire,  which,  till  some  additions  to  the  body  of 
the  church  were  made  in  1874,  appeared  to  be 
somewhat  out  of  proportion  to  the  remainder  of 
the  fabric. 

Ebury  Street  and  Ebury  Square  were  so  called 
from  Ebury  or  Eabery  Farm,  which  stood  on  this 
site.  The  farm  embraced  upwards  of  400  acres, 
meadow  and  pasture,  and  was  let  on  lease  by 
Queen  Elizabeth  for  the  sum  of  £21  per  annum, 


Belgravia.] 


LOWNDES   SQUARE. 


to  a  person  named  Whashe,  by  whom,  as  Strype 
tells  us,  "  the  same  was  let  to  divers  persons,  who, 
for  their  private  commodity,  did  inclose  the  same 
and  had  made  pastures  of  arable  land ;  thereby 
not  only  annoying  her  Majesty  in  her  walks  and 
passages,  but  to  the  hindrance  of  her  game,  and 
great  injury  to  the  common,  which  at  Lammas  was 
wont  to  be  laid  open."  In  Ebury  Street  there  was 
formerly  an  open-air  skating-rink  and  club-house, 


Chesham,  in  Buckinghamshire,  the  ground  landlord, 
a  descendant  of  William  Lowndes,  Secretary  to  the 
Treasury  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne."  "The 
site  of  this  square,"  as  Mr.  John  Timbs  informs  us, 
"  was  once  a  coppice,  which  supplied  the  Abbot 
and  Convent  of  Westminster  with  wood  for  fuel.'' 

Lowndes  Square  has  numbered  among  its  resi- 
dents at  different  times  men  who  have  distinguished 
themselves  in  their  several  walks  of  life.  Of  them 


called  the  '"  Belgravia.''  Its  career,  however,  was 
but  of  short  duration,  as  the  skating-rink  mania 
soon  passed  away.  The  Manor  House  of  the 
Eabury  Estate  stood  between  Hobart  Place  and 
the  bottom  of  Grosvenor  Place. 

The  western  limits  of  Belgravia  are  Lowndes 
Square,  Cadogan  Place,  and  the  few  connecting 
streets  on  the  east  side  of  Sloane  Street.  Lowndes 
Square  itself  dates  from  about  the  year  1838,  when 
it  was  built  on  a  vacant  piece  of  ground,  described 
in  Rocque's  "  Map  of  London  and  its  Environs,"  en- 
graved in  1746,  as  then  belonging  to  "—Lowndes, 
Esq. ; "  and  it  was  so  called,  says  Mr.  Peter  Cun- 
ningham, "after  Mr.  Lowndes,  of  The  Bury,  near 
194 


IA,   ,8.4. 


we  may  mention  Sir  John  Rennie,  the  architect  of 
Xew  London  Bridge  ;  Sir  William  Tito,  another 
distinguished  architect,  and  some  time  M.P.  for 
Bath ;  General  Lord  Airey ;  Thomas  Brassey,  the 
engineer;  and  the  Right  Hon.  Robert  Lowe,  M.P. 
for  London  University. 

At  the  corner  of  Lowndes  Square  and  Cadogan 

:  Place,  we  quit  the  Duke  of  Westminster's  estate. 
Cadogan  Place,  which  occupies  an  extensive  area 

|  of  ground,  is  open  on  the  west  side  to  Sloane  Street. 
It  is  called  after  the  family  of  Lord  Cadogan,  into 
whose  hands  the  manor  of  Chelsea  came,  by  the 
marriage  of  the  first  Lord  Cadogan  with  the  heiress 
of  Sir  Hans  Sloan--. 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


Here   lived    Mr.  and  Mrs.  Zachary    Macaulay  I  the   best   copy  of  Wilson's  celebrated  landscape, 
from  about  1818  to  1823,  when  they  removed  to  l  together  with  the  'Children  of  Niobe,'  formerly  in 

the  possession  of  the  Duke  of  Gloucester." 

Mr.  Wynn  Ellis  died  in  1875,  having  by  his  will 


Great   Ormond  Street,  as  already  stated. 
Cadogan  Place,  the  young  Macaulays  used  to  walk 


a°Sunday— or,  as  they  were  taught  to  call  the  !  left  to  the  nation,  for  exhibition  in  the  National 


day,  the  "  Sabbath  "—across  the  "Five  Fields," 
now  Belgrave  Square,  to  the  Lock  Chapel,  then 
situated  in  Grosvenor  Place. 

In  a  house  in  Cadogan  Place,  on  the  29th  of 
July,  1833,  died  William  Wilberforce,  the  eminent 
philanthropist,  many  years  M.P.  for  Yorkshire,  who 


Gallery,  his  large  collection  of  the  works  of  the  old 
masters.  These  alone  number  some  four  or  five 
hundred.  The  mere  mention  of  the  names  of 
certain  of  the  artists  tell  their  own  tale  ;  for  among 
the  collection  there  are  more  than  one  painting,  in 
some  cases  several,  from  the  brushes  of  Raphael, 


is  best  known  for  his  devotion  to  the  abolition  of  :  Rubens,  Murillo,  Claude,  Van  der  Velde,  Hobbima, 
the  slave-trade.  There  is  something  peculiarly  Holbein,  Guido,  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  the  Poussins, 
touching  in  the  fact  that  Wilberforce  died—fe/ix  !  and  a  score  of  others.  Mr.  Ellis's  collection  of 


opportunitate  mortis — just  as  the  abolition  of  the 
slave-trade  was  in  the  act  of  being  carried  through 
Parliament,  and  the  last  fetters  struck  from  the 
slaves'  hands  and  feet.  His  funeral  took  place 
on  the  3rd  of  August,  in  Westminster  Abbey. 
On  that  day,  his  friend's  son,  Thomas  Babington 
Macaulay,  writes  : — "  We  have  laid  him  side  by 
side  with  Canning,  at  the  feet  of  Pitt,  and  within 
two  steps  of  Fox  and  Grattan.  He  died  with  the 
promised  land  full  in  view."  Before  the  end  of 
the  next  month  the  British  Parliament  formally 
abolished  slavery  throughout  the  dominions  of  the 
Crown,  and  the  last  touch  was  put  to  the  work  that 
had  consumed  so  many  pure  and  noble  lives.  It 
was  agreed  that  he  should  have  been  buried  in  the 
grave  of  his  friends  the  Stephens,  at  Stoke  Newing- 
ton,  but  the  voice  of  the  country  ruled  otherwise. 
A  subscription  was  immediately  opened  among 
Mr.  Wilberforce's  friends  in  London,  and  his  statue 
has  been  placed  in  Westminster  Abbey.  At  York, 
a  County  Asylum  for  the  Blind  has  been  founded 
in  honour  of  him,  while  his  townsmen  of  Hull 
have  raised  a  column  to  his  memory.  Great  part 
of  our  coloured  population  in  the  West  Indies  went 
into  mourning  at  the  news  of  his  death ;  and  the 
same  was  the  case  at  New  York,  where  also  an 
eulogium  was  pronounced  upon  him  by  a  person 
publicly  selected  for  the  task. 

In  Cadogan  Place  lived  Sir  Herbert  Taylor, 
the  Private  Secretary  and  attached  friend  of  King 
William  IV.  Here,  too,  was  the  last  London 
residence  of  the  celebrated  actress,  Mrs.  Jordan. 
Another  resident  in  Cadogan  Place,  in  more  recent 
times,  was  Mr.  Wynn  Ellis,  of  Tankerton  Castle, 
Whitstable,  formerly  M.P.  for  Leicester.  He  had 
for  many  years  a  mania  for  collecting  pictures, 
chiefly  the  works  of  the  old  masters,  of  which  he 
was  an  excellent  connoisseur.  Dr.  Waagen  (1835), 


works  by  modern  artists  was  brought  to  the  hammer 
at  Christie's,  and  the  sale  formed  one  of  the  events 
of  the  season.  Mr.  Ellis  began  life  as  a  warehouse- 
man on  Ludgate  Hill,  and  accumulated  a  large 
fortune,  many  thousands  of  which  he  left  to  dif- 
ferent charities. 

Of  Sloane  Square,  at  the  south  end  of  Cadogan 
Place,  we  shall  speak  in  a  future  chapter,  when 
dealing  with  Sloane  Street. 

In  a  map  of  London  and  its  neighbourhood, 
published  in  1804,  the  whole  of  the  site  of  Bel- 
gravia,  between  Grosvenor  Place  and  Sloane  Street, 
appears  still  covered  with  fields.  They  are  crossed 
by  "  the  King's  private  road,"  which  is  now  occu- 
pied by  Hobart  Place,  the  roadway  in  the  centre 
of  Eaton  Square,  and  Westbourne  Place,  termi- 
nating in  Sloane  Square.  About  the  centre  ot 
Grosvenor  Place,  at  that  time,  stood  the  Lock 
Hospital  or  Asylum,  which  was  founded  in  1787 
by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Scott,  the  commentator;  a 
little  to  the  south,  at  the  corner  of  the  "  King's 
private  road,"  was  the  Duke's  Hospital.  What  is 
now  Ebury  Street  was  then  an  open  roadway,  called 
Ranelagh  Street,  having  a  few  houses  on  one  side 
only.  Twenty  years  later  the  whole  character  of 
this  locality  was  considerably  changed.  Belgrave 
Square  and  Wilton  Crescent  had  sprung  into 
existence,  as  also  had  Cadogan  Square  and  Cado- 
gan Place,  together  with  a  few  connecting  streets. 
Sir  Richard  Phillips,  in  his  "  Walk  from  London  to 
Ke\\y'  published  in  1817,  speaks  of  the  creeks 
which  at  that  time  ran  from  the  Thames  "  in  the 
swamps  opposite  Belgrave  Place,"  and  adds  that 
they  "  once  joined  the  canal  in  St.  James's  Park, 
and,  passing  through  Whitehall,  formed  by  their 
circuit  the  ancient  isle  of  St.  Peter's.  Their  course," 
he  continues,  "  has  been  filled  up  between  the 
wharf  of  the  water-works  and  the  end  of  the  canal 


in  his  "  Art  and  Artists  in  England,"  mentions  a  I  in  St.  James's  Park,  and  the  isle  of  St.  Peter's  is  no 
visit  paid  by  him  to  Mr.  Wynn  Ellis's  gallery : —  j  longer  to  be  traced."  The  cut  on  the  preceding 
"He  possesses,  besides  many  good  old  pictures,  '  page  shows  the  locality  in  1814. 


A   LOCAL   LEGEND. 


CHAPTER    II. 
KNIGHTSBRIDGE. 

"  Cubat  hie  in  colle  Quirini, 
Hie  extreme  in  Aventino  ;  visendus  uterque  : 
Intervalla  vides  humane  commoda."-^ra«. 

Derivarion  ot  the  Name  of  Knightsbridge—  Early  History  of  the  Locality— The  Old  Bridge— Insecurity  of  the  Roads,  and  Bad  Reputation  of  the 
Innkeepers— Historical  Events  connected  with  Knightsbridge— The  Old  "  Swan"  Inn— Electioneering  Riots-An  Eccentric  Old  Lady— The 
"  Spring  Garden  "  and  the  "  World's  End  "—Knightsbridge  Grove-  Mrs.  Cornelys  as  a  Vendor  of  Asses'  Milk— Albert  Gate— The  "  Fox  and 
•  Bull"— The  French  Embassy— George  Hudson,  the  "Railway  King"— The  Cannon  Brewery— Dunn's  Chinese  Gallery-Trinity  Chapel  and 
the  Lazar  House— "Irregular"  Marriages— Knightsbridge  Barracks-Smith  and  Barber's  Floor-cloth  Manufactory— Edward  Stirling,  the 
"Thunderer"  of  the  Times — Kent  House — Kingston  House— Rutland  Gate — Ennismore  Place — Brompton  Oratory— rJrompton  Church- 
Count  Rumford  and  other  Distinguished  Residents— New  "  TattcrsaH's  "— The  Green— Chalker  House— The  "Rose  and  Crown"  Inn— 
The  "Rising  Sun  "—Knightsbridge  Cattle  Market, 


IN  the  early  Saxon  days,  when  "Chelsey,"  and 
"  Kensing  town,"  and  "  Charing "  were  country 
villages,  there  lay  between  all  three  a  sort  of  "  No 
Man's  Land,"  which  in  process  of  time  came  to  be 


I  wish  no  true  man  to  walk  too  late  without  good 
guard,  as  did  Sir  H.  Knyvett,  Knight,  who  valiantly 
defended  himself,  there  being  assaulted,  and  slew 
the  master  thief  with  his  own  hands."  However, 


called  "  Knightsbridge,"  although  it  never  assumed,  i  in  all  probability  the  name  is  of  older  date  than 
or  even  claimed,  parochial  honours,  nor  indeed  j  either  of  the  above  events ;  therefore  we  may  be 
could  be  said  to  have  had  a  recognised  existence,  content  to  leave  the  question  for  the  solution  ot 
It  was  a  district  of  uncertain  extent  and  limits ;  ;  future  topographers,  merely  remarking  that  whether 
but  it  is,  nevertheless,  our  purpose  to  try  and  "  beat  ,  it  was  originally  "  Knightsbrigg,"  or  "  Kyngesbrigg," 
the  bounds  "  on  behalf  of  its  former  inhabitants.  '  King  Edward  the  Confessor  held  lands  here,  and 
The  name  of  Knightsbridge,  then,  must  be  taken  possibly  may  have  built  a  bridge  for  the  use  of 
as  indicating,  not  a  parish,  nor  yet  a  manor,  but  •  the  monks  of  Westminster,  to  whom  he  devised 
only  a  certain  locality  adjoining  a  bridge  which  '  a  portion  of  his  acres.  That  such  was  the  case 
formerly  stood  on  the  road  between  London  and  we  learn  from  a  charter  preserved  in  the  British 
far  distant  Kensington.  There  is  much  difficulty  Museum,  which  conveyed  to  the  monks  of  West- 
as  to  the  derivation  of  the  name,  for  in  the  time  minster,  along  with  the  manor  of  Chelsea,  "  every 
of  Edward  the  Confessor,  if  old  records  are  ]  third  tree,  and  every  horse-load  of  fruit  grown  in 
correctly  deciphered,  it  was  called  "  Kyngesburig;"  j  an  adjacent  wood  at  Kyngesbyrig,  as  heretofore 
while  some  hundred  years  or  so  later  we  find  it  :  by  law  accustomed." 
spoken  of  as  "  Knightsbrigg,"  in  a  charter  of  \  "  Knightsbridge,"  observes  Mr.  Davis,  in  his 


Herbert,  Abbot  of  Westminster.  A  local  legend, 
recorded  by  Mr.  Davis,  in  his  "  History  of  Knights- 
bridge," says  that :  "  In  ancient  time  certain 
knights  had  occasion  to  go  from  London  to  wage 
war  for  some  holy  purpose.  Light  in  heart,  if 
heavy  in  arms,  they  passed  through  this  district  on 
their  way  to  receive  the  blessing  awarded  to  the 
faithful  by  the  Bishop  of  London  at  Fulham.  For 
some  cause  or  other,  however,  a  quarrel  ensued 


"  History,"  "  is  not  mentioned  in  Domesday  Book, 
neither  are  Westbourne,  or  Hyde,  or  Paddington, 
these  places  being  probably  included  in  the 
surrounding  manors."  Moreover,  we  read  that 
"Knightsbridge  lies  in  the  manor  of  Eia  or  Ea, 
formerly  a  portion  of  Cealcyth  (Chelcheth  or 
Chelsey),  and  now  known  as  Eabury  or  Ebury." 
The  manor  of  Ea,  as  confirmed  to  the  Abbey  of 
Westminster  by  the  Conqueror,  seems  to  have 


between  two  of  the  band,  and  a  combat  was  included  all  the  lands  lying  between  the  West- 
determined  upon  to  decide  the  dispute.  They  i  bourne  on  the  west,  and  the  Tyburn  on  the  east, 
fought  on  the  bridge  which  spanned  the  stream  of  [  from  the  great  road  which  ran  from  Tyburn  towards 


the  Westbourne,  whilst  from  its  banks  the  struggle 
was  watched  by  their  partisans.  Both  fell,  if  the 
legend  may  be  trusted  ;  and  the  place  was  ever 
after  called  Knightsbridge,  in  remembrance  of 
their  fatal  feud." 

Another  possible   derivation   of   the    name    is 
quoted    from    Norden,   the    topographer,    by   the 


Uxbridge  down  to  the  Thames.  Yet,  curiously 
enough,  as  Mr.  Davis  tells  us,  though  given  thus 
early  to  the  Abbey,  the  manor  was  not  included 
in  the  franchise  of  the  city  of  Westminster,  though 
Knightsbridge,  which  lay  partly,  at  least,  beyond  it, 
was  so  included.  The  fact  is  the  more  strange,  as 
a  large  part  of  Knightsbridge  belonged  for  many 


Rev.  M.  Walcott,   in   his  "  Memorials   of  West-  '  centuries,  and  indeed  still  in  theory  belongs,  to  the 

minster : " — "  Kingsbridge,  commonly  called  Stone-  '  parish  of  St.  Margaret,  Westminster. 

bridge,  near  Hyde  Park  Comer,  [is  a  place]  where  |       In  the  course  of  time  the  monks  of  Westminster 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Knightsbridge. 


appear  to  have  claimed  and  exercised  further 
rights  over  this  district,  including  the  holding  of 
market  and  a  fair,  the  erection  of  a  gallows- 
tree,  and  those  of  imprisoning  evil-doers,  and  of 


land  laid  open  to  them  for  the  pasturage  of  their 
cattle.  Be  this  as  it  may,  however,  the  manor 
passed  into  the  hands  first  of  the  Whashes,  or 
Walshes,  and  then  into  those  of  a  family  named 


izing  the  goods  of  condemned  persons  and  run-    Davis,  the  last  male  of  whom,  Alexander  Davis, 
aways.      They  further  appropriated  sundry  lay  fees  !  left  an  only  daughter  and  heiress,  Mary,  who,  in 
•  Knythbrigg,  Padyngton,  Eya,  and  Westbourne, 


irithout  licence  of  the  king."     In  1222  the  Tyburn 


1676,  was  married,  at  St.  Clement  Danes'  Church, 


to  Sir  Thomas  Grosvenor,   into  whose  hands  she 


stream  was  laid  down  as  the  west  boundary  of  i  carried  the  manor,  as  already  stated.  Her  lineal 
that  parish,  excepting  the  hamlet  of  Knightsbridge,  ;  descendants,  it  is  almost  needless  to  state,  are  the 
which  lay  beyond  it.  present  Duke  of  Westminster  and  Lord  Ebury. 

The  manor  of  Ea,  or  Eabury,  was  afterwards  j  The  bridge  which  spanned  the  Westbourne,  and 
included  in  St.  Martin's-in-the-Fields,  when  the  !  gave  its  name  to  the  hamlet  of  Knightsbridge,  is 
latter  was  cut  oft"  from  St.  Margaret's ;  but  when  j  described  by  Strype  as  of  stone,  and  probably  is 
St.  George's,  Hanover  Square,  was  carved  out  of,  the  same  which  lasted  down  to  our  own  day.  It 
St.  Martin's,  in  1724,  both  Knightsbridge  and  stood  where  now  is  Albert  Gate,  and  probably 


Eabury  were  assigned  to  the  parish  of  St.  George's. 
The  rivulet,  however,  being  made  the  western 
boundary  between  St.  George's  parish  and  Chelsea, 
it  came  about  that  Knightsbridge  stands  partly  in 
all  the  three  parishes  above  mentioned.  When  the 
bounds  of  St.  Margaret's  and  other  parishes  were 
beaten,  the  parochial  authorities  passed  through  one 
part  or  other  of  the  hamlet :  and  we  may  be  sure 
that  many  a  Knightsbridge  urchin  was  whipped  at 
the  frontiers  in  order  to  impress  the  exact  limits 
indelibly  on  his  memory.  Indeed,  in  the  parish 
books  of  St.  Margaret's  there  are  several  entries  of 


portions  of  it  are  still  embedded  in  the  high  road  a. 
few  yards  south  of  that  entrance,  and  opposite  to 
Lowndes  Square.  The  stream  is  now  little  more 
than  the  surplus  water  of  the  Serpentine,  which 
passes  here  in  a  covered  drain  under  the  high  road ; 
but  Mr.  Davis  tells  us  that,  as  lately  as  1809,  it 
overflowed  its  banks  so  much  that  the  "  neighbour- 
hood became  a  lake,  and  that  foot-passengers  were 
for  several  days  rowed  from  Chelsea  by  Thames 


In  Thornton's  "Survey  of  London,"  published 
in  1780,  Knightsbridge  is  described  as  "a  village  a 


boatmen." 

As  far  back  as  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  (1361), 
e  find  Knightsbridge  spoken  of  as  "a  town;"  for 
sums  spent  by  the  beadles,  &c.,  at  Knightsbridge,  I  during  the  plague  in  that  reign  a  royal  edict  was 
on  the  "  perambulation."  Knightsbridge  was,  at  j  issued  from  the  Palace  at  Westminster,  to  the  effect 
all  events,  cut  off,  at  a  very  early  date,  from  St.  "  that  all  bulls,  oxen,  hogs,  and  other  grass  crea- 
Margaret's  parish.  It  would  appear,  therefore,  j  tures  to  be  slain  for  the  sustenance  of  the  people, 
that  only  a  portion  of  the  hamlet  was  within  the  !  be  led  as  far  as  the  town  of  Stratford  on  the  one 
manor  of  Ea,  including,  as  nearly  as  possible,  all  ]  side  of  London,  and  the  town  of  Knightsbridge  on 
that  now  forms  the  parish  of  St.  George's,  Hanover  the  other,  to  be  slain." 
Square.  In  Domesday  Book  it  is  given  as  ten 
hides  ;  it  was  afterwards  divided  into  three  manors 

—viz.,  Neyte,  Eabury,  and  Hyde.  The  first-named  j  little  to  the  east  of  Kensington,  with  many  public- 
manor  was  near  the  Thames  ;  and  Hyde,  with  '.  houses  and  several  new  buildings  lately  erected, 
certain  lands  taken  from  Knightsbridge,  formed  but  none  of  them  sufficiently  remarkable  to  admit 
Hyde  Park.  All  these  manors  belonged  to  the  of  particular  description."  Indeed,  it  was  not  till 
Abbey  till  the  Reformation,  when  they  "  escheated  !  quite  the  end  of  the  last  century,  or,  perhaps,  early 
to  "—i.e.,  were  seized  by— the  king.  They  were  in  the  present,  that  Knightsbridge  became  fairly 
afterwards  exchanged  by  his  most  gracious  and  •  joined  on  to  the  metropolis.  A  letter,  in  1783. 
rapacious  majesty  for  the  dissolved  Priory  of  describes  the  place  as  "quite  out  of  London." 
Hurley,  in  Berkshire.  And  so  it  must  have  been,  for  as  late  as  that 

Somehow  or  other,  however,  though  the  time  date,  writes  Mr.  Davis,  "  the  stream  ran  open,  the 
and  the  way  are  not  known,  Knightsbridge  reverted  j  streets  were  unpaved  and  unlighted,  and  a  May- 
to  its  former  owners,  the  Abbey  of  Westminster,  in  !  pole  was  still  on  the  village  green.  It  is  not  ten 
whose  hands  it  has  since  remained,  with  the  ex-  |  years  [he  wrote  in  1854]  since  the  hawthorn  hedge 
ception  of  the  few  years  of  the  Puritan  Protectorate  has  disappeared  entirely  from  the  Gore,  and  the 

though  the  outlying  lands  about  Kensington  Gore    blackbird  and  starling  might  still  be  heard 

passed  into  lay  hands,  as  also  did  the  manor  of !  Few  persons  imagine,  perhaps,  that  within  the 
Eabury,  in  which  it  would  seem  that  there  was  recollection  of  some  who  have  not  long  passed 
abundance  of  game,  and  large  portions  of  waste  j  from  us,  snipes  and  woodcocks  might  occasionally 


THE   DANGERS   OF   THE   ROAD. 


be  found.  Forty  years  since  there  was  neither  a  which  were  fixed  between  London  and  Kensington 
draper's  nor  a  butcher's  shop  between  Hyde  Park  on  both  sides,  and  while  coaches  and  travellers 
Corner  and  Sloane  Street,  and  only  one  in  the  j  were  passing."  Lady  Cowper,  too,  has  the  fol- 
whole  locality  where  a  newspaper  or  writing-paper  i  lowing  entry  in  her  "  Diary,"  in  October,  1715: — 
could  be  bought.  There  was  no  conveyance  to  j  "  I  was  at  Kensington,  where  I  intended  to  stay 
London  but  a  kind  of  stage-coach  ;  the  roads  were  j  as  long  as  the  camp  was  in  Hyde  Park,  the  roads 
dimly  lighted  by  oil ;  and  the  modern  paving  to  be  j  being  so  secure  by  it  that  we  might  come  from 
seen  only  along  Knightsbridge  Terrace.  Till  about  London  at  any  time  of  the  night  without  danger, 


1835  a  watch-house  and  pound  remained  at  the 
east  end  of  Middle  Row ;  and  the  stocks  were  to 
be  seen,  as  late  as  1805,  at  the  end  of  Park-side, 
almost  opposite  the  Conduit." 

The  high  road  which  led  through  Knightsbridge 


which  I  did  very  often." 

It  is  clear,  from  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for 
April,  1740,  that  about  a  quarter  of  a  century  later 
matters  were  as  bad  as  ever.  "  The  Bristol  mail," 
writes  Sylvanus  Urban,  "  was  robbed,  a  little  beyond 


towards  Kensington,  and  so  on  to  Brentford,  was,  Knightsbridge,  by  a  man  on  foot,  who  took  the 
two  centuries  ago,  very  badly  kept  and  maintained,  Bath  and  Bristol  bags,  and,  mounting  the  postboy's 
as  regards  both  its  repairs  and  the  security  of  those  j  horse,  rode  off  towards  London."  Four  years  later 
who  passed  along  it.  There  was  no  lack  of  inns  three  men  were  executed  for  highway  robberies 
about  Knightsbridge ;  but  the  reputation  of  their  committed  here ;  and  in  another  attempted  high- 
keepers  would  not  bear  much  inquiry,  as  it  is  j  way  robbery,  a  little  westward  of  the  bridge  at 
almost  certain  that  they  were  in  league  with  the  j  Knightsbridge,  we  read  of  a  footpad  being  shot 
highwaymen  who  infested  the  road.  As  a  proof  of  dead. 


the  former  part  of  our  assertion,  it  may  be  men- 
tioned that  when  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt  brought  up 


This  being  the  case,  we  need  not  be  surprised  to 
find,  from  the  Morning  Chronicle  of  May  23,  1799, 


his  forces  to  attack  London,  this  was  the  route  by  j  that  it  was  necessary  at  the  close  of  last  century  to 
which  they  came.     "  The  •„  tate  of  the  road,"  we    order  a  party  of  light  horse  to  patrol  every  night 


are  told,  "  materially  added  to  their  discomfiture, 
and  so  great  was  the  delay  thereby  occasioned  that 


the  road  from  Hyde  Park  Corner  to  Kensington  ; 
and  Mr.  Davis,  in  his  work  already  quoted,  states 


the  Queen's  party  were  able  to  make  every  pre-  i  that  persons  then  (1854)  alive  well  remembered 
paration,  and  when  Wyatt's  men  reached  London,  |  when  "  pedestrians  walked  to  and  from  Kensing- 
their  jaded  appearance  gained  them  the  name  of  j  ton  in  bands  sufficient  to  ensure  mutual  protec- 
•  Draggle-tails.' ''  In  this  condition,  however,  things  i  tion,  starting  on  their  journey  only  at  known 
remained  for  more  than  a  century  and  a  half;  for,  intervals,  of  which  a  bell  gave  due  warning."  It 
in  1736,  when  the  Court  had  resided  at  Kensington  .  would,  however,  be  unfair  to  suppose  that  Knights- 


for  nearly  fifty  years,  Lord  Hervey  writes  to  his 


this  respect,  was  worse  than  any  other 


mother  thus,  under  date  November  2 7th  : — "  The    suburb  of  London  at  that  time,  as  we  have  already 
road  between  this  place  (Kensington)  and  London  '  shown  in  our  accounts  of  Marvlebone,  Tottenham 


is  grown  so  infamously  bad,  that  we  live  here  in  the 
same  solitude  we  should  do  if  cast  on  a  rock  in  the 
middle  of  the  ocean ;  and  all  the  Londoners  tell 


Court  Road,  and  other  parts. 

In  proof  of  the  bad  character  of  the  innkeepers 
of  Knightsbridge,  we  may  mention  that  Sheffield, 


us  there  is  between  them  and  us  a  great  impassable  j  Duke  of  Buckingham,  tells  us  that  when  about  to 
gulf  of  mud.  There  are  two  roads  through  the  be  engaged  in  a  duel  with  the  Earl  of  Rochester, 
park  ;  but  the  new  one  is  so  convex,  and  the  old  '.  he  and  his  second  "  lay  over-night  at  Knightsbridge 
one  so  concave,  that  by  this  extreme  of  faults  they  i  privately,  to  avoid  being  secured  at  London  upon 
agree  in  the  common  one  of  being,  like  the  high  any  suspicion  ;"  adding,  that  he  and  his  friend 
road,  impassable."  j  "  had  the  appearance  of  highwaymen,  for  which  the 

As  to  the  danger  from  footpads  to  which  tra-    people  of  the  house  liked  us  all  the  better."     So 
vellers  were  exposed  on  the  high   road  between  I  also  in  The  Rehearsal,  written  to  satirise  Dryden, 
Kensington  and  London,  we  will  quote  the  follow-  1  we  find  the  following  dialogue,  the  drift  of  which  is 
ing  proofs.    In  the  register  of  burials  at  Kensing-  j  obvious  :— 
ton  is  the  following  entry,  which  speaks  for  itself:       SmM  .  Bu(  pray>  Mr  Bayes>  is  not  th,s  a  1Me  difficu]t] 


-"1687,    25th    November.—  Thomas     Ridge,     of  I  that  you  were  say 
Portsmouth,  who   was  killed  by  thieves   almost  at  j  cealed  in  Kniglitsbridge  ? 


,  to  keep  an  army  th 


Knightsbridge."  John  Evelyn,  too,  writes  in  his 
"Diary,"  November  25111,  1699:—  "This  week 
robberies  were  committed  between  the  many  lights  j  The  "  wood  at  Kyngesbrigg,"  of  which 


Baya  :  In  Knightsbridge?    No,  not  if  the  innkeeper  be 
his  friends< 

have 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Knightsbridge. 


spoken,  and  which  modern  topographers  identify 
with  the  spot  where  now  stands  Lowndes  Square, 
may  give  us  some  clue  to  the  character  of  the 
neighbourhood  six  or  seven  hundred  years  ago. 
No  doubt,  it  formed  a  portion  of  that  forest  with 
which,  as  we  learn  from  Fitz-Stephen,  London  was 
surrounded  on  almost  every  side.  "It  owned  no 
lord,"  says  Mr.  Davis,  "  and  the  few  inhabitants 
enjoyed  free  chase  and  other  rights  in  it.  It  was 


every  reason  to  believe,  both  from  local  tradition, 
and  also  from  the  helmets,  swords,  &c.,  which 
from  time  to  time  have  been  dug  up  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, that  it  was  the  scene  of  more  than  one 
encounter  between  the  Royal  and  Parliamentary 
forces  in  the  time  of  Charles  I.  Here,  too,  was 
the  house  occupied  by  the  "  infamous "  Lord 
!  Howard,  of  Escrick,  by  whose  perjured  evidence 
so  noble  a  patriot  as  Algernon  Sidney  was  sent  to 


disafforested  by  ordei  of  Henry  III.;  and  in  the  j 
reign  of  his  son,  Edward  I.,  if  we  may  trust  Mr.  I 
Lysons,  Knightsbridge  was  a  manor  belonging  to  the  j 
Abbey.     To  their  lands  here,  in  the  course  of  the 
next  half  century  or  so,  the  monks  added  others  at 
Westbourne,  and  both  were  jointly  erected  into  a 
manor— that  of  '  Knightsbridge  and  Westbourne ' — 
a  name  still  retained  in    legal  documents."      Mr. 
Davis  adds  that  "the  whole  of  the  isolated  parts  of 
St.  Margaret's  parish — including  a  part  of  Kensing- 
ton, its  palace,  and  gardens— are  included  in  this 
manor." 

As  we  have  already  related,  Knightsbridge  was 
the  last  halting-place  of  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt  and 
his  Kentish  followers,  before  his  foolish  assault  on 
London  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary ;  and  there  is 


Collection.     (Sec  page  21.) 


the  block.  Roger  North,  in  his  "Examen,"  tells  us 
that  when  the  Rye  House  Plot  became  known,  the 
king  commanded  that  Howard  should  be  arrested, 
and  that  accordingly  his  house  was  searched  by 
the  Serjeant-at-Arms,  to  whom  he  surrendered  at 
discretion.  He  saved  his  own  life  by  despicably 
turning  round  upon  the  partners  of  his  guilt.  Many 
allusions  to  his  conduct  on  this  occasion  will  be 
found  in  the  satires  and  ballads  of  the  day,  of 
which  the  following  may  be  taken  as  an  average 
specimen  : — 

"  Was  it  not  a  d thing 

That  Russell  and  Hampden 

Should  serve  all  the  projects  of  hot-headed  Tory  ? 
But  much  more  untoward 
To  appoint  my  Lord  Howard 

Ofhis  own  purse  and  credit  to  raise  men  and  money? 


LORD    HOWARD,    OF    ESCRICK. 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Knightsbridge. 


Who  at  Knightsbridge  did  hide 

Those  brisk  boys  unspy'd, 
That  at  Shaftesbury's  whistle  were  ready  to  follow 

But  when  aid  he  should  bring, 

Like  a  irue  Brentford  king, 
He  was  here  with  a  whoop  and  there  with  a  hollo  !  " 

Through  Knightsbridge  passed  the  corpse  of 
Henry  VIII.,  on  its  way  to  its  last  resting-place  at 
Windsor,  The  fact  is  thus  recorded  in  the  parish 
b6oks  of  St.  Margaret's  : — "  Paid  to  the  poor  men 
that  did  here  the  copis  {copes)  and  other  neces- 
saries to  Knightsbridge,  when  that  the  King  was 
brought  to  his  buryal  to  Wynsor,  and  to  the  men 
that  did  ring  the  bells,  3  shillings." 

The  next  historical  event  connected  with  this 
neighbourhood  is  the  intended  assassination  of 
William  III.  by  two  Jacobite  gentlemen — curiously 
enough,  named  Barclay  and  Perkins — in  1694. 
Their  plan  was  to  waylay  the  king  on  his  return  to 
Kensington  from  some  hunting  expedition,  and  to 
shoot  him.  The  plot,  however,  was  revealed  by 
one  of  their  accomplices,  who  met  at  the  "  Swan 
Inn,"  Knightsbridge,  to  arrange  the  time  and  place; 
and  the  two  principals  were  hung  at  Tyburn,  though 
they  never  carried  their  plot  into  execution. 

The  "  Swan,"  two  centuries  ago,  was  an  inn  of 
so  bad  a  reputation,  as  to  be  the  terror  of  jealous 
husbands  and  anxious  fathers,  and  is  often  alluded 
to  as  such  in  some  of  the  comedies  of  the  time ;  as, 
for  instance,  in  Otway's  Soldier  of  Fortune,  where 
Sir  David  Dance  says  :  "  I  have  surely  lost  her 
(my  daughter),  and  shall  never  see  her  more  ;  she 
promised  me  strictly  to  stay  at  home  till  I  crane 
back  again.  .  .  .  For  aught  I  know,  she  may 
be  taking  the  air  as  far  as  Knightsbridge,  with 
some  smooth-faced  rogue  or  another.  Tis  a  bad 
house,  that  Swan  ;  the  Swan  at  Knightsbridge  is  a 
confounded  house."  The  house  has  also  the 
honour,  such  as  it  is,  of  being  mentioned  by  Tom 
Brown  in  his  "  School  Days/'  and  also  by  Peter 
Pindar. 

More  recently,  Knightsbridge  has  gained  some 
celebrity,  as  the  scene  of  one  or  two  passing  riots, 
as,  for  instance,  in  the  year  1768,  on  the  election 
of  Wilkes  for  Middlesex.  "  It  was  customary," 
writes  Mr.  Davis,  "  for  a  London  mob  to  meet  the 
Brentford  mob  in  or  about  Knightsbridge;  and 
as  Wilkes'  opponent  was  riding  through  with  a 
body  of  his  supporters,  one  of  them  hoisted  a  flag, 
on  which  was  inscribed  'No  Blasphemer,'  and 
terrible  violence  instantly  ensued."  Again,  in  1803, 
another  election  riot,  in  which  one  or  two  lives 
were  lost,  took  place  in  the  High  Street,  Sir  Francis 
Burdett  being  the  popular  favourite.  Another  riot 
took  place  here  in  1821,  at  the  funeral  of  two  men 


who  had  been  shot  by  the  soldiers  at  the  funeral 
of  Queen  Caroline. 

It  should,  perhaps,  be  mentioned  here,  in  illus- 
tration of  the  strongly-marked  character  of  the 
nhabitants  of  the  locality,  that  in  the  days  of 
Burdett,  when  politics  ran  high,  •  the  people  of 
Knightsbridge  were  mostly  "  Radicals  of  the  first 
water."  At  that  time  "  Old  Glory,"  as  Sir  Francis 
Burdett  was  called  before  his  conversion  to  Toryism, 
•as  in  every  respect  the  man  of  their  choice  as 
member  for  Westminster.  And  it  was  in  compli- 
ment to  the  inhabitants  of  Knightsbridge,  and  in 
acknowledgment  of  their  support,  that  he  and  his 
colleague,  Sir  John  Hobhouse,  on  one  occasion, 
when  "  chaired,"  chose  to  make  their  start  from 
the  corner  of  Sloane  Street. 

From  a  chance  allusion  in  Butler's  "  Hudibras  " 
to  this  place,  it  may  be  inferred  that  in  the  Puritan 
times  it  formed  the  head-quarters  of  one  of  the 
hundred-and-one  sects  into  which  the  "  religious 
world  "  of  that  day  was  divided ;  for  the  dominant 
faction  are  there  accused  of  having— 

"  Filled  Bedlam  with  predestination 

And  Knightsbridge  with  illumination." 
As  stated  in  the  previous  chapter,  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Knightsbridge  Road  is  about 
fifty  yards  west  of  the  Alexandra  Hotel.  Here, 
at  the  corner  of  the  main  road  and  of  Wilton 
Place,  stood  formerly  a  tobacconist's  shop,  which 
very  much  narrowed  the  thoroughfare,  and  was  not 
removed  till  about  the  year  1840.  It  was  occupied 
by  an  eccentric  old  woman,  a  Mrs.  Dowell,  who 
was  so  extremely  partial  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington, 
that  she  was  constantly  devising  some  new  plan 
by  which  to  show  her  regard  for  him.  She  sent 
him  from  time  to  time  patties,  cakes,  and  other 
delicacies  of  the  like  kind ;  and  as  it  was  found 
impossible  to  defeat  the  old  woman's  pertinacity, 
the  duke's  servants  took  in  her  presents.  To 
such  a  pitch  did  she  carry  her  mania,  that  she  is 
said  to  have  laid  a  knife  and  fork  regularly  for 
him  at  her  own  table  day  by  day,  constantly  ex- 
pecting that  the  duke  would  sooner  or  later  do 

I  her  the  honour   of  dropping   in  and  "  taking  pot 
luck  "  with  her.     In  this  hope,  however,  we  believe 

I  we  may  safely  assert  that  she  was  doomed  to  dis- 
appointment to  the  last. 

At  the  back  of  the  above-mentioned  house  was 
in  former  times  one  of  the  most  noted  suburban 
retreats  in  the  neighbourhood  of  London,  called  the 
"  Spring  Garden,"  a  place  of  amusement  formed  in 
the  grounds  of  an  old  mansion  which  stood  on  the 
north  side  of  what  is  now  Lowndes  Square,  Dr. 

|  King,  of  Oxford,  mentions  it  in  his  diary  as  "an 

j  excellent  spring  garden  ;"  and  among  the  entries 


Knightsbrldge.] 


THE    "WORLD'S   END.' 


of  the  Virtuosi,  or  St.  Luke's  Club,  founded  by 
Vandyck,  is  the  following  item  : — "  Paid— Spent 
at  Spring  Gardens,  by  Knightsbridge,  forfeiture, 
_^3  155."  Pepys  also,  no  doubt,  refers  to  these 
same  gardens  in  his  "  Diary,"  when  he  writes  : — 
"  I  lay  in  my  drawers  and  stockings  and  waistcoat 
[at  Kensington]  till  five  of  the  clock,  and  so  up ; 
and  being  well  pleased  with  our  frolic,  walked  to 
Knightsbridge,  and  there  ate  a  mess  of  cream ;  and 
so  on  to  St.  James's."  Again,  too,  on  another 
occasion  : — "  From  the  town,  and  away  out  of  the 
Park,  to  Knightsbridge,  and  there  ate  and  drank 
in  the  coach ;  and  so  home."  It  is  probable  that 
the  sign  of  the  house  in  this  Spring  Garden  was 
the  "  World's  End,"  for  the  following  entry  in  Mr. 
Pepys'  "  Diary  "  can  hardly  refer  to  any  other  place 
but  this  : — "Forth  to  Hyde  Park,  but  was  too  soon 
to  go  in ;  so  went  on  to  Knightsbridge,  and  there 
ate  and  drank  at  the  '  World's  End,'  where  we  had 
good  things  ;  and  then  back  to  the  Park,  and  there 
till  night,  being  fine  weather,  and  much  company." 
And  again,  the  very  last  entry  in  his  "Diary,"  under 
date  of  May  3131,  1669: — "To  the  Park,  Mary 
Botelier  and  a  Dutch  gentleman,  a  friend  of  hers, 
being  with  us.  Thence  to  the  '  World's  End,'  a 
drinking-house  by  the  Park,  and  there  merry,  and 
so  home  late." 

Whether  the  tavern  attached  to  this  Spring 
Garden  enjoyed  the  doubtful  reputation  of  the 
"  World's  End"  at  Chelsea  is  not  quite  certain. 

The  house  to  which  this  garden  was  attached, 
having  been  successively  occupied  as  a  museum  of 
anatomy,  an  auction-room,  and  a  carpenter's  work- 
shop, was  pulled  down  about  the  year  1826,  in 
order  to  lay  out  the  ground  for  building.  Lowndes 
Square,  however,  was  not  begun  till  about  1838,  or 
completed  till  1848  or  1849.  The  stream  which 
ran  along  the  west  side  of  Spring  Gardens  had 
along  its  banks  a  path  leading-  down  to  Bloody 
Bridge,  and  thence  to  Ranelagh.  On  grand  gala 
nights  this  path  was  protected  by  a  patrol,  or  by 
the  more  able  of  the  Chelsea  pensioners.  It  only 
remains  to  add  that  various  relics  of  the  Civil  War 
have  been  discovered  upon  this  site,  such  as  swords, 
spurs,  and  bits,  and  other  relics  telling  of  more 
modern  and  more  prosaic  encounters,  such  as 
staves  and  handcuffs,  tokens  of  successful  or  un- 
successful struggles  between  footpads  and  con- 
stables. 

A  little  west  of  Wilton  Place,  a  narrow  roadway, 
called  Porter's  Lane,  led  into  some  fields,  in  which 
stood  an  old  mansion,  known  as  Knightsbridge 
Grove,  and  approached  from  the  highway  by  an 
avenue  of  fine  trees.  This  is  the  house  which, 
about  1790,  was  taken  by  the  celebrated  Mrs. 


Cornelys,  under  the  assumed  name  of  Mrs.  Smith, 
as  a  place  for  company  to  drink  new  asses'  milk. 
After  the  failure  of  all  her  plans  and  schemes  to 
secure  the  support  of  the  world  of  fashion  for  her 
masquerades  and  concerts  at  Carlisle  House,  in 
Soho  Square,  as  we  have  already  seen,*  and  not 
cast  down  by  the  decree  of  the  Court  of  Chancery, 
under  which  her  house  and  furniture  were  sold  by 
auction  in  1785,  here  she  fitted  up  a  suite  of  rooms 
for  the  reception  of  visitors  who  wished  to  break- 
fast in  public.  But  the  manners  of  the  age  were 
changed,  and  her  taste  had  not  adapted  itself  to  the 
varieties  of  fashion.  After  much  expense  incurred 
in  the  gaudy  embellishment  of  her  rooms  after  the 
foreign  fashion,  she  was  obliged  to  abandon  her 
scheme,  and  to  seek  a  refuge  from  her  merciless 
creditors.  A  former  queen — or  rather  empress — of 
fashion,  she  closed  her  eccentric  and  varied  career 
a  prisoner  for  debt  in  the  Fleet  Prison,  in  August, 
1797.  The  house  was  afterwards  kept  by  a 
sporting  character,  named  Hicks,  under  whom  it 
was  frequently  visited  by  George,  Prince  Regent, 
and  his  friends. 

The  entrance  into  Hyde  Park,  opposite  Lowndes 
Square,  is  named  Albert  Gate,  after  the  late  Prince 
Consort ;  the  houses  which  compose  it  stand  as 
nearly  as  possible  on  the  site  of  the  old  bridge 
over  the  Westbourne,  which  gave  its  name  to  the 
locality.  We  gave  a  view  of  this  old  bridge  in 
our  last  volume,  page  402.  Mr.  Davis,  in  his 
"  Memorials  of  Knightsbridge,"  tells  us  that  there 
was  also  another  bridge  across  this  brook,  just 
inside  the  park  to  the  north,  erected  in  1734.  At 
the  west  end  of  the  former  bridge  stood,  at  one 
time,  a  celebrated  inn,  known  as  the  "Fox  and 
Bull,"  traditionally  said  to  have  been  founded  in 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  to  have  been  used  by 
her  on  her  visits  to  Lord  Burleigh  at  Brompton. 
The  house  is  referred  to  in  the  Tatlcr,  No.  259, 
and  it  is  said  to  be  the  only  inn  that  bore  that 
sign.  "  At  the  '  Fox  and  Bull,'  "  writes  Mr.  Davis, 
"  for  a  long  while  was  maintained  that  Queen 
Anne  style  of  society  where  persons  of  '  parts '  and 
reputation  were  to  be  met  with  in  rooms  open  to 
all.  A  Captain  Corbet  was  for  a  long  time  its 
head  ;  a  Mr.  Shaw,  of  the  War  Office,  supplied  the 
London  Gazette,  and  W.  Harris,  of  Covent  Garden 
Theatre,  his  play-bills."  Among  its  visitors  may 
be  named  George  Morland,  and  his  patron,  Sir 
W.  W.  Wynn,  and  occasionally  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, 
who  painted  its  sign,  which  was  blown  down  in  a 
storm  in  1807.  The  "Fox  and  Bull,"  it  may  be 
added,  served  for  some  years  as  a  receiving-house 


I.,  p.  .88. 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


of  the  Royal  Humane  Society,  in  Hyde  Park. 
Hither  was  brought  the  body  of  the  first  wife  of  the 
poet  Shelley,  after  she  had  drowned  herself  in  the 
Serpentine ;  and  here  the  judicial  business  of  the 
locality  was  conducted,  a  magistrate  sitting  once 
a  week  for  that  purpose.  The  old  house 
Elizabethan  in  structure,  and  contained  rooms 
ceilings  panelled  and  carved  in  the  style  of  her 
day,  and  with  large  fire-places  and  fire-dogs.  The 
house  stood  till  the  year  1835.  The  skeletons  of 
several  men  were  found  beneath  it  in  the  course  of 
some  excavations  in  the  early  part  of  the  present 
century,  these  were  supposed  to  have  been  those 
of  soldiers  killed  here  in  the  Civil  War. 

On  the  east  side  of  the  old  bridge  was  a  low 
court  of  very  old  houses,  named  after  the  "White 
Hart  Inn,"  but  these  were  swept  away  about  1841. 
The  stags  on  the  side  pedestals  of  the  gate,  we 
learn  from  the  "Memorials  of  Knightsbridge," 
were  modelled  from  a  pair  of  prints  by  Bartolozzi, 
and  formerly  kept  watch  and  ward  in  Piccadilly,  at 
the  entrance  to  the  Ranger's  Lodge  in  the  Green 
Park.* 

When  this  entrance  was  first  formed,  the  late 
Mr.  Thomas  Cubitt  designed  and  built  two  very 
lofty  mansions  on  either  side,  which  were  sneer- 
ingly  styled  the  "  Two  Gibraltars,"  because  it  was 
prophesied  that  they  never  would  or  could  be 
"  taken."  Taken,  however,  they  were ;  that  on 
the  eastern  side  was  the  town  residence  of  the 
"  Railway  King,"  George  Hudson,  before  his  fall ; 
it  has  since  been  occupied  as  the  French  Embassy. 
Queen  Victoria  paid  a  visit  to  the  Embassy  in 


by  which  the  shareholders  judged  him  was  the 
dividends  which  he  paid,  although  subsequent 
events  proved  that  these  dividends  were,  in  many 
cases,  delusive,  intended  only  to  make  things 
pleasant.  The  policy,  however,  had  its  effect 
The  shares  in  all  the  lines  of  which  he  was  chair- 
man went  to  a  premium ;  and  then  arose  the 
temptation  to  create  new  shares  in  branch  and 
extension  lines,  often  worthless,  which  were  issued 
at  a  premium  also.  Thus  he  shortly  found  himself 
chairman  of  nearly  600  miles  of  railways,  extending 
from  Rugby  to  Newcastle,  and  at  the  head  of 
numerous  new  projects,  by  means  of  which  paper 
wealth  could  be  created,  as  it  were,  at  pleasure. 
He  held  in  his  own  hands  almost  the  entire 
administrative  power  of  chairman,  board,  manager, 
and  all.  Mr.  Hudson  was  voted  praises,  testi- 
monials, and  surplus  shares  alike  liberally,  and 
scarcely  a  word  against  him  could  find  a  hearing. 

"The  Hudson  testimonial  was  a  taking  thing, 
for  Mr.  Hudson  had  it  in  his  power  to  allot  shares 
(selling  at  a  premium)  to  the  subscribers  to  the 
testimonial.  With  this  fund  he  bought  of  Mr. 
Thomas  Cubitt,  for  .£15,000,  the  lofty  house  on 
the  east  of  Albert  Gate,  Hyde  Park.  There  he 
lived  sumptuously,  and  went  his  round  of  visits 
among  the  peerage. 

"  Mr.  Hudson's  brief  reign  soon  drew  to  a 
close.  The  speculation  of  1845  was  followed  by 
a  sudden  reaction.  Shares  went  down  faster  than 
hey  had  gone  up :  the  holders  of  them  hastened 
:o  sell  in  order  to  avoid  payment  of  the  calls  ;  and 

ny  found  themselves  ruined.    Then  came  repent- 


state  in   1854,  and  the  Emperor  Louis  Napoleon  '  ance,  and  a  sudden  return  to  virtue.     The  golden 


held  a  levee  here,  on  his  visit  to  London,  in  the 
summer  of  the  following  year. 

"The  career  of  George  Hudson,  ridiculously 
styled  the  '  Railway  King,' "  writes  Mr.  J.  Timbs, 
in  his  "  Romance  of  London,"  "  was  one  of  the 
ignes  fatui  of  the  railway  mania  of  1844-5.  He 
was  born  in  a  lowly  house  in  College  Street, 
York,  in  1800;  here  he  served  his  apprenticeship 
to  a  linendraper,  and  subsequently  carried  on  the 
business  as  principal,  amassing  considerable  wealth. 
His  fortune  was  next  increased  by  a  bequest  from 
a  distant  relative,  which  sum  he  invested  in  North- 
Midland  Railway  shares.  Mr.  Smiles  describes 
Hudson  as  a  man  of  some  local  repute  when  the 
line  between  Leeds  and  York  was  projected.  His 
views  as  to  railways  were  then  extremely  moderate, 
and  his  main  object  in  joining  the  undertaking  was 
to  secure  for  York  the  advantages  of  the  best 


railway  communication. 


The  grand  test 


calf  was  found  to  be  of  brass,  and  hurled  down, 
Hudson's  own  toadies  and  sycophants  eagerly 
joining  in  the  chorus  of  popular  indignation  ;  and 
the  bubbles  having  burst,  the  railway  mania  came 
to  a  sudden  and  ignominious  end." 

The  rest  of  the  site  now  covered  by  Albert 
Gate  was  occupied  by  the  Cannon  Brewery — so 
called  from  a  cannon  which  surmounted  it— and 
was  surrounded  by  low  and  filthy  courts  with  open 
cellars.  The  celebrated  Chinese  collection  of  Mr. 
Dunn  was  located  here  in  the  interval  between  the 
removal  of  the  brewery  and  the  erection  of  the 
present  sumptuous  edifices. 

It  is  not  a  little  singular  that  among  all  the 
changes  as  to  the  limits  of  parishes,  it  should 
have  been  forgotten  that,  from  time  immemorial, 
there  was  a  chapel  in  the  main  street  of  Knights- 
bridge  which  could  very  easily,  at  any  time,  have 


1  See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  i8a 


been  made  parochial.  This  edifice,  known  as 
Trinity  Chapel,  still  stands,  though  much  altered, 
,  between  the  north  side  of  the  main  street  and 


Knightsbridge.  ] 


KNIGHTSBRIDGE   CHAPEL. 


the  parkj  it  was,  in  ancient  times,  attached  to 
a  lazar-house,  of  the  early  history  of  which  little 
or  nothing  is  known.  No  doubt  it  was  formed 
before  the  Reformation,  though  the  earliest  notice 
of  it  in  writing  is  in  a  grant  of  James  I.,  to 
be  seen  in  the  British  Museum,  ordering  "the 
hospital  for  sick,  lame,  or  impotent  people  at 
Knightsbridge  "  to  be  supplied  with  water  by  an 
underground  pipe,  laid  on  from  the  conduit  in 
Hyde  Park.  Lysons,  however,  tells  us,  in  his 
"  Environs  of  London,"  that  there  is  among  the 
records  of  the  Chapter  of  Westminster  a  short 
MS.  statement  of  the  condition  of  the  hospital  in 
the  latter  part  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  from  which 
it  appears  that  it  generally  had  about  thirty-five  | 
inmates,  and  that  it  was  supported  by  the  contri- 
butions of  charitable  persons,  being  quite  unen- 
dowed. The  patients,  it  appears  from  this  docu- 
ment, attended  prayers  mornings  and  evenings  in 
the  chapel,  the  neighbours  also  being  admitted  to 
the  services  on  Sunday.  The  inmates  dined  on 
"  warm  meat  and  porrege,"  and  each  one  had 
assigned  to  him,  or  her,  a  separate  "  dish,  platter, 
and  tankard,  to  kepe  the  broken  for  the  whole." 

A  few  notes  on  the  disbursement  made  on  behalf 
of  the  poor  inmates,  taken  from  the  parish  books 
of  St.  Margaret's,  will  be  found  in  Mr.  Nichols' 
"Illustrations  of  the  Manners  and  Experiences  of 
Ancient  Times."  The  latter  history  of  the  hos- 
pital is  almost  as  uncertain  as  its  earlier  chapters. 
We  know  even  the  names  of  a  few  of  the 
"cripples,"  and  other  inmates — mostly  wayfarers 
— who  were  discharged  from  it,  after  having  been 
relieved;  but  although  it  was  certainly  in  existence 
when  Newcourt  was  collecting  materials  for  his 
"  Repertorium,"  in  the  reign  of  George  I.,  no 
further  trace  of  its  existence  or  of  its  demolition 
can  be  found.  It  is  traditionally  asserted,  how- 
ever, that  in  the  time  of  the  Great  Plague  of  1665, 
the  lazar-house  was  used  as  a  hospital  for  those 
stricken  by  that  disorder,  and  that  such  as  died 
within  its  walls  were  buried  in  the  enclosed  tri- 
angular plot  of  ground  which  was  oncp  part  of 
Knightsbridge  Green.  A  writer  in  the  first  volume 
of  Notes  and  Queries  states  that  in  the  case  of 
leprosy  arising  in  London,  the  infected  persons 
were  taken  off  speedily  into  one  of  the  lazar- 
houses  in  the  suburbs.  "The  law  was  strictly 
carried  out,  and  where  resistance  was  made  the 
sufferers  were  tied  to  horses,  and  dragged  thither 
by  force." 

The  chapel,  being  "  very  old  and  ruinous,"  was 
rebuilt  by  a  subscription  among  the  inhabitants  of 
Knightsbridge,  and  opened  as  a  chapel  of  ease 
by  the  authority  of  Laud,  then  Bishop  of  London, 


who  licensed  a  minister  to  perform  service  in  it. 
During  the  Commonwealth  it  was  served  by  a 
minister  appointed  by  the  Parliament,  and  after- 
wards passed  into  lay  hands.  In  the  end,  how- 
ever, it  was  given  back  to  the  Dean  and  Chapter 
of  Westminster ;  this  body  still  appoints  the  in- 
cumbent, who  is  supported  by  a  small  endowment 
and  the  pew-rents. 

The  present  chapel,  now  called  the  Church  of 
Holy  Trinity,  was  entirely  restored  and  remodelled 
in  i86r,  from  the  designs  of  Messrs.  Brandon  and 
Eyton.  It  is  a  handsome  Gothic  building,  with 
accommodation  for  about  650  worshippers,  and 
was  erected  at  a  cost  of  about  .£3,300.  The 
principal  peculiarity  about  it  is  the  roof,  which  is 
so  constructed  as  to  have  a  continuous  range  of 
clerestory  lights  the  whole  length  of  the  church. 
These  are  accessible  from  the  outside,  so  as  to 
regulate  the  ventilation. 

The  chapel  possesses  some  good  communion 
plate.  In  the  list  of  its  ministers  occur  no  names 
of  note,  unless  it  be  worth  while  to  record  that  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Symons,  who  read  the  funeral  service 
over  Sir  John  Moore  at  Corunna. 

In  the  registers  of  the  chapel  is  recorded  only 
one  burial,  under  date  1667.  It  is  probable  that 
those  who  died  in  this  hamlet  were  buried  at  St. 
Margaret's,  Westminster,  or  at  Chelsea,  or  Ken- 
sington. Mr.  Davis,  however,  mentions  a  tradi- 
tion that  the  enclosure  on  Knightsbridge  Green 
was  formerly  used  as  a  burying-ground.  If  this  be 
so,  the  records  of  the  fact  have  long  since  been 
lost.  The  statement,  however,  may  have  reference 
to  the  victims  of  the  plague,  as  stated  above. 

The  registers  of  baptisms  are  still  in  existence, 
and  so  are  those  of  the  marriages  solemnised  here 
— some  of  them,  as  might  be  expected,  rather 
irregular,  especially  before  the  passing  of  Lord 
Hardwicke's  Marriage  Act  in  1753,  which  seems 
to  have  put  an  extinguisher  on  such  scandals-. 
With  reference  to  these  irregular  or  "stolen"  mar- 
riages, a  writer  in  the  Saturday  Review  observes  :— 
"  This  was  one  of  the  places  where  irregular  mar- 
riages were  solemnised,  and  it  is  accordingly  often 
I  noticed  by  the  old  dramatists.  Thus  in  ShadwelFs 
!  Sullen  Lrcers,  Lovell  is  made  to  say,  '  Let's  dally 
no  longer ;  there  is  a  person  in  Knightsbridge  that 
'  pokes  all  stray  people  together.  We'll  to  him  : 
he'll  dispatch  us  presently,  and  send  us  away  as 
lovingly  as  any  two  fools  that  ever  yet  were  con- 
demned to  marriage.'  Some  of  the  entries  in  this 
marriage  register  are  suspicious  enough — '  secrecy 
for  life,'  or  '  great  secrecy,'  or  '  secret  for  fourteen 
years,'  being  appended  to  the  names.  Mr.  Davis, 
in  his  '  Memorials  of  Knightsbridge,'  was  the  first 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


to  exhume  from  this  document  the  name  of  the  i  before  her  marriage  as  Lady  Mary  Tudor ;  and 
adventuress,  '  Mrs.  Mary  Ayliss,'  whom  Sir  Samuel  |  lastly,  the  great  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  to  a  daughter 
Morland  married  as  his  fourth  wife,  in  1687.  The  |  of  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  by  whom  he 
readers  of  Pepys  will  remember  how  pathetically  j  became  the  father  of  Horace  Walpole.  Many  of 


Morland  wrote,  eighteen  days  after  the  wedding, 


the    marriages    here     solemnised    were    runaway 

that,  when  he  had  expected  to  marry  an  heiress, '  I    matches,  and,  as  such,  are  marked  in  the  registers 
was,  about  a  fortnight  since,  led  as  a  fool  to  the    with  the  words  "private"  and  "  secresy." 
stocks,  and  married  a   coachman's   daughter  not  '      Of  the  barracks  at   Knightsbridge,  facing   the 
worth  a  shilling.'     In  1699,  an  entry  mentions  one     Park,  usually  occupied  by  one  of  the  regiments  of 


'Storey  at  ye  Park  Gate.'  This  worthy  it  was  who 
gave  his  name  to  what  is  now  known  as  Storey's 
Gate.  He  was  keeper  of  the  aviary  to  Charles  II., 
whence  was  derived  the  name  of  the  Birdcage 
Walk.  In  the  same  year,  Cornelius  Van  der  Yelde, 
limner,  was  married  here  to  Bernada  Van  der 
riagen.  This  was  a  brother  of  the  famous  William 
Van  der  Velde,  the  elder,  and  himself  a  painter  of 
nautical  pictures,  in  the  employment  of  Charles  II." 
Among  those  who  were  married  here,  with  more 
or  less  of  secrecy  or  privacy,  not  mentioned  in  the 
above  extract,  were  Sir  John  Lenthall,  son  of  the 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  under  Cromwell ; 
the  widow  of  the  second  Earl  of  Derwentwater — 
this  lady  was  the  youngest  natural  daughter  of 
Charles  II.,  by  the  actress,  Mrs.  Davis,  known 


the  Guards,  there  is  little  to  say,  except  that  they 
are  badly  placed,  and  were  long  an  eyesore  to  the 
neighbourhood.  They  originally  consisted  of  a 
range  of  dull  heavy  brick  buildings,  erected  in 
1 7  94-5.  In  the  centre  of  the  building  is  an  oblong 
parade-ground,  around  which  are  apartments  for 
the  private  soldiers,  placed  over  the  stables.  At 
the  west-end  is  a  riding-school,  and  a  wing  cut  up 
into  residences  for  the  officers.  New  barracks 
were  erected  here  in  1879-80,  and  are  said  to  be 
the  best  of  the  kind  in  Europe.  They  form  an  ex- 
tensive quadrangle,  and  there  are  reading-rooms  for 
both  the  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates. 

At  the  corner  of  South  Place  and  Hill  Street, 
nearly  opposite  the  barracks,  stands  the  celebrated 
floor-cloth  manufactory  of  Messrs.  Smith  and 


THE    "THUNDERER"    OF    THE    TIMES. 


Barber.  It  was  established  as  far  back  as  the  year 
1754,  and  is  said  to  be  the  oldest  manufactory  of  the 
kind  in  London.  The  first  block  used  for  patterns 
was  cut  by  its  founder,  Mr.  Abraham  Smith,  and 
is  still  preserved  in  the  factory.  An  illustration 
of  it  is  given  in  Dodd's  "  British  Manufactures," 
where  the  process  of  the  manufacture  will  be  found 
minutely  described.  In  the  adjoining  house,  No.  2, 
lived  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gamble,  one  of  the  incumbents 


temporaries  of  Lord  Chancellor  Clarendon"),  who 
married  as  her  second  husband  Sir  George  C.  Lewis, 
M.P.,  some  time  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  He 
died  here  in  1863.  Next  door  to  it  is  Stratheden 
House,  so  named  after  the  wife  of  Lord  Chancellor 
Campbell,  who  wrote  here  his  "  Lives  of  the  Chan- 
cellors." He  died  here  suddenly  in  June,  1861. 
The  mansion  had  previously  been  owned  by  Lord 
De  Dunstanville. 


KINGSTON    HOUSE,    KNIGHTSBRIDGE 


of  Knightsbridge  Chapel ;  and  after  him  Mr. 
Edward  Stirling,  known  as  the  "Thunderer"  of 
the  Times,  from  whom  it  passed  to  his  son,  the 
gifted  and  amiable  John  Stirling,  whose  early  death 
was  so  much  lamented.  There  he  used  to  receive 
among  his  visitors  Professor  Maurice,  John  Stuart 
Mill,  and  Thomas  Carlyle ;  and  here  Sir  Colin 
Campbell  took  up  his  residence  for  a  time  between 
his  Crimean  and  his  last  Indian  campaign. 

Kent  House,  so  called  after  the  late  Duke  of 
Kent,  who  for  a  short  time  resided  in  it,  and  added 
considerably  to  its  size,  stands  only  a  few  yards  to 
the  west  of  South  Place.  It  was  for  many  years 
the  residence  of  a  brother  of  the  late  Earl  of 
Clarendon,  and  afterwards  of  his  widow,  Lady 
Theresa  Villiers  (author  of  "  The  Friends  and  Co- 
195 


It  was  at  Kingston  House — situated  some  little 
distance  westward  of  Kent  House — that,  on  the 
26th  of  September,  1842,  the  eminent  statesman, 
the  Marquis  Wellesley,  died,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two. 
He  was  the  elder  brother  of  the  "  great  "  Duke  of 
Wellington.  Mr.  Raikes  tells  us,  in  his  "Journal :" 
"He  had  in  his  time  filled  various  offices  in  the 
State  at  home,  had  been  Governor-General  of  India, 
and  twice  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland.  He  was  a 
man  of  considerable  talent  and  acquirements,  par- 
ticularly in  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages.  His 
first  wife  was  a  French  lady— a  Madame  Roland 

j  —formerly  his  mistress.     His  second  wife  was  an 

i  American— Mrs.  Patterson." 

Rutland  Gate,  a  row  of  houses  standing  a  little 

1  westward  of  the  barracks,  on  the  south  side  of  the 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Knightsbridge. 


road,  was  built  about  1840,  and  was  so  called  from 
a  large  mansion  which  formerly  stood  on  the  site, 
belonging  to  the  Dukes  of  Rutland.  Here  was 
the  picture-gallery  of  Mr.  John  Sheepshanks,  be- 
queathed by  him  to  the  nation,  and  now  housed  in 
the  Sheepshanks  Gallery  at  the  South  Kensington 
Museum.  It  was  rich  in  works  by  Mulready, 
Leslie,  and  Landseer. 

Ennismore  Place,  close  by  Prince's  Gate,  is  so 
called  from  the  second  title  of  the  Earl  of  Listowel, 
to  whom  the  ground  on  which  it  stands  belongs 
or  belonged. 

Brompton  Road  is  the  name  given  to  a  row  of 
houses  built  about  the  year  1840,  on  what  was  a 
garden  a  century  ago.  At  a  house  here,  then 
numbered  45,  Brompton  Row,  but  now  168, 
Brompton  Road,  lived  the  celebrated  philanthropist 
and  philosopher,  Count  Rumford,  and  afterwards 
his  daughter  Sarah,  Countess  Rumford.  The  count 
had  come  to  England  as  an  exiled  loyalist  from 
America,  and  having  risen  to  high  employ  in 
England,  had  been  sent,  in  1798,  as  Ambassador  to 
London  from  Bavaria.  Here  he  entertained  Sir 
William  Pepperell,  and  other  American  loyalists. 
Owing  to  George  III.'s  opposition  to  his  appoint- 
ment as  a  diplomatic  representative  of  Bavaria,  he 
lived  in  a  private  capacity.  He  died  in  France  in 
1814.  The  house  is  minutely  described,  in  1801, 
by  M.  Pictet,  an  intimate  friend  of  the  count,  in  a 
life  of  Count  Rumford,  published  in  1876.  It  is 
still  full,  from  top  to  bottom,  of  all  sorts  of  cleverly- 
contrived  cupboards,  writing-desks,  &c.,  fixed  in 
the  walls,  and  with  fireplaces  on  a  plan  unlike 
those  in  the  adjoining  dwellings.  It  remains  very 
much  in  the  same  state  as  in  the  count's  time, 
though  a  stucco  front  appears  to  have  been  added. 
"  The  house  had  been  let  by  Count  Rumford  to  the 
Rev.  William  Beloe,  the  translator  of  Herodotus, 
who  quitted  possession  of  it  in  1810.  The  countess^ 
his  daughter,  lived  in  it  and  let  it  alternately, 
among  her  tenants  being  Sir  Richard  Phillips  and 
Mr.  Wilberforce.  She  disposed  of  the  lease  in 
1837  to  its  present  owners." 

On  the  south  side  of  Ennismore  Place  is 
Brompton  Square,  which  consists  of  houses  open 
at  the  south  end  to  the  Brompton  Road,  and  ter- 
minating at  the  northern  end  with  a  semi-circular 
sweep,  with  a  gateway  leading  to  Prince's  Terrace 
and  Ennismore  Gardens.  At  No.  22  in  this  square 
died,  in  1836,  George  Colman  "the  Younger" 
the  author  of  John  Bull.  Here  also  lived  Mr 
Luttrell,  the  friend  of  Sam  Rogers,  and  the  most 
nlhant  of  conversationalists  temp.  George  IV 
In  consequence  of  the  salubrity  of  the  air  in  this 
neighbourhood,  Brompton  Square  has  long  been  a 


favourite  abode  for  singers  and  actors.  Behind  the 
west  side  stands  Brompton  Church,  a  poor  semi- 
Gothic  structure,  dating  from  about  1830.  It  was 
built  from  the  designs  of  Professor  Donaldson, 
and  has  a  lofty  tower  and  stained-glass  windows 
of  ancient  design  and  colour.  The  church  is 
approached  by  a  fine  avenue  of  lime-trees,  and  its 
churchyard  contains  a  very  large  number  of  tombs  ; 
all,  however,  are  modern,  and  few  are  of  interest 
to  the  antiquary.  John  Reeve,  the  comic  actor, 
who  died  in  1838,  is  buried  here.  Adjoining  the 
parish  church  stands  a  building  in  the  Italian  style, 
known  as  the  Oratory  of  St.  Philip  Neri,  consisting 
of  a  large  chapel,  very  secular  in  appearance, 
and  a  fine  residence  in  the  Italian  style.  They 
cover  the  site  of  a  country  house  standing  in  its 
own  grounds,  which  as  lately  as  the  year  1851  was 
used  as  a  school.  The  clergy  attached  to  the 
Oratory  are  secular  priests,  living  voluntarily  in  a 
community,  but  not  tied  by  religious  vows.  The 
first  rector,  and  indeed  the  founder  of  this  com- 
munity in  London,  was  the  Rev.  Frederick  William 
Faber,  formerly  of  University  College,  Oxford,  and 
well  known  as  the  author  of  "The  Cherwell  Water- 
Lily,"  and  other  poems.  He  died  in  1863. 

Knightsbridge,  however,  has  in  its  time  numbered 
many  other  distinguished  residents.  Among  them, 
Lady  Anne  Hamilton,  the  faithful  friend  and 
attendant  of  the  Princess  Caroline  of  Brunswick ; 
the  artist  Chalon;  Paul  Bedford,  the  actor; 
McCarthy,  the  sculptor ;  and  Ozias  Humfrey,  the 
Royal  Academician  (the  friend  of  Reynolds, 
Dr.  Johnson,  and  Romney),  who  is  thus  celebrated 
by  the  poet  Hayley,  when  abandoning  miniatures 
for  oil  portraits  : — 

"  Thy  graces,  Humfrey,  and  thy  colours  clear, 
From  miniature's  small  circle  disappear  ; 
May  thy  distinguished  merit  still  prevail, 
And  shine  with  lustre  on  a  larger  scale." 

Here  died,  in  1805,  at  the  age  of  upwards  of 
eighty,  Arthur  Murphy,  the  author,  who  was  a  friend 
of  Johnson,  Reynolds,  Burke,  and  others.  Boswell 
thus  relates  the  manner  in  which  an  acquaintance 
first  commenced  between  Dr.  Johnson  and  Mr. 
Murphy  :— "  During  the  publication  of  the  Gray's 
Inn  Journal,  a  periodical  paper  which  was  suc- 
cessfully carried  on  by  Mr.  Murphy  alone,  when  a 
very  young  man,  he  happened  to  be  in  the  country 
with  Mr.  Foote;  and  having  mentioned  that  he 
was  obliged  to  go  to  London  in  order  to  get  ready 
for  the  press  one  of  the  numbers  of  that  journal 
Foote  said  to  him,  'You  need  not  go  on  that 
account.  Here  is  a  French  magazine,  in  which 
you  will  find  a  very  pretty  Oriental  tale  ;  translate 
that,  and  send  it  to  your  printer.'  Mr.  Murphy 
having  read  the  tale,  was  highly  pleased  with  it 


Knightsbridge.] 


NEW   "  TATTERSALL'S." 


and  followed  Foote's  advice.  When  he  returned 
to  town,  this  tale  was  pointed  out  to  him  in  the 
Rambler,  from  whence  it  had  been  translated  into 
the  French  magazine.  Mr.  Murphy  then  waited 
upon  Johnson,  to  explain  this  curious  incident. 
His  talents,  literature,  and  gentleman-like  manners 
were  soon  perceived  by  Johnson,  and  a  friendship 
was  formed  which  was  never  broken." 

.  Here,  at  a  farm-house  which  supplied  the  royal 
family  with  milk,  the  fair  Quakeress,  Hannah 
Lightfoot,  is  said  to  have  resided,  after  she  had 
captivated  the  susceptible  heart  of  George  III.,  in 
the  first  year  of  his  reign;  but  the  story  is  dis- 
credited. 

At  the  junction  of  Brompton  Road  with  the 
main  road  through  Knightsbridge,  and  near  to 
Albert  Gate,  stands  the  great  sporting  rendezvous 
and  auction-mart  for  horses,  "  Tattersall's."  It  was 
removed  to  this  spot  in  1865  from  Grosvenor 
Place,  where,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  it  was  originally  established.  The  build- 
ing occupies  a  site  previously  of  comparatively 
little  value,  and  has  before  its  entrance  a  small 
triangular  space  planted  with  evergreens.  The 
building  in  itself  is  arranged  upon  much  the  same 
plan  as  that  of  its  predecessor,  which  we  have 
already  described.  Immediately  on  the  right  of 
the  entrance  is  the  subscription-room  and  counting- 
house,  both  of  which  are  well  designed  to  meet 
their  requirements ;  whilst  beyond  is  a  spacious 
covered  court-yard,  with  a  small  circular  structure 
in  the  centre,  in  which  is  a  pump,  surmounted  by 
the  figure  of  a  fox ;  the  dome  which  covers  it  bears 
a  bust  of  George  IV.  The  fox,  it  is  presumed, 
belongs  to  the  poetry  of  Tattersall's,  suggesting,  as 
it  does,  breezy  rides  over  hill  and  dale  and  far- 
stretching  moorlands.  The  royal  bust  above 
refers  to  more  specific  facts  of  which  the  establish- 
ment can  boast ;  it  is  a  type  of  the  lofty  patronage 
that  has  been  acceded  to  the  house  from  its  earliest 
days.  The  bust  represents  the  "  first  gentleman  of 
Europe,"  as  he  has  been,  absurdly  enough,  called, 
in  his  eighteenth  year,  when  the  prince  was  a 
constant  attendant  at  Tattersall's.  The  yard  itself 
is  surrounded  by  stabling  for  the  horses,  and 
galleries  for  carriages  which  may  be  there  offered 
for  sale.  The  great  public  horse  auction  is  on 
Mondays  throughout  the  year,  with  the  addition  of 
Thursdays  in  the  height  of  the  season.  The  sub- 
scription to  the  "  Rooms,"  which  is  regulated  by 
the  Jockey  Club,  is  two  guineas  annually ;  and  the 
betting  at  Tattersall's,  we  need  scarcely  add,  regu 
lates  the  betting  throughout  the  country. 

The  Green,  as  the  triangular  plot  of  ground 
in  front  of  Tattersall's,  mentioned  above,  is  called, 


was  once  really  a  village-green,  and  it  had  its 
village  may-pole,  at  all  events,  down  to  the  end  of 
the  last  century.  It  was  larger  in  its  extent  in 
former  days,  several  encroachments  having  been 
made  upon  its  area.  At  its  east  end  there  stood, 
till  1834,  a  watch-house  and  pound,  to  which 
Addison  refers  in  a  very  amusing  paper  in  the 
Spectator  (No.  142).  Pretending,  by  way  of  jest, 
to  satisfy  by  home  news  the  craving  for  foreign 
intelligence  which  the  late  war  had  created  in  1712, 
he  writes  :  "  By  my  last  advices  from  Knightsbridge, 
I  hear  that  a  horse  was  clapped  into  the  pound 
there  on  the  3rd  inst,  and  that  he  was  not  reco- 
vered when  the  letters  came  away."  A  large  part 
of  what  once  was  the  Green  is  now  covered  by 
some  inferior  cottages,  styled  Middle  Row ;  on 
the  north  side  was  an  old  inn,  which  rejoiced  in  the 
sign  of  the  "  Marquis  of  Granby,"  with  reference 
which  we  may  be  pardoned  for  quoting  Byron's 
lines  : — 
"Vernon,  the  'Butcher'  Cumberland,  Wolfe,  Hawke, 

Prince  Ferdinand,  Granby,  Burgoyne,  Keppel,  Howe, 
Evil  and  good,  have  had  their  tithe  of  talk, 

And  filled  the  sign-posts  then  as  Wellesley  now. " 

The  small  portion  on  the  north  side,  fenced  in 
by  rails,  is  probably  the  old  burial-ground  belong- 
ing to  the  Lazar  House,  already  mentioned. 

Of  Knightsbridge  Terrace,  now  a  row  of  shops, 
old  inhabitants  tell  us  that,  when  Her  Majesty 
came  to  the  throne,  it  consisted  wholly  of  private 
houses.  Here  was  Mr.  Telfair's  College  for  the 
Deaf  and  Dumb,  and  here  lived  Maurice  Morgan, 
one  of  the  secretaries  to  Lord  Shelburne  when  the 
latter  was  Premier,  and  honourably  mentioned  by 
Boswell  in  his  "  Life  of  Johnson."  Close  to  the 
corner  of  Sloane  Street,  too,  lived  Rodwell,  the 
composer. 

Among  the  oldest  dwellings  in  this  hamlet  are 
some  of  the  irregular  houses  on  the  south  side 
of  the  road,  between  the  Green  and  Rutland  Gate. 
Mr.  Davis,  writing  in  the  year  1859,  in  his  "History 
of  Knightsbridge,"  mentions  Chalker  House,  built 
in  1688,  now  a  broker's,  and  for  many  years  a 
boarding-house.  "  Three  doors  beyond  it,"  he 
continues,  "  is  an  ancient  inn,  now  known  as  the 
'  Rose  and  Crown,'  but  formerly  as  the  '  Oliver 
Cromwell,'  but  which  has  borne  a  licence  for 
above  three  hundred  years.  It  is  the  oldest  house 
in  Knightsbridge,  and  was  formerly  its  largest  inn, 
and  not  improbably  was  the  house  which  sheltered 
Wyatt,  while  his  unfortunate  Kentish  followers 
rested  on  the  adjacent  green.  A  tradition,  told  by 
all  old  inhabitants  of  the  locality,  that  Cromwell's 
body-guard  was  once  quartered  here,  is  still  very 
prevalent :  an  inscription  to  that  effect  was  till 


OLD  AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[The  Or 


'ately  painted  on  the  front  of  the  house ;  and  on  an 
ornamental  piece  of  plaster-work  was  formerly  em- 
blazoned the  great  Lord  Protector's  coat  of  arms.': 
Mr.  Davis  does  not  guarantee  the  literal  truth  of 
this  tradition,  though  he  holds  that  nothing  is  more 
certain  than  that  Knightsbridge  was  the  scene  of 
frequent  skirmishes  during  the  Civil  War.  This 
was  natural  enough,  considering  that  the  hamlet 
was  the  first  place  on  the  great  western  road  from 
London.  We  know  for  certain  that  the  army  of 
the  Parliament  was  encamped  about  the  neighbour- 
hood in  1647,  and  that  the  head-quarters  of  Fairfax 
were  at  Holland  House ;  and  the  same  was  the 
case  just  before  and  after  the  fight  at  Brentford. 
It  was  on  the  strength  of  this,  and  other  traditions, 
that  Mr.  E.  H.  Corbould  made  this  inn  the  subject 
of  a  painting,  "The  Old  Hostelrie  at  Knightsbridge," 
exhibited  in  1849.  "  He  la-id  tne  scene  as  early  as 
1497.  Opposite  the  inn  is  a  well,  surmounted  by 
a  figure  of  St.  George;  while  beyond  is  the  spacious 
green,  the  meandering  stream,  and  the  bridge  over 
it,  surmounted  by  an  embattled  tower ;  further  off 

appears  the  old  hospital  and  chapel The 

house  of  late,"  continues  Mr.  Davis,  "  has  been 
much  modernised,  and  in  1853  had  a  narrow 
escape  from  destruction  by  fire ;  but  enough  still 
remains,  in  its  peculiar  chimneys,  oval-shaped  win- 
dows, its  low  rooms,  its  large  yard  and  extensive 
stabling,  with  galleries  above  and  office-like  places 
beneath,  to  testify  to  its  antiquity  and  former 
importance."  It  was  pulled  down  about  the  year 
1865.  Another  hostelry  in  the  main  street  was 


the  "  Rising  Sun ; "  though  a  wooden  inn,  it  was 
an  ancient  house,  and  its  staircase  and  the  panelling 
of  its  walls  were  handsomely  carved.  On  the  spot 
now  occupied  by  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  stables, 
there  was  also,  in  former  times,  an  inn  known  as  the 
"Life  Guardsman,"  and  previously  as  the  "Nag's 
Head." 

We  may  mention  that  a  market  for  cattle  was 
held  at  Knightsbridge  every  Thursday  till  an  early 
year  in  the  present  century,  and  that  the  last  pen 
posts  were  not  removed  till  1850. 

The  air  of  this  neighbourhood  has  always  been 
regarded  as  pure  and  healthy.  Swift  brought  his 
friend  Harrison  to  it  for  the  benefit  of  pure  air; 
and  half  a  century  later  it  maintained  the  same 
character,  for  we  read  that  Lady  Hester  Stanhope 
sent  a  faithful  servant  thither,  with  the  same  object 
in  view.  In  sooth,  "  Constitution  "  Hill  at  one  end, 
and  "  Montpelier  "  Square  at  the  other,  both  derive 
their  names  from  this  peculiarity.  The  fact  is  that 
the  main  street  of  Knightsbridge  stands  on  a  well- 
defined  terrace  of  the  London  clay,  between  the 
gravel  of  Hyde  Park  and  that  of  Pimlico,  resting 
on  thick  layers  of  sand,  which  cause  the  soil  to 
be  porous,  and  rapidly  to  absorb  the  surface- 
water. 

The  water-supply  of  Knightsb ridge  has  always 
been  remarkably  good,  being  drawn  from  several 
conduits  in  and  about  Park-side  and  to  the  south  of 
Rotten  Row.  One  of  these,  known  as  St.  James's, 
for  the  Receiving  Conduit,  supplied  the  royal 
palaces  and  the  Abbey  with  water. 


CHAPTER    III. 
THE    GREAT    EXHIBITION    OF    1851. 


Previous  Exhibitions  of  a  somewhat  smilar  Character-The  M.irquis  d'Aveze's  projected  Exhibition-Various  French  Expositions-Competitive 
Exhibitions  in  England— Prince  Alberts  Proposal  for  holding  an  Industrial  Exhibition    of  All  Nations-His  Royal  Highness  becomes 


Objects  of  the  Exhibition— Reception  of  Plans  and  Designs— Mr.  I 
Dreams  in  the  English  Language-General  Description  of  the 
Visitors-Removal  of  the  Building-The  National  Albert  Memorial. 

THAT  portion  of  Hyde  Park,  between  Prince's  Gate 
and  the  Serpentine,  running  parallel  with  the  main 
road  through  Knightsbridge  and  Kensington,  is 
memorable  as  having  been  the  site  of  the  great 
Industrial  Exhibition  of  1851,  wherein  were  brought 
together,  for  the  first  time,  under  one  spacious  roof, 
for  the  purposes  of  competition,  the  various  pro- 
ductions of  the  inventive  genius  and  industry  of 
nearly  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 


axton's  Design  accepted— Realisation  of  one  of  the  Earliest   Poetical 
Building— Opening  of  the    Exhibition  by  Her  Majesty— Number  of 


Before  proceeding  with  a  description  of  the  build- 
ing and  an  epitome  of  its  principal  contents,  it  may 
not  be  out  of  place  to  take  a  brief  glance  at  some 
previous  exhibitions  of  a  similar  character,  which 
had  been  held  in  France,  at  various  times,  within 
the  preceding  hundred  years.  As  far  back  as  the 
year  1756— about  the  same  time  that  our  Royal 
Academy  opened  to  the  public  its  galleries  of 
painting,  engraving,  and  sculpture — the  productions 


FRENCH    EXPOSITIONS. 


of  art  and  skill  were  collected  and  displayed  in 
London,  for  the  purpose  of  stimulating  public 
industry  and  inventiveness ;  and  although  these 
exhibitions  were,  to  a  certain  extent,  nothing  more 
than  would  now  be  termed  "  bazaars,"  they  were 
found  to  answer  so  successfully  the  ends  for  which 
they -were  instituted,  that  the  plan  was  adopted  in 
France,  and  there  continued,  with  the  happiest 
results,  even  long  after  it  had  been  abandoned 
in  England.  When  the  first  French  Revolu- 
tion was  at  its  height,  the  Marquis  d'Aveze  pro- 
jected an  exhibition  of  tapestry  and  porcelain,  as  a 
means  of  raising  funds  for  relieving  the  distress 
then  existing  among  the  workers  in  those  trades. 
Before,  however,  he  could  complete  his  arrange- 
ments, he  was  denounced,  and  on  the  very  day 
on  which  his  exhibition  was  to  have  been  opened, 
he  was  compelled  to  fly  from  the  vengeance  of  the 
Directory.  So  firm  a  hold,  however,  had  the  idea 
taken  on  the  public  mind,  that  it  was  not  allowed 
to  die  out.  A  few  years  afterwards,  on  his  return 
to  Paris,  the  marquis  resumed  his  labours,  and  in 
1798  actually  succeeded  in  opening  a  National 
Exposition  in  the  house  and  gardens  of  the  Maison 
d'Orsay.  The  people  flocked  in  great  numbers 
to  view  the  show,  which  altogether  proved  a  com- 
plete success.  In  that  same  year,  too,  the  French 
Government  organised  its  first  official  Exposition 
of  national  manufacture  and  the  works  of  industry. 
It  was  held  on  the  Champ  de  Mars,  in  a  building 
constructed  for  the  purpose,  called  the  Temple  of 
Industry.  Three  years  later  a  second  Exposition 
took  place,  and  more  than  two  hundred  exhibitors 
competed  for  the  prizes  offered  for  excellence.  In 
the  following  year  a  third  Exposition  was  held  on 
the  same  spot,  the  number  of  exhibitors  increasing 
to  upwards  of  four  hundred.  So  great  was  the 
success  of  these  several  shows,  that  out  of  them  arose 
an  institution  similar  to  our  Society  of  Arts,  called 
the  Societe  d' Encouragement,  a  society  to  which  the 
working  classes  of  France  are  largely  indebted  for 
the  taste  which  they  have  acquired  for  the  beautiful 
in  art,  and  for  the  cultivation  of  science  as  a  hand- 
maid to  industry.  In  1806  the  fourth  French  Ex- 
position was  held  in  a  building  erected  in  front  of 
the  H6pital  des  Invalides;  this  was  even  more 
successful  than  its  predecessors  ;  for  while  the  pre- 
vious Expositions  had  each  remained  open  only 
about  a  week,  this  one  was  kept  open  for  twenty- 
four  days,  and  was  visited  by  many  thousands  of 
people.  The  number  of  exhibitors  rose  from 
about  five  hundred  to  nearly  fifteen  hundred,  and 
nearly  every  department  of  French  industry  was 
represented.  At  different  periods  between  the 
years  1819  and  1849,  seven  other  Expositions  were 


held  in  France,  the  last  of  which  was  restricted  to 
national  products.  The  Industrial  Show  of  1855, 
however,  was,  like  our  own  Great  Exhibition  of 
1851,  international. 

During  all  this  time  there  had  grown  up  in  Eng- 
land exhibitions,  consisting  chiefly  of  agricultural 
implements  and  cattle,  together  with  local  exhibi- 
tions of  arts  and  manufactures.  In  Birmingham, 
Leeds,  Manchester,  Dublin,  and  other  great  centres 
of  industry,  bazaars,  after  the  French  pattern,  had 
been  successfully  held  from  time  to  time.  The  one 
which  most  nearly  approached  the  idea  of  the 
French  Exposition,  in  the  variety  and  extent  of  the 
national  productions  displayed,  was  the  Free  Trade 
Bazaar,  held  for  twelve  days,  in  1845,  in  Covent 
Garden  Theatre — an  exhibition  which  excited  con- 
siderable public  interest,  and  doubtless  did  much 
to  make  the  London  public  acquainted  with  many 
arts  and  manufactures  of  which  they  had  hitherto 
had  but  a  very  confused  and  imperfect  knowledge. 

Roused  from  their  remissness  by  the  success  that 
had  attended  the  various  French  Expositions,  the 
English  people,  during  the  years  1847  and  1848, 
re-opened  their  exhibitions,  chiefly  at  the  instigation 
and  by  the  aid  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  by  whom 
the  plan  had  been  revived.  So  great  was  now  the 
importance  of  these  industrial  displays,  that  they 
became  a  subject  of  national  consideration  ;  but  it 
was  felt  that  something  more  was  necessary  than 
France  or  England  had  as  yet  attempted  to  give 
them  their  proper  development  and  effect. 

At  this  point,  an  idea  was  entertained  by  the  late 
Prince  Consort  of  gathering  together  into  one  place 
the  best  specimens  of  contemporary  art  and  skill, 
and  the  natural  productions  of  every  soil  and 
climate,  instead  of  the  mere  local  or  national  pro- 
ductions of  France  and  England.  "It  was  to  be  a 
whole  world  of  nature  and  art  collected  at  the  call 
of  the  queen  of  cities — a  competition  in  which 
every  country  might  have  a  place,  and  every  variety 
of  intellect  its  claim  and  chance  of  distinction. 
Nothing  great,  or  beautiful,  or  useful,  be  its  native 
home  where  it  might ;  not  a  discovery  or  invention, 
however  humble  or  obscure ;  not  a  candidate,  how- 
ever lowly  his  rank,  but  would  obtain  admission, 
and  be  estimated  to  the  full  amount  of  genuine 
worth.  It  was  to  be  to  the  nineteenth  what  the 
tournament  had  been  to  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries — a  challenge  at  once  and  welcome  to  all 
comers,  and  to  which  every  land  could  send,  not  its 
brightest  dame  and  bravest  lance,  as  of  yore,  but  its 
best  produce  and  happiest  device  for  the  promotion 
of  universal  happiness  and  brotherhood."* 


*  "Comprehensive  History  of  England,"  vol.  iv.,  p.  798. 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


The  undertaking  received  Her  Majesty's  royal 
sanction  on  the  3rd  of  January,  1850  ;  on  the  nth 
of  the  same  month  the  Royal  Commissioners  held 
their  first  meeting;  and  on  the  t4th  of  February 
Prince  Albert  sat  as  Chairman  of  the  Commission. 
On  the  zist  of  March  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London 
invited  the  mayors  of  nearly  all  the  cities,  boroughs, 
and  towns  of  the  United  Kingdom  to  a  banquet  at 
the  Mansion  House  to  meet  the  Prince,  and  upon 


At  first,  many  manufacturers  and  merchants  in 
foreign  countries  were  exceedingly  averse  to  the 
proposed  Exhibition ;  but,  as  was  the  case  with 
those  at  home,  discussion  and  better  information 
led  to  more  enlightened  views.  Prince  Albert,  in 
his  speech  at  a  banquet  held  at  York,  said,  in  the 
name  of  the  Royal  Commission  :— "  Although  we 
perceive  in  some  countries  an  apprehension  that 
the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the  Exhibition 


COURTYARD   OF   THE    "ROSE   AND  CROWN,"    l820.      (See  page  2J.) 


that  occasion  his  Royal  Highness  lucidly  explained 
the  object  of  the  proposed  undertaking. 

The  Exhibition,  it  was  announced,  was  to  belong 
exclusively  to  the  people  themselves  of  every  nation, 
instead  of  being  supported  and  controlled  by  their 
respective  governments  ;  and  in  order  that  nothing 
might  be  wanting  in  its  character  as  a  great  com- 
petitive trial,  the  sum  of  ,£20,000  was  set  apart  for 
the  expense  of  prizes,  which  were  to  be  awarded 
to  the  successful  competitors.  At  first,  the  real 
magnitude  and  the  great  difficulties  of  the  project 
were  not  fully  perceived  ;  and  the  proposal  was 
scarcely  made  public  by  the  Society  of  Arts,  of 
which  Prince  Albert  was  at  the  head,  before  im- 
pediments began  to  rise  up  in  their  way,  and  for 
more  than  a  year  they  were  beset  with  difficulties. 


will  be  mainly  reaped  by  England,  and  a  con- 
sequent distrust  in  the  effects  of  our  scheme  upon 
their  own  interests,  we  must,  at  the  same  time, 
freely  and  gratefully  acknowledge,  that  our  invi- 
tation has  been  received  by  all  nations,  with  whom 
communication  was  possible,  in  that  spirit  of 
liberality  and  friendship  in  which  it  was  tendered, 
and  that  they  are  making  great  exertions,  and 
incurring  great  expenses,  in  order  to  meet  our 
plans."  Upon  the  same  occasion,  Lord  Carlisle, 
one  of  the  most  enlightened  men  of  the  age, 
expressed  a  hope  that  "  the  promoters  of  this 
Exhibition  were  giving  a  new  impulse  to  civilisa- 
tion, and  bestowing  an  additional  reward  upon 
industry,  and  supplying  a  fresh  guarantee  to  the 
amity  of  nations.  Yes,  the  nations  were  stirring 


THE   FIRST   INTERNATIONAL   EXHIBITION. 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


at  their  call,  but  not  as  the  trumpet  sounds  to 
battle ;  they  were  summoning  them  to  the  peaceful 
field  of  a  nobler  competition;  not  to  build  the 
superiority  or  predominance  of  one  country  on 
the  depression  and  prostration  of  another,  but 
where  all  might  strive  who  could  do  most  to 
embellish,  improve,  and  elevate  their  common 
humanity." 

At  a  meeting  held  in  Birmingham,  Mr.  Cobden, 
in  speaking  of  the  advantages  that  might  be 
expected  to  flow  from  this  Exhibition,  said,  "  We 
shall  by  that  means  break  down  the  barriers  that 
have  separated  the  people  of  different  nations,  and 
witness  one  universal  republic;  the  year  1851  will 
be  a  memorable  one,  indeed :  it  will  witness  a 
triumph  of  industry  instead  of  a  triumph  of  arms. 
We  shall  not  witness  the  reception  of  the  allied 
sovereigns  after  some  fearful  conflict,  men  bowing 
their  heads  in  submission ;  but,  instead,  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  will  cross  the  Channel,  to 
whom  we  will  give  the  right  hand  of  fellowship, 
with  the  fullest  conviction  that  war,  rather  than 
a  national  aggrandisement,  has  been  the  curse  and 
the  evil  which  has  retarded  the  progress  of  liberty 
and  of  virtue  ;  and  we  shall  show  to  them  that 
the  people  of  England — not  a  section  of  them,  but 
hundreds  of  thousands — are  ready  to  sign  a  treaty 
of  amity  with  all  the  nations  on  the  face  of  the 
earth." 

Lecturers  and  competent  agents  were  now  sent 
throughout  the  country  to  explain  the  objects  of 
the  Exhibition,  and  the  advantages  likely  to  arise 
from  it ;  besides  which,  the  subject  had  been  pro- 
claimed in  every  country  far  and  wide — in  fact,  a 
challenge  had  been  given,  such  as  men  had  never 
heard,  to  an  enterprise  in  which  every  nation  might 
hope  to  be  the  victor.  It  was  arranged  that  the 
great  competition  should  be  opened  in  London 
on  the  ist  of  May,  1851  ;  but  as  yet  a  place  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  specimens  and  the 
spectators  had  to  be  erected.  The  directors  of  the 
Exhibition  were  for  a  time  perplexed,  for  they 
found,  on  calculation,  that  no  building  on  earth 
would  be  sufficiently  large  to  contain  a  tithe  of  its 
contents.  After  many  expedients  had  been  pro- 
posed and  rejected,  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir  Joseph) 
Paxton,  the  celebrated  horticulturist  at  Chatsworth, 
came  forward  with  a  simple  plan,  which  effectually 
solved  all  the  difficulty. 

The  number  of  plans  and  designs  sent  in  to  the 
Committee  appointed  by  the  Royal  Commission 
amounted  to  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty,  in- 
cluding several  foreigners;  but  none  of  these 
appeared  to  be  satisfactory.  Accordingly,  the 
Committee  set  to  work  and  perfected  a  desi'gn  for 


themselves,  from  the  various  suggestions  afforded 
by  the  competing  architects,  adding,  as  a  contri- 
bution "  entirely  their  own,"  a  dome  of  gigantic 
proportions.  This  dome  at  once  became  so  un- 
popular with  the  public,  and  the  contest  about 
its  site  grew  so  fierce,  that  the  whole  scheme  of 
the  Exhibition  seemed  at  one  time  likely  to  have 
collapsed.  At  "  the  eleventh  hour,"  however,  Mr. 
Paxton,  as  we  have  stated  above,  came  forward 
with  a  plan,  which  he  considered  would  meet  all 
the  requirements  of  the  Committee,  and  avoid  all 
the  objections  of  the  public.  "  It  was  not,"  said 
Mr.  Paxton  himself,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Derby 
Institute,  "  until  one  morning,  when  I  was  present 
with  my  friend,  Mr.  Ellis,  at  an  early  sitting  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  that  the  idea  of  sending  in  a 
design  occurred  to  me.  A  conversation  took  place 
between  us,  with  reference  to  the  construction  of 
the  new  House  of  Commons,  in  the  course  of 
which  I  observed,  that  I  was  afraid  they  would 
also  commit  a  blunder  in  the  building  for  the 
Industrial  Exhibition ;  I  told  him  that  I  had  a 
notion  in  my  head,  and  that  if  he  would  accompany 
me  to  the  Board  of  Trade  I  would  ascertain 
whether  it  was  too  late  to  send  in  a  design.  I 
asked  the  Executive  Committee  whether  they  were 
so  far  committed  to  the  plans  as  to  be  precluded 
from  receiving  another  ;  the  reply  was,  '  Certainly 
not ;  the  specifications  will  be  out  in  a  fortnight, 
but  there  is  no  reason  why  a  clause  should  not  be 
introduced,  allowing  of  the  reception  of  another 
design.'  I  said,  '  Well,  if  you  will  introduce  such 
a  clause,  I  will  go  home,  and,  in  nine  days  hence, 
I  will  bring  you  my  plans  all  complete.'  No 
doubt  the  Executive  thought  me  a  conceited 
fellow,  and  that  what  I  had  said  was  nearer  akin 
to  romance  than  to  common  sense.  Well,  this 
was  on  Friday,  the  nth  of  June.  From  London 
I  went  to  the  Menai  Straits,  to  see  the  third  tube 
of  the  Britannia  Bridge  placed,  and  on  my  return 
to  Derby  I  had  to  attend  to  some  business  at  the 
Board  Room,  during  which  time,  however,  my 
whole  mind  was  devoted  to  this  project ;  and 
whilst  the  business  proceeded,  I  sketched  the 
outline  of  my  design  on  a  large  sheet  of  blotting- 
paper.  Well,  having  sketched  this  design,  I  sat 
up  all  night,  until  I  had  worked  it  out  to  my  own 
satisfaction;  and,  by  the  aid  of  my  friend  Mr. 
Barlow,  on  the  isth,  I  was  enabled  to  complete 
the  whole  of  the  plans  by  the  Saturday  following, 
on  which  day  I  left  Rowsley  for  London.  On 
arriving  at  the  Derby  station,  I  met  Mr.  Robert 
Stephenson,  a  member  of  the  Building  Committee, 
who  was  also  on  his  way  to  the  metropolis.  Mr. 
Stephenson  minutely  examined  the  plans,  and 


A   SINGULAR   PROPHECY. 


3J 


became  thoroughly  engrossed  with  them,  until  at 
length  he  exclaimed  that  the  design  was  just  the 
thing,  and  he  only  wished  it  had  been  sub- 
mitted to  the  Committee  in  time.  Mr.  Stephenson, 
however,  laid  the  plans  before  the  Committee,  and 
at  first  the  idea  was  rather  pooh-poohed ;  but  the 
plans  gradually  grew  in  favour,  and  by  publishing 
the  design  in  the  Illustrated  London  Nnvs,  and 
showing  the  advantage  of  such  an  erection  over 
one  composed  of  fifteen  millions  of  bricks  and 
other  materials,  which  would  have  to  be  removed 
at  a  great  loss,  the  Committee  did,  in  the  end, 
reject  the  abortion  of  a  child  of  their  own,  and 
unanimously  recommended  my  bantling.  I  am 
bound  to  say  that  I  have  been  treated  by  the 
Committee  with  great  fairness.  Mr.  Brunei,  the 
author  of  the  great  dome,  I  believe,  was  at  first  so 
wedded  to  his  own  plan  that  he  would  hardly  look 
at  mine.  But  Mr.  Brunei  was  a  gentleman  and  a 
man  of  fairness,  and  listened  with  every  attention 
to  all  that  could  be  urged  in  favour  of  my  plans. 
As  an  instance  of  that  gentleman's  very  creditable 
conduct,  I  will  mention  that  a  difficulty  presented 
itself  to  the  Committee  as  to  what  was  to  be  done 
with  the  large  trees,  and  it  was  gravely  suggested 
that  they  should  be  walled  in.  I  remarked  that  I 
could  cover  the  trees  without  any  difficulty ;  when 
Mr.  Brunei  asked,  'Do  you  know  their  height?' 
I  acknowledged  that  I  did  not.  On  the  following 
morning  Mr.  Brunei  called  at  Devonshire  House, 
and  gave  me  the  measurement  of  the  trees,  which 
he  had  taken  early  in  the  morning,  adding — 
'  Although  I  mean  to  try  to  win  with  my  own 
plan,  I  will  give  you  all  the  information  I  can.' 
Having  given  this  preliminary  explanation  of  the 
origin  and  execution  of  my  design,  I  will  pass  over 
the  question  of  merit,  leaving  that  to  be  discussed 
and  decided  by  others  when  the  whole  shall  have 
been  completed." 

Notwithstanding  that  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  Prince 
Albert  strongly  favoured  Mr.  Paxton's  scheme,  it 
was  at  first  but  coldly  received  by  the  Building 
Committee,  who  still  clung  to  their  own  plan. 
Nothing  daunted,  Mr.  Paxton  appealed  to  the 
British  public ;  and  this  he  did  by  the  aid  of 
the  woodcuts  and  pages  of  the  Illustrated  London 
News.  Everybody  but  the  Committee  was  at 
once  convinced  of  the  practicability,  simplicity, 
and  beauty  of  Mr.  Paxton's  plan,  which,  in  fact, 
was  but  a  vast  expansion  of  a  conservatory  design, 
built  by  him  at  Chatsworth  for  the  flowering  of 
the  Victoria  Lily.  The  people  and  the  Prince 
were  heartily  with  him  ;  and,  thus  encouraged, 
Mr.  Paxton  resolved  to  make  another  effort  with 
the  Building  Committee.  It  happened  that  the 


Committee  had  invited  candidates  for  raising  their 
edifice  to  suggest  any  improvements  in  it  that 
might  occur  to  them.  This  opened  a  crevice  for 
the  tender  of  Mr.  Paxton's  plan  as  an  "  improve- 
ment" on  that  of  the  Committee.  After  some 
discussion,  the  result  was  that  the  glazed  "  palace  " 
was  chosen  unanimously,  not  only  by  the  Building 
Committee,  but  by  the  Royal  Commissioners  also. 
Mr.  Paxton's  design,  as  everybody  knows,  was 
that  of  a  huge  building  in  the  style  of  a  garden 
conservatory,  in  which  iron  and  glass  should  be 
almost  the  sole  materials,  wood  being  introduced 
only  in  the  fittings.  This  method  was  at  once 
adopted,  and  the  result  was  a  building  in  Hyde 
Park,  nearly  twice  the  breadth  and  fully  four  times 
the  length  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  The  edifice 
— which  was  appropriately  called  the  "  Crystal 
Palace  "—covered  nearly  twenty  acres  of  ground, 
and  contained  eight  miles  of  tables.  It  was 
erected  and  finished  in  the  short  space  of  seven 
months.  "With  its  iron  framework,  that  rose 
towards  the  sky  in  dark  slender  lines,  and  its 
walls  of  glittering  crystal,  that  seemed  to  float 
in  mid-air  like  a  vapour,  it  appeared,  indeed,  an 
exhalation  which  a  breath  of  wind  might  disperse — 
zfaia  morgana  that  would  disappear  with  a  sudden 
shift  of  sunshine.  But  on  looking  more  nearly  it 
was  seen  to  be  a  solid  edifice,  the  iron  pillars  of 
which  were  rooted  deep  in  the  earth ;  while  within 
the  combination  of  light  and  lofty  arches,  with  ribs 
forming  a  graceful  metallic  net-work,  gave  strength 
and  security  to  the  edifice."  It  is  a  curious  fact 
that  the  edifice  realised  the  conceptions  of  one 
of  the  earliest  poetical  dreams  in  the  English 
language ;  and  one  would  almost  believe  that 
when  Chaucer,  four  centuries  and  a  half  ago, 
wrote  the  following  lines  in  his  "  House  of  Fame," 
he  was  endowed  with  a  prophetic  as  well  as  a 
poetic  faculty  : — 

"  I  dreamt  I  was 
Within  a  temple  made  of  glass, 

Of  gold  standing  in  sundry  stages, 

And  with/£7W/.r,  more  pinnacles, 
And  more  curious  portraitures, 
And  quaint  manner  of  figure:; 
Of  gold-work  than  I  saw  ever. 

"Then  saw  I  stand  on  either  side 
Straight  down  to  the  doors  wide 
from  the  dais  many  a  pillar 
Of  metal  that  shone  out  full  clear. 


'  Then  gan  I  look  about  and  see 
That  there  came  ent'ring  in  the  hall, 
A  right  great  company  withal, 
And  that  of  sundry  regions 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[The  Great 


Of  all  kinds  of  condition!, 

That  dwell  in  earth  beneath  the  moon, 

Poor  and  rich. 

"  Such  a  great  congregation 
Of  folks  as  I  saw  roam  about, 
Some  within  and  some  without, 
Was  never  seen  or  shall  be  more!  " 

The  superintendence  of  the  construction  of  the 
building  was  entrusted  to  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir) 
Matthew  Digby  Wyatt,  and  the  construction  itself 
was  undertaken  by  Messrs.  Fox,  Henderson, and  Co., 
of  Birmingham.  The  ground-plan  of  the  building 
was  a  parallelogram,  1,851  feet  long — a  fact  worthy 
of  mention,  seeing  that  the  number  corresponds  with 
the  date  of  the  year  in  which  the  Exhibition  was 
held — by  456  feet  wide  in  the  broadest  part,  with 
a  transept  upwards  of  400  feet  long  and  72  feet 
wide  intersecting  the  building  at  right  angles  in 
the  middle.  The  side  walls  rose  in  three  stages: 
the  outer  wall  rising  from  the  ground  twenty-four 
feet,  the  second  twenty  feet  higher,  and  the  third 
twenty  feet  higher  still,  or  sixty-four  feet  from  the 
bottom  of  its  supporting  pillars,  giving  within  the 
building  a  great  central  avenue  or  nave  seventy- 
two  feet  wide,  and  on  each  side  of  it  three  avenues 
twenty-four  feet  wide,  and  two  of  forty-eight  feet ; 
the  transept,  having  a  semi-circular  roof,  being 
1 08  feet  high,  to  give  ample  room  for  three  or 
four  trees  in  the  Park  which  remained  enclosed 
under  it.  The  edifice  was  a  trifle  longer  than 
Portland  Place.  "I  walked  out  one  evening," 
says  Sir  Charles  Fox,  "  and  there  setting  out  the 
1,848  feet  upon  the  pavement,  found  it  the  same 
length  within  a  few  yards;  and  then  considered 
that  the  Great  Exhibition  building  would  be  three 
times  the  width  of  that  fine  street,  and  the  nave  as 
high  as  the  houses  on  either  side." 

As  no  brick  and  mortar  were  used,  and  all  the 
proportions  of  the  building  depended  upon  its  iron 
pillars  and  girders,  nearly  all  the  materials  arrived 
on  the  spot  ready  to  be  placed  and  secured  in 
their  destined  positions.  Yet  vast  operations  were 
necessary  even  then  in  its  construction,  and  called 
forth  the  most  admirable  display  of  scientific 
ingenuity,  systematic  arrangements,  and  great 
energy.  Hardly  any  scaffolding  was  used,  the 
columns,  as  they  were  set  up,  answering  their 
purpose.  Machines  for  performing  all  the  pre- 
paratory operations  required  to  be  done  on  the 
spot  were  introduced  in  the  building,  and  some  of 
them  invented  for  the  occasion  ;  such,  for  instance, 
as  the  sash-bar  machine,  gutter-machine,  mortising- 
machine,  painting-machine,  glazing-machine,  and 
other  ingenious  contrivances  for  economising 
labour. 


Throughout  the  progress  of  the  building  it  was 
visited  by  many  of  the  most  distinguished  persons 
in  the  country  ;  and  the  contractors  finding  that 
the  numbers  who  flocked  to  it  impeded  in  some 
degree  their  operations,  determined  to  make  a 
charge  of  five  shillings  for  admission,  the  proceeds 
of  which  were  to  constitute  an  accident-relief  fund 
for  the  workmen.  A  very  considerable  sum  was 
thus  raised,  though  the  number  of  accidents  was 
very  small,  and  the  nature  of  the  accidents  not  at 
all  serious.  During  the  months  of  December  and 
January  upwards  of  2,000  persons  were  employed 
upon  the  building. 

Whatever  wonders  the  Exhibition  was  to  contain, 
the  building  itself,  when  completed,  was  looked 
upon  as  the  greatest  wonder  of  all.  Shortly  before 
it  was  opened  to  the  public,  the  Times  observed 
that,  "Not  the  least  wonderful  part  of  the  Exhibition 
will  be  the  edifice  within  which  the  specimens  of 
the  industry  of  all  nations  are  to  be  collected.  Its 
magnitude,  the  celerity  with  which  it  is  to  be 
constructed,  and  the  materials  of  which  it  is  to 
be  composed,  all  combine  to  ensure  for  it  a  large 
share  of  that  attention  which  the  Exhibition  is  likely 
to  attract,  and  to  render  its  progress  a  matter  of 
great  public  interest.  A  building  designed  to 
cover  753,984  superficial  feet,  and  to  have  an 
exhibiting  surface  of  about  twenty-one  acres,  to  be 
roofed  in,  and  handed  over  to  the  Commissioners 
within  little  more  than  three  months  from  its 
commencement ;  to  be  constructed  almost  entirely 
of  glass  and  iron,  the  most  fragile  and  the  strongest 
of  working  materials ;  to  combine  the  lightness  of 
a  conservatory  with  the  stability  of  our  most  per- 
manent structures — such  a  building  will  naturally 
excite  much  curiauty  as  to  the  mode  in  which  the 
forks  connected  v  ith  it  are  conducted,  and  the 
advances  which  art  made  towards  its  completion. 
Enchanted  palaces  that  grow  up  in  a  night  are 
confined  to  fairy-land,  and  in  this  material  world 
of  ours  the  labours  of  the  bricklayer  and  the 
carpenter  are  notoriously  never-ending.  It  took 
300  years  to  build  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  and 
thirty-five  to  complete  our  own  St.  Paul's.  The 
New  Palace  of  Westminster  has  already  been 
fifteen  years  in  hand,  and  still  is  unfinished.  We 
run  up  houses,  it  is  true,  quickly  enough  in  this 
country ;  but  if  there  be  a  touch  of  magic  in  the 
me  occupied,  there  is  none  in  the  appearance  of 
so  much  stucco  and  brick-work  as  our  streets 
exhibit  Something  very  different  from  this  was 
promised  for  the  great  edifice  in  Hyde  Park.  Not 
only  was  it  to  rise  with  extraordinary  rapidity, 
Dut  in  every  other  respect  is  to  be  suggestive  of 
Arabian  Nights '  remembrances." 


Exhibition.] 


OPENING   OF  THE    EXHIBITION   BY   HER   MAJESTY. 


35 


The  decoration  of  the  building,  both  in  design 
and  in  execution,  was  entrusted  to  Mr.  Owen 
Jones,  about  500  painters  being  employed  upon 
the  work.  The  under  sides  of  the  girders  were 
painted  red,  the  round  portions  of  the  columns 
yellow,  and  the  hollows  of  the  capitals  blue,  in  due 
proportions.  All  the  stalls  were  covered  with  red 
cloth,  or  pink  calico ;  by  which  means  not  only 
was.  the  unsightly  woodwork  concealed,  but  a 
warmth  of  colouring  was  given  to  the  whole 
ground  area  of  the  building,  which,  combined  with 
the  mass  of  blue  overhead,  and  the  yellow  stripes 
of  the  columns,  produced  a  most  harmonious  effect, 
which  was  further  softened  by  covering  the  roof 
and  south  side  with  unbleached  calico,  to  prevent 
the  glare  of  light  which  would  necessarily  take 
place  in  a  building  whose  roof  and  sides  were 
•chiefly  of  glass.  Mr.  Jones  also  displayed  great 
knowledge  in  his  profession  by  the  judicious  dis- 
tribution of  various  large  articles  and  groups  of 
articles,  with  a  view  to  their  effect  upon  the  general 
internal  aspect  of  the  Exhibition. 

The  first  column  of  the  edifice  was  fixed  on  the 
26th  of  September,  1850,  and  by  the  middle  of 
January,  1851,  notwithstanding  various  alterations 
in  some  of  the  details  of  the  plan,  little  of  the 
exterior  of  the  vast  structure  remained  to  be 
finished,  and  by  the  ist  of  May  everything  was 
complete ;  the  contributions  from  all  nations  were 
in  their  places ;  and  the  Exhibition  was  opened  by 
Her  Majesty  Queen  Victoria  in  person,  attended 
by  her  Royal  Consort,  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bur}',  Her  Majesty's  ministers  and  great  officers  of 
state,  the  foreign  ambassadors  and  ministers,  the 
Royal  Commissioners,  &c.  The  opening  ceremony 
took  place  with  a  punctuality  which  was  the  source 
of  much  congratulation.  A  chair  of  state  had 
been  placed  upon  a  dai's  of  three  steps,  on  the 
north  of  the  centre  facing  the  south  transept,  and 
over  it  was  suspended,  by  invisible  rods,  a  canopy 
of  blue  and  silver.  In  front,  in  the  centre  of  the 
transept,  was  a  large  glass  fountain,  and  on  either 
side,  a  little  in  the  rear,  were  equestrian  statues  of 
Her  Majesty  and  the  Prince  Consort.  The  doors 
of  the  "Crystal  Palace"  were  opened  on  the 
morning  of  that  eventful  day  at  nine  o'clock  for 
the  admission  of  the  purchasers  of  season  tickets, 
of  which  about  20,000  had  been  sold.  The 
visitors  were  so  judiciously  sprinkled  over  the 
different  parts  of  the  building,  by  the  tickets 
assigning  to  every  person  the  staircase  or  section 
he  was  to  repair  to,  that  there  was  nothing  like 
crushing  in  any  part  of  the  building,  with  one 
temporary  exception  of  a  rush  of  persons  beyond 
the  barriers  before  the  platform,  which  was  soon 


set  right  by  a  party  of  sappers.  The  following 
particulars  of  the  opening  ceremony  we  here  quote 
from  the  Gentleman's  Magazine : — "  The  Queen 
left  Buckingham  Palace  in  state  at  twenty  minutes 
before  twelve,  accompanied  by  Prince  Albert  and 
their  two  eldest  children,  the  Prince  and  Princess 
of  Prussia,  Prince  Frederick  William  of  Prussia, 
and  their  respective  suites.  They  were  conveyed 
in  nine  carriages.  Some  time  before  Her  Majesty 
entered,  the  heralds  in  their  tabards,  the  officers 
of  state,  Her  Majesty's  ministers,  the  foreign 
ambassadors,  and  the  officers  of  the  household 
troops,  in  their  full  costumes,  with  the  Executive 
Committee  and  other  functionaries  of  the  Ex- 
hibition, the  architect  and  contractors  in  court 
dresses,  and  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen  in 
their  robes,  had  assembled  round  the  platform, 
and  the  '  beef-eaters '  were  ranged  behind.  At 
length  a  flourish  of  trumpets  announced  the  Queen's 
arrival  at  the  north  door  of  the  building,  and  Her 
Majesty  and  her  Royal  Consort,  leading  by  the 
hand  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  Princess  Royal, 
appeared  before  the  vast  assemblage  of  her  sub- 
jects, and  'the  crystal  bow'  rang  with  enthusiastic 
shouts,  overpowering  the  sound  of  the  cannon 
discharged  on  the  other  side  of  the  Serpentine, 
It  was  a  moment  of  intense  excitement.  In  the 
midst  of  the  grandest  temple  ever  raised  to  the 
peaceful  arts,  surrounded  by  thousands  of  her 
subjects  and  men  of  all  nations,  was  the  ruler  of 
this  realm  and  its  vast  dependencies,  herself  the 
centre  of  the  great  undertaking.  Her  emotions,  as 
she  gracefully  and  repeatedly  acknowledged  her 
people's  gratulations,  were  very  evident.  The 
Prince  Consort  having  conducted  Her  Majesty  to 
the  throne,  the  National  Anthem  was  sung  by 
a  choir  of  near  a  thousand  voices,  accompanied 
by  the  organ  of  Messrs.  Gray  and  Davidson." 
Prince  Albert  then  quitted  the  Queen's  side,  and, 
advancing  at  the  head  of  the  Royal  Commissioners, 
over  whose  deliberations  he  had  indefatigably  pre- 
sided, delivered  in  an  emphatic  tone  of  voice  the 
report  of  the  completion  of  their  labours,  from 
which  it  appears  that  the  number  of  exhibitors 
whose  productions  it  had  been  found  possible 
to  accommodate  was  about  15,000,  of  whom 
nearly  one-half  were  British.  The  remainder 
represented  the  productions  of  more  than  forty 
foreign  countries,  comprising  almost  the  whole  of 
the  civilised  nations  of  the  globe.  In  arranging 
the  space  allotted  to  each,  the  report  stated  that 
the  Commissioners  had  taken  into  consideration 
both  the  nature  of  its  productions  and  the  facilities 
of  access  to  this  country  afforded  by  its  geographical 
position.  The  productions  of  Great  Britain  and 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[The  Great 


her  dependencies  were  arranged  in  the  western 
portion  of  the  building,  and  those  of  foreign 
countries  in  the  eastern.  The  Exhibition  was 
divided  into  four  great  classes,  viz.  :— i.  Raw 
Materials ;  2.  Machinery ;  3.  Manufactures ;  4. 
Sculpture  and  the  Fine  Arts.  With  regard  to  the 


rewards  would  be  assigned.  Her  Majesty's  reply 
to  the  address  was  followed  by  a  prayer,  offered 
up  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury ;  and  that 
finished,  the  majestic  "  Hallelujah  Chorus  "  burst 
forth,  its  strains  reverberating  through  the  arched 
transept  and  "  long-drawn  aisles  "  of  the  building. 


NAVE  OF  THE  GREAT   EXHIBITION   OF    1851. 


distribution  of  rewards  to  deserving  exhibitors,  the 
report  went  on  to  state  that  the  Commissioner 
had  decided  that  they  should  be  given  in  the  form 
of  medals,  not  with  reference  to  merely  individual 
competition,  but  as  rewards  for  excellence,  in 
whatever  shape  it  might  present  itself.  The 
selection  of  the  persons  to  be  so  rewarded  was 
entrusted  to  juries,  composed  equally  of  British 
subjects  and  of  foreigners,  many  of  whose  names 
were  a  guarantee  of  the  impartiality  with  which  the 


"The  state  procession  was  then  formed,  and 
passed  down  the  northern  avenue  of  the  west 
nave.  The  spectators  were  arranged  on  either 
side,  and  as  Her  Majesty  passed  along,  the  cheers 
were  taken  up  in  succession  by  the  whole  of  the 
long  array,  and  seconded  with  waving  of  hats  and 
handkerchiefs  from  the  galleries.  Her  Majesty 
and  the  Prince  acknowledged  these  gratulations 
by  continual  bowing.  The  various  objects  of 
interest  around  were  for  a  time  almost  d-sregarded, 


THE  INAUGURAL  CEREMONY. 


but  the  effect  of  the  whole  upon  the  eye,  as  the 
Sovereign  and  her  attendants  threaded  their  way 
between  the  living  throng,  and  the  lines  of  statuary 


Master-General  of  the  Ordnance),  united  arm-in- 
arm in  this  triumph  of  peace,  were  the  objects  of 
much  attraction.  When  the  procession  reached 


and  other  works  of  art,  and  the  rich  assemblage  I  the  west  end,  the  magnificent  organ  by  Mr.  Willis, 


THE  ALBERT   MEMORIAL.      (See  page  38.) 


of  the  products  of  industry,  was  exceedingly  |  with  its  4,700  pipes,  commenced  playing  the 
impressive ;  and  the  ovation  of  industry  far  out-  |  National  Anthem,  which  was  heard  to  the  re- 
shone  all  the  splendours  of  old  Rome,  with  no  j  motest  end  of  the  building.  The  procession 
fettered  captives  in  the  rear,  or  wailing  widows  !  returned  by  the  south  side  to  the  transept,  round 
and  orphans  at  home  to  dim  its  lustre.  The  Duke  !  the  southern  part  of  which  it  passed,  amidst  the 
of  Wellington  and  the  Marquis  of  Anglesey  (who  cheers  of  the  people,  the  peals  of  two  organs,  and 
joined  the  procession  as  Commander-in-Chief  and  ,  the  voices  of  700  choristers,  to  the  eastern  or 


3« 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[The  Great  Exhibition. 


foreign  division  of  the  nave,  where  the  French 
organ  took  up  the  strain,  and  the  delicate  lady, 
whose  tempered  sway  is  owned  by  a  hundred 
millions  of  men,  pursued  her  course  amongst  the 
contributions  of  all  the  civilised  world.  As  she 
passed  the  gigantic  equestrian  figure  of  Godfrey  de 
Bouillon,  by  the  Belgian  sculptor,  Simonis,  which 
seems  the  very  impersonation  of  physical  strength, 
we  could  not  but  be  struck  by  the  contrast,  and  by 
the  reflection  how  far  the  prowess  of  the  crusader 
is  transcended  by  the  power'of  well-defined  liberty 
and  constitutional  law.  The  brilliant  train  having 
at  length  made  the  complete  circuit  of  the  building, 
Her  Majesty  again  ascended  the  throne,  and  pro- 
nounced the  Exhibition  opened.  The  announce- 
ment was  repeated  by  the  Marquis  of  Breadalbane 
as  Lord  Steward,  followed  immediately  by  a  burst 
of  acclamations,  the  bray  of  trumpets,  and  a  royal 
salute  across  the  Serpentine.  The  royal  party 
then  withdrew;  the  National  Anthem  was  again 
repeated ;  and  the  visitors  dispersed  themselves 
through  the  building,  to  gratify  their  curiosity 
without  restraint." 

It  would  be  impossible,  and  indeed  superfluous, 
within  the  space  at  our  command,  to  attempt  to 
give  anything  even  like  a  resume  of  the  multifarious 
articles  here  brought  together;  suffice  it  to  say, 
that  the  Exhibition  comprised  most  of  the  best 
productions  in  the  different  branches  of  art,  manu- 
factures, &c.,  from  all  parts  of  the  civilised  globe, 
and  that  it  became  properly  enough  called  the 
"World's  Fair,"  for  it  attracted  visitors  from  all 
parts  of  the  world.  We  have  already  mentioned 
the  glass  fountain  in  the  transept;  that  object,  from 
its  central  position,  was  invariably  fixed  upon  as 
the  rendezvous,  or  meeting-place,  by  family  groups 
or  parties  of  visitors,  in  case  of  their  losing  sight  of 
one  another  in  the  labyrinth  of  tables  and  articles 
which  thronged  the  building.  Another  object, 
which  we  cannot  well  pass  over,  was  the  famous 
Koh-i-noor,  or  "  Mountain  of  Light,"  which  had 
been  specially  lent  by  Her  Majesty.  This  royal 
gem— the  value  of  which  has  been  variously  stated 
at  from  £1,500,000  to  ,£3,000,000—  appeared  to 
be  one  of  the  greatest  curiosities  of  the  Exhibition, 
judging  from  the  numbers  congregated  around  it 
during  the  day.  The  Exhibition  was  open  for  144 
days,  being  closed  on  the  nth  of  October.  The 
entire  number  of  visitors  _was  above  6,170,000, 
averaging  43,536  per  day.'*  The  largest  number 
of  visitors  in  one  day  was  109,760,  on  the  8th 
of  October;  and  at  two  o'clock  on  the  previous 
day  93,000  persons  were  present  at  one  time. 
The  entire  money  drawn  for  tickets  of  admission 
amounted  to  ,£506,100;  and  after  all  expenses 


were  defrayed,  a  balance  of  ,£213,300  was  left 
over,  to  be  applied  to  the  promotion  of  industrial 
art. 

At  the  time  when  the  Exhibition  was  over,  so 
firm  a  hold  had  the  fairy-like  palace  obtained  upon 
the  good  opinion  of  the  public,  that  a  general  desire 
for  its  preservation  sprung  up.  Application  was 
made  to  Government  that  it  should  be  purchased 
and  become  the  property  of  the  nation  ;  but  it  was 
ruled  otherwise.  The  building  was,  however,  not 
doomed  to  disappear  altogether,  for  a  few  enter- 
prising gentlemen  having  stepped  forward,  it  was 
rescued  from  destruction.  It  was  decided  that  the 
building  should  be  removed  to  some  convenient 
place  within  an  easy  distance  of  London,  and  ac- 
cordingly it  was  transferred  to  Sydenham,  where  a 
fine  estate  of  three  hundred  acres  had  been  pur- 
chased, on  which  the  edifice  was  raised  again  in 
increased  grandeur  and  beauty,  and  where,  under 
the  name  of  the  Crystal  Palace,  it  soon  became 
one  of  the  most  popular  places  of  recreation  in  or 
near  the  metropolis. 

The  whole  building  was  removed  from  Hyde 
Park  before  the  close  of  1852  ;  and  in  the  follow- 
ing year  it  was  proposed  to  place  upon  the  site 
a  memorial  of  the  Exhibition,  to  include  a  statue 
of  Prince  Albert — the  originator  of  this  display  of 
the  industry  of  all  nations.  The  spot  ultimately 
chosen  for  the  memorial,  however,  is  somewhat  to 
the  west  of  the  ground  covered  by  the  Exhibition 
building;  in  fact,  it  is  just  within  the  south- 
eastern enclosure  of  Kensington  Gardens,  directly 
opposite  the  centre  of  the  Horticultural  Gardens, 
and  looking  upon  the  South  Kensington  establish- 
ments, in  the  promotion  of  which  the  Prince 
Consort  always  took  so  deep  an  interest.  The 
memorial,  which  took  upwards  of  twenty  years 
before  it  was  completed,  and  cost  upwards  of 
£130,000,  was  erected  from  the  designs  of  Sir 
Gilbert  Scott.  It  consists  of  a  lofty  and  wide- 
spreading  pyramid  of  three  quadrangular  ranges 
of  steps,  forming,  as  it  were,  the  base  of  the 
monument,  which  may  be  described  as  a  colossal 
statue  of  the  Prince,  placed  beneath  a  vast  and 
gorgeous  Gothic  canopy,  about  thirty  feet  square, 
supported  at  the  angles  by  groups  of  columns  of 
polished  granite,  and  "  surrounded  by  works  of 
sculpture,  illustrating  those  arts  and  sciences  which 
he  fostered,  and  the  great  undertakings  which  he 
originated."  The  memorial  partakes  somewhat, 
in  the  richness  of  its  colours,  decorations,  and 
mosaics,  of  the  Renaissance  Gothic  style ;  and  its 
whole  height  from  the  roadway  is  176  feet.  The 
first  flight  of  granite  steps,  forming  the  basement, 
is  2 1 2  feet  wide,  with  massive  abutments  of  solid 


Pimlico.] 


DERIVATION   OF   "PIMLICO.' 


39 


granite.  At  the  four  corners  of  the  second  flight 
of  steps  are  gigantic  square  masses  of  carved 
granite,  occupied  with  colossal  groups  of  marble 
statuary,  emblematical  of  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and 
America,  and  executed  respectively  by  Messrs. 
Macdow.ell,  Foley,  Theed,  and  Bell.  Above  the 
topmost  flight  of  steps  rises  the  memorial  itself, 
the  podium  or  pedestal  of  which  is  carved  with 
nearly  200  figures,  life-size,  and  all  more  or  less 
in  high  relief.  They  are  all  portrait-statues  of 
celebrities  in  the  different  walks  of  art,  literature, 
science,  &c.  At  the  four  corners  of  this,  again, 
as  on  the  base  below,  are  allegorical  groups  of 
statuary — one  of  Commerce,  by  Thornycroft  ;  one 
of  Manufactures,  by  Weekes ;  one  of  Agricul- 
ture, by  Marshall ;  and  one  of  Engineering,  by 
Lawlor.  The  statue  of  the  Prince — which  was 
not  completed  till  early  in  the  year  1876 — is 
richly  gilt,  and  rests  upon  a  pedestal  fifteen  feet 
high ;  it  represents  the  Prince  sitting  on  a  chair 


of  state,  and  attired  in  his  regal-looking  robes 
as  a  Knight  of  the  Garter.  This  great  work  was 
entrusted  to  Mr.  Foley.  The  roof  of  the  canopy 
is  decorated  with  mosaics,  representing  the  royal 
arms  and  those  of  the  Prince  on  a  ground  of  blue 
and  gold.  At  the  angles  of  the  four  arches  above 
the  canopy  are  marble  figures,  life-size.  The 
spandrils  of  the  arches  above  the  trefoil  are  filled 
in  with  rich  and  elaborate  glass  mosaics  on  a  gilt 
ground,  portraying  Poetry,  Painting,  Sculpture, 
and  Architecture.  One  of  the  main  features  of 
the  whole  design  is  the  beautiful  spire,  in  which 
every  portion  of  the  metal  surface  is  covered  with 
ornament ;  the  surface  in  many  parts  is  coated 
with  colours  in  enamel,  with  coloured  marbles  and 
imitation  gem-work ;  and  up  to  the  very  cross  itself, 
which  surmounts  the  whole,  there  is  the  same 
amount  of  extraordinary  detail  and  finish,  as  if 
each  part  were  meant  for  the  most  minute  and 
close  inspection. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


"  I'll  have  due,  Captain  Gilthead,  and  march  up 
And  take  in  Pimlico."— Old  Play. 

Etymology  of  Pimlico-The  Locality  Half  a  Century  Age—Warwick  Square-Vauxhall  Bridge  Road-The  Army  Clothing  Depot-St.  George's 
Square-The  Church  of  St.  James  the  Less-Victoria  Railway  Station-New  Chelsea  Bridge-The  Western  Pumping  Station,  and  Metro- 
pol.tan   Main-Drainage  Works-St.   Barnabas  Church-St.   Barnabas  Mission   House  and  Orphanage-Bramah,   the   Engineer  and  Lock- 
smith-Thomas Cubitt,  the  Builder-The  "  Monster "  Tavern-The  "Gun,"  the  "Star  and  Garter,"  and  the  "Orange"  Tea-Gardens- 
Jenny's  Whim  "-Tart  Hall-Stafford  Row-St.  Peter's  Chapel  and  Dr.  Dodd-Richard  Heber  and  his  famous  Library. 


THE  name  Pimlico  is  clearly  of  foreign  deriva- 
tion, and  it  has  not  a  little  puzzled  topographers. 
GirTord,  in  a  note  in  his  edition  of  Ben  Jonson. 
tells  us  that  "  Pimlico  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  a 
person,  and  may  not  improbably  have  been  the 
master  of  a  house  once  famous  for  ale  of  a  par- 
ticular description ; "  and  we  know,  from  Dodsley's 
"Old  Plays,"  and  from  Ben  Jonson's  writings,  that 
there  was  another  Pimlico  at  Hoxton,  or  (as  the 
place  was  then  termed)  Hogsdon,  where,  indeed, 
to  the  present  day  there  is  a  "  Pimlico  Walk."  It 
is  evident,  from  a  reference  to  The  Alchemist  of 
Ben  Jonson,  that  the  place  so  named  at  "Hogsdon" 
was  a  place  of  resort  of  no  very  good  repute, 
and  constantly  frequented  by  all  sorts  of  people, 
from  knights,  ladies,  and  gentlewomen,  down  to 
oyster-wenches  : — 

"  Gallants,  men.  and  women, 
And  of  all  sorts,  tag-rag,  been  seen  to  flock  here, 
In  these  ten  weeks,  as  to  a  second  Hogsdon, 
In  days  of  Pimlico." 

In  another  play  of  about  the  same  period  a  worthy 


knight  is  represented  as  sending  his  daughter  to 
Pimlico  "to  fetch  a  draught  of  Derby  ale."  It  is 
antecedently  probable,  therefore,  that  the  district 
lying  between  Chelsea  and  St.  James's  Park  should 
have  got  the  name  from  an  accidental  resemblance 
to  its  antipodes  at  Hoxton.  And  this  supposition  is 
confirmed  by  Isaac  Reed,  who  tells  us,  in  Dodsley's 
"Old  Plays,"  how  that  "a  place  near  Chelsey  is  still 
called  Pimlico,  and  was  resorted  to  within  these 
few  years  on  the  same  account  as  the  former  at 
Hogsdon."  It  may  be  added  that  Pimlico  is  still 
celebrated  for  its  ales,  and  also  that  the  district  is 
not  mentioned  by  the  name  of  Pimlico  in  any 
existing  document  prior  to  the  year  1626. 

"  At  this  time " — i.e.  the  reign  of  Charles  I, 
writes  Mr.  Peter  Cunningham — "  Pimlico  was  quite 
uninhabited,  nor  is  it  introduced  into  the  rate- 
books of  St.  Martin's  (to  which  it  belonged)  until 
the  year  1680,  when  the  Earl  of  Arlington  — 
previously  rated  as  residing  in  the  Mulberry 
Gardens— is  rated,  though  still  living  in  the  same 
house,  under  the  head  of  Pimlico.  In  1687, 


4o 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


CKmlico. 


seven  years  later,  four  people  are  described  as 
living  in  what  was  then  called  Pimlico— the  Duke 
of  Grafton,  Lady  Stafford,  Thomas  Wilkins,  and  Dr. 
Crispin.  The  Duke  of  Grafton,  having  married  the 
only  child  of  the  Earl  of  Arlington,  was  residing 
in  Arlington  House;  and  Lady  Stafford  in  what 
was  then  and  long  before  known  as  Tart  Hall." 
Arlington  House,  as  we  have  seen,*  was  ultimately 
developed  into  Buckingham  Palace. 

The  district  of  Pimlico  may  be  regarded  as 
embracing  the  whole  of  Belgravia,  which  we  have 
already  dealt  with  in  a  previous  chapter,  as  well 
as  the  locality  extending  from  Buckingham  Palace 
Road  to  the  Thames,  and  stretching  away  west- 
ward to  Chelsea.  This  latter  portion  includes  the 
Grosvenor  Road  and  the  Eccleston  sub-district 
of  squares,  terraces,  and  streets,  nearly  all  of  which 
have  sprung  up  within  the  last  half-century. 

In  the  map  appended  to  Coghlan's  "  Picture  of 
London,"  published  in  the  year  1834,  the  whole  of 
this  division  of  Pimlico,  between  Vauxhall  Bridge 
Road  and  Chelsea  (now  Buckingham  Palace) 
Road,  appears  unbuilt  upon,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  stray  cottages  here  and  there,  and  a  few 
blocks  of  houses  near  the  river ;  the  rest  of  the 
space  is  marked  out  as  gardens  and  waste  land, 
intersected  by  the  Grosvenor  Canal,  the  head  of 
which,  forming  an  immense  basin,  is  now  entirely 
covered  by  the  Victoria  Railway  Station.  Its 
rustic  character  at  the  above  date  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact,  that  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
space  between  the  two  roads  above  mentioned 
is  described  as  "  osier  beds,"  whilst  a  straight 
thoroughfare  connecting  the  two  roads  is  called 
Willow  Walk.  These  osier  beds  are  now  covered 
by  Eccleston  Square  and  a  number  of  small  streets 
adjacent  to  it;  whilst  "Willow  Walk  "has  been 
transformed  into  shops  and  places  of  business,  and 
is  now  known  as  Warwick  Street.  On  the  north 
side  of  Warwick  Street,  covering  part  of  the  "old 
Neat  House  "  Gardens,  to  which  we  have  already 
referred,t  is  Warwick  Square,  which  is  bounded  on 
the  north-east  by  Belgrave  Road,  and  on  the 
south-west  by  St.  George's  Road.  In  Warwick 
Square  stands  St.  Gabriel's  Church,  a  large  build- 
ing of  Early  English  architecture,  erected  from  the 
designs  of  Mr.  Thomas  Cundy,  who  was  also  the 
architect  of  St.  Saviour's  Church,  in  St.  George's 
Square,  close  by.  Vauxhall  Bridge  Road,  which 
dates  from  the  erection  of  the  bridge,  about  the 
year  1 81 6,  is  a  broad  and  well-built  thoroughfare, 
opening  up  a  direct  communication,  by  way  of 
Grosvenor  Place,  between  Hyde  Park  Corner 'and 


'See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  62.  t  See  Vol.  IV., 


Vauxhall  Bridge,  and  so  on  to  Kennington  and 
the  southern  suburbs  of  London.  Of  Vauxhall 
Bridge,  and  of  Trinity  Church,  in  Bessborough 
Gardens,  close  by,  we  have  already  spoken. f 

Not  far  from  St.  George's  Square  stands  an 
extensive  range  of  buildings,  known  as  the  Army 
Clothing  Depot — one  of  the  largest  institutions 
that  has  ever  been  established  for  the  organisation 
and  utilisation  of  women's  work.  "  Previous  to 
the  year  1857,"  observes  a  writer  in  the  Queen 
newspaper,  "all  the  clothes  for  the  British  army 
were  made  by  contractors,  whose  first  thought 
seemed  to  be  how  to  amass  a  fortune  at  the 
expense  of  the  makers  and  the  wearers  of  the 
clothes  primarily,  and  of  the  British  public  in- 
directly. But  in  that  year  the  Army  Clothing 
Depot  was  established,  somewhat  experimentally, 
in  Blomberg  Terrace,  Vauxhall  Road ;  the  experi- 
ment answering  so  well,  that  an  extension  of  the 
premises  became  imperative.  In  1859  the  present 
depot  was  opened,  although  since  then  it  has 
largely  increased,  and  has  not  yet,  apparently,  come 
to  the  full  stage  of  its  development.  The  whole  of 
the  premises  occupy  about  seven  acres,  the  long 
block  of  buildings  on  the  one  side  being  used  as 
the  Government  stores,  while  the  corresponding 
block  consists  of  the  factory.  The  main  feature 
of  the  latter  is  a  large  glass-roofed  central  hall  of 
three  storeys,  with  spacious  galleries  all  round  on 
each  storey.  The  ventilation  is  ensured  by  louvres, 
so  that  the  whole  atmosphere  can  be  renewed  in 
the  space  of  five  minutes  or  so ;  the  temperature  is 
kept  at  an  average  of  60°  to  63°,  and  each  operative 
enjoys  1,200  cubic  feet  of  air,  so  that  we  have  at 
the  outset  the  three  requirements  of  light,  air,  and 
/armth,  in  strongly-marked  contrast  to  the  crowded 
rooms  of  the  contractor,  or  the  more  wretched 
chamber  of  the  home-worker.  Five  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  women  are  at  present  working  in  the 
central  hall,  and  five  hundred  in  the  side  rooms, 
which  also  accommodate  about  two  hundred  men. 
This  forms  the  working  staff  of  the  factory,  which 
comprises,  therefore,  what  may  be  called  the  pick 
of  the  sewing-machine  population  in  London.  It 
may  well  be  imagined  that  the  prospect  of  so 
comfortable  an  abiding  place  would  attract  great 
numbers  of  workpeople;  and,  indeed,  this  has 
been  so  much  the  case  that  very  rigorous  rules 
nave  been  obliged  to  be  made  to  guard  against 
unworthy  admissions.  'The  good  of  the  public 
service '  is  the  motto  of  the  factory,  and  everything  * 
else  must  yield  to  that ;  so  that,  both  for  in-door 
and  out-door  hands,  all  candidates  must  first  of 


t  See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  9. 


Pimlico.J 


THE   MAIN-DRAINAGE   WORKS. 


all  appear  before  a  committee,  consisting  of  the 
matron,  the  foreman  cutter,  the  foreman  viewer, 
and  the  instructor,  who  are  held  responsible  for 
the  selection  of  proper  persons.  In-door  candidates 
as  needlewomen  must  be  healthy  and  strong,  and, 
if  single,  between  the  ages  of  seventeen  and  thirty  ; 
if  married  or  widows,  they  must  have  no  children 
at  home  young  enough  to  demand  their  care. 
These  points  being  settled,  the  candidates  are 
examined  as  to  any  previous  training  or  fitness  for 
army  work,  and  are  required  to  show  what  they 
can  do.  If  all  these  requirements  are  satisfactory, 
the  matron  inquires  into  their  character,  and  finally 
they  are  examined  by  the  doctor,  who  certifies  to 
their  fitness,  after  which  they  are  placed  in  a  trial 
division  in  the  factory  for  further  report  and  pro- 
motion." 

St.  George's  Square,  with  its  trees  and  shrubs, 
presents  a  healthful  and  cheering  aspect,  almost 
bordering  on  the  Thames,  just  above  Vauxhall 
Bridge.  It  covers  a  considerable  space  of  ground, 
and  is  bounded  on  the  north  side  by  Lupus 
Street — a  thoroughfare  so  called  after  a  favourite 
Christian  name  in  the  Grosvenor  family,  per- 
petuating the  memory  of  Hugh  Lupus,  Earl  of 
Chester  after  the  Norman  Conquest.  St.  Saviour's 
Church,  which  was  built  in  1865,  is  in  the  Deco- 
rated style  of  Gothic  architecture,  and  with  its 
elegant  tower  and  spire  forms  a  striking  object,  as 
seen  from  the  river. 

In  Upper  Garden  Street,  which  runs  parallel 
with  Vauxhall  Bridge  Road,  is  the  Church  of  St. 
James  the  Less,  built  in  1861,  from  the  designs  of 
Mr.  G.  E.  Street,  R.A.  The  edifice  was  founded  by 
the  daughters  of  the  late  Bishop  of  Gloucester  and 
Bristol  (Dr.  Monk)  as  a  memorial  to  their  father, 
who  was  also  a  Canon  of  Westminster.  It  is  con- 
structed of  brick,  with  dressings  of  stone,  marble, 
and  alabaster;  and  it  consists  of  a  nave,  side  aisles, 
a  semi-circular  apse,  and  a  lofty  tower  and  spire. 
The  roof  of  the  chancel  is  groined,  and  is  a 
combination  of  brick  and  stone.  A  very  consider- 
able amount  of  elaborate  detail  pervades  the 
interior.  The  chancel  is  surrounded  by  screens 
of  brass  and  iron,  and  over  the  chancel-arch  is  a 
well-executed  fresco  painting,  by  Mr.  G.  F.  Watts, 
R.  A.,  of  "  Our  Saviour  attended  by  Angels."  Some 
of  the  windows  are  filled  with  stained  glass.  The 
building,  including  the  decorations,  cost  upwards 
of  ^9,000. 

The  Victoria  Railway  Station,  situated  at  the 
northern  end  of  Vauxhall  Bridge  Road,  covers,  as 
we  have  stated  above,  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
basin  of  the  old  Grosvenor  Canal ;  it  unites  the 
West-end  of  London  with  the  lines  terminating  at 


London  Bridge  and  Holborn  Viaduct,  and  also 
serves  as  the  joint  terminus  of  the  Brighton  Rail- 
way and  of  the  London,  Chatham,  and  Dover 
Railway.  Like  the  stations  at  Charing  Cross  and 
Cannon  Street,  which  we  have  already  described, 
the  Victoria  Railway  Station  has  a  "  monster " 
hotel — "  The  Grosvenor" — built  in  connection  with 
it.  The  lines  of  railway,  soon  after  leaving  the 
station,  are  carried  across  the  Thames  by  an  iron 
bridge  of  four  arches,  called  the  -Victoria  Bridge, 
and  then  diverge. 

On  the  western  side  of  the  railway  bridge  is 
a  handsome  new  bridge,  which  now  connects 
this  populous  and  increasing  neighbourhood  with 
Battersea  and  Vauxhall.  The  railway  bridge  some- 
what mars  the  structural  beauty  of  the  one  under 
notice ;  but  when  looked  at  from  the  embank- 
ment on  either  side,  "  above  bridge,"  or,  better 
still,  from  a  boat  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  the 
bridge  appears  like  a  fairy  structure,  with  its  towers 
gilded  and  painted  to  resemble  light-coloured 
bronze,  and  crowned  with  large  globular  lamps. 
The  bridge,  which  is  constructed  on  the  suspension 
principle,  is  built  of  iron,  and  rests  upon  piers  of 
English  elm  and  concrete  enclosed  within  iron 
casings.  The  two  piers  are  each  nearly  ninety 
feet  in  length  by  twenty  in  width,  with  curved  cut- 
waters. The  roadway  on  the  bridge  is  formed  by 
two  wrought-iron  longitudinal  girders,  upwards  of 
1,400  feet,  which  extend  the  whole  length  of  the 
bridge,  and  are  suspended  by  rods  from  the  chains. 
At  either  end  of  the  bridge  are  picturesque  lodge- 
houses,  for  the  use  of  the  toll-collectors.  The 
bridge  was  built  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  Page, 
and  finished  in  1857,  at  a  cost  of  £SS,ooo. 

Nearly  the  whole  of  the  river-side  between 
Vauxhall  Bridge  and  Chelsea  Bridge  forms  a  broad 
promenade  and  thoroughfare,  very  similar  in  its 
construction  to  the  Victoria  Embankment,  which 
we  have  already  described,  and  of  which  it  is,  so 
to  speak,  a  continuation- — the  only  break  in  the 
line  of  roadway  being  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
between  Millbank  and  the  Houses  of  Parliament, 
where  the  river  is  not  embanked  on  the  north  side. 
This  roadway  is  known  partly  as  Thames  Bank,  or 
Thames  Parade,  and  partly  as  the  Grosvenor 
Road.  One  of  the  principal  buildings  erected 
upon  it  is  the  Western  Pumping  Station,  which 
was  finished  in  1874-5,  completing  the  main- 
drainage  system  of  the  metropolis.  The  founda- 
tion-stone of  the  structure  was  laid  in  1873,  and 
the  works  cost  about  ,£183,000.  This  station 
provides  pumping  power  to  lift  the  sewage  and  a 
part  of  the  rainfall  contributed  by  the  district, 
together  estimated  at  38,000  gallons  per  minute,  a 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


height  of  eighteen  feet  in  the  Low  Level  Sewer, 
which  extends  from  Pimlico  to  the  Abbey  Mills 
Pumping  Station,  near  Barking,  in  Essex.  The 
requisite  power  is  obtained  from  four  high-pressure 
condensing  beam-engines  of  an  aggregate  of  360- 
horse  power.  Supplementary  power,  to  be  used  in 
case  of  accident  to  the  principal  engines,  or  on 
any  similar  emergency,  is  provided  by  an  additional 
high-pressure,  non-condensi 


below  the  entablature  which  surmounts  the  shaft. 
Altogether,  this  chimney  really  makes  a  most  con- 
spicuous and  beautiful  object  as  one  comes  down 
the  river.     The  foundations  of  this  great  pile  of 
!  brickwork  are  carried  down  into  the  London  clay, 
!  and   even   then   bedded   in   a   mass   of  concrete 
cement  35  feet  square. 

The  system  of  the  main-drainage   of  London, 
>olitan 


THE  "MONSTER"  TEA  GARDFNS,  1820. 


power,  supplied  from  two  boilers  similar  to  those 
for  the  principal  engines.  This  engine  and  its 
boilers  are  erected  in  a  separate  building  to  the 
rear  of  the  main  buildings,  near  the  canal.  The 
works  further  comprise  coal  vaults,  settling  pond, 
and  reservoirs  for  condensing  water,  repairing-shops, 
stores,  and  dwelling-houses  for  the  workmen  and 
superintendent  in  charge  of  the  works.  In  all  they 
cover  nearly  four  acres.  The  principal  engine- 
house  is  situate  facing  the  main  road  and  river, 
and  the  height  of  this  building  rises  to  upwards  of 
seventy-one  feet.  But  all  this  is  dwarfed  by  the 
chimney-shaft,  which  is  very  nearly  the  height  of 
the  Monument,  being  only  ten  feet  short  of  it. 
The  shaft  is  square,  and  the  sides  are  relieved  by 
three  recessed  panels,  arched  over  a  short  distance 


'  Board  of  Works,  comprises  117  square  miles  of 
sewers,  and,  as  each  was  concluded,  it  added  to 
the  health  and  comfort  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
metropolis.  The  main  sewers  are  eighty-two  miles 
long,  and  cost  about  £4,607,000 ;  and  the  local 

I  boards  and  vestries  assisted  in  completing  the 
work,  which  comprised  635  miles  of  sewers. 

At  the  western  extremity  of  Buckingham  Palace 
Road,   near    Ebury   Square,    stands   a  handsome 

I  Gothic  church,  built  in  the  severest  Early  English 

•  style,  which  has  acquired  some  celebrity  as  "St. 
Barnabas,  Pimlico."     It  was  built  in  1848-50,  as  a 

.  chapel  of  ease  to  St.  Paul's,  Knightsbridge,  under 

•  the  auspices  of  its  then  incumbent,  the  Rev.  W. 
J.  E.  Bennett.     Attached  to  it  are  large  schools, 
a  presbytery  or  college  for  the  officiating  clergy, 


ST.    BARNABAS'   CHURCH 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Pimlico. 


who  must  almost  of  necessity  be  celibates.  The 
church  gained  some  notoriety  during  the  earlier  I 
part  of  the  Ritualistic  movement,  and,  indeed,  the  j 
services  were  not  allowed  to  be  carried  on  without 
sundry  popular  outbursts  of  indignation.  Of  late, 
however,  this  church  has  ceased  to  occupy  the 
public  attention,  having  been  fairly  eclipsed  by 
other  churches,  which  are  marked  by  a  still  more 
"advanced"  Ritual.  The  church  is  a  portion  of 
a  college  founded  on  St.  Barnabas'  Day,  1846, 
and  is  built  upon  ground  presented  by  the  first 
Marquis  of  Westminster.  The  fabric  has  a  Caen- 
stone  tower  and  spire,  170  feet  high,  with  a  peal  of 
ten  bells,  the  gifts  of  as  many  parishioners.  The 
windows  throughout  are  filled  with  stained  glass, 
with  subjects  from  the  life  of  St.  Barnabas.  An 
oak  screen,  richly  carved,  separates  the  nave  from 
the  chancel ;  the  open  roof  is  splendidly  painted, 
and  the  superb  altar-plate,  the  font,  the  illuminated 
"  office  "  books,  and  other  costly  ornaments,  were 
the  gifts  of  private  individuals. 

In  Blomfield  Place,  close  by  St.  Barnabas' 
Church,  are  two  or  three  useful  institutions,  of 
modern  growth,  which  must  not  be  overlooked. 
One  of  these  is  St.  John's  School  for  girls,  which 
was  established  in  1859,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Sisterhood  of  St.  John,  and  with  the  sanction  of 
the  Bishop  of  London.  The  school  is  '•  specially 
adapted  for  the  children  of  clergymen,  professional 
men ;  for  those  whose  parents  are  abroad,  who 
need  home-training  and  care ;  also  for  young  ladies 
desirous  of  improving  their  education,  or  to  be 
fitted  for  governesses."  Adjoining  the  school- 
house  is  St.  Barnabas'  Mission  House,  and  also 
the  St.  Barnabas'  Orphanage.  The  latter  institu- ' 
tion  was  established  in  1860,  and  is  supported  by  j 
ladies  living  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood.  It 
is  also  placed  under  the  care  of  the  "  sisters  "  of ! 
St.  John. 

In  1815,  according  to  the  "Beauties  of  England  I 
and  Wales,"  the  "  chief  ornament  of  this  neighbour- 
hood" was  the  "  amazingly  extensive  and  interesting 
manufactory  of  Mr.  Bramah,  the  engineer,  lock- 
smith, and  engine-maker.  .  .  .  These  works 
have  been  deemed  worthy  the  inspection  of  royalty, 
and  have  excited  the  admiration  of  the  most 
powerful  emperor  of  Christendom,  Alexander  of 
Russia."  John  Joseph  Bramah,  the  founder  of 
these  engineering  works,  was  nephew  of  Joseph 
Bramah,  "  a  many-sided  mechanist,  one  who  did 
the  world  large  service,  and  who,  aided  by  a  good 
business  faculty  in  buying  and  selling,  did  himself 
and  his  heirs  service  also ;"  whose  bust,  modelled 
by  Chantrey,  was  destroyed  (but  for  what  reason 
does  not  appear)  by  Lady  Chantrey,  after  the 


sculptor's  death.  The  younger  Bramah  inherited 
the  business  faculty  of  his  uncle,  and  his  love  for 
mechanism,  if  not  his  inventive  skill.  He  it  was 
who  here  gathered  together  a  huge  business  in 
railway  plant,  with  the  aid  and  help  of  the  two 
Stephensons,  George  and  Robert,  and  subsequently 
transferred  it  to  Smethwick,  near  Birmingham,  as 
the  "  London  Works,"  joining  with  himself  Charles 
Fox  and  John  Henderson  as  his  partners ;  and  out 
of  their  works  finally  grew  up  the  original  Crystal 
Palace,  as  we  have  shown  in  the  last  chapter. 

Another  large  establishment,  which  flourished  for 
many  years  at  Thames  Bank,  was  that  of  Mr. 
Thomas  Cubitt,  the  founder  of  the  well-known  firm 
in  Gray's  Inn  Road  which  bears  his  name.  The 
large  engagements  which  resulted  in  the  laying-out 
and  erection  of  Belgrave  Square  were  commenced 
by  Mr.  Cubitt,  in  1825.  Mr.  Cubitt  died  towards 
the  close  of  1855.  "Through  life,"  observes  a 
writer  in  the  Builder,  "  he  had  been  the  real  friend 
of  the  working  man ;  and  among  his  own  people 
he  did  much  to  promote  their  social,  intellectual, 
and  moral  progress.  He  established  a  workman's 
library ;  school-room  for  workmen's  children ;  and 
by  an  arrangement  to  supply  generally  to  his  work- 
men soup  and  cocoa  at  the  smallest  rate  at  which 
these  could  be  produced,  assisted  in  establishing  a 
habit  of  temperance,  and  superseding,  to  a  great 
extent,  the  dram-drinking  which  previously  existed 
among  them.  Although  his  kindness  was  appre- 
ciated by  many,  yet  at  times  his  motives  have 
been  misconstrued,  and  unkind  remarks  have  been 
made.  In  alluding  to  these,  he  has  often  said  to 
one  who  was  about  him  and  possessed  his  con- 
fidence, '  If  you  wait  till  people  thank  you  for 
doing  anything  for  them,  you  will  never  do  any- 
thing. It  is  right  for  me  to  do  it,  whether  they  are 
thankful  for  it  or  not.'  To  those  under  him,  and 
holding  responsible  situations,  he  was  most  liberal 
and  kind.  He  was  a  liberal  benefactor  at  all 
times  to  churches,  schools,  and  charities,  in  those 
places  with  which  he  was  connected,  and  always 
valued,  in  a  peculiar  degree,  the  advantages  re- 
sulting to  the  poor  from  the  London  hospitals." 
Mr.  Cubitt  was  a  man  of  unassuming  demeanour, 
and  bore  his  great  prosperity  with  becoming 
modesty.  One  instance  of  his  equanimity  occurred 
when  his  premises  were  unfortunately  burnt  down, 
in  the  year  before  his  death.  He  was  in  the 
country  at  the  time,  and  was  immediately  tele- 
graphed for  to  town.  The  shock  to  most  minds, 
on  seeing  the  great  destruction  which  occurred, 
attended  with  pecuniary  loss  to  the  amount  of 
,£30,000,  would  have  been  overpowering.  Mr. 
Cubitt's  first  words  on  entering  the  premises,  how- 


Kmlico.] 


"JENNY'S    WHIM." 


45 


ever,  were,  "  Tell  the  men  they  shall  be  at  work  ! 
within  a  week,  and  I  will  subscribe  £doo  towards 
buying  them  new  tools." 

So  late  as  1763,  Buckingham  House  enjoyed 
an  uninterrupted  prospect  south  and  west  to  the 
river,  there  being  only  a  few  scattered  cottages  and 
the  "Stag"  Brewery  between  it  and  the  Thames. 
Lying  as  it  did  at  the  distance  of  only  a  short 
walk  from  London,  and  on  the  way  to  rural 
Chelsea,  this  locality  was  always  a  great  place  for 
taverns  and  tea-gardens.  The  "Monster"  Tavern, 
at  one  period  an  inn  of  popular  resort,  at  the 
corner  of  St.  George's  Row  and  Buckingham 
Palace  Road,  and  for  many  years  the  starting- 
point  of  the  "  Monster "  line  of  omnibuses,  is  pro- 
bably a  corruption,  perhaps  an  intentional  one,  of 
the  "  Monastery."  Mr.  Larwood  writes  thus,  in 
his  " History  of  Sign-boards :" — "Robert  de  Heyle, 
in  1368,  leased  the  whole  of  the  Manor  of  Chelsea 
to  the  Abbot  and  Monastery  or  Convent  of  West- 
minster for  the  term  of  his  own  life,  for  which 
they  were  to  pay  him  the  sum  of  £20  a  year,  to 
provide  him  every  day  with  two  white  loaves,  two 
flagons  of  convent  ale,  and  once  a  year  a  robe  of 
esquire's  silk.  At  this  period,  or  shortly  after,  the 
sign  of  the  '  Monastery'  may  have  been  set  up,  to 
be  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation, 
until  the  meaning  and  proper  pronunciation  were 
alike  forgotten,  and  it  became  the  '  Monster.'  .  . 
This  tavern,"  he  adds,  "  I  believe,  is  the  only  one 
with  such  a  sign." 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  Mulberry 
Gardens,  which  occupied  the  site  of  Buckingham 
Palace.*  Here  also  were  the  "Gun"  Tavern  and 
Tea-gardens,  with  convenient  "  arbours  and  costume 
figures."  These  gardens  were  removed  to  make 
way  for  improvements  at  Buckingham  Gate.  Then 
there  was  the  "  Star  and  Garter "  Tavern,  at  the 
end  of  Five-Fields'  Row,  which  was  at  one  time 
famous  for  its  fireworks,  dancing,  and  eques- 
trianism ;  and  the  "  Orange,"  as  nearly  as  possible 
upon  the  site  of  St.  Barnabas'  Church. 

Another  tavern  or  place  of  public  entertain- 
ment in  this  neighbourhood,  in  former  times,  was 
"  Jenny's  Whim."  This  establishment,  which  bore 
the  name  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century,  occupied  the  site  now  covered  by  St. 
George's  Row,  near  to  Ebury  Bridge,  which  spanned 
the  canal  at  the  north  end  of  the  Commercial  Road. 
This  bridge  was  formerly  known  as  the  "  Wooden 
Bridge,"  and  also  as  "Jenny's  Whim  Bridge"  Csee  j 
Page  43)',  and  down  to  about  the  year  1825, 
turnpike  close  by  bore  the  same  lady's  name. 


1  See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  62. 


A  hundred  years  ago,  as  is  clear  from  allusions 
to  it  in  the  Connoisseur  and  other  periodicals, 
"  Jenny's  Whim  "  was  a  very  favourite  place  of 
amusement  for  the  middle  classes.  At  a  some- 
what earlier  date,  it  would  appear  to  have  been 
frequented  alike  by  high  and  low,  by  lords  and 
gay  ladies,  and  by  City  apprentices ;  and  indeed 
was  generally  looked  upon  as  a  very  favourite 
place  of  recreation.  The  derivation  of  the  name 
is  a  little  uncertain;  but  Mr.  Davis,  in  his  "History 
of  Knightsbridge,"  thus  attempts  to  solve  it : — 
"  I  never  could  unearth  the  origin  of  its  name, 
but  I  presume  the  tradition  told  me  by  an  old 
inhabitant  of  the  neighbourhood  is  correct,  namely, 
that  it  was  so  called  after  its  first  landlady,  who 
caused  the  gardens  round  her  house  to  be  laid  out 
in  so  fantastic  a  manner,  as  to  cause  the  expressive 
little  noun  to  be  affixed  to  the  pretty  and  familiar 
Christian  name  that  she  bore." 

In  the  "  Reminiscences  "  of  Angelo,  however,  it 
is  said  that  the  founder  of  "Jenny's  Whim"  was 
not  a  lady  at  all,  but  a  celebrated  pyrotechnist,  who 
lived  in  the  reign  of  George  I.  If  so,  this  assertion 
carries  back  the  existence  of  the  "  Whim  "  as  a 
place  of  amusement  to  a  very  respectable  antiquity. 
Angelo  states  that  it  was  "  much  frequented  from  its 
novelty,  being  an  inducement  to  allure  the  curious 
to  it  by  its  amusing  deceptions."  "  Here,"  he 
adds,  "was  a  large  garden;  in  different  parts  were 
recesses ;  and  by  treading  on  a  spring — taking  you 
by  surprise— up  started  different  figures,  some  ugly 
enough  to  frighten  you  outright — a  harlequin,  a 
Mother  Shipton,  or  some  terrific  animal."  Some- 
thing of  the  same  kind,  it  may  here  be  remarked, 
was  to  be  seen  in  the  days  of  Charles  I.,  in  the 
Spring  Garden  near  Charing  Cross.f  "  In  a  large 
piece  of  water  facing  the  tea  alcoves,"  adds  Mr. 
Angelo,  "  large  fish  or  mermaids  were  showing  them- 
selves above  the  surface."  Horace  Walpole,  in 
his  letters,  occasionally  alludes  to  "  Jenny's  Whim," 
in  terms  which  imply  that  he  was  among  "the 
quality"  who  visited  it.  In  one  of  his  epistles  to 
his  friend  Montagu,  he  writes,  rather  spitefully  and 
maliciously,  it  must  be  owned,  to  the  effect  that  at 
Vauxhall  he  and  his  party  picked  up  Lord  Granby, 
who  had  arrived  very  drunk  from  "Jenny's  Whim." 
In  1755,  a  satirical  tract  was  published,  entitled, 
"  Jenny's  Whim  ;  or  a  Sure  Guide  to  the  Nobility, 
Gentry,  and  other  Eminent  Persons  in  this  Metro- 
polis." "  Jenny's  Whim  "  has  occasionally  served 
the  novelist  for  an  illustration  of  the  manners  of 
the  age.  Let  us  take  the  following  passage  from 
"  Maids  of  Honour,"  a  tale  temp.  George  I. : — 


t  See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  : 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[fimti. 


"  Attached  to  the  place  there  were  gardens  an 
a  bowling-green/'  writes  the  author  ;  "  and  partie 
'  were  frequently  made,  composed  of  ladies  an 
gentlemen,  to  enjoy  a  day's  amusement  there 
eating  strawberries  and  cream,  cake,  syllabub,  an 
taking  other  refreshments,  of  which  a  great  variet 
could  be  procured,  with  cider,  perry,  ale,  wine,  am 
other  liquors  in  abundance.  The  gentlemen  playec 
at  bowls— some  employed  themselves  at  skittles 
whilst  the  ladies  amused  themselves  with  a  swing 
or  walked  about  the  garden,  admiring  the  sunflowe 
and  hollyhocks,  and  the  Duke  of  Marlborough 
cut  out  of  a  filbert-tree,  and  the  roses  and  daisies 
currants  and  gooseberries,  that  spread  their  alluring 
charms  in  every  part." 

No  doubt,  therefore,  we  may  conclude  that  a 
•  century,  or  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  "Jenny's 
Whim "  was  a  favourite  meeting-place  for  lovers 
in  the  happy  courting  seasons,  and  that  a  day's 
pleasure  near  Ebury  Bridge  was  considered  by  the 
fair  damsels  of  Westminster  and  Knightsbridge  one 
of  the  most  attractive  amusements  that  could  be 
offered  to  them  by  their  beaux ;  and  many  a  heart 
which  was  obdurate  elsewhere,  gave  way  to  gentle 
pressure  beneath  the  influence  of  its  attractions, 
aided  by  the  genius  loci,  who  is  always  most  com- 
plaisant and  benignant  on  such  occasions.  "  Some- 
times," writes  Mr.  Davis,  "all  its  chambers  were 
filled,  and  its  gardens  were  constantly  thronged  by 
gay  and  sentimental  visitors."  We  may  be  sure, 
therefore,  that  always  during  the  season — in  other 
words,  from  Easter-tide  till  the  end  of  St.  Martin's 
summer,  when  the  long  evenings  drew  on — "  Jenny's 
Whim  "was  largely  frequented  by  the  young  people 
of  either  sex,  and  that  its  "  arbours"  and  "  alcoves  " 
witnessed  and  overheard  many  a  tale  of  love.  It  is 
well  perhaps  that  garden  walls  have  not  tongues  as 
well  as  ears.  But,  in  any  case,  it  is  perhaps  a  little 
singular  that  a  place,  once  so  well  known  and  so 
popular,  should  have  passed  away,  clean  forgotten 
from  the  public  memory. 

All  that  appears  to  be  known  in  detail  about 
the  house  is,  that  it  contained  a  large  room  for 
parties  to  breakfast  in ;  and  that  the  grounds,  though 
not  large,  were  fairly  diversified,  as  they  contained 
a  bowling-green,  several  alcoves  and  arbours,  and 
straight,  prim  flower-beds,  with  a  fish-pond  in  the 
centre,  where  the  paths  met  at  right  angles.  There 
was  also  a  "  cock-pit "  in  the  garden,  and  in  a  pond 
adjoining  the  brutal  sport  of  duck-hunting  was 
carried  on.  This  feature  of  the  garden  is  specially 
mentioned  in  a  short  and  slight  sketch  of  the  place 
to  be  found  in  the  Connoisseur  of  March  isth, 
r775  : — "  The  lower  part  of  the  people  have  their 
Ranelaghs  and  Vauxhalls  as  well  as  '  the  quality.' 


Perrott's  inimitable  grotto  may  be  seen  for  only 
calling  for  a  pint  of  beer ;  and  the  royal  diversion 
of  duck-hunting  may  be  had  into  the  bargain, 
together  with  a '  decanter  of  Dorchester  [ale]  for 
your  sixpence  at  '  Jenny's  Whim.'  " 

Mr.  Davis  states,  in  his  work  above  quoted, 
that  the  house  was  still  partly  standing  in  1859, 
when  his  book  was  published,  and  might  be  easily 
identified  by  its  "  red  brick  and  lattice- work." 

Notwithstanding  all  the  attractions  which  the 
district  of  Pimlico  thus  afforded  to  the  Londoners, 
:o  betake  themselves  thither  in  order  to  enjoy  the 
good  things  provided  for  their  entertainment, 
access  to  it  must  have  been  somewhat  difficult 
and  dangerous  in  the  last  century — a  state  of 
things,  as  we  have  more  than  once  remarked,  that 
seems  to  have  been  pretty  similar  in  all  the  suburbs 
of  the  metropolis ;  for  we  read  in  the  London 
Magazine  that,  as  lately  as  1773,  two  persons  were 
sentenced  to  death  for  a  highway  robbery  in 
'  Chelsea  Fields,"  as  that  part  of  Pimlico  bordering 
the  Chelsea  Road  was  then  called.  It  is  also  not 
a  matter  of  tradition,  but  of  personal  remembrance, 
hat  for  the  first  twenty  years  of  the  present  century 
)ersons  who  resided  in  the  "  suburb "  of  Pimlico 
arely  thought  of  venturing  into  London  at  night, 
o  slight  was  the  protection  afforded  them  by  the 
vatchmen  and  "Charlies,"  aided  by  the  faint 

mmer  of  oil  lamps,  few  and  far  between. 

Not  far  from  the  Mulberry  Gardens,  on  the  west 
ide  of  what  is  now  James  Street,  as  we  have  stated 
n  the  previous  volume,*  stood  a  mansion,  called 
'art  Hall,  which  was  built,  or,  at  all  events,  ex- 
ensively  altered  and  enlarged,  in  the  reign  of 
Sharks  L.  for  the  wife  of  Thomas,  "the  magni- 
eent  Earl  of  Arundel."  On  her  death  it  passed 
ito  the  hands  of  her  second  son,  William,  Lord 
tafford,  one  of  the  victims  of  the  plot  of  the 
nfamous  Titus  Gates,  in  1680,  and  whose  memory 
3  still  kept  up  in  the  names  of  Stafford  Place  and 
tafford  Row.  Strange  to  say,  that  John  Evelyn 
imself,  usually  so  circumstantial  in  all  matters  of 
etail,  dismisses  this  legal  murder  without  a  single 
ernark,  beyond  the  dry  entry  in  his  "Diary," 
nder  December  aoth,  1680:  "The  Viscount 
tafford  was  beheaded  on  Tower  Hill."  It  is  said 
hat  the  old  gateway,  which  stood  till  early  in  the 
st  century,  was  never  opened  after  the  con- 
emned  nobleman  passed  through  it  for  the  last 
me. 

The  building  is  described  in  the  "New  View 

London"  (1708),   as   being   "near    the   way 

eading   out  of  the   Park   to   Chelsea;"   and   its 


Pimlica] 


DR.   DODD. 


47 


site  is  marked  in  Faithorne's  Map  of  London, 
published  in  1658. 

In  his  "  Morning's  Walk  from  London  to  Kew  " 
(1817),  Sir  Richard  Phillips  writes  :— "  The  name 
of  Stafford  Row  reminded  me  of  the  ancient  dis- 
tinction of  Tart  Hall,  once  the  rival  in  size 
and  splendour  of  its  more  fortunate  neighbour, 
Buckingham  House.  ...  It  faced  the  Park,  on 
the  present  site  of  James  Street ;  its  garden-wall 
standing  where  Stafford  Row  is  now  built,  and 
the  extensive  livery-stables  being  once  the  stables 
of  its  residents." 

The  origin  of  Tart  Hall  is  unknown ;  but  the 
name  is  probably  a  corruption  or  abridgment  of 
a  longer  word.  It  is  noted,  as  to  situation,  in 
"Walpole's  Anecdotes,"  as  "without  the  gate  of 
St.  James's  Park,  near  Buckingham  House,"  and  is 
described  by  him  as  "  very  large,  and  having  a 
very  venerable  appearance." 

After  the  removal  of  the  Arundel  marbles  and 
other  treasures  from  Arundel  House,  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  Strand,*  the  remainder  of  the 
collection,  as  Walpole  tells  us,  was  kept  at  Tart 
Hall;  but  they  were  sold  in  1720,  and  the  house 
was  subsequently  pulled  down.  From  the  same 
authority  we  learn  that  some  carved  seats,  by 
Inigo  Jones,  purchased  at  this  sale,  were  placed 
by  Lord  Burlington  in  his  villa  at  Chiswick. 
In  the  Harleian  MSS.,  in  the  British  Museum,  is 
to  be  seen  "A  Memorial  of  all  the  Roomes  at  Tart 
Hall,  and  an  Inventory  of  all  the  household  stuffs 
and  goods  there,  except  of  six  Roomes  at  the 
North  end  of  the  ould  Building  (which  the  Right 
Honourable  the  Countess  hath  reserved  unto  her 
peculiar  use),  and  Mr.  Thomas  Howard's  Closett, 
&c.,"  dated  September,  1641.  The  memorial  is 
curious  as  giving  a  catalogue,  not  only  of  the 
picture-gallery,  but  of  the  carpets  and  decorations 
of  this  once  magnificent  palace.  It  is,  however, 
too  long  in  its  details  to  be  reprinted  here. 

In  Stafford  Row,  which  lies  immediately  at  the 
back  of  Buckingham  Palace  Hotel,  lived,  in  the 
year  1767,  William  Wynne  Ryland,  the  engraver, 
who  was  executed  for  forgery  in  1783  ;  here,  too, 
during  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  died 
Mrs.  Radcliffe,  the  author  of  "  The  Mysteries  of 
Udolpho."  Richard  Yates,  the  actor,  who  was 
famous  in  the  last  century  for  his  delineation  of 
"  old  men,"  died  at  his  residence  in  this  Row  in 
1796.  The  following  singular  story  of  the  ill 
fortune  which  attended  the  actor  and  his  family 
is  told  by  Peter  Cunningham,  in  his  "  Hand-book 
of  London  :" — "  Yates  had  ordered  eels  for  dinner, 


and  died  the  same  day  of  rage  and  disappoint- 
ment, because  his  housekeeper  was  unable  to 
obtain  them.  The  actor's  great-nephew  was,  a 
few  months  afterwards — August  2znd,  1796 — killed 
while  endeavouring  to  effect  an  entrance  into  the 
house  from  the  back  garden.  The  great-nephew, 
whose  name  was  Yates,  claimed  a  right  to  the 
house,  as  did  also  a  Miss  Jones,  and  both  lived 
in  the  house  for  some  months  after  Yates'  death. 
Yates,  while  strolling  in  the  garden,  was  bolted  out 
after  an  early  dinner,  and,  while  forcing  his  way  in, 
was  wounded  by  a  ball  from  a  pistol,  which  caused 
his  death.  The  parties  were  acquitted." 

St.  Peter's  Chapel,  on  the  west  side  of  Charlotte 
Street,  which  runs  southwards  out  of  Buckingham 
Palace  Road,  just  opposite  to  the  Palace,  and 
skirts  the  west  end  of  Stafford  Place,  enjoys  a 
melancholy  celebrity,  as  having  been  the  scene  of 
the  ministrations  of  Dr.  Dodd,  of  whose  execution 
for  a  forgery  on  Lord  Chesterfield  we  shall  have  to 
make  fuller  mention  when  we  come  to  speak  of 
"Tyburn  Tree."  The  following  account  of  the 
life  of  Dr.  Dodd  is  said  to  have  been  sketched 
by  himself  while  lying  in  Newgate,  awaiting  his 
execution,  and  to  have  been  finished  by  Dr. 
Johnson  : — "  I  entered  very  young  on  public  life, 
very  innocent — very  ignorant — and  very  ingenuous. 
I  lived  many  happy  years  at  West  Ham,  in  an 
uninterrupted  and  successful  discharge  of  my  duty. 
A  disappointment  in  the  living  of  that  parish 
obliged  me  to  exert  myself,  and  I  engaged  for  a 
chapel  near  Buckingham  Gate.  Great  success 
attended  the  undertaking;  it  pleased  and  elated 
me.  At  the  same  time  Lord  Chesterfield,  to 
whom  I  was  personally  unknown,  offered  me  the 
care  of  his  heir,  Mr.  Stanhope.  By  the  advice  of 
my  dear  friend,  now  in  heaven,  Dr.  Squire,  I 
engaged,  under  promises  which  were  not  per- 
formed. Such  a  distinction,  too,  you  must  know, 
served  to  increase  a  young  man's  vanity.  I  was 
naturally  led  into  more  extensive  and  important 
connections,  and,  of  course,  with  greater  expenses 
and  more  dissipations.  Indeed,  before  I  never 
dissipated  at  all — for  many,  many  years,  never 
seeing  a  playhouse,  or  any  public  place,  but  living 
entirely  in  Christian  duties.  Thus  brought  to 
town,  and  introduced  to  gay  life,  I  fell  into  its 
snares.  Ambition  and  vanity  led  me  on.  My 
temper,  naturally  cheerful,  was  pleased  with  com- 
pany; naturally  generous,  it  knew  not  the  use  of 
money ;  it  was  a  stranger  to  the  useful  science  of 
economy  and  frugality ;  nor  could  it  withhold 
from  distress  what  it  too  much  (often)  wanted 
itself. 

"  Besides  this,   the  habit  of  uniform,  regular, 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


[Pimlico. 


sober   piety, 


can   say,  too,  with 


wearing  off,  amidst  this  unavoidable  scene  of  dissi-  I  pleasure,  that  I  studiously  employed  my  interest, 

through  the  connections  I  had,  for  the  good   of 
others.     I  never  forgot  or  neglected  the  cause  of 


nd  of  watchfulness  and  devotion,  !  other  publications   prove. 


pation,  I  was  not,  as  at  West  Ham,  the  innocent 


against  my  God,  which  yet,  I   bless   Him,  were 


the  distressed  ;  many,  if  need  were,  could  bear  me 


always,  on  reflection,  detestable  to  me. 


witness.     Let  it   suffice   to   say,  that  during  this 


"  But  my  greatest  evil  was  expense 


period  I  instituted  the  Charity  for  the  Discharge  of 


it,  I   fell   into    the   dreadful   and    ruinous   mode 


of  raising  money  by  annuities 


Close  by  Charlotte  Street,  in  a  small  gloomy 


devoured  me.  Still,  I  exerted  myself  by  every  ' 
means  to  do  what  I  thought  right,  and  built  my  \ 
hopes  of  perfect  extrication  from  all  my  difficulties 
when  my  young  and  beloved  pupil  should  come  of  < 
age.  But,  alas  !  during  this  interval,  which  was  j 
not  very  long,  I  declare  with  solemn  truth  that 
I  never  varied  from  the  steady  belief  of  the 
Christian  doctrihes.  I  preached  them  with  all  my 
power,  and  kept  back  nothing  from  my  congre- 
gations which  I  thought  might  tend  to  their  best 
welfare;  and  I  was  very  successful  in  this  way 
during  the  time.  Nor,  though  I  spent  in  dissi- 
pation  many  hours  which  I  ought  not,  but  to 
which  my  connections  inevitably  led,  was  I  idle 
during  this  period ;  as  my  <  Commentary  on  the 
Bible,  my  'Sermons  to  Young  Men,'  and  several 


house,  inside  the  gates  of  Messrs.  Elliot's  Brewery, 
between  Brewer  Street,  Pimlico,  and  York  Street, 
Westminster,  lived  Richard  Heber,  some  time 
M.P.  for  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  the  owner 
of  one  of  the  finest  private  libraries  in  the  world. 
Here  he  kept  a  portion  of  his  library;  a  second 
part  occupying  an  entire  house  in  James  Street, 
Buckingham  Gate  ;  a  third  portion,  from  kitchen 
to  attics,  was  at  his  country  seat  at  Hodnet,  in 
Shropshire ;  and  a  fourth  at  Paris.  "  Nobody," 
he  used  to  say,  "  could  do  without  three  copies  of 
a  book— one  for  show  at  his  country  house,  one 
for  personal  use,  and  the  third  to  lend  to  his 
friends."  And  this  library,  as  we  learn  from  "A 
Century  of  Anecdote,"  had  but  a  small  beginning 
—the  accidental  purchase  of  a  chance  volume 


A  GIGANTIC   LIBRARY. 


picked  up  for   a  few  pence  at  a  bookstall,   and    drawing  the    courtiers    from   Portland  Place   and 


about   which  Mr.  Heber  was   for 

doubt  whether  to  buy  it  or  not. 

of  Mr.  Heber's  library  was  bound  up  in  five  thick 

octavo.  volumes. 


Portrnan  Square  to  the  splendid  mansions  built  by 
Messrs.  Basevi  and  Cubitt,  in  what  was  known  at 
the  '  Five  Fields.' 
that  the 


cuts  '  of  the 


It  seems  but  the  other  day,"  he  adds, 


writer  of  this  brief  notice  of  the  place  played  at 


scholar.   Mr.  Heber  took  an  active  part  in  founding 


IE  OLD   CHELSEA   MANOR  HOUSE.      (Seepage  52.) 


of  several  other  literary  societies, ;  indeed,  to  use 
the  phrasre  of  Dr.  Johnson,  "  He  was  an  excellent 
clubber."  He  was  the  half-brother  of  Reginald 
Heber,  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  and  died  a  bachelor  in 
1833,  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age.  His  extensive 
library  was  dispersed  by  auction  in  London.  The 
sale  commenced  upon  the  loth  of  April,  1834,  and 
occupied  two  hundred  and  two  days,  and  extended 
through  a  period  of  more  than  two  years.  The 
catalogue  of  this  remarkable  sale  filled  more  than 
two  thousand  printed  octavo  pages,  and  contained 
no  less  than  52,672  lots. 

Mr.  Peter  Cunningham,  in  noticing  the  growth 

of  this  locality  in  his  "  Hand-book  of  London," 

says :  "  George  IV.  began  the  great  alterations  in 

Pimlico   by  rebuilding    Buckingham  House,   and 

187 


As  might  be  naturally  expected,  the  removal  ot 
King  William  and  his  Court  from  St.  James's  to 
Buckingham  Palace,  on  his  accession  to  the  throne 
in  1830,  gave  a  considerable  impetus  to  the  im- 
provement of  Pimlico,  although  a  town  of  palaces 
had  already  been  commenced  upon  the  "Five 
Fields,"  as  that  dreary  region  had  been  formerly 
called.  The  ground  landlord  of  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  land  thus  benefited  by  these  metro- 
politan improvements  was  Lord  Grosvenor,  who, 
in  the  year  1831,  was  created  Marquis  of  West- 
minster, and  who,  as  we  have  already  stated  in  our 
description  of  Grosvenor  House  in  a  former  chapte^ 
was  grandfather  of  the  present  ducal  owner.  * 

*  See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  371. 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


CHAPTER    V. 

CHELSEA. 
"The  sands  of  Chelsey  Fields."-.B«<  Jonim. 

Boundary  of  the  Parish— Etymology  of  its  Name— Charles  II.  and  Colonel  Blood— Chelsea  Fields— The  "Dwarfs  Tavern  "—Chapels  of 
French  Huguenot  Refugees— Gardens  and  Nurseries— Appearance  of  Chelsea  from  the  River-Chelsea  in  the  Last  Century— A  Stag  Hunt  in 
Chelsea— History  of  the  Manor— The  Old  Manor  House  and  its  Eminent  Residents— Lord  Cremorne's  Farm  at  Chelsea— Lady  Cremorne 
-Lindsey  House-The  Moravians-The  Duchess  of  Mazarine-Sir  Robert  Walpole's  House-Shrewsbury  House-Winchester  House- 
Beaufort  House  and  the  "  Good  "  Sir  Thomas  More— Anecdotes  of  Sir  Thomas  More— The  Old  and  New  Parish  Churches. 

"  All  the  grass  that  Romney  yields, 
Or  the  sands  of  Chelsey  Fields." 

Macaulay  reminds  us  that,  at  the  end  of  the 
reign  of  Charles  II.,  Chelsea  was  a  "  quiet  country 
village,  with  about  a  thousand  inhabitants;  the 
baptisms  averaging  little  more  than  forty  in  the 
year."  At  that  time  the  Thames  was  sufficiently 
clear  and  pure  for  bathing  above  Westminster. 
We  are  told  that,  on  one  occasion,  Charles  II. 
was  bathing  at  Chelsea,  when  the  notorious  Colonel 
Blood  lay  hid  among  the  reeds  at  Battersea,  in 
order  to  shoot  him.  Notwithstanding  its  remote- 
ness from  the  metropolis,  however,  Chelsea  does 
not  appear  to  have  escaped  the  ravages  -of  the 
"Great  Plague,"  for  it  raged  here  as  well  as  in 
other  suburbs  of  London,  as  Pepys  informs  us,  in 

his  "Diary,"   under   date  of  April  gih,  1666: 

"Thinking  to  have  been  merry  at  Chelsey;  but, 
being  almost  come  to  the  house  by  coach,  near 
the  waterside,  a  house  alone,  I  think  the  '  Swan,' 
a  gentleman  walking  by  called  out  to  us  that  the 
house  was  shut  up  because  of  the  sickness." 

Chelsea  Fields  must  have  been  quite  a  rustic 
snot  even  to  a  yet  later  date,  for  Gay  thus  ad- 
dresses his  friend  Pulteney  : — 

"  When  the  sweet-breathing  spring  unfolds  the  buds, 
Love  flies  the  dusty  town  for  shady  woods  : 

Then 

.     .     .     Chelsea's  meads  o'erhear  perfidious  vows, 
And  the  press'd  grass  defrauds  the  grazing  cows." 

In  "Chelsea  Fields"  was  formerly  a  tavern, 
known  as  "The  Dwarf's,"  kept  by  John  Coan,  a 
diminutive  manikin  from  Norfolk.  "It  seems  to 
have  been  a  place  of  some  attraction,"  says  Mr. 
Lanvood,  "since  it  was  honoured  by  the  repeated 
visits  of  an  Indian  king."  Thus  the  Daily  Adver- 
tiser of  July  12,  1762,  says  :  "  On  Friday  last  the  ' 
Cherokee  king  and  his  two  chiefs  were  so  greatly 
pleased  with  the  curiosities  of  the  Dwarfs  Tavern  « 
in  Chelsea  Fields,  that  they  were  there  again  on 
Sunday,  at  seven  in  the  evening,  to  drink  tea,  and 
will  be  there  again  in  a  few  days."  The  reputation 
of  the  tavern,  under  its  pygmean  proprietor,  was 
but  brief,  as  the  "unparalleled"  Coan,  as  he  is 
styled,  died  within  two  years  from  the  above  date 


FEW,  '  if  any,  of  the  suburban  districts  of  the 
metropolis  can  lay  claim  to  greater  interest,  bio- 
graphical as  well  as  topographical,  than  the  locality 
upon^vhich  we  have  now  entered.  In  Faulkner's 
"  History  of  Chelsea,"  we  read  that  the  parish 
is  "bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Fulham  Road, 
which  separates  it  from  Kensington ;  on  the  east 
by  a  rivulet,  which  divides  it  from  St.  George's, 
Hanover  Square,  and  which  enters  the  Thames 
near  Ranelagh ;  on  the  west  a  brook,  which  rises 
near  Wormholt  Scrubs,  and  falls  into  the  Thames 
facing  Battersea  Church,  divides  this  parish  from 
that  of  Fulham ;  and  on  the  south  it  is  bounded 
by  the  Thames."  Lysons  observes  that  the  most 
ancient  record  in  which  he  has  seen  the  name 
of  this  place  mentioned  is  a  charter  of  Edward 
the  Confessor,  in  which  it  is  written  "Cealchylle."* 
The  name  seems  to  have  puzzled  the  Norman 
scribes,  for  in  Domesday  Book  it  is  written  both 
"  Cercehede  "  and  "  Chelched ; "  and  in  certain 
documents  of  a  later  date  it  is  called  "Chelcheth," 
or  "Chelcith."  "The  word  'Chelsey,'"  observes 
Mr.  Norris  Brewer,  in  the  "  Beauties  of  England 
and  Wales,"  "was  first  adopted  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  the  present  mode  of  spelling  the 
name  appears  to  have  grown  into  use  about  a 
century  back."  It  may  here  be  remarked  that 
the  name  of  Chelsea  has  been  derived  by  some 
writers  from  "Shelves'1  of  sand,  and  "ey,"  or 
"  ea,"  land  situated  near  the  water.  But  Lysons 
prefers  the  etymology  of  Norden,  who  says  that 
"  it  is  so  called  from  the  nature  of  the  place,  its 
strand  being  like  the  chesel  \ceosd,  or  cesof],  which 
the  sea  casteth  up  of  sand  and  pebble  stones 
thereof  called  Chevelsey,  briefly  Chelsey."  In 
like  manner  it  may  be  added  that  the  beach  of 
pebbles  thrown  up  by  the  action  of  the  sea  out- 
side Weymouth  harbour,  is  styled  the  Chesil  bank. 
Perhaps  it  is  the  same  word  at  bottom  as  Selsey, 
the  name  of  a  peninsula  of  pebbles  on  the  Sussex 
coast,  near  Chichester. 

As   a  symbol   of  infinity,    Ben  Jonson,  in   his 
'  Forest,"  speaks  of 


HYDE   PAE.K  ON   THE   THAMES." 


111  the  reign  of  William  III.,  the  French  Hugue- 
not refugees  had  two  chapels  in  Chelsea:  the 
one  in  "  Cook's  Grounds,"  now  used  by  the  Con- 
gregationalists,  and  another  at  Little  Chelsea,  not 
far  from  Kensington. 

"Chelsea,"  observes  a  writer  in  the  Mirror,  in 
1833,  "though  now  proverbial  for  its  dulness, 
was  formerly  a  place  of  great  gaiety.  Thousands 
flocked  to  Sailer's— or,  as  it  was  dubbed,  'Don 
Saltero's  '—coffee-house  in  Cheyne  Walk ;  the 
Chelsea  buns  were  eaten  by  princesses ;  and  the 
public  were  allowed  to  walk  in  thirteen  acres  of 
avenues  of  limes  and  chestnut-trees  in  the  gardens 
adjoining  the  College.  This  privilege  was  dis- 
allowed in  1806;  but  within  the  last  few  weeks 
these  grounds  have  been  again  thrown  open  to 
the  public."  The  ground  round  about  Chelsea 
and  its  neighbourhood,  like  that  of  Bermondsey, 
and  other  low-lying  districts  bordering  upon  the 
Thames,  is  peculiarly  adapted  for  the  growth  of 
vegetables,  fruits,  and  flowers ;  indeed,  Chelsea 
has  long  been  remarkable  for  its  gardens  and 
nurseries.  Dr.  Mackay,  in  his  "  Extraordinary 
Popular  Delusions,"  tells  us  that  about  the  time 
of  Her  Majesty's  accession,  there  was  a  gardener 
in  the  King's  Road,  Chelsea,  in  whose  catalogue 
a  single  tulip  was  marked  at  two  hundred  guineas 
— a  remnant,  perhaps,  of  the  tulip-mania,  which, 
two  centuries  before,  had  ruined  half  of  the 
merchants  of  Holland,  and  threatened  to  prove 
as  disastrous  here  as  the  "South  Sea  Bubble." 
It  may  be  added,  too,  that  the  first  red  geranium 
seen  in  England  is  said  to  have  been  raised  by 
a  Mr.  Davis  here,  about  the  year  1822. 

Chelsea,  which  was  once  a  rustic  and  retired 
village,  has  been  gradually  absorbed  into  the 
metropolis  by  the  advance  of  the  army  of  brick- 
layers and  mortar-layers,  and  now  forms  fairly  a 
portion  of  London,  Pimlico  and  Belgravia  having 
supplied  the  connecting  link.  Environed  though 
it  is  by  the  growing  suburbs,  the  place  has  still 
an  old-fashioned  look  about  it,  which  the  modern, 
trimly-laid-out  flower-gardens  on  the  new  embank- 
ment only  tend  to  increase.  Looked  at  from  the 
Battersea  side  of  the  river,  with  the  barges  floating 
lazily  along  past  the  solid  red-brick  houses,  screened 
by  sheltering  trees,  Chelsea  presents  such  a  picture 
as  the  old  Dutch  "  masters  "  would  have  revelled 
in,  especially  as  the  Thames  here  widens  into 
a  fine  "reach,"  well  known  to  oarsmen  for  the 
rough  "seas"  which  they  encounter  there  on 
those  occasions  when  the  wind  meets  the  tide; 
in  fact,  the  river  is  wider  at  this  particular  spot 
than  anywhere  "above  bridge."  In  the  reign  of 
Charles  II.  it  was  such  a  fashionable  rendezvous 


that  it  was  frequently  called  "  Hyde  Park  on  the 
Thames." 

Bowack  thus  writes,  in  an  account  of  Chelsea, 
published  in  1705: — "The  situation  of  it  upon 
the  Thames  is  very  pleasant,  and  standing  in 
a  small  bay,  or  angle,  made  by  the  meeting  of 
Chelsea  and  Battersea  Reaches,  it  has  a  most 
delightful  prospect  on  that  river  for  near  four 
miles,  as  far  as  Vauxhall  eastward,  and  as  Wands- 
worth  to  the  west." 

In  the  last  century,  Chelsea  being,  in  fact,  quite 
a  suburban  place,  had  its  own  society ;  "  its  many 
honourable  and  worthy  inhabitants,"  as  we  are  told 
by  Bowack,  "  being  not  more  remarkable  for  their 
titles,  estates,  and  employments,  than  for  their 
civility  and  condescension,  and  their  kind  and 
facetious  tempers,  living  in  a  perfect  amity  among 
themselves,  and  having  a  general  meeting  every  day 
at  a  coffee-house  near  the  church,  well  known  for 
a  pretty  collection  of  varieties  in  nature  and  art, 
some  of  which  are  very  curious."  The  coffee-house 
here  mentioned  was  the  renowned  Don  Saltero's, 
of  which  we  shall  have  more  to  say  in  the  next 
chapter. 

Mr.  Peter  Cunningham  speaks  of  Chelsea  as  "at 
one  time  the  Islington  of  the  West-end,"  and  thus 
enumerates  the  articles  for  which  it  has  from  time 
to  time  been  famous  :— Its  manor  house,  its  college, 
its  botanic  garden,  its  hospital,  its  amusements  at 
Ranelagh,  its  waterworks,  its  buns,  its  china,  and 
its  custards. 

"About  the  year  1796,"  writes  Faulkner,  in  his 
"  History  of  Chelsea,"  "  I  was  present  at  a  stag- 
hunt  in  Chelsea.  The  animal  swam  across  the  river 
from  Battersea,  and  made  for  Lord  Cremorne's 
grounds.  Upon  being  driven  from  thence,  he  ran 
along  the  water-side  as  far  as  the  church,  and 
turning  up  Church  Lane,  at  last  took  refuge  in 
Mrs.  Hutchins's  barn,  where  he  was  taken  alive." 

The  connection  of  Chelsea  with  Westminster, 
already  stated  in  our  account*  of  the  "  Monster" 
Tavern,  Pimlico,  is  probably  of  very  old  standing, 
for  even  during  the  rule  of  our  Norman  kings  it 
appears  to  have  been  one  of  the  manors  belonging 
the  abbey  of  St  Peter.  Little,  however,  is 
known  with  certainty  of  the  history  of  this  now 
extensive  parish  till  the  time  of  Henry  VII.,  when 
the  manor  was  held  by  Sir  Reginald  Bray,  from 
whom  it  descended  to  Margaret,  only  child  of  his 
next  brother,  John,  who  married  William,  Lord 
Sandys.  From  Lord  Sandys  the  manor  passed,  in 
exchange  for  other  lands,  to  that  rapacious  king, 
Henry  VIII.,  by  whom  it  was  assigned  to  Katharine 


•S«  above,  p.  45. 


OLD   AND    NEW  LONDON. 


Parr,  as  part  of  her  marriage  jointure.  Faulkner, 
in  his  work  above  quoted,  says  that  "  Henry  was 
probably  induced  to  possess  this  manor  from  having 
observed,  in  his  frequent  visits  to  Sir  Thomas  More, 
the  pleasantness  of  the  situation  on  the  bank  of 
the  Thames ;  and,  from  the  salubrity  of  the  air, 
deeming  it  a  fit  residence  for  his  infant  daughter, 
the  Princess  Elizabeth,  then  between  three  and 
four  years  of  age.  But  after  having  obtained  it, 
finding  that  the  manor  house  was  ancient,  and 
at  that  time  in  the  possession  of  the  Lawrence 
family,  he  erected  a  new  manor  house,  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  spot  where  Winchester  House 
lately  stood,  and  supplied  it  with  water  from  a 
spring  at  Kensington."  The  manor  was  subse- 
quently held  by  John  Dudley,  Duke  of  Northum- 
berland ;  by  Anne,  Duchess  of  Somerset,  widow  of 
the  "  Protector  ;  "  by  John,  first  Lord  Stanhope, 
of  Harrington ;  by  Katharine,  Lady  Howard,  wife 
of  the  Lord  Admiral ;  by  James,  first  Duke  of 
Hamilton ;  by  Charles,  Viscount  Cheyne ;  and  by 
Sir  Hans  Sloane,  the  celebrated  physician,  who 
purchased  it  in  1712  from  the  Cheyne  family, 
and  from  whom  it  passed  by  marriage  to  Charles, 
second  Lord  Cadogan,  of  Oakley,  through  which 
alliance  the  manor  of  Chelsea  became  vested  in 
the  Cadogans,  with  whom  it  still  remains. 

The  old  manor  house  stood  near  the  church,  and 
was  sold  by  Henry  VIII.  to  the  Lawrence  family, 
after  whom  Lawrence  Street  derives  its  name.  The 
new  manor  house  stood  on  that  part  of  Cheyne 
Walk  fronting  the  Thames,  between  the  Pier  Hotel 
and  the  house  formerly  known  as  "  Don  Saltero's 
Coffee-house."  The  building,  of  which  a  view  of 
the  north  front  is  engraved  in  Faulkner's  "  History 
of  Chelsea"  (see  page  49),  was  of  a  quadrangular 
form,  enclosing  a  spacious  court,  and  was  partly 
embattled.  The  mansion  was  pulled  down  shortly 
after  the  death  of  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  in  the  middle  of 
the  last  century,  and  a  row  of  houses  erected  on 
the  site. 

Like  Kensington,  Chelsea  has  been  from  time 
to  time  the  residence  of  many  individuals  of  high 
rank,  who  were  attracted  to  it  on  account  of  its 
nearness  to  the  Court,  and  its  easiness  of  access  at 
a  time  when  the  roads  of  the  suburbs  were  bad,  and 
the  Thames  was  the  "silent  highway"  to  families 
who  could  afford  to  keep  their  barge.  So  far  as 
rank  and  station  are  concerned,  perhaps  the  first 
and  foremost  of  its  residents  was  the  Princess 
(afterwards  Queen)  Elizabeth.  After  her  father's 
death,  Miss  Lucy  Aikin  tells  us,  in  her  "  Memoirs 
of  the  Court "  of  that  sovereign,  the  princess  "  had 
been  consigned  to  the  care  and  protection  of  the 
Queen  Dowager  (Katharine  Parr),  with  whom  she 


sually  made  her  abode  at  one  or  other  of  her 
jointure  houses  at  Chelsea,  or  at  Hanworth,  near 
Hounslow." 

In  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  Lord  High  Admiral, 
the  Earl  of  Effingham,  was  among  the  residents  of 
this  place ;  and  we  are  told  by  Bishop  Goodman 


that,  in  her  "  progresses 


from  Richmond  to  White- 


hall, the  "  Virgin  Queen  "  would  often  dine  with  his 
lordship  at  Chelsea,  and  afterwards  set  out  thence 
towards  London,  late  at  night,  by  torchlight,  in 
order  that  the  Lord  Mayor  and  aldermen,  and  the 
other  loyal  citizens,  might  not  see  those  wrinkles 
and  that  ugly  throat  of  hers,  with  which  Horace 
Walpole  has  made  'us  familiar  in  his  representation 
of  a  coin  struck  shortly  before  her  death. 

Thomas  Beauchamp,  Earl  of  Warwick,  who 
acquired  high  renown  at  the  battles  of  Cressy  and 
Poictiers,  appears  to  have  occasionally  resided  at 
Chelsea.  It  is  supposed  that  he  occupied  a  house 
and  premises  which  afterwards  belonged  to  Richard 
Beauchamp,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  and  which  were 
granted  by  Richard  III.  to  Elizabeth,  widow  of 
Thomas  Mowbray,  Duke  of  Norfolk,  for  life,  "to 
be  held  by  the  service  of  a  red  rose."  The  site  of 
this  mansion,  however,  is  now  unknown,  as  also  is 
the  spot  once  occupied  by  a  house  in  Chelsea 
which  was  possessed  by  William,  Marquis  of 
Berkeley,  an  adherent  of  the  Earl  of  Richmond 
(afterwards  Henry  VII.). 

In  April,  1663,  we  find  Lord  Sandwich  at  his 
Chelsea  lodging,  eating  cakes  made  by  the  mistress 
of  the  house,  and,  it  may  be  added,  the  mother  of 
his  own  mistress — cakes  so  good  that,  says  Pepys, 
"they  were  fit  to  present  to  my  Lady  Castle- 
maine" — a  curious  parody  of  the  lines  of  the 
old  nursery  rhyme  : — 

"  Now  was  not  that  a  dainty  dish 
To  set  before  a  king?" 

Among  the  residents  of  Chelsea  in  the  last  cen- 
tury was  Lord  Cremorne,  who  occupied  a  house 
called  Chelsea  Farm,  which  was  situated  at  a  short 
distance  from  the  bridge  on  the  site  long  covered 
by  Cremorne  Gardens.  Lady  Cremorne  is  cele- 
brated in  the  "  Percy  Anecdotes  "  as  the  best  mis- 
tress of  a  household  that  ever  lived.  She  had  a 
servant,  Elizabeth  Palfrey,  who  had  lived  with  her 
for  forty-eight  years,  during  the  latter  half  of  the 
time  as  housekeeper,  and  who  so  regulated  affairs 
that  in  all  that  long  time  not  one  of  the  female 
servants  was  known  to  have  left  her  place,  except 
in  order  to  be  married.  Such  mistresses  are  rare 
now,  and  probably  were  not  common  even  in  her 
day.  As  late  as  1826,  the  name  of  Viscountess 
Cremorne  appears  in  the  "  Royal  Blue  Book,"  with 


WINCHESTER    HOUSE. 


'Chelsea  Farm"  as  her  country  residence.  The  |  factory  at  the  time  of  its  demolition  in  1814.  It 

'  was  an  irregular  brick  building,  forming  three  sides 
of  a  quadrangle.  The  principal  room  was' upwards 
of  100  feet  long,  and  was  originally  wainscoted 
with  carved  oak.  One  of  the  rooms  was  painted 
in  imitation  of  marble,  and  others  were  ornamented 
with  certain  "  curious  portraits  on  panel."  Leading 
from  the  premises  towards  the  King's  Road  was 
a  subterranean  passage,  which  is  traditionally  said 
to  have  communicated  with  a  cave,  or  dungeon, 
situated  at  some  distance  from  the  house. 

Winchester  House,  the  Palace  of  the  Bishops  of 
Winchester  from  about  the  middle  of  the  seven- 
teenth down  to  the  commencement  of  the  present 
century,  stood  on  the  spot  now  occupied  by  the 
Pier  Hotel,  and  its  gardens  adjoined  Shrewsbury 
House.  It  was  a  heavy  brick  building,  of  low 
proportions,  and  quite  devoid  of  any  architectural 
ornament.  The  interior  was  fairly  commodious, 
and  "  much  enriched  by  the  collection  of  antiques 
and  specimens  of  natural  history  "  placed  there  by 
Bishop  North,  the  last  prelate  who  occupied  it. 
Bishop  Hoadley,  who  died  here  in  1761,  was  so 
lax  in  his  ideas  of  Church  authority,  that  some 
free-thinking  Christians  were  wittily  styled  by 
Archbishop  Seeker,  "  Christians  secundum  usum 
Winton,"  in  allusion  to  the  customary  title  of  books 
printed  "  for  the  use  of  the  Winchester  scholars." 

The  chief  interest  of  Chelsea,  however,  not  only 
to  the  antiquary,  but  to  the  educated  Englishman, 
must  lie  in  the  fact  that  it  was  the  much-loved 
home  of  that  great  man  whose  memory  English 
history  will  never  allow  to  die,  Sir  Thomas  More- 
Here  he  resided,  surrounded  by  his  family,  in  a 
house  about  midway  between  the  Thames  and  the 
King's  Road,  on  the  site  of  what  is  now  Beaufort 
Street.  In  Aubrey's  "  Letters  from  the  Bodleian," 
we  read  : — "  His  country  house  was  at  Chelsey, 
in  Middlesex,  where  Sir  John  Danvers  built  his 
house.  The  chimney-piece,  of  marble,  in  Sir  John's 
chamber,  was  the  chimney-piece  of  Sir  Thomas 
More's  chamber,  as  Sir  John  himself  told  me. 
Where  the  gate  is  now,  adorned  with  two  noble 
pyramids,  there  stood  anciently  a  gate-house,  which 
was  flatt  on  the  top,  leaded,  from  whence  was  a 
most  pleasant  prospect  of  the  Thames  and  the 
fields  beyond ;  on  this  place  the  Lord  Chancellor 
More  was  wont  to  recreate  himself  and  contem- 
plate." 

Erasmus — himself  one  of  the  most  cherished 
friends  of  Sir  Thomas — describes  the  house  as 
"neither  mean  nor  subject  to  envy,  yet  magnificent 
and  commodious  enough."  The  building,  which 
was  erected  early  in  the  sixteenth  century,  wa,» 
successively  called  Buckingham  House  and  Beau- 


edifice,  which  was  built  of  brick,  overlooked  the 
river,  from  which  it  was  separated  by  a  lawn, 
pleasantly  shaded  by  stately  trees.  The  house  had 
a  somewhat  irregular  appearance  externally,  and 
little  to  boast  of  in  the  way  of  architecture  ;  but 
the  interior  was  commodious,  and  the  best  suite  of 
rooms  well  adapted  to  the  use  of  a  distinguished 
family.  Here  was  a  small  but  judicious  collection 
of  pictures,  formed  by  Viscount  Cremorne,  among 
which  were  some  by  noted  Flemish  and  Italian 
masters. 

Lindsey  Row  and  Lindsey  Place,  facing  the 
river  immediately  westward  of  Battersea  Bridge, 
mark  the  site  of  Lindsey  House,  the  residence  of 
the  Berties,  Earls  of  Lindsey.  About  the  middle 
of  the  last  century  the  mansion  was  purchased  by 
Count  Zinzendorf,  a  leader  of  the  peculiar  sect 
known  as  Moravians,  for  the  purpose  of  establish- 
ing a  settlement  of  that  society  in  Chelsea ;  but 
the  project  failed  ;  the  building  was  again  sold,  and 
subsequently  demolished,  or  cut  up  into  private 
tenements. 

In  a  small  house  in  Chelsea,  rented  from  Lord 
Cheyne,  died,  in  difficulties,  the  beautiful  Duchess 
of  Mazarine,  one  of  the  frail  beauties  of  the  Court 
of  Charles  II. 

In  Lyson's  "  Environs,"  we  read  that  about  the 
year  1722  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  the  well-known 
prime  minister  of  George  II.,  "  became  possessed 
of  a  house  and  garden  in  the  stable-yard  at 
Chelsea."  The  house  was  "  next  the  college," 
adjoining  Gough  House.  Sir  Robert  frequently 
resided  there,  improved  and  added  to  the  house, 
and  considerably  enlarged  the  gardens  by  a  pur- 
chase of  some  land  from  the  Gough  family ;  he 
erected  an  octagonal  summer-house  at  the  head  of 
the  terrace,  and  a  large  green-house,  where  he  had 
a  fine  collection  of  exotics.  A  good  story  is  told 
about  Queen  Caroline,  when  dining  one  day  here 
with  Lady  Walpole.  Sir  Paul  Methuen,  who  was 
one  of  the  company,  was  remarkable  for  his  love  of 
romances.  The  queen  asked  him  what  he  had 
been  reading  of  late  in  his  own  way.  "  Nothing, 
madam,"  said  Sir  Paul ;  "  I  have  now  commenced, 
instead  of  romances,  a  very  foolish  study,  '  The 
History  of  the  Kings  and  Queens  of  England.' " 
Horace  Walpole  informs  us  that  he  remembered 
La  Belle  Jennings  (afterwards  Duchess  of  Marl- 
borough)  coming  to  his  parents'  house  to  solicit  a 
pension. 

Shrewsbury  House,  or,  as  it  was  sometimes 
called,  Alston  House,  in  Cheyne  Walk,  near  the 
waterside,  if  we  may  trust  Priscilla  Wakefi  eld's 
"  Perambulations  in  London,"  was  a  paper  manu- 


n 


OLD   AND    NEW  LONDON. 


[Chelsea. 


fort  House,  and  was  pulled  down  about  the  middle 
of  the  last  century.  At  the  end  of  the  garden  Sir 
Thomas"  erected  a  pile  of  buildings,  consisting  of  a 
chapel,  gallery,  and  library,  all  being  designed  for 
his  own  retirement.  His  piety,  staunch  and  firm 


retired  to  the  new  buildings,  where  he  spent  the 
whole  day  in  prayer  and  meditation." 

Sir  Thomas  usually  attended  Divine  service  on 
Sundays  at  Chelsea  Church,  and  very  often  assisted 
at  the  celebration  of  mass.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk 


CHELSEA  FARM,  1829.     (See  pap  53.) 


as  was  his  adherence  to  the  Roman  Catholic  creed, 
i:  acknowledged  even  by  Protestant  writers.  Wood, 
in  his  "Ecclesiastical  Antiquities,"  says:— "More 
rose  early,  and  assembled  his  family  morning  and 
evening  in  the  chapel,  when  certain  prayers  and 
Psalms  were  recited.  He  heard  mass  daily  him- 
self, and  expected  all  his  household  to  do  so  on 
Sundays  and  festivals;  whilst,  on  the  eves  of  great 
feasts,  all  watched  till  matins.  Every  Friday,  as 
was  also  his  custom  on  some  other  occasions,  he 


coming  one  day  to  dine  with  him  during  his 
chancellorship,  found  him  in  church  with  a  sur- 
plice on,  and  singing  in  the  choir.  "God's  body, 
my  Lord  Chancellor!"  said  the  duke,  as  they 
returned  to  his  house.  "What!  a  parish  clerk !  a 
parish  clerk!  you  dishonour  the  king  and  his 
office."  "Nay,"  said  Sir  Thomas,  "you  may  not 
think  your  master  and  mine  will  be  offended  with 
me  for  serving  God,  his  master,  or  thereby  count 
his  office  dishonoured." 


OLD   MANSIONS   IN   CHELSEA.     (From  Faulkner's  "  Cfielsca.") 
i.  Church  Place,  764,.       2.  Cough  House,  .760.       3.  Shrewsbury  House,  .540.       4.  Beaufort  House,  ,628. 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Chels 


In  later  years  the  chapel  in  More's  house  appe 
to  have  been  free  to  the  public,  for  in  variou 
marriage  licences,  granted  towards  the  commence 
ment  of  the  last  century,  persons  were  to  be 
married  "  in  the  parish  church,  in  the  chapel  o 
Chelsea  College,  or  the  chapel  of  Beaufort  House.' 
The  only  fragment  of  the  house  remaining  down 
to  the  present  century  was  a  portion  of  the  cellars 
which  existed  beneath  the  house  No.  17,  forming 
one  of  the  line  of  dwellings  now  known  by  the 
name  of  Beaufort  Row.  An  avenue,  with  a  high 
wall  on  each  side,  constituted  the  chief  approach 
to  the  house,  or  that  from  the  river-side;  and 
fronting  the  entrance  of  this  avenue  were  the  stair 
used  by  Sir  Thomas  More  when  descending  to 
his  barge.  A  terrace-walk,  which  stretched  from 
the  house  towards  the  east,  is  described  in  the 
legal  writings  of  the  estate  as  being  so  much  raised 
that  it  was  ascended  by  several  steps.  After  the 
demolition  of  the  house  a  portion  of  the  grounc 
was  occupied  as  a  burial-place  for  the  Moravian 
Society,  and  the  remains  of  the  stables  were  con- 
verted into  public  schools. 

The  most  important  circumstances  in  the  life  ol 
Sir  Thomas  More  are  too  well  known  to  need 
repetition  in  these  pages.  His  domestic  life  a 
Chelsea  has  been  described  by  Erasmus  in  the 
following  words  : — "  There  he  converses  with  his 
wife,  his  son,  his  daughter-in-law,  his  three  daughters 
and  their  husbands,  with  eleven  grandchildren. 
There  is  not  any  man  living  so  affectionate  as  he, 
and  he  loveth  his  old  wife  as  well  as  if  she  was  a 
young  maid.  You  would  say  there  was  in  that 
place  Plato's  Academy;  but  I  do  his  house  an 
injury  in  comparing  it  to  Plato's  Academy,  where 
there  were  only  disputations  of  numbers  and  geo- 
metrical figures,  and  sometimes  of  moral  virtues. 
I  should  rather  call  his  house  a  school,  or  university 
of  Christian  religion,  for  though  there  is  none 
therein  but  readeth  or  studieth  the  liberal  sciences, 
their  special  care  is  piety  and  virtue ;  there  is  no 
quarrelling  or  intemperate  words  heard;  none  seen 
idle  ;  that  worthy  gentleman  doth  not  govern  with 
proud  and  lofty  words,  but  with  well-timed  and 
courteous  benevolence ;  everybody  performeth  his 
duty,  yet  is  there  always  alacrity ;  neither  is  sober 
mirth  anything  wanting." 

Erasmus  was  the  correspondent  of  Sir  Thomas 
More  long  before  he  was  personally  acquainted 
with  his  illustrious  friend ;  and  although  strongly 
dissimilar  in  religious  opinions,  when  the  great 
reformer  and  scholar  visited  England  he  was  the 
frequent  guest  of  Sir  Thomas  at  Chelsea.  The 
house  of  More  was,  indeed,  the  resort  of  all  who 
were  conspicuous  for  learning  and  taste.  Collet, 


Linacre,  and  Tunstall  often  partook  of  the  hospi- 
tality of  his  table.  Here  Sir  Thomas  often  enter- 
tained "  Master  John  Heywood,"  the  early  English 
playwright,  and  cracked  with  him  many  a  joke. 
It  is  said  that  it  was  through  Sir  Thomas  More 
that  he  was  introduced  to  the  Lady  Mary,  and  so 
was  brought  under  the  notice  of  Henry  VIII., 
who  appointed  him  the  Court  jester.  Those  were, 
indeed,  strange  days,  when  a  buffoon  dared  to 
laugh  in  the  face  of  a  sovereign  who  could  send  to 
the  scaffold  so  venerable,  so  grave  and  learned  a 
scholar,  and  so  loyal  a  subject  of  the  Crown.  The 
wit  of  Sir  Thomas  More  was  almost  boundless,  and 
he  was  also  no  mean  actor.  It  is  related  of  him 
that  when  an  interlude  was  performed  he  would 
"  make  one  among  the  players,  occasionally  coming 
upon  them  by  surprise,  and  without  rehearsal  fall 
into  a  character,  and  support  the  part  by  his 
extemporaneous  invention,  and  acquit  himself  with 
credit."  It  was  probably  by  his  intercourse  with 
Heywood  that  the  latent  dramatic  powers  of  the 
great  Lord  Chancellor  were  called  out 

Henry  VIIL,  to  whom  More  owed  his  rise  and 
fall,  frequently  came  to  Chelsea,  and  spent  whole 
days  in  the  most  familiar  manner  with  his  learned 
friend ;  and  "  it  is  supposed,"  says  Faulkner,  in  his 
:' History  of  Chelsea,"  "that  the  king's  answer  to 
Luther  was  prepared  and  arranged  for  the  public . 
eye,  with  the  assistance  of  Sir  Thomas,  during 
these  visits."  Notwithstanding  all  this  familiarity, 
Sir  Thomas  understood  the  temper  of  his  royal 
master  very  well,  as  the  following  anecdote  suffi- 
ciently testifies : — -"One  day  the  king  came  unex- 
pectedly to  Chelsea,  and  dined  with  him,  and  after 
dinner  walked  in  his  garden  for  the  space  of  an 
our,  holding  his  arm  about  his  neck.  As  soon 
as  his  Majesty  was  gone,  Sir  Thomas's  son-in-law 
>bserved  to  him  how  happy  he  was,  since  the  king 
lad  treated  him  with  that  familiarity  he  had  never 
used  to  any  person  before,  except  Cardinal  Wolsey, 
vith  whom  he  once  saw  his  Majesty  walk  arm-in- 
"  I  thank  our  Lord,"  answered  Sir  Thomas, 
'  I  find  his  grace  my  very  good  lord  indeed  ;  and  I 
relieve  he  doth  as  singularly  love  me  as  any  subject 
vithin  this  realm  ;  however,  son  Roper,  I  may  tell 
hee  I  have  no  cause  to  be  proud  thereof,  for  if  my 
lead  would  win  him  a  castle  in  France,  it  should 
lot  fail  to  go  off." 

Sir  Thomas  More  is  said  to  have  converted  one 
iart  of  his  house  into  a  prison  for  the  restraint  of 
leretics;  and  according  to  a  passage  in  "Foxe's 
Book  of  Martyrs,"  he  here  kept  in  prison,  and 
whipped  in  his  garden,  one  John  Baynham,  a 
.wyer,  who  was  suspected  of  holding  the  doctrines 
f  Wycliffe,  and  who  was  ultimately  burnt  at  Smith- 


Chelsea.] 


MORE'S  DOMESTIC  LIFE. 


field.     But  it  must  be  remembered  that  he  lived 
in  an  age  when  religious  persecution  was  practised 
by  all  parties,  and  when,  as  Byron  writes — 
"  Christians  did  burn  each  other,  quite  persuaded 
That  all  th'  Apostles  would  have  done  as  they  did. 

More's  fondness  for  animals  is  an  interesting 
and  curious  peculiarity.  Erasmus  tells  us,  that 
watching  their  growth,  development,  and  disposi 
tions,  was  one  of  his  chief  pleasures.  "  At  Chelsea 
may  be  seen  many  varieties  of  birds,  and  an  ape,  a 
fox,  a  weasel,  and  a  ferret.  Moreover,  if  anything 
foreign,  or  otherwise  remarkable,  comes  in  his  way, 
he  greedily  buys  it  up,  and  he  has  his  house  com- 
pletely furnished  with  these  objects;  so  that,  as 
you  enter,  there  is  everywhere  something  to  catch 
the  eye,  and  he  renews  his  own  pleasure  as  often 
as  he  becomes  a  witness  to  the  delight  of  others." 
With  one  of  his  favourite  dogs,  Sir  Thomas  would 
frequently  sit  in  fine  weather  on  the  top  of  th 
gate-house,  in  order  to  enjoy  the  agreeable  prospect. 
A  curious  story  is  told  in  the  "  Percy  Anecdotes/ 
which  will  bear  repeating  : — "  It  happened  one  day 
that  a  '  Tom  o'  Bedlam,'  a  maniac  vagrant,  got  up- 
stairs while  Sir  Thomas  was  there,  and  coming  up 
to  him,  cried  out, '  Leap,  Tom,  leap  ! '  at  the  same 
time,  attempting  to  throw  his  lordship  over  the 
battlements.  Sir  Thomas,  who  was  a  feeble  old 
man,  and  incapable  of  much  resistance,  had  the 
presence  of  mind  to  say,  '  Let  us  first  throw  this 
little  dog  over.'  The  maniac  threw  the  dog  down 
immediately.  '  Pretty  sport,'  said  the  Lord  Chan- 
cellor ;  '  now  go  down  and  bring  him  up ;  then 
we'll  try  again.'  While  the  poor  madman  went 
down  for  the  dog,  his  lordship  made  fast  the  door 
of  the  stairs,  and,  calling  for  help,  saved  his  life." 

Sir  Thomas  More  is  to  be  remembered  also  with 
gratitude  on  quite  another  score,  and  on  higher 
grounds ;  for  he  was  the  generous  patron  of 
Holbein,  the  Court  painter,  who  occupied  rooms  in 
his  house  for  three  years,  and  was  employed  in 
drawing  portraits  of  his  patron  and  his  family. 

Hoddesdon,  in  his  "  History  of  More,"  says  : — 
"  He  seldom  used  to  feast  noble  men,  but  his  poor 
neighbours  often,  whom  he  would  visit  in  their 
houses,  and  bestow  upon  them  his  large  liberality 
— not  groats,  but  crowns  of  gold — even  more  than 
according  to  their  wants.  He  hired  a  house  also 
for  many  aged  people  in  Chelsea,  whom  he  daily 
relieved,  and  it  was  his  daughter  Margaret's  charge 
to  see  them  want  nothing ;  and  when  he  was  a 
private  lawyer  he  would  take  no  fees  of  poor  folks, 
widows,  nor  pupils." 

By  indefatigable  application  Sir  Thomas  More 
cleared  the  Court  of  Chancery  of  all  its  causes.  One 
day,  having  ended  a  cause,  he  called  for  the  next, 


and  was  told  that  "  there  was  no  other  depending 
in  the  court."  He  was  delighted  to  hear  it,  and 
ordered  it  to  be  inserted  in  the  records  of  the 
court.  This  gave  rise  to  the  epigram — not  the 
worst  in  the  English  language — which  we  have 
already  quoted  in  our  account  of  Lincoln's  Inn.* 
After  having  held  the  Great  Seal  for  two  years  and 
a  half,  Sir  Thomas,  on  being  pressed  by  the  king  to 
hasten  on  his  divorce  from  Catherine  of  Arragon, 
resigned  his  office  in  May,  1532.  He  retired 
cheerfully  to  the  privacy  of  domestic  life,  and  to 
the  studies  which  he  was  not  long  to  enjoy.  On 
the  day  after  he  resigned  the  chancellorship,  Sir 
Thomas  went  to  church,  as  usual,  with  his  wife  and 
family,  none  of  whom  he  had  yet  informed  of  his 
resignation.  During  the  service,  as  was  his  custom, 
he  sat  in  the  choir  in  a  surplice.  After  the  service 
it  was  usual  for  one  of  his  attendants  to  go  to  her 
ladyship's  pew  and  say,  "  My  lord  is  gone  before." 
But  this  day  the  ex-Chancellor  came  himself,  and, 
making  a  low  bow  said,  "Madam,  my  lord  is 
gone."  Then,  on  their  way  home,  we  are  told,  "to 
her  great  mortification,  he  unriddled  his  mournful 
pleasantry,  by  telling  her  his  lordship  was  gone, 
in  the  loss  of  his  official  dignities."  He  was  in- 
cluded in  the  bill  of  attainder  introduced  into 
Parliament  to  punish  Elizabeth  Barton — "  the  holy 
maid  of  Kent " — and  her  accomplices ;  but  on 
his  disclaiming  any  surviving  faith  in  the  nun,  or 
any  share  in  her  treasonable  designs,  his  name  was 
ultimately  struck  out  of  the  bill.  On  the  passing 
of  the  Act  of  Succession,  which  declared  the  king's 
marriage  with  Catherine  invalid,  and  fixed  the 
succession  in  the  children  of  Anne  Boleyn,  More 
declined  to  accept  it,  and  refused  to  take  the  oath. 
A  few  days  afterwards  he  was  committed  to  the 
Tower,  and  in  the  space  of  a  few  short  months,  as 
s  known  to  every  reader  of  English  history,  was 
placed  on  his  trial  for  high  treason,  found  guilty,  and 
executed  on  Tower  Hill.  More  retained  his  mild 
and  characteristic  jocularity  to  the  last.  "Going 
up  the  scaffold,  which  was  so  weak  that  it  was 
ready  to  fall,"  we  read  in  Roper's  "  Life  of  More," 
"  he  said  hurriedly  to  the  lieutenant,  '  I  pray  you, 
Master  Lieutenant,  see  me  safe  up;  and  for  my 
coming  down,  let  me  shift  for  myself.'  When  the 
axe  of  the  executioner  was  about  to  fall,  he  asked 
"or  a  moment's  delay  while  he  moved  aside  his 
Deard.  '  Pity  that  should  be  cut,"  he  murmured ; 
that  surely  has  not  committed  treason.' " 

"  Thou  art  the  cause  of  this  man's  death,"  said 
Henry  VIII.  to  Anne  Boleyn  when  the  news  of  his 
execution  was  brought  to  the  guilty  couple;  and 


•See  Vol.  111.,  p.  58. 


rfLD  AND   NEW   LONDON. 


the  king  rose,  left  his  paramour,  and  shut  himself 
up  in  his  chamber  "  in  great  perturbation  of  spirit." 
At  that  perturbation  we  need  not  wonder — the 
greatest  man  of  the  realm  had  been  beheaded 
as  a  victim  to  the  royal  lust.  It  may  be  truly 
said  that  during  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  there 
lived  and  moved,  in  a  prominent  position,  but  one 
man  whose  memory  is  held  in  high  esteem  by  all 
parties,  and  that  man  was  Sir  Thomas  More. 
Protestants  as  well  as  Roman  Catholics  alike  vene- 
rated his  name,  while  they  held  his  life  up  as  a 
model  for  all  time,  and  even  the  more  extreme 
Protestants  had  less  to  say  in  his  disfavour  than 
about  any  other  leading  son  of  the  Church.  Risen 
through  his  own  exertions  from  comparative  ob- 
scurity, Sir  Thomas  More  held  the  highest  lay 
position  in  the  land,  bore  off  the  palm  in  learning 
as  in  probity,  was  faithful  to  his  God  as  well  as 
to  his  king  and  to  his  own  lofty  principles,  and 
died  because  he  would  not  and  could  not  make 
his  conscience  truckle  to  the  lewd  desires  of 
his  earthly  master.  A  grand  lawyer,  a  great 
statesman,  a  profound  politician,  an  example  of 
domesticity  for  all  generations,  a  deep  student 
of  the  things  of  the  spiritual  as  well  as  of  the  tem- 
poral life,  and  a  Catholic  of  Catholics — Sir  Thomas 
More  earned  and  commanded,  and  will  continue  to 
command,  the  profoundest  respect  of  all  high- 
minded  Englishmen.  Sir  Thomas  More,  indeed, 
was  justly  called  by  Thomson,  in  his  "  Seasons  " — 
"  A  dauntless  soul  erect,  who  smiled  on  death." 

Sir  Thomas  More's  house  appears  to  have  become 
afterwards  the  residence  of  royalty.  Anne  of 
Cleves  died  here  in  1557;  and  Katharine  Parr 
occupied  it  after  her  re-marriage  with  Admiral 
Seymour,  having  charge  of  the  Princess  Elizabeth, 
then  a  child  of  thirteen. 

The  old  parish  church  of  Chelsea,  dedicated  to 
St  Luke,  stands  parallel  with  the  river.  It  is  con- 
structed chiefly  of  brick,  and  is  by  no  means  con- 
spicuous for  beauty.  It  appears  to  have  been 
erected  piecemeal  at  different  periods,  and  the 
builders  do  not  seem  to  have  aimed  in  the  slightest 
degree  at  architectural  arrangement ;  nevertheless, 
though  the  building  is  sadly  incongruous  and  much 
barbarised,  its  interior  is  still  picturesque.  The 
',  chancel  and  a  part  of  the  north  aisle  are  the  only 
portions  which  can  lay  claim  to  antiquity ;  the 
former  was  rebuilt  shortly  before  the  Reformation. 
The  eastern  end  of  the  north  aisle  is  the  chapel  of 
the  Lawrence  family,  which  was  probably  founded 
in  the  fourteenth  century.  The  southern  aisle  was 
erected  at  the  cost  of  good  Sir  Thomas  More,  who 
also  gave  the  communion  plate.  With  a  forecast 
of  the  coming  troubles,  he  remarked,  "  Good  men 


give  these  things,  and  bad  men  will  soon  take 
them  away."  At  the  commencement  of  the  present 
century  modern  windows,  with  frames  of  wood- 
work, were  introduced.  These,  it  need  hardly  be 
said,  in  no  way  improved  the  already  mean  appear- 
ance of  the  fabric.  More's  chapel,  which  was  an 
absolute  freehold,  and  beyond  the  control  of  the 
bishop,  was  allowed  to  fall  into  a  very  dilapidated 
condition ;  but  it  has  recently  been  purchased  by 
a  Mr.  R.  H.  Davies,  who  has  transferred  it  to 
the  rector,  churchwardens,  and  trustees  of  the  new 
church  of  St.  Luke,  under  whose  charge  the  old 
parish  church  is  placed ;  and  it  has  since  been 
partially  restored.  The  church  was  considerably 
enlarged  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
at  which  time  the  heavy  brick  tower  at  the  west 
end  was  erected.  The  interior  consists  of  a  nave, 
chancel,  and  two  aisles,  comprehending  the  two 
chapels  above  mentioned.  The  roof  of  the  chancel 
is  arched,  and  it  is  separated  from  the  nave  by  a 
semi-circular  arch,  above  which  hang  several  escut- 
cheons and  banners ;  the  latter,  very  faded  and 
tattered,  are  said  to  have  been  the  needlework  of 
Queen  Charlotte,  by  whom  they  were  presented  to 
the  Royal  Volunteers.  They  were  deposited  here 
on  the  disbandment  of  the  regiment.  Near  the 
south-west  corner  of  the  church,  resting  upon  a 
window-sill,  is  an  ancient  book-case  and  desk,  on 
which  are  displayed  a  chained  Bible,  a  Book  of 
Homilies,  and  some  other  works,  including  "  Foxe's 
Book  of  Martyrs."  In  the  porch,  placed  upon 
brackets  on  the  wall,  is  a  bell,  which  was  presented 
to  the  church  by  the  Hon.  William  Ashburnham, 
in  1679,  in  commemoration  of  his  escape  from 
drowning.  It  appears,  from  a  tablet  on  the  wall, 
that  Mr.  Ashburnham  was  walking  on  the  bank  of 
the  Thames  at  Chelsea  one  very  dark  night  in 
winter,  apparently  in  a  meditative  mood,  and  had 
strayed  into  the  river,  when  he  was  suddenly  brought 
to  a  sense  of  his  situation  by  hearing  the  church 
clock  strike  nine.  Mr.  Ashburnham  left  a  sum  of 
money  to  the  parish  to  pay  for  the  ringing  of  the 
bell  every  evening  at  nine  o'clock,  but  the  custom 
was  discontinued  in  1825.  The  bell,  after  lying 
neglected  for  many  years  in  the  clock-room,  was 
placed  in  its  present  position  after  a  silence  of 
thirty  years. 

The  monuments  in  the  church  are  both  nume- 
rous and  interesting.  On  the  north  side  of  the 
chancel  is  an  ancient  altar-tomb  without  any  in- 
scription, but  supposed  to  belong  to  the  family  of 
Bray,  of  Eaton.  On  the  south  wall  of  the  chancel 
is  a  tablet  of  black  marble,  surmounted  by  a  flat 
Gothic  arch,  in  memory  of  Sir  Thomas  More.  It 
was  originally  erected  by  himself,  in  1532,  some 


Chelsea.] 


MONUMENTS   IN   CHELSEA    CHURCH. 


59 


three  years  before  his  death ;  but  being  much 
worn,  it  was  restored,  at  the  expense  of  Sir  John 
Lawrence,  of  Chelsea,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  L, 
and  again"  by  subscription,  in  1833. 

The  Latin  inscription  was  written  by  More 
himself;  but  an  allusion  to  "heretics,"  which  it 
contained,  is  stated  to  have  been  purposely  omitted 
•when  the  monument  was  restored.  A  blank  space 
is  left  for  the  word.  Although  More's  first  wife 
lies  buried  here,  the  place  of  interment  of  Sir 
Thomas  himself  is  somewhat  doubtful.  Weever 
and  Anthony  Wood  say  that  his  daughter,  Margaret 
Roper,  removed  his  body  to  Chelsea.  Earlier 
writers,  however,  differ  as  to  the  precise  spot  of 
his  burial,  some  saying  that  he  was  interred  in  the 
belfry,  and  others  near  the  vestry  of  the  chapel 
of  St.  Peter,  in  the  Tower.  It  is  recorded  that  his 
daughter  took  thither  the  body  of  Bishop  Fisher, 
that  it  might  lie  near  her  father's,  and,  therefore,  it 
is  probable  that  the  Tower  still  contains  his  ashes. 
The  head  of  Sir  Thomas  More  is  deposited  in  St. 
Dunstan's  Church  at  Canterbury,  where  it  is  pre- 
served in  a.  niche  in  the  wall,  secured  by  an  iron 
grate,  near  the  coffin  of  Margaret  Roper. 

In  the  south  aisle  is  a  fine  monument  to  Lord  and 
Lady  Dacre,  dated  1594.  It  was  this  Lady  Dacre 
who  erected  the  almshouses  in  Westminster  which 
bore  her  name.*  She  was  sister  to  Thomas  Sack- 
ville,  Earl  of  Dorset,  the  poet.  In  the  north  aisle 
is  the  monument  of  Lady  Jane  Cheyne,  daughter 
of  William  Cavendish,  Duke  of  Newcastle,  and 
wife  of  Charles  Cheyne,  after  whom  Cheyne  Row 
is  named.  The  monument  is  the  work  of  Bernini, 
and  is  said  to  have  cost  ^500.  Here  is  buried 
Adam  Littleton,  Prebendary  of  Westminster  and 
Rector  of  Chelsea,  the  author  of  a  once  celebrated 
Latin  Dictionary.  He  was  at  one  time  "usher" 
of  Westminster  School ;  and  after  the  Restoration 


he  took  pupils  at  Chelsea.  He  wrote  the  preface 
to  Cicero's  Works,  as  edited  by  Gale,  and  was  a 
perfect  master  of  the  Latin  style.  Collier  says  of  him 
that  his  erudition  gained  for  him  the  title  of  "  the 
Great  Dictator  of  Learning."  In  the  churchyard 
is  a  monument  to  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  the  physician. 
It  consists  of  an  inscribed  pedestal,  upon  which 
is  placed  a  large  vase  of  white  marble,  entwined 
with  serpents,  and  the  whole  is  surmounted  by  a  * 
portico  supported  by  four  pillars. 

In  the  old  burial-ground  lie  Andrew  Millar,  the 
eminent  London  bookseller,  and  John  B.  Cipriani, 
one  of  the  earliest  members  of  the  Royal  Academy.f 

The  new  church  of  St.  Luke,  situated  between 
King's  Road  and  Fulham  Road,  was  built  by  James 
Savage,  in  1820,  in  imitation  of  the  style  of  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  and  has  a  pinna- 
cled tower,  nearly  150  feet  high.  It  is,  however, 
a  poor  specimen  of  modern  Gothic.  The  most 
remarkable  feature  of  the  building  is  the  roof  of 
the  nave,  which  is  vaulted  with  stone,  with  a  clear 
height  of  sixty  feet  from  the  pavement  to  the  crown 
of  the  vault.  The  porch  extends  the  whole  width 
of  the  west  front,  and  is  divided  by  piers  and  arches 
into  five  bays,  the  central  one  of  which  forms  the 
lower  storey  of  the  tower.  The  large  east  window  is 
filled  with  stained  glass,  and  beneath  it  is  a  fine 
altar-screen  of  antique  design.  Immediately  over 
the  altar  is  a  painting,  "  The  Entombing  of  Christ," 
said  to  be  by  Northcote.  The  church  will  seat 
about  2,000  persons,  and  was  erected  at  a  cost  of 
about  ,£40,000 — -the  first  stone  being  laid  by  the 
Duke  of  Wellington.  The  first  two  rectors  of  the 
new  church  were  Dr.  Gerard  V.  Wellesley  (whose 
name  is  still  retained  in  Wellesley  Street),  brother 
of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  the  Rev.  Charles 
Kingsley,  father  of  Charles  Kingsley,  Canon  of  West- 
minster, and  author  of  "Alton  Locke,"  &c. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
CHELSEA  (continued). 

"Then,  farewell,  my  trim-built  wherry j     ' 

Oars,  and  coat,  and  badge,  farewell ! 
Never  more  at  Chelsea  Ferry 

Shall  your  Thomas  take  a  spell."— Ditdin. 

Cheyne  Walk— An  Eccentric  Miser— Dominicetti,  an  Italian  Quack— Don  Saltero's  Coffee  House  and  Museum— Catalogue  of  Rarities  in  the 
Museum— Thomas  Carlyle— Chelsea  Embankment-Albert  Bridge-The  Mulberry  Garden— The  "Swan"  Inn— The  Rowing  Matches  for 
Doggett's  Coat  and  Badge— The  Botanic  Gardens— The  Old  Bun-house. 


VISITORS  to  Chelsea  by  water,  landing  at  the 
Cadogan  Pier,  will  not  fail  to  be  struck  by  the 
antique  appearance  of  the  long  terrace  of  houses 


stretching  away  eastward,  •  overlooking  the  river, 
and  screened  by  a  row  of  trees.  This  is  Cheyne 
Walk,  so  named  after  Lord  Cheyne,  who  owned  the 


t  Sec  Faulkner's  "  History  of  Chelsea,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  38. 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


manor  of  Chelsea  near  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  The  houses  are  mostly  of  dark-red  brick, 
with  heavy  window-frames,  and  they  have  about 
them  altogether  an  old-fashioned  look,  such  as  we 
are  accustomed  to  find  in  buildings  of  the  time  of 
Queen  Anne.  The  place,  from  its  air  of  repose 


of  the  same  for  her  sole  use  and  benefit,  and  that 
of  her  heirs."  He  was  buried  at  North  Marston, 
nearAylesbury,  where  he  held  a  landed  property, 
and  where  the  Queen  ordered  a  painted  window 
to  be  put  up  to  his  memory.  A  sketch  of  the 
career  of  this  modern  rival  of  John  Elwes  will 


CHEY.NE  WALK  AND   CADOGAN   PIER,    i860. 


and  seclusion,  has  always  reckoned  among  its  in- 
habitants a  large  number  of  successful  artists  and 
literary  celebrities. 

Here,  in  a  large  house  very  scantily  furnished, 
lived  during  the  latter  portion  of  his  existence — 
we  can  scarcely  call  it  life — Mr.  John  Camden 
Neild,  the  eccentric  miser,  who,  at  his  decease 
in  August,  1852,  left  his  scrapings  and  savings, 
amounting  to  half  a  million  sterling,  to  the  Queen, 
"  begging  Her  Majesty's  most  gracious  acceptance 


be  found  in  Chambers'  "  Book  of  Days."  Here, 
too,  lived  Dominicetti,  an  Italian  quack,  who 
made  a  great  noise  in  his  day  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  medicated  baths,  which  he  established  in 
Cheyne  Walk,  in  1765.  It  is  thus  immortalised 
in  Boswell's  "Life  of  Johnson:" — "There  was  a 
pretty  large  circle  this  evening.  Dr.  Johnson  was 
in  very  good  humour,  lively,  and  ready  to  talk  upon 
all  subjects.  Dominicetti  being  mentioned,  he 
would  not  allow  him  any  merit  '  There  is  nothing 


Chelsea.] 


THE   FAMOUS   DOMINICETTI. 


61 


in  all  this  boasted  system.  No,  sir;  medicated 
baths  can  be  no  better  than  warm  water;  their 
only  effect  can  be  that  of  tepid  moisture.'  One  of 
the  company  took  the  other  side,  maintaining  that 
medicines  of  various  sorts,  and  some,  too,  of  most 
powerful  effect,  are  introduced  into  the  human 


fumigated  ;  but  be  sure  that  the  steam  be  directed 
to  thy  head,  for  that  is  the  peccant  part.'  This 
produced  a  triumphant  roar  of  laughter  from  the 
motley  assembly  of  philosophers,  printers,  and  de- 
pendents, male  and  female."  Dominicetti  is  said  to 
have  had  under  his  care  upwards  of  16,000  persons, 


CARLYLE'S  HOUSE,  GREAT  CHEYNE  ROW.     (Ste  page  64.) 


frame  by  the  medium  of  the  pores  ;  and  therefore, 
when  warm  water  is  impregnated  with  salutiferous 
substances,  it  may  produce  great  effects  as  a  bath. 
The  Doctor,  determined  to  be  master  of  the  field, 
had  recourse  to  the  device  which  Goldsmith  im- 
puted to  him  in  the  witty  words  of  one  of  Gibber's 
comedies,  '  There  is  no  arguing  with  Johnson ;  for 
when  his  pistol  misses  fire,  he  knocks  you  down 
with  the  butt-end  of  it."  He  turned  to  the  gentle- 
man :  '  Well,  sir,  go  to  Dominicetti,  and  get  thyself 
198 


including  Edward,  Duke  of  York.  He  speni  some 
.£37,000  on  his  establishment,  but  became  bank- 
rupt in  1782,  when  he  disappeared. 

In  the  middle  of  Cheyne  Walk  is,  or  was  till 
recently  (for  it  was  doomed  to  destruction  in  1866), 
the  house  known  to  readers  of  anecdote  biography 
as  "  Don  Saltero's  Coffee  House,"  celebrated  not 
only  as  a  place  of  entertainment,  but  also  as  a 
repository  of  natural  and  other  curiosities.  John 
Salter,  its  founder,  was  an  old  and  trusty  servant  of 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


Sir  Hans  Sloane,  who,  from  time  to  time,  gave  him 
all  sorts  of  curiosities.  With  these  he  adorned 
the  house,  which  he  opened  as  a  suburban  coffee- 
house, about  the  year  1690.  The  earliest  notice  of 
Sailer's  Museum  is  to  be  found  in  the  thirty-fourth 
number  of  the  Tatler,  published  in  June,  1709,  in 
which  its  owner  figures  as  "Don  Saltero,"  and 
several  of  its  curious  contents  are  specified  by  the 
writer,  Sir  Richard  Steele.  Beside  the  donations 
of  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  at  the  head  of  the  "  Complete 
List  of  Benefactors  to  Don  Saltero's  Coffee-room 
of  Curiosities,"  printed  in  1739,  figure  the  names  of 
Sir  John  Cope,  Baronet,  and  his  son,  "the  first 
generous  benefactors."  There  is  an  account  of  the 
exhibition  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1799, 
where  it  is  stated  that  Rear-Admiral  Sir  John 
Munden,  and  other  officers  who  had  been  much 
upon  the  coasts  of  Spain,  enriched  it  with  many 
curiosities,  and  gave  its  owner  the  name  of  "  Don 
Saltero ; "  but  the  list  of  donors  does  not  include 
the  admiral,  though  the  name  of  "  Mr.  Munden " 
occurs  in  the  list  subjoined  to  the  nineteenth 
edition  of  the  catalogue.  The  title  by  which 
Salter  was  so  well  known  in  his  own  day  may  be 
accounted  for  even  at  this  distance  of  time  by  the 
notice  of  him  and  his  collection,  as  immortalised  in 
the  pages  of  Sir  Richard  Steele.  "  When  I  came 
into  the  coffee-house,"  he  says,  "  I  had  not  time  to 
salute  the  company  before  my  eye  was  diverted  by 
ten  thousand  gimcracks,  round  the  room  and  on 
the  ceiling."  The  Don  was  famous  for  his  punch, 
and  his  skill  on  the  fiddle.  "  Indeed,"  says  Steele, 
"  I  think  he  does  play  the  '  Merry  Christ-Church 
Bells '  pretty  justly ;  but  he  confessed  to  me  he  did 
it  rather  to  show  he  was  orthodox  than  that  he 
valued  himself  upon  the  music  itself."  This  de- 
scription is  probably  faithful,  as  well  as  humorous, 
since  he  continues,  "  When  my  first  astonishment 
was  over,  there  comes  to  me  a  sage,  of  a  thin 
and  meagre  countenance,  which  aspect  made  me 
doubtful  whether  reading  or  fretting  had  made  it  so 
philosophic." 

In  the  Weekly  Journal  of  Saturday,  June  22nd, 
1723,  we  read  the  following  poetical  announce- 
ment of  the  treasures  to  be  seen  at  this  coffee-house, 
which  may  be  regarded  as  authentic  and  literally 
true,  since  it  is  sanctioned  by  the  signature  of  the 
proprietor  himself : — 


Fifty  years  since  to  Chelsea  great, 
From  Rodman,  on  the  Irish  main, 

I  strolled,  with  maggots  in  my  pate, 

Where,  much  improved,  they  still  remain. 

'  Through  various  employs  I've  passed — 
A  scraper,  virtuoso,  projector, 


Tooth-drawer,  trimmer,  and  at  last, 
I'm  now  a  gimcrack  whim  collector. 

Monsters  of  all  sorts  here  are  seen, 
Strange  things  in  nature  as  they  grow  so, 

Some  relicks  of  the  Sheba  queen, 
And  fragments  of  the  famed  Bob  Crusoe. 

Knicknacks,  too,  dangle  round  the  wall, 
Some  in  glass  cases,  some  on  shelf  ; 

But  what's  the  rarest  sight  of  all, 
Your  humble  servant  shows  himself. 

On  this  my  chiefest  hope  depends— 
Now  if  you  will  my  cause  espouse, 

In  journals  pray  direct  your  friends 
To  my  Museum  Coffee-house  ; 

And,  in  requital  for  the  timely  favour, 
I'll  gratis  bleed,  draw  teeth,  and  be  your  shaver  : 
Nay,  that  your  pate  may  with  my  noddle  tally, 
And  you  shine  bright  as  I  do—  marry  !  shall  ye 
Freely  consult  your  revelation,  Molly  ; 
Nor  shall  one  jealous  thought  create  a  huff, 
For  she  has  taught  me  manners  long  enough." 
*  «  DON  SALTERO. 


The  date  of  Sailer's  death  does  not  appear  to  be 
known  precisely,  but  the  museum  was  continued 
by  his  daughter,  a  Mrs.  Hall,  until  about  the  ac- 
cession of  George  III.  We  know  little  of  the 
subsequent  history  of  the  house  until  January, 
1799,  when  the  whole  place,  with  the  museum  of 
curiosities,  was  sold  by  auction  by  Mr.  Harwood. 
They  are  described  in  the  catalogue  as  follows  :  — 
"  A  substantial  and  well-erected  dwelling-house 
and  premises,  delightfully  situate,  facing  the  river 
Thames,  commanding  beautiful  views  of  the  Surrey 
hills  and  the  adjacent  country,  in  excellent  repair, 
held  for  a  term  of  thirty-nine  years  from  Christmas 
last,  at  a  ground-rent  of  ^3  IDS.  per  annum. 
Also  the  valuable  collection  of  curiosities,  com- 
prising a  curious  model  of  our  Saviour's  sepulchre, 
a  Roman  bishop's  crosier,  antique  coins  and  medals, 
minerals,  fossils,  antique  fire-arms,  curious  birds, 
fishes,  and  other  productions  of  nature,  and  a  large 
collection  of  various  antiquities  and  curiosities, 
glass-cases,  &c.  N.B.  The  curiosities  will  be 
sold  the  last  day.  May  be  viewed  six  days  pre- 
ceding the  sale.  Catalogues  at  sixpence  each." 
The  number  of  lots  was  a  hundred  and  twenty-one  ; 
and  the  entire  produce  of  the  sale  appears  to  have 
been  little  more  than  £50.  The  highest  price 
given  for  a  single  lot  was  £i  i6s.  —  lot  98,  con- 
sisting of  "a  very  curious  model  of  our  Blessed 
Saviour's  sepulchre  at  Jerusalem,  very  neatly  inlaid 
with  mother  of  pearl." 

"  It  is  not  improbable,"  writes  Mr.  Smith  in  his 
"  Historical  and  Literary  Curiosities,"  "  that  this 
very  celebrated  collection  was  not  preserved  either 
entire  or  genuine  until  the  time  of  its  dispersion  ; 


DON   SALTERO'S   MUSEUM. 


since  the  gift  of  John  Pennant,  of  Chelsea,  the 
great-uncle  of  Thomas  Pennant,  the  topographical 
writer,  appears  to  have  been  wanting  in  the  forty- 
seventh  edition  of  the  catalogue  of  the  museum. 
This  donation  consisted  of  a  part  of  a  root  of  a  tree, 
shaped  like  a  swine,  and  sometimes  called  'a 
lignified  hog;'  but  the  several  editions  of  the  cata 
logue  differ  considerably  in  the  insertion  or  omission 
of  various  articles.  The  exhibition  was  contained 
chiefly  in  glass  cases  ranged  on  the  tables,  placed  in 
the  front  room  of  the  first  floor  of  the  building ;  but 
the  walls  also  were  covered  with  curiosities,  and  the 
entrance  passage  displayed  an  alligator  suspended 
from  the  ceiling,  with  a  variety  of  ancient  and 
foreign  weapons  hung  at  the  sides." 

Perhaps,  however,  the  most  novel  and  interesting 
particulars  which  can  now  be  given  concerning 
this  museum  may  be  gleaned  from  the  "  Exhibition 
Catalogue"  itself,  which  shows  that  it  consisted 
rather  of  strange  and  wonderful,  than  of  really 
valuable  specimens.  The  title  is  "  A  Catalogue  of 
Rarities,  to  be  seen  at  Don  Sailer's  Coffee-house  in 
Chelsea ;  to  which  is  added  a  complete  list  of  the 
donors  thereof.  Price  2d. 

"  '  O  Rare ! ' " 

In  the  first  glass  were  contained  the  model  of 
the  holy  sepulchre,  and  a  variety  of  curiosities  of 
a  similar  character :  such  as  "  painted  ribbands 
from  Jerusalem,  with  a  pillar  to  which  our  Saviour 
was  tied  when  scourged,  with  a  motto  on  each ; " 
"boxes  of  relicks  from  Jerusalem;"  "a  piece  of  a 
saint's  bone  in  nun's  work ; "  several  pieces  of  the 
holy  cross  in  a  frame,  glazed;  a  rose  of  Jericho; 
dice  of  the  Knights  Templars  ;  an  Israelitish  shekel ; 
and  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  an  ivory  frame,  glazed. 
There  were  also  several  specimens  of  carving  on 
cherry-stones,  representing  the  heads  of  the  four 
Evangelists  and  effigies  of  saints ;  with  some  cups 
and  baskets  made  out  of  the  same  minute  materials. 
The  same  case  also  contained  a  number  of  fine 
coins  and  medals,  both  British  and  foreign,  and  "  a 
model  of  Governor  Pitt's  great  diamond,"  which 
was  taken  out  of  the  sale.  There  were  also  a  few 
natural  curiosities,  as  "  a  bone  of  an  angel-fish  ;  a 
sea-horse;  a  petrified  crab  from  China;  a  small 
pair  of  horns,  and  several  legs  of  guinea-deer;  a 
handkerchief  made  of  the  asbestus  rock,  which  fire 
cannot  consume ;  a  piece  of  rotten  wood  not  to  be 
consumed  by  fire ;  the  rattle  of  a  rattlesnake  with 
twenty-seven  joints;  a  large  worm  that  eats  into 
the  keels  of  ships  in  the  West  Indies ;  serpents' 
tongues ;  the  bark  of  a  tree,  which  when  drawn  out 
appears  like  fine  lace ;  a  salamander ;  a  fairy's  or 
elf's  arrow ;  a  little  skull,  very  curious."  The  mon 


remarkable  artificial  rarities  contained  in  the  second 
glass  were  "a  piece  of  Solomon's  temple ;  Queen 
Katherine's  wedding  shoes;  King  Charles  the 
Second's  band  which  he  wore  in  di?guise ;  and  a 
piece  of  a  coat  of  mail  one  hundred  and  fifty  times 
doubled."  Of  foreign  productions  this  case  con- 
tained "  a  Turkish  almanack ;  a  book  in  Chinese 
characters ;  letters  in  the  Malabar  language ;  the 
effigies  and  hand  of  an  Egyptian  mummy ;  forty- 
eight  cups,  one  in  another ;  and  an  Indian  hatchet 
used  by  them  before  iron  was  invented."  The 
natural  curiosities  included  "  a  little  whale  ;  a  giant's 
tooth ;  a  curious  ball  of  fish-bones  found  near 
Plymouth ;  Job's  tears  that  grow  on  a  tree,  where- 
with they  make  anodyne  necklaces ;  a  nut  of  the 
sand-box  tree  ;  several  petrified  plumes  and  olives  ; 
a  young  frog  in  a  tobacco-stopper ;  and  a  piece  of 
the  caul  of  an  elephant."  The  third  glass  comprised 
"  black  and  white  scorpions ;  animals  in  embryo ; 
the  worm  that  eats  into  the  piles  in  Holland ;  the 
tarantula ;  a  nest  of  snakes ;  the  horns  of  a  sham- 
way  ;  the  back-bone  of  a  rattlesnake." 

The  fourth  glass  consisted  of  artificial  curiosities, 
and  included  "  a  nun's  whip  ;  a  pair  of  garters  from 
South  Carolina ;  a  Chinese  dodgin,  which  they 
weigh  their  gold  in ;  a  little  Sultaness ;  an  Indian 
spoon  of  equal  weight  with  gold  ;  a  Chinese  nun, 
very  curious;  Dr.  Durham's  paper  made  of  nettles." 
The  fifth  glass  contained  "  a  Muscovy  snuff-box, 
made  of  an  elk's  hoof;  a  humming-bird's  nest, 
with  two  young  ones  in  it ;  a  starved  swallow ;  the 
head  of  an  Egyptian ;  a  lock  of  hair  of  a  Goa 
goat ;  belts  of  wampum ;  Indian  money ;  the  fruit 
of  the  horn-tree." 

The  following  curiosities  were  also  disposed  in 
various  parts  of  the  coffee-room,  with  many  others 
less  remarkable  in  their  names  and  appearance — 
"  King  James's  coronation  sword  ;  King  William's 
coronation  sword  and  shoes;  Henry  VIII. 's  coat 
of  mail,  gloves,  and  spurs ;  Queen  Elizabeth's 
Prayer-book,  stirrup,  and  strawberry  dish ;  the 
Pope's  infallible  candle ;  a  set  of  beads,  consecrated 
by  Clement  VII.,  made  of  the  bones  of  St.  Anthony 
of  Padua ;  a  piece  of  the  royal  oak ;  a  petrified 
child,  or  the  figure  of  death ;  a  curious  piece  of 
metal,  found  in  the  ruins  of  Troy ;  a  pair  of  Saxon 
ockings ;  William  the  Conqueror's  family  sword  ; 
Oliver's  broad-sword;  the  King  of  Whiddaw's  staff; 
Bistreanier's  staff ;  a  wooden  shoe,  put  under  the 
Speaker's  chair  in  James  II.'s  time;  the  Emperor 
of  Morocco's  tobacco  pipe;  a  curious  flea-trap; 
an  Indian  prince's  crown ;  a  starved  cat,  found 
between  the  walls  of  Westminster  Abbey  when  the 
east  end  was  repaired  ;  the  jaws  of  a  wild  boar  that 
was  starved  to  death  by  his  tusks  growing  inward  ; 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


a  frog,  fifteen  inches  long,  found  in  the  Isle  of 
Dogs ;  the  Staffordshire  almanack,  used  when  the 
Danes  were  in  England  ;  the  lance  of  Captain  Tow- 
How-Sham,  king  of  the  Darien  Indians,  with  which 
he  killed  six  Spaniards,  and  took  a  tooth  out  of 
each  head,  and  put  in  his  lance  as  a  trophy  of  his 
valour  ;  a  coffin  of  state  for  a  friar's  bones  ;  a  cock- 
atrice serpent ;  a  large  snake,  seventeen  feet  long, 
taken  in  a  pigeon-house  in  Sumatra — it  had  in  its 
belly  fifteen  fowls  and  five  pigeons ;  a  dolphin  with 
a  flying-fish  at  his  mouth  ;  a  gargulet,  that  Indians 
used  to  cool  their  water  with ;  a  whistling  arrow, 
which  the  Indians  use  when  they  would  treat  of 
peace;  a  negro  boy's  cap,  made  of  a  rat-skin; 
Mar)'  Queen  of  Scots'  pin-cushion ;  a  purse  made 
of  a  spider  from  Antigua ;  manna  from  Canaan ;  a 
jaw  of  a  skate,  with  500  teeth  ;  the  mermaid  fish  ; 
the  wild  man  of  the  woods  ;  the  flying  bull's  head ; 
and,  last  of  all,  a  snake's  skin,  ten  feet  and  a  half 
long — a  most  excellent  hydrometer."'  It  may  be 
added  that,  according  to  Pennant,  the  ex-Protector. 
Richard  Cromwell,  was  one  of  the  regular  visitors 
at  Don  Saltero's  coffee-house  in  its  earliest  days. 
The  place  was  one  of  the  exhibitions  which  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  went  to  see  when  working  as  a 
journeyman  printer  in  London. 

In  Cheyne  Walk  is  the  Cheyne  Hospital  for  Sick 
and  Incurable  Children.  Lindsey  House,  built 
about  1660,  and  named  after  the  Berties,  Earls  ot" 
Lindsey,  was  afterwards  used  as  a  conference  haii 
by  the  Moravian  missionaries,  and  subsequently 
cut  up  into  tenements. 

At  No.  5,  Great  Cheyne  Row,  an  old-fashioned 
red-brick  house,  lived  for  many  years  Thomas 
Carlyle,  who  so  far  identified  himself  with  this 
neighbourhood  as  to  be  known  to  the  world  in 
common  parlance  as  "  The  Philosopher  of  Chelsea."' 
The  house  and  the  habits  of  its  tenant  are  thus 
described  by  a  writer  who  signs  himself  "  Quiz," 
in  the  West  Middlesex  Advertiser: — 

"  The  house  tenanted  by  Carlyle  has  on  its  front 
an  appearance  of  antiquity,  which  would  lead  us  to 
ascribe  it  to  the  days  of  Queen  Anne.  In  one  of 
his  later  pamphlets,  '  Shooting  Niagara,'  associated 
with  a  hit  at  modern  brick-makers  and  brick-layers, 
Carlyle  has  an  allusion  to  the  wall  at  the  end 
('  head,'  as  he  writes)  of  his  garden,  made  of  bricks 
burnt  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  still  quite 
sound,  whereas  bricks  of  London  manufacture  in 
our  day  are  used  up  in  about  sixty  years.  This 
wall  was,  of  course,  the  boundary  wall  of  the  old 
park  or  garden  belonging  to  Chelsea  Manor-house. 
But  this  remark  only  comes  incidentally,  and  we 
know  scarcely  anything  about  Carlyh's  house  and 
its  belongings  from  himself.  Other  people  have 


reported  a  variety  of  particulars,  not  to  be  credited 
without  large  deductions,  concerning  his  home  and 
personal  habits.  Thus,  an  American  divine,  giving 
an  account  of  an  interview  he  had  with  the  Chelsea 
sage,  indulges  in  minutiae  such  as  the  following : — 
'We  were  shown  into  a  plainly-furnished  room, 
on  whose  walls  hung  a  ragged  portrait  of  Olivet 
Cromwell  Presently  an  old  man,  apparently  over 
threescore  years  and  ten,  walked  very  slowly  into 
{ the  room.  He  was  attired  in  a  long  blue  woollen 
gown,  reaching  down  to  his  feet.  His  grey  hair 
was  in  an  uncombed  mop  on  his  head.  His  clear 
blue  eye  was  sharp  and  piercing.  A  bright  tinge 
of  red  was  on  his  thin  cheek,  and  his  hand 
trembled  as  he  took  our  own.  This  roost  singular- 
'  looking  personage  reminded  us  of  an  old  alchemist, 
&c.'  Much  in  the  Yankee  mannerism,  certainly, 
!  yet  it  comes  as  a  slight  retribution,  that  one  who 
,  has  been  so  hard  on  America  should  be  commented 
on  in  true  Yankee  fashion.  Others  have  given  us 
accounts  of  rooms  in  the  house  heaped  up  with 
\  books,  not  at  all  marshalled  in  the  regular  order 
|  we  should  have  expected,  when  they  belonged  to 
a  man  so  fond  of  the  drill-sergeant  One  corre- 
spondent of  a  London  paper  tells  us  of  a  collection 
of  portraits  of  great  men,  gathered  by  degrees  from 
picture-galleries,  shops,  and  book-stalls.  As  it  is 
rumoured,  the  contrivances  resorted  to  by  some  of 
Carlyle's  admirers,  at  the  period  of  life  when  most 
of  us  are  inclined  to  be  enthusiastic  in  our  likings, 
with  the  intent  of  seeing  the  interior  of  his  house, 
or  coming  into  personal  communication  with  him, 
have  been  both  ingenious  and  ludicrous.  Some 
i  have,  it  is  said,  called  at  his  house,  and  inquired 
for  an  imaginary  Jones  or  Smith,  in  the  hope  that 
they  might  catch  a  glimpse  at  the  interior,  or  see 
:he  man  himself  in  the  background.  Possibly, 
there  have  been  those  who  have  made  friends  with 
:he  •  dustmen,'  so  that  they  may  glean  up  some 
scraps  of  MSS.  from  the  miscellaneous  contents 
of  his  waste-basket.  I  have  not  heard,  though, 
whether  any  one  ever  went  so  far  as  to  assume 
the  garb  of  a  policeman,  to  ensnare  the  affections 
of  some  damsel  at  5,  Great  Cheyne  Row,  and  in 
this  way  make  discoveries  about  the  philosopher's 
personal  habits. 

"  Mr.  J.  C.  Hotten,  in  some  notes  on  Carlyle, 
states  that  '  he  always  walks  at  night,  carrying  an 
;  enormous  stick,  and  generally  with  his  eyes  on  the 
j  ground.'  This  is  an  exaggeration  of  the  stick,  and 
so  far  from  being  only  out  at  night,  those  accus- 
tomed to  be  in  the  streets  of  Chelsea  know  that 
Carlyle  has,  for  years  past,  taken  a  stroll  in  all 
I  weathers  in  the  morning,  and  in  the  afternoon  he 
•  is  frequently  to  be  seen  wending  his  way  towards 


THOMAS    CAR1  VI  K 


St  James's  Park.  Hence  certain  persons  haw 
waylaid  him  in  these  walks  from  curiosity,  the 
Chelsea  sage  himself  being  supremely  unconscious 
of  being  watched.  He  has  been  seen  to  conduct  a 
blind  man  over  a  crossing,  the  person  being  neces- 
sarily unorant  as  to  who  was  showing  him  a  kind- 
ness, and  a  little  knot  of  human  beings  will  touch 
his  sympathies,  and  cause  him  to  pause.  I  saw 
Carlyle  once  step  up  to  a  shop-window,  around 
which  several  individuals  stood  looking  at  some- 
tiling.  This  something  was  a  new  portrait  of  him- 
self, as  he  quickly  perceived ;  but  before  they  were 
awake  to  the  fact  that  the  original  was  close  by, 
he  had  moved  off,  giving  his  stick  a  rather  con- 
temptuous twirl.'1 

The  connection  of  Thomas  Carlyle  with  Chelsea 
is,  at  all  events,  of  upwards  of  forty  years'  duration, 
as  he  was  a  resident  there  in  the  early  part  of 
1834;  two  years  previously,  when  in  London,  he 
visited  Leigh  Hunt,  who  at  that  time  lived  close 
to  Cheyne  Row ;  and,  probably,  it  was  at  that  time 
that  he  resolved  to  make  it  his  fixed  abode.  The 
two  writers  were  neighbours  here  until  1840,  when 
Leigh  Hunt  removed  to  Kensington,  which  he  has 
immortalised  under  the  title  of  the  "Old  Court 
Suburb ; "  and  their  friendship  continued  until 
Hunt's  death. 

At  Chelsea,  it  is  almost  needless  to  add,  Carlyle 
wrote  his  history  of  "The  French  Revolution," 
"  Past  and  Present,"  his  "  Life  of  John  Stirling," 
"  Oliver  Cromwell's  Letters  and  Speeches,"  and 
his  "  Life  of  Frederick  the  Great ;"  in  fact,  nearly 
all  the  works  which  have  made  his  name  famous 
through  the  world. 

His  wife  died  at  Chelsea  suddenly  in  April,  1866, 
just  as  she  heard  of  the  delivery  of  his  inaugural 
address  as  Lord  Rector  of  Edinburgh  University. 
She  left  a.  work  unfinished.  Charles  Dickens  ad- 
mired her  literary  talents  very  much.  He  writes 
to  his  friend  Forster  :  "  It  was  a  terrible  shock  to 
me,  and  poor  dear  Carlyle  has  been  in  my  mind 
ever  since.  How  often  have  I  thought  of  the  un- 
finished novel !  No  one  now  to  finish  it.  None  of 
the  writing  women  come  near  her  at  all."  Mr. 
Forster  adds  :  "  No  one  could  doubt  this  who  had 
come  within  the  fascinating  influence  of  that  sweet 
and  noble  nature.  With  some  of  the  highest  gifts  of 
intellect,  and  the  charm  of  a  most  varied  knowledge 
of  books  and  things,  there  was  something  beyond. 
No  one  who  knew  Mrs.  Carlyle  could  replace  her 
loss  when  she  had  passed  away." 

On  the  4th  of  December,  1875,  Thomas  Car- 
lyle  completed  his  eightieth  year  (having  been  born 
in  1795,  in  the  once  obscure  village  of  Ecclefechan, 
in  Scotland),  on  which  occasion  he  received  con- 


gratulations from  a  number  of  the  chief  litttnttttn 
of  Germany,  and  also  a  present  of  a  gold  medal, 
struck  in  honour  of  the  day,  from  a  number  of 
English  friends  and  admirers.  He  died  here  on 
the  sth  of  February,  1881,  and  was  buried  at 
Ecclefechan. 

Sir  John  Goss,  who  was  many  years  organist  at 
St.  Pauls  Cathedral,  was  for  some  time  a  resident 
in  Cheyne  Row. 

The  embankment  facing  Cheyne  Walk,  extending 
from  Battersea  Bridge,  close  by  old  Chelsea  Church, 
to  the  grounds  of  Chelsea  Hospital,  a  distance  of 
nearly  a  mile,  presents  a  pleasing  contrast  to  the 
red-bricked  houses  of  which  we  have  been  speaking. 
Although  the  proposition  to  embank  the  northern 
shore  of  the  Thames  between  Chelsea  Hospital 
and  Battersea  Bridge  was  first  made  by  the  Com- 
missioners of  Her  Majesty's  Woods  and  Forests 
in  1839,  the  practical  execution  of  the.  idea  was 
not  commenced  even  on  a  small  scale  until  some 
twenty  years  afterwards.  These  works  originally 
formed  a  portion  of  a  scheme  for  which  the  Com- 
missioners of  Woods  and  Forests  obtained  an 
Act  of  Parliament  in  1846,  and  which  embodied 
the  formation  of  an  embankment  and  roadway 
between  Vauxhall  and  Battersea  bridges,  and  the 
construction  of  a  suspension  bridge  at  Chelsea. 
The  funds  which  it  was  estimated  would  be  required 
were  procured,  but  they  proved  insufficient  for  the 
whole  of  the  work,  the  bridge  costing  more  than 
was  anticipated.  A  narrow  embankment  and  road- 
way were  therefore  constructed  as  far  as  the 
western  end  of  the  Chelsea  Hospital  gardens,  where 
they  terminated  in  a  eul  iff  sac.  In  time,  however, 
the  necessity  arose  for  making  a  sewer  to  intercept 
the  sewage  of  the  district  west  of  Cremorne,  and  to 
help  it  on  its  way  to  Barking.  But  there  was  no 
good  thoroughfare  from  Cremorne  eastwards  along 
which  to  construct  it ;  so  it  was  proposed  to  form  a 
route  for  the  sewer,  and  at  the  sarric  time  to  com- 
plete an  unfinished  work  by  continuing  the  em- 
bankment and  road  on  to  Battersea.  Application 
was  made  to  Government  for  the  return  of  ,£38,1 50, 
a  sum  which  remained  unexpended  from  the 
amount  originally  raised  for  the  bridge  and  embank- 
ment, and  which  would  have  assisted  in  the  prose- 
cution of  the  new  work.  The  application,  however,  f 
was  unsuccessful,  and  Sir  William  Tite,  who  from 
the  first  took  a  very  active  interest  in  the  matter, 
appealed  to  the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works  to 
undertake  the  work  independently  of  Government 
assistance.  The  Board,  therefore,  made  several 
applications  to  Parliament  for  an  Act,  which  they 
succeeded  in  obtaining  in  1 868.  The  designs  for 
the  embankment,  roadway,  and  s«wer  were  at  once 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


prepared  by  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir  James)  Bazalgette, 
the  engineer  to  the  Board,  and  the  whole  work  was 
completed  and  opened  to  the  public  in  1874. 

At  its  commencement  by  Battersea  Bridge  very 
little  land  has  been  reclaimed  from  the  Thames ; 
but  a  great  change  has  been  effected  in  the  appear- 
ance of  the  spot  by  doing  away  with  the  old  awk- 
ward approach  to  the  steamboat  pier  under  the 
archway  of  a  private  house,  the  pontoon  being 


and  the  granite  wall.  This  garden  extends  nearly 
to  Oakley  Street,  which  the  road  rises  gradually  to 
meet,  while  the  path  falls  slightly  in  order  to  pass 
under  the  shore  end  of  the  new  Albert  Bridge. 
There  is  another  pretty  little  piece  of  garden  at 
this  part  of  the  route.  After  this  the  reclaimed 
land  becomes  of  yet  greater  extent  as  Cheyne  Row 
is  reached.  From  this  spot  the  Embankment  and 
its  surroundings  can  be  seen  to  the  best  advan- 


)TANICAL   GARDENS,    CHELSEA,    1790.      (See  pa^e  68.' 


now  moored  close  to  the  wall.  A  picturesque 
block  of  houses,  too,  which  stood  between  this 
spot  and  Chelsea  Church  has  been  entirely  re- 
moved. They  formed  a  narrow  quaint-looking 
old  thoroughfare,  called  Lombard  Street,  one 
part  of  which  was  spanned  by  the  upper  rooms 
of  an  old  house.  The  backs  of  one  side  of  this 
thoroughfare  overlooked,  and  here  and  there  over- 
hung, the  river;  but  they  have  all  been  cleared 
away,  and  the  narrow  street  converted  into  a  broad 
one,  so  that  one  side  of  it  faces  the  river.  After 
passing  the  church  the  road  widens  out,  and  as  the 
space  between  the  houses  and  the  embankment 
wall  becomes  greater,  a  piece  of  land  has  been  laid 
out  as  a  garden,  so  that  there  are  two  roads,  one  in 
front  of  the  shops,  the  other  between  the  garden 


tage.  The  rough  hammer-dressed  granite  wall  runs 
in  a  straight  line  from  here  to  where  it  meets  the 
old  roadway  formed  by  the  Office  of  Woods  and 
Forests.  In  the  ground  beneath  the  pavement 
have  been  planted  trees  on  both  sides  of  the  road, 
similar  to  those  planted  on  the  Victoria  Embank- 
ment. But  nothing  adds  so  much  to  the  pic- 
turesqueness  of  this  part  of  the  Thames-side  road- 
way, and  helps  to  relieve  the  appearance  of  newness 
which  is  so  marked  a  feature  in  the  Victoria  Em- 
bankment, as  the  line  of  old  trees  planted  on  what 
is  formerly  the  edge  of  the  river,  with  the  back- 
ground formed  by  a  fine  old  row  of  private  houses 
The  trees  are  now  in  the  garden  divided  by  a 
gravel  walk,  which  fills  up  the  space  between  the 
two  roadways.  At  the  end  of  Cheyne  Walk  the 


Chelsea.) 


THE   THAMES   EMBANKMENT. 


Queen's  Road  branches  off  to  the  left,  and  runs 
into  the  bottom  of  Lower  Sloane  Street.  At  the 
junction  of  two  roads,  but  where  was  formerly  the 
diverging  point  of  one  from  the  river-side,  stood 
the  "  Swan "  tavern,  famous  as  the  goal  of  many 
a  hotly-contested  aquatic  race  from  its  namesake 


his  diary  that  he  saw  "  at  Mr.  Gate's  a  sample  of 
the  satin  made  at  Chelsea  of  English  silkworms  for 
the  Princess  of  Wales,  very  rich  and  beautiful." 
But  it  has  long  disappeared,  owing  to  the  steady 
progress  of  bricks  and  mortar. 

As   late   as    1824,  there  was   to   be  seen   near 


near   London   Bridge.      Not  far  from   this   time-    Chelsea  Bridge  a  sign  of  "  The  Cricketers,"  painted 


THOMAS    CARLYLE.       (See  page  64. ) 


honoured  inn  are  the  Botanical  Gardens  of  the 
Society  of  Apothecaries. 

The  Albert  Bridge,  opposite  Oakley  Street,  con- 
structed upon  the  suspension  principle,  was  opened 
in  1873 ;  it  forms  a  useful  communication  between 
Chelsea  and  Battersea  Park.  Cadogan  Pier,  close 
to  the  bridge,  serves  as  a  landing-place  for  pas- 
sengers on  the  river  steamboats. 

Near  the  river  and  Cheyne  Walk  was  a  large 
mulberry-garden,  one  of  those  established  in  the 
suburbs  of  London  by  order  of  James  I.,  about  the 
year  1610.  Thoresby,  writing  in  1723,  tells  us  in 


by  George  Morland.  "At  the  above  date,"  says 
Mr.  Larwood,  "  this  painting  by  Morland  had  been 
removed  inside  the  house,  and  a  copy  of  it  hung  up 
for  the  sign.  Unfortunately,  however,  the  landlord 
used  to  travel  about  with  the  original,  and  put  it 
up  before  his  booth  at  Staines  and  Egham  races, 
cricket  matches,  and  similar  occasions  "—all  of 
which  removals,  it  may  be  presumed,  did  no  great 
good  to  it. 

The  "  Old  Swan "  inn,  which  was  the  goal  of 
Doggett's  annual  rowing  match,  stood  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Botanical  Gardens,  and  was  long  since 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


turned  into  a  brewery  and  the  race,  down  to  about '  with  boats,  and  the  utmost  anxiety  evinced  by  the 
the  year  1873,  ended  at  the  new  "  Swan,"  higher    friends  of  the  contending  parties.     In  former  times 


ft  up  the 


i  mentioned  above. 
1  Swan,"  very  naturally,  was  a  favourite  sign 


for  inns  by  the  waterside,  and  Mr.  J.  T.  Smith,  in 
his  "  Book  for  a  Rainy  Day,"  or  rather  a  water- 
man who  speaks  in  his  pages,  enumerates  a  goodly 
list  of  "Swans"  between  London  and  Battersea 
bridges  in  1829: — "Why,  let  me  see,  master,"  he 
writes,  "  there's  the  '  Old  Swan '  at  London  Bridge 
—that's  one ;  then  there's  the  '  Swan '  in  Arundel 
Street— that's  two ;  then  our's  here  "  (at  Hungerford 
Stairs),  "three;  the  'Swan'  at  Lambeth — that's  down 
though.  Well,  then  there's  the  'Old  Swan'  at 
Chelsea,  but  that  has  been  long  turned  into  a  brew- 
house;  though  that  was  where  our  people"  (the 
watermen)  "rowed  to  formerly,  as  mentioned  in 
Doggett's  will;  now  they  row  to  the  sign  of  the 
'  New  Swan  '  beyond  the  Physic  Garden — we'll  say 
that's  four.  Then  there's  two  '  Swans '  at  Battersea 
—six." 

We  have  already  spoken  at  some  length  of 
Tom  Doggett,  the  famous  comedian,*  and  of  the 
annual  rowing  match  by  Thames  watermen  for  the 
honour  of  carrying  off  the  "coat  and  badge," 
which,  in  pursuance  of  his  will,  have  been  com- 
peted for  on  the  ist  of  August  for  the  last  150 
years ;  suffice  it  to  say,  then,  that  in  the  year 
1873  the  old  familiar  "  Swan  "  inn  was  demolished 
to  make  room  for  the  new  embankment.  The  old 
"Swan"  tavern  enjoyed  a  fair  share  of  public 
favour  for  many  years.  Pepys,  in  his  "  Diary,"  thus 
mentions  it,  under  date  April  9,  1666: — "By 
coach  to  Mrs.  Pierce's,  and  with  her  and  Knipp, 
and  Mrs.  Pierce's  boy  and  girl  abroad,  thinking  to 
have  been  merry  at  Chelsea;  but  being  come 
almost  to  the  house  by  coach,  near  the  waterside, 
a  house  alone,  I  think  the  'Swan,'  a  gentleman 
walking  by  called  to  us  to  tell  us  that  the  house 
was  shut  up  because  of  the  sickness.  So  we,  with 
great  affright,  turned  back,  being  holden  to  the 
gentleman,  and  went  away  (I,  for  my  part,  in  great 
disorder)  to  Kensington."  In  1780  the  house  was 
converted  into  the  Swan  Brewery ;  and  the  landing 
of  the  victor  in  the  aquatic  contest  thenceforth  took 
place,  as  above  stated,  at  a  house  bearing  the  same 
sign  nearer  to  Cheyne  Walk.  Since  the  demo- 
lition of  this  house  the  race  has  been  ended  close 
to  the  spot  where  the  old  tavern  stood.  This 
rowing  match— although  not  to  be  compared  in  any 
way  to  the  great  annual  aquatic  contest  between 
the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge— occa- 
sions a  very  lively  scene,  the  river  being  covered 


was  customary  for  the  winner  on  his  arrival  to  be 
saluted  with  shouts  of  applause  by  the  surrounding 
spectators,  and  carried  in  triumph  on  the  shoulders 
of  his  friends  into  the  tavern. 

On  a  vacant  space  of  ground  in  front  of  the 
Swan  Brewery  stood  formerly  a  mansion,  erected  in 
the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  which  was  for  many  years 
inhabited  by  Mrs.  Banks,  the  mother  of  Sir  Joseph 
Banks. 

"  The  Physic  Garden,"  to  which  we  now  come, 
was  originated  by  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  the  celebrated 
physician,  and  was  handed  over  in  1721  by  him, 
by  deed  of  gift,  to  the  Apothecaries'  Company,  who 
still  own  and  maintain  it.  The  garden,  which 
bears  the  name  of  the  "  Royal  Botanic,"  was  pre- 
sented to  the  above  company  on  condition  that  it 
"  should  at  all  times  be  continued  as  a  physic- 
garden,  for  the  manifestation  of  the  power,  and 
wisdom,  and  goodness  of  God  in  creation;  and 
that  the  apprentices  might  learn  to  distinguish  good 
and  useful  plants  from  hurtful  ones."  Various  ad- 
ditions have  been  made  to  the  "  Physic  Garden " 
at  different  periods,  in  the  way  of  greenhouses  and 
hot-houses  ;  and  in  the  centre  of  the  principal  walk 
was  erected  a  statue  of  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  by  Michael 
Rysbraeck. 

"We  visited,"  writes  P.  Wakefield  in  r8i4,  "the 
'  Physic  or  Botanic  Garden,'  commenced  by  the 
Company  of  Apothecaries  in  1673,  and  patronised 
by  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  who  granted  the  freehold  of 
the  premises  to  the  company  on  condition  that 
they  should  present  annually  to  the  Royal  Society 
specimens  of  fifty  new  plants  till  their  number 
should  amount  to  two  thousand.  From  a  sense  of 
gratitude  they  erected  in  the  centre  of  the  garden 
a  marble  statue  of  their  benefactor.  Above  the 
spacious  greenhouse  is  a  library,  furnished  with  a 
large  collection  of  botanical  works,  and  with  nume- 
rous specimens  of  dried  plants.  We  could  not 
quit  these  gardens  without  admiring  two  cedars  of 
great  size  and  beauty." 

"  At  the  time  the  garden  was  formed,"-  writes 
the  author  of  "London  Exhibited  in  1851,"  "it 
must  have  stood  entirely  in  the  country,  and  had 
every  chance  of  the  plants  in  it  maintaining  a 
healthy  state.  Now,  however,  it  is  completely  in 
the  town,  and  but  for  its  being  on  the  side  of  the 
river,  and  lying  open  on  that  quarter,  it  would  be 
altogether  surrounded  with  common  streets  and 
houses.  As  it  is,  the  appearance  of  the  walls,  grass, 
plants,  and  houses  is  very  much  that  of  most 
London  gardens— dingy,  smoky,  and,  as  regards  the 
j  plants,  impoverished  and  starved.  It  is,  however, 


Chelsea.] 


THE   OLD   BUN-HOUSE. 


interesting  for  its  age,  for  the  few  old  specimens  it 
contains,  for  the  medical  plants,  and,  especially, 
because  the  houses  are  being  gradually  renovated, 
and  collections  of  ornamental  plants,  as  well  as  those 
which  are  useful  in  medicine,  formed  and  cultivated 
on  the  best  principles,  under  the  curatorship  of 
Mr.  Thomas  Moore,  one  of  the  editors  of  the 
'  Gardener's  Magazine  of  Botany.' "  In  spite  of 
the  disadvantages  of  its  situation,  here  are  still 
grown  very  many  of  the  drugs  which  figure  in  the 
•'  London  Pharmacopoeia."  The  two  cedars  of 
Lebanon,  which  have  now  reached  the  age  of 
upwards  of  150  years,  are  said  to  have  been  pre- 
sented to  the  garden  by  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  the  dis- 
tinguished naturalist,  who  here  studied  the  first 
principles  of  botany.  Of  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  and  of 
his  numerous  public  benefactions,  we  have  already 
spoken  in  our  account  of  the  British  Museum.*  It 
only  remains,  therefore,  to  add  that  he  was  a  con- 
tributor of  natural  specimens  of  rocks  from  the 
Giant's  Causeway  to  Pope's  Grotto  at  Twickenham ; 
that  he  attended  Queen  Anne  in  her  last  illness  at 
Kensington  :  and  that  he  was  the  first  member  of 
the  medical  profession  on  whom  a  baronetcy  was 
conferred. 

During  the  last  century,  and  early  in  the  present, 
a  pleasant  walk  across  green  fields,  intersected  with 
hedges  and  ditches,  led  the  pedestrian  from  West- 
minster and  Millbank  to  "The  Old  Bun  House" 
at  Chelsea.  This  far-famed  establishment,  which 
possessed  a  sort  of  rival  museum  to  Don  Saltero's, 
stood  at  the  end  of  Jew's  Row  (now  Pimlico  Road), 
not  far  from  Grosvenor  Row.  The  building  was  a 
one-storeyed  structure,  with  a  colonnade  projecting 
over  the  foot  pavement,  and  was  demolished  in 
1839,  after  having  enjoyed  the  favour  of  the  public 
for  more  than  a  century  and  a  half.  Chelsea  has 
been  famed  for  its  buns  since  the  commencement 
of  the  last  century.  Swift,  in  his  "Journal  to 
Stella,"  1712,  writes,  "Pray  are  not  the  fine  buns 
sold  here  in  our  town  as  the  rare  Chelsea  buns?  I 
bought  one  to-day  in  my  walk,"  &c.  It  was  for 
many  years  the  custom  of  the  Royal  Family,  and 
the  nobility  and  gentry,  to  visit  the  Bun-house  in 
the  morning.  George  II.,  Queen  Caroline,  and  the 
princesses  frequently  honoured  the  proprietor,  Mrs. 
Hand,  with  their  company,  as  did  also  George  III. 
and  Queen  Charlotte  ;  and  her  Majesty  presented 
Mrs.  Hand  with  a  silver  half-gallon  mug,  with  five 
guineas  in  it.  On  Good  Friday  mornings  the  Bun- 
house  used  to  present  a  scene  of  great  bustle — 
upwards  of  50,000  persons  have  assembled  here, 
when  disturbances  often  arose  among  the  London 


See  VoL  IV.,  p.  494. 


mob ;  and  in  one  day  more  than  .£250  has  been 
taken  for  buns. 

The  following  curious  notice  was  issued  on  Wed- 
nesday, March  ayth,  1793  : — "  Royal  Bun  House, 
Chelsea,  Good  Friday.— No  Cross  Buns.  Mrs. 
Hand  respectfully  informs  her  friends  and  the 
public,  that  in  consequence  of  the  great  concourse 
of  people  which  assembled  before  her  house  at  a 
very  early  hour,  on  the  morning  of  Good  Friday 
last,  by  which  her  neighbours  (with  whom  she  has 
always  lived  in  friendship  and  repute)  have  been 
much  alarmed  and  annoyed ;  it  having  also  been 
intimated,  that  to  encourage  or  countenance  a 
tumultuous  assembly  at  this  particular  period  might 
be  attended  with  consequences  more  serious  than 
have  hitherto  been  apprehended;  desirous,  there- 
fore, of  testifying  her  regard  and  obedience  to 
those  laws  by  which  she  is  happily  protected,  she 
is  determined,  though  much  to  her  loss,  not  to  sell 
Cross  Buns  on  that  day  to  any  person  whatever, 
but  Chelsea  buns  as  usual.." 

The  Bun-house  was  much  frequented  during  the 
palmy  days  of  Ranelagh,  after  the  closing  of  which 
the  bun  trade  declined.  Notwithstanding  this,  on 
Good  Friday,  April  i8th,  1839,  upwards  of  24,000 
buns  were  sold  here.  Soon  after,  the  Bun-house 
was  sold  and  pulled  down  ;  and  at  the  same  time 
was  dispersed  a  collection  of  pictures,  models, 
grotesque  figures,  and  modern  antiques,  which  had 
for  a  century  added  the  attractions  of 'a  museum  to 
the  bun  celebrity.  Another  bun-house  was  built 
in  its  place,  but  the  olden  charm  of  the  place  had 
fled,  and  Chelsea  buns  are  now  only  matters  of 
history. 

Sir  Richard  Phillips,  in  his  "Morning's  Walk 
from  London  to  Kew,"  a  few  years  before  the 
demolition  of  the  old  Bun-house,  after  describing 
his  ramble  through  Pimlico,  writes  :  "  I  soon  turned 
the  corner  of  a  street  which  took  me  out  of  sight 
of  the  space  on  which  once  stood  the  gay  Ranelagh. 
.  .  .  Before  me  appeared  the  shop  so  famed  for 
Chelsea  buns,  which  for  above  thirty  years  I  have 
never  passed  without  filling  my  pockets.  In  the 
original  of  these  shops — for  even  of  Chelsea  buns 
there  are  counterfeits — are  preserved  mementoes  of 
domestic  events  in  the  first  half  of  the  past  century. 
The  bottle-conjuror  is  exhibited  in  a  toy  of  his 
own  age ;  portraits  are  also  displayed  of  Duke 
William  and  other  noted  personages  ;  a  model  of  a 
British  soldier,  in  the  stiff  costume  of  the  same  age ; 
and  some  grotto-works,  serve  to  indicate  the  taste 
of  a  former  owner,  and  were,  perhaps,  intended  to 
rival  the  neighbouring  exhibition  at  Don  Saltero's. 
These  buns  have  afforded  a  competency,  and  even 
wealth,  to  four  generations  of  the  same  family; 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Chelsea. 


and  it  is  singular  that  their  delicate  flavour,  light- 
ness, and  richness,  have  never  been  successfully 
imitated." 

In  the  Mirror  for  April  6,  1839,  are  two  views 
of  the  old  Bun-house,  which  were  taken  just  before 
its  demolition. 


Chelsea  would  seem  at  one  time  to  have  enjoyed 
a  reputation  not  only  for  buns,  but  for  custards,  if     j.  j 
we  may  judge  from  the  following  allusion  to  them 
by  Gay,  in  his  "  Trivia  : " — 

"  When  W and  G ,  mighty  names,  are  dead, 

Or  but  at  Chelsea  under  custards  read." 


CHAPTER   VII. 
CHELSEA  (continued}.—  THE   HOSPITAL,  &c. 

"Go  with  old  Thames,  view  Chelsea's  glorious  pile. 
And  ask  the  shattered  hero  whence  his  smile." 

Rogers' t  "  Pleasures  of  Memory." 

Foundation  of  the  Hospital— The  Story  of  Nell  Gwynne  and  the  Wounded  Soldier— Chelsea  College— Archbishop  Bancroft's  Legacy— Transference 
of  the  College  to  the  Royal  Society— The  Property  sold  to  Sir  Stephen  Fox,  and  afterwards  given  as  a  Site  for  the  Hospital— Lord 
Ranelagh's  Mansion— Dr.  Monsey— The  Chudleigh  Family— The  Royal  Hospital  described— Lying  in  State  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington- 
Regulations  for  the  Admission  of  Pensioners— A  few  Veritable  Centenarians— The  "  Snow  Shoes"  Tavern— The  Duke  of  York's  School— 
r  Glories— The  Victoria  Hospital  for  Sick  Children. 

Christopher  Wren.  Chelsea  has  yet  a  stronger 
claim  upon  our  sympathies,  since,  according  to 
popular  tradition,  the  first  idea  of  converting  it  into 
an  asylum  for  broken-down  soldiers  sprang  from  the 
charitable  heart  of  Nell  Gwynne,  the  frail  actress, 
with  whom,  for  all  her  frailties,  the  English  people 
can  never  be  angry.  As  the  story  goes,  a  wounded 
and  destitute  soldier  hobbled  up  to  Nellie's  coach- 
window  to  ask  alms,  and  the  kind-hearted  woman 
was  so  pained  to  see  a  man  who  had  fought  for  his 
country  begging  his  bread  in  the  street  that  she 
prevailed  on  Charles  II.  to  establish  at  Chelsea  a 
permanent  home  for  military  invalids.  We  should 
like  to  believe  the  story ;  and,  indeed,  its  veracity 
may  not  be  incompatible  with  a  far  less  pleasant 
report,  that  the  second  Charles  made  a  remarkably 
good  thing,  in  a  pecuniary  sense,  out  of  Chelsea 
Hospital." 

Before  entering  upon  an  account  of  Chelsea  Hos- 
pital, it  may  be  desirable  to  notice  here  a  collegiate 
building  which  formerly  occupied  the  site  of  this 
great  national  edifice.  This  college  was  originated, 
soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  by  Dr.  Matthew  Sutcliffe,  Dean  of  Exeter, 
for  the  study  of  polemical  divinity.  King  James  I. 
laid  the  first  stone  of  the  edifice,  in  May,  1609,  and 
bestowed  on  it  the  name  of  "  King  James's  College  at 
Chelsey."  According  to  the  Charter  of  Incorpora- 
tion, the  number  of  members  was  limited  to  a 
provost  and  nineteen  fellows,  seventeen  of  whom 
were  required  to  be  in  holy  orders ;  the  other  two 
might  be  either  laymen  or  divines,  and  they  were  to 
be  employed  in  recording  the  chief  historical  events 
of  the  era.  Dr.  Sutcliffe  was  himself  the  first 
provost,  and  Camden  and  Hayward  were  the  first 


ON  the  west  side  of  the  Physic  Garden,  with  its 
lawns  and  flower-beds  stretching  almost  down  to 
the  river,  stands  a  noble  hospital,  the  counterpart 
of  that  at  Greenwich,  still  providing  an  asylum  for 
invalid  soldiers — as  its  rival  did,  till  recently,  for 
sailors  worn  out  in  the  service  of  their  country. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  foundation  of  this 
splendid  institution  was  the  work  of  Charles  II. 
John  Evelyn  has  the  following  entry  in  his  "Diary," 
under  date  27th  of  January,  1682  : — "  This  evening 
Sir  Stephen  Fox  acquainted  me  againe  with  his 
Majesty's  resolution  of  proceeding  in  the  erection 
of  a  royal  hospital  for  merited  soldiers,  on  that 
spot  of  ground  which  the  Royal  Society  had  sold  to 
his  Majesty  for  £1,300,  and  that  he  would  settle 
£5,000  per  annum  on  it,  and  build  to  the  value  of 
£20,000,  for  the  reliefe  and  reception  of  four  com- 
panies—viz., 400  rr.en,  to  be  as  in  a  colledge  or 
monasterie."  It  appears  that  Evelyn  was  largely 
consulted  by  the  king  and  Sir  Stephen  Fox  as 
to  the  details  of  the  new  building,  the  growth  of 
whose  foundations  and  walls  he  watched  constantly, 
as  he  tells  us  in  his  "  Diary." 

It  was  not  without  a  pang  that  the  British  public 
saw  Greenwich  "  disestablished  ; ''  and,  observes  a 
writer  in  the  Times,  "  the  parting  with  the  wooden- 
legged  veterans,  in  their  antique  garb,  and  with  their 
garrulous  prattle— too  often,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
apocryphal— about  Nelson,  Duncan,  Jervis,  and 
Collingwood,  was  like  the  parting  from  old  friends. 
The  associations  connected  with  Chelsea  Hospital," 
continues  the  writer,  "possess  nearly  the  same  his- 
torical interest  with  those  awakened  by  Greenwich. 
Both  piles— although  that  upon  the  river-bank  is  by 
far  the  more  splendid  edifice— were  built  by  Sir 


Chelsea.] 


THE   COLLEGE. 


historians.  Archbishop  Laud  called  the  institution 
"  Controversy  College ; "  and,  according  to  "  Alleyn's 
Life,"  "  the  Papists,  in  derision,  gave  it  the  name  of 
an  alehouse." 

It  is,  perhaps,  worthy  of  a  passing  note  that 
Archbishop  Bancroft  left  the  books  which  formed 
the  nucleus  of  the  library  at  Lambeth  Palace,  to 
his  'successors  in  the  see  of  Canterbury,  with  the 
condition  that  if  certain  stipulations  were  not  com- 
plied with,  his  legacy  should  go  to  Chelsea  College, 
if  built  within  six  years  of  his  own  decease. 

From  a  print  of  the  original  design,  prefixed 
to  Darley's  "  Glory  of  Chelsey  College  new  Re- 
vived" (a  copy  of  which  is  published  in  Faulkner's 
"  History  of  Chelsea  "),  it  would  appear  that  the 
buildings  were  originally  intended  to  combine  two 
quadrangles,  of  different,  but  spacious,  dimensions, 
with  a  piazza  along  the  four  sides  of  the  smaller 
court.  Only  one  side  of  the  first  quadrangle, 
however,  was  completed,  and  the  whole  collegiate 
establishment  very  soon  collapsed.  Evelyn  tells 
us  that  the  plan  of  Chelsea  College  embraced  a 
quadrangle,  with  accommodation  for  440  persons, 
"  after  the  dimensions  of  the  larger  quadrangle  at 
Christchurch,  Oxford."  Shortly  after  the  death 
of  the  third  provost,  Dr.  Slater,  which  occurred 
in  1645,  suits  were  commenced  in  the  Court  of 
Chancery  respecting  the  title  to  the  ground  on 
which  the  college  stood,  when  it  was  decreed  that 
Dr.  Sutcliffe's  estates  should  revert  to  his  rightfu 
heirs,  upon  their  paying  to  the  college  a  certair 
sum  of  money.  The  college  buildings  were  after 
wards  devoted  to  various  inappropriate  purposes, 
being  at  one  time  used  as  a  receptacle  for  prisoners 
of  war,  and  at  another  as  a  riding-house. 

Its  next  destination  would  appear  to  have  beer 
of  a  higher  order  •  for  it  appears  that  the  king  gav( 
it,  or  offered  it,  to  the  then  newly-founded  Roya 
Society.  John  Evelyn  writes,  in  his  "  Diary,' 
under  date  September  24th,  1667  :— "Returned  tc 
London,  where  I  had  orders  to  deliver  the  posses 
sion  of  Chelsey  Colledge  (used  as  my  prison  durir 
the  warr.  with  Holland,  for  such  as  were  sent  fro 
the  Fleete  to  London)  to  our  Society  [the  Roya 
Society],  as  a  gift  of  his  Majesty,  our  founder. 
And  again,  under  date  September,  i4th,  1681 
Evelyn  writes: — "  Din'd  with  Sir  Stephen  FOJ 
who  proposed  to  me  the  purchasing  of  Chelsej 
College,  which  his  Majesty  had  some  time  sine 
given  to  our  Society,  and  would  now  purchase  i 
.again  to  build  a  hospital  or  infirmary  for  soldier 
there,  in  which  he  desired  my  assistance,  as  one  o 
the  council  of  the  Royal  Society." 

On  the  failure   of  the   college,  the  ground  es 
cheated  to  the  Crown,  by  whom,  as  stated  above 


:  was  afterwards  granted  to  the  Royal  Society, 
'his  body,  in  turn,  sold  the  property  to  Sir  Stephen 
'ox,  for  Charles  II.,  who  "generously  gave"  it 
as  a  site  for  a  Royal  Hospital  for  Aged  and  Dis- 
bled  Soldiers,  but  at  the  same  time  pocketing  Dr. 
utcliffe's  endowment,  and  leaving  the  building  to 
e  erected  at  the  cost  of  the  nation. 

On  part  of  the  site  of  the  college  was  erected, 
owards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the 
nansion  of  the  Earls  of  Ranelagh,  whose  name  was 
)erpetuated  in  that  of  the  gardens  which  were 
iltimately  opened  to  the  public  on  that  spot. 

We  read  in  the  Weekly  Post,  of  1 7 1 4,  a  rumour 
o  the  effect  that  "  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Marl- 
jorough  are  to  have  the  late  Earl  of  Ranelagh's 
louse  at  Chelsea  College;"  but  the  arrangement 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  carried  out,  for  in 
730  an  Act  was  passed,  vesting  the  estates  of  the 
Larl  of  Ranelagh  in  trustees ;  and  a  few  years  later 
he  house  and  premises  were  sold  in  lots,  and 
ihortly  afterwards  opened  as  a  place  of  public 
:ntertainment,  of  which  we  shall  have  more  to  say 
presently.  Lord  Ranelagh's  house  and  gardens 
ire  thus  described  by  Bowack,  in  1705:— "The 
louse,  built  with  brick  and  cornered  with  stone,  is 
not  large,  but  very  convenient,  and  may  well  be 
called  a  cabinet.  It  stands  a  good  distance  from 
lie  Thames.  In  finishing  the  whole,  his  lordship 
ias  spared  neither  labour  nor  cost.  The  very 
greenhouses  and  stables,  adorned  with  festoons  and 
irns,  have  an  air  of  grandeur  not  to  be  seen  in 
many  princes'  palaces." 

Again,  in  Gibson's  "View  of  the  Gardens  near 
London,"  published  in  1691,  these  grounds  are 
thus  described : — "  My  Lord  Ranelagh's  garden 
being  but  lately  made,  the  plants  are  but  small, 
but  the  plats,  border,  and  walks  are  curiously  kept 
and  elegantly  designed,  having  the  advantage  of 
opening  into  Chelsea  College  walks.  The  kitchen- 
garden  there  lies  very  fine,  with  walks  and  seats ; 
one  of  which,  being  large  and  covered,  was  then 
under  the  hands  of  a  curious  painter.  The  house 
there  is  very  fine  within,  all  the  rooms  being  wain- 
scoted with  Norway  oak,  and  all  the  chimneys 
adorned  with  carving,  as  in  the  council-chamber  in 
Chelsea  College."  The  staircase  was  painted  by 
Noble,  who  died  in  1700. 

A  portion  of  the  old  college  seems  to  have 
remained  standing  for  many  years,  and  ultimately 
to  have  become  the  residence  of  Dr.  Messenger 
llonsey,  one  of  Dr.  Johnson's  literary  acquaintances, 
and  many  years  Physician  to  the  Royal  Hospital. 

From  Boswell's  "  Life  of  Johnson  "  we  learn  that 
the  character  of  Dr.  Monsey,  in  point  of  natural 
humour,  is  thought  to  have  borne  a  near  resem- 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Chelsea. 


blance  to  that  of  Dean  Swift;  and  like  him,  he  too 
will  be  long  remembered  for  the  vivid  powers  of  his 
mind  and  the  marked  peculiarity  of  his  manners. 
"  His  classical  abilities  were  indeed  enviable,  his 
memory  throughout  life  was  wonderfully  retentive, 
and  upon  a  variety  of  occasions  enabled  him,  with 
an  inexhaustible  flow  of  words,  to  pour  forth  the 
treasures  of  erudition  acquired  by  reading,  study, 
and  experience ;  insomuch  that  he  was  truly  allowed 


tration,  the  reversion  of  his  place  had  been  suc- 
cessively promised  to  several  medical  friends  of  the 
Paymaster-General  of  the  Forces.  Looking  out  of 
his  window  one  day,  and  observing  a  gentleman 
below  examining  the  college  and  gardens,  who  he 
knew  had  secured  the  reversion  of  his  place,  the 
doctor  came  down  stairs,  and  going  out  to  him, 
accosted  him  thus : — '  Well,  sir,  I  see  you  are 
examining  your  house  and  gardens,  that  are  to  be, 


THE  CHELSEA  BUN-HOUSE,  iSio.     (From  the  Grace  Collection.) 


to  be  a  storehouse  of  anecdote,  a  reservoir  of 
curious  narrative  '  for  all  weathers ;  the  living 
chronicle,  in  short,  of  other  times.  The  exuber- 
ance of  his  wit,  which,  like  the  web  of  life,  was  of 
a  mingled  yarn,  often  rendered  his  conversation 
exceedingly  entertaining,  sometimes  indeed  alarm- 
ingly offensive,  and  at  other  times  pointedly 
pathetic  and  instructive;  for,  at  certain  happy 
intervals,  the  doctor  could  lay  aside  Rabelais  and 
Scarron  to  think  deeply  on  the  most  important 
subjects,  and  to  open  a  very  serious  vein."  The 
following  anecdote,  told  in  Faulkner's  "  History  of 
Chelsea,"  is  very  characteristic  of  the  doctor's  turn 
of  temper,  and  is  said  to  be  well  attested  :— "  He 
lived  so  long  in  his  office  of  Physician  to  Chelsea 
Hospital,  that,  during  many  changes  of  adminis- 


and  I  will  assure  you  that  they  are  both  very 
pleasant  and  very  convenient.  But  I  must  tell  you 
one  circumstance :  you  are  the  fifth  man  that  has 
had  the  reversion  of  the  place,  and  I  have  buried 
them  all.  And  what  is  more,'  continued  he,  look- 
ing very  scientifically  at  him,  '  there  is  something 
in  your  face  that  tells  me  I  shall  bury  you  too.' 
The  event  justified  the  prediction,  for  the  gentle- 
man died  some  years  after;  and  what  is  more 
extraordinary,  at  the  time  of  the  doctor's  death 
there  was  not  a  person  who  seems  to  have  even 
solicited  the  promise  of  the  reversion." 

Dr.  Monsey's  death  is  recorded  as  having  taken 
place  in  December,  1788,  "at  his  apartments  in 
Chelsea  College,"  at  the  great  age  of  ninety-five. 
Johnson,  though  he  admired  his  'intellect,,  disliked 


DR.   MONSEY. 


CHELSEA   HOSPITAL. 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


his  private  character;  and  Boswell  quotes  him, 
saying  of  old  Dr.  Monsey,  of  Chelsea  College,  that 
he  was  "  a  fellow  who  swore  and  talked  indecently." 
Here,  as  Taylor  tells  us  in  his  "Recollections," 
the  Doctor  "  had  a  large  box  in  his  chamber,  full  of 
air-holes,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  his  body  to 
his  friend,  Mr.  Forster,  in  case  he  should  be  in  a 
trance  when  supposed  to  be  dead.  It  was  pro- 
vided with  poles,  like  a  sedan-chair.  In  his 
will,  which  is  to  be  seen  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  (vol.  50),  he  gave  instructions  that  his 
body  should  not  be  buried  with  any  funeral  cere- 
mony, but  be  dissected,  and  then  thrown  into  the 
Thames,  or  wherever  the  surgeon  who  operated 
might  please.  "It  is  surprising,"  observes  John 
Wilson  Croker,  "  that  this  coarse  and  crazy  hu- 
mourist should  have  been  an  intimate  friend  and 
favourite  of  the  elegant  and  pious  Mrs.  Montagu." 
In  all  probability,  however,  he  knew  how  to  conduct 
himself  in  the  presence  of  ladies  and  bishops,  for 
Dr.  Percy,  the  Bishop  of  Dromore,  says  that  he 
never  knew  him  guilty  of  the  vices  ascribed  to  him 
by  Johnson. 

The  Chudleighs,  the  father  and  mother  of 
Elizabeth,  Duchess  of  Kingston,*  lived  in  the 
College,  and  the  future  duchess,  as  a  girl,  used  to 
romp  and  play  in  its  galleries  and  gardens.  They 
were  friends  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  who  resided  at 
no  great  distance. 

Here  died,  in  1833,  John  Heriot,  Comptroller  of 
the  Hospital.  He  was  a  native  of  Haddington,  in 
Scotland,  and  wrote  some  novels.  He  was  the 
first  editor  of  the  Sun,  when  that  paper  was  started 
as  an  evening  paper  in  the  interest  of  Pitt's 
Administration,  and  it  soon  rose  to  4,000  a  day — a 
very  large  circulation  for  the  time,  considering  the 
scarcity  of  educated  readers  and  the  heavy  stamp- 
duty  then  imposed  on  newspapers. 

As  we  have  already  observed,  a  considerable 
part  of  the  old  college  grounds,  and  probably  part 
of  the  college  itself,  ultimately  became  the  site  of 
the  Royal  Hospital  for  Wounded  and  Superannuated 
Soldiers.  Dr.  Jortin,  with  his  usual  sprightliness, 
observed  on  this  that,  "with  a  very  small  and 
easy  alteration  it  was  made  a  receptacle  of  maimed 
and  discarded  soldiers.  For  if  the  king's  project 
had  been  put  into  execution,  the  house  would 
most  probably  have  become  a  house  of  discord, 
and  '  peace  be  within  thy  walls '  would  have  been 
a  fruitless  wish,  and  a  prayer  bestowed  in  vain 
upon  it." 

King  Charles  himself  laid  the  first  stone  of  the 
new  building  (which  had  been  designed  by  Wren), 


in  the  presence  of  the  chief  nobility  and  gentry  of 
the  kingdom,  and  the  whole  structure  was  finished 
in  1690,  at  a  cost,  it  is  said,  of  ^150,000.  The 
building  is  of  red  brick,  with  stone  quoins,  cornices, 
pediments,  and  columns ;  and  consists  of  three 
courts,  two  of  which  are  spacious  quadrangles ;  the 
third,  the  central  one,  is  open  on  the  south  side 
towards  the  river,  and  has  its  area  laid  out  in 
gardens  and  walks.  A  Latin  inscription  on  the 
frieze  of  the  large  quadrangle  tells  us  that  the 
building  was  founded  by  Charles  II.,  augmented 
by  James  II.,  and  completed  by  William  and  Mary, 
for  the  aid  and  relief  of  soldiers  worn  out  by  old 
age  or  by  the  labours  of  war.  In  the  central  area 
is  a  bronze  statue  of  Charles  II.  in  Roman  imperial 
armour,  supposed  to  be  the  work  of  Grinling 
Gibbons ;  and  in  the  grounds  is  a  granite  obelisk 
erected  to  the  memory  of  the  officers  and  men 
who  fell  in  the  Indian  campaigns.  There  is  also 
here  a  statue,  by  Noble,  to  Sir  J.  McGrigor,  the 
Physician-General  to  the  army  under  Wellington 
in  Spain.  In  the  eastern  and  western  wings  of  this 
court  are  the  wards  of  the  pensioners ;  they  are 
sixteen  in  number,  and  are  both  spacious  and  airy. 

At  the  extremity  of  the  eastern  wing  is  the 
governor's  house.  The  ceiling  of  the  principal 
room  is  divided  into  oblong  compartments,  appro- 
priately ornamented,  and  the  walls  are  hung  with 
several  portraits  of  royalty,  from  the  time  of  King 
Charles  II.  In  the  western  wing  are  the  apart- 
ments of  the  lieutenant-governor. 

The  north  front  is  of  great  extent,  and  faced  by 
venues  of  limes  and  chestnut-trees.  In  the  centre 
of  the  structure  is  a  handsome  portico  of  the  Doric 
order,  surmounted  by  a  lofty  clock  turret  in  the 
roof.  Beneath  are  the  principal  entrances.  On 
:he  eastern  side  of  the  vestibule,  a  short  flight  of 
;teps  leads  to  the  chapel.  This  is  a  lofty  apart- 
ment, with  an  arched  ceiling  ;  it  is  rather  over  100 
feet  in  length,  by  about  thirty  in  width,  and  is 
Daved  with  black  and  white  marble.  The  pews 
For  the  various  officers  of  the  establishment  are 
ranged  along  the  sides,  and  the  pensioners  sit  in  the 
middle  on  benches.  Over  the  communion-table 
painting  of  the  Ascension,  by  Sebastian  Ricci. 
King  James  II.  presented  a  handsome  service  of 
plate,  an  altar-cloth,  pulpit-cloth,  several  velvet 
cushions,  and  four  handsomely-bound  prayer-books. 
From  the  walls  on  either  side  of  the  chapel  are 
suspended  a  large  number  of  colours  captured  by 
he  British  army,  including  thirteen  "  eagles  "  cap- 
tured from  the  French  at  Barossa,  Talavera,  and 
Waterloo.  The  dining-hall  is  on  the  western  side 
of  the  vestibule,  and  is  of  the  same  dimensions 
as  the  chapel 


Chelsea.] 


THE   ROYAL   HOSPITAL. 


75 


The  furniture  of  this  room  is  massive  and  simple. 
Above  the  doorway,  at  the  eastern  end,  is  a  gallery ; 
the  upper  end  is  occupied  by  a  large  painting, 
which  was  presented  by  the  Earl  of  Ranelagh.  It 
was  designed  by  Verrio,  and  finished  by  Henry 
Cooke,  an  artist  who  studied  Salvator  Rosa.  The 
chief  figure  of  the  composition  is  King  Charles  II., 
mounted  on  a  richly-caparisoned  horse ;  in  the 
background  is  a  perspective  view  of  the  Royal 
Hospital ;  and  fanciful  representations  of  Hercules, 
Minerva,  Peace,  and  "  Father  Thames,"  are  intro- 
duced, by  way  of  allegory.  The  sides  of  the  hall 
are  hung  with  numerous  engravings  of  military 
subjects,  and  there  is  also  a  large  painting  of  the 
Battle  of  Waterloo,  and  an  allegorical  picture  of 
the  victories  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  by  James 
Ward,  R.A.  A  dinner  for  the  pensioners  is  regu- 
larly placed  in  this  hall  every  day  (with  the  ex- 
ception of  Sunday),  at  twelve  o'clock  ;  but  they  do 
not  dine  in  public,  as  every  man  is  allowed  to  take 
his  meal  in  his  own  apartment  in  the  wards.  The 
hall  serves  also  as  a  reading-room  for  the  old 
pensioners,  and  here  they  are  allowed  to  sit  and 
smoke — for  they  are  allowed  one  penny  a  day  for 
tobacco,  which  is  called  "  Her  Majesty's  bounty  " — 
and  while  away  the  time  with  card-playing  and 
other  amusements,  and  also  with  the  perusal  of 
books  and  newspapers.  In  this  hall  the  remains  of 
the  "  great"  Duke  of  Wellington  were  deposited,  in 
November,  1852,  preparatory  to  the  public  funeral 
in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  Her  Majesty,  accompanied 
by  Prince  Albert,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  Princess 
Royal,  visited  Chelsea  Hospital  during  part  of  the 
ceremony  of  lying  in  state  ;  afterwards  the  veterans 
of  Chelsea  were  admitted;  on  one  day  the  ad- 
mission was  restricted  to  those  who  were  provided 
with  tickets  from  the  Lord  Chamberlain's  office ; 
and  then,  for  four  days,  the  public  were  admitted 
without  tickets,  when  the  crush  was  so  great  that 
several  persons  were  killed  in  the  attempt  to  gain 
admission. 

The  east,  or  "  Light  Horse  "  court,  comprises  the 
apartments  of  many  official  persons  connected  with 
the  institution,  such  as  the  governor,  the  deputy- 
treasurer,  secretary,  chaplain,  apothecary,  comp- 
troller, steward,  and  other  officials.  The  west  court 
is  partly  occupied  by  the  board-room,  used  by  the 
commissioners  for  their  meetings,  and  by  the 
apartments  of  various  officers  connected  with  the 
establishment.  Still  further  to  the  west  is  the 
stable-yard ;  and,  on  the  site  of  the  mansion  for 
merly  occupied  by  Sir  Robert  Walpole  is  the 
infirmary,  which  is  admirably  adapted  for  the 
patients  admitted  within  its  walls. 

Chelsea  Hospital  affords  a  refuge  for  upwards  of 


500  inmates.  The  number  of  out-pensioners,  from 
whom  they  are  selected,  is  about  64,000 ;  and  of 
these,  on  an  average,  nearly  8,000  are  over  seventy 
years  of  age.  Here  the  veterans,  whether  wounded, 
disabled,  or  merely  advanced  in  years,  find  a  home, 
and  for  their  accommodation,  comfort,  and  medical 
treatment,  a  liberal  provision  is  made.  An  applicant 
for  admission  must  be  on  the  permanent  pension 
list,  must  be  of  good  character,  must  have  no  wife 
or  children  dependent  on  him  for  support,  and 
he  must  be  incapable  of  supplementing  his  pension 
by  labour.  He  must  show  that  he  has  given  good 
service  "  by  flood  and  field."  A  monthly  list  of 
applications  is  kept,  in  the  order  in  which  they 
are  received;  and  at  the  end  of  the  month  the 
commissioners,  having  regard  to  the  number  of 
vacancies  and  the  eligibility  of  the  candidates, 
according  to  the  terms  of  the  Royal  Warrant  of 
1862,  sanction  the  selection  and  admission  of  the 
most  meritorious.  All  the  wants  of  the  inmates  are 
liberally  provided  for.  Their  clothing  is  certainly 
rather  of  an  antique  style ;  but,  nevertheless,  it  is 
picturesque.  They  wear  long  scarlet  coats,  lined 
with  blue,  and  the  original  three-cornered  cocked 
hat  of  the  last  century ;  but  then,  as  the  quarter- 
master once  said  to  the  War  Office  Committee, 
"  they  are  old  men."  Their  diet  consists  of  beef 
on  Sundays  and  mutton  on  week-days;  but,  in 
order  to  break  the  monotony,  at  their  own  request, 
bacon  has  been  substituted  for  mutton  on  one 
week-day.  A  pint  of  porter  daily  is  the  allowance 
for  each  man ;  and  there  is  a  fund  of  about  .£540  a 
year,  derived  from  private  legacies,  which  is  devoted 
to  maintaining  the  library  and  providing  extra  per- 
sonal comforts  and  amusements.  The  pensioners 
are  divided  into  six  companies,  the  captains  and 
other  officers  of  each  company  being  responsible 
for  the  cleanliness  of  the  ward  and  the  preservation 
of  order. 

The  expenditure  of  the  hospital  is  chiefly  met 
by  an  annual  Parliamentary  vote ;  but  the  institution 
enjoys  a  small  independent  income  from  property 
and  interest  on  unclaimed  prize-money.  With  all 
this  liberal  provision,  however,  it  appears,  from  the 
War  Office  Committee  reports  which  have  been 
published,  that  Chelsea  Hospital  is  not  popular 
with  soldiers.  The  inmates,  indeed,  are  contented ; 
but  it  is  admitted  that  soldiers  serving  under  the 
colours  look  forward  to  out-pensions  at  the  close 
of  their  military  career,  and  that  the  severance  of 
home-ties,  the  monastic  character  of  the  institution, 
and  a  certain  amount  of  disciplinary  restraint,  out- 
weigh the  advantages  of  the  hospital,  except  in  the 
instance  of  men  (perhaps  who  have  earned  only 
small  pensions)  aged,  infirm,  and  helpless,  without 


76 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Chelsea. 


family  or  friends  able  and  willing  to  support  them. 
Even  the  very  old  prefer  providing  for  themselves 
out  of  the  hospital  if  they  can ;  there  are  only  about 
230  men  in  the  hospital  over  seventy— generally 
fewer  than  that. 

Adjoining  the  hospital  is  a  burial-ground  for  the 
pensioners,  wherein  repose  a  few  veritable  cente- 
narians, if  the  records  of  their  deaths  are  to  be 
relied  upon.  Thomas  Asbey,  died  1737,  aged  112; 
Robert  Comming,  died  1767,  aged  116;  Peter 
Dowling,  died  1768,  aged  102;  a  soldier  who 
fought  at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  died  1772,  aged 
in  ;  and  Peter  Bennet,  died  1773,  aged  107. 

In  Pimlico  Road — or,  as  it  was  formerly  called, 
Jew's  Row,  or  Royal  Hospital  Row — "  there  is," 
writes  Larwood,  in  1866,  in  his  "History  of  Sign- 
boards," "  a  sign  which  greatly  mystifies  the  maimed 
old  heroes  of  Waterloo  and  the  Peninsula,  and 
many  others  besides.  I  refer  to  the  '  Snow  Shoes.' 
But  this  hostelry  is  historic  in  its  origin.  Its  sign 
was  set  up  during  the  excitement  of  the  American 
War  of  Independence,  when  '  Snow  Shoes'  formed  a 
leading  article  in  the  equipment  of  the  troops  sent 
out  to  fight  the  battles  of  King  George,  against  old 
Washington  and  his  rebels."  John  Timbs,  in  his 
"Curiosities  of  London,"  says  that  the  tradition 
of  the  foundation  of  the  hospital  being  due  to  the 
influence  of  Nell  Gwynne  is  kept  in  countenance 
by  the  head  of  that  royal  favourite  having  been  for 
very  many  years  the  sign  of  a  public-house  in 
Grosvenor  Row.  More  than  one  entry  in  Evelyn's 
•"Diary,"  however,  proves  that  Sir  Stephen  Fox 
"  had  not  only  the  whole  managing "  of  the  plan, 
but  was  himself  "  a  grand  benefactor  "  to  it.  He 
was  mainly  advised  by  Evelyn,  who  arranged  the 
offices,  "would  needes  have  a  library,  and  men- 
tioned several  bookes." 

North  of  the  hospital  is  the  Duke  of  York's 
School,  or  Royal  Military  Asylum.  This  institu- 
tion was  founded  by  the  late  Duke  of  York,  for  the 
support  and  education  of  children  of  soldiers  of  the 
regular  army,  who  remain  there  until  of  a  suitable 
age,  when  they  are  apprenticed,  or  sent  into  service. 
The  building  is  constructed  chiefly  of  brick,  with 
stone  dressings  and  embellishments,  and  it  com- 
prises three  sides  of  a  quadrangle.  In  the  centre 
of  the  chief  front  is  a  stone  portico  of  the  Doric 
order ;  four  massive  pillars  support  the  pediment, 
the  frieze  of  which  is  inscribed  as  follows—"  The 
Royal  Military  Asylum  for  the  Children  of  Soldiers 
of  the  Regular  Army;"  and  the  whole  is  sur- 
mounted with  the  royal  arms.  In  this  part  of  the 
building  are  the  dining-rooms  and  school-rooms  for 
the  children,  and  also  bath-rooms  and  a  committee- 
room.  The  north  and  south  wings  contain  the 


dormitories  for  the  boys  and  girls,  and  apartments 
for  several  officers  of  the  establishment  In  the 
front  the  ground  is  laid  out  in  grass  plats  and 
gravel  walks,  and  planted  with  trees ;  attached  to 
each  wing  is  a  spacious  play-ground  for  exercise, 
with  cloistral  arcades  for  the  protection  of  the 
children  in  inclement  seasons.  The  affairs  of  the 
Royal  Military  Asylum  are  regulated  by  com- 
missioners appointed  by  the  Government,  who  have 
to  apply  to  Parliament  for  an  annual  grant  for  the 
support  of  the  institution.  The  commissioners  also 
have  the  selection  of  the  children,  whose  admission 
is  regulated  in  accordance  with  the  following  rules  : 
— Orphans,  or  those  whose  fathers  have  been  killed, 
or  have  died  on  foreign  stations ;  those  who  have 
lost  their  mothers,  and  whose  fathers  are  absent  on 
duty  abroad ;  those  whose  fathers  are  ordered  on 
foreign  service,  or  whose  parents  have  other  children 
to  maintain."  The  children  are  supported,  lodged, 
and  educated,  until  they  are  of  a  suitable  age  to 
be  disposed  of  as  servants  and  apprentices.  The 
boys  undergo  a  regular  military  training;  and  it 
is  a  pleasing  sight  to  witness  them  going  through 
their  exercises,  with  their  military  band  of  juvenile 
performers.  According  to  the  original  intention 
of  the  founders  of  this  institution,  the  number 
of  children  admitted  into  the  asylum  is  not  to 
exceed  seven  hundred  boys  and  three  hundred 
girls,  exclusive  of  such  as,  on  an  exigency,  may  be 
admitted  to  the  branch  establishment  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight.  The  boys  are  clothed  in  red  jackets,  blue 
breeches,  blue  stockings,  and  black  caps;  and 
the  girls  in  red  gowns,  blue  petticoats,  straw  hats, 
&c.  The  latter  are  taught  the  ordinary  branches 
of  needlework  and  household  work. 

A  considerable  part  of  the  grounds  lying  imme- 
diately at  the  south-east  corner  of  Chelsea  Hospital 
once  formed  the  site  of  Ranelagh  Gardens,  as  we 
have  already  observed.  "  Ranelagh,"  writes  Mr. 
Lambert,  in  his  "  History  of  London  and  its  En- 
virons," published  in  1806,  "was  the  seat  of  an 
Irish  nobleman  of  that  title,  in  whose  time  the 
gardens  were  extensive.  On  his  death  the  estate 
was  sold,  and  the  principal  part  of  the  gardens  was 
converted  into  fields,  though  the  house  remained 
unaltered.  Part  of  the  gardens  also  was  permitted 
to  remain.  Some  gentlemen  and  builders  having 
become  the  purchasers  of  these,  a  resolution  was 
taken  to  convert  them  into  a  place  of  entertainment. 
Accordingly,  Mr.  William  Jones,  architect  to  the 
East  India  Company,  drew  the  plan  of  the  present 
Rotunda,  which  is  an  illustrious  monument  of  his 
genius  and  fancy.  The  chief  material  employed 
was  wood,  and  it  was  erected  in  1740."  He  de- 
scribes it  as  "  a  noble  edifice,  somewhat  resembling 


RANELAGH  GARDENS. 


77 


the  Pantheon  at  Rome,  with  a  diameter  externally 
of  185  feet,  and  internally  of  150  feet  The  en- 
trances," he  adds,  "  are  by  four  Doric  porticoes 
opposite  each  other,  and  the  first  storey  is  rustic. 
Round  the  whole  on  the  outside  is  a  gallery,  the 
stairs  to-  which  are  at  the  porticoes ;  and  over- 
head is  a  slated  covering  which  projects  from  the 
body  of  the  Rotunda.  Over  the  gallery  are  the 
windows,  sixty  in  number,  and  over  these  the 
slated  roof.  The  interior  is  elegantly  decorated, 
and,  when  well  illuminated  and  full  of  company, 
presents  a  most  brilliant  spectacle.  Indeed,  it 
may  be  said  of  Ranelagh  that,  as  a  public  place  of 
amusement,  it  is  not  to  be  equalled  in  Europe  for 
beauty,  elegance,  and  grandeur.  Before  the  Act 
of  Parliament  passed  in  1752,  which  prohibited 
all  places  of  entertainment  from  being  opened 
before  a  certain  hour  in  the  afternoon,  the  Rotunda 
was  open  every  day  for  public  breakfasts.  It  was 
not,  however,  a  place  of  much  note  until  it  was 
honoured  with  the  famous  masquerades  in  the  late 
reign,  which  brought  it  into  vogue.  But  the  immo- 
rality so  frequently  practised  at  masquerades  has 
lessened  their  reputation,  and  they  are  not  now 
attended,  as  formerly,  by  persons  of  rank  and 
fashion.  The  entertainments  consist  of  music  and 
singing,  and  upon  particular  occasions  fireworks 
also  are  exhibited ;  and  during  the  summer  season 
the  gardens  may  be  seen  in  the  day-time  on  pay- 
ment of  a  shilling.  The  price  of  admittance  in  the 
evening  is  half-a-crown,  including  tea  and  coffee, 
which  are  the  only  refreshments  allowed ;  but  on 
extraordinary  occasions  the  price  is  raised." 

Sir  Richard  Phillips,  in  his  "  Modern  London," 
published  in  1804,  in  noticing  Ranelagh,  writes  : — 
"  This  place  is  situated  about  two  miles  west  of 
London,  in  the  village  of  Chelsea.  It  consists  of 
a  splendid  Rotunda  and  gardens.  The  Rotunda 
itself,  used  as  a  promenade,  is  very  spacious,  and 
brilliantly  illuminated,  with  a  neat  orchestra.  The 
amusements  of  Ranelagh,  generally  speaking,  are 
limited  to  miscellaneous  performances,  vocal  and 
instrumental ;  and  in  the  gardens  there  are  fire- 
works and  illuminations.  Masquerades  are  some- 
times given  in  a  very  good  style ;  but  the  genius  of 
the  English  people  seems  not  well  calculated  for 
this  species  of  amusement.  Ranelagh  has  lately 
been  engaged  by  the  '  Pic-Nic  Society,'  and  it  is 
supposed  will  be  appropriated  to  their  entertain- 
ments." 

Besides  the  Rotunda  there  was  a  small  Venetian 
pavilion  in  a  lake,  to  which  the  company  were  rowed 
in  boats,  and  the  grounds  were  planted  with  trees. 
The  decorations  of  the  various  buildings  were 
designed  by  Capon,  an  eminent  scene-painter. '  In 


each  of  the  refreshment-boxes  was  a  painting; 
in  the  centre  of  the  Rotunda  was  a  heating  appa- 
ratus, concealed  by  arches,  porticoes,  and  niches, 
paintings,  &c. ;  and  supporting  the  ceiling,  which 
was  decorated  with  celestial  figures,  festoons  of 
flowers,  and  arabesques,  and  lighted  by  circles  of 
chandeliers. 

In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1742  is  the 
following  description  of  Ranelagh  Gardens  from 
a  foreigner's  point  of  view : — "  I  repaired  to  the 
rendezvous,  which  was  the  park  adjoining  to  the 
Palace  Royal,  and  which  answers  to  our  Tuilleries, 
where  we  sauntered,  with  a  handful  of  fine  company, 
till  it  was  almost  twilight — a  time,  I  thought,  not  a 
little  unseasonable  for  a  tour  into  the  country.  We 
had  no  sooner  quitted  the  park  but  we  found  our- 
selves in  a  road  full  of  people,  illuminated  with 
lamps  on  each  side ;  the  dust  was  the  only  incon- 
venience ;  but  in  less  than  half  an  hour  we  found 
ourselves  at  a  gate  where  money  was  demanded, 
and  paid  for  our  admittance  ;  and  immediately  my 
eyes  were  struck  with  a  large  building,  of  an  or- 
bicular figure,  with  a  row  of  windows  round  the  attic 
storey,  through  which  it  seemed  to  be  liberally 
illuminated  within,  and  altogether  presented  to  the 
eye  such  an  image  as  a  man  of  a  whimsical  imagina- 
tion would  not  scruple  to  call  a  giant's  lanthorn. 
Into  this  enchanted  palace  we  entered,  with  more 
haste  than  ceremony ;  and  at  the  first  glance  I,  for 
my  part,  found  myself  dumb  with  surprise  and 
astonishment,  in  the  middle  of  a  vast  amphitheatre ; 
for  structure,  Roman  ;  for  decorations  of  paint  and 
gilding,  gay  as  the  Asiatic ;  four  grand  portals,  in 
the  manner  of  the  ancient  triumphal  arches,  and 
four  times  twelve  boxes,  in  a  double  row,  with  suit- 
able pilasters  between,  form  the  whole  interior  of 
this  wonderful  fabric,  save  that  in  the  middle  a 
magnificent  orchestra  rises  to  the  roof,  from  which 
descend  several  large  branches,  which  contain  a 
great  number  of  candles  enclosed  in  crystal  glasses, 
at  once  to  light  and  adorn  this  spacious  Rotunda. 
Groups  of  well-dressed  persons  were  dispersed  in 
the  boxes  ;  numbers  covered  the  area ;  all  manner 
of  refreshments  were  within  call ;  and  music  of  all 
kinds  echoed,  though  not  intelligibly,  from  every 
one  of  those  elegant  retreats,  where  Pleasure  seemed 
to  beckon  her  wanton  followers.  I  have  acknow- 
ledged myself  charmed  at  my  entrance ;  you  will 
wonder,  therefore,  when  I  tell  you  that  satiety  fol- 
lowed. In  five  minutes  I  was  familiar  with  the 
whole  and  every  part ;  in  the  five  next  indifference 
took  place ;  in  five  more  my  eyes  grew  dazzled,  my 
head  became  giddy,  and  all  night  I  dreamed  of 
Vanity  Fair." 

The  Rotunda  was  first  opened  with  a  public  break- 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


fast  in  April,  1 742  ;  and,  for  a  short  time,  morning 
concerts  were  given,  consisting  of  selections  from 
oratorios.  Walpole,  in  a  letter  to  Sir  Horace 
Mann,  written  during  the  next  month,  gives  us  the 
following  particulars  of  this  once  famous  place  of 


years  later  we  find  the  following  record  by  the  same 
gossiping  chronicler  : — "  Every  night  constantly  I 
go  to  Ranelagh,  which  has  totally  beat  Vauxhall. 
Nobody  goes  anywhere  else — everybody  goes  there. 
My  Lord  Chesterfield  is  so  fond  of  it  that  he 


amusement : — "  There  is  a  vast  amphitheatre,  finely 
gilt,  painted,  and  illuminated,  into  which  everybody 
that  loves  eating,  drinking,  staring,  or  crowding,  is 
admitted  for  twelve  pence.  The  building  and  dis- 
position of  the  gardens  cost  sixteen  thousand 
pounds.  ...  I  was  there  last  night,  but  did  not 
find  the  joy  of  it.  Vauxhall  is  a  little  better,  for 
the  garden  is  pleasanter,  and  one  goes  by  water." 
Ranelagh,  however,  appears  soon  to  have  eclipsed 
its  rival  on  the  other  side  of  the  water,  for  two 


:.     (See  page  80.) 


says  he  has  ordered  all  his  letters  to  be  directed 
thither."  And  again,  some  four  years  afterwards,  he 
tells  us :  "  Ranelagh  is  so  crowded,  that  in  going 
there  t'other  night  in  a  string  of  coaches,  we  had  a 
stop  of  six-and-thirty  minutes." 

The  Jubilee  Masquerade,  "after  the  Venetian 
manner,"  held  here  in  1749,  about  seven  years  after 
the  gardens  were  first  opened,  is  thus  described  by 
gossiping  Horace  Walpole: — "It  was  by  far  the 
best  understood  and  prettiest  spectacle  I  ever  saw 


Chelsea.] 


THE   JUBILEE   MASQUERADE. 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Chelsea. 


— nothing  in  a  fairy  tale  ever  surpassed  it.  One  of 
the  proprietors,  who  is  a  German,  and  belongs  to 
court,  had  got  my  Lady  Yarmouth  to  persuade  the 
king  to  order  it.  It  began  at  three  o'clock ;  at 
about  five,  people  of  fashion  began  to  go.  When 
you  entered,  you  found  the  whole  garden  filled  with 
marquees  and  spread  with  tents,  which  remained 
all  night  very  commodely.  In  one  quarter  was  a 
May-pole,  dressed  with  garlands,  and  people  dancing 
round  it  to  a  labour  and  pipe,  and  rustic  music, 
all  masked,  as  were  all  the  various  bands  of  music 
that  were  disposed  in  different  parts  of  the  garden ; 
some  like  huntsmen,  with  French  horns ;  some  like 
peasants ;  and  a  troop  of  harlequins  and  scara- 
mouches in  the  little  open  temple  on  the  mount. 
On  the  canal  was  a  sort  of  gondola,  adorned  with 
flags  and  streamers,  and  filled  with  music,  rowing 
about.  All  round  the  outside  of  the  amphitheatre 


speak  to  her.  Pretty  Mrs.  Pitt  looked  as  if  she 
came  from  heaven,  but  was  only  thither  in  the 
habit  of  a  Chanoineness.  Lady  Betty  Smithson 
(Seymour)  had  such  a  pyramid  of  baubles  upon 
her  head  that  she  was  exactly  the  Princess  of 
Babylon  in  Grammont." 

In  1754  the  evening  amusements  here  were  ad- 
vertised under  the  name  of  Comus's  Court ;  and  in 
1759  a  burlesque  ode  on  St.  Cecilia's  Day,  written 
by  Bonnell  Thornton,  was  performed  ;  and  we  are 
told  that  "  among  the  instruments  employed  there 
was  a  band  of  marrow-bones  and  cleavers,  whose 
endeavours  were  admitted  by  the  cognoscenti  to 
have  been  a  great  success." 

From  Boswell  we  learn  that  even  the  sage  and 


grave  Dr.  Johnson  was 
he  was  of  the  Pantheon. 


fond  of  Ranelagh   as 
When  somebody  said, 


r ,  cynically,  that  there  "  was  not  half  a  guinea's  worth 

were  shops,  filled  with  Dresden  china,  japan,  &c.,  |  of  pleasure  in  seeing  Ranelagh,"  he  replied,  "No; 


and  all  the  shopkeepers  in  masks  ;  the  amphitheatre 
was  illuminated,  and  in  the  middle  was  a  circular 
bower,  composed  of  all  kinds  of  firs,  in  tubs,  from 
twenty  to  thirty  feet  high  ;  under  them  orange- 
trees,  with  small  lamps  in  each  orange,  and  below 
them  all  sorts  of  auriculas  in  pots  ;  and  festoons  of 
natural  flowers  hanging  from  tree  to  tree.  Between 
the  arches,  too,  were  firs,  and  smaller  ones  in  the 
balconies  above.  There  were  booths  for  tea  and 
wine,  gaming-tables  and  dancing,  and  about  two 
thousand  persons  present.  In  short,  it  pleased  me 
more  than  the  finest  thing  I  ever  saw." 

Not  many  weeks  after  this  there  was  another 
"  Subscription  Masquerade  "  here,  also  described 
at  some  length  by  the  same  old  Court  gossip, 


but  there  is  half  a  guinea's  worth  of  inferiority 
to  other  people  in  not  having  seen  it."  Indeed, 
if  we  may  believe  the  statement  of  his  friend, 
Dr.  Maxwell,  some  time  assistant  preacher  at  the 
Temple,  Dr.  Johnson  "often  went  to  Ranelagh, 
which  he  deemed  a  place  of  innocent  recreation." 
But  this  is  rather  a  proof  of  Dr.  Johnson's  own 
purity  than  a  testimony  to  the  morals  of  the  place, 
for  "  to  the  pure  all  things  are  pure."  The  gardens 
were  constantly  visited  also  by  Oliver  Goldsmith  ; 
even  when  he  was  in  difficulties,  he  would  take  an 
Irish  cousin  there,  and  treat  her  to  the  admission. 
Sometimes  poor  Oliver  would  stroll  thither  with 
Dr.  Johnson  and  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  to  see  the 
great  world  of  which  he  at  once  knew  so  much 


Walpole  : — "  The  king  was   well  disguised  in  an  |  and  so  little. 


old-fashioned  English  habit,  and  much  pleased 
with  somebody  who  desired  him  to  hold  their 
cups  as  they  were  drinking  tea.  The  Duke  [of 
Cumberland]  had  a  dress  of  the  same  kind,  but 
was  so  immensely  corpulent  that  he  looked  like 
'  Cacofoco,'  the  drunken  captain  in  Rule  a  Wife 
and  Have  a  Wife.  The  Duchess  of  Richmond 
was  a  Lady  Mayoress  of  the  time  of  James  I.  ;  and 
Lord  De  la  Warr,  Queen  Elizabeth's  '  Garter,'  from 


The  King  of  Denmark  and  his  suite  paid  a 
visit  to  Ranelagh  in  1768,  when,  we  are  told,  his 
Majesty  "  examined  the  Temple  and  other  build- 
ings, which  gave  him  great  satisfaction." 

The  scene  of  the  finish  of  the  first  Regatta  on 
the  Thames,  in  June,  1775,  must  have  been  one  of 
the  crowning  glories  of  Ranelagh.  The  admission 
ticket  on  the  occasion,  engraved  by  Bartolozzi,  was 
long  held  in  high  estimation  by  collectors.  Plans 


a  picture  in  the  Guard  Chamber  at  Kensington  ;    of  the  regatta  were  sold,  from  a  shilling  to  a  penny 
they  were  admirable  masks.     Lord  Rochford,  Miss    each,  and  songs  on  the  occasion  sung,  in  which 
Evelyn,  Miss  Bishopp,   Lady  Stafford,  and   Miss 
Pitt,  were  in  vast  beauty,  particularly  the  last,  who 


had  a  red  veil,  which  made  her  look  gloriously 
handsome.  I  forgot  Lady  Kildare.  Mr.  Conway 
was  the  'Duke'  in  Don  Quixote,  and  the  finest 
figure  that  I  ever  saw.  Miss  Chudleigh  was 
'  Iphigenia,'  and  so  lightly  clad  that  you  would 


"  Regatta  "  was  the  rhyme  for  "  Ranelagh,"  and 
"  Royal  Family  "  echoed  to  "  liberty."    "  On  the 


return  of  the  wager  boats,"  writes  Mr.  Faulkner, 
in  his  "  History  of  Chelsea,"  "  the  whole  .  pro- 
cession moved,  in  picturesque  irregularity,  towards 
Ranelagh.  The  Thames  was  now  a  floating  town. 
The  company  landed  at  the  stairs  about  nine 


have   taken  her    for    Andromeda.     .     .     .     The  j  o'clock,   when   they   joined    the   assembly  which 
maids  of  honour  were  so  offended  they  would  not  '  came    by  land   in   the    Temple    of   Neptune,   a 


Chelsea.] 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   DUCHESS   OF   DEVONSHIRE. 


temporary  octagon  kind  of  building,  erected  about 
twenty  yards  below  the  Rotunda,  lined  with  striped 
linen  of  the  different-coloured  flags  of  the  navy, 
ornamented  with  streamers  of  the  same  kind  loosely 
flowing,  and  lustres  hanging  between  each.  This 
room  discovered  great  taste.  At  half  after  ten 
the  Rotunda  was  opened  for  supper,  which  dis- 
played three  circular  tables,  of  different  elevations, 
elegantly  set  out.  The  Rotunda  was  finely  illu- 
minated with  parti-coloured  lamps  ;  the  centre  was 
solely  appropriated  for  one  of  the  fullest  and  finest 
bands  of  music,  vocal  and  instrumental,  ever 
collected  in  these  kingdoms,  the  number  being 
240,  in  which  were  included  the  first  masters, 
led  by  Giardini.and  the  whole  directed  by  Mr. 

Simpson Supper  being  over,  a  part  of 

the  company  retired  to  the  Temple,  where  they 
danced  without  any  regard  to  precedence ;  while 
others  entertained  themselves  in  the  great  room. 
Several  temporary  structures  were  erected  in  the 
gardens,  such  as  bridges,  palm-trees,  &c.,  which 
were  intended  to  discover  something  novel  in  the 
illumination  style,  but  the  badness  of  the  evening 
prevented  their  being  exhibited." 

In  1802  an  afternoon  breakfast  was  given  here, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Pic-Nic  Society,  at 
which  about  two  thousand  persons  of  distinction 
were  present.  On  this  occasion  M.  Garnerin  and 
Captain  Snowden  made  an  ascent  in  a  balloon, 
and  alighted  at  Colchester  in  less  than  an  hour. 
"  This,"  as  Hone  in  his  "  Year-Book  "  observes, 
"  was  the  most  memorable  ascent  in  England  from 
the  time  of  Lunardi." 

In  the  following  year  a  magnificent  ball  was  held 
in  the  Rotunda ;  it  was  given  by  the  knights  of 
the  Order  of  the  Bath,  on  the  occasion  of  an 
"  installation,"  and  is  said  to  have  been  a  "  gala  of 
uncommon  splendour."  But  even  this  was  sur- 
passed in  brilliancy  by  an  entertainment  given 
shortly  afterwards  by  the  Spanish  Ambassador. 
"  The  whole  external  front  of  the  house,"  we  read, 
"was  illuminated  in  a  novel  manner,  and  the 
portico  immediately  leading  to  the  Rotunda  was 
filled  on  each  side  with  rows  of  aromatic  shrubs. 
The  Rotunda  itself,  at  the  first  opening  to  the  sight, 
exhibited  a  most  superb  appearance.  The  lower 
boxes  formed  a  Spanish  camp,  striped  blue  and 
red,  each  tent  guarded  by  a  boy  dressed  in  the 
Spanish  uniform.  The  gallery  formed  a  Temple 
of  Flora,  lighted  by  a  number  of  gold  baskets 
containing  wax  tapers.  The  queen's  box  was 
hung  with  crimson  satin,  lined  with -white,  which 
hung  in  festoons  richly  fringed  with  gold,  and  at 
the  top  was  a  regal  crown.  In  the  orchestra, 
which  was  converted  into  a  magnificent  pavilion, 


a  table  of  eighteen  covers  was  laid  for  the  Royal 
Family.  Opposite  to  Her  Majesty's  box  was  a 
light  temple  or  stage,  on  which  a  Spanish  dance 
was  performed  by  children ;  at  another  part  were 
beautiful  moving  transparencies ;  and  a  third  was 
a  lottery  of  valuable  trinkets,  consisting  of  six 
hundred  prizes.  Women,  ornamented  with  wreaths 
of  flowers,  made  tea ;  and  one  hundred  valets,  in 
scarlet  and  gold,  and  as  many  footmen,  in  sky-blue 
and  silver,  waited  on  the  company." 

From  about  the  year  1780  down  to  the  close  of 
the  last  century  Ranelagh  was  in  the  height  of  its 
glory.  It  was  visited  by  royalty,  and  all  the  nobility 
and  gentry.  "  As  no  place  was  ever  better  calcu- 
lated for  the  display  of  female  beauty  and  elegance," 
writes  Mr.  Faulkner,  in  his  work  above  quoted,  "  it 
followed,  of  course,  the  greatest  belles  of  the  day 
frequented  Ranelagh,  at  the  head  of  whom  was  the 
celebrated  and  beautiful  Duchess  of  Devonshire,  a 
lady  eminent  for  every  grace  that  could  adorn  the 
female,  and  not  a  few  candidates  for  admiration 
were  in  her  train."  The  Rotunda  was  subse- 
quently used  for  late  evening  concerts,  and  as  an 
assembly-room,  and  the  gardens  for  the  display  of 
fireworks  and  other  out-door  amusements.  The 
place  soon  ceased  to  be  the  attractive  promenade 
it  had  formerly  been,  and  the  brilliant  display  of 
beauty  it  had  made  for  years  was  no  more.  The 
whole  of  the  premises  were  taken  down  about  the 
year  1805. 

Many  persons  will  remember  the  description  of 
the  ideal  "Old  Gentleman,"  in  Hone's  "Table- 
Book."  "  He  has  been  induced  to  look  in  at 
'  Vauxhall '  again,  but  likes  it  still  less  than  he  did 
years  back,  and  cannot  bear  it  in  comparison  with 
Ranelagh  !  He  thinks  everything  looks  poor,  flaring, 
and  jaded.  '  Ah ! '  says  he,  with  a  sort  of  triumphant 
sigh,  '  ah !  Ranelagh  was  a  noble  place  !  Such  taste ! 
such  elegance  !  and  such  beauty  !  There  was  the 

Duchess  of  A ,  the  finest  woman  in  England, 

sir ;  and  Mrs.  B ,  a  mighty  fine  creature ;  and 

Lady  Susan  what's-her-name,  who  had  that  unfortu- 
nate affair  with  Sir  Charles.  Yes,  indeed,  sir,  they 
came  swimming  by  you  like  swans.  Ranelagh  for 
me ! ' " 

Whether  it  be  true  or  not  that  ladies  of  Ion 
ton  "came  swimming  by  you  like  swans,"  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  Ranelagh,  in  its  palmy  days, 
was  a  favourite  haunt  of  the  "  upper  ten  thousand," 
and  that  "  duchesses "  and  "  Lady  Susans "  in 
plenty  jostled  there  against  the  troops  of  plebeian 
City  and  country  dames. 

A  writer  in  the  Connoisseur  (No.  22)  complains  : 
"  The  modest  excesses  of  these  times  [the  reign  of 
George  II.]  are  in  their  nature  the  same  with  those 


82 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


which  were  formerly  in  vogue.  The  present  races 
of  '  bucks,'  '  bloods,'  and  '  free-thinkers  '  are  but  the 
spawn  of  the  Mohocks  and  Hell-fire  Clubs ;  and  if 
our  modern  fine  ladies  have  had  their  masquerades, 
their  Vauxhalls,  their  Sunday  tea-drinking  at  Rane- 
lagh,  and  their  morning  chocolate  in  the  Haymarket, 
they  have  only  improved  upon  the  '  Ring,'  the 
Spring  Gardens,  the  New  Exchange  assignations, 
and  the  morning  Puppet-show,  which  enjoyed  the 
attention  of  their  grandmothers.  And  so,  as  it  is 
not  apparent  that  our  people  of  fashion  are  more 
wicked,  so  neither  are  they  more  wise  than  their 
predecessors."  The  fall  of  Ranelagh — like  other 
enchanting  places  of  amusement,  the  description  of 
whose  assemblages  give  us  such  graphic  pictures 
of  the  frail  beauties  of  the  last  century — is  thus 
mournfully  set  forth  in  Murphy's  "  Prologue  to 
Zobeide : " — 

"Adieu,  Almack's  !   Cornelys'  masquerade  ! 

Sweet  Ranelagh  ! " 

The  picture  of  ruin  and  desolation  which  the 
site  of  Ranelagh  presented  after  the  demolition  of 
the  Rotunda  and  the  dismantling  of  its  gardens,  is 
ably  reproduced  by  Sir  Richard  Phillips,  in  his 
"  Walk  from  London  to  Kew."  "  On  entering 
Chelsea,"  he  writes,  "  I  was  naturally  led  to 
inquire  for  the  site  of  the  once  gay  Ranelagh.  I 
passed  up  the  avenue  of  trees,  which  I  remember 
often  to  have  seen  blocked  up  with  carriages.  At 
its  extremity  I  looked  for  the  Rotunda  and  its 
surrounding  buildings ;  but,  as  I  could  not  see 
them,  I  concluded  that  I  had  acquired  but  an 
imperfect  idea  of  the  place  in  my  nocturnal  visits  ! 
I  went  forward,  on  an  open  space,  but  still  could 
discern  no  Ranelagh.  At  length,  on  a  spot 
covered  with  nettles,  thistles,  and  other  rank 
weeds,  I  met  a  working  man,  who,  in  answer  to 
my  inquiries,  told  me  that  he  could  see  I  was  a 
.stranger,  or  I  should  have  known  that  Ranelagh 
had  been  pulled  down,  and  that  I  was  then  standing 
on  the  site  of  the  Rotunda  !  Reader,  imagine  my 
feelings,  for  I  cannot  analyse  them  !  This  vile 
place,  I  exclaimed,  the  site  of  the  once  enchanting 
Ranelagh  !  It  cannot  be  !  The  same  eyes  were 
never  destined  to  see  such  a  metamorphosis  !  All 
was  desolation  !  A  few  inequalities  appeared  in 
the  ground,  indicative  of  some  former  building, 
and  holes  filled  with  muddy  water  showed  the 
foundation-walls  ;  but  the  rest  of  the  space,  making 
about  two  acres,  was  covered  with  clusters  of  tall 
nettles,  thistles,  and  docks.  On  a  more  accurate 
survey  I  traced  the  circular  foundation  of  the 
Rotunda,  and  at  some  distance  discovered  the 
broken  arches  of  some  cellars,  once  filled  with  the 
choicest  wines,  but  now  with  dirty  water.  Further 


on  were  marks  against  a  garden  wall,  indicating 
that  the  water-boilers  for  tea  and  coffee  had  once 
been  heated  there.  I  traced,  too,  the  site  of  the 
orchestra,  where  I  had  often  been  ravished  by 
the  finest  performances  of  vocal  and  instrumental 
music.  My  imagination  brought  the  objects  before 
me ;  I  fancied  I  could  still  hear  an  air  of  Mara's. 
I  turned  my  eye  aside,  and  what  a  contrast  ap- 
peared !  No  glittering  lights  !  no  brilliant  happy 
company !  no  peals  of  laughter  from  thronged 
boxes  !  no  chorus  of  a  hundred  instruments  and 
voices  !  All  was  death-like  stillness  !  Is  such,  I 
exclaimed,  the  end  of  human  splendour?  Yes, 
truly,  all  is  vanity ;  and  here  is  a  striking  example. 
Here  are  ruins  and  desolation,  even  without 
antiquity!  I  am  not  mourning,  said  I,  over  the 
remains  of  Babylon  or  Carthage — ruins  sanctioned 
by  the  unsparing  march  of  time ;  but  here  it  was 
all  glory  and  splendour,  even  yesterday !  Here, 
but  seven  years  have  flown  away,  and  I  was  myself 
one  of  three  thousand  of  the  gayest  mortals  ever 
assembled  in  one  of  the  gayest  scenes  which  the 
art  of  man  could  devise — ay,  on  this  very  spot ; 
yet  the  whole  is  now  changed  into  the  dismal 
scene  of  desolation  before  me  ! " 

Although  not  a  vestige  of  the  gardens  remains, 
its  memory  is  preserved  by  naming  after  it  some 
of  the  streets,  roads,  and  places  which  have  been 
built  near  its  site.  Mr.  Jesse,  in  his  work  on 
"London,"  published  in  1871,  tells  us  that  "a 
single  avenue  of  trees,  formerly  illuminated  by  a 
thousand  lamps,  and  over-canopying  the  wit,  th& 
rank,  and  the  beauty  of  the  last  century,  now 
forms  an  almost  solitary  memento  of  the  departed 
glories  of  Ranelagh.  Attached  to  these  trees,  the 
author  discovered  one  or  two  solitary  iron  fixtures, 
from  which  the  variegated  lamps  were  formerly 
suspended." 

According  to  Mr.  John  Timbs'  "Club  Life  of 
London,"  there  was  subsequently  opened  in  the 
neighbourhood  a  New  Ranelagh;  but  it  would 
appear  to  have  been  short-lived,  as  its  memory  has 
quite  passed  away. 

Such,  however,  was  the  celebrity  of  the  old  Rane- 
lagh, that  another  Ranelagh,  like  a  second  Salamis, 
was  established  in  the  suburbs  of  Paris  ;  as  witness 
the  following  extract  from  a  French  writer  in  1875  : — 
"  The  name  of  Ranelagh  Gardens,  almost  forgotten 
in  England,  will  soon  be  equally  so  in  Paris.  Or 
rather,  it  would  be,  but  for  the  inscription  on  the 
neighbouring  street,  preserving  a  title  which  no 
revolution  need  trouble  to  alter.  Some  alterations 
now  undertaken  by  the  Parisian  authorities  in  the 
street  recall  to  mind  the  chequered  fortunes  of  the 
French  Ranelagh.  It  was  started  in  the  summer 


GOUGH    HOUSE. 


of  1774  by  a  simple  gardener  of  the  Bois  de 
Boulogne  as  a  private  speculation,  the  name, 
of  course,  being  borrowed  from  Chelsea.  The 
gardener  was  patronised  by  the  Prince  de  Soubise, 
and  the  concerts  and  balls  were  at  first  a  great 
success.  But  the  novelty  died  out,  and  about 
nine  years  afterwards  the  proprietor  was  fain  to 
escape  ruin  by  becoming  manager  to  a  private 
club,  with  a  more  select  clientele.  Thenceforth, 
till  the  Revolution,  the  place  was  a  success. 
Marie  Antoinette  had  been  seen  there,  and  the 
club  invitations  were  much  sought  after.  The 
Republic,  pure  and  simple,  would  have  been 
fatal  to  the  gardens  had  not  the  Directory  come 
to  the  rescue.  Under  its  less  rigid  regime  came 
Tre'nitz,  with  his  troop  of  Muscadins  and  Merveil- 
leuses.  Morisart  died  just  before  the  fall  of  the 
Empire,  and  in  time  to  escape  the  sight  of  the 
Cossacks  trampling  his  pet  flower-beds  and  lawns. 
From  1816  to  1830  another  aristocratic  club  held 
its  reunions  at  Ranelagh,  and  under  the  Orleans 
dynasty  it  became  again  a  public  place  of  enter- 
tainment. At  last  came  M.  Thiers'  scheme  of 
fortifying  Paris,  and  his  ramparts  cut  the  gardens 
in  half.  This  was  in  1840  ;  and  twenty  years  later 
a  decree  suppressed  for  ever  the  last  lingering 
vestige  of  gaiety,  and  consigned  the  ground  to 
building  purposes." 

Queen's  Road  West  (formerly  called  Paradise 
Row)  has  been  the  residence  of  many  of  the 
"  nobility  and  gentry  "  of  Chelsea  in  former  times. 
In  a  large  mansion  adjoining  Robinson's  Lane, 
lived  the  Earl  of  Radnor  in  the  time  of  Charles  II., 
and  here  his  lordship  entertained  the  king  "  most 
sumptuously"  in  September,  1660.  The  parish 
register  contains  several  entries  of  baptisms  and 
deaths  in  the  Radnor  family. 

Sir  Francis  Windham  had  a  house  in  this  road  at 
the  commencement  of  the  last  century.  After  the 
battle  of  Worcester  he  entertained  Charles  II.  at 
Trent,  where  the  king  remained  concealed  for 
several  days.  Dr.  Richard  Mead,  the  eminent 
physician,  of  whom  we  have  already  spoken  in  our 
account  of  Great  Ormond  Street,*  resided  in  this 
neighbourhood  for  some  time,  as  appears  by  the 
parish  books.  Another  physician  of  note  who 
lived  here  about  the  same  time  was  Dr.  Alexander 
Blackwell,  who  resided  in  a  house  near  the  Botanic 
Garden.  Dr.  Blackwell  became  involved  in  diffi- 
culties ;  and  after  leaving  Chelsea  he  went  to 
Sweden,  where  he  was  appointed  physician  to  the 
king.  Subsequently,  however,  he  was  found  guilty 
of  high  treason,  "  in  plotting  to  overturn  the  con- 


1  See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  560. 


stitution  of  the  kingdom,  and  sentenced  to  be 
broken  alive  on  the  wheel." 

In  the  Queen's  Road,  adjoining  the  Royal  Hos- 
pital, with  its  gardens  stretching  down  towards  the 
river,  and  close  by  the  spot  where  formerly  stood 
the  residence  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  is  the  Victoria 
Hospital  for  Sick  Children.  The  building,  which 
was  converted  to  its  present  use  in  1866,  was  for- 
merly known  as  Gough  House.  It  was  built  by 
John,  Earl  of  Carberry — one  of  the  "  noble  authors ' 
mentioned  by  Horace  Walpole — at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  last  century.  The  estate  afterwards 
came  into  the  possession  of  the  Gough  family,  and 
the  house  subsequently  was  made  use  of  for  many 
years  as  a  school  for  young  ladies.  The  house  has 
lately  been  raised  a  storey,  and  additional  wards 
have  been  provided.  These  improvements  were 
effected  at  an  expense  of  about  .£3,000,  and  the 
hospital  was  formally  re-opened  by  the  Princess 
Louise. 

At  the  eastern  end  of  Queen's  Road,  forming 
one  side  of  a  broad  and  open  thoroughfare,  connect- 
ing Sloane  Street  with  new  Chelsea  Bridge,  stand 
some  fine  barracks  for  the  Foot  Guards,  erected 
about  the  year  1863.  They  are  constructed  in  a 
substantial  manner  with  light-coloured  brick,  re- 
lieved with  rustic  quoins  of  red  brick,  and  they 
consist  of  several  commodious  blocks  of  buildings, 
the  largest  of  which  contains  quarters  for  the 
officers,  &c.  They  afford  accommodation  for  about 
1,000  men.  It  has  been  said,  perhaps  with  some 
truth  till  lately,  that  this  is  the  only  handsome 
structure  in  the  way  of  barracks  to  be  seen  in  the 
entire  metropolis.  If  so,  the  assertion  is  not  very 
creditable  to  our  character  as  a  nation,  considering 
the  duties  that  we  owe  to  those  who  defend  our 
homes  and  our  commerce  in  the  field. 

In  1809,  the  Serpentine  —  which  joined  the 
Thames  by  Ranelagh — rose  so  high  as  to  overflow 
its  banks,  and  boats  were  employed  in  carrying 
passengers  between  the  old  Bun-house  and  Chelsea 
Hospital. 

Mr.  Larwood,  in  his  "  History  of  Sign-boards," 
says  that  there  is,  or,  at  all  events,  was  in  1866,  in 
Bridge  Row,  a  public-house  bearing  the  sign  of  the 
"  Chelsea  Water-works."  These  water-works,  after 
which  it  was  named,  were  constructed  about  the 
year  1 724.  A  canal  was  dug  from  the  Thames,  near 
Ranelagh  to  Pimlico,  where  an  engine  was  placed 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  the  water  into  pipes,  which 
conveyed  it  to  Chelsea,  Westminster,  and  other 
parts  of  western  London.  The  reservoirs  in  Hyde 
Park  and  the  Green  Park  were  supplied  by  pipes 
from  the  Chelsea  Waterworks,  which,  in  1767, 
yielded  daily  1,750  tons  of  water. 


84 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


CHELSEA   WATER-WORKS,    IN    1750.       (Set  page  83.) 


CHAPTER    VIII. 
CHELSEA  (^//K^). -CREMORNE  GARDENS, 

"  Where  smiling  Chelsea  spreads  the  cultured  lands, 

Sacred  to  Flora,  a  pavilion  stands  ; 
And  yet  a  second  temple  neighboring  near 


yea 


"—An 


Chelsea  Farm,  the  Residence  of  Lord  Cremorne— Cremorne  Gardens— Attempts  at  Aerial  Navigation— Ashburnham  House— The  Ashburnham 
Tournament— The  "Captive"  Balloon— Turner's  Last  Home— Noted  Residents  in  Lindsey  Row— The  King's  Road— The  Old  Burial-ground 
—St.  Mark's  College-The  "World's  End"  Tavern -Chelsea  Common— Famous  Nurseries— Chelsea  Park— The  "Goat  in  Boots"— The 
Queen's  Elm— The  Jews'  Burial-ground— Shaftesbury  House— The  Workhouse— Sir  John  Cope— Robert  Boyle,  the  Philosopher  aad 
Chemist— The  Earl  of  Orrery— Mr.  Adrian  Haworth— Dr.  Atterbury— Shadwell,  the  Poet— The  "White  Horse"  Inn— Mr.  H.  S. 
Woodfall-The  Original  of  "Strap  the  Barber"  in  "Roderick  Random  "-Danvers  Street-Justice  Walk-The  Old  Wesleyan  Chapel- 
Chelsea  China-Lawrence  Street-Tobias  Smollett-Old  Chelsea  Stage-coaches-Sir  Richard  Steele  and  other  Noted  Residents-The  Old 

tional  Church— Royal  Avenue  Skating-rink— Sloane  Square-Bloody  Bridge— Chelsea,  Brompton,  and  Belgrave  Dispensary— Royal  Court 
Theatre— Hans  Town-Sloane  Street-Trinity  Church— Sloane  Terrace  Wesleyan  Chapel— Sir  C.  W.  Dilke,  Bart— Ladies'  Work  Society- 
Hans  Town  School  of  Industry  for  Girls— "Count  Cagliostro  "-An  Anecdote  of  Professor  Porson— Chelsea  House— St.  Mary's  Roman 
Catholic  Chapel— The  "  Marlborough  Tavern  "—Hans  Place— Miss  Letitia  E.  Landon— The  Pavilion— St.  Saviour's  Church— Prince's 
Cricket  ground  and  Skating-rink— The  "  South  Australian." 

A  FEW  hundred  yards  to  the  west  of  old  Battersea    by  George  III.,  Queen  Charlotte,  and  the  Prince  of 
Bridge,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  were  the  cele-    Wales.     In  1825  the  house  and  grounds  devolved 


brated  Cremorne  Gardens,  so  named  after  Thomas 
Dawson,  Lord  Cremorne,  the  site  of  whose  former 
suburban  residence  and  estate  they  covered.  They 
proved,  to  a  very  great  extent,  the  successors 
of  "Kuper's,"  Vauxhall,  and  Ranelagh.  In  the 
early  part  of  the  present  century,  Lord  Cremorne's 
mansion,  known  as  Chelsea  Farm,  was  often  visited 


on  Mr.  Granville  Penn,  a  cousin  of  Lady  Cremome, 
who  much  improved  the  estate,  but  subsequently 
disposed  of  it.  The  natural  beauty  of  the  situation 
soon  afterwards  led  to  the  grounds  being  opened  to 
the  public  as  the  "  Stadium,"  and  a  few  years  later 
the  gardens  were  laid  out  with  great  taste ;  the 
tavern  adjoining  them  was  enlarged,  and  the  place 


ASHBURNHAM    HOUSE. 


became  the  resort  of  a  motley  crowd  of  pleasure- 
seekers,  and  generally  well  attended.  To  a 
recent  period  it  retained  most  of  its  original 
features.  At  night  during  the  summer  months  the 
grounds  were  illuminated  with  numberless  coloured 
lamps ,  and  there  were  various  ornamental  buildings, 
grottoes,  &c,  together  with  a  theatre,  concert-room, 
and  dining-hall.  The  amusements  provided  were  of 
a  similar  character  to  those  which  were  presented 


Ashburnham  House,  which  stood  on  the  west 
of  the  gardens,  was  built  about  the  middle  of  the  last 
century  by  Dr.  Benjamin  Hoadley,  an  eminent 
physician,  after  whose  death  it  was  purchased  by 
Sir  Richard  Glynn,  who  sold  it  to  the  Earl  of  Ash- 
burnham, from  whom  it  obtained  its  present  name. 
It  was  next  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  Cadogan, 
and  again  changing  hands  at  different  periods,  ulti- 
mately became  the  residence  of  the  Hon  Leicester 


D,"  IN  1790.     (Sie  fa«t  87-) 


at  Vauxhall  Gardens  in  its  palmy  days  :  such  as 
vocal  and  instrumental  concerts,  balloon  ascents, 
dancing,  fireworks,  &c.  Several  remarkable  balloon 
ascents  were  made  from  these  grounds,  notably 
among  them  being  that  of  Mr.  Hampton,  who,  in 
1839,  ascended  with  a  balloon  and  parachute,  by 
which  he  descended  from  a  height  of  about  two 
miles.  More  recently  an  attempt  at  aerial  naviga- 
tion was  made  from  Cremorne  by  a  foreigner,  M. 
de  Groof.  The  apparatus  was  suspended  beneath 
the  car  of  a  balloon,  and  when  the  aeronaut  had 
reached  a  considerable  height,  the  machine  was 
liberated ;  but  owing  to  some  defect  in  its  con- 
struction, it  immediately  collapsed  and  fell  to  the 
ground  with  a  fearful  crash,  killing  its  unfortunate 
occupant  on  the  spot. 
200 


Stanhope,  afterwards  Earl  of  Harrington.  A  strip 
of  waste  ground  between  Ashburnham  House  and 
the  river,  called  the  "  Lots,"  was  for  many  years 
"a  bone  of  contention"  between  the  residents  in 
the  neighbourhood  and  the  Chelsea  Vestry,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  disgraceful  scenes  carried  on  by  a 
large  number  of  "  roughs  "  who  were  in  the  habit  of 
meeting  there.  Here,  in  1863,  in  a  large  pavilion 
prettily  draped  with  the  flags  of  all  nations  and  a 
variety  of  heraldic  trophies  and  allegorical  devices, 
a  sensational  entertainment  on  a  scale  of  great 
splendour  was  given,  in  the  shape  of  a  revival 
of  the  Eglinton  "tournament."  A  large  number 
of  persons  took  part  in  it  as  heralds,  seneschals, 
yeomen,  pages,  men-at-arms,  squires,  and  banner- 
bearers,  clad  in  an  almost  endless  variety  of  shining 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


armour  and  mediaeval  costume.    In  1869,  a  monster  |  bourhood.      Soon  after  the  Restoration,  however, 
balloon,  nearly  100  feet  in  diameter,  made  daily    it  was  found  that  it  might  be  made  to  serve  as  a 


ascents  for  some  time  from  these  grounds.  The 
balloon,  appropriately  called  "  The  Captive,"  was 
secured  by  a  rope  about  2,000  feet  long,  which 
was  let  out  and  wound  in  by  steam  power.  The 
Captive  balloon,  however,  one  day  escaped  from 
its  moorings,  and  the  exhibition  was  discontinued. 
•  In  a  small  house  close  to  Cremorne  Pier,  Mr. 
J.  M.  W.  Turner,  R.A.,  resided  for  some  time, 
under  an  assumed  name,  and  here,  as  we  have 


more  direct  road  for  the  king  between  St.  James's 
or  Whitehall  and  Hampton  Court  Palace;  and, 
accordingly,  after  some  discussion  between  the 
Government  and  the  parishioners  of  Chelsea,  it 
was  converted  into  an  ordinary,  coach-road.  It 
continued  to  be  the  private  road  of  royalty  down 
to  the  reign  of  George  III.  Pass  tickets,  ad- 
mitting passengers  along  it  by  sufferance,  are  still 
existence;  they  bear  on  the  one  side  a  crov 


already  stated,*  he  died  in   1851.     Whilst  living  !  and  "G.  R,"  and  on  the  other,  as  a  legend,  "The 


here,  Turner  would  not  see  any  person,  excepting 
a  very  few  intimate  friends,  and,  in  fact,  was  too 
reserved  to  allow  himself  to  be  recognised.  This 
inclination  at  the  close  of  his  life,  perhaps;  was  only 
natural.  Doubtless,  Chelsea  is  proud  to  add  his 
name  to  its  list  of  distinguished  residents. 

Close  by,  in  Lindsey  Row,  lived  Sir  Mark  Isam- 
bard  Brunei,  the  originator  and  designer  of  the 
Thames  Tunnel ;  and  Mr.  Timothy  Bramah,  the 
distinguished  locksmith.  Here,  too,  resided  Mr. 
John  Martin,  R.A.  The  Rev.  A.  C.  Coxe,  in  his 
"Impressions  of  England,"  published  in  1851, 
speaking  of  Chelsea,  says  : — "  We  landed  not  far 
from  this  church,  and  called  upon  John  Martin, 
whose  illustrations  of  Milton  and  '  Belshazzar's 


Feast '  have  rendered  him  celebrated 


ii  painter 


of  a  certain  class  of  subjects,  and  in  a  very  peculiar 


King's  Private  Road." 

Along  this  road  is  the  burial-ground  belonging 
to  the  parish  of  Chelsea,  in  which  lies  Andrew 
Millar,  the  original  publisher  of  Hume's  "  History 
of  England,"  Thomson's  "  Seasons,"  and  some 
of  Fielding's  novels. 

The  Duke  of  York  was  thrown  from  his  horse 


whilst  riding  along  this 


towards  Fulham ;  he 


had  two  ribs  broken.  John  Timbs  records  that, 
"  near  the  spot  where  is  now  the  Vestry  Hall,  the 
Earl  of  Peterborough  was  stopped  by  highwaymen 
in  what  was  then  a  narrow  lane ;  and  the  robbers, 
being  watched  by  some  soldiers,  who  formed  a 
part  of  the  guard  at  Chelsea  College,  were  fired  at 
from  behind  the  hedge.  One  of  these  highwaymen 
turned  out  to  be  a  student  in  the  Temple,  whose 
father  having  lost  his  estate,  his  son  lived  by  '  play, 


style.  He  was  engaged  on  a  picture  of  '  The  Judg-  sharping,  and  a  little  on  the  highway ' — the  despe- 
ment,'  full  of  his  mannerism,  and  sadly  blemished  rate  resources  of  the  day." 

by  offences  against  doctrinal  truth,  but  not  devoid  Nearly  opposite  Ashburnham  House,  on  the 
of  merit  or  of  interest.  He  asked  about  Allston  '  north  side  of  the  King's  Road,  is  St.  Mark's  College, 
and  his  '  Belshazzar,'  and  also  made  inquiries  j  which  was  established  in  1841  by  the  National 
about  Morse,  of  whose  claim  as  the  inventor  of  the  I  Society,  as  a  training  institution  for  schoolmasters, 
electric  telegraph  he  was  entirely  ignorant."  !  The  residence  of  the  principal  was  formerly  known 

Mr.  Henry  Constantine  Jennings,  an  antiquary  !  as  Stanley  House,  and  was  originally  built  in  the 
and  virtuoso,  settled  in  Lindsey  Row  at  the  close  '  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  by  Sir  Arthur  Gorges, 
of  the  last  century.  His  "  museum,"  which  com-  whose  family  at  that  time  possessed  considerable 
prised  a  large  collection  of  shells,  minerals,  pre-  '  property  in  Chelsea.  About  the  middle  of  the  last 
served  birds,  quadrupeds,  &c.,  was  disposed  of  by  century  it  became  the  property  of  the  Countess  of 
auction  in  1820.  Strathmore,  who  afterwards  married  Captain  A.  R. 

Leading  from  the  site  of  Cremorne  Gardens  Bowes,  whose  barbarity  to  her  drew  on  him  the 
eastward  through  Chelsea,  is  a  broad  thorough-  '  execration  of  the  country.  About  the  year  1815, 
fare,  called  the  King's  Road ;  and  by  this  road  we  Stanley  House  was  sold  to  Mr.  William  Hamilton, 
shall  now  proceed  on  our  way  backward  towards  !  from  whom  it  subsequently  passed  to  the  National 
Sloane  Street,  picking  up  such  scraps  of  information  |  Society.  The  college  accommodates  about  no 
respecting  the  neighbourhood  on  either  side  as  the  j  students,  and  the  period  of  training  is  for  two 
records  of  the  district  have  left  for  our  use.  Re-  'years,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  Com- 
specting  the  King's  Road  itself,  we  may  state  that,  mittee  of  Council  on  Education.  The  chapel, 
prior  to  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  it  was  only  a  narrow  'which  abuts  on  the  Fulham  Road,  is  an  unpre- 
lane  through  the  fields,  for  the  convenience  of  the  tending  building ;  but  a  certain  amount  of  effect 
farmers  and  gardeners  who  had  lands  in  the  neigh-  is  produced  in  the  interior  by  the  stained-glass 

windows.     The  buildings  of  the  college   form  a 
quadrangle,  erected  in  the  Italian  style;  and  there 


•  See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  <48. 


Chelsea.] 


CHELSEA    COMMON. 


is  also  in  the  grounds  an  octagonal  building,  used  as 
a  practising  school.  The  first  Principal  of  the  col- 
lege, and  indeed  its  joint-founder,  the  Rev.  Denvent 
Coleridge,  a  son  of  the  poet,  died  in  1883. 

In  the  King's  Road,  near  Milman  Street,  is  an 
inn  styled  "The  World's  End."  The  old  tavern, 
like  the  "  World's  End  "  at  Knightsbridge,  already 
described,*  was  a  noted  house  of  entertainment 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  The  tea-gardens  and 
grounds  were  extensive,  and  elegantly  fitted  up. 
The  house  was  probably  called  "  The  World's  End  " 
on  account  of  its  then  considerable  distance  from 
London,  and  the  bad  state  of  the  roads  and  path- 
ways leading  to  it.  It  figures  in  a  dialogue  in 
Congreve's  "  Love  for  Love  "  in  a  manner  which 
implies  that  it  bore  no  very  high  character. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  present  century, 
the  King's  Road  was  a  very  different  place  from 
what  it  is  now.  The  line  of  road  was  almost  ex. 
clusively  occupied  by  nurserymen  and  florists,  and 
it  became,  in  consequence,  to  a  certain  extent,  a 
fashionable  resort  for  the  nobility  and  gentry.  The 
road,  in  most  parts,  was  very  narrow,  and  the 
different  grounds  were  mostly  enclosed  in  wooden 
palings.  At  night  there  were  only  a  few  gloomy 
oil-lamps,  and  the  lives  and  property  of  the  inhabi- 
tants were  principally  entrusted  to  a  small  number 
of  private  watchmen.  Northward  of  the  King's 
Road,  at  no  very  distant  date,  a  considerable  extent 
of  land,  stretching  away  to  the  Fulham  Road,  was 
a  vast  open  heath,  known  as  Chelsea  Common. 
Standing  in  the  central  space,  which  has,  singularly 
enough,  been  left  as  a  memorial  of  the  old  common, 
and  looking  at  the  streets  now  branching  off  in 
various  directions,  it  is  not  easy  to  call  up  visions 
of  the  past — say  two  hundred  years  ago — when 
this  locality  was  probably  as  agreeable  a  spot  as 
Clapham  or  Wimbledon  Commons  in  our  own 
time. 

Faulkner  conjectures  that  the  Fulham  Road 
formed  the  north  boundary  of  the  common,  and 
on  the  south  it  reached  to  some  nursery  grounds 
abutting  on  the  King's  Road,  which  said  nursery 
grounds,  one  may  conjecture,  had  been  cut  off  the 
common  by  some  party  or  parties  in  the  days  when 
land  boundaries  were  not  always  kept  with  care. 
Westward,  the  common  must  have  extended  about 
to  the  line  of  Robert  and  Sydney  Streets,  and  east- 
ward to  "  Blackland's  Lane,"  as  it  was  first  called, 
afterwards  Marlborough  Road;  or  perhaps  origi- 
nally the  common  was  bounded  by  the  road  or  lane 
which  is  now  Sloane  Street.  It  is  first  spoken  of 
as  "  Chelsea  Heath,"  and  it  appears  to  have  been 


j  covered,  at  least  in  part,  with  heath  and  furze, 
therein  resembling  some  of  the  Surrey  commons. 
One  of  the  earliest  records  concerning  Chelsea 
Common  tells  us  the  fact  that  the  City  train-bands 
used  to  repair  to  it  for  exercise,  and  that,  in  the 
disturbed  times  of  Charles  I.,  reviews  of  troops  were 
more  than  once  held  there. 

This  common  was  used  in  former  times  as  a 
means  of  raising  money  for  the  benefit  of  the  parish. 
We  have  particulars  relating  to  such  a  usage  as  far 
back  as  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  when  the  re-build- 
ing of  the  church  having  been  resolved  upon,  Lord 
Lindsey,  Charles  Cheyne,  and  those  interested  in 
the  common,  agreed  to  enclose  it  for  twenty-one 
years,  the  term  commencing  in  March,  1674.  On 
the  expiration  in  1695,  the  ground  was  again 
thrown  open.  Somewhat  more  than  a  century 
later — namely,  in  1713 — articles  were  drawn  up, 
Sir  Hans  Sloane  being  then  lord  of  the  manor,  in 
which,  amid  sundry  other  recitals,  it  is  stated  that 
the  ground  at  Chelsea  Common  having  been  put  to 
various  unlawful  uses,  the  holders  decide  to  let  it 
for  three  years  to  one  John  Hugget.  It  was  stipu- 
lated that  he  was  to  fence  the  common  "with  a 
good  bank  and  a  ditch  all  around,"  which  it  is  pro- 
bable that  he  did,  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parties, 
as  he  had  his  term  renewed  from  time  to  time. 

An  Act  passed  in  the  reign  of  George  I.,  which 
empowered  the  surveyor  of  the  London  roads  to 
dig  up  gravel  on  any  common  or  waste  land  con- 
venient to  him,  gave  rise  to  some  disputes  in 
Chelsea.  The  parties  interested  in  the  common 
were  informed  that  much  gravel  had  been  removed 
from  Chelsea,  and  they  objected  to  this,  but  the 
Government  paid  little  heed  to  the  complaint. 
The  agents  of  the  surveyor  were  warned  off,  though 
not  expelled  by  physical  force  ;  and  they  went  away 
I  for  awhile,  to  come  back  at  the  next  good  oppor- 
|  tunity.  This  matter  was  not  finally  settled  till 
1736;  for  some  years  previous  to  that,  however,  a 
regular  account  was  kept  of  all  the  gravel  removed, 
and  payment  demanded  (and  obtained)  from  those 
who  kept  the  roads.  It  was  also  in  the  early  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century  that  an  enterprising  indi- 
vidual, probably  short  of  money,  set  up  an  experi- 
mental turnpike  on  part  of  the  waste  ground  on  the 
common  near  Blackland's  Lane.  The  Chelsea 
authorities  fined  him  heavily,  and  his  scheme  was 
forthwith  abandoned. 

It  was  not  until  some  years  after  an  Act  had 
been  obtained  for  the  purpose,  that  the  first  streets 
were  formed  on  what  had  been  Chelsea  Common. 
The  earliest  building  lease  appears  to  bear  date  in 
1790,  being  to  the  Hon.  George  Cadogan.  The 
streets,  square,  grove  (for  there  is  at  least  one  of 


gg  OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON'. 


each  of  these—  Marlborough  Square  and  White-  by  persons  who  have  had  to  do  with  the  Royal 
head's  Grove),  and  the  bye-lanes,  display  all  the  Hospital 

variety  to  be  expected  under  the  circumstances,  Chelsea  Park,  also  situated  on  the  north  side  of 
as  a  number  of  men  took  sites  of  very  different  the  King's  Road,  was  part  of  the  property  of  Sir 
sizes,  and  no  general  plan  was  attempted  to  be  Thomas  More.  It  originally  consisted  of  about 
carried  oat  '  thirty  acres,  and  was  enclosed  with  a  brick  wall, 

About  the  spot  now  occupied  by  Pond  Place,  but  this  has  gradually  given  way  to  the  erection 
there  were,  as  may  be  conjectured,  one  or  more  of  buildings.  Towards  the  beginning  of  the  last 
ponds,  which  supplied  water  to  the  cattle  grazing  century  a  manufactory  for  raw  silk  was  established 
on  the  common.  It  is  worthy  of  being  remem-  ;  here,  and  a  number  of  mulberry-trees  were  planted 
bered  that  William  Curtis,  the  botanist,  once  lived  for  the  purpose,  but  the  scheme  proved  unsuccess- 
in  Pond  Place  ;  he  was  originally  an  apothecary's  fuL  Park  Walk,  which  now  crosses  this  locality 
assistant,  but  his  fondness  for  botany  led  him  to  from  the  King's  Road  to  Fnlham  Road,  appears 
give  himself  entirely  to  its  study,  as  soon  as  his  in  old  maps  as  "  Lover's  Walk,"  and  was  planted 
means  allowed  him.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneers  with  trees.  The  "  Goat  in  Boots  "  is  the  sign  of 
in  the  formation  of  those  Natural  History  Societies  a  public-house  at  the  end  of  Park  Walk,  in  the 
which  have  spread  themselves  in  every  part  of  our  t  Fulham  Road.  It  is  said  that  the  old  sign  was 
islands  ;  and  his  "  Botanical  Magazine,"  begun  painted  by  George  Morland,  in  order  to  liquidate 
in  1787,  met  with  a  sale  which  in  that  day  was  a  bill  incurred  during  a  residence  here.  In  old 
looked  upon  as  something  remarkable.  Curtis  at  deeds  the  inn  is  called  simply  "  The  Goat." 
first  opened  a  botanical  garden  in  Lambeth  Marsh,  |  A  short  distance  eastward,  at  the  corner  of  Upper 
and  subsequently  removed  his  collection  of  plants  Church  Street,  is  the  Queen's  Elm  Hotel,  which 
to  a  nursery-ground  at  Queen's  Elm,  Brompton.  j  keeps  in  remembrance  a  story  traditionally  told  re- 
Two  noted  nurseries  in  the  King's  Road  abutted  specting  the  Virgin  Queen.  The  tavern  is  men- 
on  Chelsea  Common,  which  were  favourite  resorts  j  tioned  in  the  parish  books  of  Chelsea  as  far  back  as 


in  the  reign  of  George  III.  and  later.  Colvill's 
nursery,  at  the  end  of  Blackland's  Lane,  had,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century,  what  was  con- 
sidered a  large  and  splendid  conservatory,  in  which 
the  visitor  was  told  there  might  be  counted  five 


1667,  under  the  name  of  the  Queen's  Tree,  and 
the  tradition  is  that  it  derived  its  name  from  the 
fact  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  on  her  way  to  or  from  a 
visit  to  Lord  Burleigh  at  Brompton  Hall,  being 
caught  in  a  shower  of  rain,  and  taking  shelter  under 


hundred  species  of  geranium.  Also,  there  was  a  !  the  branches  of  a  wide-spreading  and  friendly  eli 
green-house,  specially  arranged  so  as  to  show  the  |  which  grew  on  the  spot  The  Queen's  Elm,  it  may 
mode  of  growth  of  exotic  parasitical  plants.  The  j  be  added,  is  mentioned  in  the  parish  books  of 
memory  of  this  nursery  was  kept  up  by  "  Colvill  Chelsea  as  far  back  as  the  year  1586,  where  it  is 
Terrace,"  now  extinguished  by  the  uniform  num-  stated  that  "the  tree  at  the  end  of  Duke's  Walk, 
bering  of  the  King's  Road.  To  the  west  of  that  in  Chelsea  parish,  is  called  the  Queen's  Tree,"  and 
ground  was  Davey's  nursery,  also  fronting  the  j  that  "there  was  an  arbour  built  round  it  by  one 
King's  Road.  I  Bostocke,  at  the  charge  of  the  parish."  There  was 

Beyond  these  nursery-grounds,  and  also  surround-  formerly  a  turnpike-gate  at  Queen's  Elm  ;  and  "a 
ing  Chelsea  Common  on  the  south  side,  were  large  I  court  of  guard  "  there  is  mentioned  among  the 
orchards ;  but  these  shared  the  fate  of  the  waste  !  defences  around  London  that  were  ordered  to  be 
land,  and  are  now,  for  the  most  part,  covered  with  prepared  by  the  Parliament  in  1642 
houses.  Jubilee  Place  was  built  about  1810,  and  ;  The  Jews'  burial-ground,  situate  at  Queen's  Elm, 
doubtless  received  its  name  in  memory  of  the  !  was  formed,  early  in  the  present  century  on  a 
attainment  by  George  III.  of  the  fiftieth  year  of  his  '  piece  of  land  purchased  for  that  purpose.  '  Much 
^LeK?!gnt.yl  _Kmg  Street>  t0°'  !n  !he  immediate  |  of  ^e  ground  hereabouts,  now  known  as  West 

Brompton,  was  in  former  times  called  the  hamlet 
of  Little  Chelsea.  Towards  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  Lord  Shaftesbury,  the  author  of 
"  Characteristics,"  purchased  an  estate  here.  He 
rebuilt  the  house,  and  generally  resided  there  during 
the  sitting  of  Parliament  Locke  here  wrote  part 
of  his  "  Essay,"  and  Addison  several  of  the  "  Spec- 
tators." Of  Lord  Shaftesbury's  letters  there  are 
several  extant,  dated  from  Chelsea,  in  1708.  The 


ity,  we  may  suppose  received  its  name  in 
honour  of  that  particular  monarch.  Russell  Street 
was  originally  called  Wellesley  Street,  a  name 
meant  to  do  honour  to  a  family  bearing  an  illus- 
trious name,  which,  as  we  have  already  stated,  once 
furnished  Chelsea  with  a  rector.  The  names  of 
Marlborough,  Blenheim,  and  College  Street,  applied 
to  some  of  the  streets  and  places  hereabouts,  may 
perhaps  lead  to  the  belief  that  they  were  so  named 


SHAFTESBURY   HOUSE. 


mansion  was  subsequently  converted  into  an  addi 
tional  workhouse  for  the  parish  of  St.  George 
Hanover  Square. 

Mrs.  S.  Carter  Hall,  in  her  "Pilgrimages  to 
English  Shrines,"  gives  us  the  following  account  o 
Shaftesbury  House : — "The  lodge  at  the  entrance 
as  you  see,  is  peculiar,  the  gate  being  of  old 
wrought  iron.  The  porter  permitted  us  to  pass  in 
and  while  he  sought  the  master,  we  had  leisure  to 
look  around  us.  The  stone  steps  are  of  old  times 
they  are  wide,  and  much  worn ;  a  low  wall  flanks 
either  side ;  and  on  the  right,  downwards,  are  steps 
of  narrower  dimensions  leading  to  the  underground 
apartments.  When  we  entered,  we  perceived  that 
the  hall  is  panelled  in,  so  as  to  form  a  passage ; 
but  this  is  a  modern  innovation ;  there  can  be 
no  doubt  of  its  having  been,  in  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury's  time,  a  good-sized  hall ;  the  banisters  and 
supporters  of  the  very  handsome  staircase  are  in 
admirable  preservation,  delicately  rather  than  richly 
carved  in  oak,  and  not  at  all  injured ;  the  stairs 
are  also  of  oak.  What  remains  of  the  old  house 
is  chopped  up,  as  it  were,  into  small  apartments, 
but  there  are  rich  and  varied  indications  of  the 
'  light  of  other  days '  to  illumine  the  whole.  Over 
several  of  the  doors  are  strips  of  paintings,  which, 
as  well  as  can  be  seen  through  thick  varnish,  are 
the  productions  of  no  feeble  pencil.  With  a  little 
trouble  these  old  paintings  can  be  made  out,  but 
they  would  seem  bitter  mockeries,  occupied  as  the 
house  at  present  is ;  and  yet  one  of  the  inmates 
said,  '  She  liked  to  look  up  at  that  bit  of  picture 
when  she  was  sick  a-bed :  it  took  away  the  notion 
of  a  workhouse.'  Surely  art  might  be  made  even 
a  teacher  here.  Some  of  the  rooms  retain  an 
antique  air." 

In  1733,  a  workhouse  was  erected  on  a  piece  of 
ground  "  near  the  conduit  in  the  King's  Road," 
which  had  been  given  by  Sir  Hans  Sloane.  Over 
the  chimney-piece  was  a  picture,  by  a  Flemish 
painter,  of  a  woman  spinning  thread,  with  the 
legend,  "  Waste  not,  want  not" 

A  noted  resident  in  Little  Chelsea,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  last  century,  was  Sir  John  Cope, 
so  famous  in  the  rebellion  of  1745.  His  house, 
having  been  subsequently  used  as  a  private  asylum, 
was  pulled  down ;  on  its  site  Odell's  Place  was 
erected.  Mr.  Robert  Boyle,  the  distinguished 
philosopher  and  chemist,  a  son  of  Richard,  Earl  of 
Cork,  resided  here  in  1660.  Here  he  was  visited 
by  the  learned  and  eminent  of  his  time — amongst 
others,  by  M.  de  Monconys,  who,  in  his  "  Travels," 
after  informing  us  how  that,  after  dinner,  he  went 
with  his  son  and  Mr.  Oldenburg  "  two  miles  from 
London  in  a  stage-coach,  for  five  shillings,  to  a 


village  called  Little  Chelsea,  to  visit  Mr.  Boyle," 
gives  an  account  of  several  experiments  which  that 
gentleman  made  in  his  presence,  and  then  proceeds  : 
— "  He  has  a  very  fine  laboratory,  where  he  makes 
all  his  extracts  and  other  operations,  one  of  which 
he  showed  me  with  salt,  which  being  put  in  quite 
dry  with  gold  leaves  sixteen  times  thicker  than  that 
used  by  gilders  into  a  crucible  on  a  slow  fire,  even 
over  a  lighted  candle,  the  salt  calcined  the  gold  so 
perfectly  that  water  afterwards  dissolved  them  both 
and  became  impregnated  with  them,  in  the  same 
manner  as  with  common  salt."  Evelyn,  in  his 
"Diary,"  has  also  recorded  a  visit  to  the  same 
place.  "  I  went,"  he  writes,  "  with  that  excellent 
person  and  philosopher,  Sir  Robert  Murray,  to  visit 
Mr.  Boyle  at  Chelsea,  and  saw  divers  effects  of  the 
Eolipile,  for  weighing  air." 

Charles,  fourth  Earl  of  Orrery,  grand-nephew  of 
Mr.  Boyle,  was  born  at  Little  Chelsea  in  1676. 
He  was  the  improver  of  an  instrument  or  machine 
which  had  been  constructed  for  the  purpose  of 
exhibiting  the  motions  of  the  planets  round  the 
sun,  and  which  henceforth  was  called  the  Orrery, 
in  his  honour;  the  instrument,  which  was  held 
in  high  repute  in  the  last  century,  is,  however,  now 
regarded  as  little  more  than  an  ingenious  toy. 
Edward  Hyde,  third  Earl  of  Clarendon,  died  at 
his  house  at  Little  Chelsea  in  1723. 

Another  resident  of  this  part  of  Chelsea,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century,  was  Mr.  Adrian 
Haworth,  the  eminent  entomologist  and  botanist, 
author  of  "Lepidoptera  Britannica,"  "Miscellanea 
Naturalia,"  and  other  important  works.  He  was  a 
native  of  Hull,  lived  to  a  great  age,  and  here  he 
died. 

But  even  greater  names  are  connected  with 
Chelsea.  Within  only  a  short  distance  from  where 
we  are  now,  stood  the  abodes  of  Pym,  Locke, 
Addison,  Steele,  Swift,  and  Atterbury ;  and  the 
extinct  hamlet  of  Little  Chelsea  was  gilded  by 
the  greater  lights  of  the  Augustan  age  of  British 
literature. 

That  part  of  Church  Street  which  lies  between 
he  King's  Road  and  the  river  has  in  its  time 
lad  some  distinguished  residents.  The  thorough- 
are  itself  appears  to  have  been  built  at  a'  very 
early  period.  Here,  for  several  years,  lived  Dr. 
Atterbury,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Rochester,  whose 
committal  to  the  Tower  on  suspicion  of  being  con- 
cerned in  a  plot  in  favour  of  the  Pretender  was  one 
of  the  principal  events  at  the  commencement  of  the 
ast  century.  It  was  whilst  living  here  that  Dr. 
Atterbury  became  acquainted  with  Dean  Swift,  who, 
n  1711,  took  up  his  residence  opposite  the  doctor's 
louse.  Previous  to  becoming  a  resident  at  Chelsea, 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


Swift  was  a  frequenter  of  its  rural  scenes.  He 
writes,  in  May,  1711:—"!  leave  my  best  gown  and 
periwig  at  Mrs.  Van  Homrigh's  (in  Suffolk  Street),* 
then  walk  up  Pall  Mall,  out  at  Buckingham  House, 
and  so  to  Chelsea,  a  little  beyond  the  church.  I 


The  old  "White  Horse"  inn,  in  this  street, 
which  was  burnt  down  some  years  since — a  new  one 
being  substituted  for  it — was  a  very  ancient  struc- 
ture, built  in  the  Tudor  style  of  architecture.  The 
house  was  rich  in  ancient  panelling,  together  with 


set  out  about  sunset,  and  get  there  in  something 
less  than  an  hour  ;  it  is  two  good  miles,  and  just 
5,748  steps." 

Shadwell,  the  poet  laureate  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  was  another  inhabitant  of  Church  Street 
or  Church  Lane.  He  lived  in  a  house  which  had 
been  previously  occupied  by  Dr.  Arbuthnot. 


•  Sec  Vol.  IV.,  p.  , 


(Sit  fag*  58.) 


grotesque  ornaments  and  carving,  in  the  form  of 
brackets.  In  the  principal  room,  which  was  large, 
and  consequently  well  adapted  for  such  a  purpose, 
the  old  Parochial  Guardian  Society  mostly  held 
its  meetings. 

Another  remarkable  old  inn  in  the  same  street 
was  the  "  Black  Lion,"  which  was  situated  oppo- 
site the  rectory  garden  wall,  and  was  pulled  down 
a  few  years  ago  to  make  room  for  the  present 


FAMOUS    INNS   OF   FORMER   TIMES. 


OLD    CHELSEA    IN    1750. 
2.  The  Moravian  Chapel. 


3.  The  White  Horse  Inn. 


OLD    AND    NEW   LONDON. 


tavern,  which  still  retains  the  name.  It  is  supposed  quity,  and  deserves  mention  as  one  of  the  favourite 
that  the  old  tavern  was  in  its  full  glory  during  the  j  places  of  the  founder  of  that  community.  In  its 
ign  of  Charles  II. ;  for,  in  an  old  house  situated  j  pulpit  John  Wesley  preached  for  the  last  time  on 


at  the  corner  of  Danvers  Street,  coeval  with  it,  was 
an  old  pump,  which  the  present  proprietor,  who 
has  resided  there  for  sixty  years,  recently  pulled 
down.  It  bore  the  date  of  1697  on  a  leaden  panel 
of  the  pump.  The  old  tea-gardens  was,  no  doubt, 
the  resort  of  the  many  fashionable  families  which 
lived  in  the  neighbourhood ;  and  attached  to  it  was 
an  extensive  bowling-green  for  those  who  enjoyed 
that  fashionable  game. 

At  the  bottom  of  Church  Lane,  close  by  the  old 
church  in  Lombard  Street,  lived,  during  the  last 
twelve  years  of  his  life,  Mr.  Henry  Sampson  Wood- 
fall,  whose  name  was  brought  prominently  before 
the  public  as  the  printer  of  the  celebrated  "  Letters 
of  Junius."  He  used  jocularly  to  say  to  his 
Chelsea  friends  that  he  had  been  fined  and  confined 
by  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  fined  by  the  Houses 
of  Lords  and  Commons,  and  indicted  at  the  Old 
Bailey. 


Mr.  W.  Lewis,  bookbinder,  the  intimate  friend    land  has  been  carried  on  by  great  labou 


of  Dr.  Smollett,  and  his  fellow-companion  whilst 
journeying  from  Edinburgh  to  London,  lived  for 
many  years  in  this  street.  Lewis  figures  in  the 
novel  of  "  Roderick  Random,"  under  the  character 
of  "Strap  the  Barber."  The  description  of  the 
hero  of  the  novel  and  of  Strap,  upon  their  arrival 
in  London,  and  of  their  escapes  from  dangers  and 
impositions,  must  be  familiar  to  all  who  have  read 
that  work. 

Danvers  Street  takes  its  name  from  Danvers 
Gardens,  on  the  site  of  which  it  was  built  in  the 
latter  end  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Danvers 
House  adjoined,  if  it  was  not  actually  part  of,  the 
property  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  or  that  of  his  son-in- 
law,  Roper.  Sir  John  Danvers,  who  possessed  this 


February  i8th,  1791,  a  fortnight  before  his  death. 

Several  houses  at  the  corner  of  Justice  Walk  and 
Lawrence  Street  were  formerly  used  as  the  show- 
rooms and  manufactory  of  Chelsea  china.  The 
whole  of  the  premises  were  pulled  down  towards 
the  close  of  the  last  century,  and  new  houses 
erected  on  the  site.  "  The  manufactory  of  Chelsea 
porcelain,"  says  Mr.  Faulkner,  in  his  work  already 
quoted,  "  was  set  on  foot  and  carried  on  by  a 
Mr.  Spremont,  a  foreigner.  The  establishment  em- 
ployed a  great  number  of  hands ;  but  the  original 
proprietor,  having  acquired  a  large  fortune,  retired 
from  the  concern ;  and  his  successors,  wanting  his 
enterprise  and  spirit,  did  not  so  well  succeed,  and 
in  a  few  years  finally  abandoned  it.  Previous  to 
the  dissolution  of  the  establishment,  the  proprietors 
presented  a  memorial  respecting  it  to  the  Govern- 
ment, requesting  protection  and  assistance,  in 
which  they  stated  that  '  the  manufacture  ia  Eng- 


large  expense ;  it  is  in  many  respects  to  the  full 
as  good  as  the  Dresden  ;  and  the  late  Duke  of 
Orleans  told  Colonel  York  that  the  metal  or  earth 
had  been  tried  in  his  furnace,  and  was  found  to  be 
the  best  made  in  Europe.  It  is  now  daily  im- 
proving, and  already  employs  at  least  one  hundred 
hands,  of  which  is  a  nursery  of  thirty  lads,  taken  from 
the  parishes  and  chanty  schools,  and  bred  to  design- 
ing and  painting— arts  very  much  wanted  here,  and 
which  are  of  the  greatest  use  in  our  silk  and  printed 
linen  manufactories.'  Specimens  of  this  porcelain 
have  always  been  much  esteemed,  and  still  retain 
a  great  value.  At  the  sale  of  the  effects  of  Queen 
Charlotte,  the  articles  in  Chelsea  china,  of  which 


her  Majesty 


property  early  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  is  said  to    high  prices 

have  first  introduced  into  this  country  the  Italian    : — ' 

method  of  horticulture,  of  which  his  garden,  as 
represented  by  Kip,  was  a  beautiful  specimen. 
Danvers  House  passed  from  the  Danvers  family  to 
the  first  Marquis  of  Wharton,  in  the  reign  of  Queen 
Anne.  The  house  was  pulled  down  early  in  the 


lad  a  large  collection,  brought  very 
It  is  recorded  that  Dr.  Johnson  had 
conceived  a  notion  that  he  was  capable  of  improv- 
ing on  the  manufacture  of  china.  He  even  applied 
to  the  directors  of  the  Chelsea  China  Works,  and 
was  allowed  to  bake  his  compositions  in  their  ovens 
in  Lawrence  Street.  He  was  accordingly  accus- 
tomed to  go  down  with  his  housekeeper,  about 


last  century.  twice  a  week,  and  stay  the  whole  day,  she  carrying 

Justice  Walk,  which  extends  from  Church  Street  j  a  basket  of  provisions  with  her.     The  doctor,  who 

to  Lawrence  Street,  was   so  named  from  a  magis-  \  was  not  allowed  to  enter  the  mixing  room,  had 


trate  who  lived  in  it.  An  avenue  of  lime-trees 
formerly  adorned  it,  and  rendered  it  an  agreeable 
promenade  for  strollers.  In  this  thoroughfare  there 
is  a  commodious  Wesleyan  Chapel,  built  in  1841. 
The  exterior  is  plain  and  unpretending;  and  be- 
neath the  chapel  is  a  spacious  school-room.  The 
old  Wesleyan  Chapel  of  Chelsea  was  of  some  anti- 


access  to  every  other  part  of  the  premises,  and 
formed  his  composition  in  a  particular  apartment, 
without  being  overlooked  by  any  one.  He  had 
also  free  access  to  the  oven,  and  superintended 
the  whole  of  the  process ;  but  he  completely  failed, 
both  as  to  composition  and  baking,  for  his  materials 
always  yielded  to  the  intensity  of  the  heat,  while 


CHELSEA    CHINA. 


those  of  the  Company  came  out  of  the  furnace 
.perfect  and  complete.  Dr.  Johnson  retired  in 
disgust,  but  not  in  despair,  for  he  afterwards  gave 
a  dissertation  on  this  very  subject  in  his  works. 

Chelsea  china  seems  to  have  been  manufactured 
as  far  back  as  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  but  was 
not  brought  out  to  anything  like  perfection  till  the 
reign-  of  George  II.  He  and  the  Duke  of  Cumber- 
land were  the  great  patrons  of  the  Chelsea  China 
Works,  and  took  much  interest  in  promoting  the 
success  of  this  interesting  manufacture.  Beaumont 
painted  some  of  the  best  landscapes  on  it ;  Nolle- 
kens'  father  worked  there ;  and  Sir  James  Thornhill 
was  also  employed  in  designing  for  it.  The  clay 
for  the  Chelsea  china  was  brought  from  China  by 
merchant  captains,  who  procured  it  ostensibly  for 
ballast.  The  productions  of  the  Chelsea  furnaces 
were  thought  worthy  to  vie  with  those  of  the  cele- 
brated manufactories  of  Germany.  Walpole,  in  his 
correspondence  with  Sir  Horace  Mann,  mentions 
a  service  of  Chelsea  porcelain  sent  by  the  King 
and  Queen  to  the  Duke  of  Mecklenburg,  which 
cost  ;£i,2oo.  Possibly,  it  was  in  order  to  en- 
courage the  manufacture  that  George  II.  had  his 
coffee-pot  of  Chelsea  china  on  board  the  royal 
yacht.  It  was  evidently  made  for  the  ship,  as  it  has 
"ship"  burnt  in  at  the  bottom.  In  Mr.  Forster's 
notes  to  the  catalogue  of  the  sale  at  Stowe,  in 
1848— where  the  finest  specimens  of  "rare  old 
china,"  a  pair  of  small  vases,  painted  with  Roman 
triumphs,  sold  for  ^23  los. — it  is  stated  that 
George  II.  brought  over  artificers  from  Brunswick 
and  Saxony ;  whence,  probably,  M.  Brongniart 
terms  Chelsea  a  "Manufacture  Royale."  In  1745 
the  celebrity  of  Chelsea  porcelain  was  regarded 
with  jealousy  by  the  manufacturers  of  France,  who, 
therefore,  petitioned  Louis  XV.  to  concede  to  them 
exclusive  privileges. 

Chelsea  ware  has  always  held  a  high  rank  among 
the  varieties  of  English  pottery.  It  reached  its 
perfection  about  the  year  1750  ;  some  fifteen  years 
later,  owing  to  the  influx  of  foreign  china,  and  the 
death  of  the  director  of  the  Chelsea  works,  Spre- 
mont,  the  workmen  were  transferred  to  Derby, 
where  afterwards  arose  the  celebrated  Chelsea- 
Derby  manufacture,  which  marked  the  first  twenty 
years  of  the  reign  of  George  III.,  and  of  which 
Dr.  Johnson  remarked  that  it  was  "  very  beau- 
tiful, but  nearly  as  dear  as  silver." 

Lawrence  Street  derives  its  name  from  having 
been  erected  on  the  site  of  the  residence  of  the 
Lawrence  family,  which  flourished  here  in  the  days 
of  bluff  King  Hal.  It  is  uncertain  when  this  family 
first  settled  in  Chelsea ;  but  as  the  "  Lawrence 
Chapel,"  in  the  old  parish  church,  is  built  in  the 


style  of  architecture  which  prevailed  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fourteenth  century,  it  was  probably 
about  that  period,  or,  at  all  events,  some  time  before 
they  purchased  the  old  manor  house.  At  the 
"great  house"  in  this  street — commonly  called 
Monmouth  House — lived  Ann,  Duchess  of  Mon- 
mouth  and  Buccleuch,  widow  of  James,  Duke  of 
Monmouth.  Gay  was  for  some  time  secretary  to 
the  duchess,  as  stated  in  Johnson's  Life  of  the 
poet.  Dr.  Tobias  Smollett  afterwards  resided  in 
the  same  house. 

A  view  of  the  old  mansion,  which  was  taken 
down  in  1833,  and  a  fac-simile  of  an  autograph 
letter,  dated  thence  in  1756,  and  addressed  to 
Richardson,  the  actor,  are  to  be  seen  in  Smith's 
"  Historical  and  Literary  Curiosities."  The  letter 
is  of  more  than  ordinary  interest,  as  Smollett 
writes  thus  frankly  on  a  literary  subject : — "  I  was 
extremely  concerned  to  find  myself  suspected  of  a 
silly,  mean  insinuation  against  Mr.  Richardson's 
writings,  which  appeared  some  time  ago  in  the 
Critical  Review ;  and  I  desired  my  friend,  Mr. 
Millar,  to  assure  you,  in  my  name,  that  it  was 
inserted  without  my  privity  or  concurrence."  It 
is  pleasant  to  know  that  this  frank  letter  was 
received  as  kindly  as  it  was  intended,  and  that 
one  of  those  many  "  Quarrels  of  Authors,"  which 
have  afforded  subjects  without  end  to  satirists  and 
essayists,  was  thus  avoided.  Smollett  has  im- 
mortalised this  spot  by  making  it  the  scene  of 
one  of  the  chapters  in  his  "  Humphrey  Clinker." 
Here  Smollett  wrote  his  "  Adventures  of  Ferdinand, 
Count  Fathom,"  the  "  Reprisals,  or  the  Tars  of 
Old  England,"  and  his  continuation  of  Hume's 
"  History  of  England."  He  was  editor  of  the 
Briton,  a  paper  set  up  to  support  Lord  Bute's 
ministry,  and  which  Wilkes  answered  by  his  cele- 
brated North  Briton. 

Between  Lawrence  Street  and  Church  Street,  in 
former  times,  was  the  stabling  for  the  old  Chelsea 
stage-coaches.  The  fare  for  inside  passengers  was 
is.  6d.;  outside,  is.;  and  no  intermediate  fare  of  a 
lower  sum  was  taken.  Such  are  the  changes,  how- 
ever, brought  about  by  the  "  whirligig  of  time," 
that  passengers  can  now  go  almost  from  one 
extremity  of  London  to  the  other  for  sixpence, 
and  Chelsea  can  now  be  reached  by  steamboat 
for  the  moderate  sum  of  twopence. 

Besides  the  residents  in  this  part  of  Chelsea  in 
former  times,  of  whom  we  have  already  spoken,  a 
few  more  remain  to  be  mentioned.  Sir  Richard 
Steele  occupied  a  house  not  far  from  the  water- 
side. In  a  letter  to  Lady  Steele,  dated  I4th  of 
February,  1716,  Sir  Richard  writes  : — "Mr.  Fuller 
and  I  came  hither  to  dine  in  the  air,  but  the  mail 


94 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


has  been  so  slow  that  we  are  benighted,  and  chuse 
to  lie  here  rather  than  go  this  road  in  the  dark. 
j[  lie  at  our  own  house,  and  my  friend  at  a  rela- 
tion's in  the  town."  Addison,  Steele's  coadjutor 
on  the  Spectator,  lived  for  some  time  close  by. 
Macaulay  says  that  he  (Addison)  enjoyed  nothing 
so  much  as  the  quiet  and  seclusion  of  his  villa  at 
Chelsea. 

At  the  house  of  a  clergyman  here,  Mrs.  Darby, 
the  mother  of  Mary  Robinson,  better  known  as 
"  Perdita,"  took  up  her  home,  with  her  children,  on 
being  deserted  by  her  husband  at  Bristol.  Soon 
afterwards  she  opened  a  girls'  school  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, in  which  she  was  aided  by  her  daughter. 

In  1823,  Mrs.  Somerville  went  to  live  in  Chelsea, 
her  husband  being  appointed  Physician  to  Chelsea 
Hospital.  She  speaks  of  it  as  a  "  dreary  and  un- 
healthy situation,"  and  adds  that  she  suffered  from 
sick  headaches  all  the  time.  Here  she  numbered 
among  her  friends  and  visitors  Lady  Noel  Byron 
and  her  daughter  Ada,  the  Napiers,  Maria  Edge- 
worth,  Lady  Bunbury,  and  Sir  James  Mackintosh. 
Here  Gilray,  the  caricaturist,  is  supposed  to  have 
been  born,  in  1757.  We  have  already  spoken  of 
the  unfortunate  career  of  this  celebrity  in  our 
account  of  St.  James's  Street.* 

John  Pym,  a  distinguished  member  of  the  House 
of  Commons  in  the  seventeenth  century,  resided 
here  for  several  years.  Count  D'Estrades,  who 
came  to  England  to  negotiate  the  sale  of  Dunkirk, 
as  ambassador  from  Louis  XIV.,  fixed  his  abode 
at  Chelsea  during  the  years  1661  and  1662.  "It 
was  usual  for  the  foreign  ambassadors  at  that  time 
to  make  their  public  entry  from  the  Tower  of 
London,  but  on  this  occasion  the  king  sent  his 
own  coaches  to  Chelsea  to  carry  the  ambassador, 
and  the  count  was  accompanied  by  the  equipages 
of  the  whole  of  the  foreign  diplomatic  corps  at  that 
time  in  London."t 

The  Rev.  David  Williams,  the  founder  of  the 
Royal  Literary  Fund,}  lived  here  for  some  time, 
keeping  a  school.  Here  he  had  Franklin  for  a 
guest  at  the  time  when  the  American  philosopher 
was  subjected  to  the  abuse  of  Wedderburn  before 
the  Privy  Council. 

Besides  its  literary  celebrities,  Chelsea  has  also 
had  its  heroines,  of  whom  mention  of  one  or  two 
will  suffice.  In  the  year  1739  was  interred,  in  the 
College  burying-ground,  Christian  Davies,  alias 
Mother  Ross,  who,  according  to  her  own  narrative, 
served  in  several  campaigns  under  King  William 
and  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  and  behaved  with 


:  Vol.  IV.,  p.  167.  f  Faulkner's  "  History  of  Chelsea." 

t  See  Vol.  IV.,  p  S43. 


signal  bravery.  During  the  latter  portion  of  her 
life  she  resided  here,  her  third  husband  being  a 
pensioner  in  the  college.  At  this  time  she  sub- 
sisted, as  she  tells  us,  principally  on  the  benevolence 
of  "  the  quality"  at  Court,  whither  she  went  twice 
a  week  in  a  hackney-coach,  old  age  and  infirmities 
having  rendered  her  unable  to  walk. 

The  famous  Hannah  Snell,  whose  history  is 
recorded  in  various  publications  of  the  year  1750, 
was  actually  at  that  time  put  upon  the  out-pensioners' 
list  at  Chelsea,  on  account  of  the  wounds  which  she 
received  at  the  siege  of  Pondicherry.  Her  singular 
story  excited  a  considerable  share  of  public  atten- 
tion, and  she  was  engaged  to  sing  and  perform 
the  military  exercises  at  various  places  of  public 
entertainment ;  some  time  afterwards  she  married 
one  Eyles,  a  carpenter,  at  Newbury.  A  lady  of 
fortune,  who  admired  the  heroism  and  eccentricity 
of  her  conduct,  having  honoured  her  with  particular 
notice,  became  godmother  to  her  son,  and  con- 
tributed liberally  to  his  education.  Mrs.  Eyles,  to 
the  day  of  her  death,  continued  to  receive  her 
pension,  which,  in  the  year  1786,  was  augmented 
by  a  special  grant  to  a  shilling  a  day.  In  the 
latter  part  of  her  life  she  discovered  symptoms  of 
insanity,  and  was  admitted  a  patient  into  Bethlehem 
Hospital,  where  she  died  in  1792. 

In  Smith  Street  died,  in  1855,  Mr.  Thomas 
Faulkner,  bookseller,  the  author  of  "  Histories  of 
Chelsea,  Hammersmith,  Putney,  and  Fulham,"  &c. 
As  a  topographer  he  contributed  in  the  number 
of  his  works  probably  more  than  any  other  person 
to  the  illustration  of  the  history  and  antiquities  of 
the  western  parts  of  Middlesex,  and  had  his  powers 
of  combination  and  comparison  been  equal  to  his 
industry  and  perseverance,  his  labours  would  have 
been  truly  valuable.  He  began  his  literary  career 
in  1797,  by  communications  to  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine,  in  which,  for  more  than  half  a  century, 
he  occasionally  wrote  essays  and  reviews.  His 
contributions  also  frequently  appeared  in  various 
volumes  of  the  early  series  of  the  New  Monthly 
Magazine. 

Returning  to  the  King's  Road,  we  may  here 
state  that  the  house  adjoining  the  entrance  to  the 
Moravian  Chapel  and  burial-ground,  at  the  north 
end  of  Milman's  Row,  and  some  few  years  since 
pulled  down,  was  for  many  years  in  the  occupation 
of  the  Howard  family,  of  the  Society  of  Friends. 
The  elder  Mr.  Howard  was  gardener  to  Sir  Hans 
Sloane ;  his  brother,  having  a  natural  genius  for 
mechanics,  became  a  clockmaker,  and  made  the 
clock  in  the  old  parish  church,  in  1761,  for  ^50. 
In  front  of  Howard's  house  was  placed  a  large 
clock,  and  hence  the  building  came  to  be  known  as 


Chelsea.] 


SLOANE   SQUARE. 


95 


the  "  Clock-house,"  a  name  now  applied  to  what 
was  once  the  Moravian  chapel. 

A  plot  of  land  behind  the  old  Clock-house 
formed  part  of  what  was  formerly  Queen  Eliza- 
beth's nursery-ground,  and  on  it  still  exists  a  mul- 
berry-tree said  to  have  been  planted  by  that  queen. 
At  No.  178,  King's  Road,  was  established  in 
1871  the  Chelsea  Hospital  for  Diseases  of  Women. 
The  institution  is  open  gratuitously  to  those  with- 
out means,  small  fees  for  medical  treatment  being 
required  from  such  as  can  afford  to  pay.  In  1883 
this  hospital  was  removed  to  a  new  building  near 
the  Queen's  Elm,  in  Fulham  Road. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  King's  Road,  nearly 
opposite  Robert  Street  and  the  Workhouse,  is  the 
Vestry  Hall,  a  handsome  and  spacious  building  in 
the  Italian  style,  constructed  of  red  brick  with 
stone  dressings.  It  was  built  from  the  designs  of 
Mr.  W.  Pocock.  A  portion  of  the  building  is 
occupied  by  the  Chelsea  Literary  and  Scientific 
Institution,  for  the  use  of  which  a  rental  is  paid. 
The  whole  interior  is  well  arranged  and  admirably 
adapted  for  the  requirements  of  the  parish.  Ad- 
joining the  Vestry  Hall  are  some  commodious 
swimming-baths,  which  were  constructed  under  the 
superintendence  of  Mr.  E.  Perrett,  the  designer  of 
the  floating-baths  at  Charing  Cross. 

In  Markham  Square,  abutting  on  the  King's 
Road,  is  the  Chelsea  Congregational  Church.  The 
edifice  stands  in  a  very  prominent  position,  and 
covers  a  large  piece  of  ground.  The  form  of  the 
building  is  slightly  cruciform,  having  transepts  pro- 
jecting about  five  feet  from  the  body  of  the  chapel. 
The  prominent  feature  of  the  exterior  is  a  tower 
and  spire,  rising  from  the  west  side  of  the  southern 
transept  to  the  height  of  about  130  feet.  The 
style  of  the  building  is  in  the  second  period  of  the 
Gothic,  and  the  exterior  is  constructed  entirely  of 
stone.  There  are  lofty  and  spacious  school-rooms, 
with  the  requisite  offices,  beneath  the  chapel. 

In  the  Royal  Avenue,  a  turning  on  the  south 
side  of  the  road  leading  towards  the  Royal  Hospital, 
a  skating-rink  was  formed  about  1875,  having  an 
area  of  about  3,000  square  yards,  laid  with  Green 
and  King's  patent  ice. 

At  the  eastern  end  of  the  King's  Road  is  Sloane 
Square,  which,  together  with  Sloane  Street  and 
Hans  Place,  all  bear  testimony  to  the  memory  of 
the  eminent  physician,  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  of  whom 
we  have  already  had  occasion  to  speak.*  In  1712 
Sir  Hans  Sloane  bought  the  manor  of  Chelsea,  to 
which  he  retired  thirty  years  later,  having  resigned 
his  public  offices  and  employments.  Thither  he 


removed  his  museum,  and  there  he  received  the 
visits  of  the  royal  family  and  persons  of  high  rank, 
learned  foreigners,  and  distinguished  literary  and 
scientific  men  ;  nor  did  he  refuse  admittance  and 
advice  to  either  rich  or  poor  who  went  to  consult 
him  respecting  their  health.  At  ninety  his  health 
began  to  decline  sensibly,  and  he  died  here,  at  the 
age  of  ninety-two,  in  January,  1753. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  the 
houses  around  Sloane  Square  were  nearly  the  same 
in  appearance  as  at  the  present  time ;  but  the 
square  was  an  open  space,  simply  enclosed  with 
wooden  posts,  connected  by  iron  chains.  Here 
Queen  Charlotte's  Royal  Volunteers  often  assem- 
bled, and  marched  off  in  military  order  to  Hyde 
Park,  headed  by  their  band.  On  the  eastern  side 
of  the  square,  at  that  time,  was  the  bridge,  of  which 
we  have  already  spoken,t  called  Bloody  Bridge. 
It  was  about  twelve  or  fourteen  feet  wide,  and  had 
on  either  side  a  wall  of  sufficient  height  to  protect 
passengers  from  falling  into  the  narrow  rivulet 
which  it  spanned,  and  which  belonged  .to  the  Com- 
missioners of  Sewers.  In  old  records  this  structure 
is  called  "Blandel  Bridge;"  and  it  probably  re- 
ceived its  more  sanguinary  appellation  in  conse- 
quence of  the  numerous  robberies  and  murders 
formerly  committed  on  the  spot.  In  more  recent 
times  it  has  assumed  the  name  of  "  Grosvenor 
Bridge,"  from  the  extensive  adjoining  property 
of  the  Grosvenors. 

In  1812  the  Chelsea,  Brompton,  and  Belgrave 
Dispensary  was  established  in  Sloane  Square,  prin- 
cipally through  the  great  exertions  of  the  Rev. 
George  Clark,  the  then  chaplain  of  the  Royal 
Military  Asylum.  The  objects  of  the  institution, 
as  officially  set  forth,  are  "  the  relief  of  sick  poor 
(not  paupers),  the  delivery  of  married  women  at 
their  own  homes,  and  attention  to  diseases  of  women 
and  children."  Mr.  William  Wilberforce,  whose 
name  will  be  for  ever  associated  with  the  abolition 
of  slavery,  took  a  leading  part  in  the  foundation  of 
the  dispensary.  The  earliest  annual  average  of 
patients  relieved  at  this  admirable  institution  did 
not  exceed  1,200  ;  the  number  benefited  yearly 
amounts  now  to  nearly  7,000. 

The  Royal  Court  Theatre,  in  this  square,  was 
opened  in  January,  1871,  for  the  performance  of 
comedies,  farces,  and  the  lighter  order  of  dramas. 
The  building,  which  was  originally  erected  in  the 
year  1818  as  a  chapel,  replaced  a  theatre  at  the 
beginning,  and,  singularly  enough,  the  chapel  has 
been  replaced  by  a  theatre  at  its  close.  The 
station  on  the  Metropolitan  District  Railway,  close 


1  See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  490. 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


by,   doubtless   confers   great   advantages    on   the 
surrounding  neighbourhood. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  consider- 
able addition  was  made  to  the  parish  of  Chelsea  by 
the  erection  of  houses  in  this  direction,  and  most  of 
the  new  buildings  were  called  Hans  Town.  Sloane 
Street  is  a  long  and  wide  thoroughfare,  running 
from  north  to  south,  and  connecting  Knightsbridge 
with  the  west  part  of  Pimlico  and  the  east  end  of 


liberality  of  several  beneficent  gentlemen,  among 
whom  may  be  named  Mr.  Joseph  Butterworth,  who 
at  that  time  resided  principally  at  Chelsea. 

At  No.  72,  Sloane  Street,  lived,  for  many  years, 
Sir  Charles  Wentworth  Dilke,  Bart.  In  early  life 
Sir  Charles  was  associated  with  the  literary  labours 
of  his  father,  who  was  the  chief  proprietor,  and  at 
one  time  editor,  of  the  Athenceum  newspaper.  He 
was  one  of  the  earliest  promoters  of  the  first  Great 


THE    "BLACK   LION,"  CHURCH    STREET,    CHELSEA,   IN    1%2O.      (SfC  fa%e  90.) 


Chelsea.  On  the  east  side  the  houses  are  made  to 
recede,  so  as  to  form  three  sides  of  a  square,  called 
Cadogan  Place,  of  which  we  have  already  spoken.* 
At  the  south  end  of  Sloane  Street,  near  the  square, 
is  Trinity  Church,  of  which  the  Rev.  Henry  Blunt 
was  the  first  incumbent.  The  edifice,  which  was 
consecrated  in  1830,  is  a  brick  building  of  Gothic 
architecture.  The  western  front  consists  of  a 
centre,  flanked  by  two  wide  towers  rising  to  a  level 
with  the  roof,  and  terminating  with  lofty  octagonal 
spires.  Sittings  are  provided  for  about  1,500 
worshippers.  Sloane  Terrace  Wesleyan  Chapel, 
which  dates  from  1811,  is  a  neat  and  substantial 
building,  and  its  erection  is  attributed  to  the 


'  See  p.  ,3,  , 


Exhibition,  and,  indeed,  took  a  leading  share  in 
the  work  of  the  Executive  Committee.  For  the 
ability  he  displayed  in  that  capacity,  the  honour  of 
knighthood  was  offered  to  him,  at  the  suggestion 
of  the  late  Prince  Consort.  This  honour,  how- 
ever, he  declined,  together  with  all  pecuniary 
remuneration.  Mr.  Dilke  was  likewise  associated 
with  the  second  Industrial  Exhibition,  as  one  of 
the  five  Royal  Commissioners  appointed  by  Her 
Majesty.  Almost  immediately  after  the  death  of 
the  Prince  Consort,  Her  Majesty  was  pleased  to 
confer  a  baronetcy  on  Mr.  Dilke,  "  in  recognition 
of  the  Prince's  friendship  and  personal  regard  for 
him."  Sir  Charles  was  M.P.  for  the  borough  of 
Wallingford  for  a  short  time,  and  died  in  1869 
!  at  St.  Petersburg.  His  son  and  successor  was 


COUNT   CAGLIOSTRO. 


97 


elected  in  1868  as  one  of  the  first  members  for  the 
newly-enfranchised  constituency  of  Chelsea.  He 
is  the  author  of  a  work  on  "  Greater  Britain,"  and 
of  pamphlets  on  social  and  political  topics,  and 
a  member  of  the  Gladstone  ministry. 

At  No.  31  is  the  Ladies'  Work  Society,  an 
institution  established  for  the  sale  of  needlework, 
embroidery,  and  other  articles,  the  production  of 


of  the  good  work  it  was  doing,  so  that  now  (1876), 
under  its  royal  patronage  and  presidency,  the 
number  of  members,  which  at  first  were  200,  have 
increased  to  1,000. 

No.  103  is  the  Hans  Town  School  of  Industry 
for  Girls.     This   institution   was  founded   in   the 
year  1804,  and  its  special  object  is  the  training  of 
young  girls  for  servants.     A  sum  of  two  guineas  is 
kdies  in  necessitous  circumstances.     Its  president  |  charged  on  admission,  and  the  number  of  children 


THE   PAVILION 


is  her  Royal  Highness  the  Princess  Louise  (Mar- 
chioness of  Lome),  who  herself  has  designed  much 
of  the  ornamental  work.  The  institution  was  estab- 
lished in  the  year  1871,  in  North  Audley  Street,  and 
removed  hither  in  1875.  The  members  of  the 
society  can  do  their  work  at  home,  and  send  it  to 
Sloane  Street  for  sale — the  name  of  the  exhibitors 
being  known  only  to  the  ladies  who  form  the 
committee.  An  annual  subscription  of  73.  6d. 
constitutes  a  membership  ;  and  when  an  article  is 
sold  at  the  price  set  upon  it  by  the  exhibitor,  a 
penny  in  the  shilling  is  deducted  towards  defray- 
ing the  necessary  expenses  of  the  establishment. 
In  the  earlier  period  of  its  career  the  society 
had  a  somewhat  hard  struggle  for  existence,  but  it 
gradually  grew  in  proportion  to  the  publicity  given 
201 


benefited  by  this  institution  amounts  to  about  fifty 
annually. 

In  this  street  the  arch-impostor,  Count  Cag- 
liostro,  was  living  in  the  year  1786,  when  he 
published  his  celebrated  "  Letter  to  the  English 
People,"  so  cruelly  criticised  by  M.  de  Morande, 
the  editor  of  the  Conrrier  de  I' Europe,  and  thus 
defended  by  himself  in  the  Public  Advertiser,  under 

\  date  September  3rd,  1786: — "In  physics  and 
chemistry,  Mr.  Joker,  arguments  go  for  little  and 

I  sneers  for  nothing — experience  is  all.  Permit  me, 
then,  to  propose  a  little  experiment,  which  will 
divert  the  public,  either  at  your  expense  or  at  mine. 
I  invite  you  to  breakfast  for  the  gth  November 

I  next,  at  nine  o'clock  in  the   morning :   you  will 

'  furnish  the  wine  and  the  accessories ;  I  will  furnish 


98 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


one  dish  in  my  own  style — a  little  sucking  pig, 
fattened  according  to  my  method.  Two  hours  : 
before  breakfast  I  will  present  him  to  you  alive,  i 
fat,  and  healthy.  You  will  engage  to  have  him  I 
killed  and  cooked,  and  I  will  not  go  near  him  till  ' 
the  moment  when  he  is  put  on  the  table ;  you  j 
shall  cut  him  yourself  into  four  pieces,  choose  that 
which  attracts  you  the  most,  and  give  me  any 
piece  you  please.  The  day  after  this  breakfast 
one  of  four  things  will  have  happened  :  either  we  : 
shall  be  both  dead  or  both  alive,  or  I  shall  be  dead 
and  you  alive,  or  you  dead  and  I  alive.  Out  of 
these  four  chances  I  give  you  three,  and  I  bet 
5,000  guineas  that  the  day  after  the  breakfast  you 
will  be  dead  and  I  shall  be  in  good  health.  You  j 
will  confess  that  no  fairer  offer  could  be  made,  | 
and  that  you  must  either  accept  the  wager  or  I 
confess  your  ignorance,  and  that  you  have  foolishly 
and  dully  cut  your  jokes  upon  a  subject  beyond 
your  knowledge."  This  characteristic  letter  failed 
to  persuade  M.  de  Morande  to  breakfast,  and  he  j 
was  fain  to  back  out  as  best  he  might,  getting  well 
laughed  at  for  his  pains. 

Count  Cagliostro — or,  to  give  him  his  proper  j 
name,  Joseph  Balsamo — used  to  advertise  in  the 
London  newspapers  that  he  was  prepared  to  sell 
'•the  Egyptian  pill  of  life  at  thirty  shillings  a 
dram ; "  doubtless  about  as  efficacious  as  the  pre- 
paration called  "  mummy,"  which  was  actually 
dispensed  as  a  curative  for  sores,  by  physicians 
duly  provided  with  diplomas,  so  late  as  the  reign 
of  Queen  Anne.  Cagliostro's  doings  as  a  quack 
of  quacks  took  place  just  after  the  "  diamond 
necklace  "  affair ;  and  through  the  bursting  of  that 
bubble  he  was  temporarily  "  down  on  his  luck." 
No  legal  proceedings  were  taken  against  him  in 
England,  but  subsequently  he  went  to  Rome, 
where  he  was  flung  into  prison  by  the  Inquisition, 
not,  oddly  enough,  because  he  was  a  charlatan — 
the  Piazza  Navona  and  the  Corso  swarmed  every 
day  with  vendors  of  Elixirs  of  Life  and  Love — but 
because  he  pretended  to  be  a  spirit-rapper.  A  j 
very  different  state  of  things  prevails  at  the  present  i 
day  in  our  own  country. 

The  following  story,  having  reference  to  this  j 
particular  street,  we  give  for  what  it  is  worth  : —  '. 
"  I  had  invited  Person,"  says  an  English  author,  ' 
"  to  meet  a  party  of  friends  in  Sloane  Street,  where  j 
I  lived ;  but  the  eccentric  professor  had  mistaken 
the  day,  and  made  his  appearance  in  full  costume 
the  preceding  one.  We  had  already  dined,  and 
were  at  our  cheese.  When  he  discovered  his  ! 
error,  he  made  his  usual  exclamation  of  a  whooe  t 
as  long  as  my  arm,  and  turning  to  me,  with  great 
gravity,  said,  '  I  advise  you  in  future,  sir,  when  you 


ask  your  friends  to  dinner,  to  ask  your  wife  to 
write  your  cards.  Sir,  your  penmanship  is  abomi- 
nable ;  it  would  disgrace  a  cobbler.  I  swear  that 
your  day  is  written  Thursday,  not  Friday,'  at  the 
same  time  pulling  the  invitation  out  of  his  pocket. 
It  turned  out,  however,  that  he  was  wrong,  which 
he  was  obliged  to  admit.'' 

Towards  the  commencement  of  the  century,  a 
considerable  part  of  Sloane  Street,  between  the 
square  and  Cadogan  Place,  was  laid  out  as  a 
botanical  garden  by  a  Mr.  Salisbury.  The  extent 
of  the  grounds  was  about  six  acres,  and  at  one 
time  formed  an  agreeable  promenade  for  company. 

At  the  corner  of  Cadogan  Place  and  Lowndes 
Street  is  Chelsea  House,  the  town  residence  of 
Earl  Cadogan,  whose  family  formerly  had  a 
mansion  on  the  site  of  the  Royal  Military  Asylum. 
The  house  was  rebuilt  in  1874,  from  the  designs 
of  Mr.  \V.  Young.  The  principal  entrance,  in 
Cadogan  Place,  is  marked  by  a  tetrastyle  portico, 
which  is  carried  up  to  the  first  floor  as  a  bay 
window ;  another  bay  window  on  the  same  front 
is  carried  up  two  storeys,  and  finished  \yith  balus- 
trades. The  front  to  Lowndes  Street  has  a  semi- 
octagonal  bay  at  each  end,  carried  up  the  whole 
height  of  the  building.  The  ground  storey  is  of 
rustic  stonework,  and  at  the  level  of  the  first  floor 
is  a  stone  balcony  carried  all  round  the  building. 
The  drawing-room  windows,  which  are  well  studied 
in  proportion  and  design,  have  a  most  imposing 
effect.  The  chief  rooms  are  large  and  lofty,  and 
the  principal  staircase  is  of  Sicilian  marble. 

The  manor  and  estate  of  Chelsea  came  into  the 
possession  of  Lord  Cadogan's  family  on  the  death 
of  Mr.  Hans  Sloane  by  his  own  hand,  Charles, 
second  Lord  Cadogan,  having  married  Elizabeth, 
the  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Sir  Hans  Sloane.  It 
may  be  noted  here  that  Horace  Walpole  was  one 
of  the  trustees  under  Sir  Hans  Sloane's  will. 

On  the  west  side  of  the  street,  in  Cadogan 
Terrace,  is  the  Roman  Catholic  Chapel  of  St. 
Mary's,  an  unpretending  stnicture,  dating  from 
1811,  and  one  of  the  oldest  of  the  missionary 
chapels  of  that  religion.  Not  far  from  the  chapel 
are  the  convent  and  schools,  together  with  a  Roman 
Catholic  burial-ground,  with  some  large  vaults  and 
catacombs.  The  chapel  itself  was  built  by  M. 
Voyaux  de  Franous,  one  of  the  French  emigre 
clergy.  Before  its  erection,  mass  was  said  in  a 
room  above  a  shop.  The  Duchess  of  Angouleme 
was  a  generous  contributor  to  the  building,  and 
laid  the  first  stone.  Dr.  Poynter,  then  Vicar- 
Apostolic  of  the  London  district,  officiated  at  the 
consecration.  Poor  as  the  building  was,  it  cost 
;£6,ooo.  It  was  specially  designed  for  the  use  of 


HANS  PLACE. 


99 


the  French  veterans  confined  at  Chelsea.  Among 
the  assistant  clergy  here  were  Cardinal  Weld,  the 
late  Bishop  of  Troy,  Dr.  Cox,  Mgr.  Eyre,  and 
Bishop  Patterson.  St.  Mary's  Church  has  been 
lately  improved  and  enlarged. 

In  Cadogan  Street  stood  formerly  an  ancient 
house,  which,  in  its  latter  days,  was  known  as  the 
"  Marlborough  Tavern  ; "  the  grounds  adjoining 
were  used  for  the  purposes  of  cricket,  &c.  It  is 
probable  that  the  house  was  first  established  as  a 
tavern  during  the  lifetime  of  the  great  Duke  of 
Marlborough,  who,  it  is  said,  at  one  time  resided 
in  Chelsea,  though  his  house  is  not  identified. 
Marlborough  Road,  Blenheim  Street,  &c. — all  con- 
tiguous in  this  neighbourhood — doubtless  hence 
received  their  names.  The  old  "Admiral  Keppel" 
tavern,  with  its  tea-gardens,  in  Marlborough  Road, 
was  demolished  in  1856,  and  on  its  site  a  large  inn 
has  been  erected. 

Hans  Place,  at  the  north-west  corner,  between 
Sloane  Street  and  Brompton  Road,  is  an  irregular 
octagonal  space,  laid  out  after  the  fashion  of  a 
London  square.  Here  (at  the  house  No.  25, 
according  to  Mr.  Peter  Cunningham)  was  born, 
in  August,  1802,  Miss  Letitia  E.  Landon,  the 
"  L.  E.  L."  of  "Annual"  celebrity.  She  went  to 
schoql  three  doors  off  (No.  22),  under  a  Miss 
Rowden,  the  same  who  numbered  amongst  her 
pupils  Miss  Mary  R.  Mitford.  Miss  Landon  was 
the  daughter  of  an  army  agent,  and  niece  of  the 
late  Dr.  Whittington  Landon,  Dean  of  Exeter  and 
Provost  of  Worcester  College,  Oxford,  who  took  a 
sincere  interest  in  the  welfare  and  fame  of  his 
relative.  Having  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  her 
father  when  very  young,  and  her  brilliant  talents 
soon  becoming  manifest,  she  appeared  before  the 
world,  while  little  more  than  a  child,  as  an  enthu- 
siastic and  delightful  literary  labourer.  Her  first 
efforts  were  made  in  the  pages  of  the  Literary 
Gazette.  "  To  her  honour,  it  must  be  added," 
says  the  editor  of  the  Athemzum,  "  that  the  fruits 
of  her  incessant  exertion  were  neither  selfishly 
hoarded  nor  foolishly  trifled  away,  but  applied  to 
the  maintenance  and  advancement  of  her  family." 
Hans  Place  is  associated  with  all  the  earliest 
recollections  of  Miss  Landon,  whose  home  it  was, 
in  fact,  until  her  marriage,  in  1838,  with  Captain 
George  Maclean,  Governor  of  Cape  Coast  Castle, 
on  the  west  coast  of  Africa.  She  died  in  October 
of  the  same  year,  universally,  beloved  on  account 
of  her  amiable  and  gifted  nature,  and  as  simple  as 
a  child.  Her  poems  live,  and  will  live. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Alfred  Wigan,  the  popular  actor 
and  actress,  resided  for  some  time  in  Hans  Place. 

Adjoining  Hans  Place  is  the  Pavilion,  formerly 


the  residence  of  Lady  Charlotte  Denys,  and  now 
of  the  Earl  of  Arran.  This  building  was  erected 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century  by  a  Mr. 
Holland,  who  had  taken  from  Lord  Cadogan  a 
lease  of  one  hundred  acres  of  land  hereabouts, 
formerly  called  "  Blacklands,"  and  now  Upper 
Chelsea,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  new  streets, 
&c.  Mr.  Holland  reserved  to  himself  twenty-one 
acres  of  land,  on  which  he  erected  an  elegant 
house  for  his  own  residence.  The  front  of  the 
house  was  originally  built  as  a  model  for  the 
Pavilion  at  Brighton,  and  was  ornamented  by  a 
colonnade  of  the  Doric  order,  extending  the  whole 
length  of  the  building.  The  mansion  consisted  of 
three  sides  of  a  quadrangle,  open  to  the  north, 
and  the  approacli  was  from  Hans  Place.  The 
south  front  of  the  house  faced  an  extensive  and 
beautifully-planted  lawn,  gently  rising  to  the  level 
of  the  colonnade  and  principal  floor.  On  the  west 
side  of  the  lawn  was  an  ice-house,  round  which  was 
erected  a  representation  of  the  ruins  of  an  ancient 
"  priory,"  in  which  the  appearance  of  age  and  decay 
is  said  to  have  been  strikingly  reproduced.  The 
Gothic  stonework  was  brought  from  the  ancient 
but  now  demolished  residence  of  Cardinal  Wolsey, 
at  Esher,  in  Surrey.  The  lawn  was  ornamented 
by  a  fine  sheet  of  water,  besides  which  the  grounds 
had  about  them  "  considerable  variety  of  fanciful 
intricate  paths  and  scenery,  properly  ornamented 
with  shrubs,  and  had  a  private  communication  with 
the  house  by  the  walks  of  the  shrubbery." 

On  the  north  side  of  Hans  Place,  near  to  Walton 
Street,  is  St.  Saviour's  Church.  It  was  built  about 
the  year  1840,  and  has  no  particular  pretensions 
to  architectural  effect.  It  has  no  spire,  but  two 
dwarf  towers  flank  the  entrance  facing  Walton 
Place.  The  interior  is  perfectly  plain.  Deep 
galleries,  supported  on  octagonal  pillars  and  iron 
girders,  extend  round  three  sides.  The  pillars 
supporting  the  front  of  the  galleries  are  extended 
upwards,  and  from  their  capitals  spring  pointed 
arches  along  each  side.  In  connection  with  this 
church  there  are  some  excellent  schools  and  cha- 
ritable societies. 

Close  by  is  Prince's  Cricket  Ground,  which  was 
lately  one  of  the  principal  centres  of  attraction 
and  conversation  during  the  London  "season." 
The  place  has  always  been  a  cricket-ground  of  more 
or  less  importance,  but  more  than  once  of  late  it  has 
been  suggested  that  it  would  not  be  bad  to  transfer 
to  it  the  "  Eton  and  Harrow  Match  "  from  "  Lord's." 
Besides  this,  there  is  every  accommodation  for  lawn- 
tennis,  Badminton,  and  other  games.  A  few  years 
ago  a  "  skating-rink,"  with  artificial  ice,  for  practice 
at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  was  added  to  the  other 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


attractions  of  "  Prince's ; "  its  career,  however,  was 
but  of  short  duration.  "  Prince's "  was  always 
rather  select  and  exclusive,  but  latterly  its  exclusive- 
ness  increased,  the  price  of  admission  being  raised, 
and  all  sorts  of  stringent  regulations  being  intro- 
duced by  the  committee,  in  order  to  keep  it 
"select."  So  "select"  indeed  had  it  become,  that 
a  cricketing  husband,  though  an  old  subscriber, 
might  not  take  his  wife  into  its  precincts,  nor  could 
a  skating  wife  introduce  her  husband,  or  even  her 
daughter.  Nay,  further,  an  edict  was  issued  from 
the  despots  of  "  Prince's  " — "  That  no  lady  was  to 
be  admitted  at  all  unless  she  has  been  presented  at 


Court."  Of  course,  therefore,  the  members  became 
"  very  select : "  no  "  nobodies  "  were  there ;  "  Lady 
Clara  Vere  de  Vere  "  had  the  skating-rink  all  to 
herself,  or  shared  it  only  with  other  "daughters 
of  a  hundred  earls."  How  delightful !  Yes,  de- 
lightful for  Lady  Clara  and  her  friend,  but  not  so 
for  the  outside  public. 

The  "  South  Australian  "  is  the  sign  of  a  small 
inn  not  far  from  Prince's  Grounds.  This  building 
tells  its  own  tale,  having  been  put  up  about  the 
year  1835,  when  the  colony  of  South  Australia 
was  founded,  by  some  one  who  had  a  pecuniary 
interest  in  it. 


CHAPTER   IX. 
WEST   BROMPTON,    SOUTH    KENSINGTON   MUSEUM,  &c. 


e,  Art,  and  Labour 


ive  outpour'd 


Situation  of  Brompton-Its  Nurseries  and  Flower-gardens-Cromwell  or  Hale  House-Thistle  Grove-The  Boltons-Westrainster  and  West 
London  Cemetery—  Brompton  Hall— St.  Michael's  Grove— Brompton  Grove— Joha  Sidney  Hawkins— Gloucester  Lodge— The  Hospital  for 
Consumption-The  Cancer  Hospital-Pelham  Crescent-Onslow  Square-Eagle  Lod-e-Thurloe  Place  and  Square-Cromwell  Road- 
The  International  Exhibition  of  .862-Annual  International  Exhibitions-A  School  of  Cookery-Exhibition  of  Scientific  Apparatus-The 
National  Portrait  Gallery- The  Meyrick  Collection  of  Arms  and  Armour-The  Indian  Museum-South  Kensington  Museum-The  Raphael 
Cartoons— The  Sheepshanks,  Ellison,  and  Vernon  Galleries— Ancient  and  Modern  Jewellery— The  Museum  of  Patents— The  Science  and 
Art  Schools-The  Royal  Albert  Hall-The  National  Training  School  for  Music-Koyal  Horticultural  Gardens-The  Fisheries  Exhibition. 

BROMPTON,  which  is— or,  rather,  was  till  lately— a  i  This  is  termed  Hale  House,  but  is  often  called 
hamlet  to  the  parish  of  Kensington,  is  situated  on  I  Cromwell  House,  and  is  traditionally  said  to  have. 


the  north  side  of  Little  Chelsea,  and  on  the  west  of 
Sloane  Street.  It  has  long  been  celebrated  for  its 
soft  air,  and  for  its  nurseries  and  flower-gardens  ; 
indeed,  "  Brompton,  with  its  two  centuries  of  nursery- 
garden  fame,"  writes  Mr.  John  Tiinbs,  "  lasted  to 
our  times  ;  southward,  among  '  the  groves,'  were 
the  '  Florida,'  the  '  Hoop  and  Toy,'  and  other 
taverns,  with  tea-gardens  attached;  there  still 
(1866)  remains  the  'Swan,'  with  its  bowling-green." 
At  the  commencement  of  the  present  century  the 
"  village  "  of  Brompton  was  considerably  increased 
by  building,  and  became  nominally  divided  into 
two  parts,  termed  Old  and  New  Brompton.  The 
latter  division  of  the  hamlet  chiefly  consisted  of 
rows  of  houses  crowded  together  more  closely  than 
was  perhaps  desirable.  "Old  Brompton,"  writes 
the  author  of  the  "  Beauties  of  England  and  Wales," 
in  1816,  "still  retains  a  similitude  of  rural  aspect, 
and  is  yet  celebrated  for  well-cultivated  nursery  and 
garden  grounds.  In  this  part  of  the  village,"  con- 
tinues the  writer,  "are  many  handsome  detached 


houses  ;  and  here  is  likewise  a  domestic  building, 
of  comparative   antiquity,  which   requires  notice. 


been 


residence  of  Oliver  Cromwell.     But  for 


such  a  tradition  there  appears  no  sort  of  authority. 
Mr.  Lysons*  shows  that  this  house  was  the  property 
of  the  Methwold  family  during  Cromwell's  time ; 
and  the  same  writer  observes  that  '  if  there  are  any 
grounds  for  the  tradition,  it  may  be  that  Henry 
Cromwell  occupied  the  house  before  he  went  out 
to  Ireland  the  second  time.'  It  appears  from  the 
register  of  this  parish  that  '  Mr.  Henry  Cromwell 
and  Elizabeth  Russell 'were  married  on  the  loth 
of  May,  1653;  and  it  may  be  observed  that 
General  Lambert,  an  eminent  supporter  of  the 
Cromwell  family,  is  known  to  have  possessed  a 
residence  near  Earl's  Court.  Hale  House  is  now 
divided  into  two  parts,  each  of  which  is  occupied 
by  a  separate  family.  William  Methwold,  Esq., 
who  died  possessed  of  the  above  house  in  1652, 
founded,  near  his  residence,  an  almshouse  for  six 
poor  women.'1 

Mr.   H.  G.    Davis,   writing   on   the   subject   of 
Cromwell  House  in  Notes  and  Queries,  gives  the 


"  Environs  of  London,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  507. 


West  Brompton.1  CROMWELL     HOUSE. 


following  version  of  the  story  as  that  which  he  '  Effingham,  the  birth  of  whose  son  is  thus  recorded 
had  always  heard:  —  "That  on  some  occasion  [  in  the  parish  registers: — 'July  7,  1682.  The 
Cromwell's  troop  was  quartered  at  Knightsbridge,  i  Honblc  Thomas  Howard,  son  of  the  R'  Honour- 
and  he  one  day  venturing  to  stray  along  the  lanes  of  able  Francis,  Ld  Howard,  Baron  of  Effingham, 
Brompton,  was  met  by  some  cavaliers  who  knew  j  and  the  Lady  Philadelphia,  was  born  at  Hale 
him,  and  pursued  him  to  this  house,  where  he  was  House,  in  this  parish."  Hale  House  was  still  the 
sheltered  till  assistance  came  from  Knightsbridge  property  of  the  Methwold  family,  who,  in  1754, 
and  liberated  him."  Faulkner,  in  his  "  History  of  sold  it  to  John  Fleming,  Esq.,  afterwards  created  a 
Kensington,"  describing  this  house,  says:  "  Over  ,  baronet ;  and  in  1790  it  was  the  joint  property  of 
the  mantelpiece  there  is  a  recess,  formed  by  the  I  the  Earl  of  Harrington  and  Sir  Richard  Worsley, 
curve  of  the  chimney,  in  which  it  is  said  that  the  i  Bart.,  who  married  his  daughters  and  co-heirs." 
Protector  used  to  conceal  himself  when  he  visited  Such  is  the  brief  history  of.  the  proprietors  and 
this  house  ;  but  why  his  Highness  chose  this  place  '  inhabitants  of  Cromwell  House.  It  was  a  pleasant 
for  concealment  the  tradition  has  not  condescended  rural  seat  in  1794,  when  Edmund  Burke's  only  and 
to  inform  us.  This  recess  is  concealed  by  the  beloved  son  died  there  of  a  rapid  consumption  a 
wainscot,  and  is  still  used  as  a  cupboard."  Mr.  few  days  after  his  election  to  Parliament.  The 
Faulkner  then  goes  on  to  state  that,  though  the  father's  hopes  were  blasted  by  the  blow,  and  his 
tradition  is  "  very  strong  and  universal,"  all  docu-  !  own  death  followed  within  two  years.  The  house 
ments  he  has  consulted  "seem  to  show  that  there  i  itself  was  pulled  down  about  the  year  1853,  to 
is  not  the  least  foundation  for  this  conjecture ; "  ,  make  room  for  new  improvements.  The  site  of 
and  presumes  "  from  the  marriage  of  Henry  Crom-  its  grounds  is  now  marked  by  part  of  Cromwell 
well  having  taken  place  in  this  parish,  that  he  Road, 
resided  here  ;  "  and  hence  the  whole  of  the  story.  Brompton  is  briefly  dispatched  by  Priscilla 


Mrs.  Samuel  Carter  Hall,  mentioning  the  tradition 


Wakefield  with  the  remark  that  "  it  is  a   hamlet 


in  her  "  Pilgrimages  to  English  Shrines,"  says : —  '  to  Kensington,  and  has  been  much  recommended 
"Upon  closer  investigation  how  grieved  we  have.j  to  invalids  for  the  softness  of  the  air."  An  exten- 
been  to  discover  the  truth.  .  .  .  We  found  •  sive  botanical  garden,  containing  also  a  botanical 
that  Oliver  never  resided  there,  but  that  his  son  ;  library,  was  established  here  by  a  Mr.  Curtis,  in  the 
Richard  had,  and  was  a  ratepayer  to  the  parish  of  \  reign  of  George  III.,  and  was  supported  by  sub- 
Kensington  some  time."  Even  this  latter  state-  j  scriptions  for  many  years.* 

ment  is  doubted,  for,  according  to  Dr.  Rimbault,  it  I  What  with  its  nurseries,  its  groves,  and  its 
is  not  recorded  in  the  parochial  books.  Dr.  Rim-  [  pleasant  detached  mansions  or  cottages,  standing 
bault,  in  Notes  atid  Queries,  states  that  "  the  house  ]  apart  in  their  own  grounds,  this  neighbourhood, 
was  known  as  Hale  House  in  1596,  when  a  rent- ;  down  to  very  recent  times,  presented  much  of  the 
charge  of  205.  per  annum  was  laid  upon  it  for  the  i  appearance  of  a  suburban  retreat, 
poor  of  Kensington  parish.  In  1630  it  was  pur-  j  Thistle  Grove,  a  turning  out  of  the  Fulham 
chased  by  William  Methwold,  Esq.,  of  the  executors  j  Road,  nearly  opposite  the  "Queen's  Elm"  Hotel, 
of  Sir  William  Blake,  who  died  in  that  year.  This  !  covers  the  site  of  what  was  known  a  century  or 
gentleman  seems  to  have  been  its  constant  occu-  j  more  ago  as  "  Brompton  Heath."  Here  lived  Mr. 
pant  till  the  period  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  John  Burke,  the  author  of  the  "  Peerage  "  and  the 
1652.  He  is  described  of  Hale  House  in  his  will.  "Commoners"  of  England.  On  the  west  side  of 
On  May  10,  1653,  immediately  after  his  return  Thistle  Grove  is  "The  Boltons,:>  a  sort  of  park, 
from  Ireland,  '  Mr.  Henry  Cromwell  was  married  comprising  two  neat-built  rows  of  houses  on  either 
to  Elizabeth  Russell,  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  side  of  an  oval-shaped  inclosure,  in  which  stands 
Russell,'  at  Kensington  Church  ;  after  which,  ac-  St.  Mary's  Church,  a  handsome  Gothic  edifice, 
cording  to  Noble,  '  he  chiefly  resided  at  Whitehall.'  j  Further  westward  is  the  Westminster  and  West 
In  the  following  year  (1654)  he  returned  to  Ireland,  !  of  London  Cemetery.  It  covers  about  forty  acres 
and  upon  his  taking  leave  of  that  kingdom,  he  of  ground,  and  was  consecrated  in  1840.  It  has 
retired  to  Spinney  Abbey,  near  Soham,  in  Cam-  a  domed  chapel,  with  semi-circular  colonnades 
bridgeshire,  where  he  died  in  1673.  The  chances  of  imposing  design.  In  the  grounds  is  a  large 
of  Henry  Cromwell  having  resided  at  Hale  House  monument,  consisting  of  an  altar-tomb,  with  athlete 
are,  therefore,  but  slender.  In  1668  Hale  House  figures,  and  a  pompous  epitaph,  to  the  memory  of 
appears  to  have  been  inhabited  by  the  LawTences,  Jackson,  the  prize-fighter,  who  kept  the  "  Cock " 

of  Shurdington,  in  Gloucestershire ;  in  1682  it  was 

in    the    occupation    of  Francis   Lord    Howard    of  *  Sec  page  as,  antt. 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


Inn,  at  Sutton,  near  Epsom,  from  which  he  retired 
with  a  fortune,  having  obtained  the  patronage  of 
George  Prince  of  Wales  and  many  leaders  of  the 
sporting  world.  Sir  Roderick  Murchison,  the 
eminent  geologist,  lies  buried  here. 

Brompton  Hall,  the  residence  of  the  great  Lord 
Burleigh,  which  stood  near  Earl's  Court,  is  de- 
scribed by  Faulkner  as  retaining  at  that  time  (1829) 
some  marks  of  its  ancient  splendour.  "  There  was 


Mr.  J.  R.  Blanche"  was  living  in  Brompton 
Crescent  about  the  year  1826  ;  and  near  him,  in 
Brompton  Grove  (now  covered  by  the  houses  of 
Ovington  Square),  lived  William  Jerdan,  the  editor 
of  the  Literary  Gazette  in  its  palmy  days.  At 
their  houses  Mr.  T.  Crofton  Croker,  Tom  Hood, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Croly,  Miss  Landon  (the  unfortunate 
"  L.  E.  L."),  used  to  meet  constantly,  to  discuss 
the  last  new  play  or  poem,  and  literary  subjects  in 


ENTRANCE  TO  BROMPTON  CEMETERY. 


till  lately,"  adds  the  author,  "a  grand  porch  at  the 
entrance.  The  hall,  or  saloon,  is  a  step  lower  than 
the  rooms  upon  the  same  floor.  The  dining-room 
has  a  richly-carved  ceiling  of  oak,  displaying  in  the 
centre  the  rose  and  crown,  and  in  its  other  com- 
partments the  fleur-de-lys  and  portcullis;  and  on 
taking  down  some  ancient  tapestry  a  few  years 
since,  the  arms  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  carved  in' oak, 
and  curiously  inlaid  with  gold,  were  discovered 
above  the  chimney-piece.  There  are  also  in  another 
room  the  relics  of  a  very  curious  old  wainscot,  in 
small  compartments." 

In  St.  Michael's  Grove  lived  Douglas  Jerrold ; 
and  it  was  in  his  house  that  Charles  Dickens  first 
made  his  acquaintance,  in  or  about  1835,  wlien 
staying  at  home  invalided. 


general.  Jerdan  died  in  June,  1869,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-eight,  nearly  twenty  years  after  resigning  his 
editorial  chair.  His  Autobiography,  published  in 
four  volumes,  contains  many  pleasant  notices  of  his 
contemporaries.  In  Brompton  Grove,  too,  lived 
Major  Shadwell  Clarke,  the  hospitable  friend  at 
whose  table  Theodore  Hook  was  an  ever  welcome 
guest,  and  where  he  dined  the  last  time  that  he 
ever  left  his  house. 

In  Lower  Grove,  Brompton,  lived  and  died  the 
antiquary,  John  Sidney  Hawkins,  the  eldest  son 
of  Sir  John  Hawkins,  Dr.  Johnson's  friend  and 
biographer.  He  died  about  the  year  1842,  at  an 
advanced  age.  He  published  several  works  on 
architectural  subjects. 

At  Gloucester  Lodge,  was  living,  in  1809,  George 


West  Brompton.]          LITERARY   CELEBRITIES   AND    FORMER    RESIDENTS. 


103 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


Canning,  when  he  fought  the  duel  with  his  col- 
league, Lord  Castlereagh,  and  both  before  and 
during  his  premiership.  Mr.  Rush,  in  his  "  Court 
of  London,"  gives  us  many  accounts  .of'his  offfciaT  TRose  excellent  institutions  which  minister  to  the 


interviews  with  Mr.  Canning  here,  and  also  of 
his  dinner  parties,  at  which  he  met  all  that  was 
illustrious  and  brilliant  in  the  society  of  the  time. 
While  residing  here  too,  at  a  later  date,  Canning's 
son,  the  future  Governor- General  of  India,  was 
born  ;  and  here  he  received  several  visits  from 
the  Princess  of  Wales,  whose  cause  he  so  nobly 
and  honourably  espoused. 

In  the  Fulham  Road,  near  Pelham  Crescent, 
is  the  Hospital  for  Consumption.  The  original 
building,  on  the  north  side  of  the  road,  is  a  beau- 
tiful Elizabethan  structure,  consisting  of  a  centre 
and  wings,  about  200  feet  in  width.  It  stands  on 
a  square  piece  of  ground,  about  three  acres  in 
extent.  The  foundation-stone  of  the  hospital  was 
laid  by  the  late  Prince  Consort  in  1841.  On  the 
ground  floor,  the  west  wing  contains  physicians' 
rooms,  laboratory,  museums,  rooms  for  the  resident 
medical  officer  and  clinical  assistants,  and  servants' 
hall ;  and  the  east  wing  contains  the  apartments 
of  the  lady  superintendent,  store-rooms,  secretary's 
office,  board-room,  £c.  The  kitchen  and  sculleries 
abut  on  the  north  side  of  the  central  basement 
corridor,  and  are  built  altogether  outside  the 
hospital.  The  first  floor  is  devoted  exclusively  to 
female  patients,  and  the  second  floor  to  male 
patients,  the  total  number  of  beds  being  210.  The 
wards,  galleries,  and  corridors  are  well  lighted, 
and  fitted  up  with  every  attention  to  the  comfort 
and  convenience  of  the  patients.  The  chapel, 
which  stands  on  the  north  side  of  the  hospital, 
parallel  with  the  central  portion,  was  founded  in 
1849  by  the  Rev.  Sir  Henry  Foulis,  Bart.,  in 
memory  of  a  near  relative.  It  is  approached 
from  the  hospital  by  a  corridor,  so  that  the  patients 
may  not  be  exposed  to  external  air  in  bad  weather. 
It  is  fitted  up  with  wide  cushioned  seats  for  the 
patients,  and  is  capable  of  accommodating  the 
whole  of  the  inmates  and  a  few  visitors. 

In  1879,  the  first  stone  of  a  new  extension 
building  of  the  hospital  was  laid  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  road.  It  was  built  mainly  from  the 
proceeds  of  a  bequest  of  Miss  Read,  and  was 
completed  in  1882.  This  building  is  constructed 
of  red  brick,  and  is  connected  with  the  parent 
hospital  by  a  subway.  It  is  about  200  feet  in 
length,  and  100  feet  high,  and  besides  increasing 
the  accommodation  to  nearly  350  beds,  contains 
a  large  out-patient  department,  lecture  theatre,  &c. 


voluntary  contributions,  the  expenditure  being  about 

,£10,000  a  year  more  than  the  fixed  annual  income. 

On   the   south   side   of  the  road  is  another  of 


most  formidable  "  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to."  This 
is  the  Cancer  Hospital.  This  building,  which  was 
founded  in  1851,  is  constructed  of  plain  white 
Suffolk  bricks,  relieved  with  bands  of  red  bricks, 
and  keystones  and  cornices  of  terra-cotta.  The 
principal  ground  floor,  approached  by  a  flight  of 
steps,  contains  the  hall  and  a  handsome  stone 
staircase,  apartments  for  the  house  surgeon  and 
medical  officers,  and  wards  for  patients.  Appa- 
ratus for  heating  and  ventilating  the  building  is 
provided — everything,  in  short,  that  is  calculated 
to  add  to  the  comforts  and  assist  the  recovery  of 
the  patients.  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
preaching  on  behalf  of  the  funds  of  this  hospital, 
observed,  "  There  is  no  disease  more  pitiable  than 
that  to  which  this  institution  is  specially  devoted. 
This,  therefore,  is  a  case  in  which  I  may  justly  ask 
your  liberal  contributions."  Chelsea  Hospital  for 
Women,  a  handsome  red-brick  building  in  the 
Fulham  Road,  was  built  in  1880. 

Large  property  round  about  this  neighbourhood 
belongs  to  Lord  Onslow's  family ;  Onslow  Square 
is  so  named  in  consequence,  and  Cranley  Place  is 
so  called  after  the  second  title  of  Lord  Onslow. 

In  Pelham  Crescent  died,  in  1869,  aged  seventy, 
four,  Mr.  Robert  Keeley,  the  comic  actor.  Hard 
by,  in  Onslow  Square,  at  No.  36,  Thackeray  was 
living  in  1858,  when  he  stood  his  unsuccessful 
contest  for  Oxford  city,  and  when  he  commenced 
the  editorship  of  the  Corn/till  Magazine. 

Eagle  Lodge  was  at  one  time  tenanted  by  Mr. 
Bunn,  so  well  known  as  the  lessee  of  Drury  Lane 
Theatre.  Here  he  used  to  entertain  Malibran, 
Thalberg,  De  Beriot,  Mr.  J.  R.  Planche,  and  other 
friends  of  music  and  the  drama. 

Thurloe  Place  and  Thurloe  Square,  near  the 
junction  of  the  Fulham,  Cromwell,  and  Brompton 
Roads,  are  of  too  modern  a  growth  to  have  any 
historic  associations.  Cromwell  Road,  a  long  and 
open  thoroughfare,  extending  from  Thurloe  Square 
westward  to  Earl's  Court,  was  doubtless  so  named 
after  the  Cromwellian  associations  connected  with 
the  neighbourhood,  as  described  above.  At  the 
eastern  end  of  the  road,  a  considerable  space  of 
ground  lying  between  it  and  the  gardens  of  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society,  was  the  site  of  the 
International  Exhibition  of  1862.  The  site  was 
purchased  by  the  Royal  Commissioners  of  the 
Exhibition  of  1851,  with  a  portion  of  the  surplus 
The  Hospital  receives  patients  from  all  parts  ofj  money  arising  from  the  receipts  of  that  exhibition, 
the  kingdom,  and  is  almost  entirely  dependent  on  ,  The  edifice,  which  was  altogether  different  from  its 


THE    INDUSTRIAL   EXHIBITION    OF    1862. 


105 


predecessor  in  Hyde    Park,   was   built   from   th 

designs   of  Captain   Fowke,    R.E.      It   was   con 
i    structed  chiefly  of  brick,  and  the  ground  plan  in 

its  general  form  was  that  of  the  letter  L,  the  shoi 

limb  being  the  annexe  for  the  machinery  in  motion 
i    It  consisted  of  a.  nave   and  two  transepts,   each 

point  of  intersection  at  the  extremities  of  the  navi 

being  marked  by  a  polygonal  hall,  surmounted  by 

an  immense  dome.    The  southern  facade  ran  along 

the  Cromwell  Road,  and  the  building  had  also  a 

frontage  on  the  east  in  the  Exhibition  Road,  and  on 

the  west  in  Prince  Albert's  Road  (now  Queen's  Gate). 

Between  this  and  the  Horticultural  Society's  boun- 
dary was  a  semi-detached  portion  of  the  building, 

comprising  the  departments  for  implements   and 

machinery  in  motion,  extending  over  an  entrance  by 

a  covered  way  or  bridge,  so  that  this  section 

kept  entirely  separate  from  the  main  body  of  the 

building.     Its  entire  length  was  only  about  1,150 

feet,  or  700  feet  shorter  than  its  crystal  prototype 

in  Hyde  Park.     The  external  appearance  of  the 

structure  was  not  very  striking.     It  was  massive  • 

but  its  unbroken  length  left  a  feeling  of  painful 
monotony  on  the  observer,  which  the  enormous 
domes  at  either  end,  260  feet  in  height  and  160 
feet  in  diameter,  failed  to  vary.  Almost  in  the 
centre  of  this  mass  of  brickwork  was  the  grand 
entrance  or  portico,  built  according  to  an  Italian 
plan.  The  picture-galleries  occupied  the  first 
compartment  in  the  front  portion  of  the  building, 
facing  the  Cromwell  Road,  and  were  two  in 
number;  they  were  lighted  by  clerestory  windows 
in  the  roof,  and  formed  perhaps  the  most  attractive 
feature  of  the  Exhibition.  The  basement  storey 
of  this  part  of  the  building  was  devoted  to  the 
exhibition  of  carriages,  carts,  and  other  descriptions 
of  road  vehicles.  Adjoining  the  picture-gallery,  but 
on  the  ground  floor,  was  a  large  space,  upwards 
of  1,000  feet  in  length,  glazed  from  end  to  end, 
which  was  devoted  to  manufactures  and  art  pro- 
ductions from  every  country  in  the  world.  Ad- 
vancing across  this  court,  the  nave  was  reached ; 
this  extended  the  whole  length  of  the  building,  and 
was  80  feet  in  width,  or  eight  feet  wider  than  that 
of  the  Crystal  Palace  of  1851.  The  nave  was 
100  feet  high,  and  was  crossed  at  its  extremities  by 
two  transepts,  each  692  feet  long  by  85  feet  in 
width,  and  100  feet  high,  resembling  the  nave  in 
the  last  two  respects.  At  each  of  the  points  of 
their  intersection  with  the  nave,  rose  octagonal 
halls  1 60  feet  in  diameter,  each  surmounted  by  a 
magnificent  glass  dome  200  feet  in  height  internally, 

and  250  feet  externally,  reaching  to  the  top  of  j  of  a  more  peaceful  kind— such  as  articles  of  food, 
the  pinnacle.  ^  These  were  the  largest  domes  ever  and  animal  and  vegetable  substances  employed 
built;  St.  Paul's  being  only  108  feet  in  diameter  at  in  manufacture,  together  with  others  of  different 


the  base,  St.  Peter's  at  Rome  being  139  feet,  and 
that  of  the  British  Museum  reading-room  140  feet. 
The  floors  of  these  dome-covered  halls  being  raised 
sixteen  feet  above  the  floor  of  the  rest  of  the  nave 
and  transepts,  afforded  an  admirable  opportunity 
to  the  spectator  for  taking  in  grand  views  of  the 
main  lines  of  the  building.  The  extreme  ends 
of  the  building  presented  an  extraordinary  and 
beautiful  appearance  when  viewed  from  the  floors 
of  these  halls.  At  the  angles  of  these  halls  were 
staircases,  communicating  with  the  galleries  of  the 
main  building.  On  the  side  walls  beneath  the  roof 
of  the  nave  and  transept  were  the  clerestory  win- 
dows, twenty-five  feet  high,  of  iron  and  glass,  very 
light  and  elegant,  which,  together  with  the  light 
from  the  glass  domes,  brought  out  in  soft  relief  the 
architectural  and  artistic  decorations.  The  nave 
and  transepts  were  roofed  in  with  wood,  coated 
th  felt,  meeting  in  an  angle  at  the  centre ;  this 
roof  was  supported  by  semi-circular  arches  of 
timber,  springing  from  iron  columns,  in  pairs,  by 
which  the  roof  was  supported  at  a  height  of  sixty 
feet  from  the  floor.  A  very  pleasing  effect  was 
produced  by  the  combination  of  the  circular  ribs 
and  the  angular  girders  carrying  the  roof;  these 
double  columns,  girders  and  ribs,  were  repeated 
sixteen  times  in  the  nave,  and  their  decorations 
produced  fine  polychromatic  effects.  The  coup 
d'aeil  standing  under  either  of  the  domes,  and 
ooking  down  the  nave,  was  one  of  unequalled 
beauty ;  the  fine  proportions  of  the  columns  made 
he  immense  vista  appear  as  if  looking  along  a  kind 
>f  iron  lace-work.  The  columns  supported  on 
each  side  of  the  nave  galleries  fifty  feet  in  width, 
one  side  commanding  a  view  of  the  nave,  and  the 
other  looking  upon  the  industrial  courts  on  the 
jround  floor. 

The  principal  entrance,  in  the  Exhibition  Road, 
vas  situated  in  the  centre  of  the  eastern  transept, 
nd  led  directly  to  the  orchestra  erected  for  the 
)pening  ceremony,  under  the  eastern  dome,  which 
ook  place  on  the  ist  of  May,  1862.  Space  will 
not  permit  us  to  do  more  than  notice  a  few  of  the 
most  important  objects  here  brought  together.  In 
the  centre  of  the  nave  stood  a  trophy  of  small  arms 
by  the  Birmingham  gunmakers,  flanked  on  either 
side  by  an  Armstrong  and  a  Whitworth  gun.  The 
Armstrong  was  mounted  on  its  carriage  of  polished 
wood,  and  presented  in  every  detail  the  delicate 
finish  of  a  trinket.  Indeed,  the  Exhibition  seems 
to  have  been  rich  in  the  display  of  these  mar- 
vellous weapons.  Elaborate  fountains  and  trophies 


io6 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[South  Kensington. 


manufactured  articles — made  up  the  miscellaneous  '  enamel  or  on  pottery,  destined  to  be  applied  to  a 
collection.     Dividing  the  British  from  the  foreign    piece  of  furniture,  or  a  sculpture  in  wood  intended 


portion  of  the  nave  was  a  huge  screen  in  iron-work 
of  elaborate  design.  At  this  end  of  the  nave  were 
some  noble  groups  of  bronze  statues  from  various 
countries,  and  some  magnificent  candelabra  and 
columns  in  polished  jasper  and  porphyry  from 
Russia.  A  very  fine  collection  of  Berlin  porcelain 


for  a  picture-frame,  however  great  its  merits,  would 
find  any  place  in  the  Exhibitions  of  the  Royal 
Academy  of  London,  or  in  any  of  the  numerous 
other  exhibitions  of  the  works  of  artists.  Still 
less  would  a  Cashmere  shawl  or  a  Persian  carpet, 
the  chief  excellence  of  which  depended  upon  its  i 


manufactures  was  placed  on  raised  counters  under  j  combination  of  colours,  find  in  any  of  these  exhi- 
the  western  dome.  Sevres,  Vienna,  Berlin,  and  i  bitions  its  proper  place.  Such  a  complete  separa- 
Dresden  made  great  efforts  to  recover  their  lost  j  tion  of  artistic  work  from  objects  of  utility  might 
ground  in  their  previous  competitions  with  the  |  indeed  be  said  to  be  only  the  characteristic  of; 
English  porcelain  manufacturers.  The  attractions  '  modern  times ;  for  in  the  ancient  and  mediaeval 
of  the  western  dome  balanced  very  fairly  the  |  periods  the  highest  art  is  to  be  found  in  alliance 
features  of  interest  at  the  other  end  of  the  building.  ;  with  the  meanest  materials  of  manufacture.  The 
The  central  object  was  a  circular  stand,  displaying  '  Etruscans  painted  on  vases  of  clay  subjects  which 
the  Prince  of  Prussia's  collection  of  China,  all  of  still  charm  us  by  their  beauty  of  composition  and 
Berlin  manufacture,  which  rivals  the  richest  and  skilful  drawing ;  and  the  finest  works  of  Raffaele 
most  delicate  Sevres.  An  adjacent  parterre  was  were  designed  as  decorations  for  hangings  to  be  ] 
appropriated  to  the  exhibition  of  the  silver  objects  '  made  of  wool.  It  was  intended  that  these  exhi 
presented  by  the  City  of  Berlin  to  the  Princess  of  \  bitions  should  furnish  the  opportunity  of  stimulating 


Prussia  as  a  wedding  gift.  The  great  Koh-i-noor 
diamond  was  placed  in  the  English  portion  of  the 
nave  near  the  jewellery  classes,  and  created, 
doubtless,  as  much  interest  as  it  occasioned  in 
1851.  Her  Majesty's  magnificent  dessert  service 
of  Worcester  porcelain  was  exhibited  near  here  :  it 
is  said  to  eclipse  the  finest  specimen  that  Sevres, 
Dresden,  or  Vienna  have  yet  produced. 

That   this  second  International  Exhibition  was 


l  of  the  application  of  the  artist's  talents 


to  give  beauty  and  refinement  to  every  description 
of  objects  of  utility,  whether  domestic  or  monu- 
mental. In  these  annual  Exhibitions  it  was  con-- 
tended that  every  work  in  which  Fine  Art  is  a 
dominant  feature  would  find  proper  provision  made 
for  its  display.  Painting,  on  whatever  surface,  or 
in  any  method ;  sculpture  in  every  description  of 
material,  engravings  of  all  kinds,  architectural  design 


a  success  no  one  will  pretend  to  say ;  it  is  enough  as  a  Fine  Art,  every  description  of  textile  fabric    j 

to  admit  that  with  the  first  great  gathering  in  1851  of  which    Fine  Art  is  a  characteristic  feature— in 

the  charm  of  novelty  was  worn  off,  and  that  even  short,  every  work,  whether  of  utility  or  pleasure, 

the  lapse  of  eleven  years  was  not  sufficient  to  cause  which    is    entitled    to    be    considered  a  work    of    ! 

a   repetition    of   that   great    influx   of    visitors    to  excellence  from  the  artistic  point  of  view,  might 

London  from    every  part    of   the    civilised  world,  be  displayed  in  the  exhibitions  under  the  division    I 

which  we  have  already  noticed.  of  Fine  Art.     The  industrial  portion  of  these  exhi-    { 

Although  the  building  was  so  substantially  con-  bitions  was  to  be  confined  to  educational  works    J 

structed,  it  was  not  destined  to  remain  standing  in  and  appliances,  and  new  inventions  and  scientific 

its  entirety  long  after  the  closing  of  the  Exhibition  discoveries.   Every  artist-workman,  moreover,  it  was 

in   October.     Piece   by  piece   it   gradually  disap-  stated,  would  be  able  to  exhibit  a  work  of  merit 

as   his  own   production,   and   every  manufacturer 


might   distinguish    himself 


patron  of  art  by 


peared,  till  only  the  inner  portion,  which  had  served 
chiefly  as  refreshment  departments,  overlooking  the 
gardens,  was  left;  and  this  part  has  since  been 
made  to  serve  various  purposes. 

In  1870  it  was  announced  that  a  series  of  annual 
International  Exhibitions  should  be  held  here, 
commencing  from  the  following  year  (1871),  under 
the  direction  of  Her  Majesty's  Commissioners  for 
the  Exhibition  of  1851.  Hitherto,  as  we  learn 
from  the  official  announcement  of  this  series  of  I  should  take  place  in  permanent  buildings 


exhibitions,  the  exhibition  of  works  of  Fine  Art  had 
been  too  much  limited  to  the  display  of  pictures 
and  sculpture,  dissociated  from  purposes  of  utility ; 


his  alliance  with  the  artistic  talent  of  the  country. 
In  the  Fine  Art  section  the  artist  might  exhibit  a 
vase  for  its  beauty  of  painting,  or  form,  or  artistic 
invention  ;  whilst  a  similar  vase  might  appear  in  its  I 
appropriate  place  among  manufactures  on  account  J 
of  its  cheapness,  or  the  novelty  of  its  material. 

It  was  arranged  that  these  annual  Exhibitions  I 

erected 
on  either  side  of  the  Horticultural  Gardens,  con- 


necting  that  part  of  the  building  of   1862  which 
remained  standing  with  a  new  and  lofty  structure, 


and   it   might   be   doubted  whether  a  picture  on    on  the  north  side  of  the  gardens,  called  the  Royal, 


South  Kensington.] 


A    SCHOOL    OF    COOKERY. 


Albert  Hall,  of  which  we  shall  have  more  to  say 
presently.  On  the  south  side  of  the  Albert  Hall, 
and  facing  the  gardens,  is  the  splendid  conservatory 
of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  and  at  each 
end  are  long  curved  arcades,  named  respectively 
the  East  and  West  Quadrants.  Flanking  these,  and 
enclosing  the  gardens,  are  the  buildings  in  which 
the  principal  part  of  the  Exhibition  was  held. 
They  consist  of  lower  and  upper  galleries,  about 
550  feet  long  and  twenty  feet  wide,  with  corridors 
open  to  the  gardens.  The  lower  storeys  have  side 
lights ;  the  upper  are  lighted  from  the  roof.  The 
whole  of  the  Exhibition  buildings  are  in  the  Deco- 
rated Italian  style,  and  harmonise  well  with  the 
adjacent  South  Kensington  Museum.  The  mould- 
ings, cornices,  and  courses  are  in  light-coloured 
terra-cotta,  and  red  brick  is  the  material  used  in 
the  construction. 

The  first  of  these  annual  Exhibitions  was  held  in 
1871,  and  in  addition  to  the  two  permanent  features 
mentioned  above,  included  woollen  and  worsted 
manufactures,  pottery,  and  educational  apparatus. 
These  were  replaced  in  1872  by  cotton  and  cotton 
fabrics ;  jewellery,  including  articles  worn  as  per- 
sonal ornaments,  made  of  precious  metals,  precious 
stones,  or  their  imitations ;  musical  instruments  of 
all  kinds ;  acoustic  apparatus  and  experiments ; 
paper,  stationery  and  printing.  These  various 
classes  comprised  also  the  raw  materials,  machinery, 
and  processes  used  in  their  production. 

The  third  Exhibition  of  the  series,  held  in  1873, 
comprehended  several  classes  of  subjects  not  in- 
cluded in  the  displays  of  the  two  previous  years. 
The  fine  arts,  scientific  inventions  and  discoveries, 
and  galleries  of  painting  and  sculpture  by  British 
and  foreign  artists,  continued  as  special  features  of 
the  Exhibition,  as  before ;  but  this  year  visitors 
were  enabled  to  add  to  the  knowledge  they  had 
gained  of  the  processes  employed  in  one  great 
department  of  the  textile  manufactures  which  forms 
so  important  a  part  of  our  national  industry,  an 
acquaintance  with  the  mode  of  producing  the 
beautiful  fabrics  silk  and  velvet.  Cutlery  and  edged 
tools,  for  which  this  country  has  been  famous  for 
centuries,  were  exhibited,  Fine-art  furniture  and 
'  decorative  work,  and  stained  glass — not  entirely 

*  j    absent  from  the  previous  Exhibitions,  but  appearing 
3  I    there  in  a  subordinate  position — had   now  more 

*  |   justice  afforded  to  their  claims  on  our  attention. 

One  novel  feature  in  the  Exhibition  of  1873  was 
a  School  of  Cookery,  where,  lectures  were  de- 
livered and  admirably  illustrated  by  the  practical 
experiments  of  neat-handed  cooks.  Ladies,  natu- 
rally, formed  a  large  portion  of  the  audience,  and 
Her  Majesty  and  other  members  of  the  Royal 


Family  did  not  fail  to  give  the  sanction  of  their 
presence  to  these  novel  lectures.  The  building 
used  for  these  lectures  was  subsequentlyplaced  at  the 
service  of  the  National  Training  School  for  Cookery, 
by  whom  the  work  has  since  been  carried  on. 

The  manufactures  selected  for  the  fourth  Exhi- 
bition, which  was  opened  in  the  year  1874,  were 
lace,  the  show  of  which  was  magnificent ;  civil 
engineering,  architecture,  and  building,  including 
sanitary  apparatus  and  constructions  on  the  one 
hand,  and  decorative  work  on  the  other ;  heating 
by  all  methods  and  every  kind  of  fuel,  selected  in 
consequence  of  the  high  price  of  coal  and  the 
necessity  for  teaching  economy  in  the  combustion 
of  fuel ;  leather  and  saddlery,  harness,  and  other 
articles  made  of  leather ;  bookbinding ;  and  foreign 
wines. 

Whether  these  Annual  International  Exhibitions 
were  successful  or  not  in  imparting  that  knowledge 
as  to  the  best  means  employed  in  various  arts  and 
trades,  and  the  best  results  achieved,  we  will  not 
pretend  to  say.  They  were  not,  however,  suffi- 
ciently attractive  to  the  masses  of  the  people  to 
warrant  their  continuance  year  after  year,  and  with 
the  Exhibition  of  1874  the  series  terminated,  and 
the  various  buildings  were  set  apart  for  other  pur- 
poses. In  one  series  of  rooms  is  the  National 
Portrait  Gallery,  which  was  originally  established 
in  Great  George  Street,  Westminster,  in  1859.  It 
is  a  most  interesting  collection,  from  an  artistic  as 
well  as  an  historic  point  of  view,  and  embraces  the 
"  counterfeit  presentment "  of  many  of  England's 
greatest  worthies,  whether  as  sovereigns,  statesmen, 
warriors,  poets,  authors,  &c.  Here  are  the  famous 
Chandos  portrait  of  Shakespeare,  several  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  and  between  four  and  five  hundred 
likenesses  of  some  of  the  most  remarkable  men 
and  women  in  English  history,  many  of  them 
executed  by  the  first  painters  of  the  periods.  Be- 
sides the  portraits,  there  are  a  few  highly  interesting 
casts  of  effigies  from  monuments  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  Canterbury  Cathedral,  and  other  places  ; 
and  also  an  interesting  collection  of  autographs. 

In  1868  was  deposited  in  the  building  the  Mey- 
rick  collection  of  arms  and  armour,  from  Goodrich 
Court,  Herefordshire,  formed  by  the  late  Sir  Samuel 
Meyrick,  the  author  of  "  A  Critical  Inquiry  into 
Ancient  Armour,"  and  lent  to  the  Museum  by  its 
then  owner,  Colonel  Meyrick.  It  was  arranged 
for  exhibition  here  by  Mr.  J.  R.  Planche'.  The 
collection  of  naval  models,  and  of  the  munitions 
of  war,  lent  by  the  War  Department,  and  on  view 
here,  contains  examples  of  British  ship-building, 
from  the  earliest  period  down  to  the  construction 
of  the  turret-ship  of  the  ill-fated  Captain  Coles. 


toS 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[South 


That  portion  of  the  Exhibition  galleries  over- 
looking the  gardens  on  the  eastern  side  was  made, 
in  1875,  the  receptacle  of  the  India  Museum. 
This  collection  of  objects  was  originally  formed  by 
the  East  India  Company,  and  after  its  removal 
from  Leadenhall  Street,  was  for  a  time  stowed 
away  in  Whitehall  Yard,  and  in  various  cellars  and 
warerooms,  and  in  the  topmost  storey  of  the  new 
India  Office.  In  these  rooms  were  deposited  for 


Natural  History,  which  was  erected  to  contain  the 
Natural  History  collections  hitherto  preserved  inH 
the  British  Museum,  where  the  accommodation  | 
for  many  years  past  had  become  too  restricted,  j 
and  the  necessity  for  a  larger  building  keenly  felt,  j 
The  new  museum,  built  from  the  designs  of  Mr. 
A.  Waterhouse,  fronts  the  Cromwell  Road,  and  is 
about  650  feet  in  length.  It  is  constructed  of 
brick,  faced  with  terra-cotta,  of  a  highly  ornamental 


AL    1.XI1IMIION    OK    1862. 


exhibition  the  numerous  costly  presents  brought 
from  India  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  after  his  tour  in  ! 
that  country  in  1875-6. 

In  1 88 1  a  portion  of  the  buildings  on  this  side 
the  Horticultural  Gardens  was  taken  as  the  site  of 
the  Central  Institution  of  the  City  and  Guilds  of  j 
London,  for  the  purposes  of  technical  education, 
and  to  serve  as  a  focus  for  uniting  the  different 
technical  schools  in  the  metropolis  already  in 
existence,  and  as  a  central  establishment  also  to 
which  promising  students  from  the  provinces  may, 
by  the  aid  of  scholarships,  be  brought  to  benefit 
by  the  superior  instruction  which  London  can 
command. 

The  site  of  the  main  portion  of  the  Exhibition 
Buildings   is   now   occupied   by   the    Museum   of ! 


character,  and  consists  of  three  storeys,  in  addition 
to  the  basement.  The  main  part  of  the  building 
has  a  tower  at  each  end,  and  there  are  also  two 
central  towers  rising  on  either  side  of  the  entrance 
The  Mineralogical,  Botanical,  and  Geologica 
collections  were  removed  hither  from  the  British 
Museum  in  1881,  and  have  since  been  followed  by 
the  Zoological  specimens. 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  Exhibition  Road, 
and  with  its  principal  entrance  in  Cromwell  Road, 
is  the  South  Kensington  Museum,  together  with 
the  various  Science  and  Art  Schools  which  have 
been  established,  under  Government,  in  connection 
therewith. 

This  Museum,  which  now  contains  upwards  ol 
20,000  rare  and  choice  examples  of  medieval  and 


KENSINGTON      CHURCH. 


South  'Kensington.] 


SCIENCE   AND   ART   SCHOOLS. 


202 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[South  Kensington. 


Modern  Art  workmanship,  originated  in  the  year 
1852  with  a  small  collection,  exhibited  in  Marl- 
borough  House  in  connection  with  the  Schools 
of  Art.  In  1857  the  collection  was  transferred 
hither  to  some  temporary  iron  buildings  which  had 
been  erected  for  its  reception,  which,  from  their 
material,  and  from  some  peculiarities  of  construc- 
tion, became  popularly  known  as  the  "  Brompton 
Boilers."  These  temporary  buildings  have  been 
gradually  replaced  by  a  permanent  edifice.  From 
the  year  1853  the  Museum  has  included  objects 
contributed  on  loan  by  private  owners.  In  1862 — 
the  year  of  the  second  International  Exhibition — a 
special  "  loan  .exhibition "  of  works,  chiefly  of 
Mediaeval  and  Renaissance  Art,  was  held  here ; 
and  since  that  time  the  number  of  objects  on  loan 
has  always  been  considerable.  By  this  means  very 
many  of  the  rarest  and  most  precious  examples 
of  art  workmanship  in  this  country  have  been 
generously  permitted  by  their  owners  to  be  seen 
and  leisurely  studied  by  the  public.  In  addition 
to  the  "  loans,"  many  objects  have  been  acquired 
by  purchase,  gift,  and  bequest ;  besides  which  are 
reproductions,  by  the  electrotype  process  and  in 
plaster,  of  objects  in  other  collections  which  have 
been  judged  to  be  of  special  interest  and  value  to 
the  art  student. 

The  plan  of  the  Museum  is  somewhat  irregular, 
and  covers  a  large  space  of  ground — about  twelve 
acres  in  extent — acquired  by  the  Government,  at 
a.  cost  of  ,£60,000,  being  a  portion  of  the  estate 
purchased  by  Her  Majestyls  Commissioners  for  the 
Exhibition  of  1851,  out  of  the  surplus  proceeds  of 
that  undertaking.  The  buildings,  with  their  courts 
and  galleries,  are  constructed  chiefly  of  brick,  some- 
what profusely  ornamented  with  terra-cotta,  and 
were  built  from  the  designs  of  Captain  Fowke, 
R.E.  The  art  collections  are  chiefly  contained  in 
three  large  courts  and  a  long  range  of  cloisters  on 
the  ground  floor  ;  but  many  rare  and  valuable 
objects  are  shown  in  the  picture-galleries,  and  also 
in  what  is  called  the  Prince  Consort  Gallery.  The 
visitor,  on  entering  the  Museum  from  the  Cromwell 
Road,  passes  through  a  corridor  to  the  New  or 
Architectural  Court.  This  is  divided  by  a  central 
passage  and  gallery.  The  majority  of  the  objects 
it  contains  are  full-size  reproductions  (in  plaster) 
of  architectural  works  of  large  dimensions  designed 
for  erection  in  the  open  air,  or  in  large  halls  or 
churches,  including  the  famous  Trajan  Column  at 
Rome,  and  the  "'Prentice  Pillar"  in  Roslin 
Chapel,  Scotland;  there  is  also  a  full-size  copy 
(by  photography)  of  the  Bayeux  Tapestry,  coloured 
in  imitation  of  the  original  needlework. 

From    this  Court  we  enter  the  South   Court, 


a  lofty  and  spacious  building,  surrounded  with 
galleries,  and  rich  in  ornamentation.  The  upper 
portion  of  the  walls  is  divided  into  thirty-six 
alcoves,  (eighteen  on  either  side),  containing  por- 
traits, in  mosaic,  of  eminent  men  of  all  ages  con- 
nected with  the  arts,  especially  those  who  have 
been  distinguished  as  ornamentalists,  or  as  workers 
in  bronze,  marble,  or  pottery.  These  portraits, 
which  include  such  men  as  Phidias,  the  sculptor 
of  the  Elgin  marbles,  William  of  Wykeham,  Dona- 
tello,  Torrigiano,  Albert  Diirer,  Michael  Angelo, 
Titian,  Hogarth,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  and  Mul- 
ready,  are  from  designs  by  some  of  the  first  artists 
of  the  day.  This  court  is  divided  into  two  parts 
by  a  broad  passage  which  crosses  it,  above  which 
is  the  Prince  Consort  Gallery  above  mentioned. 
It  would  be  impossible  to  give,  within  the  limits  at 
our  disposal,  a  list  of  the  various  objects  here  exhi- 
bited, and  indeed  such  a  task  would  be  needless, 
as  they  are  all  detailed  in  the  various  catalogues 
sold  at  the  Museum  ;  suffice  it  to  say  that  here 
are  deposited  the  numerous  and  costly  objects 
comprising  the  "  Loan  Collections,"  together  with 
a  miscellaneous  assortment  of  art  manufactures. 
The  "  Oriental  Courts,"  appropriately  decorated 
by  Mr.  Owen  Jones,  contain  some  examples  of 
the  art  workmanship  of  the  East  Indies,  China, 
Japan,  Persia,  &c. 

The  North  Court  is  specially  appropriated  to  the 
exhibition  of  Italian  sculpture,  and  architectural 
I  models  and  casts.  Many  of  the  most  beautiful  of 
I  these  objects  are,  so  to  speak,  incorporated  into  the 
building,  the  decoration  of  which  is  much  simpler 
than  that  of  the  South  Court  In  the  east  arcade 
of  this  court  are  some  textile  or  woven  fabrics,  of 
'  European  origin,  including  several  ecclesiastical 
j  vestments  and  rare  fragments  of  mediaeval  em- 
j  broidery.  Through  the  windows  of  the  north 
j  arcade  is  seen  the  "  fernery,"  which  was  designed 
to  enable  the  students  in  training  as  art-teachers 
j  to  draw  from  plants  at  all  seasons.  A  considerable 
portion  of  the  west  arcade  forms  the  reading-room 
of  the  Art  Library.  The  staircase  leading  to  the 
I  galleries  is  lighted  by  a  large  stained-glass  window, 
!  the  subject  of  which  was  suggested  by  a  passage 
in  Ecclesiasticus,  chapter  xxxviii.,  descriptive  of 
trades.  The  keramic,  or  pottery  gallery,  contains 
a  large  collection  of  Wedgwood's  jasper  and  other 
wares,  and  also  examples  of  the  porcelain  of  Bow, 
•  Chelsea,  Bristol,  Plymouth,  Worcester,  and  Derby. 
j  Here,  too,  are  represented  the  great  manufacturers 
of  pottery  of  the  present  day  in  Italy,  France,  and 
England.  The  next  gallery  into  which  the  visitor 
passes  contains  a  collection  of  Venetian,  German, 
I  and  other  ancient  glass  vessels.  In  the  Prince 


South  Kensington.; 


THE   RAPHAEL   CARTOONS. 


Consort  Gallery  are  placed  many  of  the  most 
interesting  and  costly  possessions  of  the  Museum, 
in  enamel,  gold,  and  silversmith's  work,  jewellery, 
watches,  clocks,  &c.  The  South  Gallery,  which 
we  now  enter,  is  filled  with  cases  containing 
examples  of  ancient  and  mediaeval  ivories.  The 
gallery  of  the  Architectural  Court  is  devoted  to 
examples  of  art  iron-work.  From  an  arched  open- 
ing at  the  north  end  of  the  Prince  Consort  Gallery 
a  view  of  the  North  Court  is  obtained.  The 
balcony  here  is  the  Singing  Gallery  from  Florence. 
To  the  right  is  the  grand  fresco  of  the  Industrial 
Arts  as  applied  to  War,  by  Sir  Frederick  Leighton, 
P.R.A.  It  is  a  lunette,  thirty-five  feet  long  at  the 
base  and  sixteen  feet  high.  "  The  scene,"  observes 
a  writer  in  the  AtJwnaum,  "  is  the  entrance  to  a 
town  or  fortress  of  Italian  Gothic  architecture;  and 
the  figures  wear  those  Italian  costumes  of  the  four- 
teenth century  which  are  dear  to  artists  in  designs 
of  the  Early  Renaissance.  The  effect  of  brilliant 
open  daylight  has  been  rendered  with  peculiar 
splendour ;  the  colouration  is  vivid  and  in  a  bright, 
pure  key;  the  treatment  is  at  once  severe  and 
elegant,  decorative,  and  monumental,  without 
achaism  and  without  those  Mantegnesque  affecta- 
tions of  which  we  have  seen  much  of  late.  The 
composition  of  the  figures,  not  less  than  that  of 
the  chiaroscuro,  general  colouring,  and  light  and 
shade,  is  architectonic ;  the  lines  throughout  and 
the  arrangement  of  the  groups  are  adapted  to  the 
pedimental  form  of  the  lunette  ;  even  the  shadow 
of  the  overhanging  arch  has  been  considered  in  the 
disposition  of  the  white  clouds  and  buildings  in 
the  distance."  The  companion  subject,  The  In- 
dustrial Arts  as  applied  to  Peace,  is  destined  to 
fill  the  corresponding  space  on  the  other  side  of  the 
north  end  of  the  South  Court 

Three  staircases  in  different  parts  of  the  building 
lead  to  the  Picture  Galleries,  which  are  above  the 
cloisters  of  the  North  and  South  Courts.  Several 
rooms  or  galleries  are  devoted  to  the  National 
Collection  of  Pictures  by  British  artists.  Critical 
notices  of  many  of  the  paintings  here  exhibited  will 
be  found  in  Redgrave's  "  Century  of  British  Art." 
In  the  north  gallery  are  hung  the  Raphael  cartoons. 
From  the  authorised  "  Guide  to  the  Museum  "  we 
glean  the  following  particulars  concerning  these 
celebrated  productions.  They  are  drawn  with  chalk 
upon  strong  paper,  and  coloured  in  distemper,  and 
are  the  original  designs,  executed  by  Raphael  and 
his  scholars  for  Pope  Leo  X.,  in  the  year  1513,  as 
copies  for  tapestry  work.  Each  cartoon  is  about 
twelve  feet  high.  They  were  originally  ten,  but 
three  are  lost — viz.,  "  The  Stoning  of  St.  Stephen," 
the  "  Conversion  of  St.  Paul,"  and  "  St.  Paul  in 


his  Dungeon  at  Philippi."  A  copy  in  tapestry  of 
Christ's  "Charge  to  Peter"  is  hung  opposite  the 
original  cartoon  ;  and  also  a  tapestry  from  the  Im- 
perial manufactory,  the  Gobelins,  at  Paris,  a  copy 
of  the  "  Holy  Family  "  by  Raphael  in  the  Louvre. 

The  tapestries,  worked  in  wool,  silk,  and  gold, 
were  hung  in  the  Sistine  Chapel  at  Rome  in  the 
year  1519,  the  year  before  Raphael  died.  These 
are  now  in  the  Vatican. 

The  cartoons  remained  neglected  in  the  ware- 
house of  the  manufacturer  at  Arras,  and  were  seen 
there  by  Rubens,  who  advised  Charles  I.  to  pur- 
chase them  for  the  use  of  a  tapestry  manufactory 
which  was  then  established  at  Mortlake.  On  the 
death  of  Charles  I.,  Cromwell  bought  them  for 
.£300  for  the  nation.  They  remained  for  a  long 
time  in  a  lumber-room  at  Whitehall,  till,  by  com- 
mand of  William  III.,  Sir  Christopher  Wren  erected 
a  room  for  them  at  Hampton  Court,  in  which  they 
hung  till  Her  Majesty  permitted  them  to  be  re- 
moved hither. 

Passing  through  the  door  at  the  east  end  of  the 
gallery,  we  enter  the  rooms  containing  the  Sheep- 
shanks' Collection  of  Paintings.  A  bust,  by  Foley, 
of  the  late.  John  Sheepshanks,  the  donor  of  the 
pictures,  has  been  placed  in  this  gallery  by  Miss 
Sheepshanks.  The  south-eastern  gallery  contains 
the  Jones  Collection  of  furniture,  Sevres,  and  other 
porcelain,  enamelled  miniatures,  paintings,  sculp- 
ture, bronzes,  &c.  It  was  bequeathed  to  the 
Museum  in  1882  by  Mr.  John  Jones,  of  Piccadilly. 
In  five  rooms  at  the  south  end  of  the  Western 
Galleries  are  placed  the  Dyce  and  Forster  col- 
lections. The  former  collection,  bequeathed  to 
the  Museum  by  the  Rev.  Alexander  Dyce,  the 
eminent  scholar  and  editor  of  Shakespeare,  con- 
sists of  oil  paintings,  miniatures,  drawings,  en- 
gravings, &c.,  a  few  manuscripts,  and  a  library 
containing  upwards  of  11,000  volumes.  The 
Forster  collection,  bequeathed  to  the  Museum 
in  1876,  by  Mr.  John  Forster,  the  friend  and 
biographer  of  Charles  Dickens,  consists  of  oil  and 
water-colour  paintings,  drawings,  manuscripts, 
autographs,  and  a  library  of  18,000  volumes. 
Oliver  Goldsmith's  chair,  desk,  and  walking-cane, 
bequeathed  by  Goldsmith  to  his  friend  Dr.  Hawes, 
and  given  to  the  Museum  by  Lady  Hawes,  are 
exhibited  in  this  gallery.  A  painting  by  Maclise, 
representing  "  Caxton's  Printing-office  in  the  Al- 
monry at  Westminster,"  was  bequeathed  by  Mr. 
Forster  to  Lord  Lytton,  and  has  been  lent  by  his 
lordship  to  the  Museum. 

The  reading-room  for  the  Dyce  and  Forster 
libraries  is  open  from  10  a.m.  till  5  p.m.  daily. 

The   Historical    Collection    of    British   Water- 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


(Soiuh  Kensington. 


colour  Drawings,  exhibited  in  two  rooms  facing 
the  head  of  the  staircase,  is  for  the  most  part 
composed  of  the  gifts  of  Mrs.  Ellison,  of  Sud- 
brooke  Holme,  Lincolnshire,  Mr.  William  Smith, 
Mrs.  Tatlock,  Miss  Twining,  Mr.  C.  T.  Maud, 
the  bequests  of  the  Rev.  C.  H.  Townshend  and 
Mr.  J.  M.  Parsons;  examples  of  Gainsborough, 
Rooker,  Barret,  Gilpin,  De  Loutherbourg,  Sandby, 
Payne,  Dayes,  Rowlandson,  Cerres,  and  Cipriani ; 
and  on  a  screen  several  original  sketches  by  the 
late  John  Leech. 

The  Museum  of  Patents,  adjoining  the  South 
Court,  is  a  collection  illustrative  of  the  progress  of 
national  invention,  and  contains  not  only  models, 
but  several  original  machines  which  have  been  the 
means  of  developing  our  prosperity,  and  have 
given  new  life  to  the  world.  As  examples  may  be 
mentioned  the  first  steam-engine  to  which  James 
Watt  applied  his  condenser;  the  first  locomotive, 
"  Puffing  Billy,"  and  its  successor,  George  Stephen- 
son's  "Rocket;"  the  first  engine  ever  used  in 
steam  navigation,  the  first  Bramah's  press,  and 
many  other  pieces  of  mechanism  of  not  less  his- 
torical value. 

On  the  west  side  of  the  main  buildings  of  the 
Museum,  facing  the  Exhibition  Road,  is  a  large 
edifice,  containing  class-rooms  for  instruction  in 
various  branches  of  science.  This  structure  was 
built  on  the  site  of  the  "  International  Bazaar,"  a 
building  which  was  constructed  in  1862,  and  filled 
with  a  choice  selection  of  works  by  persons  whose 
application  for  space  in  the  Exhibition  could  not 
be  complied  with.  The  Art  Schools  extend  along 
the  north  side  of  the  Museum,  and  have  separat' 
apartments  for  male  and  female  students. 

The -Science  and  Art  Department  is  a  divisio 
of  the  Education  Department,  under  the  directio 
of  the  Lord  President  of  the  Council  and  the 
Vice-President  of  the  Committee  of  Council  on 
Education.  It  was  established  in  1852.  A  sum 
of  money  is  voted  annually  by  Parliament,  in  ak 
of  local  efforts  to  promote  science  and  art  appli 
to  productive  industry,  such  efforts  originating 
with  the  localities.  Payments  are  made  upor 
results  of  instruction  in  science  and  art,  as  testec 
by  examination  by  properly-appointed  officials 
The  National  Art  Training  School  was  establishec 
for  the  purpose  of  training  art-masters  and  mis 
tresses  for  the  United  Kingdom,  and  for  th 
instruction  of  students  in  designing,  &c.,  to  whie 
male  and  female  students  are  admitted  when  pro 
perly  qualified,  receiving  an  allowance  in  aid  o 
their  maintenance,  which  is  proportioned  to  thei 
attainments,  and  to  their  qualification  for  the  dutie 
of  teaching  required  from  them.  When  sue 


udents  have  obtained  certificates  of  qualification, 
ley  may  be  appointed  teachers  to  the  local  Schools 
:  Art  throughout  the  United  Kingdom.  The 
bject  of  the  Science  Schools  and  Classes  is  to 
remote  instruction  in  science,  especially  among 
ic  industrial  classes,  in  such  subjects  as  Mathe- 
itics,  Geometry,  Naval  Architecture,  Mechanics, 
hemistry,  Botany,  and  the  like.  The  assistance 

granted  by  the  Science  and  Art  Department  to 
lat  end  is  in  the  form  of  public  examinations,  in 
hich  Queen's  medals  and  Queen's  prizes  are 
arded  ;  payments  on  the  results  of  examination 
nd  on  attendance ;  scholarships  and  exhibitions ; 
uilding  grants;  grants  towards  the  purchase  of 
pparatus,  &c.,  and  supplementary  grants  in  certain 
bjects ;  and  special  aid  to  teachers  and  students. 

The  sum  voted  by  Parliament,  for  the  year  1882-3, 
or  the  Science  and  Art  Department,  amounted 
o  nearly  ,£351,400.  The  department,  it  may 
e  added,  has  the  advantage  of  the  services  of 
entlemen  of  the  highest  standing  in  their  several 
irofessions,  as  examiners  both  for  Science  and  Art 
Schools,  and  as  official  referees  for  the  purchases 
nade  for  the  collections. 

The  Royal  Albert  Hall  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  to 
vhich  we  now  pass,  owes  its  origin  to  the  fund, 
vhich  was  raised  in  1862,  for  the  purpose  of 
irecting  in  Hyde  Park  the  national  memorial  to 
he  late  Prince  Consort,  which  we  have  already 
described.  With  every  desire  that  this  recognition 
}f  the  debt  which  English  art,  science,  and  industry 
wed  to  the  Prince  should  be,  in  every  sense  of  the 
ord,  such  a  memorial  as  the  country  itself  pre- 
"errcd,  the  Queen  requested  a  committee  of  gentle- 
men to  suggest  the  form  which  the  testimonial  should 
ssume.  After  deliberating  upon  the  matter,  the 
committee  recommended  the  erection  of  a  personal 
memorial  to  the  Prince  Consort  in  Hyde  Park, 
opposite  to  what  was  best  known  as  the  Central 
Hall  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  Naturally  enough,  it 
was  expected  that  large  subscriptions  would  flow  in 
towards  the  object  in  view.  These  expectations 
were  not  fully  realised,  the  amount  subscribed  at 
that  period  being  less  than  ,£70,000.  To  this 
sum  Parliament  added  ,£50,000 ;  and  with  the 
,£120,000  thys  obtained  it  was  resolved  to  place 
in  Hyde  Park  the  monument  of  which  we  have 
spoken.  Further  efforts  were  yet  to  be  made,  and 
in  these  the  Prince  of  Wales  took  the  initiative.  In 
the  year  1865  the  Prince  of  Wales  called  together 
a  number  of  gentlemen,  who  were  asked  and  con- 
sented to  become  vice-patrons  of  the  proposed 
memorial  building.  A  statement  of  the  intentions 
of  the  promoters  of  the  undertaking  was  issued ; 
the  Royal  Commissioners  of  the  Exhibition  of 


THE   ROYAL  ALBERT   HALL. 


1851  gave  three  acres  of  land  as  a  site  for  the 
building,  at  the  nominal  rent  of  is.  a  year,  on  a 
long  lease,  and  subscriptions  came  in  towards  the 
much-cherished  object.  A  provisional  committee, 
consisting  of  twelve  members,  was  formed,  of 
which  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  president.  They 
held  several  meetings  at  Marlborough  House; 
;£no,ooo  was  soon  subscribed;  and  there  was 
every  prospect  of  the  intentions  of  the  committee 
being  quickly  realised,  when  a  sudden  stop  was 
put  to  the  efforts  of  the  promoters  by  the  memo- 
rable panic  of  1866.  For  a  while  all  further 
proceedings  ceased.  In  the  plans  of  the  proposed 
hall  provision  was  made  for  a  certain  number  of 
sittings ;  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1867 
Messrs.  Lucas,  the  great  contractors,  came  for- 
ward, and  consented  to  purchase  sittings  valued 
at  .£38,000,  on  the  understanding  that  they  should 
receive  the  contract  for  the  building,  the  total  cost 
of  which  was  not  to  exceed  .£200,000.  These 
terms  were  agreed  to  by  the  provisional  committee ; 
the  public  nobly  came  forward  and  subscribed 
£112,000,  the  Royal  Commissioners  of  the  1851 
Exhibition  gave  £50,000,  Messrs.  Lucas'  propo- 
sition was  worth  £38,000;  and  on  the  20th  of 
May,  1867,  the  Queen  laid  the  foundation-stone 
of  the  building,  the  original  plans  for  which  came 
from  the  late  Captain  Fowke,  R.E.;  Colonel  Scott, 
R.E.,  being  the  architect.  From  that  time  the 
scheme  was  successful.  A  pardonable  degree 
of  curiosity  was  aroused  respecting  the  ultimate 
destiny  of  the  hall ;  but  this  was  set  aside  when  it 
was  announced  that  the  new  building  was  intended, 
amongst  other  things,  to  accommodate  science 
congresses,  to  provide  a  suitable  arena  for  musical 
performances,  and  to  serve  other  equally  useful 
artistic  and  scientific  purposes.  For  this  the 
building  is  admirably  adapted,  from  the  immense 
disposable  space  it  offers.  Between  6,000  and 
7,000  persons  can  be  seated  in  the  hall,  and 
besides  this,  when  the  necessity  arises,  it  is  pos- 
sible to  place  as  many  as  2,000  spectators  in  com- 
fortable positions  on  an  inclined  staging  in  the 
picture-gallery,  which  runs  nearly  round  the  hall. 

Guided  by  the  principles  upon  which  the  Romans 
constructed  those  amphitheatric  buildings,  the  re- 
mains of  which  strike  modern  spectators  with  awe 
and  admiration,  the  designers  of  the  Albert  Hall 
have  succeeded  in  raising  a  structure  of  eminently 
beautiful  and  attractive  proportions.  Seen  from 
the  Park  or  the  Kensington  Road,  the  hall  stands 
boldly  out  in  all  the  magnificence  which  invests  a 
building  in  the  style  of  Italian  Renaissance.  The 
base  is  of  plain  red  brick,  with  single-headed  win- 
dows, the  keystone  of  which  is  formed  of  the  crown 


and  cushion  and  the  letter  "V.,"  above  which  the 
principal  floor  is  divided  by  terra-cotta  pilasters, 
between  which  are  semicircular-headed  windows. 
An  idea  of  the  vast  character  of  the  building  may 
be  obtained  from  the  knowledge  that  70,000  blocks 
of  terra-cotta  were  used  in  its  construction.  The 
frieze,  which  is  about  800  feet  long  and  about 
6  feet  wide,  was  made  in  sections  of  50  feet,  of 
encaustic  tessera,  by  Messrs.  Minton  and  Co., 
who  employed  in  its  working  the  female  students 
of  the  School  of  Art  at  Kensington.  Above 
these  is  the  entablature,  having  a  widely-project- 
ing balcony  four  feet  across.  Surrounding  the 
building,  and  high  above  the  balcony,  is  mosaic 
work,  representing  various  allegories  descriptive  of 
the  arts,  commerce,  and  manufactures.  These 
mosaics  are  from  the  designs  of  Messrs.  Horsley, 
Armitage,  Yeames,  Marks,  Poynter,  Pickersgill,  and 
Armstead.  Round  the  frieze  of  the  building  runs 
the  following  inscription  in  large  letters: — "This 
hall  was  erected  for  the  advancement  of  the  arts 
and  sciences,  and  for  the  works  of  industry  of  all 
nations,  in  fulfilment  of  the  intentions  of  Albert, 
Prince  Consort.  The  site  was  purchased  by  the 
proceeds  of  the  Great  Exhibition  of  the  year  1851. 
The  first  stone  of  the  hall  was  laid  by  Her  Majesty 
Queen  Victoria,  on  the  2oth  day  of  May,  1867,  and 
it  was  opened  by  Her  Majesty  the  Queen,  on  the 
2gth  day  of  March,  in  the  year  1871." 

Above  the  frieze,  in  terra-cotta,  in  letters  a  foot 
high,  is  the  sacred  text :  "  Thine,  O  Lord,  is  the 
greatness,  and  the  power,  and  the  glory,  and  the 
victory,  and  the  majesty:  for  all  that  is  in  the 
heaven  and  in  the  earth  is  Thine.  The  wise  and 
their  works  are  in  the  hand  of  God.  Glory  be  to 
God  on  high,  and  on  earth  peace." 

In  the  plan  of  the  interior,  it  can  be  seen  at  once 
that  the  architect  has  taken  for  his  model  the  old 
Roman  amphitheatre,  though  with  such  important 
modifications  as,  happily,  quite  another  kind  of 
entertainment,  and,  unhappily,  less  genial  skies, 
required.  Roman  plebeians  and  aristocrats  were 
mere  spectators,  looking  down  on  the  fierce  and 
bloody  spectacles  provided  for  their  amusement  in 
the  arena.  Here  it  was  necessary  so  to  provide 
that  people  might  both  hear  and  see,-  but  above  all 
things  hear.  Such  a  condition  gives  the  key  to  the 
arrangement  of  the  interior.  Imagine,  then,  within 
an  outer  shell  of  staircases,  corridors,  refreshment 
and  retiring  rooms,  a  vast  hall,  in  shape  of  a 
graceful  oval,  of  which  the  southern  end  is  all  but 
filled  by  the  organ  and  an  orchestra  rising  upwards 
in  tiers  of  seats.  Fronting  this  orchestra  is  the 
auditorium,  of  horse-shoe  form,  composed  of  arena, 
a  level  space  ;  the  amphitheatre,  or,  as  it  might  be 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[South  Remington. 


better  termed,  the  stalls,  sloping  upwards  towards  I  ^100;  a  loggia  box,  holding  eight  persons,  ^800; 

..         I         i    .        __    .v.- 1    *:«..     ,,-,'tJi     for»    nl-a^*»c      _^T   r»r*rt  • 


the  boxes ;  three  tiers  of  boxes ;  above  them  the 
balcony;  and  lastly,  above  it,  what  is  called  the 
picture-gallery.  This  gallery  is  not  within  the 
proper  limits  of  the  ellipse  forming  the  interior,  but 
is  built  over  the  staircases  and  corridors  which  form 
an  outer  zone  to  the  portions  of  the  auditorium 
below.  It  runs,  therefore,  round  the  whole  of  the 


a  box  on  the  grand  tier,  with  ten  places 
and  one  with  five  places  on  the  second  tier,  ^500. 
Thus  the  unit  of  ^100  is  taken  as  the  cost  per 
seat  in  each  case.  The  subscription  season  is 
rather  a  long  one— 999  years. 

One  of  the  most  striking  features  in  the  interior 
is  the  organ,  which  stands  in  the  centre  of  the 


interior ;  and  the  thirty  Italian  arches,  with  their 
scagliola  pillars,  through  which  the  body  of  the  hall 
is  seen,  are  really  its  great  ornament. 

The  boxes  and  balcony  project  from  the  wall  into 
the  ellipse,  each  tier  extending  three  feet  beyond 
that  above  it  Such  an  arrangement  enables  the 
occupants  of  each  tier  to  see  without  much  diffi- 
culty, and  be  seen  by  those  above  them.  One  of 
the  most  remarkable  features  of  the  hall,  in  fact,  is 
the  perfect  view  of  the  interior,  and  of  all  within 
it,  which  can  be  had  from  any  point.  The  boxes 
and  stalls  were  taken  by  subscription.  One  of  the 
latter,  comprising  the  right  to  a  revolving  chair,  like 
a  music  stool  with  arms,  in  the  amphitheatre,  cost 


orchestra,  supported  by  a  framework  of  the  lightest 
and  simplest  kind,  itself  its  only  ornament.  It  is 
said  to  be  the  largest  organ  in  the  world,  and  was 
constructed  by  Mr.  Henry  Willis,  the  builder  of 
the  organ  at  St  George's  Hall,  Liverpool  Some 
idea  of  the  size  of  the  instrument  may  be  formed 
when  we  say  that  it  contains  about  1 20  registers, 
about  8,000  pipes,  distributed  over  four  manuals 
and  a  pedal  organ.  The  pipes  vary  in  length  from 
about  thirty-four  feet  to  three-quarters  of  an  inch. 
The  only  organ  in  England  which  approaches  it  in 
size  is  that  at  the  Alexandra  Palace,  built  by  the 
same  maker;  and  it  is  about  double  the  size  of 
the  fine  organ  of  St  Paul's  Cathedral  In  this 


A  MONSTER  ORGAN. 


organ  the  builder,  for  the  first  time,  made  use  of 
pneumatic  tubes  for  the  connection  of  the  manuals 
and  pedals  with  pipes  at  a  distance,  instead  of  the 
old  long  tracker  movement;  and  it  is  probable 
that  this  invention  will,  in  the  course  of  time,  cause 
important  changes  in  the  construction  of  such 
gigantic  instruments.  With  its  vistas  of  polished 
pipes  of  all  sizes,  some  of  them  gleaming  like 
sUver,  the  organ  arrests  the  eye  at  once  on  entering 


feet,  the  shorter  length  is  180  feet,  and  there  is  a 
distance  of  140  feet  between  the  floor  of  the  arena 
and  the  dome. 

Since  the  day  of  the  opening  of  the  hall  by 
Her  Majesty,  when  the  orchestra  was  occupied  by 
1,200  instrumentalists  and  vocalists,  concerts  on 
a  grand  and  extensive  scale  have  been  the  chief 
use  to  which  the  building  has  been  put ;  and  it 
was  also  used  for  part  of  the  display  in  the  annual 


INTERIOR   OF   THE   AtBERT   HA.LU 


the  building;  and  when  one  hears  that  the  motive 
power  is  supplied  by  two  steam-engines,  one  might 
be  led  to  expect  such  a  volume  of  sound  as  would 
almost  blow  the  roof  off. 

The  lighting  of  the  hall  is  a  novelty  in  itself. 
Thirty  gold-coloured  chandeliers,  one  in  each  arch, 
surround  the  picture-gallery,  each  having  fifteen 
lights  There  is  a  third  ring  of  sixty  chandeliers, 
with  twenty-one  lights  each;  and  altogether  there 
are  nearly  7,000  gas  jets,  which  can  all  be  lit  by 
electricity  in  ten  seconds. 

The  spaces  over  the  porches  on  thfe  east  and 
west  sides  of  the  hall  have  been  in  each  case 
arranged  as  a  lecture  theatre,  having  a  raised  floor, 
with  a  platform  or  stage,  and  holding  about  200 
people.  At  its  widest  part  the  hall  measures  200 


industrial  Exhibitions  of  1871-4-  The  grandest 
scenes,  perhaps,  which  have  taken  place  within  its 
walls  were  on  the  occasions  of  the  state  concerts 
given  in  honour  of  the  visits  to  England  of  the 
Shah  of  Persia,  the  Czar  of  Russia,  &c. ;  another 
brilliant  ceremony  witnessed  here  was  the  : 
stallation  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  as  Grand  Master 
of  the  Lodge  of  Freemasons  of  England. 

Close  by  the  Royal  Albert  Hall,  on  a  plot  of 
ground  granted  by  the  Commissioners  of  the  Ex- 
hibition of  1851,  is  the  National  Training  School 
for  Music,  of  which  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh  was 
the  first  president.  The  building  was  constructed 
in  1875,  at  the  cost  of  Sir  Charles  Freake.  The 
Council  of  the  Society  of  Arts  undertook  the 
supervision  of  the  foundation  of  scholarships. 


n6 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[South  Remington. 


The  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  whose  garde 
as  we  have  already  stated,  are  enclosed  by  the 
Exhibition  buildings  on  the  south  side  of  the  Roya! 
Albert  Hall,  was  established  in  1804,  and  incorpo 
rated  by  royal  charter  soon  afterwards.  The  society 
was  instituted  for  the  improvement  of  horticulture 
in  all  its  branches,  and  it  has  an  extensive  experi 
mental  garden  at  Chiswick,  five  miles  from  London, 
laid  out  tastefully,  and  filled  with  many  rare  plants. 
These  gardens  have  acquired  great  celebrity  from 
their  having  been  established  at  a  period  when 
gardening  was  in  a  very  low  condition  in  this 
country,  and  from  having  been  the  means  of 
raising  it  to  its  present  greatly-improved  state 
Previously  to  purchasing  the  land  at  Chiswick, 
the  Horticultural  Society  had  temporarily  occupied 
a  small  piece  of  ground  at  Brompton,  not  far  from 
the  gardens  which  we  are  about  to  notice.  In 
1859  the  society  obtained  (through  the  late  Prince 
Consort)  possession  of  about  twenty  acres  of  land 
on  this  site,  and  new  and  splendid  gardens  were 
laid  out.  These  were  opened  in  the  summer  of 
1862,  forming  a  charming  retreat  from  the  bustle 
of  the  Exhibition. 

Between  the  Kensington  Road  and  Cromwell 
Road  the  ground  falls  about  forty  feet,  and  using 
this  fact  in  aid  of  a  general  effect,  the  ground  has 
been  divided  into  three  principal  levels.  The 
entrances  to  the  gardens  are  on  the  lower  level 
in  Exhibition  Road  and  Queen's  Gate,  and  the 
central  pathway,  upwards  of  seventy-five  feet  wide, 
ascending  through  terraces  to  the  third  great  level, 
leads  to  the  winter  garden  or  conservatory.  The 
whole  garden  is  surrounded  by  Italian  arcades,  each 
of  the  three  levels  having  arcades  of  a  different 
character.  The  upper,  or  north  arcade,  where  the 
boundary  is  semi-circular  in  form,  is  a  modification 
of  the  arcades  of  the  Villa  Albani  at  Rome.  The 
central  arcade  is  almost  wholly  of  Milanese  brick- 
work, interspersed  with  terra-cotta,  majolica,  &c., 
while  the  design  for  the  south  arcade  has  been 
adapted  from  the  beautiful  cloisters  of  St.  John 
Lateran  at  Rome.  None  of  these  arcades  are  less 
than  twenty  feet  wide  and  twenty-five  feet  high,  and 
they  give  a  promenade,  sheltered  from  all  weathers, 
more  than  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  length.  The 
arcades  and  earthworks  were  executed  by  the  Com- 
missioners for  the  Exhibition  of  1851,  at  a  cost  of 
,£50,000,  while  the  laying-out  of  the  gardens  and 
construction  of  the  conservatory  were  executed  by 
the  Horticultural  Society,  and  cost  about  the  same 
sum.  On  the  upper  terrace,  in  front  of  the  conser- 
vatory, and  at  the  head  of  a  lake,  stands  a  memorial 
of  the  late  Prince  Consort,  the  work  of  Mr.  Joseph 
Durham,  sculptor,  originally  intended  only  to  com- 


memorate the  International  Exhibition  of  1851. 
The  death  of  the  Prince  having  occurred  before 
the  work  was  completed,  the  memorial  was  made 
into  a  lasting  tribute  to  the  "  great  founder  of  the 
Exhibition."  The  idea  embodied  is  Britannia 
(typified  by  the  Prince)  supported  by  the  four 
quarters  of  the  globe — signifying  that  the  Exhi- 
bition originated  in  England,  and  was  supported  by 
all  other  nations.  The  monument  stands  upwards 
of  forty  feet  in  height,  and  represents  the  Prince 
in  his  robes  as  Grand  Master  of  the  Order  of  the 
Bath.  The  body  of  the  memorial  is  of  grey  granite, 
with  columns  and  panels  of  red  polished  Aberdeen 
granite ;  the  statue  of  the  Prince,  and  also  those  of 
the  figures  representing  each  quarter  of  the  globe, 
being  of  bronze. 

In  1883  a  large  portion  of  the  gardens  of  the 
Horticultural  Society  was  utilised  for  the  purposes 
of  an  International  Fisheries  Exhibition,  which  was 
opened  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  on  the  rath  of 
May.  The  exhibition  was  held  in  several  tem- 
porary buildings,  covering  nearly  twelve  acres  of 
ground.  It  was  designed  with  the  view  of  illus- 
rating  sea  and  fresh-water  fishing  in  all  its  branches, 
fish-culture,  fishing-boats,  fish-curing,  fishing-tackle 
and  apparatus  of  all  kinds,  lifeboats  and  life-saving 
apparatus,  diving  apparatus,  indeed,  everything 
mmediately  relating  to  and  connected  with  the 
actual  working  of  all  kinds  of  fishing.  Among  the 
more  interesting  features  of  the  exhibition  were  the 
iquaria  of  sea  and  fresh  water,  well  stocked  with 
rish,  anemones,  aquatic  plants,  &c  ;  also  the  fine 
collection  of  pictures  of  marine  subjects,  and  the 

action  of  stuffed  and  preserved  fish,  and  casts, 
and  drawings  ;  together  with  specimens  and  repre- 
sentations illustrative  of  the  relations  between  ex- 
inct  and  existing  fishes.  The  boat  used  by  Grace 
Jarling  and  her  father,  in  1838,  in  their  gallant 
escuc  of  nine  of  the  sufferers  from  the  wreck  of 
he  ForfarMrc  among  the  Fame  Islands,  was 
:xhibited,  as  also  was  the  old  Royal  state  barge 
vhich  was  built  in  the  reign  of  James  II.  Prizes 
vere  offered  for  essays  connected  with  the  objects 
)f  the  Exhibition  :  on  such  subjects  as  the  natural 
listory  of  commercial  sea  fishes  of  Great  Britain 
ind  Ireland,  with  special  reference  to  such  parts  of 
heir  natural  history  as  bear  upon  their  production 
md  commercial  use  ;  as  to  the  effect  of  the  laws  for 
he  regulation  and  protection  of  fisheries;  on 
mproved  facilities  for  the  capture  and  economic 
distribution  of  sea  fishes  ;  and  on  improved  fishery 
arbour  accommodation.  Conferences  were  also 
eld  for  reading  and  discussing  papers  on  subjects 
connected  with  the  exhibitions;  and  instruction 
n  cooking  fish  was  given. 


N    1830. 


CHAPTER  X. 
"THE   OLD   COURT   SUBURB."-KENSINGTON. 


:  walk  to  To 


"When 
The  water?  or  take  coac 
Or  Paddington  ?  or  to  so 
O'  th'  City  out-leaps  for 


s  "New  Academy"  (a  play),  1658. 


Descent  of  the  Manor- A  Parochial  Enigma-Derivation  of  the  Name  of  Kensington-Thackeray's  "  Esmond  "-Leigh  Hunt's  Reminiscences- 
Gore  Houie— Mr.  Wilberforce,  the  Philanthropist— Lord  Rodney— The  Countess  of  Hlessington  and  her  Admirers— An  Anecdote  of  Louis 
Napoleon-Count  D'Orsay's  Picture-A  Touching  Incident- -Sale  of  the  Contents  of  Gore  House,  and  Death  of  the  Countess  of  Blessington 
-M.  Soyer's  "  Symposium  "-Sale  of  the  Gore  House  Kstat.-Park  House-Ham.lton  Lodge,  the  Residence  of  John  Wilkes-Batty's 
.Hippodrome-St.  Stephen's  Church-Orford  Lodge-Christ  Church. 


KENSINGTON,  which  is  technically  described  as  a 
suburb  of  London,  in  the  Hundred  of  Ossulston, 
has  long  enjoyed  distinction  from  its  Palace,  in 
which  several  successive  sovereigns  of  the  Hano- 
verian line  held  their  court,  and  which  was  the 
birth-place  of  Queen  Victoria.  In  the  time  of  the 
Domesday  survey  the  manor  of  Kensington  was 
owned  by  the  Bishop  of  Coutances,  to  whom  it  was 
granted  by  William  the  Conqueror.  It  was  at  that 
time  held  by  Aubrey  de  Vere,  and  subsequently,  as 
history  tells  us,  it  became  the  absolute  property  of 
the  De  Veres,  who  afterwards  gave  twenty  Earls  of 
Oxford  to  the  English  peerage.  Aubrey  de  Vere 


was  Grand  Justiciary  of  England,  and  was  created 
Earl  of  Oxford  by  the  Empress  Maud.  Upon  the 
attainder  of  John,  Earl  of  Oxford,  who  was  be- 
headed during  the  struggle  for  power  between  the 
houses  of  York  and  Lancaster,  the  manor  was 
bestowed  by  Edward  IV.  on  his  brother  Richard, 
Duke  of  Gloucester.  After  passing  through  the 
hands  of  the  Marquis  of  Berkeley  and  Sir  Reginald 
Bray,  the  property  returned  (as  is  supposed  by 
purchase)  to  John,  Earl  of  Oxford,  son  of  the 
attainted  nobleman  above  mentioned.  The  manor 
is  said  to  have  again  passed  from  that  family,  pro- 
bably by  sale,  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth ;  and  early 


OLD  AND   NEW   LONDON. 


in  the  seventeenth  century  the  Earl  of  Argyll  am 
three  other  persons  joined  in  a  conveyance  of  tht 
property  to  Sir  Walter  Cope,  whose  daughter  con 
veyed  it  by  marriage  to  Henry  Rich,  Earl  o 
Holland.  The  manor  subsequently  passed  intc 
the  hands  of  Lord  Kensington,  who  was  maternal!; 
descended  from  Robert  Rich,  last  Earl  of  Warwick 
and  Holland,  and  whose  barony,  singularly  enough 
is  an  Irish  one,  although  the  title  is  derived  from 
this  place. 

Parochially  considered,  Kensington  is  somewha 
of  an  enigma,  for  it  is  not  only  more  than  Ken 
sington  in  some  places,  but  it  is  not  Kensington 
itself  in  others.  In  Kensington  parish,  for  in 
stance,  are  included  Earl's  Court,  Little  Chelsea, 
Old  and  New  Brompton,  Kensal  Green,  and  even 
some  of  the  houses  in  Sloane  Street ;  while,  on  th 
other  hand,  Kensington  Palace  and  Kensington 
Gardens  are  not  in  Kensington,  but  in  the  parish 
of  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster. 

The  place,  which  now  forms,  as  it  were,  part 
and  parcel  of  London,  was  down  to  comparatively 
recent  times  a  village,  one  mile  and  a  half  from 
Hyde  Park  Corner.  The  name  is  stated  by  som 
topographers  to  be  derived  from  Kcennigston,  o 
from  the  Saxon  Kyning' s-t\m,  a  term  synonymous 
with  King's  End  Town,  and  to  be  the  same  word 
as  Kennington  and  Kingston ;  our  monarchs  from 
the  earliest  date  having  had  residences  at  all  three 
places.  Possibly,  however,  the  "  Ken  "  may  be  an 
equivalent  to  "  Kaen,"  or  "  Caen,"  which  lies  at 
the  root  of  "  Kentish  "  Town,  "  Caen-wood,"  &c. ; 
but  we  will  leave  the  origin  of  the  name  to  be 
discussed  by  antiquaries,  and  pass  on  to  a  survey 
of  the  district  in  detail. 

"Whatever  was  the  origin  of  its  name,"  writes 
Leigh  Hunt,  in  the  "  Old  Court  Suburb,"  "  there 
is  no  doubt  that  the  first  inhabited  spot  of  Ken- 
sington was  an  inclosure  from  the  great  Middlesex 
forest  which  once  occupied  this  side  of  London, 
and  which  extended  northwards  as  far  as  Barnet." 
Kensington  has  been  always  a  favourite,  not  only 
with  royalty,  but  with  those  who  more  or  less  bask 
in  the  sunshine  of  princes— poets,  painters,  &c. 
The  healthfulness  and  fashion  of  the  place  attracted 
numerous  families  of  distinction ;  and  its  import- 
ance was  completed  when  William  III.  bought  the 
house  and  grounds  of  the  Finch  family  (Earls  of 
Nottingham),  and  converted  the  former  into  a 
palace,  and  the  latter  into  royal  gardens.  It  is 
emphatically  "the  old  Court  suburb,"  and  is 
familiar  to  all  readers  of  Thackeray,  who  has  por- 
trayed its  features  in  many  of  his  writings,  especially 
in  "  Esmond."  Leigh  Hunt  observes  that  "  there 
is  not  a  step  of  the  way,  from  its  commencement 


at  Kensington  Gore  to  its  termination  beyond 
Holland  House,  in  which  you  are  not  greeted  with 
the  face  of  some  pleasant  memory.  Here,  to 
'minds'  eyes'  conversant  with  local  biography, 
stands  a  beauty  looking  out  of  a  window ;  there, 
a  wit  talking  with  other  wits  at  a  garden-gate; 
there,  a  poet  on  the  green  sward,  glad  to  get  out  of 
the  Londo.i  smoke  and  find  himself  among  trees. 
Here  come  De  Veres  of  the  times  of  old ;  Hollands 
and  Davenants,  of  the  Stuart  and  Cromwell  times ; 
Evelyn,  peering  about  him  soberly,  and  Samuel 
Pepys  in  a  bustle.  Here  advance  Prior,  Swift, 
Arbuthnot,  Gay,  Sir  Isaac  Newton;  Steele,  from 
visiting  Addison  ;  Walpole,  from  visiting  the  Foxes ; 
Johnson,  from  a  dinner  with  Elphinstone ;  'Junius,' 
from  a  communication  with  Wilkes.  Here,  in  his 
carriage,  is  King  William  III.  going  from  the  palace 
to  open  Parliament ;  Queen  Anne,  for  the  same  pur- 
pose ;  George  I.  and  George  II.  (we  shall  have  the 
pleasure  of  looking  at  all  these  personages  a  little 
more  closely) ;  and  there,  from  out  of  Kensington 
Gardens,  comes  bursting,  as  if  the  whole  recorded 
polite  world  were  in  flower  at  one  and  the  same 
aeriod,  all  the  fashion  of  the  gayest  times  of  those 
sovereigns,  blooming  with  chintzes,  full-blown  with 
oop  petticoats,  towering  with  topknots  and  toupees. 
Here  comes  '  Lady  Mary,'  quizzing  everybody ; 
md  Lady  Suffolk,  looking  discreet ;  there,  the 
ovely  Bellendens  and  Lepels ;  there,  Miss  Howe, 
aughing  with  Nancy  Lowther  (who  made  her  very 
grave  afterwards) ;  there  Chesterfield,  Hanbury 

illiams,  Lord  Hervey ;  Miss  Chudleigh,  not  over 
:lothed ;  the  Miss  Gunnings,  drawing  crowds  of 
idmirers;  and  here  is  George  Selwyn,  interchanging 
vit  with  my  Lady  Townshend,  the  '  Lady  Bellaston ' 
so,  at  least,  it  has  been  said)  of  'Tom  Jones.'" 
'robably  there  is  not  an  old  house  in  Kensington 
n  which  some  distinguished  person  has  not  lived, 
uring  the  reigns  in  which  the  Court  resided  there ; 
ut  the  houses  themselves  are,  as  Leigh  Hunt  puts 
:,  "  but  dry  bones,  unless  invested  with  interests  of 
esh  and  blood." 

The  Royal  Albert  Hall  and  the  gardens  of  the 
Horticultural  Society  occupy  the  site  of  Gore  House 
nd  grounds.  This  is  probably  the  estate  called 
ic  Gara,  or  the  Gare,  which  Herbert,  Abbot  of 
Vestminster,  gave  to  the  nuns  of  Kilburn.  The 
pot  was,  according  to  John  Timbs,  anciently  called 
Cyng's  Gore.  Old  Gore  House  was  a  low,  plain, 
nd  unpretending  building,  painted  white,  and 
butted  on  the  roadway,  about  150  yards  to  the 
ast  of  the  chief  public  entrance  to  the  Albert  HalL 
ts  external  beauty,  if  it  had  any,  belonged  to  its 
outhern,  or  garden  side.  Standing  close  to  the 
oadside,  it  looked  as  if  meant  originally  for  the 


GORE  HOUSE. 


lodge  .  of  some  great  mansion  which  had  never 
actually  been  built :  and  the  row,  of  which  it  formed 
a  part,  as  Leigh  Hunt  observes,  in  his  "  Old  Court 
Suburb,"  might  easily  lead  one  to  imagine  that  it 
had  been  divided  into  apartments  for  the  retainers 
of  the  Court,  and  that  either  a  supernumerary  set  of 
maids  of  honour  had  lived  there,  or  else  that  some 
four  or  five  younger  brothers  of  lords  of  the  bed- 
chamber had  been  the  occupants,  and  expecting 
places  in  reversion.  "  The  two  houses,"  adds  the 
writer,  "  seem  to  be  nothing  but  one  large  drawing- 
room.  They  possess,  however,  parlours  and  second 
storeys  at  the  back,  and  they  have  good  gardens,  so 
that,  what  with  their  flowers  behind  them,  the  park 
in  front,  and  their  own  neatness  and  elegance,  the 
miniature  aristocracy  of  their  appearance  is  not  ill 
borne  out." 

Here,  for  the  best  part  of  half  a  century,  distin- 
guished statesmen  and  philanthropists,  and  after- 
wards the  light  and  frivolous  butterflies  of  West-end 
society,  used  to  mix  with  men  of  letters  and  the 
votaries  of  science.  Here  the  "  lions  "  of  the  day 
were  entertained  from  time  to  time ;  and  there 
were  few  houses  to  which  the  entree  was  more 
coveted.  At  the  end  of  the  last  century  it  was 
little  more  than  a  cottage,  with  a  pleasant  garden 
in  the  rear  attached  to  it,  and  it  was  tenanted  by 
a  Government  contractor,  who  does  not  seem  to 
have  cared  to  go  to  any  expense  in  keeping  it  in 
order.  Early  in  the  present  century  it  was  en- 
larged on  coming  into  the  possession  of  Mr.  Wil- 
berforce,  who  soon  grew  very  fond  of  the  spot,  and 
here  used  to  entertain  Mr.  Pitt,  Lord  Auckland 
(who  lived  hard  by),  and  such  eminent  philan- 
thropists as  Clarkson,  Stephen,  Zachary  Macaulay, 
and  Romilly ;  indeed,  it  has  often  been  said  that 
the  agitation  which  ended  in  the  abolition  of  West 
Indian  slavery  was  commenced  in  the  library  of 
Gore  House.  Of  this  place  Mr.  Wilberforce  often 
speaks  in  his  private  correspondence ;  and  in  one 
place  he  mentions  his  rus  in  urbe  in  the  following 
terms  : — "We  are  just  one  mile  from  the  turnpike 
at  Hyde  Park  Comer,  having  about  three  acres  of 
pleasure-ground  around  our  house,  or  rather  behind 
it,  and  several  old  trees,  walnut  and  mulberry,  of 
thick  foliage.  I  can  sit  and  read  under  their 
shade  with  as  much  admiration  of  the  beauties  of 
Nature  as  if  I  were  down  in  Yorkshire,  or  anywhere 
else  200  miles  from  the  great  city."  Here,  too, 
his  four  sons,  including  the  future  Bishop  of  Oxford 
and  of  Winchester,  were  mainly  brought  up  in  their 
childhood  and  boyhood  ;  and  in  the  later  years  of 
its  hospitable  owner's  life  it  is  on  record  that  "  its 
costliness  made  him  at  times  uneasy,  lest  it  should 
force  him  to  curtail  his  charities,"  a  thing  which  he 


was  always  most  anxious  to  avoid.  Mrs.  Wilber- 
force supported  in  this  mansion  a  school  for  poor 
girls,  which  was  under  her  own  personal  superin- 
tendence. At  Gore  House  the  gallant  admiral, 
Lord  Rodney,  was  for  some  time  "  laid  up  in  port." 

Mr.  Wilberforce  having  occupied  the  house  for 
thirteen  years,  from  1808  down  to  1821,  it  next 
passed  into  the  hands  of  a  new  meditator,  but 
not  so  much  on  the  beauties  of  nature  as  on  those 
of  art  and  literature— one  who  was  more  spirituelle 
in  salons,  that  "  spiritual "  in  Wilberforce's  sense  of 
the  term — the  "  gorgeous  "  Countess  of  Blessington 
became  in  turn  its  proprietor.  She  lived  here 
during  her  widowhood,  surrounded  by  a  bright  and 
fashionable  crowd  of  aristocratic  and  literary  ad- 
mirers. Gore  House  became  indeed  a  centre  of 
attraction  to  the  world  of  letters ;  for  besides  giving 
such  dinners  as  Dr.  Johnson  would  have  thought 
"  worth  being  asked  to,"  Lady  Blessington  prided 
herself  on  her  success  in  "bringing  people  together," 
in  order  to  please  and  be  pleased  in  turn.  Here 
Were  such  men  of  the  last  generation  as  Lord 
Melbourne,  the  poet  Campbell,  Samuel  Rogers, 
and  many  of  the  beaux  of  "  the  Regency  "  and  of 
the  reign  of  George  IV.,  including  Count  D'Orsay, 
who  married  Lady  Blessington's  daughter,  and  made 
the  house  his  home. 

"At  Gore  House,"  writes  Mr.  Blanchard  Jer- 
rold,  "  Prince  Louis  Napoleon  met  most  of  the 
intellectual  society  of  the  time,  and  became  the 
friend  of  Count  D'Orsay,  Sir  E.  Lytton  Bulwer, 
Sir  Henry  Holland,  Albany  Fonblanque,  and  many 
others  who  formed  Lady  Blessington's  circle." 
The  Prince  dined  at  Gore  House  with  a  small 
party  of  West-end  friends  and  acquaintances,  in- 
cluding Lord  Nugent  and  "Poodle"  Byng,  on 
the  evening  before  he  started  off  on  his  wild  and 
abortive  effort  to  make  a  descent  on  Boulogne  in 
August,  1840.  "It  was  the  fashion  in  that  day," 
says  Mr.  Planche,  in  his  "  Recollections,"  "  to 
wear  black  satin  handkerchiefs  for  evening  dress  ; 
and  that  of  the  Prince  was  fastened  by  a  large 
spread  eagle  in  diamonds,  clutching  a  thunderbolt 
of  rubies.  There  was  in  England  at  that  time 
but  one  man  who,  without  the  impeachment  of 
coxcombry,  could  have  sported  so  magnificent  a 
jewel ;  and  though  to  my  knowledge  I  had  never 
seen  him  before,  I  felt  convinced  that  he  could  be 
no  other  than  Prince  Louis  Napoleon.  Such  was 
the  fact.  .  .  .  There  was  a  general  conversation  on 
indifferent  matters  for  some  twenty  minutes,  during 
which  the  Prince  spoke  but  little,  and  then  took 
his  departure  with  Count  Montholon.  Shortly 
afterwards,  Lord  Nugent,  Mr.  Byng,  and  I,  said 
good  night,  and  walked  townward  together.  As 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Kensington. 


we  went  along,  one  of  my  companions  said  to  the 
other,  'What  could  Louis  Napoleon  mean  by 
asking  us  to  dine  with  him  at  the  Tuileries  on 
this  day  twelve  months  ? '  Four  days  afterwards 
the  question  was  answered.  The  news  arrived  of 
the  abortive  landing  at  Boulogne  and  the  captivity 
of  the  Prince."  On  the  first  day  after  his  escape 
from  Ham  (1846),  and  his  arrival  in  London,  Prince 
Louis  Napoleon  again  dined  here  at  a  party,  with 


establishments  seldom  equalled,  and  still  more 
rarely  surpassed,  in  all  the  appliances  of  a  state  of 
society  brilliant  in  the  highest  degree ;  but,  alas  !  it 
must  be  acknowledged,  at  the  same  time,  a  state 
of  splendid  misery  for  a  great  portion  of  that  time 
to  the  mistress  of  those  elegant  and  luxurious 
establishments.  And  now,  at  the  end  of  that 
time,  we  find  her  forced  to  abandon  that  position, 
to  leave  all  the  elegancies  and  refinements  of  her 


Lady  Blessington,  Count  D'Orsay,  Walter  Savage 
Landor,  Mr.  John  Forster,  &c.,  whom  he  amused 
by  recounting  his  recent  adventure  in  detail. 

Mr.  Madden,  in  his  "  Life  and  Correspondence 
of  the  Countess  of  Blessington,"  says :—"  For 
nineteen  years  Lady  Blessington  had  maintained, 
at  first  in  Seamore  Place,  and  afterwards  at  Ken- 
sington, a  position  almost  queen-like  in  the  world 
of  intellectual  distinction,  in  fashionable  literary 
society,  reigning  over  the  best  circles  of  London 
celebrities,  and  reckoning  among  her  admiring 
friends,  and  the  frequenters  of  her  salons,  the  most 
eminent  men  of  England  in  every  walk  of  litera- 
ture, art,  and  science,  in  statesmanship,  in  the 
military  profession,  and  in  every  learned  pursuit. 
For  nineteen  years  she  had  maintained  in  London 


home  to  become  the  property  of  strangers,  and  in 
fact  to  make  a  departure  from  the  scene  of  all  her 
former  triumphs,  with  a  privacy  which  must  have 
been  most  painful  and  humiliating." 

Count  D'Orsay  painted  a  large  garden  view  of 
Gore  House,  with  portraits  of  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington, Lords  Chesterfield,  Douro,  and  Brougham, 
Sir  E.  Landseer,  the  Miss  Powers,  and  other 
members  of  the  fashionable  circle  that  gathered 
there.  "  In  the  foreground,  to  the  right,"  says  a 
description  of  the  picture,  "are  the  great  Duke 
and  Lady  Blessington  ;  in  the  centre,  Sir  E.  Land- 
seer,  seated,  in  the  act  of  sketching  a  fine  cow,  with 
a  calf  by  her  side  ;  Count  D'Orsay  himself,  with 
two  favourite  dogs,  is  seen  on  the  right  of  the 
group,  and  Lord  Chesterfield  on  the  left :  nearer 


Kensington.! 


LADY  BLESSINGTON. 


the  house  are  the  two  Miss  Powers  (nieces  of  and  Albert  Smith  and  Thackeray,  Charles  Dickens 
Lady  Blessington),  reading  a  letter,  a  gentleman  !  and  William  Jerdan,  Mr.  Monckton  Milnes,  Mr. 
walking  behind.  Further  to  the  left  are  Lord  !  A.  Baillie  Cochrane,  Mr.  N.  P.  Willis,  the  Countess 
Brougham,  Lord  Douro,  &c.,  seated  under  a  tree,  i  Guiccioli  (Byron's  chere  amie),  Lords  Brougham, 
engaged  in  conversation."  |  Lyndhurst,  and  Chesterfield,  and  all  the  other 


Mr.  Madden,  in  his  book  above  quoted,  gives 
us  anecdotes  of,  or  letters  from,  most  of  the  visitors 
at  Gore  House  when  it  was  in  its  prime.  Thomas 
Moore,  who  sang  so  touchingty  as  to  unlock  the 
fount  of  tears  in  the  drawing-room,  was  often 
there;  so  were  Horace  and  James  Smith,  the 
authors  of  the  "  Rejected  Addresses  ;  "  so  was  Sir 
Henry  Lytton  Bulwer  and  his  brother,  the  late 
Lord  Lytton.  Walter  Savage  Landor  would  repair 
thither,  with  his  stern  eyebrows  and  kindly  heart ; 
203 


KENSINGTON,     1850. 


celebrities,  who,  being  added  up  together  into  one 
sum,  made  up,  what  Joseph  Hume  would  have 
styled  tht  'tottle  of  the  whole"  of  the  Gore 
House  circle.  Mr.  N.  P.  Willis  thus  records  an 
incident  during  an  evening  here  :— "  We  all  sat 
round  the  piano,  and,  after  two  or  three  songs 
!  of  Lady  Blessington's  choosing,  Moore  rambled 
'  over  the  keys  awhile,  and  then  sang  'When  first  I 
met  thee,'  with  a  pathos  that  beggars  description 
When  the  last  word  had  faltered  out,  he  rose  and 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON.  [Kensington. 


took  Lady  Blessington's  hand,  said  good-night,  and 
was  gone  before  a  word  was  uttered.  ...  I  have 
heard  of  women  fainting  at  a  song  of  Moore's  ;  and 
if  the  burden  of  it  answered  by  chance  to  a  secret 
in  the  bosom  of  the  listener,  I  should  think,  from 
its  comparative  effect  upon  so  old  a  stager  as 
myself,  that  the  heart  would  break  with  it" 
Lady  Blessington's  "  curiosities  "  and  treasures  — 
the  contents  of  the  once  favourite  mansion  —  were 

our  army,  and  was  anxious  to  learn  how  he  had 
managed  this  under  the  privations  to  which  our 
brave   fellows   were   exposed   from   short  rations, 
and  often  from  no  rations  at  all  !      '  Dere  is  my 
merit,    Monsieur   Boyd,'   he   replied,  'for  I  did 
make  good  dishes  out  of  nothing.'  "     It  is  to  be 
feared  that  his  words  were  literally  true. 
The  Gore  House  estate,  comprising  some  twenty- 
one  acres,  was  purchased  in  1852  by  the  Com- 

disposed  of  by  auction  in  the  summer  of  1849 ;  j  missioners  of  the  Great  Exhibition,  out  of  the 
and  she  herself  went  off  to  Paris,  to  die  in  debt,  ,  surplus  fund  of  that  Exhibition,  for  the  sum  of 
and  deserted  by  her  butterfly  admirers,  but  a  few  I  ^60,000,  as  a  site  for  a  new  National  Gallery; 
weeks  afterwards.  The  contents  of  the  mansion  '  and  the  Baron  de  Villars'  estate,  adjoining,  nearly 
are  thus  described  in  the  catalogue  of  the  sale  : —  i  fifty  acres,  fronting  the  Brompton  Road,  was 
"Costly  and  elegant  effects:  comprising  all  the  bought  for  .£153,500,  as  a  site  for  a  Museum 
magnificent  furniture,  rare  porcelain,  sculpture  in  i  of  Manufactures ;  '•  these  localities  being  recom- 
marble,  bronzes,  and  an  assemblage  of  objects  of  i  mended  for  the  dryness  of  the  soil,  and  as  the 
art  and  decoration  ;  a  casket  of  valuable  jewellery  only  ground  safe  for  future  years  amidst  the  growth 
and  bijouterie,  services  of  rich  chased  silver  and  of  the  metropolis."  On  the  latter  site,  as  we  have 
silver-gilt  plate,  a  superbly-fitted  silver  dressing-  shown  in  the  previous  chapter,  the  South  Ken- 
case  ;  collection  of  ancient  and  modern  pictures,  i  sington  Museum  and  the  Schools  of  Art  and 
including  many  portraits  of  distinguished  persons,  ,  Science  have  been  erected ;  but  instead  of  the 
valuable  original  drawings,  and  fine  engravings,  National  Gallery,  the  ground  at  Kensington  Gore 
framed  and  in  portfolios ;  the  extensive  and  in-  j  was  made  to  serve  as  the  site  for  the  Albert 
teresting  library  of  books,  comprising  upwards  of :  Hall,  &c. 

5,000  volumes,  expensive  table  services  of  china  Park  House,  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  Gore, 
and  rich  cut  glass,  and  an  infinity  of  useful  and  close  by  Prince's  Gate,  indicates  the  northern 
valuable  articles.  All  the  property  of  the  Right  boundary  of  the  once  famous  Kensington  or 
Hon.  the  Countess  of  Blessington,  retiring  to  the  j  Brompton  Park  Nursery,  which  figures  in  the  pages 
Continent."  I  of  the  spectator  as  the  establishment  of  Messrs. 

In  1851,  during  the  time  of  the  Great  Ex-  Loudon  and  Wise,  the  most  celebrated  gardeners 
hibition,  Gore  House  was  made  a  "Symposium,"  of  their  time.  Near  to  this  was  Noel  House,  so 
or  restaurant,  by  M.  Alexis  Soyer,  whose  cuisine,  called  from  having  been  built  by  one  of  the 
whilst  chef  of  the  Reform  Club,  enjoyed  European  Campdens.  Hamilton  Ix>dge,  Kensington  Gore, 
fame.*  Its  walls  were  once  mure  adorned  with  a  was  the  occasional  residence  of  John  Wilkes,  who' 
splendour  and  costliness  which  it  had  not  known  here  entertained  Counts  Woronzow  and  Nesselrode, 
for  some  years,  though,  possil.lv,  not  with  equal  and  Sir  Philip  Francis.  At  Palace  Gate  lives  Mr.  J. 
taste  as  that  which  was  so  conspicuous  under  the  j  E.  Miilais,  R.A.  De  Vere  Gardens,  close  by,  per- 
rtsinKQi  the  clever  and  bniii.mt  lady  who  had  petuate  the  memory  of  the  Veres,  Earls  of  Oxford. 
made  it  a  home.  Soyer  first  came  to  England  on  A  little  to  the  west  of  Kensington  Gore  imme- 
a  visit  to  his  brother,  who  was  then  cook  to  the  diately  opposite  to  the  broad  walk  of  Kensington 
Duke  of  Cambridge;  and  at  Cambridge  House  he  Gardens,  was.  in  1850-1,  Hatty's  Grand  National 
cooked  his  lirst  dinner  in  England  for  the  then  Hippodrome.  Its  site,  which  lies  at  the  back  of 
Prince  George.  Soyer  afterwards  entered  the  the  Prince  of  Wales'  Terrace,  covering  a  consider- 
service  of  various  noblemen  :  amongst  others,  of  able  space  of  ground  between  the  two  thorough- 
rd  Ailsa,  Lord  Panmure,  &c.  He  then  was  fares  known  as  Palace  Gate  and  Victoria  Road 


employed  by  the  Reform  Club,  and  the  breakfast  |  was  for  many  years  used  as  a  riding  school,  but 
given  by  that  club,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Queen's  (  was  ultimately  given  up  for  building  purposes. 
coronation,  obtained  him  high  commendation,  j  Near  the  old 'turnpike,  which  stood  a  little  west- 
Mr.  Mark  Boyd,  ,n  his  "Social  Gleanings,"  tells  a  i  ward. of  Gore  House,  was  a  small  inn  known  as 
,oo(l  story  about  M.  Soyer.  "  Meeting  him  in  an  the  halfway  house  between  London  and  Hammer- 
•bus  after  his  return  from  the  Crimea,  I  con-  j  smith.  It  was  a  curious  and  picturesque  structure, 
gratulated  him  on  the  laurels  he  had  gained  with  but  was  swept  away  about  the  year  1860 


Opposite  Queen's  Gate  Gardens,  and  adjoining 
j  the  Gloucester   Road,  on  the  west  side   of   the 


Kensington.] 


THE   OLD   COURT  SUBURB. 


123 


very  pleasant-sounding  name  of  "  Hogmire  Lane  " 
—a  name,  however,  suggestive  of  farm-yards  and 
piggeries,  which  then,  doubtless,  were  plentiful  in 


Horticultural  Gardens,  is  St  Stephen's  Church, 
built  in  1866,  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  Joseph 
Peacock,  and  is  an  architectural  ornament  to  the 
neighbourhood.  In  this  immediate  locality  was  j  the  neighbourhood. 

Orford  Lodge,  built  on  the  site  of  the  "  Old  Florida  Christ  Church,  in  the  Victoria  Road,  is  a    fine 

Tea  Gardens,"  for  the  late  Duchess  of  Gloucester,  edifice,  of  Gothic  design,  dating    from'  the  year 

after   whom   Gloucester    Road   is    named.      The  1851,   and    accommodating    about    800  persons. 

Lodge  was  subsequently  tenanted  by  the  Princess  All   its   seats  are   open.     It  was   built  from   the 

Sophia,  and  also  by  the  Right  Hon.  George  Can-  designs  of  Mr.  Benjamin  Ferrey.    The  architecture 

J  U"  "•— *  r'— 1:-  is  of  the  Decorated  style,  varying  from  geometrical 


ning,  who   was  here  visited  by  Queen  Caroline. 


The  house  was  taken  down  in  the  year  1852.    The 
thoroughfare   which  connected  Chelsea   with   the 


to   flowing.     It   comprises  a    nave  and   chancel, 
tower  and  spire.     The  windows  throughout  are  of 


great  western  road  through  the  village  between  the    flowered  quarries  ;  that  at  the  east  end  is  a  rich 
Gore  and  Kensington  Square  rejoiced  in  the  not  !  diaper  pattern,  copied  from  one  in  York  Minster. 


CHAPTER    XI. 
KENSINGTON    (continued). 


"  Faith,  and  it's  the  Old  Court  Suburb  I 


you  I 


I  of, 


lighty  fine  place  for  the  quality."— Old  Play. 


The  Old  Court  Suburb— Pepys  at  "Kingly  Kensington  "—The  High  Street— Thackeray's  "  Esmond  "—Palace  Gate— Colby  House— Singular 
Death— Kensington  House  :  its  Early  History— Famous  Inhabitants— Old  Kensington  Bedlam-The  New  House— Young  Street— Kensington 
Square— Famous  Inhabitants— Talleyrand— An  Aged  Waltzer— Macaulay's  Description  of  Talleyrand-The  New  Parish  Church— The  Old 
Building-The  Monuments-The  Bells-The  Parish  Registers-The  Charity  School-Campden  House-"  The  Dogs  "-Sir  James  South's 
Observatory — A  Singular  Sale— Other  Noted  Residents  at  Kensington— Insecurity  of  the  Kensington  Road— A  Remarkable  Dramatic 
Performance— A  Ghost  Story— The  Crippled  Boys'  Home— Scarsdale  House— The  Roman  Catholic  University  College— Roman  Catholic 
Chapels-The  Pro-Cathedral— The  "  Adam  and  Eve." 

HITHERTO,  since  leaving  the  side  of  the  river  at  j  town,  standing  in  a  wholesome  air,  not  above  three 


miles  from  London,  has  ever  been  resorted  to  by 
persons  of  quality  and  citizens,  and  for  many  years 
past  honoured  with  several  fine  seats  belonging 
to  the  Earls  of  Nottingham  and  Warwick.  We 
cannot,  indeed,  find  it  was  ever  taken  notice  of 
in  history,  except  for  the  great  western  road 
through  it,  nor  hath  anything  occurred  in  it  that 
might  perpetuate  its  name,  till  his  late  Majesty, 
King  William,  was  pleased  to  ennoble  it  with  his 
court  and  royal  presence.  Since  which  time  it 
has  flourished  even  almost  beyond  belief,  and  is 
inhabited  by  gentry  and  persons  of  note  ;  there  is 
also  abundance  of  shopkeepers,  and  all  sorts  of 
artificers  in  it,  which  makes  it  appear  rather  like 
part  of  London  than  a  country  village.  It  is, 

principally  of  one  long  street,  extending  about  l  with  its  dependencies,  about  three  times  as  big 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  length,  from  the  Gore  to  !  as  Chelsea,  in  number  of  houses,  and  in  summer 
Earl's  Terrace  ;  but  even  that  thoroughfare  is  of  time  extremely  filled  with  lodgers,  for  the  pleasure 
comparatively  modern  growth,  for  the  only  high-  '  of  the  air,  walks,  and  gardens  round  it,  to  the 
way  for  travellers  westward,  in  former  times,  was  I  great  advantage  of  its  inhabitants.  The  buildings 
the  old  Roman  (or  present  Uxbridge)  Road,  then  !  are  chiefly  of  brick,  regular,  and  built  into  streets  ; 
bending  southerly  (as  it  still  branches)  to  Turnham  j  the  largest  is  that  through  which  the  road  lies, 
Green.  Within  the  last  century  a  number  of  small  reclining  back  from  the  Queen's  House,  a  con- 
streets  have  been  built  on  either  side.  Bowack,  siderable  way  beyond  the  church.  From  the 


Chelsea,  we  have  been  mostly  passing  over  modern 
ground,  which  a  century  ago  was  scantily  dotted 
with  private  residences,  and  which,  therefore,  can 
scarcely  be  expected  as  yet  to  have  much  of  a  past 
history.  But  now,  as  we  look  round  the  "  Old 
Court  Suburb"  of  Kensington,  and  its  venerable 
and  somewhat  narrow  High  Street,  \ve  find  our- 
selves again  confronted  with  houses  and  persons  of 
an  earlier  era,  and,  consequently,  we  shall  be  able 
to  dwell  at  greater  length  on  the  annals  and  anec- 
dotes of  which  Kensington  has  been  the  scene. 
The  Palace  and  the  Church,  of  course,  will  form 
our  central  objects,  to  which,  perhaps,  we  ought  to 
add  that  old-world  haunt  of  fashion,  Kensington 
Square.  The  old  town  of  Kensington  consisted 


in  his  "  History  of  Middlesex,"  thus  describes  the 
place  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century: — "This 


church  runs  a  row  of  buildings  towards  the  north, 
called  Church  Lane;  but  the  most  beautiful  part 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Kensingtom. 


of  it  is  the  Square,  south  of  the  road,  whici 
for  beauty  of  buildings,  and  worthy  inhabitant 
exceed  several  noted  sqv.arss  in  London." 

Kensington  —  "kingly  Kensington,"  as  Dea 
Swift  called  it — is  not  very  frequently  mentione 
by  Pepys,  as  that  country  village  had  not,  in  h: 
days,  become  the  "  court  suburb."  He  mentions 
however,  accompanying  "my  lord"  (the  Earl  o 
Sandwich)  to  dine  -at  Kensington  with  Lord  Camp 
den,  at  Campden  House,  and  afterwards  to  call  a 
Holland  House.  With  two  other  trivial  exceptions 
this  is  all  that  we  learn  about  Kensington  from  th 
old  gossip's  "  Diary;"  neither  does  the  place  figur 
in  the  "  Memoirs  of  the  Count  de  Gramont."  It  i 
on  record  that  George  II.  admired  the  flat  ground 
of  Kensington  and  Ke\v,  as  reminding  him  o 
"  Yarmany."  It  is  described  by  Bowack,  in  1705 
as  being  about  three  times  as  big  as  Chelsea 
The  manor  of  Abbots'  Kensington,  which  occu 
pies  an  area  of  about  1,140  acres  in  all,  extend; 
northwards  so  far  as  to  include  all  the  Gravel  Pits 
and  Netting  Hill. 

Although  Kensington  is  so  near  London,  ant 
contains  so  many  new  buildings,  the  High  Stree 
has  a  considerable  resemblance  to  that  of  a  country 
own.  The  houses,  for  the  most  part,  are  of  mode- 
ate  size,  and  considerable  variety  is  displayed  in 
the  style  of  building,  so  that  the  fronts  of  scarcely 
ny  two  houses  are  alike.  Faulkner,  writing  in 
820,  remarks:  "The  town,  being  in  the  direct 
road  for  the  western  parts  of  England,  is  in  a  con- 
siderable bustle,  and  resembles  the  most  poptilo 
streets  in  London,  especially  in  an  evening,  when 
the  mail-coaches  are  setting  out  for  their  various 
destinations.''  The  chief  coaching-inn  and  posting- 
house,  at  that  time,  was  the  "  Red  Lion,"  at  the 
back  of  which  is  still  to  be  seen  a  curious  sun-dial, 
bearing  the  date  1713.  Readers  of  Thackeray's 
"  Esmond  "  will  not  have  forgotten  the  picture  he- 
has  given  of  the  scene  which  might  have  been 
witnessed  from  the  tavern  at  the  corner  of  the 
old  High  Street,  on  the  occasion  of  the  accession 
of  King  George  I.  : — "  Out  of  the  window  of  the 
tavern,  and  looking  over  the  garden  w-'l,  you 
can  see  the  green  before  Kensington  Palace,  the 
palace  gate  (round  which  the  ministers'  coaches 
are  standing),  and  the  barrack  building.  As  we 
were  looking  out  from  this  window  in  gloomy  dis- 
traction, we  heard  presently  the  trumpets  blowing, 
and  some  of  us  ran  to  the  window  of  the  front 
room  looking  into  the  High  Street,  and  saw  a  regi- 
ment of  horse  coming.  '  It's  Ormond's  Guards,' 
says  one.  'No,  by  G— ;  it's  Argyle's  old  regi- 
ment !'  says  my  general,  clapping  down  his  crutch. 
It  was  indeed  Argyle's  regiment  that  was  brought 


up  from  Westminster,  and  that  took  the  part  of 
the  regiment  at  Kensington."  The  sequel  is  soon 
told,  and  it  shall  here  be  told,  in  the  words  of 
"  Esmond  : " — "  With  some  delays  in  procuring 
horses,  we  got  to  Hammersmith  about  four  o'clock 
on  Sunday  morning,  the  ist  of  August  (1714),  and 
half  an  hour  after,  it  then  being  bright  day,  we 
rode  by  my  Lady  Warwick's  house,  and  so  down 
the  street  of  Kensington.  Early  as  trie  hour  was, 
there  was  a  bustle  in  the  street,  and  many  people 
moving  to  and  fro.  Round  the  gate  leading  to 
the  palace,  where  the  guard  is,  there  was  especially 
a  great  crowd ;  and  the  coach  ahead  of  us  stopped, 
and  the  bishop's  man  got  down,  to  know  what  the 
concourse  meant.  Then  presently  came  out  from 
the  gate  horse-guards  with  their  trumpets,  and  a 
company  of  heralds  with  their  tabards.  The 
:rumpets  blew,  and  the  herald-at-arms  came  for- 
vard,  and  proclaimed  '  George,  by  the  grace  of 
jod,  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Ireland,  King, 
Defender  of  the  Faith.'  And  the  people  shouted 
God  save  the  King  ! '  "  Thus  was  the  first  sove- 
•eign  of  the  Hanoverian  line  proclaimed  in  thb 
High  Street  of  Kensington;  and  there,  with  the 
sound  of  King  George's  trumpets,  were  the  last 
hopes  of  the  Stuart  line  scattered  to  the  winds  of 
leaven.  The  spot  where  this  proclamation  took 
jlace  is  surely  an  object  of  historic  interest  to 
.fter  ages. 

Almost  at  the  entrance  of  the  High  Street  is  the 
'alace  Gate,  with  its  sentinels  on  duty,  and  oppo- 
ite  to  it  stood,  till  recently,  a  good,  moderate- 
i/ed  house — a  sort  of  undergrown  mansion — 

lich,  as  Leigh  Hunt  says,  looked  as  if  it  "had 
een  made  for  some  rich  old  bachelor  who  chose 

0  live  alone,  but  liked  to  have  everything  about 
'in  strong   and    safe."     Such   was   probably  the 
.se.  for  it  was  called  Colby  House,  and  was  the 

bode  of  Sir  Thomas  Colby,  of  whom  Dr.  King 
-•ll.s  us  in  his  "  Anecdotes  of  his  Own  Times,"  that 
emg  worth  ,£200,000,  and  having  no  near  relatives, 
e  met  with  his  death  by  getting  up  from  his  warm 
ed  on  a  winter  night  to  fetch  the  key  of  his  cellar, 
hich  he  had  forgotten,  for  fear  his  servant  might 
dp  himself  to  a  bottle  of  wine.  The  house  was 
ihabitcd,  when  Faulkner  wrote  his  "History  of 
.ensington,"  by  one  of  the  leading  magistrates  of 
ic  county.  Its  former  eccentric  owner  was  buried 

1  the  parish  church.     The  house  was  standing  till 
bout  1872,  when  it  was  pulled  down,  along  with 

e  large  red  house,  Kensington  House,  adjoining, 
make  a  site  for  Baron  Grant's  mansion. 
Kensington  House,  a  dull  and  heavy  building  of 
d  brick  on  the  south  side   of  the   high    road, 
early  facing  the  Palace  gates,  was  for  some  years 


Kensington.] 


KENSINGTON  HOUSE. 


inhabited  by  the  notorious  Duchess  of  Portsmouth, 
one  of  the  many  mistresses  of  Charles  II.  The 
house  was  long  and  low  in  proportion,  and  was 
screened  from  the  road  by  a  high  wall.  It  is 
recorded  that  King  Charles  supped  here  the  night 
before  he  was  seized  with  the  illness  which  proved 
his  last.  The  house  was  afterwards  turned  into  a 
school,  kept  by  Elphinstone,  who  was  known  as 
the  translator  of  Martial,  and  as  a  friend  of  Dr. 
Jortin,  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  Dr.  Johnson.  He 
was  ludicrously  caricatured  by  Smollett,  in  "  Rode- 
rick Random,"  which  was  consequently  a  forbidden 
book  in  his  school.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  first 
French  Revolution  the  house  was  occupied  by 
some  French  emigrant  priests,  members  of  the 
Jesuit  Order,  who  kept  here  a  college  for  the  youth 
of  the  French  and  some  of  the  English  aristocracy, 
under  the  assumed  name  of  "  Les  Peres  de  la  Foi." 
The  late  Mr.  Richard  Lalbr  Sheil  was  sent  here 
when  a  boy,  and  he  tells  us  how  the  school  was 
visited  by  "  Monsieur  " — as  Charles  X.,  afterwards 
King  of  France,  was  then  called — in  his  brother's 
lifetime. 

The  building  has  been  described  as  follows  by 
Mr.  Sheil*:— "I  landed  at  Bristol,  and  with  a 
French  clergyman,  the  Abbe  de  Grimeau,  who  had 
been  my  tutor,  I  proceeded  to  London.  The  abbe 
informed  me  that  I  was  to  be  sent  to  Kensington 
House,  a  college  established  by  the  Peres  de  la 
Foi— for  so  the  French  Jesuits  settled  in  England 
at  that  time  called  themselves — and  that  he  had 
directions  to  leave  me  there  upon  his  way  to 
Languedoc,  from  whence  he  had  been  exiled  in 
the  Revolution,  and  to  which  he  had  been  driven 
by  the  maladie  de  pays  to  return.  Accordingly,  we 
set  off  for  Kensington  House,  which  is  situated 
exactly  opposite  the  avenue  leading  to  the  palace, 
and  has  the  beautiful  garden  attached  to  it  in 
front.  A  large  iron  gate,  wrought  into  rustic 
flowers,  and  other  fantastic  forms,  showed  that  the 
Jesuit  school  had  once  been  the  residence  of  some 
person  of  distinction.  ...  It  was  a  large  old- 
fashioned  house,  with  many  remains  of  decayed 
splendour.  In  a  beautiful  walk  of  trees,  which 
ran  down  from  the  rear  of  the  building  through  the 
play-ground,  I  saw  several  French  boys  playing  at 
swing-swang  ;  and  the  moment  I  entered,  my  ears 
were  filled  with  the  shrill  vociferations  of  some 
hundreds  of  little  emigrants,  who  were  engaged  in 
their  various  amusements,  and  babbled,  screamed 
laughed,  and  shouted,  in  all  the  velocity  of  their 
rapid  and  joyous  language.  I  did  not  hear  a  word 
of  English,  and  at  once  perceived  that  I  was  as 


1  Quoted  by  Leigh  Hunt,  in  "  The  Old  Court  Subur 


much  amongst  Frenchmen  as  if  I  had  been  sud- 
denly transferred  to  a  Parisian  college.  Having 
got  this  peep  at  the  gaiety  of  the  school  into 
which  I  was  to  be  introduced,  I  was  led,  with 
my  companion,  to  a  chamber  covered  with  faded 
gilding,  and  which  had  once  been  richly  tapestried, 
where  I  found  the  head  of  the  establishment,  in 
he  person  of  a  French  nobleman,  Monsieur  le 
Prince  de  Broglie." 

Here,  in  1821,  whilst  the  house  was  still  in  the 
hands  of  the  Jesuits,  died — it  is  said,  from  the  effects 
of  tight  lacing— Mrs.  Inchbald,  the  authoress  of 
the  "Simple  Story."  She  had  resided  in  several 
other  houses  in  Kensington  before  coming  here. 
She  had  written  many  volumes,  which  she  had  by 
her  in  manuscript;  but  on  her  death-bed,  from 
some  motive  or  other,  she  requested  a  friend  to 
;ear  them  to  pieces  before  her  eyes,  not  having  the 
strength  to  perform  the  heroic  deed  of  immolation 
with  her  own  hands.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cosway, 
too,  resided  here  for  a  short  time,  after  leaving 
Stratford  Place,  and  before  settling  down  in  the 
Edgware  Road. 

The  building  was  subsequently  turned  into  a 
private  lunatic  asylum,  and  was  then  popularly 
known  as  Old  Kensington  Bedlam.  It  was  pur- 
chased in  1873  by  "  Baron "  Albert  Grant,  who 
pulled  it  down  and  erected  a  modern  Italian  palace 
on  its  site.  The  cost  of  the  building  and  grounds 
is  stated  to  have  exceeded  one  million  sterling. 
The  mansion  contained  a  grand  hall  and  staircase, 
built  entirely  of  white  marble,  drawing-rooms, 
library,  picture-gallery,  three  dining-rooms  en  suite, 
and  a  spacious  ball-room.  In  the  construction  of 
the  windows,  numbering  over  a  hundred,  no  less 
than  three  tons  of  stone  were  used.  In  the 
formation  of  the  grounds,  which  are  twelve  acres 
in  extent,  Mr.  Grant  purchased  an  Irish  colony 
situated  in  the  rear  of  the  Kensington  High  Street 
—formerly  called  the  "  Rookery  "  and  "  Jenning's 
Buildings  "—both  of  which  had  been  a  nuisance  to 
the  parish  for  years  past.  These  places  were 
entirely  demolished,  and  the  ground  was  con- 
verted into  a  picturesque  lake,  three  acres  in 
extent,  with  two  small  islands  in  the  centre. 
Baron  Grant  got  into  difficulties,  and  the  house, 
after  various  efforts  to  secure  a  sale,  in  order  that 
it  might  be  converted  into  a  club  or  hotel,  was 
sold  piecemeal  as  so  much  old  materials,  and  finally 
pulled  down  in  1883  to  make  way  for  smaller 
houses. 

Continuing  our  way  westward,  we  come  to  the 
turning  at  Young  Street,  which  leads  into  the 
square  above  alluded  to.  It  is  an  old-fashioned, 
oblong  enclosure,  and  bears  the  name  of  Ken- 


126 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


sin-ton  Square  It  was  commenced  in  the  reign  '  some  of  Montaigne's  "Essays."  It  is  said  that, 
of  Tames  II  and  finished  about  1698,  as  appeared  j  finding  little  or  no  information  in  the  chapters  as 
by  a  date  at  one  time  affixed  at  the  north-east  :  to  the  subjects  their  titles  promised,  he  closed 
corner  It  is  described  by  Bowack,  m  1705,  as  j  the  book  more  confused  than  satisfied.  "What 
"the  most  beautiful  part  of  the  parish  south  of  |  think  you  of  this  famous  French  author?"  said  a 
the  main  road,"  and  as  "exceeding  several  noted  j  gentleman  present.  "Think?"  said  he,  smiling: 
squares  in  London  for  beauty  of  its  buildings  and  j  "why,  that  a  pair  of  manacles,  or  a  stone  doublet, 
(for)  worthy  inhabitants."  While  the  Court  was  at  ;  would  probably  have  been  of  some  service  to  that 
Kensington,  most  of  the  houses  were  inhabited  by  author's  infirmity."  "Would  you  imprison  a  man 


"  persons  of  quality,"  ambassadors,  gentry,  and 
clergy  :  and  at  one  time,  as  Faulkner  tells  us,  up- 
wards of  forty  carriages  were  ke;>t  by  residents  in 
and  about  the  neighbourhood.  In  the  reigns  of 
i  William  and  Anne  and  the  first  two  Georges,  this 
square  was  the  most  fashionable  spot  in  the  suburbs  ; 
indeed,  in  the  time  of  George  II.,  the  demand  for 
lodgings  here  was  so  great,  "that  an  ambassador,  a 
bishop,  and  a  physician  have  been  known  to  occupy 
apartments  in  the  same  house."  The  celebrated 
Duchess  de  Mazarin  appears  to  have  resided  here 
in  1692  ;  and  here  she  probably  had  among  her 
visitors  her  "  adoring  old  friend,  Saint  Evremond, 
with  his  white  locks,  little  skull  cap.  and  the  great 
wen  on  his  forehead."  Here,  too,  Addison  lodged 
for  some  time ;  and  here  it  was  that  he  read  over 


for  singularity  in  writing?"  "Why,  let  me  tell 
you,"  replied  Addison,  ••  if  he  had  been  a  horse 
he  would  have  been  pounded  for  straying;  and 
why  he  ought  to  be  more  favoured  because  he  is  a 
man,  I  cannot  understand."  We  shall  have  more, 
however,  to  say  of  Addison  when  we  come  to 
Holland  House. 

Somewhere  about  the  south-west  corner  of  the 
square  lived,  for  several  years,  physician  to  King 
William  III.,  and  butt  of  all  the  wits  of  the  time, 
Sir  Richard  Blackmore,  the  poet,  of  whom  we  have 
spoken  in  our  account  of  Earl's  Court.  Hough, 
the  good  old  Bishop  of  Winchester,  lived  here  for 
many  years  ;  as  also  did  Mawson,  Bishop  of  Ely  ; 
and  Dr.  Herring.  Bishop  of  Bangor,  and  afterwards 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Among  other  noted 


KENSINGTON   SQUARE. 


OLD    VIEW    OF    KENSINGTON,   ABOUT    I75O. 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


residents  were  the  Rev.  W.  Beloe,  the  translator 
Herodotus ;  and  the  Ear!  of  Clanricarde. 

Another  resident  in  Kensington  Square,  durin 
the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  was  Princ 
de  Talleyrand,  at  one  time  Bishop  of  Autun, 
France,   and  subsequently  Ambassador-Extraord 
nary  for  that  country  to  the  Court  of  St  James's 
Lord    Palmerston   used    to    declare    that   he  was 
"  exceedingly  quiet  and  courteous,  but  he  had 
strange    versatility   not   revealed  to  the  world  a 
large."     When  eighty  years  of  age,  and  extremely 
lame,  he  still  was  fond  of  sharing  the  amusement 
of  the  young,  and  his  smile  was  then  so  benign  as 
quite  to  discredit  the  "  sarcastic  sneer  "  for  whic 
he  was  famous.     "  One  night  at  the  Duchess  o 
Gramont's,"   writes    Lady  Clementina    Davies,  in 
her  "  Recollections  of  Society,"  "  a  game  of  forfeit, 
was  proposed.     The  duchess  joined  in  the  game 
and  lost  her  king.     She  asked  how  she  could  ge 
it  back.     She  was  told  she  must  ask  some  gentle 
man  in  the  room  to  take  a  tour  de  raise  with  her 
and  she  invited  the  lame  and  aged  diplomatist  to 
dance  with  her.     He  smiled,  and  instantly  rose 
comply.     Several  young  men  offered  to  take  his 
place,  but  neither  he  nor  the  gay  little  duchess 
would  allow  of  this,  and  Talleyrand  seemed  abl 
to  perform  his  share  in  the  valse,  and  to  be  pleased 
with  the  exertion.     He  remained  with  his  partner, 
and   conversed   with    her   in    a    style   of  brilliant 
animation.     When  Louis  XVIII.  was  restored  to 
the  French  throne,  the  sage  minister  said  to  him, 
'Now,  sir,  as  a  king  of  the  French  people,  you 
must  learn  to  forget  ! '     The  Bourbons  might  hav 
fared    better   could    they    have    taken    this    wis 
counsel ! " 

Lady  Clementina  Davies,  who  lived  on  term 
of  intimacy  with  the  Prince,  declares  that  it  is  quite 
an  error  to  suppose  that  he  was  a  mere  political 
hypocrite,  or  that  he  transferred  his  services  from 
one  sovereign  to  another  with  reckless  indifference; 
but  that,  on  the  contrary,  his  only  motive  was  a 
patriotic  desire  to  advance  the  interests  of  his 
country.  He  was  shamefully  used  by  his  parents 
on  account  of  his  club-foot ;  he  was  deprived  of  all 
his  rights  as  the  eldest  son,  and  forced  against  his 
will  to  become  a  priest.  In  spite  of  his  cynicism, 
the  great  diplomatist  was  a  remarkably  pleasant- 
tempered  man,  full  of  kindness  to  children,  and 
possessing  conversational  powers  of  the  highest 
orders. 

Talleyrand,  in  the  year  1831,  is  thus  described 
by  Macaulay  among  the  guests  he  met  at  Holland 
House :— "  He  is  certainly  the  greatest  curiosity 
that  I  ever  fell  in  with.  His  head  is  sunk  down 
between  two  high  shoulders.  One  of  his  feet  is 


hideously  distorted.  His  face  is  as  pale  as  that  of 
a  corpse,  and  wrinkled  to  a  frightful  degree.  His 
eyes  have  an  odd  glassy  stare,  quite  peculiar  to 
them.  His  hair,  thickly  powdered  and  pomatumed, 
hangs  down  his  shoulders  on  each  side  as  straight 
as  a  pound  of  tallow  candles.  His  conversation, 
however,  soon  makes  you  forget  his  ugliness  and 
infirmities.  There  is  a  poignancy  without  effort 
in  all  that  he  says,  which  reminds  me  a  little  of  the 
character  which  the  wits  of  Johnson's  circle  give  of 
Beauclerk.  ...  He  told  several  stories  about 
the  political  men  of  France,  not  of  any  great  value 
in  themselves ;  but  his  way  of  telling  them  was 
beyond  all  praise — concise,  pointed,  and  delicately 
satirical.  ...  I  could  not  help  breaking  out 
into  admiration  of  his  talent  for  relating  anecdotes. 
Lady  Holland  said  that  he  had  been  considered 
"or  nearly  forty  years  as  the  best  teller  of  a  story 
n  Europe." 

In  this  square,  also,  resided  James  Mill,  the 
listorian  of  British  India,  and  father  of  Mr.  John 
Stuart  Mill,  M.P.,  the  political  economist  He 
lied  in  1856,  and  was  buried  in  the  parish  church. 
iiere,  too,  lived  for  some  years  the  Rev.  J.  R. 
ireen,  author  of  "  The  Making  of  England,"  and 
if  other  works.  He  died  in  1 883. 

Part  of  the  western  side  of  the  square  is  occu- 
pied by  the  front  of  the  Kensington  Proprietary 
Grammar  School ;  and  three  or  four  of  the  largest 
mansions  near  the  south-west  angle  form  now  the 
Convent  of  the  Dames  de  Sacre  Coeur,  on  whose 
arden  a  handsome  Roman  Catholic  church,  and 
Iso  a  convent  chapel,  have  been  built 

It  is  in  Kensington  Square  that  Thackeray,  in  his 
•Ksmond,"  lays  the  scene  which  presents  us  with 
ames  Stuart,  "the  Prince  "from  Saint  Germains, 
s  lodging,  and  passing  for  the  time  as  Lord  Castle- 
ood,  holding  himself  in  readiness  for  action  when 
ne  death  ol  Queen  Anne  was  expected.  He 
ictures  the  Prince  walking  restlessly  upon  "  the 
lall  "  at  Kensington.  The  "  little  house  in  Ken-  • 
ington  Square"  figures  from  first  to  last  in  the 
bove-mentioned  work  as  the  residence  of  I-uly 
^astlewood  and  of  Beatrix  Ksmond,  and  is  the 
entre  at  once  of  love-making  and  of  political 
lots,  in  the  interest  of  the  exiled  Stuarts. 
_  About  the  middle  of  the  High  Street  stands 
Censington  Church,  dedicated  to  St.  Mary  the 
"irgin.  The  present  fabric  dates  only  from  the 
ear  1869,  having  replaced  an  older  structure.  It 
as  built  from  the  designs  of  Sir  Gilbert  Scott,  and 
as  about  it  a  degree  of  architectural  dignity  which 
efits  the  importance  of  the  parish  as  the  "Old 
ourt  Suburb,"  the  abode  of  royalty,  and  a  quarter 
ihabited  by  many  wealthy  and  aristocratic  families. 


ngton.] 


THE   OLD   PARISH   CHURCH. 


The  style  of  design  is  that  which  was  in  vogue 
towards  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and 
known  as  the  Decorated,  though  it  is  freely 
adapted  to  present  uses.  It  consists  of  a  large 
nave  and  chancel,  each  with  aisles,  and  additional 
aisles  at  the  eastern  part  of  the  nave,  which  at 


129 

amongst  whom  were  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of 
Kent  and  the  late  Duke  of  Cambridge.  It  was 
in  this  church  that  the  Duchess  of  Kent  returned 
thanks  after  the  birth  of  Queen  Victoria. 

Here  were  monuments  to  Edward,  eighth  Earl  of 
Warwick  and  Holland,  who  died  in  1759;  and  to 


that  part,  consequently,  has  double  aisles  on  each    "  the  three  Colmans : "  Francis  Colman,  some  time 
The  whole  is  of  very  lofty  proportions,  with    British  Minister  to  the  Court  of  Florence ;  his  son, 


clerestory  both  to  nave  and  chancel.  The  tower 
and  spire,  which  are  on  a  considerable  scale,  are 
at  the  north-east  angle,  and  connected  with  the 
chancel  by  an  extra  aisle,  which  contains  the  organ. 
•The  rost  of  the  building  was  nearly  .£50,000, 
towards  which  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  gave  ^200, 
and  the  late  vicar  of  the  parish,  Archdeacon 
Sinclair,  made  a  donation  of  £1,000. 

The  old  parish  church  of  St.  Mary's,  though  a 
plain  and  unpretending  edifice,  which  Bishop 
Blomfield  used  to  designate  the  ugliest  in  his 
diocese,  was  an  interesting  structure,  not  only  on 
account  of  the  numerous  monuments  which  it  con- 
tained, but  far  more  on  account  of  the  historical 
reminiscences  connected  with  it.  What  with  partial 
rebuildings  and  wholesale  repairs,  it  had  been 
altered  a  doiten  times  in  less  than  two  centuries. 
It  superseded  a  previous  building  of  which  little  or 
nothing  is  recorded.  It  is  more  than  probable 
that  the  ancient  parish  church  of  Kensington 
nearly  on  the  spot  in  Holland  Street  now  occupied 
by  the  church  of  the  Carmelite  Fathers,  and  oppo 
site  the  vicarage.  At  all  events,  it  stood  a  littU 
to  the  north  of  the  parish  church  of  subsequen 
centuries,  and  not  far  from  the  Manor  Housv,  to 
which  the  vicarage  is  a  successor;  through  there 
is  a  tradition,  but  unconfirmed,  that  the  origina' 
parish  church  stood  some  distance  to  the  north 
near  the  Gravel  Pits,  and  was  removed  hither  ttt 
the  time  of  the  Conquest.  The  road,  by  its 
very  narrowness  and  curvings,  shows  that  it  is  an 
ancient  way,  and  it  is  still  traditional'''  called,  or 
at  all  events  was  called  within  the  memory  of  the 
present  generation,  the  "  Parson's  Yard."  It  will 
not  be  a  little  singular  if  hereafter  it  should  be 
discovered  that  the  Carmelites  have  been  building 
on  the  old  foundations.  The  resolution  to  build 
this  church  was  adopted  by  the  vestry  in  1696, 
'  and  among  the  contributors  were  William  III.  and 
Queen  Mary,  as  well  as  the  Princess  Anne.  The 
king  and  queen  not  only  subscribed  to  the  building 
fund,  but  presented  the  reading-desk  and  pulpit, 
•which  had  crowns  carved  upon  them,  with  the 
initials  "  W."  and  "  M.  R."  A  pew,  curtained  round 
in  the  fashion  of  old  times,  was,  in  consequence, 
set  apart  for  the  royal  family,  and  long  continued 
to  be  occupied  by  residents  in  Kensington  Palace, 


eorge,  "the Elder,"  and  his  grandson,  George,  "the 
Younger."  The  two  latter  wrote  several  comedies, 
and  were  proprietors  of  the  Haymarket  Theatre, 
tlere  also  was  buried  one  Sir  Manhood  Penrud- 
dock,  who  was  "  slain  at  Netting  Wood,  in  fight, 
in  the  year  1608."  At  that  time  the  nation  was  at 
peace ;  the  "  fight "  which  is  recorded  in  the  parish' 
register  probably  means  a  "  duel."  Two  interesting 
monuments  by  Chantrey,  which  were  erected  in 
the  old  parish  church,  have  been  replaced  in  the 
new  edifice  :  the  one  in  memory  of  a  former  vicar, 
Dr.  T.  Rennell ;  the  other  to  a  Peninsular  officer, 
Colonel  Hutchins,  a  native  of  Earl's  Court. 

Near  one  of  the  entrances  to  the  church  was  a 
tablet  recording  a  reputed  donation  of  lands  to  the 
parish  by  Oliver  Cromwell,  of  which  Lysons  states  : 
"  An  anonymous  benefactor,  in  1652,  gave  some 
land  at  Kensington  Gravel-pits,  on  which  was 
formerly  a  malthouse.  This  is  called  Cromwell's 
gift,  and  a  tradition  has  prevailed  that  is  was  given 
by  Oliver  Cromwell ;  but  the  parish  have  no 
evidence  to  ascertain  it." 

The  peal  of  bells  was  cast  by  Janeway,  of 
Chelsea,  in  1772.  In  the  parish  books  are  several 
entries  of  sums  paid  for  ringing  the  church  bells 
on  public  occasions  since  the  Revolution.  The 
Battle  of  the  Boyne,  for  instance,  is  thus  re- 
corded:  "May  2,  1690.— Paid  William  Reynolds 
for  the  ringers  on  that  day  the  news  came  of  the 
victory  gained  by  his  Majesty  at  and  near  the 


Boyne, 


And  again,  the  Battle  of  Blenheim 


is  thus  noted:  "1704.—  Paid  Mr.  Jackman  for  a. 
barrel  of  beer  for  the  victory  over  the  French  and 
Bavarians,  153."  Another  entry  runs  as  follows: 
"For  Limerick's  being  taken,  and  'twas  false," 
(sit)  :  on  this  occasion  the  ringers  were  contented 
with  eighteen  pence.  Various  sums  are  mentioned 
as  having  been  paid  on  the  arrival  of  King  William 
and  his  Queen,  such  as  became  the  royal  parish, 
"kingly  Kensington."  In  Murray's  "  Environs  of 
London  "  it  is  stated  that  this  church  has  had  its 
"Vicar  of  Bray,"  in  one  Thomas  Hodges,  col- 
lated to  the  living  by  Archbishop  Juxon.  He  kept 
his  preferment  during  the  Civil  War  and  inter- 
regnum, by  joining  alternately  with  either  party 
Although  a  frequent  preacher  before  the  Long 
Parliament,  and  one  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines, 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


[Kensington. 


he  was  made  Dean  of  Hereford  after  the  Restora- 
tion, but  continued  Vicar  of  Kensington. 

Amongst  the  many  interesting  associations  of 
the  old  church  are  several  of  the  present  century. 
Mr.  Wilberforce,  who,  as  we  have  stated,  resided 


at  Kensington  Gore,  is  still  remembered  by  many 
of  the  old  inhabitants  as  sitting  in  the  pew  appro- 


mentioned  above.  In  a  garden  at  the  back  of  his 
house,  and  also  at  a  farm  which  he  possessed  at 
the  same  time  at  Barn-Elms,  Cobbett  cultivated  his 
Indian  corn,  his  American  forest-trees,  his  pigs, 
poultry,  and  butchers'  meat,  all  which  he  pro- 


nounced to  be  the  best  that  were  ever  beheld ;  but 
the  aristocratic  suburb,  we  are  told,  did  not  prove 

priated  to  the  Holland  House  family.  George  !  a  congenial  soil,  and  he  quitted  it  a  bankrupt.  He 
Canning,  who  resided  #t  Gloucester  Lodge,  might  j  entered  Parliament  as  member  for  Oldham,  but  did 
often  be  seen  sitting  in  the  royal  pew;  Coke,  of  not  live  long  afterwards,  dying  in  1835. 
Norfolk,  the  eminent  agriculturist,  had  a  pew  here,  Campden  House — which  stands  on  the  western 
which  he  regularly  occupied.  Professor  Nassau  side  of  Church  Street,  in  its  own  grounds — is  men- 
W.  Senior,  the  political  economist,  although  living  j  tioned  in  the  "  New  View  of  London,"  published 
so  far  distant  as  Hyde  Park  Gate,  might  often  be  in  1708,  among  the  noble  palaces  belonging  to  Her 


seen,  in  company  with  the  late  Mr.  Thackeray, 
attending  the  early  service  ;  but  neither  of  these 
eminent  writers,  it  is  said,  rented  a  pew  in  the 
church.  Lord  Macaulay,  too,  whilst  living  at  Holly 
Lodge,  Campden  Hill,  regularly  attended  here 
during  the  last  two  summers  of  his  life. 

To  the  churchyard,  in  1814,  was  added  a  new 
cemetery,  where  was  previously  an  avenue  of  elms, 
through  which  ran  the  original  approach  from  the 
town  to  Campden  House.  In  the  churchyard 
is  a  monument  to  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Inchbald,  who 
is  truthfully  and  touchingly  described  on  it  as  "  a 
beauty,  a  virtue,  a  player,  and  authoress  of  '  A 
Simple  Story.' "  She  commenced  her  career  as  an 
actress  in  1777,  on  the  York  circuit,  but  quitted  the 
stage  in  1789,  continuing,  however,  for  many  years  to 
entertain  the  public  in  the  character  of  a  dramatic 
author.  Mrs.  Inchbald  died  on  the  ist  of  March, 
1821,  as  we  have  stated  above,  at  old  Kensington 
House.  The  following  instances  of  longevity  are 
to  be  found  in  the  registers  of  burials  :— 1786, 
Margaret  Smart,  aged  103;  1804,  Jane  Hartwell, 
from  Methwold's  Almshousus,  aged  100;  1807, 
William  Griffiths,  of  the  Gravel-pits,  aged  103. 
The  present  vicarage,  built  about  1774,  super- 
seded a  humble  structure  little  more  than  a  cottage 
with  latticed  windows. 

Returning  again  into  the  High  Street.  \ve  notice 


Majesty,  Queen  Anne,  "for  the  Court  to  reside  in 
at  pleasure."  But  this  statement  is  not  quite  true. 
The  house  never  absolutely  belonged  to  royalty. 
It  was  the  residence  of  Baptist  Hicks,  Viscount 
Campden,  after  whom  it  was  called,  and  who  was 
the  founder  of  Hicks's  Hall,  in  Clerkenwell ;  *  and 
it  caused  his  name  to  be  given  to  the  neighbour- 
hood as  Campden  Hill.  The  mansion,  which 
underwent  considerable  alterations  in  its  exterior  at 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  was  spacious 
and  picturesque,  with  its  bay  windows  and  turrets ; 
several  of  the  rooms  had  ceilings  richly  worked  in 
stucco,  and  chimney-cases  much  ornamented.  It 
was  built  about  the  year  1612,  for  Sir  Baptist  Hicks, 
whose  arms  (with  that  date),  and  those  of  his 
sons-in-law,  Edward  Lord  Noel  and  Sir  Charles 
Morison,  figured  in  one  of  the  windows.  In  the 
great  dining-room  it  is  said  that  Charles  II.  more 
than  once  supped  with  Lord  Campden.  It  has 
fine  wainscoat  panels,  and  the  ceiling  was  divided 
into  compartments,  in  which  figured  the  arms  of 
the  family,  and  their  alliances.  The  house  was 
rented  from  the  Noel  family  by  the  Princess  of 
Denmark  (afterwards  Queen  Anne),  who  resided 
there  about  five  years  with  her  son,  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester ;  and  about  that  time,  according  to 
Lysons,  the  adjoining  house,  afterwards  the  resi- 
dence of  Mrs.  Pitt,  is  said  to  have  been  built 


a  few  yards  beyond  the  church,  a  curious-looking  '  for  the  accommodation  of  Her  Majesty's  house- 
brick  building,  of  two  storeys,  above  which  is  a  hold.  The  amusements  and  pursuits  of  the  Duke 
square  tower,  probably  intended  to  hold  a  bell ;  j  of  Gloucester,  who  died  in  early  boyhood  were 
this  was  the  old  Kensington  Charity  School,  built  principally  of  a  military  cast,  for  he  is  said  to  have 
by  Sir  John  Vanbrugh.  It  is  now  a  savings'-bank,  '  formed  a  re-iment  of  his  youthful  companions, 
with  a  new  school-room  by  the  side  of  it.  Ad- 
joining this  building  is  the  Vestry  Hall,  which  has 
been  recently  erected  in  the  Jacobean  style.  A 
new  Town  Hall  adjoining  it  was  built  in  1879-80. 


On  the  opposite  side   of  the 


way,  in  a  house 


which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  Metropolitan  Rail- 
way Station,  lived  for  some  years  the  celebrated 
political  writer,  William  Cobbett,  whom  we  have 


chiefly  from  Kensington, 


youtntul  companions, 
ho  seem  to  have  been 

upon  constant  duty  at  Campden  House.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  Campden 
House  was  in  the  occupation  of  the  Dowager 
Countess  of  Burlington  and  her  son,  Richard 
Boyle,  afterwards  Earl,  famous  for  his  taste  in  the 


Sec  VoL  II.,  p.  3,,. 


THE   OBSERVATORY   AT  CAMPDEN    HILL. 


fine  arts.  The  house  was  afterwards  held  by  the 
Noels,  who  parted  with  it  to  Nicholas  Lechmere, 
the  politician,  who  was  created  Lord  Lechmere, 
and  who  resided  here  for  several  years.  His  lord- 
ship, probably,  is  now  best  remembered  by  the 
place  he  occupies  in  Gay's  (or  Swift's)  ballad,  en- 
titled "  Duke  upon  Duke,"  where,  having  challenged 
one  Sir  John  Guise  to  fight  a  duel,  he  contrives  to 
give  his  foe  the  slip  : — 

"  Back  in  the  dark,  by  Brompton  Park, 

He  turned  up  through  the  Gore  ; 
So  slunk  to  Campden  House  so  high, 

All  in  his  coach  and  four." 

Towards  the  close  of  the  last  century  the  mansion 
became  a  boarding-school  for  ladies.  George 
Selwyn  speaks  of  going  there  to  see  a  protege  of 
his,  Maria  Fagniani,  who  was  held  to  be  a  very 
lucky  person,  for  he  and  his  friend  Lord  March 
(afterwards  Duke  of  Queensberry— "  Old  Q.")  tooli 
themselves  respectively  for  her  father,  and  each  of 
them  left  her  a  fortune.  She  afterwards  married 
the  Marquis  of  Hertford.*  In  the  Mirror  foi 
1840,  we  read  :  "  There  are  two  dogs,  carved  om 
of  stone,  on  the  end  walls  of  the  gate  or  entrance 
leading  to  Campden  House,  near  Campden  Hill 
Kensington;  they  are  pointer  dogs;  —  J  - 


and 


beautifully  carved.      The   boys  in  the  neighbour 
done  them  much  damage  by  peltin 


hood  have 


t  Campden  Hill ;   but  in  the  equipment  of  his 

observatory  he  appears  to  have  been  unfortunate, 

or  one  large  equatorial  instrument,  constructed  at 

eat  expense,  which  became  the  subject  of  a  law- 

uit,  gave  him  such  dissatisfaction  that  he  ordered 

t  to  be  broken  up,  and  the  parts  sold  by  auction. 
Large  printed  placards  were  posted  throughout  the 

eighbourhood  of  Kensington,  and  advertisements 
also  appeared  in  the  daily  papers,  announcing  that 
on  such  a  day  (named)  a  sale  of  an  extraordinary 
nature  would  take  place  at  the  observatory.  These 

placards,  from  their  singular  character,  attracted 
much  attention.  The  following  is  a  copy  : — 

"  Observatory,  Campden  Hill,  Kensington. 
To  shycock  toy-makers,  smoke-jack  makers, 
mock-coin  makers,  dealers  in  old  metals,  col- 
lectors of  and  dealers  in  artificial  curiosities,  and 
to  such  Fellows  of  the  Astronomical  Society  as, 
at  the  meeting  of  that  most  learned  and  equally 
upright  body,  on  the  rsth  of  May  last,  were  en- 
lightened by  Mr.  Airy's  (the  Astronomer  Royal) 
profound  expose  of  the  mechanical  incapacity  of 
English  astronomical  instrument-makers  of  the 
present  day : — To  be  sold  by  hand,  on  the  pre- 
mises, by  Mr.  M'Lelland,  on  Wednesday,  De- 
cember 2r,  1842,  between  eleven  and  twelve 
o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  several  hundred-weight  of 
brass,  gun-metal,  &c.,  being  the  metal  of  the  great 


them  with  stones  for  fun,  but  they  have  stood  all  ;  equatoriai  instrument   made  for  the   Kensington 


their  knocks  well— their  legs  are  nearly  worn  away 
From  these  two  dogs  the  entrance  is  generally 
called  by  the  inhabitants  'The  Dogs,' by  way  of 
distinction.  'The  House,'  the  entrance-lane  to 
which  they  guard,  was  formerly  occupied  by  Queen 
Anne  ;  it  is  a  plain  substantial  house,  and  now  occu- 
pied as  a  ladies'  school."  Later  on  it  was  again 
converted  into  a  private  residence.  It  contained  in 
all  about  thirty  rooms,  besides  a  private  theatre,  in 
which  the  Campden  amateur  artists  used  to  perform 
for  charitable  objects.  The  terrace  steps  and  para- 
pets were  extremely  massive  and  handsome,  and 


in  the  garden, 


i-hich  was  sheltered  and  sunny,  the 


ild  olive  is  said  to  have  flourished.  A  caper-tree 
long  produced  fruit  here.  The  buildingwas  destroyed 
by  fire  in  1862,  but  was  rebuilt  immediately. 

At  Campden  Hill  was  the  observatory  of  Sir 
James  South,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Roya' 
Astronomical  Society.  Among  his  working  instru 
ments  here  was  a  ;-feet  transit  instrument,  a  4-fee 
transit  circle,  and  one  of  the  equatorials  with  which 
between  the  years  1821  and  1823,  he  and  Sir  John 
Herschel  made  a  catalogue  of  380  double  stars 
It  was  about  the  year  1825  that  Sir  James  settlec 


>  S«e  Vol.  IV.,  p.  287. 


)bservatory  by  Messrs.  Troughton  and  Simms 
he  wooden  polar  axis  of  which,  by  the  same 
.rtists,  and  its  botchings,  cobbled  up  by  their 
issistants  (Mr.  Airy  and  the  Rev.  R.  Sheepshanks) 
vere,  in  consequence  of  public  advertisements,  on 
he  8th  of  July,  1839,  purchased  by  divers  vendors 
3f  old  clothes,  and  licensed  dealers  in  dead  cows 
and  horses,  &c.,  with  the  exception  of  a  fragment 
of  mahogany,  specially  reserved  at  the  request 
of  several  distinguished  philosophers,  which,  on 
account  of  the  great  anxiety  expressed  by  foreign 
_tronomers  and  foreign  astronomical  instrument- 
makers,  to  possess  when  converted  into  snuff-boxes 
souvenir  piquantc  of  the  state  of  the  art  of 
__nomical  instrument-making  in  England  during 
the  nineteenth  century,  will,  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  sale,  be  disposed  of  at  per  pound." 

At  the  hour  appointed  a  number  of  marine-store 
dealers  and  other  dealers  in  metal  (some  of  whom 
had  come  in  carts  from  town),  with  a  sprinkling 
of  astronomical  instrument-makers,  and  scientific 
persons  were  assembled  outside  Sir  James  South'*. 
residence,  and  were  admitted  into  the  grounds  by 
a  small  door  in  the  hedge  close  to  the  well-known 
circular  building  in  which  the  equatorial  instrument 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Kensington. 


was  at  first  placed.  On  entering  the  grounds,  to 
the  left  appeared  the  wreck  of  the  instrument  which 
a  few  years  ago  excited  the  interest  of  men  of 
science  throughout  the  world,  lying  arranged  in 
lots  numbered  from  o  to  14,  lot  15  being  the  frag- 
ment of  mahogany  spoken  of  in  the  bill,  and  lot 
1 6  a  plaster  bust  of  Professor  Airy,  which  was 
mounted  on  the  ledge  of  a  window  above  the 
centre  lot.  On  the  right,  on  the  spacious  lawn, 


tainly  be  futile.  Even  the  portions  of  the  enormous 
tube  were  bored  with  holes,  and  battered  to  attain 
that  object.  Sir  James  South,  in  answer  to  an  in- 
quiry by  a  gentleman  present  as  to  the  cause  of  so 
much  deterioration  in  the  value  of  the  property 
having  been  made,  said  he  had  been  told  that  he 
should  get  only  the  value  of  old  metal  for  it ;  and 
knowing  that  those  who  purchased  the  material,  had 
the  parts  been  sold  in  a  perfect  state,  would  take 


CAMPUEN  HOUSE,  1720.     (Set  fa^e  130.) 


was  erected  a  large  beam  and  scales,  with  weights 
for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  weights  of  the 
different  metals.  Sir  James  South  was  present 
during  the  sale.  He  appeared  in  high  spirits,  and 
conversed  with  the  company  with  his  accustomed 
urbanity.  The  sale  not  being  conducted  by  hammer, 
but  by 'hand,  was  a  very  silent  proceeding,  and 
afforded  no  scope  for  either  the  eloquence  or  inge- 
nuity of  the  auctioneer.  The  iron  portion  of  the 
instrument,  consisting  of  bolts,  screws,  £c.,  as  well 
as  the  copper  part,  was  unmutilated.  The  former 
fetched  £$,  and  the  latter  ;d.  per  pound.  The  great 
equatorial  instrument  itself— viz.,  the  tube,  circle, 
&c.,  made  of  brass,  had  been  broken  into  numerous 
pieces,  which  were  divided  into  several  lots,  so 
that  any  attempt  to  reunite  them  would  most  cer- 


them  to  the  manufacturers,  and  from  them  receive 
a  valuable  consideration  for  them,  he  therefore  de- 
termined to  prevent  its  being  devoted  to  any  such 
ignoble  purpose,  and  had  mutilated  it  so  that  it 
should  be  of  no  value  to  any  one  beyond  the  in- 
trinsic value  of  the  metal.  Notwithstanding  these 
singular  proceedings,  one  of  Sir  James's  "equa- 
torials  "  still  remained  mounted  in  his  observatory, 
besides  a  few  other  instruments,  including  a  transit 
circle,  celebrated  as  having  formerly  belonged  to 
Mr.  Groombridge,  and  as  having  been  the  instru- 
ment with  which  the  observations  were  made  for 
the  formation  of  the  catalogue  of  circumpolar  stars 
which  btaj  iiis  name.  Sir  James,  whose  contribu- 
butions  to  scientific  literature  are  well  known,  died 
here  in  1867,  at  an  advanced  age.  Kensington,  of 


MACAULAY  AT  KENSINGTON. 


late  years,  has  recovered  some  of  its  aristocratical    desired  to  have  a  list  of  the  parochial  charities, 
character  as  a  place  of  residence.     Argyll  Lodge,  I  and  a  seat  in  the  parish  church.     Although  con- 


on  Campden  Hill,  is  the  town-house  of  the  Duke 
of  Argyll,  and  Bedford  Lodge,  close  by,  was  for 
many  years  the  mansion  of  the  Dowager  Duchess 
of  Bedford. 


fined  to  the  house  by  asthma  during  the  winter, 
he  was,  as  we  have  stated  above,  very  regular  in 
his  attendance  during  the  summer.  A  few  days 
before  his  death,  discussing  the  subject  of  church- 


Street.*     When,  after  having  b^dto  the 
peerage,  he  went  tc 


TREET,   IN    i860. 


,  J£*££,S  hf  was  neyger  more  pleased 
than  when  in  his  library,  surrounded  by  his  nephews 


s.,  Yd.  IV,  pp.  ,»» 


134 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Ken.inpon. 


At  a  house  in  Orbell's  Buildings,  previously 
called  Pitt's  Buildings,  on  the  south-east  side  of 
Campden  Hill,  died,  March  zoth,  1727,  the  great 
Sir  Isaac  Newton,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five.  His 
house  seems  to  have  had  a  back  entrance  in  Church 
Street,  where  a  gateway  next  the  "  George  "  Tavern 
is  inscribed  "Newton  House."  His  estate  at 
Kensington  he  left  to  a  daughter  of  his  nephew, 
Mr.  Conduit,  who  married  Lord  Lymington,  after- 
wards Earl  of  Portsmouth  ;  and  hence  it  is  that  the 
manuscripts  of  the  great  philosopher  have  been 
kept  in  the  custody  of  the  Wallop  family. 

A  writer  in  the  Times  stated,  in  1870,  that  the 
house  actually  occupied  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton  was 
not  the  house  named  after  him,  but  Bullingham 
House,  where,  he  adds,  "  a  slab  put  up  in  remem- 
brance of  him  may  still  be  seen  in  the  garden  wall." 
The  neighbourhood  of  Kensington  Gravel  Pits, 
by  which  name  is  understood  a  district  of  some 
extent  bordering  on  the  Uxbridge  Road,  has  long 
been  noted  for  salubrity  of  the  air,  and  was  a 
favourite  residence  of  artists  half  a  century  ago. 
The  high  road  through  this  district,  known  as 
High  Street,  Netting  Hill,  forms  a  kind  of  second 
Kensington  High  Street,  being  to  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  suburb  what  the  High  Street,  in 
the  road  to  Hammersmith,  is  to  Kensington  proper. 
Swift  had  lodgings  in  the  Gravel  Pits  during  the 
winter  of  1712-13;  and  Lord  Chatham's  sister, 
Anne  Pitt,  is  recorded  to  have  died  "  at  her  house 
in  Pitt  Place,  Kensington  Gravel  Pits,"  in  1780. 
To  the  south  of  the  Gravel  Pits  was  the  Mall, 
which  still  exists  as  a  street  running  at  right  angles 
to  the  Uxbridge  Road. 

Sheffield  House,  which  stood  between  Church 
Street  and  Kensington  Gravel  Pits,  owed  its  name 
to  property  possessed  in  this  quarter  by  Sheffield, 
Duke  of  Buckingham,  with  the  descendants  of 
whose  family  it  long  remained.  The  house,  how- 
ever, has  disappeared,  and  in  its  place  have  risen 
rows  of  houses  overlooking  Campden  House 
Gardens  and  Palace  Green. 

Time  was,  and  not  so  very  long  ago,  when  the 
artist  body  made  their  homes  at  Kentish  and  ' 
Camden  Town,  at  Highgate,  Hampstead,  and  St. 
John's  Wood;  but  of  late  years  they  have  flocked 
in  far  larger  numbers  to  Kensington,  no  doubt  on 
account  of  the  convenience  of  access  thence  to  all 
parts  of  the  town,  and  of  the  good  northern  light 
which  is  secured  to  them  by  Kensington  Gardens 


Sir  Augustus  Callcott,  R.A.,  the  eminent  English 
landscape  painter.  Sir  Augustus  and  his  brother 
John  W.  Callcott,  the  musician,  were  the  sons  of 
a  builder  who  resided  near  the  "  Gravel  Pits," 
Kensington,  where  they  were  bom  in  1779  and 
1766  respectively.  At  the  time  of  the  fire  at 
Campden  House,  above  mentioned,  the  adjoining 
mansion  was  in  the  occupation  of  Mr.  Augustus 
Egg,  a  distinguished  Royal  Academician,  and  fears 
were  entertained  for  the  safety  of  his  house  and  its 
valuable  contents. 

Sir  David  Wilkie  was  living  in  Kensington  in 
1834.  Here  he  showed  to  his  friends  his  picture 
of  "John  Knox  preaching  to  his  Congregation" 
before  sending  it  in  to  the  Academy.  Mr.  J.  R. 
Planche",  who  was  among  the  visitors,  drew  his 
attention  to  certain  anachronisms  in  the  armour, 
which  the  painter  promised  to  alter  ;  but  time  went 
on,  the  promise  was  never  fulfilled,  and  the  painting 
still  exists  to  hand  down  a  wilful  blunder  to  pos- 
terity. Wilkie's  first  residence  here  was  in  Lower 
Phillimore  Place,  near  the  milestone;  there  he 
painted  his  "Chelsea  Pensioners,"  his  "Reading 
of  the  Will,"  his  "  Distraining  for  Rent,"  and  his 
Blind-man's  Buff."  He  afterwards  removed  to 
Shaftesbury  House,  on  the  Terrace,  and  here  the 
sunny  hours  of  his  life  were  spent  We  get  a 
glimpse  of  his  daily  habits  in  a  letter  which  he 
wrote  to  his  sister  soon  after  settling  here  :  "  I  dine, 
as  formerly,"  he  tells  her,  "  at  two  o'clock,  paint 
two  hours  in  the  forenoon  and  two  hours  in  the 
afternoon,  and  take  a  short  walk  in  the  Park  or 
through  the  fields  twice  a  day."  His  last  residence 
here,  as  Peter  Cunningham  tells  us,  was  a  detached 
mansion  in  Vicarage  Place,  at  the  head  of  Church 
Lane  ;  there  he  took  leave  of  his  friends  before  his 
visit  to  the  Holy  Land,  which  shortly  preceded  his 
death. 

At  Kensington,  John  Evelyn,  as  he  tells  us  in 
his  "  Diary,"  went  to  visit  Dr.  Tenison  (afterwards 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury),  "  whither  he  had  re- 
tired to  refresh  himself  after  he  had  been  sick  of 
the  small-pox."  This  was  just  before  the  erection 

bears 


and  the  Park  round  Holland  House.     The  Royal 
Academy  Catalogue  for   1876  shows  that  out  of 
.the  total  number  of  exhibitors,  about  a  hundred 
lived  in  and  around  Kensington. 
At  his  residence  in  the  Mall,   in  1844,  died 


of  the  school  in  Leicester  Square 
Tenison's  name.  -Kensington  was  the  birthplace 
of  Lord  Chancellor  Camden,  who  died  in  1794,  at 
the  age  of  eighty.  Sir  John  Fielding,  the  well- 
known  magistrate,  was  also  a  resident  here.  Here, 
too,  lived,  and  here  died  at  an  advanced  age,  Lady 
Margaret  Macdonald,  the  mother  of  Chief  Baron 
Macdonald,  a  lady  who  was  visited  by  Dr.  Johnson 
in  his  tour  to  the  Hebrides.  She  was  buried  in 
the  centre  vault  of  the  old  church,  close  to  the 
reading-desk,  which  was  given  to  the  parish  by 
William  III.  It  was  her  attendant  and  connection, 


Kensington.] 


A  GHOST"  IN  KENSINGTON. 


Flora  Macdonald,  who  so  heroically  aided  the 
escape  of  "  Bonny  Prince  Charlie,"  after  his  defeat 
at  Culloden. 

Another  Kensingtonian  was  Robert  Nelson,  the 
author  of  "  Fasts  and  Festivals,"  and  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian 
Knowledge.  He  died  in  1715,  and  was  a  man 
of  such  polished  and  courtly  manners,  that  Dr. 
Johnson  affirms  him  to  have  been  the  original 
whence  Samuel  Richardson  drew  his  "  Sir  Charles 
Grand  ison." 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  high  road  between 
London  and  Kensington  was  the  first  place  where 
oil  lamps  with  glazed  lights  were  placed,  for  the 
convenience  of  the  Court  as  they  travelled  back- 
wards and  forwards  to  St  James's  and  Whitehall. 
This  was  about  the  year  1694.     The  old  method 
of  lighting   the   thoroughfare   with    lanterns    and 
wicks  of  cotton  was  then  gradually  laid  aside.     It 
does  not  appear,   however,   that   the   example   of 
Kensington  was  at  all  speedily  followed  by  the  rest 
of  the  metropolis  at  the  West  End ;  for  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century  later,  in  1718,  we  find  Lady 
Mary  Wortley  Montagu*  contrasting  the  lighting 
of  London  at  night  with  that  of  Paris  in  most  un 
favourable  terms.     If  Chelsea,  as  Thackeray  ob 
serves  in  his  "  Esmond,"  was  even  in  Anne's  tirr. 
"  distant  from  London,  and  the  roads  to  it  were 
bad,  and  infested  by  footpads,"  the  same  was  true 
also  of  Kensington.     Indeed,   as   a  proof  of  th 
insecurity  of  the  roads  in  the  suburbs  until  after  th 
introduction  of  gas    and  the  establishment   of 
police  force,  we  may  be  pardoned  for  informing  ou 
readers,  on  the  authority  of  Walker's   "Original 
that,  "  at  Kensington,  within  the  memory  of  man 
on  Sunday  evenings  a  bell  used  to  be  rung  at  inte 
vals  to  muster  the  people  returning  to  town.    A 
soon  as  a  band  was  assembled  sufficiently  numerou 
to  ensure  mutual  protection,  it  set  off,  and  so  on  ti 
all  had  passed."     So  insecure  was  the  state  of  th 
road— in  fact,  in  spite  of  the  patrol — that  we  re; 
of  a  plot    being   concocted   for   the    purpose   ( 
robbing  Queen  Anne  as  she  returned  from  Londo 
to  Kensington   in    her   coach.     Indeed,  even    : 
late  as  the  end  of  the  last  century,  a  journey  fro 
London  to  the   suburbs   after   night-fall   was   m 
accomplished  without  danger  to  purse  and  person 


uards,  whilst  in  his  carriage,  having  "  conceived 
id  executed  them  between  Hammersmith  and 
yde  Park  Corner." 

We  learn  from  a  private  letter  in  the  Recor4 
ffice,  descriptive  of  the  Fire  of  London,  that  on 
.at  occasion  a  great  quantity  of  the  goods  and 
•operty  of  the  citizens  was  brought  as  far  westward 
i  Kensington  for  safety.  The  writer  adds  :  "  Had 
our  lordship  been  at  Kensington  you  would  have 
ought  for  five  days— for  so  long  the  fire  lasted — 
ut  it  had  been  Doomsday,  and  that  the  heavens 
lemselves  had  been  on  fire ;  and  the  fearful  cries 
nd  howlings  of  undone  people  did  much  increase 
le  resemblance.  My  walks  and  gardens  were 
most  covered  with  the  ashes  of  papers,  linen,  &c., 
nd  pieces  of  ceiling  and  plaster-work,  blown 
hither  by  the  tempest." 

"  In  a  curious  little  nook  of  the  '  Court  Suburb,' 
'herein  the  drama  had  furtively  taken  root,"  writes 
ilr.  J.  R.  Planche",  in  his  "  Recollections,"  "  I  wit- 
icssed  the  performance  of  a  piece  entitled  the 
Queen's  Lover,'  by  a  company  of  actors,  all  pre- 
iously  unknown  to  me,  even  by  name,  but  who 
;enerally  exhibited  talent,  and  one,  in  my  humble 
>pinion,  genius."  Mr.  Planche  went  thither  in  the 
company  of  Madame  Vestris  and  Mr.  Alfred  Bunn, 
who  at  the  time  had  succeeded  to  the  united  stage 
ungdom  of  Covent  Garden  and  of  Drury  Lanr, 
The  person  of  "  genius"  was  Henry  Gaskell  Denvil, 
whom  Bunn  thought  that  he  had  found  a  second 
Kean.  Instead,  however,  of  encouraging  him,  he 
crushed  his  spirits  and  drove  him  out  of  life. 

It  would,  perhaps,  be  a  little  singular  if  such  an 
nteresting  "old-world"  sort  of  place  as  Kensington 
should  be  without  its  "ghost-story;"  and  it  may 
be  gratifying  to  find  that  it  is  not.  Here  is  one,  of 
older  date  than  the  year  1868,  which  we  quote 
from  the  newspaper  reports  at  the  time  :— "  In  a 
small  house,  about  twenty  yards  away  from  the 
main  road,  live  an  old  lady,  eighty-four  years  of 
age,  and  her  daughter,  with  one  servant.  They 
have  lived  in  the  same  house  for  nearly  twenty 
years  without  any  annoyance  ;  but  for  the  last  few 
months  they  are  being  constantly  startled  by  a  sharp 
loud  knocking  upon  the  panel  of  the  street-door. 
Upon  opening  the  door,  however  quickly,  no  sign 
of  any  one  is  to  be  discovered.  No  sooner  are  the 


too.      Horace  Wa 
toad  in  his  carriage  betv 
Strawberry  Hill. 


Conway,  then 


Vab^In  ,r   "c    d     k,ng  this  ',  ladies Vie,.,  Kttlri  again  than  rap-rap-r.p  I  comes 

ss^^^sEfS^s^™^ 

On  onet°CCt^°^fsSshg^   h"  I  jUrXbSSto  some  imps  of  school-boys,  who 


•  Works,  edited  by  Lord  WharncHfle,  vol. 


ice  of  what  was 

1  onlVannoying  became  at  last  a  serious  nuisance. 
|  The  most  nimble  efforts  were  made,  without  success, 


136 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


to  'catch'  the  offenders,  but  until  a  few  nights  ago 
the  attacks  were  so  arranged  as  never  to  take  place 
in  the  presence  of  male  visitors;  consequently  the 
ladies  received  much  pity,  but  little  sympathy,  from 
their  friends.  After  a  time  they  became  nervous, 
and  at  last  really  frightened.  On  Thursday  evening 
a  gentleman,  the  son  of  the  old  lady,  called,  and 
found  them  quite  ill  from  nervous  excitement,  and 
was  comforting  them  as  well  as  he  could,  when  a 
quick  rap-rap-rap  !  at  the  front  door  made  him  jump 
up.  In  two  seconds  he  was  at  the  door,  rushed 
out,  looking  in  every  direction  without  discovering 
a  sound  or  a  trace  of  any  human  being  in  any  of 
the  adjacent  roads.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  he 
was  able  to  understand  from  what  his  mother  and 
sister  had  suffered,  and  set  to  work  to  examine  the 
approaches  to  the  door  inside  and  out,  and  to  solve 
the  mystery,  if  possible.  No  sooner  had  he  gone 
back  to  the  little  dining-room,  and  placed  a  chair 
in  the  open  doorway,  with  a  big  stick  handy  to 
'  trounce '  the  perpetrator  the  next  time,  and  begun 
to  discuss  what  it  was,  than  rap-rap-rap  !  sent  him 
flying  out  into  the  street,  to  the  astonishment  of  a 
passing  cabman,  who  must  have  thought  a  madman 
had  just  escaped  his  keeper.  This  happened  four 
or  five  times  more ;  in  fact,  it  only  ceased  about  a 
quarter  to  eleven.  He  went  round  to  the  police- 
station,  and  had  an  officer  put  on  special  duty 
opposite  the  house  for  the  next  day,  and  spent  the 
following  morning  in  calling  upon  the  neighbours, 
and  carefully  examining  the  gardens  and  walls 
which  abutted  upon  the  '  haunted '  house.  Not  a 
mark  of  any  sort  was  to  be  found,  and  he  was  quite 
convinced  that  the  door  could  not  have  been  reached 
from  any  point  but  right  in  front  from  the  street, 
as  there  is  no  cellar  or  drain  under  the  house. 
In  the  evening  he  took  a  friend  down  with  him,  and 
two  more  of  his  friends  looked  in  later.  The  ladies 
were  found  in  a  painful  state  of  nervous  fright,  as 
the  nuisance  had  already  been  going  on,  and  the 
maid-servant  was  crying.  Altogether,  it  was  a  scene 
of  misery.  In  the  course  of  conversation  the  fol- 
lowing facts  came  out : — It  began  on  a  Friday,  the 
1 8th  of  October,  and  has  never  missed  a  Friday  ] 
since  then.  It  has  never  been  heard  on  Sunday,  ! 
seldom  on  Saturday ;  never  before  the  gas-lamps 
are  lit,  never  after  eleven.  Just  as  all  were  talking 
at  once,  rap-rap-rap  !  In  an  instant  all  four  gentle- ! 
men  were  in  the  front  garden ;  the  policeman  was 
quietly  standing  opposite  the  door  ;  the  lady  of  the  j 
house  opposite  watching  the  door  from  her  portico,  ! 
and  another  gentleman  from  the  leads.  All  declared  ' 
that  not  a  living  creature  had  been  near  the  house 
for  at  least  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  The  whole  thin?  ' 
seems  inexplicable,  and  has  created  quite  a  sensation  ' 


in  the  neighbourhood."  The  mystery  was  after- 
wards solved,  for  it  appeared  that  the  servant-girl 
had  caused  the  rapping  by  means  of  wires. 

In  Scarsdale  Terrace,  Wright's  Lane,  near  the 
railway  station,  Kensington  High  Street,  is  the 
Crippled  Boys'  National  Industrial  Home.  This 
charity  was  instituted  in  1865,  and  was  originally 
located  in  a  house  in  the  High  Street.  There  are 
about  fifty  crippled  boys  in  the  Home,  received  from 
all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  once  destitute,  neglected, 
or  ill  treated  in  their  own  dwellings,  without  any 
chance  of  rising,  like  other  youths,  to  social  inde- 
pendence by  their  own  exertions,  but  now  happily 
engaged  for  a  term  of  three  years  in  learning  an 
industrial  employment  for  this  end.  This  charity 
has,  notwithstanding  its  limited  means,  been  of 
great  service  to  many,  the  greater  portion  of  whom 
are  seen  or  heard  of  from  time  to  time ;  and  it  is 
astonishing  to  find  how  many  crippled  children  there 
are  throughout  the  country,  whose  anxious  appeals 
to  the  committee  for  admission  are  very  distressing. 

Scarsdale  House,  a  small  mansion  close  by,  was 
for  many  years  a  boarding-school,  and  as  such, 
says  Leigh  Hunt,  it  must  have  been  an  eyesore  to 
William  Cobbett,  the  political  writer,  the  back  of 
whose  premises  in  the  High  Street  it  overlooked 
Scarsdale  House,  now  no  longer  a  boarding-school, 
appears  to  have  returned  to  the  occupation  of  the 
family  who  are  understood  to  have  built  it,  for  its 
present  inmate  is  the  Hon.  Edward  Cecil  Curzon, 
brother  of  the  late  Lord  Zouche.  It  is  conjectured 
that  the  house  was  built  by  the  Earl  of  Scarsdale, 
whose  family  name  was  Leake,  the  Scarsdale  cele- 
brated by  Pope  for  his  love  of  the  bottle — 
"  Each  mortal  has  his  pleasure  ; — none  deny 
Scarsdale  his  bottle,  Darty  his  bun-pie." 

The  short-lived  Roman  Catholic  University 
College,  which  was  formally  inaugurated  in  1874, 
stood  on  the  site  of  Abingdon  House,  in  Wright's 
Lane.  The  building,  although  comparatively 
small,  was  very  complete  in  its  arrangements, 
and  comprised  a  theatre,  lecture-rooms,  a  school 
of  science,  a  discussion-room,  and  a  chapel.  A 
number  of  rooms  were  also  set  apart  for  the 
amusement  or  edification  of  the  students  in  various 
ways.  The  college,  which  received  the  support 
and  patronage  of  all  the  English  Roman  Catholic 
bishops,  was  founded  mainly  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  Monsignor  Capel,  who  was  appointed 
its  first  rector.  It,  however,  failed  after  a  brief 
career  of  usefulness,  and,  as  its  difficulties  were 
found  to  be  insurmountable,  the  institution  was 
given  up,  and  the  buildings  were  pulled  down 
about  the  year  1880.  The  site  has  since  been 
built  over. 


THE  "ADAM  AND  EVE." 


Kensington  always  has  had  a  large  Irish  element, 
and  of  late  years,  owing  to  the  increasing  popula- 
tion of  the  place,  rapid  strides  have  been  made 
by  the  Roman  Catholic  body  in  augmenting  their 
numbers. 

The  London  Review  of  1865  gives  the  following 
account  of  the  progress  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
body  of  Kensington  at  that  time  : — '•  Formerly,  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  whole  of  the  Roman 
Catholics  of  this  parish,  there  was  but  one  small 
chapel  near  the  High  Street,  which  appeared 
amply  sufficient  for  the  members  of  that  creed. 
But  ten  or  twelve  years  ago  a  Roman  Catholic 
builder  purchased,  at  an  enormous  price,  a  plot  of 
ground,  about  three  acres  in  extent,  beside  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Brompton.  For  a  time 
considerable  mystery  prevailed  as  to  the  uses  it  was 
to  be  applied  to ;  but,  shortly  after  the  buildings 
were  commenced,  they  were  discovered  to  be  the 
future  residence  and  church  of  the  Oratorian 
Fathers,  removed  to  it  from  their  former  dwelling  ; 
and  the  chapel,  a  small  and  commodious  erection, 
was  opened  for  divine  service.  At  first  the  con- 
gregation was  of  the  scantiest  description :  even 
on  Sundays  at  high  mass,  small  as  the  chapel  was, 
it  was  frequently  only  half  filled ;  while  on  week 
days,  at  many  of  the  services,  it  was  no  uncommon 
circumstance  to  find  the  attendance  scarcely  more 
numerous  than  the  number  of  priests  serving  at  the 
altar.  By  degrees  the  congregation  increased,  till 
the  chapel  was  found  too  small  for  their  accommo- 
dation, and  extensive  alterations  were  made  to  it ; 
but  these,  again,  were  soon  filled  to  overflowing,  and 


Place.  Of  convents  of  ladies  it  has  the  Assumption, 
in  Kensington  Square ;  the  Poor  Clares  Convent,  in 
Edmond  Terrace;  the  Franciscan  Convent,  in 
Portobello  Road;  and  the  Sisters  of  Jesus,  in 
Holland  Villas.  Of  schools,  the  Roman  Catholics 
possess,  in  the  parish  of  Kensington,  the  Orphan- 
age, in  the  Fulham  Road ;  the  Industrial  School  of 
St  Vincent  de  Paul ;  as  well  as  the  large  Industrial 
School  for  Girls  in  the  southern  ward.  All  these 
schools  are  very  numerously  attended ;  the  gross 
number  of  pupils  amounting  to  1,200,  those  of  the 
Oratory  alone  being  1,000.  The  kindness  and  con- 
sideration shown  by  the  Roman  Catholic  teachers 
to  the  children  of  the  poor  is  above  all  praise,  not 
only  in  Kensington,  but  in  all  localities  where  they 
are  under  their  charge ;  and  the  love  they  receive 
from  their  pupils  in  return  forms  one  of  their  most 
powerful  engines  in  their  system  of  proselytising." 

The  chapel  of  St.  Mary's  above  mentioned,  in 
Holland  Street,  is  close  to  the  principal  street  in 
Kensington,  and  is  thus  described  in  the  "  Catholic 
Hand-book,"  published  in  1857  : — "  It  is  a  plain, 
unpretending  edifice,  the  cross  upon  its  front  being 
the  only  feature  to  distinguish  it  from  an  ordinary 
Dissenting  meeting-house.  Its  interior  has  a  re- 
markable air  of  neatness.  The  building  itself  is  an 
oblong  square,  built  north  and  south,  and  capable 
ot  accommodating  about  300  persons.  It  is  lit 
by  three  windows  at  the  northern  end,  and  one 
window  at  the  eastern  and  western  sides.  It  is 
devoid  of  ornament,  except  at  the  south  end,  where 
the  altar  is  raised  between  two  pillars.  The  body  of 
the  chapel  is  fitted  with  low  open  seats,  and  at  the 


further  alterations  had  to  be  made,  till  at  last  the  I  northern  end  is  a  spacious  gallery."  Being  super- 
building  was  capable  of  holding,  without  difficulty,  i  seded  by  other  and  larger  ecclesiastical  edifices, 
from  2,000  to  2,500  persons.  It  is  now  frequently  j  the  old  chapel  is  now  used  as  a  school-room.  It 
so  crowded  at  high  mass  that  it  is  difficult  for  an  j  was  built  about  1812  by  the  family  of  Mr.  Wheble, 
individual  entering  it  after  the  commencement  of  the  manufacturer  of  the  celebrated  Kensington 
the  service  to  find  even  standing  room.  In  the  :  candles,  who  began  life  with  a  small  shop  in  High 


meantime  the  monastery  itself,  if  that  is  the  proper 
term,  was  completed — a  splendid  appearance  it 
presents — and  we  believe  is  fully  occupied.  The 
Roman  Catholic  population  in  the  parish  or  mission, 
under  the  spiritual  direction  of  the  Fathers  of  the 
Oratory,  now  comprise  between  7,000  and  8,000 
souls.  The  average  attendance  at  mass  on  Sunday 
is  about  5,000,  and  the  average  number  of  commu- 
nicants for  the  last  two  years  has  been  about  45,000 
annually.  But  in  addition  to  this  church,  Kensing- 
ton has  three  others — St.  Mary's,  Upper  Holland 
Street ;  St  Simon  Stock,  belonging  to  the  Carmelite 
Friars ;  and  the  Church  of  St.  Francis  Assisi,  in 
Netting  Hill.  Of  monasteries,  or  religious  com- 
munities of  men,  it  has  the  Oratorians  before  men- 
tioned, and  the  Discalced  Carmelites,  in  Vicarage 


Street,  but  died  worth  a  quarter  of  a  million. 

In  Newland  Terrace,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
main  road,  is  the  Church  of  Our  Lady  of  Victories, 
which  serves  as  a  pro-cathedral,  superseding  the 
,  Church  of  St.  Mary's,  Moorfields.  It  is  a  lofty 
I  Gothic  structure  of  the  Early  English  type,  with 
some  details  approaching  more  nearly  to  the  Deco- 
rated style.  It  consists  of  a  nave  and  side  aisles, 
and  a  shallow  chancel,  in  which  is  the  throne  of  the 
archiepiscopal  see  of  Westminster.  The  windows 
of  the  apse  are  filled  with  stained  glass. 

In  the  Kensington  Road  is  the  "  Adam  and  Eve  " 
public-house,  where  Sheridan,  on  his  way  to  or 
from  Holland  House,  regularly  stopped  for  a  dram ; 
and  there  he  ran  up  a  long  bill,  which,  as  we  learn 
from  Moore's  diary,  Lord  Holland  had  to  pay. 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


CHAPTER    XII. 
KENSINGTON  ,  PALACE. 

"High  o'er  the  neiKh!«uriiiK  lands, 
H^-ThTwlr  ^^""T";  Palacc  <;aulcnr'1Ii"'  "  *'"*'*  Ann, --Henry  VII1/S  Conduit- Palace  Green- 

_ 


ition  of  Kenslnj 
The  Kensingl 
Pictures  for,,, 
Death  of  gu« 


As  in  France,  so  also  in  England,  nearly  all  the 
palaces  of  royalty  are  located  outside  the  cits- 
Greenwich,  Eltham,  Hatfield,  Theobalds,  Nonsuch,' 
Enfield,  Havering-atte-Bower,  Oatlands,  Hampton 
Court,  Kew,  Richmond,  all  in  turn,  as  well  as  Ken- 
sington, have  been  chosen  as  residences  for  our 
sovereigns.  Kensington  Palace,  though  actually 
situated  in  the  parish  of  St.  Margaret,  Westminster, 
is  named  from  the  adjoining  town,  to  which  it  would 
more  naturally  seem  to  belong,  and  it  stands  in 
grounds  about  350  acres  in  extent 


Palace  Gate   House 


spacious  mansion,  'with 


,  son,  wt 

ornamental  elevation,  standing  on  the  north  side 
°1    the  High  Street,   near  the  entrance  to    the 


Palace,  was  long  the  residence  of  the  late  Mr. 
John  Forster,  the  historian,  biographer,  and  critic, 
and  the  friend  of  Charles  Dickens.  A  broad  road- 
way, leading  from  the  High  Street  of  Kensington 
to  the  Bayswater  Road,  and  known  as  Kensington 
Palace  Gardens,  contains  several  costly  mansions, 
including  one  of  German-Gothic  design,  built  for 
the  Earl  of  Harrington  in  1852. 

In  the  High  Street,  close  by  the  entrance  to  the 
Palace,  is  the  "  King's  Arms "  Tavern,  at  which 
Addison  was  a  frequent  visitor,  when  he  took  up 
his  abode  in  his  adopted  home  at  Holland  House 
as  the  husband  of  Lady  Warwick. 

On  the  west  side  of  Palace  Green,  in  what  waj 


PALACE  GREEN. 


formerly  called  the  King's  Garden,  Henry  VIII.  is 
said  to  have  built  a  conduit,  or  bath,  for  the  use  of 
the  Princess  Elizabeth,  when  a  child.  It  was  a 
low  building,  with  walls  of  great  thickness,  and  the 
•oof  covered  with  bricks.  The  interior  was  in 
-ood  preservation  when  Faulkner  wrote  his  "  His- 
sj  tory  of  Kensington,"  and  afforded  a  favourable 
-  specimen  of  the  brickwork  of  the  period. 
It  is  clear,  from  an  entry  in  the  parish 
books,  though  unnoticed  by  Faulkner,  that 
Queen  Elizabeth,  at  least  on  one  occasion 
subsequent  to  her  childhood,  stayed  within 
the  parish,  for  the  parish  officers  are  rebuked 
and  punished  for  not  ringing  "  when  Her 
Majesty  left  Kensington."  Probably  this 


~ *L 

the  last  century.  In  l8oi  an  engraving  was 
'lished,  showing  the  presentation  of  colours  to 
the  regiment ;  the  original  painting,  together  with 
the  colours  themselves-which  were  worked  by 
the  Duchess  of  Gloucester  and  her  daughter,  the 
Princess  Sophia  Matilda-are  now  in  the  Vestry 
Hall.  In  1876  these  colours  were  placed  in  front 


entry  refers  to  some  visit  which  she  paid  to  Holland 
House,  where  no  doubt  she  was  entertained  as  a 
guest  by  the  then  owner,  the  old  Earl  of  Holland, 
or  by  Sir  Walter  Cope,  who  built  the  original 
mansion.  On  Palace  Green  are  the  barracks  for 
foot-soldiers,  who  still  regularly  mount  guard  at  the 
Palace.  The  Green,  called  in  ancient  documents 
the  "  Moor,"  was  the  military  parade  when  the 
Court  resided  here,  and  the  royal  standard  was 
hoisted  on  it  daily. 

Among  the  historical  associations  of  this  place 
must  not  be  overlooked  the  Old  Kensington 
.Volunteers,  which  was  formed  towards  the  close  of 


of  the  Princess  Louise,  when  she  opened  the  New 
National  Schools  here,  and  the  vicar  of  Kensing- 
ton drew  the  attention  of  her  Royal  Highness  to 
this  work  of  her  ancestors.  Dr.  Callcott,  whom 
we  have  already  mentioned  as  living  near  the 
Gravel  Pits,  was  band-master  in  the  above  corps, 
which  was  disbanded  at  the  Peace  of  Amiens,  and 
also  in  the  Kensington  Corps  of  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, which  was  established  in  1803. 

On  this  green  there  stood  formerly  a  water-tower 
of  singular  construction  ;  it  was  built  in  the  reign 
of  Queen  Anne,  but  had  long  ceased  to  be  used 
when  Faulkner  wrote  his  "  History  of  Kensington" 


140 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Kensington  Palace. 


in  1820.  It  was  of  red  brick,  and  consisted  of 
three  storeys,  surrounded  by  two  heavy  battle- 
mented  turrets ;  it  is  said  to  have  been  designed 
by  Sir  John  Vanbrugh.  The  tower  was  removed 


regarded  as  an  investment  of  a  portion  of  his 
fortune,  left  no  cause  for  regret. 

Mr.  John  Forster  has  told  us,  in  his  "  Life  of 
Charles  Dickens,"  how  the  latter  met  Thackeray 


in  1850.  at  the  Athenaeum  Club,  just  a  week  before  his 

'  In  1846,  Thackeray  removed  from  London  to  j  death,  and  shook  hands  with  him  at  parting,  little 
Kensington,  taking  up  his  abode  at  No.  13,  Young  I  thinking  that  it  was  for  the  last  time.  "  There  had 
Street,  which  connects  the  Square  with  the  High  j  been  some  estrangement  between  them  since  the 
Street,  occupying  also  by  day,  for  working  pur-  ;  autumn  of  1858.  .  .  .  Thackeray,  justly  indignant 
poses,  chambers  at  10,  Crown  Office  Ro\v,  Temple,  i  at  a  published  description  of  himself  by  a  member 
He  afterwards  removed  to  Onslow  Square,  Bromp-  of  a  club  to  which  both  he  and  Dickens  belonged 
ton;  but  about  1861,  or  the  following  year,  he  (the  Garrick),  referred  the  matter  to  the  committee, 
again  removed  to  the  more  congenial  neighbour-  who  decided  to  expel  the  writer.  Dickens,  think- 


hood     of     Kensington 

Palace,  and  took  up  his 

permanent  abode  in  the 

"  Old    Court     Suburb," 

about  which  Leigh  Hunt 

has    gossiped    so    plea- 
santly.    He   took   on  a 

long   lease  a   somewhat 

dilapidated  mansion,  on 

the  west  side  of  Palace 

Gardens.     His  intention 

at  first  was  to  repair  and 
improve  it,  but  he  finally 
resolved  to  pull  it  down, 
and  build  a  new  house 
in  its  place.  This,  a 
handsome,  solid  mansion 
of  choice  red  brick, 
with  stone  facings,  was 
built  from  his  own  de- 
signs, and  he  occupied  HE 
it  until  his  death.  "  It 
was,"  remarks  Mr.  James  Hannay, 


(Set  fag' 


ing  expulsion  too  harsh 
a  penalty  for  an  offence 
thoughtlessly  given,  and, 
as  far  as  might  be,  man- 
fully atoned  for  by  with- 
drawal and  regret,  inter- 
posed to  avert  the  ex- 
tremity. Thackeray  re- 
sented the  interference, 
and  Dickens  was  justly 
hurt  at  the  manner 
in  which  he  did  so. 
Neither,"  adds  Mr.  For- 
ster,  "  was  wholly  in  the 
right,  nor  was  either  alto- 
gether in  the  wrong." 
The  affair,  however,  is 
scarcely  worth  being 
added  as  a  fresh  chapter 
to  the  "Quarrels  of 
Authors."  Thackeray 


dwelling 


had  often  suffered  from 

_  (  serious  illness,  so  that  his  daughter  was  not  much 

worthy  of  one  who  really  represented  literature  in  alarmed  at  finding  him  in  considerable  pain  and 
the  great  world,  and  who,  planting  himself  on  his  !  suffering  on  Wednesday,  the  23rd  of  December, 
books,  yet  susta.ned  the  character  of  his  profession  |  ,863.  He  complained  of  pain  when  his  servant 
wit  hall  the  dignity  of  a  gentleman."  A  friend  who  j  left  his  room,  wishing  him  "good-night,"  and  in 
called  on  him  there  from  Edinburgh,  in  the  summer  the  morning,  on  entering,  the  man-servant  found 
of  1862,  knowing  of  old  his  love  of  the  poet  of  ,  him  dead.  He  had  passed  away  in  the  night  from 
Venusia,  playfully  reminded  him  what  Horace  says  j  an  effusion  of  blood  on  the  brain. 

Mr.  Hannay  wrote: — "Thackeray  is  dead;  and 
the  purest  English  prose  writer  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  the  novelist  with  a  greater  knowledge 
of  the  human  heart  as  it  really  is  than  any  one — 
with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  Shakespeare  and 
Nay,     said  he,  "I  am  numor  stpulchri,  for  this     Balzac-is  suddenly  struck  down  in  the  midst  of. 
house  will  always  let  for  so  many  hundreds  "-men-:  us.     In    the   midst  of  us  !     No    long   illness    no 
tioningthesum-«a  year."     Thackeray  was  always    lingering  decay,  no  gradual  suspension  of  power; 
of  opinion,    that   notwithstanding    the    somewhat    almost  pen    in   hand,  like    Kempenfelt,   he   went 
costly  proceeding  of  pulling  down  and  re-erecting 


of  those  who,   regardless   of  their  death,   employ 
themselves  in  building  houses  :— 


"Sepiilchri 
Immemor  struts  clomos.' 


•he  had  achieved    the   result,  rare    for   a   private 
gentleman,  of  building  for  himself  a  house  which, 


ipenfelt, 

down.  Well  said  the  Examiner—''  Whatever  little 
feuds  may  have  gathered  about  Mr.  Thackeray's 
public  life  lay  lightly  on  the  surface  of  the  minds 


acton  Maee.1      HISTORICAL  PAINTINGS  IN  KENSINGTON  PALACE. 


141 


that  chanced  to  be  in  contest  with  him.  They1 
could  be  thrown  off  in  a  moment,  at  the  first  shock 
of  the  news  that  he  was  dead.'  It  seemed  im- 
possible to  realise  the  fact.  No  other  celebrity- 
be  he  writer,  statesman,  artist,  actor — seemed  so 
thoroughly  a  portion  of  London.  That '  good  grey 
head  which  all  men  knew'  was  as  easy  of  recog- 
nition as  his  to  whom  the  term  applied,  the  Duke 
of  Wellington.  Scarcely  a  day  passed  without  his 
being  seen  in  the  Pall-Mall  districts ;  and  a  Lon- 
doner showing  to  'country  cousins'  the  wonders 
of  the  metropolis,  generally  knew  how  to  arrange 
for  them  to  get  a  sight  of  the  great  English 
writer." 

The  palace  has  been  described  as  a  "plain 
brick  building,  of  no  particular  style  or  period,  but 
containing  a  heterogeneous  mass  of  dull  apart- 
ments, halls,  and  galleries,  presenting  externally  no 
single  feature  of  architectural  beauty ;  the  united 
effect  of  its  ill-proportioned  divisions  being  irregular 
and  disagreeable  in  the  extreme."  This  criticism 
can  hardly  be  considered  too  severe.  Certain  por 
tions  of  the  exterior,  it  is  true,  are  admired  as  fine 
specimens  of  brickwork  in  their  way ;  but  it  cannot 
be  concealed  that  the  general  effect  of  the  brick  is 
mean  and  poor. 

The  following  particulars  of  the  interior  of  the 
palace,  some  of  which  stand  good  even  at  thf 
present  day,  we  glean  from  John  Timbs'  "  Curio 
sities  of  London,"  published  in  1855:— "Th 
great  staircase,  of  black  and  white  marble,  and 
graceful  ironwork  (the  walls  painted  by  Kent  wit 
mythological  subjects  in  chiaroscuro,  and  arch 
tectural  and  sculptural  decoration),  leads  to  th 
suite  of  twelve  state  apartments,  some  of  whic 
are  hung  with  tapestry,  and  have  painted  ceiling: 
The  '  Presence  Chamber'  has  a  chimney-piece  richl 
sculptured  by  Gibbons,  with  flowers,  fruits,  an 
heads;  the  ceiling  is  diapered  red,  blue,  and  gol 
upon  a  white  field,  copied  by  Kent  from  Hercu1 
neum  ;  and  the  pier-glass  is  wreathed  with  flowe 
by  Jean  Baptiste  Monnoyer.  The  '  King's  Gallery 
in  the  south  front,  has  an  elaborately  painted  all 
gorical  ceiling,  and  a  circular  fresco  of  a  Madonn 
after  Raphael.  'The  Cube  Room'  is  forty  fe 
in  height,  and  contains  gilded  statues  and  busl 
and  a  marble  bas-relief  of  a  Roman  marriage,  t 
Rysbrack.  The  'King's  Great  Drawing-room 
was  hung  with  the  then  new  paper,  in  imitation 
the  old  velvet  flock.  The  '  Queen's  Gallery,'  in  t 
rear  of  the  eastern  front,  continued  northwards,  h 
above  the  doorway  the  monogram  of  William  a 
Mary;  and  the  pediment  is  enriched  with  fruits  a 


rate  closet  of  William  III.,  and  contained  his 
ting  table  and  escritoire ;  and  the  '  Patchwork 
oset '  had  its  walls  and  chairs  covered  with 
>estry  worked  by  Queen  Mary." 
The  palace  contains  a  comfortable  though  far 
m  splendid  or  tasteful  suite  of  state  apartments, 
e  ceilings  and  staircases  of  which  are  ornamented 
th  paintings  by  Kent.  The  grand  staircase  leads 
)tn  the  principal  entrance  to  the  palace,  on  the 
:st,  by  a  long  corridor,  the  sides  of  which  are 
inted  to  represent  a  gallery  crowded  with  specta- 
rs  on  a  Court  day,  in  which  the  artist  has  intro- 
iced  portraits  of  himself;  of  "Peter,  the  Wild 
oy;"  of  Ulric,  a  Polish  lad,  page  to  George  I. ; 
,d  of  the  Turks  Mahomet  and  Mustapha,  two  of 
s  personal  attendants,  who  were  taken  prisoners 
the  Imperialists  in  Hungary,  and  who,  having 
ecome  converts  to  Christianity,  obtained  posts  at 
ourt.  Mahomet  was  extremely  charitable,  and 
ope  thus  records  his  personal  worth  : — 

"  From  peer  or  bishop  'tis  no  easy  thing 
To  draw  the  man  who  loves  his  God  and  king. 
Alas  !  I  copy  (or  my  draught  would  fail) 
From  honest  Mahomet  or  from  Parson  Hale." 

The  chapel  royal  is  as  plain  and  ordinary  an 
partment  as  a  Scottish  Presbyterian  would  wish  to 
ee ;  but  it  is  remarkable  for  containing  some  fine 
ommunion  plate.  Divine  service  is  performed 
lere  regularly  by  a  chaplain  to  the  household,  and 
he  public  are  admitted. 

The  fine  collection  of  historical  paintings  which 
ance   adorned  the   walls   of    Kensington   Palace 
s  unrecorded  in  Dr.  Waagen's  "  Art  and  Artists  in 
England."     The  fact  is  that  they  have  been,  for 
he  most  part,  dispersed,  and  many  of  them  now 
ire  to  be  found  at  the  Palace  of  Hampton  Court, 
md  other  public  buildings.     Mr.  George  Scharf, 
F.S.A.,  in  his  "Notes  on  the  Royal  Picture  Gal- 
leries "  states  that  Kensington  Palace,  during  the 
reign'  of  George  II,  appears   to   have   contained 
many    if  not  most,   of  the   finest  pictures,     i 
especially  notes  Vandyck's  pictures  of  King  Charles 
and  his  Queen,  Cupid  and  Psyche,  and  the  same 
painter's  "Three  Children  of  Charles  I.;"  Queen 
Elizabeth  in  a  Chinese  dress,  drawn  when  she  was 
a  prisoner  at  Woodstock;    Kneller's  portraits  of 
King  William  and  Queen  Mary,  in  their  coronation 
robe's  (Kneller  was   knighted   for  painting    these 
pictures) ;   Tintoretto's  grand  pictures  of     Esther 
fainting  before  Ahasuerus,"  and  "Apollo  and  the 
Nine  Muses."     It  appears  that  about  the  time  of 
the  fire  at  Whitehall,  the  series  of  old  heads  and 
,rtraits  were  transferred  to  Kensington, 


OLD  AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Kensington  Palace, 


in  "Rapin,"  published  in  1736— mentions  them  as 
being  in  the  latter  palace;  and  Walpole,  in  the 
first  edition  of  his  "Anecdotes"  (1762),  especially 
alludes  to  the  early  royal  portraits  at  Kensington. 
He  also  speaks  of  a  chamber  of  very  ancient 
portraits — among  them  one  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk 
— as  then  existing  in  the  Princess  Dowager's  house 
at  Kew.  A  catalogue  of  these  pictures  was  taken 
by  Benjamin  West,  at  the  king's  desire,  in  li 
Unlike  the  portraits  in  most  galleries,  many  of 
those  at  Kensington  had  no  names  attached  to 
them ;  and  thus,  if  we  may  judge  from  a  com- 
plaint made  by  the  unfortunate  Princess  Caroline 
of  Wales,  their  interest  was  in  a  great  measure 
destroyed.  The  fine  collection  of  Holbein's  original 
drawings  and  designs  for  the  portraits  of  the  lead- 
ing personages  in  the  Court  of  Henry  VIII.,  now 
in  the  Royal  Library  at  Windsor,  was  accidentally 
discovered  by  Queen  Caroline  in  a  bureau  here, 
shortly  after  the  accession  of  George  II. 

The  palace  has  a  character  of  its  own  among 
the  other  residences  of  the  royal  family.  Leigh 
Hunt  hits  the  right  nail  on  the  head  when  he 
speaks  of  it  as  possessing  "  a  Dutch  solidity."  "  It 
can  be  imagined  full  of  English  comfort,"  he  adds ; 
"  it  is  quiet,  in  a  good  air,  and,  though  it  is  a 
palace,  no  tragical  history  is  connected  with  it; 


all  which  considerations 


give  it  a  sort  of  homely, 


fireside  character,  which  seems  to  represent  the 
domestic  side  of  royalty  itself,  and  thus  renders 
an  interesting  service  to  what  is  not  always  so  well 
recommended  by  cost  and  splendour.  Windsor 
Castle  is  a  place  to  receive  monarchs  in  ;  Bucking- 
ham Palace,  to  see  fashion  in  ;  Kensington  Palace 
seems  a  place  to  drink  tea  in  ;  and  this  is  by  no 
state  of  things  in  which  the  idea  of 


good  wishes  of 


royalty  comes  least  home  to  tin 
its  subjects." 

The   original   mansion   was   the  suburban   resi- 
dence of  Lord  Chancellor  Finch,  afterwards  Earl 


and  altered,  but  was  yet  a  patched-up  building, 
but  with  the  gardens,  however,  it  is  a  very  neat 
villa."  The  king  found  its  sequestered  situation 
congenial  with  his  moody  and  apathetic  disposition, 
and  therefore  resolved  to  make  it  a  royal  residence 
superseding  Whitehall.  The  palace  was  con-j 
siderably  enlarged  by  William  III.,  at  the  suggestion 
of  Queen  Mary,  from  designs  by  Sir  Christopher ' 
Wren,  and  surrounded  by  straight  cut  solitary 
lawns,  and  formal  stately  gardens,  laid  out  with  paths 
and  flower-beds  at  right  angles,  after  the  stiflfest 
Dutch  fashion.  Queen  Anne  added  very  largely 
to  the  size  of  the  house,  and  also  to  the  beauty  of 
the  gardens,  such  as  that  beauty  may  have  been* 
The  oranger)',  a  fine  detached  building  at  a  little 
distance  on  the  north  side,  was  built  for  her  by 
Sir  Christopher  Wren.  The  eastern  front  of  the 
palace  itself  was  added  by  George  I.,  from  the 
designs  of  Kent.  The  north-western  angle  was 
added  by  George  II.,  in  order  to  form  a  nursery 
for  his  children;  and  to  his  queen,  Caroline  of 
Anspach,  we  owe  the  introduction  of  the  orna-: 
mental  water  into  the  gardens  and  pleasure- 
grounds.  The  house,  which  had  been  growing  all 
this  time  in  size,  was  finally  brought  to  its  present 
:  or  appearance  by  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  who 
added  or  rebuilt  the  rooms  that  form  the  angle 
on  the  south-west.  The  Duchess  of  Kent's  apart- 
ments were  in  the  south-east  part  of  the  palace, 
under  the  King's  Gallery.  A  melancholy  interest 
hangs  about  the  irregular  pile,  for  within  its  walls 
died  William  III.  and  his  wife,  Queen  Mary;  her 
ister,  Queen  Anne,  and  her  consort,  Prince  George 
of  Denmark,  who  was  carried  hence  to  his  tomb 
n  Westminster  Abbey ;  George  II. ;  and  lastly,  the 
Queen's  favourite  uncle,  the  Duke  of  Sussex. 


Such,  then,  is  a  rough  outline  of  the  history  of 
the  once  favourite  residence  of  the  House  of 
Hanover.  "In  the  metropolis  of  commerce,"  ob- 

.  ,  serves  Macaulay,  "  the  point  of  convergence  is  the 

Of  Nottingham,  and  as  such  it  bore  the  name  of    Exchange;  in   the  metropolis  of  fashion  it  is  the 
"Nottingham  House,"  of  which  the  lower  portion    Palace."      This  was   eminently  true,  as  we   have 

seen,  of  the  Palace  at  Whitehall  in  the  days  of  the 
second  Charles,  who  made  his  Court  the  centre  of 


of  the  present  north  wing  is  part.  It  was  pu 
chased  for  the  sum  of  ,£20,000  from  his  successor 
by  William  III.;  and,  as  Northouck  writes,  "for 
its  convenience  and  healthful  situation  for  the 
king  to  reside  in  during  the  sitting  of  Parliament." 
Shortly  after  its  purchase  by  the  Crown,  the  house 
was  nearly  destroyed  by  fire,  and  the  king  himself 
had  a  narrow  escape  from  being  burned  in  his  bed. 
The  building  was  at  first,  comparatively  speaking, 
small,  and  the  grounds  only  occupied  a  few  acres! 
Evelyn,  in  his  "Memoirs,"  under  date  February 
25,  1690-1,  says:  "I  went  to  Kensington,  which 
King  William  has  bought  of  Lord  Nottingham, 


fashionable 


as  of  political  intrigue. 


Under  the  first  of  our  Hanoverian  kings  this  centre 
was  transferred  to  Kensington.  But  the  centre  had 
lost  much  of  its  attractiveness  under  them.  "  The 
Revolution,"  Macaulay  writes,  "gave  us  several 
kings,  unfitted  by  their  education  and  habits  to  be 
gracious  and  affable  hosts.  They  had  been  born 
and  bred  upon  the  Continent.  They  never  felt 
themselves  at  home  on  our  island.  If  they  spoke 
our  language,  they  spoke  it  inelegantly  and  with 
effort.  Our  national  character  they  never  under- 


Kensington  Palace.] 


WILLIAM   III.   AT  KENSINGTON. 


143 


stood  ;  our  national  manners  they  hardly  attempted 
to  acquire.  The  most  important  part  of  their  duty 
they  performed  better  than  any  ruler  that  had  pre- 
ceded them  :  for  they  governed  strictly  according 
to  law ;  but  they  could  not  be  the  first  gentlemen 
of  the  realm — the  heads  of  polite  society.  If  ever 
they  unbent,  it  was  in  a  very  small  circle,  where 
hardly  an  English  face  was  to  be  seen  j  and  they 
were  never  so  happy  as  when  they  could  escape 
for  a  summer  to  their  native  land.  They  had, 
indeed,  their  days  of  reception  for  our  nobility  and 
gentry ;  but  the  reception  was  a  matter  of  form, 
and  became  at  last  as  solemn  a  ceremony  as  a 
funeral."  To  the  head-quarters  of  the  Court  at 
Kensington  these  remarks  are  to  be  applied  quite 
literally. 

William  III.  usually  held  his  Courts  at  Kensing- 
ton, and  the  decoration  of  the  apartments  of  its 
palace  was  one  of  the  chief  amusements  of  his 
royal  consort.  And  yet,  fond  as  he  was 
Kensington,  King  William  would  often  say  that  he 
preferred  to  be  hunting  on  the  shores  of  Guelder- 
land  rather  than  riding  over  the  glades  of  this 
place  or  Hampton  Court— a  taste  in  which  he  was 
followed  by  George  II.  Indeed,  with  a  natural 
love  for  his  Dutch  home,  William  made  this  palace 
and  the  gardens  surrounding  it  look  as  much  like 
his  native  country  as  he  could. 

Although  William  was  not  over-fond  of  his  new 
subjects,  and  his  Court,  for  the  most  part,  was  as 
gloomy  as  his  gardens,  yet  there  still  might  occa- 
sionally be  seen  here  some  of  the  liveliest  wits  and 
courtiers  that  have  left  a  name  in  history.  Here 
came  the  Earl  of  Dorset,  Prior's  friend,  who  had 


vho  came  to  England  in  order  to  import  the  art  of 
shipbuilding  into  his  dominions  in  his  own  proper 


nechanical  person."     Peter 

quently  dined  at   Kensington  Palace ;  and  it  has 


proper 
stated  to  have  fre- 


been  wondered  how  the  two 


sovereigns  got  on  so 


well  together.  Leigh  Hunt  tells  a  story  how  that 
one  day  the  king  took  the  Russian  monarch  to  the 
House  of  Lords,  when  the  latter,  owing  to  a  natural 
shyness,  made  the  lords  and  the  king  himself 
laugh,  by  peeping  strangely  at  them  out  of  a 
window  in  the  roof.  He  got  the  same  kind  of 
sight  at  the  House  of  Commons;  and  even  at  a 
ball  at  Kensington,  on  the  Princess  Anne's  birth- 
day, he  contrived  to  be  invisibly  present  in  a  closet 
prepared  for  him  on  purpose,  where  he  could  see 
without  being  seen. 

Here,  when  William  was  ill  with  the  dropsy,  he 
called  in  the  Court  physician,  Dr.  Radcliffe,  to 
pay  him  a  professional  visit.  Showing  him  his 
swollen  ankles,  he  exclaimed,  "  Doctor,  what  do 
you  think  of  these?"  "Why,  truly,"  answered 
Radcliffe,  "  I  would  not  have  your  Majesty's  two 
legs  for  your  three  kingdoms."  With  this  ill-timed 
jest,  though  it  passed  unnoticed  at  the  moment, 
it  is  needless  to  add  that  the  doctor's  attendance 
on  the  Court  at  Kensington  ceased.  It  is  true 
that  in  1714  he  was  sent  for  by  Queen  Anne  upon 
her  death-bed ;  but  he  was  too  ill  to  leave  his 
house  at  Carshalton.  His  refusal,  however,  nearly 
exposed  him  to  "lynch  law,"  for  the  mob  at  the 
West  End  threatened  to  kill  him  if  he  came  to 
London.  The  mob,  however,  was  disappointed, 
for  a  few  months  later  he  died  of  the  gout. 

The  following  story,  relating  to  a  scene  which 


been  one  of  the  wits  of  the  Court  of  Charles  II. ;  j  happened  in  the  royal  apartments  here,  we  tell  in 
Prior  himself,  too,  was  there,  and  succeeded  in  ob-  j  the  words  of  Lord  Sackville,  as  they  stand  recorded 
taining  an  appointment  as  one  of  the  "  gentlemen 
of  the  king's  bedchamber;"  Congreve,  whose  plays 
were  admired   by  Queen  Mary;  Halifax,  who  is 
spoken  of  as  a  "minor  wit,  but  no  mean  states- 


in  the  gossiping  pages  of  Sir  N.  W.  Wraxall  :— 
"  My  father,  having  lost  his  own  mother  when  very 
young,  was  brought  up  chiefly  by  the  Dowager 
Countess  of  Northampton,  his  grandmother,  who 


, 

man  ;"  Swift,  and  Sir  William  Temple  ;  Burnet,  the    being  particularly  acceptable  to  Queen  Mary,  she 
gossiping  historian,  who  afterwards  became  a  bishop;  |  commanded  the  countess  always  to  bring  her  U 


gossiping  h 

the  Earl  of  Devonshire, 


'whose  nobler  zeal,"  as  |  grandson,  Lord  Buckhurst,  to  Kensington  Palace 


Leigh  Hunt  puts  it,  "had  made  him  a  duke,  one  |  though  at  that  time  hardly  four  years  of  age ;  and 
of  agfami,y  remarkable  for  their  constant  and  happy  !  he  was  allowed  to  amuse  lumsdf  wi h    .    hilds 


i  family  remarkuie  iui  men  w-unauun.  mm  »»-i>i-j  i—  -nnv        vi,      imnct- 

combination  of  popular  politics  with  all  the  graces    cart  in  the  gallery.     King  William,  hke  almost 
of  their  rank. 


every   evening. 


Among  other  visitors  here  at  this 
period,  too,  were  Lord  Monmouth,  afterwards  Earl 
of  Peterborough,  "the  friend  of  Swift  and  Pope, 
conqueror  of  Spain,  and  lover,  at  the  age  of  seventy,  waiting  for  the  kmg's 


Dutchmen,  never  failed  to  attend  the  t 


table 


„...,    -. 0.      It  happened   that   her   Majesty 

having  one  afternoon,  by  his  desire,  made  tea,  and 


of  Lady  Suffolk ;"  Sheffield,    afterwards    Duke  of  j  business 


m  Ins  cabinet,  at  the  other 


Buckinghamshire,  "  a  minor  wit  and  poet,  in  love 
with  (the  rank  of)  the  Princess  Anne;"  and  last 
not  least,  Peter  the  Great,  the  "  semi-barbarian,  the 
premature  forcer  of  Russian  pseudo-civilisation, 


the  gallery,  the  boy,  hearing  the  queen  express  her 
impatience  at  the  delay,  ran  away  to  the  closet, 
dragging  after  him  the  cart.  When  he  arrived  at 
the  door,  he  knocked,  and  the  king  asked,  'Who 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


IKcnsington  Palace. 


is  there?'  '  Lord  Buck,'  answered  he.  'And  Queen  Mary,  consort  of  William  III.,  died  here 
what  does  Lord  Buck  want  with  me  ? '  replied  !  of  the  small-pox,  and  the  king's  attachment  to  the 
his  Majesty.  '  You  must  come  to  tea  directly,'  j  palace  is  said  to  have  increased,  from  the  circum- 
said  he ;  '  the  queen  is  waiting  for  you.'  King  I  stance  of  its  having  been  the  scene  of  the  last 
William  immediately  laid  down  his  pen,  and  opened  acts  of  the  queen,  who  was  justly  entitled  to  his 
the  door ;  then  taking  the  child  in  his  arms,  placed  :  affection.  It  was  here  that  the  king  also  died,  in 
Lord  Buckhurst  in  the  cart,  and  seizing  the  pole,  consequence  of  an  accident  in  riding  at  Hampton 
drew  them  both  along  the  gallery,  quite  to  the  room  |  Court  a  few  days  previously.  The  readers  of 


in  which  were  seated  the  queen,  Lady  Northampton,  , 
and  the  company.      But  no  sooner  had  he  entered  j 
the  apartment  than,  exhausted  with  the  effort,  which  i 
had  forced  the  blood  upon  his  lungs,  and  being 
naturally  asthmatic,  threw  himself  into  a  chair,  and 
for  some  minutes  was  incapable  of  uttering  a  word, 
breathing  with  the  utmost  difficulty.     The  Countess  j 
of  Northampton,  shocked  at  the  consequences  of  j 
her  grandson's  indiscretion,  which  threw  the  whole  j 
circle  into  great  consternation,  would  have  punished  | 
him;  but  the  king  interposed  in  his  behalf;  and  i 
the  story  is  chiefly  interesting  because  (as  serving 
to  show  how  kindly  he  could  behave  to  a  trouble- 
some child)  it  places  that  prince  in  a  more  amiable 
point  of  view  than  he   is   commonly  represented 
in  history." 


Macaulay  will  not  have  forgotten  the  picture  which 
he  draws  in  the  very  last  page  of  his  history,  when 
William,  knowing  that  death  was  approaching,  sent 
for  his  friends  Albemarle,  Auverquerque,  and 
Bentinck,  while  Bishops  Btirnet  and  Tillotson  read 
the  last  prayers  by  his  bedside.  After  his  Majesty's 
death,  bracelets  composed  of  the  queen's  hair  were 
found  upon  his  arm. 

The  Court  at  Kensington  in  Queen  Anne's  time 
was  not  much  livelier  than  it  had  been  in  that  of 
King  William.  Swift  describes  Anne,  in  a  circle 
of  twenty  visitors,  as  sitting  with  her  fan  in  her 
mouth,  saying  about  three  words  once  a  minute  to 
those  that  were  near  her,  and  then,  upon  hearing 
that  dinner  was  ready,  going  out.  Addison  and 
Steele  might  have  been  occasionally  seen  at  her 


QUEEN  ANNE  AND  THE  JACOBITES. 


Kensington  levees,  among  the  Whigs;  and  Swift, 
Prior,  and  Bolingbroke  among  the  Tories.  Marl- 
borough  would  be  there  also;  his  celebrated 
duchess,  Sarah  Jennings,  had  entered  upon  a  court 
life  at  an  early  age  as  one  of  the  companions  of 
Anne  during  the  princess's  girlhood. 

The  last  memorable  interview  between  Queen 
Anne  and  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  took  place 
here.  When  Queen  Anne  was  lying  in  the  agonies 


on  Queen  Anne,  had  their  dinner  here;  and  he 
tells  us  that  Richard  Steele  liked  the  latter  far 
better  than  his  own  chair  at  the  former,  "where 


ra.s  less  wine  and  more  ceremony."     Steele, 


there 

who  came  to  London  in  the  suite  of  the  Duke  of 
Ormond,  figures  in  the  above  work  as  "Scholar 
Dick ; "  he  was  one  of  the  gentlemen  ushers  or 
members  of  the  king's  guard  at  Kensington. 

When  Esmond  comes  to  England,  after  being 


™o 

~ 


KENSINGTON  IN   1764.     (From  Rocquts  Map.} 


of  death,  and  the  Jacobite  party  were  correspon- 
dingly in  the  agonies  of  hope  and  expectation, 
two  noblemen  of  the  highest  rank— John,  Duke  of 
Argyll,  and  the  "  proud "  Duke  of  Somerset,  who 
had  been  superseded  in  office  at  the  time  of  the 
union  with  Scotland — suddenly,  and  unbidden, 
appeared  at  the  council,  and  their  unexpected 
presence  is  said  to  have  stifled  Lord  Bolingbroke's 
designs,  if  he  ever  entertained  any,  of  recalling  the 
exiled  Stuarts.  On  such  slight  events— accidents 
as  we  often  call  them— do  the  fates  of  dynasties, 
and  indeed  of  whole  nations,  depend. 

We  learn   from    Thackeray's    "Esmond"   that 

while  the  royal  guard  had   a  very  splendid  table 

laid  out  for  them  at  St.   James's,   the  gentlemen 

ushers  who  waited  on  King  William,  and  afterwards 

206 


'  wounded  at  Blenheim,  he  finds  Mrs.  Beatrix  in- 
stalled as  a  lady-in-waiting  at  the  palace,  and 
thenceforth  "all  his  hopes  and  desires  lay  within 
Kensington  Park  wall." 

\  George  I.,  whose  additions  to  the  palace  were 
the  cupola-room  and  the  great  staircase,  frequently 
resided  here,  as  also  did  his  successor,  George  II. 
Here,  free  from  the  restraint  caused  by  Sir  Robert 
Walpole's  presence,  the  latter  king,  when  angry 
with  his  ministers  or  his  attendants,  would  fly  into 
furious  rages,  expending  his  anger  even  on  his 
innocent  wig ;  whilst  his  clever  spouse,  Queen 
Caroline,  stood  by,  maintaining  her  dignity  and  self- 
possession,  and,  consequently,  her  ascendancy  over 
him  and  acting  as  a  "  conducting  wire "  between 

1  the  sovereign  and  the  premier.      A  good  story  v 


i46 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Kensington  Palace. 


told  by  Horace  Walpole,   showing   the  lax    and    love  and  cherish  her,  she  did  but  little  to  win  the 


romping  manners  of  the  Court  under  the  early 
Georges  : — "  There  has  been  a  great  fracas  at  Ken- 
sington (he  writes  in  1742).  One  of  the  mesdames 


respect  and  regard  of  either  the  Court  or  the 
nation  at  large.  The  hangers-on  of  the  Princess 
would  seem  to  have  been  of  the  ordinary  type  of 


(the  princesses)  pulled  the  chair  from  under  Countess  I  "  summer  friends."      At  all   events,    one   of   her 

ladies  in  waiting  writes  thus,  with  a  vein  of  un- 
conscious sarcasm  :  "  These  noblemen  and  their 
wives  continued  to  visit  her  royal  highness  the 
Princess  of  Wales  till  the  old  king  was  declared 
too  ill  to  reign,  and  the  Prince  became  in  fact 
regent ;  then  those  ladies  disappeared  that  moment 
from  Kensington,  and  were  never  seen  there 


Deloraine  at  cards,  who,  being  provoked  that  her 
monarch  was  diverted  with  her  disgrace,  with  the 
malice  of  a  hobby-horse  gave  him  just  such  another 
fall.  But,  alas !  the  monarch,  like  Louis  XIV.,  is 
mortal  in  the  part  that  touched  the  ground,  and 
was  so  hurt  and  so  angry,  that  the  countess  is  dis- 
graced, and  her  German  rival  remains  in  the  sole  j 


and  quiet  possession  of  her  royal  master's  favour."  I  more.     It   was   the   besom   of  expediency  which 


The  Countess  of  Deloraine  was  governess  to  the 
young  princesses,  daughters  of  George  II.,  and 
was  a  favourite  with  the  king,  with  whom  she 


swept  them  all  away."  It  appears,  however,  that 
the  Princess  of  Wales  was  well  aware  that  her 
hangers-on  were  not  very  disinterested.  At  all 


generally  played  cards  in  the  evenings  in  the  prin-    events,  she  writes :    "  Unless  I  do  show  dem    d 
cesses'  apartments.     Sir  Robert  Walpole  considered    knife  and  fork,  no  company  has  come  to  Kensing- 
her  as  a  dangerous  person  about  the  Court,  for  she  j  ton  or  Blackheath,  and  neither  my  purse  nor  my 
possessed,  said  the  shrewd  minister,  "a  weak  head, 


a  pretty  face,  a  lying  tongue,  and  a  false  heart." 
Lord  Hervey,  in  his  "  Court  Ballad,"  written  in 
1 742,  sarcastically  styles  her  "  virtuous,  and  sober, 
and  wise  Deloraine;"  and  in  his  "  Memoirs,"  under 


my  purse  nor  my 

spirits  can  always  afford  to  hang  out  de  offer  of 
'  an  ordinary.' " 

The  friends  of  the  Princess  formed  a  circle  by 
themselves.  It  included  Lord  and  Lady  Henry 
Fitz-Gerald,  Lady  C.  Lindsay,  Lord  Rivers,  Mr.  H. 


date  of  1735,  he  describes  her  as  "one  of  the  (afterwards  Lord)  Brougham,  Lord  and  Lady 
vainest  as  well  as  one  of  the  simplest  women  that  Abercorn,  Sir  Humphry  Davy,  Lady  Anne 
ever  lived  •  but  to  this  wretched  head,"  he  adds,  Hamilton,  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir  William)  Cell,  Mr. 
"there  was  certainly  joined  one  of  the  prettiest  '  Craven,  Sir  J.  Mackintosh,  Mr.  R.  Payne  Knight, 
faces  that  ever  was  formed,  which,  though  she  was  '  Mr.  and  Lady  E.  Whitbread,  Lord  and  Lady  Grey, 
now  five-and-thirty,  had  a  bloom  upon  it,  too,  that  and  Lord  Erskine— a  most  strange  and  heteroge- 
not  one  woman  in  ten  thousand  has  at  fifteen."  neons  medley.  Very  frequently  the  dinners  at  Ken- 
George  II.  died  quite  suddenly  as  he  sat  at  sington  were  exceedingly  agreeable,  the  company 
breakfast  in  the  palace,  on  Saturday,  October  25,  well  chosen,  and  sufficient  liberty  given  to  admit  of 
1760.  The  building  underwent  considerable  altera-  their  conversing  with  unrestrained  freedom.  This 
tions  during  his  reign,  and  he  was  the  last  monarch  expression  does  not  imply  a  licentious  mode  of 
who  resided  here,  George  III.  having  chosen  as  <  onversation,  although  sometimes  discretion  and 
his  homes  St.  James's  1'alacc,  Kew  Gardens,  and  modesty  were  trenched  upon  in  favour  of  wit 
Buckingham  House.  Still,  that  was  by  no  means  the  general  turn  of  the 

The  palace,  too,  was  the  home  of  the  Princess  discourse. 

Sophia,  the  poor  blind  daughter  ,,f  George   III.  One  of  the  ladies  of  the  Princess  Caroline  writes, 

Miss    Amelia    Murray,    in    her    "  Recollections,"  under  date  of  1810 :"  The  Princess  often  does  the 


speaks  of  having  constantly  spent  an  evening  with 
her  in  her  apartments  here,  and  bears  testimony  to 
the  goodness  of  her  disposition,  as  "  an  example 
of  patient  and  unmurmuring  endurance  such  as 
can  rarely  be  met  with." 

Here,  too,  the  unfortunate  Caroline,  Princess  of 
Wales,  was  living  from  1810  down  to  1814,  when 
she  removed  to  Connaught  Place.  Here  she  held, 
if  we  may  so  speak,  her  rival  Court,  and  kept  up  a 
kind  of  triangular  duel  with  her  royal  husband, 
and  her  wayward  child,  the  Princess  Charlotte,  not 
at  all  to  the  edification  of  those"  around  her,  who 
were  obliged  to  feel  and  to  own  that,  injured  as 
she  undoubtedly  was  by  one  who  had  sworn  to 


most  extraordinary  things,  apparently  for  no  other 
purpose  than  to  make  her  attendants  stare.  Very 
frequently  she  will  take  one  of  her  ladies  with  her 
to  walk  in  Kensington  Gardens,  who  are  accordingly 
dressed  [it  may  be]  in  a  costume  very  unsuited  to 
the  public  highway  ;  and,  all  of  a  sudden,  she  will 
bolt  out  at  one  of  the  smaller  gates,  and  walk  all 
over  Bayswater,  and  along  the  Paddington  Canal, 
at  the  risk  of  being  insulted,  or,  if  known,  mobbed, 
enjoying  the  terror  of  the  unfortunate  attendant 
who  may  be  destined  to  walk  after  her.  One  day, 
her  royal  highness  inquired  at  all  the  doors  of 
Bayswater  and  its  neighbourhood  if  there  were  any 
houses  to  be  let,  and  went  into  many  of  them,  till 


Kensington  Palace.] 


CAROLINE,   PRINCESS  OF  WALES. 


at  last  she  came  to  one  where  some  children  of  a 
friend  of  hers  (Lord  H.  F.)  were  placed  for  change 
of  air,  and  she  was  quite  enchanted  to  be  known 
by  them,  and  to  boast  of  her  extraordinary  mode 
of  walking  over  the  country." 

Her  royal  highness  gave  plenty  of  balls  and 
parties  whilst  residing  here,  and  amused  herself 
pretty  well  as  she  chose.  In  1811  she  is  thus 
described  by  Lady  Brownlow,  in  her  "Reminis- 
cences of  a  Septuagenarian  : " — "  I  had  scarcely 
ever  seen  the  Princess,  and  hardly  knew  her  by 
sight.  At  the  time  of  which  I  speak,  her  figure 
was  fat  and  somewhat  shapeless ;  her  face  had 
probably  been  pretty  in  youth,  for  her  nose  was 
well  formed,  her  complexion'  was  good,  and  she 
had  bright  blue  eyes;  but  their  expression  was 
bold — this,  however,  might  be  partly  caused  by 
the  quantity  of  rouge  which  she  wore.  Her  fair 
hair  hung  in  masses  of  curls  on  each  side  of  her 
throat,  like  a  lion's  mane.  Everybody,  before  the 
peace  with  France,  dressed  much  according  to 
their  individual  taste ;  and  her  royal  highness 
was  of  a  showy  turn  :  her  gowns  were  generally 
ornamented  with  gold  or  silver  spangles,  and  her 
satin  boots  were  also  embroidered  with  them. 
Sometimes  she  wore  a  scarlet  mantle,  with  a  gold 
trimming  round  it,  hanging  from  her  shoulders  ; 
and  as  she  swam,  so  attired,  down  an  English 
dance,  with  no  regard  to  the  figure,  the  effect  was 
rather  strange.  .  .  .  The  princess's  parties 
themselves,"  Lady  Brownlow  continues,  "  were 
marvellously  heterogeneous  in  their  composition. 
There  were  good  people,  and  very  bad  ones,  fine 
ladies  and  fine  gentlemen,  humdrums  and  clever 
people ;  among  the  latter  the  Rev.  Sydney  Smith, 
who,  I  thought,  looked  out  of  place  there.  .  .  . 
Her  royal  highness  made  rather  a  fuss  with  us, 
and  we  both  always  supped  at  her  table.  On  one 
occasion  I  was  much  amused  at  seeing  my  father 
opposite  to  me,  seated  between  the  Duchess  of 
Montrose  and  Lady  Oxford.  Sure  never  were 
there  more  incongruous  supporters  ;  and  my 
father's  countenance  was  irresistibly  comic.  '  Me- 
thought,'  said  he,  as  we  drove  home,  '  that  I  was 
Hercules  between  Virtue  and  Vice.'" 

The  following  anecdote  of  her  royal  highness 
shows  how  little  of  good  sense  or  dignity  she 
possessed : — "  One  day,  the  Princess  set  out  to 
walk,  accompanied  by  myself  and  one  of  her 
ladies,  round  Kensington  Gardens.  At  last,  being 
wearied,  her  royal  highness  sat  down  on  a  bench 
occupied  by  two  old  persons,  and  she  conversed 
with  them,  to  my  infinite  amusement,  they  being 
perfectly  ignorant  who  she  was.  She  asked  them 
all  manner  of  questions  about  herself,  to  which 


they  replied  favourably;  but  her  lady,  I  observed, 
was  considerably  alarmed,  and  was  obliged  to 
draw  her  veil  over  her  face  to  prevent  betraying 
herself;  and  every  moment  I  was  myself  afraid  that 
something  not  so  favourable  might  be  expressed 
by  these  good  people.  Fortunately,  this  was  not 
the  case,  and  her  royal  highness  walked  away 
undiscovered,  having  informed  them  that,  if  they 
would  be  at  such  a  door  at  such  an  hour  at 
the  palace  on  any  day,  they  would  meet  with  the 
Princess  of  Wales,  to  see  whom  they  expressed 
the  strongest  desire.  This  Haroun  Al-Raschid 
expedition  passed  off  happily,  but  I  own  I 
dreaded  its  repetition." 

On  another  occasion  her  royal  highness  made 
a  party  to  go  to  a  small  cottage  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Bayswater,  where  she  could  feel  herself 
unshackled  by  the  restraints  of  royalty  and 
etiquette;  there  she  received  a  set  of  persons 
wholly  unfit  to  be  admitted  to  her  society.  It 
is  true  that,  since  the  days  of  Mary  of  Scotland 
(when  Rizzio  sang  in  the  Queen's  closet),  and  in 
the  old  time  before  her,  all  royal  persons  have 
delighted  in  some  small  retired  place  or  apartment, 
where  they  conceived  themselves  at  liberty  to  cast 
off  the  cares  of  their  high  station,  and  descend 
from  the  pedestal  of  power  and  place  to  taste  the 
sweets  of  private  life.  But  in  all  similar  cases,  this 
attempt  to  be  what  they  were  not  has  only  proved 
injurious  to  them :  every  station  has  its  price — its 
penalty.  By  the  Princess,  especially,  a  more  un- 
wise or  foolish  course  could  not  have  been  pursued, 
than  this  imitation  of  her  unfortunate  sister-queen 
of  France.  All  the  follies,  though  not  the  elegance 
and  splendour,  of  Le  Petit  Trianon  were  aped  in 
the  rural  retreat  of  Bayswater ;  and  the  Princess's 
foes  were  not  backward  at  seizing  upon  this 
circumstance,  and  turning  it  (as  well  they  might)  to 
effect  her  downfall. 

"Monk"  Lewis,  under  date  November,  1811, 
writes  :  "  I  have  neither  seen  nor  heard  anything  of 
the  Princess  since  she  removed  to  Blackheath, 
except  a  report  that  she  is  in  future  to  reside  at 
Hampton  Court,  because  the  Princess  Charlotte 
wants  the  apartments  at  Kensington  ;  but  I  cannot 
believe  that  the  young  princess,  who  has  been 
always  described  to  me  as  so  partial  to  her  mother, 
would  endure  to  turn  her  out  of  her  apartments,  or 
suffer  it  to  be  done.  I  have  also  been  positively 
assured,  that  the  Prince  has  announced  that  the 
first  exertion  of  his  power  will  be  to  decide  the  fate 
of  the  Princess;  and  that  Perceval,  even  though  he 
demurred  at  endeavouring  to  bring  about  a  divorce, 
gave  it  to  be  understood  that  he  should  have  no 
objection  to  her  being  excluded  from  the  corona- 


I48 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Kensington  Palace. 


tion,  and  exiled  to  Holyrood  House."  Here  the 
Princess  was  living  in  1813,  when  she  received  the 
address  of  sympathy  from  the  citizens  of  London — 
an  address  which  was  regarded  by  the  Prince  as 
the  first  step  towards  defying  his  authority. 

The  Duke  of  Sussex,  whilst  occupying  apart- 
ments here,  used  to  entertain  his  friends  hospitably. 
Among  others  who  dined  here  was  Mr.  Rush,  am- 
bassador from  the  United  States  in  1819-25,  who 


jives  us  the  followii 
"The  duke  sat 


j  sketch : — 

it  the   head   of  his    table   in 


also,  then ;  but,'  he  added, '  it  cannot  precede  that 
of  the  Emperor.'  The  Queen,  on  her  accession, 
commanded  that  she  should  be  proclaimed  as 
'  Victoria '  only." 

We  learn  incidentally  from  Mr.  Raikes'  "Journal " 
that  on  the  Princess  Victoria  coming  of  age,  on  the 
24*  of  May,  1837,  it  was  proposed  by  her  uncle, 
the  king,  to  form  for  her  here  an  establishment  of 
her  own  ;  but  that  the  idea  was  "  combated  by  her 


mother,  as  it  would  have  given  the  nomination  of 
the  appointments  to  the  then  Court  party."  The 
true  old  English  style,  and  was  full  of  cordiality  |  death  of  King  William,  however,  which  happened 
and  conversation.  .  .  .  General  principles  of  j  very  shortly  afterwards,  put  an  end  to  the  idea, 
government  coming  to  be  spoken  of,  he  expatiated  On  the  zoth  of  June  following,  only  a  month  after 
on  the  blessings  of  free  government,  declaring  that !  attaining  her  majority,  as  a  girl  of  eighteen,  she 
as  all  men,  kings  as  well  as  others,  were  prone  to  was  waited  upon  here  early  in  the  morning  by  the 
abuse  power  when  they  got  to  possess  it,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  the  then  Lord 
only  safe  course  was  to  limit  its  exercise  by  the  Chamberlain,  the  Marquis  of  Conyngham,  to  receive 
strictest  constitutional  rules.  In  the  palace  of  •  the  news  that  she  was  Queen  of  England ! 
kings,  and  from  the  son  and  brother  of  a  king,"  |  For  the  following  longer  and  more  detailed 
adds  the  honest  and  sensible  republican,  "  I  should  !  account  of  the  affair  we  are  indebted  to  the  "  Diary 
not  have  been  prepared  for  this  declaration,  but  of  a  Lady  of  Quality : " — "  At  Kensington  Palace 
that  it  was  not  the  first  time  that  I  had  heard  him  !  the  Princess  Victoria  received  the  intelligence  of 
converse  in  the  same  way."  The  duke  continued  the  death  of  William  IV.,  June,  1837.  On  the 
to  reside  in  this  palace  till  his  death.  He  was  very  aoth,  at  2  a.m.,  the  scene  closed,  and  in  a  very 
fond  of  the  long  room  on  the  first  floor,  which  he  short  time  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  Lord 
made  his  library,  and  where  he  received  visitors,  j  Conyngham,  the  Chamberlain,  set  out  to  announce 
The  interior  of  the  room  has  been  often  engraved.  ;  the  event  to  their  young  sovereign.  They  reached 
But  that  which  invests  Kensington  Palace  with  Kensington  Palace  about  five ;  they  knocked,  they 
the  greatest  interest  is  the  fact  that  it  was  the  rang,  they  thumped  for  a  considerable  time  before 
residence  of  the  late  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Kent,  they  could  rouse  the  porter  at  the  gate  ;  they  were 
in  the  year  1819,  and  consequently  the  birth-place  again  kept  waiting  in  the  court-yard;  they  turned 
of  her  present  Majesty,  who  spent  here  nearly  all  into  one  of  the  lower  rooms,  where  they  seemed 
her  infancy,  and  the  greater  part  of  her  youthful  forgotten  by  everybody.  They  rang  the  bell, 
days.  In  the  Gardens,  as  a  child,  the  Princess  desired  that  the  attendant  of  the  Princess  Victoria 
Victoria  used  daily  to  take  her  walk,  or  ride  in  a  might  be  sent  to  inform  H.R.H.  that  they  requested 
goat  or  donkey  carriage,  attended  by  her  nurses,  an  audience  on  business  of  importance.  After 
Her  most  gracious  Majesty  was  born  at  a  quarter  another  delay,  and  another  ringing  to  inquire  the 
past  four  o'clock  m  the  morning  of  the  24th  of  cause,  the  attendant  was  summoned,  who  stated 


May,  1 8 19,  and  on  the  24th  of  the  following  month  that  the  Princess  was  in   such  a  sweet  sleep  she 

she  was  christened   m    the   grand    saloon    of  the  could  not  venture  to  disturb  her.     Then  they  said, 

palace  by  the  name  of  Alexandrina  Victoria.     The  '  We  arc  come  to  the   Queen  on  business  of  state, 

reason  of  the  choice  of  these  two  names  is   thus  and  even  her  sleep  must  give  way  to  that.'     It  did  ; 

explained   by  the    Hon.   Amelia    Murray,    m    her  and.  to  prove  that  ,/,,  did  not  keep  them  waiting, 

Recollections:  -"It  was  believed  that  the  Duke  in    a   few  minutes  she  came  into  the  room  in  a 

of  Kent  wished  to  name  his  child  Elizabeth,  that  loose   white   nightgown   and   shawl,    her  nightcap 

being  a  popular  name  with   the    English   people.  ;  thrown  off,  and' her  hair  falling  upon  her  shoulders, 

But  the  Pnnce  Regent,  who  was  not  kind  to  his  her  feet  in  slippers,  tears  in  her  eyes,  but  perfecti; 

tners,  gave  notice  that  he  should  stand  in  person  collected  and  dignified." 

W.T;  to  HP  an^ul,      A/»U_  u._^.l                "f51^  n  *  ]ls  tr>'inS  moment,  though 


by  her 


Kensington  Palace.] 


ACCESSION   OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


149 


account  of  her  first  council,  is  thus  told  in  the 
"Greville  Memoirs  :" — "1837,  June  21.  The  King 
died  at  twenty  minutes  after  two  yesterday  morning, 
and  the  young  Queen  met  the  council  at  Kensington 
Palace  at  eleven.  Never  was  anything  like  the 
first  impression  she  produced,  or  the  chorus  of 
praise  and  admiration  which  is  raised  about  her 
manner  and  behaviour,  and  certainly  not  without 
justice.  It  was  very  extraordinary  and  far  beyond 
what  was  looked  for.  Her  extreme  youth  and  in- 
experience, and  the  ignorance  of  the  world  con- 
cerning her,  naturally  excited  intense  curiosity  to 
see  how  she  would  act  on  this  trying  occasion,  and 
there  was  a  considerable  assemblage  at  the  palace, 
notwithstanding  the  short  notice  that  was  given. 
The  first  thing  that  was  to  be  done  was  to  teach 
her  her  lesson,  which,  for  this  purpose,  Melbourne 
had  himself  to  learn.  I  gave  him  the  counc 
papers,  and  explained  all  that  was  to  be  done,  and 
he  went  and  explained  all  this  to  her.  He  asked 


make  the  slightest  difference  in  her  manner,  or 
how  any  in  her  countenance  to  any  individual  of 
any  rank,  station,  or  party.  I  particularly  watched 
icr  when  Melbourne  and  her  ministers,  and  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  and  Peel  approached  her.  She 
went  through  the  whole  ceremony,  occasionally 
"ooking  at  Melbourne  for  instructions  when  she  had 
any  doubt  what  to  do,  and  with  perfect  calmness 
and  self-possession,  but,  at  the  same  time,  with  a 
modesty  and  propriety  particularly  interesting  and 
ingratiating.  When  the  business  was  done  she 
retired  as  she  had  entered,  and  I  could  see  that 
no  one  was  in  the  adjoining  room." 

The  scene  at  Kensington  Palace  on  the  above 
occasion  is  thus  described  by  Mr.  Rush,  from 
the  lips  of  the  late  Lord  Clarendon,  one  of  the 
Privy  Councillors  present  at  the  time  : — "  Lord 
Lansdowne,  the  president,  announced  to  the 
council  that  they  had  met  on  the  occasion  of 
the  demise  of  the  crown ;  then  with  some  others 

her  if  she  would  enter  the  room  accompanied  by  j  of   the  body,  including  the  Premier,  he  left  the 

council  for  a  short  time,  when  all  returned  with 


the  great  officers  of  state,  but  she  said  she  would 
come  in  alone.  When  the  lords  were  assembled,  the 
Lord  President  informed  them  of  the  King's  death, 
and  suggested,  as  they  were  so  numerous,  that  a  few 
of  them  should  repair  to  the  presence  of  the  Queen, 
and  inform  her  of  the  event,  and  that  their  lordships 
were  assembled  in  consequence  ;  and,  accordingly, 
the  two  royal  dukes,  the  two  archbishops,  the 
chancellor,  and  Melbourne,  went  with  him.  The 
Queen  received  ihem  in  the  adjoining  room  alone. 
As  soon  as  they  had  returned,  the  proclamation 
was  read,  and  the  usual  order  passed,  when  the 
doors  were  thrown  open,  and  the  Queen  entered, 
accompanied  by  her  two  uncles,  who  advanced  to 
meet  her.  She  bowed  to  the  lords,  took  her  seat, 


and  then  read  her  speech 


:lear,  distinct,  and 


audible  voice,  and  without  any  appearance  of  fear 
She  was  quite  plainly  dressed, 


or  embarrassment. 


and  in  mourning.  After  she  had  read  her  speech 
and  taken  and  signed  the  oath  for  the  security  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland,  the  Privy  Councillors  were 


i,  the  two  royal  dukes  first  by  themselves 


he  Princess.  She  entered,  leaning  upon  the  arm 
of  her  uncle,  the  Duke  of  Sussex.  The  latter 
had  not  before  been  in  the  council-room,  but 
resides  in  the  same  palace,  and  had  been  with 
the  Princess  in  an  adjoining  apartment.  He  con- 
ducted her  to  a  chair  at  the  head  of  the  council 
A  short  time  after  she  took  her  seat,  she  read  the 
declaration  which  the  sovereign  makes  on  coming  to 
the  throne,  and  took  the  oath  to  govern  the  realm 
according  to  law,  and  cause  justice  to  be  executed 
in  mercy.  The  members  of  the  council  then  suc- 
cessively kneeled,  one  knee  bending,  and  kissed 
the  young  queen's  hand  as  she  extended  it  to  each 
— for  now  she  was  the  veritable  Queen  of  England. 
Lord  Clarendon  'described  the  whole  ceremony  as 
performed  in  a  very  appropriate  and  graceful  manner 
by  the  young  lady.  Some  timidity  was  discernible 
at  first,  as  she  came  into  the  room  in  the  presence 
of  the  cabinet  and  privy  councillors ;  but  it  soon 
disappeared,  and  a  becoming  self-possession  took 
its  place.  He  noticed  her  discretion  in  not  talking, 


the  business  of  the  ceremonial  made  it 


these  two  old  men,  her  uncles,  knelt  before  her 


too  infirm  to  reach  her.     She  seemed  rather  be-    above  .     - 

wildered  at  the  multitude  of  men  who  were  sworn    the  ™^«J£^^&  early 

and  who  came  one  after  another  to  kiss  her  hand;    summonses  were 


but  she  did  not,  speak  to  anybody,  nor  did  she 


summonses 

hour  fixed  for  its  meeting. 


The  Queen  was,  upon 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Kensington  Palace. 


the  opening  of  the  doors,  found  sitting  at  the  head 
of  the  table.  She  received  first  the  homage  of  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  who,  I  suppose,  was  not  king 
of  Hanover  when  he  knelt  to  her;  the  Duke  of 
Sussex  rose  to  perform  the  same  ceremony,  but 
the  Queen,  with  admirable  grace,  stood  up,  and 
preventing  him  from  kneeling,  kissed  him  on  the 
forehead.  The  crowd  was  so  great,  the  arrange- 
ments were  so  ill-made,  that  my  brothers  told  me 


Here,  on  the  aist  of  April,  1843,  died,  at  the  age 
of  seventy,  Augustus  Frederick,  Duke  of  Sussex. 
Mr.  T.  Raikes,  in  his  "  Journal,"  says  of  him  :  "  He 
was  a  stout,  coarse-looking  man,  of  a  free  habit, 
plethoric,  and  subject  to  asthma.  He  lived  at 
Kensington  Palace,  and  was  married  to  Lady 
Cecilia  Gore,  who  had  been  made  Duchess  of 
Inverness  by  the  Whigs.  He  had  married  pre- 
viously, in  1793,  Lady  Augusta  Murray;  but  that 


the  scene  of  swearing  allegiance  to  their  young 
sovereign  was  more  like  that  of  the  bidding  at  an 
auction  than  anything  else." 

The  state  document  signed  by  the  youthful 
sovereign  is  to  be  seen  in  the  Record  Office.  Sir 
David  Wilkie  has  painted  the  scene,  but  with  a 
difference.  The  picture,  it  may  be  added,  is  well 
known  to  the  public,  thanks  to  the  engraver's 
art.  It  may  be  a  matter  of  wonder  that  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  London  (Alderman  Kelly),  should  have 
figured  in  this  picture;  but  en  the  sovereign's 
death  the  Lord  Mayor  is  the  only  officer  in  "the 
kingdom  whose  commission  still  holds  good ;  and 
as  such  he  takes  his  place,  by  virtue  of  his  office, 
at  the  Privy  Council  board  until  the  new  sovereign 
is  proclaimed. 


marriage  had  been  dissolved  on  the  plea  of  the 
duke  not  obtaining  his  father's  consent  He  was 
always  on  bad  terms  with  George  IV.,  and  under 
the  weak  government  of  William  IV.  he  took  the 
Radical  line,  courted  the  Whigs,  and  got  the 
rangership  of  a  royal  park."  He  was  buried  at 
Kensal  Green.  His  royal  highness  was,  perhaps, 
the  most  popular  of  the  sons  of  George  III.  He 
had  a  magnificent  library  at  Kensington,  including 
one  of  the  finest  collections  of  Bibles  in  the  world, 
which  was  dispersed,  soon  after  his  death,  under 
the  hammer  of  the  auctioneer.  His  widow,  the 
Duchess  of  Inverness,  was  allowed  to  occupy  his 
I  apartments  until  her  death,  in  1873.  Under  date 
j  of  Sunday,  291)1  March,  1840,  Mr.  Raikes  writes 
in  his  "Journal :  "The  Duke  of  Sussex  claims 


Kensington  Palace.] 


THE  DUKE  OF  SUSSEX. 


from  the  Whig  Ministry  the  public  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  marriage  with  Lady  Cecilia  Underwood, 
and  an  addition  of  ,£6,000  a  year  to  his  income. 
This  is  the  explanation  :  on  the  question  of  Prince 
Albert's  precedence  they  first  applied  to  the  Duke 
of  Sussex  for  his  acquiescence,  which  he  m 


and  professed  to  be  the  first  to  meet  her  wishes, 
but  stipulating  also  that  he  expected  a  great  favour 
for  himself  in  return.  This  now  proves  to  have 
been  his  object  in  view." 

Shortly  after  the  death  of  the  duke,  the  following 


paragraph,  headed  "  The  late  '  Duchess  of  Sussex,'" 


SCOTCH   FIRS,   KENSINGTON    GARDENS. 


violently  refused.  They  then  went  to  the  Duke  of 
Cambridge  with  the  same  request,  to  which  he  made 
less  difficulty,  saying,  that  he  wished  to  promote 
harmony  in  the  family,  and  as  it  could  not  prevent 
him  from  being  the  son  of  his  father,  if  the  Duke 
of  Sussex  consented,  he  should  not  object.  Lord 
Melbourne  then  returned  to  the  latter,  saying  that 
the  Duke  of  Cambridge  had  agreed  at  once  ;  upon 
which  Sussex,  finding  that  he  should  lose  all  the 
merit  of  the  concession,  went  straight  to  the  Queen, 


appeared  in  the  Times  newspaper :  "  As  the  fact 
is  becoming  a  matter  of  general  discussion,  that  m 
the  event  of  the  death  of  the  King  of  Hanover  and 
of  the  Crown  Prince,  his  son,  the  question  of  th 
title  of  Sir  Augustus  D'Este  to  the  throne  of  ha 
kingdom  will  create  some  controversy  the  follow- 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Kensington  Gardens. 


answered  your  last  letter,  but  having  mislaid  your 
first,  I  did  not  know  how  to  direct  to  you.  I  am 
sure  you  must  believe  that  I  am  delighted  with 
your  pamphlet ;  but  I  must  confess  I  do  not  think 
you  have  stated  the  fact  quite  exactly  when  you  say 
(page  25)  "  that  the  question  is  at  rest  between  me 
and  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  because  the  connection 
has  not  only  been  declared  illegal  by  sentence  of 
the  Ecclesiastical  Court,  but  has  been  dissolved  by 
consent — that  I  have  agreed  to  abandon  all  claims 
to  his  name,"  &c.  Now,  my  dear  sir,  had  I 
believed  the  sentence  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Court 
to  be  anything  but  a  stretch  of  power,  my  girl 
would  not  have  been  born.  Lord  Thurlow  told 
me  my  marriage  was  good  abroad — religion  taught 
me  it  was  good  at  home,  and  not  one  decree  of 
any  powerful  enemy  could  make  me  believe  other- 
wise, nor  ever  will.  By  refusing  me  a  subsistence 
they  forced  me  to  take  a  name — not  the  Duke  of 
Sussex's — but  they  have  not  made  me  believe  that 
I  had  no  right  to  his.  My  children  and  myself 
were  to  starve,  or  I  was  to  obey ;  and  I  obeyed ; 
but  I  am  not  convinced.  Therefore,  pray  don't 
call  this  "  an  act  of  mutual  consent,"  or  say  "  the 
question  is  at  rest."  The  moment  my  son  wishes 
it,  I  am  ready  to  declare  that  it  was  debt,  im- 
prisonment, arrestation,  necessity  (force  like  this, 
in  short),  which  obliged  me  to  seem  to  give  up 
my  claims,  and  not  my  conviction  of  their  fallacy. 
When  the  banns  were  published  in  the  most 
frequented  church  in  London,  and  where  all  the 


town  goes,  is  not  that  a  permission  asked?  And 
why  were  they  not  forbid  ?  I  believe  my  marriage 
at  Rome  good ;  and  I  shall  never  feel  "  the 
question  at  rest "  till  this  is  acknowledged  Prince 
Augustus  is  now  sent  to  Jersey,  as  Lieutenant 
D'Este,  in  the  yth  Fusiliers.  Before  he  went,  he 
told  his  father  he  had  no  objection  to  go  under 
any  name  they  chose  to  make  him  take  ;  but  that 
he  knew  what  he  was,  and  the  time,  he  trusted, 
would  come  when  himself  would  see  justice  done 
to  his  mother  and  sister,  and  his  own  birth.' " 

George  III.  having  made  St.  James's  and 
Buckingham  Palace  the  head-quarters  of  royalty 
and  the  court,  henceforward  Kensington  became 
the  occasional  or  permanent  residence  of  some  of 
the  younger  branches  of  the  royal  family. 

Kensington  Palace,  we  need  hardly  add,  is 
maintained  at  the  cost  of  the  nation ;  and,  though 
no  longer  used  actually  as  a  royal  residence,  it 
is  appropriated  to  the  use  of  certain  pensioned 
families,  favoured  by  royalty,  and  a  lady  who  is 
distantly  connected  with  the  highest  court  circles 
holds  the  envied  and  not  very  laborious  post  of 
housekeeper.  It  may  safely  be  assumed,  we  think, 
that  she  is  "  at  the  top  of  her  profession."  The 
Right  Hon.  John  Wilson  Croker  lived  here  for 
some  time.  The  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Teck 
and  the  Marquis  and  Marchioness  of  Lome  have 
since  occupied  those  apartments  which  formerly 
were  inhabited  by  the  distinguished  personages 
mentioned  above. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

KENSINGTON   GARDENS. 

"Where  Kensington,  luxuriant  in  her  bowerj. 
Sees  snow  of  blossoms,  and  a  wild  of  flowers  ; 
The  dames  of  Britain  oft  in  crowds  repair 
To  gravel  walks  and  unpolluted  air  : 
Here,  while  the  town  in  damps  and  darkness  lies, 
They  breathe  in  sunshine  and  sec  azure  skies 
Each  walk,  with  robes  of  various  dyes  bespread 
Seems  from  afar  a  moving  tulip-bed. 
Where  rjch  brocades  and  glossy  damasks  glow. 
And  chintz,  the  rival  of  the  showery  bow."—  Tukit 


ce  of  the  Gardens,  as  laid  out  by  Wise  and  Loudon-Addison's  Comments  , 
s  they  appeared  at  the  Heginnin-  ,,f  I'M:  I.asi  Century— Oueen  Anna's  R™,,, 


The  Garde,  ,  as  they  appeared  at 'the  Heginnin  ^  ,  f  'the'l™  l'^—'™"*"1  ^'™™ms  on  ""  Horticultural  Improvements  of  his  Time- 
s  with  her  Future  Subjects-A  Critical  Review  of  the  Gardens. 


Early 


aubriand- Introduction  of  Hooped 
.  Costume-The  Childhood  of  Queen  Victoria,  and  her 


THE  gardens  attached  to  Kensington  Palace,  when 
purchased  by  William  III.,  did  not  exceed  twenty- 


six 


acres.     They  were   immediately  laid  out 


cording  to  the  royal  taste ;  and  this  being  entirely 


military,  the  consequence  was  that  closely-cropped 
yews,  and  prim  holly  hedges,  were  taught,  under 
the  auspices  of  Loudon  and  Wise,  the  royal  gar- 
deners, to  imitate  the  lines,  angles,  bastions,  scarps. 


Kensington  Gardens.] 


STATUE  OF  DR.  JENNER. 


153 


and  counter-scarps  of  regular  fortifications.  This 
curious  upper  garden,  we  are  told,  was  long  "  the 
admiration  of  every  lover  of  that  kind  of  horticul- 
tural embellishment,"  and,  indeed,  influenced  the 
general  taste  of  the  age ;  for  Le  Nautre,  or  Le 
Notre,  who  was  gardener  to  the  Tuileries,  and  had 
been  personally  favoured  by  Louis  XIV.,  in  con- 
junction with  the  royal  gardeners,  was  employed  by 
most  of  the  nobility,  during  the  reign  of  William, 
in  laying  out  their  gardens  and  grounds.  Addison, 
in  No.  477  of  the  Spectator,  thus  speaks  of  the 
horticultural  improvements  of  this  period: — "I 
think  there  are  as  many  kinds  of  gardening  as  of 
poetry :  your  makers  of  pastures  and  flower-gardens 
are  epigrammatists  and  sonneteers  in  this  art ; 
contrivers  of  bowers  and  grottoes,  treillages  and 
cascades,  are  romantic  writers ;  Wise  and  Loudon 
are  our  heroic  poets;  and  if,  as  a  critic,  I  may 
single  out  any  passage  of  their  works  to  commend 
I  shall  take  notice  of  that  part  in  the  upper  garden 
at  Kensington  which  was  at  first  nothing  but  a 
gravel-pit.  It  must  have  been  a  fine  genius  fc 
gardening  that  could  have  thought  of  forming  such 
an  unsightly  hollow  into  so  beautiful  an  area,  and  to 
have  hit  the  eye  with  so  uncommon  and  agreeable 
a  scene  as  that  which  it  is  now  wrought  into." 

In  1691  these  gardens  are  thus  described: — 
"They  are  not  great,  nor  abounding  with  fins 
plants.  The  orange,  lemon,  myrtle,  and  wha 
other  trees  they  had  there  in  summer,  were  al 
removed  to  London,  or  to  Mr.  Wise's  greenhouse 
at  Brompton  Park,  a  little  mile  from  there.  Bu 
the  walks  and  grass  were  very  fine,  and  they  were 
digging  up  a  plot  of  four  or  five  acres  to  enlarg 
their  gardens."  Queen  Anne  added  some  thirt 
acres  more,  which  were  laid  out  by  her  gardener 
Wise.  Bowack,  in  1705,  describes  here  "a  nobl 
collection  of  foreign  plants,  and  fine  neat  greens 
which  makes  it  pleasant  all  the  year.  ...  He 
Majesty  has  been  pleased  lately  to  plant  nea 
thirty  acres  more  to  the  north,  separated  from  th 
rest  only  by  a  stately  greenhouse,  not  yet  finished 
It  appears  from  this  passage  that,  previous  to  th 
above  date,  Kensington  Gardens  did  not  exten 
further  to  the  north  than  the  conservatory,  which 
as  stated  in  the  previous  chapter,  was  original' 
built  for  a  banqueting-house,  and  was  frequent 
used  as  such  by  Queen  Anne.  This  banqueting 
house  was  completed  in  the  year  1705,  and 
considered  a  fine  specimen  of  brickwork.  Th 
south  front  has  rusticated  columns  supporting 
Doric  pediment,  and  the  ends  have  semi-circul 
recesses.  "  The  interior,  decorated  with  Corinthia 
columns,"  Mr.  John  Timbs  tells  us  in  his  "  Curio 
ties,"  "was  fitted  up  as  a  drawing-room,  musi 


om,  and  ball-room ;  and  thither  the  queen  was 
nveyed  in  her  chair  from  the  western  end  of  the 
lace.  Here  were  given  full-dress  fetes  d  la 
ratteau,  with  a  profusion  of  'brocaded  robes, 
)ops,  fly-caps,  and  fans,'  songs  by  the  court 
ists,  &c."  When  the  Court  left  Kensington, 
is  building  was  converted  into  an  orangery  and 
eenhouse. 

Just  within  the  boundary  of  the  gardens  at  the 
>uth-eastern  corner,  on  slightly  rising  ground,  is 
.e  Albert  Memorial,  which  we  have  already  de- 
xibed,*  and  not  far  distant  is  the  statue  of 
r.  Jenner,  the  originator  of  vaccination.  This 
atue,  which  is  of  bronze,  represents  the  venerable 
octor  in  a  sitting  posture.  It  is  the  work  of 
William  Calder  Marshall,  and  was  originally  set 
p  in  Trafalgar  Square  in  1858,  but  was  removed 
ther  about  four  years  afterwards. 
The  eastern  boundary  of  the  gardens  would  seem 
i  have  been  in  Queen  Anne's  time  nearly  in  the 
ne  of  the  broad  walk  which  crosses  them  on  the 
ast  side  of  the  palace.  The  kitchen-gardens, 
rhich  extended,  north  of  the  palace,  towards  the 
ravel-pits,  but  are  now  occupied  by  some  elegant 
illas  and  mansions,  and  the  thirty  acres  lying 
orth  of  the  conservatory,  added  by  Queen  Anne 
o  the  pleasure-gardens,  may  have  been  the  fifty-five 
cres  "  detached  and  severed  from  the  park,  lying 
n  the  north-west  corner  thereof,"  granted  in  the 
eign  of  Charles  II.  to  Hamilton,  the  Ranger  of 
Hyde  Park,  and  Birch,  the  auditor  of  excise,  "  to 
De  walled  and  planted  with  '  pippins  and  red- 
treaks,'  on  condition  of  their  furnishing  apples  or 
:ider  for  the  king's  use."  This  portion  of  the 
garden  is  thus  mentioned  in  Tickell's  poem  : — 

"  That  hollow  space,  where  now,  in  living  rows, 
Line  above  line,  the  yew's  sad  verdure  grows, 
Was,  ere  the  planter's  hand  its  beauty  gave, 
A  common  pit,  a  rude  unfashion'd  cave. 
The  landscape,  now  so  sweet,  we  well  may  praise; 
But  far,  far  sweeter,  in  its  ancient  days- 
Far  sweeter  was  it  when  its  peopled  ground 
With  fairy  domes  and  dazzling  towers  was  crown'd. 
Where,  in  the  midst,  those  verdant  pillars  spring, 
Rose  the  proud  palace  of  the  Elfin  king  ; 
For  every  hedge  of  vegetable  green, 
In  happier  years,  a  crowded  street  was  seen; 
Nor  all  those  leaves  that  now  the  prospect  grace 
Could  match  the  numbers  of  its  pigmy  race." 
At  the  end  of  the  avenue  leading  from  the  south 
part  of  the  palace  to  the  wall  on  the  Kensington 
Road  is  an  alcove  built  by  Queen  Anne's  orders ; 
so  that  the  palace,  in  her  reign,  seems  to  have 
stood  in  the  midst  of  fruit  and  pleasure  gardens, 
with  pleasant  alcoves  on  the  west  and  south,  and 


'  See  p.  38,  ante. 


'54 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Kensington  Gardens. 


the  stately  banqueting-house  on  the  east,  the  whole  rural  to  make  a  home  for  the  nightingale,  whose 
confined  between  the  Kensington  and  Uxbridge  voice  is  often  heard  in  the  summer  nights,  espe- 
Roads  on  the  north  and  south,  with  Palace  Green 

on  the  west ,  the  line  of  demarcation  on  the  east 

being  the  broad  walk  before  the  east  front  of  the 

palace. 

Bridgeman,  who  succeeded  Wise  as  the  fashion- 
able designer  of  gardens,  was  employed  by  Queen 

Caroline,  consort  of  George  II.,  to  plant  and  lay 

out,  on  a  larger  scale  than  had  hitherto  been  at- 
tempted, the  ground  which  had  been  added  to  the 

gardens  by  encroaching  upon  Hyde  Park.  Bridge- 
man's  idea  of  the  picturesque  led  him  to  abandon 

"  verdant  sculpture,"  and  he  succeeded  in  effecting 

a  complete  revolution  in  the  formal  and  square  pre 

cision  of  the  foregoing  age,  although  he  adhered 

in  parts  to  the  formal  Dutch  style  of  straight  walks 

and  clipped  hedges.     A  plan  of  the  gardens,  pub 

lished  in  1762,  shows  on  the  north-east  side  a  low 

wall  and  fosse,  reaching  from  the  Uxbridge  Road 

to  the  Serpentine,  and  effectually  shutting  in  the 

gardens.     Across  the  park,  to  the  east  of  Queen 

Anne's  Gardens,  immediately  in  front  of  the  palace, 

a  reservoir  was  formed  with  the  "  round  pond ; " 

thence,  as  from  a  centre,  long  vistas  or  avenues 
were  carried  through  the  wood  that  encircled  the 
water — one  as  far  as  the  head  of  the  Serpentine ; 
another  to  the  wall  and  fosse  above  mentioned, 
affording  a  view  of  the  park  ;  a  third  avenue  led  to 
a  mount  on  the  south-east  side,  which  was  raised 
with  the  soil  dug  in  the  formation  of  the  adjoining 
canal,  and  planted  with  evergreens  by  Queen  Anne. 
This  mount,  which  has  since  been  levelled  again, 
or,  at  all  events,  considerably  reduced,  had  on  the 
top  a  revolving  "prospect  house."  There  was  also 
in  the  gardens  a  "  hermitage :"  a  print  of  it  is  to 
be  seen  in  the  British  Museum.  The  low  wall 
and  fosse  was  introduced  by  Bridgeman  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  a  high  wall,  which  would  shut  out  the 
view  of  the  broad  expanse  of  park  as  seen  from  the 
palace  and  gardens ;  and  it  was  deemed  such  a 
novelty  that  it  obtained  the  name  of  a  "  Ha  !  ha  ! " 
derived  from  the  exclamation  of  surprise  involun- 
tarily uttered  by  disappointed  pedestrians.  At 
each  angle  of  this  wall  and  fosse,  however,  semi- 
circular projections  were  formed,  which  were  termed 


cially  in  the  part  nearest  to  Kensington  Gore. 

"  Here  England's  daughter,  darling  of  the  land, 
Sometimes,  surrounded  with  her  virgin  band, 
Gleams  through  the  shades.    She,  towering  o'er  the  rest, 
Stands  fairest  of  the  fairer  kind  contest ; 
Form'd  to  gain  hearts  that  Brunswick's  cause  denied, 
And  charm  a  people  to  her  father's  side. 

"  Long  have  these  groves  to  royal  guests  been  known, 
Nor  Nassau,  first,  preferred  them  to  a  throne. 
Ere  Norman  banners  waved  in  British  air ; 
Ere  lordly  Hubba  with  the  golden  hair 
Pour'd  in  his  Danes ;  ere  elder  Julius  came ; 
Or  Dardan  Brutus  gave  our  isle  a  name ; 
A  prince  of  Albion's  lineage  graced  the  wood, 
The  scene  of  wars,  and  stained  with  lover's  blood." 

On  King  William  taking  up  his  abode  in  the 
palace,  the  neighbouring  town  of  Kensington  and 
the  outskirts  of  Hyde  Park  became  the  abode  of 
fashion  and  of  the  hangers-on  at  the  Court,  whilst 
the  gardens  themselves  became  the  scene  of  a  plot 
for  assassinating  William,  and  replacing  James  II. 
on  the  throne.  The  large  gardens  laid  out  by 
Queen  Caroline  were  opened  to  the  public  on 
Saturdays,  when  the  King  and  Court  went  to  Rich- 
mond, and  on  these  occasions  all  visitors  were  re- 
uired  to  appear  in  full  dress.  When  the  Court 
ceased  to  reside  here,  the  gardens  were  thrown  open 
n  the  spring  and  summer ;  they,  nevertheless,  long 
continued  to  retain  much  of  their  stately  seclusion. 
The  gardens  are  mentioned  in  the  following  terms 
:>y  the  poet  Crabbe,  in  his  "  Diary : " — "  Drove  to 
Kensington  Gardens  :  .  .  .  effect  new  and  striking. 
Kensington  Gardens  have  a  very  peculiar  effect; 
not  exhilarating,  I  think,  yet  alive  [lively]  and 
ileasant."  It  seems,  however,  that  the  public  had 
not  always  access  to  this  pleasant  place;  for,  in 

:  "  Historical  Recollections  of  Hyde  Park,"  by 
Thomas  Smith,  we  find  a  notice  of  one  Sarah  Gray 
laving  had  granted  her  a  pension  of  -£18  a.  year, 
.s  a  compensation  for  the  loss  of  her  husband, 
k-ho  was  "  accidentally  shot  by  one  of  the  keepers 
t'hile  hunting  a  fox  in  Kensington  Gardens." 

According  to  Sir  Richard  Phillips,  in  "  Modern 
,ondon,"  published  in  1804,  the  gardens  were  open 
to  the  public  at  that  time  only  from  spring  to 


bastions,    and  in  this  particular  the  arrangement    autumn ;  and,  curiously  enough,  servants  in  livery 
accorded  with  the  prevailing  military  taste.    Bridge-    were  excluded,  as  also  were  dogs.      Thirty  years 


man's  plan  of  gardening,  however,  embraced  the 
beauties  of  flowers  and  lawns,  together  with  a 
wilderness 


later  the  gardens  are  described  as  being  open  " 
the  year  round,  to  all  respectably-dressed  persons, 


and  open  groves  ;  but  the  principal  j  from  sunrise  till  sunset."  About  that  time  when  it 
embelhshments  were  entrusted  to  Mr.  Kent,  and  happened  that  the  hour  for  closing  the  gates  was 
subsequently  earned  out  by  a  gentleman  well  known  eight  o'clock,  the  following  lines,  purporting  to  have 
by  the  familiar  appellation  of  «  Capability  "  Brown,  been  written  "  by  a  young  lady  aged  nineteen  -  were 
The  gardens,  ,t  may  be  added,  are  still  sufficiently  discovered  affixed  to  one  of  L  seats  •- 


Kensington  Gardens.] 


THE   FASHIONABLE   PROMENADE. 


"  Poor  Adam  and  Eve  were  from  Eden  turned  out, 

As  a  punishment  due  to  their  sin  ; 
But  here  after  eight,  if  you  loiter  about, 
As  a  punishment  you  '11  be  locked  in." 

It  may  be  added  that  now,  on  stated  days  during 
the  "  London  season,"  the  scene  in  these  gardens 
is  enlivened  by  the  exhilarating  strains  of  military 
bands.  It  is  stated  by  Count  de  Melfort,  in  his 
"  Impressions  of  England,"  published  in  the  reign 
of  William  IV.,  that  the  Duke  of  St.  Albans — we 
suppose,  as  Grand  Falconer  of  England — is  the 
only  subject,  except  members  of  the  royal  family, 
who  has  the  right  of  entering  Kensington  Palace 
Gardens  in  his  carriage.  The  fact  may  be  true, 
but  it  wants  verifying. 

The  author  of  an  agreeable  "  Tour  of  a  Foreigner 
in  England,"  published  in  1825,  remarks  :— "  The 
Palais  Royale  gives  a  better  idea  of  the  London 
squares  than  any  other  part  of  Paris.  The  public 
promenades  are  St.  James's  Park,  Hyde  Park,  and 
Kensington  Gardens,  which  communicate  with 
each  other.  I  am  sometimes  tempted  to  prefer 
these  parks  to  the  gardens  of  the  Luxembourg  and 
the  Tuileries,  which,  however,  cannot  give  you  any 
idea  of  them.  St.  James's  Park,  Hyde  Park,  and 
Kensington  Gardens  are  to  me  the  Tuileries,  the 
Champs  Elysees,  and  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  united 
On  Sundays  the  crowd  of  carriages  which  repai 
thither,  and  the  gentlemen  of  fashion  who  exhibi 
their  horsemanship  with  admirable  dexterity  in  tin 
ride,  remind  me  of  Long  Champs ;  but  hackne: 
coaches  are  not  allowed  to  enter  here  to  destro; 
the  fine  spectacle  which  so  many  elegant  carriage 
afford.  Sheep  graze  tranquilly  in  Hyde  Park 
where  it  is  also  pleasing  to  see  the  deer  boundin 
about.  At  Kensington  Gardens  you  are  obligee 
to  leave  your  horse  or  carriage  standing  at  the  gate 
Walking  through  its  shady  alleys  I  observed  wil 
pleasure  that  the  fashionable  ladies  pay,  in  regar 
to  dress,  a  just  tribute  to  our  fair  countrywomen. 
Judging  from  the  costumes  of  the  ladies,  you  might 
sometimes  fancy  yourself  walking  under  the  chestnut 
trees  of  the  Tuileries.  A  line  of  Tasso  may  very 
well  be  applied  to  Kensington  Gardens  : — 
'L'arte  che  tutto  fa,  nulla  si  scuopre.'  " 

Within  the  last  half  century  these  gardens  have' 
been  greatly  improved  by  drainage,  relaying,  and 
replanting.  Much  of  the  surrounding  walls,  too, 
have  been  removed,  and  in  their  place  handsome 
iron  railings  have  been  substituted.  The  lead- 
ing features  of  the  gardens  at  the  present  time 
are  the  three  avenues  above  mentioned,  radiating 
from  the  east  front  of  the  palace,  through  dense 
masses  of  trees.  Immediately  in  front  of  the 


alace  is  a  quaintly-designed  flower  garden,  sepa- 
ated  from  the  Kensington  Road  by  some  fine  old 
Im-trees.     The  broad  walk,  fifty  feet  in  width,  was 
nee  the  fashionable  promenade.     "  Tommy  Hill," 
nd  his  friend  John   Poole,  who   made   him   his 
reat  character  in  Paul  Pry,  with  "  I  hope  I  don't 
ntrude,"  used  to  walk  daily  together  here.     All  the 
urrounding  parts  are  filled  in  with  stately  groups 
f  ancient  trees  ;  and  the  total  absence  of  anything 
tiat  indicates  the  proximity  of  the  town,  renders 
bis  spot  particularly  pleasant  and  agreeable  for  a 
troll  on  a  summer's  evening.     Keeping  along  the 
eastern  margin  of  the  gardens,  and  crossing  the  end 
3f  the  broad  avenue,  the  visitor  soon  reaches  a  new 
ralk  formed  about  the  time  of  the  first  Great  Ex- 
ibition.     Here  will  be  found  a  large  number  of 
new  and  rarer  kind  of  shrubs,  with  their  popular 
md  technical  names  all  legibly  inscribed.     Weale, 
n  his  work  on  London,  published  in  1851,  says: — 
'•'  It  is  in  the  introduction  of  these  rarer  .plants  that 
the  idea  of  a  '  garden '  is,  perhaps,  better  sustained 
than  in  most  of  the  other  features  of  the  place, 
which  are  those  of  a  park.     The  demand,  indeed, 
evergreens  and  undergrowth  in  these  gardens  is 
most  urgent ;  and  if  (which  we  greatly  doubt)  there 
exists  a  well-founded  objection  to  the  use  of  shrubs 
and  bushes  in  tufts  or  in  single  plants,  there  cer- 
tainly can  be  no  reason  why  solitary  specimens,  or 
varied  groups  of  the  many  kinds  of  thorn,  pyrus, 
mespilus,  laburnum,  pine  and  fir,  evergreen,  oaks, 
hollies,  yews,  &c.,  should  not  be  most  extensively 
planted,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  younger  and 
smaller  trees  in  the  densest  parts  cut  away  to  make 
room   for  them."    With  reference  to  the  trees  in 
these  gardens,  a  correspondent  of  the  Times  news- 
paper, in  May,  1876,  observes  :— "The  crowds  who 
flock  to  Bushy  Park  or  Kew  do  not  see  anything 
more  fair  than  the  tree-pictures  now  in  Kensington 
Gardens,  to  which  I  beg  to  call  the  attention  of  all 
overs  of  trees.    The  hawthorns  and  horse-chestnuts 
are  now  in  marvellous  beauty,  though  one  rarely 
iees  anybody  taking  the  least  notice  of  them.     All 
.he  blaze  of  the  autumnal  '  bedding  out '  is  in  point 
of  beauty  as  nothing  to  what  is  now  afforded  here 
by  a  few  kinds  of  ordinary  hardy  trees  that  cost 
little  at  first  and  take  care  of  themselves  afterwards. 
There  is  a  little  open  lawn  with  a  small  lime-tree 
its  centre,  quite  near  the  '  Row '  corner  of  the 


gardens,  around  which  there  are  sev 


eral  charming 

«pects  of  tree-beauty.  One  hawthorn  is  about 
forty  feet  high.  Some  of  the  central  and  un- 
frequented portions  of  the  gardens  are  the  most 
attractive.  Nobody  can  despair  of  growing  flower- 
ing trees  to  his  heart's  content  in  London  after 
seeine  the  mountains  of  horse-chestnut  bloom  and 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


[Kensington  Gardens. 


other  masses  of  tree-flowers  here.     Let  those 


whether  the  branch  can  be  removed  without  injury 


rested  see  the  old  trees  in  the  central  parts  as  well  to  the  royal  tree."  "  I  accordingly  wrote  to  my 
as  the  newer  plantations,  which,  however,  are  also  friend  in  the  evening  (Tuesday),"  continues  the 
beautiful."  author,  "  and  on  Thursday  morning  my  friends  dis- 

At  the  north  side,  nearly  facing  Porchester  covered,  to  their  infinite  satisfaction,  that  the  ob- 
Terrace,  there  are  some  fine  trees,  including  Scotch  trusive  branch  had  disappeared  ;  and,  as  a  natural 
pines,  which,  a  few  years  ago,  were  a  glory  to  the 
neighbou 
Matthew 


sequence,  I  came  in  for  a  warm  benediction,  and 


the  Woods  and  Forests  for  their  full  share  of  prai 


neighbourhood,  and   are   duly  celebrated  by  Mr. 


as  an  exceptional  department  of  the  State,  where 


erses    on    Kensington 


WALKS,    KENSINGTON    GARDENS. 


Gardens.  Some  of  these,  however,  became  so 
decayed  that  they  were  cut  down  by  order  of  Her 
Majesty's  Woods  and  Forests,  in  1875. 

The  author  of  "  Reminiscences  of  Fifty  Years  " 
tells  an  amusing  story  with  reference  to  one  of  the 
trees  in  this  part  of  the  gardens.  He  was  one  day 
praising  the  charming  view  which  some  friends  of 
his  commanded  from  their  drawing-room  window 
overlooking  the  gardens.  "Yes,  the  view  would 
be  perfect,  if  the  branch  of  that  large  tree,"  to 
which  they  specially  drew  his  attention,  "  did  not 
interrupt  it."  "  Well,"  remarked  the  other,  "  it  is 
somewhat  singular  that  I  walked  to  your  door 
with  the  nearest  relative  in  London  of  the  Chief 
Commissioner  of  Woods  and  Forests  (the  Right 
Hon.  Mr.  Milne),  and  I  shall  ask  him  to  inquire 


red  tape  was  not  used,  and  circumlocution  un 
known.  The  Chief  Commissioner,  on  reading  my 
note  to  his  relative,  gave  orders  on  the  Wednesday 
to  the  superintendent  of  Kensington  Gardens  to 
look  at  the  tree,  and  if  the  branch  could  be  uken 
off  without  serious  prejudice,  it  was  to  be  done. 
The  superintendent  reported  at  head-quarters  on 
the  Thursday  that  on  visiting  the  tree  at  an  early 
hour  that  morning  he  found  the  branch  in  question 
lying  on  the  ground,  having  been  struck  off  by  light- 
ning during  the  heavy  storm  of  the  previous  night 
The  Chief  Commissioner  wrote  an  amu.  ing  letter 
on  the  occasion,  alleging  that  I  really  must  be 
one  '  who  could  call  spirits  from  the  vasty  de^p,' 
and  had  evidently  transferred  my  powers  to  Ken- 
sington Gardens,  acting  on  the  suggestion  given  in 


•Kensington  Girdens.] 


A  FRIENDLY  FLASH  OF  LIGHTNING. 


Jtic/iard  III.,  'With  lightning  strike  the  murderer 
dead.'  The  same  day,"  adds  the  author,  "  I  visited 
the  tree,  which  appeared,  saving  the  amputation  of 
the  large  branch,  to  have  escaped  all  other  injury. 
Had  other  trees  not  suffered  severely  in  Kensington 
Gardens  that  night,  it  might  have  led  to  a  special 
inquiry  or  inquest  to  ascertain  whether  it  was 
lightning  or  a  saw  that  I  had  employed  in  obliging 
my  friends.  I  told  them  they  owed  everything 


running  between  the  basins,  there  is  a  larger  foun- 
tain, of  octagonal  form.  The  end  of  the  reservoir 
nearest  the  bridge  forms  an  ornamental  fagade, 
enriched  with  vases  of  various  patterns,  filled  with 
flowers.  The  centre  of  this  facade  has  two  draped 
female  figures,  seated,  holding  vases,  from  which 
flow  streams ;  and  between  these  two  figures,  but 
projecting  forward,  is  another  large  fountain.  The 
height  of  this  balustraded  facade  is  about  eight  feet 


OF    WESTBOURNE.     1850. 


to  the  lightning ;  as  I  was  much  inclined  to  think 
that  the  Chief  Commissioner,  with  every  desire  to 
meet  their  wishes,  might  possibly  have  deemed  it 
his  duty  to  postpone  the  consideration  of  the 
removal  of  so  large  and  umbrageous  a  branch  from 
the  royal  demesne  to  the  Greek  Calends." 

Of  the  bridge  over  the  Serpentine,  at  the  north- 
cast  corner  of  the  Gardens,  we  have  already  given 
an  illustration.*  At  some  distance  on  the  west 
side  of  this  bridge,  as  it  leaves  the  Uxbridge  Road, 
the  Serpentine  has  been  divided  into  a  series  of 
four  large  basins  or  reservoirs,  of  octangular  form, 
each  of  which  has  a  small  fountain  in  the  centre, 
encompassed  with  marble.  In  the  central  pathway, 


1  See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  396. 


above  the  water-level.  At  the  other  end  of  the 
reservoirs  is  an  engine-house,  containing  engines 
for  working  the  fountains.  This  building  is  of 
Italian  design,  and  roofed  with  red  Italian  tiles. 
It  stands  just  within  the  Gardens,  at  a  short  distance 
from  the  Bayswater  Road. 

Kensington  Gardens  have  been  celebrated  by 
Tickell  in  the  poem  which  bears  their  name,  and 
from  which  we  have  quoted  above  ;  "verses,"  says 
Charles  Knight,  "  full  of  fairies  and  their  dwarfs, 
and  Dryads  and  Naiads ;  verses  made  to  order, 
and  which  have  wholly  perished  as  they  deserve  to 
perish."  Tickell  enj  oy ed  the  patronage  of  Addison, 
contributed  papers  to  the  Spectator,  was  contem- 
porary with  Pope,  and  published  a  translation  of 
the  "  First  Book  of  the  Iliad,"  from  his  own  pen,  m 


OLD     AND     NEW     LONDON.  [Kensington  Gardens. 


apparent  opposition  to  Pope's  "Homer,"  of  which  |  whilst  those  of  Mrs.   Selby,  the  inventor  of  xne 
the   first  part  was   published   at  the  same   time,  j  hoop,  are  suffered  to  fall  into  oblivion  ?  " 
As  we  read  in  Johnson's  "  Lives  of  the  Poets,"  i      It  was  during  the  reign  of  George  I.  that  the 
"  Addison  declared  that  the   rival  versions   were    fashionable  promenades  in  the  Gardens  became  so 


both  good,  but  Tickell's  was  the  best.  His  poem 
on  '  Kensington  Gardens,'  with  the  fairy  tale  intro- 
duced, is  much  admired;  the  versification  is  smooth 
and  elegant.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  man  of 


popular,  and  the  glittering  skirts,  which  still  lived 
in  the  recollection  of  our  grandparents,  would  seem 
to  have  made  their  first  appearance.  Caroline  of 
Anspach,  the  Prince  of  Wales's  consort,  probably 


gay   conversation,   but   in   his   domestic  relations  '  introduced  them,  when  she  came  with  her  bevy  of 
vithout  censure."      Musical  attractions   were  not    maidens  *o  Court     People  would  throng  to  see 


them;  the  ladies  would  take  the  opportunity  of 
showing  themselves,  like  pea-hens,  in  the  walks; 
persons  of  fashion,  privileged  to  enter  the  Gardens, 
would  avail  themselves  of  the  privilege;  and  at 
last  the  public  would  obtain  admission,  and  the 
raree-show  would  be  complete.  The  full-dress 
promenade,  it  seems,  was  at  first  confined  to  Satur- 
days ;  it  was  afterwards  changed  to  Sundays,  and 
continued  on  that  day  till  the  custom  went  out 
with  the  closing  days  of  George  III. 


wanting  here  in  Tickell's  time,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  following  couplet,  which  refers  to  Ken- 
sington Gardens : — 

"  Nor  the  shrill  corn-pipe,  echoing  loud  to  arms, 
To  rank  and  file  reduce  the  straggling  swarms." 

Readers  of  the  "Life  of  Chateaubriand"  will 
remember  that  he  was  one  of  those  who  admired 
and  enjoyed  the  repose  of  the  leafy  walks  of  these 
Gardens.  Professor  Robertson,  in  his  "Lectures 

on  Modern  History  and  Biography,"  tells  us  how  j  In  fact,  during  the  last  century  the  broad  walk 
the  venerable  sage  "  would  stroll  under  these  beau-  j  in  Kensington  Gardens  had  become  almost  as 
tiful  trees,  where  in  the  days  of  his  exile  he  used  to  fashionable  a  promenade  as  the  Mall  in  St  James's 
meet  his  fellow-sufferers,  the  French  priests,  reciting  I  Park  had  been  a  century  earlier,  under  Charles  II. 
their  breviary— those  trees  under  which  he  had  in-  j  There  might,  probably,  have  been  seen  here,  on 
dulged  in  many  a  reverie,  under  which  he  had  !  one  and  the  same  day,  during  the  portentous 
breathed  many  a  sigh  for  his  home  in  La  Belle  '  year  1791,  Wilkes  and  Wilberforce ;  George  Rose 
France,  under  which  he  had  finished  '  Atala,'  and  I  and  Mr.  Holcroft ;  Mr.  Reeve  and  Mr.  Godwin  ; 
had  composed  '  Re'neV  "  j  Burke,  Warren  Hastings,  and  Tom  Paine ;  Horace 

Kensington  Palace  and  its  Gardens  were  the  first  Walpole  and  Hannah  More  (whom  he  introduced 
places  where  the  hooped  petticoats  of  our  great- 1  to  the  Duke  of  Queensberry) ;  Mary  Wolstonecroft 
grandmother's  days  were  displayed  by  ladies  of  |  and  Miss  Burney  (Madame  d'Arblay),  the  latter 
fashion  and  "quality."  We  do  not  purpose  giving  '  avoiding  the  former  with  all  her  might;  the 
here  a  history  of  Englishwomen's  dress;  but  it  may  j  Countess  of  Albany  (the  widow  of  the  Pretender); 
be  as  well  to  record  the  fact  that  the  hoop  appears  the  Margravine  of  Anspach ;  Mrs.  Montagu  ;  Mrs 
to  have  been  the  invention  of  a  Mrs.  Selby,  whose  Barbauld;  Mrs.  Trimmer;  Emma  Harte  (Lady 
novelty  ,s  made  the  subject  of  a  pamphlet,  published  Hamilton),  accompanied  by  her  adoring  portrait- 
at  Bath,  under  the  title  of  "The  Farthingale  Re-  painter,  Romney ;  and  poor  Madame  du  Barry 
viewed;  or,  more  Work  for  the  Cooper  ^Panegyrick  mistress  of  Louis  XV,  come  to  look  after  some 
on  the  late  but  most  admirable  invention  of  the  j  jewels  of  which  she  has  been  robbed,  and  little 
Hooped  Petticoat."  The  talented  lady  who  in-  '  thinking  she  would  return  to  be  guillotined.  The 
vented  it  died  m  1717  and  is  thus  mentioned  by  a  fashions  of  this  half  century,  with  the  exception  of 
Mrs.  Stone,  in  the  "Chronicles  of  Fashion:"  "How;  an  occasional  broad-brimmed  hat  worn  both  by 
we  yearn  to  know  something  more  of  Mrs.  Selby,  gentlemen  and  ladies,  comprised  the  ugliest  that 
her  personal  appearance,  her  whereabouts,  her  ever  were  seen  in  the  old  Court  suburb.  Head- 


habits,  and  her  thoughts.     Can  no  more  be 


dresses  became  monstrous  compounds  of  paste- 
board, flowers,  feathers,  and  pomatum  ;  the  hoop 
generated  into  little  panniers;  and  about  the 


of  wlialphr,       i    IA  ii,         •         i  '      =-  "'LU   mire    panniers ;  ana  aoout  me 

against  the  1  >?i  VmvmA.n^  of  fashion  I  year  1770,  a  set  of  travelled  fops  came  up,  calling 

STSlS     »n  PreSS>     C  ^^^"fithem^ve,   Macaronis  ffrom   their   intimacy  with 

the  pulpit    and  the  common  sense  of  the  whole  |  the  Italian  eatable  so  called  V  whn  .     »  riMn-d. 


Mrs.    Tempest,    the    milliner,    had    her  !  little  hats, 


We  so  called),  who  wore  ridiculously 
.       ..  3 


,  ,  ,a.,c  v 

portrait  taken  by  Kent,  and  painted  on  the  stair-    of  striped   colours 

fact*     r>f    V^^,,:  __  t__      TT,    i  *  v-wiuuia. 


case  of  Kensington  Palace  ;   and  what  was  Mrs. 
Tempest  that  her  lineaments  should  be  preserved, 


.       .. 
irge  pigtails,  and   tight-fitting  clothes 

The  lesser   pigtail,   long   or 


curly,  prevailed   for  a  long   time   among    elderly 
gentlemen,  making  a  powdered  semicircle  between 


Kensington  Gardens.] 


QUEEN   VICTORIA'S   CHILDHOOD. 


the  shoulders ;  a  plain  cocked-hat  adorned  their 
heads ;  and,  on  a  sudden,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
new  century,  some  of  the  ladies  took  to  wearing 
turbans,  surmounted  with  ostrich  feathers,  and 
bodies  literally  without  a  waist,  the  girdle  coming 
directly  under  the  arms.  There  was  a  song  in 
those  days,  beginning — 

"  Shepherds,  I  have  lost  my  love  ; 
Have  you  seen  my  Anna  ?  " 

This  song  was  parodied  by  one  beginning— 

"  Shepherds,  I  have  lost  my  waist ; 
Have  you  seen  my  body  ?  " 

Lady  Brownlow,  in  her  "  Reminiscences  of  a 
Septuagenarian,"  tells  us  that  after  the  Peace  of 
Amiens,  in  1802,  she  here  met  the  celebrated 
Madame  Recamier,  who  created  a  sensation  at  the 
West-end,  partly  by  her  beauty,  but  still  more  by 
her  dress,  which  was  vastly  unlike  the  unsophisti- 
cated style  and  /<?&- bonnets  of  the  English  ladies. 
''She  appeared  in  Kensington  Gardens  d  I1  antique, 
a  muslin  gown  clinging  to  her  form  like  the  folds 
of  drapery  on  a  statue ;  her  hair  in  a  plait  at  the 
back,  and  falling  in  small  ringlets  round  her  face, 
and  greasy  with  huile  antique;  a  large  veil  throw: 
over  her  head  completed  her  attire,  which  not 
unnaturally  caused  her  to  be  followed  and  stared 
at"  No  doubt,  dressed  in  such  a  costume,  and 
at  such  a  period,  Madame  Recamier  might  wel 
have  been  the  "  cynosure  of  neighbouring  eyes." 

During  the  early  childhood  of  Her  Majestj 
Queen  Victoria,  when  living  with  her  royal  mothe 
in  Kensington  Palace,  the  little  princess  was  dail; 
to  be  seen  running  about  these  gardens,  or  riding 
on  her  donkey  about  its  walks  ;  and  her  intercours 
with  the  visitors  there,  we  are  assured  by  th 
author  of  an  "Anecdotal  Memoir  of  Her  Majesty, 
was  of  a  very  interesting  description.  Som 
anecdotes  upon  this  subject  may  be  well  introduce 
by  the  following  remarks  of  a  correspondent  t 
the  editor  of  a  daily  newspaper,  when  the  princes 
was  nearly  three  years  old  : — 

"Passing     accidentally     through      Kensingt 
Gardens,  a  few  days  since,   I  observed  at  som 
distance  a   party,   consisting   of  several   ladies, 
young    child,    and    two    men-servants,   having   i 
charge    a    donkey,   gaily    caparisoned   with    bli 
ribbons,  and  accoutred  for  the  use  of  the  infan 
The   appearance   of   the   party,    and   the  gener 
attention  they  attracted,   led   me  to  suspect  the 
might  be  the  royal  inhabitants  of  the  palace ; 
soon  learnt  that  my  conjectures  were  well  founde 
and  that  her  Royal  Highness  the  Duchess  of  Ke 
was  in  maternal  attendance,  as  is  her  daily  custo- 
npon  her  august  and  interesting  daughter,  in  th 


joyment  of  her  healthful  exercise.  On  approach- 
g  the  royal  party,  the  infant  princess,  observing 

•  respectful  recognition,  nodded,  and  wished  me 

'good  morning'  with  much  liveliness,   as  she 

pped  along  between  her  mother  and  her  sister, 
e  Princess  Feodore,  holding  a  hand  of  each, 
aving  passed  on  some  paces,  I  stood  a  moment 

observe  the  actions  of  the  royal  child,  and  was 

eased  to  see  that  the  gracious  notice  with  which 

honoured  me  was  extended,  in  a  greater  or  less 

egree,  to  almost  every  person  she  met :  .thus  does 

s  fair  scion  of  our  royal  house,  while  yet  an 
fant,  daily  make  an  impression  on  the  hearts  of 
any  individuals  which  will  not  easily  be  forgotten. 
!er  Royal  Highness  is  remarkably  beautiful,  and 
er  gay  and  animated  countenance  bespeaks  perfect 
ealth  and  good  temper.  Her  complexion  is 
xcessively  fair,  her  eyes  large  and  expressive,  and 
er  cheeks  blooming.  She  bears  a  very  striking 
esemblance  to  her  late  royal  father,  and,  indeed, 
every  member  of  our  reigning  family ;  but  the 
oft  beauty,  and  (if  I  may  be  allowed  the  term)  the 

gnity  of  her  infantine  countenance,  peculiarly 
eminded  me  of  our  late  beloved  Princess 
;harlotte." 

"This  favourite  donkey,"  we  are  further  told 
iy  the  above-mentioned  authority,  "  a  present  from 
be  Duke  of  York,  bore  his  royal  mistress  daily 
ound  the  gardens,  to  her  great  delight ;  so  fond, 
ndeed,  was  she  of  him,  and  of  the  exercise  which 

e  procured  for  her,  that  it  was  generally  necessary 

0  persuade   her  that   the   donkey   was   tired   or 
ungry  in  order  to  induce  her  to  alight.     Even  at 
lis  very  early  age,  the  princess  took  great  pleasure 

1  mixing  with  the  people  generally,  and  seldom 
passed  anybody  in  the  gardens,  either  when  riding 

n  her  little  carriage  or  upon  her  donkey,  without 
accosting  them  with,  '  How  do  you  do  ? '  or  '  Good- 
morning,  sir,'  or  '  lady ;'  and  always  seemed  pleased 
to  enter  into  conversation  with  strangers,  returning 
their  compliments  or  answering  their  questions  in 
the  most  distinct  and  good-humoured  manner. 
The  young  princess  showed  her  womanly  nature  as 
a  particular  admirer  of  children,  and  rarely  allowed 
an  infant  to  pass  her  without  requesting  permission 
to  inspect  it  and  to  take  it  in  her  arms.  She 
expressed  great  delight  at  meeting  a  young  ladies' 
school,  and  always  had  something  to  say  to  most 
of  the  children,  but  particularly  to  the  younger 
ones.  When  a  little  older,  she  was  remarkable  for 
her  activity,  as,  holding  her  sister  Feodore  in  one 
hand,  and  the  string  of  her  little  cart  in  the  other, 
with  a  moss-rose  fastened  into  her  bosom,  she 
would  run  with  astonishing  rapidity  the  whole 
length  of  the  broad  gravel  walk,  or  up  and  down 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


[Kensington  Gardens. 


the  green  hills  with  which  the  gardens  abound,  he 
eyes  sparkling  with  animation  and  glee,  until  th 
attendants,  fearful  of  the  effects  of  such  violen 
exercise,  were  compelled  to  put  a  stop  to  it,  much 
against  the  will  of  the  little  romp ;  and  although  a 
large  assemblage  of  well-dressed  ladies,  gentlemen 
and  children  would,  on  such  occasions,  form  a 
semicircle  round  the  scene  of  amusement,  their 
presence  never  seemed  in  any  way  to  disconcer 
the  royal  child,  who  would  continue  her  play 
occasionally  speaking  to  the  spectators  as  though 
they  were  partakers  in  her  enjoyment,  which,  in 
very  truth,  they  were.  If,  whilst  amusing  hersel 
in  the  enclosed  lawn,  she  observed,  as  sometimes 
happened,  many  persons  collected  round  the  green 
railings,  she  would  walk  close  up  to  it,  and  curtsey 
and  kiss  her  hand  to  the  people,  speaking  to  al 
who  addressed  her;  and  when  her  nurse  led  her 
away,  she  would  again  and  again  slip  from  her 
hand,  and  return  to  renew  the  mutual  greetings 
between  herself  and  her  future  subjects,  who,  as 
they  contemplated  with  delight  her  bounding  step 
and  merry  healthful  countenance,  the  index  of  a 
heart  full  of  innocence  and  joy,  were  ready 
unanimously  to  exclaim — 

"  '  Long  may  it  be  ere  royal  state 
That  cherub  smile  shall  dissipate  ; 
Long  ere  that  bright  eye's  peerless  blue, 
A  sovereign's  anxious  tear  bedew  ; 
Ere  that  fair  form  of  airy  grace, 
Assume  the  regal  measured  pace ; 
Or  that  young,  open,  cloudless  brow, 
With  truth  and  joy  that  glitters  now, 
The  imperial  diadem  shall  wear 
Beset  with  trouble,  grief,  and  care.'" 
In  an  article  on  Kensington  Palace  and  Gardens, 
in  the  Monthly  Register  for  September,   1802,  the 
writer  somewhat  critically   remarks  :  —  "  All    the 
views  from  the  south  and  east  facades  of  the  edifice 
suffer  from  the  absurdity  of  the  early  inspectors  of 
these  grounds.     The  three  vistas  opening  from  the 
latter,  without  a  single  wave  in  the  outline,  without 
a  clump  or  a  few  insulated  trees  to  soften  the  glare 
of  the    champagne,    or   diminish    the   oppressive 
weight   of  the   incumbent   grove,  are  among  the 
greatest  deformities.      The  most  exquisite  view  in 
the  Gardens  is  near  the  north-east  angle  ;  at  the 
ingress  of  the  Serpentine  river,  which  takes  an  easy 
wind  towards  the  park,  and  is  ornamented  on  either 
side  by  sloping  banks,  with  scenery  of  a  different 
character.     To  the  left  the  wood  presses  boldly  on 
the  water,  whose  polished  bosom  seems  timidly  to 
recede  from  the  dark  intruder ;  to  the  right,  a  few 
truant   foresters   interrupt   the   uniformity   of   the 
parent  grove,  which  rises  at  some  distance  on  the 
more  elevated  part  of  the  shore ;  and  through  the 


boles  of  the  trees  are  discovered  minute  tracts  of 
landscape,  in  which  the  eye  of  taste  can  observe 
sufficient  variety  of  light  and  shade  of  vegetable  and 
animal  life  to  gratify  the  imagination,  and  disap- 
point the  torpor,  which  the  more  sombre  scenery  to 
the  east  is  accustomed  to  invite. 

"  The  pencil  of  Claude  and  Poussin  was  em- 
ployed on  general  landscape ;  and  the  transport  in- 
spired by  their  works  is  from  the  composition  and 
general  effect,  not  from  the  exact  resemblance  of 
objects,  to  which  Swanevelt  and  Watteau  were  so 
scrupulously  attentive.  In  the  landscape  of  nature, 
as  well  as  in  the  feeble  imitations  of  the  artist,  indi- 
viduals deserve  some  attention.  The  largest  and 
most  beautiful  of  all  the  productions  of  the  earth  is 
a  tree.  As  the  effulgent  tints  of  the  insect  must  yield 

o  the  elegance  and  proportion  of  the  other  orders 
of  animals,  when  contemplated  by  our  imperfect 
optics,  so  the  gorgeous  radiance  of  the  flower 
must  bend  its  coronal  honours  to  this  gigantic 
offspring  of  nature,  whose  ample  foliage  receives  all 
the  splendid  effects  of  light  and  shade,  and  gives 
arrangement  and  composition  to  landscape.  The 
trees  that  conduce  to  the  sublime  in  scenery  are 
the  oak,  the  ash,  the  elm,  and  the  beech.  It  is  a 
defect  in  the  gardens  at  Kensington  that,  excepting 
the  elm,  the  whole  of  this  beautiful  fraternity  is  ex- 
cluded, so  that  all  the  variety  of  tint  in  the  spring 
and  autumn  is  lost,  and  the  gardens  burst  into  the 
uxuriance  of  summer,  and  hasten  to  the  disgrace 
of  winter,  without  those  gradations  which  indulgent 
Nature  has  contrived  to  moderate  our  transport  on 
.he  approach  of  the  one,  and  to  soften  our  griefs  on 
he  appearance  of  the  other.  The  dusky  fir  is  the 
)nly  melancholy  companion  the  elm  is  here  per- 
nitted  to  possess,  who  seems  to  raise  his  tall  funereal 
lead  to  insult  his  more  lively  associate  with  ap- 
>roaching  decay.  If  in  spring  we  have  not  here  all 
he  colours  of  the  rainbow,  in  the  forms  of  nascent 
:xistence  ;  if  in  autumn  the  yellow  of  the  elm,  the 
)range  of  the  beech,  and  the  glowing  brown  of  the 
>ak  do  not  blend  their  fading  honours,  it  must  be 
icknowledged  that  the  elm  is  one  of  the  noblest 
>rnaments  of  the  forest ;  it  is  the  medium  between 
he  massive  unyielding  arm  of  the  oak  and  the 
'ersatile  pliancy  of  the  ash ;  it  out-tops  the  vener- 
.ble  parent  of  the  grove,  and  seems  to  extend  its 
nighty  limbs  towards  heaven,  in  bold  defiance  of 
he  awful  monarch  of  the  wood. 

"Besides  the  disadvantage  from  the  uniformity  in 
he  umbrageous  furniture  of  these  gardens,  there  is 
nother,  which  we  hardly  know  whether  to  attribute 
o  design  or  accident.  A  tree  rising  like  an  artifi- 
ial  pillar  from  the  smooth  earth,  without  exposing 
ny  portion  of  the  bold  angles  of  its  root,  not  only 


Holland  House.] 


EARL'S   COURT. 


161 


loses  half  its  strength,  but  almost  all  its  dignity. 
Pliny,  endeavouring  to  give  a  grand  idea  of  the 
Hercynian  forest,  describes  the  magnitude  of  the 
trees  in  that  ancient  domain  of  the  Sylvani  to  be 
sufficient  to  admit  mounted  cavalry  to  pass  beneath 
the  huge  radical  curves.  Whatever  ornament 
Pliny's  extravagance  might  attribute  in  this  respect 
on  the  broad  expanse  of  solitary  Nature,  this 
gigantic  wildness  would  not  be  at  all  adapted  to 
these  pigmy  haunts  of  man  ;  but  some  resemblance, 
some  approach,  should  be  attempted  to  the  magni- 
ficence of  her  operations. 


"  ' -A  huge  oak,  dry  and  dead, 

Still  cull'd  with  relics  of  its  trophies  old, 
Lifting  to  heaven  its  aged  hoary  head.' 

i      "  Such  an   object,   with  some  of  our  readers, 

would  be  considered  a  venerable  inmate  of  these 

;  gardens,  and  to  us  it  would   be  infinitely  prefer- 

|  able  to  the  trim  expedients  of  art.     The  insulated 

;  majesty  of  this  ancient  possessor  of  the  soil  would 

prevent  the  intrusion  of  the  timid  hand  of  man,  and 

the  character  which  this  parent  of  the  forest  would 

impart  to  the  general  scenery  would  secure  it  from 

sacrilegious  profanation." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 
AND     ITS    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATIONS. 


HOLLAND     HOUSE, 

"  Here  Rogers  sat,  and  here  for  ever  dwell 

With  me  those  pleasures  that  he  sang  so  well."— Lard  Holland. 

-Warwick  Road  and  Warwick  Gardens— Addison  Road— Holland 

„ ory— The  Rooms  occupied  by  Addison,  Charles   Fox,  Rogers,   and 

Family  of  Rich-Theatrical    Performances  carried  on  by  Stealth  during  the  Commonwealth- 
Goldsmith- Addi; 


Earl's  Court-John 

Sh°UTn     HtnanHoe    unde 
Shendan-Hc       id    House 

Subsequent  Owners  of  th 


se— Mrs.   Inchbald— Edwardes    Squ 


The  House  purchased  by  Henry  Fox.  afterwards  Lord  Holland-The 
Sarah  Lennox  and  the  Private  Theatricals-Charles 


Residence  of  General  Fox— The  Nursery-grounds. 

RETRACING  our  steps  along  the  Kensington  Road, 
we  come  to  Earl's  Court  Road,  a  thoroughfare 
communicating  with  the  western  end  of  Cromwell 
Road,  which  comprises  several  highly  respectable 
detached  mansions.  It  probably  owes  its  name  to 
the  Earls  of  Warwick  and  Holland,  whose  mansion 
faces  it.  Sir  Richard  Blackmore,  the  poet,  appears 
to  have  had  a  residence  here,  for  Pope  writes,  in  his 
"  Imitations  of  Horace  "— 

"  Blackmore  himself,  for  any  grave  effort, 

Would  drink  and  doze  at  Tooting  or  Earl's  Court." 

In  later  times  Earl's  Court  aftorded  a  retirement 
to  the  eminent  surgeon,  John  Hunter,  who  here 
made  several  experiments  in  natural  history,  and 
formed  in  the  grounds  surrounding  his  villa 
menagerie  of  rare  and  valuable  foreign  animals. 
In  the  kitchen  of  Hunter's  house  the  great  surgeon 
literally  boiled  down  the  Irish  giant,  O  Brien, 
whose  skeleton  we  have  mentioned  in  our  account 
of  the  Museum*  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.  Even 
the  copper  in  which  the  operation  was  performed 
is  religiously  kept,  and  shown  to  curious  visitors. 
After  the  death  of  Mr.  Hunter,  the  house  in  whicr 
he  resided  was  for  some  time  occupied  occasiona Uj 
by  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  who  purchased 

•  See  Vol.  III.,  p.  46- 


state.     The  house,  it  may  be  added,  has   since 
jeen  a  niaison  ds  santc. 

In  Leonard's  Place,  and  also  in  Earl's  Court 
Terrace,  Mrs.  Inchbald  resided  for  some  time,  in 
joarding-houses.  At  the  back  of  Earl's  Terrace  is 
Edwardes  Square,  so  called  after  the  family  name 
)f  Lord  Kensington.  This  square  is  chiefly  re- 
imrkable  for  the  largeness  as  well  as  the  cultivated 
ook  of  the  enclosure,  which  affords  to  the  resi- 
dents, and  also  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Terrace, 
who  have  the  right  of  entry,  the  advantages  of  a 
larger  kind  of  garden.  Leigh  Hunt  mentions  a 
tradition  as  current  in  Kensington  that  Coleridge 
once  had  lodgings  in  Edwardes  Square;  but,  he 
adds  "we  do  not  find  the  circumstance  in  his 
biographies,  though  he  once  lived  in  the  neigh- 
bouring village  of  Hammersmith." 

Warwick  Road  and  Warwick  Gardens,  which  he 
on  the  west  side  of  Edwardes  Square,  are  so  named 
after  the  Earls  of  Warwick,  the  former  owners  of 
Holland  House.  In  Wanvick  Gardens  is  a  well- 
built  Wesleyan  chapel.  Running  parallel  with 
Warwick  Road,  crossing  by  a  bridge  the  Kensing- 
ton Road,  and  continuing  its  course  by  Holland 
Road,  is  the  West  London  Railway,  and  this  we  fix 
upon  as  the  limits  of  our  perambulations  in  the 
"far  west."  Addison  Road,  of  course,  is  so  named 


162 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Holland  House. 


after  another  and  a  distinguished  occupant  of  j  Cope,  it  was  built,  in  the  year  1607,  from  the 
Holland  House,  of  which  we  shall  presently  speak;  j  designs  of  John  Thorpe,  the  famous  architect  of 
and  it  forms  a  communication  between  the  Ken-  \  several  of  the  baronial  mansions  of  England  which 
sington  and  Uxbridge  Roads,  skirting  the  west  I  were  erected  about  that  time.  Although  scarcely 
side  of  Holland  Park.  St.  Barnabas  Church,  which  two  miles  distant  from  London,  with  its  smoke,  its 
stands  in  this  road,  and  dates  from  about  the  year  din,  and  its  crowded  thoroughfares,  Holland  House 
1827,  is  built  in  the  "late  Perpendicular"  style  of  still  has  its  green  meadows,  its  sloping  lawns,  and 


Gothic  architecture. 


uaint 


ts  refreshing  trees  ;    and  the  view  of  the 


ng  been  built  only  in  the  early  part  ot  the 


old  pile  which  meets  the  wayfarer  in  passing  a 


EAKL'S  COURT  HOUSE  (FORMERLY  joi 


seventeenth  century,  shortly  after  the  death  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  Holland  House  has  no  history 
that  carries  us  back  beyond  the  first  of  the  Stuarts ; 
nor,  indeed,  did  the  mansion  become  really  cele- 
brated till  the  reign  of  George  I.,  when  the  widow 
of  its  owner,  Rich,  Earl  of  Holland  and  Warwick, 
married  Addison,  who  died  here.  It  afterwards 
came  into  the  possession  of  the  family  of  Fox, 
Lord  Holland,  firstly  as  tenants,  and  subsequently 
as  owners  of  the  freehold.  The  first  Lord  Holland 
and  his  lady  were  both  persons  of  ability ;  and 
before  the  end  of  the  reign  of  George  II.,  Holland 
House  had  risen  into  a  celebrity  which  it  has  never 
since  lost. 

The  mansion  takes  its  name  from  Henry  Rich, 
Earl  of  Holland,  by  whose  father-in-law,  Sir  Walter 


the  Kensington  Road,  on  his  road  towards  or 
from  Hammersmith,  is  highly  suggestive  of  rural 
solitude,  and  the  effect  is  enhanced  by  the  note 
of  the  nightingale,  which  is  frequently  heard  in  the 
grounds  which  surround  the  mansion.  From  Sir 
'  Walter  Cope  the  property  passed  to  his  son-in-law, 
|  above  mentioned,  who  much  improved  the  house, 
!  and  completed  its  internal  decorations.  The 
building  follows  the  form  so  usually  adopted  at  the 
era  of  its  construction,  and  may  be  best  described 
by  saying  that  it  resembles  one-half  of  the  letter 
H.  The  material  is  brick,  with  dressings  and 
embellishments  of  stone  and  stucco.  The  pro- 
jection in  the  central  compartment  of  the  prin- 
cipal division  of  the  house  forms  at  once  a  tower 
and  porch.  There  is  a  building  at  each  end  of 


KoHanc  .louse.] 


BITS"    OF   OLD    KENSINGTON. 


OLD    KENSINGTON 
,.  Old  Tavern.  3.  Li«>«  Holland  Ho 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


the  same  division,  with  shingled  and  steep-roofed  i  "  Vision  of  St.  Antony  of  Padua."  The  gilt-room 
turrets,  surmounted  by  a  vane.  A  projecting  j  — which  has  lost  some  of  its  former  glories,  in  the 
arcade,  terminated  by  a  parapet  of  carved  stone- ;  shape  of  frescoes  on  the  chimney-piece,  supposed 
work,  ranges  along  the  principal  faces  of  the  i  to  represent  the  Aldobrandini  Marriage,  and  which 
building ;  and  the  original  court  is  bounded  by  ,  are  presumed  to  be  buried  underneath  a  coating 
a  palisade.  The  present  terrace  in  front  of  the  of  plaster  —  was  prepared  by  the  first  Earl  of 
house  was  raised  about  1848,  when  the  old  foot-  Holland  of  the  line  of  Rich  for  the  purpose  of 
path,  which  ran  immediately  in  front  of  its  windows,  giving  a  ball  to  Prince  Charles  on  the  occasion 
was  diverted  from  its  course.  The  following  are  of  his  marriage  with  Henrietta  Maria  of  France ; 
the  particulars  of  the  interior  of  this  interesting  j  the  ball,  however,  for  some  unexplained  reason, 
mansion,  as  given  in  "Homes  and  Haunts  of  j  never  came  off.  This  apartment  is  now  said  to 
the  Poets : " — "  There  is  a  fine  entrance-hall,  a  be  tenanted  by  the  solitary  ghost  of  its  first  lord, 
library  behind  it,  and  another  library  extending  the  who,  according  to  tradition,  "  issues  forth  at  mid- 
whole  length  of  one  of  the  wings  and  the  house  night  from  behind  a  secret  door,  and  walks  slowly 
up-stairs,  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length,  through  the  scenes  of  former  triumphs,  with  his 
The  drawing-room  over  the  entrance-hall,  called  head  in  his  hand."  This,  however,  is  not  the  only 
the  gilt-room,  extends  from  front  to  back  of  the  |  "  ghost  story "  connected  with  Holland  House,  for 
house,  and  commands  views  of  the  gardens  both  credulous  old  Aubrey  tells  us :  "  The  beautiful  Lady 


ways ;    those    to    the    back    are   very   beautiful." 
There  was  evidently  a  chapel    attached  to  the 


Diana  Rich,  as  she  was  walking  in   her  father's 
garden  at  Kensington,  to  take  the  fresh  air  before 


house  in  former  times,  for  there  are  some  remnants  j  dinner,  about  eleven  o'clock,  being  then  very  well, 
of  arches  still  existing,  built  into  the  walls  of  rooms  met  with  her  own  apparition,  habit,  and  every 
which  now  serve  a  very  different  purpose.  The  thing,  as  in  a  looking-glass.  About  a  month  after, 
old  bronze  font,  or  "  stoup,"  for  holy  water,  too,  she  died  of  the  small-pox.  And  it  is  said  that  her 
stands  by  the  staircase  in  the  inner  hall,  supported  j  sister,  the  Lady  Elizabeth  Thynne,  saw  the  like  of 


by  a  comparatively  modern  tripod  of  the  same 
material.  It  appears  to  have  been  made  in  the 
year  1484,  by  a  Fleming,  named  Cassel,  or  Caselli; 
"around  it,  far  interspersed  with  odd  old  Scriptural 
and  armorial  devices,  is  written,  in  Gothic  letters, 


herself  before  she  died.     This  account,"  he  adds, 
"  I  had  from  a  person  of  honour." 

Among  the  most  noticeable  pictures  which 
abound  in  the  map-room  and  the  picture-room, 
are  some  by  Watts,  who  is  considered  by  many 


an  abbreviated  rendering  of  the  passage  in  the  j  one  of  the  greatest  of  contemporary  English  artists. 
Psalm,  so  familiar  to  Catholic  ears  :  '  Asperges  me  In  the  latter  room  mass  was  said  daily  during  the 
hyssopo,  et  mundabor;  lavabis  me,  et  super  nivem  brief  stay  of  Marie  Amdlie,  the  late  Queen  of  the 
dealbabor.'"  Many  of  the  pictures  which  adorn  French,  in  the  house  in  1862.  In  the  print-room 
the  walls  are  by  some  of  the  best  masters.  One  are  some  specimens  of  the  Italian,  German,  Dutch, 
apartment,  called  "  The  Sir  Joshua  Room,"  con-  '  Flemish,  French,  Spanish,  and  English  schools  • 
tains  several  of  Reynolds's  works,  the  best  of  which  J  the  Rembrandts  being  the  most  worthy  of  note' 
are  considered  "  Muscipula,"  a  child  holding  up  a  I  Hogarth  is  represented  in  the  next  room.  Here' 
mouse  in  a  cage,  with  puss  looking  wistfully  on  j  among  the  portraits,  are  those  of  Tom  Moore  by 
from  below;  a  portrait  of  Baretti,  author  of  the  Shee,  and  of  Rogers,  by  Hoffner;  there  are  also 
Italian  Dictionary,  who  was  tried  for  murder,*  but  j  some  fine  Dutch  sea-pieces.  The  library  a  very 
received  favourable  testimony  from  Dr.  Johnson,  handsome  long  room,  contains,  besides  its  literary 
Burke,  and  Gamck,  and  was  acquitted ;  and  the  treasures,  among  other  relics,  a  table  used  by 
beautiful  Lady  Sarah  Lennox,  whom  George  III.  Addison  at  the  Temple.  There  is  a  glowing  notice 
noticed  with  admiration  when  a  little  girl  in  Ken- 1  of  this  room  by  Macaulay,  too  long  for  quotation 
smgton  Gardens.  His  Majesty,  it  is  related,  In  the  yellow  drawing-room  there  is  "a  pair  of 
requested  to  see  her  again  in  later  years,  and,  in  candlesticks  in  Byzantine  ware,  which  belonged  to 
fact,  wished  much  to  marry  her  when  she  had  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  They  were  in  her  posses- 

sion  at  Fotheringay  Castle,  and  thus  were  witnesses 
to  the  last  hours  of  her  life's  tragedy."    There  is, 


grown  into  a  young  lady.  She  was  one  of  the 
bridesmaids  at  his  wedding,  when,  if  report  be  true, 
he  kept  his  eyes  steadily  fixed  on  her  during  the 
ceremony  of  his  own  marriage  with  Charlotte  of 


too,  "  an  ancient  poison-ring,"  with  a  death's  head 


M  Ti    K          TU-  uurlotte  of  in  carbuncle,  supposed  to  have  been  sent  to  the 

Mecklenburg.     This  room  contains  also  Murillo's    same  unfortunate  queen.     Here  are  also  numerous 


relics  of  the  great  Napoleon:  among  them  is  a 
locket,  containing  some  of  his  hair,  a  ring,  and  a 


Holland  Ho 


A  TRADITION  ABOUT  ADDISON. 


cross  worn  by  him  in  his  island  prison  at  St. 
Helena.  The  miniature-room,  it  need  scarcely  be 
added,  has  its  treasures ;  as  have  also  "  Lady 
Holland's  private  rooms"  and  the  "blue-room." 
The  former  had  a  narrow  escape  from  destruction 
by  fire  a  few  years  ago.  Among  the  remaining 
curiosities  and  works  of  art  preserved  here,  is 
an  interesting  collection  of  fans,  some  of  which 
are  very  beautifully  painted.  "  One  of  these,"  as 
the  Princess  Marie  Lichstenstein  informs  us  in 
her  account  of  Holland  House,  "  is  historically 
interesting,  having  been  painted  by  a  daughter 
of  George  III.,  before  the  union  of  Ireland  with 
England.  It  bears  the  rose  and  the  thistle,  but  no 
shamrock ;  and  the  motto,  '  Health  is  restored  to 
one,  happiness  to  millions,'  seems  to  indicate  the 
occasion  for  which  it  was  painted."  Autographs, 
too,  and  manuscripts  of  famous  characters,  are  no 
wanting :  among  them  are  those  of  Catherine, 


ttendance  all  night,  partly  to  furnish,  we  believe,  a 
jottle  of  champagne  to  the  thirsty  orator,  in  case 
he  should  happen  to  call  for  one  betwixt  his 
lumbers  (at  least,  we  heard  so  a  long  while  ago, 
and  it  was  quite  in  keeping  with  his  noble  host's 
hospitality ;  but  we  forgot  to  verify  the  anecdote  on 
this  occasion),  and  partly — of  which  there  is  no 
doubt — to  secure  the  bed-curtains  from  being  set 
on  fire  by  his  candle." 

In  a  previous  chapter  we  have  narrated  the 
descent  of  the  manor  of  Kensington  from  the  time 
of  the  Conquest,  when  it  was  held  by  the  Do- 
Veres,  down  to  the  present  day.  Sir  Walter  Cope, 
the  purchaser  of  the  Vere  propeny  in  Kensington, 
was  a  master  of  the  Court  of  Wards  in  the  time 
of  James  I.,  and  one  of  the  Chamberlains  of  the 
Exchequer.  He  built  the  centre  of  the  house 
and  the  turrets,  and  bequeathed  it,  as  already 
stated,  to  Sir  Henry  Rich,  the  husband  of  his 


Empress  of  Russia ;  Napoleon  I.,  Voltaire,  Addison, '  daughter  and  heiress,  Isabel.  Not  long  afterwards, 
Petrarch,  letters  of  Philip  II.,  III.,  and  IV.  of  Sir  Henry  was  raised  to  the  peerage,  when  he 
Spain  •  and  music  by  Pergolese,  copied  by  assumed  his  title  of  nobility  from  his  wife's  in- 
Rousseau. 

"The   library,"  says  Leigh   Hunt,  in  his  "Old 
Court    Suburb,"  "must    originally    have    been   a 


heritance— that  of  Lord  Kensington.  The  wings 
and  arcades  were  added  by  this  nobleman,  who 
also  completed  the  internal  decorations.  His 

greenhouse  or  conservatory ;  for,  in  its  first  con-  j  lordship  was  a  courtier,  and  had  the  honour  of 
dition,  it  appears  to  have  been  scarcely  anything  ;  being  employed  to  negotiate  a  marriage  between 
but  windows,  and  it  is  upwards  of  ninety  feet  long,  i  Prince  Charles  and  the  Infanta  of  Spain ;  but  the 
by  only  seventeen  feet  four  inches  wide,  and  :  negotiation  proved  abortive.  Lord  Kensington's 
fourteen  feet  seven  inches  in  height.  The  moment  services  were,  nevertheless,  appreciated  and  re- 
one  enters  it,  one  looks  at  the  two  ends,  and  thinks  warded  by  an  earl's  coronet  and  the  insignia  of 
of  the  tradition  about  Addison's  pacings  in  it  to  ,  the  Garter.  The  new  title  chosen  by  his  lordship 
and  fro  It  represents  him  as  meditating  his  was  Holland,  and  thence  the  manor  house  of 
'Spectators'  between  two  bottles  of  wine,  and  j  Kensington  received  its  present  appellation.  This 
comforting  his  ethics  by  taking  a  glass  of  each  as  Earl  of  Holland  was  a  younger  son  of  Robert 
'"'  2  recularitv  !  Rich,  first  Earl  of  Warwick 

n  Elizabeth's  1 


when  he  '  of  Bassompierre,  the   French  ambassador,  figures 
to  give    among  the  guests  here  at  that  time.     The  earl  was 
a  political  waverer  in  the  "troublous   times     o 
Charles  T-     He  was  twice  made  a  prisoner  in  the 


good  sense  in  all  his  lucubrations,  ev< 
indulges  more  in  pleasantry,  to  allow 
implicit  credit  to  a  tradition  invented,  probably,  as 
excuse  for  intemperance  by  such 
bottles  of  wine,  but  never  prod 

ZZ'SfiSSZ  irSref  attached  to  them,  is  '  time  by  commana  «   -—"— ~    the 
the  chamber  in  which  Addison  died  ;  the  bed-room    unsuccessful   issue   of  h  s  a«e    p  ^  ^ 

^H^^S*, -P  **-  -^ r£~ ^ W— 

Sheridan,  "in  the  next  room  to  which,    as  Leigh  j  - 
Hunt 


mand 


after  the 


i66 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


of  the  same  material,  trimmed  with  silver  lac 
Within  a  few  months  of  the  earl's  execution 
Holland  House  became  the  head-quarters  of  th 
Parliamentary  army,  General  Fairfax  becoming  it 
occupant.  In  the  Perfect  Diurnal,  a  journal  of  th 
day,  is  this  entry: — "The  Lord-General  (Fairfax 
is  removed  from  Queen  Street  to  the  late  Earl  o 
Holland's  house  at  Kensington,  where  he  intend 
to  reside."  The  mansion,  however,  was  soon 
restored  to  the  earl's  widow  and  children ;  and  i 
remained  quietly  in  the  possession  of  the  famil 
almost  as  long  as  they  lasted. 

It  is  well  known  that  throughout  the  gloomy  reign 
of  Puritanism,  under  Oliver  Cromwell,  the  dramatic 
profession  was  utterly  proscribed.  We  are  told 
that  during  this  period  the  actors,  who  had  been 
great  loyalists,  contrived  to  perform  secretly  anc 
by  stealth  at  noblemen's  houses,  where  purses  were 
collected  for  the  benefit  of  "  the  poor  players.' 
In  the  "  Historia  Histrionica,"  published  in  1699 
it  is  stated  that,  "  In  Oliver's  time  they  [the  players' 
used  to  act  privately,  three  or  four  miles  or  more 
out  of  town,  now  here,  now  there,  sometimes 
in  noblemen's  houses,  in  particular,  Holland  House 
at  Kensington,  where  the  nobility  and  gentry  who 
met  (but  in  no  great  numbers)  used  to  make  a  sum 
for  them,  each  giving  a  broad  piece,  or  the  like. 

From  the  Restoration  to  the  time  of  the  Georges, 
Holland  House  appears  to  have  been  let  by  the 
noble  owners  on  short  leases  to  a  variety  ol 
persons,  and  sometimes  even  in  apartments  to 
lodgers.  Leigh  Hunt,  in  his  work  already  quoted, 
mentions  the  names  of  several  who,  in  this  manner, 
resided  here  :  among  them,  Arthur  Annesley,  the 
first  Earl  of  Anglesey;  Sir  John  Chardin,  the 
traveller ;  Catherine  Darnley,  Duchess  of  Bucking- 
hamshire ;  William  Penn,  the  founder  of  Pennsyl- 
vania ;  and  Shippen,  the  famous  Jacobite,  whom 
Pope  has  immortalised  for  his  sincerity  and 
honesty.  Robert  Rich,  the  son  and  successor  of 
the  first  Earl  of  Holland,  succeeded  his  cousin  as 
Earl  of  Warwick,  in  consequence  of  failure  of  the 
elder  branch,  and  thus  united  the  two  coronets  of 
his  family.  He  was  the  father  of  Edward  Rich, 
Earl  of  Warwick  and  Holland,  whose  widow, 
Charlotte,  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Myddleton,  of 
Chirk  Castle,  Denbighshire,  married,  in  1716,  the 
Right  Honourable  Joseph  Addison,  and  thus,  "  by 
linking  with  the  associations  of  Kensington  the 
memory  of  that  illustrious  man,  has  invested  with 
a  classic  halo  the  groves  and  shades  of  Holland 
House."  Edward  Henry,  the  next  earl — to  whom, 
as  we  have  stated,  there  is  a  monument  in  Ken- 
sington Church— was  succeeded  by  his  kinsman, 
Edward  Rich ;  and  the  daughter  and  only  child 


of  this  nobleman  dying  unmarried,  the  earldom 
became  extinct  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century. 
Holland  House  then  came  into  the  possession  of 
the  youthful  earl's  first  cousin,  William  Edwardes 
(a  Welsh  gentleman,  who  was  created  a  Peer  of 
Ireland,  as  Baron  Kensington),  and  was  eventually 
sold  to  the  Right  Honourable  Henry  Fox,  the 
distinguished  politician  of  the  time  of  George  II., 
who,  on  being  created  a  peer,  adopted  the  title  of 
Holland,  and  with  his  descendants  the  mansion 
has  continued  ever  since. 

To  the  literary  circle,  of  which  this  house  was 
the  centre,  it  is  impossible  to  say  how  many  poets, 
essayists,  and  other  writers  have  owed  their  first 
celebrity.  It  is  said  that  even  Goldsmith's  charm- 
:ng  novel,  "  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield,"  here  found 
is  earliest  admirer.  This  beautiful  little  work  re- 
mained unnoticed,  and  was  attacked  by  the  reviews, 
until  Lord  Holland,  who  had  been  ill,  sent  to  his 
aookseller  for  some  amusing  book.  This  was 
supplied,  and  he  was  so  pleased  that  he  spoke  of  it 
m  the  highest  terms  to  a  large  company  who  dined 
with  him  a  few  days  after.  The  consequence  was 
hat  the  whole  impression  was  sold  off  in  a  few 
days. 

It  has  been  said  that  Addison  obtained  an 
ntroduction  to  his  future  wife  in  the  capacity  of 
utor  to  her  son,  the  young  Earl  of  Warwick  ;  but 
.his  supposition  appears  to  be  negatived  by  two 
etters  written  by  Addison  to  the  earl,  when  a  boy, 
wherein  the  writer  evinces  an  entire  ignorance  of 
he  advances  which  his  correspondent  might  have 
nade  in  classical  attainment  The  letters  are  dated 
708.  Addison  had  been  appointed  Under- 
secretary of  State  two  years  previously,  and  it 
;ems  improbable  that  he  should  have  undertaken 
he  office  of  tutor  at  a  subsequent  period.  His 
ourtship  of  the  countess,  however,  is  said  to  have 
)een  marked  by  tedious  formalities ;  and  it  is  further 
sserted  that  her  ladyship  at  first  encouraged  his 
ivertures  with  a  view  of  extracting  amusement  from 
lie  diffidence  and  singularity  of  his  character, 
'rom  the  following  anecdote,  which  is  told  respect- 
ng  Addison's  courtship,  there  would  seem  to  be  a 
how  of  truth  in  the  story.  The  tenor  of  this 
necdote  is  that  "he  endeavoured  to  fathom  her 
entiments  by  reading  to  her  an  article  in  a  news- 
aper  (which  he  himself  had  caused  to  be  inserted), 
tating  the  probability  of  a  marriage  taking  place 
etween  the  reader  and  the  auditress !  From  a 
omparison  of  dates,  and  a  further  examination  of 
ternal  evidence,"  adds  the  narrative,  "there  is 
eason  to  suppose  that  Addison  meant  as  a  playful 
escription  of  his  own  courtship  that  of  Sir  Roger 
e  Co'-prley  to  the  widow  with  a  white  hand ;  and, 


Holland  House.] 


DEATH    OF  ADDISON. 


167 


if  so,  how  highly  is  the  world  indebted  to  the  warm 
fancy  of  the  one  party,  and  the  want  of  deter- 
mination in  the  other  ! "  It  was,  in  all  probability, 
at  this  period  of  his  life  that  Addison  had  a  cottage 
at  Fulham  ;  at  all  events,  he  figures  in  "  Esmond," 
as  walking  thither  from  Kensington  at  night-time. 
"  When  the  time  came  to  take  leave,  Esmond 
marched  homewards  to  his  lodgings,  and  met 
Mr.  Addison  on  the  road,  walking  to  a  cottage 
which  he  had  at  Fulham,  the  moon  shining  on  his 
handsome  serene  face.  '  What  cheer,  brother  ! ' 

.  says  Addison,  laughing  ;  '  I  thought  it  was  a  foot- 
pad advancing  in  the  dark,  and,  behold,  it  is  an 
old  friend  !  We  may  shake  hands,  colonel,  in  the 

'  dark,  'tis  better  than  fighting  by  daylight.  Why 
should  we  quarrel  because  I  am  a  Whig  and  thou 
art  a  Tory  ?  Turn  thy  steps  and  walk  with  me  to 
Fulham,  where  there  is  a  nightingale  still  singing 
in  the  garden,  and  a  cool  bottle  in  a  cave  I  know 
of.  You  shall  drink  to  the  Pretender,  if  you  like ; 
I  will  drink  my  liquor  in  my  own  way  ! ' " 

The  growing  renown  of  Addison — perhaps  his 
fame  as  a  writer,  or,  more  probably,  his  accession 
of  political  importance — assisted  in  persuading  the 
countess  to  become  his  wife.  But  the  marriage 
was  productive  of  little  comfort ;  and  this  un- 
fortunate marriage  is  said  to  have  been  the  cause 
of  his  indulging  to  excess  in  drink.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  Addison  himself  wrote  vehemently  against 

I    cowardice  seeking  strength  "  in  the  bottle ; "  yet  it  is 

i    asserted  that  he  often  withdrew  from  the  bickerings 

>  of  his  Countess  to  the  coffee-house  or  the  tavern. 
His  favourite  places  of  resort  are  said  to  have  been 

1  the  White  Horse  Inn,  at  the  bottom  of  Holland 
House  Lane,  and  Button's  Coffee-house,  in  Russell 
Street,  Covent  Garden,  where  we  have  already 

•  made  his  acquaintance.*  The  fruit  of  this  un- 
propitious  union  was  one  daughter,  who  died,  at 
an  advanced  age,  at  Bilton,  an  estate  in  Warwick- 
shire which  Addison  had  purchased  some  years 

\  previously.  Addison  himself  died  at  the  end  of 
three  years  after  his  marriage.  The  story  of  his 
death-bed  here  has  been  often  told,  but  very 
probably  it  is  a  little  apocryphal  in  its  details. 

i  Lord  Warwick  was  a  young  man  of  very  irregular 
life,  and  of  loose  opinions.  Addison,  for  whom  he 
did  not  want  respect,  had  very  diligently  en- 
deavoured to  reclaim  him  ;  but  his  arguments  and 
expostulations  had  no  effect.  One  experiment, 
however,  remained  to  be  tried.  When  he  found 
his  life  near  its  end,  he  directed  the  young  lord 
to  be  called,  and  told  him,  "I  have  sent  for 
you  that  you  may  see  how  a  Christian  can  die." 


•See  Vol.  HI- p.  «77. 


It  was  to  this  young  nobleman  that  Somerville 
addressed  his  "Elegiac  Lines  on  the  Death  of 
Mr.  Addison,"  wherein  occur  the  lines  having 

reference  to  his  burial  in  Westminster  Abbey : 

"Can  I  forget  the  dismal  night  that  gave 
My  soul's  best  part  for  ever  to  the  grave  ? 
How  silent  did  his  old  companions  tread, 
By  midnight  lamps,  the  mansions  of  the  dead, 
Thro'  breathing  statues,  then  unheeded  things, 
Thro'  rows  of  warriors,  and  thro'  walks  of  kings  ! 
What  awe  did  the  slow,  solemn  knell  inspire, 
The  pealing  organ,  and  the  pausing  choir  ; 
The  duties  by  the  lawn-rob'd  prelate  paid, 
And  the  last  words,  that  dust  to  dust  convey 'd  ! " 

A  short  time  before  his  death,  Addison  sent  to 
request  a  visit  from  the  poet  Gay,  and  told  him,  on 
their  meeting,  that  he  had  once  done  him  an 
injury,  but  that  if  he  survived  his  present  affliction 
he  would  endeavour  to  repair  it.  Gay  did  not 
know  the  nature  of  the  injury  which  had  been 
inflicted,  but  supposed  that  he  might  have  lost 
some  appointment  through  the  intervention  of 
Addison. 

"Addison,"  writes  Leigh  Hunt,  "it  must  be 
owned,  did  not  shine  during  his  occupation  of 
Holland  House.  He  married,  and  was  not  happy ; 
he  was  made  Secretary  of  State,  and  was  not  a 
good  one;  he  was  in  Parliament,  and  could  not 
speak  in  it ;  he  quarrelled  with,  and  even  treated 
contemptuously,  his  old  friend  and  associate,  Steele, 
who  declined  to  return  the  injury.  Yet  there,  in 
Holland  House,  he  lived  and  wrote,  nevertheless, 
with  a  literary  glory  about  his  name,  which  never 
can  desert  the  place;  and  to  Holland  House, 
while  he  resided  in  it,  must  have  come  all  the 
distinguished  men  of  the  day,  for,  though  a  Whig, 
he  was  personally  '  well  in,'  as  the  phrase  is,  with 
the  majority  of  all  parties.  He  was  in  com- 
munication with  Swift,  who  was  a  Tory,  and  with 
Pope,  who  was  neither  Tory  nor  Whig.  It  was 
now  that  the  house  and  its  owners  began  to  appear 
n  verse.  Rowe  addressed  stanzas  to  Addison's 
bride;  and  Tickell,  after  his  death,  touchingly 
apostrophizes  the  place — 

"  '  Thou  hill,  whose  brow  the  antique  structures  grace, 
Rear'd  by  bold  chiefs  of  Warwick's  noble  race  ; 
Why,  once  so  loved,  whene'er  thy  bower  appears, 
O'er  my  dim  eyeballs  glance  the  sudden  tears  ?' 

"  It  seems  to  have  been  in  Holland  House  (for 
he  died  shortly  afterwards)  that  Addison  was 
visited  by  Milton's  daughter,  when  he  had  re- 
quested her  to  bring  him  some  evidences  of  her 
birth.  The  moment  he  beheld  her,  he  exclaimed, 
'  Madame,  you  need  no  other  voucher ;  your  face 
is  a  sufficient  testimonial  whose  daughter  you  art* 


1 68 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


It  must  have  been  very  pleasing  to  Addison  to 
befriend  Milton's  daughter;  for  he  had  been  the 
first  to  popularise  the  great  poet  by  his  critiques 
on  '  Paradise  Lost,'  in  the  Spectator." 

After  the   death   of  Addison,    Holland   House 
remained  in  the  possession  of  the  Warwick  family, 


Anne. 


After  having  had  a  numerous  offspring  by 
one  wife,  Sir  Stephen  married  another  at  the  age  of 
seventy-six,  and  had  three  more  children,  two  of 
whom  founded  the  noble  families  of  Holland  and 
Ilchester.  It  was  reported  that  Stephen  Fox  had 
been  a  singing-boy  in  one  of  our  English  cathedrals,- 


and  of  their  heir,  Lord  Kensington,  until,  as  we 
have  stated  above,  it  was  purchased  by  Henry 
Fox,  who  subsequently  became  a  lord  himself,  and 
took  his  title  from  the  mansion.  This  was  towards 
the  close  of  the  reign  of  George  II. 

Henry  Fox,  the  first  Lord  Holland  of  the  new 
creation,  was  the  youngest  son  of  Sir  Stephen  Fox, 
a  dist.nguished  politician  during  the  reigns  of 
Charles  II.,  James  II.,  William  III.,  and  Queen 


Walpole  says  he  was  a  footman ;  and  the  late  Lord 
Holland,  who  was  a  man  of  too  noble  a  nature  to 
affect  ignorance  of  such  traditions,  candidly  owns 
that  he  was  a  man  of  "very  humble  origin." 
Henry  Fox  was  the  political  opponent  of  the  first 
William  Pitt,  afterwards  Earl  of  Chatham.  The 
chief  transactions  of  his  lordship's  public  life  are 
all  duly  recorded  in  the  pages  of  history.  Leigh 
Hunt,  in  his  own  lively  manner,  writes  thus  of 


THE   FOX   FAMILY. 


207 


I70 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Holland  House. 


him : — "  Fox  had  begun  life  as  a  partisan  of  Sir  his  reception  by  a  more  than  ordinary  attention  to 
Robert  Walpole  ;  and  in  the  course  of  his  career  her  toilet.  This  gives  her  the  cue  to  what  is  to  be 
held  lucrative  offices  under  Government — that  of  done.  The  more  than  ordinary  attention  is  paid ; 


Paymaster  of  the  Forces,  for  one — in  which  he 
enriched  himself  to  a  degree  which  incurred  a  great 
deal  of  suspicion."  A  good  story  is  told  concern- 
ing Fox  whilst  he  held  the  above-mentioned  office ; 
it  is  one  which  will  bear  repeating  here.  After 
Admiral  Byron's  engagement  in  the  West  Indies, 
there  arose  a  great  clamour  about  the  badness  of 
the  ammunition  served  out.  Soon  afterwards,  Mr. 
Fox  fought  a  duel  with  a  Mr.  Adam.  The  former 
received  his  adversary's  ball,  which,  happily,  made 
but  a  very  slight  impression.  "  Egad,  sir  ! "  ob- 
served Fox,  "  it  would  have  been  all  over  with  me 
if  we  had  not  charged  our  pistols  with  Govern- 
ment powder." 

Fox,  however,  was  latterly  denounced,  in  a  City 
address,  as  the  "defaulter  of  unaccounted  millions." 
"Public  accounts,  in  those  times,  were  strangely 
neglected  ;  and  the  family  have  said  that  his  were 
in  no  worse  condition  than  those  of  others;  but 
they  do  not  deny  that  he  was  a  jobber.  Fox, 
however,  for  a  long  time  did  not  care.  The 
joyousness  of  his  temperament,  together  with  some 
very  lax  notions  of  morality,  enabled  him  to  be  at 
ease  with  himself  as  long  as  his  blood  spun  so 
He  jobbed  and  prospered ;  ran  away  with 


but  it  is  in  a  way  that  renders  the  interview  im- 
possible. She  has  cut  off  her  eyebrows.  How 
can  she  be  seen  by  anybody  in  such  a  trim  ?  The 
indignation  of  the  duke  and  duchess  is  great ;  but 
the  thing  is  manifestly  impossible.  She  is  accord- 
ingly left  to  herself  for  the  night ;  she  has  perfected 
her  plan,  in  expectation  of  the  result;  and  the  con- 
sequence is,  that  when  next  her  parents  inquire  for 
her,  she  has  gone.  Nobody  can  find  her.  She  is 
off  for  Mr.  Fox."  This  runaway  marriage  took 
place  in  the  Fleet  Prison,  in  the  year  1744.  In 
January,  1761,  two  years  before  the  elevation  of 
Mr.  Fox  to  the  peerage,  Horace  Walpole  was 
present  at  a  performance  of  private  theatricals 
at  Holland  House — a  sight  which  greatly  enter- 
tained him.  The  play  selected  to  be  performed 
by  children  and  very  young  ladies  was  Jane  Shore, 


Lady  Sarah  Lennox,  a  sister  of  Lady  Georgiana 
Fox,  enacting  the  heroine ;  while  the  boy  afterwards 
eminent  as  Charles  James  Fox  played  the  part  of 
"  Hastings,"  and  his  brother,  Henry  Edward,  then 
six  years  old,  enacted  the  "  Bishop  of  Ely,"  dressed 
in  lawn  sleeves,  and  with  a  square  cap  (this  little 
boy  died  a  general  in  the  army  in  181 1).  Walpole 
praises  the  acting  of  the  performers,  but  particularly 

a  duke's  daughter;  contrived  to  reconcile  himself  that  of  I,ady  Sarah  Lennox,  who,  he  says,  "was 
with  the  family  (that  of  Richmond) ;  got  his  wife  more  beautiful  than  you  can  conceive,  ...  in 
made  a  baroness;  was  made  a  lord  himself— Baron  white,  with  her  hair  about  her  ears,  and  on  the 


Holland,   of    Foxley ;    was    a   husband,    notwith- 
standing his  jobbing,  loving  and  beloved ;  was  an 


ground;  no  Magdalen  by  Correggio  was  half 
lovely  and  expressive."     The  charms  of  this  lovely 


indulgent  father  ;  a  gay  and  social  friend— in  short,  person   had   already  made  an  impression  on   the 

had  as  happy  a  life  of  it  as  health  and  spirits  could  heart   of  George    III.,   then   newly  come   to   the 

make,  till,  unfortunately,  health  and  spirits  failed,  throne  at  two-and- twenty.     There  seems  no  reason 

and  then  there  seems  to  have  been  a  remnant  of  to   doubt    that   the   young   monarch   formed    the 


his  father's  better  portion  within  him,  which  did 
not  allow  him  to  be  so  well  satisfied  with  himself 
in  his  decline."  The  story  of  Henry  Fox's  elope- 
ment with  the  Duke  of  Richmond's  daughter,  I.ady 
Georgiana  Caroline  Lennox,  is  thus  told  in  the 


"Old  Court  Suburb:"—  "The  duke 


grand- 


son of  Charles  II.,  and  both  he  and  the  duchess 
had  declined  to  favour  the  suit  of  Mr.  Fox,  the  | 
son  of  the  equivocal  Sir  Stephen.  They  reckoned  ' 
on  her  marrying  another  man,  and  an  evening  was 
appointed  on  which  the  suitor  in  nuestion  was 
to  be  formally  introduced  to  her.  Lady  Caroline, 
whose  affections  the  dashing  statesman  had  secretly 
engaged,  was  at  her  wits'  end  to  know  how  to 
baffle  this  interview.  She  had  evaded  the  choice 
of  the  family  as  long  as  possible,  but  this  appoint- 
ment looked  like  a  crisis.  The  gentleman  is  to 
come  m  the  evening  ;  the  lady  is  to  prepare  for 


design  of  raising  his  lovely  cousin  (for  such  she 
was,  in  a  certain  sense)  to  a  share  of  the  throne. 
The  following  story  concerning  the  pair  we  quote 
from  Timbs'  "  Romance  of  London  :  " — "  Early  in 
the  winter  of  1760-1,  the  king  took  an  opportunity 
of  speaking  to  Lady  Sarah's  cousin,  Lady  Susan 
Strangways,  expressing  a  hope  at  the  drawing-room 
that  her  ladyship  was  not  soon  to  leave  town. 
She  said  that  she  should  be  leaving  soon.  '  But,' 
said  the  king,  '  you  will  return  in  summer  for  the 
coronation.'  lady  Susan  answered  that  '  she  did 
not  know — she  hoped  so.'  'But,'  said  the  king 
again,  '  they  talk  of  a  wedding.  There  have  been 
many  proposals  ;  but  I  think  an  English  match 
would  do  better  than  a  foreign  one.  Pray,  tell 
Lady  Sarah  Lennox  I  say  so.'  Here  was  a 
sufficiently  broad  hint  to  inflame  the  hopes  of  a 
family,  and  to  raise  the  head  of  a  blooming  girl  of 


LADY   SARAH   LENNOX. 


sixteen  to  the  fifth  heavens.     It  happened,   how-    shall  be  delighted  to  see  him,  and  if  I  am  dead,  I 
ever,  that   Lady  Sarah   had   already  allowed   her    am  sure  he  will  be  very  pleased  to  see  me.' 


heart  to  be  pre-occupied,  having  formed  a  girlish 
attachment  for  the  young  Lord  Newbottle,  grand- 
son of  the  Marquis  of  Lothian.  She  did  not,  j  and  whimsical,  and  that  he  died  before  reaching 
therefore,  enter  into  the  views  of  her  family  with  ,  his  thirtieth  year.  His  brother,  the  celebrated 
all  the  alacrity  which  they  desired.  According  to  Charles  James  Fox,  the  "  man  of  the  people,"  is 
the  narrative  of  Mr.  Grenville,  she  went  the  next  not  much  associated  with  Holland  House,  except 
drawing-room  to  St  James's,  and  stated  to  the  i  as  a  name.  Here,  it  is  true,  he  passed  his  boy- 
king,  in  as  few  words  as  she  could,  the  incon- 1  hood  and  part  of  his  youth,  during  which  period  he 
veniences  and  difficulties  in  which  such  a  step  was  allowed  to  have  pretty  much  his  own  way ;  in 
would  involve  him.  He  said  that  was  his  business;  " 
he  would  stand  them  all ;  his  part  was  taken,  and 
he  wished  to  hear  hers  was  likewise.  In  this  state 
it  continued,  whilst  she,  by  the  advice  of  her 
friends,  broke  off  with  Lord  Newbottle,  very  re- 


Of  Stephen,    second   Lord   Holland,    we  have 
nothing  to  say,  beyond  that  he  was  good-natured 


fact,  he  was  what  is  generally  styled  a  "spoilt 
child."  His  father  is  said  never  to  have  thwarted 
.11  in  anything.  Thus,  the  boy  expressing  a 


luctantly,  on  her  part.  She  went  into  the  country 
for  a  few  days,  and  by  a  fall  from  her  horse  broke 
her  leg.  The  absence  which  this  occasioned  gave 
time  and  opportunities  for  her  enemies  to  work; 
they  instilled  jealousy  into  the  king's  mind  upon 
the  subject  of  Lord  Newbottle,  telling  him  that 
Lady  Sarah  Lennox  still  continued  her  intercourse 
with  him ;  and  immediately  the  marriage  with  the 


desire  one  day  to  "smash  a  watch,"  the  father, 
after  ascertaining   that   the   little  gentleman    did 


positively  feel  such  a  desire,  and  was  not  disposed 
to  give  it  up,  said,  "  Well,  if  you  must,  I  suppose 
you  must  ;  "  and  the  watch  was  at  once  smashed. 
On  another  occasion,  his  father,  having  resolved 
to  take  down  the  wall  before  Holland  House,  and 
to  have  an  iron  railing  put  up  in  its  stead,  found  it 
necessary  to  use  gunpowder  to  facilitate  the  work. 
He  had  promised  his  son,  Charles  James,  that  he 


should  be  present  whenever  the  explosion  took 
place.  Finding  that  the  labourers  had  blasted  the 
brickwork  in  his  absence,  he  ordered  the  wall  to 
be  rebuilt  ;  and,  when  it  was  thoroughly  cemented, 
had  it  blown  up  again  for  the  gratification  of  his 
favourite  boy  ;  at  the  same  time  advising  those 


Princess  of  Strelitz  was  set  on  foot ;  and  at  Lady 
Sarah's  return  from  the  country,  she  found  herself 
deprived  of  her  crown  and  her  lover,  Lord  New- 
bottle,  who  complained  as  much  of  her  as  she  did 
of  the  king.  While  this  was  in  agitation,  Lady 
Sarah  used  to  meet  the  king  in  his  rides  early  in 

the   morning,    driving   a   little   chaise   with    Lady  i  about   him   never,   on   any  account,   to  break 
Susan    Strangways  ;    and   once,    it   is   said,    that,  |  promise  with  children. 

wanting  to  speak  to  him,  she  went  dressed  like  a  |  Henry  Richard  Fox,  the  third  lord,  who  came  to 
servant-maid,  and  stood  amongst  the  crowd  in  the  j  the  title  before  he  was  a  year  old,  lived  to  rescue  the 
guard-room,  to  say  a  few  words  to  him  as  he  passed  j  mansion  from  the  ruin  which  at  one  time  threatened 
by."  Walpole  also  relates  that  Lady  Sarah  would  it,  and  may  be  said  to  have  resided  in  it  during 
sometimes  appear  as  a  haymaker  in  the  park  at  the  whole  of  his  life,  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  books, 
Holland  House,  in  order  to  attract  the  attention  j  and  dispensing  his  hospitalities  to  wits  and  worthies 
of  the  king  as  he  rode  past ;  but  the  opportunity  '  of  all  parties.  His  lordship  married  Elizabeth,  the 
was  lost.  The  gossiping  chronicler  adds  also,  that  ,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Mr.  Richard  Vassall,  whose 
his  Majesty  blushed  scarlet  red  at  his  wedding-  |  name  he  afterwards  assumed  ;  his  children  retaining 
service  when  allusion  was  made  to  "Abraham  and  ,  the  name  of  Fox.  It  is,  perhaps,  to  this  nobleman, 
Sarah  "  The  lady  survived  her  disappointment,  |  with  the  exception  of  Addison,  that  Holland  House 
and  became  the  mother  of  the  gallant  Napiers.  \  owes  most  of  its  celebrity  and  its  literary  interest 
Three  children  were  the  fruit  of  Lord  Holland's  ,  Among  the  visitors  round  its  hospitable  board, 
marriage  with  Lady  Georgiana  Lennox,  and  he  i  Macaulay  mentions  the  name  of  Prince  ralleyrana, 
proved  the  fondest  of  parents.  When  his  lordship  ,  Lord  Lansdowne,  Lord  John  Russell,  Lord  Mel- 
was  dangerously  ill,  he  was  informed  that  George  bourne,  the  Marchioness  of  Clanricarde  (Cannings 


Selwyn  had  called  at  his  door  to  inquire 


ifter  him. 


Selwyn,  as  is  well  known,  was  notorious  for  his 
passion  for  "  being  in  at  the  death  "  of  all  his 
acquaintances,  and  for  attending,  more  especially, 
every  execution  that  took  place.  "  Be  so  good," 
said  his  lordship,  "  in  case  Mr.  Selwyn  calls  again, 
to  show  him  up  without  fail  ;  for  if  I  am  alive,  I 


daughter,  who  for  many  years  did  not  forget  to  take 
vengeance  on  the  colleagues  and  political  opponents 
who  had  killed  her  father)  ;  Lord  King,  the  bishop- 
hater  ;  Wilberforce,  the  philanthropist  ;  Lord  Rad- 
nor, Charles  Grant,  and  Mackintosh.  Byron  and 
Campbell,  too,  were  guests  here  ;  and  the  name  of 
Lord  Holland  is  embalmed  by  the  former  in  his 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON.  [Holland  HO 


dedication  of  "  The  Bride  of  Abydos,"  and  by  the 
latter  in  that  of  "  Gertrude  of  Wyoming." 

It  is  evident  from  Macaulay,  Tom  Moore,  and 
the  other  members  of  the  Holland  House  clique, 
that,  though  they  were  nominally  the  guests  of 
Lord  Holland,  their  real  entertainer  was  her  lady- 
ship, in  whom  was  illustrated  the  proverb  which 
declares  that  "  the  grey  mare  is  often  the  better 
horse."  In  fact,  she  was  not  only  lady  paramount 
in  the  house,  but  often  insolently  imperious  towards 
her  guests,  whom,  as  one  man  wittily  remarked, 
she  treated  like  her  vassals,  though  she  was  only 
a  Vassall  herself,  alluding,  of  course,  to  her  maiden 
name.  "  The  centurion,"  it  has  been  remarked, 
"  did  not  keep  his  soldiers  in  better  order  than  she 
keeps  her  guests.  It  is  to  one, '  Go,'  and  he  goeth  ; 
and  to  another,  '  Do  this,'  and  it  is  done.  '  Ring 
the  bell,  Mr.  Macaulay.'  '  Lay  down  the  screen, 
Lord  Russell ;  you  will  spoil  it.'  '  Mr.  Allen,  take 


away,  he  ought  to  give  them  to  Lady  Byron.  But 
he  said  trial  he  would  not,  and  that  if  I  did 
not  take  them  the  bailiffs  would,  and  that  they 
would  be  lost  in  the  wreck."  Samuel  Rogers  pro- 
mised to  be  there  to  meet  Macaulay,  "  in  order  to 
give  him  an  insight  into  the  ways  of  that  house," 
and  of  its  imperious  mistress,  whose  pride  and 
rudeness  must  have  been  simply  intolerable  to 
ordinary  mortals.  Rogers  was  the  great  oracle  of 
the  Holland  House  circle—  a  sort  of  non-resident 
premier.  To  some  members  of  the  literary  world 
who  had  not  the  privilege  of  joining  in  the  charming 
circle  at  Holland  House,  the  sense  of  their  exclu- 
sion seemed  to  find  vent  in  some  shape  or  form. 
Theodore  Hook  would  appear  to  be  one  of  these, 
for  about  the  year  1819,  among  other  experiments, 
he  tried  to  set  up  a  tiny  magazine  of  his  own — the 
Arcadian — published,  we  believe,  at  a  shilling  ;  but 
we  know  not  how  many  numbers  of  it  were  issued 
a  candle,  and  show  Mr.  Cradock  the  pictures  of  j  before  the  publisher  lost  heart.  One  number  con- 
Buonaparte.'  "  Lord  Holland  was,  on  the  other  tained  a  lengthy  ballad  of  provoking  pungency, 
hand,  all  kindness,  simplicity,  and  vivacity.  One  satirising  Holland  House  in  very  severe  terms, 
of  the  occasional  visitors  here,  Mr.  Granville  Penn,  |  Some  excellent  remarks  apropos  of  Holland 
said  about  her  ladyship  a  good  thing,  which,  while  House  gatherings  and  its  associations  may  here  be 
it  helped  to  establish  his  credit  as  a  wit,  excluded  abridged  from  Mr.  J.  Fisher  Murray's  "  Environs 
him  from  its  hospitable  doors  for  ever.  "  Holland  '  of  London,"  in  which  a  scholar  who  had  the  entree 
House,"  a  friend  remarked  to  him,  "  is  really  a  of  that  hospitable  mansion  writes,  at  once  pro- 
most  pleasant  place ;  and  in  Lord  Holland's  com-  phetically  and  pathetically,  as  follows  : — "  Yet  a 
pany  you  might  imagine  yourself  inside  the  home  few  years,  and  these  shades  and  these  structures 
of  Socrates."  "It  certainly  always  seemed  so  may  follow  their  illustrious  masters.  The  wonderful 
to  me ;  for  I  often  seemed  to  hear  Xanthippe  '  city  which,  ancient  and  gigantic  as  it  is,  still  con- 
talking  rather  loud  in  the  adjoining  room,"  was  \  tinues  to  grow,  as  a  young  town  of  logwood  by  a 
Mr.  Penn's  reply.  In  fact,  Lady  Holland  herself,  water-privilege  in  Michigan,  may  soon  dispense 
who  presided  at  the  reunions  of  Holland  House,  \  with  those  turrets  and  gardens  which  are  associated 
was  most  arbitrary  and  domineering  in  her  manner,  with  so  much  that  is  interesting  and  noble  ;  with 
and,  consequently,  made  herself  unpopular  with  the  courtly  magnificence  of  Rich,  with  the  loves  of 
some  of  her  guests.  When  she  heard  that  Sir  Ormond,  with  the  councils  of  Cromwell,  with  the 
Henry  Holland  was  about  to  be  made  a  baronet,  j  death  of  Addison.  The  time  is  coming  when, 
she  expressed  herself  vexed  that  there  would  be  perhaps,  a  few  old  men,  the  last  survivors  of  our 
"two  Lady  Hollands."  But  that  could  not  be  generation,  will  seek  in  vain,  amid  new  streets  and 
helped.  ^  Ugo  Foscolo,  in  spite  of  having  obtained  ,  squares,  and  railway  stations,  for  the  site  of  that 
the  entree  of  Holland  House,  could  not  help  re-  ,  dwelling  which  in  their  youth  was  the  favourite 
garding  her  with  aversion,  and  once  said,  with  a  resort  of  wits  and  beauties,  of  painters  and  poets, 
strong  emphasis,  that,  "  though  he  could  go  any-  of  scholars,  philosophers,  and  statesmen  ;  they  will 
where"— even  to  a  certain  place,  which  shall  be  remember,  with  strange  tenderness,  many  objects 
nameless—"  with  his  lordship,  he  should  be  sorry  '  familiar  to  them— the  avenue  and  terrace  the  busts 
to  go  to  heaven  with  Lady  Holland."  |  and  the  paintings,  the  carvings,  the  grotesque 

Macaulay  did  not  find  an  entree  here  till  after  he    gilding,  and  the  enigmatical  mottoes.     With  pecu- 
ie  his  mark  in  Parliament.     Lady  Holland    liar    tenderness    they   will    recall    that    venerable 
on  one  occasion  took  him  into  her  own  drawing-  j  chamber   in   which  all   the   antique   gravity   of  a 
room  to  see  her  pictures,  which  included  thirty  by  |  college  library  was  so  singularly  blended  with  all 
Stothard,  all  on  subjects  from  Lord  Byron's  poems.  .  that  female  grace  and  wit  could  devise  to  embellish 
Yes,    sad  her  ladyship,  "  poor  Lord  Byron  sent    a  drawing-room.     They  will  recollect,  not  unmoved, 
em  to  me  a  short  time  before  the  separation.     I    those  shelves  loaded  with  the  varied  learning  of 
sent  them  back,  and  told  him  that,  if  he  gave  them    many  lands   and   many  .ages;   those   portraits    in 


DEATH   OF   LORD   HOLLAND. 


which  were  preserved  the  features  of  the  best  and 
wisest  Englishmen  of  two  generations.  They  will 
recollect  how  many  men  who  have  guided  the 
politics  of  Europe,  who  have  moved  great  assemblies 
by  reason  and  eloquence,  who  have  put  life  into 
bronze  or  canvas,  or  who  have  left  to  posterity 
things  so  written  that  society  will  not  willingly  let 
them  die,  were  there  mixed  with  all  that  was 
lovely  and  gayest  in  the  society  of  the  most 
splendid  of  modern  capitals.  .  .  .  They  will 
remember  the  singular  character,  too,  which  be- 
longed to  that  circle ;  in  which  every  talent  and 
accomplishment,  every  art  and  science,  had  its 
place.  They  will  remember  how  the  last  Parlia- 
mentary debate  was  discussed  in  one  corner,  and 
the  last  comedy  of  Scribe  in  another ;  while 
Wilkie  gazed  in  admiration  on  Reynolds's  'Baretti ;' 
while  Mackintosh  turned  over  Thomas  Aquinas  to 
verify  a  quotation ;  while  Talleyrand  related  his 
conversation  with  Barras  at  the  Luxembourg,  or  his 
ride  with  Lannes  over  the  field  of  Austerlitz.  They 
will  remember,  above  all,  the  grace  and  the  kind- 
ness — far  more  admirable  than  grace — with  which 
the  princely  hospitality  of  that  ancient  mansion 
was  dispensed ;  they  will  remember  the  venerable 
and  benignant  countenance  of  him  who  bade  them 
welcome  there ;  they  will  remember  that  temper 
which  thirty  years  of  sickness,  of  lameness,  and  of 
confinement  served  only  to  make  sweeter;  and, 
above  all,  that  frank  politeness  which  at  once  re- 
lieved all  the  embarrassment  of  the  most  timid 
author  or  artist  who  found  himself  for  the  first  time 


events  he  was  "Brutus." 


Jt  is  not  a  little  singular, 


ong 


ambassadors    and    earls.      They 


f  the  letters  were  not  written  by  Francis,  that 
they  ceased  to  appear  after  the  very  day  on  which 
Francis  quitted  the  shores  of  England  for  India, 
and  that  Garrick,  who  was  in  the  secret,  prophe- 
sied a  day  or  two  before  that  they  were  about 
'  cease. 

On  the  death  of  his  uncle,  Charles  James  Fox, 
Lord  Holland  was  introduced  into  the  Cabinet 
Lord  Privy  Seal ;  but  the  strength  of  the 
Whig  portion  of  the  Government  had  then  de- 
parted, and  the  only  measure  worthy  of  notice  in 
which  his  lordship  co-operated  after  his  accession 
to  office  was  the  Bill  for  the  Abolition  of  the  Slave 
Trade.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  multifarious 
debates  upon  the  Catholic  question,  the  Regency 
Bill,  £c. ;  and  when  the  Bill  to  legalise  the  detention 
of  Napoleon  as  a  prisoner  of  war  was  before  the 
House  of  Lords,  Lord  Holland  raised  his  voice 
against  it,  and,  until  death  relieved  the  prisoner,  he 
never  ceased  to  deprecate  what  he  deemed  the 
unwarrantable  conduct  towards  him  of  the  British 
Government  and  its  agents. 

Lord  Holland  died  in  October,  1840,  after  an 
illness  of  only  two  days'  duration.  Mr.  T.  Raikes, 
in  notifying  the  occurrence  in  his  "  Diary,"  remarks  : 
— "  Flahault  had  been  staying  at  Holland  House 
while  he  was  in  England,  and  left  him  in  good 
health  on  Tuesday.  He  arrived  here  yesterday 
morning,  and  to-day  receives  the  account  of  his 
death.  Lord  Holland  was  in  the  Cabinet,  and  held 
the  lucrative  post  of  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of 
Lancaster ;  he  was  sixty-seven.  When  I  went  to 
Eton  he  was  the  head  of  the  school,  and  was  the 


member,  finally,  that  in   the   last  lines  which  he 

traced   he   expressed    his  joy  that   he   had   done  j  first  prepositor  that  gave  me  my  liberty.     He  was  a 

nothing    unworthy   of  the   friend  of  Fox   and  of  I  mild,  amiable  man,  ruled  by  his  wife.     She  was  a 


Grey ;  and  they  will  have  reason  to  feel  a 
joy  if,  in  looking  back  on  many  troubled  years  of 
life,  they  cannot  accuse  themselves  of  having  done 
anything  unworthy  of  men  who  were  honoured  by 
the  friendship  of  Lord  Holland." 

Mr.  Rush,  in  his  "  Court  of  London,"  tells  us  a 
good  story  of  a  little  incident  which  happened  in 
the  drawing-room  here  after  dinner.  Advancing 
towards  Sir  Philip  Francis,  Mr.  Rogers  asked 
permission  to  put  a  question  to  him.  Francis,  no 
doubt,  guessed  what  was  coming,  for  everybody  at 
the  time  was  asking,  "  Who  is  Junius  ?  "  and  many 
persons  were  even  then  more  than  disposed  to 
identify  him  with  the  author  of  the  " 


Miss  Vassall,  with  a  large  fortune,  who  eloped  with 
him  from  her  first  husband,  Sir  Godfrey  Webster ; 
she  is  a  great  politician,  and  affects  the  esprit  fort. 
They  kept  a  hospitable  house,  and  received  all  the 
wits  of  the  day."  The  following  lines  were  written 
by  Lord  Holland  on  the  morning  of  the  day  when 
his  last  illness  commenced,  and  were  found  after  his 
death  on  his  dressing-room  table  :— 

"  Nephew  of  Fox  and  friend  of  Grey, 

Sufficient  for  my  fame, 
If  those  who  knew  me  best  shall  say 

I  tarnished  neither  name." 

Mr.  Raikes  also  adds :— "  Mrs.  Darner  writes  me 
that  the  new  Lord  Holland  inherits  an  estate  of 


were  published  under  that  signature,  and  were  ,  ^6,000  per  annum,  on  which  there  ,s  an  enormous 
exciting  the  nation.  Francis,  who  was  an  irritable  j  debt.  Holland  House  is  left  to  Lady  Holland,  who 
man,  shut  him  fairly  up  with  the  words,  «  At  your  \  will  not  live  there."  "Lord  Holland,  says  Mr 
peril,  sir '"  On  this,  Rogers  quietly  turned  away,  '  Peter  Cunningham,  "called  on  Lord  Lansdowne  a 
Obse  ving  that  if  Francis°was  not  "Junius,"  at  all  j  little  before  his  death,  and  showed  him  his  epitaph 


174 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


of  his  own  composing. 
Fox,  Lord  Holland,  &c 


<  Here  lies  Henry  Vassall 
who  was  drowned  while 


, 

sitting  in  his  elbow-chair.'  He  died  in  this  house,  in 
his  elbow-chair,  of  water  in  the  chest." 

The  following  is  a  character  of  Lord  Holland, 
written  by  a  friend  :—  "  The  benignant,  the  accom- 
plished Lord  Holland  is  no  more  ;  the  last  and  best 
of  the  Whigs  of  the  old  school,  the  long-tried  friend 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  has  closed  a  life  which 


to  have  a  hearing  for  every  argument,  lest  a  truth 
should  be  shut  out  from  his  mind.  The  charm  of 
his  conversation  will  never  be  forgotten  by  those 
who  have  enjoyed  it.  His  mind  was  full  of  anec- 
dote, which  was  always  introduced  with  the  most 
felicitous  appositeness,  and  exquisitely  narrated. 

"  Lord  Holland  had  lived  with  all  the  most  dis- 
tinguished and  eminent  men  of  the  last  forty  years ; 
but  his  knowledge  of  the  greatest,  the  most  eloquent, 


has  been  an  ornament  and  a  bulwark  of  the  Liberal 
cause.     He  was  one  of  England's  worthies  in  the 
pristine  sense  of  the   word  ;  and  a  more   finished 
example    of    the  steady    statesman,     the    urbane 
gentleman,   and    the  accomplished    scholar,  never  j 
existed.     Lord  Holland's  was  a  fine  mind,  and  a 
fine  mind  in  perpetual  exercise  of  the  most  health-  I 
ful  kind.      It  was  observed   of  him  that   he  was  | 
never  found  without  a  good  book  in  his  hand.    His 
understanding  was  thoroughly  masculine,  his  taste  , 
of  a  delicacy  approaching  perhaps  to  a  fault.     His 
opinions  he  maintained  earnestly  and  energetically,  , 
but  with  a  rare,  a  beautiful  candour.     Nothing  was 
proscribed  with  him.     As  of  old,  the  meanest  way- 
farers used  to  be  received  hospitably,  lest  angels 
should  be  turned  away ;   so  Lord  Holland  seemed 


the  most  witty,  or  the  most  learned,  had  not  indis- 
posed him  to  appreciate  merits  and  talents  of  a  less 
great  order.  He  was  a  friend  of  merit  wherever  it 
could  be  found,  and  knew  how  to  value  and  to 
encourage  it  in  all  its  degrees. 

"  None  ever  enjoyed  life  more  than  Lord  Holland, 
or  enjoyed  it  more  intellectually,  and  none  contri- 
tributed  more  largely  to  the  enjoyment  of  others. 
He  possessed  the  sunshine  of  the  breast,  and  no 
one  could  approach  him  without  feeling  its  genial  in- 
fluence. Lord  Holland  was  a  wit,  without  a  particle 
of  ill  nature,  and  a  man  of  learning,  without  a  taint 
ot  pedantry.  His  apprehension  of  anything  good 
was  unfailing ;  nothing  worth  observing  and  re- 
marking ever  escaped  him.  The  void  which  Lord 
Holland  has  left  will  never  be  filled  ;  a  golden 


CHARACTER   OF   LORD    HOLLAND. 


'75 


link  with  the  genius  of  the  last  age  is  broken  and  I  streets  and  villas  between  Kensington  and  Netting 
gone.    The  fine  intellect,  whose  light  burned  at  the    Hill.     In  the  above  year,  however,  this  feeling  was 


shrine  of  freedom,  is  extinguished, 
the  most  propitious  to  the  peace, 
the  world's  best  interests,  is  lost  i 
of  it  is  great  indeed." 


An  influence 
o  precious  to 


quieted  by  the  rumour   that   Lady   Holland,    the 
widow  of  the  last  lord,  had  disposed  of  the  rever- 


-hen  the  need  |  sion  of  the  house,  by  sale,  to  the  Earl  of  Ilchester, 
I  who,  it  was  stated,  had  expressed  his  intention  of 


E,     HOLLAND    HOUSE. 


Lord  Holland  was  succeeded    in  his   title  and 
estates  by  his  only  son,  Henry  Edward,  who  was  j 
some  time  the  British    Minister  at   the  Court  of 
Tuscany.     He  died  at  Naples  in  1859,  when  the  j 
barony  became  extinct.     From  that  time,  down  to  , 
the  year  1874,  it  was  always  a  matter  of  apprehen-  j 
sion  that  a  day  would  sooner  or  later  come  when,  | 
as  prophesied  by  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Holland  House  j 
must  become  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  be  swept  j 
away  in   order  to   make  room   for  new    lines   of 


keeping  the  mansion  in  its  integrity.  Lord  Ilches- 
ter's  name  is  Fox-Strangways,  and  it  is  the  latter 
name  that  has  been  assumed  by  his  branch  of  the 
family,  the  first  Lord  Holland  and  the  first  Lord 
Ilchester,  as  stated  above,  having  been  brothers. 
Lord  Macaulay,  in  writing  of  Holland  House,  says 
it  "  can  boast  of  a  greater  number  of  inmates  dis 
tinguished  in  political  and  literary  history  than  any 
other  private  dwelling  in  England."  In  the  li 
time  of  the  third  Lord  Holland  it  was  the  meeting- 


i76 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Holland  House. 


place  of  the  Whig  party ;  and  his  liberal  hospitality 
made  it,  as  Lord  Brougham  tells  us,  "  the  resort 
not  only  of  the  most  interesting  persons  composing 
English  society,  literary,  philosophical,  and  political, 
but  also  to  all  belonging  to  those  classes  who  ever 
visited  this  country  from  abroad." 

With  the  death  of  the  third  Lord  Holland,  the 
glories  of  Holland  House  may  be  said  to  have 
passed  away,  although  the  building  has  been  occu- 
pied as  an  occasional  residence  by  the  widow  of 
the  last  lord  since  his  death  in  1859;  and  an  air 
of  solitude  seems  indeed  to  have  gathered  round 
the  old  mansion.  A  custom  was  observed  for  many 
years,  till  a  recent  date,  of  firing  off  a  cannon  at 
eleven  o'clock  every  night ;  this  custom  originated, 
we  believe,  through  a  burglary  which  was  once 
attempted  here. 

Several  spots  in  the  grounds  round   the   house 
have  acquired  celebrity  in  connection  with    some 
name  or  circumstance.     Of  these  we  may  note  the 
part  lying  to  the  west,  towards  the  Addison  Road, 
which  formerly  went  by  the  name  of  "  the  Moats," 
where   the   duel   between  Captain    Best   and    the 
notorious  Lord  Camelford  took  place,  early  in  the 
present  century.     The  exact  spot  is   supposed  to 
have  been  the  site  of  the  older  mansion  belonging 
to   the    De   Veres.      The   quarrel   between   Lord 
Camelford  and  Mr.  Best,  of  which  we  have  spoken 
in  our  accounts  of  New  Bond  Street  and  Conduit 
Street,*  was  on  account  of  a  friend  of  Lord  Camel- 
ford,  a  lady  of  the  name  of  Symons,  and  it  occurred 
at  the  "Prince  of  Wales's  "  coffee-house  in  Conduit 
Street.     The  duel  was  fought  on  the  following  day 
(March  7,  1804),  arid  Lord  Camelford  was  killed,  j 
Although  there  really  was  no  adequate  cause  for  a  ' 
quarrel,   the    eccentric  nobleman  would  persist  in  j 
fighting  Mr.  Best,  because  the  latter  was  deemed 
the  best  shot  in  England,  and  that  "  to  have  made  ' 
an   apology   would    have   exposed    his    lordship's  ' 
courage   to   suspicion."     The   parties  met  on  the  ! 
ground  about  eight  o'clock  in  the   morning,  and  I 
having  taken  up    their  position,   Lord   Camelford  ' 
gave    the  first  shot,   which  missed   his  antagonist, 
when  Mr.  Best  fired,  and  lodged  the  contents  of 
his  weapon  in  his  lordship's  body.     He  immediately 
fell,  and  calling  his  adversary  to  him,  seized  him 
by  the  hand,  and  exclaimed,  "  I  am  a  dead  man  ! 
you   have   killed   me,    but  I  freely  forgive  you." 
He   repeated   several   times   that  he  was  the  sole 
aggressor.     He  was  conveyed  to  a  house  close  at 
hand,  and  a  surgeon  soon  arrived  from  Kensington, 
and   immediately  pronounced  the  wound  mortal. 
Upon  the  spot  where  the  duel  was  fought  the  late 


Lord  Holland  set  up  an  "  expiatory  classical  altar," 
which,  however,  was  removed  a  few  years  ago. 
With  the  passion  for  eccentricity  which  had 
characterised  him,  Lord  Camelford  had  directed 
that  he  should  be  buried  in  a  lonely  spot  on  an 
island  in  Switzerland,  which  had  interested  him 
during  his  travels ;  his  wishes,  however,  were  not 
complied  with,  for  his  body  was  interred  in  the 
vaults  of  St.  Anne's  Church,  Soho,  where  it  still 
remains.*  "  This  very  spot,"  the  Princess  Marie 
Lichstenstein  tells  us,  "  was,  a  few  years  ago,  the 
scene  of  merry  parties,  where  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
d'Aumale  used  to  fish  with  the  late  Lord  Holland.'' 
At  the  back  of  the  mansion  is  a  broad  expanse  of 
greensward,  dotted  here  and  there  with  stately 
elms;  and  here,  in  an  alcove  facing  the  west,  is 
inscribed  the  couplet  that  we  have  given  as  a  motto 
to  this  chapter,  and  which  was  put  up  by  the  late 
Lord  Holland  in  honour  of  Mr.  Rogers.  Here  is 
also  a  copy  of  verses  by  Mr.  Luttrell,  expressing 
his  inability  to  emulate  the  poet  The  undulating 
grounds  on  this  side  of  the  house  are  terminated  by 
a  row  of  mansions  built  on  the  fringe  of  the  estate  ; 
and  the  eastern  side  is  bounded  by  a  rustic  lane, 
in  part  overhung  with  trees.  Close  by  the  western 
side  of  the  house  are  small  gardens,  laid  out  in 
both  the  ancient  and  modern  styles,  the  work  of 
the  late  I>ady  Holland,  the  former  of  them  being  a 
fitting  accompaniment  to  the  old  house.  Here  are 
evergreens  clipped  into  all  sorts  of  fantastic  forms, 
together  with  fountains  and  terraces  befitting  the 
associations  of  the  place.  In  one  of  these  gardens, 
says  Leigh  Hunt,  was  raised  the  first  specimen  of 
the  dahlia,  which  the  late  Lord  Holland  is  under- 
stood to  have  brought  from  Spain ;  in  another,  on 
a  pedestal,  is  a  colossal  bust  of  Napoleon,  by  a 
pupil  of  Canova.  Engraved  on  the  pedestal  is  a 
quotation  from  Homer's  "  Odyssey,"  which  may  be 
thus  rendered  in  English  : — 

"  The  hero  is  not  dead,  but  breathes  the  air 

In  lands  beyond  the  deep  : 
Some  island  sea-begirded,  where 
Harsh  men  the  prisoner  keep." 

The  Highland  and  Scottish  Societies'  gatherings, 
with  their  characteristic  sports  and  pastimes,  were 
held  in  these  grounds  for  many  years. 

The  grounds  around  the  house  are  rich  in  oaks, 
plane-trees,  and  stately  cedars,  whose  dark  foliage 
sets  off  the  features  of  the  old  mansion.  Of  the 
grounds  in  front  of  the  house,  there  is  a  tradition 
that  Cromwell  and  Ireton  conferred  there,  "as  a 
place  in  which  they  could  not  be  overheard." 
Leigh  Hunt,  in  his  "  Old  Court  Suburb,"  observes 


•  See  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  303,  323. 


.  P.  ,8*. 


Ilill.j 


LITTLE   HOLLAND   HOUSE. 


that,  "whatever  the  subject  of  their  conference 
may  have  been,  they  could  not  have  objected  to 
being  seen,  for  there  were  neither  walls,  nor  even 
trees,  we  believe,  at  that  time  in  front  of  the  house, 
as  there  are  now ;  and,"  he  adds,  "  we  may  fancy 
royalists  riding  by,  on  their  road  to  Brentford,  where 
the  king's  forces  were  defeated,  and  trembling  to 
see  the  two  grim  republicans  laying  their  heads 
together." 

Near    Holland    House,    in   Nightingale    Lane, 
stands   a   small    mansion,   called    Little    Holland  j 
House,  where  Mrs.  Inchbald  once  spent  a  few  days 
with  its  occupant,  a  Mrs.  Bubb ;  here,  too,  lived 
and  died  Miss  Fox,  sister  of  the  late  Lord  Holland. 

Facing  the  Uxbridge  Road  at  the  extreme  end, 
at  the  north-west  corner  of  the  grounds  of  Holland 
House,  there  was  a  smaller  mansion,  with  a 
"  pleasaunce "  garden  and  lawn,  of  about  seven 
acres,  which  for  many  years  was  owned  and 
tenanted  by  a  natural  son  of  Lord  Holland — 
General  Fox,  the  celebrated  numismatist,  some 


time  M.P.  'for  Stroud,  and  Secretary  to  the 
Ordnance  Board,  who  married  Lady  Mary  Fitz- 
clarence.  The  grounds,  however,  were  sold  in 
1875  for  building  purposes,  and  the  house  was 
soon  after  pulled  down. 

At  the  western  extremity  of  the  parish  of  Ken- 
sington, on  the  road  towards  Hammersmith,  were 
the  nursery-grounds  of  Messrs.  Lee.  These 
grounds,  says  Leigh  Hunt,  "  have  been  known  in 
the  parish  books,  under  the  title  of  the  Vineyard, 
ever  since  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror. 
Wine,  described  as  a  sort  of  burgundy,  was  actually 
made  and  sold  in  them  as  late  as  the  middle  of 
the  last  century.  James  Lee,  the  founder  of  the 
present  firm  who  own  the  grounds,  was  the  author 
of  one  of  the  earliest  treatises  on  botany,  and  a  cor- 
respondent of  Linnaeus."  In  Faulkner's  "  History 
of  Kensington,"  published  in  1820,  we  read  that  the 
nursery-grounds  round  this  neighbourhood  covered 
no  less  than  1 24  acres,  and  that  they  belonged  to 
eight  different  proprietors. 


CHAPTER    XV. 
NOTTING     HILL    AND    BAYSWATER. 

The  Old  Turnpike  Gate-Derivation  of  the  Name  of  Notting  Hill-The  Manor  of  Notting  or  Nutting  Barns-Present  Aspect  of  Notting  Hill-Old 
Inns  and  Taverns-Gallows  Close-The  Road  where  Lord  Holland  drew  up  his  Forces  previous  to  the  Battle  of  Brentford- Kensington 
Gravel  Pits-Tradesmen's  Tokens- A  Favourite  Locality  for  Artists  and  Laundresses-Appearance  of  the  District  at  the  Beginning  of  the 
Present  Century-Reservoirs  of  the  Grand  Junction  Waterworks  Company- Ladbroke  Square  and  Grove-Kensington  Park  Gardens-St 
John's  Church-Notting  Hill  Farm-Norland  Square-Orme  Square-Bayswater  House,  the  Residence  of  Fauntleroy,  the  Forger-St. 
Petersburg!!  Place-The  H,pp<xirome-St.  Stephen's  Chnrch-Portobello  Farm-The  Convent  of  the  Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor-Bays- 
water-The  Cultivation  of  Watercr=sses-An  Ancient  Conduit-Public  Tea  Gardens-Sir  John  Hill,  the  Botanist-Craven  House-Craven 
Road  and  Craven  Hill  Gardens-The  Pest-house  Fields-Upton  Farm-The  Toxophiiite  Society-WeMbourne  Grove  and  Terrace- 1 
ReTdence  of  John  Sadle.r,  the  Fraudulent  M.P.-LancMter  Ga.e-The  Pioneer  of  Tramways-Queen  Charlotte's  Lying-in  Hospital-Death 
of  Dr.  Adam  Clarke— The  Burial-ground  of  St.  George's,  Hanover  Square. 

As  soon  as  ever  we  quit  the  precincts  of  Ken-  ]  and  Westbourne  Grove  !  We  fear  that  the  nuts,  and 
sington  proper,  and  cross  the  Uxbridge  Road,  we  j  the  shepherds,  and  the  nightingales  which,  so  lately 
become  painfully  conscious  of  a  change.  We  have  as  the  reign  of  William  IV,  sang  sweetly  here  in  the 
left  the  "  Old  Court  Suburb,"  and  find  ourselves  in  summer  nights,  are  now,  each  and  all,  things  ol 
one  that  is  neither  "  old  "  nor  "  court-like."  The  the  past. 


vith  its  small  shops  on  either  side,  is 
narrow  and  unattractive,  and  the  dwellings  are  not 


Notting  Hill  is  said  to  derive  its  name  from  a 


larrow  ana  muuiramvc,  *uu  ,.,  »,«UUB.  ^  -.  .  -anor  in  Kensington  called  _"  Knotting-Bernes 
old  enough  to  have  a  history  or  to  afford  shelter  for  or  "  Knutting-Barnes,"  sometimes  written  Not 
an  anecdote.  About  the  centre  of  this  thorough-  j  ting,"  or  "  Nutting-barns  "-so,  at  least  writes 
fare,  at  the  spot  whence  omnibuses  are  continually  '  Lysons,  in  his  "Environs  of  London.  He  adds 
star  ing  on  the  journey  eastward  towards  the  City,  that  the  property  belonged  formerly  to  the  De 
3  till  about  the  year  1860,  a  small  and  rather  Veres,  Earls  of  Oxford  (which  would  naturally  be 


stood, 


stood    till  auoui  me  year   iouu.  a  auiau  u-«v*  IH-«.»»V.*  .  .  . 

Picturesque  turnpike-gate,  which  commanded  not  the  case,  as  it  formed  part  of  Kensington  parish 
only  the  road  towards  Notting  Hill  and  Shepherd's  ;  and  manor);  and  subsequently  to  Lord  jiurleign, 
Bush,  but  also  that  which  branches  off  to  the  ,  who,  as 


have  already  seen,  lived at  Brompto, 
of 


north  and  north-east  in  the  direction  of  the  Grove  \  Hall,  not   very  far    from    the   ne 
of  Westbourne.      What   rural   ideas  and   pictures  |  Kensington     ^  Robins' «  Hvstory 


anse  before  our  mental  eye  as  we  mention  Notting  j  we  read  that  the  "ma  ^ 

-possibly  Nutting-Hill,  and  the  Shepherd's  Bush  I  Kensington,  then   Nuttmg  Barns,  afterw 


I7g 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Netting  Hiii. 


'  Knotting-barns,'  in  Stockdale's  new  map  of  the  so  here  the  various  inns  and  taverns  would  appear 
country  round  London,  1790;  'Knolton  Barn,'  j  to  have  shown  by  their  signs  a  tendency  to  the 
now  '  Notting-barns,'  was  carved  out  of  the  original  ,  sports  of  the  road,  for  within  a  short  distance  we  find 
manor  of  '  Chenesitun.'"  From  an  inquisition;  "The  Black  Lion,"  "The  Swan,"  "The  Feathers," 
taken  at  Westminster,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  "The  Nag's  Head,"  "The  Horse  and  Groom,"  and 
it  appears  that  "the  manor  called  Notingbarons,  "The  Coach  and  Horses,"  many  of  which,  no  doubt, 


alias  Kensington,  in  the  parish  of  Paddington,  was 
held  of  the  Abbot  of  Westminster  as  of  his  manor 
of  Paddington  by  fealty  and  twenty-two  shillings 


were,  half  a  century  ago,  the  resorts  of  highway- 
men when  they  had  done  a  little  bit  of  business  on 
the  Uxbridge  or  the  Harrow  Road,  and  which,  if 


rent;"  but  since  the  time  of  the  Reformation  ,  their  mute  walls  could  speak,  might  tell  many  a 
"  Notting-barns  "  seems  to  have  been  considered  a  >  tale  of  coaches  robbed,  and  the  plunder  shared 
part  of  Kensington.  Notting  Barns  Manor  was  j  between  the  "  knights  of  the  road "  and  obliging 
held  successively  by  the  De  Veres,  and  by  Robert  ,  landlords. 

Fenroper,  Alderman  of  London,  who  exchanged  j  The  parish  extends  along  the  Uxbridge  Road  as 
with  King  Henry  VIII.  It  was  afterwards  granted  j  far  as  Shepherd's  Bush.  On  the  left  of  the  road 
to  Pawlet,  Earl  of  Wiltshire,  from  whom  it  passed  |  was  a  piece  of  waste  ground,  known  till  recently  as 
to  Lord  Burghley.  The  manor  was  next  held  by  i  "  Gallows  Close,"  so  called  from  the  fact  of  two  men 
the  Copes,  Andersons,  and  Darbys,  and  in  1820  it  having  been  executed  here  for  a  highway  robbery 
was  owned  by  Sir  William  Talbot.  Down  to  a  in  1748.  The  gallows,  or  part  of  it,  remained  till 
very  recent  period,  much  of  the  district  through  ,  about  1800.  The  ancient  highway  from  London 
which  we  are  about  to  pass  bore  rather  a  bad  i  to  Turnham  Green  is  said  by  Faulkner,  in  his 
character  for  thieves  and  housebreakers,  and  was  i  "History  of  Kensington"  (1820),  to  have  passed 
somewhat  noted  for  its  piggeries  and  potteries ;  but  j  by  Tyburn  to  the  Gravel  Pits,  and  to  have  branched 
these  have  all  been  swept  away  by  the  advancing  off  to  the  left  at  Shepherd's  Bush,  through  a  field, 
tide  of  bricks  and  mortar.  The  "  potteries  "  are  (  at  the  western  extremity  of  which  (he  adds)  the  road 
still  kept  in  remembrance  by  Pottery  Lane,  in  ,  is  still  visible,  though  now  entirely  impassable 
which  is  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  St.  Francis  j  from  the  overhanging  branches  of  the  trees  on  both 
of  Assisi,  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter.  The  ,  sides  of  the  road,  and  from  having  become  a  deep 
ground  about  Notting  Hill  lies  high,  and  the  soil  slough  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Pallenswick  Green. 
is  a  stiff  clay,  while  that  of  Kensington  proper  This  was  the  road  where  the  Earl  of  Holland  drew 
is  chiefly  sand  and  gravel ;  but  in  reality,  Notting  up  his  forces  previous  to  the  Battle  of  Brentford,  as 
Hill  forms  part  and  parcel  of  Kensington  itself,  related  in  "  Clarendon's  History  of  the  Rebellion." 
which  stretches  away  some  distance  northward  in  (  But  we  must  not  travel  too  far  afield, 
the  direction  of  Kensal  Green.  "  The  principal  j  We  have  already  spoken  of  Kensington  Gravel 
street,"  writes  Faulkner,  in  1820,  "runs  along  the  '  Pits.  This  must  be  understood  as  a  vague  name 
high  road  for  about  three  furlongs.  The  village  :  for  an  undefined  district,  lying  partly  to  the  north 
enjoys  an  excellent  air  and  beautiful  prospects  on  and  partly  to  the  south  of  the  Uxbridge  Road  ; 
the  north,  and  lying  in  the  direct  road  for  Uxbridge  indeed,  the  greater  part  was  on  the  north  side  :  this 
and  Oxford,  it  is  enlivened  every  hour  by  the  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  house  belonging 
passage  of  mail-coaches,  stages,  and  wagons."  to  Lord  Craven,  at  Craven  Hill,  which  was  bor- 

The  neighbourhood  has  become,  of  late  years,  rowed  by  Queen  Anne  as  a  nursery  for  her  children 
a  favourite  residence  for  artists  and  sculptors,  is  mentioned  by  contemporary  writers  as  being 
among  whom  may  be  reckoned  Mr.  J.  Philip,  Mr.  •'  situated  at  Kensington  Gravel  Pits."  Several 
Watts,  Mr.  Holman  Hunt,  and  also  Mr.  William  local  tradesmen's  tokens,  dated  in  1660-70,  at  the 
Theed.  On  either  side  of  a  narrow  lane  leading  Gravel  Pits,  are  engraved  by  Faulkner.  Since  the 
from  Campden  Hill  towards  Holland  House  is  a  disappearance  of  the  actual  gravel  pits,  their  name 
nest  of  mansions,  each  standing  in  its  own  grounds,  seems  to  have  been  superseded  by  the  joint  in- 
known  as  the  "  Dukery."  Among  its  present  and  fluence  of  the  new  streets  on  Notting  Hill  and  in 
late  occupants  are  the  Dukes  of  Argyll  and  Rut-  !  Bayswater.  Leigh  Hunt,  in  his  "Old  Court  Suburb," 
land,  the  Dowager  Duchess  of  Bedford,  and  Lords  says  :-"  Readers  may  call  to  mind  a  remnant  of 
Airhe  and  Macaulay.  one  of  the  pits>  existing  bu[  a  few  yeafs  ago>  tQ  ^ 

lehus  Wood,  a  celebrated  soldier  of  fortune,    north  of  the  Palace  in  Kensington  Gardens,  and 
characterised   in   the    Tatlar  under   the   name   of   adding  greatly  to  their  picturesque  look  thereabouts. 
mo,    died   here  in   1711.     As  in  most  of  the  :  A  pleasant  poetical  tradition  was  connected  with  it, 
of  London  which  lay  along  the  main  roads,  j  of  which  we  shall  have  something  further  to  say 


Notting  Hill.] 


THE   GRAND   JUNCTION   WATERWORKS. 


Now,  the  Gravel  Pits  were  the  fashionable  suburb  London,  acres  which,  only  half  a  century  ago,  were 
resort  of  invalids,  from  the  times  of  William  and  still  nursery-grounds  and  market-gardens,  have  been 
Anne  to  the  close  of  the  last  century.  Their  forced  to  give  place  to  railways  and  their  approaches, 


'  country  air,'  as  it  was  called,  seems  to  have  been 
preferred,  not  only  to  that  of  Essex,  but  to  that 
of  Kent.  Garth,  in  his  '  Dispensary,'  makes  an 
apothecary  say  that  sooner  than  a  change  shall 
take  place,  from  making  the  poor  pay  for  medicine 
to  giving  it  them  gratis — 

"  '  Alps  shall  sink  to  vales, 
And  leeches  in  our  glasses  turn  to  whales  ; 
Alleys  at  Wapping  furnish  us  with  new  modes, 
And  Monmouth  Street  Versailles'  riding  hoods  ; 
The  rich  to  th'  Hundreds  in  pale  crowds  repair, 
And  change  "  the  Gravel  Pits  "  for  Kentish  air.' " 

The  spot,  in  fact,  has  long  been  held  in  high  repute 
for  the  salubrity  of  the  air,  and  in  the  last  genera  ' 


and  to  the  building  of  suburban  towns.  To  use 
the  words  of  a  writer  in  the  Cornhill  Magazine  in 
1866:— "The  growth  of  London  has  gradually 
pushed  the  market-gardener  into  the  country;  and 
now,  instead  of  sending  up  his  produce  by  his  own 
wagon,  he  trusts  it  to  the  railway,  and  is  often 
thrown  into  a  market  fever  by  a  late  delivery.  To 
compensate  him,  however,  for  the  altered  state  of  the 
times,  he  often  sells  his  crops,  like  a  merchant  upon 
'Change,  without  the  trouble  of  bringing  more  than 
a  few  hand-samples  in  his  pockets.  He  is  nearly 
seventy  years  of  age,  though  he  looks  scarce  fifty, 
and  can  remember  the  time  when  there  were 
10,000  acres  of  ground  under  cultivation  for  vege- 


it  had  become  a  noted  place  for  the  residence  of  j  tables  within  four  miles  of  Charing  Cross,  besides 
artists.  The  neighbourhood,  too,  has  long  been  .  about  3,000  more  acres  planted  witli  fruit  to  supply 
a  favourite  haunt  and  home  of  laundresses ;  and  the  London  consumption.  He  has  lived  to  see  the 
no  wonder,  for  Faulkner,  in  his  "  History  of  Ken-  Deptford  and  Bermondsey  gardens  sadly  curtailed ; 
sington,"  speaks  of  an  overflowing  spring  on  the  the  Hoxton  and  Hackney  gardens  covered  with 
Norland  House  Estate  as  "  peculiarly  soft,  and  |  houses  ;  the  Essex  plantations  pushed  further  off; 
adapted  to  washing,"  the  same  water  being  "  leased  and  the  Brompton  and  Kensington  nurseries— the 
to  three  persons,  who  pay  each  seven  shillings  a  home  of  vegetables  for  centuries — dug  up,  and  sown 


vith  International  Exhibition  temples,  and  Italian 
Gardens,  that  will  never  grow  a  pea  or  send  a  single 
cauliflower  to  market.  He  has  lived  to  see  Guernsey 


week  for  it,  and  retail  it  about  the  neighbourhood 
at  a  halfpenny  a  pail." 

These  were  really  gravel  pits  half  a  century  ago, 
and  the  inequality  of  the  surface  bore  testimony  to  and  Jersey,  Cornwall,  the  Solly  Isles,  Holland, 
the  fact  Sir  A.  Calcott's  house  was  in  a  hollow,  j  Belgium,  and  even  Portugal,  with  many  other  still 
artificially  made,  and  his  garden  was  commanded  '  more  distant  places,  competing  with  the  remote  out- 
from  above  by  that  of  his  next-door  neighbour,  Mr.  skirts  of  London,  and  has  been  staggered  by  seeing 
Thomas  Webster,  then  a  rising  artist,  but  who  re- 


tired  from  the  Royal  Academy  in  1876.  Faulkner 
thus  writes  in  his  "  History  of  Kensington,"  pub- 
lished in  1820  : — "The  valley  on  the  north  is  laid 
down  with  grass,  and  the  whole  of  this  district 
appears  to  have  undergone  but  little  alteration,  in 
respect  to  culture  and  division  of  the  land,  for 
several  ages. 


the  market  supplied  with  choice  early  peas  from 
such  an  unexpected  quarter  as  French  Algeria." 

Building  operations  would  seem  to  have  com- 
menced about  this  neighbourhood,  on  either  side 
of  the  main  road,  in  the  early  part  of  the  present 
century.  Much  later,  about  the  year  1857,  a 
portion  of  the  north  margin  of  Holland  Park, 


Although  the  distance  from  London  abutting  upon  the  roadway,  and  extending  from 

is   scarcely   three   miles,    yet   the   traveller   might  Holland  Lane  to  Addison  Road,  was  cut  off  and 

magTne  Lse     to  be    embosomed    in   the   most  laid  out  for  building  purposes    and  two  rows  of 

sequestered   parts  of  the    country,   for  nothing  is  mansions,  with  large  gardens  before  them,  have 


ancient  brick  building,  surrounded  by  spacious 
bams  and  other  out-houses ;  the  public  road  to 
Kensal  Green  passes  through  the  farm-yard."  How 
altered  the  appearance  of  the  neighbourhood  e 
end  of  half  a  century ! 

It    is  much  to  be  lamented  by  the  lovers 
rural  scenery  that  here,  as  indeed  on  every  side  o 


The  chief  works  in  connection  with  this  company 
are  situated  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Thames,  a 
little  above  Kew  Bridge.  The  water  is  taken  by  a 
lire  conduit  pipe  from  the  middle  of  the  river  to 
the  works  on  the  shore,  where  it  is  Pu™Pe^m^ 

town.     In  connection  with  the  works  at  Kew  is 


OLD  AND   NEW   LONDON. 


stand-pipe,   upwards  of  200   feet   in  height,  by    called   Tower   Crecy,    erected   by   Mr.    Page    the 
•hich  the  water  is    conveyed   through   the   main    architect  of  Westminster^  Bridge,  in  honour 
ipes  into  the  districts  to  be  supplied.     The  main 
which  brings  the  water  to  Campden  Hill  is  between 


pipes  into  the  districted  be"supplied.     The  main    Black  Prince,  whose  emblems  adorn  the  exterior  in 

— •    -—  'all  its  stages.     It   is   said  that  the    holder  of  the 

and  seven  miles  in  length,  and  the  reservoir    lease  of  the  house  is  bound  to  hoist  on  its  summit 


here  is  capable  of  containing  6,000,000  gallons. 


a  flag  on  the  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Crecy. 


The  tall  brick  shaft  of  the  works  here  forms   a  |  Between  Holland  Park  and  the   Waterwork 

conspicuous  object  on  every  side   of 

Netting  Hill.      In    1811    a    company 

was  formed,  who  availed  themselves  of 

the  powers  granted  by  a  clause  in  the 

Grand  Junction  Canal  Company's  Act, 

for   supplying    water   brought  by  the 

canal  from  the  rivers  Colne  and  Brent, 

and  from  a  large  reservoir  supplied  by 

land    drainage    in    the    north-western 

part  of  Middlesex.    Those  waters  were 

represente;!     to      r~ 


be  much  superior  to  that  of  the  Thames ;  but 
experience  disappointed  the  hopes  of  the  pro- 
jectors :  the  water  was  found  not  only  to  be 
bad  in  quality,  but  deficient  in  quantity  also ;  and 
after  various  vain  expedients  to  remedy  the  evils, 
the  company,  which  had  taken  the  name  of  the 
"  Grand  Junction  Waterworks  Company,"  resorted 
to  the  Thames,  taking  their  supply  from  a  point 
near  Chelsea  Hospital.  Adjoining  the  Waterworks 
is  a  lofty  castellated  building  in  the  Gothic  style, 


some  detached  mansions: — Aubrey  House  and 
others.  One  of  these  was  the  site  of  some  medi- 
cinal wells  which  were  of  repute  in  the  last  century. 
On  the  north  side  of  Netting  Hill  is  Ladbroke 
Square — so  called  after  the  name  of  the  family 
who  took  it  on  a  building  lease— and  which,  for 
style  in  the  houses  and  the  general  appearance  of 
the  central  enclosure,  falls  but  little  short  of  some 
|  of  the  more  aristocratic  squares  of  the  West-end. 
j  The  west  end  of  the  Square  is  crossed  by  Ladbroke 
|  Grove,  which  extends  northward  as  far  as  Kensal 
I  New  Town.  On  the  north  side  of  the  Square  are 
j  Kensington  Park  Gardens,  a  name  given  to  a 


Notting  Hill.] 


THE    HIPPODROME. 


goodly  row  of  houses  overlooking  the  Square.  The  j  erected  about  1815,  called  St.  Petersburg  Place, 
handsome  modern  Gothic,  or  Early  English,  church  |  Moscow  Road,  Coburg  Place,  &c.  These  names 
of  St.  John,  not  far  off,  in  Lansdowne  Crescent,  j  commemorate  the  visit  of  the  Allied  Sovereigns, 
dates  from  the  year  1845.  It  is  cruciform  in  plan,  j  in  1814.  In  the  centre  of  Petersburg  Place,  Mr. 
with  an  elegant  spire  rising  from  the  intersection  '  Orme  erected  in  1818  a  private  chapel,  to  serve  as 
of  the  nave  and  chancel.  This  church  stands  on  '  a  chapel  of  ease  to  Paddington.  It  appears  to 
what  was  "  Notting  Hill  Farm,"  when  Faulkner  ;  have  been  the  first  private  speculation  of  the  kind 
wrote  in  1820,  a  lonely  hill  commanding  extensive  j  in  the  suburbs,  and  not  to  have  been  built  till  the 
views,  owing  to  the  absence  of  woods.  '  growth  of  the  population  rendered  it  necessary. 


t  Nor-  1      Much  of  the  ground  about  this  neighbourhood, 


Norland  Square  perpetuates  the  name  o 


For  much 

west  ^Craven  Hill,  upon  j  the  Hippodrome  in 
whidTthTsJuare  i.  built     Bayswater  House,  an    are  indebted  to  the 
isolated  mansion  in  the  Bayswater  Road,  between 
Lancaster  Gate  and  Orme  Square,  was  the  resi- 


Orme  Square,  wh.ch  abuts  upon  the  Uxbndg  ™  "^    it  had  become  almost  forgotten 

Road,  overlooking  Kensington  Gardens,  is  named  ;  *«"~?Pf^  "  ars>  and  its  site  clean 

after  a  Mr.  Orme,  formerly  a  printseller  in  Bond  |  after  a  lapse  ofjwenty  ^y  ^,  ^^  ^^  ^ 
Street,    who   purchased    a   considerable    space    of  |  blott( 
ground  lying  to   the 

JrMakinglthe7w^  aristocratiqm  d  Routine  (alias 
Rotten)  Rcw,  you  pass  out  at  Cumberland  Gate, 
Thence  you  arrive 


avelty  and  pride,  we 


dence  of  Fauntleroy,  the  forger.     A  new  range  of 
ouildings,  to  the  north-east  of  Orme  Square,  was 


and  then  trot  on  to  Bayswater 

at  the  Kensington   Gravel    Pits,  and  descending 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


land  was  treated  for  and  engaged  close  to  Netting 
Hill.  Here  were  erected  stabling  and  boxes  for  about 
seventy-five  race-horses,  with  every  convenience  for 
a  training  establishment ;  a  very  good  race-course 
also  was  formed,  and  numerous  stakes  were  run  for 
on  it  in  1838.  But,  unfortunately,  the  proprietors 
overlooked  one  circumstance  at  once  fatal  to  the 
Hippodrome,  as  the  establishment  was  named :  the 
soil  was  a  deep,  strong  clay,  so  that  the  training- 
ground  could  be  used  by  horses  only  at  particular 


where  on  the  left  stands  the  terrace  of  Netting 
Hill,  find  opposite  the  large  wooden  gates  of  a 
recent  structure.  Entering  these,  I  was  by  no 
means  prepared  for  what  opened  upon  me.  Here, 
without  figure  of  speech,  was  the  most  perfect  race- 
course that  I  had  ever  seen.  Conceive,  almost 
within  the  bills  of  mortality,  an  enclosure  some 
two  miles  and  a  half  in  circuit,  commanding  from 
its  centre  a  view  as  spacious  and  enchanting  as 
that  from  Richmond  Hill  (?),  and  where  almost 

the  only  thing  that  you  can  not  see  is  London,  i  periods  of  the  year.  This  was  a  difficulty  not  to 
Around  this,  on  the  extreme  circle,  next  to  the 
lofty  fence  by  which  it  is  protected,  ....  is  con- 
structed, or  rather  laid  out — for  the  leaps  are 
natural  fences — the  steeplechase  course  of  two 
miles  and  a  quarter.  Within  this,  divided  by  a 
slight  trench,  and  from  the  space  appropriated  to 
carriages  and  equestrians  by  strong  and  handsome 
posts  all  the  way  round,  is  the  race-course,  less 
probably  than  a  furlong  in  circuit.  Then  comes 
the  enclosure  for  those  who  ride  or  drive  as  afore- 
said ;  and  lastly,  the  middle,  occupied  by  a  hill, 


from  which  every  yard  of  the  running  is  com- 
manded, besides  miles  of  country  on  every  side 
beyond  it,  and  exclusively  reserved  for  foot  people. 
I  could  hardly  credit  what  I  saw.  Here  was, 
almost  at  our  doors,  a  racing  emporium  more 
extensive  and  attractive  than  Ascot  or  Epsom, 
with  ten  times  the  accommodation  of  either,  and 
where  carriages  are  charged  for  admission  at  three- 
fourths  less.  This  great  national  undertaking  is 
the  sole  result  of  individual  enterprise,  being 
effected  by  the  industry  and  liberality  of  a  gentle- 
man by  the  name  of  Whyte.  .  .  .  This  is  an 
enterprise  which  must  prosper ;  it  is  without  a 
competitor,  and  it  is  open  to  the  fertilization  of 
many  sources  of  profit.  As  a  site  for  horse 
exercise,  can  any  riding-house  compare  with  it? 
For  females,  it  is  without  the  danger  or  exposure 


be  got  over,  and  as  a  race-course  the  Hippodrome 
soon  closed  its  short  career,  doubtless  with  a  heavy 
loss  to  the  proprietors." 

It  would  appear,  from  other  channels  of  sporting 
information,  that  the  first  public  day  was  given  on 
Saturday,  the  3rd  of  June,  1837,  and  that  it  naturally 
drew  together  as  brilliant  an  assembly  as  ever  met 
together  in  London.  "  On  account  of  its  vicinity 
to  town,  every  refreshment  was  provided  at  a  rate 
for  which  those  who  had  been  used  to  the  terrible 
extortions  elsewhere  would  hardly  have  been  pre- 
pared. Splendid  equipages  occupied  the  circle 
allotted  to  them,  while  gay  marquees,  with  all  their 
flaunting  accompaniments,  covered  the  hall,  filled 
with  all  the  good  things  of  this  life,  and  iced 
champagne,  which  can  hardly  be  called  a  mortal 
beverage.  The  racing  was  for  plates  of  fifty  and 
100  sovereigns,  with  moderate  entrances,  given  by  . 
the  proprietors.  The  ^100  plate  was  won  by  Mr. 
Wickham's  '  Pincher,'  and  the  steeplechase  by  Mr. 
Elmore's  '  Lottery,'  ridden  by  Mason.  There  was  a 
second  meeting  appointed  for  Monday  and  Tues- 
day, the  1 9th  and  zoth  of  the  same  month,  but  the 
former  day  alone  '  came  off,'  the  other  day's  racing 
being  postponed  on  account  of  the  death  of  King 
William." 

A   writer  in   the  Sporting  Magazine,  who  signs 
himself  "  Juan,"  remarks  : — "  As  a  place  of  fashion- 


Count  D'Orsay. 
destined  to  see 


Another  year,  I  cannot  doubt,  is 
rank  among  the  most  favourite 


of  the  parks  ;  as  a  training-ground  for  the  turf  or  I  able  resort,  it  certainly  opened   under   promising 
the  field  it  cannot  be  exceeded  ;  and  its   character    auspices,  the  stewards  being  Lord  Chesterfield  and 
cannot  be  better  summed  up  than  by  describing 
it  as  a  necessary  of  London  life,  of  the  absolute 
need  of  which  we  were  not  aware  until  the  posses- 
sion of  it  taught  us  its  permanent  value." 

The  earliest  mention  of  the  Hippodrome  in  the 
Racing  Calendar  is  to  be  found  in  the  volume  for 
1837,  when  two  races  were  run,  the  one  for  fifty 
and  the  other  for  a  hundred  sovereigns — three 
horses  starting  for  one,  and  four  for  the  other. 

"  At  the  close  of  the  reign  of  William  IV.,"  says 
Mr.  Elaine,  in  his  "Rural  Sports,"  "an  attempt 
was  made  to  establish  a  regular  series  of  race  meet- 
ings, and  also  a  training  locality  within  two  miles 
of  the  metropolis.  To  this  intent  a  large  portion  of 


and  favoured  of  all  the  metropolitan  rendezvous, 
both  for  public  and  for  private  recreation.  Un- 
questionably, of  the  varieties  of  the  present  season 
none  has  put  forward  such  a  claim  to  popularity 
and  patronage  as  the  '  Hippodrome.'  "  But  the 
defect,  which  we  have  already  mentioned,  in  the 
subsoil  was  irremediable  ;  and  after  four  years  of  a 
very  chequered  and  struggling  career,  its  last  public 
meeting  was  held  in  June,  1841.  At  this  date  the 
land  along  its  southern  and  eastern  sides  was  be- 
ginning to  be  in  demand  for  building  purposes,  and 
so  pieces  were  sliced  off  to  form  those  streets  and 


ANCIENT  CONDUITS. 


1 83 


thoroughfares  which  lie  to  the  north  of  Westbourne  !  help  to  eluridirr  thp  m,«  .<  -™      ^ 

Grove  and  south  of  the  Great  Western  Railway.   A  |  ^^KSS^S^^^^ 
large  portion  of  the  ndmg  ground,  however,  wa- '  -""    " 


still  kept  la,d  down  m  turf-rather  of  a  coarse  kind,  parcel  of  the  possessions  of  L  extinct  Abbey  of 

it  must  be  owned;  and   some  hedges   were  pre-  Westminster.    It  must  have  belonged  to th\  \bbev 

served  over  which  dashmg  young  ladies  would  ride  when    Domesday    was    compiled      for     alt'houS 

their  chargers  as  lately  as  the  year  1852.     But  in  neither  Westbourne    nor    Knightsbridge    (llso   a 

the  course  of  the  next  five  or  six  years  the  green  manor  of  the  same  house)  is  specially  named  in 

sward   and  the  green  trees,  and  the  green  hedges  that  survey,  vet  we  know,  from  a  later  record  of 


were  all  swept  away,  and  on  the  spot  selected  by 
the  "  Di  Vernons  "  and  "  pretty  horse-breakers  "  for 
their  trial-jumps  now  stands  St.  Stephen's  Church. 

Portobello  Farm  was  marked  in  the  maps  of  the 
neighbourhood  as  lately  as  1830:  it  was  named 
by  its  then  owner  at  the  time  of  the  capture  of  that 
city  by  Admiral  Vernon.  It  then  stood  in  the 
midst  of  open  fields,  in  which  the  cows  and  sheep 
grazed  and  pigs  were  fed.  In  what  is  no 
bello  Road,  skirting  the  eastern  end  of  Ladbrok 
Square,  stands  a  convent  of  the  Little  Sisters  of 
the  Poor.  The  "  sisters  "  themselves  feed  off  the 
scraps  left  by  the  paupers  whom  they  support  by 
going  round  to  the  doors  of  London  houses  for 
broken  victuals.  Upwards  of  a  hundred  poor  per- 
sons are  daily  supported  by  the  "  sisters  "  in  this 
benevolent  manner.  The  head-quarters  of  this 
charity  are  at  Hammersmith,  where  the  chief  insti- 
tution will  be  described  in  its  proper  place.  There 
was  a  pretty  walk  this  way  across  to  Kensal  Green 
till  about  1850-60. 

The  splendid  new  town  of  Bayswater,  close  by, 
which  has  joined  North  Kensington  and  Shepherd's 
Bush  on  to  London,  had  no  existence  during  the 
first  few  years  of  Queen  Victoria,  when  "  Hop- 
wood's  Nursery  Ground  "  and  the  Victoria  Gardens 
— so  famed  for  running-matches  and  other  sporting 
meetings — faced  the  dull  brick  wall  which  effectually 
shut  out  the  green  glades  and  leafy  avenues  of 
Kensington  Gardens  from  the  view  of  passengers 
along  the  Bayswater  Road.  Bayswater  is  a  vague 
name  for  the  district  extending  from  the  Gravel 
Pits  to  the  north-west  corner  of  Hyde  Park.  Lord 
Chesterfield,  in  one  of  his  poems,  has  praised  the 
healthiness  of  the  situation,  though,  probably,  he 
was  too  fond  of  the  town  to  walk  often  so  far  in  the 
direction  of  the  open  country.  The  whole  district  of 
streets,  squares,  terraces,  and  crescents  sprung  into 
existence  in  the  course  of  about  ten  years— between 
1839  and  1849.  Bayswater  was  noted  of  old  for 
its  springs,  reservoirs,  and  conduits,  supplying  the 
greater  part  of  the  City  of  London  with  water. 
With  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  name  of  Bays- 
water,  the  following  particulars  from  the  disclosures 
made  in  a  trial  at  Westminster,  as  summarised  by 
a  writer  in  the  first  volume  of  Notes  and  Queries, 


the  time  of  Edward  I.,  that  both  of  those  manors 
were  members,  or  constituent  hamlets,  of  the  viUe 
of  Westminster,  which  is  mentioned  in  Domesday 
among  the  lands  of  the  Abbey.  The  most  con- 
siderable tenant  under  the  abbot  in  this  ville  was 
Baimardtis,  probably  the  same  Norman  associate 
of  the  Conqueror  who  is  called  Baignardus  and 
id  sheep  Bainardus  in  other  parts  of  the  survey,  and  who 
w  Porto-  gave  his  name  to  Baynard's  Castle.  The  descent 
of  the  land  held  by  him  under  the  abbot  cannot  be 
clearly  traced,  but  his  name  long  remained  attached 
to  part  of  it;  and  as  late  as  the  year  1653  a  par- 
liamentary grant  of  the  Abbey  or  Chapter  lands 
to  Foxcrafte  and  another,  describes  '  the  common 
field  at  Paddington '  as  being  '  near  to  a  place 
commonly  called  Baynard's  Watering.'  In  1720, 
the  lands  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  in  the  same 
common  field  are  described,  in  a  terrier  of  the 
Chapter,  to  be  in  the  occupation  of  Alexander 
Bond,  of  Bear's  Watering,  in  the  same  parish  of 
Paddington.  The  common  field  referred  to  is  the 
well-known  piece  of  garden-ground  lying  between 
Craven  Hill  and  the  Uxbridge  Road,  called  also 
Bayswater  Field.  We  may,  therefore,  fairly  con- 
clude that  this  portion  of  ground,  always  remarkable 
for  its  springs  of  excellent  water,  once  supplied 
water  to  Baynard,  his  household,  or  his  cattle ;  that 
the  memory  of  his  name  was  preserved  in  the 
neighbourhood  for  six  centuries ;  and  that  his 
'watering-place'  now  figures  on  the  outside  of 
certain  omnibuses,  in  the  streets  of  London,  under 
the  modern  name  of  '  Bayswater.' " 

The  running  streams  and  gravelly  soil  of  this 
neighbourhood  were  at  one  time  highly  favourable 
for  the  growth  of  watercress,  of  which,  as  lately  as 
the  year  1825,  there  were  several  cultivators  here, 
as  in  other  places  in  the  vicinity  of  London.  The 
cultivation  of  watercress  is  said  to  have  been  first 
attempted,  at  the  commencement  of  the  present 
century,  by  a  Mr.  Bradbury,  near  Gravesend. 
Gerarde,  the  herbalist,  says  that  eating  watercresses 
restores  the  "wonted  bloom  to  the  cheeks  of  young 
ladies."  Perhaps  that  is  one  reason  why  that  plant 
is  so  popular. 

On  a  slanting  grassy  bank,  about  a  hundred 
yards  from  the  back  of  the  line  of  dwelling-houses 


1 84 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


now  bearing  the  name  of  Craven  Hill,  stood,  down 
to  about  the  year  1820,  an  ancient  stone-built 
conduit-house,  whence  the  water-supply  was  con 
veyed  by  pipes  underground  into  the  City.  Con- 
duit Passage  and  Spring  Street,  both  near  at  hand 
thence  derive  their  designation.  The  conduit  was 
constructed  and  kept  up  by  the  Corporation  o: 
London,  "  to  preserve  a  large  spring  of  pure  water, 
which  rose  at  the  spot,  and  was  formerly  conveyed 
by  leaden  pipes  (cast  in  Holland)  to  Cheapside 
and  Cornhill."  "  It  was,"  says  a  writer  in  the 
City  Press,  "one  of  the  most  ancient  springs  in 
the  vicinity  of  London,  and,  being  situate  in  a 
manor  once  belonging  to  the  Sanford  family,  and 
subsequently  to  the  Earl  of  Craven,  was  granted 
to  the  citizens  by  one  Gilbert  Sanford  in  the 
twenty-first  year  of  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  A.D. 
1236."  Some  reference  is  made  to  it  in  Lysons' 
"  Environs  of  London,"  where  it  is  stated  that  the 
water,  "  conveyed  by  brick  drains,  supplies  the 
houses  in  and  about  Bond  Street,  which  stand 
upon  the  City  lands."  Lysons  further  states  that 
"  the  springs  at  this  place  lie  near  the  surface, 
and  the  water  is  very  fine."  One  of  the  principal 
reservoirs  here,  of  which  the  Serpentine  received 
the  overplus,  was  situated  where  Trinity  Church 
now  stands,  at  the  corner  of  Gloucester  Gardens, 
Bishop's  Road,  not  far  from  the  "  Royal  Oak " 
tavern.  In  the  Saturday  Magazine  for  May  i8th, 
1844,  there  is  an  illustration  of  the  Conduit-head 
at  Bayswater,  and  in  the  article  which  accompanies 
it,  the  writer  thus  observes  : — "  The  sources  of  the 
various  conduits  of  London,  formerly  kept  with  so 
much  care,  have  for  the  most  part  entirely  dis- 
appeared. That  at  Paddington,  however,  still 
exists,  though  probably  not  in  its  original  form  ; 
and  Mr.  Matthews  says  that,  up  to  a  recent  period, 
it  afforded  a  plentiful  supply  of  water  to  some 
houses  in  Oxford  Street.  The  conduit,  or  spring, 
is  situate  in  a  garden  about  half  a  mile  to  the  west 
of  the  Edgware  Road,  and  at  the  same  distance 
from  Bayswater,  within  two  hundred  or  three 
hundred  yards  of  the  Grand  Junction  Water  Com- 
pany's reservoirs.  It  is  covered  by  a  circular 
building  in  good  condition,  and  some  of  the  pipes 
continue  in  a  sound  state,  although  several  cen- 
turies have  elapsed  since  they  were  laid  down. 
From  the  same  source,  about  a  century  ago,  the 
palace  at  Kensington  received  a  part  of  its  supply, 
which  was  effected  by  the  aid  of  a  water-wheel  '< 
placed  at  Bayswater  Bridge ;  but  on  the  establish-  j 
ment  of  the  Chelsea  Waterworks,  it  became  useless,  | 
and  was  removed." 

There  is  also  in  the  illustrated  edition  of  Pen- 
nant's "  London,"  in  the  British  Museum,  a  print 


of  this  conduit  as  it  appeared  in  the  year  1798, 
of  which  a  copy  is  given  on  page  186.  The 
aqueduct  itself  was  "  round,  and  cased  thick  with 
stone,  and  in  the  upper  spiral  part  they  lapped 
over  each  other,  tile-like,  and  were  fastened  to- 
gether with  iron  cramps  to  the  brickwork,  thick 
within.  It  was  of  a  regular  circumference,  from 
the  pediment  or  base  about  eight  feet,  and  then 
spread  up  to  the  point,  and  was  capped  with  a 
ball.  Its  height,  about  twenty  feet,  had  four  air- 
lets,  resembling  windows,  with  a  door  next  the 
garden,  plated  with  iron  plates,  over  which,  in 
an  oblong  square,  was  cut,  'REP.  ANNO  1632'; 
in  another  part  were  the  City  arms,  with  the  date, 
1782."  The  water,  we  are  told,  was  constantly 
issuing  from  under  the  door,  through  a  wooden 
pipe,  at  the  rate  of  thirty  gallons  an  hour,  and 
took  its  course  under  the  bridge  into  Kensington 
Gardens.  When  this  water  was  let  to  the  pro- 
prietors of  Chelsea  Waterworks,  a  stipulation  was 
made  that  the  basin  therein  should  be  kept  full. 
This  spring  also  supplied  the  basin  in  Hyde 
Park,  whence,  as  we  have  already  seen,  it  was  con- 
veyed by  a  water-wheel,  "at  Hyde  Park  wall, 
near  Knightsbridge  chapel,"  on  to  the  Thames  at 
Pimlico.  It  also  took  a  subterraneous  course  into 
he  City,  "whose  name  and  arms  it  bore,"  and 
whose  property  it  was,  and  to  whom  now,  no 
doubt,  the  land  belongs  all  round  about  where- 
upon it  was  built.  The  water-course  to  the  City 
was-  formerly  denoted  by  stones  above  ground,  laid 
along  through  the  fields ;  and  in  the  burying-ground 
of  St.  George,  Hanover  Square,  which  abuts  upon 
he  Bayswater  Road,  was  once  a  brick  well  and 
several  stones,  marked  with  the  City  arms,  and  the 
date  of  1773.  There  was  also  a  well  against  the 
shop,  254,  Oxford  Street,  with  the  City  arms, 
nscribed  "  1772."  In  the  centre  of  the  "conduit- 
field"  there  was  a  very  curious  antique  stone, 
much  mutilated,  which  pointed  out  the  rise  of  the 
pring.  There  were  also  two  other  mark-stones, 
ilmost  hid  in  the  earth,  near  to  the  conduit.  When 
the  Craven  Hill  estate  was  parcelled  out  for  build- 
ng  purposes,  the  stone  conduit-house  was  pulled 
down,  and  the  stream  was  led  either  into  the  main 
sewer  or  into  the  river  Serpentine,  which  rises 
much  farther  up  in  a  north-easterly  direction,  and 
now  rushes,  occasionally  with  great  impetus,  under 
the  centre  of  the  roadway  in  Kensington  Garden 
Terrace,  and,  crossing  the  Bayswater  Road,  enters 
Kensington  Gardens  where  the  fountains  are. 

Apropos  of  the  ancient  streams  in  this  locality, 
it  may  be  added  that  it  is  said  there  was  in  the 
olden  days  very  good  fishing  in  the  trout  stream 
which  ran  from  Notting  Hill  Manor  towards  Hay 


SIR   JOHN   HILL'S   PHYSIC   GARDEN. 


Hill,  Berkeley  Square,  taking  its  course  through  (as  stated  above)  by  Queen  Anne,  as  a  nursery  for 
Brook  Street,  Grosvenor  Square,  which  was  built  |  her  son,  the  little  Duke  of  Gloucester,  before  she 
on  the  high  banks  of  the^  said  stream,  where  it  engaged  Campden  House,  where  we  have  already 


eased  to  blend  with  the  Tye.  We  know  that  as 
early  as  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  there  were  six 
fountains  in  this  locality  from  which  water  was 
supplied  to  the  City  by  means  of  pipes. 

In  Lambert's  "  London  and  its  Environs,"  pub- 
lished in  1805,  we  read  :  —  "Bayswater  is  a  hamlet 
to  Paddington,  about  a  mile  from  London,  on  the 
Uxbridge  Road.  Its  public  tea-gardens  formerly 
belonged  to  the  celebrated  Sir  John  Hill,  who 
here  cultivated  the  medicinal  plants  from  which 
he  prepared  his  essences,  tinctures,  &c."  Sir  John 
Hill  was  the  son  of  a  clergyman,  born  about  1716, 
and  bred  as  an  apothecary.  He  was  employed 
by  Lord  Petre  and  the  Duke  of  Richmond  in  the 
arrangement  of  their  botanic  gardens  in  Essex 
and  Sussex;  and  by  their  assistance  he  executed 
a  scheme  of  travelling  over  several  parts  of  the 
kingdom,  to  collect  the  most  rare  plants,  accounts 
of  which  he  published  by  subscription.  But  this 
proved  a  failure,  and  showed  that  he  was  in  ad 
vance  of  his  time.  His  "Vegetable  System' 
extends  over  twenty-six  folio  volumes  !  and  for  this 
he  was  rewarded  by  a  Swedish  order  of  knight- 
hood from  the  king  of  that  country.  It  appears 
that,  for  a  time  at  least,  Sir  John  Hill,  though  little 
better  than  a  charlatan  and  an  empiric,  enjoyed 
the  reputation  of  a  great  and  learned  botanist.  He 
was  at  one  time  a  second-rate  actor,  and  he  made 
an  unsuccess 


ful  attempt  to  obtain  admission  into 
the  Royal  Society.  Garrick's  epigram  on  him  is 
well  known,  and  has  often  been  quoted  :  — 


en  her. 

Craven  Hill  is  now  called  Craven  Road,  the 
.nequality  of  it  having  been  levelled  by  filling  up 
the  low  ground  where  a  small  brook  once  crossed 
it  from  north  to  south.  The  houses  in  Craven 
Road  and  Craven  Hill  Gardens  stand  on  the  site 
of  a  field  which  was  given  about  the  year  1720  in 
exchange  for  the  "  Pest-field,"  near  Golden  Square, 
already  mentioned ;  and  it  may  be  the  reverse  of 
comforting  to  the  inhabitants  to  know  that,  under 
an  old  agreement  between  Lord  Craven  and  the 
parochial  authorities,  the  plot  of  ground  in  ques- 
tion may  be  taken  for  the  purpose  of  a  burial- 
ground,  in  case  London  should  ever  again  be  visited 
with  the  plague ;  unless,  indeed,  this  liability  has 
been  done  away  with  by  the  Act  which  enforces 
extra-mural  interments.  This  land  was  not  used 
during  the  cholera  of  1849;  and  at  the  present 
time,  as  we  have  shown  above,  a  grand  London 
square,  called  Craven  Gardens,  alone  indicates  the 
site  of  the  Pest-house  fields.  The  property,  which 
Delonged  in  former  times  to  one  Jane  Upton,  and 

ras  called  Upton  Farm,  was   purchased  by  the 
trustees  of  this  charity-estate  for  .£1,570. 

In  1821  the  Toxophilite  Society  rented  about 
four  acres  of  ground  here,  between  Sussex  Gardens 
and  the  Bayswater  PvOad,  just  opposite  the  point 
where  Hyde  Park  and  Kensington  Gardens  meet ; 
they  formed  then  part  of  quite  a  rural  district,  the 


For  physic  and  farces  his  equal 
His  farces  are  physic  ;  his  phys 


here  scarce  is  ; 
c  a  farce  is." 


Among  the  medicines  produced  by  Sir  John  Hill 
were  his  "  Water-dock  Essence  "  and  his  "  Balm 
of  Honey."  These  gardens  are  now  covered  by 
the  long  range  of  mansions  called  Lancaster  Gate. 
They  were  originally  known  as  the  "Physic  Garden," 


and  were  opened  as  a  place  of  amusement  towards 


ground  shelving  down 


hat   steeply  on  the 


west  to  a  little  brook.  A'  pavilion  was  erected 
here  for  the  use  of  the  members,  and  we  are  told 
that  "  there  was  space  for  three  pairs  of  targets, 
with  a  range  of  about  200  yards."  The  Society 
held  these  grounds  until  1834,  when  they  removed 
to  their  present  gardens  in  the  Regent's  Park. 
The  exact  site  of  these  grounds  is  preserved  in  the 
name  of  the  Archery  Tavern  in  Bathurst  Street, 
leading  to  Sussex  Square. 


the  close  of  the  last  century. 


They  were  still  in        In  the  fields  a  little  to  the  north  of  Craven  Hill, 


Craven  House,  which  gave  its  name  to  Craven    f^^^^^^S^  Grove 
entioned,  became  the  residence  of  j  cas met  lying  to  the  nort  ^  ^ 

^^^^.™™«*«»™ 


Hill,   above  mer 

Lord  Craven's  family  some  time  before   1700,  on 

their  removal  from  Drury  Lane. 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


bourne  Grove  itself,  we  may  state  that,  as  lately  as  Oxford  Square  and  Norfolk  Square,  may  be 
1852,  this  thoroughfare,  which  now  consists  almost  rapidly  passed  over.  Each  and  all  of  these  places 
entirely  of  attractive  shops,  was  a  quiet  street,  con-  can  boast  of  goodly  mansions,  interspersed  with 
sisting  of  detached  cottages,  with  gardens  in  front,  gardens  and  enclosures  filled  with  trees  and  shrubs ; 
At  the  end  nearest  Paddington  was  an  open  nursery  •  but  the  whole  district  is  of  too  modem  growth  to 
garden,  rich  in  dahlias,  geraniums,  &c.  have  a  history. 


Westbourne  Terrace,  which  unites  Bishop's  Road 
with  Craven  Road,  is  so  called  from  the  West 
Bourne,  a  small  brook  running  from  Kilburn 
between  Paddington  and  Bayswater,  and  passing 
into  the  Serpentine.  It  was  built  in  1847-52. 

Sussex  Gardens  and  Sussex  Square,  Pembridge 
Square  and  Crescent,  Talbot  and  Leinster  Squares, 
Hyde  Park  Gardens  and  Hyde  Park  Square,  Cleve- 
land Square  and  Queen's  Road  and  Gardens, 


Southwick  Crescent  and  Place  are  named  after 
Southwick  Park,  Hampshire,  the  property  of  the 
Thistlethwayte  family,  formerly  joint-lessees  of  the 
Paddington  Manor. 

In  Gloucester  Square,  Westbourne  Terrace,  at 
No.  ii,  lived  John  Sadleir,  the  fraudulent  M.P., 
who  committed  suicide  on  Hampstead  Heath  in 
February,  1856. 

A  splendid  new  city  of  palaces,  Lancaster  Gate, 


RAPID   GROWTH   OF   THE   WESTERN   SUBURBS. 


187 


1 88 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


(Tyburn. 


&c.,  sprung  up  between  1860  and  1870,  on  the  site 
of  Hopwood's  Nursery  Grounds  and  the  Victoria 
Tea  Gardens,  which  we  have  mentioned  above. 

About  the  year  1861,  we  may  here  remark,  a 
novelty,  in  the  way  of  street  railways,  was  intro- 
duced in  the  Bayswater  Road,  by  Mr.  George  F. 
Train,  who  was  at  least  the  pioneer  of  a  useful 
invention.  Permission  had  been  given  by  the 
Commissioners  of  Highways  for  Mr.  Train  to  lay 
down  the  rails  for  his  new  conveyance,  and  the 
event  was  inaugurated  by  a  public  banquet  at  St. 
James's  Hall.  Notwithstanding  the  coldness  with 


characterised,  had  come  on,  and  when  the  medical 
men  arrived,  they  pronounced  it  a  clear  case  of 
cholera.  His  wife  and  most  of  his  children,  short 
as  the  summons  was,  gathered  about  him — he  had 
ever  been  the  most  affectionate  of  husbands  and 
parents— and  his  looks  indicated  great  satisfaction 
when  he  saw  them  ;  but  he  was  now  nearly  speech- 
less. "  Am  I  blue  ? "  however,  he  said  to  his 
son — a  question  indicating  his  knowledge  of  the 
malady  under  which  he  was  sinking ;  and  without 
any  effort  of  nature  to  rally,  he  breathed  his  last. 
On  the  north  side  of  the  Bayswater  Road,  about 


which  the  project  was  at  first  received,  the  plan    a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  site  of  Tyburn  Turn- 
has    since    been    carried   out  in  various  parts  of  I  pike,  is  a  dreary  burial-ground,  of  about  an  acre, 


London  in  the  tramways. 

In  the  autumn  of  1832,  when  the  cholera  was 
spreading  death  far  and  wide  throughout  the  land, 
Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  the  author  of  a  well-known 
Commentary  on  the  Bible,  here  fell  a  victim  to 
that  fatal  malady.  He  was  engaged  to  preach  at 
Bayswater  on  Sunday,  the  26th  of  August,  and  on 


with  a  chapel  of  the  plainest  description,  belong- 
ing to  the  parish  of  St.  George,  Hanover  Square. 
In  this  burial-ground  was  deposited,  in  1768,  the 
body  of  Laurence  Sterne,  the  author  of  "  Tristram 
Shandy,"  who  had  died  in  poverty  at  his  lodgings 
in  Bond  Street,  as  we  have  already  stated.  But 
the  body  was  afterwards  taken  up  by  some  of  the 


the  Saturday  before  he  was  conveyed  there  in  a  "  resurrection  men,"  and  sent  to  Cambridge  to  the 

fnend's   chaise.     He   was  cheerful   on    the   road,  professor  of  anatomy  for  dissection.     Such,  at  all 

but  was  tired  with  his  journey  and  listless  in  the  events,    is  the  story  told  by  Sir  J.   Prior,  in  his 

evening  ;    and  when   a  gentleman   asked   him  to  "  Life  of  Malone."     His  grave  here  is  marked  by 

preach  a  charity  sermon  for  him  and  fix  the  day,  |  a  plain  upright  stone,  with  an  epitaph   clumsily 

he  replied,  "  I  am  not  well ;  I  cannot  fix  a  time  ;  expressed,  "  a  perpetual  memorial  of  the  bad  taste 

I  must  first  see  what  God   is  about   to  do  with  j  of  his  brother  masons." 

me."     He  retired  to  bed  early,  not  without  some  j  Among  other  eminent  persons  buried  here  were 

of  those  symptoms  that  indicated  the  approach  of  Mr.  J.  T.  Smith,  the  author  of  "  The  Book  for  a 

this  awful  disease,   but  which   do  not  appear  to  i  Rainy  Day,"  and  many  other   antiquarian  works 

have  excited  any  suspicions  in  himself  or  in  his  on  London ;  Mrs.   Radcliffe,  the  author  of  "  The 


friends.  '  He  rose  in  the  morning  ill,  and  wanting 
to  get  home;  but  before  arrangements  could  be 
made  for  his  removal,  he  had  sunk  into  his  chair 
— that  icy  coldness,  by  which  the  complaint  is 


Mysteries  of  Udolpho;"  and  last,  not  least, 
General  Sir  Thomas  Picton,  who  fell  at  Waterloo  ; 
but  in  1859  his  body  was  removed,  and  re-interred 
in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral. 


CHAPTKR     XVI. 
TVEUKN    AND   TVBUKMA. 


1  The  thrce-squan 


:  Tyburn."-0if  Sayinf. 


Derivation  of  the  Name  of  Tyburn-Earliest  Executions  on  this  Spot-Sir  RoKcr  liolinbroke,  the  Conjuror-Elizabeth  Barton,  the  "  Holy  Maid  oi 

Resuscitation  of  a  Criminal  after  Kxecution-Colonel   Blood-Jack   Sheppard  and    Jonathan  Wild— Mrs.  Catherine'  Haves-"  ClUe/Tom 
Clinch  -    Execution  Day  "-The  Execution  of  Lord  Ferrers-The  Rev.  Mr.  Hackman-Dr.  Dodd-The  Last  Act  of  a  Highwayman's  I  ife 
-"S,xteen.str,ng  Jack  "-McLean,  the  "  Fashionable  Highwayman  "-Claude  Duval-John  Twyn,   an  Offending  Printer-John  Haynes, 
and  his  Resuscitation  after  Hanging-Ryland,  the  Forger-An  Unlucky  Jest-"  Jack  Ketch  "-Tyburn  Tickets-Hogarth's  "Tom  Idle"- 
of  the  Penance  of  Queen  Henrietta  Maria-An  Anecdote  about  George  III.- The  Site  of 
light  Place-Tile  Princess  Charlotte  and  the  Prince  of  Orange-Thc  Residence 


The  Gallows  and  its  Surroundings— The  ! 

Tyburn  Tree— The   Tyburn   Pew  opener— Tyburnia-Co 

of  Mr.  T.  Assheton-Smith,  and  of  Haydon  the  Painter. 


TYBURNIA,  which  of  late  years  has  become  almost,  i  Craven  Hill,  the  south  side  of  which  is  bounded  by 


if  not   quite,    as   fashionable   and   aristocratic   as 
Belgravia,  is   the  district    lying  between  Edgware 


Road  and  Westbourne  and  Gloucester  Terrace  and  ,  William  IV. 


the    Bayswater   Road,  and   may  be  said  to  hav 
sprung    into    existence    only   since   the   reign   of 


EARLY   EXECUTIONS. 


The  little  river  Tyburn,  or  Tybourn,  whence  the 
district  derives  its  name,  consisted  of  two  arms,  one 
of  which,  as  already  stated,  crossed  Oxford  Street, 
near  Stratford  Place  ;  while  the  other,  further  to  the 
west,  followed   nearly  the   course  of  the   present 
Westbourne   Terrace   and   the   Serpentine.      Five 
hundred  years  ago,  or  less,  it  was  a  pleasant  brook 
enough,  with  rows  of  elms  growing  on  its  banks. 
These  trees  were  a  place  of  execution   in   those 
days  ;  and  Roger  de    Mortimer,  the  paramour  of 
Queen  Eleanor,  widow  of  Edward  II.,  was  dragged 
thither   on    a    hurdle,  and    hung    and  quartered, 
his    body  being    exposed  there  for  several  days. 
Elm's  Lane,  Bayswater,  now  swept  away,  preserved 
down  to  our  own  time  the  memory  of  these  fatal 
elms,  which   are   to   be   regarded   as  the  original 
"Tyburn   Trees."     It  was  at  a  subsequent   time 
that  the  place  of  execution  was  removed  nearer  to 
London,  the  corner  of  the  Edgware  Road.    Here 
it   became   a   fixture   for    centuries;    here    many 


years  elapsed  in  which  Roman  Catholic  priests,  and 
even  laymen,  were  not  sent  thither  to  suffer,  nomi- 
nally as  "  traitors,"  but  in  reality  because  they  were 
the  adherents  of  a  proscribed  and  persecuted  faith, 
and  refused,  at  the  bidding  of  an  earthly  sovereign, 
to  abandon  their  belief  in  the  Pope  as  the  spiritual 
head  of  Christendom.     Here,  too,  during  the  same 
period,  almost  as  many  men  of  a  different  stamp 
paid  the  last  penalty  of  the  law  for  violating  other 
enactments — highwaymen,  robbers,  forgers,  and  mur- 
derers.    The  highwaymen  generally  went  to  the 
scaffold  merrily  and  jauntily,  as  men  who  had  all 
their  lives  faced  the  chance  of  a  violent  death,  and. 
were  not  afraid  to  meet  it  at  Tyburn.     As  they 
passed  along  the   streets  in  the  fatal  cart,  gaily 
dressed  in  their  best  clothes,  young  women  in  the 
crowd  would  present  them  with  nosegays,  and  in 
.he  eyes  of  the  assembled  multitudes  their  deaths 
were  regarded  as  almost  as  glorious  as  those  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  "confessors"  were  esteemed  by 
their  co-religionists. 

Our  readers  will  not,  of  course,  forget  the  lines 


notable  and  many  notorious  persons  have  "died 
in  their  shoes,"  to  use  a  favourite  cant  expression. 
Here  suffered  the  "Holy  Maid  of  Kent;"  Mrs. 
Turner,  the  poisoner,  and  the  inventor  of  the 
starched  ruff  which  adorns  so  many  portraits  of 
fair  ladies  of  other  days ;  Felton,  the  assassin  of 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham ;  a  batch  of  the  parlia 
mentary  regicides  ;  some  dozens  of  Roman  Catholic 

uriests  condemned  as  "traitors;"  a  long  line  of  One  of  the  earliest  executions  on  this  spot  was 
illustrious  highwaymen,  such  as  Jack  Sheppard  and  that  of  "  Sir  Roger  Bolinbroke,  the  conjuror"  (A.D. 
Jonathan  Wild;  Lord  Ferrers,  the  murderer  of  his  !  I440),  who  suffered  for  high  treason,  in  conjunction 
•  Dr  Dodd  for  forgery ;  and  last,  not  least,  with  the  Duchess  of  Gloucester,  as  recorded  by 

Shakespeare.*  From  the  Harleian  MSS.,  No. 
58;,  we  learn  his  fate  in  detail.  On  the  same 
day  on  which  he  was  condemned  at  Guildhall,  he 
was  drawn  from  the  Tower  to  Tyburn,  and  there 
hanged,  beheaded,  and  quartered,  his  head  being 


in  the  song  of  "  Macheath,"  in  the  Beggar's  Opera, 
which  thus  refer  to  Tyburn  :— 

"  Since  laws  were  made  for  every  degree, 
To  curb  vice  in  others  as  well  as  in  me, 
I  wonder  we  ha'nt  better  company 

'Neath  Tyburn  Tree." 

earliest  executions  on  this  spot  was 


Mother  Brownrigg,  the  same 
"•Who  whipped  three  femal. 


And  hid  them  in  the 
An   absurd   derivation 


,1-hole." 


of  the  name  has  been 


M 

jjsr.is.sar,£S  ;»>«=-.=— 

Abbot  of  Jewaux,  for  the  share  they  had  taken 
a  foreign   pilgrimage   and  in  a  last  desperate 
effort  to  restore  the  Catholic  religion  in  England. 


here  in  A.D.  1388.     Mr.  Dobre  was 

to  discover  the  record  of  an  earlier  execution  here,  i  re 

but  failed. 

The  complete  history  of  the  neighbourhood  of   in 
"Tyburn   Tree"  has   still   to   be  written,  though 
the   materials   are  far  from  scanty;   for  between 
the  Reformation  and  the  reign  of  George  III,  few 


OLD    AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Tyburn. 


Tyburn  is  mentioned  by  Holinshed,  who  writes  of 
a  certain  "  false  servant "  that,  being  convicted  of 
felony  in  court  of  assize,  he  was  judged  to  be 
hanged,  "and  so  was  at  Tyburn." 

To  enumerate  the  names  of  all  who  suffered  the 
"  extreme  penalty  of  the  law  "  at  Tyburn  would  be 
a  difficult,  and,  indeed,  a  needless  task.  Among 
those  who  went  thither  to  end  their  days,  however, 
were  not  only  murderers,  highwaymen,  and  traitors, 
but  also  housebreakers,  sheep-stealers,  and  forgers ; 
the  penalty  of  death,  however,  was  not  confined 
to  them,  but  was  made  to  include  even  some  of 
the  loose  and  disreputable  hangers-on  of  the  de- 
moralising State  lottery-offices,  known  as  "  Morocco 
men,"  for  going  about  the  country  with  red  morocco 
pocket-books,  in  which  they  entered  the  names  of 
the  victims  whom  they  gulled. 

Here  was  executed  Mrs.  Turner,  the  poisoner, 
for  complicity  with  the  Countess  of  Somerset  in  the 
murder  of  Sir  Thomas  Overbury,  an  event  which 
formed  one  of  the  episodes  in  the  corrupt  reign  of 


Southwell,  the  "sweet  versifier;"  Felton,  the 
assassin  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham ;  and  John 
Smith,  the  burglar,  of  Queen  Anne's  time.  In 
connection  with  this  last-named  execution,  even 
the  gallows  may  be  said  to  have  its  romantic  side ; 
for  we  read  in  Chambers'  "  Book  of  Days  "  that  a 
reprieve  came  after  Smith  had  been  suspended  for 
a  quarter  of  an  hour.  He  was  taken  down,  bled, 
and  revived. 

We  have  already  mentioned  Colonel  Blood's  bold 
attempt  to  seize  the  Duke  of  Ormonde  in  St 
James's  Street.*  He  also  endeavoured  to  com- 
plete his  act  of  highway  violence  by  hanging  his 
victim  by  open  force  at  Tyburn ;  but,  happily  for 
the  duke,  he  did  not  succeed  in  the  attempt 

We  next  come  to  the  names  of  two  others  who 
have  become  famous  through  the  agency  of  cheap 
literature — Jack  Sheppard,  the  notorious  house- 
breaker, and  Jonathan  Wild,  the  "  thief  and  thief- 
aker."  Of  the  early  life  of  the  first-named  culprit 
e  have  already  spoken  in  our  account  of  Wych 


James  I.  "Mrs.  Turner's  execution,"  says  John  i  Street,  St.  Clement  Danes ;  t  and  for  his  various 
Timbs,  in  his  "Romance  of  London,"  " excited  '  exploits  in  Newgate  we  must  refer  our  readers  to 
immense  interest.  She  was  a  woman  of  great  i  our  account  of  that  prison. J  The  whole  career  of 
beauty,  and  had  much  affected  the  fashion  of  the  crime  as  practised  by  this  vagabond  carpenter  has 


day.     Her  sentence  was  to  be  '  hang'd  at  Tiburn 
in  her  yellow  Tinny  Ruff  and  Cuff,  she  being  the 


been  strikingly  told  by  Mr.  Harrison  Ainsworth, 
in  his  romance  of  "Jack  Sheppard  ;"  and  his  por- 


first  inventor  and  wearer  of  that  horrid  garb.'  The  !  trait,  as  he  appeared  in  the  condemned  cell  at 
ruff  and  cuff  were  got  up  with  yel/ov  starch,  and  in  .  Newgate,  was  painted  by  Sir  James  Thornhill,  and 
passing  her  sentence,  Lord  Chief  Justice  Coke  told  sold  by  thousands  as  a  mezzo-tint  engraving. 


her  that  she  had  been  guilty  of  all  the  seven  deadly 
sins,  and  declared  that  as  she  was  the  inventor  of  the 
yellow-starched  ruffs  and  cuffs,  so  he  hoped  that 
she  would  be  the  last  by  whom  they  would  be  worn. 
He  accordingly  ordered  that  she  should  be  hanged 
in  the  gear  she  had  made  so  fashionable.  The 


Jonathan  Wild's  particular  sphere  of  action  lay 
the  trade  of  the  restoration  of  stolen  property, 
which  he  carried  on  for  many  years  through  a 
secret  confederacy  with  all  the  regular  thieves, 
burglars,  and  highwaymen  of  the  metropolis,  whose 
depredations  he  prompted  and  directed.  His 


execution  attracted  an  immense  crowd  to  Tyburn,  j  success  received  some  check  by  an  Act  of  Parlia- 
and  many  persons  of  quality,  ladies  as  well  as  ment  passed  in  1717,  by  which  persons  convicted 
gentlemen,  in  their  coaches.  Mrs.  Turner  had  of  receiving  or  buying  goods,  knowing  them  to  have 
dressed  herself  specially  for  her  execution:  her  face  \  he-en  stolen,  were  made  liable  to  a  long  term  of 


.vas  highly  rouged,  and  she  wore  a  cobweb  lawn 
ruff,  yellow-starched.  An  account,  printed  next 
day,  states  that  '  her  hands  were  bound  with  a 
black  silk  ribbon,  as  she  desired  ;  and  a  black  veil, 
which  she  wore  upon  her  head,  being  pulled  over 
her  face  by  the  executioners,  the  cart  was  driven 
iway,  and  she  left  hanging,  in  whom  there  was  no 
motion  at  all  perceived.'  She  made  a  very  penitent 
end.  As  if  to  ensure  the  condemnation  of  yellow 
starch,  the  hangman  had  his  hands  and  cuffs  of 
yellow,  'which,'  says  Sir  S.  D'Ewes,  'made  many 
after  that  day,  of  either  sex,  to  forbear  the  use  of 
that  coloured  starch,  till  it  at  last  grew  generally  to 
be  detested  and  disused.'  " 

Following   in   the  wake  of  Mrs.  Turner,  came 


transportation.  Wild,  however,  managed  to  elude 
this  new  law ;  but  he  was  at  last  convicted,  under 
a  clause  which  had  been  enacted  with  a  particular 
view  to  Wild's  proceedings — such  as  trafficking  in 
stolen  goods,  and  dividing  the  money  with  felons. 
His  execution  took  place  at  Tyburn,  in  May,  1725. 
At  his  trial  he  had  a  printed  paper  handed  to  the 
jury,  entitled,  "  A  list  of  persons  discovered,  appre- 
hended, and  convicted  of  several  robberies  on  the 
highway,  and  also  for  burglary  and  housebreaking, 
and  also  for  returning  from  transportation :  by 
Jonathan  Wild."  It  contained  the  names  of  thirty- 
five  robbers,  twenty-two  housebreakers,  and  ten 


*  S«  Vol.  IV.,  p.  ,66.     t  Sec  Vol.  1 1 1.,  p.  34.      }  S«  Vol.  II.,  p.  459, 


THE   ECCENTRIC   LORD   FERRERS. 


returned  convicts,  whom  lie  had  been  instrumental 
in  getting  hanged  before  he  found  the  tables  turned 
against  himself. 

Among   the   hundreds   of    murderers    hung   at 


pliant  tool,  who  would  take  things  easily  and  let 
him  have  his  own  way.  The  person  whom  Lord 
Ferrers  so  appointed  was  none  other  than  Mi. 
Johnson,  who  had  been  in  the  service  of  his  lord- 


Tyburn,  few  were  more  notorious  than  Catharine    ship's  family,  as  steward,  for  many  years. 
Hayes,  who  was  executed  in  1726.     She  and  her    soon  found  out  that  he  had  got  a  different 


But  he 

got  a  different  man  to 
husband  lived  in  Tyburn  Road,  now  called  Oxford    deal  with  than  he  had  expected;  and,  accordingly, 


Street,  but,  not  being  contented  with  her  spouse, 
she  engaged  two  assassins,  Wood  and  Billings,  to 
make  him  dnink,  and  then  aid  her  in  dispatching 
him.  They  did  so,  and  chopped  up  the  body, 
carrying  the  head  in  a  pail  to  the  Horseferry  at 
Westminster,  where  they  threw  it  into  the  Thames, 
the  other  portion  being  secreted  about  a  pond  in 
Marylebone  Fields.  The  head  being  found  and 
identified,  search  was  made  for  the  rest  of  the 
body,  and  this  being  discovered,  the  other  mur- 
derers were  hung  near  the  spot  where  Upper 
Wimpole  Street  now  stands.  Mrs.  Hayes  was 
reserved  to  suffer  at  Tyburn,  blazing  fagots  being 
placed  under  her.  The  murder,  as  might  be 
imagined,  caused  a  great  sensation  when  it  became 
known,  and  is  constantly  mentioned  in  the  publi- 
cations of  the  time. 

The  following  lines,  from  Swift's  "Tom  Clinch 
going  to  be  Hanged,"  give  a  picture  of  the  grim 
cavalcade  wending  its  way  from  Newgate  to  Tyburn, 
in  1727:— 

"  As  clever  Tom  Clinch,  while  the  rabble  was  bawling, 
Rode  stately  through  Holborn  to  die  in  his  calling, 
He  stopped  at  the  '  George '  for  a  bottle  of  sack, 
And  promised  to  pay  for  it — when  he  came  back. 
His  waistcoat,  and  stockings,  and  breeches  were  white, 
His  cap  had  a  new  cherry-ribbon  to  tie  't ; 
And  the  maids  to  the  doors  and  the  balconies  ran, 
And  cried  '  Lack-a-day  !  he's  a  proper  young  man  ! ' " 

"  Execution-day,"  as  it  was  termed,  must  have 
been  a  carnival  of  frequent  occurrence.  Horace 
Walpole  says  that  in  the  year  1752  no  less  than 
seventeen  persons  were  executed  at  Tyburn  in  a 
batch.  One  of  the  most  memorable  executions 
that  took  place  here  was  on  the  sth  of  May,  1760 
when  that  eccentric  nobleman,  Lawrence,  third  hour  was  come.  Johnson  bent  one  knee,  but  the 
Earl  Ferrers,  met  his  fate  for  the  murder  of  his  earl  insisted  on  his  kneeling  on  both  his  knees, 
steward,  a  Mr.  John  Johnson.  The  scene  of  I  He  did  so,  and  Lord  Ferrers  at  once  fired  The 
the  tragedy  was  his  lordship's  seat  of  Staunton  ball  entered  his  body  below  the  rib,  but  it  did  not 
Harold,  near  Ashby-de-la-Zouche,  and  the  deed  do  its  fell  work  instantaneously.  Though  mortally 
itself  was  deliberately  planned  and  carried  out.  wounded,  the  poor  fellow  had  strength  to  rise  and 
The  career  of  Lord  Ferrers  for  many  years  pre- 1  to  call  loudly  for  assistance.  The  earl  at  first 
viously  had  been  one  of  the  grossest  dissipation,  coolly  prepared  as  though  he  would  discharge  the 
and  had  resulted  in  his  estates  becoming  seriously  !  other  pistol,  so  as  to  put  his  victim  out  of  misery ; 
involved.  The  Court  of  Chancery  ordered  that !  but,  suddenly  moved  with  remorse,  he  unlocked 
the  rents  due  to  him  should  be  paid  to  a  receiver,  I  the  door  and  called  for  the  servants,  who  on 
the  nomination  of  the  said  receiver  being  left  to  hearing  the  discharge  of  the  pistol,  had  run  in  fear 
his  lordship,  who  hoped  to  find  in  that  person  a  '  and  .  trembling,  to  the  wash-house,  not  knowing 


from  that  time,  he  conceived  an  inveterate  hatred 
towards  him,  on  account  of  the  opposition  which 
he  offered  to  his  desires  and  whims,  and  he  finally 
resolved  to  "  move  heaven  and  earth "  to  obtain 
his  revenge.  Lord  Ferrers'  household  at  that  time 
consisted  of  a  Mrs.  C ,  who  acted  as  house- 
keeper, her  four  daughters,  and  five  domestic 
servants;  and  Mr.  Johnson's  farm-house,  the 
Mount,  was  about  a  mile  distant  from  the  mansion, 
across  the  park.  On  Sunday,  the  I3th  of  January, 
in  the  year  1760,  Lord  Ferrers  called  on  Mr. 
Johnson,  and,  after  some  discourse,  arranged  for 
.nother  meeting,  to  take  place  at  Staunton  on  the 
following  Friday,  at  three  o'clock.  The  Friday 
came  round,  and  Johnson  was  true  to  his  appoint- 
ment. Shortly  before  that  hour,  his  lordship  had 

desired  Mrs.  C to  take  the  children  out  for  a 

walk,  and  the  two  men-servants  he  had  contrived 
to  get  out  of  the  way  on  different  pretexts,  so  that 
when  Johnson  arrived  there  was  no  one  in  the 
house  except  his  lordship  and  the  three  maid- 
servants. On  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Johnson  he  was 
at  once  admitted  into  his  lordship's  private  sitting- 
room.  "They  had  sat  together,  talking  on  various 
matters,  for  some  ten  minutes  or  more,  when  the 
earl  got  up,  walked  to  the  door,  and  locked  it. 
He  next  desired  Johnson  at  once  to  settle  some 
disputed  account ;  then,  rising  higher  in  his  de- 
mands, ordered  him,  as  he  valued  his  life,  to  sign 
a  paper  which  he  had  drawn  up,  and  which  was  a 
confession  of  his  (Johnson's)  villany.  Johnson  ex- 
postulated and  refused,  as  an  honest  man  would 
refuse,  to  sign  his  name  to  any  such  document. 
The  earl  then  drew  from  his  pocket  a  loaded 
pistol,  and  bade  him  kneel  down,  for  that  his  last 


19* 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


ITyburn. 


whether  his  lordship  would  not  take  it  into  his  for  trial  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Peers.  His 
head  to  send  a  bullet  through  their  bodies  also,  trial  lasted  nearly  three  days,  and  resulted  in  his 
He  called  them  once  and  again,  desired  one  to  being  sentenced  to  be  "  hanged  by  the  neck  until 
fetch  a  surgeon,  and  another  to  help  the  wounded  he  was  dead ;"  but,  "  in  consideration  of  his  rank," 
man  into  a  bed.  It  was  clear,  however,  that  a  few  days'  extension  of  time  was  allowed  before 
Johnson  had  not  many  hours  to  live ;  and,  as  he  j  the  sentence  was  carried  into  effect,  and  also  he 
desired  to  see  his  children  before  he  died,  the  earl  I  was  permitted  to  be  hanged  with  a  silken  instead 
ordered  that  they  should  be  summoned  from  the  of  a  hempen  rope.  Lord  Ferrers,  to  use  the  slang 
farm.  Miss  Johnson  came  speedily,  and  found  |  expression  of  the  sporting  world,  "died  game." 


her  father  apparently  in  the  agonies  of  death,  and 
Lord  Ferrers  standing  by  the  bedside,  and  at- 
tempting to  stanch  the  blood  that  flowed  from  the 
wound.'1  During  the  night,  by  a  clever  ruse, 
Johnson  was  removed  to  his  own  house,  where  he 
lingered  only  a  few  hours,  (lying  early  the  next 
morning.  The  coroner's  jury  returned  a  verdict  of 
"wilful  murder"  against  Lord  Ferrers,  who  was  at 
once  lodged  in  Leicester  Gaol.  About  a  fortnight 
afterwards,  we  are  told,  he  was  brought  up  to 
London  in  his  own  landau,  drawn  by  six  horses, 
under  a  strong  guard,  and  he  was  "dressed  like  a 
jockey,  in  a  close  riding  frock,  jacked  boots  and 
cap,  and  a  plain  shirt."  Arraigned  before  the 
House  of  Lords,  he  was  at  once  committed  to  the 
Tower,  and  two  months  later  was  again  brought  up 


,  To  the  last  he  had  respect  to  his  rank,  and,  de- 
clining to  journey  to  Tyburn  in  a  cart,  went  slowly 
and  stately  thither  in  his  own  landau,  again  drawn 

,  by  six  horses.  In  this,  dressed  in  his  wedding  suit, 
he  rode  as  calmly  to  the  gallows  as  the  handsomest 
highwayman  of  his  day,  and  went  through  the  per- 
formance there  with  as  little  unnecessary  affectation 
as  though,  like  many  a  "  gentleman  of  the  road," 
he  had  looked  to  such  an  end  as  "  the  appropriate 
and  inevitable  conclusion  of  his  career."  It  may 
be  added  that  the  landau  in  which  Lord  Ferrers 
rode  to  Tyburn  was  never  used  again,  but  was  left 
to  rot  away  and  fall  to  pieces  in  a  coach-house  at 

j  Acton.  His  lordship's  body  found  a  grave  at  old 
St.  Pancras  Church. 

In  our  account  of  Covent  Garden,  in  a  previous 


Tyburn.] 


EXECUTION   OF    DR.    DODD. 


volume,*  we  have  spoken  at  some  length  of  the 
murder  of  Miss  Reay  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hackman. 


The  two  were  drawn  in  an  open  cart  from  Newgate 
to  Tyburn,  the   execution  being  attended  by  an 


Boswell  was  present  at  Hackman's  trial  at  the  Old  i  immense  crowd.     In  apprehension  of  an  attempt 


Bailey,  and  further,  after  his  condemnation  and 
sentence,  attended  him  in  his  coach  to  Tyburn, 
in  company  with  a  sheriff's  officer.  Selwyn,  who, 
like  Boswell,  was  fond  of  seeing  executions,  was 


to  rescue  the  criminal,  twenty  thousand  men  were 
ordered  to  be  reviewed  in  Hyde  Park  during  the 
execution,  which,  however,  "  though  attended  by  an 
unequalled  concourse  of  people,  passed  off  with  the 

not  present  on  this  occasion :  out  ms  mena,  tne    utmost  tranquillity."     "  Upon  the  whole,"  writes  a 
Earl  of  Carlisle,  attended,  in  order  "  to  give  some  |  friend  of  George  Selwyn,  who  was  present,  "  the 


t  on  this  occasion:  but  his  friend,  the 


account  of  Hackman's  behaviour."  This  he  did, 
to  the  following  effect  :— "  The  poor  man  be- 
haved with  great  fortitude  ;  no  appearances  of  fear 
were  to  be  perceived,  but  very  evident  signs  of 
contrition  and  repentance.  He  was  long  at  his 
prayers ;  and  when  he  flung  down  his  handkerchief 
as  the  sign  for  the  cart  to  move  on,  Jack  Ketch, 
instead  of  instantly  whipping  on  the  horse,  jumped 
on  the  other  side  of  him  to  snatch  up  the  hand- 
kerchief, lest  he  should  lose  his  rights.  He  then 
returned  to  the  head  of  the  cart,  and  Jehu'd  him 
out  of  the  world." 

In   1777,  Dr.   Dodd,  in  company  with  another 
felon,  made  his  exit  from  the  world  at  Tyburn  Tree. 


S«Vol.  1 1 1.,  p.  261. 


Old  Print  of  the  Period.) 


piece  was  not  very  full  of  events.  The  doctor,  to 
all  appearance,  was  rendered  perfectly  stupid  from 
despair.  His  hat  was  napped  all  round  and  pulled 
over  his  eyes,  which  were  never  directed  to  any 
object  around,  nor  ever  raised,  except  now  and 
then  lifted  up  in  the  course  of  his  prayers.  He 
came  in  a  coach,  and  a  very  heavy  shower  of  rain 
fell  just  upon  his  entering  the  cart,  and  another 
just  at  his  putting  on  his  nightcap.  During  the 
shower  an  umbrella  was  held  over  his  head,  which 
Gilly  Williams,  who  was  present,  observed  was  quite 
unnecessary,  as  the  doctor  was  going  to  a  place 
where  he  might  be  dried.  .  .  .  The  executioner 
took  both  the  doctor's  hat  and  wig  off  at  the  same 
I  time.  Why  he  put  on  his  wig  again  I  do  not 
1  know,  but  he  did  ;  and  the  doctor  took  off  his  wig 


194 


a  second  time,  and  tied  on  a  nightcap,  which  did 
not  fit  him ;  but  whether  he  stretched  that  or  took 
another,  I  could  not  perceive.  He  then  put  on  his 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON.  [Tyburn. 

suppose  now,  sir,  that  one  of  your  intimate  friends 
were  apprehended  for  an  offence  for  which  he 
might  be  hanged.'  Johnson  :  '  I  should  do  what  I 


nightcap  himself,  and  upon  his  taking  it,  he  cer-  :  could  to  bail  him,  and  give  him  any  other  assistance; 
tainly  had  a  smile  on  his  countenance ;  and  very    but  if  he  were  once  fairly  hanged,  I  should  nc 


soon  afterwards  there  was  an  end  of  all  his  hopes 
and  fears  on  this  side  of  the  grave.      He  never 


suffer.'     Boswell:  '  Would  you  eat  your  dinner  that 
day,  sir  ? '    Johnson  : '  Yes,  sir ;  and  eat  it  as  if  he 


moved  from  the  place  he  first  took  in   the   cart ;  were  eating  with  me.     Why,  there's  Baretti,  who  is 

seemed  absorbed  in  prayer,  and  utterly  dejected,  '  to  be  tried  for  his  life  to-morrow  ;  friends  have  risen 

without  any  other  signs  of  animation  but  in  praying,  up  for  him  on  every   side,  yet   if  he   should  be 

I  stayed  till   he  was  cut  down  and  put  into  the  hanged,  none  of  them  would  eat  a  slice  of  pudding 

hearse.     The   body  was   hurried  to  the  house  of  {  the  less.     Sir,  that  sympathetic  feeling  goes  a  very 

Davies,  an  undertaker  in  Goodge  Street,  Tottenham  little  way  in  depressing  the  mind.' "  J 

Court  Road,  where  it  was  placed  in  a  hot  bath,  and  !      Tyburn  Tree  was  the  usual  end  of  the  "  highway- 

every  exertion  made  to  restore  life,  but  in  vain."  man,"  as  people  in  the  days  of  Queen  Anne  and 

We  have  already  given  some  particulars  of  the  life  the  Georges  euphemistically  called  the  robber  and 

of  Dr.  Dodd,  and  of  the  crime  for  which  he  suf-  assassin  of  the  king's  high  road.     "  Alas ! "  writes 

fered ;  *  it  only  remains  to  add  that  Dr.  Johnson  Thackeray,  "  there  always  came  a  day  in  the  life  of 

made  eloquent  and  strenuous    exertions  with    his  that  warrior  when  it  was  the  fashion  to  accompany 

pen  to  get  the  capital  sentence  remitted,    but  in  him  as  he  passed,  without  his  black  mask,  and  with  a 

vain.     "  The  malevolence  of  men  and  their  good  nosegay  in  his  hand,  accompanied  by  halberdiers, 

nature,"  wrote  Horace  Walpole,  "  displayed  them-  and  attended  by  the  sheriff,  in  a  carriage  without 

selves  in  their  different  characters  against  Dodd.  springs,  and  a  clergyman  jolting  beside  him,  to  a 

His  character   appeared  so  bad   to  Dr.  Newton,  spot  close  by  Cumberland  Gate  and  the  Marble 

Bishop  of  Bristol,  that  he  said,  '  I  am  sorry  for  Dr.  Arch,  where  a  stone  still  records  that  '  here  Tyburn 

Dodd.'     Being  asked  why,  he  replied, '  Because  he  turnpike    stood.'     What   a  change  in  a  century  ; 

is  to  be  hanged  for  the  least  crime  he  ever  com-  nay,  in  a  few  years  !    Within  a  few  yards  of  that 

mined.' "  gate  the  fields  began  :  the  fields  of  his  exploits, 

The  fondness  which  many  minds  feel  (or  rather  behind  the  hedges  of  which  he  lurked  and  robbed. 

felt)  for  these  melancholy  sights  is  thus  discussed  A  great  and  wealthy  city  has  grown  over  those 

by  Boswell  and  Dr.  Johnson  : — "  I  mentioned  to  meadows.     Were  a   man  brought  to  die  thereon, 

him  that  I  had  seen  the  execution  of  several  con-  the  windows  would  be  closed,  and  the  inhabitants 

victs  at  Tyburn  f  two  days  before,  and  that  none  of  would  keep  their  houses  in  sickening  horror.     A 

them  seemed  to  be  under  any  concern.    Johnson :  hundred  years  ago  people  crowded  there  to  see  the 

'Most   of  them,    sir,    have  never  thought  at  all.'  last  act  of  a  highwayman's  life,  and  made  jokes  on 

Bosivell :  '  But  is  not  the  fear  of  death  natural  to  it.     Swift  laughed  at  him,  grimly  advising  him  to 

man  ?  '    Johnson  :  '  So  much  so,  sir,  that  the  whole  provide  a  holland  shirt  and  white  cap,  crowned  with 

of  life  is  but  keeping  away  the  thoughts  of  it.'     He  a  crimson  or  black  ribbon,  for  his  exit,  to  mount 

then,  in  a  low  and  earnest  tone,  talked  of  his  medi-  the  cart  cheerfully,  shake  hands  with  the  hangman, 

tating  upon  the  awful  hour  of  his  own  dissolution,  and  so  farewell :  or  (lay  wrote  the  most  delightful 

and  in  what  manner  he    should  conduct    himself  ballads,  and  then  made  merry  over  his  hero." 
upon  that  occasion.    '  I  know  not,'  said  he, '  whether        Among  those  who  suffered  here  the  penalty  of 

I  should  wish  to  have  a  friend  by  me,  or  have  it  all  their   crimes    as    highwaymen    was   the   notorious 

between  God  and  myself."  "  Sixteen-string  Jack,"  who  is  said  by  Dr.  Johnson 

"  Talking  of  our  feeling  for  the  distresses  of  others  to  have  "  towered  above  the  common  mark  "   in 

— Johnson :  '  Why,  sir,  there  is  much  noise  made  ,  his  own  line  as  much  as  Gray  did  in  poetry.      He 

about  it,  but  it  is  greatly  exaggerated.     No,  sir,  we  !  was  remarkable  for  foppery  in  his  dress,  and,  as 

have  a  certain  degree  of  feeling  to  prompt  us  to  do  Boswell  tells  us,  derived  his  name  from  a  bunch  of 

good ;  more  than  that  Providence  does  not  intend,  sixteen  strings  which  he  wore  at  the  knees  of  his 

It  would  be  misery  to  no  purpose.'     Bosu'tll :'  But  breeches.     John    Rann,   for   such    was   this  male- 

.  !  factor's  real  name,  was  executed  here  in  November, 

t  Six  Sppyrn'en'were  executed  at  Tyburn  on  Wednesday,,  he  ,8th  '7.74'    f°r    r°bbing     Dr-    Bell,    the     chaplain     tO    the 

(one  day  before).     It  was  one  of  the  irregularities  of  Mr.  lioswell's  mind  PrinCCSS  Amelia,   in  GunnCrsburV  LaHC 
to  be  passionately  fond  of  seeing  these  melancholy  spectacles.     Indeed,   ] 

he  avows  and  defends  it  (in  the  Hypochondriac,  No.  68,  London  Mag.,  \ 

.783)  as  a  „„„,„,,  irresis,ible  imputa.-C**,*  |  ,  Boswclls  » Life  of  Johason." 


Tyburo.]    THE    "FASHIONABLE   HIGHWAYMAN." 195 

"  Rann  was  a  smart  fellow,  and  a  great  favourite    his  only  representative  now-a-days  is  the  common 
with  a  certain  description  of  ladies  ;  he  had  been    footpad— a  vulgar  fellow — who  knocks  you  down, 
coachman  to  the  Earl  of  Sandwich,  when  his  lord-    and  rifles  you  when  you  are  insensible." 
ship   resided   in   the    south-east   corner  house   ofj      Another  notorious  character  who  was   hanged 
Bedford  Row.      It  was  pretty  generally  reported  |  here  about  the  middle    of  the   last  century  was- 
that  the  sixteen  strings  worn  by  this  freebooter  at    McLean,  the  "  fashionable  highwayman,"  of  whom 
his  knees  were  in  allusion  to  the  number  of  times    Walpole  thus  writes :— "  One  night,  in  the  begin- 
he  had  been  tried   and  acquitted.     However,  he  (  ning  of  November,  1749,  as  I  was  returning  from 
was  caught  at  last ;  and  J.   T.  Smith  records  his  |  Holland  House  by  moonlight,  about  ten  o'clock,  I 
being  led,  when  a  boy,  by  his  father's  playfellow,    was  attacked  by  two  highwaymen  in  Hyde  Park, 
Joseph  Nollekens,  to  the  end  of  John  Street,  to  see    and  the  pistol  of  one  of  them  going  off  accidentally, 
the  notorious  terror  of  the  king's  highway,  Rann,    raised  the  skin  under  my  eye,  left  some  marks  of 
pass  on  his  way  to  execution.     The   malefactor's    shot  in  my  face,  and  stunned  me.     The  ball  went 
coat  was  a  bright  pea-green ;  he  had  an  immense  ]  through  the  top  of  the  chariot,  and  if  I  had  sat  an 
nosegay,  which  he  had  received  from  the  hand  of   inch  nearer  to  the  left  side,  must  have  gone  through 
one  of  the  frail  sisterhood,  whose  practice  it  was    my  head."   One  of  these  highwaymen  was  McLean, 
in  those  days  to  present  flowers  to  their  favourites    He  also  attacked  and  robbed  Lord  Eglinton,  Sir 
from  the  steps  of  St   Sepulchre's  Church,   as  the  .  Thomas  Robinson,  Mrs.  Talbot,  and  many  others, 
last  token  of  what    they  called  their  attachment    He  carried  off  a  blunderbuss  belonging  to  the  old 
to  the  condemned,  whose  worldly  accounts  were    Scotch  earl.     McLean  was  at  one  time  a  grocer  in 
generally  brought   to  a  close  at  Tyburn,  in  con-    Welbeck  Street,  but  having  the  misfortune  to  lose 
sequence    of    their   associating    with    abandoned  |  his  wife,  he  gave  up  business  and  took  to  the  road, 
characters.     Such  is    Mr.  Smith's  account  of  the    having  as  a  companion,  one  Plunket,  a  journeyman 
procession  of  the  hero  to  Tyburn ;  and  Nollekens    apothecary.     McLean  was  captured  in  the  autumn 
assured  Smith,   had  his  father-in-law,  Mr.  Justice  (  of  1750,  by  selling  a  laced  waistcoat  to  a  pawn- 
Welsch,   been   high   constable,   they   could    have    broker  in  Monmouth  Street,  who  happened  to  carry 
walked'  all  the  way  to  Tyburn  by  the  side  of  the    it  to  the  very  man  who  had  just  sold  the  lace, 
cart."      The    "sixteen   strings"    which    this    free-    Walpole  tells  us  "  there  were  a  wardrobe  of  clothes, 
booter  wore  at  his  knees  were,  in  reality,  to  the  (  three-and-twenty  purses,  and  the  celebrated  blunder- 
initiated  at  least,  a  covert  allusion  to  the  number  ^  buss  found  at  his  lodgings,  besides  a  famous  kept 
of  times  that  he'  had   been   tried   and  acquitted,    mistress."    Soame  Jenyns,   in  his   poem    entitled 
Fortunately  for  the  Boswell    illustrators,  there   is    «  The  Modern  Fine  Lady,"  written  in  the  year  this 
an  etched  portrait  of  "  Sixteen-string  Jack  ;"  for,  '  "fashionable  highwayman"  came  to  grief,  write 
thief  though  he  was,  he  had  the  honour  of  being  „  ghe  weeps  if  but  a  handsome  thief  is  hung.' 


their  career. 


n,"  ob- '  exploits.     In  Lower  Holloway  his  name  was  long 


,= 

money  with  >  quota,™  from   Horace.  as     Sr^h  in  which  there  was  a  booty  of  fou 

5^;£*W^-:2£.«  £  =  iEi  -»— 


I96                                                OLD  AND   NEW   LONDON.  lTybum. 

and  suffered  the  fair  owner  to  ransom  the  rest  by  earnestly  upon  the  subject     The  only  answer  he 

dancing  a  coranto  with  him  on  the  heath."    This  could  obtain  was  as  follows : — "  The  last  thing  I 

celebrated  exploit  has  been  made  the  subject  of  recollect   was  going  up  Holborn  Hill  in  a  cart 

one  of  Mr.  Frith's  remarkable  pictures,  and  has  I  thought  then  that  I  was  in  a  beautiful  green  field ; 

been  engraved.     Duval  was  arrested  at  the  "  Hole-  and  that  is  all  I  remember  till  I  found  myself  in 

in-the-Wall,"  a  noted  house  near  Covent  Garden,  your  honour's   dissecting-room."     It   is  worthy  of 

and  he  was  executed  in  January,  1669,  in  the  twenty-  record  that  the  last   criminal   executed   here  was 

seventh  year  of  his  age.     It  is  on  record  how  that,  one  Ryland,  who  was  hung  for  forgery  in  1783  ; 

"  after  lying  in  slate  at  the  Tangier  Tavern,  in  St.  after  which  the  gallows  were   taken   down  about 

Giles's,  he  was  buried  in  the  middle  aisle  of  St.  London  in  order  to  concentrate  the  executions  at 

Paul's,  Covent  Garden,  his  funeral  being  attended  Newgate  and  Horsemonger  Lane, 

with  flambeaux  and  a  numerous  train  of  mourners,  Many  good    stories    are    told   about  Tyburn  ; 

'  to  the  great  grief  of  the  women.' "  among  others,  the  following  : — "  A  celebrated  wit 

Tyburn,  it  may  be  added,  has  also  some  other  '  one  evening  was  walking  along  a  lane  near  Oxford 

associations,   being  connected  with  the  history  of  Road,  as  it  was  then  called,  when  he  was  accosted 

newspapers  and  the  liberty  of  the  press.     At  the  by  a  shabby-looking  fellow,  who   asked  him  the 

Restoration  the  latter  had  almost  ceased  to  exist,  way  to  Tyburn.     The  gentleman,  being  fond  of  a 

and  the  press  had  not  only  to  make  itself  heard  jest,  answered,  '  Why,  you  have  only  to  rob  the  first 

through  the  small  voice  of  a   "  Licencer,"  but  to  !  person  you  meet,  and  you  will  find  the  way  there 

regulate  its  proceedings  by  Act  of  Parliament.     In  easily.'     The  fellow  thanked  him,  and  pulled  out 

1663  a  Tyburn  audience  was  assembled  to  witness  '  and    presented   a  pistol,  threatening   to  blow  his 

the  execution  of  a  troublesome  printer.     He  was  brains  out  if  he  did  not  give  up  his  purse.     The 

named  John  Twyn,  and  had  carried  on  his  business  wit  was  forced  to  comply,  and  lost  his  money  and 

in  Cloth  Fair,  near  to  Milton's  hiding-place,  when  he  j  his  jest  at  once." 

had  "  fall'n  on  evil  days."     Twyn  was  accused  of  Before  leaving  the  subject  of  the  "gallows,"  a 

having  printed  some  seditious  work  bearing  on  the  word  or  two  about  "Jack  Ketch"  and  his  office 

arguments  often  urged  against  the  Commonwealth,  may  not  be  out  of  place.     The  origin  of  the  name 

"  that  the  execution  of  judgment  and  justice  is  as  "  Jack  Ketch,"  as  applied  to  the  public  executioner, 

well  the  people's  as  the  magistrates'  duty ;  and  if  is   thus   explained   in  Lloyd's    MS.   Collection  of 

the  magistrates  pervert  judgment,  the  people  are  English  Pedigrees  in  the  British  Museum.    We  give 

bound   by  the  law   of  God  to  execute  judgment  it  for  what  it  is  worth.     "The  Manor  of  Tyburn," 

without  them  and  upon  them."    Roger  L'Estrange  writes  Mr.  Lloyd,  "  where  felons  were  for  a   long 
was  the  "licencer"  who  had  hunted  up  this  offend- ( time    executed,   was  formerly    held    by    Richard 

ing    printer  ;   and  Chief  Justice   Hyde  sentenced  Jacquett,  from  whence  we    have  the   name  Jack 

him  to  be  '•  drawn  on  a  hurdle  to  Tyburn,  and  there  Ketch  as   a    corruption."      But   the   work  of  the 

hanged  by  the  neck  ;  "  and,   being  alive,  that  he  executioner   was   sufficiently  artistic    to   admit   of 

should  be  cut  down,  and  his  body  mutilated  in  a  degrees  of  skill.    Thus  Dryden  remarks  :—"  A  man 

way  which  decency  forbids  the  mention  of;  that  may  be  capable  (as  Jack  Ketch's  wife  said  of  her 

his  entrails  should  afterwards  be  taken  out,  "and,  servant)  of  a  plain  piece  of  work,  a  bare  hanging; 

you  still  living,  the  same  to  be  burnt  before  your  but  to  make  a  malefactor  die  sweetly  was  only  be- 

eyes ;  your  head  to  be  cut  off,  and  your  head  and  longing  to  her  husband." 

quarters  to  be  disposed  of  at  the  pleasure  of  the  The  earliest  hangman  whose  name  has  descended 

King's  Majesty."    It  is  fortunate  for  the  law,  as  well  to  us,  if  we  may  trust  the  authority  of  that  accom- 

as  for  offenders,    that  such  merciful    and   upright  plished  antiquary,  the  late  Dr    Rimbault    is   one 

judges  have  ceased  to  exist.  Hull,    who  is    mentioned  in   his   public    capacity 

In  1 782,  the  year  preceding  that  which  witnessed 'in  Gabriel    Harvey's    tract  against   Nash,    called 

the  last  executions  at  Tyburn,  the  dead  body  of  one  "  Pierce's  Supererogation  "  (i 593).     Bull  was  suc- 

John  Haynes,  a  professional  thief  and  housebreaker,  ceeded  by  the  more  celebrated  Derrick,  who  cut  off 

nsequence,  had  finished  here  his  career,  the  head  of  the  unfortunate  Earl  of  Essex  in  1601 

ivas  taken,  as  a  "subject"   for  dissection,  to  the  In  Dekker's  "  Bellman  of  London,"  printed  in  1608, 

residence  of  Sir  U.lham   Bhzard.     The  body,  we  under  the  article  "  Prigging  Law,"  are  the  following 

are  to,d  showed  signs  of  life,  and  Sir  William  per-  notices  of  thi.s  worthy  -"For  he  rides  his  circuk 

vh  t  '   ,reC°Veiy'    Anx'°«s  t°  know  the  sensations  with  the  devil,  and  Derrick  must  be  his  host,  and 

which  John  Haynes  had  experienced  at  the  moment  Tiburne  the  land  at  which  he  will  light."     "  At  the 

t  his  suspension,  the  surgeon  questioned  the  thief  gallows,   where  I  leave  them,  as  to  the  haven  at 


JACK    KETCH. 


which  they  must  all  cast  anchor,  if  Derrick's  cables  up  by  the  roots,  and  demolish!  by  certain  Evil  Spirits; 
do  but  hold."  Again,  at  the  end  of  his  "  Wonder- '  with  Jack  Ketch's  Lamentation  for  the  Loss  of  his 
ful  Year,"  is  this  passage  :—  "  But  by  these  tricks  |  Shop,  1678."  In  the  next  year  was  produced 
imagining  that  many  thousands  have  been  turned  t  "Squire  Ketch's  Declaration  concerning  his  late 
wrongfully  off  the  ladder  of  life  ;  and  praying  that  Confinement  in  the  Queen's  Bench  and  Marshalsea, 
Derrick  or  his  successors  may  live  to  do  those  a  '  whereby  his  hopeful  harvest  was  liked  to  have  been 
good  turn  that  have  done  so  to  others.  Hie  finis  |  blasted."  Two  years  later  we  find  him  at  Oxford  : 
Priami!  Here  is  an  end  of  an  old  song."  Derrick' — "Aug.  31,  1681.  Wednesday,  at  n,  Stephen 
held  his  unenviable  post  for  nearly  half  a  century; '  College  suffered  death  by  hanging  in  the  Castle 
and  from  him  was  named  the  temporary  crane  Yard,  Oxon,  and  when  he  hanged  about  half  an 
formed  on  board  ship  for  unloading  and  general  hour  was  cut  down  by  Catch,  or  Ketch,  and  quartered 
hoisting  purposes,  by  lashing  one  spar  to  another,  under  the  gallows."  \  The  name  of  Ketch  is  often 
gibbet  fashion.  The  next  hangman  was  the  noto-  mentioned,  in  the  lampoons  of  the  day,  along  with 
nous  Gregory  Brandon,  who,  as  the  story  goes,  by  '  that  of  the  infamous  Judge  Jeffreys,  as  his  brother 
a  ruse  played  upon  Garter  King-at-Arms,  had  a  in  crime.  One  poet  writes : — 
grant  of  arms  confirmed  to  him,  and  was  thereby  \  „  mile  Jeffreys  on  ^  ^  Ketch  on  ^  ^  ^,, 
"  made  a  gentleman,  which  the  mob  in  a  joke 

soon  elevated  into  esquire,  "a  title  by  which  he  '  He  is  also  mentioned  by  D'Urfey,  in  his  humorous 
was  known  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  and  which  was  '  Poem>  entltled  "  Butler>s  Ghost,"  published  in  1682  ; 
afterwards  transferred  to  his  successors  in  office."  and  m  the  followlDg  )'ear  he  is  thus  mentioned  in 
He  had  frequently  acted  as  a  substitute  for  Derrick ; 


and  had  become  so  popular  that  the  gallows  was 
sometimes  called  by  his  Christian  name,  as  may  be 
seen  in  the  following  lines  :— 

"  This  trembles  under  the  Black  Rod,  and  he 

Doth  fear  his  fate  from  the  Grtgorian  tree." 

Gregory    Brandon    was    succeeded    by    his    son 


the    epilogue  to  Dryden    and    Lee's   "  Duke   of 
Guise : " — 

"  Lenitives,  he  says,  suit  best  with  our  condition  ; 
Jack  Ketch,  says  I,  's  an  excellent  physician." 

For  the  following  scrap  of  antiquarian  lore  re- 
specting the  interesting  locality  of  which  we  treat, 
our  readers  are  indebted  to  "  honest "  John  Timbs  : 


Richard,  who  seems  to  have  claimed  the  gallows  j  — "  Formerly,  when  a  person  prosecuted  another 
by  inheritance.  This  Richard  Brandon,  as  we  '  for  any  offence,  and  the  prisoner  was  executed 
have  shown  in  a  previous  volume,  has  the  credit  of  at  Tyburn,  the  prosecutor  was  presented  with  a 
being  the  executioner  of  Charles  I.*  "Squire"  Dun  J 'Tyburn  Ticket,'  which  exempted  him  and  its 
was  the  next  common  hangman,  and  he  in  turn  j  future  holders  from  having  to  serve  on  juries, 
was  succeeded  by  the  veritable  Jack  Ketch,  who  ,  This  privilege  was  not  repealed  till  the  sixth  year 
was  the  executioner  of  Lord  William  Russell  and  !  of  the  reign  of  George  IV." 

the  Duke  of  Monmouth.  Macaulay,  in  his  account  (  The  following  is  said  to  be  the  reason  why  Tyburn 
of  the  death  of  the  latter,  says  :  "  He  then  accosted  ,  was  chosen  as  the  place  of  execution  and  burial 
John  Ketch,  the  executioner,  a  wretch  who  had  of  traitors  :— The  parishioners  of  St.  Sepulchre's, 
butchered  many  brave  and  noble  victims,  and  '  near  Newgate,  were  not  over-well  pleased  that  the 
whose  name  has,  during  a  century  and  a  half,  been  bodies  of  those  malefactors  who  had  suffered  the 
vulgarly  given  to  all  who  have  succeeded  him  in  last  penalty  of  the  law  should  be  buried  amongst 
his  odious  office.  '  Here,'  said  the  duke,  '  are  them ;  in  proof,  it  may  be  mentioned,  on  the  autho- 
six  guineas  for  you.  Do  not  hack  me  as  you  did  rity  of  a  letter  from  Fleetwood  to  Lord  Burghley, 
my  Lord  Russell.  I  have  heard  that  you  struck  that  they  "  would  not  suffer  a  traytor's  corpes  to  be 
him  three  or  four  times.  My  servant  will  give  you  layed  in  the  earthe  where  theire  parents,  wyefts, 
some  gold  if  you  do  the  work  well.'"  This  notable  chyldren,  kynred,  maisters,  and  old  naighboures 
functionary  does  not  seem  to  have  had  a  very  easy  did  rest :  and  so  his  carcas  WM  returned  to  the 
time  of  it;  at  all  events,  in  1678,  a  broadside  was  buryall  ground  neere  to  Tyborne. 
published,  entitled  "  The  Plotter's  Ballad  :  being  The  gallows  at  Tyburn  was  triangular  in  plan, 


Jack  Ketch's  incomparable  receipt  for  the  cure  of  having  three  legs  to  stand  on,  and  appears  to  have 

traytorous  recusants."     In  the  same  year  appeared  been  a  permanent  erection.     From  the  number  of 

a  quarto  tract:  "The  Tyburn  Ghost;  or,  Strange  criminals  hanged  there,  it  would  indeed  seem  to 

Downfal  of  the  Gallows  :  a  most  true  Relation  how  have  been  useless  to  have  taken  it  down  after  each 

the  famous  Triple  Tree,  near  Paddington,  was  pluckt  execution.     We  may  learn,  from  a  sermon  prea 


1  S«  Vol.  III.,  p.  350. 


t  "  A'Wood's  Life,"  by  Dr.  Bliss, 


i98 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Tyburn. 


by  good  Bishop  Home,  towards  the  close  ol  the 
eighteenth  century,  thctt  it  was  no  uncommon  thing 
to  see  scores  of  felons  executed  here.  Taylor,  the 
Water  Poet,  in  "  The  Praise  and  Virtue  of  a  Jayle 
and  Jaylers  "  (1623),  gives  these  lines  : — 

"  I  have  heard  sundry  men  ofttimes  dispute, 
Of  trees  that  in  one  yeare  will  twice  beare  fruit ; 
But  if  a  man  note  Tyburn,  'twill  appeare 
That  that's  a  tree  that  bears  twelve  times  a  yeare.'' 


|  cart,  riding  up  Holborn  in  a  two-wheeled  chariot, 
I  with  a  guard  of  halberdiers.  '  There  goes  a  proper 
1  fellow,'  says  one;  'Good  people,  pray  for  me.' 
Now  I'm  at  the  three  wooden  stilts.  Hey  !  now  I 
feel  my  toes  hang  i'  the  cart;  now  'tis  drawn  away; 
now,  now,  now  ! — I'm  gone  ! " 

At  Tyburn,  upon  the  restoration  of  monarchy, 
was  performed  the  farce  of  dragging  Sir  Henry 
Mildmay,  Wallop,  and  some  other  members  of  the 


Again,  in  Dr.  Johnson's  "  London  "  (a.  poem), 
we  rea  1 : —  < 

"  Scarce  can  our  fields-such  crowd,  at  Tyburn  die- 
With  hemp  (he  gallows  and  the  fleet  supply." 

Then  there  is  a  parody  on  Gray's  "  Elegy,"  in 
which  we  read— 

"  Yel  e'en  these  humble  vices  to  correct 
Old  Tyburn  lifts  his  triple  front  on  high." 

In  Shirley's  play  of  The  U'eJJing,  published  in 
1629,  an  execution  at  Tyburn  is  thus  depicted: 

-"Rawbone:  I  do  imagine  myself  apprehended 
already;  now  the  constable  is  carrying  me  to  New- 
gate; now,  now,  I'm  in  the  Sessions  House,  in  the 
dock;  now  I'm  called;  'Not  guilty,  .my  lord.' 

I  he  jury  has  found  the  indictment,  billa  vera. 
Now,  now,  comes  my  sentence.  Now  I'm  in  the 


regicide  party,  to  the  fatal  tree,  with  halters  round 
their  necks.  Miles  Corbet,  the  regicide  also, 
having  been  arrested  on  the  Continent,  was  brought 
to  London,  dragged  through  the  streets  hither,  and 
executed. 

Evelyn,  in  his  "  Diary,"  under  date  January  30, 
1661,  the  first  anniversary  of  the  murder  of 
Charles  I.  since  the  Restoration,  writes: — "The 
carcases  of  those  rebels,  Cromwell,  Bradshaw,  the 
judge  who  condemned  his  Majesty,  and  Ireton 
(son-in-law  to  the  Usurper),  were  dragged  out  of 
their  superb  tombs  in  Westminster  among  the 
kings  to  Tyburn,  and  hanged  on  the  gallows  there 
from  nine  in  the  morning  till  six  at  night,  and 
then  buried  under  that  fatal  and  ignominious 
monument  in  a  deep  pit,  thousands  who  had  seen 


Tyburn.] 


EXECUTION    OF  THE   REGICIDES. 


199 


OLD    AND    NEW   LONDON.  [Tyburn. 


them  in  all  their  pride  being  spectators."  How  far  policemen  ;  what  light  broughams  and  what  gay 
this  "  deep  pit  "  can  be  regarded  as  really  the  last  carriages  ;  what  swarms  of  busy  apprentices  and 
resting-place  of  Cromwell's  body  may  be  inferred  artificers,  riding  on  omnibus-roofs,  pass  daily  and 
from  what  we  have  already  written  on  the  subject,  hourly  !  Tom  Idle's  times  are  quite  changed  ;. 
in  our  account  of  Red  Lion  Square,  Holborn.*  !  many  of  the  institutions  are  gone  into  disuse  which 
In  the  "  New  View  of  London,"  published  in  were  admired  in  his  day.  There's  more  pity  and 
1708,  no  mention  is  made  of  either  Oxford  or  kindness,  and  a  better  chance  for  poor  Tom's 
Uxbridge  Road,  but  the  thoroughfare  is  entered  successors  now  than  at  that  simpler  period,  when 
as  Tyburn  Road.  It  is  thus  described  as  lying  Fielding  hanged  him  and  Hogarth  drew  him." 
"  between  St.  Giles'  Pound,  east,  and  the  lane  Tyburn  also  figures  in  one  of  Hogarth's  pictures 
leading  to  the  Gallows,  west,  350  yards  in  length."  of  "  Marriage  a  la  Mode,"  where  Counsellor  Silver- 
The  writer  adds  :  —  "  This  street  has  its  name  as  tongue  pays  the  last  penalty  of  the  law  for  sending 
being  the  next  street  to  Tyburn,  the  place  for  a  certain  noble  earl  out  of  the  world  before  his 
execution  of  all  such  malefactors,  generally  speak-  time.  In  Hogarth's  hands,  no  doubt,  Tyburn  was 
ing,  as  have  committed  acts  worthy  of  death  within  usefully  employed,  both 
the  City  and  Liberties  of  London  and  County 
of  Middlesex.  I  have  known,  he  continues,; 

"  nineteen  executed  at  one  sessions,  though  these  But  Tyburn  has  witnessed  other  scenes  besides 
are  held  about  eight  times  a  year  ;  but  this  is  those  of  which  we  have  spoken  above.  The  story 
near  twenty  years  ago."  He  then  congratulates  of  Queen  Henrietta  Maria  doing  penance  here  is 
the  nation  on  the  decrease  in  the  number  of  thus  told  by  Mr.  S.  W.  Gardiner,  in  his  "  History 
executions  of  late,  which  he  ascribes  to  improve-  of  England  under  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  and 
ments  in  the  law,  and  to  the  efforts  of  societies  for  Charles  I.  :  "  —  "  It  was  after  a  long  day  spent  in 
the  reformation  of  manners  ;  and  ends  by  telling  a  attendance  on  the  devotions  of  her  Church  at  the 
story  of  a  man  who  revived,  after  being  cut  down  Chapel  at  St.  James's  that  the  young  queen  of 
off  the  gallows,  in  1705.  Charles  I.  strolled  out,  with  her  ladies,  to  breathe 

Tyburn,  it  need  scarcely  be  added,  figures  con-  the  fresh  evening  air  in  St.  James's  Park.  By- 
stantly  in  the  caricatures  of  Hogarth.  Thus,  in  and-by  she  found  her  way  into  Hyde  Park,  and 
his  "  Industry  and  Idleness,"  "  Tom  Idle  "  goes  to  by  accident  or  design  directed  her  steps  towards 
Tyburn  in  a  cart  with  a  coffin  in  it,  whilst  the  Tyburn.  In  her  position  it  was  quite  natural  that 
other  apprentice,  Francis  Goodchild,  drives  to  the  she  should  bethink  herself  of  those  who  had  suf- 
Mansion  House,  as  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  with  fered  there  as  martyrs  for  the  faith  which  she  had 
footmen  and  sword-bearer,  the  King  and  the  Court  come  to  England  to  support  What  wonder  if  her 
looking  on  from  a  balcony  in  St.  Paul's  Church-  heart  beat  more  quickly,  and  if  some  prayer  for 
yard,  and  smiling  approval.  In  Hogarth's  print  of  strength  to  bear  her  weary  lot  rose  to  her  lips? 
Tyburn  Tree,  the  hangman  is  represented  coolly  A  week  or  two  probably  passed  away  before  the 
smoking  his  pipe,  as  he  reclines  by  the  gibbet,  in  tale  reached  Charles,  exaggerated  in  its  passage 
full  view  of  the  hills  of  Hampstead  and  Highgate.  through  the  mouths  of  men.  ...  The  Queen 
'  ted  on  a 

tors,  who 
mes      The 

that  astonished  escaped  criminal  !     Over  that  road    cup  of  his  displeasure  was  now  full  •  those 

which  the  hangman  used  to  travel  constantly,  and    who   had  brought   her   to  this   should   no  longer 
••  Oxford  stage  twice  a  week,  go  ten  thousand    remain  in  England.     ...     On  July  31  the  king 
carriages  everyday;  over  yonder  road,  by  which    and   queen   dined    together    at   Whitehall.     After 
Furpin  tied  to  Windsor,  and  Squire  Western    dinner  he  conducted  her  to  his  private  apartments, 

°  r"!y  ed/"t0  SWn>  7  e  Came  t0  take  UP  his  locked  the  door  on  her  attendants,  and  told  her 
quarters  at  the  Hercules  P.llars  on  the  outskirts  of  that  her  servants  must  go."  Meanwhile,  Conway 
.ondon  what  a  rush  of  civilisation  and  order  flows  was  taking  measures  for  the  removal  of  her  ladies 


u    view  o    te    is  of  Hampstead  and  Highgate.  through  the  mouths  of  men.     ...     The 

Could    lorn  Idle's  ghost  have  made  its  appear-  of  England,  he  was  told,  had  been  conduct 

ance  in  1847,"  asks  Thackeray,  in  his  "Humour-  pilgrimage   to   offer  prayer  to  dead  traito 

ists,       what  changes  would  have  been  remarked  by  had  suffered  the  just  reward  of  their  crime 


^  °    ^^6"16"  wWl  Umbrellas    tO  S°merSet  H°USe'    "  As  soon  as  the  >'oung  Queen 

ing  done  she  flew   to  the 
pieces  the  glass,  that  her 


g  measures  for  the  removal  of  her  ladies 

on  as  the  >'oung  Queen 
done  she  flew   to  the 


IT0'1  ,t0jTkS'    and   chambers>    and   counting-    perceived  what  was  being 

rTy^nfamn    "^nT"   °f  fmirser>-maids   and    window  and  da^d  to  pie,cs  u,c  „««,  ™«  ner 
mtryj    what    peaceful    processions    of   voice  might  be  heard  by  those  who  were  bidding 
.  .  -    her  adieu  for  the  last  time ;  and  Charles,  it  is  said, 

'  p  546'  ,  dragged  her  back  into  the  room,  with  her  hands 


Tybum.l  PENANCE   OF   QUEEN    HENRIETTA   MARIA.  201 

bleeding  from  the  energy  with  which  she  clung  |  statesman  to  the  palace  as  late  as  two  o'clock  in 
to  the  bars."  As  we  have  already  stated,  in  our  ,  the  morning,  he  found  the  king  in  his  cabinet, 
account  of  Somerset  House,*  no  time  was  lost  in  examining  the  case  of  a  prisoner  condemned  to 
sending  off  the  queen's  French  attendants  to  their  execution.  The  envoy  afterwards  ascertained  that 
native  country.  j  the  king  keeps  a  register,  recording  the  name  of 

It  is  more  probable  that  the  act  on  the  part  of  every  person  capitally  condemned,  the  decision, 
her  Majesty  was  a  voluntary  one ;  for,  although  and  its  reasons.  Frequently,  in  the  still  hours  of 
pious  and  devout,  the  queen  was  not  at  all  a  person  the  night,  he  performs  the  task  of  investigating 
to  be  led  blindly  at  the  will  of  any  confessor,  those  cases,  and  adds  to  the  record  the  circum- 
However,  in  the  illustrated  edition  of  Pennant's  '  stances  which  had  influenced  his  decision.  The 
"  London,"  in  the  British  Museum,  there  is  to  be  envoy  probably  did  not  know  that  the  great  and 
seen  a  copy  of  a  rare  German  print,  purporting  '  good  George  III.  had  pursued  nearly  the  same 
to  be  a  representation  of  the  scene.  At  a  short  j  practice  fifty  years  before,  weighed  the  evidence 
distance  off  is  the  confessor's  carriage,  drawn  by  j  with  the  deepest  anxiety,  and  generally  shut  him- 
six  horses ;  in  the  coach  is  seated  the  confessor  self  up  in  his  cabinet  at  Windsor  (it  was  pre- 
himself,  and  a  page,  with  a  lighted  candle  or  torch,  sumed  in  prayer)  during  the  hour  appointed  for 
is  standing  at  the  door.  The  fact  is  certainly  the  execution  in  London. 


recorded  in  a  cotemporary  document  published  in 


The  exact  spot  on  which  the  fatal  Tyburn  Tree 


the  first  series  of  "  Original  Letters,"  edited  by  Sir  j  was  erected  has  been  often  discussed  by  anti- 
Henry  Ellis ;  but  as  the  language  used  is  of  the  j  quaries.  It  would  appear,  however,  to  be  identi- 
most  rabid  and  foul-mouthed  kind — the  confessor  ,  fied  with  the  site  of  the  house  in  the  south-east 
being  styled  "  Luciferian,"  and  the  details  of  the  |  corner  of  Connaught  Square,  formerly  numbered 
affair  sty  led  "ridiculous,"  "absurd,"  "beggarly  "—we  49  J  for  in  the  lease  granted  by  the  Bishop  of 
may  reasonably  entertain  a  doubt  whether  it  was  i  London,  to  whom  the  property  belongs,  this  fact 
not  a  "mare's-nest"  In  all  probability  the  story  is  particularly  mentioned.  A  writer  in  The  Anti- 
was  concocted  by  some  Titus  Gates  of  the  day.  '  quary,  in  October,  1873,  says,  with  reference  to 
The  letter  in  question,  which  purports  to  be  "from  this  subject :— "  I  was  born  within  100  yards  of 
Mr.  Pory  to  Mr.  Joseph  Mead,"  contains  the  follow-  the  exact  spot  on  which  the  gallows  stood,  and 
ing  expressions  :— "  No  longer  agone  then  upon  St.  my  uncle  took  up  the  stones  on  which  the  uprights 
James  his  day  last,  those  hypocritical  dogges  made  .  were  placed.  The  following  is  _his  statement  to 
the  pore  Queen  to  walke  a  foot  (some  add  bare,  me,  and  the  circumstance  of  his  telling  it :— In 
foot)  from  her  house  at  St.  James  to  the  gallowes  1810,  when  Connaught  Place  was  being  built,  he 
at  Tyborne  thereby  to  honour  the  Saint  of  the  day  in  was  employed  on  the  works,  and  for  many  years 
visiting  that  holy  place  where  so  many  martyrs  lived  at  the  corner  of  Bryanston  Street  and  the 
(forsooth)  had  shed  their  blond  in  defense  of  the  j  Edgware  Road,  nearly  opposite  Connaught  Mews 
Catholiq  ue  cause.  .  .  .  Yea,  they  have  made  :  My  father,  a  master  carpenter,  worked  for  several 
her  to  go  barefoot,  to  spin,  to  eat  her  meat  out  of !  years  in  Connaught  Place  and  on  one  occasion  he 
tryne  (wooden)  dishes,  to  waite  at  the  table  and  ,  employed  his  brother  I  think  in  the  year  s34 

f   No          *mfe»» 


public  duty  is  mentior,  ,„  the ^umon, o  ,  ™  -  —  be  ^  and  T  al 
Stevenson,  the  American  envoy  m  London,  ^on^e  (  Connaug^^  q^^  ^  ^  ^^  rf  ^ 
extraordinary  occurrence 


See  Vol.  III.,  p.  9' 


House),  and  that,  on  the  removal  of  this  house, 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON.  [rybum. 


quantities  of  human  bones  were  found.  I  saw  (  mother,  Audrey,  Lady  Townshend,  who  so  long 
them  carted  away  by  Mr.  Nicholls,  contractor,  of  "  entertained  "  at  her  house  in  Whitehall,  was  one 
Adams'  Mews.  He  removed  Tyburn  toll-house  in  day  rallied  by  her  friends  on  taking  a  short  lease 
1829.  From  what  I  have  been  told  by  old  inhabi-  of  "  a  villa  at  Tyburn."  "  Oh,"  replied  the  witty 
tants  that  were  born  in  the  neighbourhood,  pro-  woman,  "  you  see  it  is  a  neighbourhood  of  which 
bably  about  1750,  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  :  I  could  never  tire,  for  my  neighbours  are  being 
that  the  space  from  the  toll-house  to  Frederick  hanged  every  week ;  so  we  are  always  changing ! " 
Mews  was  used  as  a  place  of  execution,  and  the  It  was  this  same  lady  who,  on  being  asked  if  it  was 
bodies  buried  adjacent,  for  I  have  seen  the  remains  ,  true  that  Whitfield  had  recanted,  answered,  "  No, 
disinterred  when  the  square  and  adjoining  streets  madam ;  but  I  know  he  has  canted ; "  and  who 
were  being  built."  sarcastically  remarked  of  the  royal  family,  who 

Smith,  in  his  "  History  of  St.  Marylebone,"  states  took  a  fancy  to  go  to  all  public  shows  and  suppers,, 
that  "  the  gallows  were  for  many  years  a  standing  that  it  was  "  the  cheapest  family  to  see,  and  the 
fixture  on  a  small  eminence  at  the  corner  of  the  j  dearest  to  keep,  of  any  that  had  ever  been  seea" 
Edgware  Road,  near  the  turnpike,  on  the  identical  |  Mr.  G.  A.  Sala  hits  the  right  nail  on  the  head,  in 
spot  where  a  toll-house  was  subsequently  erected  his  "  Gaslight  and  Daylight,"  when  he  remarks  that 
by  the  Uxbridge  Road  Trust.  Beneath  this  place  while  the  region  of  the  Grosvenors  is  the  place  for 


are  supposed  to  lie  the  bones  of  Bradshaw,  Ireton, 
and  other  regicides,  which  were  taken  from  their 
graves  after  the  Restoration,  and  buried  under 
the  gallows.  The  gallows  itself  subsequently  con- 
sisted of  two  uprights  and  a  cross-beam,  erected 
on  the  morning  of  execution  across  the  Edgware 
Road,  opposite  the  house  at  the  corner  of  Upper 
Bryanston  Street  and  the  Edgware  Road,  wherein 
the  gallows  was  deposited  after  being  used;  this 
house  had  curious  iron  balconies  to  the  windows 

of  the  first  and  second  floors,  where  the  sheriffs  j  Westbourne  Terrace,  in  the  reign  of  William  IV., 
sat  to  witness  the  executions.     After  the  place  of  consists  of  squares,  terraces,  and  rows  of  stately 


the  "  swells  of  the  peerage,  those  of  blue  blood  and 
the  strawberry-leaves,"  Tyburnia  suits  admirably 
"  the  nobility  of  yesterday,  your  mushroom  aristo- 
crats, millionaires,  ex-lord  mayors,  and  people  of 
that  sort;"  and  he  also  pithily  adds,  "Tyburn  is 
gone  :  I  am  not  such  an  old  fogey  as  to  remembtt 
that,  nor  so  staunch  a  conservative  as  to  regret  if 
now  that  it  is  gone." 

"Tyburnia"   proper,    as   we  may  call  the  city 
which  sprang  up  between  the  Edgware  Road  and 


execution  was  changed  to  Newgate,  in  1783,  the 
gallows  was  bought  by  a  carpenter,  and  made  into 


mansions,  which  now  rival  in  elegance  her  more 
southern  sister,  "  Belgravia."  Oxford  and  Cam- 
stands  for  beer-butts  in  the  cellars  of  the  '  Car-  bridge  Terraces,  which  run  from  the  Edgware 
penters'  Arms '  public-house,  hard  by."  Road  to  the  southern  end  of  Westbourne  Terrace, 

"  Around  the  gibbet,"  says  Mr.  Timbs,  in  his  with  Oxford  and  Cambridge  Squares  to  the  south 
"  Curiosities  of  London,"  "  were  erected  open  of  them,  will  long  keep  in  remembrance  the  muni- 
galleries,  like  a  race-course  stand,  wherein  seats  ficence  of  I^dy  Margaret,  Countess  of  Richmond, 
were  let  to  spectators  at  executions  :  the  key  of  as  the  founder  of  divinity  professorships  in  our  two 
one  of  them  was  kept  by  Mammy  Douglas,  '  the  great  and  ancient  universities. 
Tyburn  pew-opener.'  In  1758,  when  Dr.  Henesey  J  The  Rev.  J.  Richardson,  referring  to  the  days  of 
was  to  have  been  executed  for  treason,  the  prices  the  Regency,  writes  thus  in  his  "  Recollections," 
of  seats  rose  to  25.  and  25.  6d.  ;  but  the  doctor  published  in  1856: — "The  northern  boundary  of 
being  '  most  provokingly  reprieved,'  a  riot  ensued,  the  old  metropolis,  then  called  Oxford  Road,  termi- 
and  most  of  the  seats  were  destroyed."  '  nated  abruptly  at  the  entrance  of  the  Park,  where 

The  name  of  "  Tyburn,"  thus  mixed  up  with  '  now  stands  the  triumphal  arch  lately  removed 
the  saddest  portions  of  our  national  history,  and  from  Buckingham  Palace.  The  now  fashionable 
associated  with  ideas  of  villany  and  crime,  very  district  which  forms  one  side  of  the  Bayswater 
naturally  smelt  anything  but  sweet  in  the  nose  of  Road,  and  occupies  the  angle  between  that  road 
the  metropolis  ;  and  it  was  not  until  the  city  grew  and  Paddington,  was,  in  the  eyes  of  all  respect- 
in  bulk  so  tremendously  that  it  threatened  to  burst '  able  people,  a  locality  to  be  avoided.  Ragged 
its  swathing  bands,  that  the  region  around  the  old  fields  stretched  over  scores  of  acres  of  ground ; 
gallows,  now  known  as  "  Tyburnia,"  came  to  be  and  the  ominous  name  of  Tyburn  frightened,  not, 
built  upon,  and  inhabited  by  the  upper  classes  of  indeed,  those  whom  it  ought  to  have  deterred, 
society.  Dut  thOse  who  either  assumed  a  character  for 

It  is  recorded  by  Mr.  Percy  Fitzgerald,  in  his  (  decency,  or  really  possessed  one.  In  fact,  this, 
sketch  of  Charles  Townshend,  that  his  eccentric  part  was  a  blank  in  the  improvements  of  London 


THE   PRINCESS   CHARLOTTE. 


for  years  after  other  suburbs  had  been  built  upon ;  wed,  if  she  would  escape  the  unhappiness  which 

and  it  was  not  until  comparatively  a  recent  date  \  had  darkened  the  married  life  of  her  parents.     The 

that  the  tea-gardens,  and  other  similar  low  haunts  of  fortunate  individual  who   pleased   her   taste   was 

debauchery,  gave  way  to  the  elegant  and  stately  !  not  long  in  appearing;  and   her   marriage   with 

buildings  with  which  it   is   now  covered."     It  is  Prince  Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg  was  solemnised,  ere 

impossible  not  to  recognise  these  places  of  amuse-  long,  with  her  father's  consent,  and  with  the  hearty 

ment  in  the  portrait  which  Charles  Dickens  gives  good  wishes  of  the  people.     The  Prince  himself, 

us,    in   his    "  Sketches    by   Boz,"   of  the   typical  then  a  humble  cadet  of  a  petty  German  house, 

London  tea-gardens,  with  their   snug  boxes  and  was  travelling  in  England;   he  met   the  Princess 

alcoves ;    the  men  and  women,   boys  and  girls,  i  Charlotte  at  one  of  the  many  mansions  of  the 

sweethearts  and  married  folk,  babies  in  arms  and  aristocracy,  and  he  soon  obtained  an  interest  in 

children  in  chaises,  the  pipes  and  the  shrimps,  the  her  affections,  and  also  the  consent  of  the  Prince 

cigars  and  the  periwinkles,  the.  tea  and  tobacco,  Regent,  who  was  probably  glad  enough  to  get  his 

are  each  and  all  described  with  a  skill  almost  equal  intractable  daughter  off  his  hands  at  any  price. 

to   that   of  a   photographer.      To   the   particular  Leopold  at  that  time  was  one  of  the   noblest- 

"  Sketch "  entitled  "  London  Recreations "  we  must  looking    young  princes    in    Europe.       Tail    and 

refer  our  readers  for   all  further  details.     As  we  princely   in  his   bearing,   and  fascinating  in    his 

have  shown  in  the  preceding  chapter,  the  last  of  manners,   a  brave  soldier,  and  an  accomplished 

the  tea-gardens — covering  what  is  now  Lancaster  courtier,  he  was  worthy  to  win  such  a  prize.     They 

Gate — did  not  disappear  until  about  1855.  were  married  on  May  2nd,  1816.    Alas!  within  a 

At  Connaught  House,  Connaught  Place,  close  little  more  than  a  year  the  great  bell  of  St.  Paul's 

by  the   Edgware  Road,  the  unfortunate  Caroline,  was  tolled  to  announce  to  a  sorrowing  people  the 

Princess  of  Wales,  took  up  her  residence    when  ,  death  of  the  princess  in  giving  birth  to  a  dead 

banished  from  the  Palace ;  and  hither  came  the  infant ! 

Princess  Charlotte  in  a  hackney-coach,  when  she  The  sale  of  the  effects  of  the  Princess  of  Wales, 

quarrelled  with  her  father  and  left  Warwick  House,  at  Connaught  House,  took  place  in  October,  1814. 

as  we  have  stated  in  our  account  of  that  place.*  The  name   of  the  mansion  was  at  a  later  date 

The   young   princess,   as   she    advanced   towards  changed  to  Arklow   House ;  the  latter,  like   the 

womanhood,   became  more  and  more  intractable  former,   being  one  of  the  titles  inherent  in   the 

and    wilful.     In   the   end,    the    Regent    and    his  royal  family.     The  late  Duke  of  Sussex  was  also 

Ministers  thought  the  best  step  would  be  to  find  Baron  of  Arklow.     Sir  Augustus   D'Este,   son  of 

her  a  husband ;  and  the  youthful  Prince  of  Orange  the   Duke  of  Sussex,  lived  here   for  some   time 

was  suggested  as  the  most  eligible.     He  was  by  subsequently.     It  is  now  the   town  residence  of 

birth   a   Protestant ;    he    had    been   educated  at  Mr.  A.  Beresford-Hope. 

Oxford,  and  had  served  in  Spain  with  credit;  but  At  No.   13  in    Hyde   Park  Square,   lived  that 

the  self-willed  young  lady  refused  him— in  a  word,  specimen  of  a  fine  old  English  gentleman,  Mr.  T. 

"  turned  up  her  nose  "  at  him.     Every  opportunity  Assheton-Smith,  whose  name  is   so  well   known 

was  given  to  him  to  make  himself  agreeable  to  the  among  Masters  of  Hounds.      A  glass  apartment 

future  heiress  of  the  English  throne ;  but  either  his  on  the  roof  of  this   house,  after  his  death,  was 

capacities  and  acquirements  were  of  a  low  order,  magnified,  by  the  fears  of  the  servant-girls  in  the 

or   the   princess    had   proposed   to   herself    quite  neighbourhood,  into  the  abode  of  a  ghost;  and 

another  standard  of  excellence  as  her  beau  ideal,  the  ghost— or,  at  all  events,  the  alarm— was  only 

She  simply  said  "  she  did  not  like  Oranges  in  any  suppressed   by  editors  "  writing  it   down "  in  the 

shape  ; "  and  though  her  royal  papa  stormed,  and  London  newspapers. 

bishops  reasoned  with  her,  her  resolution  remained  In  concluding  this  chapter,  we  may  remark  that 

unshaken.     The   public   admired   her   pluck   and  the  whole  neighbourhood  is  of  too  recent  a  growth 

firmness,  and  her  refusal  to  be  sold  into  matrimony  to  have  many  historical  reminiscences.     Haydon, 

like  a  common  chattel.     She  was  a  princess,  but  the   painter,   it  is  true,    lived   for   some  time  in 

she  was  also  a  true-hearted  woman,  and  she  felt  Burwood  Place,  close  by  Connaught  Square,  and 
that  she  must  really  love  the  man  whom  she  should  ,  there  he  died  by  his  own  hand  m  1846.     tt  e  shall 

have  more  to  say  about  him  when  we  come  to 

•o«  vol.  iv..  P.  s,.  Paddington. 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


I'ADUINtiTUN     CANAL,    lS2O. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 
PADDINGTON. 

•And  the  Bishop's  lands,  too,  what  of  them?    I'll  warrant  you'll  not  find  better  acres  anywhere  than  those  which  onee  belonged 

to  his  lordship."— 5^3. 

E  ti-  \nnoa  ncc  of  P ^din-ton  at  the  Commencement  of  this  Century—Intellectual  Condition  of  the  Inhabitants-Gradual  Increase  of  the- 
'  "  Population-The  M -mor"  of  Pad.lington-The  Feast  of  Abbot  Walter,  of  Westminster-The  Prior  of  St.  Bartholomew's  and  hi.  Brethren- 
Dr  Sheldon's  Claim  of  the  Manor-1'he  Old  Pansh  Church  -Hogarth's  Marriage-Bmldmg  of  the  New  Parish  Church -A  Curious  Custom 
-Poorn-ss  of  the  1  'vinR-The  Burial-ground- Noted  Persons  buried  here-Life  of  Haydon.  the  Painter-Dr.  Gedd*s-The  New  Church  of 
St  Umes-Holy  Trinity  Church-All  Saints'  Church-The  House  of  the  Notorious  R.chard  Brothers-Old  Publk-houses-  Old  Padd.ngtor, 
Green— The  Vestry  I1  .11  The  Residences  of  Thomas  Uwins,  R.A.,  and  Wyatt,  the  Sculptor— Eminent  Residents— The  Princess  Charlotte  »nd 
her  Governess  Paddington  II.. us',-  -"  Ja..k  in  .he  Green  "-Westbourne  Place-Westbourne  Green-I'esborough  Place-Westboume  Farm, 
the  Residence  of  Mrs  SidJons-The  Lock  Hospital  and  Asylum-St.  Mary's  Hospital- Paddington  Provident  Dispensary— The  Dudley- 
Stuart  Home-"  The  Boatman's  Chapel  "-Queen's  Park-Old  Almshouses  -Grand  Junction  Canal-The  SV'cstern  Water-Works-lmperia! 
Gas  Company-Kcnsal  Green  Cemetery-Eminent  Persons  buried  here-Great  Western  Railway  Terminus. 

PADDINGTON,  or  Padynton,  as  the  name  of  the  Edgware  Road,  about  a  mile  from  London.  In 
place  is  often  spelled  in  old  documents,  down  to  our  way  thither  we  passed  the  Lying-in  Hospital  at 
the  end  of  the  last  century  was  a  pleasant  little  Bayswater,  patronised  by  the  queen."  The  place 
rural  spot,  scarcely  a  mile  to  the  north-west  of  the  is  described  by  Lambert,  in  his  ^  History  and 
Tyburn  turnpike,  upon  the  Harrow  Road.  In-  Survey  of  London  and  its  Environs,"  at ^  the  corn- 
deed,  it  would  seem  to  have  preserved  its  rustic  mencement  of  the  present  century,  as  "  a  village 
character  even  to  a  later  date  ;  for  it  is  amusing  to  situated  upon  the  Edgware  Road,  about  a  mile 
read  without  a  smile  the  grave  expressions  in  which  from  London  "—a  description  which,  perhaps,  was 
Priscilla  Wakefield  describes,  in  1814,  a  visit  to  this  not  wholly  untrue  even  at  the  accession  of  Queen 
then  remote  and  rustic  village— a  journey  which  Victoria;  in  fact,  until  its  selection  as  the  terminus 
now  occupies  about  three  minutes  by  the  Under-  of  the  Great  Western  Railway  caused  it  to  be  fairly 
ground  Railway.— "From  Kensington  we  journeyed  '  absorbed  into  the  great  metropolis, 
northward  to  Paddington,  a  village  situated  on  the  |  The  parish,  being  so  rural,  and  so  very  thinly 


RURAL   CONDITION    OF   THE   PLACE. 


Paddington.]  RURAL   CONDITION    OF   THE   PLACE.  205 

populated,  was,  doubtless,  far  behind  its  "  courtly"  j  schoolmaster"  was  not  "abroad,"  and  if  the  educa 
sist -r  suburb  of  Kensington  in  mental  and  Intel-  \  tion  given  in  the  parish  church  and  other  public 
lectual  progress  ;  so  that,  perhaps,  there  may  be  '  buildings  was  deficient,  it  is  a  consolation  to  learn, 
little  or  no  exaggeration  in  the  remarks  of  Mr.  from  the  same  authority,  that  the  defect  was  sup- 
Robins,  in  his  "  History  of  Paddington,"  when  he  plied,  in  some  measure,  at  least,  by  the  ale-houses 
remarks : "  Although  the  people  of  Paddington  in  which  debating  clubs  were  established.  A 


lived  at  so  short  a  distance  from  the  two  rich  j 
cathedral  marts  of  London  and  Westminster,  they  j 
made  apparently  no  greater  advances  in  civilisation 
for  many  centuries  than  did  those  who  lived  in  the 
most  remote  village  in  the  English  'shires.'  The 
few  people  who  lived  here  were  wholly  agricultural, 
and  they  owed  every  useful  lesson  of  their  lives 
much  more  to  their  own  intelligence  and  observa- 
tion than  to  any  instruction  given  them  by  those 
who  were  paid  to  be  their  teachers."  But  if 
210 


correspondent  of  Hone's  "Year-Book,"  in  1832, 
remarks  of  Paddington  as  well  as  Bayswater,  that 
they  were  both  quite  rural  spots  within  his  own 
remembrance,  little  as  they  then  deserved  the  name 
What  would  this  writer  have  said  if  he  could  have 
!  looked  forward  to  their  condition  in  the  year 

I  ^  Its  population  seems  to  have  been  always  scanty. 
1  As  the  earliest  parish  register  goes  back  no  further 
1  than  1701,  we  are  driven  to  draw  our  inference* 


206 


OLD   AND   NEW    LONDON. 


from  the  Subsidy  Rolls.  Probably,  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII.,  the  entire  population  did  not  exceed 
a  hundred,  and  at  the  accession  of  James  II.  it  had 
risen,  according  to  the  same  calculation,  to  only  a 
little  over  three  hundred.  Even  as  lately  as  the 
year  1795  the  hamlet  appears  to  have  contained 
only  341  houses,  which,  allowing  five  souls  to  a 
house,  would  give  a  population  of  about  1,700. 
Indeed,  so  small  and  insignificant  did  the  village 
continue  down  to  our  own  times,  that  George 
Canning  instituted  a  witty  comparison  between  a 
great  and  a  small  premier,  when  he  uttered  the 
mot  ;— 

"  As  London  to  Paddington 
So  is  Pitt  to  Addington." 

The  old  stone  indicating  the  first  mile  from 
Tyburn  turnpike  towards  Harrow  still  remains  in 
the  road  In  1798,  when  Gary  published  his 
"Road  Book,"  there  were  ten  "stages"  running 
every  day  from  London  to  Paddington.  William 
Robins,  in  his  work  on  Paddington,  already  quoted, 
which  was  published  in  the  year  1853,  says: — "A 
city  of  palaces  has  sprung  up  here  within  twenty 
years.  A  road  of  iron,  with  steeds  of  steam, 
brings  into  the  centre  of  this  city,  and  takes  from 
it  in  one  year,  a  greater  number  of  living  beings 
than  could  be  found  in  all  England  a  few  years 
ago ;  while  the  whole  of  London  can  be  traversed 
in  half  the  time  it  took  to  reach  Holborn  Bars  at 
the  beginning  of  this  century,  when  the  road  was  in 
the  hands  of  Mr.  Miles,  his  pair-horse  coach,  and 
his  redoubtable  boy,"  long  the  only  appointed 
agents  of  communication  between  Paddington  and 
the  City.  The  fares  were  as.  and  35. ;  the  journey, 
we  are  told,  took  more  than  three  hours  ;  and  to 
beguile  the  time  at  resting-places,  "  Miles's  Boy " 
told  tales  and  played  upon  the  fiddle.  Charles 
Knight  also  tells  us  that  "at  the  beginning  of  the  , 
present  century  only  one  stage-coach  ran  from  the  ' 
then  suburban  village  of  Paddington  to  the  City, 
;md  that  it  was  never  filled  !  " 

A  map  of  London,  published  so  lately  as  1823, 
exhibits  Paddington  as  quite  distinct  from  the  ! 
metropolis,  which  lias  the  Edgware  Road  as  its  I 
western  boundary.  A  rivulet  is  marked  as  running 
from  north  to  south  through  Westbourne  Green, 
parallel  with  Craven  Place;  and  Westbourne 
House  is  marked  with  the  name  of  its  resident 
owner,  Mr.  Cockerell,  just  like  a  country  manor 
house  fifty  miles  from  London  ;  while  half  a  mile 
further  are  two  isolated  farms,  named  Portobello 
and  Netting  Barns  respectively.  The  present 
parish  includes  in  its  area  a  portion  of  Kensington 
Gardens. 

How  little  known  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  great 


'metropolis  this  suburb  was  in  the  middle  of  the 
last  century  may  be  inferred  from  the  silence  of 
"honest"  John  Stow,  and  even  of  Strype,  who, 
in  treating  of  London,  make  no  mention  of  Pad- 
dington. Indeed,  though  they  devote  a  chapter  of 
"  The  Circuit  Walk,"  which  concludes  the  "  Survey 
of  London,"  to  Kensington,  Hammersmith,  Fulham, 
and  Marylebone,  we  do  not  find  any  mention  of 
the  names  of  Paddington  or  Bayswater ;  the  only 
hint  in  that  direction  being  an  entry  of  "  Lisham  " 
(i.e.  Lisson)  "  Grove  "  in  the  index  as  "  near  Pad- 
dingtoa"  The  whole  neighbourhood,  indeed,  is 
passed  entirely  sub  silentio  by  Evelyn  and  Pepys ; 
it  is  not  mentioned  by  name  by  Horace  Walpole ; 
and,  though  so  near  to  Tyburn,  it  is  apparently 
ignored  by  Dr.  Johnson  and  Bos  well.  It  may  be 
inferred  that  even  Mrs.  Montagu  scarcely  ever 
drove  so  far  out  into  the  western  wilds.  Charles 
Dickens  and  George  A.  Sala,  too,  say  but  little 
about  it.  It  is  clear,  then,  that  we  must  go  to 
other  sources  for  any  antiquarian  notes  on  this 
neighbourhood,  or  for  anecdotes  about  its  inhabi- 
tants. 

Paddington  is  not  mentioned  in  the  "  Domesday 
Book ; "  and  it  is  probable  that  in  the  Conqueror's 
time  the  whole  site  was  part  of  the  great  forest  of 
Middlesex,  of  which  small  portions  only  appear  to 
have  been  at  any  time  the  property  of  the  Crown. 
The  district,  nevertheless,  was,  in  remote  times,  a 
part  of  the  extensive  parish  of  St.  Margaret's,  West- 
minster, as  appears  from  the  fact  that  its  church 
was  for  a  century  or  two,  if  not  longer,  a  sort  of 
chapel  of  ease,  subject  to  the  Rector  or  Vicar  of  St. 
Margaret's,  as,  indeed,  it  continued  to  be  down  to 
the  dissolution  of  monasteries,  under  Henry  VIII., 
when  the  manor  of  Paddington  was  given  to  the 
newly-founded  see  of  Westminster.  The  manor 
of  Paddington  was  given  in  1191,  by  the  Abbot 
Walter,  to  the  Convent  of  St.  Peter's,  Westminster ; 
and  from  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century  the 
whole  of  the  temporalities  of  the  district,  such  as 
the  "  rent  of  land  and  the  young  of  animals,"  were 
devoted  to  charity.  We  read  that,  in  1439,  a 
"  head  of  water  at  1'addyngton"  was  granted  to  the 
Lord  Mayor  and  citizens  of  London,  and  to  their 
successors,  by  the  Abbot  of  Westminster.  On  the 
abolition  of  the  see  of  Westminster,  shortly  after 
its  establishment,  Edward  VI.  gave  this  manor  to 
Ridley,  Bishop  of  London,  and  his  successors.  It 
will  be  observed  that  the  names  of  many  of  the 
streets  around  Paddington,  especially  to  the  north, 
perpetuate  the  names  of  several  successive  Bishops 
of  London,  such  as  Randolph,  Howley,  Blomfield, 
and  Porteus.  "  Crescents  and  Colonnades,"  writes 
Hone  in  his  "Table-Book,"  in  1827,  "are  planned 


THE  OLD   PARISH  CHURCH. 


by  the  architect  to  the  Bishop  of  London  on  the 
ground  belonging  to  the  see  near  Bayswater." 

The  above-mentioned  abbot  of  Westminster, 
Walter,  appears  to  have  purchased  the  interest  in 
the  soil  here  from  two  brothers,  who  were  called 
respectively  Richard  and  William  de  Padinton; 
and  on  his  death  the  manor  of  Paddington  was 
assigned  to  the  almoner  for  the  celebration  of  his 
anniversary,  when  a  solemn  feast  was  to  be  held. 
The  almoner  for  the  time  being  was  directed  to  find 
for  the  convent  "  fine  manchets,  cakes,  crumpets, 
cracknells,  and  wafers,  and  a  gallon  of  wine  for 
each  friar,  with  three  good  pittances,  or  doles,  with 
good  ale  in  abundance  at  every  table,  and  in  the 
presence  of  the  whole  brotherhood;  in  the  same 
manner  as  upon  other  occasions  the  cellarer  is 
bound  to  find  beer  at  the  usual  feasts  or  anni- 
versaries, in  the  great  tankard  of  five  quarts." 

Maitland,  in  his  "  History  of  London,"  tells  us 
that,  in  1439,  "the  Abbot  of  Westminster  granted 
to  Robert  Large,  the  mayor,  and  citizens  of  London, 
and  their  successors,  one  head  of  water,  containing 
twenty-six  perches  in  length  and  one  in  breadth, 
together  with  all  its  springs  in  the  manor  of  Pad- 
dington ;  in  consideration  of  which  grant  the  City 
is  for  ever  to  pay  to  the  said  abbot  and  his  suc- 
cessors, at  the  feast  of  St.  Peter,  two  peppercorns. 
But  if  the  intended  work  should  happen  to  draw 
the  water  from  the  ancient  wells  in  the  manor  of 
Hida,  then  the  aforesaid  grant  to  cease  and  become 
entirely  void."  Mr.  Robins,  in  his  "  Paddington, 
Past  and  Present,"  remarks  that,  "  although  the 
abbots  at  length,  and  by  slow  degrees,  acquired  to 
themselves  and  their  house,  either  with  or  without 
the  sanction  of  the  Crown,  both  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral dominion  over  these  places,  we  must  not 
imagine  that  all  the  tenements  in  Westbourn  and 


Paddington  had  been  by  this  time  transferred  by 
the  devout  and  the  timid  to  their  safe  keeping  ;  for 
besides  the  few  small  holders,  who  obstinately  pre- 
ferred their  hereditary  rights  to  works  of  charity  or 
devotion,  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  the 
ancient  family  of  De  Veres  held  a  considerable 
tract  of  land  in  this  parish  down  to  1461." 

The  high  road  at  Paddington  must  have  presented 
an  amusing  spectacle  in  the  year  1523,  when  the 
Prior  of  St.  Bartholomew's  and  all  his  brethren, 
with  the  lay  brethren,  and  an  array  of  wagons  and 
boats  upon  trucks,  went  along  through  Paddington 
towards  Harrow,  where  they  had  resolved  to  re- 
main for  two  months,  till  the  fatal  day  should 
have  passed  on  which  it  was  foretold  that  the 
Thames  should  suddenly  rise  and  wash  away  half 
London  ! 

During  the  Commonwealth  "  the  manor  of  Pad- 


dington, wth  ye  appurten'ces,"  was  sold  to  one 
Thomas  Browne,  for  the  sum  of  three  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  fifty-eight  pounds,  seventeen 
shillings,  and  four  pence ;  but  when  Dr.  Sheldon 
was  appointed  to  the  bishopric  of  London,  after 
the  Restoration,  he  claimed  the  manor  and  also  the 
rectory.  Sheldon's  relatives,  it  is  stated,  received 
the  profits  of  the  manor  and  rectory  for  nearly 
eighty  years. 

"  In  the  middle  of  the  last  century,"  says  John 
Timbs,  in  his  "  Curiosities  of  London,"  "  nearly  the 
whole  of  Paddington  had  become  grazing-land, 
upwards  of  1,100  acres;  and  the  occupiers  of  the 
bishop's  estate  kept  here  hundreds  of  cows." 

Robins,  in  his  work  on  this  parish,  writes: — 
"  The  fact  of  Paddington,  in  Surrey,  or  '  Padendene,' 
as  it  was  called,  being  mentioned  in  the  Conqueror's 
survey,  while  Paddington,  in  Middlesex,  was  not 
noticed,  inclines  me  to  believe  the  dene  or  den,  in 
Surrey,  was  the  original  mark  of  the  Feedings ;  and 
that  the  smaller  enclosure  in  Middlesex  was  at  first 
peopled  and  cultivated  by  a  migration  of  a  portion 
of  that  family  from  the  den,  when  it  had  become 
nconveniently  full.  ...  At  what  period  this 
nigration  happened."  he  adds,  "  it  is  impossible  to 
say;  but  there  is  very  little  doubt  that  the  first 
settlement  was  made  near  the  bourn,  or  brook, 
which  ran  through  the  forest."  This  brook,  of 
thich  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  speak  in  a 
previous  chapter,  was,  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  a  favourite  resort  for  anglers. 

There  is  extant  a  curious  etching  of  the  old 
parish  church  of  Paddington,  dated  1750.  It  stood 
about  eighty  yards  to  the  north  of  the  present 
edifice,  and  its  site  may  still  be  seen  among  the 
tombs,  which  were  ranged  inside  and  outside  of  it. 
It  was  a  plain,  neat  building,  of  one  aisle,  consisting 
of  only  a  nave,  and  with  a  bell-turret  and  spire  at 
the  west  end,  not  unlike  the  type  of  the  country 
churches  of  Sussex,  and  its  picturesqueness  was 
heightened  by  the  dark  foliage  of  an  ancient  yew- 
tree. 

This  church  was  built  by  Sir  Joseph  Sheldon  and 
Daniel  Sheldon,  to  whom  the  manor  was  leased  by 
Sheldon,  Bishop  of  London,  and  afterwards  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II., 
and  it  replaced  a  more  ancient  church,  which  had 
become  "old  and  ruinous,"  and  which  was  taken 
down  about  the  year  1678. 

In  this  second  church,  which  was  dedicated  to 
St.  James,  were  married,  on  the  23rd  of  March, 
1729,  Hogarth  and  Jane  Thornhill,  the  daughter  of 
Sir  James  Thornhill ;  the  marriage,  it  is  said,  was 
a  runaway  match,  carried  out  much  against  the  will 
of  the  bride's  father. 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


Mr.  J.  T.  Smith,  the  antiquary,  states  that  the  '  and  Priscilla  Wakefield,  in  her  "  Perambulations  of 
walls  of  the  demolished  church  were  adorned  with  I  London "   (1814),  writes — "The    strange    custom 


several   texts  from   Scripture,  in   accordance  with 
the  instructions  of  Queen  Elizabeth  : — 

"  And  many  a  holy  text  around  she  strews 
To  teach  the  rustic  moralist  to  die." 


is  observed,  on  the  Sunday  before  Christmas  Day, 
of  throwing  bread  from  the  church  steeple,  to  be 
scrambled  for  by  the  populace,  in  consequence 
of  a  gift  from  two  maiden  ladies."  Under  date 


In  1788  an  Act  was  passed  for  rebuilding  the  of  Tuesday,  December  21,  1736,  the  Grub  Street 
parish  church  and  enlarging  the  churchyard,  and  Journal  gives  the  following  account  of  the  "Bread 
accordingly  St.  Mary's  Church,  on  the  Green,  was  and  Cheese  Charity : " — "  On  Sunday,  after  divine 
erected.  The  preamble  of  the  Act  tells  us  that  its  !  service,  was  performed  the  annual  ceremony  of 
predecessor  "  is  a  very  ancient  structure,  and  in  |  throwing  bread  and  cheese  out  of  Paddington 
such  a  decayed  state  that  it  cannot  be  effectually  Church  steeple  among  the  spectators,  and  giving 
repaired,  but  must  be  taken  down  and  rebuilt ;  them  ale.  The  custom  was  established  by  two 
besides  which,  the  same  is  so  small,  that  one-fourth  j  women,  who  purchased  five  acres  of  land  to  the 
of  the  present  inhabitants  within  the  said  parish  '  above  use,  in  commemoration  of  the  particular 
cannot  assemble  therein  for  divine  worship.  The  '  charity  whereby  they  had  been  relieved  when  in 
new  church  was  built  partly  by  subscription  and  !  extreme  necessity."  It  is  almost  needless  to  add 
partly  by  assessment  of  the  inhabitants.  j  that  this  custom  has  long  since  been  allowed  to  fall 

A  print  of  the  church,  in  the  European  Magazine  ,  into  disuse. 

for  January,  1793,  shows  the  building  exactly  in  its  \  The  living  of  Paddington  is  said  to  have  been 
present  state ;  but  on  the  other  side  of  the  road,  formerly  so  small  that  it  was  a  difficult  task  for  the 
opposite  to  the  south  entrance,  is  a  large  pond,  in  :  bishop  to  find  anybody  to  discharge  its  duties.  In 
which  stakes  and  rails  stand  up  after  the  most  '  fact,  it  would  appear  that  during  the  Tudor  and 
rural  fashion.  The  village  stocks,  too,  are  repre- 1  early  Stuart  reigns,  the  parson  of  Paddington  did 
sented  in  this  engraving.  So  much  admired  was  j  not  come  up  even  to  the  standard  of  Goldsmith's 
this  church  at  the  time  when  it  was  built,  and  so  j  model — 

picturesque  an  object  it  is  said  to  have  been,  "  par-  absinR  rich  °"  forty  V°un<is  a  ycar  ">" 

ticularly  from  the  Oxford,  Kdgware,  and  Harrow  for  as  late  as  the  year  1626  its  value  was  just  ten 
Roads,"  that  almost  all  the  periodicals  of  the  day  pounds  a  year.  Yet  even  its  poverty  had  its 
noticed  it.  The  following  description  of  the  build-  advantages ;  for  when  Bishop  Aylmer's  enemies, 
ing,  given  in  the  European  Magazine,  was  doubtless  \  among  other  charges,  accused  him  of  ordaining  his 
correct  at  the  time  it  was  written  :— "  It  is  seated  porter,  the  tact  was  admitted,  but  justified  on  the 
on  an  eminence,  finely  embosomed  in  venerable  '  ground  that  the  man  was  of  honest  life  and  con- 
elms.  Its  figure  is  composed  of  a  square  of  about  j  versation,  and  proved  to  be  an  earnest  and  zealous 
fifty  feet.  The  centres,  on  each  side  of  the  square,  pastor,  by  the  scantiness  of  the  stipend  which  he 
are  projecting  parallelograms,  which  give  recesses  was  content  to  receive,  and  less  than  he  had 
for  an  altar,  a  vestry,  and  two  staircases.  The  roof  actually  received  in  a  lay  capacity. 
terminates  with  a  cupola  and  vane.  On  each  of  In  the  new  burial-ground  rest  the  remains  of 
the  sides  is  a  door  :  that  lacing  the  south  is  deco-  j  William  Collins,  R.A.,  the  painter  of  "As  Happy  as 
rated  with  a  portico,  composed  of  the  Tuscan  and  a  King,"  who  died  in  1847,  at  the  age  of  fifty-nine  ; 
Doric  orders,  having  niches  on  the  sides.  The  j  of  Banks,  the  Royal  Academician,  the  sculptor,  who 
west  has  an  arched  window,  under  which  is  a  was  buried  here  in  1805,  at  the  age  of  seventy; 
circular  portico  of  four  columns,  agreeable  to  the  and  of  George  Barret,  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
former  composition."  The  church,  in  fact,  is  a  Society  of  Painters  in  Water-Colours,  who  died  in 
nondescript  building,  though  it  pretends  to  be  1842.  Here,  too,  are  buried  the  celebrated  singers, 

Antonio  Sapio  and  Antonio  Zarra  ;  and  at  least  one 


erected  after  a  Greek  model. 

The   old   and    present   churches   are   described 
(with  illustrations)  in  the  supplement  to  the  Gcntle- 


centenarian,    John  Hubbard,  who  is   recorded  on 
his  tomb  as  having  been  born  in  1554,  and  having 


man's  3fagazine  for  1795.      ^he  writer  of  the  de-    died  in  1665,  at  the  ripe  age  of  one  hundred  and 
scription  says  that  the  monuments  in  the  former    eleven.      Here,  too,  lies  buried  George  Bushnel!, 


building  were  transferred  to  a  light  vault  under  the 
sw  one. 
Lysons  mentions   the   custom   of  loaves   being 


the  clever  but  vain  and  fantastic  sculptor,  to  whom 
we  owe  the  statues  on  Temple  Bar,  and  who 
executed  those  of  Charles  I.,  Charles  II.,  and  Sir 


thrown  from  the  church  tower  to  be  scrambled  for —  j  Thomas  Gresham    for  the   first  Royal    Exchange, 
a  remnant,  no  doubt,  of  the  old  Easter  "  largess ; "  ,  In  after  life  he  embarked  in  several  mad  schemes, 


HAYDON',    THE   PAINTER. 


which  nearly  ruined  him ;  among  other  "  crazes "  j  British  Institution  voted  him  a  present  of  one 
of  his,  which  are  recorded,  is  an  attempt  to  build  a  '  hundred  guineas.  Previous  to  this  the  artist  had  for 
model  of  the  Trojan  horse  in  wood  and  stucco;  ]  sometime  devoted  ten  or  twelve  hours  a  day  to  the 
the  head  was  large  enough  to  hold  twelve  men  and  j  study  of  the  Elgin  marbles,  which  had  just  arrived 
a  table,  and  the  eyes  served  as  windows.  It  cost  in  England ;  and  he  wrote  and  talked  about  them 
>  and  was  demolished  by  a  storm  of  wind ; !  so  enthusiastically  and  eloquently  that  he  mainly 


and   no   entreaty   could   induce    him   to   put   the 
monster  together  again.     He  died  in  1701. 

Mrs.  Siddons  and  Benjamin  Robert  Haydon, 
the  painter,  lie  quite  at  the  northern  end  of  the 
burial-ground,  not  far  apart ;  their  monuments  are 
simple  and  plain  ;  that  of  Haydon  bears  upon  it  a 
quotation  from  King  Lear,  in  allusion  to  his  life 
of  fretful  disappointment ;  that  of  Mrs.  Siddons  is 
a  flat  stone,  surrounded  with  a  plain  iron  railing. 
We  shall  have  more  to  say  of  Mrs.  Siddons  when 
we  come  to  Upper  Baker  Street.  With  reference 


contributed  to  their  being  purchased  for  the  nation. 
He  went,  accompanied  by  Wilkie,  to  Paris  in  1814, 
to  study  at  the  Louvre,  and  on  his  return  com- 
menced his  largest  work,  "Christ  entering  into 
Jerusalem."  This  picture  was  exhibited  in  1820, 
both  in  London  and  the  provinces,  to  visitors  at  a 
shilling  each,  and  he  gained  a  considerable  sum  by 
it.  It  was  considered  a  triumph  of  modern  art. 
But,  with  all  his  acknowledged  powers,  Haydon 
mistook  or  disdained  to  follow  the  more  certain 
path  to  fame  and  fortune.  While  his  more  succe 


to  Haydon,  of  whose  last  abode  in  Bunvood  Place  j  ful  brethren  were  engaged  on  cabinet  pictures, 
we  have  spoken  in  the  preceding  chapter,  we  may  j  his  works  were  on  too  large  a  scale  to  be  hung  in 
state  that  he  was  the  son  of  a  bookseller,  and  was  private  rooms ;  hence,  the  orders  he  obtained  were 

comparatively  few,  and  he  became  embarrassed. 

In  1827,  Haydon  gave  the  following  melancholy 
account  of  the  fate  of  his  great  pictures : — "  My 
'Judgment  of  Solomon'  is  rolled  up  in  a  ware- 
house in  the  Borough  !  My  '  Entry  into  Jerusalem,' 
once  graced  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  rank  and 
beauty  of  the  three  kingdoms,  is  doubled  up  in  a 
back  room  in  Holborn  !  My  '  Lazarus '  is  in  an 
upholsterer's  shop  in  Mount  Street '.  and  my 
'  Crucifixion '  is  in  a  hay-loft  in  Lisson  Grove  !  " 

In  1832,  Haydon  painted  at  Paddington  his  great 
picture  of  the  "  Reform  Banquet ; "  and  here  most 


born  at  Plymouth  in  1786.  He  came  to  London 
at  the  age  of  eighteen  to  seek  his  fortune — at  all 
events,  to  make  his  way  as  a  painter — bringing  little 
with  him  except  introductions  to  Northcote  and 
Opie,  the  Royal  Academicians.  His  career  was 
eccentric  and  fitful ;  at  one  time  he  basked  in  the 
sunshine  of  public  favour,  and  then  again  lost  it, 
and  with  it,  what  was  worse,  he  lost  heart.  From 
time  to  time  he  exhibited  historical  pictures  at  the 
Egyptian  Hall,  and  had  the  mortification  of  seeing 
them  eclipsed  by  the  most  common-place  sights 
which  drew  crowds  together,  whilst  his  pictures 

were  neglected.     The  slight,  added  to  the  pressure  1  of  the  leading  Whigs— Macaulay,  among  others— 
of  debt,  was  more  than  poor  Haydon  could  stand,  |  gave  him  sittings. 

and  on  the  22nd  of  June  he  died  in  his  own  studio,  '  Few  diaries  are  more  sad  than  that  which 
by  his  own  hand,  in  front  of  one  of  his  historical  j  Haydon  kept,  and  which  accumulated  to  twenty- 
paintings.  "  Thus  died  poor  Haydon,"  says  his  !  six  large  MS.  volumes.  At  one  time  he  mourned 
biographer,  "  in  the  sixty-first  year  of  his  age,  after  j  over  the  absence  of  wealthy  patrons  for  his  pictures; 
forty-two  years  of  struggles,  strivings,  conflicts,  ',  at  another,  of  some  real  or  fancied  slight  he  had 
successes,  imprisonments,  appeals  to  ministers,  to  received  from  other  painters ;  while  in  his  entries 
Parliament,  to  patrons,  to  the  public,  self-illusions,  '  repeated  reference  was  made  to  debts,  creditors, 
and  bitter  disappointments."  His  first  picture  was  |  insolvencies,  applications  to  friends  for  loans-m 
exhibited  in  1807  ;  the  subject  of  it,  "  Joseph  and  fact,  despondency  marked  every  line. 
Mary  resting  with  our  Saviour  after  a  Day's  Journey!  And  now  the  time  arrived  when  his  cup  of 
on  the  Road  to  Egvpt."  It  was  sold;  and  the  next  |  bitterness  overflowed.  One  great  and  honourable 
year  he  exhibited  the  celebrated  «  Dentatus,"  which  !  ambition  he  had  cherished-to  .Hustrate  the  wal  s 
he  considered  badly  hung  by  the  Royal  Academi- ;  of  the  new  Houses  of  Parliament  with  historic* 

but    this    professional    eminence    was 


soon   became  very  popular. 

Solomon  "  appeared  next ;  but  during  its  progress 

Haydon's  reso 


popular  support 


>eared  next;  out  miring  us  piugic^    r"i"  .  .         ,    ,      1inhwnv 

urces  failed,  and  the  directors  of  the       Such  was  the  mental  condition  of  the  unhappy 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Paddingtor. 


painter  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1846,  when  my  bills  and  caravan,  but  do  not  read  them;  their 
the  so-called  "  General  Tom  Thumb "  came  to  eyes  are  on  them,  but  their  sense  is  gone.  It  is 
England.  Haydon  had  then  just  finished  a  large  |  an  insanity,  a.  furor,  a  dream,  of  which  I  would  not 
picture,  on  which  he  had  long  been  engaged,  have  believed  England  could  have  been  guilty." 
41  The  Banishment  of  Aristides."  He  hoped  by  it  '  Mr.  Cyrus  Redding  thus  speaks,  in  his  "  Fifty 
to  redeem  his  fallen  fortunes,  and  to  relieve  him-  Years'  Reminiscences,"  of  Paddington  Green  and 
self  of  some  of  his  debts,  by  exhibiting  the  picture  its  churchyard  in  the  year  1806  : — "  At  such  timev. 
in  London.  He  engaged  a  room  in  the  Egyptian  I  crossed  Paddington  Green,  and  the  new  part 
Hall,  under  the  same  roof  where  "  Tom  Thumb  "  '  of  the  churchyard,  since  thickly  encumbered  with 


was  attracting  crowds,  and  sent  out  invitations  to 
several  distinguished  persons  and  critics  to  attend 
a  private  view.  The  following  entry  in  his  diary 
on  April  4th  showed  how  acutely  the  poor  man 
felt  his  comparative  want  of  success: — "Opened; 
rain  hard;  only  Jerrold,  Baring,  Fox  Maule,  and 
Hobhouse  came.  Rain  would  not  have  kept  them 
away  twenty-six  years  ago.  Comparison  :— 
"1st  day  of  'Christ  entering  Jerusalem,'  1820  ..  j£io  16  o 
1st  day  of  '  Banishment  of  Aristides,'  1846  ..  I  I  6 
I  trust  in  God,  Amen  !" 

Shortly  afterwards  Haydon  wrote— and  we  can 
readily  imagine  the  spirit  in  which  he  jotted  down 
the  lines— "They  rush  by  thousands  to  see  Tom 
Thumb.  They  push,  they  fight,  they  scream,  they 
faint,  they  cry  '  Help  ! '  and  '  Murder  ! '  They  see 


memorials  of  the  dead.  There  were  then  only 
three  or  four  tombstones  to  be  seen  in  that  part. 
One  nearest  the  iron  palisades  was  placed  by 
Lord  1'etre  in  memory,  of  an  excellent  man  and 
scholar,  Dr.  Geddes.  He  was  the  author  of  a  new 
translation  of  some  part  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
The  Catholics  and  High  Church  Protestants  did 
not  approve  of  his  conduct,  because,  in  place  of 
I  vindicating  the  authority  of  their  churches  in 
matters  of  religion,  he  supported  the  right  of 
private  judgment.  His  stone  I  saw  in  perfect 
preservation  but  a  few  years  ago,  in  the  same 
place  as  at  first.  It  must  have  been  designedly 
removed.  Perhaps  the  epitaph  displeased  some 
strait-laced  official.  I  will  repeat  it  from  memory, 
though  I  am  not  certain  I  am  correct  to  a  word. 


Paddington.] 


DR.    GEDDES. 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


LI'addington. 


1  Christian  is  my  name,  Catholic  my  surname.  If 
I  cannot  greet  thee  as  a  disciple  of  Jesus,  still  I 
should  love  thee  as  my  fellow-man.' " 

The  Church  of  St.  Mary  ceased  to  be  the  parish 
church  of  Paddington  in  1845,  »vnen  >l  was  super- 
seded by  the  new  Church  of  St.  James,  at  the 
west  end  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  Terraces,  and 
the  south  end  of  Westbourne  Terrace.  "  By  these 
means,"  says  the  Report  of  1840,  "accommodation 
will  be  provided  for  4,000  persons,  or  including 
Bayswater  Chapel,  which  may  hereafter  be  made  a 
parochial  chapel,  for  more  than  5,000  persons,  in  a 
parish  supposed  to  contain  20,000  souls."  The 
edifice,  we  are  informed,  was  originally  designed 
for  a  secular  building,  but  was  altered  to  suit  the 
"taste  of  the  times."  In  1844-46  was  built  a  new 
church,  in  the  elaborate  Gothic  style,  dedicated  to  | 
the  Holy  Trinity,  in  Gloucester  Gardens,  Bishop's  j 
Road.  It  is  a  large  church,  capable  of  accommo-  j 
dating  nearly  1,600  worshippers,  and  is  built  in 
the  "  Perpendicular "  style  of  architecture,  from 
the  designs  of  Mr.  Cundy.  It  has  a  very  richly 
crocketed  spire  and  pinnacled  tower,  upwards  of  j 
200  feet  high,  and  a  beautiful  stained  glass  window 
in  the  chancel.  The  crypt  is  said  to  be  on  a  level 
with  the  roofs  of  the  houses  in  Belgrave  Square. 
This  fabric  is  the  "pet  church  of  Paddington," 
and  its  "  fair  proportions  and  elegance  of  form  " 
were  said  in  those  days  to  be  "pleasing  to  the 
eye  of  all  who  admire  the  architectural  art."  The 
building  cost  nearly  ^£20,000.  In  1847,  All  Saints' 
Church  was  erected  in  Cambridge  Place,  at  the  end 
of  Star  Street.  It  occupies  a  portion  of  the  site  of 
the  old  Grand  Junction  Waterworks'  reservoir. 

There  is  an  ancient  house  still  standing  at  the 
right-hand  corner  of  Old  Church  Street,  going  from 
Paddington  Green.  The  uppermost  storey  of  the 
building  slightly  overhangs  the  lower  one,  and  the  j 
ground  surrounding  the  house  lias  been  so  raised 
that  a  descent  of  a  step  has  to  be  made  on  going 
into  it.  In  this  house,  which  was  for  some  time  a  ! 
disagreeable-looking  butcher's  shop,  and  now  serves  ' 
as  the  office  of  the  district  surveyor,  lived  formerly 
the  religious  fanatic,  Richard  Brothers,  who  is  said 
to  have  represented  himself  to  be  the  '•  Nephew  of 
God,  and  His  prophet  and  preacher."  His  grave 
is  in  St.  John's  Wood  Churchyard,  appropriately 
opposite  that  of  Joanna  Southcott. 

Paddington  has  long  been  noted  for  its  old  j 
public-houses.  In  the  etching  above  referred  to  is 
represented,  apparently  about  a  hundred  yards  to 
the  south-west  of  the  church,  a  large  and  lofty 
building,  presumably  an  inn.  as  a  large  sign-board 
projects  into  the  street  in  front.  This  there  can 
be  little  difficulty  in  identifying  with  the  '•  Dudley 


Arms,"  in  Dudley  Grove,  Harrow  Road,  or,  at  all 
events,  with  its  predecessor  on  the  same  spot.  At 
the  corner  of  Old  Church  Street  and  the  Edgware 
Road  is  the  "  Wheatsheaf "  Tavern.  There  is  an 
engraving  extant  of  this  old  tavern,  which  repre- 
sents it  as  a  lowly,  thatched,  roadside  hostelry; 
and,  notwithstanding  the  visits  of  Ben  Jonson, 
tradition  says  the  house  bore  no  very  good  repute, 
as  both  that  and  the  old  "  Pack-horse,"  in  the 
Harrow  Road,  were  the  favourite  resorts  of  the 
masked  and  mounted  gentlemen  who  made  the 
Uxbridge  and  Edgware  Roads  perilous  to  travellers 
down  to  the  close  of  the  last  century. 

The  "White  Lion,"  another  old  tavern  in  the 
Edgware  Road,  dates  from  1524,  "the  year  when 
hops  were  first  imported."  George  Morland  is  said 
to  have  been  the  painter  of  the  sign  of  the  "  White 
Lion,"  which  used  to  hang  in  front  of  this  tavern, 
where  he  used  to  carouse,  along  with  his  friends 
Ibbetson  and  Rathbone.  At  the  "  Red  Lion," 
near  the  Harrow  Road,  tradition  says  that  Shake- 
speare acted  as  a  strolling  player ;  another  "  Red 
Lion,"  formerly  near  the  Harrow  Road  bridge  over 
the  bourn,  is  described  in  an  "  inquisition  "  dated 
as  far  back  as  the  reign  of  Edward  VI. 

As  recently  as  1840,  the  year  of  the  opening  of 
the  Great  Western  Railway,  a  wide  and  open  space 
of  land  in  this  vicinity  was  occupied  by  market  and 
nursery  gardens,  and  the  red-tiled  weather-boarded 
cottages  of  labourers  and  laundresses.  Eight  or 
ten  years  later,  the  appearance  of  the  district  was 
entirely  changed :  terraces  and  squares  of  fine 
houses  had  risen  up  in  every  direction  west  of  the 
bourn  ;  but  the  approaches  to  it  from  the  Edgware 
Road,  whether  by  Praed  Street  or  the  Harrow 
Road,  were  very  deplorable.  They  are  not  much 
better  even  now ;  but  as  the  grimy-looking  houses 
at  the  entrance  to  the  Harrow  Road  are  in  the 
course  of  removal,  some  improvement  will  eventually 
be  brought  about.  We  are  informed,  by  a  resident 
of  some  years'  standing,  that  "  anything  more  dis- 
graceful than  the  appearance  of  the  portion  that 
remained  of  old  Paddington  Green  it  is  impossible 
to  imagine;  all  the  refuse  of  the  neighbourhood 
was  heaped  upon  it,  and  the  hollows  filled  with 
stagnant  water,  which  made  the  place  horrible  to- 
every  sense.  It  was  the  play-ground  of  idle  boys, 
and  children  uncared-for  and  squalid,  who  spent 
the  day  in  fighting,  swearing,  shouting,  crying,  and 
throwing  stones,  so  as  to  make  the  passing-by  as 
dangerous  as  it  was  disagreeable.  On  all  Sundays, 
and,  in  summer  time,  on  week-day  evenings,  two 
or  three  self-constituted  preachers,  whose  doctrines 
were  as  extraordinary  as  their  English,  were  wont 
to  establish  themselves  there,  and  rant  and  voci- 


PRINCESS  CHARLOTTE  AND   HER  GOVERNESS. 


ferate  even  louder  than  the  boys  ;  and,  not  unfre-  ,  Charlotte  and  her  governess,  the  Duchess  of  North- 
quently,  a  bold  Freethinker  stood  up  in  opposition  I  umberland,  I  think.  They  were  both  in  plain 
to  them  to  propagate  his  reckless  creed."  I  morning  dress,  and  evidently  sought  to  avoid  notice. 


In  1865   the  ground  was  at  last  enclosed  and 
ornamentally  laid  out,  and  in  the  summer  of  the 


The  princess,  tall  and  stout  for  her  age  (she  wa 
then  eleven),  wore  a  white  muslin  frock,  and  a  stra\ 


next  year  it  was  thrown  open  to  the  public.  How  ;  bonnet,  crossed  by  a  plain  white  satin  riband.  The 
great  the  improvement  to  the  neighbourhood  can  i  waist  of  the  frock,  according  to  the  ugly  fashion  of 
be  known  only  to  those  who  saw  it  in  the  days  of!  the  time,  was  placed  high  up  under  her  arms,  much 
its  degradation.  The  fine  old  houses  skirting  the  i  as  may  be  seen  in  her  more  mature  portrait  by 
further  side  of  the  Green  put  on  a  renovated  ap- !  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence.  Her  forehead  was  broad 
pearance,  and  rents  rose  immediately ;  and  now,  ;  and  rather  high,  her  face  full,  and  her  nose  promi- 
instead  of  squalor  and  unruliness,  decently-dressed  |  nent,  but  not  disagreeably  so.  She  might  have 
people  and  children  daily  enjoy  the  grassy  lawns,  I  been  styled  pleasing,  but  she  had  no  pretensions 
and  flower-beds,  and  seats  beside  the  gravel  paths,  |  to  beauty ;  and  she  was  more  womanly  than  is  usual 


and  order  and  neatness  reign   there.     The  poor, 
too,  are  not  excluded. 


with  girls  of  the  same  age.     She  frequently  asked 
questions  of  her  elder  companion,  and  the  tones  of 


The  Vestry  Hall  is  another  improvement  of  the  j  her  voice  were  soft  and  musical.  Once,  apparently 
last  ten  years ;  and  the  building  of  St.  Mary  Mag-  forgetting  her  studied  school-step,  she  was  breaking 
dalene's  Church  another.  i  into  a  run,  but  the  duchess  checked  her  by  a  look, 

On  Paddington  Green  was  for  some  years  the  and  the  decorous  step  was  resumed.  For  a  few 
residence  of  Thomas  Uwins,  R.A.,  and  here  he  minutes  she  escaped  notice,  but  the  instant  that 
painted  his  picture  of  ''  The  Little  Girl  in  the  i  her  rank  was  known,  importunate  promenaders 
Brigand's  Hat,"  so  well  known  to  us  by  the  en-  began  to  throng  about,  and  soon  obliged  her  and 


graver's  art.  Here,  too,  was  the  studio  of  Wyatt, 
in  which  was  moulded  the  equestrian  statue  of  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  so  long  at  Hyde  Park  Corner. 
The  Rev.  J.  Richardson  records,  in  his  amusing 
"  Recollections,"  the  fact  that  twelve  gentlemen 
sat  down  to  a  repast  in  the  interior  of  the  horse, 
like  the  Greeks  in  the  belly  of  the  Trojan  horse,  in 
imitation  of  Virgil's  /Kneid. 


the  duchess  to  beat  a  retreat  to  the  carriage."  It 
is  satisfactory  to  find  that  the  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers of  the  present  generation  were  quite  as  • 
ill-mannered  and  vulgar  as  the  Englishmen  and 
Englishwomen  who  "  mobbed "  Queen  Adelaide 
when  she  paid  a  visit  to  the  palm-house  at  Kew, 
or  intruded  their  gaze  upon  Queen  Victoria  at 
Brighton,  on  her  accession  to  the  throne,  and  so 


and  art  have  been  represented  among  drove  her  from  the  place.  Dudley  House  is  kept 
ts  of  this  neighbourhood.  Robert  i  in  remembrance  by  the  "  Dudley  Arms "  Tavern 
Browning  has  lived  for  some  time  in  Warwick  and  Dudley  Grove,  in  the  Harrow  Road. 
Crescent ;  and  the  venerable  Chevalier  de  Chate- 1  At  the  close  of  the  last  century,  Mrs.  Hutchins 
lain,  who  has  done  useful  work  in  translating  j  and  Mr.  Samuel  Pepys  Cockerell  were  the  two 
various  poems,  and  also  Shakespeare's  works,  into  j  principal  residents  in  Westbourne  Green ;  and  Pad- 
French,  resides  next  door  to  him,  at  Castelnau  dington  Green  boasted  John  Chamberlain  and 
Lodge  '  At  one  time  Mr.  Babbage  was  resident  John  Symonds  amongst  its  inhabitants. 
here ;  and  close  by  the  canal  lived  the  great  line-  Paddington  House  is  described,  at  the  com- 
encraver,  Henry  Robinson.  George  Colman,  too,  mencement  of  the  present  century,  as  "  a  handsome 
died  here ;  he  was  buried,  as  already  mentioned,  brick  edifice,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Green."  It  is 
at  Kensington.*  The  Princess  Charlotte  was  an  |  said  to  have  been  built  by  a  certain  Mr.  Dennis 
occasional  visitor  at  Dudley  House,  Paddington  '  Chirac,  who,  having  made  a  fortune  as  jeweller  to 
Green.  The  fields  about  there  were  pleasant  places  j  Queen  Anne,  chose  late  in  life  to  retire  here  into 
for  a  country  ramble,  even  at  the  beginning  of  the  ,  the  country.  Ha, ing  long  since  been  converted 
present  century.  The  author  of  the  "  Old  City  "  :  into  shops,  it  was  pulled  down  in  1876. 
Us:-"  On' a  September  day  in  ,80;,  I  was  I  Hone,  in  his  «  Every-Day ;  Boo  men ,on 


Secaatf  p  ]29  «nence,  as  I  heard,  they  diverged  to  Bayswater, 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


Kentish  Town,  and  the  adjoining  neighbourhood. 
A  'Jack  o'  the  Green '  always  carried  a  long  walking- 
stick  with  floral  wreaths;  he  whisked  it  about  in 
the  dance,  and  afterwards  walked  with  it  in  high 
estate,  like  a  Lord  Mayor's  footman."  We  have 
already  mentioned  the  May-pole  in  our  account  oi 
the  Strand.* 

"  It  was  a  pleasant  sight  to  see 
A  little  village  company 
Drawn  out  upon  the  first  of  May 
To  have  their  annual  holyday : 
The  pole  hung  round  with  garlands  gay, 
The  young  ones  footing  it  away  ; 
The  aged  cheering  their  old  souls 
With  recollections  and  their  bowls, 
Or,  on  the  mirth  and  dancing  failing, 
Then  ofttimes  told  old  tales  re-taleing.  "—ffone. 
Westbourne  Place,  situated  close  to  the  Green, 
was  the  residence,  successively,  of  Isaac  Ware  (the  ' 
architect,   and   editor  of  Palladio's  works) ;  of  Sir 


Hughson,  who  published  his  "  History  of  London 
and  us  Neighbourhood  "  in  1809,  and  who  by  the 
way  does  not  appear  to  have  had  a  single  sub- 
scriber for  his  xvork  in  this  neighbourhood,  writes 
of  Westbourne  Green,  that  "it  is  one  of  those 
beautifully  rural  spots  for  which  Paddington  is 
distmgmshed.  It  occupies  rising  ground,  and  com- 
mands a  lovely  view  of  Hampstead  and  Highgate 

"£/£  dlStam  dty'  An  imPorta"t  mansion,' 
called  Westbourne  Place,  is  situated  here,  built 
by  that  born  architect,  Isaac  Ware,  the  editor  of 
Palladios  works,  who,  originally  a  sweep,  became 
conspicuous  as  a  student  of  art  and  science,  and 
the  proprietor  of  the  estate  of  Westbourne  Green  " 
Mr.  Coulson  inhabited  Westbourne  Place  when 
Hughson  wrote.  At  that  time  this  house  and 
gardens  must  have  occupied  the  ground  on  which 
the  Lock  Hospital  stands;  this  institution  remain- 
ing at  Grosvenor  Place  till  1842  « ln  the  reign 


f    ..          .  >        I  VO>    "j'|-"-aio     UIC 

following  notice  of  the  mansion  and  its  surround- 
ings :— "  Westbourne  Place,  the  handsome  villa  of 
Jukes  Coulson,  Esq.,  an  eminent  anchor-smith  in 
Thames  Street,  London,  is  situated  at  Westbourne 
G.een,  one  mile  and  a  half  from  Tyburn  Turnpike 
and  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  new  church 
at  Paddington.  This  green  is  one  of  those  beauti- 
fully rural  spots  for  which  that  parish,  although 
contiguous  to  the  metropolis,  is  distinguished.  The 
house  is  situated  on  a  risino-  rr™,,,,,i  ...i,:«u  .. 


D       ,   ,    ,  «"   l"c  narrow 

Road  before  reaching  the  Lock  Hospital,  adjoins 
an  old  mansion,  now  partly  pulled  down,  called 
Desborough  House,  after  John  Desborough  or 

isbrowe,  the  brother-in-law  of  the  "Lord  Pro- 
tector CromweH"-that  "ploughman  Desborough" 
as  Oliver  would  often  style  him,  half  in  jest  and 
lialf  in  earnest. 

There  is  a  discrepancy  between  Robins  and  Mr 
r  Cunmngham  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  Mrs. 


from  hence ;    and  as  no  part  of  London  can  be  '  scril.^       :s-t  ,  \ I  Ir>cledon,   the  singer,  de- 

seen,  a  person  disposed  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  '  on  "WestbT  ^  tragediennf>  at  her  villa 

rural  retirement  might  here  forget  iiis  nrovir  'IT  en'    whlch  was  situated  at  the 

Farm— for   so,  as  we  ha 


See  Vol.  III.,  p.  87. 


residenceofMadamTves^^rirrSM^ 
..ddons  hked  to  withdraw  here  from  the  noise  and 

;n.OL:,l0n:,  The/oliowing  amusing  description 


MRS.    SIDDONS'  VILLA. 


"ON  MRS.  SIDDONS'  COTTAGE  AT  WESTBOUR.N-E. 
"  Would  you  I'd  Westbourne  Farm  describe? 

I'll  do  it,  then,  and  free  from  gall ; 
For  sure  it  would  be  sin  to  gibe 
A  thing  so  pretty  and  so  small. 

'•'  A  poplar-walk,  if  you  have  strength, 

Will  take  a  minute's  time  to  step  it; 
Nay,  certes  'tis  of  such  a  length 

'Twould  almost  tire  a  frog  to  leap  it. 

"  But  when  the  pleasure-ground  is  seen, 

Then  what  a  burst  comes  on  the  view ! 
Its  level  walk,  its  shaven  green, 

For  which  a  razor's  stroke  would  do. 

"  Now,  pray  be  cautious  when  you  enter, 

And  curb  your  strides  with  much  expansion ; 
Three  paces  take  you  to  the  centre  ; 

Three  more,  you're  close  against  the  mansion. 

' '  The  mansion,  cottage,  house,  or  hut — 

Call't  what  you  will — has  room  within 
To  lodge  the  King  of  Lilliput, 

But  not  his  court  nor  yet  his  queen. 

"  The  kitchen-garden,  true  to  keeping, 

Has  length,  and  breadth,  and  width  in  plenty ; 
A  snail,  if  fairly  set  a  creeping, 

Could  scarce  go  round  while  you  told  twenty. 

"  Perhaps  you'll  cry,  on  hearing  this, 

'  What,  everything  so  very  small !' 
No ;  she  that  made  it  what  it  is 

Has  greatness  that  makes  up  for  all." 

The  great  actress  was  certainly  living  here  in 
1806,  and  the  following  year,  for  Cyrus  Redding 
thus  mentions  her  abode,  in  his  "  Fifty  Years' 
Recollections  : " — "  I  did  not  slumber  in  bed,  often 
rising  at  four  o'clock,  walking  to  Manchester  Square, 
calling  up  a  friend  there,  and  then  going  into  the 
country  to  an  inn  near  Mrs.  Siddons'  villa,  a  little 
on  the  town  side  of  Kensal  Green,  but  then  far  in 
the  green  fields.  We  breakfasted  together.  I 
returned  to  Gough  Square,  sometimes  before  my 
fellow-lodger  had  left  his  bed,  and  generally  before 
ten  o'clock  ;  thus  I  gained  six  hours  on  the  day.'' 

The  Lock  Hospital  and  Asylum,  which  stand 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Harrow  Road,  derive 
their  name  from  the  "  Loke,"  or  "  Lock,"  in  Kent 
Street,  Southwark,  an  ancient  hospital  for  lepers. 
The  name  may  have  been  derived,  as  suggested 
by  a  writer  in  Notes  and  Queries,  from  the  old 
French  word  toques,  "  rags  ''—referring  to  the  linen 
rags  applied  to  sores ;  but  with  more  probability 
it  comes,  as  Archer  is  inclined  to  believe,  in  his 
"  Vestigia,"  from  the  Saxon  log  or  loc,  equivalent 
to  "  shut,"  or  "  closed,''  in  reference  to  the  isolated 
condition  of  the  leper. 

This  hospital  was  founded  in  1746,  and  the 
asylum  about  forty  years  later,  mainly  by  the 
efforts  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Scott,  the  well-known 


Biblical  commentator;  and  it  is  mentioned  in 
Strype's ^ edition  of  "  Stow,"  in  1765,  as  being  "at 
Pimlico."  It  was  removed  hither  from  Grosvenor 
Place*  in  1842.  A  chapel  has  been  attached  to  it 
since  1764.  In  1849  its  authorities  were  able  to 
double  the  number  of  patients  and  penitents, 
through  the  help  of  the  late  Duke  of  Cambridge, 
who  issued  an  autograph  appeal  on  behalf  of  the 
charity.  This  establishment  is  in  reality  a  branch 
of  the  Lock  Hospital,  and  is  intended  for  the 

^  reception  of  females  only  ;  the  branch  for  males  is 

!  situated  in  Dean  Street,  Soho.  From  the  published 
report,  we  learn  that  since  the  foundation  of  the 
asylum,  the  institution  has  been  the  means  of 

i  giving  the  advantages   of   domestic    training    to 

',  about  three  thousand  females.  During  the  year 
1875,  no  less  than  fifty  young  women  were  fitted 
for  service,  nearly  all  of  whom  have  given  satis- 

;  factory  proof  of  real  amendment  by  their  conduct 
in  their  situations ;  whilst  of  those  sent  out  in 
previous  years,  many  have  earned  the  reward  given 

j  by  the  committee  of  the  institution  for  remaining 

|  twelve    months   in    the    same   situation ;    several 

1  have  been  restored  to  friends ;  whilst  others  have 

1  testified  to  the  great  change  that  has  been  effected 
in  them  by  contributing  from  their  scanty  earnings 
to  the  support  of  the  institution,  which  has  rescued 
them  from  a  life  of  misery.  The  buildings  here 

;  cover  a  large  extent  of  ground,  and  the  gardens 
surrounding  them  are  well  planted  with  trees  and 
shrubs. 

Although  not  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
Lock  Hospital,  it  may  not  be  altogether  out  of 
place  here  to  speak  of  one  or  two  other  institutions, 

j  devoted  to  charitable  purposes,  which  exist  in  the 
parish.  St.  Mary's  Hospital,  originally  styled  the 
Marylebone  and  Paddington  Hospital,  stands  in 

1  Cambridge  Place,  on  a  site  which  once  formed 
the  reservoir  of  the  Grand  Junction  Waterworks, 
between  the  Great  Western  Railway  Terminus  and 
the  Harrow  Road,  in  the  centre  of  a  crowded 
neighbourhood.  The  first  stone  was  laid  by  the 

I  Prince  Consort,  in  June,  1845,  and  the  first  ward 
was  opened  in  1850.  It  is  built  of  red  brick,  with 
stone  dressings,  and  was  erected  from  the  designs 

|  of  Mr.  Thomas  Hopper  and  Mr.  J.  H.  Wyatt.  The 
building  will  accommodate  180  beds,  and  in  its 

j  construction  the  greatest  attention  was  paid  to  the 
ventilation  and  warming.  Twelve  hundred  cubic 

'  feet  of  space,  at  least,  is  allotted  to  each  bed.  This 
is  the  only  general  hospital  for  an  extensive  and 
populous  district  of  the  metropolis,  and  its  doors  are 
ever  open  for  the  relief  of  the  sick  and  maimed. 


2t6 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Paddingto 


It  receives  annually,  as  in-patients,  about  1,800 
cases  of  serious  accident  or  disease,  and  as  out- 
patients and  casualties  about  20,000.  All  poor 
persons  applying  for  relief  for  accident  or  disease 
of  extreme  urgency,  are  admissible,  after  due  ex- 
amination, without  any  letter  of  recommendation. 
The  laws  of  the  institution  provide  that  there  shall 
be  "  a  chaplain,  who  is  required  to  be  in  full 
orders  in  the  Church  of  England ;  and,  in  addition 
to  the  ordinary  duties  of  his  office  in  ministering  to 


is  responsible  to  the  board  for  his  good  conduct.' 
The  laws,  it  may  be  added,  are  framed  in  the 
most  liberal  spirit  towards  the  medical  profession. 
"The  medical  committee  consists  of  the  ten  prin- 
cipal medical  officers  in  the  various  departments 
of  the  hospital  for  the  time  being,  and  ten  medical 
governors  of  the  charity  who  do  not  hold  any 
office  in  the  hospital  or  hospital  school,  elected 
annually.  All  legally  qualified  medical  and  surgical 
practitioners,  being  governors,  are  eligible  to  be 


the  spiritual  wants  of  the  inmates  of  the  hospital,  : 
he  is  to  be  the  principal  of  the  collegiate  establish- 
ment."    The   staff  of  the   hospital,  according   to 
the  original  report,   consists   of  three    physicians, 
three   assistant   physicians,    three    surgeons,  three 
assistant   surgeons,  a  physician-accoucheur,  a  sur- 
geon-accoucheur,  an  ophthalmic  surgeon,   and  an 
aural  surgeon.     The  laws  of  the  hospital  provide  i 
for  four  resident  medical  officers,  all  of  whom  are  ' 
to  be  fully  qualified  medical  practitioners. 

"  In  the  Hospital  Medical  School  and  Medical 
Collegiate  Establishment  the  determination  of  the 
course  of  education,  the  rules  and  regulations  for 
the  government  and  conduct  of  the  pupils,  and  the 
appointment  of  all  lecturers  and  teachers,  is  vested, 
under  the  advice  of  the  medical  committee,  in  the 
governors  at  large  ;  and  every  pupil  of  the  school 


members  of  this  committee  ;  and  legally  qualified 
medical  and  surgical  practitioners,  whether  gover- 
nors or  not,  are  at  liberty,  on  a  proper  introduction, 
to  attend  the  practice  of  the  hospital.  The  medical 
governors  are  also  at  liberty  to  attend  all  lectures 
delivered  by  the  teachers  in  the  hospital  school; 
and  if  residing  within  half  a  mile  of  the  hospital, 
they  are  entitled  to  be  summoned  to  all  important 
operations,  on  paying  a  trifling  contribution  towards 
the  expense  of  summoning.  Thus  the  medical  pro- 
fession at  large  has  every  opportunity  to  form  its 

'  opinion  of  the  principles  and  practice  taught  in  the 
hospital,  an  efficient  voice  in  the  management  of 
the  medical  affairs  of  the  institution,  and  a  direct 
influence  in  the  system  of  education  to  be  adopted 
in  the  hospital  school,  of  which  their  own  sons  or 

i  private  pupils  might  be  members." 


ST.    MARY'S   HOSPITAL. 


PADDINGTON    CHURCH:    1750    AND     1805. 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


'[Paddlngton. 


St.  Mary's  Hospital,  being  without  endowment, 
is  supported  entirely  by  the  voluntary  contributions 
and  donations  of  the  public  at  large ;  and  when 
the  number  of  patients  annually  relieved  is  taken 
into  consideration,  it  is  easy  to  imagine  that  the  ex- 
penses of  the  institution  are  very  great,  amounting 
as  they  do  to  something  like  j£io,ooo  annually. 
Within  a  short  distance  of  St.  Mary's  is  another 
charitable  institution,  the  Paddington  Provident 
Dispensary,  which  dates  its  career  of  usefulness 
from  the  year  1838.  Upwards  of  7,000  persons 
are  relieved  here  during  the  course  of  the  year. 
Another  very  useful  charity  in  the  neighbourhood 
is  the  Dudley  Stuart  "  Home  for  the  Houseless," 
in  Market  Street,  close  by.  Here  a  temporary 
home  is  afforded  to  destitute  and  housekss  persons 
of  good  character,  and  means  are  adopted  for 
restoring  them  to  their  position  in  life. 

There  is  a  chapel  in  the  Harrow  Road,  on  the 
south  side,  at  the  entrance  to  Paddington  Green  ; 
it  is  for  the  use  of  the  Irvingites,  or  members 
of  the  Apostolic  Church;  and  among  those  set 
apart  for  the  use  of  other  denominations  is  one 
called  "  The  Boatman's  Chapel,"  which  stands 
on  ground  leased  to  the  Grand  Junction  Canal 
Company.  "  This  place  of  worship,"  Mr.  Robins 
tells  us,  in  his  book  on  Paddington,  "  was  con- 
structed out  of  a  stable  and  coach-house,  at  the 
expense  of  a  few  pious  individuals,  who  saw  how 
much  the  poor  boatmen  wanted  the  advantages 
which  accrue  from  religious  instruction,  and  how 
little  likely  they  were  to  get  it  in  a  parish-church, 
which  could  not  hold  one-fourth  part  of  the  settled 
inhabitants.  This  little  place  of  worship  is  in 
connection  with  '  Paddington  Chapel ' — a  place  of 
worship  belonging  to  the  Independents." 

The  formation  of  the  Great  Western  Railway 
caused  a  slight  diversion  of  the  Harrow  Road, 
which  was  carried  by  a  bridge  over  the  canal,  and 
so  round  by  what  is  now  Blomfield  Terrace  to 
Westbourne  Green.  It  is  on  record  that  John 
Lyon,  the  founder  of  Harrow  School,  left  forty 
acres  of  land  in  the  parish  of  Marylebone,  and 
another  plot  at  Kilburn,  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
pairing the  roads  between  London,  Harrow,  and 
Edgware  ;  and  now  the  rents  of  Hamilton  Terrace, 
Abercorn  Place,  &c.,  are  applied  to  the  purpose. 

The  road,  at  a  little  distance  from  London,  was 
a  dangerous  one,  being  infested  by  footpads  as 
recently  as  the  year  1827,  when  Mr.  Allardin,  a 
respectable  veterinary  surgeon,  residing  at  Lisson 
Grove,  was  made  to  dismount  from  his  horse, 
robbed,  and  brutally  ill-treated,  about  a  mile  from 
Paddington  Green. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  Harrow  Road,  a  short 


distance  beyond  the  Lock  Hospital,  a  model  town 
has  sprung  up  within  the  last  few  years,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Artisans',  Labourers',  and  General 
Dwellings  Company.  Queen's  Park — for  so  this 
batch  of  dwellings  is  called — occupies  a  site  about 
eighty  acres  in  extent,  and  the  houses  are  designed 
to  accommodate  no  less  than  16,000  persons. 
This  model  city  has  now  its  own  public  lecture- 
hall  and  institute,  its  co-operative  stores,  its  coal- 
depot,  dairy-farm,  baths  and  wash-houses,  and 
other  buildings.  It  is  the  intention  of  the  pro- 
moters of  the  company  that  there  shall  be  no 
public-house  on  the  estate;  while,  at  the  same 
time,  every  opportunity  will  be  taken  to  promote 
and  develop  temperance  principles  by  the  forma- 
tion of  temperance  societies  and  "  bands  of  hope ;" 
and  reading-rooms,  discussion  clubs,  libraries,  and 
other  substitutes  for  "  the  house  round  the  corner," 
will  be  a  marked  feature.  This  certainly  is  a  sign 
of  improvement  from  the  state  of  things  which 
existed  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago;  for,  apart 
from  the  public  establishments  to  which  we  have 
referred  above,  there  were  no  places  for  rational 
amusement — unless,  indeed,  we  consider  such  places 
as  the  "  Flora  Tea-gardens,"  and  "  Bolt's  Bowling- 
green,"  to  come  under  this  designation.  "  In  that 
region  of  the  parish,  still  devoted  to  bull-dogs  and 
pet  spaniels,"  writes  Mr.  Robins  in  1853,  "the 
bodies  of  broken-down  carriages,  old  wheels,  rusty 
grates,  and  old  copper  boilers,  little  gardens,  and 
low  miserable  sheds,  there  is  an  establishment 
which  boasts  of  having  the  truly  attractive  glass,  in 
which,  '  for  the  small  charge  of  two-pence,  any 
young  lady  may  behold  her  future  husband.'  But 
although  such  attractions  as  these  exist,  the  youths 
who  live  on  the  celebrated  Paddington  estate  have 
not  to  thank  the  lords  of  the  soil  for  setting  apart 
any  portion  of  it  for  their  physical  improvement. 
In  Paddington  there  is  no  public  gymnasium;  there 
is  now  no  village-green  worthy  of  the  name ;  the 
young  are  not  trained  to  use  their  motive  powers 
to  the  best  advantage ;  there  are  no  public  baths. 
And  when,  on  the  establishment  of  the  baths  and 
wash-houses  in  Marylebone,  the  governing  body  in 
Paddington  was  solicited  to  join  in  that  useful 
work,  that  good  offer  was  rejected,  and  the  people 
of  Marylebone  were  permitted  to  carry  out  that 
necessary  and  useful  undertaking  by  themselves." 
In  1874,  however,  any  difficulties  that  may  have 
existed  with  reference  to  the  above  subject  were 
surmounted,  and  some  extensive  baths  and  wash- 
houses  were  erected  in  the  Queen's  Road,  at  a 
cost,  inclusive  of  land,  of  about  .£40,000. 

In  the  Harrow  Road,  on  a  portion  of  what  had 
been  Paddington  Green,  stood,  till  about  1860,  the 


Paddington.j 


T:-E   GRAND   JUNCTION   CANAL. 


oldest  charitable  building  in  the  parish ;  it  was  a 
block  of  small  almshouses,  said  to  have  been  built 
in  1714-  It  afforded  shelter  for  sixteen  poor  old 
women  belonging  to  the  parish,  who  were  supported 
there  out  of  the  poor-rates.  The  inmates,  doubt- 
less, felt  themselves  more  "at  home"  here  than 
they  would  do  if  compelled  to  take  up  their  quarters 
in  the  great  parish  poor-house,  which  is  situated  on 
a  portion  of  the  land  once  known  as  "  The  Upper 
Readings,"  purchased  by  the  Bishop  of  London 
and  the  trustees  of  the  Paddington  estate,  imme- 
diately to  the  west  of  the  Lock  Hospital.  In  the 
end,  however,  the  almshouses  were  swept  away  in 
the  course  of  parochial  improvements. 

Running  westward  through  the  parish,  almost  in 
a  line  with  the  Harrow  Road,  is  the  Paddington 
and  Grand  Junction  Canal.  The  success  of  the 
Duke  of  Bridgewater's  canal  between  Liverpool  and 
Manchester  led  to  the  passing  of  an  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment, in  1795,  for  the  formation  of  the  Paddington 
Canal,  which  was  opened  for  traffic  on  the  ist  of 
June,  1801,  when  the  first  barge  arrived,  with 
passengers  from  Uxbridgt,  at  the  Paddington  basin. 
There  were  public  rejoicings,  and  all  the  north 
western  suburb  was  en  fete  in  honour  of  the  occa 
sion.  Bells  were  rung,  flags  were  hung  out,  and 
cannon  were  fired ;  and  one  enthusiastic  Padding- 
Ionian  had  good  reason  to  remember  the  day,  for 
the  gun  which  he  was  firing  burst  and  shattered 
his  arm.  But  the  Grand  J  unction  Canal  Company 
were  so  elated  at  the  thought  of  the  public  benefi 
which  they  had  bestowed  on  the  country,  tha 
they  took  a  classical  motto  from  Horace  : — 

"  ^Eque  pauperibus  prodest,  locupletibus  sequt." 


nd,  as  I  am  informed,  the  rent  of  this  wharf  is 
tot  received  by  the  parish."  At  its  first  opening, 
jassenger  boats  went  about  five  times  a  week 
rom  Paddington  to  Uxbridge;  and  the  wharves 
t  Paddington  presented  for  some  years  a  most 
animated  and  busy  appearance,  on  account  of  the 
quantity  of  goods  warehoused  there  for  transit  to 
and  from  the  metropolis,  causing  the  growth  of 
n  industrious  population  around  them.  But  this 
ras  only  a  brief  gleam  of  prosperity,  for  when  the 
Regent's  Canal  was  opened,  the  goods  were  con- 
•eyed  by  barges  straight  to  the  north  and  eastern 
suburbs,  and  the  wharfage-ground  at  Paddington 
suffered  a  great  deterioration  in  consequence. 

In  1812  the  Regent's  Canal  was  commenced. 
This  undertaking,  which  was  completed  and  opened 
in  1820,  begins  at  Paddington,  and  passing  under 
the  Edgware  Road,  Maida  Hill,  and  St.  John's 
Wood,  by  a  tunnel  372  yards  in  length,  opens 
nto  a  basin  near  the  "Jew's  Harp;"  thence  the 
:anal  passes  on  to  Camden  Town  and  Islington, 
and  then  by  a  tunnel  into  the  City  Road,  by 
Kingsland  and  Hackney,  and  so  on  to  Stepney 
Fields  and  Limehouse,  where  it  joins  the  Thames. 
In  its  course  through  London  there  are  no  less 
than  twelve  locks  and  about  forty  bridges.  "  On 
the  banks  of  the  canal,"  says  Mr.  John  Timbs, 
"  the  immense  heaps  of  dust  and  ashes,  once 
towering  above  the  house-tops,  are  said  to  have 
been  worth  £1 0,000  a  heap." 

At  the  western  extremity  of  the  parish  an 
artesian  well  was  formed,  to  which  the  name  of 
"The  Western  Water-works"  was  given.  The 
water  from  this  well  supplied  the  houses  which 
were  built  on  that  clayey  district;  the  West 


In  1853,  Mr.  Robins,  in  his  work  above  referred    Middlesex  and  Grand  Junction  Water-works  Com- 
panies supplying  the  other  parts  of  this  parish. 


to,  writes:— "The  glory  of  the  first  public  company 
which  shed  its  influence  over  Paddington  has,  in  a 
great  measure,  departed  ;  the  shares  of  the  Grand 
Junction  Canal  Company  are  below  par,  though 
the  traffic  on  this  silent  highway  to  Paddington  is 
still  considerable  ;  and  the  cheap  trips  into  the 
country  offered  by  its  means  during  the  summer 
months  are  beginning  to  be  highly  appreciated  by 
the  people,  who  are  pent  in  close  lanes  and  alleys ; 
and  I  have  no  doubt  the  shareholders'  dividends 
would  not  be  diminished  by  a  more  liberal  atten- 
tion to  this  want.  If  every  one  had  their  right," 
continues  the  writer,  "  I  am  told  there  would  be  a 
wharf  adjoining  this  canal,  open  free  of  cost  to  the 
people  of  Paddington  for  loading  and  unloading 


In  1824  gas  was 


first  introduced  into  the  parish, 


goods.     It  is  certain  that  the  old  road  to  Harrow 

nc,er  teed  ,0  ,he  Grand  Junc.ion  Cana,    ,ere 


on  the  establishment  of  the  Imperial  Gas  Company. 
Up  to  this  time,  during  the  long  winter  evenings, 
the  muddy  roads  which  led  to  the  cottages  on  the 
Paddington  estate  were  in  total  darkness,  unless 
the  "  parish  lantern  "  chanced  to  offer  its  accept- 
able light.  The  parish  surveyors,  in  a  report  to  the 
vestry  on  the  state  of  these  cottages,  in  1816,  say 
—"We  cannot  refrain  from  thus  recording  our  ex- 
pression of  regret  that  the  ground-landlords  should 
be  so  inordinate  in  their  demands  ;  the  effect  o 
which  is,  the  buildings  are  ill-calculated  to  afford 
shelter  from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  and 
the  want  of  drainage  and  consequent  damp  produce 
disease,  filth,  and  wretchedne 


The   cottages 
many  years    so 

ttttT&r^&Ssxtt*^ 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


were,  at  the  beginning  of  this  century,  the    formed  at  Highgate,  Norwood,  Nunhead,  &c.,  and 


retreat,' 

generators  of  "disease,  filth,  and  wretchedness." 

As  a  proof  of  the  poverty-stricken  character  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Paddington,  it  may  be  stated  that  a 
wretched  hovel  here  was,  in  i8,-j4  the  scene  of  the 
death  of  a  well-known  beggar  at  the  West  End, 
and  that  upwards  of  .£200  was  found  hoarded  up 
in  his  chests — a  sum  which  was  claimed  by  a 
female  partner  of  his  trade.  Among  his  effects 
was  a  paper  in  which  were  recorded  the  various 
profits  which  he  had  made  in  different  parts  of 
London  by  begging — a  most  interesting  and  curious 
document,  and  one  well  worthy  of  the  attention  of 
the  Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Mendicity. 

"The  transition  state  from  an  agricultural  village 
to  the  fashionable  Tyburnia,"  writes  Mr.  Robins, 
"was  no  very  agreeable  time  for  the  majority  of 
those  who  lived  in  Paddington.  When  the  cottages 
were  swept  away,  and  the  heavy  poor-rates  which 
they  had  entailed  were  diminished,  new  burdens 
sprang  up,  scarcely  less  grievous.  Rents  became 
enormous ;  the  Highway,  Watching,  and  Lighting 
Rates  were  excessive ;  and  these  were  rendered 
more  oppressive,  on  account  of  those  who  received 
the  greatest  benefit  from  the  causes  which  necessi- 
tated the  greater  expenditure  not  bearing  their  just 
share  of  this  local  taxation." 

On  the  north-west  side  of  the  parish  is  Kensal 
New  Town,  with  its  appendage  of  Kensal  Green. 
In  his  work  already  quoted,  Mr.  Robins  writes:— 
"Kensell,  or  Kensale,  comes,  as  I  take  it,  from 
King's-field.  In  the  Harleian  MS.  (No.  606,  f. 
46  b.),  the  Green  of  this  name  is  called  Kellsell, 
and  Kingefelde.  In  Mary's  reign,  we  perceive  by 


now  we  have  in  the  suburbs  of  London  some  ten 
or  twelve  humble  rivals  of  the  Pere  la  Chaise  of 
Paris.  The  Bishop  of  London,  however,  opposed 
in  Parliament  the  Bill  for  the  formation  of  these 
new  cemeteries;  and  one  of  his  archdeacons,  a  City 
rector,  wrote  a  pamphlet  or  a  charge  to  prove  that 
City  churchyards  were  rather  healthy  than  other- 
wise!  After  overcoming  all  sorts  of  difficulties, 
the  cemetery  here  was  laid  out  on  the  principle  of 
Pere  la  Chaise.  The  principal  entrance  is  a  noble 
erection  of  the  Doric  order,  one  wing  of  which 
forms  the  office,  and  the  other  the  residence  of  the 
superintendent.  Against  the  northern  boundary 
wall,  and  parallel  with  the  Episcopal  Chapel,  is  a 
small  colonnade,  and  beneath  this  are  the  old  or 
original  catacombs.  Every  space  in  these  vaults 
has  been  long  since  occupied,  but  the  same  care, 
it  may  be  remarked,  is  nevertheless  observable,  on 
the  part  of  the  company,  to  preserve  them  in  that 
orderly  condition  which  is  observable  in  the  more 
recent  interments.  The  extensive  colonnades  and 
chambers  for  the  erection  of  tablets  to  the  memory 
of  persons  whose  remains  are  resting  in  the  cata- 
combs below,  are  spots  where  the  visitor  to  the 
cemetery  may  find  an  almost  endless  number  of 
subjects  for  meditation.  The  names  of  statesmen, 
soldiers,  poets,  and  philosophers,  are  inscribed  side 
by  side  on  the  sculptured  slabs  which  adorn  the 
walls.  In  a  notice  of  it,  printed  in  1839,  Kensal 
Green  Cemetery  is  described  as  "a  flourishing 
concern  ;  the  original  ^"25  shares  being  already  at 
£52."  Here  are  buried  the  Duke  of  Sussex, 
Sydney  Smith,  Sir  W.  Beatty  (Nelson's  surgeon), 


this   document   also   that  '  the   Green    Lane,'  and  '  Sir  Anthony  Carlisle,  Dr.  Valpy,  Anne  Scott  and 
'  Kingefelde  Green,'  were  the  same  place.     And  as  I  Sophia  Lockhart,  daughter  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  and 

John  Hugh  Lockhart,  his  grandson,  the  "Hugh 
Little-John"  of  the  "Tales  of  a  Grandfather;" 
Thomas  Hood,  Listen,  Ducrow,  Madame  Vestris ; 
Calcott,  Daniell,  and  Mulready,  the  painters ; 
William  C.  Macready,  Allan  Cunningham,  J.  C. 
Loudon,  William  Makepeace  Thackeray,  Shirley 
Brooks,  John  Leech,  the  well-known  comic  artist ; 
John  Cassell,  and  many  other  men  of  mark; 


'the  Green  Lanes'  still  exist — in  name — we  may 
ascertain  with  something  like  accuracy  the  situation 
of  this  field,  or  green,  which  formerly  belonged  to 
the  king."  Here  is  the  best  known  of  the  London 
cemeteries.  It  occupies  a  considerable  space  of 
ground  between  the  Grand  Junction  Canal  and  the 
North-Western  Railway,  and  has  its  entrance  lodge 
and  gateway  in  the  Harrow  Road.  The  necessit 


of  providing  cemeteries  out  of  town,  though  not  as!  indeed,   Kensal   Green    may   now  be   called  the 
yet  enforced  by  Parliament,  was  felt  so  keenly,  that !  "  God's  Acre  "  of  London  celebrities,  a  character, 


a  company  was  formed  in  1832,  and  fifty-six  acres  of 
ground  at  Kensal  Green— then  two  miles  distant 
from  the  metropolis— were  purchased,  laid  out,  and 


however,  which  it  divides  to  some  extent  with 
Norwood,  Highgate,  and  Nunhead  Cemeteries. 
The  Princess  Sophia  also  is  buried  here.  Why 


planted.     And  no  sooner  was  the  cemetery  opened    his  Royal  Highness  the  Duke   of  Sussex   chose 
ae  boon  was  eagerly  embraced  by  the  public,    this  spot  for  his  last  resting-place  is  told  by  Mr 
and  marble  obelisks  and  urns  began  to  rise  among  i  Mark    Boyd,    in    his    "  Social    Sketches  :"— "  At 
the  cypresses  m  all  the  variety  which  heathen  and  j  the  funeral  of  William  IV.  there  was  so  much  of 
classica  allusions  could  suggest.     In  the  course  of   delay  and  confusion,  and   so  many  questions  of 
n  rive  years  other  cemetery  companies  were  |  etiquette  and  precedence  broke  out,  that  the  duke 


KENSAL  GREEN  CEMETERY. 


remarked  to  a  friend,  'This  is  intolerable.  Now, 
recollect  what  I  say  to  you.  If  I  should  die  before 
I  return  to  Kensington,  see  I  am  not  buried  at 
Windsor;  as  I  would  not  be  buried  there  after 
this  fashion  for  all  the  world.'"  It  was  at  first 
proposed  that  Thackeray  should  be  buried  in  the 
Temple  Church,  where  lie  the  ashes  of  Goldsmith, 
whom  he  so  tenderly  censured  in  his  "  Lectures  on 
the  Humorists;"  but  after  consultation  with  his 
relatives,  it  was  deemed  better  that  he  should  be 
laid  to  rest  with  his  own  family  at  Kensal  Green. 
Accordingly,  on  December  3Oth,  1863,  a  bright, 
balmy  day,  almost  like  spring,  Thackeray  was  here 
consigned  to  his  last  rest,  being  followed  to  the 
grave  by  his  friends  Dickens,  A.  Trollope,  Mark 
Lemon,  Theodore  Martin,  G.  H.  Lewes,  Robert 
Bell,  Millais,  Robert  Browning,  George  Cruick- 
shank,  John  Leech,  and  Shirley  Brooks. 

Leigh  Hunt,  too,  lies  buried  here.  His  grave 
was  for  years  without  a  stone,  or  any  other  dis- 
tinguishing mark,  until,  through  the  advocacy  of 
Mr.  Samuel  Carter  Hall,  in  the  columns  of  the 
Art  Journal,  a  subscription  was  set  on  foot 
and  in  1874-75  a  monument  was  erected  to 
the  poet's  memory.  We  may  mention  also  the 
names  of  George  Dyer,  the  historian  of  Cam 
bridge ;  Thomas  Barnes,  the  "  Thunderer  "  of  the 
Times ;  Dr.  Birkbeck,  the  founder  of  Mechanics 
Institutions ;  John  Murray,  the  publisher ;  and  th 
famous  George  Robins,  the  auctioneer,  of  whom 


we  have  already  spoken  in  our  account  of  Coven 
Garden.  The  following  lines,  though  of  a  mock 
heroic  character,  which  have  been  handed  dow: 
respecting  him,  serve  to  show  that  he  was  regardec 
in  his  day  as  a  typical  personage  : — 

"  High  in  a  hall,  by  curious  listeners  fill'd, 

Sat  one  whose  soul  scem'd  steeped  in  poesy  ; 

So  bland  his  diction,  it  was  plain  he  will'd 
His  hearers  all  should  prize  as  high  as  he 

The  gorgeous  works  of  art  there  plac'd  around. 
The  statues  by  the  Phidian  chisel  wrought : 
Endymion,  whom  Dian  lov'd  distraught  ; 

Dian  herself,  Laocoon  serpent-bound  ; 

The  pictures  touch'd  by  Titian  and  Vandyke, 
With  rainbow  pencils,  in  the  which  did  vie 
Fair  form  and  colour  for  the  mastery  ; 

Warm'd  his  discourse  till  ear  ne'er  heard  the  like. 

'  Who  is  that  eloquent  man  ? '  I  asked  one  near. 

'That,  sir?  that's  Mr.  Robins,  auctioneer.'" 


The  practice  of  burying  the  dead  in  cities  is  of 
cessity  injurious  to  the  public  health  ;  and  it  is 
•ange  that,  in  a  city  like  London,  where  no 
:pense  has  been  spared  in  promoting  sanitary 
easures,  it  should  so  long  have  been  permitted 
id  tolerated.  It  was  a  custom  of  very  early 
tiquity  to  attach  burying-grounds  to  Christian 
lurches,  though  both  the  Jews  of  old  and  the 
eathen  Romans  buried  their  dead  in  caves  and 
>mbs  by  the  road-side,  as  shown  by  the  constant 
iscription  of  "Siste  Viator,"  instead  of  "Sacred 
>  the  Memory  of."  But  when  streets  and  whole 
)wns  grew  up  around  these  consecrated  spots,  the 
ublic  convenience  and  decency  could  not  fail  to 
ggest  the  expediency  of  having  the  depositories 
f  the  dead  at  a  distance  from  the  dwellings' of  the 
ng.  Accordingly,  most  Continental  cities  have 
:ir  cemeteries  in  the  suburbs;  but  the  servile 
dherence  of  our  people  to  ancient  customs,  even 
hen  shown  to  be  bad,  kept  up  this  loathsome 
ractice  in  the  midst  of  our  dense  population  until 
ome  twenty  years  after  the  accession  of  Queen 
/ictoria,  when  many  of  the  City  churches,  and 
ome  at  the  West  End  also,  were  little  better  than 
harnel-houses;  and  their  dead  increased  in  numbers 
o  rapidly  that  one  sexton  started  the  question 
vhether  he  might  not  refuse  to  admit  an  iron 
:offin  into  a  church  or  churchyard,  because  in  that 
:ase  the  deceased  took  a  fee-simple  in  the  ground, 


which  ought  to  be  granted  him  only  for 


a  term  of 


ears  !  It  is  perhaps  a  matter  of  complaint  that  it 
has  never  entered  into  the  contemplation  of  the 
Legislature,  or  even  of  an  individual,  to  form  a 
general  and  extensive  cemetery  in  the  suburbs  of 
he  metropolis. 

Although  perhaps  not  actually  within  the  limits 
of  Paddington,  we  may  add  that  a  plot  of  ground 
on  the  west  side  of  the  cemetery,  nearer  Willesden, 
was,  about  the  year  1860,  secured  by  the  Roman 
Catholics  of  London  as  a  place  of  burial.  Among 
the  earliest  who  were  interred  here  was  Cardinal 
Wiseman,  who,  as  we  have  already  stated,*  died 
at  his  residence  in  York  Place,  Baker  Street,  in 
February,  1865.  The  body  of  the  cardinal  was 
taken  first  to  the  chapel  of  St.  Mary,  Moorfieids, 
where  part  of  the  service  was  celebrated,  after 
which  the  funeral  cortege,  of  considerable  length 
and  imposing  appearance,  passed  on  its  way  hither, 
Besides  those  whose  names  we  have  mentioned,  through  the  streets  of  London. 
there  are  also  buried  here  the  Right  Hon.  Joseph  Beyond  the  Cemetery  there  ^buMittle  ^f 


Planta,  Sir  George  Murray,  Sir  Edward  Hyde  East, 


interest  to  note  in  this  part  of  Paddington. 


Planta.  bir  ueorge  Murray,  oir  ILUWJU-I  n^ui,  •  pinntrTi  " 

Sir  John  Sinclairfchief  Justice  Tindal,  the  Marquis  '  old  tavern  once  stood  here,  called  "The  Ploug ^ 
of  Thomond,    the   Bishops   of    St.    David's   (Dr.    of  which  Faulkner,  m  ,82*  say.:-    It  has  been 


Jenkinson)  and  Quebec  (Dr.  Stewart),  and  a  very 
large  number  of  the  aristocracy, 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


built  upwards  of  three  hundred  years.  The  timber  and  the  collections  at  an  annual  charity-sermon." 
and  joists,  being  of  oak,  are  still  in  good  preserva-  This  public  day-school  for  poor  children  was  one 
tion."  George  Morland,  the  painter,  was  much  of  the  first  established  in  the  outskirts  of  London. 


pleased 


The  building,  which  was  capable  of  accommodating 
only  one  hundred  children,  was  erected  on  land 
said  to  have  been  given  by  Bishop  Compton.  In 
1822,  new  school-rooms  were  built  on  a  part  of 


Since   the   above 


th  this  then  sequestered  and  quiet  place, 


nd  spent  much  of  his  time  here  towards  the  close 


of  his  life,  surrounded  by  those  rustic  scenes  which 


his  pencil  has  so  faithfully  and  so  ably  delineated 


In  the  same  neighbourhood,  apparently,   resided 


Paddington  Green,  on  a  spot  which  was  formerly 


Robert   Cromwell,  a  near  relative  of  Oliver,  the 


Protector.  At  all  events,  in  the  register  of  burials 
at  Kensington,  under  date  1691,  is  an  entry  of 
"  Cromwell,"  the  "  reputed  "  son  of  Robert  Crom- 
well, of  Kensal  Green,  and  of  Jane  Saville,  his 
servant. 

In  the  matter  of  education,  it  is  only  within  the 
last  few  years  that  Paddington  appears  to  have 
made  much  progress.  A  Sunday-school,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  parish  church,  was  established  here 
during  the  last  century;  but  it  was  not  till  the 
beginning  of  this  that  any  public  means  of  instruc- 
tion existed  for  the  children  of  the  poor  on  week- 
days. Lysons,  in  his  "  Environs  of  London,"  tells 
us  that  "  a  charity-school  for  thirty  boys  and  thirty 
girls  was  established  in  the  parish  in  1802,"  and 
that  it  was  "  supported  by  voluntary  contributions, 


(See  page  221.) 


period,  in  consequence  of  the  altered  condition  ol 
Paddington,  the  parish  has  gone  on  increasing  in 
|  the  number  of  its  schools,  so  that  now  it  may 
doubtless  claim  to  be  on  as  good  a  footing  as  any 
other  parish  in  the  metropolis.  A  large  Board 
School  was  opened  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Edgware  Road  in  1874-5. 

We  have  already  mentioned  the  naming  ol  some 

of  the  streets  and  terraces  after  various  bishops  of 

London  ;  one  or  two  others,  however,  still  remain 

j  to  be  spoken  of.     For  instance,  Tichborne  Street, 

j  a  turning  out  of  the  Edgware  Road,  although  not 

built   so  far  back  as  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII., 

reminds  us  of  one   "Nicholas  Tychborne,  gent., 

j  husband  of  the  second  daughter  and   co-heir   of 

•  Alderman  Fenroper;"   and    of  "Alderman  Tich- 


Piuidington.] 


THE   GREAT   WESTERN    RAILWAY   TERMINUS. 


bourn,"  one  of  Cromwell's  peers  and  King  Charles's 
judges. 

Praed  Street  preserves  the  memory  of  a  banker 
of  that  name,  one  of  the  first  directors  of  the 
Grand  Junction  Canal  Company.  This  street 
connects  Edgware  Road  with  the  Great  Western 
Railway  Terminus  and  Hotel.  The  latter  is  a 
magnificent  building,  and  was  one  of  the  first  con- 
structed on  the  "  monster  "  principle  in  connection 


to  connect  the  seaport  of  Bristol  and  the  great 
towns  of  the  south-west  with  London.  The  original 
estimate  for  the  construction  of  the  railway  was 
,£2,500,000,  or  about  .£39,000  a  mile.  The  line 
was  constructed  on  that  known  as  the  "  broad 
gauge,"  and  the  engineer  was  Mr.  I.  K.  Brunei,  son 
of  Isambard  Brunei.  This  estimate,  however,  was 
largely  exceeded,  the  directors  accounting  for  it 
by  stating  "that  it  is  accounted  for  by  the  intended 


with  the  railway  terminus,  with  which  it  has  com- 
munication by  a  covered  passage.  The  edifice  in 
itself  comprises  five  separate  floors,  containing  in 
all  upwards  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  rooms,  the 
chief  of  which  are  large  and  lofty,  and  beautifully 
ornamented  ;  the  designs  generally,  in  the  Louis 
Quatorze  style,  were  executed  by  Mr.  Philip  Hard- 
-.vick,  R.A.,  and  the  pediment  upon  the  front  is 
surmounted  by  a  piece  of  allegorical  sculpture. 
The  Great  Western  Railway  line,  which  communi- 
cates with  tl.e  west  and  extreme  south-west  of 
England  is  situated  close  to  and  below  the  level 
of  the  terminal  wharf  of  the  Paddington  branch 
of  the  Grand  Junction  Canal.  The  Act  of  in- 
corporation, under  which  this  line  was  formed,  was 
passed  in  the  year  1835;  and  it  was  intended 


junction  with  the  Birmingham  line  at  Acton."    In 
1838  the  railway  was  open  only  to  Maidenhead ; 
to  Twyford    in    1839  ;    in   the   following  year  to 
Faringdon  Road;  and  in  1841  it  was  completed 
to    Bristol.      It  was   at   first    proposed   that   this 
line   should  be  connected  with  the  London  and 
Birmingham  Railway  at  Kensal  Green  ;  but  some 
obstacles  having  arisen  to  the  satisfactory  arrange- 
nt of  this  plan  between  the  two  companies,  the 
intention  was  ultimately  abandoned,  and  the  Great 
Western   Railway   had  an   independent  terminus 
erected  here.     To  effect  this  it  was  necessary  10 
construct  about  two  and  a-half  miles  of  additional 
railway,  while  the   total  distance  to  be  travelled 
would  be  lessened  by  about  three   miles.     Fhe 
Box  Tunnel,  on  this  line,  is  upwards  of  3,000  yarns 


224 

in  length.  The  various  line*  and  branches  now 
included  in  the  Great  Westet-,1  system  comprehend 
about  2,000  miles  of  railway. 

The  station  itself,  which,  with  its  numerous  de- 
parture and  arrival  platforms,  offices,  engine-sheds, 
and  workshops,  covers  several  acres  of  ground,  is 
built  close  up  to  the  hotel.  Its  chief  feature,  from 
an  architectural  point  of  view,  is  its  triple-spanned 
roof  of  glass  and  iron,  which,  having  been  erected 
shortly  after  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1851,  may  be 
said  to  have  been  one  of  the  first  adaptations  of 
that  principle  of  construction  upon  a  gigantic  scale  ; 
and  it  is  almost  needless  to  add  that  it  has  since 
been  copied,  more  or  less  exactly,  at  almost  all 
the  large  railway  stations  of  the  metropolis.  The 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


length  of  this  building  of  glass  is  263  yards,  its 
breadth  is  93  yards,  and  the  central  span  of  the 
roof  is  no  less  than  70  feet  in  height. 

As  an  instance  of  the  improvement  made  in 
travelling  since  the  days  of  George  I.,  we  may 
mention  that,  whereas  in  1725  the  stage-coach 
journey  from  London  to  Exeter  occupied  four 
long  summer  days,  the  express  train  on  the  Great 
Western  Railway  now  accomplishes  the  distance 
in  little  more  than  four  hours.  In  those  good  old 
days,  as  we  learn  from  letters  still  preserved  in 
families  of  the  west  country,  the  passengers  were 
roused  each  morning  at  two  o'clock,  started  at 
three,  dined  at  ten,  and  finished  their  day's  journey 
at  three  in  the  afternoon ! 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
UNDERGROUND    LONDON:    ITS    RAILWAYS,    SUBWAYS,    AND    SEWERS. 


i  Scheme  for  Underground  Railways-Difficulties   and   Oppositions  it  had   to  encounter-Commencement  of  the 

Irruption  of  the  Fleet  Ditch-Opening  of  the  Metropolitan  Railway-Influx  of  Bills  to  Parliament  for  the  Formation  of  other  Underground 
Lines— Adoption  of  the"  Inner  Circle"  Plan— Description  of  the  Metropolitan  Railway  and  its  Stations— The  "  Nursery-maids'  Walk  "—A 
Great  Triumph  of  Engineering  Skill— Extension  of  the  Line  from  Moorgatc  Street— The  East  London  Railway— Engines  and  Carriages,  and 
Mode  of  Lighting-Signalling-Ventilation  of  the  Tunnel-Description  of  the  Metropolitan  District  Railway-Workmen'.  Traim-The 
Water  Supply  and  Drainage  of  London— Subways  for  Gas,  Sewage,  and  other  Purposes. 


As  we  are  now 

common  centre  of  three  railways,  and,  in  a  certain 
sense,  was  the  birth-place  of  the  Great  Western  and 
the  Metropolitan  lines,  it  may  be  well  to  descend 
the  steps  which  lead  to  one  of  the  platforms  of  the 
latter  company,  and  to  ask  our  readers  to  ac- 
company us,  mentally,  of  course,  in  a  "jou 
underground." 

The  overcrowding  of  the  London  streets,  and  the 
consequent  difficulty  and  danger  of  locomotion, 
had  been  for  many  years  a  theme  of  constant 
agitation  in  the  metropolis.  Numberless  plans 


Paddington,  which  is  the  |  convey  passengers  from  whatever  part  of  the 
country  they  might  come  to  whatever  quarter  of  the 
town  they  might  desire  to  visit,  without  forcing  them 
to  traverse  the  streets  in  order  to  arrive  there." 

"Such  a  scheme,"  writes  a  well-known  author, 
"  though  it  has  proved  one  of  the  most  successful 
of  modern  times,  met  with  the  same  difficulties 
and  oppositions  that  every  new  project  has  to 
encounter.  Hosts  of  objections  were  raised;  all 
manner  of  imaginary  evils  were  prophesied ;  and 
Mr.  Charles  Pearson,  like  George  Stephenson 
before  him,  had  to  stand  in  that  pillory  to  which 


rney 


ere  "propounded  for  the  relief  of  the  over-gorged    all  public  men  are  condemned,  and  to  be  pelted 

with  the  missiles  which  ignorance  and  prejudice 
can  always  find  ready  to  their  hands.  The  project 
was  regarded  with  the  same  contempt  as  the  first 
proposal  to  light  our  streets  with  gas ;  it  was  the 
scheme  of  a  '  wild  visionary:'  and  as  Sir  Humphrey 
Davy  had  said  that  it  would  require  a  mound  of 
earth  as  large  as  Primrose  Hill  to  weigh  down  the 
gasometers  of  the  proposed  new  gas-works,  before 
London  could  be  safely  illuminated  by  the  destruc- 
tive distillation  of  coal,  so  learned  engineers  were 
not  wanting  to  foretell  how  the  projected  tunnel 
must  necessarily  fall  in  from  the  mere  weight  of 
the  traffic  in  the  streets  above;  and  how  the 


ways  in  connection  with  the  vehicular  circulation 
of  the  streets.  New  lines  of  streets  were  formed, 
and  fresh  channels  of  communication  were  opened ; 
but  all  to  little  purpose.  The  crowd  of  omnibuses,' 
cabs,  and  vehicles  of  all  descriptions  in  our  main 
thoroughfares  remained  as  dense  and  impassable 
as  ever.  At  length  it  was  proposed  to  relieve 
the  traffic  of  the  streets  by  subterranean  means; 
and  in  the  end  a  scheme  was  propounded  "  to 
encircle  the  metropolis  with  a  tunnel,  which  was  to 
be  in  communication  with  all  the  railway  termini 
—whether  northern,  or  eastern,  or  western,  north- 
western, or  south-western — and  so  be  able  to 


Underground  London.]  OPENING    OF    THE    METROPOLITAN    RAILWAY. 


225 


adjacent  houses  would  be  not  only  shaken  to  their    past  midday  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  a  place  in 
foundation  by  the  vibration  caused  by  the  engines,    the  up  or  Cityward  line  at  any  of  the  mid-stations. 


but  the  families  residing  in  them  would  be  one  and 
all  poisoned  by  the  sulphurous  exhalations  from 
the  fuel  with  which  the  boilers  were  heated." 

After  years  of  hard  work  and  agitation,  confi- 
dence in  the  undertaking  at  length  gained  ground, 
and  the  scheme  was  set  on  foot  about  the  year 
1860.  The  Great  Western  Railway,  with  the  view 
of  obtaining  access  for  their  traffic  to  the  City, 
came  forward  with  .£200,000  as  a  subscription  to 
the  enterprise  ;  while  the  Corporation  of  the  City 
of  London,  finding  that  the  new  lines  of  streets 
were  comparatively  useless  as  a  means  of  draining 
off  the  vehicles  from  the  main  thoroughfares,  also 
agreed  to  subscribe  a  similar  sum  to  ensure  the 
accomplishment  of  the  object  Up  to  this  time 
the  shares  in  the  undertaking  had  been  at  a  low 
discount]  and  the  low  price,  indeed,  continued 
even  after  both  the  City  and  the  Great  Western 
Company  had  subscribed.  The  shares  gradually 
attained  higher  prices  as  the  prospects  of  opening 
the  line  increased;  but  after  the  opening  they 
rose  so  rapidly  as  to  promise  an  enormous  return 
to  the  promoters. 

From  a  brochure,  entitled  "The  Metropolitan 
Railway,"  published  in  1865,  we  learn  that 
"  during  the  construction  of  the  Underground  line, 
the  meandering  stream  of  the  Fleet  ditch  had  to  be 
crossed  at  least  three  times,  before  its  cloacinal 
flood  was  diverted  from  its  previous  course.  Bell- 
mouthed  tunnels  had  to  be  made,  so  as  to  bring 
two  subterranean  borings  into  one  ;  and  stations, 
which  were  merely  enormous  cellars  built  deep 
underground,  had  to  be  illuminated  by  the  light 
of  day.  Moreover,  new  forms  of  engines  and 
carriages  had  to  be  designed  —  engines  which 
would  evolve  neither  smoke  nor  steam,  and 
carriages  which  could  be  lighted  by  gas,  so  that 
the  usual  unpleasant  atmosphere  and  obscurity  of 
railway  tunnels  might  be  avoided.  Further,  it  was 
necessary  to  devise  a  special  system  of  signals  in 
connection  with  the  line,  upon  which  it  was  in- 


In the  evening  the  tide  turned,  and  the  crowd  at 
the  Farringdon  Street  station  was  as  great  as  at  the 
doors  of  a  theatre  on  the  first  night  of  some  popular 
performer.  At  first  the  directors  of  the  Great 
Western  undertook  the  management  of  the  line, 
but  such  differences  soon  arose  between  the  two 
companies  that,  some  seven  months  afterwards, 
the  Great  Western  directors  gave  notice  that  in 
two  months  they  would  cease  to  continue  their 
carriages  upon  it,  and  on  the  ist  of  August  follow- 


tended  that  train  after  train  should  succeed  one 
another,  with  but  a  few  minutes'  intervals,  through- 
out the  day."  In  spite  of  a  variety  of  difficulties, 
including  an  irruption  of  the  Fleet  ditch  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  King's  Cross,  the  permanent  way 


ing  they  reduced  the  notice  as  to  their  secession 
from  the  management  of  the  line  to  ten  days.     In 
the  short  interval  left  to  the  Metropolitan  Com- 
pany to    undertake    the   conduct    of  the   traffic, 
engines  and  carriages  had  to  be  hired  from  what 
other  railway  companies  were  able  and  willing  to 
supply  them.    Accordingly,  on  the  loth  of  August, 
1863,  the  Metropolitan  Company  commenced  work- 
ing the  line  themselves,  and  have  since  continued 
to  do  so.      "  The  traffic,  indeed,  by  the   Under- 
ground Railway,"  says  the  writer  of  the  above- 
mentioned  work,  "  is  of  so  special  and  peculiar  a 
character  as  to  cause  it  to  differ  totally  from  all 
other  railways,  and  to  make  it  require  a  distinct 
management.     The  attention  of  the  authorities  in 
connection  with  large.systems  of  railways  is  devoted 
chiefly  to  what  is  called  the  'long-traffic'  element ; 
whereas,   the   Metropolitan — being   essentially  a 
'  short-traffic '  line,  and  the  numbers  carried  upon 
it  being  so  great,  as  well  as  the  trains  so  numerous 
throughout  the  day— needs  an  amount  of  care  and 
continual  supervision  in  its  working,  which  could 
not  possibly  be  given  by  the  officers  of  those  lines 
where  trains  are  in  the  habit  of  succeeding  one 
another  at  comparatively  lengthened  intervals.     It 
is  therefore,  much  to  the  public  advantage  that 
the  Underground  Railway  should  be  worked  by 
the  company  itself,  and  that  an  organised  staff  of 
officials  should  be  specially  trained  and  maintained 
for  the  duty." 

So  great  was  the  success  of  the  Metropolitan 
Railway,  from   the  very  day  of  its   inauguration, 


to  Farringdon  Street  on  the  loth  of  Januar 


that  in  the  next  session 


of  Parliament  there  was 


such  an  influx  of  bills  for  the  proposed  formation 


of  railway  lines  in  connection  w 


h  the  new  form  of 


was  opened  ior  passenger  traffic  from  Paddington    ^, ^-^  ^  ^.^  rf  ^  ^ 
It  was  calculated  that  over  30,000  persons  were    carried  out,  and  that  almost  every  open  « 


carried  over  the  line  in  the  course  of  the  day. 
Indeed,  the  desire  to  travel  by  this  line  on  the 
opening  day  was  more  than  the  directors  had  pro- 
vided for,  and  from  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  |  locom 


transit  in  the   metropolis,  that   it  was  found  that 
"nearly  one-half  of  the  City  itself  would  have  to 
'  -  .-   .  •.._  _r  *u~  "iirjg  \vere 

pace  of 

square'Tn  the  heart  of  the  metropolis 
e   to  be  given  up  for  the  erection  of 
aming   and  hissing 
e  was  that  a  Corn- 


ground 
would  have 


226 


OLD   AND   NEW    LONDON. 


(Underground  London. 


mittee  of  the  two  Houses  was  formed  to  take  the 
whole  of  the  metropolitan  schemes  into  considera- 
tion, as  well  as  to  determine  what  general  plan 
should  be  adopted,  in  order  to  unite  together  the 
various  threads  of  the  railway  lines  converging 
towards  the  capital,  and  forming  the  principal 
fibres  of  that  great  web  of  iron  highways  which 
had  been  spun  over  the  country  since  the  opening 
of  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  line  in  1830. 
Accordingly,  after  deliberating  for  some  time  upon 
the  matter,  the  Legislature  came  to  the  determina- 
tion to  adopt  what  is  now  known  as  the  '  inner 
circle '  plan  of  Mr.  Fowler  (the  engineer  of  the  line 
of  which  we  are  treating),  and  to  recommend  the 
carrying  out  of  an  '  outer  circle  '  also." 

On  the  first  opening  of  the  Underground  Railway 
the  line  extended  only  from  Bishop's  Road,  Pad- 
dington,  to  Farringdon  Street ;  and  in  the  course 
of  a  twelvemonth  the  number  of  passengers  by  it 
amounted  to  nearly  9,500,000,  or,  in  round  num- 
bers, more  than  three  times  the  entire  population 
of  the  capital;  but  this  number  was  almost  doubled 
in  the  course  of  two  years.  Since  the  extension 
of  the  line,  which  we  shall  presently  notice,  the 
number  of  passengers  who  have  availed  them- 
selves of  this  means  of  transit  has  amounted  to 
nearly  fifty  millions  annually. 

The  number  of  trains  running  upon  this  line  is 
about  350  on  week  days,  and  200  on  Sundays; 
and  they  travel  at  intervals  of  five  to  ten  minutes, 
between  the  hours  of  5.15  a.m.  up  to  midnight. 

The  original  terminal  point  of  this  railway,  as  we 
have  stated  above,  was  at  Bishop's  Road.  The 

station  here  adjoins  the  terminus  of  the  Great  selves  of  the  extra  accommodation  afforded  them 
Western  line,  and  there  is  a  covered  way  for  pas-  by  the  enclosure  of  Park  Square ;  and  such  was 
sengers  leading  from  the  one  station  to  the  other,  the  resistance  offered  by  the  inhabitants  of  this 
Between  Bishop's  Road  and  Edgware  Road  the  part  to  the  progress  of  the  railway,  that  ascending 
Underground  Line,  being  extended  westward,  now  j  and  descending  gradients,  to  the  extent  of  i  in  100, 
sweep  round  the  western  had  to  be  introduced,  so  as  to  carry  the  line  under 


forms ;  this  part  of  the  station,  with  the  line  itself, 
being  immediately  under  the  roadway.  Great  in- 
genuity is  displayed  in  the  construction  of  this 
station,  for  although  so  deep  underground,  it  enjoys 
the  advantage  of  daylight,  which  is  made  to  glance 
down  from  the  roadway  above  through  long  shafts 
lined  with  white  glazed  tiles.  From  Baker  Street 
a  branch  line  of  the  Underground  Railway  conveys 
passengers  northward,  by  St.  John's  Wood,  Marl- 
borough  Road,  and  the  Swiss  Cottage  Stations, 
within  a  few  minutes'  walk  of  the  breezy  heights 
of  Hampstead,  and  so  on  by  Kilburn  and  Brondes- 
bury  to  Harrow. 

Resuming  our  course  towards  the  City,  the  next 
station  from  Baker  Street,  which  is  reached  through 
another  tunnel  about  half  a  mile  long,  is  at  Port- 
land Road,  near  the  top  of  Portland  Place.  This 
is  at  what  is  called  the  "  summit-level "  of  the  line, 
and  two  large  circular  openings  have  been  con- 
structed over  the  line  for  the  purpose  of  ventila- 
tion. Smaller  openings  for  the  ventilation  of  the 
unnel  have  been  made  between  other  stations. 
I^arge  numbers  are  conveyed  to  this  station,  on 
their  way  to  the  Regent's  Park  and  the  Zoological 
Gardens.  "It  is  a  peculiarity  of  this  district," 
says  the  author  above  quoted,  "  that,  between  the 
semi-circular  enclosure  of  Park  Crescent  and  the 
quadrangular  space  within  Park  Square,  a  tunnel 
under  the  New  Road  has  been  for  a  long  time  in 
existence,  as  a  means  of  uniting  the  two  enclosures. 
This  was  familiarly  known  as  the  '  Nursery-maids' 
Walk,'  and  was  the  means  by  which  the  children 
of  the  residents  in  Park  Crescent  could  avail  them- 


extremity  of  London,  by  way  of  Notting  Hill  Gate, 
Kensington.  Sloane  Square,  and  Westminster,  and 
so  on  by  a  tunnel  along  the  Victoria  Embankment 
to  Blackfriars  and  the  Mansion  House  Station  in 
Cannon  Street. 

Passing  eastward  from  Bishop's  Road,  the  line, 
in  the  course  of  half  a  mile,  reaches  the  Kdgware 
Road  Station,  where  are  workshops  for  the  repair  of 
the  company's  engines  and  carriages.  Unlike  most 
of  the  stations  on  this  route,  that  at  Edgware  Road 
has  the  advantage  of  being  open  and  above  ground. 
Fr.im  Edgware  Road  another  half-mile  or  so  of 
tunnel  eastward  brings  the  passenger  to  the  Baker 
Street  Station.  The  entrances  to  this  station  are  in 
Baker  Street,  on  either  side  of  the  Marylebone  Road, 
broad  nights  of  stairs  leading  down  to  the  plat- 


this  subterranean  thoroughfare,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  nursery-maids  and  children  of  this  highly- 
genteel  neighbourhood." 

From  Portland  Road  the  line  is  continued,  by  a 
tunnel  rather  under  half  a  mile  long,  to  Gower 
Street.  The  station  here  is  very  similar  in  con- 
struction to  that  of  Baker  Street,  being  originally 
lighted  by  the  reflection  afforded  by  white  glazed 


tiles   from   the   roadway  above.       Since   its   con- 
las  been  opened  up  very 


struction,    however,    it 


much  to  the  upper  air  with  very  decided  advantage 
both  to  its  light  and  ventilation.  This  is  a  con- 
venient outlet  for  the  country  immigrants  arriving 
at  the  Fusion  Square  Station  of  the  London  and 
North-Western  Railway;  and  it  is  also  available 
for  those  residing  in  the  densely-populated  district 


Underground  London.] 


A   GREAT   ENGINEERING   TRIUMPH. 


227 


of  Tottenham  Court  Road.  A  tunnel,  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  in  length,  next  brings  the  pas- 
senger to  King's  Cross  Station,  which  is  one  of  the 
finest  in  point  of  construction  of  any  on  the  line ; 
the  roof  especially  is  worthy  of  notice,  for  the 
length  and  proportion  of  its  span.  Within  the 
station  itself,  the  up  and  down  lines  from  the  Great 
Northern  and  Midland  Railway  enter  the  King's 
Cross  Station,  and  thence  to  Farringdon  Road 
pass  through  a  separate  tunnel  running  parallel  with 
the  Metropolitan  line.  In  the  formation  of  this 
second  tunnel  immense  engineering  difficulties  had 
to  be  met,  and  were  successfully  accomplished,  the 
union  of  the  two  tunnels  being  effected  upon  the 


lines  is  made  to  dive  from  north-east  to  south-west 
under  that  of  the  Metropolitan,  which  here  is  some 
thirty  feet  below  the  surface,  revealing  the  fact  that 
"  even  in  the  lowest  depths  there  is  a  lower  still," 
and  displaying  one  of  the  greatest  triumphs  of  the 
engineers'  art  to  be  seen  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
London.  This  gigantic  "tunnel  under  another 
tunnel "  was  carried  into  effect  without  the  stoppage 
of  a  single  train  on  the  Metropolitan  Railway. 
The  illustration  on  page  229  represents  the  passage 
of  a  Metropolitan  train  over  the  Great  Northern 
and  Midland  lines  near  Farringdon  Road  Station. 

Farringdon  Road  Station  is  very  spacious,  and, 
with  the  goods  depot  of  the  Great  Northern  Rail- 


"  bell-mouth "  principle,  similar  to  that  between  |  way,  cover  a  large  space  of  ground  between  the 
Edgware  Road  and  Bishop's  Road.  The  Midland  j  main  road  and  Turnmill  Street.  This  station  was 
Railway,  as  we  shall  hereafter  see,  when  we  come  j  at  first  the  utmost  limit  of  the  line  Citywards ;  but 
to  Camden  Town,  was  carried  out  by  a  triumph  of  j  by  degrees  the  railway  has  been  gradually  extended 
engineering  skill,  under  the  Grand  Junction  Canal.  !  eastward,  the  intention  of  the  Metropolitan  being 


Shortly   before   reaching  King's  Cross,  the  great 
Fleet  sewer  crosses  both  the  junction  lines ;  and 


ultimately  to  form  a  connection  with  the  other  end 
the   Mansion   House    Station.      After  leaving 


during  the  construction  of  the  aqueduct  through  Farringdon  Road  the  line  passes,  by  means  of  a 
which  it  was  ultimately  to  pass,  it  was  necessary  short  tunnel,  under  the  Metropolitan  Meat  Market 
that  the  sewage  should  not  be  interrupted  for  a  at  Smithfield,  and  then,  after  once  more  coming 
moment ;  moreover,  in  addition  to  the  difficulties  I  into  daylight,  enters  the  large  and  well-built  station 
connected  with  such  a  work,  it  may  be  stated  that  of  Aldersgate  Street,  the  lines  being  duplicated, 
the  whole  of  the  sewage  had  to  be  conducted  I  Here  there  is  a  junction  of  the  main  line  with  that 
under  the  roadway ;  it  now  passes  through  an  j  of  the  London,  Chatham,  and  Dover  Railway, 


immense  wrought-iron  tube,  some  dozen   feet   in 
diameter,  bedded  in  brickwork. 

The  line,  on  leaving  King's  Cross,  takes  a  curve 
in  a  southerly  direction,  and  shortly  afterwards 
passes  under  the  Fleet  ditch  a  second  time,  by  a 
short  piece  of  tunnelling,  and  then,  after  passing 
through  an  open  cutting,  and  another  tunnel  about 
half  a  mile  in  length,  the  line  passes  under  a  bridge, 


which  passes  under  Smithfield,  then  on  under  Hoi- 
born  Viaduct,  and  so  on  to  Ludgate  Hill  in  its  way 
southward.  From  Aldersgate  Street,  the  Metro- 
politan Railway  continues  by  a  short  tunnel  and 
an  open  cutting  on  to  Moorgate  Street,  which  was 
for  some  time  the  farthest  extent  of  the  line  in  this 
direction.  In  1875  the  line  was  continued  to 
Liverpool  Street,  where  it  forms  a  junction  with 


hich  serves  as  a  viaduct  to  Ray  Street,  Clerken-    the   Great   Eastern  Railway.     Since   then  it   has 


well,   and    carries    the    traffic   over    the   railway. 
Once  more  the  line  passes  under  the  Fleet  ditch ; 


been  extended  to  Aldgate,  and  thence  to  the  Tower. 
After    passing    under    Finsbury   Circus    towards 


the  contents  of  this^  which  is  within  the  station-  j  Bishopsgate  Station  in  Liverpool  Street,  the  railway 
yard  of  Farringdon  Road,  are  conveyed  across  tunnel  is  carried  between  the  chapel  of  St.  Mary  s, 
the  line  in  one  span  in  a  capacious  wrought-iron  j  Moorfields,  and  Finsbury  Chapel,  and  in  the  coa- 
tube,  and  in  the  formation  of  the  line  at  this  point  !  struction  of  this  portion  of  the  line  considerable 
considerable  difficulty  was  experienced  in  conse-  1  engineering  difficulties  had  to  be  surmounted. 
quence  of  the  sewer  on  two  or  three  different!  In  the  meantime,  other  subterranean  works  in 
occasions  bursting  its  bounds,  and  thereby  greatly  \  connection  with  the  modern  system  of  locomotion 

'  this 


impeding  the  progress  of  the  work.  Close  by 
this  sewer  is  another  bridge  for  carrying  the  traffic 
over  the  railway ;  it  is  constructed  mainly  of  iron, 


had  been  going  on  farther  eastward  ;  and  by  this 
means  the  northern  and  south-eastern  hemispheres 
of  London,  so  to  speak,  have  been  banded  together 


.nd  was  built  in  1875-6,  in  order  to  form  part  of  j  by  the  iron  girdle  of  the  East  London  ^^ 
the  new  direct  thoroughfare   which  connects  Ox-   which,  passing  on  through  Wnitechapel  and  Shad- 
well,  and  then  through  the  old  Thames  Tunnel  tc 


ford  Street  with  Old  Street,  St  Luke's. 

It  should  be  stated  here  that  shortly  before 
emerging  into  the  light  of  day  at  Farringdon  Street, 
the  tunnel  of  the  Midland  and  Great  Northern 


, 
Rotherhithe  and  Deptord  Road,  terminates  at  Ne. 

Cross,  where  it  joins  the  Brighton  line 
Throughout  the   whole   length   of  the  vanou- 


22$ 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


systems  of  Underground  Railways,  it  may  be 
safely  asserted  that  the  works  are  signal  instances 
of  modern  engineering  skill  and  ingenuity.  The 
rails  on  the  Metropolitan  Line  were  originally  laid 
on  the  mixed-gauge  principle,  the  rails  themselves 
having  steeled  surfaces  given  to  them ;  but  these 
being  found  to  be  not  of  a  very  durable  character, 
were  gradually  replaced  with  others  of  solid  stee{  ! 
which,  although  much  more  costly  to  lay  down,  I 


I  whilst  the  second  and  third  classes  carry  as  many 
as  e,ghty  persons  respectively,  and  very  frequently 

i  more.  The  mode  of  lighting  the  carriages  is  by 
gas,  which  is  carried  in  long  india-rubber  bags 
within  wooden  boxes,  arranged  on  the  tops  of  the 
carnages,  and  extending  from  one  end  to  the  other 
of  each  set  of  vehicles  composing  the  train.  «  These 
gas  bags,"  says  the  writer  of  the  work  above  re- 
ferred to,  'are  weighted  on  the  top,  and  as  the 


have  been  found  to  l,c  more  lasting,  and  conse- 
quently cheaper  in  the  end.  Within  the  last  few 
years,  the  broad-gauge  rails  have  been  taken  up, 
and  only  the  narrow-gauge  is  now  used 

So  far  as  the  engines  and  carriages  are  con- 
cerned, but  little  need  he  said  her,'  The  former 
are  fine,  powerful  machines,  specially  designed  bv 
Mr.  Fowler,  the  engineer-in-chicf;  and  Ihey  are 
arranged  either  to  exhaust  the  steam  through  the 
chimney  in  the  ordinary  way,  or  else  to  condense 
it  m  tanks  which  are  placed  on  either  side  of  the 
engine,  and  contain  1,000  gallons  of  water-a 
supply  sufficient  for  the  double  journey  The 
carnages  are  extremely  large  and  roomy  vehicles, 

The  n  T ,     s  beins  no  less  than  forty feet  W 

first-class  carriages  are  luxuriously  fitted  up 
tnd  are  constructed  to  carry  sixty  passengers ; 


wights  descend,  an  indicator,  at  the  side  of  each 
I  box,  pomts  either  to  E  or  F,  to  show  hcrw  near 
the  india-rubber  reservoirs  are  to  being  either  empty 
1  he  jets  in  the  carriages  are  supplied  by 
leans  of  a  gas-pipe  in  communication  with  the 
igs  on  the  roofs,  and  extending  from  the  back  of 
the  vehicles  themselves,  while  along  the  lower  part 
of  each  portion  of  the  train  runs  the  '  main,'  as  it 
were,  by  which  the  bags  are  replenished  from  the 
gasometers  established  at  either  end  of  the  line 
I  he  gasholders  are  kept  charged  with  supplies  from 
the    neighbouring  gas-works,  and  are  so   heavily 
weighted  that  the  elastic  bags  along  the  top  of  the 
carnages  can  be  filled   (by  means   of 'hydrants' 
and  flexible  tubes  in   connection   with    the  gas- 
holders) ,n  the  short  space  of  two  or  three  minutes. 
ie  light  thus  afforded  to  the  passengers  is  so  bright 


Underground  London.} 


UNDERGROUND   SIGNALS. 


as  to  utterly  remove  all  sense  of  travelling  under- 
ground, and   entirely  dissipate    that    nervousness 
which  the    semi-obscurity  of  ordinary   oil-lighted 
railway  carriages  gives  to  the  sensitive  during  their 
transit  through  the  tunnels  on  other  lines." 
•cv^m  tVip  raniH  rate  at  which  the  trains  are  dis- 

Railway  News  gives  all  that  need  be  said  on  this 
subject  :— 
"  We  will  suppose,"  says  the  writer  of  a  clever 
article  upon  "  Underground  Signals,"  in  the  publi- 
cation before  mentioned,  "  the  signal-man  to  be  at 
Baker  Street  :  on  the  down  line  he  will  have  nrvssps- 

patched  one  after  the  other  on  this  line,  it  will  be 
readily  conceived  that  the  system  of  signalling  must 
be  one  of  the  greatest  exactitude  in  order  to  ensure 
perfect  safety.  The  system,  however,  is  so  simple, 
and  at  the  same  time  so  certain,  as  "  to  require  no 
exercise  of  skill  on  the  part  of  the  signal-man,  but 
rather  to  bring  the  official  working  them  down  to 
the  level  of  the  unerring  machine  upon  which  he 
has  to  operate."  The  following  extract  from  the 
212 


sion  of  the  line  to  the  Edgware  Road  Station,  on 
the  up  line  possession  of  the  length  to  Portland 
Road  Station.  In  the  front  of  each  dial  there  is 
an  opening,  in  which  appears,  as  the  case  may  be, 
the  words  'Line  clear'  on  a  white  ground,  or, 
•  Train  on  line,'  on  a  red  ground.  Below  tins  are 
two  keys,  one  red  and  one  white,  having  over  them 
corresponding  words  to  those  which  appear  in  the 
1  opening  on  the  face  of  the  telegraph  dial.  Press 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Underground  London. 


the  white  key,  and  the  words  'Line -clear'  are 
shown  on  the  instruments  ;  press  the  red  key,  and 
the  words  'Train  on  line'  appear.  There  is  no 
movement  of  needles  to  the  one  side  or  the  other, 
which  may  be  liable  to  be  mistaken ;  there  is  no 
sound  of  a  bell,  which  may  be  misunderstood. 
The  needle  of  the  dial  does  not  point  to  a  com- 
munication which  it  wishes  to  make,  but  it  carries 
on  its  back  the  actual  message,  and  presents  it  to 
the  sight  of  the  person  for  whom  it  is  intended. 

"  Let  us  see  how  this  system  is  carried  into  actual 
practice.  A  passenger  train  is  about  to  start  from 
Edgware  Road  on  the  up-line.  The  signal-man 
presses  down  a  key,  which  rings  a  bell  at  Baker 


long  time,  in  order  to  deprive  it  of  every  trace  of 
sulphur  and  other  objectionable  exhalations.  We 
have  already  seen  how  that  the  engines  are  specially 
constructed  to  exhaust  the  steam  during  the  transit 
of  the  trains.  By  these  means  the  engines  may  be 
said  to  "hold  their  breath,"  as  it  were,  whilst 
travelling  through  these  lower  regions,  and  thus 
little  or  no  foul  sulphurous  fumes  are  evolved  from 
the  chimney,  nor  waste  steam  discharged.  One 
part  of  the  line,  nevertheless,  from  some  cause  or 
other,  remained  in  which  the  foul  air  continued  to 
cause  annoyance  and  discomfort  to  passengers. 
This  extended  from  the  Portland  Road  to  the 
Gower  Street  Station.  Between  these  stations  the 


Street  to  call  attention.  This  bell  has  a  conducting  arch  of  the  railway  tunnel  is  crossed  nearly  at  right 
wire,  entirely  separated  from  that  connected  with  j  angles  by  the  tube  of  the  old  Pneumatic  Despatch 
the  signalling  instruments,  so  that  no  mistake  can  j  Company.  In  a  lucky  moment  the  "happy  thought" 
occur  in  the  transmission  of  signals.  The  beats  on  j  arose  that  this  tube  might  be  made  subservient 
the  bell  are  made  to  describe  the  approaching  train,  j  towards  the  removal  of  the  foul  air  in  the  tunnel 
whether  it  be  a  Metropolitan,  Great  Western,  or  :  beneath,  and  the  more  efficient  ventilation  of  the 
Great  Northern  one.  Having  thus  called  attention,  ,  railway  in  its  immediate  vicinity.  In  1874  this  idea 
he  presses  down  the  red  key,  and  at  Baker  Street  j  was  most  successfully  worked  out  and  practically 
is  instantly  shown  the  signal  '  Train  on  line.'  Baker  j  applied  in  a  very  ingenious  manner  to  the  desired 
Street  replies  by  repeating  the  beats  on  the  bell,  and  j  purpose  by  Mr.  De  Wylde,  the  engineer  to  the 
pegs  down  the  key  which  corresponds  to  the  signal  Pneumatic  Despatch  Company,  who  was  materially 


shown.  Kdgware  Road  puts  the  signal  to  '  Danger,' 
to  prevent  any  up-line  train  from  following,  and 
Baker  Street  keeps  the  signal  pegged  down  until 


assisted   in  his   labours  by   Mr.    Tomlinson,    the 
engineer  of  the  Metropolitan  line. 


from  the  above  description  of  the  Underground 
the  train  lias  not  only  reached  him,  but  has  actually  j  Railway,  it  will  be  at  once  perceived  that  there  is 
passed  out  of  the  station.  After  the  train  has  left  j  scarcely  any  part  of  London  or  any  of  its  outlying 
Baker  Street  it  is  signalled  on  to  Portland  Road,  i  districts  which  cannot  now  be  reached  by  rail,  and 
just  as  it  had  previously  been  sent  on  from  the  '  by  trains  that  are  arriving  and  departing  every  few 
Kdgware  Road.  The  Baker  Street  sends  back  to  ;  minutes.  The  Metropolitan  Railway  is,  indeed, 
Edgware  Road  three  beats  on  his  bell,  re-pegs  his  a  mighty  underground  undertaking,  by  which,  in 
red  key,  presses  down  a  white  key,  which  shows  half  an  hour,  the  heart  of  the  City  is  reached  with 
'  Line  clear.'  The  signal  is  acknowledged,  the  white  comfort  and  safety  from  Hammersmith  or  Netting 
key  pegged  down  by  the  signal-man  at  Edgware  Hill,  Kensington  or  Brompton,  and  nearly  all 
Road,  who  thus  takes  possession  of  the  line  up  to  .  round  London.  Travelling  seems  to  have  reached 
Baker  Street.  When  the  train  has  left  Portland  its  climax,  when  what  was  half  a  day's  journey 
Road  Station,  Baker  Street  is  signalled  to,  just  as  twenty  years  ago  is  done  now  in  a  quarter  of  an 
Edgware  Road  had  been,  and  the  up-line  is  clear  hour — for  it  requires  but  some  such  interval  of  time 
to  the  next  station.  And  so  the  work  goes  on  from  as  that  between  shaking  hands  with  friends  in  part- 
station  to  station  throughout  the  day,  and  trains  !  ing  at  the  Mansion  House,  and  doing  the  same 
may  run  with  safety  at  intervals  of  two  minutes,  '  with  others  on  meeting  in  Camden  Town.  The 
whereas,  without  these  signals,  it  would  not  have  Metropolitan  Railway  service  appears  to  be  capable 
been  possible  to  run  more  frequently  than  every  of  almost  indefinite  extension.  There  are  now  six 
quarter  of  an  hour."  companies  which  are  exclusively  devoted  to  the 

The  question  of  ventilation  of  the  Underground  j  metropolitan  railway  traffic — the  Metropolitan, 
Railway  gave  rise  to  considerable  discussion  at  the  ;  the  Metropolitan  District,  the  Metropolitan  and  St 
time  of  the  formation  of  the  line,  and,  indeed,  long  >  John's  Wood,  the  North  London,  the  East  Ix>ndon, 
afterwards,  and  various  means  were  adopted  by  and  the  London,  Chatham,  and  Dover. 
which  that  "  vexed  question"  could  be  set  at  rest,  j  The  "  District  Railway  "  owns  nearly  half  of  the 
Instead  of  the  coal  used  on  ordinary  lines  the  com-  whole  line,  and  has  the  advantage,  in  one  respect ; 


pany  have  used  coke  made  from  the  best  and  finest 


its  portion  of  the  stations  being  all  open  to  the  day- 


Durham  coal,  and  burnt  in  the  ovens  for  a  very   light,  and  the  tunnels  not  so  frequent    Its  terminal 


Underground  London.) 


METROPOLITAN   DISTRICT  RAILWAY. 


231 


station,  the  "  Mansion  House,"  within  a  few  which  it  emptied  its  contents  into  the  river  on  the 
minutes'  walk  of  the  Exchange,  the  Bank,  St  Paul's  east  side  of  the  bridge ;  for  this  purpose  another 
Cathedral,  and  the  heart  of  the  City,  is  a  hand-  diversion  was  made  to  the  eastward  of  the  first, 
some,  light,  commodious  building,  spanned  with  leaving  it  to  the  north,  and  re-entering  it  at  the 
an  iron  and  glass  roof.  The  space  is  necessarily  south  of  the  station.  When  this  was  completed, 
somewhat  cramped  in  a  spot  where  land  is  said  the  portion  of  the  first  diversion  that  passed  under 
to  be  more  valuable  than  anywhere  else  in  the  the  station  was  converted  into  a  barrel-drain  by 
world  There  are  only  three  lines  of  rails,  and  the  iron  tubing  seven  feet  in  diameter ;  and  then  the 
same  number  of  platforms;  but  although,  from  second  diversion  was  closed.  The  low-level  sewer 
8  a  m.  to  8  p.m.,  thirteen  trains  run  in  and  out  every  at  first  passed  beneath  the  barrel-drain,  but  was 
hour,  'this  is  found  sufficient  accommodation,  even  eventually  connected  with  the  Fleet  channel,  so  as 
when  there  is  an  unusual  pressure  of  business ;  and  to  relieve  the  latter  of  some  portion  of  the  contents, 
occasionally  three  trains  have  entered  the  station,  The  tramroad  to  the  City  gas-works  passes  under 
discharged  their  passengers,  been  re-filled,  and  the  roadway  of  the  Embankment,  and  over  the 
supplied  with  gas,  in  six  minutes.  railway  ;  and  the  subway  of  the  Embankment  is 

On  leaving  the  Mansion  House  Station,  the  line  also  carried  over  the  railway.  Close  by  Black- 
oasses  westward  along  under  Queen  Victoria  Street,  friars  Station,  in  Earl  Street,  nearly  equal  diffi- 
to  Blackfriars  Bridge,  where  there  is  a  station,  culties  were  encountered  on  a  smaller  scale,  from 
which  although  the  platforms  are  considerably  the  number  of  gas-pipes,  water-pipes,  and  other 
helow  the  level  of  the  outer  roadway,  is  open  to  channels  that  crossed  the  line  near  together,  and 
?he  Ikht  of  day  In  the  neighbourhood  of  Black-  at  all  possible  levels.  These  pipes,  however,  have 
friars  Bridge  the  railway  is  crossed  by  a  tramroad  all  been  re-arranged  in  a  regular  and  orderly  manner, 
for  the  conveyance  of  coals  from  the  river  to  the  The  difficulty  of  finding  room  for  all  these  require- 
works  of  the  City  Gas  Company  ;  and  nearly  at  ments  was  extreme,  as  may  well  be  imagined 
Z ^  same  point  the  subwav  of  the  Embankment  A  short  piece  of  tunneling  along  the  V1Ctona 
o  the  surface  The  'low-level  sewer  crosses  Embankment  brings  us  to  the  Temple  Station, 
oblkmelv  beneath  the  railway ;  and  the  Fleet  Ditch  which  is  the  nearest  outlet  for  the  eastern  parts  of 
s  beneath  it  at  right  angles,  previous  to  the  Strand.  Within  the  precincts  of  the  Temple,  as 
w  level  sewer  The  "  Fleet "  formerly  a  precautionary  measure  against  the  interruption  ot 
its  contents  into  the  river  legal  studies  by  noise  and  vibration,  _  the  sleepers 
f  the  bridge.  rest  upon  a  layer  of  tan,  six  inches  in  thickness, 

jL^r£^=.qSE£Kip-2M5 

to  lower  them,    of  the  conditions  of  their  approval  of  the^lme. 
by  giving  a  de- 


- 


with  the  major  axis  vertical,  and  the  new  portions 
have  their  major  axis  horizontal.     In  this  w"  < 
necessary  area  is  preserved,  and  the  line  is  c     . 
far  interfered  with  that  the  sleepers  are  earned  ove 
the  sewers  on  a  bridge  of  iron  plates.     The  railway 
itself  is  drained  by  a  barrel-drain  along  the    six- 
foot"  space,  and  this  drain  is  carried  below  each 
sewer  and  back  to  its  former  level  by  four  rect 
angular  bends.     The  original  opening  of  the  Fl 
Ditch  was  immediately  to  the  westward  of  Black- 
friars  Bridge,  and  under  the  management  01 
Board  of  Works  its  new  opening  has  been  made 
beneath  the  bridge.     Beneath  the  station   it  was 
found  necessary,  at  the  construction  of  the  works, 
to  lower  the  level  and  contract  the  area  of  the 
diversion  of  the  Fleet  which  had  to  be  made,  by 


hardly  say,  one  of  the  me 
engineering  skill  which  this  country  has 
need ;  but  it  was  not  effected  without  con- 
siaeraoie  risk  and  danger  to  surrounding  property ; 
indeed,  owing  to  the  undermining  of  the  foundation 
of  King's  College,  which  adjoins  Somerset  House, 
the  roof  of  the  hall  gave  way,  and  fears  were  at  one 
time  entertained  as  to  the  safety  of  the  building. 
Besides  the  railway  tunnel  there  are  other  immense 
subways  passing  along  it,  some  of  which  serve  the 
purposes  of  the  main  drainage,  the  low-level  sewer 
of  the  northern  system,  as  we  have  already  shown 
passing  this  way  in  its  course  from  Pimhco  towards 
the  east  of  London.      The  railway   also    passes 
under  the  first  arch   of  Waterloo  Bndge.      For 
some   portion   of  the  distance   between    Charing 


232 


OLD    AND    NEW-  LONDON. 


[Underground  London. 


Cross  and  Westminster  Bridge  the  line  is  covered 
in  by  iron  girders,  placed  obliquely,  and  connected 
by  brickwork  ;  this  was  so  arranged  in  order  to 
support  a  garden  attached  to  the  offices  of  the 
Board  of  Control. 

The  distance  from  Blackfriars  Station  to  West- 
minster Bridge  Station  is  2,200  yards,  and  the 
stations  are  very  nearly  equidistant.  Instead  of 
the  semi-circular  arched  roof  usually  found  in  other 
tunnels,  that  in  the  Embankment  is  flat,  formed  of 
transverse  iron  girders  placed  about  eight  feet  apart, 
with  shallow  brick  arches  between  them,  and  sup- 
ported on  brick  walls,  about  fourteen  feet  in  height, 
the  south  of  which  is  in  contact  with  the  concrete 
of  the  Embankment. 

At  Westminster  there  is  a  branch  tunnel  or  sub- 
way which  passes  under  the  roadway  at  the  foot  of 
the  bridge  to  the  Houses  of  Parliament.  In  the 
construction  of  the  tunnel  between  Westminster 
Bridge  and  the  St.  James's  Park  Stations,  great 
difficulties  presented  themselves  from  the  irregular 
nature  of  the  soil,  but  these  were  in  the  end  sur- 
mounted ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  excavations  at 
this  point  quantities  of  bones  of  animals— supposed 
to  be  those  of  the  mammoth  and  other  antediluvian 
animals — -were  unearthed.  Another  difficulty  arose 
from  the  fear  of  the  excavations  weakening  the 
foundations  of  the  Abbey.  The  line  passes  almost 
close  under  the  walls  of  St.  Margaret's  Church  and 
Westminster  Abbey,  and  emerges  into  daylight  ' 
close  by  Queen  Anne's  Gate,  near  the  St.  James's 
Park  Station.  The  next  station  is  Victoria,  which 
is  situated  close  to  that  of  the  Brighton  and  the 
London,  Chatham,  and  Dover  Railways.  Leaving 
this  station  the  line  proceeds,  by  a  short  tunnel, 
under  Eccleston  and  Ebury  Streets,  Pimlico,  to 
Sloane  Square,  where  there  is  a  large  and  commo- 
dious station.  A  few  minutes'  ride  next  brings  us 
to  South  Kensington  Station,  which,  with  its  far- 
stretching  roof  of  iron  and  glass,  is  light  and  open. 
Here  we  may  be  said  to  have  got  clear  of  "  under- 
ground London,"  for  although  the  line  passes  on 
tor  some  distance  before  it  reaches  Paddington, 
which  we  made  our  starting  point,  a  considerable 
portion  of  it  is  open  to  the  light  of  day.  The 
stations  passed  before  arriving  at  Praed  Street, 
Paddington,  arc  the  Gloucester  Road  (whence  there 
are  branches  to  West  Brompton,  Addison  Road, 
and  Hammersmith) ;  High  Street,  Kensington ; 
Notting  Hill  Gate ;  Queen's  Road,  Bayswater. 

One  feature  of  the  Metropolitan  and  of  the  Dis- 
trict Railway  is  the  facility  which  it  gives  to  working 
men  who,  through  the  demolition  of  small  dwelling- 
houses  in  London,  or  from  other  circumstances, 
may  have  taken  up  their  abode  in  the  western 


suburbs.  When  the  Metropolitan  Company  ob- 
tained their  extension  to  Moorgate  Street,  the  Act 
of  Parliament — obtained  mainly  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  the  late  Lord  Derby — imposed  upon 
them  the  condition  that  one  train  daily  should  run 
to  the  City  in  the  morning,  and  one  train  from  the 
City  at  night,  "for  the  convenience  of  workmen 
living  in  the  environs,"  and  that  the  fares  should  be 
one  penny  for  each  single  journey  by  such  trains. 
The  experiment  was  tried  before  the  formation  of 
the  line  between  Farringdon  Road  and  Moorgate 
Street ;  and  in  one  of  the  trains  so  run,  the  author 
of  the  brochure  quoted  from  above  thus  gives  us  his 
experiences  of  the  class  of  men  he  met  with : — 

"  Our  object  was  to  ride  in  the  train  with  the 
workmen  themselves,  and  to  hear  from  them  what 
benefits  they  derived  from  the  institution.  Early  as 
was  the  hour,  we  found  the  platform  all  of  a  bustle 
with  men,  many  of  whom  had  bass  baskets  in 
their  hands,  or  tin  flagons,  or  basins  done  up  in  red 
handkerchiefs.  Some  few  carried  large  saws  under 
their  arms,  and  beneath  the  overcoat  of  others  one 
could  just  see  a  little  bit  of  the  flannel  jacket  worn 
by  carpenters,  whilst  some  were  habited  in  the  grey 
and  clay-stained  fustian  peculiar  to  ground  labourers. 
There  was  but  little  time  for  the  arrangement  of 
plans  with  the  general  manager  ere  the  whistle 
screamed,  and  we  were  thrust  into  a  third-class 
compartment,  which  we  found  nearly  filled  with 
plasterers,  joiners,  and  labourers. 

"  The  subject  of  our  mission  was  soon  opened. 
All  present  agreed  that  the  cheap  and  early  trains 
were  a  great  benefit  to  the  operative  classes.  The 
labourer  assured  us  that  he  saved  at  least  two 
shillings  a  week  by  them  in  the  matter  of  rent  only. 
He  lived  at  Notting  Hill,  and  would  have  to  walk 
six  miles  to  and  from  his  work  every  day  if  it  were 
not  for  the  convenience  of  the  railway.  He  had 
two  rooms  now,  almost  in  the  open  country,  for 
the  same  price  us  he  would  have  to  pay  for  one  in 
some  close  court  in  the  heart  of  London,  besides 
what  he  saved  in  medicine  for  his  wife  and  family. 
A  plasterer,  who  had  to  go  all  the  way  to  Dock- 
head  to  his  work,  who  was  a  fellow-passenger,  took 
up  the  matter,  and  said  that  '  it  was  impossible  to 
reckon  up  how  much  workmen  gained  by  what  is 
called  the  Workmen's  Trains,  especially  if  you  took 
into  account  the  saving  in  shoe-leather,  the  gain  in 
health  and  strength,  and  the  advantage  it  was  for 
men  to  go  to  their  work  fresh  and  unfatigued  by  a 
long  walk  at  the  commencement  of  the  day.'  The 
plasterer,  too,  was  great  on  the  moral  effects  (it  is 
astonishing  how  working  men  delight  in  the  morality 
of  a  question),  and  urged,  with  some  force,  that  the 
best  thing  in  connection  with  such  institutions  was, 


Underground  London.] 


WORKMEN'S  TRAINS. 


that  it  enabled  operatives  to  have  different  sleeping- 
rooms  for  themselves  and  their  young  children. 

"  As  the  train  stopped  at  Edgware  Road,  Baker 
Street,  Portland  Road,  and,  indeed,  every  other 
station,  fresh  crowds  were  waiting  on  the  platform, 
ready  to  avail  themselves  of  it ;  and  when  we 
reached  Gower  Street,  we  and  the  manager  got 
into  another  carriage,  so  as  to  be  able  to  consult 
as  many  working  men  as  possible  on  the  matter. 
Here  we  found  a  butcher  on  his  way  to  the  meat- 
market,  a  newsvendor  going  to  fetch  his  morning 
papers,  and  others  connected  with  the  building 
trade.  We  spoke  to  a  carpenter  in  a  grey  slouch 
hat,  and  with  the  brass  top  of  his  foot-rule  just 
peeping  out  of  the  side  pocket  of  his  trousers.  He 


details  of  what  he  saved  by  being  able  to  live  in 
the  suburbs.  '  He  had  a  six-roomed  house,  with 
a  kitchen,'  he  said,  'and  for  this  he  paid  £2 8  the 
year,  rent  and  taxes.  He  let  off  four  rooms  for 
8s.  the  week,  so  that  he  stood  at  about  35.  a  week 
rent  for  himself,  and  for  the  same  accommodation 
as  he  had  now  he  would  have  to  pay  from  6s.  to 
6s.  6d.  the  week  in  some  wretched  dog-hole  in 
town."  He  certainly  found  that  things  were  very 
dear  out  at  Kensington,  where  he  lived ;  but  this 
made  hardly  any  difference  to  him,  for  he  did 
all  his  marketing  at  Newgate  Market  after  his 


work 


over,  early  on  the  Saturday.     '  See  here, 


iir,'  said  he,  spreading  open  the  bass-basket  on  his 
knee,  '  there's  a  prime  bit  of  ribs  of  beef  for  the 


was  one  of  those  strange  growling  and  grumbling  |  young  ones  to  pitch  into  to-morrow.  I  gave  ;£d. 
characters  so  often  met  with  among  the  working  j  the  pound  for  it,  and  where  I  hang  out  it  would 
classes.  For  his  part,  he  didn't  see  that  working  j  have  cost  me  lod.  or  nd.  There  ain't  so  much 


difference  in  vegetables,  and  bread's  pretty  well 
the  same  price  everywhere.     It's  mostly  people  in 

nt  yam  a.uv/ui.  nn.  o»i.,v,  iv-.i,.  v,Uv  ^  i  the  building  trade  as  comes  up  by  these  trains  to 
when  he  lived  in  Clerkenwell ;  for  !  the  heavy  jobs  in  the  City.     No  one  can  say  what 


men  were  in  any  way  gainers  by  the  cheap  trains, 
as  it  cost  them  is.  a  week  for  travelling.  All  he 
knew  was,  that  he  paid  about  the  same  rent  out  at 
Paddington  as 
landlords  were  landlords,  all  the  world  over.  If  a 
man  did  save  is.  a  week,  what  was  it?  Only  a  pint 
of  beer  a  day.  Besides,  the  company  hadn't  kept 
faith  with  the  public;  they  had  made  grand  speeches 
in  Parliament  about  the  great  benefits  they  were 
going  to  confer  on  the  working  classes  by  giving 
them  penny  trains,  and  directly  they  got  their  bill 
passed,  by  such  humbug,  they  began  by  charging 
them  twopence.  What  was  a  working  man  to  save 
upon  that,  he  should  like  to  know  ? 

" '  Come,  come,  mate,'  said  another  workman, 
1  fair's  fair.  Just  think  of  what  these  here  trains 
save  you  at  night  after  your  work's  over.  If  a  man 
gets  home  tired  after  his  day's  labour,  he  is  inclined 
to  be  quarrelsome  with  his  missus  and  the  children, 
and  I 

going  off  to  the  public  for  a  little  bit  of  quiet ;  while 
if  he  gets  a  ride  home,  and  has  a  good  rest  after  he 
has  knocked  off  for  the  day,  I  can  tell  you  he  is  as 


benefit  the  trains  are  to  men  like  us.  Why,  I've 
made  seven  and  a  half  days  this  week,  and  if  it 
wasn't  for  the  convenience  of  them,  I  shouldn't 
have  done  six.' " 

So  much  for  the  Underground  Railway.  This, 
however,  although  a  very  gigantic  work,  is  but  a. 
fraction,  so  to  speak,  of  the  intricate  and  almost 
inexplicable  labyrinth  of  arteries  and  sinews  that 
go  to  make  up  the  great  body  of  "  Underground 
London."  Mr.  Charles  Knight,  in  his  "  London," 
has  pithily  remarked :— "  Could  we  imagine  that 
this  great  capital  of  capitals  should  ever  be  what 
-one  could  not 
diich  the  anti- 


Babylon  is— its  very  site  forgotte 
but  almost  envy  the  delight  with 
quaries  of  that  future  time  would  hear  of  some 
s  to'Ill' Idnds  of  nofees"and  end's"  in  his    discovery  of  a  London  below  the  soil  still  remaining. 


nas  KIIUL.KCU  uu  iui  uiv.  victj,  *  v-tv.x  n-*»  j«-  ii-i,        j  j.1        „,,, 

pleasant  a  fellow  again  over  his  supper.    Besides,  if   cleared  open  to  the  daylight,  and  the  vas 
a  chap's  on  piece-work,  as  I  am,  it  makes  a  good  j  lay  bare   before   them,  reveahng,    n   th e 
•     ,-    • ..  vi „„!.>„  „„,)     lantrnnp-e.  the    magnitude    and    splendour 


bit  of  difference  in  his  earnings  at  the  week's  end, 
whether  he  goes  to  his  work  fagged  with  walking  a 
long  way  to  it,  or  comes  fresh  to  it  after  a  ride.' 

"  On  our  way  to  Farringdon  Street  we  passed 
the  early  down-train  ;  and  this,  we  could  just  see, 
was  full  of  costermongers  coming  from  the  Saturday 
morning's  market.  At  a  later  part  of  the  same 
day  we  travelled  from  the  City  to  Bishop's  Road, 
in  company  with  other  men  returning  from  their 
work.  Many  of  these  lived  out  at  Silver  Street, 
Netting  Hill.  One  man  in  particular  was  very 
communicative,  and  delighted  to  go  into  all  the 


We  can  fancy  we  see  the  progress  of  the  excavators 
from  one  part  to  another  of  the  mighty  but,  for,  a 
while,   inexplicable  labyrinth,  till   the  whole  was 
system 
clearest 

.anguage,  the  magnitude  and  splendour  of  the 
place  to  which  it  had  belonged,  the  skill  and 
enterprise  of  the  people.  Let  us  reflect  for  a 
moment  upon  what  this  system  accomplishes.  L 
we  want  water  in  our  houses?  We  turn  a  small 
instrument,  and  the  limpid  stream  from  the  springs 
of  Hertfordshire,  or  of  Hampstead  Heath,  or  from 
the  river  Thames,  comes  flowing,  as  it  were  by 
magic,  into  our  vessels.  Do  we  wish  to  get  rid 
of  it  when  no  longer  serviceable?  The  trouble 


is  no  greater;    in   an 


instant   it   is   on  its  way 


through  the  silent  depths.      Do  we  wsh  for  aa 


234 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Underground  London. 


artificial  day?  Through  that  same  mysterious  the  City.  The  private  drains  from  each  house 
channel  comes  steaming  up  into  every  corner  of  j  entered  the  main  sewer  in  all  cases  about  two  feet 
our  chambers,  counting-houses,  or  shops,  the  subtle  from  its  level ;  and  these  drains  carried  off  every 


air  which  waits  but  our  bidding  to  become  —  light  ! 
The   tales   which  amuse   our   childhood   have  no 


greater  marvels  than  these." 
nature  of  a  system  of 
underground  communi- 
cation prevents  it  from 
being  one  of  the  shows 
of  the  metropolis,  we 
seldom  think  of  it  ;  un- 
less, indeed,  when  pass- 
ing through  the  streets 
we  at  times  come  across 
an  open  sewer  that  has 
been  laid  bare  for  re- 
pairs or  some  other  pur- 
pose ;  or  when  we  see 
an  artisan  at  work  in 
repairing  a  breach  in  a 
telegraph  wire,  when 
the  fibrous  substance 
which  forms  the  means 
of  transmitting  the  elec- 
trical communication  is 
lying  gathered  up  in 
coils  from  its  receptacle 
beneath  the  pavement. 
The  sewage,  the  gas  and 
water  supply,  and  the 
electric  telegraph,  then, 
are  the  matters  which  we 
have  to  consider  in  the 
present  chapter. 

The  Fleet  Ditch,  of 
which  we  have  given 
an  account  in  a  pre- 
vious volume,*  was  for 
centuries  the  principal 
channel  for  conveying 
the  sewage  of  the  me- 
tropolis into  theThames. 
Its  commencement  was 
from  springs  on  the 


Yet,   as  the  very 


description  of  refuse,  with  the  exception  of  such 
as  was  conveyed  away  by  the  London  dustman. 
Scientific  experiments  were  made  to  discover  the 
best  and  most  economi- 
cal mode  of  cleansing 
the  sewers,  the  deposit 
at  the  bottom  of  which 
averaged  one  and  a-half 
inches  yearly,  and  an 
ingenious  apparatus  was 
invented  for  using  water 
in  flushes,  by  which  the 
sewers  were  effectually 
scoured.  "  The  water 
used  for  forming  a  head 
was  contracted  for  with 
the  water  companies, 
and  amounted  to  about 
20,000  hogsheads  yearly. 
When  a  sewer  was  to  be 
cleansed,  the  water  was 
backed  up,  and  when  let 
off,  it  cleansed  the  sewer 
to  an  extent  proportion- 
ate to  the  quantity  of 
head-water,  the  fall  of 
the  sewer,  and  the  depth 
of  the  deposit.  The 
breaking-up  of  streets  to 
cleanse  the  sewers,  when 
their  contents  were  de- 
posited on  the  surface, 
was  avoided  by  means 
of  a  flushing  apparatus. 
Under  the  old  system, 
the  deposit  accumulated 
at  the  bottom  of  the 
sewer,  until  the  private 
drains  leading  into  it 
became  choked  ;  and  it 
was  only  from  the  com- 


Kepart.   (.V«/a^239.) 

plaints  arising  from  this 

southern  slopes  of  the  ridge  of  Hampstead   and  j  circumstance   that  the  Commissioners    of  Sewers 
Highgate   Hills ;   and   in   its  course   towards   the    became  aware  of  the  state  of  the  main  drain,  and 
Thames  at  Blackfriars  it  received  the  drainage  of  !  that  smaller  drains,  connected  with  the  main  sewer, 
parts  of  Hampstead  and  Highgate,  of  all  Kentish  j  were  generally  choked  also." 
Town,  Camden  Town,  and  Somers  Town,  of  parts        In    1847,  the   eight   boards    of    commissioners 


of  Islington,  Clerkenwell,  and  St.  Sepulchre,  and 
nearly  all  that  part  of  the  Holborn  division  lying 


—  comprising    those    for    the   City,    Westminster, 
Holborn  and   Finsbury,   Tower   Hamlets,   Poplar 


south  of  the  Euston   Road,  from   Paddington  to  ;  and  Blackwall,  Surrey  and  Kent,  Greenwich  and 

I  St.    Katherine's— were    superseded   by   one   com- 

&*  Vo .  ii.,  pp.  4«6-4=3.  |  mission,  termed  "The  Metropolitan  Commissioners 


Undcrfiround  London.]  DRAINS   AND   SEWERS  OF  THE   METROPOLIS. 


SECTION    OF    THE     HOLBORN    VIADUCT,    SHOWING    THE    SUBWAYS. 
Taken  by  I  'emission  Jrom  Mr.  H woofs  Rtport.     (See  pa£e  239  ) 


236 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Underground  London. 


of  Sewers,"  whose  members  were  nominated  by  the 
Government,  and  during  the  nine  succeeding  years 
six  new  and  differently-constituted  commissions 
'were  successively  appointed  ;  but  throughout  this 
'period  they  appear  to  have  been  unable  to  mature 
and  carry  out  works  of  any  magnitude  with  the 
view  of  remedying  the  evils  arising  from  the  sewage 
flowing  into  the  Thames.  In  1854,  Mr.  Bazalgette, 
the  chief  engineer  to  the  Commissioners  of  Sewers, 
was  directed  to  prepare  a  scheme  of  intercepting 
sewers,  intended  to  effect  the  main  drainage  of 
London,  and  Mr.  Haywood  was  associated  with 
him  for  the  northern  portion.  These  plans  re- 
mained under  consideration  until  the  formation  of 
the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works,  two  years  later, 
when  fresh  plans  for  the  drainage  of  the  metropolis 
were  drawn  up  by  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir  Joseph) 
Bazalgette.  After  some  further  delay,  these  plans 
were  eventually  adopted,  and  the  works  were  com- 
menced in  1859.  The  chief  object  sought  to 
be  attained  by  the  main  drainage  works  was  the 
interception  of  the  sewage,  so  as  to  divert  it  from 
the  river  near  London.  New  lines  of  sewers  were 
accordingly  constructed,  laid  at  right  angles  to 
those  already  existing,  and  a  little  below  their 
levels,  so  as  to  intercept  their  contents  and  convey 
them  to  outfalls  about  fourteen  miles  below  London 
Bridge.  These  outfalls  are  situated  at  Barking 
Greek,  in  Essex,  and  at  Crossness  Point,  in  Erith 
Marshes.  As  large  a  proportion  of  the  sewage 


Hyde  Park,  passes  along  Oxford  Street,  High 
Holborn,  and  by  the  railway-station  in  Farringdon 
Road,  and  Old  Street  Road,  and  joins  the  High 
Level  sewer  at  Old  Ford  ;  whilst  the  Low  Level 
sewer,  with  its  branches,  extends  from  Chiswick 
and  Acton  to  Abbey  Mills,  passing  on  its  way  by 
Chelsea  and  Pimlico,  where  we  have  already 
noticed  the  large  pumping-station,*  and  so  on  by 
the  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  along  the  Victoria 
Embankment  From  the  pumping-station  at  Abbey 
Mills  the  drainage  is  conveyed  across  Plaistow 
Marshes  by  the  outfall  sewer  to  the  reservoir  at 
Barking  Creek.  On  the  south  side  of  the  Thames 
the  intercepting  sewers  extend  from  Upper  Nor- 
wood, Clapham,  and  Putney,  in  three  main  lines, 
to  Deptford,  where  they  unite,  and  thence  pass  on 
through  Charlton  and  Woolwich,  and  across  Plum- 
stead  Marsh  to  the  pumping-house  and  reservoir 
at  Crossness  Point 

It  need  hardly  be  mentioned  that  during  the 
formation  of  this  vast  net-work  of  sewers — com- 
prising, as  it  does  on  the  whole,  something  over 
1,300  miles— a  large  number  of  ancient  remains      j 
of  animals,  coins,  and  curiosities,  were  found ;  they 

nsisted  chiefly  of  the  bones  of  elephants,  whales, 
and  horns  of  deer  and  oxen,  with  some  flint  im- 
plements of  war,  and  human  skulls,  stone  and 
leaden  coffins,  and  a  number  of  Roman  coins. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  the 
-arious  railway  tunnels  are  all,  or  nearly  all,  the 


as  practicable  is  by  this  means  carried  away  j  wonders  of  subterranean  London,  for  the  arrange- 
by  gravitation  into  the  salt  water,  and  for  the  ments  for  supplying  the  metropolis  with  gas  and 
remainder  a  constant  discharge  is  effected  by  |  water,  and  for  carrying  off  the  drainage  from  the 
pumping  with  powerful  engines  and  machinery.  I  streets  and  dwellings  of  the  entire  metropolis,  are 
At  the  outlets  the  sewage  is  received  into  reser-  [  equally  wonderful ;  and  as  these  present  a  terra 
voirs,  situate  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames,  and  iiingnita  to  most  readers  of  the  educated  classes, 
placed  at  such  a  level  as  will  enable  them  to  they  may  well  claim  a  brief  notice  here. 
discharge  into  the  river  at  or  about  the  time  of '  Any  one  who  has  seen  London  at  night  from 
high  water.  By  this  arrangement  the  sewage  is  ;  some  elevation  in  the  neighbourhood— say  Hamp- 
not  only  at  once  diluted  by  the  large  volume  of  stead  Heath,  or  Sydenham  Hill— will  readily  un- 
salt  water  in  the  Thames  at  high  water,  but  is  also  ;  derstand  how  minute,  as  well  as  extensive,  must 
carried  by  the  ebb  tide  to  a  point  in  the  river  be  the  network  of  pipes  overspreading  its  soil  a 
some  twenty-six  miles  below  London  Bridge,  and  '  few  feet  below  the  surface,  to  afford  an  unfailing 
the  possibility  of  its  return  by  the  following  tide  supply  of  gas  to  illuminate  such  a  vast  space  as  is 
within  the  metropolitan  area  is  by  this  means  spread  out  before  him.  Thirty  years  after  the 
effectually  prevented.  i  generai  introduction  of  gas  for  the  lighting  of  the 

^  drainage  of  London  on  the  north  side  of   metropolis— which  took  place  in  1814— there  were 

in  London 
ve  public  gas- 

—  ,      -  capital  employed  in  works, 

an  with    the   old   Fleet   sewer,  at   the   foot  I  pipes,  tanks,  gas-holders,  apparatus,  &c.,  amounted 
Hampstead   Hill,  and   passes   through    Upper    to  the  sum  of  .£2,800,000,  and  the  yearly  revenue 


r      e     g 

Ine  drainage  of  London  on  the  north  side  of   metropolis— which  took  place  in  1814 
Thames  is  effected  by  three  lines  of  sewers,    no  less  than  eighteen  public  gas-works 
the    High    Level,    the    Middle    Level,    and    the    and  its  immediate  vicinity,  and  twelve 
.o\v  Level.     The  first  of  these  commences  by  a  |  works  companies ;  the  capital  employe 


Holloway,  Stoke  Newington,  and  Hackney  Wick, 


to   Abbev  Mills 


the  second  commenc 


pumping-station,   near  Plaistow; 


es  at  Bayswater,  and  skirting 


derived  represented   nearly  .£500,000.       180,000 


Underground  London.) 


THE  GAS  AND  WATER  SUPPLIES. 


tons  of  coal  were  annually  used  in  the  making  of  pitchers  or  other  vessels.  It  was  net  until  1582 
gas;  1,460,000,000  cubic  feet  of  gas  were  made  that  any  great  mechanical  ipower  or  skill  was  applied 
in  the  year ;  134,300  private  burners  were  supplied  in  providing  London  with  water ;  in  that  year,  how- 
to  about  400,000  customers ;  there  were  30,400  !  ever,  Peter  Morris,  a  Dutchman,  made  at  London 


public  or  street  consumers— about  2,650  of  these 
were  in  the  City  of  London ;  380  lamp-lighters 
were  employed;  176  gas-holders,  several  of  which 
were  double  ones,  capable  of  storing  5,500,000 
cubic  feet;  890  tons  of  coal  were  used  in  the 
retorts  in  the  shortest  day,  in  twenty-four  hours ; 
7,120,000  cubic  feet  of  gas  were  used  in  the 
longest  night  (say  24th  of  December);  and  about 
2>5°o  persons  were  employed  in  the  metropolis 
alone  in  this  branch  of  manufacturer  Between 
the  years  1822  and  1827  the  consumption  of  gas 
was  nearly  doubled ;  and  within  the  next  ten 
years  it  was  again  nearly  doubled;  and  since  1837 
these  figures  must  be  trebled.  Since  1841,  when 
the  above  statistics  were  taken,  many  of  the  gas 
companies  have  amalgamated;  and  in  1872  their 
number  was  reduced  to  nine,  a  number  which  has 
since  been  slightly  increased.  One  advantage  of 
the  amalgamation  of  the  different  compan 


Bridge  a  "  most  artificial  forcier,"  by  which  water 
was  conveyed  into  the  houses.  We  are  told  how 
that,  on  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen  going  to 
view  the  works  in  operation,  Morris,  to  show  the  . 
efficiency  of  his  machine,  caused  the  water  to  be 
thrown  over  St.  Magnus'  Church.  The  water-works 
at  the  bridge  were  famous  for  a  long  time  as  one  of 
the  sights  of  London.  In  1594  water-works  of  a 
similar  kind  were  erected  near  Broken  Wharf, 
which  supplied  the  houses  in  West  Cheap  and 
around  St.  Paul's,  as  far  as  Fleet  Street.  This  was 
all  that  was  accomplished  in  the  way  of  supplying 
London  with  water  up  to  the  appearance  of  Hugh 
Middleton,  "  citizen  and  goldsmith,"  upon  the 
scene,  early  in  the  reign  of  James  I.  It  seems  that 
power  had  been  granted  by  Elizabeth  for  cutting 
and  conveying  a  river  from  any  part  of  Middlesex 
or  Hertfordshire  to  the  City  of  London,  with  a  limi- 
tation of  ten  years'  time  for  the  accomplishment  of 


that  the  consumer's  interests  are  more  effectually    the  work ;  but  the  man  to  accomplish  it  was  not 


provided   for,   and  that  the  gas  is  supplied  at  a 
lower  price  and  better  in  quality. 

In  a  previous  chapter  we  have  spoken  of  the 
pipes  that  were  laid  from  the  conduit  at  Bayswater  * 
in  order  to  supply  the  City  with  water.  We  learn 
from  Stow  that  this  arrangement  dated  from  the 
time  of  Henry  III.,  when—"  the  river  of  the  Wells, 
tfie  running  water  of  Walbrook,  the  bourns,  and 


forthcoming.  James  I.  confirmed  the  grant ;  and 
then  it  was  that  Middleton  came  forward  with  the 
offer  of  his  wealth,  skill,  and  energy.  After  long 
search  and  deliberation  two  springs  rising  in  'Hert- 
fordshire were  fixed  upon,  and  in  1608  the  work 
was  actually  commenced.  Of  the  difficulties  and 
obstacles  with  which  the  worthy  "  citizen  and  gold- 
smith "  met  in  the  accomplishment  of  his  self-im- 


other  the  fresh  water  that  were  in  and  about  the  j  posed  task,  and  also  of  the  «  New  River,"  which 
City,  being  in  process  of  time,  by  encroachment  for  |  he  formed,   we    have   spoken   in  our  account  ot 
buildings,    and  otherwise  heightening  of  grounds,  j  Islington.* 
utterly  decayed,  and  the  number  of  the  citizens  ; 
mightily  increased,  they  were  forced  to  seek  sweet 


abroad  "-at  the  request  of  the  king,  powers 
were  "granted   to   the  citizens  and  to  their  sue- 


When    London,  however,    mustered  beyond  a 
million  of  inhabitants,  even  the  "  New  River"  failed 
to  give  an  adequate  supply  of  water  to  the  mouths 
and  the  houses  which  required  it,  and  other  corn- 
formed  for  the  purpose  of  supplying 


occasion  to  show,  used  to  be  regularly 

former   times   by   the    Lord   Mayor   "and   many 

worshipful  persons,  and  divers  of  the  masters  and 

wardens  of  the  twelve  companies."     During  these  j  the  Kiver  i^e; 

early  days  the  water  had  to  be  brought  from  the    expended 

conduits  to  the   dwellings  of  the  inhabitants 


<" 


and  the 'New  River.  The  capital 
companies  then 
i.ooo.  and  their 


23* 


)LD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


tirndcrground  London. 


gross  rental  to  nearly  £300,000.  The  number 
houses  or  buildings  supplied  by  them  was  nearl; 
200,000,  each  of  which  had  an  average  supply  o 
about  1 80  gallons,  at  a  cost,  also,  on  the  average,  o 
about  305.  yearly.  It  is  not  easy  to  ascertain  the 
capital  now  sunk  in  the  water-supply  of  the  metro- 
polis. But  in  1876  the  average  daily  supply  of  the 
following  eight  companies — Chelsea,  East  London 
Grand  Junction,  Kent,  Lambeth,  New  River,  South- 
wark  and  Lambeth,  and  West  Middlesex — was 
rather  more  than  120,000,000  gallons,  upwards  01 
60,000,000  being  taken  from  the  Thames,  and 
the  rest  from  other  sources.  The  Thames  supply 
is  drawn  from  various  points,  extending  up  the 
river  as  far  as  Hampton  and  Ditton ;  the  rest 
comes  to  Londoners  from  the  River  Lea,  and  from 
the  chalk-wells  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Crayford, 
Chislehurst,  Bromley,  and  Dartford,  in  Kent.  The 
net-work  of  pipes  underground  to  convey  the  water 
to  almost  every  house  in  London,  must  indeed  be 
something  surprising  ;  and  it  presents  a  striking 
contrast  to  the  state  of  things  which  must  have 
existed  when  the  ancient  conduits  were  the  only 
sources  of  supply. 

From  the  Report  of  the  Examiner  appointed  by 
Government  to  test  the  purity  of  our  water,  as 
published  by  him  in  September,  1876,  it  appears 
that  the  number  of  miles  of  streets  which  contai: 
mains  constantly  charged,  and  upon  which  hydrants 
for  fire  purposes  could  at  once  be  fixed,  is  667. 
The  total  number  of  hydrants  erected  at  the  above 
date  was  4,211,  of  which  2,695  were  for  private 
purposes,  541  for  street  watering,  500  for  public 
use,  and  475  for  Government  establishments.  Of 
the  average  daily  supply  of  water  in  the  metro- 
polis one-fifth  was  delivered  for  other  than  domestic 
purposes.  There  are  398  acres  of  reservoirs  with 
available  capacity  for  the  subsidence  and  storage 
of  1,041,550,000  gallons  of  unfiltered  water,  and 
covered  reservoirs  capable  of  storing  106,187,000 
gallons  of  filtered  water  within  the  radius  pre- 
scribed. 

From  an  analytical  report,  made  by  Dr.  Frank- 
land,  of  the  state  of  the  Thames  water  supplied  to 
the  metropolis  during  the  month  of  October,  1876, 
we  learn  that,  taking  unity  to  represent  the  amount 
of  organic  impurity  (on  this  occasion)  in  a  given 
volume  of  the  Kent  Company's  water,  the  pro- 
portional amount  in  an  equal  volume  of  water 
supplied  by  each  of  the  other  metropolitan  com- 
panies was  as  follows: — New  River,  0-9;  East 
London,  2-4;  West  Middlesex,  2-8;  Grand  Junc- 
tion, 3-3  ;  Lambeth,  4-1 ;  Chelsea,  4-2  ;  and  South- 
wark,  4-5.  The  water  delivered  by  the  five  com- 
panies drawing  their  supply  exclusively  from  the 


Thames,  compared  with  that  delivered  in  August 
and  September,  showed  a  marked  deterioration 
in  quality,  the  proportion  of  contamination  with 
organic  matter  in  solution  having  increased.  The 
West  Middlesex  Company  delivered  the  best  of 
the  Thames  waters.  The  sample  of  the  South- 
wark  Company's  water  was  "slightly  turbid  from 
insufficient  filtration,  and  contained  moving  organ- 
isms." The  other  samples  of  Thames  water  were, 
however,  clear  and  transparent.  The  water  sup- 
plied by  the  New  River  and  the  East  London 
Companies  was  much  superior  in  quality  to  that 
drawn  from  the  Thames;  indeed,  the  New  River 
water,  in  chemical  purity,  is  said  to  surpass  even 
the  deep  well  water  delivered  by  the  Kent  Com- 
pany, which  rises  in  the  chalk  hills  about  Crayford. 
Previous  to  the  completion  of  the  Main  Drainage 
works,  the  system  of  drainage  that  had  been  adopted 
in  London  for  several  years  gave  an  amount  of 
sewerage  almost  equal  in  extent  to  the  length  of 
every  street,  lane,  and  alley  in  the  metropolis.  On 
the  north  side  of  the  Thames  there  were  about  fifty 
main  sewers,  measuring  upwards  of  a  hundred 
miles ;  about  twenty  of  equal  magnitude,  extending 
some  sixty  miles,  were  on  the  south  side  of  the 
ver.  Add  to  these  the  private  sewers,  turnings, 
leys,  subways,  &c.,  the  mileage  of  sewerage  might 
ave  been  found  of  sufficient  length  to  reach  from 
London  to  Constantinople.  Through  these  secret 
channels  rolled  the  refuse  of  London,  in  a  black, 
murky  flood,  here  and  there  changing  its  tempera- 
ture and  its  colour,  as  chemical  dye-works,  sugar- 
aakers,  tallow-melters,  and  slaughterers  added  their 
:ributary  streams  to  the  pestiferous  rolling  river. 
About  31,650,000,000  gallons  of  this  liquid  was 
soured  yearly  into  the  Thames,  in  its  course  through 
London,  and  even  this  enormous  quantity  has  only 
jartially  drained  the  great  city,  leaving  some  parts 
of  it  totally  undrained  for  eight  hours  out  of  every 
welve.  The  river  of  filth  struggling  through  its 
dark  channel  sometimes  rose  to  a  height  of  five 
feet,  but  generally  from  two  to  three.  The  system 
of  "  flushing  "  the  sewers,  which  we  have  already 
described,  tends  greatly  to  purify  them;  and  by 
means  of  the  artificial  waterfalls  thus  secured  much 
f  the  filth  is  swept  away  which  would  otherwise 
never  be  removed ;  and  then,  again,  the  sewers  are 
jetter  ventilated  by  the  introduction  of  iron  gratings, 
down  which  the  daylight  faintly  struggles.  Conse- 
uently,  those  whose  business  leads  them  to  descend 
nto  the  sewers  are  not  now,  as  they  formerly  were, 
exposed  to  great  risk  of  health  and  life. 

Another    important    feature   of  "Underground 
London  "  is  its  "  subways."     These  are  among  the 


atest  advanc 


es  which  have  been  made  in  engineer- 


Underground  London.] 


THE   SUBWAYS. 


239 


ing  skill,  and  have  resulted,  from  the  peculiar 
formation  of  some  of  the  new  streets,  where,  the 
roadway  being  of  a  higher  level  than  formerly, 
owing  to  its  construction  upon  arches,  an  oppor- 
tunity has  been  seized  upon  for  their  erection. 
Mr.  Haywood,  in  his  Report  on  the  Holborn 
Valley  Improvement  (1869),  says:  —  "The  public 
advantage  resulting  from  the  construction  of  sub- 
ways has  long  been  acknowledged;  but,  at  the 
same  time,  it  is  well  known  that  the  Gas  and 
Water  Companies  showed  at  first  considerable 
hesitation  in  using  subways;  and  in  the  case  of 
those  of  Southwark  Street,  constructed  under  the 
direction  of  the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works, 
it  was  not  until  the  Board  succeeded  in  obtaining 
an  Act  of  Parliament  that  the  respective  companies 
placed  their  pipes  in  such  subways." 

In  a  previous  volume*  we  have  given  a  general 
account  of  Holborn  Viaduct,  and  of  the  improve- 
ment effected  in  the  surrounding  locality  by  the 
wholesale  demolition  of  small  and  crowded  houses, 
and  the  formation  of  new,  broad,  open  streets  ;  but 


we   may 


here  say    something   on   a  part   of  that 


mighty  undertaking,  which,  from  its  being  below 
the  surface  of  the  roadway,  is  passed  over  unseen 
and  unthought-of  by  the  majority  of  individuals 
who  cross  over  the  Viaduct.  The  work  of  con- 
struction extended  from  Fetter  Lane  to  Newgate 
Street,  between  which  points  the  new  surfaces  of 
the  Viaduct  and  roads,  as  compared  with  the  former 
lines  of  thoroughfare,  may  be  thus  summarised  :  — 
At  Hatton  Garden,  and  in  front  of  the  tower  of 
St.  Sepulchre's  Church,  the  street  surface  is  now 
three  feet  higher  than  formerly;  at  Shoe  Lane  it 
is  upwards  of  twenty-four  feet  ;  and  at  Farringdon 


Street  Bridge  there  is 
thirty-two  feet. 


difference  of  more  than 


From  Fetter  Lane  to  the  Viaduct  Circus,  the 
width  of  Holborn  varies  from  86  feet  to  107  feet; 
the  Viaduct,  from  the  Circus  at  its  western  end  to 
Giltspur  Street  at  its  eastern  end,  is  1,285  feet  long 
and  80  feet  wide,  the  carriage-way  being  50  feet 
and  the  two  footpaths  each  1 5  feet  in  width.  The 
centre  of  the  Viaduct  is  formed  of  a  series  of  large 
arches,  and  on  both  sides  are  subways 
water,  and  telegraph  pipes,  and  vaults  for  the  use 
of  the  houses.  At  the  western  end,  between  Fetter 


irches,  similar  to  those  employed  in  railway 
viaducts  ;  each  arch  is  twenty-one  feet  in  span,  and 
forty-five  feet  in  width,  and  the  series  is  interrupted 
only  by  the  three  bridges  which  had  to  be  erected 
on  the  line  of  the  Viaduct— namely,  one  over  Shoe 
Lane,  another  over  Farringdon  Street,  and  a  third 
over  the  London,  Chatham,  and  Dover  Railway. 
A  line  of  carriage-way,  upwards  of  ten  feet  in  width, 
is  left  throughout  the  whole  length  of  these  vaults, 
and  entrances  to  them  are  provided  from  Farring- 
don Street  and  Shoe  Lane.  The  vaults,  which 
are  immediately  adjacent  to  Farringdon  Street  and 
Shoe  Lane,  are  lighted  by  windows  looking  on  to 
those  streets,  and  can  be  used  for  office  purposes 
by  those  having  possession  of  them  ;  arrangements 
are  also  made  by  which  access  can  be  given  to 
each  separate  compartment,  arch,  or  vault,  by 
forming  a  passage-way,  beneath  the  subways  and 
over  the  sewers,  from  the  houses  on  either  side 
of  the  Viaduct,  so  that  the  vaults  can  either  be 
let  singly  or  in  a  group,  as  may  be  expedient. 
Each  vault  is  ventilated  on  to  the  surface  of  the 
roadway  by  iron  gratings,  and  in  the  spandrils 
are  lines  of  pipes,  through  which  the  water  is 
conveyed  into  the  sewers  below. 

The  "  subways "  extend  along  the  Viaduct  be- 
neath the  pavement  on  either  side,  and  between 
the  larger  vaults  above  described,  and  the  vaults  of 
the  houses  on  the  outer  sides  of  the  Viaduct  They 
are  for  the  most  part  seven  feet  wide,  and  rather 
more  than  eleven  feet  high,  and  their  coverings  are 
formed  of  semi-circular  arches  in  brickwork.  The 
internal  faces  of  the  subways  are  of  white  brick, 
and  the  floors  are  of  Yorkshire  stone  landings, 
built  into  the  walls  on  each  side,  and  laid  with 
inclinations  nearly  the  same  as  those  of  the  surface 
of  the  Viaduct.  On  the  sides  next  to  the  central 
vaults  are  channels  cut  in  the  landings,  and  at 
intervals  of  twenty-four  feet  are  openings,  covered 
with  bell-traps,  which  communicate  with  the  sewers 


beneath.  Immediately  above  these  trapped  open- 
ings to  the  sewers  are  iron  pipes,  which  connect 
with  the  drain-pipes  in  the  spandrils  of  the  central 
vaults,  and  convey  the  water  which  may  leak 
for "gas~  I  through  from  the  street  surface  into  the  sewer ; 
by  means  of  these  trapped  openings,  the  rain  water 
which  falls  into  the  subways  through  the  venti- 


Lane  and  the  Circus,  and  at  the  eastern  end,  from    lators  in   the   footways,   and   the  water  used 

Snow  Hill  to  Giltspur  Street,  the  new  levels  were 

made  by  filling  up  the  ground  removed  from  the 

excavations   for   the   foundations  of  the  Viaduct. 

Between   Snow    Hill  and   the  Circus,  the  central 

portions  of  the  Viaduct  are  formed  of  a  series  of 


'  See  Vol.  II.,  pp. 


washing  the  subways,  escapes  into  the  sewers. 

Owing  to  the  difference  between  the  old  and 
new  levels,  and  to  the  three  bridges  on  the  line  of 
the  Viaduct,  the  subways  necessarily  vary  in  design 
at  about  every  eighty  feet  of  their  length  ;  they 
are  carried  over  the  London,  Chatham,  and  Dover 
Railway  by  an  iron  construction  ; 


on  both  sides 


OLD    AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Underground  London. 


of  Farringdon  Street  Bridge  they  are  connected 


the  house  vaults,  are  carried  up  in  the  party  walls 


with  the  Farringdon  Street  level  by  vertical  shafts,  of  the  houses,  and  terminate  at  the  roofs;  and 
which  terminate  close  to  their  entrances  in  Farring-  thirdly,  by  openings  in  the  crowns  of  the  arches 
don  Street  •  at  Shoe  Lane  they  descend  by  shafts,  connecting  with  the  lamp-posts  on  the  public  way, 
and  are  carried  beneath  that  street,  and  are  there  the  lower  part  of  each  post  being  perforated  to 

afford  ventilation.     The  length  of  subway  on  the 
southern  side  of  the  Viaduct,  between  Farringdon 


•eight  feet  high  and  seven  feet  wide,  formed  with 

brick  sides,  stone  floors,  and  iron  coverings.     The 

entrances  to  the  subways  at  Farringdon  Street  are  \  Street  and  Shoe  Lane,  is  lighted  by  gratings,  filled  m 

by  large  iron  gates,  eight  feet  wide,  and  varying  !  with  glass  lenses,  placed  at  intervals  of  forty  feet, 


from  twelve  feet  to  fifteen  feet  in  height ;  in  their 
rear   are  wooden  doors,  which  can  be    closed  as 
occasion  may  require.     There  are  also  entrances, 
closed  by  iron  doors,  with  open  gratings  over  them, 
in  Shoe  Lane  ;  and  at  the  eastern  and  western  ends 
of  the  Viaduct  there  are  openings,  very  similar  in 
character  to  those  ordinarily  used  over  the  entrances  I 
to  the  sewers,  but  larger,  beneath  which  are  flights  ' 
of  steps   for   the   entry  of  workmen  ;   means  are  i 
also  provided  by  which  pipes  of  large  size  can  be 
lowered  into  or  taken  out  of  the  subways. 

The  ventilation  of  the  subways  is  effected  by 
shafts  rising  from  the  crowns  of  the  arches,  termi- 
nating by  large  open  gratings,  let  into  the  pave- 
ments ;  secondly,  also,  by  circular  flues,  which  start 
from  the  crowns  of  the  arches,  and,  passing  over 


which  render  it  sufficiently  light  by  day  for  the 
purposes  of  inspection  and  work ;  the  others  have 
no  daylight,  excepting  that  obtained  through  the 
ventilating  gratings  in  the  footways,  but  provision 
is  made  for  artificial  lighting  throughout  the  whole 
lines  of  subways  by  burners  suspended  from  the 
crowns  of  the  arches,  and  connected  with  the  gas 
mains  in  the  subways.  To  afford  a  supply  of 
gas  and  water  to  the  houses,  square  iron  tubes 
are  built  into  the  walls,  between  the  subways  and 
the  house  vaults,  through  which  the  service-pipes, 
after  being  connected  with  the  mains,  are  passed. 
The  provision  made  in  the  subways  for  carrying 
the  gas,  water,  and  other  pipes,  consists  of  chairs 
and  brackets,  which  are  either  let  into  the  stone 
floor  or  project  from  the  walls. 


Underground  Londo,,]  ADVANTAGES    OF    THE     SUBWAYS. 


241 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Underground  London. 


As  we  learn  from  Mr.  Haywood's  Report,  to 
which  we  are  indebted  for  much  of  the  information 
here  given,  it  is  some  years  since  subways  were 
first  constructed  in  various  parts  of  London  and 
elsewhere,  and  pipes  of  various  character  have 
been  laid  in  one  or  other  of  them  ;  but  the  Viaduct 
subways  were  the  first  in  which  gas,  water,  and 
telegraph  pipes,  with  all  the  appliances  necessary 
to  a  complete  system,  were  placed  in  one  and 
the  same  subway.  The  subways  of  the  Viaduct 
have  been  on  several  occasions  lighted  up  with 
gas  and  exhibited  to  the  public  ;  workmen  have 
executed  repairs,  and  performed  their  ordinary 
work  in  them ;  and  no  special  precautions  have 
been  found  necessary  as  regards  the  use  of  lights 
or  fires,  no  explosions  have  taken  place,  nor  has 
such  contraction  or  expansion  of  pipes  resulted 


by  one  of  these  telegraphs  between  the  House 
of  Commons  and  his  printing-office  near  Fleet 
Street.  The  different  docks  are  put  en  rapport 
with  each  other,  and  it  will  be  especially  applicable 
to  all  large  manufacturing  establishments  requiring 
central  offices  in  the  City.  Thus,  the  Isle  of  Dogs 
and  Bow  Common,  the  grand  centres  of  manu- 
facturing energy,  are  practically  brought  next  door 
to  offices  in  the  centre  of  the  City."  About  the 
year  1864,  the  business  of  the  Electric  Telegraph 
Company  was  taken  in  hand  by  the  Government, 
and  transferred  to  the  Post  Office ;  since  the  erec- 
tion of  the  new  General  Post  Office,  this  depart- 
ment has  had  its  head-quarters  in  St.  Martin's- 
le-Grand,  as  we  have  already  stated  when  de- 
scribing that  locality.* 

Whilst  we  are  on  the  subject  of  Underground 

from  the  variations  of  temperature,  as  materially  1  London,  it  may  be  desirable  here  to  place  on 
to  affect  either  the  gas  or  water  supply ;  and  the  \  record  the  fact  of  the  establishment  of  a  Pneumatic 
system  may  be  said  to  be  successful.  !  Despatch  Company  about  the  year  1868.  Its  head- 

Another   important   feature    of   "  Underground  j  quarters   were  in    High  Holborn,   near  the  Little 
London  "  which  we  have  not  mentioned   is  the  ]  Turnstile,  and  its  object  was  the  rapid  transmission 

of  letters,  newspapers,  and  small  packages  of  goods, 


Electric  Telegraph.  The  old  Electric  Telegraph 
Company,  which  for  many  years  carried  out  the 
entire  system  of  telegraphy  in  England,  formerly 
had  its  head-quarters  in  Lothbury,  in  the  heart 
of  the  City,  and,  as  such,  became  the  originators 
of  that  particular  portion  in  the  works  of  "  Under- 
ground London "  to  which  we  have  already  inci- 
dentally referred.  The  company  was  incorporated 
by  Act  of  Parliament  in  1846,  and  immediately 
on  its  incorporation  became  the  possessor,  by 
purchase,  of  all  the  patents  previously  granted  to 
Sir  W.  Fothergill  Cooke  and  Sir  Charles  Wheat- 
stone,  the  inventors  or  the  introducers  of  the 
electric  system  of  telegraphy  into  England.  "  As 
these  patents  gave  the  company  an  exclusive 
right  to  the  use  of  those  essential  principles  on 

which  all  electric  telegraphs  are  based,  we  may  |  length  of  tube  between  Holbom  and  the  General 
attribute  much  of  the  subsequent  success  of  the  I  Post  Office.  Taking  advantage  of  the  proximity 
undertaking  to  the  possession  of  this  important  :  of  the  tube  to  the  tunnel  of  the  Metropolitan 
right."  In  an  interesting  article  in  Once  a  Week,  I  Railway  in  the  vicinity  of  Gower  Street,  and  of 
in  the  year  1861,  entitled  "The  Nervous  System  |  the  fact  that  air  had  to  be  drawn  into  the  tube 
of  the  Metropolis,"  by  the  late  Dr.  Wynter,  we  |  after  every  carrier  that  was  sucked— so  to  speak— 
read  that — "  It  is  anticipated  that  for  a  considerable  j  from  Euston  to  Holborn,  it  was  determined  to 
time  the  new  telegraph  will  be  principally  confined  j  open  a  communication  between  tube  and  tunnel, 
to  the  use  of  public  offices  and  places  of  business,  j  and  to  utilise  the  exhausting  power  of  the  pneu- 
Thus  the  principal  public  offices  are  already  con-  matic  machinery  for  ventilating  this  portion  of  the 


by  tubes  laid  under  the  street,  and  worked  by 
pneumatic  agency.  These  tubes  were  laid  between 
the  office  and  the  Euston  Square  Station,  and  also 
between  Holborn  and  the  General  Post  Office ; 
but  the  scheme  was  "  in  advance  of  the  age," 
and  it  failed  to  answer;  there  was  not  enough 
demand  for  its  services  to  make  it  "pay"  com- 
mercially ;  and  so,  after  about  eighteen  months  of 
trial,  it  was  abandoned.  The  traffic  in  the  tube 
was  worked  by  alternate  atmospheric  pressure  and 
suction,  the  carriers,  containing  mails  and  parcels, 
being  by  turns  propelled  to  and  drawn  from 
Euston  Square  by  the  pneumatic  apparatus  at 
the  Holborn  station  of  the  company.  The  same 
process  was,  of  course,  followed  with  regard  to  the 


nected  by  its  wires  ;  and,  if  we  might  be  permitted 
the  ugly  comparison,  the  Chief  Commissioner  of 
Police  at  Scotland  Yard,  spider-like,  sits  in  the 
centre  of  a  web  co-extensive  with  the  metropolis, 
and  is  made  instantly  sensible  of  any  disturbance 
that  may  take  place  at  any  point.  The  Queen's 
Printer,  again,  has  for  years  sent  his  messages 


Metropolitan  Railway,  and,  as  we  have  stated 
above,  this  was  ultimately  accomplished.  The 
tubes  are  still  in  situ,  and  the  scheme,  doubt- 
less, only  sleeps  for  a  time,  to  be  revived  when 
London  is  ripe  for  its  services. 


THE    PRIORY. 


243 


CHAPTER    XIX. 
KILBURN   AND   ST.    JOHN'S   WOOD. 

"  Shall  you  prolong  the  midnight  ball 

With  costly  supper  at  Vaux  Hall, 

And  yet  prohibit  earlier  suppers 

At  Kilburn,  Sadler's  Wells,  or  Kuper's  ? 

Are  these  less  innocent  in  fact, 

Or  only  made  so  by  the  act !" 

i'jral  Aspect  of  Kilbum  in  Former  Times-Maida  Vale-Derivation  of  the  Name  of  Kilbura-The  Old  Road  to  Kilbura-Godwin,  the  Hermit  of 
Kilburn— The  Priory— Extracts  from  the  Inventory  of  the  Priory— The  Sisterhood  of  St.  Peter's— St.  Augustine's  Church— Kilburn  Wells  and 
Tea-gardens— The  "  Bell "  Tavern— A  Legend  of  Kilbum— The  Roman  Catholic  Chapel— George  Brummell's  liking  for  Plum  Cake— Oliver 
Goldsmith's  Suburban  Quarters— Lausanne  Cottage—  St.  John's  Wood— Babington  the  Conspirator— Sir  Edwin  Landseer— Thomas  Landseer 
—George  Osbaldiston  and  other  Residents  in  St.  John's  Wood— Lord's  Cricket  Ground- The  "  Eyre  Arms"  Tavern— Charitable  I  -:' 
— Roman  Catholic  Chapel  of  Our  Lady-St.  Mark's  Church— St.  John 
Southcott 

SUCH  has  been  the  growth  of  London  in  this 
north-westerly  direction,  within  the  last  half-century, 
as  we  have  shown  in  our  chapter  on  Paddington, 
and  such  the  progress  of  bricks  and  mortar  in 
swallowing  up  all  that  was  once  green  and  sylvan 
in  this  quiet  suburb  of  the  metropolis,  that  the 
"village  of  Kilburn,"  which 


Chapel  and  Burial-ground-Richard  Brothers  and  Joanna 


years 


•ithin   the  last   fifty 

'was  still  famous  for  its  tea-gardens  and  its 
mineral  spring,  has  almost  become  completely 
absorbed  into  that  vast  and  "still  increasing" 
City,  and  in  a  very  short  space  of  time  all  its  old 
landmarks  will  have  been  swept  away 


Like  Tybourne  and  Mary-le-Bourne,  so  Kilbourne 
Iso  took  its  name  from  the  little  "bourne,"  or 
irook,  of  which  we  have  already  spoken  as  rising 
in  the  southern  slope  of  the  Hampstead  uplands. 
It  found  its  way  from  the  slope  of  West  End, 
Hampstead,  towards  Bayswater,  and  thence  passing 
nder  the  Uxbridge  Road,  fed  the  Serpentine  in 
Hyde  Park.  The  brook,  however,  has  long  since 


Kilburn, 

or  Kilbourne,  as  the  name  was  sometimes  written,  is 
said  to  be  "  a  hamlet  in  the  parish  of  Hampstead, 
and  Holbom  division  of  the  hundred  of  Ossulston.' 
This,  however,  is  not  quite  correct,  as  only  one 
side  of  the  hamlet  is  in  the  parish  of  Hampstead, 
the  remaining  part  (or  that  to  the  south-west  of  the 
Edgware   Road)  lying  in  the  parish  of  Willesden 
In  old  books  on  the  suburbs,  the  place  is  spoken 
of  as  being  "  about  two  miles  from  London,  on 
the  road  to  Edgware."     Time  was,  probably  in  the 
reign  of  "  bluff  King  Hal,"  when  the  little  rural 
village  numbered  only  some  twenty  or  so  of  houses, 
all  nestling  round  a  small  chapel  and  priory,  the 
memory  of  which  is  still  kept  up  in  "  Abbey  Road" 
and  "  Priory  Road."     Now,  however,  the  block  of 
houses  known  collectively  as  Kilburn  has  invaded 
no  less  than  four  parishes- Hampstead  and  Willes- 
den, to  which,  as  we  have  shown,  it  legitimately 
belongs,    and  also  Marylebone    and  Paddington. 
The  district,  including  the  locality  now  known  as 
St.   John's  Wood,  lies  mainly  on  the  north  side  of 
the  Harrow  Road,  and  stretches  away  from  Kensal 


disappeared  from  view,  having  been  arched  over, 
and  made  to  do  duty  as  a  sewer. 

The  road  to  Kilburn  in  the  days  of  the  Regency, 
writes  the  Rev.  J.  Richardson  in  his  "  Recollections," 
was  "  such  a  road  as  now  is  to  be  seen  only  twenty 
miles  out  of  town."  Any  one  going  a  mile  north- 
ward from  the  end  of  Oxford  Street,  found  him- 
self among  fields,  farm-houses,  and  such-like  rural 


It  would  seem  that  the  land  here,  as  part  of 
"  Padyngton,"  appertained  to  the  manor  of  Knights- 
bridge,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  in  its  turn  was 
subject  to  the  Abbey  at  Westminster.  We  read, 
therefore,  that  it  was  not  without  the  consent  of 
the  "chapter  and  council"  that  one  Godwin,  or 
Goodwyne,  a  hermit  at  Kilburn,  gave  his  hermitage 
to  three  nuns—"  the  holy  virgins  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist,  at  Kilburn,  to  pray  for  the  repose  of  King 
Edward,  the  founder  of  the  Abbey,  and  for  the 
souls  of  all  their  brethren  and  benefactors."  On 
this  occasion  the  Abbot  of  Westminster  not  only 
confirmed  the  grant,  but  augmented  it  with  lands  at 
"  Cnightbriga,"  or  "  Knyghtsbrigg"  (Kmghtsbndge), 
and  a  rent  of  thirty  shillings.  The  exact  spot  on 
which  the  priory  stood  is  now  known  only  by 
tradition.  Lambert,  in  his  "  History  and  Survey 


broad  thoroughfare  of  Maida  Vale,  as  that  part  of 
the  Edgware  Road  is  called  which  passes  through 
it  Maida  Vale,  we  may  add,  is  so  called  after 
the  famous  battle  of  Maida,  which  was  fought  in 


1806. 


the  site  of  it  is  very  distinguishable  in  Je  Abbey 
Field  near  the  tea-drinking  house  called  Kilburn 
Wells'."  This,  it  would  appear,  must  have  be 
as  nearly  as  possible  at  the  top  of  - 
St.  George's  Terrace,  close  - 


what  is  nov 
the    station    of 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Kilburn. 


the  London  and  North-Western  Railway,  on  its 
northern  side ;  for  when  the  railway  was  widened, 
about  the  year  1850,  the  labourers  came  here  upon 
its  foundations,  and  discovered,  not  only  coins,  but 
tessellated  tiles,  several  curious  keys  of  a  Gothic 
pattern,  and  the  clapper  of  a  bell,  together  with 
human  bones,  denoting  the  presence  of  a  small 
cemetery. 

This  priory  was  the  successor  of  the  hermitage 
founded  here  by  Godwin.  The  spot  which  he 
chose  for  his  hermitage  or  cell  was  on  the  banks  of 
the  little  "bourne"  already  mentioned,  and  it  came 
to  be  called  indifferently  Keeleburae,  or  Coldburne, 
or  Caleburn,  in  an  age  when  few  could  spell  or 
read,  and  fewer  still  could  write.  To  this  little 
cell  might  perhaps  have  been  applied  the  lines  of 
Spenser's  "  Faery  Queen  : " — 
"A  little  lowly  hermitage  it  was, 

Down  in  a  dale,  hard  by  a  forest  side ; 

Far  from  resort  of  people,  that  did  pass 

In  traveill  to  and  froe ;  a  little  wyde 

There  was  an  holy  chappell  edifyde  ; 

Wherein  the  hermit  dewly  wont  to  say 

His  holy  things,  each  morne  and  eventyde ; 
Thereby  a  christall  streame  did  gently  play, 
Which  from  a  sacred  fountaine  welled  forth  alway." 
Godwin,  in  course  of  time,  it  appears,  gave  over 
and  granted  his  hermitage  and  the  adjoining  fields 
to  the  abbot  and  monks  of  Westminster,  "as  an 
alms  for  the  redemption  of  the  entire  convent  of 
the  brethren,"  under  the  same  terms  and  conditions 
as  those  under  which  one  of  the  Saxon  kings  had 
long  before  granted  the  manor  of  "  Hamstede  "  to 
the  same  church.  The  little  cell  at  Kilburn,  how- 
ever, was  destined  to  undergo  another  transfer  in 
the  lifetime  of  Godwin,  and,  indeed,  at  his  request ; 
for  we  next  read  that,  with  the  consent  of  Gilbert, 
the  then  Bishop  of  London,  the  brethren  of  St. 
Peter's,  at  Westminster,  made  it  over  to  a  sister- 
hood of  three  nuns,  named  Christina,  Gunikle,  and 
Emma,  all  of  them,  as  the  story  goes,  ex-maids  of 
honour  to  Queen  Matilda,  or  Maud,  consort  of 
Henry  I.  The  hermitage,  therefore,  was  changed 
into  a  convent  of  the  order  of  St.  Benedict,  Godwin 
himself  undertaking  the  performance  of  the  duties 
of  chaplain  and  warden. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Godwin  a  dispute  arose 
between  the  Abbot  of  Westminster  and  the  Bishop 
of  London  as  to  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  over  the 
convent;  the  difference,  however,  was  at  length 
adjusted  in  favour  of  the  former,  on  consideration 
that  from  its  foundation  the  "  Cell  of  Keleburn  " 
belonged  to  their  church.  Notwithstanding  that 
the  dispute  was  so  adjusted,  the  litigation  was 
subsequently  revived  by  Bishop  Roger  Nigel,  and 
continued  by  his  successor,  who  at  last  agreed  to  a 


compromise,  under  which  the  abbot  "presented" 
the  warden,  and  the  bishop  "  admitted  "  him  to  his 
office. 

But  little  is  known  of  the  history  of  the  convent 
from  this  time  to  the  dissolution  of  religious  houses 
under  Henry  VIII.,  except  that,  during  the  reign 
of  Edward  III.,  the  good  nuns  were  specially 
exempted  from  the  payment  of  taxes  to  the  Crown, 
on  account  of  the  dilapidated  state  of  their  little 
house,  and  of  the  necessity  under  which  they  lay 
of  relieving  the  wants  of  many  poor  wayfarers,  and 
especially  of  pilgrims  bound  for  St  Alban's  shrine. 
As  soon  as  the  fiat  of  "  bluff  King  Hal "  had  gone 
forth  for  the  dissolution  of  all  the  lesser  religious 
houses  in  1536,  we  find  that  the  "Nonnerie  of 
Kilnbome  "  was  surrendered  to  the  commissioners, 
when,  doubtless,  its  gentle  sisters  were  thrown  out 
upon  the  world  to  beg  their  bread,  instead  of 
doling  it  out  to 'the  poor  and  suffering.  At  that 
time  the  priory  was  returned  as  of  the  value  of 
^74  ;s.  nd.,  and  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
rapacious  king,  who  exchanged  its  lands  with  the 
Prior  of  the  Hospital  of  St  John  of  Jerusalem,  at 
Clerkenwell,  for  his  manor  of  Paris  Garden,  which 
lay  across  the  Thames,  in  Southwark. 

But  ten  years  later,  the  greater  monasteries 
shared  the  fate  of  the  lesser  houses,  and  along  with 
the  Priory  of  St.  John,  that  of  Kilburn  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  hands  of  a  favoured  courtier,  the  Earl 
of  Warwick.  From  his  family  the  estate  passed, 
through  an  intermediate  owner,  to  the  Earl  of 
Devonshire,  and  in  the  early  part  of  the  present 
century  to  one  of  the  Howards;  from  them  it 
came  to  the  Uptons,  its  present  owners,  by  one  of 
whom  the  Church  of  St.  Mary,  at  Kilburn,  has 
been  erected  on  a  site  adjoining  the  ancient  chapel. 
It  is  said  that  the  Abbey  Farm  comprised  about 
forty-five  acres,  including  the  land  covered  by  the 
priory  out-buildings. 

In  Park's  "History  of  Hampstead"  there  is  a 
view  of  the  old  prior)-,  which  never  could  have 
been  one  of  very  imposing  appearance.  The 
edifice,  it  may  be  added,  was  dedicated  jointly 
to  "  The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  and  St  John  the 
Baptist,"  the  latter  of  whom  is  depicted  on  the 
conventual  seal  as  clothed  in  his  garment  of 
camels'  hair. 

From  an  "inventory"  taken  on  the  nth  day 
of  May,  in  the  year  of  the  surrender  of  the  house 
to  the  king,  it  appears  that  the  buildings  of  the 
priory  consisted  of  "the  hall,  the  chamber  next 
the  church,  the  middle  chamber  between  th?t  and 
the  prioress's  chamber,  the  prioress's  chamber,  the 
buttery,  pantry,  and  cellar,  inner  chamber  to  the 
prioress's  chamber,  the  chamber  between  the  latter 


KILBURN  WELLS. 


245 


and  the  hall,  the  kitchen,  the  larder-house,  the  j  limited  number  of  serving-sisters.  Besides  the 
brewhouse  and  bakehouse,  the  three  chambers  for  ;  more  spiritual  object  of  the  sisterhood,  it  under- 
the  chaplain  and  the  hinds  or  husbandmen,  the  ;  takes  the  special  care  of  a  large  number  of  sick 
confessor's  chamber,  and  the  church."  A  few  j  people,  who  are  received  from  the  hospitals,  and 
extracts  from  the  above-mentioned  inventory  will  j  nursed  until  restored  to  health, 
serve  to  show  that,  in  spite  of  all  the  changes  j  In  Kilburn  Park  Road,  near  Edgware  Road 
worked  in  our  domestic  arrangements,  in  those  far- !  Station,  is  the  Church  of  St.  Augustine,  one  of  the 
off  days,  on  the  whole,  the  chamber  furniture  did  finest  ecclesiastical  structures  in  London,  and,  with 
not  differ  very  materially  from  that  of  our  own. 
Thus  we  read  in  the  middle  chamber  :— 

"  It'm :  2  bedsteddes  of  bordes,  viij</.     It'm  :  i 


fetherbedd,  vs.,  2  matteres,  xvrf.,  2  old  cov'lettes, 
xx</.,  3  wollen  blankettes,  viij</.     It'm :  a  syller  of 


the  exception  of  St.  Paul's  and  Westminster  Abbey, 
by  far  the  largest.  The  church,  which  at  present 
has  sittings  for  about  1,000  worshippers,  is  in  the 
"  First  Pointed  "  style  of  Gothic  architecture,  and 
was  commenced  in  1872  from  the  designs  of  Mr. 


old   steyned  worke,  iiij</.     It'm  :    2  peces  of  old  j  Pearson.     The  sisterhood  of  St.  Peter  above  men 
hangings,  paynted,  x/f." 

The  following  is  the  list  of  books — not  very 
numerous,  it  must  be  owned — of  which  his  Majesty 
was  not  ashamed  to  rob  his  defenceless  female 
subjects : — 

"  It'm :  2  bookes  of  Legenda  Aurea,  the  one  in 
prynt,  and  other  written,  both  Englishe,  \\\}d. 
It'm :  2  mas  bookes,  one  old  writen,  and  the  oder 
prynt,  xx//.  It'm  :  4  p'cessions,  in  p'chement,  iijj., 
and  paper,  \d.  It'm :  2  chestes  wt  div'se  bookes 
p'teinynge  to  the  chirche,  bokes  of  no  value. 
It'm:  2  legendes,  \\\yi;  the  one  in  p'chment,  and 
thoder  on  paper." 


With  regard  to  church  furniture 


ind  vestments 

the  nuns  would  seem  to  have  been  better  off; 
for  besides  altar-cloths,  curtains,  hangings,  copes, 
chalices,  &c.,  we  find  the  following  articles  men- 
tioned in  the  inventory  : — 

'  It'm  :  a  relique   of  the  holy  crosse,  closed  in 


ioned  assist  in  the  district  in  nursing  the  sick  and 
mission  work ;   then  there  are  "  Sisters  of  the 
Church  "  for  the  education  of  the  poor,  and  also 
Guild,"  with  several  branches.     In  May,  1876, 
the  foundation-stone  of  the  nave  of  this  church 
was  laid. 

After  the  Reformation  the  reminiscences  oi 
Kilburn  are  secular  rather  than  religious,  leading 
us  in  the  direction  of  suburban  pleasure-grounds 
and  "  the  gardens,"  and  mineral  waters.  In  fact, 
before  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  even 
perhaps  earlier,  near  a  mineral  spring  which 
bubbled  up  not  far  from  the  spot  where  the  nuns 
had  knelt  in  prayer,  and  had  relieved  the  beggars 
and  the  poor  out  of  their  slender  store,  there  arose 
a  rural  house,  known  to  the  holiday  folks  of  London 
as  the  "  Kilburn  Wells."  The  well  is  still  to  be 
seen  adjoining  a  cottage  at  the  corner  of  the  Station 
Road,  on  some  premises  belonging  to  the  London 


silver    and  guilt,  sett  wt  counterfeyte  stones  and  ,  and  North-Western    Railway.      The    water   rises 
perls,'  worth  iijf.   iiijrf.     It'm  :  a  cross  wt  certain  j  about  twelve  feet  below  the  surface,  and  is  enclosed 
other  reliques   plated   wt   silver   gilded,  ij.r.  \\\]d.    in  a 
It'm :  a  case  to  kepe  in  reliques,  plated  and  gilt, 
\d.     It'm  :  a  clocke,  vs." 

It  may  be  added  that  the  orchard  and  cemetery 


ick  reservoir  of  about  five  feet  in  diameter, 
surmounted  by  a  cupola.     The  key-stone   of  the 
arch  over  the  doorway  bears  the  date  1714.     The 
water  collected  in  this  reservoir  is  usually  about 
were  valued  at  "  xx,.  by  the  yere,"  and  »  one  horse    five  or  six  feet  in  depth,  though  in  a  dry  summer 


of  the  coller  of  black,"  at  5^.  Anne  Browne, 
the  last  prioress,  was  probably  a  member  of  the 
noble  house  of  Lord  Montagu. 

Mr.  Wood,  in  his  "  Ecclesiastical  Antiquities  of 
London,"  mentions  a  tradition,  which  may  or  may 
not  be  true,  that  the  nuns  of  Kilburn  enjoyed  the 
privilege  of  having  seats  in  the  triforium  in  West- 
minster Abbey. 

Not  far  from  the  site  of  the  old  priory,  a  "  Home 
has  been  established,  called  the  "Sisterhood  of 
St.  Peter's."  It  was  founded  by  a  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Lancaster,  to  carry  out  by  united  effort  the  work 
of  missionaries  and  nurses  amongst  the  poor.  The 
establishment,  which  was  formerly  at  Brompton, 
consists  of  a  lady  superior,  four  sisters,  and  a 


it  is  shallower;  and  it  is  said  that  its  purgative 
qualities  are  increased  as  its  bulk  diminishes. 
These  wells,  in  fact,  were  once  famous  for  their 
saline  and  purgative  waters.  A  writer  in  the  Kil- 
burn Almanack  observes  :— "  Upon  a  recent  visit 
we  found  about  five  feet  six  inches  of  water  in  the 
well,  and  the  water  very  clear  and  bright,  with  little 
or  no  sediment  at  the  bottom ;  probably  the  water 
has  been  as  high  as  it  now  is  ever  since  the  road- 
way parted  it  from  the  'Bell'  Tea  Gardens,  not 
having  been  so  much  used  lately  as  of  old."  "  Is 
it  not  strange,"  asks  Mr.  W.  Harrison  Amsworth 
"that  in  these  water-drinking  times,  the  wells  of 
Hampstead  and  Kilburn  should  not  come  again 
into  vogue  ? " 


246 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Kilbum. 


The  house  with  grounds  contiguous  to  the  well  j  famous  Abbey  of  Kilburn,  on  the  Edgware  Road, 
was  formerly  a  place  of  amusement,  and  would  j  at  an  easy  distance,  being  but  a  morning's  walk, 
appear  to  have  borne  a  tolerably  good  character  j  from  the  metropolis,  two  miles  from  Oxford  Street ; 
for  respectability,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  j  the  footway  from  the  Mary-bone  across  the  fields 
"  Dialogue  between  a  Master  and  his  Servant,"  still  nearer.  A  plentiful  larder  is  always  provided, 


by  Richard  Owen  Cambridge,  in  imitation  of  together  with  the  best  of  wines  and  other  liquors. 
Horace,  and  published  in  1752,  which  we  quote  Breakfasting  and  hot  loaves.  A  printed  account  of 
as  a  motto  to  this  chapter.  the  waters,  as  drawn  up  by  an  eminent  physician, 

The  following  prospectus  of  the  "  Wells,"  now  '  is  given  gratis  at  the  Wells." 


,  1750. 


superseded  by  the  "  Bell "  Tavern,  taken  from  the  j 
Public  Advertiser  of  July  lyth,  1773,  we  here  give  , 
in  cxtcnso : — 

"  KILBURN  WELLS,  NEAR  PADDINGTON. — The 
waters  are  now  in  the  utmost  perfection  ;  the 
gardens  enlarged  and  greatly  improved  ;  the  house  I 
and  offices  re-painted  and  beautified  in  the  most 
elegant  manner.  The  whole  is  now  open  for  the 
reception  of  the  public,  the  great  room  being  par- 
ticularly adapted  to  the  use  and  amusement  of  the 
politest  companies.  Fit  either  for  music,  dancing, 
or  entertainments.  This  happy  spot  is  equally 
celebrated  for  its  rural  situation,  extensive  pros- 
pects, and  the  acknowledged  efficacy  of  its  waters  ; 
is  most  delightfully  situated  on  the  site  of  the  once 


The  "  Bell "  Tavern,  we  may  add,  dates  from 
about  the  year  1600.  The  following  "Legend 
of  Kilburn"  we  condense  from  Mr.  John  Timbs* 
"Romance  of  London:" — "There  is  a  curious 
traditionary  relation  connected  with  Kilburn  Priory, 
which,  however,  is  not  traceable  to  any  authentic 
source.  The  legend  states  that,  at  a  place  called 
St.  John's  Wood,  near  Kilburn,  there  was  a  stone 
of  a  dark  red  colour,  showing  the  stain  of  the 
blood  of  Sir  Gervaise  de  Morton,  or  de  Mortoune, 
which  flowed  upon  it  some  centuries  ago.  The 
story  runs  that  Stephen  de  Morton,  being 
enamoured  of  his  brother's  wife,  frequently  in- 
sulted her  by  the  open  avowal  of  his  passion, 
which  at  length  she  threatened  to  make  known 


A    LEGEND    OF    KILBURN. 


247 


to  her  husband;  and  that,  to  prevent  this  being 
done,  Stephen  resolved  to  waylay  his  brother  and 
kill  him.  This  he  effected  by  seizing  him  in  a 
narrow  lane  and  stabbing  him  in  the  back ;  where- 
upon he  fell  upon  a  projecting  rock  and  dyed  it 
with  his  blood.  In  his  expiring  moments  Sir 
Gervaise,  recognising  his  brother  in  the  assassin, 
upbraided  him  with  his  cruelty,  adding,  'This 
stone  shall  be  thy  death-bed.'  Stephen  returned 
to  Kilburn,  and  his  brother's  wife  still  refusing  to 


Bishop  of  London,  and  making  a  full  confession  of 
his  guilt,  he  demised  bis  property  to  the  Priory  at 
Kilburn,  in  the  hope  thereby  of  making  atone- 
ment But  all  in  vain  ;  for  in  spite  of  having  thus 
endeavoured  to  compensate  his  guilt  by  a  deed  of 
charity  and  mortification,  he  was  seized  upon  by 
such  feelings  of  remorse  and  grief  as  quickly  hurried 
him  to  his  grave." 

Whether  there  is  any  truth  or  not  in  this  story  we 
are  not  prepared  to  say  ;  but,  at  all  events,  it  wears 


THE   PRIORY,    KILBURN,    I75O. 


listen  to  his  criminal  proposals,  he  confined  her  in 
a  dungeon,  and  strove  to  forget  his  many  crimes 
by  a  dissolute  enjoyment  of  his  wealth  and  power. 
Oppressed,  however,  by  a  troubled  conscience,  he 
determined  upon  submitting  to  a  religious  penance  ; 
and  so,  ordering  his  brother's  remains  to  be  K 
moved  to  Kilburn,  he  gave  directions  for  their  re- 
interment in  a  handsome  mausoleum,  erected  with 
stone  brought  from  the  quarry  hard  by  where  the 
murderous  deed  was  committed.  The  identical 
stone  on  which  his  murdered  brother  had  breathed 
his  last  thus  came  too  for  his  tomb,  and  the  legend 
adds  that  as  soon  as  the  eye  of  the  murderer  rested 
upon  it  blood  began  to  issue  from  it.  Struck  with 
horror  at  the  sight,  the  murderer  hastened  to  the 


about  it  the  air  of  probability,  and  it  is  told  here  as 
they  say,  "just  for  what  it  is  worth."  We  may  add, 
however,  that  just  three  hundred  and  thirty  years 
after  the  surrender  of  the  old  chapel  and  priory  to 
Henry  VIII.,  a  new  Roman  Catholic  chapel  and 
monastery  was  founded  on  a  spot  hard  by,  m  Quex 
Road,  by  the  Fathers  known  as  the  "Ablates  of 
Mary."  The  first  stone  was  laid  in  1866,  and  th 
chapel  opened  two  years  later. 

A  writer  in  the  Mirror,  in  1824,  expresses  his 
regret  that,  on  re-visiting  Kilburn  after  a  long 
absence,  he  has  found  it  grown  from  the  httle  rural 
hamlet,  which  he  remembered  it,  into  a  town,  with 
its  own  chapel  and  its  own  coaches  I 

The  Rev.  J.  Richardson,  in  his  amusing  "Recol- 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[St.  John's  Wo 


lections,"  states  that  one  of  its  residents  at  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century  was  a  lady  of 
some  means,  the  owner  of  a  villa  here,  who  used  to 


Thomas  Lord  in  1780,  of  which  we  shall  have  /»ore 

to  say  presently. 

According  to  Mr.  Wood's  "  Ecclesiastical  An- 

entertain  George  Brummell  too  hospitably  when  he  .  tiquities  of  London,"  it  was  originally  called  "  Great 
was  a  boy  at  school;  and  that  one  day  the  future  j  St.  John's  Wood,"  near  Marylebone  Park,  todistin- 
"  Beau,'1  having  stuffed  himself  almost  to  bursting,  '  guish  it  from  Little  St.  John's  Wood,  at  Highbury. 


broke  out  into  a  flood  of  tears,  regretting  that  his 
stomach  would  not  stretch  any  further  so  as  to  hold 
more  plum-cake.  In  1826,  "Brondesbury  House, 
near  Kilburn,"  figures  in  the  Blue  Book  as  the 
country  seat  of  Sir  Coutts  Trotter,  whose  town- 
house  was  in  Grosvenor  Square. 

Within  the  last  few  years,  the  growth  of  London 
in  this  direction  has  been  rapid  and  continuous : 
long  rows  of  terraces,  streets,  and  villas  having 
sprung  up  in  all  directions.  Two  or  three  railway- 
stations  have  been  built  within  the  limits  of  Kil- 
bum  and  Brondesbury,  and  churches,  chapels, 
schools,  a  town  hall,  and  other  public  buildings 


Here,  as  tradition  says,  Babington  and  his  com- 
rades in  his  conspiracy  to  murder  Lord  Burghley, 
in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  sought  refuge.  Many 
of  the  houses  in  the  neighbourhood  are  detached 
or  semi-detached,  and  in  most  of  the  principal 
thoroughfares  they  are  shut  in  from  the  roadway  by 
brick  walls  and  gardens  ;  and  altogether  the  place 
has  an  air  of  quietude  and  seclusion,  and,  as  might 
almost  be  expected,  has  long  been  a  favourite 
abode  of  the  members  of  the  literary  and  artistic 
professions. 

In  St.  John's  Wood  Road — which  connects  Maida 
Hill  with  the  Regent's  Park — was  the  residence 


have  been  erected.  Of  the  churches,  the  only  one  of  the  late  Sir  Edwin  Landseer,  and  here  the 
calling  for  special  mention  is  St.  Augustine's,  a  j  renowned  painter  spent  much  of  his  life.  He 
large  red-brick  Gothic  structure,  which  has  become  arranged  the  construction  of  the  house  so  as  to 
noted  for  its  ritualistic  or  "  high  church  "  services. :  suit  his  own  tastes,  and  to  afford  him  the  most 

As  to  the  rest  of  Kilburn,  there  is  little  to  be  j  favourable  facilities  for  pursuing  the  art  to  which 
said  beyond  mentioning  the  tradition,  long  fondly  j  he  was  so  devoted.  In  his  studio  here  many  of 
cherished  in  the  neighbourhood,  that  Oliver  Gold-  his  most  celebrated  works  were  executed.  The 
smith  wrote  his  comedy,  S/ie  Stoops  to  Conquer,  house  is  situated  on  the  south  side  of  the  main 
and  his  Deserted  Village,  whilst  lodging  in  a  house  road,  between  Grove  Road  and  Cunningham  Place, 
which  stood  on  the  spot  now  occupied  by  "  Gold-  and,  with  the  grounds  belonging  to  it,  occupies  an 
smith's  Place."  The  tradition,  however,  may  have  area  of  about  two  acres.  Sir  Edwin  Landseer  was 
no  other  foundation  than  the  fact  that  Boswell  the  youngest  son  of  John  Landseer,  A.R.A.,  some 
in  his  "  Life  of  Johnson  "  tells  us  that  Goldsmith  |  time  Associate  Engraver  to  the  Royal  Academy,  and 
had  "  taken  lodgings  at  a  farmer's  house.  •  •  •  was  born  in  1802.  He  excelled  in  the  painting  of 
on  the  Edgware  Road,"  adding  that  "  He  said  he  j  animals  while  still  a  boy,  and  became  a  student  of 
believed  the  farmer's  family  thought  him  an  odd  I  the  Academy  in  1816  Among  the  best  known  of 
character,  similar  to  that  in  which  the  Spectator  \  his  numerous  pictures  are  the  following : — "  A 
appeared  to  his  landlady  and  her  children— he  j  Highland  Breakfast,"  "TheTwa  Dogs,"  "  There's 
was  The  Gentleman:'  The  house  here  referred  no  Place  like  Home,"  "Comical  Dogs,"  "War" 
to,  however,  is  in  Hyde  Lane,  "  near  the  village  of  j  and  "  Peace,"'  "  Bolton  Abbey  in  the  Olden  Time," 
Hyde,  looking  towards  Hendon."  ("The  Duke  of  Wellington,  accompanied  by  his 

Opposite    to   the    entrance   of  Willesden    Lane    Daughter-in-law,   visiting   the  Field  of  Waterloo," 


formerly  stood  a  quaint-looking  old  building,  mainly 
of  wood,  with  high-pointed  roofs,  now  known  as 
Lausanne  Cottage,  but  which  was  said  to  have 
been  used  as  a  hunting-box,  or  as  a  kennel  for  his 


"  Deer-stalking,"  "  Windsor  Park,"  and  "  Man 
Proposes,  but  God  Disposes."  One  of  his  latest 
designs  was  that  for  the  lions  at  the  base  of  the 
Nelson  Monument,  Trafalgar  Square.  In  1866  he 
favourite  spaniels,  by  King  Charles  1 1.  I  none  of  the  was  elected  President  of  the  Royal  Academy,  but 
rooms  there  was  to  be  seen  a  fine  old  carved  mantel-  he  declined  to  serve.  He  died  here  in  1873,  and 
piece,  probably  as  old  as  the  reign  of  James  I.  his  remains  were  interred  in  St  Pauls  Cathedral. 

St.  John  s  Wood,  to  which  we  now  pass,  was  so  1      At  No.  30,  South  Bank,  lived  Thomas  Landseer, 

called  alter  its  former  possessors,  the  Priors  of  St.    the  elder  brother  of  Sir  Edwin.     He  occupied  for 

John  of  Jerusalem.     It  is  now  a  thickly-peopled    many  years  a  distinguished  place  as  an  engraver, 

mrban  district,  which  has  gradually  grown  up  '  and   constantly   exhibited   his    engravings   at   the 

around   the   western  boundaries  of  the   Regent's  j  Royal   Academy.     In    1860-61    he    added  to   his 

ark,  enclosing  the  then  rural  and  retired  cricket- 1  previous  reputation  by  his  finely-executed  plate  of 

ground  wruch  had  been   formed  there   by    Mr.  j  Rosa  Bonheur-s  "  Horse  Fair." 


St  John's  Wood.] 


LORD'S  CRICKET  GROUND. 


249 


Cyrus  Redding  lived  in  Hill  Road ;  Mr.  J.  A.  i  "  stands" — after  the  fashion  of  those  on  race- 
St.  John,  too,  was  a  resident  in  St.  John's  Wood ;  j  courses — where  visitors  can  sit  and  witness  the 
as  also  was  Douglas  Jerrold,  who  lived  close  to  matches  that  are  here  played.  The  present  ground 
Kilburn  Priory.  Charles  Knight  (for  a  short  time)  \  superseded  the  space  now  covered  by  Dorset 
resided  in  Maida  Vale ;  and  a  certain  Lord  de  i  Square,  which  had  served  for  some  years  as  the 
Ros,  who  closed  his  inglorious  career  in  1839,  j  "  old  Marylebone"  ground. 


lived  at  No.  4,  Grove  Road.     In  the  Grove  Road, 
too,  in  1866,  died  Mr.  George  Osbaldiston,   the 


sporting  squire. 


He  was  born  at  Hutton  Bushell, 


At  the  end  of  the  last  century  men  played 
cricket  in  summer  at  the  old  Artillery  Ground,  in 
Finsbury,  in  the  days  when  they  skated  on  Moor- 


in  Yorkshire,  but  losing  his  father  when  only  six  fields  in  the  winter,  and  shot  snipes  in  Belgravia. 
years  of  age,  he  went  to  reside  with  his  mother,  j  At  the  old  Artillery  Ground,  so  large  was  the  at- 
at  Bath,  where  he  received  his  first  lessons  in  !  tendance,  and  so  heavy  were  the  stakes,  that  a 
riding,  from  Dash,  the  celebrated  teacher  of  the  '  writer  in  an  old  newspaper  complains  of  the  idle- 
last  century.  He  subsequently  entered  at  Erase-  j  ness  of  the  City  apprentices  in  consequence,  and 


nose  College,  Oxford,  and,  while  still  an  under- 
graduate here,  commenced  his  career  as  master 
of  hounds,  with  a  pack  which  he  purchased  fro: 


of  the  unblushing  way  in  which  the  laws  against 
gaming  were  broken,  matches  being  advertised  for 
£500,  or  even  £1,000  a  side.  Indeed,  in  1750, 


the  Earl  of  Jersey.  The  entire-  career  of  Mr.  j  an  action  was  tried  in  the  King's  Bench  for  the 
Osbaldiston,  as  a  master  of  hounds,  lasted  during  j  sum  of  £50,  being  a  bet  laid  and  won  on  a  game 
a  period  of  thirty-five  years.  He  further  became  |  of  cricket— Kent  v.  England, 
famous  as  a  most  bold  and  daring  rider  of  steeple-  i  But  at  this  time  cricket  was  deemed  a  vulgar 
chases,  in  which  he  had  no  superior,  and  is  said  to  :  game.  Robert  Southey  states  the  fact,  and  quotes 
have  never  been  beaten.  His  celebrated  zoo-mile  ;  No.  132  of  the  Connoisseur,  dated  1756,  where  we 
match  took  place  at  Newmarket,  in  November,  j  are  introduced  to  one  Mr.  Tony  Bumper  "  drink- 
1831.  "Squire  Osbaldiston,"  as  he  was  familiarly  ing  purl  in  the  morning,  eating  black-puddings  at 
called  was  creditably  known  upon  the  turf,  and,  in  '  Bartholomew  Fair,  boxing  with  Buckhorse  (the 
fact  in  every  branch  of  field  sports.  I  most  celebrated  of  the  old  pugilists),  and  also  as 

Another  noted  resident  in  St.  John's  Wood  was  \  frequently  engaged  at  the  Artillery  Ground  with 
M    Soyer,  with  whose  name,  in  connection  with  !  Faukner  and  Dingate  at  cricket,  and  considere 


the  culinary  art,  we  have  already  made  our  readers 
acquainted,  in  our  accounts  of  the  Reform  Club  and 
Kensington  Gore.*  He  died  in  August,  1858, 
after  a  short  illness,  at  1 5,  Marlborough  Road.  M. 
Soyer,  who  was  of  French  extraction,  had  been  for 


good  a  bat  as  either  of  the  Bennets." 

One  who  reads  with  all  the  curiosity  and  interest 
of  a  cricketer  will  pick  up  little  notices,  which,  when 
put  together,  throw  light  on  the  early  history  of  the 
game,  and  show  its  spread,  and  how  early  it  had 

' 


aken  root  in  the  land;  for  instance,  in  Smith's 
'  Life  of  Nollekens,"  we  are  told  that  Alderman 
Boydell  the  etcher  and  printseller,  had  many  shops, 

?„ :;  c±r;:  =;-•,;:  s£  ^rs  t  £f  £°«j 
« »  * — » ^  -•  ESbX'Ejft  -^  SdTSS?: 

represented  with  a  bat  in  his  hand,  in  allusion  t 
his  fondness  for  cricket ;  but  it  is  a  curved  piece  or 
wood,  more  like  a  modern  golf  club.     A  bat  also 


many  years  known  as  a  culinary  benefactor  to  the 
public,  and  more  particularly  during  the  war  with 
Russia,  a  fefw  years  before  his  death  ;  his  success  in 
ameliorating  the  condition,  in  a  culinary  view,  of 
the  army  ir 
Subsequent  to  his  return  to  England 

Zttttt*^™^^^*''**-******-*- 

by  the  authorities.'    He  was  also  the  author  of 

"The  Gastronomic  Regenerator,"  a  cookery-book    ,  _  rr;rvet  lovintr 

for  the  upper  classes ;  -  Pantiopheon,  or  History  of  j  is  placed  satin  cally  m  the  hand  £££f*™« 
Food-"    "Shilling    Cookery,"    and   "  A  Culinary  |  lady,  in  a  print  of  1778-"  Miss  Wicket,    wi 

•    'A   A  '    t'r,n  nf  the     f-~A    "Mice  TrJcrffpr "—  fast  ladlCS  both, 

Campaign,"  which  gives  a  vivid  description  of  tl 
Crimean  war. 

On  the  north  side  of  St.  John's  Wood  Road  is 


friend,  "  Miss  Trigger  "-fast  ladies  both,  no  doubt, 
in  their  day.  In  1706,  William  Goldwin,  an  old 
king's  man,"  published  in  Mut*  >* 


atch." 

^^^^^^^^*^Lt^ 


LordVcricket  Ground,  a  spot  that  has  become    called  •'  Certamen  Pita,"  or  «  The  Cnck 


cted     ern     ent    16 


acres  in  extent,  and  on  it  are  erected  pern     ent 


1  Sec  VoL  IV.,  p.  149.  *>d  P-  "»• ' 


.^  ^  ^ 

aspired  to  better  company  than  the  City  apprentices, 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


CSt.  John's  Wood. 


and  founded  a  club  in  White  Conduit  Fields.  But 
hard  indeed  it  were  in  these  days  to  pitch  good 
wickets  within  view  of  the  Foundling  Hospital. 
So  Thomas  Lord  then  came  upon  the  stage — a 
canny  lad  from  the  north  country — who,  after  wait- 
ing on  Lords  Darnley  and  Winchilsea,  Sir  Horace 
Mann,  the  Duke  of  Dorset,  and  others  of  their 
contemporaries  in  the  White  Conduit  Fields  Club, 
speculated  in  a  ground  of  his  own,  where  now, 
as  we  have  stated  above,  is  Dorset  Square,  the 


Finchley  Road,  called  the  "Eyre  Arms."  The 
grounds  belonging  to  this  house  were  occasionally 
the  scene  of  balloon  ascents  in  the  early  days  of 
aeronautics.  One  of  the  latest  was  the  ascent  of 
Mr.  Hampton  here  on  the  7th  of  June,  1839. 

In  the  rear  of  the  inn  is  a  large  concert-room, 
which  is  often  used  for  balls,  bazaars,  public 
lectures,  &c;  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
way  is  the  St.  John's  Wood  Athenaeum,  which 
serves  as  a  club  for  the  residents  of  the  neigh- 


original  "  Lord's."  This  was  in  1 780.  It  was  on  j  bourhood. 
this  ground  that  the  club,  taking  the  name  of  the  j  Close  by,  in  Circus  Road,  the  Emperor  Napoleon 
Marylebone  Cricket  Club,  brought  the  game  to  lived  for  some  time  during  his  sojourn  in  England ; 
perfection.  and  in  Ordnance  Road,  between  St.  John's  Wood 

In  a  map  of  London  published  in  1802,  the  site  and  the  west  side  of  Primrose  Hill,  are  some 
of  Dorset  Square  is  marked  as  "  The  Cricket  barracks,  generally  occupied  by  a  regiment  of  the 
Ground,"  probably  implying  that  it  was  the  only  I  Line  or  of  the  Guards. 

public  ground  then  devoted  to  that  sport  in  the  :      Among   the   various   charitable    and    provident 
neighbourhood  of  London.  |  institutions  here  is  the  Ladies'  Home,  which  was 

On  the  present  ground  is  annually  fought  the  founded  in  1859,  in  Abbey  Road.  It  affords 
•"  great  batting  match,"  as  it  is  called,  between  board,  lodging,  and  medical  attendance  to  ladies 
Harrow  and  Eton.  The  two  Universities  of  Oxford  of  limited  income,  each  paying  from  i6s.  to  143. 


Cambridge,  likewise,  here  enter  into  friendly 
rivalry,  some  months  after  their  perhaps  more 
exciting  contest  on  the  River  Thames.  Here,  too, 
nearly  all  the  great  cricket  matches  of  the  metro- 
politan clubs  and  southern  counties  of  England  are 
played. 


per  week.  In  the  St  John's  Wood  Road  are  the 
girls'  schools  belonging  to  the  Clergy  Orphan  and 
Widow  Corporation.  The  objects  of  this  institu- 
tion, which  was  established  in  1749,  are  to  clothe, 
educate,  and  maintain  the  poor  orphans  of  clergy- 
men. This  charity  is  one  of  the  most  extensive  in 


Apropos  of  Lord's  Cricket  Ground,  we  may  add  the  kingdom,  and  has  greatly  assisted  the  orphans 
that  there  is  nothing  in  which  a  more  visible  im-  of  a  large  number  of  clergymen  in  beginning  life, 
provement  has  taken  place  than  in  our  sports.  The  The  boys'  school  in  connection  with  the  institution 
prize-ring  and  bear-garden,  dog-fighting  and  rat- 1  is  at  Canterbury. 

killing,  are  things  of  the  past ;  but  our  glorious  boat-  j  Another  old  and  useful  institution  is  the  School 
races,  in  which  we  are  the  first  in  the  world  ;  of  Industry  for  Female  Orphans,  which  was  estab- 
cricket,  in  which  we  have  no  rivals  ;  and  athletic  lished  in  1786,  in  Grove  Road.  The  school  will 
sports — running,  jumping  the  hurdles — in  which  we  accommodate  about  eighty  girls,  but  it  has  rarely,  if 
have  reached  to  the  highest  perfection.  The  Duke  ever,  mustered  above  fifty  at  one  time,  the  number 
of  Wellington  attributed  a  great  deal  of  his  success  being  restricted  by  the  funds.  Board,  clothing,  and 
in  war  to  the  athletic  exercises  which  Englishmen  education  is  here  given  to  girls  who  have  lost  both 
had  practised  in  p^ace.  The  steady  nerve,  quick  parents. 

eye,  and  command  of  every  muscle,  exercised  con-  At  the  top  of  the  Avenue  Road,  close  to  the 
siderable  power  in  the  battle-field.  On  the  Con- ,  Swiss  Cottage,  is  the  School  for  the  Blind,  founded 
tinent  these  games  are  almost  unknown,  and  the  \  in  1838,  and  erected  from  the  designs  of  a  Mr. 
biggest  Frenchman  or  Prussian  is  the  veriest  baby  !  Kendal.  It  will  accommodate  about  too  inmates, 
in  the  hands  of  an  Englishman  in  any  physical  male  and  female.  The  school  was  established  for 
display.  We  attribute  a  good  deal  of  the  temper-  the  purpose  of  imparting  secular  knowledge  and 
ance  which  characterises  this  age  of  ours  to  the  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  Christianity,  and 
growth  of  those  sports ;  for  the  intemperate  man,  '  teaching  the  blind  to  read  by  means  of  embossed 
shattered  in  nerves  and  dim  of  eye,  has  no  chance  or  raised  print.  A  portion  of  the  pupils  are  re- 


in such  noble  pasti 


ceived  free ;  others  pay  a  small  sum  half-yearly. 


Much  of  the  land  in  and  about  St.  John's  Wood  (  The  course  of  instruction  given  in  the  school,  it 
belongs  to  the  family  of  Eyre,  whose  estate  adjoins    may  be  added,  is  as  complete  as  it  well  could  be, 


those  of  Lord  Portman  and  the  Duke  of  Port- 
land ;  their  name  is  kept  fresh  in  remembrance  by 
the  sign  given  to  a  tavern  of  some  note  in  the 


and  is  fitted,  in  so  far  as  that  is  possible,  to  enable 
the  pupils,  despite  their  sorrowful  deprivation,  to 
earn  their  own  livelihood,  and  to  take  their  place 


St.  John's  wood]  JOANNA    50UTHCOTT. 


of  usefulness  and  honour  in  the  work  of  life,  side    wings  on    each  side   have   been   converted    into 
by  side  with  those  who  possess  all  the  inestimable    dwelling-houses,  one  of  them  serving  as  a  residence 
advantages  of  sight.     In  the  industrial  department,  j  for  the  clergy.     The  windows  of  the  chapel  are 
the  work  among  the  boys  consists  chiefly  of  basket-  |  "kneels,"  after  the  fashion  of  the  twelfth  or  early 
making   and   chair-caning ;   amongst  the  girls,   of  part  of  the  thirteenth  century  and  are  filled  with 
chair-caning,  knitting,    and    bead-work.      Of   the  '  stained  glass,  principally  as  memorial  windows, 
progress  made  by  the  pupils  generally,  Mr.  Charles  |      Hamilton  Terrace  and    the  surrounding  streets 
Richards,  the  literary  examiner,  made  the  following    commemorate,  by  their  names,  the  governors  and 
encouraging  remarks  in  his  annual  report  to  the    other    authorities    of   Harrow  School  in  the  last 
committee   of  the   institution,   in    May,    1876 :—  |  generation.      Aberdeen    Place,    Abercorn    Place, 
Speaking  of  the  boys,  he  says,  "  The  difficulty  in    Cunningham  Place,  Northwick  Terrace,  &c.,  at  all 
learning  to  write  to  one  who  is  unable  to  see  a    events,  serve  to  show  that  the  foundation  of  the 
copy  is  evident ;  but  by  means  of  embossed  letters,  !  honest  yeoman  of  Preston,  John  Lyon,  is  not  in 
&c.,  the  difficulty  has  been  so  far  overcome  that  j  danger  of  being  forgotten  or  useless. 
many  of  the  boys  are  able  to  write  very  creditably,  j      In  Hamilton  Terrace  is  the  large  Church  of  St. 
I  was  somewhat  surprised  to  find  that  those  who    Mark's.     It  was  built  in  1847,  in  the  Gothic  style  of 
had  been  at  the  school  a  few  months  only  were  ,  architecture,  from  the  designs  of  Messrs.  Cundy. 
able  to  read  very  fairly.    The  reading  of  the  others  j      At  the  junction  of  the  Finchley  and  St.  John's 
would   compare   favourably  with  that   of  boys  of  j  Wood  Roads,  close  by  the  station  on  the  Under- 
their  age  who  have  the  advantage  of  sight.    •    •    •  j  ground  Railway,  is  the  St.  John's  Wood  Chapel, 
Arithmetic  is  worked  on  boards  with  movable  type,    with  its  burial-ground,  in  which  a  few  individuals 
and  necessarily   takes   more  time  than  if  worked  I  of  note  have  been  buried ;  and  among  them  the 
with  slate  and  pencil.     Some  have  advanced  as  far  j  impostors,  Richard  Brothers  and  Joanna  Southcott. 
as  the  extraction  of  square  and  cube  roots.     All    Of  the  former   of  these  two  characters   we  have 
the  examples  were    correctly  worked,  and  I  con- 1  spoken  in  our  account  of  Paddington.*    Joanna 
sider  this   part  of  the  examination  to  have  been  |  Southcott  was  a  native  of  Devonshire,  and  was 
very   satisfactory.    ...     In  history,  geography,  I  born  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century.     In  her 
grammar,  and  religious  knowledge,  I  was  altogether  '  youth  she  lived  as  a  domestic  servant,  chiefly  in 
satisfied.     The   answers   were  given  readily,   and  !  Exeter,  and  having  joined  the  Methodists,  became 
showed  an  intelligent  knowledge  of  the  subjects."    acquainted  with   a  man  named   Sanderson,  who 
Of  the  instruction  of  the  girls  in  this  department  :  laid   claim   to  the  spirit  of   prophecy,   a  preten- 
Mr.  Richards'  report  is  equally  satisfactory,  and  he  |  sion  in  which  she  herself  ultimately  indulged.     In 
concludes  by  saying  that  he  "cannot   speak  too    1792,  she  declared  herself  to  be  the  woman  driven 
highly  of  the  excellent  discipline  in  both  schools, 


the  principle  of  government  being  love  rather  than 


seventy. 


The  Roman  Catholic  Chapel  in   Grove   Road 


into  the  wilderness,  the  subject  of  the  prophecy 
in  the  i2th  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Revelation. 
She  gave  forth  predictions  in  prose  and  doggerel 
rhyme,  in  which  she  related  the  denunciation  of 


is  a  large  Gothic  structure,  built  about  the  year  \  judgments  on  the  surrounding  nations,  and  pro- 
18^6  through  the  munificence  of  two  maiden  |  mised  a  speedy  approach  of  the  Millennium.  In 
ladies  of  the  name  of  Gallini,  whose  father,  •  the  course  of  her  «  mission,"  as  she  called  it,  she 
an  Italian  refugee,  had  settled  in  London,  and  employed  a  boy,  who  pretended  to  see  visions, 
having  taught  dancing  to  sundry  members  of  the  and  attempted,  instead  of  writing,  to  adjust  them 
royal  family,  became  Sir  John  Gallini.*  So  noble  on  the  walls  of  her  chapel,  "the  House  of  God. 
mdeenerous  was  their  gift  esteemed  that  they  were  A  schism  took  place  among  her  followers,  one  of 

whom,  named  Carpenter,  took  possession  of  the 
place,  and  wrote  against  her:    not  denying  her 


and  generous  was  their  gift  esteemed  that  they  were 
rewarded  with  a  magnificent  testimonial  from  the 
Roman  Catholic  ladies  of  England,  presented  by 


the  hands  of  the  Princess  Donna  Isabella  Maria  j  mission,  but  asserting  that  she  had  exceeded  it 
of  Portugal.  The  chapel  was  one  of  the  early  Although  very  illiterate,  she  •««"»""£» 
works  of  Mr.  J.  J.  Scoles,  and  is  a  rather  poor  repro-  and  pamphlets,  which  were  P^^iifw 
duction  of  some  of  the  features  of  the  Lady  Chapel  many^  purcha,^  J^her  #*~~ 

to  her  followers  sealed  papers,  which  she  termed 
her  "  seals,"  and  which,  she  assured  them,  would 


duction  of  some 

in  St.  Saviour's  Church,  Southwark.  It  is  a  cruci- 
form structure,  in  the  "Early  English"  style,  and 
it  consists  of  a  nav«,  chancel,  and  side  aisles ;  the 


'  See  VoL  IV.,  p.  3-8- 


'  F~!  p.   213,  «»<*. 


25* 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[St.  John's  Wood. 


protect  them  from  the  judgments  of  God,  both  in 
this  and  the  other  world,  assuring  them  final 
salvation.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  thousands  of 
persons  received  these  with  implicit  confidence, 
and  among  them  were  a  few  men  and  women  of 


however,  were  not  to  be  undeceived,  and  for  some 
time  continued  to  believe  that  she  would  rise  again 
from  her  "trance,"  and  appear  as  the  mother  of  the 
promised  Shiloh. 

Mr.  James  Grant  writes  thus,  in  his  "  Travels  in 


good  education  and  a  respectable  position  in  '  Town,"  published  in  1839  : — "  Many  persons  will 
society.  In  course  of  time  Joanna  is  said  to  have  be  surprised  when  they  are  informed  that  Joanna 
imagined  herself  to  have  the  usual  symptoms  of  Southcott  has  still  her  followers  in  London.  I 
pregnancy,  and  announced  that  she  was  to  give  cannot  state  with  certainty  what  their  number  is, 


'birth,  at  midnight,  on  the  iQth  of  October,  181 
to  a  second  "  Shiloh,"  or  Prince  of  Peace,  mirac 
lously  conceived,  she  being  then  more  than  six 
years  of  age.     The  infatuation  of  her  followers 
such  that  they  received   this  announcement   wi 
devout  reverence,  prepared  an   expensive  cradl 
and  spent  considerable  sums,  in  order  that  all  might 
be  suitable  for  so  great  and  interesting  an  occasion. 
The  expected  birth  did  not  take  place ;  but  on 
the   27th  of  December,  1814,  the  woman  died,  at 
her  house   in  Manchester   Street.*     On   a    post- 
mortem examination,  it  was  found  that  the  appear- 
ance of  pregnancy  which  had  deceived  others,  and 
perhaps  herself,  was  due  to  dropsy.     Her  followers, 


•  See  VoL  IV.,  p.  435. 


j  but  I  have  reason  to  believe  it  is  200  or  300  at 
I  least.     They  meet  together  on  Sundays,  but  I  have 
j  not  been  able  to  discover  the  exact  place  ;  but  I 
•  know  they  are  most  numerous  in  the  parishes  of 
;  St.    Luke   and   Shoreditch.     I  lately  met  one  of 
their  preachers,  or  '  prophets,'  and  had  some  con- 
versation with  him.     He  was  evidently  a  man  of 
education,  and  strenuously  maintained  the  Divine 
mission  of  Joanna.     When  I  asked  him  how  he 
got    over   the   non-fulfilment  of  the   promise,  or 
rather   the   assurance,   which    she   made    to  her 
50,000   followers   that  she  would   rise   from  the 
dead  on  the  third  day,  his  answer  was   that  the 
expression  '  three  days '  was  not  to  be  taken  in  a 
literal  sense,  but  as  denoting  three  certain  periods 
of  time.     Two   of  these   periods,   he   said,   had 


St  John's  Wood.] 


LAST   HOURS  OF  JOANNA  SOUTHCOTT. 


-53 


already  passed,  and  the  third  would  expire  in  j  some  other  persons  of  property;  and  so  determined 
1842,  in  which  year  he  held  it  to  be  as  certain  were  many  of  her  followers  to  be  deceived,  that 
that  the  prophetess  would  arise  from  her  grave,  |  neither  death  nor  dissection  could  convince  them 
and  give  birth  to  '  Shiloh,'  as  that  he  was  then  j  of  their  error.  Her  remains  were  first  removed 
a  living  man ! "  More  than  thirty  years  have  [  to  an  undertaker's  in  Oxford  Street,  whence  they 
passed  away  since  these  words  were  written,  and  ,  were  taken  secretly  for  interment  in  this  cemetery, 
the  grave  of  Joanna  Southcott  has  never  yet  given  j  A  tablet  to  her  memory  contains  these  lines  :— 
up  the  dead  bones  which  rest  in  it.  „  WMe  through  a,,  %  wondrous  days> 

Some  passages  in  Joanna's  "  prophecies      are  of  Heaven  and  earth  enraptured  gazed ; 


rather  a  practical  character,  if  the  following  may  be 
taken  as  a  specimen  : — "  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God 

and  Master.    Tell  I to  pay  thee  five  pounds 

for  expenses  of  thy  coming  up  to  London  ;  and 
he  must  give  thee  twenty  pounds  to  relieve  the 
perplexity  of  thy  handmaid  and  thee,  that  your 
thoughts  may  be  free  to  serve  me,  the  Lord,  in 
the  care  of  my  Shiloh."  The  Lord  is  made  to  in- 
form his  people  somewhere,  anxious  to  go  to  meet  | 
the  Shiloh  at  Manchester,  that  travelling  by  the 
new  cut  is  not  expensive.  On  her  death-bed, 
poor  Joanna  is  reported  to  have  said  :— "  If  I  have 
been  misled,  it  has  been  by  some  spirit,  good  or 
evil."  In  her  last  hours,  Joanna  was  attended  by 
Ann  Underwood,  her  secretary ;  Mr.  Tozer,  who 
was  called  her  high-priest ;  Colonel  Harwood,  and 
214 


750.) 


While  vain  sages  think  they  know 

Secrets  thou  alone  canst  show  ; 

Time  alone  will  tell  what  hour 

Thou  'It  appear  to  'greater'  Power'gABINEUS 

About  three  years  after  the  death  of  Joanna  South- 
cott, a  party  of  her  disciples,  conceiving  them- 
selves directed  by  God  to  proclaim  the  coming 
of  the  Shiloh  on  earth,  marched  in  procession 
through  Temple  Bar,  and  the  leader  sounded 
a  brazen  trumpet,  and  proclaimed  the  coming 
of  Shiloh,  the  Prince  of  Peace ;  while  his  wife 
shouted,  "  Wo  !  wo  !  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
earth,  because  of  the  coming  of  Shiloh  !"  The 
crowds  pelted  the  fanatics  with  mud,  some  dis- 
turbance ensued,  and  some  of  the  disciples  had 
to  answer  for  their  conduct  before  a  magistrate. 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


[Marylebontr,  North. 


CHAPTER  XX. 
MARYLEBONE,  NORTH:   ITS  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATIONS, 

••  Suburban  villas,  highway-side  retreats, 
That  dread  th'  encroachment  of  our  growing  streets, 
Tight  boxes,  neatly  sash'd,  and  in  a  blaze 
With  all  a  July  sun's  collected  rays. 
Delight  the  citizen,  who,  gasping  there, 
Breathes  clouds  of  dust,  and  calls  it  country  air."— Cowftr. 

North  Bank  and  South  Bank-Rural  Aspect  of  the  Neighbourhood  Half  a  Century  Ago-Marylebone  Park-Taverns  and  Tea-gardens-The 
"Queen's  Head  and  Artichoke  "—The  "Harp"— The  "Farthing  Pie  House"— The  "Yorkshire  Stingo"— The  Introduction  of  London 
Omnibuses  by  Mr.  Shillibeer-Marylebone  Baths  and  Washhouses- Queen  Charlotte's  Lying-in  Hospital-The  New  Road-Th, 
Paddington  Stage-Coach— A  Proposed  Boulevard  round  the  Outskirts  of  London— Dangers  of  the  Road— Lisson  Grove— The  Philological 
School— A  Favourite  Locality  for  Artists— John  Martin,  R.A.— Chapel  Street-Leigh  Hunt— Church  Street— The  Royal  Alfred  Theatre- 
Metropolitan  Music-Hall-Portman  Market- Blandford  Square-The  Convent  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy-Michael  Faraday  as  a  Bookbinder- 
Harewood  Square— Dorset  Square— The  Original  "Lord's"  Cricket  Ground— Upper  Baker  Street— Mrs.  Siddont'  Residence— The 
Notorious  Richard  Brothers— Invention  of  the  "Tilbury." 


THE  district  through  which  we  are  now  about  to 
pass  lies  between  Edgware  Road  and  Regent's 
Park,  and  the  St.  John's  Wood  Road  and  Maryle- 
bone  Road.  At  the  beginning  of  the  century, 
Cowper's  lines  quoted  above  might,  perhaps,  have 
been  more  applicable  to  it  than  now ;  but  even  to 
this  day  they  are  not  altogether  out  of  place  when 
applied  to  those  parts  lying  to  the  north  of  Lisson 
Grove,  more  especially  towards  the  Park  Road, 
and  to  the  villas  known  respectively  as  North 
Bank  and  South  Bank,  the  gardens  of  which  slope 
down  towards  the  Regent's  Canal,  which  passes 
between  them.  Here  we  have  "trim  gardens," 
lawns,  and  shrubs ;  towering  spires,  banks  clothed 


besides  nearly  the  whole  of  what  is  now  Regent's 
Park,  was  at  one  time  known  as  Marylebone  Park, 
and  was  of  course  attached  to  the  old  Manor 
House,  which  we  have  already  described.!  A 
reminiscence  of  the  Manor  House,  with  its  garden, 
park,  and  environs,  as  they  stood  in  the  time  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  when  her  Majesty  here  enter- 
tained the  Russian  ambassadors  with  a  stag  hunt 
in  the  said  park,  is  preserved  in  a  drawing  made 
by  Gasselin  in  1700,  and  re-published  by  Mr.  J.  T. 


Smith 


Soo.     Marylebone  Park  Farm  and  its 


cow-sheds,  which  covered  the  rising  ground  almost 
as  far  northward  as  Le  Notre's  Canal,  has  now 
become  metamorphosed  into  a  rural  city.  From 


with  flowers;  indeed,  all  the  elegances  of  the  j  1786  to  1792,  the  additions  and  improvements  in 
town  and  all  the  beauties  of  the  country  are  at  j  this  neighbourhood  were  carried  into  effect  in  quick 
this  spot  happily  commingled.  j  succession.  Almost  all  of  the  Duke  of  Portland's 

Of  the  early  history  of  Marylebone,  and  of  that  !  property  in  Marylebone,  except  one  farm,  was  let 
portion  of  the  parish  lying  on  the  south  side  of  '  at  that  period  on  building  leases,  and  the  new 
the  Marylebone  Road,  we  have  already  spoken  ;*  j  buildings  in  the  north-west  part  of  the  parish  in- 
but  we  may  add  here  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  creased  with  equal  rapidity.  The  large  estates 
eighteenth  century  the  place  was  a  small  village,  at  Lisson  Grove,  in  process  of  time,  all  became 


quite  surrounded  by  fields,  and  nearly  a  mile  dis- 
tant from  any  part  of  the  great  metropolis.  Indeed, 
down  to  a  much  later  date — namely,  about  1820 — 
we  have  seen  an  oil-painting,  by  John  Glover,  of 
Primrose  Hill  and  the  ornamental  water  in  the 
Regent's  Park,  taken  trom  near  the  top  of  Upper 
Baker  Street  or  Clarence  Gate,  in  the  front  of 
which  are  a  party  of  haymakers,  sketched  from 
life,  and  there  are  only  three  houses  dotted  about 
near  the  then  new  parish  church  of  Marylebone. 
Indeed,  at  the  commencement  of  the  present 
century  Marylebone  was  a  suburban  retreat,  amid 
"green  fields  and  babbling  brooks."  A  consider- 
able extent  of  ground  on  the  north  side  of  what  is 
now  called  the  Marylebone  Road,  and  comprising 


'Set  Vol.  IV.,  p.  vtttut. 


extensively  and,  in  many  instances,  tastefully  built 
upon. 

A  correspondent  of  "  Hone's  Year-Book  "  writes, 
in  1832,  with  an  almost  touching  tenderness  about 
"  Marylebone  Park,"  the  memory  of  which  name 
has  long  since  passed  away,  confessing  that  it 
"  holds  in  his  affections  a  far  dearer  place  than  its 
more  splendid  but  less  rural  successor  " — referring, 
of  course,  to  the  Regent's  Park.  This,  too,  is 
the  romantic  district  through  which  Mr.  Charles 
Dickens,  in  the  person  of  his  "  Uncommercial 
Traveller,"  must  have  descried  at  a  distance  in 
the  course  of  his  "various  solitary  rambles,"  which 
he  professes  to  have  "  taken  northward  for  his 
retirement,"  the  West-end  out  of  season,  "along 


t  See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  4*9. 


Marylebone,  North.] 


THE  "QUEEN'S  HEAD  AND   ARTICHOKE. 


the  awful  perspectives  of  Wimpole  Street,  Harley 
Street,  and  similar  frowning  districts." 

But  the  district  in  former  times  was  made  attrac- 
tive for  the  pent-up  Londoner  by  its  public  tea- 
gardens  and  bowered  taverns.  Of  the  last-named 
we  may  mention  the  "  Queen's  Head  and  Arti- 
choke," which  stood  near  what  is  now  the  southern 
end  of  Albany  Street,  not  far  from  Trinity  Church. 
"  At  the  beginning  of  this  century,"  says  Mr.  Jacob 


i.e.,  toy-trumpet.  There  was  another  tavern,  with 
tea-gardens,  bearing  the  same  sign  at  Islington, 
down  to  the  end  of  last  century. 

Mr.  J.  T.  Smith,  in  his  "  Book  for  a.  Rainy  Day/" 
under  date  of  1772,  gives  us  the  following  graphic 
sketch  of  this  locality  at  that  period  :— "  My  dear 
mother's  declining  state  of  health,"  he  writes, 
"urged  my  father  to  consult  Dr.  Armstrong,  who 
recommended  her  to  rise  early  and  take  milk  at 


Larwood,  in  his  "  History  of  Sign-boards,"  "  when  i  the  cow-house.  I  was  her  companion  then ;  and 
Marylebone  consisted  of  '  green  fields,  babbling  j  I  well  remember  that,  after  we  had  passed  Port- 
brooks,'  and  pleasant  suburban  retreats,  there  was  !  land  Chapel,  there  were  fields  all  the  way  on  either 
a  small  but  picturesque  house  of  public  entertain- 


ment, yclept  the  '  Queen's  Head  and  Artichoke,' 
situated  '  in  a  lane  nearly  opposite  Portland  Road, 
and  about  500  yards  from  the  road  that  leads  from 
Paddington  to  Finsbury' — now  Albany  Street 
Its  attractions  chiefly  consisted  in  a  long  skittle 
and  '  bumble-puppy '  ground,  shadowy  bowers,  and 
abundance  of  cream,  tea,  cakes,  and  other  creature 
comforts.  The  only  memorial  now  remaining  of 
the  original  house  is  an  engraving  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  for  November,  1819.  The  queen  was 
Queen  Elizabeth,  and  the  house  was  reported  to 
have  been  built  by  one  of  her  gardeners :  whence 
the  strange  combination  on  the  sign." 

Mr.  Larwood  tells  us  an  anecdote  about  some 
other  public  gardens  in  this  neighbourhood,  which 
is  equally  new  to  most  readers,  and  interesting 
to  the  topographer  and  the  biographer.  "  There 
was,"  he  remarks,  "  in  former  times,  a  house  of 
amusement  called  the  '  Jew's  Harp,'  with  bowery 
tea-gardens  and  thickly-foliaged  snuggeries,  near 
what  now  is  the  top  of  Portland  Place.  Mr. 
Onslow,  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Con 


side.  The  highway  was  irregular,  with  here  and 
there  a  bank  of  separation ;  and  that  when  we  had 
crossed  the  New  Road,  there  was  a  turnstile  *  at 
the  entrance  of  a  meadow,  leading  to  a  little  old 
public-house,  the  sign  of  the  '  Queen's  Head  and 
Artichoke ; '  it  was  much  weather-beaten,  though, 
perhaps,  once  a  tolerably  good  portrait  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.  ...  A  little  beyond  a  nest  of  small 
houses  contiguous  was  another  turnstile,  opening 
also  into  fields,  over  which  we  walked  to  the  '  Jew's 
Harp  House  Tavern  and  Tea-Gardens.'  It  con- 
sisted of  a  large  upper  room,  ascended  by  an  out- 
side staircase,  for  the  accommodation  of  the  com- 
pany on  ball  nights ;  and  in  this  room  large  parties 
dined.  At  the  south  front  of  these  premises  was  a 
large  semi-circular  enclosure  with  boxes  for  tea  and 
ale-drinkers,  guarded  by  deal-board  soldiers  between 
every  box,  painted  in  proper  colours.  In  the  centre 
of  this  opening  were  tables  and  seats  placed  for 
the  smokers.  On  the  eastern  side  of  the  house 
there  was  a  trapball-ground ;  the  western  side 
served  for  a  tennis-hall ;  there  were  also  public  and 
private  skittle-grounds.  Behind  this  tavern  were 


in  the  reign  of  George  II.,  used  to  resort  thither  several  small  tenements,  with  a  pretty  good  portion 
in  plain  attire  when  able  to  escape  from  his  chair  of  ground  to  each.  On  the  south  of  the  tea- 
of  office  and,  sitting  in  the  chimney-corner,  to  '  gardens  a  number  of  summer-houses  and  gardens, 
join  in  the  humours  of  the  other  guests  and  j  fitted  up  in  the  truest  cockney  taste  ;  for  on  many 
customers.  This  he  continued  to  do  for  some  !  of  these  castellated  edifices  wooden  cannons  were 


time  until  one  day  he  unfortunately  happened  |  placed ;  and  at  the  entrance  of  each  domain,  oi 
to  be  recognised  by  the  landlord,  as  he  was  j  about  the  twentieth  part  of  an  acre,  the  old  in- 
riding,  or  rather  driving,  in  his  carriage  of  state  !  scription  of  'Steel-traps  and  spring-guns  all  over 
down  to  the  Houses  of  Parliament ;  and,  in  con-  these  grounds,' with  an  '  N.B- Dogs  trespassing 
sequence,  he  found,  on  the  occasion  of  his  next  \  will  be  shot.'  In  these  rural  retreats  the  tenan 
visit,  that  his  incognito  had  been  betrayed.  This  !  was  usually  seen  on  Sunday  evening  in  a  bright 
broke  the  charm-for  him,  at  least ;  and,  like  the  \  scarlet  waistcoat,  ruffled  shirt  and  silver  ^hoe- 
fairies  in  the  legend,  he  '  never  returned  there  any  buckles,  comfortably  taking  his  tea  with  h  fam^ 

'     honouring  a  Seven-Dial  friend  with  a  nod^on  his 


gain  from  that  day.'  "     From  Ben  Jonson's 
play,  The  Devil's  an  Ass,  act  i.,  scene  i,  it  appears 


peregrination    to   the    famed   Wdls 


uth     and 


that  it  was  formerly  the  custom  to  keep  in  taverns    William's  Farm,  the  extent  of  _,  . 

a  fool,  who,  for  the  edification  of  customers,  used    stood  at  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 

to  sit  on  a  stool  and  play  the  Jew's  harp,  or  some   remember  that  the  room  in  which  she  sat  to 

other  humble  instrument.    The  Jew's  harp,  we  may 

add,  was  an  instrument  formerly  called  jeu  trompe, 


,rly  plan  which  I  hav 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Marylcbonc,  North. 


the  milk  was  called  '  Queen  Elizabeth's  Kitchen,' 
and  that  there  was  some  stained  glass  in  the 
windows." 

At  the  top  of  Portland  Road,  close  to  the  station 
on  the  Metropolitan  Railway,  stands  the  "  Green 
Man"  tavern.  It  occupies  the  site  of  the  old 
"  Farthing  Pie  House  " — a  sign  not  uncommon  in 
the  suburbs  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century — of  which  we  have  already  given  an 
illustration.* 

Farther  westward  along  the  Marylebone  Road, 
nearly  opposite  Chapel  Street  and  the  entrance  to 
Lisson  Grove,  is  a  house  bearing  the  well-known 
sign  of  the  "  Yorkshire  Stingo."  This  tavern  is 
memorable  as  the  house  from  which  the  first  pair 
of  London  omnibuses  were  started,  July  4th,  1829, 
by  the  introducer  of  that  conveyance  into  London, 
Mr.  John  Shillibeer,  having  already,  for  several 
months,  been  adopted  in  the  streets  of  Paris. 
They  were  drawn  by  three  horses  abreast,  and 
were  such  a  novelty,  that  the  neighbours  used  to 
come  out  from  their  houses  in  order  to  see  them 
start  They  ran  to  the  Bank  and  back,  and  were 
constructed  to  carry  twenty-two  passengers,  all 
inside ;  the  fare  was  a  shilling,  or  sixpence  for 
half  the  distance,  a  sum  which  included  the  luxury 
of  the  use  of  a  newspaper.  It  is  said  that  the  first 
conductors  were  the  two  sons  of  a  British  naval 
officer.  It  was  not  till  several  years  afterwards 
that  the  outside  of  omnibuses  was  made  available 


which  it  was  anticipated  would  be  erected,  when  it 
had  been  proved  that  the  receipts,  at  the  very  low 
rate  of  charge  contemplated,  would  be  sufficient 
to  cover  the  expenses,  and  gradually  to  repay  the 
capital  invested.  The  committee  then  appointed 
partially  completed  the  model  establishment  in 
Goulston  Square,  Whitechapel,  in  1847,  and  opened 
forty  baths  to  the  public,  the  demand  for  which  by 
the  working  classes  has  established  beyond  doubt 
the  soundness  of  the  principles  which  actuated  the 
committee;  and  such  was  the  attention  attracted 
to  the  subject  by  its  proceedings,  that  the  Govern- 
ment, at  the  suggestion  and  instigation  of  the  late 
Rev.  Sir  Henry  Dukinfield,  Bart.,  the  then  Rector 
of  St.  Martin's-in-the-Fields,  induced  Parliament  to 
pass  an  Act  to  enable  boroughs  and  parishes  to 
raise  money  on  the  security  of  the  rates,  for  the 
purpose  of  building  baths  and  washhouses  in  all 
parts  of  the  country. 

Near  the  "  Yorkshire  Stingo"  is  Queen  Charlotte's 
Lying-in  Hospital,  originally  established  at  Bays- 
water,  as  we  have  already  stated. 

The  New  Road,  connecting  the  corner  of  Lisson 
Grove  with  the  village  of  Islington,  was  formed  in 
1757,  not  without  great  opposition  from  the  Duke 
of  Bedford,  who  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  inser- 
tion of  a  clause  in  the  Act  forbidding  any  build- 
ings being  erected  within  fifty  feet  of  either  side  of 
the  roadway.  This  accounts  for  the  long  gardens 
which  extend  in  front  of  the  rows  of  houses  on 


for  passengers,  and  the  "  knife-board  "  along  the  either  side,  many  of  which  have  been  converted 
roof  is  quite  a  modern  invention.  Mr.  Shillibeer  ,  into  stonemasons'  yards,  though  some  few  have 
is  widely  known  in  connection  with  the  funeral  j  been  built  upon.  This  thoroughfare  was  called  the 
carriages  which  bear  his  name  ;  but  the  benefits  i  New  Road,  a  name  which  it  retained  for  a  century, 
which  he  conferred  on  living  inside  passengers  as  I  when  the  eastern  portion  was  named  the  Euston 
well  ought  not  to  be  forgotten.  There  is  "  nothing  Road,  and  the  western  part  the  Marylebone  Road. 
new,  however,  under  the  sun,"  and  the  omnibus  is  I  This  road,  at  the  commencement  of  the  present 


little  more  than  a  modification  or  improvement  of 
the  old  Greenwich  stage  of  the  time  of  George  IV. 
Nearly  adjoining  the  "  Yorkshire  Stingo"  on  the 
east  are  the  Baths  and  Washhouses  for  the  parish 
of  Marylebone,  to  which  we  have  already  had 
occasion  to  allude,  in  our  account  of  Paddington. t 


century,  was  the  route  taken  by  the  Paddington 
stage-coach,  which  travelled  twice  a  day  to  the  City 
and  back.  Hone,  in  his  "Year-Book,"  tells  us  that 
"  it  was  driven  by  the  proprietor,  or  rather,  dragged 
tediously  along  the  clayey  road  from  Paddington  to 
the  City  in  the  morning,  performing  its  journey  in 


These  baths  and  washhouses  were  among  the  first  about  two  hours  and  a  half,  'quick  time  !'  It 
of  the  kind  erected  in  the  metropolis ;  the  build-  |  turned  to  Paddington  in  the  evening  within  three 
ing,  which  is  a  fine  structure,  was  erected  from  the  '  hours  from  its  leaving  the  City;  and  this  was  deemed 
designs  of  Mr.  Eales.  As  we  learn  from  Weale's  i  '  fair  time,'  considering  the  necessity  for  precaution 
work  on  "  London,"  these  institutions,  which  have  !  against  the  accidents  of  night  travelling."  In 
within  the  last  twenty  years  rapidly  increased  in  j  order  to  explain  the  length  of  time  occupied  by 
London  as  well  as  in  the  country,  originated  in  I  the  "Paddington  stage"  on  its  way  into  the  City,  it 
a  public  meeting  held  at  the  Mansion  House,  in  :  should  be  stated  that,  after  winding  its  way  slowly 
1844,  when  a  large  subscription  was  raised  to  build  through  the  miry  ruts  of  the  Marylebone  Road, 
an  establishment  to  serve  as  a  model  for  others  New  Road,  and  Gray's  Inn  Road,  it  waited  an 

hour  or  so  at  the  "  Blue  Posts,"  Holborn  Bars.  The 


3ute  to  the  Bank  by  way  of  the  City  Road  was  i 


Marylebone,  North.] 


LISSON  GROVE. 


2S7 


yet  a  thing  unthought  of;  and  the  driver  of  the  will  prove.  We  have  already  mentioned  some  in- 
Hampstead  or  Paddington  stage  who  first  achieved  stances  in  our  account  of  Marylebone  Gardens  j  * 
that  daring  feat  was  regarded  with  admiration  and  we  may  add  that  we  read  in  the  papers  of 


hat  akin  to  that  bestowed  on  the  man  who 
first  "  doubled  the  Cape"  on  his  way  to  India. 

This  allusion  to  the  Paddington  stages  is  curious, 
in  the  preface  to  the  Penny  Magazine,  in  1832  : — 
"  In  a  book  upon  the  poor,  published  in  1673,  called 
'The  Grand  Concern  of  England  Explained,"  we 
find  the  following  singular  proposal : — '  That  the 
multitude  of  stage-coaches  and  caravans,  now 
travelling  upon  the  roads,  may  all,  or  most  of  them, 
be  suppressed,  especially  those  within  forty,  fifty, 
or  sixty  miles  of  London.'  The  evil  of  the  stage- 
coaches is  somewhat  difficult  to  be  perceived  at 
the  present  day  ;  but  this  ingenious  author  had  no 
doubt  whatever  on  the  matter,  '  for,'  says  he,  '  will 
any  man  keep  a  horse  for  himself,  and  another 
for  his  man,  all  the  year,  for  to  ride  one  or  two 
journeys,  that  at  pleasure,  when  he  hath  occasion, 
can  step  to  any  place  where  his  business  lies,  for 
two,  three,  or  four  shillings,  if  within  twenty  miles 
of  London,  and  so  proportionably  into  any  part  of 
We  laugh  at  the  lamentation  over  the 


the  time  that  "on  the  23rd  of  July,  1763,  one 
Richard  Watson,  tollman  of  Marylebone  Turnpike, 
was  found  barbarously  murdered  in  his  toll-house ; 
upon  which,  and  some  attempts  made  on  other 
toll-houses,  the  trustees  of  the  turnpikes  have  come 
to  a  resolution  to  increase  the  number  of  the  toll- 
gatherers,  and  furnish  them  with  arms,  enjoining; 
I  them  not  to  keep  any  money  at  the  toll-bars  after 
eight  o'clock  at  night."' 

Lisson  —  or,  more  properly,  Lileston — Grove, 
occupying  the  site  of  what  was  once  Lisson  Green, 
is  thus  mentioned  by  Lysons,  in  his1  "  Environs  of 
London  : " — "  The  manor  of  Lilestone,  containing 
five  hides  (now  Lisson  Green,  in  the  parish  of 
Marylebone),  is  mentioned  in  Doomsday-book 
among  the  lands  of  Ossulston  Hundred,  given  in 

alms This  manor  became   the  property 

of  the  priory  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem ;  on  the 
suppression  of  which  it  was  granted,  anno  1548, 
to  Thomas  Heneage  and  Lord  Willoughby,  vho 
conveyed  it  in  the  same  year  to  Edward,  Duke  of 


England  ? '  We  laugh  at  the  lamentation  over  the  conveyed  it  in  the  same  year  to  Edward,  Duke  of 
evif  of  stage-coachs,  because  we  daily  see  or  ex- 1  Somerset  On  his  attainder  it  reverted  to  the  Crown, 
perience  the  benefits  of  the  thousands  of  public  j  and  was  granted,  anno  1564,  to  Edward  Downing, 
conveyances  carrying  forward  the  personal 


course  of  a  busy  population,  and  equally  useful 
whether  they  run  from  Paddington  to  the  Bank, 
or  from  the  General  Post  Office  to  Edinburgh." 

Mr.  Loudoun,  as  far  back  as  the  reign  of 
George  IV.,  proposed  the  formation  of  a  promenade 
or  boulevard  round  what  were  then  the  outskirts 
of  London,  by  combining  the  New  Road  west- 
wards along  this  course  to  Hyde  Park,  thence 
crossing  the  Serpentine,  and  coming  out  opposite 
Sloane  Street;  then  along  this  road  and  part  of 


who  conveyed  it  the  same  year  to  John  Milner,  Esq., 
then  lessee  under  the  Crown.  After  the  death  of 
his  descendant,  John  Milner,  Esq.,  anno  1753,  it 
passed  under  his  will  to  William  Lloyd,  Esq.  The 
manor  of  Lisson  Green  (being  then  the  property 
of  Captain  Lloyd,  of  the  Guards)  was  sold  in  lots, 
anno  1792.  The  largest  lot,  containing  the  site 
of  the  manor,  was  purchased  by  John  Harcourt, 
Esq.,  M.P." 

In  Marylebone  Road,  at  the  corner  of  Lisson 
Grove,   is   the   Philological  School,   a  handsome 


bloane  street;  men  aiong  ims  ruuu  auu  pan.  ui  •  j       • 

the  King's  Road  to  Vauxhall  Bridge,  and  thence  |  Gothic  building,  of  'red  brick,  with  stone  dressings. 


across  Lambeth  and  Southwark  to  Biackheath,  and 
through  Greenwich  Park,  and  on  a  high  viaduct 
across  the  Thames  ;  so  by  the  City  Road  back  to 
the  New  Road.  The  "  northern  boulevard,"  which 
it  was  intended  to  have  planted  with  trees,  was  to 
have  been  extended  westwards  from  the  "York- 
shire Stingo  "  down  the  centre  of  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge Terraces;  but  difficulties  intervened,  and 
the  road  was  never  carried  out  according  to  the 
ork  been  carried 


original  design.  Had  this  great  w 
out  in  its  entirety,  it  is  possible  that  the  outlying 
districts  of  London  might  have  been  better  protected 
from  the  depredations  of  footpads  and  highwaymen, 


It  was  founded  in  1792,  and  is  now  in  union  with 
King's  College.  Education  is  here  afforded,  almost 
free  of  cost,  to  a  certain  number  of  boys,  the  sons 
of  professional  gentlemen,  who  have  suffered  under 
the  blows  of  fortune. 

At  a  lonely  public-house  at  the  corner  of  this 
street,  the  tradition  is  that  foot-travellers,  at  the 
end  of  the  last  century,  used  to  collect  their  forces 
and  examine  their  fire-arms  before  attempting  the 


Lisson  Fields." 


dangerous  crossing  of  " 

As  the  streets  about  were  few,  and  the  space  to 
the  north  was  an  open  field,  Lisson  Grove  was  a 
favourite  neighl 


ic  exceptio 

middle  of  the  last  century,  was  one  of  the  worst 
neighbourhoods  in  this  respect,  numerous  records 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Marylebone,  No 


the  painter  of  the  "  Deluge,"  the  "  Destruction  of 
Babylon,"  and  other  sacred  subjects,  so  familiar  to 
most  persons  by  the  aid  of  the  engraver's  art. 
"Martin's  pictures,"  says  Dr.  Waagen,  "unite  in 
a  high  degree  the  three  qualities  which  the  English 
require  above  all  in  works  of  art — effect ;  a  fanciful 
invention,  inclining  to  melancholy;  and  topogra- 
phical historic  truth."  And  at  the  hospitable  table 
of  a  great  lover  of 


an  evening  with  him,  pleasant,  informing,  and  varied 
by  conversation  on  subjects  that  chance  brought 
up,  or  association  introduced  stealthily." 

In  the  Post  Boy  of  January  i,  1711-12,  mention 
is  made  of  the  "  Two  White  Balls,"  as  the  sign  of 
a  school  at  Marylebone,  in  which  "  Latin,  French, 
Mathematics,  &c.,  were  taught.*  The  notice  adds 
that  "  in  the  same  house  there  lives  a  clergyman, 

The 


1CHOKE."     (6«  page  255.) 


assemble  a  goodly  band  of  members  of  the  Royal  locality  at  one  time  had  about  it  an  air  of  quietude 
Academy.  The  site  of  this  house  is  now  covered  i  and  seclusion  ;  but  of  late  years  a  number  of  small 
by  Hyde  Park  Mansions  and  Oxford  anil  Cam-  streets  have  sprung  up  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
bridge  Mansions.  \  the  Edgware  Road  and  Lisson  Grove,  and  alto- 

At  one  time  this  street  contained  a  chapel  of  geth<;r  it  has  now  become,  for  the  most  part,  poor 
ease,  which  gave  its  name  to  the  street,  and  of  which  and  squalid  ;  yet  it  is  certain  that  this  parish  is  by 
the  late  Rev.  Basil  Woodd  was  the  minister.  The  no  means  the  poorest  in  London,  and  by  no  means 
street  connects  the  Edgware  Road  and  Paddington  the  worst  in  general  sanitary  arrangements  of  the 


with  the  New  Road.     In  it  are  the  Metropolitan 


Railway  Company's  Stores,  and  also  the  Locomotive 
Carriage  and  Permanent  Way  Departments. 
Leigh  Hunt,  the    gossiping    chronicler  of    th 


houses  of  the  poor.     Yet  even  here  there  were  till 


lately,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  there  still  are,  many 
houses  which  are  not  "  fit  for  human  habitation." 
Dr.  Whitmore,  the  medical  officer  of  the  Board  of 

;<01d  Court  Suburb,"  was  for  some  time  a  resident  |  Health  for  the  parish,  in  his  report  in  1874,  draws 
in  this  neighbourhood.  "  When  Leigh  Hunt  re-  ,  a  terrible  picture  of  the  existing  dwellings  of  the 
fflded  in  the  New  Road,"  says  Cyrus  Redding,  in  |  poor  in  that  locality,  showing  the  necessity  of  still 
his  "  Fifty  Years'  Recollections,"  "  I  spent  many  ,  more  stringent  powers  than  are  possessed  by  the 


Marylebone,  North.] 


DWELLINGS  OF  THE  POOR. 


259 


Artisans  and  Labourers'  Dwellings  Act,  in  order 
to  compel  the  owners  of  such  disgraceful  property 
to  do  their  duty  by  their  tenants.  Dr.  Whitmore 
draws  attention  more  especially  to  several  tene- 
ments in  Marylebone.  "  One  of  these,"  he  then 
remarks,  "  contains  nineteen  rooms,  which  would 
appear  to  have  been  originally  constructed  with 
especial  disregard  to  order  in  arrangement,  uni- 
formity, and  convenience.  Every  part  of  this 


In  Church  Street,  which  connects  the  Grove 
and  Edgware  Roads,  is  the  Royal  Alfred  Theatre. 
This  place  of  amusement  is  celebrated  for  its  sen- 
sational dramas  and  cheap  prices.  It  was  first 
opened  in  1842,  as  a  "  penny  theatre,"  under  the 
name  of  the  "  Marylebone."  It  was  enlarged  in 
1854  to  hold  2,000  persons;  and  more  recently 
the  name  has  been  altered  to  the  "  Royal  Alfred." 
Many  of  Shakespeare's  plays  have  been  performed 


miserable  abode  is  in  a  ruinous  and  dilapidated 
condition:  the  flooring  of  the  rooms  and  stair- 
cases is  worn  into  holes,  and  broken  away ;  the 
plaster  is  crumbling  from  the  walls;  the  roofs  let  in 
the  wind  and  rain  ;  the  drains  are  very  defective  ; 
and  the  general  aspect  of  the  place  is  one  of  extreme 
wretchedness.  The  number  of  persons  living  in 
this  house  is  forty-seven."  He  adds  that  his  first 
impulse  was  to  condemn  the  house  as  unfit  for 
human  habitation,  but  that  he  hesitated  to  do  so, 
fearing  to  drive  the  poor  inhabitants  into  rooms 
more  foul  and  squalid  still.  It  will  scarcely,  we 
imagine,  be  believed  by  our  grandchildren  that 
such  things  could  have  happened  in  the  thirty- 
eighth  year  of  Queen  Victoria's  reign  in  so  wealthy 
a  district  as  this. 


'  here.  Close  by,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Edgware 
Road,  another  large  establishment,  where  entertain- 
ment is  nightly  provided,  is  the  Metropolitan  Music 
Hall.  In  Church  Street,  between  Carlisle  and 
Salisbury  Streets,  is  Portman  Market,  which  was 
established  many  years  ago  for  the  sale  of  hay 
and  straw,  and  also  for  butter,  poultry,  butchers' 
meat,  and  other  provisions.  It  is  largely  frequented 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  surrounding  streets  of 
the  artisan  class. 

On  the  east  side  of  Lisson  Grove  we  find  our- 
selves once  more  among  the  "  squares,"  but  they 
are  of  modern  growth,  and  consist,  for  the  most 
part  of  middle-class  residences.  They  are  named 
respectively  Blandford  Square,  Harewood  Square, 
and  Dorset  Square.  In  Blandford  Square  is  the 


260 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Marylebone,  North. 


Convent  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  dedicated  to  St  "  Ned  Magrath,  formerly  secretary  to  the 
Edward.  This  foundation  owes  its  existence  to  [  Athenaeum,  happening,  many  years  ago,  to  enter 
the  exertions  of  the  late  Rev.  John  Hearne,  of  j  the  shop  of  Ribeau,  observed  one  of  the  bucks  of 


the  Sardinian  Chapel,  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  and 
his  brother,  the  Rev.  Edward  Hearne,  of  Warwick 
Street  Chapel.  The  community  was  established  in 
1844,  and  for  a  few  years  carried  on  their  works 
of  charity  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Queen  Square, 
Bloomsbury,  where  the  convent  was  first  founded. 
Their  chief  duties  while  there,  as  we  learn  from 
the  "  Catholic  Hand-book,"  were  the  visitation  of 
the  sick  poor  and  the  instruction  of  adults.  But 
possessing  no  means  of  carrying  out  the  other 
objects  of  the  institute — namely,  the  "  education  of 
poor  children,"  and  the  "  protection  of  distressed 
women  of  good  character,"  they  became  desirous 
of  building  a  convent,  with  schools  and  a  House 
of  Mercy  attached  to  it  In  1849,  tne  ground  on 
which  the  present  Convent  of  St.  Edward  stands 
was  selected  as  an  eligible  site  for  the  building 
required;  and  the  sisters  having  opened  a  subscrip- 
tion-list and  obtained  sufficient  funds  to  begin  with, 
the  erection  was  commenced  early  in  the  following 
year,  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  Gilbert  Blount.  In 
1851,  the  community  removed  from  Queen  Square 
to  their  present  home.  School-rooms  have  since 


the  paper  bonnet  zealously  studying  a  book  he 
ought  to  have  been  binding.  He  approached ;  it 
was  a  volume  of  the  old  Britannica,  open  at '  Elec- 
tricity.' He  entered  into  talk  with  the  journey- 
man, and  was  astonished  to  find  in  him  a  self-taught 
chemist,  of  no  slender  pretensions.  He  presented 
him  with  a  set  of  tickets  for  Davy's  lectures  at  the 
Royal  Institution :  and  daily  thereafter  might  the 
nondescript  be  seen  perched,  pen  in  hand,  and  his 
eyes  starting  out  of  his  head,  just  over  the  clock 
opposite  the  chair.  At  last  the  course  terminated ; 
but  Faraday's  spirit  had  received  a  new  impulse, 
which  nothing  but  dire  necessity  could  have  re- 
strained; and  from  that  he  was  saved  by  the 
promptitude  with  which,  on  his  forwarding  a  modest 
outline  of  his  history,  with  the  notes  he  had  made 
of  these  lectures,  to  Davy,  that  great  and  good 
man  rushed  to  the  assistance  of  kindred  genius. 
Sir  Humphry  immediately  appointed  him  an  assis- 
tant in  the  laboratory;  and  after  two  or  three 
years  had  passed,  he  found  Faraday  qualified  to 
act  as  his  secretary."  His  career  in  after  life  we 
have  already  narrated. 


In  Harewood  Square  lived,  for  the  last  thirty  or 
forty  years,  the  self-taught  sculptor,  John  Graham 
Lough,  and  here  he  died  in  1876.  Sir  George 
Hayter,  many  years  scrjeant-painter  to  the  Queen, 


been  erected  in  connection  with  the  convent ;  and 
in  1853  the  "  House  of  Mercy,"  dedicated  to 
"  Our  Blessed  Lady  and  St.  Joseph,"  was  erected, 
at  the  expense  of  Mr.  Pagliano.  This  house  is 

for  the  admission  and  protection  of  young  women  '  and  "  painter  of  miniatures  and  portraits  "  to  the 
of  good  character,  who  are  intended  for  service,  or  I  Princess  Charlotte  and  to  the  King  of  the  Belgians, 
who  may  be  for  a  time  out  of  employment.  Girls  i  was  for  many  years  a  resident  in  this  square,  and 
of  fourteen  or  fifteen  usually  remain  here  for  two  '  subsequently  in  Blandford  Square.  Sir  George 
years,  till  trained  for  service  ;  and  those  who  have  j  Hayter  is  perhaps  best  known  as  the  author  of  the 
already  been  in  service  till  they  are  provided  by  •  appendix  to  the  "  Hortus  Ericaeus  Woburnensis," 
the  sisters  with  suitable  situations.  While  in  the  i  on  the  classification  of  colours.  He  subsequently 
house,  they  are  employed  in  needlework,  house-  !  removed  into  the  Marylebone  Road,  and  there 
work,  washing,  ironing,  &c.  There  is  an  extensive  died,  at  an  advanced  age,  in  January,  1871. 
laundry  attached  to  the  House  of  Mercy,  and  the  '  Dorset  Square,  as  we  have  shown  in  the  previous 
profits  arising  therefrom  are  the  principal  support  j  chapter,  covers  the  site  of  what,  in  former  times,  was 
of  this  institution.  I  a  noted  cricket-field  ;  and  its  present  name  is  said 

In  Blandford  Street,  Dorset  Square,  Michael  to  have  been  given  to  it  "after  the  great  patron  of 
Faraday,  as  we  have  already  stated  in  our  notice  cricket,  the  Duke  of  Dorset."  In  our  account  of 
of  the  Royal  Institution  in  Albem.irlc  Street,*  '  Lord's  Cricket-ground*  we  have  entered  at  some 
ivas  apprenticed  to  a  bookbinder,  named  Ribeau,  '  length  into  the  history  of  the  game  of  cricket;  but 
in  a  small  way  of  business.  Faraday  was  placed  ;  as  this  spot  was  the  original  "  Lord's,"  it  may  not 
here  by  his  friends  when  only  nine  years  of  age,  be  out  of  place  to  make  here  a  few  additional 
and  continued  in  the  occupation  till  he  was  twenty-  remarks.  Cricket  made  a  great  start  about  the 
one.  The  circumstances  that  occasioned  Faraday  I  year  1774;  and  Sir  Horace  Mann,  who  had  pro- 
to  exchange  the  work-room  of  the  binder  for  the  ,  moted  the  game  in  Kent,  and  the  Duke  of  Dorset 
laboratory  of  the  chemist  have  been  thus  forcibly  I  and  Lord  Tankerville,  who  seem  to  have  been  the 
related :—  j  leaders  of  the  Surrey  and  Hants  Elevens,  conjointly 


Marylcbone,  North.] 


MRS.   SIDDONS. 


261 


with  other  noblemen  and  gentlemen,  formed  a 
committee,  under  the  presidency  of  Sir  William 
Draper.  They  met  at  the  "  Star  and  Garter,"  in 
Pall  Mall,  and  laid  down  the  first  rules  of  cricket, 


Rome  were  there,  not  their  representations.  Another 
moment,  and  there  was  no  object  seen  but  that 
wonderful  woman,  because  even  the  clever  adjuncts 
vanished  as  if  of  too  little  moment  to  engross 


which   very  rules  form   the  basis  of  the  laws   of  |  attention.     If  her  acting  were  not  genius,  it 
cricket  of  this  day.     The   Marylebone  Club  first     he  nearest  thing  to  it  upon  record.     In  '  Lady 


played  their  matches  at  "  Lord's,"  when  it  occu- 
pied this  site.  It  would  be  superfluous  to  say 
anything  about  the  Marylebone  Club,  as  the  rules 
of  this  club  are  the  only  rules  recognised  as 
authentic  throughout  the  world,  wherever  cricket 
is  played. 

Eastward  of  this  square,  and  connecting  the 
Park  Road  with  Marylebone  Road,  is  Upper  Baker 
Street.  In  the  last  house  on  the  eastern  side  of 
this  street  lived  the  tragic  muse,  Mrs.  Siddons, 
as  we  are  informed  by  a  medallion  lately  placed 
on  its  front.  The  house  contains  a  few  memorials 
of  the  great  actress;  and  among  them,  on  the 
staircase,  is  a  small  side  window  of  painted  glass, 
designed  and  put  up  by  her  :  it  contains  medallion 
portraits  of  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Spenser,  Cowley, 
and  Dryden.  The  dining  and  drawing-rooms,  and 
also  what  was  the  music-room,  have  bow  windows 
looking  north,  and  commanding  a  view  across  the 
park  to  Hampstead  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that, 
when  the  houses  of  Cornwall  Terrace  were  about 
to  be  brought  close  up  to  the  gate  of  the  park,  Mrs. 
Siddons  appealed  to  the  Prince  Regent,  who  kindly 
gave  orders  that  her  country  view  should  be  spared, 
The  house,  which  is  still  unchanged  in  its  interna 


arrangements,  is  now 


used  as  the  estate  office  of 


dacbeth'  she  made  the  beholders  shiver;  a  thrill 
of  horror  seemed  to  run  through  the  house ;  the 
audience — thousands  in  number,  for  every  seat  was 
filled,  even  the  galleries— the  audience  was  fear- 
stricken.  A  sorcerer  seemed  to  have  hushed  the 
breathing  of  the  spectators  into  the  inactivity  of 
ear,  as  if  it  were  the  real  fact  that  all  were  on  the 
i^erge  of  some  terrible  catastrophe."  Some  one 
remarked  once  to  Mrs.  Siddons  that  applause  was 
necessary  to  actors,  as  it  gave  them  confidence. 
More,"  replied  the  actress ;  "  it  gives  us  breath. 
It  is  that  we  live  on." 

We  learn  from  "  Musical  and  Theatrical  Anec- 
dotes," that  Mrs.  Siddons,  in  the  meridian  of  her 
glory,  received  ;£ i, ooo  for  eighty  nights  (i.e.,  about 
;£i2  per  night).  Mrs.  Jordan's  salary,  in  her 
meridian,  amounted  to  thirty  guineas  per  week. 
John  Kemble,  when  actor  and  manager  at  Covent 
Garden,  was  paid  ^36  per  week;  Miss  O'Neill, 
^25  per  week;  George  Cook,  £20;  Lewis,  £20, 
as  actor  and  manager.  Edwin,  the  best  buffo  and 
burletta  singer  that  ever  trod  the  English  stage, 
only  ^14  per  week. 

Mrs.  Siddons'  father,  we  are  told,  had  always 
forbidden  her  to  marry  an  actor,  but,  of  course — 
like  a  true  woman — she  chose  a  member  of  the  old 
gentleman's  company,  whom  she  secretly  wedded. 


the  Portman  property.  . 

Of  her  acting  when  in  her  prime,  Cyrus  Redding  When  Roger  Kemble  heard  of  it,  he  was  furious, 

thus  writes    in  his  "  Fifty  Years'  Recollections  "  :  "  Have  I  not,"  he  exclaimed,  "  dared  you  to  marry 

—"My  very  first  sight   of  Mrs.  Siddons  was  in  a  player?"    The  lady  replied,  with  downcast  eyes, 

"  Queen  Catherine."    Never  did  I  behold  anything  that  she  had  not  disobeyed.      "What!  madam, 

more  striking  than  the   acting  of  that   wonderful  have  you  not  allied  yourself  to  about  the   worst 


;  for,  no  heroine  off  the  boards,  she  was  the 
ideal  of  heroic  majesty  in  her  personations.  I  have 
seen  real  kings  and  queens,  for  the  most  part 
ordinary  people,  and  some  not  very  dignified,  but 
in  Siddons  there  was  the  poetry  of  royalty,  all 
that  hedges  round  the  ideal  of  majesty— the  ideal 
of  those  wonderful  creations  of  genius,  which  rise 
far  beyond  the  common  images  exhibited  in  the 
world's  dim  spot.  It  was  difficult  to  credit  that 
her  acting  was  an  illusion.  She  placed  the  spec- 
tator in  the  presence  of  the  original ;  she  identified 
herself  with  heroic  life ;  she  transferred  every  sense 
of  the  spectator  into  the  scenic  reality,  and  made 
him  cast  all  extraneous  things  aside.  At  such 
times,  the  crowded  and  dense  audience  scarcely 
breathed ;  the  painted  scenery  seemed  to  become 
one,  and  live  with  the  character  before  it,  Venice, 


performer  in  my  company  ?  "  "  Exactly  so,"  mur- 
nured  the  timid  bride  ;  "  nobody  can  call  him  an 
ictor." 

"  I  remember  Mrs.  Siddons,"  says  Campbell,  in 
his  life  of  that  lady,  "describing  to  me  the  scene 
of  her  probation  on  the  Edinburgh  boards  with  no 
small  humour.  '  The  grave  attention  of  my  Scottish 
countrymen,  and  their  canny  reservation  of  praise 
till  they  are  sure  it  is  deserved,'  she  said,  had  well- 
nigh  worn  out  her  patience.  She  had  been  used  to 
speak  to  animated  clay,  but  she  now  felt  as  if  she 
had  been  speaking  to  stones.  Successive  flashes  of 
her  elocution,  that  had  always  been  sure  to  electrify 
the  south,  fell  in  vain  on  those  northern  flints.  At 
last,  as  I  well  remember,  she  told  me  she  coiled  up 
her  powers  to  the  most  emphatic  possible  utterance 
of  one  passage,  having  previously  vowed  in  her 


OLD  AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Regent's  Park. 


heart  that,  if  this  could  not  touch  the  Scotch,  she 
would  never  again  cross  the  Tweed.  When  it  was 
finished,  she  paujed,  and  looked  to  the  audience. 
The  deep  silence  was  broken  only  by  a  single  voice 
exclaiming,  '  That's  no  bad  ! '  This  ludicrous  par- 
simony of  praise  convulsed  the  Edinburgh  audience 
with  laughter.  But  the  laugh  was  followed  by  such 
thunders  of  applause,  that,  amidst  her  stunned  and 
nervous  agitation,  she  was  not  without  fears  of  the 
galleries  coming  down." 

Mrs.  Siddons  retired  from  the  stage  in  the  zenith 
of  her  fame,  in  June,  1812,  after  appearing  for  the 
last  time  in  her  favourite  character  of  "  Lady  Mac- 
beth." She  appeared,  however,  again  on  two  or 
three  particular  occasions  between  that  time  and 
1817,  and  also  gave,  about  the  same  time,  a  course 
of  public  readings  from  Shakespeare  at  the  Argyll 
Rooms. 

By  her  will,  which  was  made  in  1815,  Mrs. 
Siddons  left  her  "  leasehold  house  in  Upper  Baker 
Street"  to  her  daughter  Cecilia,  together  with  her 
"  carriages,  horses,  plate,  pictures,  books,  wine,  and  ; 
furniture,  and  all  the  money  in  the  house  and  at 
the  banker's."  She  also  left  to  her,  and  to  her  son  j 
George,  the  inkstand  made  from  a  portion  of  the  j 
mulberry-tree  planted  by  Shakespeare,  and  the  pair  j 
of  gloves  worn  by  the  bard  himself,  which  were 
given  to  her  by  Mrs.  Garrick.  Mrs.  Siddons  her-  : 
self,  as  stated  above,  lies  buried  in  Paddington  ,' 
Churchyard. 


In  this  same  street  lived  for  some  years  Richard 
.Brothers,  who,  during  the  years  1792—4,  had  much 
{  disturbed  the  minds  of  the  credulous  by  his 
"prophecies."  He  had  been  a  lieutenant  in  the 
navy.  Among  other  extravagances  promulgated  by 
this  man,  he  styled  himself  the  "  Nephew  of  God ; " 
he  predicted  the  destruction  of  all  sovereigns,  the 
downfall  of  the  naval  power  of  Great  Britain,  and 
the  restoration  of  the  Jews,  who,  under  him  as  their 
prince  and  deliverer,  were  to  be  re-seated  at  Jerusa- 
lem ;  all  these  things  were  to  be  accomplished  by 
the  year  1798.  In  the  meantime,  however,  as 
might  be  expected,  Mr.  Brothers  was  removed  to  a 
private  madhouse,  where  he  remained  till  i8c6( 
when  he  was  discharged  by  the  authority  of  the 
Lord  Chancellor,  Lord  Erskine.  He  died  at  his 
residence  in  this  street  in  1824,  and  was  buried  at 
St.  John's  Wood  Cemetery,  as  already  stated. 

A  little  beyond  the  top  of  Upper  Baker  Street, 
on  the  way  to  St.  John's  Wood,  is  the  warehouse 
of  Messrs.  Tilbury  for  storing  furniture,  &c.  The 
name  of  Tilbury  is  and  will  long  be  known  in 
London  on  account  of  the  fashionable  carriage 
invented  by  the  Messrs.  Tilburys'  grandfather  in  the 
days  of  the  Regency,  and  called  a  Tilbury,  which 
was  succeeded  by  the  Stanhope.  Each  had  its  day, 
and  both  have  been  largely  superseded  by  the 
modern  cabriolet,  though  every  now  and  then  the 
light  and  airy  Tilbury  re-asserts  its  existence  in  the 
London  parks. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 
THE    REGENT'S    PARK:    THE    ZOOLOGICAL    GARDENS,    &c. 

"  What  a  dainty  life  the  milkmaid  leads, 
When  o'er  these  flowery  meads 
She  dabbles  in  the  dew, 
And  sings  to  her  cow, 
And  frels  nut  the  pain 
Of  love  or  disdain. 

She  sleeps  in  the  night,  though  she  toils  all  the  day, 
And  merrily  passeth  her  time  away."— O/./  Play. 

iral  Character  of  the  Site  in  Former  Times-A  Royal  Hunting-ground-The  Original  F.-tate  Disparked-Purchased  from  the  Property  of  the 
Duke  of  Portland— Commencement  of  the  Present  Park- The  Park  thrown  open  to  the  Public  -Proposed  Palace  for  the  Prince  Regent- 
Description  of  the  Grounds  and  Ornamental  Waters— The  liroad  Walk- Italian  Gardens  and  I,ady  Burdett-Coutts'  Drinking- Fountain— The 
Sunday  Afternoon  Band— Terraces  and  Villas— Lord  Hertford  and  the  Giants  from  St.  Dunstan's  Church-Mr.  Bishop's  Observatory-Explo- 
sion on  the  Regent's  Canal -The  Baptist  College-Mr.  James  Silk  Buckingham-U«;o  Foscolo-Park  Square-Sir  Peter  Laurie  a  Resident 
here-The  Diorama-The  Building  turned  into  a  Baptist  Chapcl-The  Colosseum  -1  v  Great  Panorama  of  London-The  "GJaciarium"- 
The  Cyclorama  of  Lisbon-St.  Katharine's  College— The  Adult  Orphan  Institution-Chester  Terrace  and  Chester  Place-Mr..  Fiuherbert's 
Villa— The  Grounds  of  the  Toxophilitc  Society— The  Royal  Botanical  Society-Thc  Zoological  Gardens. 


"  AMONG  the  magnificent  ornaments  of  our  metro- 
polis commenced  under  the  auspices  of  his  present 
Majesty,  while  Regent,"  we  read  in  "  Time's  Tele- 


sures  of  those  who  reside  in  the  north-west  quarter 
of  London.  It  is  no  small  praise  to  the  Com- 
missioners of  Woods  and  Forests  to  say  that  this 


scope"  for  March,  1825,  "the  Regent's  Park  ranks  park  is  under  their  especial  direction;  and  although, 
high  in  point  of  utility  as  well  as  beauty,  and  is  an  from  the  various  difficulties  they  have  necessarily 
invaluable  addition  to  the  comforts  and  the  plea-  encountered,  they  have  not  been  enabled  to  carry 


Regent's  Park.] 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE  LOCALITY. 


into  execution  every  part  of  their  intended  plan, 
they  have  done  enough  to  entitle  them  to  the 
lasting  thanks  of  a  grateful  public.  Kpark,  like  a 
city,  is  not  made  in  a  day ;  arid  to  posterity  it  must 
be  left  fully  to  appreciate  the  merits  of  those  who 
designed  and  superintended  this  delightful  metro- 
politan improvement." 

As  we  have  stated  in  the  previous  chapter,  this 
park  was  formed  out  of  part  of  the  extensive  tract 
of  pasture  land  called  Marylebone  Park  Fields, 
which,  down  to  the  commencement  of  the  present 
century,  had  about  them  all  the  elements  of  rustic 
life;  indeed,  the  locality  seems  to  have  been  but 
little  altered  then  to  what  it  was  two  centuries 
previously ;  for  in  Tottenham  Court,  a  comedy  by 
Thomas  Nabbs,  in  1638,  is  a  scene  in  Marylebone 
Park,  in  which  is  introduced  a  milkmaid,  whose 
song,  which  we  quote  as  a  motto  to  this  chapter, 
testifies  to  the  rural  character  of  the  place. 

In  the  reign  of  James  I.  the  manor  of  Mary- 
lebone was  granted  to  Edward  Forest;  the  king, 
however,  reserved  the  park  in  his  own  hands,  and 
here  he  entertained  foreign  ambassadors  with  a 
day's  hunting,  as  Queen  Elizabeth  had  done  before 
him.  In  the  Board  of  Works  accounts  for  1582 
there  is  the  entry  of  a  payment  "for  making  of 
two  new  standings  in  Marebone  and  Hide  Parkes 
for  the  Queene's  Majestic  and  the  noblemen  of 
Fraunce  to  see  the  huntinge."  In  1646,  Charles  I 


3eing  the  Duke  of  Portland,  whose  lease  expired 
'  i  1811. 

The  present  park  was  commenced  in  1812,  from 
the  designs  of  Mr.  Nash,  the  architect,  who  had 
ately  finished  Regent  Street;  and  for  several  years 
the  site,  we  are  told,  presented  "a  most  extra- 
ordinary scene  of  digging,  excavating,  burning, 
and  building,  and  seemed  more  like  a  work  of 
general  destruction  than  anything  else."  Indeed, 
it  took  such  a  long  time  to  lay  out  and  build, 
that  Hughson,  in  his  "Walks  through  London," 
published  in  1817,  speaks  of  it  as  "not  likely  to 
receive  a  speedy  completion,"  though  it  was  already 
"  one  of  the  greatest  Sunday  promenades  about  the 
town."  By  degrees,  however,  the  elements  of 
confusion  and  chaos  were  cleared  away;  and  in 
the  year  1838,  when  the  park  was  thrown  open, 
Nash's  grand  design  received  the  admiration  of  the 
public.  It  was  at  first  proposed  to  build  a  large 
palace  for  the  Prince  Regent  (after  whom  the  park 
is  named)  in  the  centre,  but  this  plan  was  not 
entertained,  or,  if  entertained,  it  was  speedily 
abandoned.  It  was,  likewise,  at  first  intended,  as 
we  have  already  stated,  to  connect  the  park  with 
Carlton  House;  and  this  design,  though  never 
realised  in  its  full  extent,  gave  birth  to  Regent 
Street* 

The   park  is  over  400  acres  in  extent,  and  is 
nearly  circular  in  form.     It  is  crossed  from  north 


granted  Marylebone  Park  to  Sir  George  Strode  and  j  to   south  by  a  noble  road,  bordered  with  trees, 
John   Wandesforde,  by  letters  patent,  as  security    known  as  the  Broad  Walk,  and   is   traversed 


for  a  debt  of  .£2,318  us.  gd.,  due  to  them  for 
supplying   the   king  with   arms   and   ammunition. 


every  direction  to  all  points  of  the  compass  by  wide 
gravel  paths,  furnished  with  seats  at  short  intervals. 


After  the  death  of  Charles  no  attention  was  paid  |  Around  the  park  runs  an  agreeable  drive  nearly 
to  the  claims  of  these  gentlemen,  but  the  park  was  j  two  miles  long;  and  an  inner  drive,  in  the  form  of 
sold  by  the  Parliament  to  John  Spencer,  on  behalf :  a  circle,  encloses  the  Botanic  Gardens— which,  it  is 
of  Colonel  Harrison's  regiment  of  dragoons,  on  stated,  was  the  site  reserved  by  Mr.  Nash  for  the 


.vhom  it  was  settled  for  their  pay.     At  this  time, 
the  deer  and  much  of  the  timber  having  been  sold, 
Marylebone  Park  was  disparked,  and  it  was  never  j 
again    stocked   with    deer.     At    the    Restoration,  J 


i  roposed  palace  of  the  Prince  Regent— adjoining 
which  is  the  garden  belonging  to  the  Toxophilite 
When  the  park  was    laid    out,   much 
vas   saved  by  the  building  of  terraces 


Society. 
expense 


a-an    soce  . 

Sir  George  Strode  and  Mr.  Wandesforde  were  rein-  round  the  enclosure,  and  by  letting  some  part  of 
Stated  in  their  possession  of  the  Marylebone  Park,  the  land  to  certain  gentlemen  who  were  willing  to 
vh  c  thev  hdd  Si  their  debt  was  discharged,  !  build  villas  for  themselves  withm  the  grounds  on 


been  granted  to  Sir  William  Clarke,  secretary  to 


held  before  the  Protectorate. 

After  both  park  and  manor  had  been  "dis- 
parked "  by  Cromwell,  the  land  was  held  on  lease, 
for  various  terms,  by  different  noblemen  and  gentle- 
men in  succession  ;  the  last  who  held  it  in  this  way 


road  crossm0  „  ~ 

Inner  Circle  being  taken  out  of  it.     And  besides 

the  Inner  Circle,   the  gardens  of  the  Zoological 


264 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


Rent's  Park.] 


THE  ORNAMENTAL  WATERS. 


265 


Society  cover  a  large  portion  on  the  north  side. 
The  ornamental  water  in  this  park  is  superior  to 
that  of  St.  James's  ;  and  that  part  of  the  ground 
where  it  is  situated  is  in  all  respects  the  most 


interestng. 


"The  water  itself,"  says  the   author 


f  Weale's  "  London  and  its  Vicinity  Exhibited  " 
(1851),  "is  of  a  good  form,  with  its  .terminations 
well  covered,  and  several  fine  islands,  which  are 
well  clothed  with  trees.  It  lies  also  in  the  midst 


growth,  would  have  been  of  the  greatest  assist- 
ance. Passing  along  the  western  road  from  Port- 
land Place  to  the  Inner  Circle,  there  is  a  very 
picturesque  and  pleasing  nook  of  water  on  the 
right,  where  the  value  of  a  tangled  mass  of  shrubs 
for  clothing  the  banks  will  be  very  conspicuously 
seen."  Here  are  a  number  of  aquatic  birds,  almost 
rivalling  those  already  mentioned  in  St.  James's 
Park.  They  build  and  rear  their  young  freely  ir, 


of  some  villas  and  terraces,  from  which  it  receives 
additional  beauty.  It  is  on  the  south  side  of  the 
park.  Some  noble  weeping  willows  are  placed 
along  its  southern  margin.  Three  light  suspension 
bridges,  two  of  which  carry  the  walk  across  an 
island  at  the  western  end  of  the  lake,  are  neat  and 
elegant,  but  the  close  wire  fence  at  their  sides 
sadly  interferes  with  the  beauty  of  their  form. 
These  bridges  arc  made  principally  of  strong  wire 
rods.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  material  which 
came  out  of  the  lake  at  the  time  of  its  formation 
has  been  thrown  into  such  an  unmeaning  and  un- 
artistic  heap  on  the  north  side  ;  although  the  trees 
which  have  been  placed  upon  it  in  some  measure 
relieve  its  heaviness.  Here,  perhaps,  more  than 
anywhere  else,  a  good  mass  of  shrubs,  as  under- 
216 


the  bays  and  islands.     The  ornamental  water  con- 
I  sists  of  a  large  lake,  with  three  widely-diverging  bays 
or  inlets,  and  it  is  a  favourite  resort  of  skaters  in 
the  winter  season.     At  that  time,  whenever  the  ice 
I  will  bear,  notwithstanding  the  throng  of  fashion- 
ables, there  may  be  seen  here  a  large  number  of 
the  working,  and  even  of  the  vagabond  classes, 
!  pursuing  their   favourite  recreation  with   perhaps 
more  spirit  than  elegance.     In  the  winter  of  1866-7 
i  a  terrible  accident  occurred  in  one  portion  of  the 
!  ornamental  waters ;  a  large  field  of  ice  gave  way 
1  suddenly,  and  upwards  of  200   persons  were  ira- 
mersed.     Forty  were  drowned;  and   the  lake  was 
afterwards  cleared  out,  and  the  water  reduced  m 
depth.     Boats,  of  late  years,  are   allowed   to  be 
let  for  amusement  here,  and  during  the  pleasant 


B66 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


[Regent's  Part 


evenings  of  summer  a  very  agreeable  scene  is  here   jets  of  water  springing  up  from  the  basins.    The 
presented.    The  banks  of  the  lake  and  its  three    architect  was  Mr.  Darbishire. 


armlets  during  the  summer  months  form  a  most 
agreeable  and  picturesque  promenade,  and  in  fine 
weather  they  are  at  all  times  crowded  with  idlers 
and  juveniles,  to  whom  this  park,  from  its  central 
situation,  is  conveniently  accessible.  Between  the 
water  and  the  top  of  the  long  walk  lies  a  broad 
open  space  on  the  slope  of  a  hill  facing  the  west. 
"  Perhaps,"  says  the  author  above  quoted,  "  as  the 
area  is  intersected  with  several  walks,  it  may  be  a 
little  too  bare,  and  might  possibly  be  improved  by 
a  few  small  groups  of  trees  or  thorns ;  but  in  parks 
of  this  description,  such  a  breadth  of  grass  glade, 
especially  on  the  face  of  a  hill  that  does  not  front 
any  cold  quarter,  is  of  immense  value,  both  for 
airiness  and  effect.  It  will  only  want  some  scattered 
groups  of  trees  along  the  edge  of  the  slope,  near 
the  summit,  to  form  a  foreground  to  any  view  that  of  our  streets  and  public  edifices  with  the  waste 


Taken  as  a  whole,  the  Regent's  Park  is  more 
like  the  demesne  of  an  English  nobleman  than  the 
breathing-ground  of  the  denizens  of  a  great  city, 
being  well  wooded  and  adorned  with  trees,  many 
of  them  of  ancient  growth,  and  standing  in  ranks, 
avenues,  or  clusters  picturesquely  grouped.  It  is, 
however,  situated  too  far  from  the  Court  and  the 
Houses  of  Parliament  ever  to  be  fashionable  in 
the  best  sense  of  the  word ;  but  still  it  is  much 
frequented  by  those  of  the  higher  professional 
classes  who  wish  to  unite  the  enjoyments  of  town 
life  with  fresh  air  and  the  sight  of  green  leaves. 
The  nightingale  still  is  often  heard  here. 

Thirty  or  forty  years  ago  it  was  remarked,  and 
with  some  show  of  justice,  that  foreigners  are  per- 
fectly surprised  when  they  contrast  the  splendour 


may  be  attainable  from  the  top  of  the  hill,  and  also 
to  get  a  broken  horizontal  line  when  looking  up 


the  slope  of  the  hill  from  the  bottom.  The  space 
we  are  speaking  of  is  by  no  means  favourably 
circumstanced  in  the  latter  respect,  as  the  hill  is 
crowned  by  the  fourfold  avenue  of  the  long  walk, 
which  presents  an  exceedingly  flat  and  unbroken 
surface  line."  The  Brothers  Percy,  in  1823,  call  it 


and  dreary  appearance  of  our  parks ;  but  such  a 
remark  would  certainly  not  hold  good  now,  though 


we  are  not  even  yet  as  well  off  as  we  might  be. 

The  park  is  always  full,  but  on  Sundays  and 
holidays  it  really  swarms  with  pleasure-seekers,  who 
find  in  its  trees,  grass,  and  flowers  a  very  fair  sub- 
stitute for  the  fields  of  the  country.  During~the 
summer  months  a  band  plays  on  Sunday  afternoons 
one  of  the  greatest  ornaments  of  the  metropolis,  I  on  the  green-sward  by  the  side  of  the  long  avenue, 
"  around  which  noble  terraces  are  springing  up  as  if  and  is  the  means  of  attracting  thousands  of  the 
by  magic."  Walker  thus  writes  in  "  The  Original  "  j  working  classes  thither.  Still,  the  numbers  that  are 
in  1835:  "The  beauties  of  the  Regent's  Park,  both  now  to  be  found  there  are  not  unexampled  in  the 
as  to  buildings  and  grounds,  seem  like  the  effect  same  place,  for  it  is  on  record  that  50,000  persons 
of  magic  when  contrasted  with  the  recent  remem- ,  have  been  at  one  time  in  the  Marylebone  fields  on 
brance  of  the  quagmire  of  filth  and  the  cow-sheds  '  a  fine  Sunday  evening  to  hear  the  preaching  of 
and  wretched  dwellings  of  which  they  now  occupy  Whhel; 


the  place."     It  was  thought,  indeed,  so  magnificent 
at  the  time  of  its  completion  and  opening  to  the 


On  entering  the  park  at  York  Gate,  which  is 
opposite  Marylebone  Church,  will  be  noticed  a  fine 


public,  that  a  panoramic  view  of  it  was  published  !  range  of  buildings,  called  Ulster  Terrace,  extending 
on  five  large  sheets.  |  some  distance  to  the  right ;  on  the  left  is  a  similar 

Of  late  years  the  surface  has  been,  in  common  '  range,  named  Cornwall  Terrace ;  and  further  on 
with  that  of  the  other  metropolitan  parks,  consider- 1  are  Clarence  Place,  Sussex  Place,  and  Hanover 
ably  improved.  It  has  been  thoroughly  drained,  Terrace — all  bearing  names  connected  with  royalty. 
so  that  the  dampness  of  the  clayey  soil  is  greatly  '  Though  differing  in  architectural  style,  the  man- 
obviated.  A  portion  of  the  central  avenue  has  '  sions  comprised  in  these  several  "  places "  and 
had  its  sides  opened,  and  laid  out  as  elegant  Italian  "terraces"  have  a  corresponding  uniformity  of 
gardens,  which  are  well  supplied  with  flowers,  and  '  design,  consisting  of  a  centre  and  wings,  with 
kept  in  order  with  the  greatest  taste  ;  and  more  porticoes,  piazzas,  and  pediments,  adorned  with 
recently  some  enclosed  portions  of  the  park  have  columns  of  various  orders.  Sussex  Place  is  crowned 


been  thrown  open. 

At  the  upper  end  of  this  long  walk,  opposite 


with  singular  gourd-like  cupolas.  Hanover  Terrace, 
unlike  Cornwall  and  the  other  terraces,  is  somewhat 


the  principal  entrance  to  the  Zoological  Gardens,    raised  from  the  level  of  the  road,  arid  fronted  by 
stands  a  handsome  dnnking-fountain,  presented,  in    a    shrubbery,   through  which   is   a   carriage^rive. 

The  general  effect  of  the  terrace  is  pleasing,  and 


871,  by  Lady  Burdett-Coutts.     It  is  of  granite, 


marble,  and  bronze,    with  statuary   and 
' 


and  is  sur 


canng, 
mounted  with  a  cluster'  of  lamps,  with 


the  pediments,  supported  on  an  arched  rustic  base- 
ment by  fluted  Doric  columns,  are  full  of  richness 


Regent's  Park.] 


ST.   DUNSTAN'S  VILLA. 


267 


and  chaste  design,  the  centre  representing  an  em-  ]  was  buried  at  Kensal  Green  :  may  the  turf  lie  light 
blematical  group  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  the  two    upon  his  grave ! 

ends  being  occupied  with  antique  devices,  and  the       Most  of  the  mansions  to  which  we  have  referred 
three  surmounted  with  figures  of  the  Muses.     The  j  above  are  situated  in  or  near  what  is  called  the 


frieze  is  also  light  and  simple  elegant.  The  terrace 
was  built  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  Nash.  Altogether, 
Hanover  Terrace  may  be  considered  as  one  of  the 
finest  works  of  the  neighbourhood,  and  at  one  time 
it  was  an  object  of  special  admiration. 

"The  architectural  spirit  which  has  arisen  in 
London  since  the  late  peace,  and  ramified  from 
thence  to  every  city  and  town  of  the  empire,  will 
present  an  era  in  our  domestic  history."  Such 
is  the  opinion  of  a  writer  in  Brande's  Quarterly 
Journal,  in  1827 ;  and  he  goes  on  to  describe  the 
new  erections  in  the  Regent's  Park  as  the  "  dawn- 
ing of  a  new  and  better  taste,  and,  in  comparison 
with  that  which  preceded  it,  a  just  subject  of 
national  exultation."  Of  the  general  merits  of 
these  erections,  the  same  author  further  says: — 
"Regent's  Park  and  its  circumjacent  buildings 
promise,  in  few  years,  to  afford  something  like  an 
equipoise  to  the  boasted  Palace-group  of  Paris.  If 
the  plan  already  acted  upon  is  steadily  pursued, 
it  will  present  a  union  of  rural  and  architectural 
beauty  on  a  scale  of  greater  magnificence  than 
can  be  found  in  any  other  place.  The  variety  is 
here  in  the  detached  groups,  and  not  as  formerly 
in  the  individual  dwellings,  by  which  all  unity 
and  grandeur  of  effect  was,  of  course,  annihilated. 
These  groups,  undoubtedly,  will  not  always  bear 
the  eye  of  a  severe  critic,  but  altogether  they 
exhibit,  perhaps,  as  much  beauty  as  can  easily  be 
introduced  into  a  collection  of  dwelling-houses  of 
moderate  size.  Great  care  has  been  taken  to  give 
something  of  a  classical  air  to  every  composition 
and  with  this  object,  the  deformity  of  door-cases  has 
been  in  most  cases  excluded,  and  the  entrances 
made  from  behind.  The  Done  and  Ionic  orders 
have  been  chiefly  employed ;  but  the  Corinthian 
and  even  the  Tuscan,  are  occasionally  introduced 
One  of  these  groups  is  finished  with  domes ;  but 
this  is  an  attempt  at  magnificence  which,  on  so 
small  a  scale,  is  not  deserving  of  imitation." 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  all  the 
various  terraces  of  the  Regent's  Park  front  the 
green-sward  of  the  Dark.  For  instance,  Kent 


Outer  Circle,  a  carriage-drive  which,  for  nearly  two 
miles  in  extent,  encloses  the  whole  area  of  the  park; 
hile  some  of  them  are  in  the  park  itself,  their 
beautiful  private  gardens  forming  part  of  the  en- 
closed land.  Among  the  most  remarkable  of  these 
noble  edifices  are  The  Holme,  nearly  central  in 
the  park-land,  built  by  Burton,  the  architect ;  St. 
"ohn's  Lodge,  long  the  residence  of  Sir  Isaac  Lyon 
Goldsmid ;  and  St.  Dunstan's  Villa.  As  we  men- 
ioned  in  our  account  of  Fleet  Street,  when  old  St. 
Dunstan's  Church  was  pulled  down,  the  clock  was 
sold  by  auction,  and  bought  by  Lord  Hertford,  for 
whom  Mr.  Decimus  Burton  erected  St.  Dunstan's 
Villa  here.  In  the  grounds  of  this  villa  the  old 
clock  was  put  up,  with  its  automaton  giants  striking 
the  hours  and  the  quarters ;  and  it  is  still  to  be 
seen  there  in  full  working  order,  performing  the 
same  duties  as  of  old  in  Fleet  Street,  as  may  be 
seen  in  our  illustration.*  The  clock  and  figures 
were  put  up  in  old  St.  Dunstan's  Church  in  1671, 
the  "two  figures,  or  boys  with  poleaxes,"  being 
made  to  strike  the  quarters.  The  clock  had  a 
large  gilt  dial  overhanging  the  street,  and  above 
it  two  figures  of  savages,  life-size,  carved  in  wood, 
standing  beneath  a  pediment,  each  having  in  his 
right  hand  a  club,  with  which  he  struck  the  quarters 
upon  a  suspended  bell,  moving  his  head  at  the 
same  time.  To  see  the  men  strike  was  very  at- 
tractive, and  opposite  St.  Dunstan's  Church  was  a 
famous  field  for  pickpockets,  who  took  advantage 
of  the  gaping  crowd.  When  the  old  church  was 
taken  down,  in  1830,  Lord  Hertford  attended  the 
second  sale  of  the  materials,  and  purchased  the 
clock,  bells,  and  figures  for  ,£210,  and  placed  them 
in  the  grounds  of  his  new  villa  here.  In  the  year 
1855,  after  the  death  of  the  Marquis  of  Hertford, 
the  "  costly  effects "  of  St.  Dunstan's  Villa  were 
brought  to  the  hammer  of  the  auctioneer.  In  a 
notice  of  the  sale  which  appeared  in  the  news- 
papers of  the  time,  it  is  stated  that  "  the  interior  of 
this  building  is  somewhat  grotesque  and  irregular, 
it  having  been  erected  at  enormous  expense  and 
by  instalments,  for  the  sole  purpose 


park  For  instance,  Kent  by  instalments,  ior  uic  s  pm^*,  ™  „.„.-  0 
Terrace,  so  named  after  the  father  of  her  present  the  late  marquis's  numerous  fnends."  Fhe  sale 
Majesty  faces  Alpha  Road  and  St.  John's  Wood,  I  consisted  of  the  furniture  and  effects,  a  few  valuable 
a  litle  above  the  top  of  Upper  Baker  Street.  Here,  pictures,  antique  sculptures,  Florentine  bronze  ^ 
at  No.  «.  the  eeniai  and  kindly  humourist,  Shirley  I  South  Villa,  wh.ch  ,s  situated  between  the  Inner 


Brooks,  the  life  and  soul  of  Punch  almost  from  its 
commencement,  and  the  successor  of  Mark  Lemon 
in  its  editorial  chair,  spent  the  last  few  years  of  his 
Jiie,  and  there  he  died  in  February,  1874.  He 


Circle  and  the  ornamental  water,  was  for  many 
years  the  residence  of  Mr.  Bishop,  whose  observa- 


•  bee  Vol.  1.,  p.  «• 


968 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Regent's  Part  s 


tory  here,  erected  in  1836,  under  the  management  j  habitants  of  the  park.     In  Hanover  Lodge  lived 
.ccessively  of  the  late  Rev.  W.  R.  Dawes  and  Mr.    for  some  time  old  Lord  Dundonald.    At  26,  Sussex 


J.  R.  Hind,  gained  great  distinction  by  the  dis- 
covery of  asteroids  and  variable  stars.  Mr.  Hind 
was  previously  an  assistant  in  the  Royal  Observa- 
tory at  Greenwich,  and  almost  immediately  after 
undertaking  the  management  of  Mr.  Bishop's  ob- 
servatory, in  1844,  he  applied  himself  diligently  to 


Place,  lived  for  several  years  Mr.  William  Crock- 
ford,  the  proprietor  of  the  club  in  St.  James's  Street 
which  bore  his  name ;  and  No.  1 1,  Cornwall  Terrace 
long  the  residence  of  Mr.  James  Silk  Bucking- 
ham, some  time  M.P.  for  Sheffield,  and  the  most 
restless  and  indefatigable  of  literary  toilers.  Not 


the  discovery  of  the  small  planets  revolving  in  I  many  months  previous  to  his  death,  Mr.  Bucking- 
orbits  between  Mars  and  Jupiter.  The  first  four  of  j  ham  commenced  an  "Autobiography,"  which  pro- 
this  series  of  asteroids,  which  now  amount  to  more  mised  to  be  exceedingly  voluminous.  The  portion 


than  1 60,  were  discovered  in  the  first  seven  years 
of  the  present  century ;  no  further  discoveries  were 


published  sufficed  to  show  that  the  career  of  the 
author  had  been  singularly  chequered  and  adven- 


made  till  1845,  when  the  detection  of  the  fifth  by  |  turous.     In  his  early   days,   he  went  to  sea  in  a 


M.  Hencke  induced  Mr.  Hind  to  prosecute  his 
researches  in  this  particular  field  of  astronomy. 
Between  the  years  1847  and  1854  Mr.  Hind's 
labours  were  rewarded  by  the  discovery  of  no  less 
than  ten.  In  order  to  accomplish  this  work,  it  was 
necessary  to  construct  charts  of  that  portion  of  the 
heavens  where  the  planets  are  usually  found,  and 


the  accuracy  required  in  mapping  down  the  posi- 
tions  of  minute  stars  in  this  region  led  to  the  dis- 


humble  capacity.  He  afterwards  became  con- 
nected with  journalism  in  India,  travelled  over  the 
greater  part  of  the  world,  and,  returning  to  England, 
acquired  some  fame  as  a  lecturer,  and  grew  con- 
spicuous by  his  connection  with  various  philan- 
thropic schemes,  many  of  which,  however,  v/ere 
looked  upon  as  impracticable.  In  1832  he  was 


elected  M.P.  for  Sheffield,  and  he  continued  to 
represent  that  constituency  until  the  dissolution 
covery  of  these  small  planets.  This  observatory  1  in  1837.  His  connection  with  the  British  and 
was  a  few  years  ago  removed  to  Twickenham.  Foreign  Institute,  and  the  ridicule  with  which  many 

Proceeding  onwards,  in  the  direction  of  North  '  of  his  proceedings  were  visited  by  Punch,  were  for 
Gate,  by  St.  Dunstan's  Villa,  we  cross  a  bridge  a  long  time  matters  of  public  notoriety. 
under  which  passes  the  Regent's  Canal  ;  on  each  Another  resident  in  Regent's  Park  in  its  early 
side  is  a  foot-path,  with  a  beautiful  margin  of  trees,  j  days  was  Ugo  Foscolo,  the  Italian  exile  and  poet, 
Outside  the  North  Gate  is  the  extensive  district  of  j  who  built  for  himself  a  house,  which  he  furnished 
St.  John's  Wood,  of  which  we  have  already  treated,  '  sumptuously  and  with  exquisite  taste  ;  but  he  had 
and  likewise  Primrose  Hill,  of  which  we  shall  speak  not  occupied  it  long  when  it  was  seized  by  his 
presently.  creditors.  His  poetic  genius  rendered  him  utterly 

This  portion  of  the  park  was  the  scene  of  a  '  unpunctual  and  impracticable.  He  used  to  say 
deplorable  accident,  on  the  znd  of  October,  1874,  '  to  his  frends,  "Rich  or  poor,  I  will  live  and  die 
by  which  three  lives  were  lost.  In  the  early  morn-  like  a  gentleman,  on  a  clean  bed,  surrounded 
ing,  shortly  before  five  o'clock,  five  barges  laden  by  Venus  and  Apollo,  and  the  Graces,  and  the 
with  merchandise,  and  among  the  rest  a  large  busts  of  great  men,  among  flowers  and  with  music 
quantity  of  combustibles,  wen:  being  towed  by  a  breathing  around  me  ;  .  .  .  and  since  I  must  be 
steam-tug  along  the  canal.  The  head  of  the  little  buried  in  England,  I  am  happy  in  having  got  for 
flotilla  had  just  passed  under  the  North  Bridge  '<  the  remainder  of  my  life  a  cottage,  independent  of 
when  a  terrific  explosion  occurred,  which  shook  neighbours,  open  to  the  air  of  heaven,  and  sur- 
nearly  the  whole  of  London,  and  blew  the  stout  rounded  by  shrubs  and  flowers,  among  which  I  will 
iron  bridge  into  atoms,  shattering  the  lodge-house  build  a  small  dwelling  for  my  corpse,  under  a 
to  pieces,  and  causing  considerable  damage  to  the  beautiful  plane-tree  from  the  East,  which  I  mean  to 
surrounding  property.  The  bridge  has  since  been  )  cultivate  till  the  last  day  of  my  existence."  Poor 


rebuilt  on  almost  precisely  the  same  plan. 

Holford  House,  a  mansion  of  large  extent  and 


poet !  "  man  proposes,  but  God  disposes."    Within 
a  few  months  his  cottage  and  all  its  belongings  came 


rare  magnificence  a  little  to  the  north  of  St.  Dun-  !  to  the  hammer,  and  his  memory  has  passed  away 
Stan's  Villa,  has  since  the  decease  of  its  wealthy  j  from  the  Regent's   Park.      He  died  at  Turnham 


proprietor  been  transformed  into  a  training  college 
for  ministers  of  the  Baptist  denomination.     The 
college  was  founded  at  Stepney  in  1810,  but  trans- 
planted hither  in  1856. 
We  must  now  mention   some   of  the  chief  in- 


Green  in  1827,  and  was  buried  at  Chiswick. 

At  the  south-eastern  corner  of  the  park,  oppo- 
site to  the  northern  end  of  Portland  Place,  is  Park 
Square.  Its  site  was,  in  1817,  when  Hughson  wrote 
his  "  Walks  through  London,"  an  open  field,  with  a 


Regent's  Park.] 


THE  DIORAMA. 


rustic  gate;  and  the  southern  side  of  the  road, 
where  Park  Crescent  now  stands,  was  much  in  the 
same  condition.     The  houses,  built  in  almost  open 
country,  were  finished  so  slowly  and  found  so  few 
ready  to  take  them,  that  for  a  long  time  it  seemed 
doubtful  whether  the  formation   of  the   Regent's 
Park  would  not  have  to  be  abandoned.     "The 
works  have  been  so  long,"  writes  Hughson,  "in 
this  half-built  state  that  grass  has  grown  on  the  top 
of  the  walls,  reaching  in  some  places  higher  than 
the  kitchen  windows  !  "      Park  Square,  as  we  have 
already  stated,*   occupies  the   site  of  what  was 
originally  intended  as  part  of  a  large  circus,  which 
was  to  have  closed  the  northern  end  of  Portland 
Place;  only  one  half,  however,  was  erected,  and 
that,   as  we  have  observed,  is  now  called  Park 
Crescent.     The  square  consists  of  two  rows  of 
houses,  elongated  upon   the    extremities    of  the 
crescent,  and  separated  from  the  Marylebone  Road 
from  the  park,  and  from  each  other  by  a  spacious 
quadrangular  area,  laid  out  with  ornamental  pleasure 
grounds.     Extending  from  the  crescent  to  the  en 
closed  area  of  the  square,  under  the  roadway,  is  th< 
underground  passage  or  tunnel,  called  the  "Nursery 
maids'  Walk,"  of  which  we  have  spoken  in  a  forme: 
chapter.f     In  1826,  Park  Square  was  completed 
and  just  beginning  to  be  occupied.    At  No.  7  livec 
for  many  years  the  amiable  and  eccentric  alderman 
Sir  Peter  Laurie.     He  was  the  son  of  a  small  ag  ' 
culturist,  and  came  from  Scotland  to  London  to 
push  his  fortunes  as  a  poor  boy.     He  at  first  filled 
a  clerk's  place  in  a  saddler's  counting-house,  and 
having  married  the  daughter  of  his  employer,  set 
up  on  his  own  account  as  a  merchant.    He  became 
ultimately  head  of  the  firm  of  Laurie  and  Marner, 
the  great  coach-builders  of  Oxford  Street,  and  Lord 
Mayor  of  London.     He  died  in  18614 

On  the  east  side  of  Park  Square  stands  the 
building  formerly  known  as  the  Diorama.  It  was 
built  by  Messrs.  Morgan  and  Pugin,  architects,  and 
was  opened  in  1823.  It  was  erected  for  the  pur- 
pose of  exhibiting  two  dioramic  views  which  had 
been  previously  shown  in  Paris  by  the  originators, 
MM.  Bouton  and  Daguerre  ;  the  latter,  the  in- 
ventor of  the  Daguerreotype,  died  in  1851.  The 
pictures  were  changed  two  or  three  times  every 


269 


ariety  of  natural  phenomena,  the  spectators  being 
ept  in  comparative  darkness,  while  the  picture 
eceived  a  concentrated  light  from  a  ground-glass 
oof.  The  interior  of  Canterbury  Cathedral,  the 
rst  picture  exhibited,  is  said  to  have  been  a  triumph 
)f  architectural  painting;  the  companion  picture, 
he  Valley  of  Sarnen,  was  equally  admirable  in  its 
.tmospheric  effects.  On  one  day  (Easter-Monday, 
824)  the  receipts  exceeded  £200.  Although  the 
peculation  was  artistically  successful,  it  did  not 
insvver  commercially.  In  1848,  the  building  and 
;round  in  the  rear,  with  the  machinery  and  pictures, 
rere  sold  ;  and  the  property,  with  sixteen  pictures, 
rolled  on  large  cylinders,  subsequently  realised  only 
.£3,000,  not  a  third  of  the  original  cost  of  the 
Diorama,  which  was  built  and  opened  in  the  space 
of  four  months.  The  building  was  purchased  by 
Sir  S.  Morton  Peto  in  1852,  and  turned  by  him 
into  a  Baptist  chapel,  its  first  minister  being  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Landels. 

About  two  hundred  yards  to  the  north,  and  over- 

looking the  park,  stood,  till  1875,  the  Colosseum, 

which  was  at  one  time  a  magazine  of  artistic  and 

mechanical  wonders,  well  known  not  only  to  Lon- 

doners, but  to  sight-seeing  strangers  from  far  and 

near  who  visited  the  metropolis  ;  indeed,  for  many 

years  it  enjoyed  a  celebrity  of  its  own  as  a  place  of 

amusement,  with  attractions  for  "  country  cousins," 

such  as  panoramas  of  London,  Rome,  Paris,  and 

other   cities,  dioramas,  dissolving  views,  grottoes, 

:onservatories,  a  Gothic  aviary,  Temple  of  Theseus, 

&c.     It  was,   perhaps,  badly  named,  for,  though 

colossal"   in  its   size,   it  bore  no  resemblance, 

physically  or  aesthetically,  to  that  magnificent  ruin, 

he   Coliseum  at  Rome,  and  consequently  could 

not  fail  to  raise  expectations  which  it  disappointed 

fterwards.     This,  and  the  absence  of  an  under- 

ground railway  to  make  it  easily  accessible,  ruined 

its  popularity.    The  Colosseum  itself  was  originally 

planned  by  Mr.  Horner,  a  land  surveyor,  and  was 

begun  in  1824  from  the  designs  of  Decimus  Burton, 

Messrs.  Grissell  and  Peto  being  the  contractors. 

Together  with  the  conservatories  and  garden  ad- 

joining, it  occupied  about  an  acre.     It  was  a  heavy 

nondescript  building,  polygonal  in  form,  and  sur- 


year ;  they  were  suspended  in  separate  rooms, 


and 

circular  room,  containing  the  spectators,  was 
turned  round,  "  much  like  an  eye  in  its  socket,"  to 
admit  the  view  of  each  alternately.  The  pictures 
were  eighty  feet  in  length  and  forty  feet  in  height 
painted  in  solid  and  in  transparency,  and  arranged 
so  as  to  exhibit  changes  of  light  and  shade  and  a 


mounted  by  an  immense  dome  or  cupola  of  glass 
by  which  alone  it  was  lighted.  In  the  principal 
or  western  front,  towards  the  Regent's  Park,  was 
a  grand  portico,  with  large  fluted  columns,  of  the 
Doric  order,  supporting  a  bold  pediment.  "The 
whole,"  writes  Mr.  Baker  in  his  "Pictorial  Hand- 
book of  London,"  "resembles  rather  a  miniature  of 
the  Pantheon  at  Rome,  except  that  the  portico  is 
Doric,  with  only  six  columns,  said  to  be  full-sized 
models  of  those  of  the  Pantheon  at  Athens.  The 


270 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


stripping  off  the  plaster  showed  up  the  sham  gran- 
deur of  the  denuded  remnant ;  and  the  prostitution 
of  the  place  to  a  mere  show-room,  exceeding  the 
bounds  of  a  burlesque,  failed  to  hit  the  taste  of 
the  public,  and  brought  the  place  to  grief." 

On  the  canvas  walls  of  the  interior,  for  many 
years  from  and  after  1829,  was  exhibited  perhaps 
the  most  popular  of  all  panoramas,  "  London,"  one 
of  the  first  objects  which  country  cousins  were 


to  the  level  of  the  two  galleries  already  mentioned. 
The  ceiling  of  the  picture  was  formed  by  an  inner 
dome.  "  The  painting  of  this  panorama,"  says  Mr. 
Timbs,  in  his  "  Curiosities  of  London,"  "  was  a 
marvel  of  art.  It  covered  upwards  of  46,000  square 
feet,  or  more  than  an  acre  of  canvas.  The  dome 
on  which  the  sky  was  painted  was  thirty  feet  greater 
than  that  of  St.  Paul's  in  diameter,  and  the  circum- 
ference of  the  horizon  from  the  point  of  view  nearly 


taken  to  see  in  the  days  of  our  youth.  It  was 
painted  from  sketches  taken  by  Mr.  Horner  himself 
in  a  temporary  wooden  cabin  or  "  crow's  nest " 
erected  in  1821  on  the  summit  of  the  cross  of  St. 
Paul's,  as  we  have  stated  in  a  previous  volume.* 
The  view  of  the  picture  was  obtained  from  two 
galleries,  one  above  the  other,  intended  to  corre- 
spond with  the  two  galleries  in  the  dome  of  the 
Cathedral.  The  ascent  to  these  galleries  was  by 
spiral  staircases,  built  on  the  outside  of  what  may 
be  termed  a  huge  central  shaft  In  the  inside  of 
this  was  a  chamber,  capable  of  containing  ten  or 
twelve  persons  at  a  time,  called  the  "  Ascending 
Room."  This  was  hoisted  by  invisible  machinery 


Vol.  I.,  p.  255. 


130  miles.     Except  the  dome  of  St  Paul's,  there 

'  was  (at  that   time   at    least)  no    painted    surface 

J  in  Great  Britain  to  compare  with  it  in  magnitude. 

i  .    .    .     It  is  inferred  that  Sir  James  Thornhill,  in 

|  painting  the  interior  of  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's,  used 

i  the  scaffolding  which  had   been  employed  for  its 

construction,    and   his    designs   comprised   twelve 

several  compartments,  each  distinct  in  itself.      Not 

so  this  panorama  of  London,  which,  as  one  subject, 

required  unity,  harmony,   and   accuracy  of  linear 

j  and  aerial  perspective.     The  perpendicular  canvas 

and  the  concave  ceiling  of  stucco  were  not  to  be 

seen  by  or  even  known  to  the  spectator,  on  whom 

a  veritable  illusion  was  intended  to  be  practised ; 

and  the  combination  of  a  vertical  and  horizontal 

surface,  though  used,  was  not  to  be  detected.   After 


ezcnt's  Park.] 


THE  GREAT  PANORAMA  OF  LONDON 


THE   PANORAMA   OF    LONDO 


N.     (See  pagf  269.) 


THE   COLOSSEU 


272 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


[Regent's  Park. 


the  sketches  were  completed  upon  2,000  sheets  of 
large  paper,  and  the  building  finished,  no  person 
could  be  found  to  paint  the  picture  in  a  sufficiently 
short  period,  and  many  artists  were  consequently 
employed  upon  it.  At  last,  by  the  use  of  plat- 
forms slung  by  ropes,  with  baskets  for  conveying 
the  colours,  temporary  bridges,  and  other  ingenious 
contrivances,  the  painting  was  executed,  but  in  the 
particular  style,  taste,  and  notions  of  each  artist ; 
to  reconcile  which,  and  to  bring  them  to  form  one 
vast  whole,  was  a  novel,  intricate,  and  delicate  task 
which  several  persons  tried,  but  without  effe:t 
At  length,  Mr.  E.  T.  Parris,  possessing  an  accur  ite 
knowledge  of  mechanics  and  perspective  and  prac- 
tical execution  in  painting,  combined  with  great 
enthusiasm  and  perseverance,  accomplished  the 
labour,  principally  with  his  own  hands,  standing 
in  a  wooden  box  or  cradle  suspended  from  cross 
poles,  and  lifted,  as  required,  by  ropes.  The  pano- 
rama, thus  completed,  was  viewed  from  a  gallery 
with  a  projecting  framework  beneath  it,  in  exact 
imitation  of  the  outer  dome  of  St.  Paul's,  so  as  to 
produce  the  illusion  that  the  spectator  was  actually 
standing  at  that  altitude,  the  perspective  and  light 
and  shade  of  the  campanile  towers  above  the  western 
front  being  admirably  managed.  There  was  above 
this  another  staircase,  leading  to  an  upper  gallery, 
the  view  from  which  was  intended  to  represent  the 
view  from  the  cross  at  the  top  of  St.  Paul's."  It 
has  been  said,  with  some  truth,  that  of  all  the 
panoramic  pictures  that  ever  were  painted  in  the  , 
world,  of  the  proudest  cities  formed  and  inhabited 
by  the  human  race,  the  view  of  London  contained 
in  the  Colosseum  was  the  most  pre-eminent,  exhibit- 
ing as  it  did,  at  one  view,  "  to  the  eye  and  to  the 
mind  the  dwellings  of  near  a  million  and  a  half  of 
human  beings,  a  countless  succession  of  churches, 
bridges,  halls,  theatres,  and  mansions ;  a  forest  of 
floating  masts,  and  the  manifold  pursuits,  occupa- 
tions, and  powers  of  its  ever-active,  ever-changing 
inhabitants." 

This  panorama,  though  opened   early  in  1829, 
retained  its  popularity  so  long  that  in  1845  it  was  I 
re-painted  by  Mr.  Parris,  when  a  second  exhibition  ; 
— the  same,  of  course,  mutatis  mutandis — "  London  j 
by  Night,"  was  exhibited  in  front  of  the  other.     It 
was  illuminated  in  such  a  way  as  to  produce  the  . 
illusion  of  a  moonlight  night,  with  the  lamps  in  the 
shops,   on  the  bridges,  &c.,  and  the  rays  of  the 
moon  falling  on  the  rippling  river.     In  1848,  the 
Panorama  of  Paris,  painted   by   Danson,  of    the 
same  size  as  the  night  view  of  London,  was  ex- 
hibited there,  the  localities  inade  famous  by  the 
then  recent   Revolution   being  brought   out   into 
prominence.      In  1850  both  of  these  exhibitions 


gave  way  to  a  panorama  of  the  Lake  of  Thun,  in 
Switzerland;  but  in  the  following  year — that  of 
the  first  Great  Exhibition— rthe  old  panorama  re- 
asserted its  claim  on  the  public  attention,  and  was 
reproduced  with  great  success. 

These  gigantic  pictures,  however,  were  by  no 
means  the  only,  though  they  were  the  principal, 
features  of  the  Colosseum  in  the  days  of  its  celebrity. 
It  contained  a  sculpture  gallery,  called  the  "  Glyp- 
tothec,"  two  large  conservatories  of  glass,  and  a 
Swiss  chalet,  with  mountain  scenery  and  real  water 
running  through  it,  the  execution  of  Mr.  Horner, 
the  original  designer  of  the  building.  In  1834, 
there  was  exhibited  here  a  very  fine  collection  of 
animals  and  other  curiosities  from  Southern  and 
Central  Africa,  which  created  a  great  sensation  by 
their  novelty,  and  formed  one  of  the  attractions  of 
the  season.  It  has  often  been  said  that  there  is 
nothing  new  under  the  sun ;  but  it  may  sound  novel 
and  strange  to  many  readers  to  learn,  on  the  autho- 
rity of  the  "  Chronicles  of  the  Seasons,"  published 
in  1844,  that  the  experiment  of  a  skating-hall,  with 
boards  for  ice,  and  with  skates  on  wheels,  was  tried 
here  forty  years  before  either  "  rinks"  or  Plimpton's 
patent  skates  were  heard  of.  The  author  of  that 
book  writes :  "As  the  exercise  of  skating  can  be 
enjoyed  in  this  country  only  for  a  short  period  in 
the  winter,  and  sometimes  not  for  many  years 
together  near  our  large  towns,  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  supply  a  substitute  by  which  persons  might 
glide  rapidly  over  any  level  surface,  though  not 
with  so  much  facility  as  upon  ice.  This  con- 
trivance, which  ....  emanated  from  a  Mr.  Tyers, 
consists  of  the  woodwork  of  a  common  skate,  or 
something  nearly  like  it ;  but  instead  of  a  steel 
support  at  the  bottom,  having  a  single  row  of  little 
wheels  placed  behind  one  another,  the  body  of  the 
skater  being  carried  forward  by  the  rolling  of  the 
wheels,  instead  of  by  the  sliding  of  the  iron.  We 
have  seen  these  skates  used  with  much  facility  on 

a  boarded  floor A  more  successful  plan 

still  has  been  adopted  by  an  ingenious  inventor, 
who  has  furnished  the  lovers  of  skating  in  the 
metropolis  with  a  fine  sheet  of  artificial  ice.  It  was 
at  first  exhibited  at  the  Colosseum,  in  the  Regent's 
Park,  but  was  afterwards  removed  to  a  building 
where  a  more  spacious  area  could  be  opened  for 
the  purpose.  The  place  is  decorated  with  scenery 
representing  snowy  mountains,  and  in  summer  it 
presents,  with  its  parties  of  skaters,  a  strange  con- 
trast to  the  actual  state  of  things  out  of  doors." 
The  " glaciarium,"  or  "skating-rink"  of  real  ice, 
was  the  invention  of  the  late  Mr.  Bradwell,  the  chief 
machinist  of  Covent  Garden  Theatre,  who  was 
himself  the  inventor  of  the  ice,  and  first  tried  it 


ST.   KATHARINE'S  HOSPITAL. 


at   the  theatre.     "At  first,"  says  a  writer  in  the 

Athenaum,  "the  surface  was  hard  and  polished,  and 

bore  skating  well ;  but  the  amateurs  complained  it 

would  not  enable  them  to  cut  a  figure  like  real  ice, 

so  next  year  Bradwell  invented  an  ice  which  cut 

well  with  the  skate.     The  affair  was  on  too  small  a 

scale  to  pay  in  those  days."  We  have  already  men- 
tioned this  early  attempt  to  make  a  skating-rink 

in  summer  in  our  account  of  Madame  Tussaud's 

Exhibition,  in  Baker  Street.*     In  spite  of  all  this 

ingenuity,  the  projector   failed,  and  the  building 

passed,  by  sale,  into  other  hands.     The  Colosseum 

was  soon  afterwards  altered,  with  the  exception  of 

the  panorama,  and  sundry  additions  and  improve- 
ments were  made  to  enhance  its  attractions.  An 

entrance  made  on  the  east  from  Albany  Street,  a 

Gothic  aviary,  sundry  pieces  of  rock  scenery,  and 

models   of  the   ruins   of  the   arch   of  Titus,  the 

temples  of  Vesta  and  Theseus,  as  well  as  other  j  the  college  are  repeated,  encircled  with  the  motto,. 

'  "  Elianora  fundavit,"  with  the  royal  arms  to  corre- 
spond. The  same  arms  are  also  carved  on  the  two. 
lodges,  and  are  encircled  with  the  inscriptions, 
"Fundavit  Mathilda,  1548,"  and  "In  hoc  situ 
restitit,  1828."  In  the  centre  of  the  court-yard  is  a 
conduit  for  the  supply  of  the  hospital.  The  west 


designs  of  Mr.  Ambrose  Poynter,  and  completed. 
in  1828.  It  is  a  Gothic  structure,  of  yellow  brick, 
consisting  of  a  chapel,  six  residences  for  pensioners, 
and  a  detached  residence  for  the  master.  The 
chapel  is  in  the  florid  Gothic  style,  and  is  a  poor 
imitation  of  the  chapel  of  King's  College,  Cam- 
bridg?;  it  has  two  octagonal  towers,  with  a  large 
window  of  perpendicular  tracery,  above  which  are 
the  royal  arms  and  those  of  the  collegej.it  has, 
moreover,  a  pulpit  of  wood,  a  gift  to  the  church 
from  Sir  Julius  Caesar.  Here,  too,  is  the  tomb' 
of  John  Holland,  Duke  of  Exeter  (who  fought  in 
France  in  the  wars  of  Henry  VI.,  and  who  died  in 
the  year  1447),  which  was  also  removed  hither  from 
the  old  church  of  St.  Katharine  at  Tower  Hill.. 
It  is  an  altar-tomb,  and  on  it  rest  the  effigies  of 
the  duke  and  his  two  wives,  under  a  rich  canopy. 
On  the  dwellings  of  the  chaplains  the  arms  of 


classical  subjects,  a  stalactite  cavern,  &c.,  were 
among  the  most  important.  In  1848,  there  was 
added  a  sort  of  theatre,  highly  decorated  with 
reproductions  of  bacchanalian  groups,  some  of 
Raphael's  cartoons,  &c.  "  Upon  the  stage,"  says 
John  Timbs,  "  passed  the  Cyclorama  of  Lisbon, 
representing  with  terrible  minuteness  the  terrible 
scenes  which  marked  the  earthquake  of  1755." 
very  popular  for  a  time,  and 


end  of  the  chapel  immediately  faces  the  park  road, 
on  the  opposite  side  of  which  stands  the  house  of 
the  master,  whose  office  is  in  the  gift  of  the  Queen 


ever,  perhaps  for  the  reasons  we  have  stated  above, 
the  number  of  visitors  dwindled,  and  the  exhibition 


This  exhibition 

Dr.  Bachhoffner  added  to  its  attractiveness  by  his  j  Consort  for  the  time  being,  if  there  is  one — if  not, 

lectures  and  other  exhibitions.  In  the  end,  how-  j  of  the  Crown.  The  present  hospital  was  built  with 

the  money  awarded  as  compensation  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  old  hospital,  situated  on  the  east  of 

was  closed.  the  Tower  of  London,  described  by  us  previously,! 

The  Colosseum  was  put  up  to  auction  by  Messrs.  '  and  whose  homely  buildings  and  cloisters  are  de- 

Winstanley  in  1855,  but  no  bid  was  made  which  \  scribed  by  Stow  as  holding  more  inhabitants  than 

reached  the  "reserve  price,"  ,£20,000,  about  a  tenth    some  cities  in  England.     Of  the  foundation  of  thir 

of  the  sum  which  had  been  up  to  that  time  expended 

upon    it.      The   building   afterwards   passed    into 

several  hands,  and  ultimately  it  was  purchased  by 

a  small  number  of  gentlemen,  with   the   idea  of 

erecting  there  a  grand   hotel ;   but  this  idea  was 

abandc 

g^undras^stetenbOTe^Onlte^itc'a  number  of   Green  clothes  or  those  entirely  red,  or  any  striped 
private  residences  have  been  erected. 


hospital  and  its  history,  down  to  the  time  of  its  re- 
moval hither,  we  have  already  spoken  ;  but  we  may 
add  here  something  concerning  the  inmates  of  the 


hospital. 


Under  the  charter  and  statutes  granted 
,  queen  of  Edward  III.,  the  brethren 


bandoned.     Subsequently  the  lease  was  purchased    were  to  wear  "  a  strait  coat,"  and  over  that  a  black 
y  a  Mr  Bird  and  the  walls  were  levelled  to  the    mantle,  with   "the   sign  of  the  holy  Katharine 

Green  clothes  or  those  entirely  red,  or  any  striped 
clothes  "as  tending  to  dissoluteness,"  were  not  to 


Not  far  to  the  north  of  the  Colosseum  stands 
the  modem  Collegiate  Church  of  St.  Katharine's, 
once  part  of  a  royal  hospital  and  religious  founda- 


be  used.  The  clerks  were  to  have  shaven  crowns. 
The  curfew-bell  was  to  ring  home  at  night  the 
brethren  and  sisters.  The  queen  contributed  to  the 


tion,  established  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Tower  j  rebuilding  of  the  collegiate  church  in  134°,  and  her 
of  London,  by  Matilda,  the  queen  consort  of  King  husband  there  founded  a  chantry  for  the  re  se  of 
o_  ,  U  .,  _,_  .  _•_.  _r.i._  c D,f-T,_  her soul.  The  hospital  still  remains  under  queenly 

patronage,  and  the  mastership  is  a  valuable  sinecure. 

The  revenues  of  the  ancient  hospital  were  directed 


Stephen.  On  the  destruction  of  the  former  estab- 
lishment  in  1825,  to  make  room  for  the  St.  Katha- 
rine's Docks,  this  building  was  erected  from  the 


S«  VoL  IV.,  p.  4«. 


f  Sec  Vol.  II.,  PP.  "7, 


274 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


(Regent'.  Parl 


to  the  maintenance  of  "  six  poor  bachelors  and  six 
poor  spinsters." 

The  community  now  consists  of  a  master  and 
three  brethren,  all  bound  by  the  charter  to  be 
priests,  three  sisters,  and  twenty  bedesmen,  and 
alike  the  number  of  bedeswomen,  their  chief  duties 
being  regular  celebration  and  attendance  at  divine 
service,  and  works  of  charity  and  almsgiving 
among  the  poor,  as  examples  of  good  Christian  life 
and  conversation.  Conformably  with  these  pious 
instructions  we  find  that  the  master  is  a  layman 
of  quality  who  resides  near  St  James's  Palace ; 
that  the  three  brethren  have  houses  and  occupa- 
tions elsewhere,  one  at  a  time  being  "  in  residence" 
for  a  few  months  in  the  year ;  that  the  sisters  "  do 


whole  house  was  threatened  with  dissolution,  to- 
gether with  the  other  monasteries  of  the  kingdom, 
and  was  only  rescued  through  the  fact  that,  the 
patronage  being  in  the  hands  of  the  queen  consort. 
Anne  Boleyn  thought  it  worth  while  to  induce  her 
royal  master  to  continue  this  source  of  influence 
to  her  and  her  successors. 

In  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  with  the  queen 
herself,  began  the  first  abuse  of  this  institution. 
Up  to  that  period  the  master  had  always  been  a 
priest,  and  held  a  position  similar  to  that  of  a 
dean  at  the  head  of  his  chapter.  The  Crown, 
however,  to  whom  the  appointment  on  this  occa- 
sion lapsed  through  default  of  a  queen  consort, 
contravened  the  old  statutes,  and,  by  a  writ  of 


not  in  general  reside ; "    that  the  bedesmen  and  |  non-obstante,    placed    Thomas  Wilson,  Doctor   of 


bedeswomen  "  have  no  residence,"  and  though 
"  still  called  by  their  ancient  style,  have  no  duties 
to  perform,"  beyond  receiving  their  annual  dole 
of  ;£io  a-piece;  that  the  charity  to  the  poor  con- 
sists in  the  maintenance  of  a  school  containing  as 


Laws,  in  this  ecclesiastical  post,  in  which  he  ought, 
according  to  the  charter  of  Queen  Philippa  (a 
special  benefactress),  to  perform  all  priestly  offices. 
This  layman  not  only  was  incapacitated  from  carry- 
ing out  the  original  intentions  of  the  foundresses, 


many  as  thirty-six  boys  and  eighteen  girls ;  and  that  '  but  endeavoured  in  every  possible  way  to  enrich 
the  income  of  the  community  amounts  to  about  himself  at  the  expense  of  the  corporation.  He 
^£7,000,  which,  by  better  management,  might  be  surrendered  the  charter  of  Henry  VI.,  on  which 
raised  to  ,^10,000  or  ^£11,000.  The  chaplains  >  foundation  the  hospital  had  hitherto  rested,  and 
hold  country  livings  together  with  their  appoint-  j  in  lieu  thereof  received  one  from  the  queen — one 
ments,  which  are  practically  fellowships  without  the  I  which  remains  in  force  to  the  present  day.  In 
restriction  of  celibacy.  this  latter  charter  an  important  omission  was  made 

During  the  last  century  a  MS.  register-book  of  of  all  mention  of  the  fair  hitherto  held  by  this 
the  monastery  of  Christ  Church,  or  the  Holy  '  hospital  on  Tower  Hill  for  twenty-one  days.  This 
Trinity  within  Aldgate — on  the  ground  of  which  j  fair  was  now  granted  to  the  Corporation  of  the 
monastery  Queen  Matilda  had  founded  her  hospital  City  of  London,  who  paid  to  this  generous  master 
— contained  many  interesting  particulars  about  the  the  sum  of  ,£466  138.  4(1.,  a  slight  fee  which  went 
connection  of  these  two  houses.  Queen  Eleanor,  into  his  own  private  purse. 

it  seems,  was  not  content  that  the  government  of ;  At  this  hospital,  for  ages,  the  queens  consort 
a  house,  the  patronage  of  which  was  in  her  gift,  j  had  appointed  their  chaplains,  their  ladies  of  the 
should  remain  in  the  hands  of  the  Austin  Canons,  bed-chamber,  or  other  dependants,  to  posts  where 
Both  at  Westminster  and  before  the  Lord  Mayor  in  their  old  age  they  might  perform  many  useful 
she  was  defeated  in  her  suit  to  obtain  the  entire  olfices  to  the  poor  around  them,  and  in  return  for 
control  of  this  ecclesiastical  foundation.  But  after-  which  they  might  receive  a  decent  maintenance. 
wards,  at  her  request,  a  visitation  was  held  by  the  '  There  were  plenty  of  duties,  and  the  pay  was 
Bishop  of  London,  who  cajoled  the  monks  into  tolerably  good.  Besides,  foreign  chaplains,  or 
surrendering  their  right  by  a  threat  of  the  king's  I  chaplains  attached  to  foreign  queens,  would  be  the 
displeasure  if  they  continued  to  assert  them.  At  i  very  men  to  understand  best  of  all  the  language 
length  then,  in  her  widowhood,  the  old  queen  was  and  customs  of  the  seafaring  men  and  foreigners 
enabled  to  carry  out  her  project,  and  she  certainly  j  who  in  each  reign  would  come  in  greatest  numbers 
founded  an  establishment  which  might  have  worked  from  the  country  where  the  queen  consort,  had 
well  down  to  the  present  day  with  no  essential  passed  her  youth,  and  would  settle  down  in  this 
changes  in  its  constitution.  To  her  foundation  '  free  precinct  (both  ecclesiastical  and  civil  courts 
were  subsequently  added  various  benefactions  of  belonging  to  the  hospital),  just  outside  the  City 
chapelries,  &c.,  and  Edward  II.  presented,  in  1309,  walls,  where  they  would  be  entirely  free  from  the 


the  advowson,  still  held  by  the  chapter,  of  Kings- 
thorpe,  Northampton,  with  its  belongings.  The 
various  chaplaincies  have  lapsed  at  some  period 
unknown,  probably  at  the  Reformation,  when  the 


exactions  of  the  City  merchants,  ever  jealous  of 
outsiders.  This  institution,  therefore,  was  remark- 
ably well  adapted  for  the  locality  in  which  it  was 
placed.  But  in  the  reign  of  George  IV.,  about 


Regent's  Park.] 


PROFESSOR  COCKERELL. 


275 


the  year  1824,  an  attempt  was  made,  and,  as  we 
have  seen,  with  success,  to  remove  this  venerable 
hospital  from  its  ancient  site,  and  to  demolish  its 
church,  a  fine  edifice  of  Perpendicular  architec- 
ture. At  first  a  strong  opposition  was  made  by 
the  inhabitants,  but  eventually  the  influence  of  the 
moneyed  shareholders  carried  their  point,  and  the 
king,  nothing  loth  to  adorn  the  park  which  was 
to  commemorate  his  earlier  administration,  sanc- 
tioned its  withdrawal  to  the  north-west  of  London, 
where  no  precinct  was  assigned  to  it,  where  there 
was  no  necessity  for  such  a  mission-house,  and  no 
opening  for  its  proper  working  and  development. 

There  was  at  St.  Katharine's  a  "fraternity  of  the 

guild  of  our  glorious  Saviour  Christ  Jesus,  and  of 

the  Blessed  Virgin  and  Martyr  St.  Barbara."     The 

beadroll  runs  as  follows  :— "  First,   ye  shall  pray 

especially  for   the   good  estate  of   our  sovereign 

lord  and  most  Christian  and  excellent  prince  King 

Henry  VIII.  and  Queen  Catherine,  founders  of  the 

said  guild  and  gracious  brotherhood,  and  brother 

and  sister  of  the  same.     And  for  the  good  estate 

of  the  French  Queen's  Grace,  Mary,  sister  to  ou 

said  sovereign  lord,  and  sister  of  the  said  guild 

Also,  ye  shall  pray  for  the  good  estate  of  Thomas 

Wolsey,  of  the  title  of  St.  Cecilia  of  Rome,  priest, 

cardinal,  and  Ifgatus  a  latere  to  our  Holy  Fathe 

the  Pope,  Archbishop  of  York,  and  Chancellor  o 

England,  brother  of  the  said  guild.     Also  for  th 

good  estate  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  and  m; 

lady  his  wife;  also  for    the   good    estate  of  th 

Duke   of  Norfolk   and    my   lady    his    wife;    th 

Duke  of  Suffolk ;  also  for  my  Lord  Marquis ;  fo 

the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury ;  the  Earl  of  Northumber 

land ;  the  Earl  of  Surrey ;  my  Lord  Hastings ;  an 

for  all  their  ladies,  brethren  and  sisters  of  the  sam< 

Also  for  Sir  Richard  Chomley,  knt. ;  Sir  Williai 

Compton,  knt.;  Sir  William  Skevington,  knt.;  S 

John  Digby,  knt.,   &c. ;  and   for  all  their  ladie 

brethren  and  sisters  of  the  same,  that  be  alive,  an 

for  the  souls  of  them  that  be  dead ;  and  for  tl 

masters  and  wardens  of  the  same  guild,  and  tl 

warden  collector  bf  the  same.     And  for  Uie  mo 

special   grace,    every   man  of  your   charity   say 

Paternoster  and  an  Ave.     And  God  save  the  km 

the  master,  and  the  wardens,  and  all  the  brethr 

and  sisters  of  the  same." 

Of  the  eminent  Masters  of  St.  Kathann 
Hospital,  prior  to  its  removal  hither,  we  ha 
already  spoken.  Sir  Herbert  Taylor,  G.C.B.,  he 
the  office  at  the  time  of  the  change. 


He   h 


srved  with  the  Duke  of  York  during  the  whole  of 
the  campaign  in  Holland ;  he  was  for  some  tune 
private  secretary  to  Geor-c  III.  ;  and  in  1812  he 
was  nominated'  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  king's 


vate  property ;  and  soon  after  (in  consequence  of 
e  Regency),  private  secretary  to  the  Queen,  a  post 
lich  he  afterwards  held  under  William  IV.  and 
ueen  Adelaide.  He  was  appointed  to  the  post 
Master  of  St.  Katharine's  in  1818,  and  retained 
till  his  death,  in  1839.  The  next  appointment 
as  made  by  the  late  Queen  Dowager,  during  the 
ign  of  Queen  Victoria.  When  there  is  a  queen 
nsort  a  queen  dowager  loses  her  patronage. 
Between  the  site  of  the  old  Colosseum  and  Park 
quare,  on  the  north  of  St.  Andrew's  Place,  is  the 
dult  Orphan  Institution,  which  was  established 

1820.     The   object  of  this   institution  is  the 
ducation  as  governesses  of  the  orphan  daughters 

clergymen  and  of  naval  and   military  officers, 
he  number  of  inmates  is  generally  about  thirty, 
nd  the  income  is  about  ^4,000  annually,  but  it 
dependent  mainly  on  voluntary  contributions. 

In  Chester  Terrace  the  eminent  architect,  Pro- 
essor  Cockerell,  R.A.,  spent  the  last  ten  years  of 
is  life,  and  he  died  here  in  1863.  We  have 
heady  mentioned  him  in  our  account  of  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral.*  He  was  for  some  years  Professor  of 
Architecture  in  the  Royal  Academy,  but,  late  in 
ife,  withdrew  from  active  professional  practice, 
lis  merits  as  an  architect  received  the  highest 
estimony  of  approbation  by  his  election,  in  1860, 
.s  President  of  the  Institute  of  British  Architects. 
:n  1862,  he  resigned  his  position  as  R.A.,  and 
became  one  of  the  first  of  the  "  honorary  retired 
Academicans."  Professor  Cockerell  published,  late 
in  life,  a  large  folio  work,  descriptive  of  the 
Temples  of  Jupiter  and  Apollo,  in  ^Egina  and  the 
Peloponnesus,  which  many  years  before  he  had 
explored  in  company  with  Lord  Byron. 

In  Chester  Place,  which  is  also  on  the  east  side 
of  the  Park,  Charles  Dickens  had  a  house  for  a 
few  months  in  1847,  and  there  was  born  his  son, 
Sydney  Smith  Dickens,  who  became  a  lieutenant  in 
the  navy,  and  died  at  sea  soon  after  his  father. 
Dickens  had  previously  lived  in  Osnaburgh  Terrace, 
which  is  close  by,  though  only  for  a  few  weeks,  in 
the  summer  of  1844,  before  he  started  for  Italy, 
having  let  his  house  in  Devonshire  Terrace. 

The  villa  of  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  the  wife  of  George 
Prince  of  Wales  (afterwards  George  IV.),  stands 
on  the  north  side  of  the  Park,  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Primrose  Hill,  facing  the  canal  at  ISortn 
Gate  It  now  bears  the  name  of  Stockleigh  House, 
and  has  been  occupied  by  several  different  families 
in  succession.  The  villa  was  severely  injured  by 
the  gunpowder  explosion  on  the  canal,  ot 
we  have  spoken  above. 


276 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Rcg.nl',  Park. 


As  we  have  now  travelled  round  the  circuit  of 
the  Park,  it  is  time  that  we  should  give  a  brief 
account  of  its  hitherto  unexplored  interior,  which  is 


here,  where  they  have  a  rustic  lodge,  and  between 
five  and  six  acres  of  ground.  The  members  of  the 
society  meet  every  Friday  during  the  spring  and 


intersected  by  a  road  known  as  the  Inner  Circle,     summer,  and  many  prizes  are  shot  for  during  the 
We  enter  this  Inner  Circle  at  the  south,  opposite    season.     They  possess  the  original  silver  badge  of 


Marylebone  Church,  and  pass  over  a  bridge  across 
the  ornamental  water.  On  the  right  hand  are  the 
grounds  of  the  Toxophilite  Society,  nearly  adjoin- 
ing those  of  the  Royal  Botanical  Society,  which 


the  old  Finsbury  Archers.  Strutt,  in  his  "Sports 
and  Pastimes,"  says :  "  There  is  no  art  more  con- 
spicuous for  the  high  degree  of  perfection  to  which 
it  has  been  carried  in  this  kingdom  than  that  of 


reach  back  almost  to  the  centre;  of  the  Park.     We 
will  speak  of  both  of  these  in  turn. 

In  1781,  as  we  have  stated  in  a  previous  volume,* 
the  survivors  of  the  "  old  Finsbury  Archers  ''  estab- 
lished the  Toxophilite  Society  in  the  gardens  at 
the  back  of  Leicester  House,  then  in  Leicester 
Fields,  it  is  stated,  principally  through  Sir  Ashton 
Lever,  who,  as  we  have  already  mentioned,  showed 
his  museum  there.  The  society  then  held  their 
meetings  in  Bloomsbury  Fields,  behind  the  present 
site  of  Gower  Street.  Some  twenty-five  years  later 
they  removed  on  "  target  days  "  to  Highbury  Barn, 
and  from  thence  to  Bayswater,  where  we  found 
them  again.t  In  1834  they  took  up  their  quarters 


'  See  Vol.  III.,  p.  17;. 


archer)'.  With  our  ancestors  it  had  a  double 
purpose  to  answer,  that  of  a  means  of  destruction 
in  war,  and  an  object  of  amusement  in  time  of 
peace.  The  skill  of  the  English,  however,  has 
always  been  proverbial ;  their  many  and  glorious 
victories  are  their  best  eulogiums.  By  the  Saxons, 
or  Danes,  though  well  acquainted  with  the  use  of 
the  bow,  it  was  used  principally  for  pastime,  or  for 
the  purpose  of  procuring  food,  in  times  anterior  to 
the  Conquest.  Under  the  Normans,  who  used 
their  bow  as  a  military  weapon,  the  practice  of 
archery  was  much  improved,  and  generally  diffused 
throughout  the  kingdom ;  it  was,  in  the  age  of 
chivalry,  considered  an  essential  part  of  the  educa- 
tion of  a  young  man  who  wished  to  distinguish 
himself. '' 


THE  PRACTICE  OF  ARCHERY. 


Notwithstanding  the  advantages  of  the  practice 
of  archery,  it  seems  to  have  been  neglected,  even 
when  the  glory  of  the  English  archers  was  at  its 
greatest  height,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  for  we 
find  a  letter  from  that  monarch  to  the  sheriffs  of 
London,  declaring  that  the  skill  in  shooting  with 
arrows  was  almost  totally  laid  aside  for  the  pursuit 
of  various  useless  and  unlawful  games ;  he  there- 
fore, commands  them  to  prevent  such  idle  practices 


the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  three  several  Acts  were 
made  for  promoting  the  practice  of  shooting  with 
the  longbow  ;  yet,  notwithstanding  the  interference 
of  the  Legislature  in  its  favour,  archery  gradually 
declined,  and  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century 
was  nearly,  if  not  altogether,  discontinued. 

An  author  in  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth  in- 
forms us  that  it  was  necessary  the  archer  should 
have  a  bracer,  or  close  sleeve,  to  lace  upon  the  left 


within  the  City  and  liberties  of  London,  and  to  see 
that  the  leisure  time  upon  holidays  was  spent  in  re-  j 
creations  with  bows  and  arrows.  In  the  fifth  year  j 
of  Edward  IV.,  an  ordinance  was  made,  command-  i 
ing  every  Englishman  and  Irishman  dwelling  in  j 
England  to  have  a  long  bow  of  his  own  height ;  the  , 
Act  directs  that  butts  should  be  made  in  every  town-  j 
ship,  at  which  the  inhabitants  were  to  shoot  up  and  ; 
down  upon  all  feast  days,  under  the  penalty  of  one  : 
halfpenny  for  every  time  they  omitted  to  perform 
this  exercise.  In  the  sixteenth  century  we  find 
heavy  complaints  of  the  disuse  of  the  long  bow, 
especially  in  the  vicinity  of  London.  Stow  attri- 
butes this  to  the  enclosures  made  near  the  metro- 
polis, by  which  means  the  citizens  were  deprived 
of  room  sufficient  or  proper  for  the  purpose.  In 
216 


(See  page  279.) 


arm  ;  this  bracer  was  to  be  made  of  materials 
sufficiently  rigid  to  prevent  any  folds  that  might 
impede  the  bow-string  when  loosed  from  the  hand  ; 
to  this  was  to  be  added  a  shooting  glove,  for  the 
protection  of  the  fingers.  The  bow,  he  tells  us, 
ought  to  be  made  of  well-seasoned  wood,  and 
formed  with  great  exactness,  tapering  from  the 
middle  towards  each  end.  Bows  were  sometimes 
made  of  brazil,  of  elm,  of  ash,  and  several  other 
woods,  but  yew  was  held  in  most  esteem.  With 
regard  to  the  bow-string,  the  author  was  undecided 
which  to  prefer;  he  would,  therefore,  leave  the 
choice  to  the  string-maker.  A  thin  string  casts  the 
arrow  farther,  a  thick  string  gives  greater  certainty. 
For  the  arrow,  he  says,  there  are  three  essential 
parts— the  stile,  or  wand,  ^feathers,  and  the  head. 


278 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


The  stile  was  not  always  made  of  the  same  sort  o 
wood,  but  varied  as  occasion  required  to  suit  the 
different  manners  of  shooting  practised  by  the 
archers.  Our  author  then  gives  some  instruction 
as  to  the  management  of  the  bow,  and  first  recom- 
mends a  graceful  attitude. 

Another  writer  says  :  —  "  The  shooter  should  stand 
fairly  and  upright  with  his  body,  his  left  foot  at  a 
convenient  distance  before  his  right,  holding  the 
bow  by  the  middle,  with  his  left  arm  stretched  out, 
and  with  the  three  first  fingers  and  the  -thumb  oi 
the  right  hand  upon  the  lower  part  of  the  arrow 
affixed  to  the  string  of  the  bow.  Secondly,  a 
proper  attention  should  be  paid  to  the  notching, 
that  is,  the  application  of  the  notch  at  the  bottom 
of  the  arrow  to  the  bow-string  ;  the  notch  of  the 
arrow  should  rest  between  the  fore-finger  and  the 
middle  finger  of  the  right  hand.  Thirdly,  the 
proper  drawing  of  the  bow-string  is  to  be  attended 
to.  In  ancient  times  the  right  hand  was  brought  to 
the  right  pap,  but  at  present  it  is  elevated  to  the 
right  ear  ;  the  latter  method  is  to  be  preferred.  The 
shaft  of  the  arrow  below  the  feathers  ought  to  be 
rested  upon  the  knuckle  of  the  fore-finger  of  the 
left  hand,  the  arrow  to  be  drawn  to  the  head,  and 
not  held  too  long  in  that  situation,  but  neatly  and 
smartly  discharged,  without  any  hanging  upon  the 
string." 

AVe  must  not  judge  of  the  merits  of  ancient 
bowmen  from  the  practice  of  archery  in  the  present 
day.  There  are  no  such  distances  now  assigned 
for  the  marks  as  we  find  mentioned  in  old  historians 
or  old  poetical  legends  ;  nor  such  precision  even  at 
short  lengths  in  the  direction  of  the  arrow. 

"The  stranger  he  made  no  mickle  ado, 

But  lie  bent  a  right  good  how, 
And  the  fattest  of  all  the  herd  he  slew, 

Forty  gMjyarJs  him  fro  : 
'Well  shot  !  well  shot  !  '  quoth  Robin  Hood,  &c." 


Few,  if  any,  of  the  modern  archers  in  long 
shooting  reach  four  hundred  yards,  or  in  shooting 
at  a  mark  exceed  eighty  or  a  hundred.  It  must 
be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  archery  is  now 
followed  only  for  amusement,  and  as  a  delightful 
and  healthful  exercise  for  both  sexes. 

Strutt  observes:—  "I  remember,  about  four  or  five 
years  back,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Archers, 
in  their  ground  near  Bedford  Square,  the  Turkish 
Ambassador  paid  them  a  visit,  and  complained 
that  the  enclosure  was  by  no  means  sufficiently 
extensive  for  a  long  shot  ;  he  therefore  went  into  the 
adjacent  fields  to  show  his  dexterity,  where  I  saw 
him  .shoot  several  arrows  more  than  double  the 
length  of  the  archery  ground,  and  his  longest  shot 


fell  upwards  of  480  yards  from  his  standing.  The 
bow  he  used  was  much  shorter  than  that  used  by 
the  English  archers,  and  his  arrows  were  of  the 
bolt  kind,  with  round  heads  made  of  wood." 

"This  delightful  amusement,"  says  a  writer  in 
"Colburn's  Kalendar  of  Amusements  for  1840,"  "is 
becoming  almost  as  popular  amongst  us  as  it  was 
with  our  forefathers.  It  decidedly  is  the  most 
graceful  game  that  can  be  practised,  permitting  the 
utmost  exertion  of  skill  and  address,  and,  from 
bygone  glorious  associations,  recommending  itself 
instantly  to  every  lover  of  pleasure.  The  ancient 
festival  of  'Robin  Hood  and  May-game'  was  so 
much  in  repute  in  the  reign  of  the  eighth  Harry, 
that  he  and  his  nobles  would  frequently  appear  as 
Robin  and  his  merry  men,  dressed  in  Kendal  green, 
with  hoods  and  hosen.  In  an  ancient  drama  called 
The  Play  of  Robin,  '  very  proper  to  be  played  in 
May  Game,'  a  friar,  surnamed  Tuck,  forms  one  of 
the  principal  characters.  He  comes  to  the  forest 
in  search  of  the  bold  Robin,  with  full  intent  to  fight 
with  him,  but  is  prevailed  upon  to  change  his  in- 
tention and  to  become  chaplain  to  Mayde  Marian. 
The  character  of  Marian  was  generally  represented 
jy  a  boy ;  it,  however,  appears,  from  an  entry  in  a 
ist  of  the  expenses  of  the  play  at  Kingston-upon- 
Thames,  that  it  was  twice  performed  there  by  a 
female,  who  for  each  year's  services  received  the 
sum  of  one  shilling ! " 

The  presence  of  ladies  at  the  gatherings  of  the 
Toxophilite  Society  having  largely  increased,  about 
1839,  the  meetings  began  to  be  wound  up  by 
balls,  which  grew  to  formidable  dimensions,  and 
hreatened  to  eclipse  the  object  of  the  society; 
accordingly,  they  were  given  up,  and  instead  was 
established  a  "  Ladies'  Day,"  annually  on  the  5th  of 

uly,  on  which  the  fair  "  archeresses  "  of  England 

so  called  in  the  records  of  the  society,  be  it  observed 
— compete  for  silver  bugles,  bracelets,  and  other 
izes.  The  average  number  of  ladies  who  join 
n  the  shooting  on  these  occasions  is  between  fifty 
ind  sixty.  The  late  Prince  Consort  and  the  Prince 
}f  Wales  have  successively  been  patrons  of  this 
ociety,  whose  meetings  are  among  the  pleasantest 
;atherings  of  the  London  season.  In  due  course  of 
ime,  though  contrary  to  the  spirit,  if  not  to  the 
letter,  of  the  rules  of  the  society,  croquet  became 
legitimised  on  these  days.  In  1 869  the  grounds  were 
turned  to  a  novel  use  in  winter,  by  being  laid  down 
as  a  skating-rink.  In  the  grounds  is  a  pavilion, 
called  the  Hall,  for  the  use  of  the  society,  tastefully 
adorned  with  stags'  heads  and  antlers  and  the 
armorial  bearings  of  members.  The  silver  cups, 
badges,  and  other  treasures  of  the  society,  we  may 
add,  are  worth  inspection. 


Regenfs  Park.] 


ROYAL  BOTANIC  SOCIETY 


The  Royal  Botanic  Society,  whose  gardens  and  j  has  been  attempted,  especially  in  the  variation  of 
ornamental  grounds,  as  we  have  stated,  adjoin  j  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  almost  all  that  has 
those  of  the  Toxophilite  Society,  was  established  j  been  proposed  is  fully  and  well  achieved.  We 
in  1839,  under  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  and  having  j  would  particularly  point  out  the  clever  manner  in 
among  its  supporters  the  most  eminent  botanists  j  which  the  boundary  fence  is  got  rid  of  on  the 
and  scientific  men  in  the  metropolis.  Meetings  for  !  northern  and  north-western  sides,  as  seen  from  the 
the  reading  of  papers  and  the  discussion  of  sub-  j  middle  of  the  garden ;  the  beautiful  changes  in 
jects  connected  with  botany,  or  its  adaptation  to  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  the  grouping  of  the 
the  arts,  form  a  very  prominent  part  of  the  opera-  masses  of  plants,  in  the  same  quarter ;  the  artistic 
tions  of  the  society.  The  grounds,  which  are  manner  in  which  the  rockery  is  formed,  out  of  such 
about  eighteen  acres  in  extent,  allow  of  excellent  j  bad  materials,  and  the  picturesque  disposal  of  the 
opportunity  for  display ;  between  4,000  and  5,000  j  plants  upon  it ;  and  the  treatment  of  the  large 


species  of  hardy  herbaceous  plants,  trees,  and 
shrubs  nourish  in  the  open  air,  and  in  the  glass- 
houses about  3,000  species  and  varieties.  The 
grounds  were  laid  out  by  Mr.  Robert  Marnock,  the 
designer  and  former  curator  of  Sheffield  Botanic 


mound,  from  which  so  many  and  such  excellent 
views  of  the  garden  and  country  are  obtained. 
.  .  .  .  Entering  by  the  principal  gate,  not  far 
from  York  Gate,"  continues  the  writer,  "  the  first 
thing  deserving  of  notice  is  the  very  agreeable  and 


Gardens  assisted  by  Mr.  Decimus  Burton  as  archi-    effective  manner  in  which  the  entrance  is  screened 
tect.     In  May,  June,  and  July,  floral  exhibitions    from  the  gardens,  and  the  gardens  from  the  public 
take  place   here,   when  nearly   3,000   medals  are 
distributed,   the   value   of  them   ranging  between 
fifteen  shillings  and  twenty  pounds.    About  ^1,000 
is  annually  spent  by  the  society  in  the  encourage- 
ment, acclimatization,  and  growth  of  rare  plants. 

This  garden,  as  we  have  stated  above,  occupies 
the  spot  said  to  have  been  reserved  for  a  palace  for 

the  Prince  Regent.     It  was  for  some  time  used  as 

a  nursery-garden  by  a  Mr.  Jenkins,  and  from  this 

circumstance  derived  the  advantage   of  having  a 

number  of  ornamental  trees,  some  of  which  are  of 

respectable  growth,  already  existing  upon  it  when 

it  was  taken  by  the  Royal  Botanic  Society.     The 

numerous    specimens   of  weeping  ash,   the  large 

weeping   elms,  and   many   of  the   more  common 

trees  on  the  south-western  side  of  the  garden,  are 

among  the  older  tenants  of  the  place.     Although 

situated  as  it  were  in  London,  this  garden  does  not :  of  the  Society,  which  are  necessary 

suffer  much  from  the  smoke  incident  to  the  metro-  j  gardens."     After  passing  through  the  sc 

in  the  midst  of  Regent's  Park,    described,  we  find  ourselves  °Y  br°ad' b°  ^  _' 


gaze.  This  is  not  done  by  large  close  gates 
heavy  masonry,  but  by  a  living  screen  of  ivy, 
planted  in  boxes,  and  supported  by  an  invisible 
fence.  There  are,  in  fact,  two  screens  :  one  close 
to  the  outside  fence,  opposite  the  centre  of  the 
principal  walk,  and  having  an  entrance-gate  on 
either  side  of  it ;  and  the  other  several  feet  farther 
in,  extending  across  the  sides  of  the  walk,  and  only 
leaving  an  opening  in  the  centre.  By  keeping 
the  ivy  in  boxes,  it  does  not  interfere  with  the 
continuity  of  the  gravel  walk,  and  has  a  neater 
appearance,  and  can,  we  suppose,  be  taken  away 
altogether,  if  required.  At  any  rate,  it  has  a  tem- 
porary look,  which  is  of  some  consequence  to  the 
effect.  These  screens  are  from  six  to  eight  feet 
high.  In  a  small  lodge  at  the  side,  visitors  enter 
their  names,  and  produce  the  orders  of  the  Fellows 


above 


s  ;  for,  from  the  middle  of  the  garden,  the  fences  i  side.     The  ascent  of  a  large  mou 

Lt  all  seen,  and  much  of  the  planta- '  first  things  that  commands  attentio 


-arcely  at  all  seen,  and  much  of  the  plantar    first  things  mat  co 
"blending   with  those  outside,  and  with  the    the  visitor  sets  upon  this  w 
unding   country,  great  indefiniteness  of  view    that    an    entire    change    of 


are  scarcely  at  all  seen 

tions 

surrounding   country,  great 

is  procured. 

"  In  a  landscape  point  of  view,"  says  the  author 
of  Weale's  "London"  (1851),  "we  may  safely 
affirm  that  Mr.  Marnock  has  been  particularly 
happy  in  the  arrangement  and  planting  of  this 
garden.  As  a  whole,  the  avowedly  ornamental 


ior  to  anything  of  the  kind 


parts  are  probably  superi 

in  the  neighbourhood  of  the   metropolis. 


Directly 

Ik  he   will   perceive 
character    has   been 

contemplated.  Instead  of  the  highly-artificial 
features  of  the  broad  walk  opposite  the  entrance 
we  are  here  introduced  to  an  obvious  imitation  of 
nature.  The  surface  of  the  ground  is  kept  rough, 
and  covered  only  with  undressed  grass-such  we 
mean,  as  is  only  occasionally  and  not  regularly 


, 
vn  •  the  direction  of  the  walks  is  irregular,  or 


Much  |  brokenly 


28o 


OLD.  AND   NEW-  LONDON. 


CRegem's  Park. 


and  trees  are  mostly  of  a  wild  character,  such  as 
furze,  broom,  ivy,  privet,  clematis,  thorns,  mountain 
ash,  &c.,  and  these  are  clustered  together  in  tangled 
masses.  ...  In  the  very  midst  of  a  highly- 
cultivated  scene,  which  is  overlooked  at  almost 
every  step,  and  adjoining  a  compartment  in  which 
the  most  formal  systematic  arrangement  is  adopted 
in  beds,  and  almost  within  the  limits  of  the  great 
metropolis  itself,  such  an  introduction  of  the  rougher 
and  less  cultivated  features  of  nature  is  assuredly 
to  be  deprecated.  Several  platforms  on  the  face 
of  the  mound,  and  especially  one  at  the  summit, 
afford  the  most  beautiful  views  of  Regent's  Park 
and  its  villas,  Primrose  and  other  neighbouring  hills, 
and  the  more  distant  country.  On  a  clear  day, 
and  the  wind  south-west,  west,  or  north-west,  these 
landscapes  are  truly  delightful.  There  is  a  mixture 
of  wood,  grass,  mansion,  and  general  undulation, 
which  is  singularly  refreshing  so  near  London,  and 
which  abundantly  exhibits  the  foresight  that  has 
been  displayed  in  the  formation  of  this  mound. 
Unquestionably,  when  the  atmosphere  is  at  all 
favourable,  the  ascent  of  the  mound  is  one  of  the 
greatest  attractions  of  the  garden  to  a  lover  of  land- 
scape beauties.  .  .  .  Descending  the  mound 
on  its  eastern  side,  a  small  lake,  out  of  which  the 
material  for  raising  the  mound  was  procured,  is  seen 
to  stretch  along  its  base,  and  to  form  several  sinuous 
arms.  Like  the  mound  itself,  an  air  of  wildness 
is  thrown  around  this  lake,  which  is  increased  by 
the  quantity  of  sedgy  plants  on  its  margins,  and 
the  common-looking  dwarf  willows  which  abound 
near  its  western  end.  In  this  lake,  and  in  some  of 
the  small  strips  of  water  by  which  it  is  prolonged 
towards  the  east,  an  unusually  complete  collection 
of  hardy  water-plants  will  be  found,  and  these  are 
planted  without  any  appearance  of  art,  so  as  to 
harmonise  with  the  entire  scene.  There  is  a  rustic 
bridge  over  one  arm  of  the  lake,  which,  being 
simple  and  without  pretension,  is  quite  in  character 
with  the  neighbouring  objects.  Between  the  lake 
and  the  boundary  fence,  in  a  little  nook  formed  on 
purpose  for  them,  the  various  hardy  ferns  and 
Equiseta  are  cultivated.  The  plants  of  the  former 
are  put  among  masses  of  fused  brick,  placed  more 
with  reference  to  their  use  in  affording  a  position 
for  growing  ferns  than  for  their  picturesque  effect. 
This  corner  is,"  in  fact,  adds  the  writer,  "  altogether 
an  episode  to  the  general  scene,  and  does  not  form 
a  part  of  it 

"  On  a  border  near  these  ferns,  and  extending 
along  the  south  side  of  the  lake,  are  several  inte- 
resting collections,  illustrative  of  one  of  the  society's 
objects,  which  is  to  show,  in  a  special  compartment, 
the  hardy  plants  remarkable  for  their  uses  in  various 


branches  of  manufacture.  Commencing  at  the 
western  end  of  this  border,  we  find,  first,  the  plants 
which  afford  tanning  materials;  the  Rhus  cotinus 
and  foriaria,  the  Scotch  fir,  the  larch,  and  the  oak, 
are  among  these.  Next  in  order  are  the  plants 
whose  fibre  is  used  for  chip  plat,  comprising  Salix 
alba,  the  Lombardy  poplar,  &c.  Then  follow  the 
plants  whose  fibre  is  adapted  for  weaving,  cordage, 
&c. ;  the  Spartium  junceum,  flax  and  hemp,  rank 
in  this  class.  The  plants  used  in  making  baskets, 
or  matting,  &c.,  next  occur,  and  embrace  the  lime 
and  osier  among  others.  Grasses  of  different  kinds 
then  illustrate  the  plants  whose  straw  is  used  for 
plaiting.  The  cork-tree  and  Popitlus  nigra  furnish 
examples  of  plants  whose  bark  yields  cork.  A 
collection  of  plants  whose  parts  furnish  materials 
for  dyeing  finishes  the  series.  Altogether,  this  is  a 
very  instructive  border,  and  all  the  objects  are 
labelled  under  the  respective  heads  here  given,  so 
that  they  may  be  readily  referred  to. 

"  A  large  herbaceous  garden  adjoins  the  lake  at 
its  eastern  end,  and  the  plants  are  here  arranged 
in  beds,  according  to  the  natural  system,  the  species 
of  each  order  being  assigned  to  one  bed  Of 
course,  the  beds  will  thus  vary  greatly  in  size. 
Three  or  four  crescent-shaped  hedges  are  placed 
here  and  there  across  this  garden,  partly  for  shelter, 
I  but  principally  to  act  as  divisions  to  the  larger 
j  groups  of  natural  orders.  These  hedges  separate 
the  garden  into  the  great  natural  divisions,  and 
each  of  the  compartments  they  form  is  again  sub- 
divided into  orders  by  walks  four  feet  in  width, 
the  sub-orders  being  indicated  by  division-walks  of 
two  feet  in  width.  The  inquiries  of  the  student 
are  thus  greatly  aided,  and  he  is  enabled  to  cany 
away  a  much  clearer  impression  of  the  natural 
system  than  can  be  had  from  books.  This  is  an 
excellent  place  for  ascertaining  what  are  the  best 
and  most  showy  herbaceous  border  flowers.  Further 
on,  in  the  same  direction,  is  a  garden  assigned 
entirely  to  British  plants,  disposed,  in  conformity 
with  the  Linnwan  system,  in  long  beds,  with  alleys 
between.  In  this  division  will  be  seen  how  very 
ornamental  are  some  of  the  plants  to  which  our 
soil  gives  birth  ;  and  the  less  informed  will  be  sur- 
prised to  find  that  many  of  their  garden  favourites 
are  the  natural  products  of  some  part  or  other 
of  our  own  country.  A  well-stocked  '  medical 
garden '  terminates  this  chain  of  scientific  collec- 
tions, and  is  more  pleasing  than  the  other  two,  on 
account  of  the  plants  being  much  more  varied. 
The  arrangement  of  this  tribe  is  founded  on  the 
natural  system,  and  the  plants  are  in  narrow  beds, 
which  take  a  spiral  form.  Near  the  medical  garden 
are  the  plant-houses,  pits,  and  reserve-ground,  in 


Regent's  Park.] 


THE  ZOOLOGICAL  GARDENS. 


which  all  the  plants  are  grown  for  stocking  the 
conservatory,  flower-beds,  borders,  &c.  The  plant- 
houses  are  constructed  in  a  very  simple  manner, 
with  a  path  down  the  centre,  flat  shelves  or  stages 
at  the  sides,  the  hot-water  pipes  under  the  stages, 
near  the  walls,  the  lights  resting  on  the  side-walls, 
and  all  fixed,  with  ventilators,  in  the  shape  of  small 
sashes,  here  and  there  along  the  top  of  the  larger 
lights,  on  both  sides  of  the  centre.  One  of  these 
houses,  which  is  used  for  orchids,  has  no  means  of 
ventilation  at  all,  except  at  the  end,  over  the  door, 
where  there  is  a  small  sash  capable,  of  being  opened 
With  proper  shading  it  is  found,  both  here  and 
elsewhere,  that  orchids  very  seldom  require  fresh 
air.  One  of  the  span-roofed  houses  is  almost  wholly 
occupied  with  a  cistern  containing  the  great  Victoria 
regia,  Nymphtza  carulea,  and  other  aquatics.  From 
the  reserve-ground  a  few  steps  lead  to  the  larg 
conservatory,  which  is  more  appropriately  termed 
the  'winter-garden.'  At  the  eastern  end  of  thi 
conservatory,  and  in  a  corresponding  place  at  the 
other  end,  there  is  a  large  vase  placed  on  th< 
gravel ;  and  along  the  front  of  the  conservatory,  a 
the  edge  of  the  terrace,  are  several  more  vases,  of 
handsomer  kind.  The  conservatory,  which  is  o 


large  dimensio 


of  the  very  lightest  descrip 


tion,  built  wholly  of  iron  and  glass.     The  front 
simply  adorned  with  a  kind  of  pilaster,  compose 
of  ground  glass,  neatly  figured,  which  gives  a  littl 
relief,  without  obstructing  the  light.     The  centra 
flattish   dome  has  an  ornamental   kind  of  crown 
which  helps  to  break  the  outline.     The  roof  is,  fc 
the  most  part,  composed  of  a  series  of  large  ridge 
the  sides   of  these   being   of  an  inverted   sort 
keel  shape,  and  a  transverse  ridge  extending  alon 
the  principal  front  from  either  side  of  the  dom 
portion.     The  warming  of  the  building  is  effecte 
by  means  of  hot  water  circulating  in  cast-iron  pip 
placed  in  brick  chambers  under  the  surface  of  t 
floor,  and  by  a  continuous  iron  tank,  eighteen  inch 
wide  and  six  inches  deep,  placed  in  abrickchamb 
around  the  building.     The  heated  air  escapes  ' 


e  need  hardly  add  that  during  the  summer,  and  in 
e  height  of  the  London  "  season,"  its  pleasant 
athways  and  rustic  walks  form  very  agreeable 
•omenades    and    lounges    for    the    "upper  ten 
lousand,"  and  especially  on  fete-days. 
Leaving  the  gardens  by  the  gate  on  the  eastern 
de,  and  passing  for  a  short  distance  along  Chester 
oad,  we  enter  the  "broad  walk"  of  the  Park, 
,d  proceeding  northward,  find  ourselves  at  the 
ntrance  to  the  Zoological  Gardens.  These  gardens, 
need  hardly  be  stated,  are  the  chief  attraction  of 
egent's  Park  to  the  thousands  who  flock  to  London 
uring  the  holiday  seasons.     Here,  as  almost  all 
ic  world  knows,  is  collected  the  most  comprehen- 
ve  assemblage  of  animated  nature  in  the  whole 
ingdom,  perhaps  in  the  whole  world.     Here  the 
ifferent  animals  and  tribes  of  animals,  instead  of 
eing  confined  in  wooden  cages,  and  bandied  about 
lie  country  in  travelling  menageries,  are  surrounded 
iy  the  very  circumstances  which  attend  them  in 
heir  wild  state,  as  far  as  that  is  possible,  and  thus 
hey  live,  and  thrive,  and  multiply  almost  as  freely 
md  certainly  as  in  their  native  homes.     The  deni- 
:ens  of  this  unrivalled  spot  must  be  numbered  by 
:housands,  and  they  embrace  not  only  all  that  roam 
the  forest  and  the  desert,  and  cleave  the  air,  but 
:  others  that  dwell  in  the  caverns  of  the  deep. 
The  gardens,  as  we  have  stated  above,  are  on  the 
north-west  side  of  the  Park,  and  are  about  seventeen 
acres  in  extent.     They  are  divided  into  two  parts 
by  the  "  Outer  Circle "   or    carriage-drive,   which 
passes  through  them  elliptically,  each  part  being 
appropriately  connected  by  a  short  tunnel.     The 
north  entrance  to  the  gardens  is  in  this  road.     A 
straight  principal  walk  passes  through  the  gardens 
at  an  oblique  angle  from  the  main  entrance  in  the 
Broad  Walk,  and  leads  by  a  flight  of  steps  over  the 
roof  of  one  of  the  larger  menageries,  this  roof  being 
balustraded  at  the  sides,  and  forming  a  large  terrace- 
platform,  from  which  a  large  part  of  the  gardens, 
and  also  of  the  Park,  may  be  viewed.     The  sides 
of  the  walk  leading  to  this  terrace  are  bordered  by 
small  flower-beds,  backed  by  shrubs.     The  rest  of 


the  ends  of  the  hou 
hung  on  pivots.  The  conservatory  is  capable  of 
accommodating  2,000  visitors,  and  it  was  erected 
at  a  cost  of  about.^7,ooo." 

The  gardens  are  open  every  week-day,  from  nine 
till  sunset,  and  on  Sundays  after  two  o'clock  ;  and 


various  species  of  water-fowl  disport  themselves 
The  northern  division  of  the  gardens  is  connected 
with  the  other  part  by  a  tunnel,  which  passes  under 
the  roadway.  The  ground  in  this  part  of  the 
garden  is  on  the  slope  of  the  banks  of  the  canal, 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Regent's  Park. 


and  constitutes  a  pleasant  arid  shady  walk  during  England,  but  which  have  since  been  exchanged  for 
the  summer  months.  The  museum,  the  giraffes,  lions,  as  were  also  their  living  representatives.  A 
the  huge  hippopotamus,  the  elephants,  &c.,  are  in  •  full  account  of  the  Zoological  Society  and  its 
this  direction  j  but  of  these,  and  some  of  the  other  living  treasures,  in  the  first  few  years  of  their 
animals,  we  shall  speak  more  in  detail  presently.  I  occupation  of  its  present  abode,  will  be  found  in 
The  Zoological  Society  of  London,  to  which  "The  Gardens  and  Menagerie  of  the  Zoological 
these  gardens  belong,  and  of  which  we  have  spoken  Society  delineated,"  printed  by  Whittingham  at  the 
in  our  notice  of  Hanover  Square,*  was  instituted  j  Chiswick  Press.  During  the  period  which  has 
in  1826,  under  the  auspices  of  Sir  Humphrey  !  elapsed  since  the  opening  of  the  gardens  a  very 


Davy,  Sir  Stamford  Raffles,  and  other  eminent 
individuals,  "  for  the  advancement  of  /oology,  and 
the  introduction  and  exhibition  of  subjects  of  the 
animal  kingdom,  alive  or  in  a  state  of  preserva- 
tion." The  collection  of  animals  first  established 
here  in  1828  was  soon  after  swelled  by  the  royal 
collection  in  the  Tower  of  London,  of  which  we 
have  spoken  in  a  previous  volume,t  the  remains 
of  which  were  transferred  hither  in  1834.  The 
collection  in  the  Tower  is  said  to  have  grown  out 
of  a  group  of  three  leopards,  presented  by  the 
Emperor  Frederick  II.,  the  greatest  zoologist  of 
his  day,  to  Henry  III.,  in  allusion  to  the  three 
leopards  which  then  adorned  the  royal  shield  of 


See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  316. 


t  See  Vol.  II.,  p.  88. 


N    1840. 


large  number  of  species  of  mammalia  and  birds 
has  been  obtained,  either  by  bequest  or  by  pur- 
chase, detailed  lists  of  which  are  to  be  found  in  the 
successive  annual  reports  of  the  society.  To  these 
there  were  added,  in  1849,  a  collection  of  reptiles, 
which  has  afforded  great  facilities  to  the  scientific 
observers  of  this  class  of  animals,  and,  more  recently, 
a  collection  of  fishes  and  of  the  lower  aquatic 
animals,  both  marine  and  fresh-water,  which  has 
given  rise  to  many  interesting  discoveries  in  their 
habits  and  economy. 

That  part  of  the  menagerie  over  which  is  the 
terrace  of  which  we  have  spoken  above  was 
formerly  called  the  house  of  the  "  great  carnivora." 
|  Here  were  exhibited,  in  dens,  the  lions,  tigers, 
leopards,  jaguars,  panthers,  &c. ;  but  at  the  com- 


Regent's  Park.] 


THE   MENAGERIE. 


283 


mencement  of  1876  they  were  removed  to  more 
spacious  and  comfortable  quarters  in  a  new  "  lion 
house,"  which  is  situated  a  little  farther  to  the 
south,  not  far  from 
the  ponds  set  apart 
for  the  seals  and  sea- 
lions.  The  noble 
beasts  made  the  jour- 
ney, not  in  a  sort  of 
quiet  and  sober  pro- 
cession, and  as  they 
are  seen  in  pictures 
of  Bacchus  and  his 
attendant  train,  but 
in  closed  boxes,  with 
slipped  sides,  into 
which  they  were 
tempted  by  the  sight 
of  some  extra  slices 
of  meat.  This  done, 


THE   MONKEY-HOUaE. 


unfortunately  struck  her  foot  against  the  top  of  the 
railing,  and  was  precipitated  backwards;  the  fall 
proved  fatal,  for,  upon  examination,  it  was  found 

she   had  broken  her 

spine.  The  grief  of 
her  partner  was  ex- 
cessive, and,  although 
it  did  not  show  itself 
with  the  same  vio- 
lence as  in  a  previous 
instance,  it  proved 
equally  fatal :  a  deep 
melancholy  took  pos- 
session of  him,  and 
he  pined  to  death  in 
a  few  weeks."  The 
writer  tells  us  that 
these  lions,  during  the 
voyage,  behaved  with 
so  much  suavity  and 
good  humour,  that 


.  u.,royal  and  ignoble  manner,  I  they  were  allowed  the  freedom  of  the  ship,  coming 
he  new  abode,  where  the  closed  box  was  placed  |  and   going  whithersoever  _  it   pleased^  them,   and 


to  the  new  aooue,  wnere  uic  LKJOCU  u  •         •in  u       A 

aeainst  the  front  bars  of  the  new  den,  into  which  j  being  on  terms  of  friendship  with  all  on  board, 
they  were  only  too  glad  to  make  their  way.  The  |  When  the  vessel  reached  port,  numerous  visitors 
new  "lion  house"  is  excellently  constructed  and  I  arrived,  and,  as  these  were  confined  to  the  male 


continue  d 
the  same 
genteel  be- 
haviour ;  but 
no  sooner 
had  several 
ladies  set  foot 
on  the  deck 
of  the  vessel 
than  they 
took  to  flight, 
and,  hiding 
themselves  in 
some  corner 
of  the  ship, 
showed  the 
most  extra- 


published  in  the  year  1840, 
the  following  story,  which  shows  the  king  of  beasts 
in  an  amiable  light:-" The  lion  in  the  collection 
of  the  Zoological  Gardens  was  brought,  with  his 
lioness,  from  Tunis,  and,  as  the  keeper  informed 
us,  they  lived  most  lovingly  together.  Their  del 
were  separated  only  by  an  iron  railing,  sufficiently 
low  to  allow  of  their  jumping  over.  One  day,  as 
the  lioness  was  amusing  herself  with  leaping  from 
one  den  to  the  other,  whilst  her  lord  looked  on, 
apparently  highly  delighted  with  her  gaiety,  she 


Occasionally  the  menagerie  has  been  fortunate 
enough  to  obtain  a  specimen  of  the  African  chirn- 
' 


panzee- 


•the  nearest  approach  of  the  monkey  tribe 
„  humanity-but  in  each  case  it  has  been  only 
or  a  short  time,  the  climate  of  England  proving 
too  cold  for  their  lungs.  The  first  specimen 
which  was  brought  to  England  in  1836,  causea 
quite  as  great  &  furore  as  did  the  arrival  of  the  fir, 


popotamus, 


nd  all  London  society  rushed  to 


284 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


"  leave  its  cards  "  on  the  "  little  stranger ; "  so  that 
there  was  hardly  an  exaggeration  in  the  words  of 
a  poem,  by  Theodore  Hook,  in  Blackwood: — 

"  The  folks  in  town  are  nearly  wild 
To  go  and  see  the  monkey-child, 
In  Gardens  of  Zoology, 
Whose  proper  name  is  Chimpanzee. 
To  keep  this  baby  free  from  hurt, 
He's  dressed  in  a  cap  and  a  Guernsey  shirt; 
They  've  got  him  a  nurse,  and  he  sits  on  her  knee, 
And  she  calls  him  her  Tommy  Chimpanzee." 

The  Tory  poet  then  describes,  in  graphic  colours, 
imaginary  visits  paid  to  the  chimpanzee  by  Lord 
Melbourne,  Lord  John  Russell,  Lord  Palmerston, 
Lord  Glenelg,  the  Speaker,  and  the  other  ministers 
of  State — 

"  Lord  John  came  up  the  other  day, 

Attended  by  a  lady  gay, 

'  Oh,  dear  !'  he  cried,  'how  like  Lord  T. ! 

I  can't  bear  to  look  at  this  chimpanzee.' 

The  lady  said,  with  a  tender  smile 

Fit  all  his  sorrows  to  beguile, 

'  Oh,  never  mind,  Lord  John  :  to  me 

You  are  not  in  the  least  like  a  chimpanzee  ! ' 

"  Glenelg  mooned  up  to  see  the  brute, 
Of  distant  climes  the  rarest  fruit, 
And  said  to  the  keeper,  '  Stir  him  up  for  me  : 
He  seems  but  an  indolent  chimpanzee.' 
Says  the  keeper,  '  My  lord,  his  is  a  snug  berth — 
He  never  does  nothing  whatever  on  earth  ; 
But  his  brother  Bob,  who  is  over  the  sea, 
Is  a  much  more  sprightly  chimpanzee.' 

"  The  Speaker  next,  to  make  him  stare, 
Proceeded,  dressed  as  he  is  in  the  chair ; 
When  Tommy  saw  him,  such  a  scream  raised  he 
As  had  never  been  heard  from  a  chimpanzee. 
'  What's  the  matter,  Mr.  Keeper?'  the  Speaker  cried. 
•Why,  really,  Mr.  Speaker,'  the  man  replied, 
'  I  hope  no  offence,  but  I  think  that  he 
Takes  you  for  the  late  Mrs.  Chimpanzee.' 

"  Lord  Palmerston,  just  turning  grey, 
Came  up  to  gaze,  and  turned  away, 
And  said,  '  There's  nothing  here  to  see  ; 
He's  but  a  baby  chimpanzee  !' 
'No,'  said  the  keeper,   'my  lord,'  and  smiled, 
'Our  Tom  is  but  a  tender  child  ; 
But  if  he  live  to  be  fifty-three, 
He'll  make  a  most  Cupid-like  chimpanzee.' 

"  Lord  Melbourne  cantered  on  his  hack 
To  get  a  peep  at  Tommy's  back  ; 
He  said  to  the  keeper,  he  wanted  to  see 
The  tail  of  this  wonderful  chimpanzee. 
'  He's  got  no  tail,'  said  the  keeper,  '  my  lord.' 
'  You  don't  mean  that  !  upon  my  word, 
If  he  does  without  a  tail  he's  superior  to  me,' 
Said  Melbourne,  and  bowed  to  the  chimpanzee." 

The  poet  ends  by  a  suggestion  that  perhaps  the 
Ministry  itself  might  do  well  to  give  place  to  so 
clever  a  creature : — 


"  For  if  the  King— God  bless  his  heart- 
Resolve  to  play  a  patriot's  part, 
And  seek  to  mend  his  Ministry, 
No  doubt  he'll  send  for  the  chimpanzee." 

Three  other  specimens  of  the  chimpanzee  have 
been  exhibited  here  since  then,  but  they  have 
never  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  attention  which 
was  bestowed  on  their  predecessor ;  the  last  died 
in  1875. 

The  most  important  block  of  buildings  in  the 
gardens  are  those  which  contain  the  collection  of 
the  larger  animals,  such  as  the  hippopotamus,  the 
giraffe,  and  the  elephants,  &c.  The  fact  of  hippo- 
potami having  been  on  many  occasions  exhibited 
by  the  Emperors  of  Rome  in  the  great  displays  of 
wild  beasts  which  were  presented  to  the  people  in 
the  circus,  was  a  sufficient  proof  that  the  animal 
could  be  transported  from  its  haunts  in  the  Nile 
with  success.  And,  therefore,  although  1,500  years 
had  elapsed  since  the  last  recorded  instance  of  this 
kind,  the  Council  of  the  Zoological  Society,  in  the 
year  1849,  undertook,  with  considerable  confi- 
dence, the  operation  of  carrying  one  from  Upper 
Egypt,  all  attempts  to  obtain  it  on  the  west  coast 
having  proved  futile.  By  the  influence  of  the 
Hon.  C.  A.  Murray,  then  Agent  and  Consul- 
General  at  Cairo,  his  Highness  the  Viceroy,  Abbas 
Pasha,  was  induced  to  give  orders  that  this  object 
should  be  effected ;  and  in  the  month  of  July  in 
that  year  a  party  of  hunters,  specially  organised  for 
the  purpose,  succeeded  in  capturing  a  calf  of  some 
three  days'  old  on  the  island  of  Obaysch,  in  the 
White  Nile.  When  found  in  the  reedy  covert  to 
which  the  mother  had  confided  him,  the  hippopo- 
tamus, who  now  weighs  at  least  four  tons,  was  of 
such  small  dimensions  that  the  chief  huntsman 
took  him  up  in  his  arms  to  carry  him  to  the  boat 
from  which  his  men  had  landed.  Covered,  how- 
ever, with  a  coat  of  slime,  more  slippery  than  that 
of  any  fish,  the  calf  glided  from  his  grasp,  and 
struggled  to  regain  the  safe  recesses  of  the  river. 
Quicker  than  he,  the  hunter  used  the  gaff-hook 
fastened  to  his  spear,  of  the  same  model  as  that 
used  for  a  like  purpose  at  the  mouth  of  the  Nile 
3,000  years  before,  and  struck  him  on  the  side, 
and  safely  held  him.  From  Obaysch,  many 
hundred  miles  above  Cairo,  the  hippopotamus 
travelled  down  in  charge  of  the  hunters  and  a 
company  of  infantry,  who  finally  landed  him  at  the 
British  Agency  in  the  month  of  November,  1849, 
and  in  May  of  the  following  year  he  was  landed 
on  English  soil.  A  special  train  conveyed  him  to 
London,  every  station  yielding  up  its  wondering 
crowd  to  look  upon  the  monster  as  he  passed— 
fruitlessly,  for  they  only  saw  the  Arab  keeper,  who 


Regent's  Park.] 


THE   ZOOLOGICAL  COLLECTION. 


285 


then  attended  him  night  and  day,  and  who,  for 
want  of  air  was  constrained  to  put  his  head  out 


largest  ever  made ;   and  the   bear-pit  has  always 
been  a  centre  of  attraction,  especially  for  juveniles, 


they  still  had  the  rhinoceros  and  a  vast  number  of 
other  objects  to  occupy  them,  which  were  scarcely, 
if  at  all,  less  attractive. 

The  hippopotamus,  which  thus  became  a  house- 
hold word,  for  many  years  continued  to  be  a  prime 
favourite  with  the  public ;  and  the  arrival  of  his 
mate,  the  more  juvenile  "Adhela,"  in  1853,  did 
not  diminish  his  attraction. 

Professor  Owen  published  a  report  on  the  new 
acquisition,  which  formed  so  great  an  attraction 
Macaulay  writes  thus  of  him  in  1849 : — "  I  have 
seen  the  hippopotamus,  both  asleep  and  awake 
and  I  can  assure  you  that,  asleep  or  awake,  he  is 
the  ugliest  of  the  works  of  God." 

It  may  be  added  that  two  hippopotami  have 
been  born  in  the  gardens  :  the  first  died,  and  is  tc 
be  seen  stuffed,  in  the  rear  of  the  giraffe  house;  th 
second,  who  is  called  "Guy  Fawkes,"  was  born 
on  the  5th  of  November,  1874. 

The  first   living  giraffe  which   appeared 
country  was  transmitted  to  George  IV.,  in   1827, 
by  Mohammed  Ali,  Viceroy  of  Kgypt.     It  lived, 
however,  only  a  few  months  in  the  menagerie  at 
Windsor.     Seven  years  afterwards,  the  Council  of 


through  the  roof.  The  excitement  created  by  the  |  in  order  to  see  the  grizzly  monsters  climb  the 
arrival  of  the  hippopotamus  was  immense;  the 
number  of  visitors  to  the  gardens  suddenly  rose 
from  168,895  in  1849  to  360,402  in  1850;  and 
the  population  of  London  thus  attracted  to  the 
establishment  as  suddenly  discovered  that  it  con- 
tained an  unrivalled  collection  of  the  most  interest- 
ing and  instructive  character,  in  which,  if,  as  often 
happened,  they  failed  to  see  the  hippopotamus, 


the  Zoological  Society  succeeded  in  obtaining  four 
specimens  from  Khordofan,  where  they 
captured  by  M.  Thibaut.  This  acquisition  cost 
the  society  upwards  of  ,£2,300,  including  £1,000 
for  steamboat  passage ;  and  the  female  produced 
six  fawns  here  between  1840  and  1851. 

The  reptile-house  was  fitted  up  in  1849.     1 
creatures   are 


and  catch  the  biscuits  and  other 
dibles  that  are  thrown  to  them ;  but  the  most 
ttractive  feature  of  the  gardens,  however,  in  the 
yes  of  children,  is  the  monkey-house,  in  which 
here  are  three  large  cages  full  of  spider-monkeys, 
ing-tailed,  black-fronted,  and  white-handed  lemurs, 
.og-faced  baboons,  apes,  the  sacred  monkey  of 
he  Hindoos,  and  other  species.  Their  frolics  in 
ummer,  and  on  a  fine  warm  sunny  day  in  winter, 
:ause  the  pathways  round  the  cages  to  be  crowded 
vith  visitors,  watching  their  ever-varying  antics, 
md  occasionally  mischievous  tricks.  It  would  be 
well  for  many  a  lady's  bonnet  if  its  wearer  had 
never  approached  too  near  to  the  bars  of  the  cage 
of  these  light-fingered  gentry.  But  every  winter 
makes  sad  havoc  in  their  numbers,  as  few  of  the 
specimens  survive  more  than  a  couple  of  years ; 
dying  mostly  of  consumption  or  from  lung  disease, 
n  spite  of  the  admirable  arrangements  for  warming 
their  house.  The  orang-utan,  named  "  Darby," 
brought  from  Borneo  in  1851,  was  the  finest  speci- 
men of  his  class  that  had,  up  to  that  time,  been 
seen  in  Europe ;  he  is  stated  to  have  been  "  very 
intelligent,  and  as  docile  as  a  child." 

Then,  again,  the  elephants  are  never  forgotten, 
and  a  ride  on  the  back  of  one  of  these  monsters, 
as  he  paces  slowly  round  his  paddock,  is  a  sight 
as  pleasing  to  adults  as  it  is  enjoyable  for  the 
young.  Usually  there  are  three  or  four  elephants 
here,  either  Asiatic  or  African.  With  these  animals 
the  Council  of  the  Society  has  Been  somewhat 
unfortunate :  in  1847,  died  here  the  great  Indian 
elephant,  "Jack,"  after  having  been  in  the  gardens 
,ere  sixteen  years  ;  one  died  in  1875,  and  another,  about 
the  same  time,  broke  the  end  off  the  proboscis  of 
its  trunk.  In  1881-2  no  little  excitement  was 
aroused  by  the  sale  of  one  of  the  elephants, 
"Jumbo,"  to  Mr.  Barnum,  the  American  show- 


of  water,  of  a 


, 

of  other  species,  some  of  which  have  prod  I        »  ,  means  has  been  tried 


species, 

their  young  in  the  gardens.  Several  years  ago 
some  serpents  were  exhibited  which  were  taught 
to  dance.  This,  however,  was  nothing  new,  as  the 
same  thing  was  exhibited  in  1778  by  a  foreigner  at 
"Bartlemy  Fair, 
the 

Capello, 
ago 
and  disgorged  it  about  a  month  afterwards. 

The  collection  of  bears  is  said  to  be  one  of  the 


it  has,  so 
far,  met  with  no  success  whatever. 

Another  great  attraction  of  the  gardens  is  the 


to  the  keeper— a  rough-hewn 

man,  who,  when  he  feeds   them  publicly,  makes 


286 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Regent's  Park. 


them  perform  all  sorts  of  amusing  feats — climbing 
chairs,  &c. 

The  parrot-house,  in  the  northern  section  of  the 
gardens,  is  well  worthy  of  a  visit,  containing,  as  i 
does,  every  variety  of  the  painted  inhabitants  o 
the  woods  of  South  America  and  Australia.  Th 
screaming  and  screeching  of  these  not  very  tunefu 
songsters,  when  they  are  heard  in  chorus,  rnai 
reconcile  us  to  the  dull  plumage  of  our  native  birds 
and  teach  us  that  there  is  a  law  of  compensation 
not  only  for  human  beings,  but  for  the  beasts  of  the 
field  and  the  fowls  of  the  air. 

The  obituary  of  the  gardens  for  the  year  1873 
which  we  make  as  a  sample  for  that  of  most 
years,  included  not  only  a  rhinoceros  and  the  little 
hippopotamus  already  mentioned,  but  a  seal,  an 
ostrich,  and  the  old  and  venerable  lion  "  Nero,' 
who  died  peacefully  and  quietly,  not  of  any  disease, 
but  of  sheer  age.  We  might  add  that,  if  inquests 
were  held  on  the  bodies  of  beasts,  it  would  have 
been  the  duty  of  a  jury  to  bring  in  a  verdict  ol 
"  Wilful  murder "  against  the  British  public  in  the 
case  of  the  seal  and  the  ostrich,  the  former  of 
which  was  killed  by  swallowing  a  bag  of  nuts 
thrown  to  it  by  some  schoolboys,  without  cracking 
the  shells ;  while  the  latter  was  shown,  upon  dis- 
section, to  have  met  its  end  by  twenty-one  penny 
pieces  which  it  could  not  digest,  although  it  was 
an  ostrich. 

The  climate,  it  is  true,  has  something  to  do,  at 
times,  with  the  longevity  of  the  animals  :  for  in- 
stance, some  fine  white  oxen  from  Italy,  the  gift  of 
Count  Cavour,  are  now  all  dead,  reminding  the 
classical  reader  of  the  well-known  line  of  Virgil — 

"  Hiiic  albi,  Clitunme,  grcges,  et  maxima  taurus 

Victima." 

Some  huge  white  oxen  from   India,  however,  now 
in  the  gardens,  thrive  well  and  multiply. 

During  the  year;>bove  mentioned  (1873)  the  list 
of  new  arrivals  comprised  upwards  of  1,000  entries, 
including  births,  purchases,  donations,  exchanges, 
and  "deposits."  Among  these  was  a  handsome 
lioness,  which  was  purchased  in  Dublin,  and  which, 
shortly  after  reaching  Regent's  Park,  presented  her 
new  masters  with  a  litter  of  four  cubs. 

It  should  be  added  that  at  intervals  a  "dupli- 
cate list "  of  animals  is  issued  and  circulated  by 
the  secretary  of  the  society  ;  one  of  such  lists 
now  before  us  (dated  September,  1872)  includes  a 
large  variety  of  specimens,  ranging  from  the  Indian 
elephant  (offered  at  .£45°)  down  to  ring-necked 


and  crested  paroquets,  at  153.  and  ios.,  and  a 
common  heron  at  ios.  The  books  kept  daily  at 
the  office  of  the  society  contain  not  only  the  list 
of  "  arrivals  "  and  "  departures,"  but  also  a  record 
of  the  temperature  in  the  various  "  houses  "  in  the 
gardens,  and  what  would  be  called  an  "  ceger  list " 
— namely,  a  list  of  such  birds,  beasts,  and  fishes  as 
require  medical  attendance.  In  one  corner  of  the 
gardens,  not  easily  found  by  chance  visitors,  is  a 
small  and  unobtrusive  dissecting-room,  where  the 
carcases  of  such  animals  as  die  from  natural  causes 
are  made  subservient  to  the  purposes  of  anatomical 
science. 

In  1875  an  extensive  addition  was  made  to  the 
gardens,  by  inclosing  about  four  acres  of  land  on 
the  north  side  of  the  canal,  which  is  crossed  by  a 
bridge,  thus  enabling  the  society  to  open  an  addi- 
tional entrance  in  the  Outer  Circle  of  the  Park. 
nearly  opposite  the  foot  of  Primrose  Hill. 

In  these  gardens  were  lodged,  in  a  temporary 
building,  the  collection  of  beasts  and  birds  brought 
back  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  from  India,  in  1876, 
including  several  tiger  cubs,  goats,  sheep,  dwarf 
oxen,  and  dwarf  elephants,  as  well  as  several 
•arieties  of  the  pheasant  tribe. 

We  may  add,  in  conclusion,  that  Regent's  Park 
is,  and  must  be,  at  a  disadvantage  when  compared 
with  the  other  places  of  fashionable  resort  in 
London  ;  and  although  crowds  of  the  ban  ton  flock 
:o  they?/«  at  the  Botanical  Gardens,  and  lounge 
uvay  their  Sunday  afternoons  at  "  the  Zoo  "  in  the 
season,  yet  it  never  will  or  can  become  really  "the 
ashion,"  as  the  tide  sets  steadily  in  a  south-west 
lirection. 

"  The  Regent's  Park,  above  all,"  writes  the  Vis- 
comte  d'Arlingcourt,  in  his  account  of  a  visit  to 
•'.ngland  in  1844,  "  is  a  scene  of  enchantment, 
vhere  we  might  fancy  ourselves  surrounded  by  the 
juiet  charms  of  a  smiling  landscape,  or  in  the  de- 
ightful  garden  of  a  magnificent  country  house,  if 
ve  did  not  see  on  every  side  a  countless  number 
jf  mansions,  adorned  with  colonnades,  porticoes, 
sediments,  and  statues,  which  transport  us  back  to 
Condon  ;  but  London  is  not  here,  as  it  is  on  the 
janks  of  the  Thames,  the  gloomy  commercial  city, 
s  appearance  has  entirely  changed.  Purified 
rom  its  smoke  and  dirt,  and  decked  with  costly 
plendour,  it  has  become  the  perfumed  abode  of 
he  aristocracy.  No  artisans'  dwellings  are  to  be 
een  here :  nothing  less  than  the  habitations  of 
irinces." 


Hill.] 


JTHE  MANOR  OF  CHALCOT. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
PRIMROSE     HILL     AND     CHALK     FARM. 


unde  queas  alios."-Z 


>-ius,  ii. 


of  Primrose  Hill,  and  its  Appearance  in  Bygone  Times—  Barrow  Hill  and  tl     w 
Murder  of  Sir  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey-Dud  between  Ugo  Foscolo  and  I  G  rah  m     P 
for  the  Pcople-The  Tunnel   through  the  Hill-F,reworks   in   Cel*bnt?on  el  "* 


'ddlcs«  Waterworks-The  Manor  of  Chalcot- 
PUrdll"ed  b>'  »"=  Crown,  ™d  made  a  Park 


Old  Chalk  Farm  Tavern-The  Railway  St 


Pickford's  Goods  DepCt     The  R         HeStm°r=la"d-The  Eccentric  Lord  Coleraine-The 
°~  lh=  7°rk  *««  Albany  -  Tavern-Gloucester 


Gate-Albany  Stree.-The  Guards   Barracks-Park  Village  East-Cumberland  M  A  ,     M  ^"T  A'biUly "  "* 

worthy  Gurney-The  "  Queen's  Head  and  Artichoke  "-Trinity  Church.  Munster  Square-Osnaburgh  Street-Sir  Golds- 

li^±?/r\^rrilTpiT."!.and  is,n-  «**?*  by  the  ^^ « the  west 


appendage  to  St.  James's  Park,  so  does  Primrose 
Hill  to  the  Regent's  Park :  it  has  the  character  of 


Middlesex  Waterworks.      The    name  survives  in 
Barrow  Hill  Place  and  Road. 


MEDAL    TO    COMMEMORATE    THE    MURDER    OF    GODFREY. 


a  "  park  for  the  people,"  and  its  associations  are  the 
reverse  of  aristocratic.  The  hill  lies  on  the  north 
side  of  the  park,  and  its  name  still  bears  testimony 
to  its  rural  and  retired  situation,  when  its  sides 
were  covered  with  brushwood  and  an  undergrowth 
of  early  spring  flowers.  Going  back  to  the  time 
of  the  Roman  settlers,  we  find  that  when  they 
planted  their  colony  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames 
and  founded  London,  most  part  of  the  northern 
district  consisted  of  a  large  forest  filled  with  wolves 
and  other  wild  animals.  Early  in  the  thirteenth 
century  the  forest  of  Middlesex  was  disafforested, 
but  although  portions  were  cleared,  St.  John's 
Wood,  as  we  have  already  seen,  remained  suffi- 
ciently dense  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign  to  afford 
shelter  and  concealment  to  Babington,  the  con- 
spirator, and  his  associates.  At  that  time,  however, 
the  slopes  of  Primrose  Hill  were  used  as  meadow 
land,  and  were  probably  in  the  mind  of  writers  who 
allude  to  the  many  "  haicockes  in  July  at  Pan- 
credge  "  (St.  Pancras),  as  a  thing  known  to  every- 
body. This  district  dates  back  to  very  early  times, 
if  we  may  accept  the  name  of  Barrow  Hill — for- 
merly Greenberry  Hill — which  lies  on  its  western 
side,  as  evidence  that  it  was  once  the  scene  of  a 
battle  and  place  of  sepulture  for  the  slain.  There 
was  formerly  a  Barrow  Farm,  and  Barrow  Hill  itself 


I      "  The  definite  history  of  the  place,"  says  a  writer 

in  the  Builder,  "  dates  from  the  time  when  '  sundry 

devout  men  of  London '  gave  to  the  Leper  Hospital 

of  St.  James  (afterwards  St.  James's  Palace)  four 

hides   of  land  in   the  field  of  Westminster,  and 

•  eighty  acres  of  land  and  wood  in  Hendon,  Chalcot, 

:  and  Hampstead.    Edward  I.  confirmed  these  gifts, 

j  but  in  course  of  time  dissensions  arose  between 

j  the  convent  and  the  Abbey  of  Westminster,  which 

Henry   VI.    brought    to   an    end    by   giving    the 

custody  of   the   hospital    into  the    hands  of   the 

provost  and  fellows  of  his  newly-founded  college 

of  Eton,  and  with  it  the  before-mentioned  acres. 

In  the  twenty-third  year  of  Henry  VIII.'s  reign  the 

hospital  was  surrendered  to  the  king,  who  turned 

it  into  a  manor-house.     The  property  of  Chalcot 

and    its    neighbourhood    was    probably  of  little 

value,  and  no  doubt  the  Eton  authorities  had  not 

much  difficulty  in  getting  it  into  their  own  hands 

again." 

More  than  two  centuries  pass  away,  farmhouses 
are  built,  and  the  manor  of  Chalcot  is  divided  into 
Upper  and  Lower,  which  are  described  as  the 
Chalcots.  Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1678 
the  eyes  of  all  England  were  directed  towards  this 
retired  and  lonely  spot,  for  there  had  been  dis- 
covered the  dead  body  of  Sir  Edmund  Berry 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


Godfrey,  of  whose  murder  we  have  already  spoken 
in  our  account  of  Somerset  House.*  The  hill  at 
that  time  doubtless  was  famous  for  the  primroses 
that  grew  upon  it ;  and  although  the  fields  around 
were  used  for  grazing,  the  place,  covered  as  it  was 
with  brambles,  was  inaccessible,  and  wonder  was 
excited  as  to  the  means  by  which  the  body  came 
there.  The  name  of  the  victim  has  been  variously 
written  :  Macaulay,  in  common  with  many  others, 


Harrison,  the  king's  embroiderer. 


They 


named  my  son  Edmund  Berrie,  the  one's  name, 
and  the  other's  Christian  name." 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  confusion  has 
arisen  partly  from  the  likeness  of  the  name  to  that 
of  the  celebrated  town  in  Suffolk,  and  partly  from 
the  infrequent  use  at  that  time  of  two  Christian 
names.  Sir  Edmund  was  a  rich  timber  merchant, 
and  lived  at  the  river  end  of  Northumberland 


PRIMROSE     HILL     I 


calls  him  Edmundsbury  Godfrey,  whilst  by  some  it 
is  written  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey.  On  a  monu- 
ment in  the  cloister  of  Westminster  Abbey  to  the 
memory  of  a  brother  of  Sir  Edmund,  the  knight  is 
designated  as  Edmundus  Berry  Godfrey  ;  but  the 
late  Mr.  J.  G.  Nichols  went  still  further,  and  brought 
forward  as  his  authority  Sir  Edmund's  father.  The 
following  is  an  extract  from  the  diary  of  Thomas 
Godfrey,  of  Lidd,  Kent  : — "  My  wife  was  delivered 
of  another  son  the  23rd  December,  1621,  who 
was  christened  the  ijth  January,  being  Sunday. 
His  godfathers  were  my  cousin,  John  Berrie,  his 
other  godfather  my  faithful  loving  friend  and  my 
neighbour  sometime  in  Grub  Street,  Mr.  Edmund 


I  Street,  in  the  Strand.     He  was  Justice  of  the  Peace 

j  for  the  Court  quarter  of  town,  and  was  so  active  in 
the  performance  of  his  duties,  that  during  the  time 
of  the  Great  Plague,  in  1664-5,  uPon  tne  refusal  of 
his  men  to  enter  a  pest-house  in  order  to  bring  out 

|  a  culprit  who  had  furnished  a  large  number  of 
shops  with  at  least  1,000  winding-sheets  stolen 
from  the  dead,  he  ventured  in  alone  and  brought 

,  the  wretch  to  justice.  He  was  knighted  for  his 
conduct  during  the  plague,  and  Bishop  Bumet  says 
that  he  was  esteemed  the  best  justice  of  the  peace 
in  England.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was 
entering  upon  the  great  design  of  taking  up  all 
beggars,  and  putting  them  to  work. 

He  is  said  to  have  been  a  zealous  Protestant 
and  Church  of  England  man,  but  not  forward  to 


Primrose  Hill.1 


MURDER  OF  SIR  EDMUND   BERRY  GODFREY. 


289 


execute  the  laws  against  the  Nonconformists,  and 
to  have  somehow  got  mixed  up  in  the  so-called 
Popish  plot.  We  are  told  that  he  grew  apprehen- 
sive and  reserved,  and  assured  Burnet  that  "he 
believed  he  should  be  knocked  on  the  head,"  yet 
he  took  no  care  of  himself,  and  went  about  alone. 
One  day  he  was  seen,  about  one  o'clock,  near  St. 
Clement's  Church,  but  was  never  heard  of  again 
until  his  body  was  found  in  a  ditch  on  the  south 


not  coming  near  500  yards  of  the  place."  Burnet 
was  one  of  those  who  went  to  the  White  House, 
and  he  describes  what  he  saw  as  follows  : — "  His 
sword  was  thrust  through  him ;  but  no  blood  was 
on  his  clothes  or  about  him.  His  shoes  were  clean. 
His  money  was  in  his  pocket,  but  nothing  was 
about  his  neck,  and  a  mark  was  round  it  about  an 
inch  broad,  which  showed  how  he  was  strangled. 
His  breast  was  likewise  all  over  marked  with 


side  of  Primrose  Hill,  about  two  fields  distant 
from  the  White  House,  or  Lower  Chalcot  farm- 
house, whither  the  corpse  was  taken,  and  where  it 
lay  for  two  days,  being  seen  by  large  multitudes. 
From  the  "White  House  "  the  body  of  Sir  Edmund 
was  conveyed  back  to  London,  to  be  buried  in  St. 
Martin's  Churchyard,  having  first  "lain  in  state  for 
two  days  at  the  Bridewell  Hospital."  The  spot  on 
which  the  corpse  was  found  is  thus  described  in  a 
publication  of  the  period:-" As  to  the  place, 
it  was  in  a  ditch  on  the  south  side  of  Primrose 
Hill,  surrounded  with  divers  closes,  fenced  in 
with  high  mounds  and  ditches;  no  road  near, 
only  some  deep  dirty  lanes,  made  for  the  con- 
venience of  driving  cows,  and  such  like  cattle, 
in  and  out  of  the  grounds ;  and  those  very  lanes 
217 


bruises,  and  his  neck  was  broken.  There  were 
many  drops  of  white  waxlights  on  his  breeches, 
which  he  never  used  himself;  and  since  only 
persons  of  quality  and  priests  use  those  lights,  this 
made  all  people  conclude  in  whose  hands  he  must 
have  been."  Four  medals  were  struck  to  com- 
memorate his  death,  on  one  of  which  he  was  repre- 
sented as  walking  with  a  broken  neck  and  a  sword 
in  his  body.  On  the  reverse  of  this  medal  St. 
Denis  is  shown  bearing  his  head  m  his  hand. 
Underneath  is  the  following  inscription  :— 
•'  Godfrey  walks  up  hill  after  he  is  dead  ;  __ 

Denis  walks  down  hill  carrying  his  head. 
A  great  procession,  consisting  of  eight  knights,  all 
fhe'aldeLn  of  the  city  of  London,  and  seventy- 
two  clergymen,  accompanied  the  body  to  the  gnne 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


in  St  Martin's  Church,  and  a  portrait  of  Sir 
Edmund  was  placed  in  the  vestry-room.  The 
press  now  teemed  with  pamphlets  on  the  subject. 
In  one,  the  murder  was  charged  to  the  Earl  of 
Danby ;  in  another,  Garnet's  ghost  addressing  the 
Jesuits  is  made  to  show  the  greatest  delight  in  the 
horrors  of  the  plot.  Wishes  are  expressed — 

"  That  the  whole  nation  with  one  neck  might  grow, 
To  be  slic'd  off,  and  you  to  give  the  blow." 

The  nation  thus  roused  to  a  state  of  frenzy,  thirsted 
for  revenge,  and  Somerset  House,  as  we  have  men- 
tioned, then  the  residence  of  Queen  Catherine  of 
Braganza,  consort  of  Charles  II.,  was  fixed  upon 
as  the  scene  of  the  murder.  Three  persons — 
namely,  Robert  Green,  cushion-man  of  the  queen's 
chapel;  Lawrence  Hill,  servant  to  Dr.  Godden, 
treasurer  of  the  chapel ;  and  Henry  Berry,  porter 
at  Somerset  House — were  tried  for  the  crime  on 
the  loth  of  February,  1679,  when  the  infamous  wit- 
nesses, Oates,  Prance,  and  Bedloe,  declared  "  that 
he  (Godfrey)  was  waylaid,  and  inveigled  into  the 
palace,  under  the  pretence  of  keeping  the  peace 
between  two  servants  who  were  fighting  in  the 
yard  ;  that  he  was  there  strangled,  his  neck  broke, 
and  his  own  sword  run  through  his  body ;  that  he 
was  kept  four  days  before  they  ventured  to  remove 
him ;  at  length  his  corpse  was  carried  in  a  sedan- 
chair  to  Soho,  and  then  on  a  horse  to  Primrose 
Hill."  In  spite  of  the  abandoned  character  of  the 
witnesses  and  the  irreconcilable  testimony  they  gave, 
the  jury  found  all  the  prisoners  guilty,  and  Lord 
Chief  Justice  Scroggs  said  lie  should  have  found 
the  same  verdict  had  he  been  one  of  the  jury. 
The  three  men,  all  declaring  their  innocence  to 
the  last,  were  executed,  and  the  law  had  its  victims; 
but  from  that  clay  to  this  the  murder  of  Godfrey 
has  remained  an  unsolved  mystery.  It  was  pointed 
out  in  a  printed  letter  to  Prance,  1681,  that  his 
story  of  Hill  carrying  the  body  before  him  on 
horseback  could  not  be  true  on  account  of  the 
condition  of  the  district ;  and  it  was  further  stated 
that  it  would  have  been  "  impossible  for  any  man 
on  horseback,  with  a  dead  corpse  before  him,  at 
midnight  to  approach,  unless  gaps  were  made  in 
the  mounds,  as  the  constable  and  his  assistants  > 
found  from  experience  when  they  came  on  horse- 
back thither."  It  has  been  a  popular  belief  that 
Greenberry  Hill,  mentioned  above,  took  its  origin  ' 
from  the  names  of  the  three  supposed  murderers, 
but  it  is  doubtful  whether  this  was  the  case  ;  and  ! 
Narcissus  Luttrell,  in  his  contemporary  "  Diary,"  i 
remarks  on  the  singular  coincidence  of  the  names 
of  Green,  Berry,  and  Hill  with  the  old  designation 
of  the  hill.  The  name  has  long  since  I'een  changed 


to  Barrow  Hill,  thus  assisting  to  bury  in  obscurity, 
if  not  in  oblivion,  the  awful  fate  of  a  man  who 
1  lived  and  died  guiltless  of  any  crime,  except  the 
,  strict  execution  of  his  duty. 

On  the  western  side  of  Primrose  Hill  is  another 
and  a  smaller  eminence,  the  summit  of  which  has 
been,  beyond  the  memory  of  man,  bare  of  all 
vegetable  substance.  "  The  popular  tradition  is," 
observes  a  writer  in  the  Mirror,  "  that  there  two 
brothers,  enamoured  of  the  same  lady,  met  to 
j  decide  by  arms  to  whom  she  should  belong. 
i  Ridiculous  idea !  that  a  woman's  heart  would  con- 
sent to  receive  a  master  from  the  point  of  a  sword, 
or  trust  its  hopes  of  happiness  to  the  hired  arbitra- 
I  tion  of  a  trigger !  Both  died  at  the  same  time, 
1  each  by  the  weapon  of  his  adversary !"  Here,  too, 
I  about  the  year  1813,  Ugo  Foscolo  fought  a  duel — 
happily,  bloodless — with  Graham,  the  editor  of  the 
i  Literary  Museum. 

In  1827,  the  provost  and  fellows  of  Eton  began 
to  see  that  their  property  would  soon  become 
valuable,  and  they  obtained  an  Act  of  Parliament 
(7  Geo.  IV.,  c.  25,  private),  enabling  them  to  grant 
:  leases  of  lands  in  the  parishes  of  Hampstead  and 
Marylebone.  Soon  after  the  accession  of  Queen 
Victoria,  endeavours  were  made  to  obtain  Primrose 
Hill  for  the  Crown,  and  a  public  act  was  passed 
(5  and  6  Viet,  c.  78),  for  effecting  an  exchange 
between  Her  Majesty  and  the  provost  and  college 
of  Eton.  By  this  act  Eton  College  received  certain 
property  at  Eton,  and  gave  up  all  their  rights  in 
the  Hill.  In  the  schedules  setting  forth  the  parti- 
culars of  the  transfer  we  read  of  Shepherd's  Hill, 
Square  Field,  Bluehouse  Field,  and  Rugmere  Close, 
all  in  the  vicinity  of  Primrose  Hill.  The  Eton 
property  is  now  largely  built  upon,  and  the  appro- 
priate names  of  Eton,  College,  King  Henry's, 
Provost,  Fellows',  Oppidans',  and  Merton  Roads, 
all  on  the  north,  south,  and  east  of  the  Hill,  mark 
its  position. 

It  may  be  added  here  that  the  North- Western 
Railway,  entering  a  tunnel  at  Chalk  Farm,  passes 
under  Primrose  Hill,  emerging  again  between  St 
John's  Wood  and  Kilburn.  This  tunnel;  which 
runs  in  a  parallel  direction  with  a  portion  of  the 
Adelaide  Road,  is  nearly  3,500  feet  in  length,  and 
was  made  in  1834.  It  was  for  many  years  con- 
sidered one  of  the  greatest  triumphs  of  engineering 
skill  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  metropolis ;  in 
fact,  it  was  the  largest  work  of  the  kind  carried  out 
by  any  engineers  up  to  that  time.  It  passes  through 
1,100  yards  of  stiff  London  clay,  "the  most  un- 
manageable and  treacherous  of  all  materials." 
Within  the  last  few  years  another  tunnel  has  been 
constructed  for  the  main  line  traffic. 


CHALCOT   FARM. 


There  is  little  more  to  be  said  about  Primrose    been  a  happy  one.     But,  abused  and  maligned  as 


Hill  in  the  way  of  history.  On  May  29,  1856, 
fireworks  were  exhibited  here  in  celebration  of  the 
peace,  as  well  as  in  Hyde,  Green,  and  Victoria 
Parks.  In  1864,  under  the  auspices  of  a  com- 
mittee, an  oak  was  planted  by  Mr.  Phelps,  the 
tragedian,  on  the  south  side  of  the  hill,  to  com- 
memorate the  tercentenary  of  Shakespeare.  Im- 
provements have  been  made  here  at  various  times. 
Thus,  fifty  acres  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  were  enclosed 
and  kid  out  as  a  park  ;  appliances  for  gymnastics 
were  erected  near  the  Albert  Road ;  and  later  in 
time,  lamps  were  placed  in  the  park  and  over  the 
brow  of  the  hill.  These  have  a  particularly  pretty 
effect  when  lighted  up  at  night.  Few  places  are 
more  appreciated  by  the  popular  pleasure-seeker 
on  Easter  and  Whit  Mondays  than  Primrose  Hill, 
which  is  often  so  crowded  that  at  a  distance  it 


she  was  in  life,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  quote  here  the 
words  of  the  Hon.  Amelia  Murray  in  her  "  Recol- 
lections :"— "  She  was  traduced  and  misunder- 
stood ;  one  of  those  pure  spirits  little  valued  by 
the  world,  though  worshipped  by  those  who  knew 
her  well.  Her  friendship  was  the  chief  blessing 
of  my  earliest  years,  and  her  loss  can  never  be 
replaced." 

A  house  in  St.  James's  Terrace,  at  the  corner  of 
the  Park  and  Primrose  Hill,  was  the  residence 
for  many  years  of  Mr.  Hepworth  Dixon,  the  editor 
of  the  Athenaum,  and  author  of  "  Her  Majesty's 
Tower,"  "  New  America,"  &c. 

Burnet  describes  Primrose  Hill  as  "about  a  mile 
out  of  town,  near  St.  Pancras  Church."  Such  a 
description  might  answer  in  Burnet's  time,  when 
St.  Pancras  Church  was  the  only  landmark  of  im- 


seems  as  if  one  could  walk  upon  the  heads  of  the    portance  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  they  were  sepa- 


people  congregated  there.  The  summit  is  206  feet 
above  Trinity  high-water  mark  of  the  Thames,  and 
an  exceedingly  fine  view  can  be  obtained  from  it 
on  a  clear  day.  The  hill  was  a  place  of  meeting  for 
many  years,  for  popular  demonstrations,  &c.,  before 


rated  merely  by  fields  and  cultivated  grounds  ;  but 
now  a  perfect  city  of  houses  has  grown  up  between 
them.  In  fact,  only  a  century  ago  the  old  church 
of  St.  Pancras  was  so  very  rural  that  it  was  only 
enclosed  by  a  low  and  very  old  hand-railing,  which 


in  some  parts  was  covered  with  docks  and  nettles. 
Whitefield's  Chapel,  in  Tottenham  Court  Road ; 
Montagu  House,  Great  Russell  Street ;  Bedford 


Hyde  Park  was  chosen.  It  is  said  that  on  the 
morning  of  the  frightful  gunpowder  explosion  on 
the  Regent's  Canal,  of  which  we  have  spoken  in 
the  preceding  chapter,  an  artist  was  waiting  there  :  House,  Bloomsbury  Square ;  and  Baltimore  House, 
to  watch  the  rising  of  the  sun,  and  to  see  London  j  situated  where  Russell  Square  is  now  built,  could 
gradually  awake.  He  saw  and  heard  more  than  all  be  seen  from  the  churchyard.  By  this  time 
he  expected.  We  may  add  that  this  spot  is  now  the  White  House  had  become  a  tavern  and  tea- 
entirely  hemmed  in  by  houses  on  all  sides,  but 


we  hope  that  the  prophecy  of  Mother  Shipton— 
that  when  London  shall  surround  Primrose  Hill 
the  streets  of  the  metropolis  will  run  with  blood 


gardens  for  the  benefit  of  ruralisers,  and  was  known 
as  Chalk  Farm.  This  name  is  a  corruption  from 
Chalcot,  and  its  transitional  form  can  be  seen  in 
Rocque's  map  of  London  (1746),  where  England's 
Lane,  Haverstock  Hill,  is  marked  as  Upper  Chalk 


—may  not  be  fulfilled,  in  our  day  at  least. 

With  a  certain  class  of  poets,  akin  to  those  of  House  Lane.  The  old  manor-house  of  Upper 
the  "  Lake"  School,  it  became  the  fashion  to  exalt  Chalcot  still  remains  in  England's  Lane  on  Haver- 
the  London  suburbs  as  paragons  of  beauty.  The 


Alps  were  nothing  to  Primrose  Hill,  and  the  elms 
which  then  crowned  its  summit  were  as  the  cedars 
of  Lebanon  to  the  ready  writer.  Highgate  outvied 
Parnassus,  buttercups  and  dandelions  outshone  the 
exotics  of  southern  climes.  New  phrases  were 
coined  even  for  the  cow-keepers  of  the  district; 
and,  to  use  Cyrus  Redding's  phrase,  "  the  peak 
of  Hampstead  became  as  famous  in  their  view 
as  Chimborazo  to  that  of  Humboldt."  Professor 


stock  Hill,  and  the  site  of  Lower  Chalcot  is  indi 


cated  by  Chalk  Farm  and  Chalcot  Terrace.  The 
etymology  of  Chalk  Farm  is  evidently  a  contrac- 
tion or  vulgar  abridgment  of  Chalcot  Farm,  and 
has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  nature  of  the 
soil,  as  may  perhaps  by  some  people  be  supposed  ; 
there  being  no  chalk  in  the  neighbourhood,  the  whole 
district  resting  on  London  clay.  The  next  point 
in  the  history  of  Chalk  Farm  is  its  selection  as 
the  scene  of  frequent  duels.  It  was  particularly 


Wilson,  it  may  be  remembered,  lashed  this  school    sui 


was  near  town,  and  at 


inaency  to  magnny  tnnes.  r—      •        • 

In  St.  George's  Terrace,  in  the  house  nearest  to    upon  as    quite  a  wilderness ^  and 
the  eastern  slope  of  Primrose  Hi,,,  died,  in  :86o,    str oiled  as_far  northward,  as  Pnmro* 
Lady  Byron,  the  widow  of  the  poet.    The  marriage 
was,  no  doubt,  ill-assorted,  and  could  never  have 


Farm  for  some  years,  indeed,  as  a  place  for  "  affairs 
of  honour,"  even  rivalled  in  popularity  Wimbledon 


OLD     AND     NEW     LONDON. 


Common,  where  the  Duke  of  York  fought  Colonel  \  of  honour,"  has  described  the  spot  where  the 
Lennox  in  1789  ;  Battersea  Fields,  where  the  Duke  |  would-be  duellists  met  as  "screened  on  one  side 
of  Wellington  met  face  to  face  with  the  Earl  of  I  by  l.irge  trees."  He  also  induced  Byron  to  add 
VVinchilsea,  in  1829  ;  and  Putney  Heath,  where  j  to  his  lines  a  note,  to  the  effect  that  the  pistol  was 
Pitt  met  Tierney  in  1798,  and  Castlereagh  and  :  actually  loaded.  Moore,  it  is  stated,  borrowed 
Canning  exchanged  shots  in  1809.  "Then  there  his  pistols  from  a  brother  poet,  who  sent  the  Bow 
was  Chalk  Farm,"  writes  Mr.  S.  Palmer,  in  his  i  Street  officers  to  prevent  the  two  little  men  from 
"  History  of  St.  Pancras,"  "  which  was  better  known  ;  killing  each  other.  Here  is  Moore's  narrative  of 
latterly  as  the  favourite  place  for  discontented  men  ,  this  hostile  meeting  as  recorded  in  his  diary  : — 
to  meet  in  order  to  settle  their  differences  with  the  "  I  must  have  slept  pretty  well ;  for  Hume,  I 
pistol,  as  if  gunpowder  were  the  stronger  argument,  |  remember,  had  to  wake  me  in  the  morning ;  and 
and  a  steady  aim  the  best  logic.  This  absurd  !  the  chaise  being  in  readiness,  we  set  off  for  Chalk 
custom  is  now  dying  out,  and  it  is  quite  possible  j  Farm.  Hume  had  also  taken  the  precaution  of 
in  the  present  day  for  a  man  to  be  a  man  of  honour  i  providing  a  surgeon  to  be  within  call.  On  reaching 
and  yet  decline  to  risk  his  own  more  valuable  life  the  ground  we  found  Jeffrey  and  his  party  already 
against  a  man  who  values  his  at  nothing."  One  of  j  arrived.  I  say  his  party,  for  although  Horner  only 
the  earliest  duels  on  record  as  having  taken  place  ;  was  with  him,  there  were,  as  we  afterwards  found, 
at  Chalk  Farm  was  that  between  Captain  Hervey  two  or  three  of  his  attached  friends  (and  no  man, 
Aston  and  Lieutenant  Fitzgerald,  in  the  summer  of  I  believe,  could  ever  boast  of  a  greater  number) 
1790,  a  lady,  as  usual,  being  in  the  case.  Fitz-  who,  in  their  anxiety  for  his  safety,  had  accom- 
gerald  had  the  first  fire,  and  shot  Aston  through  panied  him,  and  were  hovering  about  the  spot 
the  neck ;  he,  however,  recovered,  but  was  shot  And  then  was  it  that,  for  the  first  time,  my  excellent 
in  another  duel  a  few  years  later.  In  April,  1 803,  friend  Jeffrey  and  I  met  face  to  face.  He  was 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Montgomery  and  Captain  Mac-  standing  with  the  bag,  which  contained  the  pistols, 
namara  met  near  Chalk  Farm  to  settle,  by  force  in  his  hand,  while  Horner  was  looking  anxiously 
of  arms,  a  dispute  which  had  occurred  between  around.  It  was  agreed  that  the  spot  where  we 
them  in  Hyde  Park.  The  quarrel  arose  out  of  the  found  them,  which  was  screened  on  one  side  by 
fact  that  the  dog  of  the  one  "  officer  and  gentle-  large  trees,  would  be  as  good  for  our  purpose  as 
man  "  had  snarled  and  growled  at  the  dog  of  the  any  we  could  select ;  and  Horner,  after  expressing 
other.  The  dog's  growl,  however,  was  terribly  :  some  anxiety  respecting  some  men  whom  he  had 
avenged  in  the  sequel,  for  the  colonel  was  killed  •  seen  suspiciously  hovering  about,  but  who  now 
and  the  captain  severely  wounded.  Captain  Mac-  '  appeared  to  have  departed,  retired  with  Hume 
namara  was  tried  for  murder  at  the  Old  Bailey,  but  behind  the  trees,  for  the  purpose  of  loading  the 
although  the  judge  summed  up  for  manslaughter,  pistols,  leaving  Jeffrey  and  myself  together.  All 
the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  "  Not  guilty."  Three  this  had  occupied  but  a  very  few  minutes.  We,  of 
years  later,  an  encounter  took  place  here  between  course,  had  bowed  to  each  other  at  meeting ;  but 
"Tom"  Moore  and  Francis  Jeffrey;  but,  fortu-  the  first  words  I  recollect  to  have  passed  between 
nately,  although  the  principals  were  in  earnest,  the  us  was  Jeffrey's  saying,  on  our  being  left  together, 
affair  came  to  an  abrupt  termination  by  the  arrival  <  What  a  beautiful  morning  it  is  ! '  —  '  Yes,'  I 
of  the  police  officers  before  the  signal  for  firing  was  answered,  with  a  slight  smile,  '  a  morning  made 
given.  It  was  stated  at  the  time  that  the  pistols  for  better  purposes ; '  to  which  his  only  response 
were  loaded  with  only  blank  cartridges.  This  was  a  sort  of  assenting  sigh.  As  our  assistants 
little  matter  gave  rise  to  an  epigram  which  ended—  were  not,  any  more  than  ourselves,  very  expert  at 
"They  only  fire  ball-cartridge  at  reviews/'  '  warlike  matters,  they  were  rather  slow  in  their  pro- 

Byron  alludes  to  this  report  in  his  "  English  Bards    C,eedinSs  '   and   as  Jeffrey  and  I  w^d  UP  and 
and  Scotch  Reviewers  : "-  ,  doOT1  toSether'    we   came    on«  >"  sight  of  their 

,  operations ;     upon    which  I   related   to    him,    as 
5  ' e>      i  rather  apropos  to  the  purpose,  that  Billy  Egan,  the 

And  guard  it  sacred  in  its  future  wars,  Ir's'1  barrister,  once  said,  when,  as  he  was  saunter- 

Since  authors  sometimes  seek  the  field  of  Mars !         |  ing  about  in  like  manner  while  the  pistols  were 
'  Can  none  remember  that  eventful  day,  i  loading,  his  antagonist,  a   fiery  little  fellow,  called 

That  ever  glorious,  almost  fatal,  fray,  i  out  to  him  angrily  to  keep  his  ground.     '  Don't 


When  Little's  leadless  pistol  met  his  eye, 
And  Bow  Street  myrmidons  stood  laughing  by?" 
Moore,  who  wrote  a  long  account  of  this  "  affair 


make  yourself  unaisy,  my  dear  fellow,'  said  Egan  ; 
'  sure,  isn't  it  bad  enough  to  take  the  dose,  without 
being  by  at  the  mixing  up  ?  '  Jeffrey  had  scarcely 


THE  WRESTLING  CLUB. 


time  to  smile  at  this  story,  when  our  two  friends, 
issuing  from  behind  the  trees,  placed  us  at  our 
respective  posts  (the  distance,  I  suppose,  having 
been  previously  measured  by  them),  and  put  the 
pistols  into  our  hands.  They  then  retired 


little   distance;   the  pistols   were  on  both  sides         And  the  ^^  X^  know,  is  to  live  while  you  may,- 


raised,  and  we  waited  but  the  signal  to  fire,  when 


Now  in  giving  this  pref  rence  I  trust  you'll  admit 
I  have  acted  with  prudence,  and  done  what  was  fit ; 


:  encountering  him,  and  my  weapon  a  knife, 


There  is  some  little  chance  of  preserving  my  life, 
L  you,  sir,  might  take  it  away, 


Whilst  a  bullet  fr< 


We  all  know  that  a  jest  will  sometimes  succeed 


some  police  officers,  whose  approach  none  of  us  •  where  a  sermon  fails ;  but  jests  and  sermons  appear 
had  noticed,  and  who  were  within  a  second  of  to  have  been  equally  fruitless  in  their  attacks  on 
being  too  late,  rushed  out  from  a  hedge  behind  this  silly  practice,  as  it  survived  for  at  least  three  or 
Jeffrey  ;  and  one  of  them,  striking  at  Jeffrey's  pistol  four  years  into  the  reign  of  Victoria, 
with  his  staff,  knocked  it  to  some  distance  into  j  But  the  old  tavern  at  Chalk  Farm  has  other 
the  field,  while  another  running  over  to  me,  took  reminiscences  besides  those  which  associate  it 
possession  also  of  mine.  We  were  then  replaced  j  with  the  many  duels  fought  in  its  neighbourhood. 
in  our  respective  carriages,  and  conveyed  crest-  [  From  the  year  1834  to  1838— at  which  time  the 
fallen  to  Bow  Street."  It  is  known  that  Moore  i  fields  attached  to  it  were  called  "  Mr.  Bowden's 
and  Jeffrey  afterwards  became  cordial  friends.  i  Grounds" — there  used  to  be  held  the  annual 

In  January,  1818,  a  fatal  duel  was  fought  at  ]  matches  of  the  Wrestling  Club  of  Cumberland 
Chalk  Farm  between  Theodore  O'Callaghan  and  and  Westmoreland.  These  sports  had  previously 
Lieutenant  Bailey;  and  in  February,  1821,  it  was  been  held  in  various  places  in  the  suburbs — on 
the  scene  of  an  encounter  between  John  Scott,  the  ,  Kennington  Common,  at  Chelsea,  and  at  the 
avowed  editor  of  the  London  Magazine,  and  Mr.  i  Eyre  Arms,  St.  John's  Wood ;  they  were  subse- 
Christie,  a  friend  of  Lockhart,  the  supposed  con-  quently  held,  at  various  dates,  at  Highbury  Barn, 
tributor  to  BlackwootTs  Magazine,  which  grew  out  at  Copenhagen  House,  at  Hornsey  Wood  House, 
of  some  articles  in  the  London,  reflecting  on  the  J  at  Cremorne  Gardens,  and  at  Hackney  Wick, 
management  of  Blackwood.  Mr.  Scott  was  severely  j  Since  1864,  however,  these  sports  have  been 
wounded,  and  he  was  conveyed  from  the  battle- ,  among  the  attractions  of  the  New  Agricultural 
field  on  a  shutter  to  the  Chalk  Farm  Tavern,  i  Hall,  at  Islington.  They  have  always  been,  and, 
where  he  lingered  for  a  little  more  than  a  fort-  strange  to  say,  are  still,  celebrated  on  Good  Friday. 
night  Mr.  Christie,  together  with  Mr.  Trail  and  '  The  chief  and  most  noted  wrestlers  are  "  North 
Mr.  Patmore,  who  acted  as  seconds,  were  tried  at  Country  "  men,  though  the  prizes  are  mostly  open 
the  Old  Bailey,  on  the  charge  of  murder,  but  Mr.  to  all  comers,  and  the  Cornish  wrestlers  are  almost 
Patmore  did  not  surrender  to  take  his  trial.  Lord  equally  celebrated.  They  are  under  the  manage- 
Chief  Justice  Abbot  summed  up  the  evidence  with  ment  of  a  committee  with  a  president,  a  secretary, 
much  feeling,  and  in  the  end  the  jury  returned  a  and  other  officers,  and  the  money  collected  at  their 
verdict  of  "  Not  Guilty."  By  this  time,  so  great  yearly  gatherings  has  often,  perhaps  generally, 
had  been  the  inroads  made  upon  this  retired  spot  been  handed  over  to  one  or  other  of  our  metro- 
by  the  erection  of  houses,  that  even  if  duelling  had  politan  charities.  Although  such  sports  have  been 
not  been  put  down  by  the  voice  of  society  and  held  in  London  periodically  for  upwards  of  a 
"  strong  arm  of  the  law  "  the  duellists,  from  and  century,  it  was  not  till  the  year  1824  that  a  society 
after  that  date,  would  have  been  forced  to  seek  was  actually  founded  for  the  purpose  of  encouragmg 
another  place  of  meeting.  those  wrestling  matches  for  which  the  natives  o 

It  deserves  to  be  mentioned  to  the  credit  of  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland  have  been  so  famed 
William  Hone,  author  of  the  "Year  Book,"  "Table  from  time  out  of  mind,  and  the  celebration  of 
Book"  &c,  that  he  was  among  the  first  persons  which  in  London  has,  no  doubt,  had  the  merit  of 
who  had  the  courage  to  try  and  write  down  by  keeping  up  old  friendships  and  connections  whicl 
banter  and  jest,  as  well  as  by  serious  argument,  the  ,  would  otherwise  have  been  dropped.  This  society 
ish  and  unchristian.  Here  has  at  various  times  received  encouragement  from 


in  Household 
'  I  am  honoured  this  day,  sir,  with  challenges  two,  ^^  he  saw  when  present  at  a  field-day  at  Winder- 

The  first  from  friend  L ,  and  the  second  from  you.       ^^       Those  who  object  to  such  games   should 

As  the  one  is  to  fight  and  the  other  to  dine,  :  ,        h  t  vvrestiing  formed  one  of  the  series 

I  accept  his  engagement,  and;w/r.r  must  decline. 


294 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


of  five  contests  which  made  up  the  "  pentathlon  " 
at  the  old  Olympic  games  of  Greece.  A  full 
account  of  these  matches  will  be  found  in  a  small 
work  called  "  Wrestliana." 

As  lately  as  1846  Charles  Dickens  alludes  to 


residence,  near  the  Regent's  Park,  aged  seventy- 
three,  the  Right  Hon.  George  Hanger,  fourth  Lord 
Coleraine,  of  Coleraine,  Co.  Londonderry,  in  the 
Peerage  of  Ireland,  and  a  major-general  in  the 
army;  better  known  by  the  title  of  Colonel 


"  the  bowers  for  reading  and  smoking  scattered 
about  the  tea-gardens  at  Chalk  Farm "  as  still  in 
existence,  comparing  them  with  those  in  his  then 
Swiss  residence  at  Lausanne.  But  in  another 
decade  they  were  already  things  of  the  past. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Chalk  Farm,  in  1824, 
George  Hanger,  the  eccentric  Lord  Coleraine, 
breathed  his  last.  His  death  is  thus  recorded  in 
the  pages  of  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  that 
year : — "  March  31.  Died,  of  a  convulsive  fit,  at  his 


Hanger,  or  the  familiar  appellation  of  'George 
Hanger.' "  Such  is  the  curt  and  brief  manner  in 
which  Mr.  "  Sylvanus  Urban  "  records  the  decease 
of  a  nobleman  who  had  played  in  his  day  a  con- 
spicuous part  among  the  early  boon  companions  of 
George  Prince  of  Wales,  of  whom  he  was  wittily 
said  to  be  not  the  constant  Hanger,  but  the  con- 
stant "Hanger  on."  Like  Lord  Rochester  and 
Lord  Camelford  before  him,  he  lived  a  life  not 
very  creditable  to  a  member  of  "the  upper  ten 


LORD  COLERAINE. 


296  OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON.         .  [Chalk  Farm. 

thousand  "—fighting  duels,  and  selling  coals  on  builders'  craft."  Indeed,  one  does  not  feel  at  all 
commission,  and  spending  a  year  or  two  occasion-  inclined  to  agree  with  the  sentiment  expressed  by 
ally  within  "  the  rules  "  of  the  King's  Bench  or  the  Mr.  Parkle,  in  the  "  Uncommercial  Traveller  "  of 
Marshalsea  prison.  He  died  lamented  and  regretted  Charles  Dickens,  that  "  London  is  so  small."  We 
by  none,  or,  at  all  events,  by  few  of  his  contempo-  should  rather  say,  it  is  so  krge.  He  complains, 
raries ;  and  the  extinction  of  his  title,  which  was  "  What  is  a  man  to  do  ?  .  .  .  .  If  you  go 
caused  by  his  death,  could  scarcely  be  said  to  west,  you  come  to  Hounslow.  If  you  go  east,  you 
have  been  lamented,  or  to  have  created  in  the  come  to  Bow.  If  you  go  south,  there's  Brixton  or 
Irish  peerage  any  gap  or  void  which  it  was  difficult  j  Norwood.  If  you  go  north,  you  can't  get  rid  of 
to  fill  up.  Barnet ! "  We  must  own  that  our  impression  is 

The  old  Chalk  Farm  Tavern,  which  had  wit-  rather  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  that,  go  which 
nessed  so  many  duels  in  its  day,  stood  in  what  is  way  we  will,  we  can  never  get  rid  of  the  monotony 
now  called  Regent's  Park  Road,  on  the  north  side,  j  of  the  streets  of  the  metropolis, 
about  half-way  between  the  foot  of  Primrose  Hill  [  Fairs  in  old  times  were  held  in  this  neighbour- 
and  the  North  London  Railway  Station.  It  was  hood,  much  to  the  delight,  no  doubt,  of  the  lads 
rather  a  picturesque  old  house,  with  a  veranda  and  lasses  living  at  Hampstead,  Highgate,  and  St. 
running  along  outside,  from  which  the  visitors  Pancras.  But  of  late  these  fairs  have  dwindled 
looked  down  into  some  pleasant  gardens.  "  This  away  to  nothing.  "  Chalk  Farm  Fair,"  writes 
bouse,"  writes  Mr.  Samuel  Palmer,  in  his  "History  G.  A.  Sala,  in  "Gaslight  and  Daylight"  in  1860, 
of  St.  Pancras,"  "  has  long  been  known  as  a  place  "  is  a  melancholy  mockery  of  merriment ; "  and  we 
of  public  entertainment,  similar  in  character  to  the  '  believe  it  is  now  a  matter  of  history. 
'Adam  and  Eve'  and  '  Bagnigge  ^ Veils.'  From  its  |  The  Chalk  Farm  Railway  Station,  at  which  we 
proximity  to  Hampstead,  it  was  the  usual  resort  of  have  now  arrived,  has  become  a  great  centre  of 
holiday-folk  on  their  return  from  the  Heath.  Being  passenger  and  goods  traffic  ;  it  is  joined  by  the 
on  the  incline  of  Primrose  Hill,  the  terrace  in  front  large  goods  station  of  Messrs.  Pickford,  covering 
of  the  house  was  very  often  crowded  to  incon-  several  acres  to  the  south,  and  reaching  half-way 
venience,  the  prospect  being  charming  and  the  air  to  the  "York  and  Albany."  The  station  here 
invigorating.  Semi-theatrical  entertainments  were  was  for  many  years  the  termination  of  the  North 
at  times  provided  for  the  visitors,  whilst  at  other  London  Railway,  and  in  the  end  the  line  became 
times  balls,  promenades,  masquerades,  wrestling-  joined  on  to  the  North-Western  line  to  Birmingham 
matches,  and  even  prize-fights  and  other  brutal  and  Liverpool.  The  railway  station  premises  run 
sports  were  offered  for  their  amusement.  These  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  along  Chalk  Farm 
latter  sports,  singularly  enough,  were  principally  Road,  with  ranges  of  coal-sheds  and  depots  for 
the  amusements  for  the  Sunday.  The  fatal  issue  warehousing  goods.  Close  by,  at  the  foot  of 
of  one  such  encounter,  between  John  Stone  and  ,  Haverstock  Hill,  is  the  Adelaide  Hotel,  so  named 
Joseph  Parker,  resulting  in  a  trial,  and  ultimately  l  after  the  consort  of  King  William  IV.  On  Haver- 
in  a  verdict  of  manslaughter  against  the  survivor  stock  Hill  stood,  till  recently,  a  house  said  to  have 
and  the  seconds  on  both  sides,  aided  in  a  great  been  occupied  by  Steele.  The  circular  building 
measure  to  suppress  this  brutal  exhibition."  Mr.  !  which  projects  into  the  Chalk  Farm  Road  near  the 
Palmer,  however,  omits  to  tell  us  the  date  of  this  Adelaide  Hotel  was  built  to  accommodate  the 
occurrence.  !  locomotive  engines  in  the  early  days  of  the  London 

About  the  year  1853  it  was  pulled  down,  to  and  Birmingham  Railway.  It  is  about  120  feet  in 
make  way  for  a  modern  and  more  pretentious  diameter,  and  has  in  its  centre  a  turn-table,  by 
hotel,  which  now  occupies  its  site.  On  the  opposite  means  of  which  the  engines  can  be  shifted  to  the 
side  of  the  way,  even  to  a  more  recent  date,  were  up  and  down  lines,  and  to  the  various  sidings, 
some  tea-gardens  and  pleasure-grounds,  where  there  Externally,  the  building  is  not  very  attractive,  but 
were  occasional  displays  of  fireworks  on  summer  its  interior  is  light,  the  arched  roof  being  sup- 
evenings  ;  but  these  also  have  given  way  to  the  ported  on  graceful  iron  pillars. 
steady  advance  of  bricks  and  mortar.  Indeed,  i  At  the  end  of  Regent's  Park  Road,  close  by 
the  growth  of  London  in  this  direction  has  been  '  Chalk  Farm  Railway  Station,  is  an  institution  which 
steadily  going  on  for  many  years,  for  as  far  back  has  achieved  a  large  amount  of  good  in  its  own 
as  1832  a  correspondent  of  Hone's  "  Year  Book  "  especial  field  of  action.  The  Boys'  Home,  for 
writes:  "The  Hampstead  Road  and  the  once  such  the  institution  in  question  is  called,  was 
beautiful  fields  leading  to  and  surrounding  Chalk  originally  established  in  1858  in  the  Euston  Road, 
tarm  have  not  escaped  the  profanation  of  the  for  the  prevention  of  crime,  arresting  the  destitute 


Farm.] THE     BOYS'     HOME. 


child  in  danger  of  falling  into  a  criminal  life,  and 
training  him,  by  God's  blessing,  to  honest  industry ; 
a  work  which,  as  experience  has  shown,  can  only 
be  successfully  done  by  such  voluntary  agency.  It 


s,  in  fact,  an  industrial  school  for  the  training  and    tering  them." 
maintenance,  by  their  own  labour,  of  destitute  boys        The  boys  a 


home,  and  that  condition  is  economy.  In  God's 
natural  world  there  is  no  waste  whatever,  and  it  is 
His  world  in  which  we  are.  We  are  under  His 
laws,  and  ought  to  study  His  methods  of  adminis- 


not  convicted  of  crime.     Owing,  however,  to  the 
Midland  Railway  Company  requiring  the  site  of 


boys  accommodated  in  the  Home  are  all 
lodged  there,  fed  and  clothed,  and  receive  instruc- 


tion  in  various  trades— carpentry,  brushmaking, 
the  "  home  "  in  the  Euston  Road  for  their  new  j  tailoring,  shoemaking,  &c.  A  large  quantity  of 
terminus,  in  1865  new  premises  were  secured  here,  |  firewood  is  cut  on  the  premises,  and  delivered  to 
consisting  of  three  unfinished  houses  and  a  yard,  I  customers,  and  several  boys  are  employed  by 
which  were  taken  on  a  ninety-nine  years'  lease  private  families  in  the  neighbourhood  in  cleaning 
from  the  governors  of  Eton  College,  to  whom  the 
property  belongs.  The  applications  for  admission 
soon  became  so  numerous — about  300  in  a  year — 


that  it  was  determined  to  increase  the  numbers. 


knives  and  shoes.  The  amount  of  the  industrial 
work  done  in  the  Home  is  highly  satisfactory. 
The  products  of  the  labour  of  the  boys  and  the 


teachers  —  clothes,  shoes  and  boots,  brushes  of  every 


The  school  and  the  workshops,  which  were  sub-   kind,  carpentry  and  firewood—  are  sold,  and  con- 
sequently  built,  will   enable    100   boys   to   work,  j  tribute  to  the  general  funds  of  the  institution  ;  yet 


instead  of  fifty  as  at  first  provided  for. 

The  boys  are  lodged  in  separate  houses,  hold- 
ing about  twenty-five  boys  in  each,  in  ordinary 
bed-rooms ;  each  boy  is  provided  with  his  own 
bed,  each  room  under  the  charge  of  a  monitor, 
and  each  house  under  the  direct  control  of  the 


a  large  expenditure,  chiefly  caused  by  the  extreme 
youth  of  many  of  the  boys,  is  annually  necessary 
to  enable  the  managers  to  continue  and  extend 
their  useful  exertions. 

Children  of  all  ages  are  admitted,  ranging  from 
six  or  seven  up  to  fourteen  or  fifteen  ;  and  it  may 


master  or  matron  living  in  it,  who  endeavour  to  be  mentioned  that  there  is  a  branch  at  East  Barnet 
become  the  true  parents  of  these  poor  lads,  to  guide  :  for  training  still  younger  children.  An  ants'  nest 
them  no  less  by  affection  than  by  firm  discipline,  i  could  not  display  more  activity  and  life  than  may 
to  establish  a  happy  "  family  "  feeling,  and  to  attract  j  be  witnessed  here  among  the  youths  who  have 
their  once  ragged  and  disorderly  pupils  by  the  !  been  rescued  from  the  streets.  At  first,  the  restraint, 
force  of  kindly  teaching  and  good  example.  The  gentle  as  it  is,  is  frequently  irksome  to  the  little 
late  Lady  Truro,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  in  urchin,  and  he  plots  to  run  away,  and  now  and 
1866  left  a  bequest  to  the  institution,  by  which  the  |  then  he  succeeds.  However,  he  soon  returns  of 
committee  of  management  have  been  enabled  to  j  his  accord,  or  is  brought  back,  and  after  a  very 
extend  the  "home,"  by  adding  to  it  another  house;  j  short  interval,  becomes  steady  and  reconciled  to 
and  a  chapel  was  likewise  built  for  their  accommo-  i  the  happiness  of  the  Home.  Indeed,  he  soon 
dation,  by  a  generous  donor,  in  1864.  This  chapel  becomes  proud  of  it-proud  of  being  associated 
has  since  germinated,  through  the  generosity  of  the  !  with  it,  proud  of  his  work,  proud  of  his  learning, 
provost  and  fellows  of  Eton  College,  into  a  hand-  proud  of  the  self-respect  which  the  very  character 
some  new  church-St.  Mary's,  at  the  north-eastern  ,  of  the  Home  inspires  All  this  there  can  be  no 


corner  of  Primrose  Hill 
' 


doubt,  is  brought  about  by  the  kindness  which  he 


The  institution  itself' is  called  not  a  school  but  experiences  from  all  around  him;  and  so,  instead 
a  "  home,"  and  in  every  sense  of  the  word  it  is  a  ;  of  being  abased  by  mischievous  companions,  or  the 
home.  "I  call  a  home,"  once  said  Mr.  "Tom"  ;  angry  words  of  elders,  he  ^hun^^t 

ster  to 
In  all 
Week, 
that, 

itually 

as  essential  to  a  home  is  that  you  shall  have  there    become  more  rapia.     «^-^  rTyeTourly 

SBSLtH€,^  sri^r^  \.  ^ 

not  work,  neither  shall  he  eat.'     .    .    .     There  is    monotony  and  tedio 

one  other  condition,  as  I  understand  the  matter,  [  diversified,  and  he  »  -J— ;  ^d'oT  this 

without  which  there  can  be  no  true  and  righteous  |  strument  or  s.ngmg.     Indeed, 


OLD   AND   NEW    LONDON 


juvenile  institution  acquits  itself  very  creditably. 
In  the  school-room  is  a  harmonium,  usually  pre- 
sided over  by  the  teacher,  whose  performances 
naturally  excite  the  delight  of  these  civilised  British 
Bedouins." 

As  we  have  intimated  above,  various  trades  are 
taught,  and,  when  fit,  the  boys  are  put  out  into  real 
life  as  may  suit  each.  With  all  these  young  men 
a  constant  intercourse  is  kept  up  after  they  have 
left  the  Home  by  letters  and  visits,  and  a  register 
of  all  cases  is  kept  at  the  Home  by  which  the 
history  of  every  one  from  his  admittance  can  be 
traced.  To  show  the  class  of  boys  rescued,  the 
particulars  of  one  or  two  cases  will  suffice  : — 

G.  L.,  aged  ten  years,  but  looking  much  younger, 
was  received  on  the  22nd  of  August,  1862.  This 
poor  boy  was  described  in  the  paper  sent  to  the 
Home  from  the  office  of  the  Reformatory  and 
Refuge  Union,  as  "  awfully  filthy  and  neglected," 
and  was  stated  to  have  been  in  the  casual-ward 
of  several  workhouses  for  single  nights.  He  was 
in  a  sad  condition  when  he  entered  the  Home — 
shoeless,  dirty  and  tattered,  footsore  and  hungry. 
The  boy's  father  was  a  clown  in  some  itinerant 
show,  and  had  deserted  his  mother.  The  mother, 
who  was  of  anything  but  good  character,  wan- 
dered to  London,  where  the  child  was  found 
destitute  in  the  streets.  The  case  coming  strictly 
within  the  operation  of  the  "  Industrial  Schools' 
Act,"  the  boy  was  sent  to  the  Home  by  the  pre- 
siding magistrate  of  the  Thames  Police  Court. 

J.  P.,  aged  fourteen,  was  a  message-boy  at  the 
barracks,  Liverpool.  Believing  him  to  be  an 
orphan,  the  soldiers  persuaded  him  to  conceal 
himself  on  board  a  ship  bound  with  troops  to 
Gibraltar,  from  which  place,  by  similar  means,  he 
contrived  to  find  his  way  to  China.  When  at 
Hong  Kong  lie  was  allowed  to  ship  as  second-class 
boy  on  board  H.M.  linc-of  battle  ship  Calcutta,  in 


accident  by  scalding,  that  he  was  removed  to  the 
hospital-ship  stationed  at  Hong  Kong.  II is  life 
was  despaired  of,  and  for  nearly  a  year  he  suffered 
from  the  effects  of  this  disaster.  Recovering  in 
some  degree  from  this  accident,  he  was  shipped  in 
a  man-of-war  for  England,  and  landed  at  Ports- 
mouth, discharged  from  the  navy  only  half-cured 
and  destitute.  He  was  indebted  to  the  active 
benevolence  of  a  chaplain  of  the  navy  for  his 
admission  into  the  Boys'  Home,  where,  by  the 
assistance  of  good  living,  a  comfortable  and  cheer- 
ful home,  and  good  medical  help,  he  soon  became 
a  healthy  boy  again.  He  recently  re-visited  the 
Home  as  an  able-bodied  seaman,  with  a  good 
character. 


Ragged  schools  have  done  great  things  for  this 
destitute  class,  but  to  the  Boys'  Home  we  look  for 
really  and  permanently  raising  a  lad  out  of  the 
slough  of  depravity,  and  landing  him  safely  and 
firmly  on  the  rock  of  honest  industry. 

It  may  be  stated  here  that  the  boys  admitted 
to  the  Home  are  chosen  by  joint  vote  of  the 
Committee  on  account  of  their  extreme  destitution 
and  want.  Those  who  have  neither  parent  alive 
stand  the  first  chance  of  admission,  those  who 
have  lost  their  father  stand  next,  and  those  who 
have  lost  their  mother  are  last  on  the  roll  of 
candidates.  Many  of  them,  however,  never  knew 
that  they  ever  had  either  father  or  mother,  or  a 
home  of  any  kind  whatsoever. 

The  latest  report  of  Her  Majesty's  inspector 
j  states  : — "  My  inspection  of  the  school  this  day 
has  given  me  much  satisfaction.  I  have  found  all 
in  good  order.  The  boys  look  healthy  and  cheerful. 
They  appear  to  be  managed  with  good  sense  and 
good  judgment.  They  have  passed  a  very  credit- 
able examination.  The  dictation  and  arithmetic 
of  the  upper  classes  were  above  the  average.  The 
school  appears  to  be  doing  its  work  well,  with 
most  encouraging  results." 

It  is  not  intended  that  the  Boys'  Home  should 
be  dependent  upon  alms ;  the  object  of  the  pro- 
moters is  to  make  it  self-supporting.  But  whilst 
the  grass  is  growing,  we  all  know  the  steed  may 
starve.  Yet  such  need  not  be  the  case  if  the 
public  would  buy  the  brushes,  book-stands,  work- 
tables,  &c.,  made  by  the  boys'  hands,  and  employ 
the  little  fellows  themselves  in  carpenters'  jobs, 
and  in  cleaning  boots  and  shoes  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. 

Passing  from  the  Boys'  Home  by  the  Gloucester 
Road,  a  short  walk  brings  us  to  the  "York  and 
Albany  Hotel,"  which  is  pleasantly  situated,  over- 
looking the  north-eastern  corner  of  the  Regent's 
Park.  The  house,  which  has  at  the  back  some 
extensive  tea-gardens,  forms  the  starting-point  of  a 
line  of  omnibuses  to  the  west  and  south  of  London. 
1 1  may  be  mentioned  here  that  the  bridge  over  the 
Regent's  Canal,  between  the  "  York  and  Albany  " 
and  Gloucester  Gate,  having  been  long  considered 
too  narrow  and  ill-constructed  to  suit  the  require- 
ments of  the  present  day,  the  Metropolitan  Board 
of  Works  in  the  end  decided  upon  rebuilding  it 
upon  a  much  larger  scale,  at  a  cost  of  about 
,£20,000.  It  is  surmounted  by  groups  of  statuary, 
and  now  forms  a  very  handsome  approach  and 
entrance  to  the  Regent's  Park  on  the  eastern  side. 

In  Regent's  Park  Terrace,  close  by  Gloucester 
Gate,  Louis  Kossuth,  the  Hungarian  patriot,  was 
living  in  1859. 


SIR  GOLDSWORTHY   GURNEY. 


299 


Albany  Street,  like  the  hotel  above  mentioned,    father  was  in  practice  as  a  medical  man,  at  the 
takes    its   name  from   royalty — the    late  Duke  of   same  time  making  experiments  of  all  sorts ; 


York  having  been  Duke  of  Albany  as  well;  it 
extends  from  this  point  to  the  Marylebone  Road, 
near  the  top  of  Portland  Place,  and  close  to  the 
south-east  entrance  of  the  Regent's  Park.  At  the 
top  of  this  street,  almost  facing  the  east  window  of 
the  chapel  of  St.  Katherine's  Hospital,  are  spacious 
barracks,  which  are  constantly  used,  in  turn  with 
others,  by  a  regiment  of  the  Guards.  Together 
with  the  drill-ground  and  the  various  outbuildings, 


his  steam-carriage  was  begun  at  that  house,  but 
a  manufactory  was  soon  taken,  and  he  found  it 
necessary  to  be  there  and  to  have  his  family  with 
him.  We  occupied  rooms  which  were  probably 
intended  for  Sir  William  Adams,  a  celebrated 
oculist,  for  whom  this  building  was  erected  as  an 

eye  infirmary,  in  Albany  Street From  a 

window  of  my  room  I  looked  into  the  yard  where 
my  father  was  constructing  his  steam -carriage. 


they  occupy  no  less  than  seven  or  eight  acres.  To  j  The  intense  combustion  caused  by  the  steam-blast, 
the  north  of  this  lies  Park  Village  East,  a  collection  and  the  consequent  increase  of  high-pressure  steam 
of  detached  villas,  built  in  a  rustic  style ;  and  close  ]  force  acting  on  the  jet,  created  such  a  tremendous 
by  is  the  basin  of  an  arm  of  the  Regent's  Canal.  current  or  draught  of  air  up  the  chimney  that  it 
At  the  end  of  the  canal  basin  is  Cumberland  '  was  something  terrific  to  see  or  to  hear.  The. 
Market,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  Regent's  j  workmen  would  sometimes  throw  things  into  the 
Park  Market  It  was  established  for  the  sale  of  fire  as  the  carriage  passed  round  the  yard — large 
hay,  straw,  and  other  articles,  removed,  in  the  reign  !  pieces  of  slate  or  sheet-iron — which  would  dart  up 
of  George  IV.,  from  the  Haymarket,  as  already  the  chimney  like  a  shot,  falling  occasionally  nearer 


stated  by  us,*  between  Piccadilly  and  Pall  Mall ; 
but  it  has  never  been  very  largely  attended. 

Munster  Square,  as  a  poor  group  of  houses  built 
round  a  plot  of  market  ground  close  by  is  called, 


derives 


name   from  one  of  the   inferior   titles 


inherent  in  the  Crown  ;  and  the  reader  will  remem- 


to  the  men  than  was  safe,  and  my  father  would 
have  to  check  their  enthusiasm.  The  roaring 
sound,  too,  sometimes  was  astounding.  Many 
difficulties  had  to  be  overcome,  which  occupied 
years  before  1827.  The  noise  had  to  be  got  rid 
of,  or  it  would  have  frightened  horses,  and 'the 


, 

ber  that  William  IV.  created  his  eldest  natural  son,    heat  had  to  be  insulated,  or  it  might  have  burnt  up 
Colonel   Fitzclarence,  a  peer,  by  the  title  of  the    the  whole  vehicle.     The  steam  machinery  was  at 

first  contrived  to  be  in  the  passenger-carriage  itself, 
as  the  turnpike  tolls  would  have  been  double  for 
two  vehicles.  My  father  was  forcibly  reminded  of 


Earl  of  Munster. 

In  Osnaburgh  Street— which,  by  the  way,  is  like- 
ed  after  a  member  of  the  royal  family, 


the  late  Duke  of  York  having  also  been  "  Bishop  j  this  fact,  for  there  was  then  a  turnpike-gate  imme- 
of  Osnaburgh,"  in  the  kingdom  of  Hanover— is  diately  outside  the  manufactory.  This  gate  was 
the  St.  Saviour's  Hospital.  Here  tumours  and  |  first  on  the  south  side  of  the  doors,  and  the  steam- 
cancerous  growths  are  treated  in  such  a  manner  as  j  carriage  was  often  exercised  in  the  Regent's  Park 
to  dispense  with  the  use  of  the  knife.  In  this  ;  barrack-yard ;  then  the  gate  was  moved  just  a  few- 
street  too  is  another  institution  for  the  exercise  i  yards  to  the  north,  between  the  doors  and  the 
of  charity  and  benevolence  ;  it  is  called  the  St.  j  barracks.  But  perhaps  the  greatest  difficulty- 
Saviour's  Home  and  Hospital  for  the  Sisters  of  next  to  that  of  prejudice^which  ^s^tr°^al^ 
Charity. 

In   Albany   Street    the    late 


Sir    Goldsworthy 


Gurney  was  practising  as  a  medical  man  about  the    carriage.     It  would  go  re  e  ,ac«*y  y-uu  ^ 

r    .»«.   emnlovimr  his  snare  time  in  making    like  a  thing  flying  than  running,  and  my  father  was 


all  machinery  in  those  days— was  to  control  the 
immense  power  of  the  steam  and  to  guide  the 
carriage.  It  would  go  round  the  factory  yard  "more 


year    1825,  employing  his  spare  time  in  making 


ften  in  imminent  peril  while  making  his  experi- 


along  the  high  ,  ,  , 

onths   before    the    successful    efforts   of  George  1  and  stoker  only,  and  to  draw  another  « 


before  carrying  out 

was  in  Argyle   Street,  Regent  Stree 


1  Sea  Vol.  IV.,  p.  »i;. 


.here  my  could  be  maintained  at  twenty  miles  an  hour, 
though  this  speed  could  only  be  indulged  m  wner< 
the  road  was  straight  and  wide,  and  the  way  clearly 


3oo 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Albany  Sir 


to  be  seen.  I  never  heard  of  any  accident  or  I  for  the  purpose  of  ventilating  the  vaults  or  cata- 
injury  to  any  one  with  it,  except  in  the  fray  at  combs.  The  flank  of  the  church  has  a  central  pro- 
Melksham,  on  the  noted  journey  to  Bath,  when  the  I  jection,  occupied  by  antae,  and  six  insulated  Ionic 


fair  people  set  upon  it,  burnt  their  fingers,  threw 
stones,  and  wounded  poor  Martyn,  the  stoker. 
The  stearn-carriage  returned  from  Bath  to  the 
Hounslow  Barracks — eighty-four  miles — stoppages 
for  fire  and  water  included,  in  nine  hours  and 


twenty  minutes,  or  at  the  rate,  when  running,  of    Tivoli.     These  columns,  with  their  stylobatae  and 


columns ;  the  windows  in  the  inter-columns  are  in 
the  same  style  as  those  in  front ;  the  whole  is 
surmounted  by  a  balustrade.  The  tower  is  in  two 
heights ;  the  lower  part  has  eight  columns  of  the 
Corinthian  order,  after  the  temple  of  Vesta  at 


A  PLANOFTIIi:  INTENDED  NEW  UOAI) 
KUOM  I'ADUINliToN  TO  ISLINGTON" 


fourteen  miles  an  hour.  This  journey  from  London 
to  Bath,  the  first  ever  maintained  with  speed  by 
any  steam  locomotive,  was  made  in  July,  1829, 
on  the  common  turnpike  road,  in  the  face  of 
the  public,  and  two  months  before  the  trial  at 
Rainhill." 

At  the  south  end  of  this  street,  with  Osnaburgh 
Street  on  its  east  side,   is  Trinity  Church,  which 
was  built  from  the  designs  of  Sir  John  Soane.     The  ; 
principal  front  consists  of  a  portico  of  four  columns  j 
of  the  Ionic  order,  approached  by  a  small  flight  of 
steps ;  on  each  side  is  a  long  window,  divided  into 
two  heights  by  a  stone  transum  (panelled).     Each 
of  the  windows  is  filled  with  ornamental  iron-work, 


DGWARE     ROAD   0755). 


entablature,  project,  and  give  a  very  extraordinary 
relief  in  the  perspective  view  of  the  building.  The 
upper  part  consists  of  a  circular  peristyle  of  six 
columns,  the  example  apparently  taken  from  the 
portico  of  the  octagon  tower  of  Andronicus 
Cyrrhestes,  or  tower  of  the  winds,  from  the  summit 
of  which  rises  a  conical  dome,  surmounted  by  the 
vane.  The  more  minute  detail  may  be  seen  by 
the  engraving  (page  294).  The  prevailing  orna- 
ment is  the  Grecian  fret  The  Rev.  Dr.  Chandler, 
late  Dean  of  Chichester,  was  for  many  years  rector 
of  this  church,  in  which  he  was  succeeded  by 
Dean  Elliot,  and  he  again  by  the  Rev.  William 
Cadman. 


LEBONE,   1780.     (-SVvr  >7fv  305 ) 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 
EUSTON    ROAD,    HAMPSTEAD    ROAD,    AND    THE    ADJACENT   NEIGHBOURHOOD. 

"  Not  many  weeks  ago  it  was  not  so, 

But  Pleasures  had  their  passage  to  and  fro, 

Which  way  soever  from  our  Gates  I  went, 

I  lately  did  behold  with  much  content, 

The  Fields  bestrew'd  with  people  all  about ; 

Some  paceing  homeward  and  some  passing  out; 

Some  by  the  Bancks  of  Thame  their  pleasure  taking, 

Some  Sulli  bibs  among  the  milk-maids  making ; 

With  musique  some  upon  the  waters  rowing ; 

Some  to  the  adjoining  Hamlets  going, 

And  Hogsdone,  Islington,  and  Tothnam  (tie)  Court, 

For  Cakes  and  Cream  had  then  no  small  raan."-Britam-t  Remembrancer.  ' 

Pastoral  Character  of  the  Locality  in  the  Last  Century— The  Euston  Road— Statuary-yards— The  "Adam  and  Eve"  Tavern— Its  Tea-gardens 
and  its  Cakes  and  Creams— A  "Strange  and  Wonderful  Fruit  "—Hogarth's  Picture  of  the  "March  of  the  Guards  to  Finchlcy "— The 
"Paddington  Drag"— A  Miniature  Menagerie— A  Spring-water  Bath— Eden  Street— Hampstead  Road— The  "  Sol's  Arms "  Tavern— 
DaridWUlue'sResidence-Granby  Street-Mornington  Crescent-Charles  Dickens'  School-days-Clarkson  Stanfield-George  Cruikshank- 
The"01d  King's  Head"  Tavern-Tolmer's  Square-Drummond  Street-St.  James's  Church-St.  Pancras  Female  Charity  School-Thc 
Original  Distillery  of  "  Old  Tom  "-Bedford  New  Town-Ampthill  Square-The  "  Infant  Roscius  "-Harrington  Square. 


THERE  was,  till  the  reign  of  William  IV.,  a  rustic 
character  which  invested  the  outskirts  of  London 
between  King's  Cross  and  St  John's  Wood.  But, 
thanks  to  the  progress  of  the  demon  of  bricks  and 
mortar,  the  once  rural  tea-gardens  have  been  made 
in  every  suburb  of  London  to  give  way  to  the  modern 
gin-palace  with  its  flaring  gas  and  its  other  attrac- 
tions. Chambers  draws  out  this  "change  for  the 
218  > 


worse  "  in  his  "  Book  of  Days  : " — "  Readers  of  our 
old  dramatic  literature  may  be  amused  with  the  rustie 
character  which  invests  the  (then)  residents  of  the 
outskirts  of  Old  London  comprehended  between 
King's  Cross  and  St.  John's  Wood,  as  they  are 
depicted  by  Swift  in  the  Tale  of  a  Tub.  The 
action  of  the  drama  takes  place  in  St.  Pancras 
Fields,  the  country  near  Kentish  Town,  Tottenham 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


lEusion  Road. 


Court,  and  Marylebone.      The  dramatis  persona:,"  palaces   round    about   you— Southampton    Hou: 

continues  Mr.  Chambers,   "seem  as   innocent  of  and    Montagu   House.'     'Where  you  wretches  ^ 

London  as  if  they  were  inhabitants  of  Berkshire,  and  fight  duels,'  cries  Mrs.  Steele." 
and  talk  a  broad  country  dialect.     This  northern 


side  of  London  preserved  its  pastoral  character 
until  a  comparatively  recent  time,  it  not  being  very 
long  since  some  of  the  marks  used  by  the  Finsbury 
archers  of  the  days  of  Charles  II.  remained  in  the 


Shepherd    and   Shepherdess   F 
Regent's  Canal  and  Islington. 


elds   between    the 
The  pra- 

torium  of  a  Roman  camp  was  visible  where  now 
stands  Barnsbury  Terrace  ;  the  remains  of  another, 
as  described  by  Stukely,  were  situated  opposite  old 
St.  Pancras  Church,  and  herds  of  cows  grazed  near 
where  now  stands  the  Euston  Square  Terminus  of 
our  North-Western  Railway,  but  which  then  was 


But  it  is  time  for  us  to  be  again  on  our  peram- 
bulation. Leaving  Trinity  Church,  we  now  make  our 
way  eastward  along  the  Euston  Road,  as  far  as  the 
junction  of  the  Tottenham  Court  and  the  Hamp- 
stead  Roads.  The  Euston  Road — formerly  called 


the  New  Road- 


at  the  time  of  its  formation, 


about  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  the  boundary- 
line  for  limiting  the  "  ruinous  rage  for  building  "  on 
the  north  side  of  the  town.  It  was  made  by  virtue 
of  an  Act  of  Parliament  passed  in  the  reign  of 
George  II.  (1756),  after  a  most  violent  contest  with 
the  Duke  of  Bedford,  who  opposed  its  construction 
on  the  ground  of  its  approaching  too  near  to ' 


Rhode's   Farm.      At    the  commencement  of  the    Bedford  House,  the  duke's  town  mansion.     The 
present  century  the   country  was    open  from  the    Duke  of  Grafton,  on  the  other  hand,  strenuously 

supported  it,  and  after  a  fierce  legal  battle  it  was 
ultimately  decided  that  the  road  should  be  formed. 
In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1755  there  is  a 
"  ground  plan  "  of  the  New  Road,  from  Islington 
to  Edgware  Road,  showing  the  then  state  of  the 
ground  (and  the  names  of  the  proprietors  thereof) 
between  Oxford  Street  and  the  New  Road.  The 
Act  of  Parliament  for  the  formation  of  this  great 
thoroughfare,  as  we  have  already  had  occasion  to 
observe,  directs  that  no  building  should  be  erected 
"  within  fifty  feet  of  the  New  Road."  In  Gwynn's 
"  London  Improved,"  published  about  the  begin- 


back  of  the  British  Museum  to  Kentish  Town ; 
the  New  Road  from  Battle  Bridge  to  Tottenham 
(Court  Road)  was  considered  unsafe  after  dark ; 
and  parties  used  to  collect  at  stated  points  to  take 
the  chance  of  the  escort  of  the  watchman  in  his 
half-hourly  round."  In  1707  there  were  no  streets 
west  of  Tottenham  Court  Road ;  and  one  cluster 
of  houses  only,  besides  the  "Spring  Water  House" 
nearly  half  a  century  later,  at  which  time  what  is 
now  the  Kuston  Road  was  part  of  an  expanse  of 
verdant  fields. 

In   the  reign    of  George    IV.,   as    Mr.   Samuel 

Palmer  writes  in  his  "  History  of  St.  Pancras,"  j  ning  of  this  century,  it  is  stated  that  "  the  present 
"  the  rural  lanes,  hedgeside  roads,  and  lovely  fields  mean  appearance  of  the  backs  of  the  houses  and 
made  Camdcn  Town  the  constant  resort  of  those  i  hovels  have  rendered  this  approach  to  the  capital 
who,  busily  engaged  during  the  day  in  the  bustle  a  scene  of  confusion  and  deformity,  extremely  un- 
of  .  .  .  London,  sought  its  quietude  and  fresh  becoming  the  character  of  a  great  and  opulent 
air  to  re-invigorate  their  spirits.  Then  the  old  |  city."  Down  to  a  comparatively  recent  date,  Mr. 
'  Mother  Red  Cap  '  was  the  evening  resort  of  (  Gwynn's  remarks  would  have  applied  very  aptly  to 
worn-out  Londoners,  and  many  a  happy  evening  ;  that  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  New  Road  which 
was  spent  in  the  green  fields  round  about  the  old  !  lies  between  Gower  Street  North,  where  the  old 
wayside  house  by  the  children  of  the  poorer  classes.  |  Westgate  Turnpike  formerly  stood,  and  the  eastern 
At  that  time  the  Dairy,  at  the  junction  of  the  ^  entrance  to  the  Regent's  Park.  Here  the  road  was 
Hampstead  and  Kentish  Town  Roads,  was  a  rural  j  narrow,  and  perpetually  obstructed  by  wagons,  &c., 
cottage,  furnished  with  forms  and  benches  for  the  ,  that  might  be  unloading  at  the  various  timber  and 
pedestrians  to  rest  upon  the  road-side,  whilst  its  stone  yards,  which  occupied  the  ground  that  an  Act 
master  and  mistress  served  out  milk  fresh  from  the  of  Parliament  had  ordered  should  be  "  used  only 
cow  to  all  -who  came."  In  fact,  as  we  have  !  for  gardens."  "The  intention  of  this  judicious 
already  noticed  in  our  account  of  Bloomsbury  j  clause,"  says  the  author  of  a  work  on  London 
Square  and  other  places,  down  to  the  close  of  the  about  half  a  century  ago,  "  was,  no  doubt,  to 


last  or  even  the  beginning  of  the  present  century, 
all  this  neighbourhood  was  open  country ;  so  that, 


preserve    light,   air,   and   cheerfulness,    so    highly 
necessary  to  a  great  leading  thoroughfare.     Such 


after  all,  Thackeray  was  not  far  wide  of  the  mark  it  has  hitherto  been,  and  with  increasing  respec- 
when  he  put  these  words  into  the  mouth  of  Mr.  i  lability,  excepting  at  the  point  I  am  about  to 
St.  John  in  "  Esmond  :  " — "  '  Why,  Bloomsbury  is  mention — many  great  improvements  have  taken 


the  very  height  of  the  mode!    'Tis  rus  in  urbe ; 
you  have  gardens  all  the  way  to  Hampstead,  and 


place,   such  as  the  Regent's  Park  and  Crescent, 
the  new  Pancras  Church  and  Euston  Square,  &c. 


THE   "ADAM   AND   EVE"   TAVERN. 


With  these  useful  and  even  splendid  works  upon 
the  same  line  of  road,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  sur- 
prise that  the  distance  between  Westgate  Turn- 
pike, at  the  crossing  of  Gower  Street  North,  up 
to  the  Regent's  Park,  should  not  only  remain 
without  any  reformation,  but  that  buildings,  work- 
mens'  huts,  sheds,  smoky  chimneys,  and  all  manner 
of  nuisances,  should  be  allowed  not  only  to  con- 
tinue, but  to  increase  daily  close  to  the  road. 

"  In  proceeding  from  the  City  westward,"  con- 
tinues the  writer,  "  a  fine  line  of  road,  and  noble 
footpaths  on  each  side,  are  fouiid  until,  on  arriving 
near  Tottenham  Court  Road,  both  appear  to  termi- 
nate abruptly,  and  the  road  is  faced  and  its  regu- 
larity destroyed  by  the  projection  of  a  range  of  low 
buildings  and  hovels,  converted,  or  now  converting, 
into  small  houses,  close  to  the  highway,  which, 
strange  to  say,  is  much  narrowed,  at  a  point  where, 
from  the  increased  traffic  caused  by  the  crossing 
of  the  road  to  Hampstead,  a  considerable  increase 
of  width  is  doubly  requisite.  But  here  the  houses 
project  about  ten  feet,  and  nearly  close  up  the 
footpath;  and  this  being  one  of  the  stations  for 
the  Paddington  coaches  to  stop  at,  it  becomes  a 
service  of  no  small  danger  to  drive  through  the 
very  small  opening  that  is  left  for  the  public  to 
pass  through.  A  few  yards  farther,  on  both  sides 
of  the  road,  are  ranges  of  stone-yards,  with 
incessant  music  of  sawing,  chipping,  and  hacking 
stone,  grinding  chisels,  and  sharpening  of  saws 
cow-yards,  picturesque  stacks  of  timber,  building 
materials,  and  dead  walls.  Another  angle  turned, 
and  the  traveller  emerges  again  from  the  region  of 
smoke,  stone-dust,  and  mud,  and  traversing  some 
hazardous  passages,  pounces  at  once  into  the 
magnificent  Crescent  of  Regent's  Park,  wondering 
at  the  utter  lack  of  public  taste,  which  could  allow 
such  a  combination  of  nuisances  to  exist,  and 
even  increase,  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
this  great  public  improvement,  and  along  the  only 
road  leading  to  it  from  the  city  of  London."  In 
course  of  time,  the  desired  improvement  was 
effected,  and  that  part  of  the  road  to  which  we 
have  specially  referred  was  widened  by  the  re- 
moval of  some  of  the  obtruding  houses,  and  the 
thoroughfare  made  as  nearly  as  possible  of  one 
uniform  width  all  along,  with  the  exception  of  the 
hundred  yards  immediately  to  the  west  and  east 
of  the  "  Adam  and  Eve,"  where  the  Euston  Road 
is  crossed  by  the  junction  of  the  Hampstead  and 
Tottenham  Court  Roads.  Just  as  Piccadilly  was 
a  hundred  years  ago,  so  the  200  or  250  yards  of 
roadway  lying  between  Park  Crescent  and  the 
Hampstead  Road  is,  or  was  down  to  a  compara- 
tively recent  date,  one  of  the  dullest  and  dreariest 


of  thoroughfares.  It  is  just  possible,  however, 
hat  more  lions'  and  stags'  heads,  and  other  heraldic 
devices  for  decorating  the  park-gates  of  noble 
"  county  families  "  in  the  country,  have 


te  years  from  the  various  statuary- 


ords  and 
proceeded  of 

r-ards  which  adorn  the  southern  side  of  the  Bust 
Road  than  from  all  the  rest  of  the  metropolis 
put  together.  These  statuary-yards  are  really  the 
backs  of  houses  in  Warren  Street,  which  we  have 
already  described  in  a  previous  volume.*  It  may 
be  added  here  that  the  houses  in  Euston  Road, 
opposite  the  sculptors'  yards,  were  till  recently 
known  as  "  Quickset  Row,"  thus  preserving  some 
trace  of  the  former  rurality  of  the  place. 

As  we  have  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  the 
Metropolitan  Railway  Company  have  laid  their 
railway  entirely  under  the  Euston  Road  from  end 
to  end.  To  carry  out  that  great  undertaking,  the 
road  was,  at  great  expense,  torn  completely  up. 
After  constructing  the  railway  at  a  considerable 
depth,  the  company  re-made  the  roadway,  and 
now  it  is  one  of  the  finest  roads  in  London. 

At  the  corner  of  the  Euston  Road  and  the  Hamp- 
stead Road  stands  a  public-house  which  perpetuates 
the  sign  of  an  older  tavern  of  some  repute,  yclept 
"  The  Adam  and  Eve,"  which  was  once  noted  for 
its  tea-gardens.  Of  this  house  we  have  already 
given  an  illustration. f 

Hone,  in  his  "  Year  Book,"  identifies  this  tavern 
with  the  site  of  the  old  Manor  of  Toten  Hall,  a 
lordship  belonging  to  the  deans  of  St.  Paul's  as 
far  back  as  the  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest. 
Under  the  earlier  Stuarts  it  passed  into  the  hands 
of  the  Crown,  and  was  leased  to  the  Fitzroys, 
Lords  Southampton,  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign 
of  George  III.  Near  it  was  another  ancient 
house  called  King  John's  Palace.  "  Whether  that 
monarch  ever  really  resided  there,"  remarks  Mr. 
Palmer,  in  his  "  History  of  St.  Pancras,"  "  it  is 
now  impossible  to  ascertain,  but  tradition  states 
that  it  was  known  as  the  Palace,  and  the  houses 
on  the  site  being  called  '  Palace  Row '  supports 
the  tradition."  Opposite  to  it,  nearly  on  the  site 
of  what  now  is  Tolmer's  Square,  was  a  reservoir  of 
the  New  River  Company,  surrounded  with  a  grove 
of  trees ;  this  was  not  removed  till  about  1860. 
The  "Adam  and  Eve,"  even  as  late  as  1832,  was 
quite  a  rural  inn,  only  one  storey  in  height ;  and 
Mr.  Hone  tells  us  that  he  remembered  it  when  it 
stood  quite  alone,  "  with  spacious  gardens  at  the 
side  and  in  the  rear,  a  fore-court  with  large  timber 
trees,  and  tables  and  benches  for  out-door  cus- 
tomers. In  the  gardens  were  fruit-trees,"  he  adds, 


See  Vol.  IV.,  p.  476. 


t  S«  Vol.  IV.,  p.  475- 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


"  and  bowers  and  arbours  for  tea-drinking  parties. 
In  the  rear  there  were  no  houses  at  all ;  now  there 
is  a  town."  At  that  time  the  "Adam  and  Eve" 
tea-gardens  were  resorted  to  by  thousands,  as  the 
end  of  a  short  walk  into  the  country ;  and  the 
trees  were  allowed  to  grow  and  expand  naturally, 
unrestricted  by  art  or  fashion.  Richardson,  in 
1819,  said  that  the  place  had  long  been  celebrated 
as  a  tea-garden  ;  there  was  an  organ  in  the  long- 
room,  and  the  company  was  generally  respectable, 
till  the  end  of  the  last  century,  "  when,"  as  Mr. 
Larwood  tells  us  in  his  "  History  of  Sign-boards," 
"highwaymen,  footpads,  pickpockets,  and  low 
women  beginning  to  take  a  fancy  to  it,  the  magis- 
trates interfered.  The  organ  was  banished,  and 
the  gardens  were  dug  up  for  the  foundation  of 
Eden  Street."  In  these  gardens  Lunardi  came 
down  after  his  unsuccessful  balloon  ascent  from  the 
Artillery  Ground,  in  May,  1783. 

The  "Adam  and  Eve"  was  celebrated  for  its  cakes 
and  cream,  which  were  esteemed  a  very  luxury  by 
the  rural  excursionists  ;  and  George  Wither,  in  his 
"Britain's  Remembrancer,"  published  in  1628, 
doubtless  refers  to  the  tea-gardens  attached  to  this 
tavern,  when  he  speaks  of  the  cakes  and  cream  at 
"  Tothnam  Court,"  in  the  lines  quoted  as  a  motto 
to  this  chapter.  Gay  thus  poetically,  but  scarcely 
with  exaggeration  at  the  time,  alludes  to  this, 
addressing  his  friend  and  patron,  Pulteney  : — 

"  When  the  sweet-breathing  spring  unfolds  the  buds, 
Love  flies  the  dusty  town  for  shady  woods  ? 

•ith  roving  beauty  swarm." 


has  represented  the  "  Adam  and  Eve  "  in  his  well- 
known  picture  of  "  The  March  of  the  Guards  to 
Finchley."  Upon  the  sign-board  of  the  house  is 
inscribed  "  Tottenham  Court  Nursery,"  in  allusion 
to  Broughton's  Amphitheatre  for  Boxing  erected  in 
this  place.  The  pugilistic  encounters  were  carried 
out  upon  an  uncovered  stage  in  a  yard  open  to 
the  high  road.  The  great  professor's  advertise-, 
ment,  announcing  the  attractions  of  his  "  Nursery," 
is  somewhat  amusing : — 
From  the  Gymnasium  at  Tottenham  Court,  on  Thursday 

next,  at  Twelve  o'clock,  will  begin  : 

A  Lecture  on  Manhood,  or  Gymnastic  Physiology,  wherein 
the  whole  Theory  and  Practice  of  the  Art  of  Boxing  will  be 
fully  explained  by  various  Operators  on  the  Animal  CKconomy 
and  the  Principles  of  Championism,  illustrated  by  proper 
Experiments  on  the  Solids  and  Fluids  of  the  Body ;  together 
with  the  True  Method  of  investigating  the  Nature  of  the 
Blows,  Stops,  Cross-buttocks,  &c.,  incident  to  Combatants. 
The  whole  leading  to  the  most  successful  Method  of  beating 
a  Man  deaf,  dumb,  lame,  and  blind. 

By  THOMAS  SMALLWOOD,  A.M., 
Gymnasinst  of  St.  Giles's, 

and 
THOMAS  DIMMOCK,  A.M., 

Athleta  of  South-work 

(Both  Fellows  of  the  Athletic  Satiety). 

%•  The  Syllabus  or  Compendium  for  the  use  of  Students 

in  Athleticks,  referring  to  Matters  explained  in  this  Lecture, 

may  be  had  of  Mr.  Professor  Broughton,  at  the  "Crown," 

in  Market  Lane,   where  proper  instructions  in  the  Art  and 

Practice  of  Hoxing  are  delivered  without  Loss  of  Eye  or  Limb 

to  the  Student. 


Then  Tottenham  Fields 


The  "  Adam  and  Eve  "  was,  we  need  hardly  add, 
favourite  resort  for  the  Londoner  of  the  last 
Broome,  another  poet  of  the  seventeenth  century,  '  century  ;  and  its  arbours  and  alcoves,  commanding 
in  his  "New  Academy,"  published  in  1658,  thus  the  open  road  to  the  north,  became  the  snug 
writes  : — "  When  shall  we  walk  to  Tottenham  Court,  quarters  for  a  friendly  pipe  and  glass.  The  reader, 


or  crosse  o'er  the  water ;  or  take  a  coach  to  Ken- 


therefore, will  "  not  be  surprised  "  to  read  that  such 


sington,  or  Paddington,  or  to  some  one  or  other  of  a  hero  as  "  George  Barnwell,"  in  the  "  Rejected 
the  City  outleaps,  for  an  afternoon  ? "  I  Addresses  "  of  the  Brothers  Smith — 

An  advertisement  in  the  public  journals  in  Sep- 
tember, 1718,  tells  us  how  that  "there  is  a  strange 
and  wonderful  fruit  growing  at  the  '  Adam  and 
Eve,'  at  Tottenham  Court,  called  a  Calabath  (?  cala- 
bash), which  is  five  feet  and  a  half  round,  where 
any  person  may  see  the  same  gratis." 


"  Determined  to  be  quite  the  crack,  O  ! 

Would  lounge  at  the  '  Adam  and  Eve,' 
And  call  for  his  gin  and  tobacco." 


We  leam  something  of  the  rural  appearance  of 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  "  Adam  and  Eve,"  at 
the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  from  the  fol- 
The  "  Adam  and  Eve,"  as  Mr.  Larwood  tells  us,  I  lowing  advertisement,  which  appeared  in  the  Post- 
in  his  work  quoted  above,  "is  a  very  common  |  ,,!a,,,  Dec.  30,  1708 :-"  At  Tottenham  Court, near 
sign  of  old,  as  well  as  at  the  present  time.  Our  !  St.  Giles's,  and  within  less  than  a  mile  of  London, 
first  parents  were  constant  dramatis  person*  in  the  a  very  good  Farm  House,  with  outhouses  and 
mediaeval  mysteries  and  pageants,  on  which  occa-  above  seventy  acres  of  extraordinary  good  pastures 
sions,  with  the  naivete  of  those  times,  Eve  used  to  and  meadows,  with  all  conveniences  proper  for  a 


come  on  the  stage  exactly  in  the  same  costume  as 
she  appeared  to  Adam  before  the  Fall.*  "    Hogarth 


of  Hone,  in  his  "Ancient 


•  This  statement  is  made  on  th 

Mysteries."     Doubts,  however,  have  been  expressed  as  to  the  accuracy 
•f  his  data  upon  this  particular  subject. 


cowman,  are  to  be  let,  together  or  in  parcels,  and 
there  is  dung  ready  to  lay  on.  Enquire  further 
at  Mr.  Bolton's,  at  the  sign  of  the  'Crown,'  in 
Tottenham  Court  aforesaid,  or  at  '  Landori's  Coffee 
House,'  over  against  Somerset  House,  Strand." 


Himpstead  Road.] 


CHARLES   DICKENS'   SCHOOL-DAYS. 


In  the  year  1800  the  road  from  Whitefield's 
Chapel  hither  was  lined  on  either  side  with  the 
hawthorn  hedge,  and  then  the  "  Adam  and  Eve  " 
tea-gardens  were  the  constant  resort  of  thousands 
of  Londoners  ;  particularly  at  the  time  of  Totten- 
ham Fair,  of  which  we  have  spoken  in  a  previous 


traversed  by  tramways,  and  has  altogether  a  busi- 
ness-like aspect. 

The  streets  on  the  west  side  (with  the  exception 
of  the  first — Eden  Street — which  occupies  part  of 
the  site  of  the  old  "  Adam  and  Eve  "  tea-gardens) 
re  mostly  named  after  Christian  names  in  the 


and  when,  after  its  suppression,  it  was  family  of  the  owner  of  the  land,  such  as  Henry, 
Charles,  Frederick,  William,  Robert,  and  Edward 
Streets.  At  the  corner  of  Charles  Street  (formerly 
Sol's  Row)  is  the  "  Sol's  Arms,"  which  is  immor- 
talised by  Dickens  in  "  Bleak  House."  It  derives 
its  name  from  the  Sol's  Society,  an  institution 
hich  was  conducted  somewhat  upon  the  principles 


followed  by  its  more  innocent  one  called  "  Goose- 
berry Fair."  At  that  period  there  was  only  one 
conveyance  between  Paddington  and  the  City, 
which  was  called  the  "Paddington  Drag,"  and 
which  stopped  at  this  tavern  door  as  it  passed  to 
take  up  passengers.  It  performed  the  journey,  as 
the  notice-paper  said,  "  in  two  hours  and  a  half  |  of  freemasonry.  They  used  to  hold  their  meetings 


quick  time."  The  same  distance  is  now  accom- 
plished under  this  road  by  the  Metropolitan 
Railway  in  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 

At  one  time  (long  before  the  establishment  of 
the  Zoological  Gardens),  the  "Adam  and  Eve" 
owned  a  sort  of  miniature  menagerie,  "when  it 
could  boast  of  a  monkey,  a  heron,  some  wild  fowl, 
some  parrots,  with  a  small  pond  for  gold-fish."  As 
late  as  July,  1796,  the  general  Court-Baron  of  the 
Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Tatenhall  was  held  at  this 
tavern  by  order  of  William  Birch,  who  was  at  that 
time  steward,  dating  his  notice  from  Dean  Street, 
Soho.  There  were  also  near  to  this  tavern  some 
celebrated  baths,  of  which  we  find  in  an  old  paper 
of  1785  the  following  advertisement : — 

"  Cold  Bath,  in  the  New  Road,  Tottenham  Cou 
Road,  near  the  '  Adam  and  Eve '  Tea  Gardens,  is 
now  in  fine  order  for  the  reception  of  ladies  and 
gentlemen.     This  bath  is  supplied  from  as  fine  a 


spring  as  any  in  the  kingdom,  which  runs  con 
tinually  through  it,  and  is  replete  with  every  accom 
modation  for  bathing,  situate  in  the  midst  of  a 
pleasant  garden.  This  water  hath  been  remarkabl; 
serviceable  to  people  subject  to  lowness  of  spirit 
and  nervous  disorders.  For  purity  of  air  am 
water,  with  an  agruaUe  walk  to  it,  an  exercise  s 
much  recommended  by  the  faculty,  this  Bat 
is  second  to  none." 

It  is  worth  noticing,  perhaps,  as  an  appendage  t 
the  "  Adam  and  Eve,"  that  the  first  street  to  th 
north  of  that  tavern,  in  the  Hampstead  Roa 
is  called  Eden  Street,  though  it  bears  at  present- 
whatever  it  may  have  done  heretofore— few  signs 
marks  of  Paradise. 

The  Hampstead  Road  is  a  broad  thoroughfar 
which  runs  hence  northwards  in  a  direct  line  wi       and   Birming 
Tottenham  Court  Road,  connecting  it  with  High    styled  Wellm 
Street,  Camden  Town,  and  so  with  both  Hampstead 
and  Kentish  Town  and  Highgate.     The  road  is 

•  S«  Vol.  IV.,  p.  477 


the  "  Queen  of  Bohemia's  Head,"  in  Drury  Lane ; 
.t  on  the  pulling  down  of  that  house  the  society 
as  dissolved.  In  Sol's  Row,  David  Wilkie,  the 
list,  resided  for  some  time,  and  there  painted  his 
Blind  Fiddler."  We  found  him  afterwards  in  the 
ore  fashionable  suburb  of  Kensington,  t  Each  of 
ibove-mentioned  streets  cross  at  right  angles 
broader  and  more  important  thoroughfare,  called 
tanhope  Street,  which  runs  parallel  with  the 
[ampstead  Road. 

The  remaining  streets  on  this  side  of  the  Hamp- 
ead  Road  bear  more  ambitious  designations :  one 

called  Rutland  Street,  the  next  is  Granby  Street, 
nd  the  thoroughfare  is  terminated  by  Mornington 
Crescent,  which  connects  the  road  with  High 
treet,  Camden  Town.  Granby  Street  commemo- 
ites  the  most  popular  of  English  generals,  the 
:  Marquis "  of  that  name ;  and  the  name  Morn- 
ngton,  no  doubt,  was  given  to  the  crescent  out  of 


:ompliment  to  the  Earl  of  Mornington,  Governor- 
general  of  India,  the  brother  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  and  afterwards  better  known  as  the 
Marquis  of  Wellesley.  At  the  corner  of  Granby 
Street  is  a  Congregational  Chapel,  which,  however, 
does  not  require  further  notice. 

We  are  told  by  Mr.  J.  Forster,  in  his  "  Life  of 
Charles  Dickens,"  that  after  his  release  from  the 
drudgery  of  the  blacking  warehouse  at  Hungerford 
Stairs,  when  about  twelve  years  old,  the  boy  who 
became  afterwards  "  Boz "  was  sent  to  a  school, 
kept  by  a  Welshman  named  Jones,  in  the  Hamp- 
stead Road,  close  to   the   corner   of  Mornington 
Place  and  Granby  Street ;  but  the  schoolroom  has 
Ion"  since  disappeared,  having  been  "  sliced  off 
at  a  later  date    to  make  room    for   the  London 
Railway.      It   was   ambitiously 
rlouse  Academy,  and  there  are 
it  to   be   found  in   his   minor 
writings ;  there  is  also  a  paper  among  his  pieces, 


3°6 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


fHwnpstead  Road. 


reprinted  from  Household  Words,  of  October  n, 
1851,  which  purports  to  describe  it  in  detail.  The 
school  is  also  of  interest,  as  having  supplied  some 


at  Sunderland,  towards  the  close  of  the  last 
century,  Clarkson  Stanfield  "  had  the  sea  for  his 
first  art  academy,"  and  continued  to  make  the  sea 


of  the  lighter  traits  of  Salem  House  in  "  David  Cop-  '  the  principal  theme  of  his  art  studies  through  life, 
perfield."  At  this  time  "  Boz  "  was  living  with  his  At  an  early  age  he  determined  to  be  a  sailor, 
parents,  in  "  a  small  street  leading  out  of  Seymour  and,  curiously  enough,  joined  the  same  ship  in 


Street,   north  of  Mr.    Judkin's   Chapel." 


which  Douglas  Jerrold  was  serving  as  a  midship- 


here  he  would  ramble,  in  childish  sport  and  fun,    man ;  and  it  is  told  that  the  officers  having  got  up 
over  the  "Field  of  the  Forty  Footsteps,"    scenes  to    a  play  young  Stanfield  painted  the  scenery,  while 


which  he  would  often  allude  with  pleasure  in  after  ' 
life.     Even  at  this  time  he  was  a  groat  devourer 
of  the  light  magazine  literature,  and,  along  with 
his  school-fellows,  got  up  a  miniature  theatre,  on  [ 
the    boards    of   which   they   would    perform    such  > 
pieces  as   Tlie  Miller  and  his  .)/<•//.     On  another  ' 
occasion  they  would  act  the  part  of   mendicants, 
and  go  up  as  "  poor  boys  "  to  ladies  in  the  streets. 
and  ask  for  coppers — laughing  heartily  when  they 
got  a  refusal.      Verily,  even  at  that  early  age,  in  \ 
his  case  the  child  was  father  of  the  man. 

In  the  house  close  to  Mornington  Crescent  the  I 
veteran  artist,  Mr.  George  Cruikshank,  resided  for  ; 
many  years,  having  succeeded  in  it  another  artist,  j 
whose  name  stands  even  higher  in  the  annals  of  j 
art— namely,  Mr.  Clarkson  Stanfield,  R.A.  Born  I 


(See  fagt  309.) 


Jerrold  acted  as  stage-manager.  When  he  quitted 
the  service  he  accepted  an  engagement  as  scene- 
painter  at  the  old  Royalty  Theatre,  near  Wellclose 
Square,  which  was  then  noted  as  a  sailors'  theatre, 
and  in  course  of  time  transferred  his  services  to 
Drury  I^ane  Theatre.  In  1827  he  exhibited,  at 
the  British  Institution,  his  first  large  picture, 
"Wreckers  off  Fort  Rouge;"  and  from  that  time 
he  produced  a  large  number  of  works.  He  was 
elected  an  Associate  of  the  Royal  Academy  in 
1832,  and  became  a  Royal  Academician  three  years 
later.  He  died  in  1867,  at  Hampstead,  where  we 
shall  have  more  to  say  about  his  later  and  more 
finished  works. 

Of  George  Cruikshank  we  may  remark  that  his 
artistic  productions  were  for  the  most  part  confined 


3o8  OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON.  [Hamp^d  Road. 

to  illustrating  periodicals  and  other  works  of  j  got  over  the  difficulty  by  running  their  tunnel 
popular  literature.  The  son  of  a  water-colour  j  under  the  house,  which  their  engineer  supported 
draughtsman  and  caricaturist,  he  had  an  hereditary  ;  on  huge  posts  of  timber  during  the  process,  thus 
claim  to  some  artistic  gifts,  the  humorous  turn  of  .  dispensing  with  its  removal.  To  the  north  of  this 
which  he  began  to  develop  at  a  very  early  age.  tavern  much  of  the  land  facing  Eden  Street  was 


Among  Mr.  Cruikshank's  best-known  etchings  are 
those  in  "  Sketches  by  Boz,"  "  Oliver  Twist," 
"Jack  Sheppard,"  "The  Tower  of  London," 
"  Windsor  Castle,"  &c.  In  1 842  appeared  the 
first  number  of  "  Cruikshank's  Omnibus,"  the  letter- 
press of  which  was  edited  by  Leman  Blanchard. 
From  the  first  this  artist  had  shown  a  strong  vein 
of  virtuous  reproof  in  his  treatment  of  intoxica- 
tion and  its  accompanying  vices :  some  instances 
of  this  tendency  are  to  be  found  in  his  "  Sunday 


not  built  upon  down  to  about  the  year  1860. 
Here  were  large  waterworks  and  a  reservoir, 
sheltered  by  a  grove  of  trees.  The  site  is  now 
covered  by  Tolmer's  Square,  a  small  square,  the 
centre  of  which  is  occupied  by  a  handsome  Gothic 
Nonconformist  chapel,  with  a  tall  spire. 

Drummond  Street,  the  next  turning  northward, 
extends  along  by  the  principal  front  of  Euston 
Square  Railway  Terminus.  This  street  crosses 
George  Street,  which  forms  a  direct  line  of  corn- 


in  London,"  "  The  Gin  Juggernaut,"  "  The  Gin  munication  from  Gower  Street  to  the  Hampstead 
Trap,"  and  more  especially  in  his  series  of  eight  '  Road.  Between  George  Street  and  Cardington 
prints  entitled  "  The  Bottle."  These  also  brought  I  Street  is  St.  James's  Church,  formerly  a  chapel  of 
the  artist  into  direct  personal  connection  with  the  '  ease  to  the  mother  church  of  St  James's,  Picca- 
leaders  of  the  temperance  movement.  He  more-  dilly.  It  is  a  large  brick  building,  and  has  a 
over,  himself  became  a  convert  to  their  doctrines,  large,  dreary,  and  ill-kept  burial-ground  attached  to 


and  was  for  many  years  one  of  the  ablest  advo- 
cates of  the  temperance  cause.  Late  in  life  Mr. 
Cruikshank  turned  his  attention  to  oil-painting, 


it.  Here  lie  George  Morland,  the  painter,  who 
died  in  1804;  John  Hoppner,  the  portrait-painter, 
who  died  in  1810;  Admiral  Lord  Gardner,  the 


id  contributed  to  the  exhibitions  of  the  Royal ;  hero  of  Port   1'Orient,  and  the  friend  of  Howe, 
Academy  and  the  British  Institution  ;  among  his    Bridport,  and  Nelson ;   and,  without  a  memorial, 


latest  productions  in  oil  is  a  large  picture  called 
"  The  Worship  of  Bacchus,"  which  was  exhibited 
to  the  Queen  at  Windsor  Castle  in  1863.  The 
whole  of  Mr.  Cruikshank's  etchings,  extending 
over  a  period  of  more  than  seventy  years,  and 
illustrating  the  fashions,  tastes,  follies,  and  frivolities 
of  four  reigns,  including  the  Regency,  were  pur- 
chased, in  1876,  by  the  managers  of  the  Royal 


Lord  George  Gordon,  the  mad  leader  of  the  Anti- 
Catholic  Riots  in  1780,  who  died  a  prisoner  in 
Newgate  in  1793,  having  become  a  Jew  before 
his  death  !  One  of  the  best-known  vicars  of  this 
church  was  the  Rev.  Henry  Stebbing,  author  of  the 
"History  of  the  Reformation,"  "History  of  the 
Christian  Church,"  "  History  of  Chivalry  and  the 
Crusades,"  and  "  Lives  of  the  Italian  Poets."  He 


Aquarium,   at  Westminster,  and   were   placed   in  I  died  in  1883.     Close  by  are  the  St.  Pancras  Female 
their   picture-gallery.      Mr.    Cruikshank's    talents    Charity  School  and  the  Temperance  Hospital, 
were  not  confined  merely  to  painting  or  etching.        It  may  interest  some  of  our  readers  who  do  not 
but  he  possessed  no  little  dramatic  taste,  and  often  !  advocate  strict  temperance  principles  to  hear  that 
took  part  in  amateur  performances  at  the  public    the  celebrated  article  now  called  "  Old  Tom  "  or 


theatres  for  benevolent  purposes.  He  died  in  1878. 
We  must  now  retrace  our  steps  to  the  Euston 
Road,  in  order  to  deal  with  the  east  side  of  the 
Hampstead  Road.  The  "Old  King's  Head,"  at  the 
corner  opposite  to  the  "  Adam  and  Eve."  has  long 


presented  an  awkward  break  in  the  uniform  width 
of  the  Euston  Road,  by  projecting  some  feet 
beyond  its  m-ighbours,  and  so  narrowing  the 
thoroughfare.  At  the  time  of  the  formation  of 


"  Jackey  "  was  originally  distilled  at  Carre's  Brewery 
(formerly  Deady  and  Hanky's  distillery),  in  the 
Hampstead  Road. 

We  are  now  once  more  upon  Russell  property, 
as  is  testified  by  the  names  of  several  of  the  streets 


and  squares  round  about ;  indeed,  a  considerable 
part  of  the  district  is  called  Bedford  New  Town. 

Ampthill  Square,  which  we  have  now  reached, 
and  which  is  in  reality  not  a  square,  but  a  triangle, 

the  "  Underground  Railway "  it  was  considered  '  is  so  named  after  Ampthill  Park,  in  Bedfordshire, 
that  there  was  at  last  a  chance  of  its  removal,  j  formerly  the  seat  of  the  Earls  of  Upper  Ossory,  but 
Such,  however,  was  not  the  case ;  for  the  owner  I  afterwards  the  property  of  the  ducal  house  of  Bed- 
not  being  satisfied  with  the  amount  of  compen- 1  ford,  to  whom  the  land  about  this  part  belongs, 
satfon  which  was  offered  by  the  railway  company,  j  The  south-west  corner  of  the  square  is  crossed  by 
who,  by  the  way,  offered  to  rebuild  the  house,  but  a  deep  cutting,  through  which  passes  the  North- 
setting  it  at  the  same  time  farther  back,  the  latter  j  Western  Railway,  spanned  by  a  level  bridge.  At 


STATUE  OF  RICHARD  COBDEN. 


his  residence  in  this  square,  died,  in  September, 
1874,  at  a  good  old  age,  Henry  West  Betty,  better 
known  as  the  "  infant  Roscius,"  more  than  seventy 
years  after  he  had  first  appeared  on  the  boards, 
under  Rich,  at  Covent  Garden,  and  had  "  taken 
the  town  by  storm."  He  was  born  on  the  13111 
of  September,  1791,  and  having  made  his  debut 
before  a  provincial  audience  at  Belfast,  he  first 
appeared  as  a  "  star  "  at  Covent  Garden,  December 
i,  1803,  as  "  Selim,"  in  Barbarossa.  He  is  said  to 
have  cleared  in  his  first  season  upwards  of  .£17,000. 
When  quite  young  he  retired  and  left  the  stage, 
but  afterwards,  being  induced  to  come  back,  he 
was  unsuccessful,  and  found  that  the  public  taste 
is  a  fickle  jade.  He  was  a  great  favourite  with 
many  ladies  of  fashion  and  title,  and  the  Duke  of 


Clarence,  it  is  said,  used  to  show  his  partiality  for 
the  boy,  by  driving  him  home  from  the  theatre  in 
his  own  private  royal  carriage— a  thing  in  itself 
enough  to  turn  a  boy's  head.  The  mania  for  the 
"young  Roscius"  is  one  of  the  earlier  "Remi- 
niscences" of  the  veteran  Mr.  Planche";  and  an 
account  of  him  will  be  found  in  Timbs'  "  English 
Eccentrics." 

Harrington  Square — which,  however,  is  a  square 
in  name  alone,  seeing  that  it  faces  only  two  sides 
of  a  triangular  plot  of  ground,  facing  Mornington 
Crescent— adjoins  Ampthill  Square  on  the  north, 
and  ends  close  to  the  corner  of  the  High  Street, 
Camden  Town.  It  is  so  called  after  the  Earl  of 
Harrington,  one  of  whose  daughters  married  the 
seventh  Duke  of  Bedford. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 
CAMDEN    TOWN    AND    KENTISH    TOWN. 

"Vix  rure  urbem  dignoscere  pesos." 

Ckmden  Town-Stttue  of  Richard  Cobden-Oakley  Square-Thfe  "  Bedford  Arms  "-The  Royal  Park  Theatre-The  "  Mother  Red  Cap  VTh« 
"Mother  Shipton"—  The  Aldcmey  Dairy-The  Grand  Junction  Canal—  Bayham  Street,  and  its  Former  Inhabitants—  Camden  Road— 
Camden  Town  Railway  Station-The  Tailors'  Almshouses—  St.  Pancras  Almshouses—  Maitland  Park-The  Orphan  Working1  School— 
The  Dominican  Monastery—  Gospel  Oak—  St.  Martin's  Church—  Kentish  Town  :  its  Buildings  and  its  Residents—  Great  College  Street—  The 
Royal  Veterinary  College—  Pratt  Street—  St.  Stephen's  Church—  Sir  Henry  Bishop—  Agar  Town. 


CAMDEN  TOWN,  says  Mr.  Peter  Cunningham, 
"  was  so  called  (but  indirectly)  after  William  Cam- 
den, author  of  the  'Britannia.'  Charles  Pratt, 
Attorney-General  and  Lord  Chancellor  in  the  reign 
of  George  III.,  created,  in  1765,  Baron  Camden  of 
Camden  Place,  in  Kent,  derived  his  title  from  his 
seat  at  Chislehurst,  in  Kent,  formerly  the  resi- 
dence of  William  Camden,  the  historian.  His 
lordship,  who  died  in  1794,  married  the  daughter 
and  co-heir  of  Nicholas  Jeffreys,  Esq.,  son  and  heir 
of  Sir  Geoffery  Jeffreys,  of  Brecknock  ;  and  his 
lordship's  eldest  son  was  created,  in  i8tz,  Earl  of 
Brecknock  and  Marquis  Camden.  Lord  Camden's 
second  title  was  Viscount  Bayham ;  and  all  these 
names,  Pratt,  Jeffreys,  Brecknock,  and  Bayham, 
may  be  found  in  Camden  Town." 

Camden  Town,  we  may  here  remark,  was  com- 
menced towards  the  close  of  the  last  century,  Lord 
Camden  having,  in  the  year  1 791,  let  out  the  ground 
on  leases  for  building  1,400  houses.  The  houses 
in  Camden  Road  and  Square  have  perhaps  the 
most  aristocratic  appearance  of  any  in  the  district. 
The  High  Street,  which  originally  consisted  of  a 
row  of  small  shops  with  one  floor  above,  and  trim 
gardens  in  their  fronts,  separated  by  hedges  of 
privet,  have  within  the  last  few  years  been  for  the 
most  part  either  rebuilt  or  enlarged,  and  are  now 


on  a  par  with  the  other  business  parts  of  London  ; 
and  on  Saturday  evenings  the  upper  part  of  the 
street,  thronged  as  it  is  with  stalls  of  itinerant 
vendors  of  the  necessaries  of  daily  life,  and  with 
the  dwellers  in  the  surrounding  districts,  presents 
to  an  ordinary  spectator  all  the  attributes  of  a 
market  place.  •  • 

At  the  lower  end  of  High  Street,  facing  Eversholt 
Street,  is  a  marble  statue  of  Richard  Cobden, 
which  was  erected  by  subscription  in  the  year 
1863.  The  statue,  which  stands  in  a  conspicuous 
position,  is  rather  above  life-size,  and  is  placed 
upon  a  granite  pedestal  of  two  stages,  about  twelve 
feet  high,  the  plinth  of  which  is  simply  inscribed 
"  Cobden.  The  Corn-Laws  Repealed,  June,  1.846." 
The  great  politician  is  represented  in  a  standing 
attitude,  as  if  delivering  an  address  in  the-  House 
of  Commons.  He  is  attired  in  the  ordinary  dress 
of  a  gentleman  of  the  present  day,  and  holds*  in 
one  hand  a  Parliamentary  roll.  The  sculptor's 
name  was  Wills.  Born  at  Dunford,  in  Sussex, 
in  the  year  1804,  Cobden  was  brought  up  as  a 
lad  to  business,  and  served  behind  a  counter  in  a 
large  establishment  at  Manchester.  About  the 
year  1840  he  helped  to  found  the  Anti-Corn  Law 
League,  whose  efforts  in  less  than  ten  years'  time 
set  aside  the  restrictions  imposed  by  the  old  Corn 


OLU   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Camden- 


Laws  on  the  importation  of  foreign  grain,  and 
eventually  secured  to  the  country  the  advantages 
of  free  trade.  He  was  offered,  but  refused,  all 
honours  and  offices  ;  but  he  represented  Stockport, 
the  West  Riding,  and  Rochdale  from  1841  down 
to  his  death,  in  1865. 

Oakley  Square,  which  lies  on  the  east  side  of 
Eversholt  Street  and  Harrington  Square,  is  so 
called  after  Oakley  House,  one  of  the  seats  of  the 
ducal  owner,  near  Bedford.  In  this  square  is  St 
Matthew's  Church,  a  large  and  handsome  Gothic 
building,  with  a  lofty  tower  and  spire.  It  was 
erected  in  1854,  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  J. 
Johnson,  F.R.S.,  and  is  capable  of  seating  upwards 
of  1,200  persons. 

The  "Bedford  Arms,"  in  Grove  Street,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  High  Street,  has  been  a  tavern  of 
some  note  in  its  day.  Formerly,  the  tea-gardens 
attached  to  the  house  were  occasionally  the  scene 
of  balloon  ascents.  The  Morning  Chronicle  of 
July  5,  1824,  contains  an  account  of  an  aerial 
voyage  made  from  these  gardens  by  a  Mr.  Ros- 
siter  and  another  gentleman.  The  ascent  took 
.  place  shortly  after  five  o'clock,  and  the  balloon 
alighted  safely  in  Havering  Park,  two  miles  from 
Romford,  in  Essex.  The  two  aeronauts,  having 
been  provided  with  a  post-coach,  returned  at  once 
to  Camden  Town,  and  arrived  at  the  "  Bedford 
Arms  "  about  half-past  ten  o'clock.  On  the  I4th 
of  June,  1825,  as  we  learn  from  the  Morning 
Herald,  Mr.  Graham  took  a  trip  into  the  aerial 
regions  from  these  grounds,  accompanied  by  two 
ladies.  Their  ascent  was  witnessed  by  a  large 
concourse  of  spectators ;  and  after  a  pleasant 
Toyage  of  nearly  an  hour,  they  alighted  at  Feltham, 
near  Hounslow.  Of  late  years  the  "Bedford 
Arms  "has  added  the  attractions  of  a  music-hall, 
called  «  The  Bedford." 

In  Park  Street,  which  connects  Camden  Town 
with  the  north-east  corner  of  Regent's  Park,  stood 
the  Park  Theatre,  a  place  of  dramatic  entertain- 
ment, originally  opened  in  1873,  under  the  name 
of  the  Alexandra  Theatre.  The  theatre  was  burnt 
down  in  1881,  and  its  site  is  now  occupied  as 
stabling  by  an  omnibus  company. 

From  a  manuscript  list  of  inns  in  this  neigh- 
bourhood about  the  year  1830,  we  find  that  in 
Camden  Town  at  that  time  there  were  the  "  Mother 
Red  Cap,"  the  "  Mother  Black  Cap,"  the  "  Laurel 
Tree,"  the  "  Britannia,"  the  "  Camden  Arms," 
Jhe  "  Bedford  Arms,"  the  "  Southampton  Arms," 
the  "  Wheatsheaf,"  the  "  Hope  and  Anchor,"  and 
the  "  Elephant  and  Castle."  The  two  first-named 
of  these  houses  were,  and  are  still,  rival  establish- 
ments at  the  northern,  or  upper,  end  of  the  High 


Street  The  "  Mother  Black  Cap  "  stands  within 
a  few  doors  of  the  corner  of  Park  Street. 

The  "Mother  Red  Cap,"  observes  Mr.  J.  T. 
Smith,  in  his  "  Book  for  a  Rainy  Day,"  was  in 
former  times  a  house  of  no  small  terror  to  travellers. 
"  It  has  been  stated,"  he  adds,  "  that  '  Mother  Red 
Cap  '  was  the  '  Mother  Damnable  '  of  Kentish 
Town  in  early  days,  and  that  it  was  at  her  house 
that  the  notorious  'Moll  Cut-purse,'  the  highway 
woman  of  Oliver  Cromwell's  days,  dismounted, 
and  frequently  lodged."  The  old  house  was  taken 
down,  and  another  rebuilt  on  its  site,  with  the 
former  sign,  about  the  year  1850.  This,  again,  in 
its  turn,  was  removed  ;  and  a  third  house,  in  the 
modern  style,  and  of  still  greater  pretensions,  was 
built  on  the  same  site  some  quarter  of  a  century 
afterwards. 

Great  doubts  have  been  entertained  as  to  the 
real  history  of  the  semi-mythic  personage  whose 
name  stands  on  the  sign-board  of  this  inn.  It  has 
been  stated  that  the  original  Mother  Red  Cap  was 
a  follower  of  the  army  under  Marlborough,  in  the 
reign  of  Queen  Anne  ;  but  this  idea  is  negatived 
by  the  existence  of  a  rude  copper  coin,  or  token, 
dated  1667,  and  mentioning  in  its  inscription, 
"  Mother  Read  Cap's  (sic)  in  Holl(o)way."  Further 
arguments  in  refutation  of  this  idea  will  be  found 
in  the  Monthly  Magazine  for  1812.  Again,  some 
writers  have  attempted  to  identify  her  with  the 
renowned  Eleanor  Rumming,  of  Leatherhead,  in 
Surrey,  who  lived  under  Henry  VIII.  This  noted 
alewife  is  mentioned  by  Skelton,  the  poet  laureate 
of  Henry  VIII.,  as  having  lived 

"  In  a  certain  stead, 
Beside  Leatherhead." 

She  was,  he  assures  us,  one  of  the  most  frightful  of 
her  sex,  being 


"  -  ugly  of  cheer. 
Her  face  all  bowsy. 
Wondrously  wrinkled, 
Her  een  bleared. 
And  she  grey-haired.  " 

The  portrait  of  Eleanor  on  the  frontispiece  of 
an  original  edition  of  the  "Tunning  of  Eleanor 
Rumming,"  by  Skelton,  will  satisfy  the  reader  that 
her  description  is  no  exaggeration. 

Perhaps  there  may  be  more  of  truth  in  the 
following  "biographical  sketch"  of  the  original 
Mother  Red  Cap,  which  we  now  quote  from  Mr. 
Palmer's  work  on  "  St  Pancras,  and  its  History," 
above  referred  to  :  —  "  This  singular  character, 
known  as  '  Mother  Damnable,1  is  also  called 
'  Mother  Red  Cap,'  and  sometimes  '  The  Shrew  of 
Kentish  Town.'  Her  father's  name  was  Jacob 
Bingham,  by  trade  a  brickmaker  in  the  neigh- 


Camden  Town.J 


THE   "MOTHER   RED   CAP." 


bourhood  of  Kentish  Town.  He  enlisted  in  the  !  reputed  a  practiser  of  the  black  art  _  a  very  witch. 
army,  and  went  with  it  to  Scotland,  where  he  She  was  resorted  to  by  numbers  as  a  fortune-teller 
married  a  Scotch  pedlar's  daughter.  They  had  and  healer  of  strange  diseases;  and  when  any 
one  daughter,  this  '  Mother  Damnable.'  This  j  mishap  occurred,  then  the  old  crone  was  set  upon 
daughter  they  named  Jinney.  Her  father,  on  j  by  the  mob  and  hooted  without  mercy.  The  old, 
leaving  the  army,  took  again  to  his  old  trade  of  ill-favoured  creature  would  at  such  times  lean  out 
brickmaking,  occasionally  travelling  with  his  wife  of  her  hatch-door,  with  a  grotesque  red  cap  on  her 
and  child  as  a  pedlar.  When  the  girl  had  reached  j  head.  She  had  a  large  broad  nose,  heavy  shaggy 
her  sixteenth  year,  she  had  a  child  by  one  Coulter,  |  eyebrows,  sunken  eyes,  and  lank  and  leathern 
who  was  better  known  as  Gipsey  George.  This  cheeks;  her  forehead  wrinkled,  her  mouth  wide, 


man  lived  no  one  knew  how ;  but  he  was  a  great 
trouble  to  the  magistrates.  Jinney  and  Coulter 
after  this  lived  together ;  but  being  brought  into 
trouble  for  stealing  a  sheep  from  some  lands  near 


and  her  looks  sullen 
shoulders  was  thrown 


and   unmoved.      On    her 
dark  grey  striped  frieze, 


with  black  patches,  which  looked  at  a  distance  like 
flying  bats.     Suddenly  she   would  let  her  huge 


Holloway,  Coulter  was  sent  to  Newgate,  tried  at  |  black  cat  jump  upon  the  hatch  by  her  side,  when 


the  Old  Bailey,  and  hung  at  Tyburn.  Jinney  then 
associated  with  one  Darby ;  but  this  union  pro- 
duced a  cat-and-dog  life,  for  Darby  was  constantly 
drunk;  so  Jinney  and  her  mother  consulted 
together,  Darby  was  suddenly  missed,  and  no  one 
knew  whither  he  went.  About  this  time  her 
parents  were  carried  before  the  justices  for  prac- 
tising the  black  art,  and  therewith  causing  the 
death  of  a  maiden,  for  which  they  were  both  hung. 
Jinney  then  associated  herself  with  one  Pitcher, 
though  who  or  what  he  was,  never  was  known ; 
but  after  a  time  his  body  was  found  crouched  up 
in  the  oven,  burnt  to  a  cinder.  Jinney  was  tried 
for  the  murder,  but  acquitted,  because  one  of  her 
associates  proved  he  had  '  often  got  into  the  oven 
to  hide  himself  from  her  tongue.'  Jinney  was  now 
a  '  lone  woman,'  for  her  former  companions  were 
afraid  of  her.  She  was  scarcely  ever  seen,  or  if 
she  were,  it  was  at  nightfall,  under  the  hedges  or 
in  the  lanes ;  but  how  she  subsisted  was  a  miracle 
to  her  neighbours.  It  happened  during  the 
troubles  of  the  Commonwealth,  that  a  man,  sorely 
pressed  by  his  pursuers,  got  into  her  house  by  the 
back  door,  and  begged  on  his  knees  for  a  night's 
lodging.  He  was  haggard  in  his  countenance,  and 
full  of  trouble.  He  offered  Jinney  money,  of 


which  he  had  plenty,  and  she  gave  him  a 


lodging 


the  mob  instantly  retreated  from  a  superstitious 
dread  of  the  double  foe. 

"  The  extraordinary  death  of  this  singular  cha- 
racter is  given  in  an  old  pamphlet  :  —  '  Hundreds  of 
men,  women,  and  children  were  witnesses  of  the 
devil  entering  her  house  in  his  very  appearance 
and  state,  and  that,  although  his  return  was  nar- 
rowly watched  for,  he  was  not  seen  again;  and 
that  Mother  Damnable  was  found  dead  on  the 
following  morning,  sitting  before  the  fire-place, 
holding  a  crutch  over  it,  with  a  tea-pot  full  of 
herbs,  drugs,  and  liquid,  part  of  which  being  given 
:o  the  cat,  the  hair  fell  off  in  two  hours,  and  the 
cat  soon  after  died  ;  that  the  body  was  stiff  when 
found,  and  that  the  undertaker  was  obliged  to 
break  her  limbs  before  he  could  place  them  in  the 
coffin,  and  that  the  justices  have  put  men  in  pos- 
session of  the  house  to  examine  its  contents.' 

"  Such  is  the  history  of  this  strange  being,  whose 
name  will  ever  be  associated  with  Camden  Town, 
and  whose  reminiscence  will  ever  be  revived-  by 
the  old  wayside  house  which,  built  on  the  site  of 
the  old  beldame's  cottage,  wears  her  head  as  the 
sign  of  the  tavern." 

The  figure  of  Mother  Red  Cap,  as  it  was  repre- 
sented on  the  sign,  exhibited  that  venerable  lady  — 
whether  she  was  ale-wife  or  witch—  with  a  tall 


This  man,  it  is  said,  lived  with  her  many  years, 
during  which  time  she  wanted  for  nothing,  though 
hard  words  and  sometimes  blows  were  heard  from 
her  cottage.  The  man  at  length  died,  and  an 
inquest  was  held  on  the  body  ;  but  though  every 
one  thought  him  poisoned,  no  proof  could  be 
found,  and  so  she  again  escaped  harmless.  After 
this  Jinney  never  wanted  money,  as  the  cottage 
she  lived  in  was  her  own,  built  on  waste  land  by 
her  father.  Years  thus  passed,  Jinney  using  her 
foul  tongue  against  every  one,  and  the  rabble  in 
return  baiting  her  as  if  she  were  a  wild  beast.  The 
occasion  of  this  arose  principally  from  Jinney  being 


extinguisher-shaped  hat,  not  unlike  that  ascribed 
to  Mother  Shipton  ;  and  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable 
that  two  inns  bearing  the  names  of  these  semi- 
mythical  ladies  exist  within  half  a  mile  of  each 
other. 

Although  the  tavern  bearing  the  sign  of  "  Mother 
Shipton  :1  is  thus  far  off,  at  the  corner  of  Maiden 
Road,  near  Chalk  Farm,  some  account  of  the  other 
weird  woman  may  not  be  altogether  out  of  place 


here. 


'The    prophecie 


ies    of    Mother    Shipton,' 


writes  Dr.  C.  Mackay,  in  his  "  Memoirs  of  Extra- 
ordinary Popular  Delusions,"  "are  still  believed 
in  many  of  the  rural  districts  of  England.  In 


OLD  AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Camden  Town. 


cottages  and  in  servants'  halls  her  reputation  is  still  j  doubts  concerning  things  to  come  ;  and  all  returned 
great ;  and  she  rules,  the  most  popular  of  British  j  wonderfully  satisfied  in  the  explanations  that  she 
prophets,  among  all  the  uneducated  or  half  edu-  i  gave  to  their  questions."  Among  the  rest,  Dr. 
cated  portion  of  the  community.  She  is  generally  .  Mackay  tells  us,  who  went  to  her  was  the  Abbot 
supposed  to  have  been  born  at  Knaresborough,  in  j  of  Beverley,  to  whom  she  foretold  the  suppression 
the  reign  of  Henry  VII.,  and  to  have  'sold  her  of  the  monasteries  by  Henry  VIII.,  his  marriage 
soul  to  the  devil '  for  the  power  of  foretelling  future  with  Anne  Boleyn,  the  fires  for  heretics  in  Smith- 
events.  Though  during  her  lifetime  she  was  •  field,  the  death  of  Cardinal  Wolsey,  and  the 
looked  upon  as  a  witch,  yet  she  escaped  the  I  execution  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  She  also  fore- 


usual  witches'  fate,  and  died  peaceably  in  her  bed 
at  an  extreme  old  age,  near  Clifton,  in  Yorkshire. 
A  stone  is  said  to  have  been  erected  to  her 
memory  in  the  churchyard  of  the  place,  with  the 
following  epitaph  : — 

"  '  Here  lies  she  who  never  lied, 
Whose  skill  often  has  t>een  tried  ; 
Her  prophecies  shall  still  survive, 
And  ever  keep  her  name  alive.'  " 

"Never  a  day  passed,"  says  her  traditionary 
biography,  "wherein  she  did  not  relate  something 
remarkable,  and  that  required  the  most  serious 
consideration.  People  flocked  to  her  from  far  and 
near,  her  fame  was  so  great.  They  went  to  her 
of  all  sorts,  both  old  and  young,  rich  and  poor, 
especially  young  maidens,  to  be  resolved  of  their 


746.     (^ee  fast  310.) 


told  the  accession  of  James  I.  to  the  English 
throne,  adding  that  with  him — 

"  From  the  cold  north 

Every  evil  shall  come  forth. 

On  a  subsequent  visit,  she  is  said  to  have  uttered 
another  prophecy,  which,  perhaps,  may  be  realised 
during  the  present  century  : — 

"  'The  time  shall  come  when  seas  of  blood 

Shall  mingle  with  a  greater  flood  : 

Great  noise  shall  there  be  heard  ;  great  shouts  and  crief, 

And  seas  shall  thunder  louder  than  the  skies; 

Then  shall  three  lions  fight  with  three,  and  bring 

Joy  to  a  people,  honour  to  a  king. 

That  fiery  year  as  soon  as  o'er 

Peace  shall  then  be  as  before ; 

Plenty  shall  everywhere  be  found. 

And  men  With  swords  shall  plough  the  ground.'  " 


Camden  To 


The  craven  heart  of  James  I.  was  not  less  dis- 
turbed than  that  of  his  masculine  predecessor 
Elizabeth,  by  the  prophecy  of  the  weird-woman' 
Mother  Shipton,  that — 

"  Before  the  good  folk  of  this  kingdom  be  undone 
Shall  Highgate  Hill  stand  in  the  midst  of  London." 


We  learn  from  the  Morning  Post,  of  i776,  that 
*e  open  space  opposite  the  "Mother  Red  Cap 

I?  ^  TeKtme  imended  l°  have  been  ™de  - 
econd  Tyburn.     "Orders  have  been  given  from 

"7  °f  State'S  °ffice  that  the  c»mi-S 
convicted  at  the   Old  Bailey  shall   in 


ROOMS,     KXNTIS 


It  is  the  wont  of  superficial  writers  to  say  that 
James  despised  this  and  other  prophecies  of  the 
like  kind  ;  but  it  is  a  fact  that  under  him  all  sorts 
of  legal  enactments  were  passed  which  forbade  any 
further  additions  to  London  in  the  way  of  building. 
Though  these  enactments  were  defied  to  a  very 
great  extent,  yet  no  doubt  they  helped  for  many 
a  long  day  to  keep  the  metropolis  within  very 
manageable  limits  down  to  the  time  of  the  Great 
Fire  of  1666 
219 


!  future   be   executed  at  the  cross  road  near  the 
'  Mother    Red  Cap '   inn,   the  half-way  house  to 
|  Hampstead,  and   that  no   galleries,  scaffolds,   or 
|  other  temporary  stages  be  built  near  the  place." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  the 
"  Mother  Red  Cap "  was  a  constant  resort  for 
many  a  Londoner  who  desired  to  inhale  the  fresh 
air,  and  enjoy  the  quiet  of  the  country,  for  at  that 
time  the  old  tavern— which,  by  the  way,  was  also 
known  as  the  halfway  house  to  Highgate  and 


3'4 


OLD    AND    NEW   LONDON. 


LOunJcn  To 


Hampstead — stood  almost  in  the  open  fields,  and 
was  approached  on  different  sides  by  green  lanes 
and  hedgeside  roads.  At  that  time,  too,  the  dairy 
over  the  way,  at  the  corner  of  the  Chalk  Farm,  or 
Hampstead,  and  the  Kentish  Town  Roads  was  not 
the  fashionable  establishment  it  afterwards  became, 
but  partook  more  of  the  character  of  "  milk  fair," 
as  noticed  by  us  in  our  account  of  Spring  Gardens,* 
for  there  were  forms  for  the  pedestrians  to  rest  on, 
and  the  good  folk  served  out  milk  fresh  from  the 
cow  to  all  who  came. 

The  Grand  Junction  Canal,  after  leaving  the 
Regent's  Park,  passes  through  Camden  Town.  It 
is  spanned  on  the  Chalk  Farm  Road  by  a  fine 
bridge  of  cast  iron.  A  little  farther  to  the  east  it 
crosses  the  Midland  Railway,  or  rather  the  latter 
is  carried  under  it.  This  work  was  effected  by  a 
triumph  of  engineering  skill  almost  unparalleled. 
The  waters  of  the  canal  are  drained  off  every  year 
for  exactly  seven  days,  in  order  to  clear  its  bed ; 
during  this  period  so  strong  a  force  of  men  was  put 
upon  it  that  between  one  Saturday  and  the  next  a 
tunnel  was  dug  under  the  canal,  and  bricked  and 
roofed  over  before  the  water  was  sent  back  into  its 
channel. 

Running  parallel  with  High  Street,  on  its  eastern 
side,  is  Bayhain  Street,  which  is  worthy  of  notice, 
as  having  been  the  first  home  of  Charles  Dickens  in 
London,  when  he  came  up  thither  from  Chatham 
with  his  parents  in  the  year  1821  ;  and  here  he 
took  his  first  impressions  of  that  struggling  poverty 
which  is  nowhere  more  vividly  shown  than  in  the 
commoner  streets  of  an  ordinary  London  suburb. 
It  is  thus  described  in  Forster's  Life  of  Dickens: 
— "  Bayham  Street  was  then  about  the  poorest  part 
of  the  London  suburbs,  and  the  house  was  a  mean, 
small  tenement,  with  a  wretched  little  garden  abut- 
ting on  a  squalid  court.  Here  was  no  place  for 
new  acquaintances  for  him  ;  no  boys  were  near 
with  whom  he  might  hope  to  become  in  any  way 
familiar.  A  washerwoman  lived  next  door,  and  a 
Bow  Street  officer  lived  over  the  way.  Many  times 
has  he  spoken  to  me  of  this,  and  how  he  seemed 
at  once  to  fall  ijito  a  solitary  condition  apart  from 
all  other  boys  of  his  own  age,  and  to  sink  at  home 
into  a  neglected  state  which  had  always  been  quite 
unaccountable  to  him.  '  As  I  thought/  he  said,  very 
bitterly,  on  one  occasion,  '  in  the  little  back  garret 
in  Bayham  Street,  of  all  that  I  had  lost  in  losing 
Chatham,  what  would  I  have  given  (if  I  had  any- 
thing to  give)  to  have  been  sent  back  to  any  other 
school,  and  to  have  been  taught  something  any- 
where ! '  He  was  at  another  school  already,  not 


knowing  it.  The  self-education  forced  upon  him 
was  teaching  him,  all  unconsciously  as  yet,  what, 
for  the  future  that  awaited  him,  it  most  behoved 
him  to  know." 

An  old  inhabitant  of  this  neighbourhood,  and 
one  who  likewise  spent  his  early  childhood  in  this 
very  street,  questioned  the  accuracy  of  the  above 
narrative,  in  a  letter  to  the  Daily  Telegraph  The 
writer,  who  signed  himself  "  F.  M.,"  remarked  : — 
"  Fifty  years  ago  Camden  Town,  like  some  other 
London  suburbs,  was  but  a  village.  Bayham  Street 
had  grass  struggling  through  the  newly-paved  road. 
There  were  not  more  than  some  twenty  or,  at  most, 
thirty  newly-erected  houses  in  it.  These  were 
occupied  by,  No.  i,  Mr.  Lever,  the  builder  of  the 
houses ;  No.  2,  Mr.  Engelheart,  a  then  celebrated 
engraver ;  No.  3,  a  Captain  Blake ;  No.  4,  a  retired 
linendraper,  one  of  the  old  school ;  No.  5,  by  my 
father  and  his  family ;  No.  6,  by  a  retired  diamond 
merchant,  two  of  whose  sons  have  made  their  mark, 
one  as  an  artist  and  another  as  the  author  of  'True 
tp  the  Core.'  At  No.  7  lived  a  retired  hairdresser, 
who,  like  most  others  there,  had  a  lease  of  his  house. 
In  another  lived  a  Regent  Street  jeweller ;  and  so 
I  could  enumerate  the  inhabitants  of  this  squalid 
neighbourhood.  When  Charles  Dickens  lived 
there  it  must  have  been  about  the  year  1822  ;  and 
if  he  lived  over  the  way,  the  description  given  by 
his  biographer  of  its  character  is  a  perfect  caricature 
of  a  quiet  street  in  what  was  then  but  a  village.  I 
as  then  a  boy  of  some  six  years  of  age,  and,  to 
my  childish  apprehension,  it  was  a  country  village. 
Mr.  Ixiver's  field  was  at  the  back  of  the  principal 
row  of  houses,  in  which  haymaking  was  enjoyed 
in  its  season,  and  it  was,  indeed,  a  beautiful  walk 
across  the  fields  to  Copenhagen  House.  Camden 
Road  then  was  not.  The  village  watchman's  box 
was  at  one  end  of  the  street  by  the  '  Red  Cap'  tea- 
garden.  Old  Ix>rimer,  who  lived  in  Queen  Street 
— then  with  gardens  and  a  field  in  front  of  but  one 
row  of  houses — was  the  only  constable.  Occasion- 
ally robberies  of  articles  in  the  out  houses  caused 
some  consternation,  but  gas  had  not  then  arrived 
to  enlighten  the  darkness  of  this  squalid  neighbour- 
hood." 

The  above  account  of  Bayham  Street  and  its 
residents  was  supplemented  by  two  other  letters  in 
the  Daily  Telegraph,  which  we  take  the  liberty  of 
(Rioting.  In  the  first,  which  was  signed  "  C.  L.  G.," 
the  writer  says  :  "  As  a  boy  I  was  a  constant  visitor 
at  one  of  the  houses  occupied  by  the  late  Mr.  Holl, 
the  celebrated  engraver,  the  father  of  Mr.  Frank 
Holl,  and  of  the  late  William  Holl,  engravers,  and 
of  Mr.  Henry  Holl,  the  actor  and  novelist  Mr. 
Charles  Rolls,  another  artist  of  note,  in  addition 


Camden  Town  ] 


THE  TAILORS'   ALMSHOUSES. 


3*5 


to  Mr.  Engelhart,  and  to  Mr.  Henry  Selous,  the 

painter,    and   Mr.    Angelo   Selous,    the   dramatic 

author,  resided   in   Bayham   Street.     The  private 

theatricals  at  the  late  Mr.  HolPs  residence  will  not 

be  forgotten,  as  all  the  gentlemen  just  named  took 

parts  therein,  as  also  another  actor,  who  is  no  more, 

Mr.  Benjamin  Holl.    The  houses  in  Bayham  Street 

were  small,  but  the  locality  half  a  century  since 

was  regarded  as  a  suburb  of  Ix>ndon.     Fields  had 

to  be  crossed  to  reach  it,  on  which  the  best  houses 

of  Camden  Town  have  been  since  erected.     The 

description  of  Bayham  Street  by  the  late  Charles 

Dickens  must   have  been   prompted  by    personal 

privations.    What  a  romance  he  could  have  created  I  courses,  cornices,  &c.,  and  the  enrichments  are  of 

out  of  the  house  occupied  by  Mr.  Holl,  where  was  !  red  terra-cotta.     The  building  consists  of  a  large 

concealed  for  months  young  Watson,  who  was  im- 1  hall,  suitable  for  lectures  and  other  entertainments, 

plicated  in  the  treasonable  attempt  for  which  his  !  a  reading-room,  library, 


the  parents  of  Charles  Dickens  to  have  resided. 
There  are  still  two  houses  remaining,  near  Pratt 
Street,  which  I  remember  as  being  old  houses 
twenty-five  years  ago." 

Camden  Road  is  a  broad  thoroughfare,  running 
north-east  from  the  top  of  High  Street  to  Hol- 
loway.  At  the  top  of  this  road  is  the  Camden 
Town  Athenaeum,  an  institution  which  has  been 
established  to  meet  the  intellectual  requirements  of 
this  district.  The  building,  which  was  erected  in 

n,  is  Italian  in  style,  and  was  built  from  the 


designs  of  Mr.  F.    R.    Mee 


Externally  the 


edifice  is  of  brick,  with  red  brick  plinth,  string- 


father  and  Thistlewood  were  tried  and  acquitted — 
the  latter  not  taking  warning  by  his  escape  on  that 


At  the  junction  of  Camden   Road  and  Great 
College  Street  is  the   Camden   Town  Station   of 


occasion,  for  he  afterwards  concocted  the  Cato  the  North  London  Railway,  near  which  the  line 
Street  conspiracy,  for  which  he  was  executed  at  j  branches  off  to  Gospel  Oak  and  Hampstead, 
Newgate.  Young  Watson  shot  a  gunmaker  in  forming  a  junction  with  the  London  and  North- 


Snow  Hill,  for  which  his  comrade  Cashman,  the 
sailor,  was  hanged.  Mr.  Holl  was  a  Reformer  in 
days  when  it  was  looked  upon  as  treason  to  differ 
from  the  Government.  He  gave  shelter  to  young 
Watson,  having  been  on  intimate  terms  with  his 
father,  Dr.  Watson.  Mr.  Holl  contrived  the  escape 
to  America  of  Watson,  junior,  disguising  him  as  a 
Quaker.  Bayham  Street  was  occupied  by  men  of 
advanced  political  opinions,  some  of  whom  lived  to 
see  their  notions  realised." 

In  the  other  letter  referred  to,  which  appeared 
with  the  initials  of  "  K.  P.  H.,"  we  get  a  different 
account  of  Bayham  Street.  The  writer  remarks  :— 
"  I  have  a  perfect  recollection  of  Bayham  Street 
thirty  years  ago,  and  took  a  stroll  up  it  this  morning 
to  see  if  I  could  trace  the  house  to  which  Mr. 
Forster  refers.  On  entering  the  street  from  Crown- 
dale  Road  I  literally  rubbed  my  eyes  with  astonish- 
ment. There  is  a  public-house  at  the  corner,  the 
sign  of  which  is  the  'Hope  and  Anchor.'  When 
last  I  noticed  it  the  name  over  the  door  was 
«  Barker,'  now  it  is  '  Dickens.'  Who  shall  say  that 
this  is  not  a  world  of  strange  coincidences  when  a 
Dickens  comes  to  Bayham  Street  to  live  just  at  the 


time  when  we  get  the  record  of  a  greatu 
having  once  trotted  round  the  corne 


Dickens 


Western  Line  at  Willesden,  and  with  the  West 
London  Railway  at  Kensington  Station. 

Not  far  from  the  Chalk  Farm  station,  at  the  foot 
of  the  slope  of  Haverstock  Hill,  near  the  entrance 
to  Maitland  Park,  are  the  Tailors'  Almshouses,  con- 
sisting of  six  residences  and  a  small  chapel,  built 
in  red  brick  and  stone  in  the  Gothic  style,  and 
standing  in  the  middle  of  a  garden  of  about  an 
acre  and  a  half.  They  were  founded  and  built  in 
1837-42,  by  the  late  Mr.  J.  Stulz,  of  Clifford  Street, 
Hanover  Square,  for  the  support  of  aged  tailors  of 
every  nation  in  the  world,  irrespective  of  creed. 
Each  pensioner,  besides  his  rooms,  receives  £20 
a  year,  in  addition  to  coals  and  candles. 

A  few  steps  farther  northwards  brings  us  to  the 
almshouses  for  the  parish  of  St.  Pancras.  They 
were  founded  in  1850,  by  Mr.  Donald  Fraser, 
M.D.,  for  decayed  and  aged  parishioners.  The 
buildings  consist  of  a  row  of  ornamental  cottages, 
with  pointed  roofs,  and  red-brick  facings  ;  they  are 
separated  from  the  roadway  by  a  light  stone  wall 
and  a  spacious  and  well-kept  lawn. 

The  grounds  of  the  above  institutions  abut  upon 
Maitland  Park,  where  there  is  another  edifice 
devoted  to  charitable  purposes— viz.,  the  Orphan 


'here  that 


public-house  stands  ?     '  F.  M.'  seems  to  me  to  be 


Working  School, 


vhich  was  originally  establish 
in  the  east  end' of  London,  as  far  back  as  the 
vhen   it  had 
Here 
respectable    many    years    since.      me    UIOCK    ui    .«-../—-,  ..  ^p  clothed 

SSSSSSiSs  £^SSS£ 
5^SSHw.iates«^» 


UIC-IIUUSC   aUUlUb  f  1.    A»A-     .TL.VIK.»  .     i  «»h«tt 

error    about    Bayham    Street    having   been  so  year  ,758,   but  was   removed  here  when 

actable    many    years    since.      The    block    of  nearly  completed  a  century  o :   e*rt« *e. 

,ses  to  which  Prefers  was   at  one  end;  then  orphans  and  other  necessUous  ch.ldren  aac 


3i6 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


about  400.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  the  boys  are 
apprenticed,  and  the  girls,  who  are  all  trained  for 
domestic  service,  remain  for  a  year  or  two  longer. 
The  annual  income  of  this  institution  is  about 
.£1 0,000,  the  larger  half  being  derived  from  volun- 
tary contributions.  On  leaving  the  school,  outfits 
are  provided  for  the  children,  in  money  value — to 
the  boys  of  .£5,  to  the  girls  of  £3  35. ;  and  to 
encourage  them  to  keep  the  situations  which  are 
provided  for  them,  annual  rewards  are  given,  from 
53.  to  2 is.,  depending  upon  the  length  of  service, 
for  the  seven  years  after  they  leave  the  school. 
The  education  imparted  is  unsectarian,  and  of  a 


From  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Dominican 
monastery  and  Gospel  Oak  a  thoroughfare  named 
Fleet  Road  leads  away  north-west  to  Hampstead. 
It  is  named  after  the  Fleet  rivulet,  which  till  lately 
ran  behind  the  houses,  through  green  fields,  in  its 
way  townwards,  but  it  is  now  nearly  dry,  and  what 
water  passes  down  it  in  winter  finds  its  way  into 
a  sewer.  We  shall  have  occasion  to  mention  the 
Fleet  River  again,  when  we  come  to  St  Pancras. 

The  Gospel  Oak  Fields,  a  little  to  the  east  of 
the  monastery,  are  now  built  over  with  numerous 
streets,  crescents,  and  circuses.  The  Midland 
Railway  emerges  from  the  Haverstock  Hill  tunnel 


thoroughly  practical  character,  fitting  the  children  I  in  the  middle  of  these  streets,  about  half  a  mile 
for  useful  positions  in  life.     Many  of  the  former    the  west  of  the  Kentish  Town  station. 


pupils,  it  may  be  added,  are  governors  and  liberal 
supporters  of  the  charity. 

The  Dominican  Monastery,  close  by,  stands  at 
the  foot  of  the  hill  which  ascends  to  Hampstead. 


In  these  fields  a  rural  fair,  called  "  Gospel  Oak 
Fair,"  was  held  as  lately  as  1857.  There  are 
many  "Gospel  Oaks"  in  various  parts  of  this 
country.  Mr.  John  Timbs,  in  his  "  Things  not 


Its  first  stone  was  laid  by  Cardinal  Wiseman,  in  Generally  Known,"  tells  us  that  these  Gospel  oaks 

the  presence  of  nearly   all   his   clergy,  in  August,  are   traditionally  said  to  have   been  so  called  in 

1863,  and  the  building  was  opened  two  years  later,  consequence  of  its  having  been  the   practice    in 

It  is  in  the  Early  English  style,  with  a  lofty  bell  ancient  times  to  read  aloud,  under  a  tree  which 

and    clock    tower.      The    buildings    surround    a  grew  on  the  parish  boundary  line,  a  portion  of  the 

quadrangle,    and    have    altogether    an  '  imposing  Gospel,  on  the  annual  "  beating  of  the  bounds " 


on  Ascension  Day.  These  trees  may  have  been, 
in  some  instances,  even  Druidical,  and  under  such 
"  leafy  tabernacles  "  the  first  Christian  missionaries 


' '  Dearest,  bury  me 
Under  that  holy  oak,  or  gospel-tree, 
Where,  though  thou  sce'st  not,  thou  mayst  think  upon 
Me  when  thou  yearly  go'st  in  procession." 


appearance.     The  church,  which  was  consecrated 

in   1883,   is  built  of  brick,  with  stone   dressings, 

columns,    and    arches.      It   is    erected   according 

to  the  prevalent  type  of    the    larger   Dominican  |  of  St.  Augustine  may  have  preached.     The  popular, 

churches.      Attached  to  the  monastery  is  a    plot  though  mistaken,  idea  is,  that  these  trees  were  so 

of  ground,  which  the  monks  themselves  are  em-  called  because  the  parishioners  were  in  the  habit 

ployed    in    cultivating.      This     monastery    is    a  of  assembling  there  at  the  era  of  the  Reformation 

branch  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic,  whose  head-  in  order  to  read  the  Bible  aloud.      Herrick  thus 

quarters  in  this  country  arc  at  Woodchester,  near  alludes  to  the  real  derivation  of  the  term  in  the 

Stroud,   in    Gloucestershire.       St.     Dominic,    the  soind  of  his  "  Hesperides  : "— 

founder  of  this  Order,  is  known  to  history  as  the 

author  of  the  devotion  called  the   Rosary.      His 

feast  day  is  kept  on  the  4th  day  of  August.     He 

was  of  the  noble  family  of  Guzman,  and  was  born 

in  Old  Castile  in  1170.     He  conducted  the  preach-  The  pagan  practice  of  worshipping  the  gods   in 

ing  crusade  against  the  Albigenses  in  the  south  of  woods  and  trees    continued   for    many   centuries, 

France,  and  dying  in   1221,  was  canonised  about  till  the  introduction  of  Christianity;  and  the  mis- 

twelve   years    later   l,y    Pope    Gregory    IX.       His  sionaries  did  not  disdain  to  adopt  every  means  to 

monks,  called  the  "  Black  Friars  "from  the  colour  raise  Christian   worship  to  higher  authority  than 

of  their   dress,  were  numerous  in  almost  all  the  that  of  paganism  by  acting  upon  the  senses  of  the 

west  of  Europe,   and   in  England    and    Scotland,  heathens  to  whom  they  preached. 

and   especially   at   Paris  and  Oxford,  where  they  i  Beneath  one  of  the  trees  in    the  Gospel   Oak 

held  the  chairs  of  theology.     It  is  to  the  honour  of  Fields,  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  Whitefield, 

this  Order  that  it  produced  the  great  doctor  of  the  Methodist,  and  companion  of  Wesley,  is  said 

theology,  St.  Thomas  Aquinas ;  and  Chambers  tells  to   have   preached  to  crowded  audiences   of  the 

us  that,  in  spite  of  its  losses  at  the  time  of  the  \  working  classes. 

Reformation,  the  Order  in  the  eighteenth  century  |  Close  by,  in  Dale  Road,  so  named  after  the  late 

could  boast  of  possessing  a  thousand  monasteries  poet,  Canon  Dale,  some  time  Vicar  of  St  Pancras, 

and  convents,  divided  into  forty-five  provinces,  who  is  the  Church  of  St.  Martin,  a  Gothic  structure  in 

all  revered  St.  Dominic  as  their  founder.                   ;  the  Decorated  style,  with  a  lofty  tower,  and  a  fine 


GOSPEL    OAK. 


peal  of  bells.  It  was  erected  and  endowed  about  '  manor  in  the  hundred  of  Ossulston,  known  as 
the  year  1866,  by  Mr.  John  Derby  Allcroft,  who  j  Kantelowes  or  Kentelowes,  which  appears  some- 
also  built  a  handsome  parsonage  and  schools  .  times  to  have  been  called  Kentestown.  In  this, 
adjoining  it.  doubtless,  we  must  seek  the  origin  of  Ken*  (now 


"At  the  foot  of  the   Hampstead  hills,"  writes 


commonly  called  Caen)  Wood,  the  seat  of  Lord 


Mr.  Larwood,  in  his  "  History  of  Sign-boards,"  ;  Mansfield,  between  Hampstead  and  Highgate. 
"the  noisiest  and  most  objectionable  public-house  !  We  may,  however,  add  that  the  thoroughfare  now 
in  the  district  bears  the  significant  sign  of  the  !  known  as  Gray's  Inn  Road  is  stated  to  have  led 
'Gospel  Oak.'  It  is  the  favourite  resort  of  navvies  •  northwards  to  a  "pleasant  rural  suburb,  variously 
and  quarrelsome  shoemakers,  and  took  its  name,  I  named  Ken-edge  Town  and  Kauntelows,"  in  which 
not  from  any  inclination  to  piety  on  the  part  of  its  .  we  can  discern  the  origin  of  its  present  name, 
landlord,  but  from  an  old  oak-tree  in  the  neigh-  •  The  situation  of  Kentish  Town  is  pleasant  and 
bourhood,  at  the  boundary  line  of  Hampstead  healthy ;  and  it  is  described  by  Thornton,  in  his 
and  St.  Pancras  parishes— a  relic  of  the  once  usual  "Survey  of  London,"  1780,  as  "a  village  on  the 
custom  of  reading  a  portion  of  the  Gospel  under  road  to  Highgate,  where  people  take  furnished 
certain  trees  in  the  parish  perambulations  equivalent  ,  lodgings  in  the  summer,  especially  those  afflicted 
to  '  beating  the  bounds.' "  "  The  boundaries  of  with  consumption  and  other  disorders." 


the  parish  of  Wolverhampton,"  says  Shaw,  in  his 
"  History  of  Staffordshire,"  "  are  thus  in  many 
points  marked  out  by  what  are  called  'Gospel 


That  old  gossip,  Horace  Walpole,  who  probably 
never  went  so  far  afield  from  the  metropolis  as  the 
place  of  which  he  writes,  tells  his  friend,  Sir  Horace 


Trees.'"  The  old  "Gospel  Oak"  at  Kentish  Mann,  in  1791:  "Lord  Camden  has  just  let 
Town  was  not  removed,  we  may  add,  till  it  had  ground  at  Kentish  Town  for  building  fourteen 
given  its  name  to  the  surrounding  fields,  to  a  group  hundred  houses  ;  nor  do  I  wonder,  nor  does  he 
of  small  houses  (Oak  Village),  and  to  a  chapel,  wonder.  There  will  soon  be  one  street  from 
and  a  railway  station,  as  well  as  to  the  public-house  ;  London  ...  to  every  village  ten  miles  round." 
mentioned  above.  i  Tne  place  's  described  by  the  author  of  "  Select 

Kentish  Town,  which  lies  on  the  east  side  of  Views  of  London  and  its  Environs,"  published  in 
Gospel  Oak,  and  is  approached  from  the  "  Mother  |  1804,  as  "a  very  respectable  village  between  High- 
Red  Cap,"  at  Camden  Town,  by  a  direct  road  gate  and  London,  containing  several  handsome 
called  the  Kentish  Town  Road,  is  described  in  |  houses,  and  particularly  an  elegant  seat  built  by  the 
gazetteers,  &c.,  as  "  a  hamlet  and  chapelry  in  the  ;  late  Gregory  Bateman,  Esq.,  and  intended  as  a  kind 
parish  of  St  Pancras,  in  the  Holborn  division  of  i  of  miniature  of  Wanstead  House,  in  Essex."  The 
the  hundred  of  Ossulston."  The  place  is  mentioned  limits  of  the  village,  we  may  add,  have  within  the 
in  Domesday  Book  as  a  manor  belonging  to  the  last  few  years  been  considerably  extended  by  the 
Canons  of  St  Paul's  ;  and  it  gives  title  to  the  J  erection  of  new  streets  and  ranges  of  handsome 
Prebendary  of  Cantelows  (or  Kentish  Town),  who  houses,  so  that  altogether  the  place  is  now  one  of 
is  Lord  of  the  Manor  and  holds  a  court-leet  and  ,  considerable  importance.  It  can  now  boast  of 
court-baron.  Moll,  in  his  "  History  of  Middlesex,"  j  having  two  railway  stations  m  addition  to  two  or 
on  noticing  this  hamlet,  states  :  "  You  may,  from  ;  three  others  on  its  borders,  besides  a  line  of  tram- 
Hampstead,  see  in  the  vale  between  it  and  London  : -ay,  and  a  semce  of  omnibuses  connecting  it 

.,.,'4.1,    TTiaaf    Cf-roaf    tVi^  \\pcf   FnH     P.nnrinpr   Cross. 


village,  vulgarly  called  Kentish  Town,  whic 


Fleet  Street   the  West  End,  Charing  Cross, 


21  %4-r  rs  j=  «  s  i  S*  SsHr  H.MI 

reigns  ot  King  J  otin,  tienryiii.,  ^  Worcester  >  is  known  in  detail  concerning  it.  Norden  refers 
e  <-;*ntl  uPe  "as  Jlb  °P  ^  ^  ^  i  to  a  chapel  of  ease  as  existing  in  his  time  in  this 
KsCof  Hereford,  »~,**.  Thomas  was  fa  ^^ft*  JVSdSS 
canonised  for  a  saint  in  the  thirty-fourth  >'^.  °Vn0w  and  then  visit  it,  but  not  often, /^/^  .  ^M 
Edward's  reign;  the  inheritance  at  length  devolving  ^^  ^^  ^  ^  chapel  (now  converted 
upon  the  sisters,  the  very  name  became  extinct "  "•  •  Trinity)  was 

The  place  itself  is  named,  not  after  Kent,  as  might  ,  "to  a  ch 
be  possibly  imagined,  seeing  that  Lord  Camden's  ,  — 
property  lies  mainly  in  that  county,  but  after  that  I          •  The  word  appears  also 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


erected  by  Wyatt  in  1783 — a  dark  age  for  church 
architecture — but  has  since  been  rendered  more 
suitable  for  Christian  worship,  having  been  enlarged 
about  the  year  1850,  and  altered  to  the  Early 
Decorated  style,  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  Bar- 
tholomew. It  has  two  lofty  steeples,  and  a  large 
painted  window  at  the  eastern  end ;  the  altar  recess 
has  some  elaborate  carved  work.  In  this  church 
is  buried  Grignion,  the  engraver. 


fifteenth  century.  It  has  several  richly-traceried 
windows  filled  with  stained  glass,  including  a 
splendid  wheel-window  fifteen  feet  in  diameter. 
Messrs.  Hodge  and  Butler  were  the  architects. 

In  Fortess  Place  is  the  Roman  Catholic  Chapel 
of  St.  Mary.  A  mission  chapel  was  built  in  the 
Highgate  Road  in  1847,  and  a  schoolroom  attached 
to  it.  In  1854  the  chapel  was,  however,  closed 
by  order  of  the  diocesan,  and  from  that  time 


ISOO. 


fa^e  321.) 


In  1841,  at  which  time  the  population  of 
Kentish  Town  numbered  upwards  of  10,000,  there 
was  only  one  place  of  worship  belonging  to  the 
Established  Church  ;  the  erection  of  a  new  church 
was  proposed  and  erected  upon  the  estate  of 
Brookfield,  the  greater  part  of  which  is  in  the 
hamlet  of  Kentish  Town,  and  the  remainder  in  the 
adjoining  chapelry  of  Highgate.  The  building  is 
erected  in  the  Early  English  style,  and  has  a  fine 
tall  spire  ;  some  of  the  windows  are  enriched  with 
painted  glass.  The  site  of  the  church  was  given 
by  the  proprietor  of  the  ground  whereon  it  stands, 
Lady  Burdett-Coutts  gave  the  peal  of  bells,  and 
other  grants  were  made  towards  the  fabric. 

In  1848  a  large  Congregational  chapel  was  built 
here,  in  the  ecclesiastical  style  of  architecture  of  the 


for  several  months  the  Passionist  Fathers  from 
The  Hyde  served  the  place.  In  1855  a  piece  of 
freehold  ground  was  purchased  (funds  being  pro- 
vided by  Cardinal  Wiseman),  and  three  cottages 
which  stood  upon  the  land  were  converted  into  a 
temporary  chapel,  capable  of  accommodating  about 
200  persons.  The  new  church,  which  is  in  the 
Gothic  style,  has  since  been  erected  in  its  place. 

The  historical  memorabilia  of  Kentish  Town, 
we  need  scarcely  remark,  are  comparatively  very 
scanty.  We  are  told  how  that  William  Bruges, 
Garter  King-at-Arms  in  the  reign  of  Henry  V.,  had 
a  country-house  here,  at  which  he  entertained  the 
German  Emperor,  Sigismund,  who  visited  England 
in  1416,  to  promote  a  negotiation  for  peace  with 
France.  This  is  literally  all  the  figure  that  it  acts 


AN   OLD   INN. 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


[Kentish  To 


in  history  down  to  quite  recent  times,  when  we 
incidentally  learn  that  the  Prince  Regent  was 
nearly  meeting  with  a  serious  accident  here,  in 
December,  1813,  through  a  dense  fog,  which  would 
not  yield  even  to  royalty.  On  his  way  to  pay  a 
visit  to  the  Marquis  of  Salisbury,  at  Hatfield  House, 
Herts,  the  Prince  was  obliged  to  return  to  Carlton 
House,  after  one  of  his  outriders  had  fallen  into  a 
ditch  at  the  entrance  of  Kentish  Town,  which  at 
that  time  was  not  lit  with  gas,  and  probably  not 
even  with  oil. 

The  road  through  this  district,  however,  even 
when  no  fog  prevailed,  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
very  safe  for  wayfarers  after  dark,  in  former  times, 
if  we  may  judge  from  the  numerous  notices  of  out- 
rages which  appear  in  the  papers  of  the  times,  of 
which  the  following  may  be  taken  as  a  sample  :  — 

The  London  Couranf,  August  8,  1751,  contains 


evening  during  the  said  winter  season,  from  which 
places,  at  the  above  hours,  all  passengers  will  be 
conducted  without  fee  or  reward." 

Kentish  Town,  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
could  boast  of  its  Assembly  Rooms,  at  which  the 
balls  were  sufficiently  attractive  to  draw  persons 
from  all  parts  of  the  neighbourhood  of  London. 
In  fact,  it  became  a  second  "  Almack's  "  * — in  its 
way,  of  course.  It  was  a  large  wooden  building, 
and  stood  at  the  angle  of  the  main  road,  where  the 
Highgate  and  Holloway  Roads  meet,  and  on  gala 
nights  it  was  lighted  up  with  numberless  lamps. 
In  1788  the  house  was  taken  by  a  person  named 
Wood,  who  issued  the  following  advertisement : — 
"  Thomas  Wood  begs  leave  to  inform  his  friends 
and  the  publick  in  general,  that  he  has  laid  in  a 
choice  assortment  of  wines,  spirits,  and  liquors, 
together  with  mild  ales  and  cyder  of  the  best 


the  following : — "  On  Sunday  night,  August  5th,  quality,  all  of  which  he  is  determined  to  sell  on  the 
1751,  as  Mr.  Rainsforth  and  his  daughter,  of  Clare  most  valuable  terms.  Dinners  for  public  societies 
Street,  Clare  Market,  were  returning  home  through  '  or  private  parties  dressed  on  the  shortest  notice. 
Kentish  Town,  about  eight  o'clock,  they  were  |  Tea,  coffee,  &c.,  morning  and  evening.  A  good 


attacked  by  three  footpads,  and  after  being  brutally 
ill-used,  Mr.  R.  was  robbed  of  his  watch  and 
money." 

A  few  years  later,  the  following  paragraph  ap- 
peared in  the  Morning  Chronicle  (January  9,  1773)  : 
—  "On  Thursday  night  some  villains  robbed  the 
Kentish  Town  stage,  and  stripped  the  passengers 


trap-ball  ground,  skittle  ground,  pleasant  summer- 
house,  extensive  garden,  and  every  other  accom- 
modation for  the  convenience  of  those  who  may 
think  proper  to  make  an  excursion  to  the  above 
house  during  the  summer  months.  A  good  ordi- 
nary on  Sundays  at  two  o'clock." 

By  the  side  of  the  roadway,   facing  the    old 


of  their  money,  watches,  and  buckles.  In  the  j  Assembly  Rooms,  was  an  elm-tree,  beneath  whose 
hurry  they  spared  the  pockets  of  Mr.  Corbyn,  the  j  spreading  branches  was  an  oval-shaped  marble- 
druggist  ;  but  he,  content  to  have  neighbours'  fare,  I  topped  table,  the  edge  of  which  was  surrounded 
called  out  to  one  of  the  rogues,  'Stop,  friend  !  you  with  the  following  inscription  : — "  Posuit  A.D.  1725 
have  forgot  to  take  my  money.' "  j  in  Memoriam  Sanitatis  Restauratas  ROBERTUS 

The  result  of  these  continual  outrages  was  that '  WRIGHT,   Gent."     The  old   tree   was    struck  by 
the  inhabitants  of  the  district  resolved  upon  adopt-  j  lightning  in  1849. 

ing  some  means  for  their  protection,  as  was  notified  I  A  little  farther  from  town,  in  ot  about  the  year 
by  the  following  announcement  in  the  newspapers:  !  1858,  some  gardens  were  opened  as  a  place  of 
— "  The  inhabitants  of  Kentish  To\vn,  and  other  public  amusement  on  the  Highgate  Road,  near 
places  between  there  and  London,  have  entered  the  foot  of  Highgate  Rise.  But  the  place  was  not 
into  a  voluntary  subscription  for  the  support  of  a  very  respectably  conducted,  and  after  a  run  of 
guard  or  patrol  to  protect  foot-passengers  to  and  about  a  year  the  gardens  were  closed,  the  magis- 
from  each  place  during  the  winter  season  (that  is  trates  refusing  a  spirit  licence  to  the  proprietor,  a 
to  say)  from  to-morrow,  being  old  Michaelmas  Mr.  Weston,  the  owner  of  a  music-hall  in  Holbom. 
Day,  to  old  Lady  Day  next,  in  the  following!  In  1833  races  were  held  at  Kentish  Town,  the 
manner,  viz.  : — That  a  guard  of  two  men,  well  particulars  of  which,  as  they  appeared  in  the  Daily 
armed,  will  set  out  to-morrow,  at  six  o'clock  in  the  \  Postboy,  are  reprinted  in  Mr.  Palmer's  "  History  of 
evening,  from  Mr.  Lander's,  the  '  Bull,'  in  Kentish  St.  Pancras."  These  races  in  their  day  drew  as 
Town,  and  go  from  thence  to  Mr.  Gould's,  the  much  attention  as  did  P^psom  then,  but  all  memory 
1  Coach  and  Horses,'  facing  the  Foundling  Hospital  of  them  has  long  passed  away.  There  was  also  at 
gate,  in  Red  Lion  Street,  London ;  and  at  seven  i  one  time  established  here  a  society  or  club,  known 
will  return  from  thence  back  to  the  '  Bull ;'  at  eight  as  "  The  Corporation  of  Kentish  Town,"  an  insti- 
will  set  out  again  from  the  '  Bull '  to  the  '  Coach  j  tution,  there  is  little  doubt,  much  on  a  par  with 

and  Morses,'  and  at  nine  will  return  from  thence  to 

the  '  Bull'  again  ;  and  will  so  continue  to  do  every  [  •  s«  Vol.  iv.,p.  197. 


THE   "CASTLE"   TAVERN. 


321 


that  which  we  have  already  described  as  existing  at 
"The  Harp,"  in  Russell  Street,  Covent  Garden, 
which  is  denominated  "  The  Corporation  of  the 
City  of  Lushington."  *  The  club  is  referred  to  in 
the  following  announcements  which  appear  in  the 
newspapers  of  the  period  :— 

The  Officers  and  Aldermen  of  the  Corporation  of  Kentish 
Town  are  desired  to  attend  the  next  day  of  meeting,  at  Twc 
o'clock,  at  Brother  Legg's,  the  "Parrot,"  in  Green  Arbour 
Cour  in  the  Little  Old  Baily,  in  order  to  pay  a  visit  to  the 
Corporation  of  Stroud  Green,  now  held  at  the  "  Hole  m  the 
Wan"  at  Islington ;  and  from  thence  to  return  m  the  evening 
to  Brother  Lamb's  in  Little  Shear  Lane,  near  Temple  Bar, 
to  which  house  the  said  Corporation  have  adjourned  for  the 
winter  season.  By  order  of  the  Court, 

T.  L.,  Recorder. 

October  I,  1754. 

CORPORATION  OF  KENTISH  TOWN,  1756. 


Court  Day 


tions.  He  was  entrusted  with  the  management  of 
the  design,  and  the  receipt  of  subscriptions,  which 
flowed  in  largely;  and  he  insured  the  house  for 
.£4,000.  Circumstances  having  occurred  to  show 
that  the  destruction  of  the  building  was  not  caused 
by  accident,  suspicion  fastened  upon  Mr.  Lowe; 
but  before  he  could  be  secured  and  brought  to 
justice,  he  put  an  end  to  his  life  by  poison. 

Among  the  "worthies"  of  Kentish  Town  we 

may  mention  Dr.  William  Stukeley,  the  celebrated 

jitiquary,  who  formerly  lived  here.    We  shall  have 

occasion  to  mention  him  again  when  we  reach  St. 

Pancras.      He  was  called    by  his  friends   "the 

Arch-Druid,"  and  over  the  door  of  his  villa  a 

friend  caused  to  be  written  the  following  lines : — 

"  Me  dulcis  saturet  quies, 

Obscuro  positus  loco, 

Leni  perfruar  otio, 

Chyndonax  Druida." 

y  be  thus  1 


t  Mr.  Thomas  Baker's,  the  "Green  Dragon," 


S°DeptfoS  to*  pay  a  visit  to  our  Right' Worshipful 
Mavor  who  now  resides  in  that  town. 

By  order  of  the  Court, 

J.  J.,  Recorder. 


great  favour. 

The  "Castle"  Tavern,  in  Kentish  Town  Road, 
stands  upon  the  site  of  an  older  house  bearing  the 
same  sign,  which  had  the  reputation-true  or 
false-of  dating  its  origin  from  the  time  of  King 
John  The  front  of  the  old  building  had  th 
familiar  and  picturesque  projecting  storeys  sup- 
ported originally  by  a  narrow  pier  at  the  side  o 
a  bolder  one.  The  interior  of  one  of  the  rooms 
had  a  fireplace  of  stone,  carved  with  a  flattened 
'  -  dor  style,  with  the  spandnls  enriched 


Oh,  may  this  rural  solitude  receive 
And  contemplation  all  its  pleasures  give 
The  Druid  priest." 
The  word  "  Chyndonax  "  is  an  allusion  to  an  urn 
of   glass   so  inscribed  in  France,   in  which  the 
doctor  believed  were  contained  the  ashes  of  an 
Arch-Druid  of  that  name,  whose  portrait  forms  the 
frontispiece   to  his   work    on    Stonehenge.      Dr. 
Stukeley's  reputation,  however,  as  an  antiquary  is 
not  great  at  the  present  day,  as  he  has  been  proved 
bv  Mr    B    B.   Woodward,    in    the    Gentleman  s 
Magazine,  to  have  been  equally  credulous    and 

SU  H^rTtoo,  lived  an  eccentric  old  bachelor  and 
miser  Mr.  John  Little,  at  whose  sudden  death, 
n  estate,  in  1798,  about  ;£37,°°°  of  property, 
?73  pairs  of  breeches,  and  180  old  wig.  were 
JunoMn  a  miserably  furnished  apartment :wbd, ^ 
allowed  no  one  to  enter.  These  and  his  wealth 
rlsed  to  a  brother  whom  he  had  d.scarded, 
P"hom  he  had  meant  to  disinherit  had  no. 


hidden  from  view  by  a  coat  of  plaster 


. 
resident  in  Kentish  Town;  bu 


niuucii  iium  »i\-"  "j  —  '  . 

sible  that,  in  their  ignorance  of  Gothic  architec 


the  good  people  of  Kentish  Town  ascribed  a 


01  tne   uimu,   «.«-"   ••- 
The  house  had  been  purchased  by  a  Mr 
,  who  was  one  of  the  chief  P 
charity,  and  who  took  every  possib 
foiard  the  establishment   and   procure  subscnp- 


Cra'ven  Place,  lived,  fl» 


'  S«  Vol.  III.,  P-  "79- 


322 


OLD   AND  NEW    LONDON, 


[Camden  To 


One  of  the  peculiarities  of  this  district,  and  one 
which  it  retained  down  to  a  very  recent  date,  was 
its  slate  pavement.  It  certainly,  on  fine  days, 
looked  very  clean,  and  was  pleasant  to  the  tread  ; 
but  in  wet  and  frosty  weather  it  became  slippery 
and  dangerous  in  the  extreme.  It  has  now  been 
superseded  by  the  ordinary  pavement  of  stone-flags. 

During  the  last  few  years  the  green  fields  which 
fringed  one  side  of  the  road  at  Kentish  Town  have 
passed  away,  and  unbroken  lines  of  streets  connect 
it  with  the  Holloway  Road.  Many  new  churches 
and  chapels  have  been  erected,  and  the  once  rural 
village  now  forms,  like  Camden  and  Somers  Town, 
but  a  portion  of  the  great  metropolis. 
•  Great  College  Street,  by  which  we  return  to  the 
eastern  side  of  Camden  Town,  in  the  direction  of 
old  St.  Pancras  Church,  is  so  named  from  the 
Royal  Veterinary  College,  which  covers  a  large 
space  of  ground  on  its  eastern  side.  This  institu- 
tion was  established  in  1791,  with  the  view  of 
promoting  a  reformation  in  that  particular  branch 
of  veterinary  science  called  "farriery,"  by  the 
formation  of  a  school,  in  which  the  anatomical 
structure  of  quadmpeds  of  all  kinds,  horses,  cattle, 
sheep,  dogs,  £c.,  the  diseases  to  which  they  are 
subject,  and  the  remedies  proper  to  be  applied, 
should  be  investigated  and  regularly  taught.  Of 
the  foundation  of  this  institution  we  gather  the 
following  particulars  from  the  Monthly  Register  of 
1802: — "To  the  agricultural  societies  indifferent 
parts  of  this  kingdom  the  public  is  greatly  indebted. 
It  will  be  matter  of  surprise  to  men  of  thought, 
that  the  improvements  in  the  veterinary  art,  instead 
of  originating  with  the  military  establishment  to 
which  it  is  so  important  for  the  benefit  of  the 
cavalry,  has  been  chiefly  promoted  by  an  obscure 
association  at  Odiham,  in  Hampshire,  which  enter- 
tain the  design  of  sending  two  young  men  of  talents 
into  France,  to  become  students  in  this  new  pro- 
fession. Monsieur  St.  Bel,  in  the  year  ijSS,  was 
driven  from  that  country,  either  from  his  own 
pecuniary  embarrassments,  or  by  the  internal  dis- 
organisation which  then  prevailed.  He  ottered  his 
services  to  this  society,  in  consequence  of  which 
the  college  was  instituted,  and  he  was  nominated 
to  superintend  it,  and  some  noblemen  and  gentle- 
men of  the  highest  rank  and  consideration  in  the 
country  were  appointed  as  managers  of  the  under- 
taking. Monsieur  St.  Bel,  possessing,  however, 
many  excellent  qualities,  was  not  precisely  suited 
to  his  situation  ;  his  private  difficulties  impeded  his 
public  exertions.  In  1792,  to  ascertain  his  ability 
to  discharge  the  duties  of  his  situation,  he  was 
examined  by  Sir  George  Baker  and  several  other 
physicians  and  surgeons,  and  was  considered  com- 


petent to  his  duties.  Whether  these  gentlemei^ 
comparing  the  merits  of  Monsieur  St.  Bel  with  the 
ordinary  farriers,  imagined  consummate  skill  in  the 
profession  not  necessary  to  the  success  of  this  new 
enterprise,  we  will  not  determine  ;  but  it  is  certain, 
however  ingenious  he  might  be  in  shoeing  and  in 
the  inferior  branches,  with  the  pharmaceutic  art,  or 
that  which  respects  the  healing  the  diseases  of  the 
animal,  he  was  wholly  unacquainted.  In  August, 
1793,  Monsieur  St.  Bel  died,  and  it  is  probable 
that  the  fatal  event  was  accelerated  by  the  dis- 
appointment he  felt  at  the  ill  success  of  the  estab- 
lishment he  conducted. 

"  In  the  time  of  Monsieur  St.  Bel  a  house  was 
taken  at  Pancras  for  the  purposes  of  the  insti- 
tution. Since  his  decease  the  professorship  has 
devolved  to  Mr.  Coleman,  and  a  handsome  theatre 
has  been  prepared,  with  a  museum  and  dissecting 
rooms  for  the  use  of  the  pupils,  and  for  their 
examination ;  and  for  other  purposes  a  medical 
committee  has  been  appointed,  comprising  Dr. 
Fordyce,  Dr.  Bailie,  Dr.  Babington,  Dr.  Relp,  Mr. 
Cline,  Mr.  Abernethy,  Mr.  A.  Cooper,  Mr.  Home, 
and  Mr.  Houlstone. 

"  In  consequence  of  the  new  regulations  pupils 
are  admitted  for  the  sum  of  twenty  guineas,  and 
they  are  accommodated  in  the  college  with  board 
or  otherwise,  according  to  their  own  convenience. 
For  this  sum  they  see  the  practice  of  the  college, 
and  by  the  liberality  of  the  medical  committee  are 
admitted  to  the  lectures  of  those  who  compose  it 
gratis;  and  in  the  army  the  veterinary  surgeons  are 
advanced  to  the  rank  of  commissioned  officers,  by 
which  condescension  of  the  commander-in-chief 
the  regiments  of  English  cavalry  have,  for  the  first 
time,  obtained  the  assistance  of  gentlemen  edu- 
cated in  a  way  to  discharge  the  important  duties  of 
their  situations." 

The  Duke  of  Northumberland  was  the  first 
president  of  the  college.  A  school  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  pupils  in  veterinary  science  is  carried  on 
under  the  direction  of  a  duly-qualified  professor ; 
ind  diseased  horses  are  admitted  upon  certain 
terms  into  the  infirmary.  Such  is  thought  to  be 
the  national  importance  of  this  institution,  that 
Parliament  has  liberally  afforded  aid  when  the  state 
of  the  college's  finances  rendered  a  supply  essential. 

Lectures  are  delivered  daily  in  the  theatre  of  the 
college  during  the  session,  which  commences  in 
October  and  ends  in  May ;  to  these  only  students 
are  admitted.  The  fee  for  pupils  is  twenty-five 
guineas,  which  entitles  them  to  attend  the  lectures 
and  general  practical  instructions  of  the  college 
until  they  shall  have  passed  their  examination. 
On  Tuesday  evenings  there  are  discussions  on 


Camden  Town.] 


SIR   HENRY   BISHOP. 


various  subjects  connected  with  the  veterinary  art. 
The  buildings  are  of  plain  brick,  and  have  an  ex- 
tensive frontage  to  the  street,  within  which  they 
stretch  back  to  the  distance  of  more  than  200 
yards.  The  theatre  for  dissections  and  lectures  is 
judiciously  planned ;  and  in  a  large  contiguous 


apartment  are   numerous 


inatomical  illustrations. 


The  infirmary  will  hold  about  sixty  horses.  There 
is  likewise  a  forge,  for  the  shoeing  of  horses  on 
the  most  approved  principles,  and  several  paddocks 
are  attached  to  the  institution. 

Not  far  from  the  Veterinary  College  lived,  in 
1802,  Mr.  Andrew  Wilson,  a  gentleman  who  is 
described  as  "  of  the  Stereotype  Office,"  and  who 
took  out  a  patent  for  the  process  of  stereotyping. 
He  was  not,  however,  the  original  inventor  of 
the  stereotypic  art,  nor  was  he  destined  to  be  the 
man  who  should  revive  it  practically  or  perfect  it. 
As  early  as  the  year  1711,  a  Dutchman,  Van  der 
Mey,  introduced  a  process  for  consolidating  types 
after  they  had  been  set  up,  by  soldering  them 
together  at  the  back ;  and  it  is  asserted  that  the 
process,  as  we  now  understand  it,  was  practised  in 
1725  by  William  Gedd,  or  Gedde,  of  Edinburgh, 
who  endeavoured  to  apply  it  to  the  printing  of 
Bibles  for  the  University  of  Cambridge.  It  is 
well  known  that  the  process  was,  half  a  century 
later  or  more,  carried  out  into  common  use  by  the 
then  Lord  Stanhope,  at  his  private  printing-press 
at  Chevening,  in  Kent. 

Pratt  Street,  as  we  have  already  stated,  is  so 
called  after  the  family  name  of  Lord  Camden. 
This  is  one  of  the  principal  streets  in  Camden 
Town,  and  connects  Great  College  Street  with  the 
High  Street.  In  it  is  the  burial-ground  for  the 
parish  of  St.  Martin's-in-the-Fields,  together  with  a 
chapel  and  residence  for  the  officiating  clergyman. 
The  site  formed  originally  two  fields,  called  Upper 
Meadow  and  Upper  Brook  Meadow,  and  was 
purchased  from  the  Earl  of  Camden  and  Dr. 
Hamilton,  Prebendary  of  Canteloes,  in  accordance 
with  the  provisions  of  an  Act  of  Parliament  passed 
for  that  purpose,  and  the  cemetery  was  laid  out 
and  consecrated  by  the  Bishop  of  London  in  1805.  \  As  we  pass 


acres,  is  a  large  and  commodious  structure,  in  the 
Grecian  style.    It  was  built  about  the  year  1836. 

Among  the  residents  in  Camden  Town  in  former 
times,  besides  those  we  have  named,  was  the 
veteran  composer,  Sir  Henry  Rowley  Bishop— the 
'ast  who  wrote  English  music  in  a  distinctive 
national  style,  carrying  the  traditions  of  Purcell, 


Arne,  Boyce,  &c.,  far  on  into  the  present  century. 
Born  towards  the  close  of  the  last  century,  he  had 
as  his  early  instructor  Signer  Bianchi.  In  1806 
he  composed  the  music  for  a  ballet  performed  at 
Covent  Garden  Theatre,  and  shortly  afterwards 
commenced  to  write  regularly  for  the  stage.  From 
1810  to  1824  he  held  the  post  of  musical  director 
at  Covent  Garden,  and  subsequently  became  a 
director  of  the  Concerts  of  Ancient  Music.  He 
received  the  honour  of  knighthood  in  1842,  but  it 
was  a  barren  honour ;  and  in  spite  of  a  knighthood 
and  the  Professorship  of  Music  at  Oxford,  added  to 
the  more  solid  rewards  of  successful  authorship, 
his  last  days  were  spent  in  comparative  poverty. 
Such  are  the  rewards  held  out  in  this  country  to 
professional  eminence !  In  every  house  where 
music,  and  more  especially  vocal  music,  is  welcome, 
the  name  of  Sir  Henry  Bishop  has  long  been,  and 
must  long  remain,  a  household  word.  Who  has 
not  been  soothed  by  the  melody  of  "  Blow,  gentle 
gales,"  charmed  by  the  measures  of  "Lo  !  here  the 
gentle  lark,"  enlivened  by  the  animated  strains  of 
"  Foresters,  sound  the  cheerful  horn,"  or  touched 
by  the  sadder  music  of  "The  winds  whistle  cold?" 
Who  has  not  been  haunted  by  the  insinuating 
tones  of  "Tell  me,  my  heart,"  "  Bid  me  discourse," 
or  "Where  the  wind  blows,"  which  Rossini,  the 
minstrel  of  the  South,  loved  so  well  ?  Who  has 
not  felt  sympathy  with  "  As  it  fell  upon  a  day,  in 
the  merry  month  of  May,"  or  admired  that  master- 
piece of  glee  and  chorus,  "  The  chough  and  the 
crow,"  or  been  moved  to  jollity  at  some  convivial 
feast  by  "  Mynheer  von  Dunck,"  the  most  original 
and  genial  of  comic  glees?  Sir  Henry  Bishop 
died  in  1855,  at  his  residence  in  Cambridge  Street, 


Edgware  Road. 


down  Great  College  Street,  we  ha 


Here  lies  buried  Charles  Dibdin,  the  author  of  ion  our  left,  stretching  away  towards  Islington,  a 
most  of  the  best  of  our  naval  songs.  Charles  sort  of  « No  man's  land,"  formerly  known |  as  Agar 
Knight  speaks  of  him,  somewhat  sarcastically,  it  Town,  and  filling  up  a  part  of  the  interval  between 
mus  be  owned,  as  a  man  who,  "  had  he  rendered  ,  the  Midland  and  the  Great  Northern  Ralwyf 


a  tithe  of  the  services  actually  performed  by  him  to    which  we^shall  have^more  to  jay 
the  naval  strength  of  his  country  under  the  name 
of  a  '  Captain    R.N.'  instead  of  as  a  writer,   he 
would  have  died  a  wealthy  peer  instead  of  drawing 
his  last  breath  in  poverty." 

St.  Stephen's  Church,  in   this  street,  with  its 
adjoining  parsonage  and  schools,  covering  several 


future 

chapter  On  our  right,  too,  down  to  a  compara- 
tively recent  date,  the  character  of  the  locality  was 
not  much  better ;  indeed,  the  whole  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood which  lay-and  part  of  which  still  hes- 
between  Clarendon  Square  and  the  Brill  and  St 


324 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[St.  Pancra.. 


what  Charles  Dickens,  in  his  "Uncommercial 
Traveller,"  calls  a  "  shy  neighbourhood,"  abounding 
in  bird  and  birdcage  shops,  costermongers'  shops, 
old  rag  and  bottle  shops,  donkeys,  barrows,  dirty 
fowls,  &c.,  and  with  the  inevitable  gin-shop  at 
every  corner.  "  The  very  dogs  of  shy  neighbour- 
hoods usually  betray  a  slinking  consciousness  of 


being  in  poor  circumstances,"  is  one  of  the  appro- 
priate remarks  of  "  Boz ; "  and  another  is  to  the 
same  effect — "  Nothing  in  shy  neighbourhoods  per- 
plexes me  more  than  the  bad  company  which  birds 
keep.  Foreign  birds  often  get  into  good  society, 
but  British  birds  are  inseparable  from  low  asso- 


C  11  A  1'T  ]•;  R       XXV. 


ST.    1'ANCRAS. 

"The  rcv'rrn.l  •-pire  nf  ancient   Pancras  view, 
To  anut.-nt   I'.im.rus  pay  the  rcv'rencc  due  ; 
Clinst's  sacred  altar  there  first   liritaii:  saw. 
And  ^a/ed,  and  worshipp'd  with  an  holy  awe, 
Whilst  pitying  Heaven  diffused  a  saving  ray, 
And  heathen  darkness  changed  to  Christian  day."— Arum. 

Biographical  Sketch  of  St.  Pancras-Churches  bearin-  his  Name  -Corruption  of  the  Name-The  Neighbourhood  of  St.  Pancru  in  Former 
Times-Population  of  the  Parish-Ancient  Manors-Desolate  Condition  of  the  Locality  in  the  Sixteenth  Century— Notices  of  the  Manors 
in  Domesday  Book  and  Early  Surveys-The  Fleet  River  and  iu  Occasional  Floods-The  "  Elephant  and  Castle  "  Tavern-The  Workhouie 
—The  Vestry— Old  St.  Pancras  Church  and  its  Antiquarian  Associations— Celebrated  Persons  interred  in  the  Churchyard— Ned  Ward'* 
Will-Father  O'Leary-Chatterton's  Visit  to  the  Churchyard-Mary  Wollstoncraft  Godwin-Roman  Catholic  Burials-St.  Giles's  Burial- 
ground  and  the  Midland  Railway— Wholesale  Desecration  of  the  Graveyards— The  "Adam  and  Eve"  Tavern  and  Tea-gardeni— St. 
Pancras  Wells— Antiquities  of  the  Parish-  Extensive  Demolition  of  Houses  for  the  Midland  Railway. 


BEFORE  venturing  to  set  foot  in  either  of  the 
"  shy "  localities  to  which  we  have  referred  at 
the  close  of  the  previous  chapter,  it  would,  perhaps, 


be  as  well  to  say  something  about  the  parish  of 
St  Pancras  generally— the  mother  parish,  of  which 
Camden,  Kentish,  Afjar,  and  Somers  Towns  may 


THE    PATRON   SAINT   OF   CHILDREN. 


325 


be  said  to  be,  in  a  certain  sense,  the  offspring,  or,  Lewes,   in  Sussex,  was  dedicated  to  his  honour ; 

at  all  events,  members.     It  is  pleasant,  at  length,  and  besides  the  church  around  which  this  particular 

after  so   many  chapters   descriptive  of  a  district  district  grew  up,   there   are  at  least  eight  other 

which   is   thoroughly   modern,    to   find   ourselves  churches  in  England  dedicated  to  this  saint,  and 

at  a  spot  which  actually  has   its  annals,  and  in  ;  several    in    Italy— one    in    Rome,   of  which   we 

which  the  biographical  element  blends  itself  with  read  that  mass    is  said  in  it  constantly  for   the 

the  topographical.     One  can  scarcely  help  feeling  repose  of  the   souls   of  the  bodies   buried  here. 

weary    after    reading    accounts    of   parishes    and  The  parish  of  St.  Pancras  contains  two  churches 

vicinities  which  have  about  them  nothing  of  past  .  dedicated  to  the  saint— the  new  parish  church,  of 


THE    FLEET    RIVER,    NEAR    ST.    PANCRAS,    1825. 


interest  beyond  tea-gardens  and  road-side  inns ; 
and  therefore  we  welcome  our  return  at  St.  Pancras 
into  a  region  of  history,  where  the  memorials  of 
past  celebrities  abound.  In  fact,  it  must  be  owned 
that  the  whole  of  the  district  through  which  we 
have  travelled  since  we  quitted  Kensington,  and 
crossed  the  Uxbridge  Road,  is  extremely  void  of 
interest,  as,  indeed,  is  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
north-western  district  of  London,  a  geographical 
entity  which  we  owe  to  Sir  Rowland  Hill  and  the 
authorities  of  the  General  Post-Office. 

St.  Pancras,  after  whom  this  district  is  named, 
was  a  young  Phrygian  nobleman  who  suffered 
martyrdom  at  Rome  under  the  Emperor  Diocletian 
for  his  adherence  to  the  Christian  faith  ;  he  became 
a  favourite  saint  in  England.  The  Priory  of 
220 


which  we  shall  speak  when  we  come  to  Euston 
Square ;  and  the  ancient  or  Old  St.  Pancras,  in 
St  Pancras  Road.  Of  the  other  churches  in 
England  dedicated  to  this  saint,  we  may  mention 
one  in  the  City-St.  Pancras,  Soper  Lane,  now 
incorporated  with  St.  Mary-le-Bow;  Pancransweek, 
Devon-  Widdecome-in-the-Moor,  Devon;  Exeter; 
Chichester  ;  Coldred,  in  Kent;  Alton  Pancras, 
Dorset;  Arlington,  Sussex;  and  Wroot,  in  Lin- 
colnshire.  ,  .  .  , 

In  consequence  of  the  early  age  at  which  he 
suffered  for  the  faith,  St.  Pancras  was  subsequent* 
regarded  as  the  patron  saint  of  children.  There 
wu  then"  as  Chambers  remarks  in  his  "Book  of 
Dtyi  "  '<  a  certain  fitness  in  dedicating  to  him  the 
t  Sfchurch  in  a  country  which  owed  its  conversion 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


to  three  children  " — alluding,  of  course,  to  the  fair 
children  whom  Gregory  saw  in  the  streets  of 
Rome,  the  sight  of  whom  had  moved  the  Pope  to 
send  St  Augustine  hither.  "But  there  was  also 
another  and  closer  link  which  connected  the  first 
church  built  in  England  by  St.  Augustine  with 
St.  Pancras,  for,"  adds  Mr.  Chambers,  "  the  much- 
loved  monastery  on  the  Ccelian  Mount,  which 
Gregory  had  founded,  and  of  which  Augustine  was 
prior,  had  been  erected  on  the  very  estate  which 
bad  belonged  anciently  to  the  family  of  Pancras." 
The  festival  of  St.  Pancras  is  kept,  in  the  Roman 


humorous  description  of  a  journey  hither,  by  way 
of  Islington,  in  which  the  author  thus  speaks  of 
the  name  of  the  place: — "From  hence  {i.e.,  from 
Islington]  I  parted  with  reluctance  to  Pancras,  as 
it  is  written,  or  Pancridge,  as  it  is  pronounced  ;  but 
which  should  be  both  pronounced  and  written  Pan- 
grace.  This  emendation  I  will  venture  meo  arbitrio: 
nur,  in  the  Greek  language,  signifies  all;  which, 
added  to  the  English  word  grace,  maketh  all  grace, 
or  Pangrace :  and,  indeed,  this  is  a  very  proper 
appellation  to  a  place  of  so  much  sanctity,  as 
Pangrace  is  universally  esteemed.  However  this 


Catholic  Church,  on  the  izth  of  May,  under  which  |  be,  if  you  except  the  parish  church  and  its  fine 
day  his  biography  will  be  found  in  the  "  Lives  of  j  bells,  there  is  little  in  Pangrace  worth  the  attention 
the  Saints,"  by  Alban  Butler,  who  tells  us  that  he  of  the  curious  observer."  We  fear  that  the  deriva- 
tion proposed  for  Pancras  must  be  regarded  as 
utterly  absurd. 

Many  of  our  readers  will  remember,  and  others 
will  thank  us  for  reminding  them,  that  the  scene 
of  a  great  part  of  the  Tale  of  a  Tub,  by  Swift, 
is  laid  in  the  fields  about  "Pankridge."  Totten 
Court  is  there  represented  as  a  country  mansion 
isolated  from  all  other  buildings;  it  is  pretended 
that  a  robbery  is  committed  "  in  the  ways  over 
the  country,"  between  Kentish  Town  and  Hamp- 
stead  Heath,  and  the  warrant  for  the  apprehension 
of  the  robber  is  issued  by  a  "Marribone"  justice 
of  the  peace. 

Again,  we  find  the  name  spelt  as  above  by 
George  Wither,  in  his  "  Britain's  Remembrancer  " 


suffered  martyrdom  at  the  early  age  of  fourteen, 
at  Rome,  in  the  year  304.  After  being  beheaded 
for  the  faith,  he  was  buried  in  the  cemetery  of 
Calepodius,  which  subsequently  took  his  name. 
His  relics  are  spoken  of  by  Gregory  the  Great. 
St.  Gregory  of  Tours  calls  him  the  Avenger  of 
Perjuries,  and  tells  us  that  God  openly  punished 
false  oaths  made  before  his  relics.  The  church  at 
Rome  dedicated  to  the  saint,  of  which  we  have 
spoken  above,  stands  on  the  spot  where  he  is 
said  to  have  suffered ;  in  this  church  his  body  is 
still  kept.  •'  England  and  Italy,  France  and  Spaiu 
abound,"  adds  Alban  Butler,  "  in  churches  bearing 
his  name,  in  most  of  which  relics  of  the  saint  were 
kept  and  shown  in  the  ages  before  the  Reformation. 
The  first  church  consecrated  by  St.  Augustine  at 
Canterbury  is  said  by  Mr.  Baring  Gould,  in  his 
"  Lives  of  the  Saints,"  to  have  been  dedicated  to 
St.  Pancras.  In  art,  St.  Pancras  is  always  repre- 
sented as 
hand 

be  added  that  the  seal  of  the  parish  represents  the 
saint  with  similar  emblems.  There  is  a  magni- 
ficent brass  of  Prior  Nelond,  at  Cowfold,  in  Sussex, 
where  St.  Pancras  is  represented  with  a  youthful 
countenance,  holding  a  book  and  a  palm-branch, 
and  treading  on  a  strange  figure,  supposed  to  be 
intended  to  symbolise  his  triumphs  over  the  arch- 
enemy of  mankind,  in  allusion  to  the  etymology 
of  the  saint's  name.  The  saint  figures  in  Alfred 
Tennyson's  poem  of  "  Harold,"  where  William 
Duke  of  Normandy  exclaims — 

"  Lay  thou  thy  hand  upon  this  golden  pall  ; 
Uehold  the  jewel  of  St.  Pancratius 
Woven  into  the  gold.      Swear  thou  on  this." 


'  Those  who  did  never  travel  till  of  late 
Half  way  to  Pankridge  from  the  city  gate." 

In  proof  of  the  rural  character  of  the  district  some 


1  as   a  boy,  with  a  sword    uplifted    in  one      "  P' 

and  a  palm-branch  in  the  other ;  and  it  may  '  thre?  77"  a°°'  ll  "^  *  «"  .tO  *uot.?  the 
I.,.!  ,i._.  .1 i  _r  .1 :  i      '  .,     i  words  ol  the  actor  Nash,  m  his  greetings  to  Kemn 


greetings  to  Kemp 
in  the  time  of  Elizabeth  :  "  As  many  allhailes  to 
thy  person  as  there  be  haicockes  in  July  at  Pan- 
credge  "  (sis). 

Even  so  lately  as  the  commencement  of  the 
reign  of  George  III.,  fields,  with  uninterrupted 
views  of  the  country,  led  from  Bagnigge  Wells 
northwards  towards  St.  Pancras,  where  another 
well  and  public  tea-gardens  invited  strollers  within 
its  sanitary  premises.  It  seems  strange  to  learn 
that  the  way  between  this  place  and  London  was 
particularly  unsafe  to  pedestrians  after  dark,  and 
that  robberies  between  this  spot  and  Gray's  Inn 
Lane,  and  also  between  the  latter  and  the  "Jew's 


Harp  "  Tavern,  of  which  we  have  spoken  in  a  pre- 
That  the  name,  like  most  others  in  bygone  days,  '  vious  chapter,  were  common  in  the  last  century, 
did  not  escape  corruption,  may  be  seen  from  the  j  St.  Pancras  is  often  said  to  be  the  most  populous 
way  in  which  it  is  written,  even  towards  the  close  j  parish  in  the  metropolis,  if  taken  in  its  full  extent 
of  the  last  century.  In  Goldsmith's  "  Citizen  of ;  as  including  "  a  third  of  the  hamlet  of  Highgate, 
the  World"  (published  in  1794),  is  a  semi-  j  with  the  other  hamlets  of  Battle  Bridge,  Camden 


POPULATION    OF  ST.  PANCRAS. 


327 


Town,  Kentish  Town,  Somers  Town,  all  Totten- 
ham Court  Road,  and  the  streets  east  and  north  of 
Cleveland  Street  and  Rathbone  Place,"  besides — 
if  we  may  trust  Lysons — part  of  a  house  in  Queen 


entury,  is  emphatically  described  by  Norden  in 
his  work  above  mentioned.  After  noticing  the 
solitary  condition  of  the  church,  he  says :  "  Yet 
about  the  structure  have  bin  manie  buildings,  now 


Square.     Mr.  John  Timbs,  in  his  "Curiosities  of   decaied,  leaving  poore  Pancrast  without  companie 
London,"  speaks  of  St.   Pancras  as  "the  largest    or   comfort."     In    some   manuscript  additions  to 
parish  in  Middlesex,"  being  no  less  than  "  eighteen 
nules  in  circumference;"    and   he   also  says  it  is 
the  most  populous  parish  in  the  metropolis.    Mr. 
Palmer,  however,  in  his  history  of  the  parish,  pub- 


lished in  1870,  says  that  "its  population  is  esti- 
mated, at  the  present  day,  at  a  little  over  a  quarter 
of  a  million,,  its  number  being  only  exceeded  of  all 
the  metropolitan  parishes  by  the  neighbouring  one 
of  Marylebone."  He  adds  that  it  is  computed  to 
contain  2,700  square  acres  of  land,  and  that  its 


his  work,  the  same  writer  has  the  following  obser- 
vations : — "Although  this  place  be,  as  it  were, 
forsaken  of  all,  and  true  men  seldom  frequent  the 
same,  but  upon  deveyne  occasions,  yet  it  is  visayed 


by  thieves,  who  assemble  not  there  to  pray,  but  to 
waite  for  prayer ;  and  many  fall  into  their  handes, 
clothed,  that  are  glad  when  they  are  escaped 
naked.  Walk  not  there  too  late." 

As  lately  as  the  year  1745,  there  were  only  two 
or  three  houses  near  the  church,  and  twenty  years 


circuit  is  twenty-one  miles.  From  the  "  Diary "  of  later  the  population  of  the  parish  was  under  six 
the  vestry  for  the  year  1876-7  we  learn  that  the  j  hundred.  At  the  first  census  taken  in  the  present 
area  of  the  parish  is  2,672  statute  acres.  The  j  century  it  had  risen  to  more  than  35,000,  and  in 
population  of  St.  Pancras  parish  in  1881  amounted  j  1861  it  stood  at  very  little  under  200,000.  There 
to  236,209,  and  the  number  of  inhabited  houses  has,  however,  been  a  decrease  since  that  time  on 


to  24,655.  There  are  278  Parliamentary  and 
municipal  boroughs  in  England  and  Wales,  ex- 
clusive of  the  metropolis,  and  only  five  of  these— 
viz.,  Liverpool,  Manchester,  Birmingham,  Leeds, 
and  Sheffield — contain  a  larger  population;  and 
there  are  twenty-two  counties  with  a  less  population 
in  each  than  St  Pancras. 

There  are  four  ancient  prebendal  manors  in  the 
parish,  namely,  Pancras;  Cantlowes,  or  Kentish 
Town ;  Tothill,  or  Tottenham  Court ;  and  Rugge- 
mure,  or  Rugmere.  The  holder  of  the  prebendal 
stall  of  St.  Pancras  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  was 
also,  ex  offitio,  the  "  Confessarius  "  of  the  Bishop  of 
London.  Among  those  who  have  held  this  post 
may  be  enumerated  the  learned  Dr.  Lancelot 
Andrews,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Winchester— of 
whom  we  shall  have  more  to  say  when  we  come 
to  his  tomb  in  St.  Saviour's,  Southwark ;  Dr.  Sher- 
lock, and  Archdeacon  Paley ;  and  in  more  modern 
times,  Canon  Dale. 

The 
acres  of  land, 


account  of  the  extensive  clearances  made  for  the 
terminus  of  the  Midland  Railway,  of  which  we 
shall  speak  presently. 

Pancras  is  mentioned  in  "Domesday  Book," 
where  it  is  stated  that  "  the  land  of  this  manor  is  of 
one  caracute,  and  employs  one  plough.  On  the 
estate  are  twenty-four  men,  who  pay  a  rent  of  thirty 
shillings  per  annum."  The  next  notice  which  we 
find  of  this  manor  is  its  sale,  on  the  demise  of  Lady 
Ferrers,  in  1375,  to  Sir  Robert  Knowles;  and  in 
1381  of  its  reversion,  which  belonged  to  the  Crown, 
to  the  prior  of  the  house  of  Carthusian  Monks 
of  the  Holy  Salutation.  After  the  dissolution 
of  the  monasteries  it  came  into  the  possession  of 
Lord  Somers,  in  the  hands  of  whose  descendants 
the  principal  portion  of  it— Somers  Town  — now 


Of  the  manor  of  Cantelows,  or  Kennestoune 
(now,  as  we  have  already  seen,  called  Kentish 
Town),  it  is  recorded  in  the  above-mentioned 


h^h  had  attached  to  it  about  seventy    survey  that  it  is  held  by  the  Canons  o    S,  Paul  s 
_  „.  land,  which  were  let  in  ,64:  for  ^10,  and    and  that  it  comprises  four    miles -^^ 
nearly  two  hundred  years  later,  being  leased  to  a    entry  states  that  "there  is  plenty  of  timber  m  me 
M,  Wmiam  Agar,  formed  the  site  of  Agar  Town,  I  hedgerows    goo     pasture   for  ^aU       a   ninmng 
as  mentioned  in  the  previous  chapter .     Norder i,    rook and ^w ^    ^  Ecu   ^   ^    ^ 


thought  the  church  "  not  to  yield  in  antiqu 
Paules  in  London  :"  in  his  "  Speculum  Britannia:" 
he  describes  it  as  "  all  alone,  utterly  forsaken,  old, 
and  weather-beaten." 

Brewer,  in  his  "  London  and  Middlesex,"  says : 
"  When  a  visitation  of  the  church  of  Pancras  was 
made  in  the  year  1251,  there  were  only  forty 
houses  in  the  parish."  The  desolate  situation  of 


. 
the  village,   in   the   latter  part  of   the   sixteenth  ( The 


,,-ith    seven    bordars,    hold 

Canons  of  St.  Paul's  at  forty  shillings  a  year  rent. 

In   King   Edward's   time   it   was  raised   to   sixty 

Sh  Inle  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  Henry  Bruges,  Garter 
King-at-Arms,  had  a  mansion  in  this  manor,  where 
on  one  occasion  he  entertained  the  German  Em- 
peror, Sigismund,  during  his  visit  to  this  country. 


building,  which  stood  near  the  old  Episcopal 


3*8 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


Chapel,  was  said  to  have  been  erected  by  the  two 
brothers,  Walter  and  Thomas  de  Cantelupe,  during 
the  reign  of  King  John.  According  to  a  survey 
made  during  the  Commonwealth,  this  manor  con- 
tained 210  acres  of  land.  The  manor-house  was 
then  sold  to  one  Richard  Hill,  a  merchant  of 
London,  and  the  manor  to  Richard  Utber,  a 
draper.  At  the  Restoration  they  were  ejected, 
and  the  original  lessees  reinstated ;  but  again  in 
1670  the  manor  changed  hands,  the  father  of 
Alderman  Sir  Jeffreys  Jeffreys  (uncle  of  the  noto- 
rious Judge  Jeffreys)  becoming  proprietor.  By  the 
intermarriage  of  Earl  Camden  with  a  member  of 
that  family,  it  is  now  the  property  of  that  noble- 
man's descendants.  The  estate  is  held  subject  to 
a  reserved  rent  of  ^£20,  paid  annually  to  the  Pre- 
bendary of  St.  Paul's.  Formerly  the  monks  of 
Waltham  Abbey  held  an  estate  in  this  manor, 
called  by  them  Cane  Lond,  now  Caen  Wood, 
valued  at  thirteen  pounds.  It  is  said  by  anti- 
quaries to  be  the  remains  of  the  ancient  forest  of 
Middlesex.  Of  this  part  of  the  manor  we  shall 
have  to  speak  when  we  come  to  Hampstead. 

The  manor  of  Tottenham  Court,  or  Totten  Hall 
— in  "  Domesday  "  Tothele,  where  it  is  valued  at 
^5  a  year — was  kept  in  the  prebendary's  hands 
till  the  fourteenth  century;  but  in  1343  John  de 
Caleton  was  the  lessee,  and,  after  the  lease  had 
come  to  the  Crown,  it  was  granted  in  1661  in 
satisfaction  of  a  debt,  and  became  the  property, 
shortly  after,  of  the  ducal  family  of  Fitzroy,  one 
of  whose  scions,  Lord  Southampton,  is  the  present 
possessor. 

The  manor  of  Ruggemere  is  mentioned  in  the 
survey  of  the  parish  taken  in  1251,  as  shown  in 
the  records  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  St.  Paul's. 
"  Its  exact  situation,"  says  Mr.  Palmer,  "  is  not 
now  known.  Very  possibly,"  he  continues,  "at 
the  breaking  up  of  the  monasteries  it  reverted  to 
the  Crown,  and  was  granted  by  bluff  Harry  to  some 
Court  favourite.  The  property  of  the  Bedford 
family  was  acquired  in  a  great  measure  from  that 
monarch's  hands.  It  is,  therefore,  very  probable 


In  a  previous  chapter  we  have  spoken  of  the 
Fleet  River,  which  used  to  flow  through  this  parish. 
Hone,  in  his  "Table  Book,"  1827,  thus  describes 
it  as  winding  its  sluggish  course  through  Camden 
Town  and  St.  Pancras  in  its  way  to  King's  Cross  : 
— "  The  River  Fleet  at  its  source  in  a  field  on  the 
land  side  of  the  Hampstead  Ponds  is  merely  a 
sedgy  ditchling,  scarcely  half  a  step  across,  and 
winds  its  way  along,  with  little  increase  of  depth, 
by  the  road  from  the  'Mother  Red  Cap'  to 
Kentish  Town,  beneath  which  road  it  passes 
through  the  pastures  to  Kamden  Town ;  in  one  of 
these  pastures  the  canal  running  through  the  tunnel 
at  Pentonville  to  the  City  Road  is  conveyed  over 
it  by  an  arch.  From  this  place  its  width  increases 
till  it  reaches  towards  the  west  side  of  the  road 
leading  from  Pancras  workhouse  to  Kentish  Town. 
In  the  rear  of  the  houses  on  that  side  of  the  road 
it  becomes  a  brook,  washing  the  edge  of  the  garden 
in  front  of  the  premises  late  the  stereotype  foundry 
and  printing-office  of  Mr.  Andrew  Wilson,  which 
stand  back  from  the  road;  and,  cascading  down 
behind  the  lower  road-side  houses,  it  reaches  the 
'  Elephant  and  Castle,'  in  front  of  which  it  tunnels 
to  Battle  Bridge." 

Tradition  would  carry  the  navigation  of  the  Fleet 
River  far  higher  up  than  Holborn  Bridge,  which 
has  been  stated  in  a  previous  part*  of  this  work  as 
the  utmost  limit  to  which  it  was  navigable,  since  it 
relates,  say  the  Brothers  Percy,  in  their  "  London," 
that  "  an  anchor  was  found  in  this  brook  at 
Pancras  wash,  where  the  road  branches  off  to 
Somers  Town."  But  they  do  not  give  a  date  or 
other  particulars.  Down  to  a  very  late  date,  even 
to  the  year  in  which  the  Metropolitan  Railway  was 
constructed,  the  Fleet  River  was  subject  to  floods 
on  the  occasion  of  a  sudden  downfall  of  rain,  when 
the  Hampstead  and  Highgate  ponds  would  over- 
flow. 

One  of  the  most  considerable  overflows  occurred 
in  January,  1809.  "At  this  period,  when  the 
snow  was  lying  very  deep,"  says  a  local  chronicler, 
"  a  rapid  thaw  came  on,  and  the  arches  not  afford- 


that  the  manor  of  Ruggemere  consisted  of  all  that  i  ing  a  sufficient  passage  for  the  increased  current, 

the  whole  space  between  Pancras  Church,  Somers 
Town,  and  the  bottom  of  the  hill  at  Pentonville, 
was  in  a  short  time  covered  with  water.  The  flood 
rose  to  a  height  of  three  feet  from  the  middle  of 


land  lying  at  the  south-east  of  the  parish,  no 
portion  of  that  district  lying  in  either  of  the  other 
manors." 

The  village  church  stood  pretty  nearly  in  the 
centre  of  the  parish,  which,  with  the  lands  about 
Somers  Town,  included  the  estates  of  the  Skinners' 
Company,  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  and  of  Mr. 
"Councillor"  Agar.  The  land  which  the  parish 
comprises  forms  part  of  what  is  called  the  London 
Basin,  the  deposits  of  which  are  aqueous,  and 
belong  to  the  Eocene  period 


the  highway ;  the  lower  rooms  of  all  the  houses 
within  that  space  were  completely  inundated,  and 
the  inhabitants  suffered  considerable  damage  in 
their  goods  and  furniture,  which  many  of  them 
had  not  time  to  remove.  Two  cart-horses  were 


•  S«  VoL  II..  p.  418. 


OVERFLOW   OF  THE   FLEET  RIVER. 


drowned,  and  for  several  days  persons  were 
obliged  to  be  conveyed  to  and  from  their  houses, 
and  receive  their  provisions,  &c.,  in  at  their 
windows  by  means  of  carts." 

Again,  in  1818,  there  was  a  very  alarming  flood 
at  Battle  Bridge,  which  lies  at  the  southern  end  of 
Pancras  Road,  of  which  the  following  account 
appears  in  the  newspapers  of  that  date  : — "  In  con- 
sequence of  the  quantity  of  rain  that  fell  on  Friday 
night,  the  river  Fleet  overflowed  near  Battle  Bridge, 
where  the  water  was  soon  several  feet  high,  and 
ran  into  the  lower  apartments  of  every  house  from 
the  '  Northumberland  Arms '  tea-gardens  to  the 
Small-pox  Hospital,  Somers  Town,  being  a  distance 
of  about  a  mile.  The  torrent  then  forced  its  way 
into  Field  Street  and  Lyon  Place,  which  are  in- 
habited by  poor  people,  and  entered  the  kitchens, 
carrying  with  it  everything  that  came  within  its 
reach.  In  the  confusion,  many  persons  in  attempt- 
ing to  get  through  the  water  fell  into  the  Fleet,  but 
were  most  providentially  saved.  In  the  house  of  a 
person  named  Creek,  the  water  forced  itself  into 
a  room  inhabited  by  a  poor  man  and  his  family, 
and  before  they  could  be  alarmed,  their  bed  was 
floating  about  in  near  seven  feet  of  water.  They 
were,  by  the  prompt  conduct  of  the  neighbours 
and  night  officers,  got  out  safe.  Damage  to  the 
extent  of  several  thousand  pounds  was  occasioned 
by  the  catastrophe." 

Much,  however,  as  we  may  lament  the  metamor- 
phosis of  a  clear  running  stream  into  a  filthy  sewer, 
the  Fleet  brook  did  the  Londoner  good  service. 
It  afforded  the  best  of  natural  drainage  for  a  large 
extent  north  of  the  metropolis,  and  its  level  was 
so  situated  as  to  render  it  capable  of  carrying  off 
the  contents  of  a  vast  number  of  side  drains  which 
ran  into  it.  "  There  still  remain,  however,"  writes 
Mr.  Palmer,  "a  few  yards  visible  in  the  parish 
where  the  brook  runs  in  its  native  state.  At  the 
back  of  the  Grove,  in  the  Kentish  Town  Road,  is 
a  rill  of  water,  one  of  the  little  arms  of  the  Fleet, 
which  is  yet  clear  and  untainted.  Another  arm  is 
at  the  bottom  of  the  field  at  the  back  of  the  '  Bull 
and  Last'  Inn,  over  which  is  a  little  wooden  bridge 
leading  to  the  cemetery." 

The  "  Elephant  and  Castle,"  above  referred  to, 
is  one  of  the  oldest  taverns  in  the  parish  of  St. 
Pancras.  It  is  situated  in  King's  Road,  near  the 
workhouse,  and  is  said  to  have  derived  its  name 
from  the  discovery  of  the  remains  of  an  elephant 
which  was  made  in  its  vicinity  more  than  a  century 
ago.  King's  Road  lies  at  the  back  of  the  Veteri- 
nary College,  and  unites  with  the  St.  Pancras  Road 
at  the  southern  end  of  Great  College  Street.  At 
the  junction  of  these  roads  are  the  Workhouse  and 


the  Vestry  Hall.  The  former  building  was  erected 
in  1809,  at  a  cost  of  about  .£30,000.  It  has,  how- 
ever, since  then  been  very  much  enlarged,  and  is 
now  more  than  double  its  original  size.  It  often 
contains  1,200  inmates,  a  number  equal  to  the 
population  of  many  large  rural  villages.  It  has 
not,  however,  always  been  well  officered  For 
instance,  in  1874,  a  Parliamentary  return  stated 
that  out  of  407  children  admitted  into  the  work- 
house during  the  previous  twelvemonth  eighty-nine 
had  died,  showing  a  death-rate  of  215  per  1,000 
per  annum ! 

The  St.  Pancras  Guardians  have  wisely  severed 
their  pauper  children  from  the  associations  of  the 
workhouse  by  establishing  their  schools  in  the 
country  at  Hanwell.  In  connection  with  the 
workhouse  a  large  infirmary  has  been  erected  on 
Highgate  Hill,  whither  the  sick  inmates  have  been 
removed  from  the  old  and  ill-ventilated  quarters. 

The  Vestry  of  St.  Pancras  formerly  had  no  settled 
place  of  meeting,  but  met  at  various  taverns  in  the 
parish.  The  present  Vestry  Hall  was  erected  in 
1847.  The  architect  was  Mr.  Bond,  the  then 
surveyor  of  the  parish,  and  Mr.  Cooper  the  builder. 
Mr.  Palmer,  in  his  work  already  referred  to,  men- 
tions a  tradition  that  the  architect,  in  making  the 
plans  for  the  building,  omitted  the  stairs  by  which 
the  first-floor  was  to  be  reached,  and  that  he  after- 
wards made  up  the  defect  by  placing  the  present 
ugly  steps  outside. 

On  the  north-east  side  of  Pancras  Road,  near 
the  Vestry  Hall,  is  the  old  church  of  St.  Pancras. 
This  ancient  and  diminutive  edifice  was,  with  the 
exception  of  a  chapel  of  ease  at  Kentish  Town, 
now  St.  John  the  Baptist's,  the  only  ecclesiastical 
building  the  parish  could  boast  of  till  the  middle 
of  the  last  century.  It  is  not  known  with  certainty 
when  the  present  structure  was  erected,  but  its  date 
I  is  fixed  about  the  year  1350;  there  was,  however, 
'  a  building  upon  the  same  spot  long  before  that 
:  date  ;  for  in  the  records  belonging  to  the  Dean  and 
Chapter  of  St.  Paul's,  in  which  there  is  noticed  a 
!  visitation  made  to  this  church  in  the  year  1251,  it 
I  states  that  "  it  had  a  very  small  tower,  a  little 
|  belfry,  a  good  stone  font  for  baptisms,  and  a  small 
marble  stone  to  carry  the  pax." 

Norden,  whose  remarks  on  the  condition  of  the 

church  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  we  have 

quoted  above,  states  that  "  folks  from  the  hamlet 

!  of  Kennistonne   now   and   then   visit   it,  but  not 

!  often,  having  a  chapele  of  their  own.     When,  how- 

i  ever,  they  have  a  corpse  to  be  interred,  they  are 

forced   to  leave    the    same  within   this  forsyken 

church  or  churchyard,  where  it  resteth  as  secure 

against  the  day  of  resurrection  as  if  it  laie  in  stately 


33° 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


St.  Paule's."    Norden's  account  implies  that  where  j  and  in  that  of  burials  1 668.     The  earlier  registers 


the  church  is  situated  was  then  one  of  the  least 
frequented  and  desolate  spots  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
metropolis. 

A  writer  in  the  Gentleman 's  Magazine,  for  July, 
1749,  in  the  lines  quoted  as  a  motto  to  this 
chapter,  states  that — 

"  Christ's  sacred  altar  here  first  Britain  saw." 
Other    antiquaries    inform    us    that    the    original 


have  long  since  perished. 

In  the  table  of  benefactions  to  the  parish  it  is 
stated  that  certain  lands,  fee-simple,  copyhold  of 
inheritance,  held  of  the  manors  of  Tottenhall  Court 
and  of  Cantelows,  "  were  given  by  some  person  or 
persons  unknown,  for  and  to  the  use  and  benefit  of 
this  parish,  for  the  needful  and  necessary  repair  of 
the  parish  church  and  the  chapel,  as  the  said  parish 


establishment  of  a  church  on  this  site  was  in 
early  Saxon  times;  and  Maximilian  Misson,  in 
writing  of  St.  John  Lateran  at  Rome,  says,  "  This 
is  the  head  and  mother  of  all  Christian  churches, 
if  you  except  that  of  St.  Pancras  under  Highgate, 
near  London." 

In  the  last  century  Divine  service  was  performed 
in  St.  Pancras  Church  only  on  the  first  Sunday  in 
every  month,  and  at  all  other  times  in  the  chapel 
of  ease  at  Kentish  Town,  it  being  thought  that  the 
few  people  who  lived  near  the  church  could  go  up 
to  London  to  pray,  while  that  at  Kentish  Town 
was  more  suited  for  the  country  folk,  and  this 
qustom  continued  down  to  within  the  present 
century.  The  earliest  date  that  we  meet  with  in 
the  registry  of  marriages  and  baptisms  is  1660, 


|  in  vestry  should  from  time  to  time  direct ;  and  that 
these  lands  were,  by  custom  of  the  said  manors, 
and  for  the  form  of  law,  to  be  held  in  the  names  of 
eight  trustees  who  were  elected  by  the  inhabitants 
of  the  said  parish  in  vestry  assembled." 

There  are   four  parcels  of  land,  the   rents  and 

1  profits  of  which  have  been  immemorially  applied 
towards  the  repair  of  the  parish  church  and  the 
chapel  at  Kentish  Town.  By  reason  of  this  appli- 
cation a  church-rate  in  former  times  was  considered 
unnecessary,  and  whenever  the  disbursements  of 
the  churchwardens  exceeded  their  receipts,  the 
parishioners  always  preferred  to  reimburse  them 
out  of  the  poor-rate  rather  than  make  a  church- 

1  rate. 

I      From  the  survey  of  church  livings  taken  by  order 


BENEFACTIONS   TO   THE   PARISH. 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


of  Parliament  in  1650,  it  appears  that  these  lands  I  Thomas  Ive  in  the  time  of  Edward  IV.  enjoyed 
were  disposed  of  as  follows,  by  Sir  Robert  Payne,  the  same  office.  In  the  old  parish  church  is  an 
Knight,  Peter  Benson,  and  others,  feoffees  in  trust,  j  altar-tomb  of  Purbeck  marble  with  a  canopy,  being 
by  licence  granted  them  from  the  lord  of  the  j  an  elliptical  arch  ornamented  with  quatrefoils, 
manors  of  Tottenhall  and  Cantlows  Court : — "  To  which  in  better  days  had  small  brasses  at  the  back, 
wit,  in  consideration  of  fifty-four  pounds  to  them  with  three  figures  or  groups,  with  labels  from  each, 
in  hand,  paid  by  Mr.  Richard  Gwalter,  they  did,  by  and  the  figure  of  the  Trinity,  and  three  shields  of 
lease  dated  the  ist  June,  9th  Charles  I.  (A.D.  1633),  arms  above  them.  This  monument  was  to  the 
demise  unto  the  said  Richard  Gwalter  four  acres  of !  memory  of  Robert  Eve,  and  Lawrentia  his  sister, 
the  said  land  for  twenty-one  years,  at  twopence  a  j  son  and  daughter  of  Francis  and  Thomas  Eve, 
year  rent.  And  in  consideration  of  £,27  in  hand,  Clerk  of  the  Crown,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV. 


paid  by  the  said  Richard  Gwalter,  they  did,  by 
another  lease,  dated  2nd  August  in  the  year  afore- 
said, demise  unto  the  said  Richard  Gwalter  two 
acres  of  the  said  land  for  the  term  aforesaid  for  the 
like  rent  There  was  also  (A.D.  1650),  a  lease 
dated  2oth  June,  9th  Charles  I.,  unto  Thomas  Ive 
(deceased),  of  seventeen  acres  of  the  said  land  for 
twenty-one  years  at  ^£17  a  year  rent;  the  re- 
mainder of  which  was  assigned  unto  Peter  Benson, 
and  was  then  in  his  possession." 

The  money  received  by  way  of  premium  on  the 
granting  of  the  before-mentioned  leases  to  Richard 
Gwalter  in  the  year  1633,  was  expended  in  the 
rebuilding  of  Kentish  Town  Chapel,  of  which  we 
have  spoken  in  the  preceding  chapter.  The  site 
seems  to  have  been  originally  the  property  of  Sir 
William  Hewitt,  who  was  a  landowner  in  this  parish 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  It  appears  by  a  state- 
ment of  Randolph  Yearwood,  vicar  of  St.  Pancras, 


Weever,  in  his  work  on  "  Funeral  Monuments," 
informs  us  that  when  he  saw  it  the  "  portraitures  " 
j  and  the  following  words  remained  : — 

"  Holy  Trinitie,  one  God,  have  mercy  on  us. 
Hie  jacent  Robertas  Eve  et  Lawrentia  soror  eius,  filia  Kran- 

cisci  Eve  filii 
Thome  Eve  clerici  corone  cancellarie  Anglic 

Quorum " 

When  Mr.  J.  T.  Smith,  as  a  boy,  made  an  ex- 
pedition to  this  church  as  one  of  a  sketching  party, 
in  1777,  he  describes  it  as  quite  a  rural  place,  in 
some  parts  entirely  covered  with  docks  and  nettles, 
enclosed  only  by  a  low  hand-rail,  and  commanding 
extensive  views  of  open  country  in  every  direction, 
not  only  to  Hampstead,  Highgate,  and  Islington, 
but  also  to  Holborn  and  St.  Giles's,  almost  the  only 
building  which  met  the  eye  in  that  direction  being 
Whitefield's  Chapel  in  Tottenham  Court  Road,  and 
old  Montagu  House. 


The   first   mention,    apparently,   that   has   been 
found  to  be  made  of  the  church  of  St.   Pancras 


dated  1673,  that  the  parish  did  not  buy  the  site, 

nor  take  a  lease  of  it,  but  that  they  paid  a  noble 

per  annum  to  the  Hewitts  to  be  permitted  to  have  !  occurs  in  the  year  1183,  but  it  does  not  appear 

the  use  of  it.  j  whether  it  then  was  or  was  not  a  recent  erection. 

In  1656,  Colonel  Gower,  Mr.  George  Pryer,  and 
Major  John  Bill  were  feoffees  of  the  revenue  be- 
longing to  the  parish  church  of  St.  Pancras. 
land  belonging   to    the  rectory  was   subsequently 
leased  by  various  persons,  when,  in   1794,  it  was 


vested  in  a  Mr.  Swinnerton,  of  the  "  White  Hart  " 
Inn,  Colebrook,  and  then  passed  into  the  hands  of 
Mr.  Agar,  who,  as  we  have  already  stated,  gave  a 


William  de  Belmeis,  who  had  been  possessed  of 
the  prebend  of  Pancras,  within  which  the  church 
The  I  stood,  had  conveyed  the  tithes  thereof  to  the 
canons  of  St.  Paul's  ;  which  conveyance  was,  in 
that  year,  confirmed  by  Gilbert,  Bishop  of  London. 
The  church  tithes,  &c,  were,  not  long  after, 
granted  by  .the  dean  and  chapter  to  the  hospital 
within  their  cathedral,  founded  by  Henry  de 


notoriety  to  the  spot  by  granting  short  building  '  Northampton,   they  reserving   to   themselves   one 


leases,  which  created  Agar  Town  and  its  miserable 
surroundings,  till  the  whole  was  cleared  by  the  Mid- 
land Railway  Company,  who  are  now  the  owners 
of  a  large  part  of  this  once  prebendai  manor. 

The  family  of  Eve  or  Ive,  mentioned  above,  is 
of  great  antiquity  in  the  parish  of  St.  Pancras.  In 
1457  Henry  VI.  granted  permission  to  Thomas 
Ive  to  enclose  a  portion  of  the  highway  adjoining 
to  his  mansion  at  Kentish  Town.  In  1483  Richard 
Ive  was  appointed  Clerk  of  the  Crown  in  Chancery 
in  as  full  a  manner  as  John  de  Tamworth  and 
Geoffrey  Martyn  in  the  time  of  Edward  III.,  and 


was 
441 


mark  per  annum.  In  1327  the  rectory 
valued  at  thirteen  marks  per  annum.  In 
the  advowson,  tenths,  rents,  and  profits  of  the 
church  were  demised  to  Walter  Sherington,  canon 
residentiary,  for  ten  marks  per  annum ;  and  in  like 
manner  the  rectory  continued  to  be  from  time  to 
time  leased,  chiefly  to  canons  of  the  church.  At 
the  suppression,  the  dean  and  chapter  became 
re-possessed  of  the  rectory,  which  has  from  that 
period  been  demised  in  the  manner  customary  with 
church  property,  subject  to  a  reserved  rent  of 


St.  Pancras.) 


THE  OLD  CHURCH. 


333 


The  old  church  formerly  consisted  of  a  nave  and 
chancel,  built  of  stones  and  flint,  and  a  low  tower 
with  a  bell-shaped  roof.  It  has  been  several  times 
repaired,  and  the  most  recent  of  the  restorations 
has  taken  away — externally,  at  least — all  traces  of 
its  antiquity.  In  1847-8  it  was  enlarged  by  taking 

the  space  occupied  by  the  old  square  tower  into  the  j  apparently  contemporary  with  the  Norman  mould- 
body  of  the  church,  and  a  spire  was  placed  on  the    ing  beneath.     Part  of  a  series  of  niches  in  chiselled 


A  Norman  altar-stone,  in  which  appeared  the  usual 
decoration,  namely,  five  crosses,  typical  of  the  five 
wounds  of  our  Lord.  The  key-stone  of  the  south 
porch,  containing  the  letters  H.R.T.P.C.  incised, 
arranged  one  within  the  members  of  the  other, 
after  the  manner  of  a  monogram ;  these  letters  are 


south  side.     The  west  end,  which  was  lengthened, 
has  an   enriched    Norman    porch,    and   a   wheel 


brick  was  likewise  discovered.    These  had  been 
concealed  by  a  sufficient 


coating  of  plaster,  but 

window  in  the  gable  above,  which,  together  with  j  were  discovered  in  the  first  instance  on  the  removal 
the  chancel  windows,  are  filled  with  stained  glass.  |  of  some  of  the  stonework  in  the  exterior  of  the 
The  old  monuments  have  been  restored  and  placed  '  chancel.  That  operation  being  suspended,  and 
as  nearly  as  possible  in  their  original  positions.  '  the  interior  plastering  being  removed,  the  upper 
On  the  north  wall,  opposite  the  baptistery,  is  niche  was  discovered  perfect,  with  mouldings  and 
the  early  Tudor  marble  Purbeck  memorial  which  spandrils  sharply  chiselled  in  brick,  but  the  impost 
Weever,  in  his  "  Funeral  Monuments,"  ascribes  being  of  stone,  coloured  so  as  to  resemble  the 
to  the  ancient  family  of  Gray,  of  Gray's  Inn.  '  former.  The  back  of  the  niche  was  in  plaster 
The  recesses  for  brasses  are  there,  but  neither  j  likewise  tinted  and  lined  so  as  to  correspond  with 
arms  nor  date  are  remaining.  A  marble  tablet,  •  the  brick.  Below  this  had  been  a  double  niche 
with  palette  and  pencils,  the  memorial  of  Samuel  divided  by  a  mullion,  the  principal  part  of  which, 
Cooper,  a  celebrated  miniature-painter,  who  died  |  howf  ver,  was  destroyed  by  the  above-mentioned 
in  1672,  is  placed  on  the  south-east  interior  wall.  |  removal  of  the  materials  from  without.  These 
The  church  still  consists  only  of  a  nave  and  '  decorations  were  on  the  south  side  of  the  east 
chancel,  without  side  aisles.  Heavy  beams  sup- '  window  in  the  chancel,  and  had  probably  contained 


port  the  roof,  and  upon  those  over  the  chancel 
and  the  western  gallery  are  written  in  illuminated 
scrolls  various  sentences  from  Scripture,  such  as 
"  I  am  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life  ;"  "  He 
that  cometh  unto  Me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast 
out,"  &c.  There  is  a  very  elegant  stained-glass 
window  over  the  altar,  and  on  either  side  of  the 
nave  are  pointed  windows  of  plain  glass.  .The 
walls  are  exceedingly  thick,  and  will,  no  doubt, 


effigies.    There  was  no  corresponding  appearance 
on  the  north  side. 

A  curious  view  of  the  old  church,  somewhat 
idealised,  representing  it  as  a  cruciform  structure 
with  a  central  bell-turret  or  campanile,  was  pub- 
lished in  1800,  by  Messrs.  Laurie  and  Whittle, 
of  Fleet  Street;  but  if  it  represents  any  real 
structure,  it  must  be  that  of  a  much  earlier  date. 
In  this  print  there  are  near  it  three  rural  and 


cause  of  the  singular  fondness  which  the  old 
Roman  Catholic  families  had  for  burying  their 
dead  in  the  adjoining  churchyard,  where  the  cross 


last  for  ages.  A  narrow  strip  of  oaken  gallery  runs  isolated  cottages,  and  a  few  young  elm  or  plane 
above  the  nave,  affording  accommodation  for  only  j  trees  complete  the  scene. 

two  rows  of  seats.  It  is  approached  by  a  single  j  There  is  a  tradition  that  this  church  was  the  last 
circular  staircase  in  the  southern  tower,  and  its  in  or  about  London  in  which  mass  was  said  at  the 
diminutive  size  is  in  keeping  with  the  other  parts  '.  time  of  the  Reformation,  and  that  this  was  th< 
of  the  building. 

We  may  state  here  that,  after  his  execution  at  • 
Tyburn,   the  body  of  Lawrence  Earl  Ferrers  was  • 

taken  down  and  carried  to  this  church,  where  it '  and  every  variety  of  Catholic  inscriptions  may  be 
was  laid  under  the  belfrv  tower  in  a  grave  fourteen  |  seen  on  the  tombs.  It  is,  however  mentioned 
feet  deep,  no  doubt  for  fear  lest  the  popular  in  "Windham's  Diary,"  that  while  Dr.  Johnson 
indignation  should  violate  his  place  of  burial.  I  was  airing  one  day  with  Dr.  Brocklesby  m  passing 

During  the  removal  of  parts  of  the  church,  while  and  returning  by  St.  Pancras  Church,  he  fell  into 
the  additions  and  alterations  were  being  made,  prayer,  and  mentioned,  upon  Dr  Brocklesby  in- 
several  relics  of  antiquity  connected  with  the  old !  quiring  why  the  Catholics  selected  that  spot  to 
structure  were  discovered.  Among  others  were  I  their  burial  place,  that  some  Catholics  in  Queen 
the  following  :-An  Earh-Knglish  piscina  and  some  Elizabeth's  time  had  been  burnt  there  This 
sedilia,  found  on  the '  removal  of  some  heavy  would,  of  course,  give  additional  interest  to  tb 
wainscoting  on  the  south  side  of  the  chancel,  the  sacred  spot. 

mouldings  of  the  sedilia  retaining  vestiges  of  red        In  tins  churchyard  were  buned    amongst  many 
colouring,  with  which  they  had  formerly  been  tinted.  |  others,  Abraham  Woodhead,  a   Roman   Catholic 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[St.  Pancras. 


controversialist,  who  died  in  1678 ;  Obadiah 
Walker,  writer  against  Luther,  1699;  John  Ernest 
Grabe,  editor  of  the  Alexandrian  Septuagint,  1711 ; 
Jeremy  Collier,  nonjuring  bishop,  and  castigator 
of  the  stage,  1726  ;  Edward  Walpole,  translator  of 
Sannazarius,  1740;  James  Leoni,  architect,  1746; 
Simon  Francis  Ravenet,  engraver,  and  Peter  Van 
Bleeck,  portrait-painter,  1764;  Abraham  Langford, 
auctioneer  and  dramatist,  1774;  Stephen  Paxton, 
musician,  1787  ;  Timothy  Cunningham,  author  of 
the  "Law  Dictionary,"  1789;  Michael  John  Baptist, 
Baron  de  Wenzel,  oculist,  1790;  Mary  Wollstone- 
craft  Godwin,  author  of  "  Rights  of  Women,"  1797, 
with  a  square  monumental  pillar  with  a  willow-tree 
on  each  side ;  the  Bishop  of  St.  Pol  de  Leon, 
1806  ;  John  Walker,  author  of  the  "Pronouncing 
Dictionary,"  1807;  Tiberius  Cavallo,  the  Neapolitan 
philosopher,  1809;  the  Chevalier  d'Eon,  political 
writer,  1810;  J.  P.  Malcolm,  historian  of  London, 
1815;  the  Rev.  William  Tooke,  translator  of 
Lucian,  1820;  and  Governor  Wall. 

Among  the  eccentric  characters  who  lie  buried 
here  is  William  Woollett,  the  landscape  and 
historical  engraver,  known  by  his  masterly  plates 
of  Wilson's  pictures  and  his  battle-pieces ;  his 
portrait,  by  Stuart,  is  in  the  National  Gallery. 
He  lived  in  Green  Street,  Leicester  Square;  and 
whenever  he  had  finished  an  engraving,  he  com- 
memorated the  event  by  firing  a  cannon  on  the  roof 
of  his  house.  He  died  in  1785,  and  sixty  years 
after  his  death  his  gravestone  was  restored  by  the 
Graphic  Society. 

Another  eccentric  individual  whose  ashes  repose 
beneath  the  shade  of  Old  St.  Pancras  Church,  is  the 
celebrated  "Ned"  Ward,  the  author  of  the  "  London 
Spy,"  and  other  well-known  works.  He  was  buried 
here  in  1731.  The  following  lines  were  written  by 
him  shortly  before  his  death  :  — 

".MY    LAST    WILL. 
"  In  the  name  of  God,  the  King  of  kings, 

Whose  glory  fills  the  mighty  space  ; 
Creator  of  all  worldly  things, 

And  giver  of  both  time  and  place  : 
To  Him  I  do  resign  my  breath 

Ami  that  immortal  soul  He  gave  me, 
Sincerely  hoping  after  death 

The  merits  of  His  Son  will  save  me. 
Oh,  bury  not  my  peaceful  corpse 

In  Cripplegate,  where  discord  dwells, 
And  wrangling  parties  jangle  worse 

Than  alley  scolds  or  Sunday's  bells. 
TogooJSt.  Patients'  holy  ground 

I  dedicate  my  lifeless  clay 
Till  the  last  trumpet's  joyful  sound 

Shall  raise  me  to  eternal  day. 
No  costly  funeral  prepare, 

'Twixt  sun  and  sun  I  only  crave 


A  hearse  and  one  black  coach,  to  bear 

My  wile  and  children  to  my  grave. 
My  wife  I  do  appoint  the  sole 

Executrix  of  this  my  Will, 
And  set  my  hand  unto  the  scrole, 

In  hopes  the  same  she  will  fulfil. 

"  Made  under  a  dangerous  illness,  and  "  EDW.    WARD." 

signed  this  24th  of  June,  1731. 

Here,  too,  is  buried  Pasquale  de  Paoli,  the 
hero  of  Corsica,  who  died  April  sth,  1807,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-two.  The  early  part  of  his  life  he 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  which  he  nobly 
maintained  against  Genoese  and  French  tyranny, 
and  was  hailed  as  the  "  Father  of  his  country." 
Being  obliged  to  withdraw  from  Corsica  by  the 
superior  force  of  his  enemies,  he  was  received 
under  the  protection  of  George  III.,  and  found  a 
hearty  and  cordial  welcome  from  the  citizens  of 
London.  A  bust,  with  an  inscription  to  his 
memory,  is  erected  in  the  south  aisle  of  West- 
minster Abbey. 

The  best  known  to  fame  of  the  many  Roman 
Catholic  priests,  not  mentioned  above,  who  have 
been  interred  here,  was  "Father  O'Leary,"  the 
eloquent  preacher,  and  "  amiable  friar  of  the  Order 
of  St.  Francis,"  who  died  in  1802.  His  tomb  was 
restored  by  subscription  among  the  poor  Irish  in 
1842-3.  Many  amusing  anecdotes  are  related  con- 
cerning this  witty  divine : — "  I  wish,  Reverend 
Father,"  once  said  Curran  to  Father  O'Leary,  "  that 
you  were  St.  Peter,  and  had  the  keys  of  heaven, 
because  then  you  could  let  me  in."  "  By  my 
honour  and  conscience,"  replied  O'Leary,  "  it 
would  be  better  for  you  that  I  had  the  keys  of  the 
other  place,  for  then  I  could  let  you  out."  Again, 
a  Protestant  gentleman  told  him  that  whilst  willing 
to  accept  the  rest  of  the  Roman  Catholic  creed,  he 
could  not  believe'  in  purgatory.  "  Ah,  my  good 
friend,"  replied  the  priest,  "  you  may  go  further 
and  fare  worse  !  " 

Here,  in  1811,  was  buried  Sidhy  Effendi,  the 
Turkish  minister  to  this  country.  A  newspaper 
of  the  time  thus  describes  his  interment : — "  On 
arriving  at  the  ground,  the  body  was  taken  out  of 
j  a  white  deal  shell  which  contained  it,  and,  accord- 
j  ing  to  the  Mahometan  custom,  was  wrapped  in 
rich  robes  and  thrown  into  the  grave  ;  immediately 
afterwards  a  large  stone,  nearly  the  size  of  the 
body,  was  laid  upon  it ;  and  after  some  other 
Mahometan  ceremonies  had  been  gone  through, 
the  attendants  left  the  ground.  The  procession 
on  its  way  to  the  churchyard  galloped  nearly  all 
the  way.  The  grave  was  dug  in  an  obscure  corner 
of  the  churchyard." 

Besides  the  graves  of  famous  men  in  Old  St. 
Pancras  churchyard,  this  old-fashioned  noo^  has 


MARY  WOLLSTONECRAFT  GODWIN. 


other  and  interesting  memories  associated  with  it. 
A  curious  story  is  told  which  connects  the  unhappy 
and  highly  gifted  Chatterton  with  this  place.  One 
day,  whilst  looking  over  the  epitaphs  in  this 
churchyard,  he  was  so  deep  sunk  in  thought  as  he 
walked  on.  and  not  perceiving  a  grave  just  dug,  he 
tumbled  into  it.  His  friend  observing  his  situation, 
ran  to  his  assistance,  and,  as  he  helped  him  out, 
told  him,  in  a  jocular  manner,  he  was  happy  in 
assisting  at  the  resurrection  of  Genius.  Poor 
Chatterton  smiled,  and  taking  his  companion  by 
the  arm,  replied,  "  My  dear  friend,  I  feel  the  sting 
of  a  speedy  dissolution ;  I  have  been  at  war  with 
the  grave  for  some  time,  and  find  it  is  not  so  easy 
to  vanquish  it  as  I  imagined — -we  can  find  an 
asylum  to  hide  from  every  creditor  but  that!" 
His  friend  endeavoured  to  divert  his  thoughts  from 
the  gloomy  reflection  ;  but  what  will  not  melancholy 
and  adversity  combined  subjugate  ?  In  three  days 
after  ihe  neglected  and  disconsolale  youth  put  an 
end  to  his  miseries  by  poison.* 

A  more  affecting  incident,  perhaps,  might  have 
been  witnessed  here,  when  Shelley,  the  poet,  met 
Mary,  the  daughter  of  William  Godwin,  and  in  hot 
and  choking  words  told  her  the  story  of  his  wrongs 
and  wretchedness.  This  girl,  afterwards  the  wife 
of  the  poet,  has  been  thus  described  by  Mrs. 
Cowden  Clarke  :  "  Very,  very  fair  was  this  lady, 
Mary  Wollstonecraft  Godwin,  with  her  well-shaped 
golden-haired  head  almost  always  a  little  bent  and 
drooping,  her  marble-white  shoulders  and  arms 
statuesquely  visible  in  the  perfectly  plain  black 
velvet  dress,  which  the  customs  of  that  time 
allowed  to  be  cut  low,  and  which  her  own  taste 
adopted ;  her  thoughtful,  earnest  eyes,  her  short 
upper  lip  and  intellectually  curved  mouth,  with  a 
certain  close-compressed  and  decisive  expression 
while  she  listened,  and  a  relaxation  into  fuller 
redness  and  mobility  when  speaking ;  her  ex 
quisitely-formed,  white,  dimpled,  small  hands,  will- 
rosy  palms,  and  plumply  commencing  fingers,  that 
tapered  into  tips  as  delicate  and  slender  as  those 
in  a  Vandyke  portrait,  all  remain  palpably  presen 
to  memory.  Another  peculiarity  in  Mrs.  Shelley's 
hand  was  its  singular  flexibility,  which  permitted 
her  bending  the  fingers  back  so  as  almost  t< 
approach  the  portion  of  her  arm  above  her  wrist. 
She  once  did  this  smilingly  and  repeatedly,  to  amuse 
the  girl  who  was  noting  its  whiteness  and  pliancy, 
and  who  now,  as  an  old  woman,  records  its  re- 
markable beauty."  Many  are  the  verses 
Shelley  to  Mary  Godwin,  the  dedication 


'  The 


Revolt    of  Islam"   being    among    the    most  im- 


See VoL  II.,  p.  547- 


passioned;  but  the  following  will  suffice  as  a 
specimen  : — 

"They  say  that  thou  wert  lovely  from  thy  birth, 
Of  glorious  parents,  thou  aspiring  child. 
I  wonder  not-for  one  they  left  the  earth 
Whose  life  was  like  a  setting  planet  mild 
Which  clothed  thee  in  the  radiance  undefiled 
Of  its  departing  glory ;  still  her  fame 
Shines  on  thee,  thro'  the  tempests  dark  and  wild 
Which  shake  these  latter  days  ;  and  thou  canst  claim 
The  shelter,  from  thy  sire,  of  an  immortal  name. 

"  Truth's  deathless  voice  pauses  among  mankind  ;* 
If  there  must  be  no  response  to  my  cry, 
If  men  must  rise  and  stamp  with  fury  blind 
On  his  pure  name  who  loves  them,  thou  and  I, 
Sweet  friend  !  can  look  from  our  tranquillity, 
Like  lamps  into  the  world's  tempestuous  night; 
Two  tranquil  stars,  while  clouds  are  passing  by 
Which  wrap  them  from  the  foundering  seaman's  sight, 
That  burn  from  year  to  year  with  unextinguished  light.'1 

Mrs.  Shelley's  passion  for  her  husband  was  exalted 
and  beautiful :—'"  Gentle,  brave,  and  generous,' 
he  described  the  poet  in  '  Alastor ; '  such  he  was 
himself,  beyond  any  man  I  have  ever  known.  To 
these  admirable  qualities  was  added  his  genius. 
He  had  but  one  defect,  which  was  his  leaving  his 
life  incomplete  by  an  early  death.  Oh,  that  the 
serener  hopes  of  maturity,  the  happier  contentment 
of  mid  life,  had  descended  on  his  dear  head." 

Among  the  quaint  epitaphs  in  this  old  church- 
yard, we  may  be  pardoned  for  printing  the  follow- 
ing, as  it  is  now  nearly  illegible : — 

';  Underneath  this  stone  doth  lye 
The  body  of  Mr.  Humpherie 
Jones,  who  was  of  late 
By  Trade  a  plate- 
Worker  in  Barbicanne ; 
Well  known  to  be  a  good  manne 
By  all  his  Friends  and  Neighbours  too, 
And  paid  every  bodie  their  due. 
He  died  in  the  year  1737, 
August  loth,  aged  80 ;  his  soule,  we  hope,  's  in 

Heaven." 

A  good  epigram,  by  an  unknown  hand,  thus  com- 
memorates this  depository  of  the  dead  : — 
"  Through  Pancras  Churchyard  as  two  tailors  were  walking, 
Of  trade,  news,  and  politics  earnestly  talking, 
Says  one,  '  These  fine  rains,  Thomas,'  looking  around, 
'  Will  bring  things  all  charmingly  out  of  the  ground.' 
'  Marrv,  Heaven  forbid,'  said  the  other,  '  for  here 
I  buried  two  wives  without  shedding  a  tear.'" 

In  1803  a  large  portion  of  the  ground  adjoining 
the  old  churchyard  was  appropriated  as  a  cemetery 
for  the  parish  of  St.  Giles's-in-the-Fields ;  and  m 
it  was  buried,  among  other  celebrities,  the  eminent 
architect,  Sir  John  Soane,  and  also  his  wife  and 
son,  whose  death,  in  all  probability,  caused  Sir 
John  to  make  the  country  his  heir,  and  to  found, 


336 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[St. 


public  institution,  the  museum  which  bears  his 
le  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  and  which  we  have 


and  liabilities  in  all  respects  as  if  it  were  a  church- 
yard ',  and  make  the  necessary  repair  of  the  walls 


already  described.  and  other  fences   of  **    disused  burial-ground  ; 

In  1862  the  Midland  Railway  Company,  wish-  and  he  or  they  respectively  shall  be  the  person  or 
ing  to  connect  their  line  of  railway  in  Bedfordshire  !  persons  from  time  to  time  legally  chargeable  for; 
with  the  metropolis,  obtained  an  Act  of  Parliament,  the  costs  and  expenses  of  and  incident  to  any  such( 


1700.     From  an  OU  Print.     (Seepage  339.) 


entitled  the  "St.  Giles's  in-the-Fields  Glebe  Act."  i  maintenance  and  repair,  any.  Act  or  Acts  of  Parlia- 
It  was  so  called  because  this  new  line,  in  its  J  ment  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  provided 
course  through  the  north-western  part  of  London,  I  that  the  rector  and  his  successors,  from  time  to 
would  cross  a  portion  of  the  above-mentioned  '  time,  respectively  shall  not  interfere  with,  or  wil- 
burial-ground,  which  immediately  adjoins  the  more  ;  fully  permit  injury  to  be  done  to,  any  vault,  grave, 
famous  one  of  St.  Pancras.  In  one  section  of  the  !  tablet,  monument,  or  tombstone,  either  in  the  dis- 
above  Act  it  is  stated  that  "  the  rector  and  his  used  burial-ground,  or  in  or  under  the  chapel." 
successors,  at  his  or  their  expense,  shall  maintain  I  In  the  following  year  the  same  railway  company 
the  disused  burial-ground  in  decent  order  as  an  |  obtained  further  powers  from  the  Legislature  (who 
open  space  for  ever,  and  subject  to  the  same  rights  i  offered  little  or  no  opposition)  to  take  a  corner 


St.  Pancras.] 


DESECRATION  OF  GRAVEYARDS. 


337 


of  the  St.  Pancras  Churchyard  for  part  of  their  main 
line,  ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  pier 
for  the  viaduct  which  crosses  the  entire  yard,  and 


s  if  otherwise  they  could  not  have  failed  to  have 
learned  from  the  parish  authorities  that  the  whole 
extent  of  both  the  churchyard  and  burial-ground 


which,  from  being  constructed  on  arches,  would  be  were  filled  with  dead  bodies,  including  this  very 
the  means  of  allowing  trains  to  be  constantly  flying  ,  corner,  upon  which,  at  that  time,  the  sexton's 
past  the  very  windows  of  the  church,  and  at  the  ';  house  stood. 


same  time  to  be  rumbling  over  the  tombs  of  the 
hallowed  dead.  The  only  reason  for  taking  this 
corner  was  because  it  was  supposed  by  the  engineer 
of  the  railway  company  "  not  to  have  been  used 
for  interment,  there  being  no  tombstone  or  any 
superficial  indication  of  the  fact."  This,  it  was 
maintained,  would  appear  as  if  the  railway  company 
had  not  made  those  minute  inquiries  into  the 
matter  which  they  should  have  done,  when  they 
arged  such  a  reason  as  an  excuse  for  their  acts ; 
221 


In  1864,  not  content  with  the  powers  they  had 
obtained  in  ,86,  and  1 863,  the  railway  company 
asked  for  fresh  powers-namely,  to  take  the  old 
church  and  the  whole  of  the  graveyard  attached 

50  as  being  part  of  the  land  required,  m  order 

to  effect  a  junction  between  the  mam  line  and  the 
Metropolitan  Railway  at  the  King's  Cross  Station  ; 
but  this  modest  request  was  refused,  and  no  further 
power  was  conceded  to  the  company  than  to  cross 

51  ntire  breadth  of  the  St.  Pancras  burial-ground 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


by  a  tunnel.  The  roof*  of  this  tunnel  was  not  to 
come  within  twelve  feet  of  the  present  surface  of 
the  burial-ground,  although  it  is  stated  that  "  the 
ground  is  so  crowded  with  dead  that  hundreds  of 
bodies  are  buried  to  a  depth  of  twenty-four  feet  in 
the  older  part  of  the  ground."  It  may  be  stated 
here  that,  in  1848,  when  the  church  was  being 
altered,  it  was  found  necessary  to  take  in  a  piece  of 
the  churchyard  to  admit  of  the  enlargement  of  the 
building ;  and  while  making  the  excavations  which 
were  necessary,  it  was  discovered  that  at  depths 
varying  from  eight  to  twelve  feet  the  clay  was 
laden  with  foetid  decomposition  and  filthy  water 
from  the  surrounding  ground,  and  that  masses  of 
coffins  v.-ere  packed  one  upon  the  other  in  rows, 
with  scarcely  any  intervening  ground. 

In  1866  the  railway  company  commenced  their 
operations  against  the  St.  Giles's  burial-ground ; 
but  immediately  upon  the  discovery,  through  the 
works  of  the  contractor,  that  bodies  were  buried 
there,  application  was  made  to  the  Secretary  of 
State  for  the  Home  Department,  as  also  to  the 
solicitors  and  engineer  of  the  company ;  and  an 
undertaking  was  obtained  that  the  works  should 
be  stopped,  and  the  exposed  places  decently 
covered,  until  an  order  could  be  obtained  for  the 
proper  removal  of  the  remains.  Upon  this  dis- 
covery becoming  known,  a  loud  outburst  of  indig- 
nation was  raised  by  the  parishioners,  especially 
those  living  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood,  and 
who,  consequently,  were  most  affected  thereby. 
They  very  justly  considered  that  a  "horrible  dese- 
cration of  the  dead  "  had  taken  place,  and  such  as 
ought  not  to  be  tolerated,  or  even  justified,  by  any 
Act  of  Parliament.  They  accordingly  decided  that 
the  matter  should  be  made  as  public  as  possible, 
and  that  it  should  be  brought  prominently  to  the 
notice  of  the  authorities  in  view  to  putting  a  stop 
to  the  proceedings  of  the  railway  company. 

In  the  House  of  Commons  the  attention  of  the 
Government  was  twice  called  by  a  member  to  the 
proceedings  of  the  railway  company  ;  and  the  con- 
sequent inquiry  into  the  facts  of  the  case  would, 
it  was  fondly  hoped,  protect  this  sacred  spot  from 
profanation.  But  alas  !  that  hope  was  a  vain  one. 
The  company  in  their  turn  appeared  to  have  given 
up  the  making  of  the  tunnel ;  but  in  the  end  the 
railway  was  carried  across  it:  many  tombs  and 
many  bodies  were  displaced,  and  the  authorities 
of  the  parish  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity 
to  enlarge  and  improve  the  place,  and  convert  it 
into  a  public  recreation-ground.  The  old  disused 
burial-ground  was  accordingly  laid  out  as  a  garden, 
and  a  memorial  erected  to  record  the  many  emi- 
nent persons  buried  all  around-  This  memorial 


was  built  at  the  cost  of  Lady  Burdett-Coutts, 
and  the  grounds  were  opened  to  the  public  in  1877. 

The  new  Cemetery  of  St.  Pancras,  eighty-seven 
acres  in  extent,  was  opened  in  1854.  It  is  situated 
on  the  Horse  Shoe  Farm,  at  Finch  ley,  about  four 
miles  from  London,  and  two  miles  from  the 
northern  boundary  of  the  parish.  It  was  the  first 
extra-mural  parish  burial-ground  made  for  the 
metropolis. 

Close  by  the  old  church  of  St.  Pancras  it  would 
appear  that  there  was  formerly  another  "Adam 
and  Eve  "  tavern — a  rival,  possibly,  to  that  which 
we  have  already  noticed  at  the  corner  of  the 
Hampstead  and  Euston  Roads.  The  site  of  the 
old  "  Adam  and  Eve "  tea-gardens,  in  St.  Pancras 
Road,  is  now  occupied  by  Eve  Terrace,  and  a 
portion  of  the  burial-ground  for  St.  Giles's-in-the- 
Fields,  of  which  we  have  spoken  already.  The 
tavern  originally  had  attached  to  it  some  extensive 
pleasure-grounds,  which  were  the  common  resort  of 
holiday-folk  and  pleasure-seekers.  The  following 
advertisements  appear  in  the  newspapers  at  the 
commencement  of  this  century  : — 

ADAM    AND    EVE  TAVERN,    ADJOINING    ST.   PANCRAS 

CHURCHYARD 

G.  Swinnerton,  jun.,  and  Co.,  proprietors,  have  greatly 
improved  the  same  by  laying  out  the  gardens  in  an  elegant 
manner,  improving  the  walks  with  arbours,  flowers,  shrubs, 
&c.,  and  the  long  room  (capable  of  dining  any  company) 
with  paintings,  &c.  The  delightfulness  of  its  situation,  and 
the  enchanting  prospects,  may  justly  be  esteemed  the  most 
agreeable  retreat  in  the  vicinity  of  the  metropolis.  They 
therefore  solicit  the  favour  of  annual  dinners,  &c.,  and  will 
exert  their  best  endeavours  to  render  every  part  of  the  enter- 
tainment as  satisfactory  as  possible.  The  proprietors  have 
likewise,  at  a  great  expense,  fitted  out  a  squadron  of  frigates, 
which,  from  a  love  to  their  country,  they  wish  they  could 
render  capable  of  acting  against  the  natural  enemies  of  Great 
Britain,  which  must  give  additional  pleasure  to  every  well- 
wisher  to  his  country.  They  therefore  hope  for  the  company 
of  all  those  who  have  the  welfare  of  their  country  at  heart, 
and  those  in  particular  who  are  of  a  mechanical  turn,  as  in 
the  above  the  possibility  of  a  retrograde  motion  is  fully 

The  Gardens  at  the  Adam  and  Eve,  St.  Pancras  Church, 
;  opened    for   this  season,    which  are  genteel    and  rural. 
Coffee,  tea,  and  hot  loaves  every  day  ;  where  likewise  cows 
are  kept  for    making    syllabubs  :    neat  wines  and  all  sorts 
of  fine  ales.     Near  which  gardens  is  a  field  pleasantly  situated 
for  trap-ball  playing.     Mr.  Laml>ert  returns  those  gentlemen 
thanks  who  favoured  him  with  their  bean-feasts  last  season, 
and  hopes  for  the  continuance  of  their  future  favours,  which 
ever  be  most  gratefully  acknowledged  by,  gentlemen, 
your  most  obedient  humble  servant,         GEO.  LAMBERT. 
t&$'  Dinners  dressed  on  the  shortest  notice  ;  there  is  also 
long  room  which  will  accommodate  loo  persons. 
All  those  who  love  trap-ball  to  Lambert's  repair. 
Leave  the  smoke  of  the  town,  and  enjoy  the  fresh  air. 

Apropos  of  this  place  of  rural  retirement  for  the 
citizen  of  years  long  gone  by,  as  a  place  to  which 


THE   "MAYOR   OF   GARRATT." 


he  could  escape  from  the  din  and  turmoil  of  the 


great 


Babel  of  London,  we  may  be  pardoned  for 


quoting  the  words  of  the  facetious  Tom  Brown, 
in  his  "  London  Walks  : "— "  It  was  the  wont  of 
the  good  citizens,"  he  says,  "  to  rise  betimes  on 
Sunday    mornings,    and,    with    their    wives    and 
children  under  their  arms,  sally  forth  to  brush  the 
cobwebs  from  their  brains,  and  the  smoke  from 
their  lungs,  by  a  trip  into  the  country.     Having  no 
cheap  excursions  by  boat  and  rail  to  relieve  the 
groaning  of  the  metropolis  for  twelve  hours  of  a 
few    of   its    labouring   thousands,  the   immediate 
neighbourhood  of  London  naturally  became   the 
breathing  space  and  pleasure-ground  of  the  lieges 
to  whom  time  and  shillings  were  equally  valuable. 
Then  it  was  that  Sadler's  and  Bagnigge  Wells,  the 
Conduit,  Marylebone  Gardens,  the  Gun  (at  Pimlico) 
Copenhagen    House,     Jack    Straw's    Castle,    the 
Spaniards  and  Highbury  Barn,  first  opened  thei 
hospitable  portals,  and  offered  to  the  dusty,  thirsty- 
hungry,  and   perspiring   pleasure-seeker  rest  and 
refreshment— shilling  ordinaries—to  which,  by  the 
way,  a  known  good  appetite  would  not  be  admitted 
under  eighteenpence.      Bowling-greens,  where  the 
players,  preferring  elegance,  appeared  in  their  shirt 
sleeves  and  shaven  heads,  their  wigs   and   long- 
skirted  coats   being   picturesquely  distributed   on 
the  adjacent  hedges,  under  the  guard  of  their  three- 
cornered    hats    and    Malacca    c  anes.      Hollands, 
punch,  claret,  drawn  from  the  wood  at  three-and 
sixpence  a  quart ;  skittles  and  quoits,  accompanied, 
of  course,  with  pipes  and  tobacco,  offered  the 
fascinations   to    the    male    customers;    while    tl 
ladies  and  juveniles  were  beguiled  with  cake 


Another  advertisement,  which  appeared  forty 
years  later,  states  that— 

St.  Pancras  Wells  Waters  are  in  the  greatest  perfection, 
and  highly  recommended  by  the  most  eminent  physicians 
in  the  kingdom.  To  prevent  mistakes,  St.  Pancras  Wells 

on  that  side  the  churchyard  towards  London ;  the 
house  and  gardens  of  which  are  as  genteel  and'  rural  as 
any  round  this  metropolis  ;  the  best  of  tea,  coffee,  and 
hot  loaves,  every  day,  may  always  be  depended  on,  with 
neat  wines,  curious  punch,  Dorchester,  Marlborough,  and 
Ringwood  beers  ;  Burton,  Yorkshire,  and  other  fine  ales, 
and  cyder ;  and  also  cows  kept  to  accommodate  ladies 
and  gentlemen  with  new  milk  and  cream,  and  syllabubs 
in  the  greatest  perfection.  The  proprietor  returns  his  un- 
feigned thanks  to  those  societies  of  gentlemen  who  have 
honoured  him  with  their  country  feasts,  and  humbly  hopes 


ntinuance  of  their   favo 
r  most  obedient  servant, 


which  will  greatly   oblige 

JOHN  ARMSTRONG. 
'ill   dine   two   hundred   co 


ale, 


nd    shrimps,    strawberries    and   cream 


syllabubs  and  junkets,  swings  and   mazes,  lovers 
walks  and  woodbine  bowers." 

St.   Pancras  had   formerly    its  mineral   springs 
which  were  much  resorted  to.      Near  the  church 
yard,  in  the  yard  of  a  house,  is,  or  was  till  recently 
the  once  celebrated  St.  Pancras  Wells,  or  Spa,  <• 
waters  of  which  are  said  to  have  been  of  a  sligl: 
cathartic  nature.     The    gardens  of    the  Spa  w 
very   extensive,    and   laid  out   with   long  strai 
walks,  which  were  used  as  a  promenade  by  th 
visitors.      In  the   bills   issued    by  the  proprietor 
it  was  stated   that   the  quality  of  its  waters 
"surprisingly  successful  in  curing  the  most  obst 
nate  cases  of  scurvy,  king's  evil,  leprosy,  and  a 
other  breakings  out  of  the  skin."     The  followin 
advertisement,  dated   13111    February,   1729,  thi 
alludes  to  the  Spa : — 

To  be  Lett,  at  Pancras,  a  large  II.m,e,  commonly 
Pancridge  Wells,  with  a  Garden,  Stable,  and  ot 
ences.     Inquire,  &c. 


Note.— Two   long  roon 

pleatly.     June  10,  1769. 

Apart  from  its  tea-gardens  and  mineral  springs, 

St.  Pancras  has  in  its  time  possessed  a  building 
evoted  to  the  Muses,  for  we  learn  that  at  a 
ivate  amateur  theatre  in  Pancras  Street,  Mr.  J. 
.  Planche"  made  some  of  his  earliest  appearances 
i  a  stage. 

The  "  village  "  of  St.  Pancras,  too,  has  not  been 
thout  its  oddities  ;  for  such,  we  presume,  must 
ave  been  one  Harry  Dimsdale,  or,  as  he  was 
ailed,  Sir  Harry,  the  mock  "  Mayor  of  Garratt,"  * 
ho  was  a  well-known  character,  some  years  since, 
t  all  the  public-houses  in  the  parish.  According 
o  Mr.  Palmer,  in  his  "  History  of  St.  Pancras," 
was  a  poor  diminutive  creature,  deformed, 
nd  half  an  idiot.  He  was  by  profession  a  muffin- 
eller.  The  watermen  at  the  hackney-coach  stands 
hroughout  the  parish  used  to  torment  him  sadly ; 
Imost  every  day  poor  Harry  was  persecuted,  and 
requently  so  roughly  used  by  them  that  he  often 
hed  tears.  Death  released  poor  Harry  from  his 
)ersecutors  in  the  year  1811."  There  are  several 
)ortraits  of  him  in  existence. 
Inter  alia,  St.  Pancras  has  the  honour  of  having 


manuel  Jenni 


given  birth  to  the  imaginary  "  Em 

who  figures  in  the  "Rejected  Addresses"  in  th( 


t,  St.  Pancras,  he  was  bred, 
and  near  the  '  Granby's  Head.' " 


mitation  of  Crabbe — 

"  In  Holy  well  Sire, 
Facing  the  pump, 

Before  proceeding  to  describe  Somers  Town  in 
detail,  we  may  state  that  the  vivid  imagination  of 
Dr.  Stukeley,  whose  utter  untrustwort lint"  a| 
antiquary  is  shown  by  the  late  Mr    1,  E  Wood- 
ed in  the  Gentleman's  _  Ma^nc  for     866    no 


only  discovered  the  rema 


ns  of  a  veritable  Roman 


(called   the  Brill),  but  drew  it  out  01 


>  See  Vol.  VI.,  p.  486- 


34° 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Somers  Town. 


paper,  in  minute  detail,  showing  even  the  stables 
of  the  horse  soldiers.  Dr.  Stukeley  affirmed  that 
the  old  church  of  St.  Pancras  covered  part  of  the 
encampment,  the  outline  and  plan  of  which  he 
gave  in  the  "  Itinerarium  Curiosum,"  as  far  back 
as  1758;  but  notwithstanding  that  his  opinion  has 
been  strongly  condemned  by  more  trustworthy 
antiquaries  and  topographers,  the  supposition  of 
Dr.  Stukeley  may  derive  some  confirmation  from 
the  fact  that  in  1842  a  stone  was  found  at  King's 
Cross  or  Battle  Bridge,  bearing  on  it  the  words 
LEG.  XX.  (Legio  Vicesima),  one  of  those  Roman 
legions  which  we  know  from  Tacitus  to  have 
formed  part  of  the  army  under  Suetonius.  It  may 
further  be  mentioned  that  the  spot  known  for  so 
many  centuries  as  Battle  Bridge,  and  the  traditional 
scene  of  a  fierce  battle  between  the  Britons  and  the 
Romans,  corresponds  very  closely  to  the  description 
of  the  battle-field  as  still  extant  in  the  pages  of  the 
1 4th  book  of  the  "  Annals  "  of  Tacitus.  We  learn 
from  a  writer  in  Notes  and  Queries  (No.  230),  that 


during  the  Civil  War  a  fortification  was  erected  at 
the  Brill  Farm,  near  Old  St.  Pancras  Church,  where, 
some  hundred  and  twenty  years  later,  Somers  Town 
was  built.  A  view  of  it,  published  in  1642,  is 
engraved  on  page  336. 

We  may  add,  in  concluding  this  chapter,  that 
the  desecration  of  the  St.  Pancras  churchyard,  of 
which  we  have  spoken  above,  was  as  nothing  com- 
pared to  the  demolition  of  the  hundreds  of  houses 
of  the  poorer  working  classes  in  Agar  Town  and 
Somers  Town,  occasioned  by  the  extension  of  the 
Midland  Railway.  The  extent  of  this  clean  sweep 
was,  and  is  still,  comparatively  unknown,  and  has 
caused  a  very  considerable  portion  of  St.  Pancras 
parish  to  be  efiaced  from  the  map  of  London. 
Perhaps  no  part  of  London  or  its  neighbourhood 
;  has  undergone  such  rapid  and  extensive  transforma- 
j  tion.  It  will,  perhaps,  be  said  that  in  the  long  run 
the  vicinity  has  benefited  in  every  way ;  but  it  is  to 
be  feared  that  in  the  process  of  improvement  the 
weakest  have  been  thrust  rather  rudely  to  the  wall 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 
SOMERS     TOWN     AND     EUSTON     SQUARE. 

"Quis  novus  liic  nt»tri«  successit  sedibus  hoipes?"-*-'/^,/.  ".£*.•• 

Gradual  Rise  and  Decline  of  Somers  Town-The  Place  largely  Colonised  by  Forcigners-A  Modem  Miracle— Skinner  Street-The  Brffl-A 
Wholesale  Clearance  of  Dwelling-houses— Ossulston  Street— Charlton  Street— The  "Coffee  House"— Clarendon  Square  and  the  Polygon — 
Mary  WolUtoncraft  Godwin-The  Chapel  of  St.  Aloysius-Thc  AbW  Canon-Thc  Rev.  John  NerincU- Seymour  Slrcet-The  RaUway 
Clea.ing  House-The  Kuston  Day  Scliools-St.  Mary's  Episcopal  Chapel-Dnimmond  Streel-The  Railway  Benevolent  Inititution-The 
London  and  North -Western  Railway  Terminus- Kuston  Square  Dr.  Wolcot  (Peter  Pindarl-Thc  Kuston  Road -Gowcr  Street- Sir  George 
Rose  and  Jack  Hannihtcr— New  St.  I'autras  Church— The  Rev.  Thomas  Dale— Woburn  Place. 


DOWN  to  about  the  close  of  the  last  century,  the  | 
locality  now  known  as  Somers  Town — or,  in  other 
words,  the  whole  of  the  triangular  space  between 
the  Hampstcacl,  Pancras,  and  Euston  Roads— was 
almost  exclusively  pastoral  ;  and  with   the    cxcep-  i 
tion  of  a  few  straggling  houses  near  the  "  Mother  I 
Red  Cap,"  at  Camden  Town,  anil  also  a  few  round  ! 
about    the  old   church  of  St.    Pancras,   there  was  ! 
nothing  to  intercept  the   view  of  the   Hampstead  ' 
uplands  from   Queen's  Square  and  the  Foundling 
Hospital.     An  interesting  account  of  the  gradual 
rise    and  decline  of  this  district    is   given    in  the 
Gentleman's  Magazine  for   1813,  wherein  the  writer 
says  :— "  Commencing  at  Southampton  Row,  near  • 
Holborn,  is  an  excellent  private  road,  belonging  to  j 
the  Duke  of  Bedford,  and  the  fields  along  the  road  ; 
are    intersected  with  paths  in  various   directions.  \ 
The  pleasantness  of  the  situation,  and  the  tempta- 
tion offered  by  the  New  Road,  induced  some  people 
to  build  on  the  land,  and  the  Somers  places,  east 
and  west,  arose;    a  few  low  buildings  near  the 


Duke's  road  (now  near  the  'Lord  Nelson')  first 
made  their  appearance,  accompanied  by  others  of 
the  same  description  ;  and  after  a  while  Somers 
Town  was  planned.  Mr.  Jacob  Leroux  became 
the  principal  landowner  under  Lord  Somers.  The 
former  built  a  handsome  house  for  himself,  and 
various  streets  were  named  from  the  title  of  the 
noble  lord  (Somers) ;  a  chapel  was  opened,  and  a 
polygon  began  in  a  square.  Everything  seemed  to 
prosper  favourably,  when  some  unforeseen  cause 
arose  which  checked  the  fervour  of  building, 
and  many  carcases  of  houses  were  sold  for  less 
than  the  value  of  the  building  materials.  In  the 
meantime  gradual  advances  were  made  on  the 
north  side  of  the  New  Road  (now  the  Euston 
Road),  from  Tottenham  Court  Road,  and,  finally, 
the  buildings  on  the  south  side  reached  the  line  of 
Gower  Street  Somewhat  lower,  and  nearer  to 
Battle  Bridge,  there  was  a  long  grove  of  stunted 
trees,  which  never  seemed  to  thrive ;  and  on  the 
site  of  the  Bedford  Nursery  a  pavilion  was  erected, 


Som.rs  Town.1, 


A   MODERN   MIRACLE. 


341 


in  which   Her   Royal   Highness   the  Duchess  of 

York  gave  away  colours    to  a  volunteer  regiment. 

The   interval    between    Southampton   Place    and 

Somers  Town  was  soon  one  vast  brick-field.     On 

the  death   of  Mr.  Leroux,"  continues  the  writer, 

"and  the  large  property  being  submitted  to   the 

hammer,  numbers  of  small  houses  were  sold  for 

less  than  ^£150,  at  rents  of  .£20  per  annum  each. 

The  value  of  money  decreasing  at  this  time,  from 

thirty  to  forty  guineas  were  demanded  as  rents  for 

these  paltry  habitations;    hence    everybody  who 

could  obtain  the  means  became  a  builder  :  carpen- 

ters, retired  publicans,  leather  workers,  haymakers, 

&c.,  each  contrived  to  raise  his  house  or  houses, 

and  every  street  was  lengthened  in  its  turn.    The 

barracks    for  the  Life  Guards,  in   Charlton  Street, 

became   a  very   diminutive  square,  and    now  we 

really  find    several   of   these   streets   approaching 

the  old  Pancras  Road.     The  Company  of  Skinners, 

who   own   thirty  acres   of  land,   perceiving  these 

projectors  succeed  in  covering  the  north  side  o 

the    New    Road    from    Somers    Place    to  Battk 

Bridge,  and  that  the  street  named  from  them  has 

reached    the    'Brill    Tavern,'    have    offered    the 

ground  to    Mr.   Burton  to  build  upon,  and   it  i 

now    covered    by  Judd  Street,  Tonbridge    Place 

and  a  new  chapel  for  some  description  of    Dis 

senters  or  other."     Mr.   Burton,  as   we  have  pre 

viously  stated,  was  the  builder,    not    only  of  the 

houses  covering  the  land  belonging  to  the  Skinners' 

Company,  but    also  of    Russell   Square,  Bedford 

Place,  &c.* 

At  the  end  of  the  last  century  this  district,  rents 
being  cheap,  was  largely  colonised  by  foreign  arti- 
sans, mostly  from  France,  who  were  driven  on  our 
shores  by  the  events  of  the  Reign  of  Terror  and 
the  first  French  Revolution.  Indeed,  it  became 
nearly  as  great  a  home  of  industry  as  Clerkenwell 
and  Soho.  It  may  be  added  that,  as  the  neighbour 


'amden  Towns  will  soon  be  closely  connected 
nth  it."  During  the  ten  subsequent  years  we  find 
hat  great  strides  had  been  made  in  the  progress  of 
Building  in  Somers  Town,  for  a  correspondent  of 
Hone's  "Year  Book,"  in  1832,  tells  us  that,  though 
t  had  then  become  little  better  than  another 
irm  to  the  "  Monster  Briareus "  of  London,  he 
•emembered  it  as  "  isolated  and  sunny,  when  he 
first  haunted  it  as  a  boy." 

Under  the  heading  of  "A  Miracle  at  Somers 
Town,"  Hone,  in  his  "  Every-day  Book,"  tells  the 
following  laughable  tale  :  — "  Mr.  ,  a  middle- 
aged  gentleman  who  had  long  been  afflicted  by 
various  disorders,  and  especially  by  the  gout,  had 
so  far  recovered  from  a  severe  attack  of  the  latter 
complaint,  that  he  was  enabled  to  stand,  yet  with 
so  little  advantage,  that  ho  could  not  walk  more 
than  fifty  yards,  and  it  took  him  nearly  an  hour  to 
perform  that  distance.     While  thus  enfeebled  by 
suffering,  and  safely  creeping  in  great  difficulty,  on 
a  sunny  day,  along  a  footpath  by  the  side  of  a 
field  near  Somers  Town,  he  was  alarmed  by  loud 
cries  intermingled  with  the  screams  of  many  voices 
behind  him.      From  his  infirmity  he  could  only 
turn  very  slowly  round,  and  then,  to  his  astonish- 
ment, he  saw,  within  a  yard  of  his  coat-tail,  the 
horns   of  a  mad   bullock  —  when,   to   the   equal 
astonishment  of  its  pursuers,  this  unhappy  gentle- 
an  instantly  leaped  the  fence,  and,  overcome  by 
rror,    continued   to   run   with   amazing    celerity 
early  the  whole  distance  of  the  field,  while  the 
nimal  kept  its  own  course  along  the  road.     The 
entleman,  who  had  thus  miraculously  recovered 
ic  use  of  his  legs,  retained  his  power  of  speed 
ntil  he  reached  his  own  house,  where  he  related 
he  miraculous  circumstance ;  nor  did  his  quickly 
estored  faculty  of  walking  abate  until  it  ceased 
nth    his    life    several    years    afterwards.       This 
niraculous  cure,"  adds  Mr.  Hone,  "can  be  attested 


. 

hood  of  Manchester  and  Portman  Squares  formed 
the  head-quarters  of  the  emigres  of  the  wealthier 
class  who  were  thrown  on  our  shores  by  the  waves 
of  the  first  French  Revolution,  so  the  exiles  of 
the  poorer  class  found  their  way  to  St.  Pancras, 
and  settled  down  around  Somers  Town,  wher 


they  opened 


Catholic  chapel,  at  first  in  Charlton 


Street,  Clarendon  Square,  and  subsequently  m  the 
square  itself.  Of  this  church,  which  is  dedicatee 
to  St.  Aloysius,  we  shall  have  more  to  say  pre 


Aloysius, 

^'Somers  Town,"  wrote  the  Brother 
I823,  "has  now  no  other  division  fr 


Percy   ir 
the  n 


1OZ5,         m*a     u*  r          •   , 

of  the   metropolis  but  a   road,   and  Kentish 


s,.tV»i.  IV.,  p.  «;«. 


3y  his  surviving  relatives." 

Skinner  Street,  where  we  now  resume  our 
jerambulation,  lies  in  the  south-east  corner  of 
Somers  Town,  and  connects  the  Euston  Road  with 
Brill  Row ;  this  street  is  so  called  after  the  Skinners' 
Company,  who,  as  above  stated,  own  a  great  part 
of  this  district.  The  company  hold  the  land  on 
behalf  of  their  grammar  school,  at  Tonbridge,  in 
Kent.  The  property,  which  was  originally  known 
as  the  Sandhills  Estate,  and  was  comparatively 
worthless  three  centuries  ago,  was  bequeathed  by 
Sir  Andrew  Judd,  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  in  1558, 
to  endow  the  said  school  ;t  hence  the  nomencla- 
ture of  the  streets  in  this  neighbourhood-Judd 


342 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Soracrs  Town. 


Street,  Skinner  Street,  Tonbridge  Place,  &c.  The 
property  now  brings  in  a  regular  income  of  several 
thousands  a  year. 


known  fish,  our  early  riser  will  most  probably  find 
that  the  Somers  '  Brill '  claims  no  special  relation- 
ship to  the  scaly  tribe.  .  .  Here  is  the  '  Brill ' 


Brill  Row,  at  the  northern  end  of  Skinner  Street,     tavern,  and  how  it  came  to  have  this  name  would, 


together  with  the  "  Brill "  tavern  close  by,  ar 
nearly  all  that  remains  of  the  locality  once  familiarly 
known  by  that  name,  which  was  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  a  range  of  narrow  streets  crossing  each 


no  doubt,  be  as  interesting  as  to  know  the  origin 
of  the  names  given  to  other  public-houses.  Some 
landlord  of  old  may  have  had  a  particular  liking 
for  this  fish,  or  may  have  been  fortunate  in  pro- 


other  at  right  angles,  and  full  of  costermongers'  |  curing  a  super-excellent  cook  who  could  satisfy  the 


shops  and  barrows,  but  which  were  swept  away 
during  the  formation  of  the  Midland  Railway 
Terminus. 

Dr.  Stukeley  derives  the  name  of  the  "  Rrill  "  as 
a  contraction  from  Burgh  Hill,  a  Saxon  name  for  a 
place  on  an  elevated  site  ;  but  surely  that  deriva- 
tion will  scarcely  apply  here,  as  it  certainly  does 
not  lie  as  high  as  the  land  on  its  eastern  or  western 
side.  The  place  on  a  Sunday  morning  was  thus 
facetiously  described  by  a  writer  in  the  Illustrated 
Navs  of  the  \Vorh1,  just  before  the  time  of  its 
demolition  :-—"  The  'Brill'  is  situated  between 
F.uston  Square  and  the  station  of  the  Great 
Northern  Railway,  and  is  a  place  of  great  attraction 
to  thousands  who  inhabit  Somers,  Camdcn,  and 
Kentish  Towns.  Though  bearing  the  name  of  a  well- 


I  most    fastidious    appetite   of   the   most   fastidious 

|  customer  by  placing  before  him  a  superior  dish. 

1  Very  likely  some  local  antiquarian  could  tell  us  all 

j  about   it   and    much    else.     He  could  tell  us,  no 

I  doubt,  when,  and  under  what  circumstances,  this 

north-west  suburb  of  London  itself  was  so  named 

|  from   the  noble  family  of  Somers;  that  this  very 

'  Brill  '  was   known  in  days  gone  by  as  Cxsar's 

Camp,  and  for  this  latter  statement  might  quote  as 

an  authority  the  distinguished  and  well-known  Dr. 

Stukeley  himself.     The  oldest  inhabitant  could  also 

talk  with   great   volubility  respecting   the   site   on 

which  Somers  Town  now  stands — how,  some  sixty 

or  seventy  or  more  years  ago,  it  was  a  piece  of 

wild  common  or  barren  brick-field,  whither  resorted 

on    Sundays    the   bird  fanciers   and    many  of  the 


THE   "BRILL.' 


343 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


'  roughs '  from  London  to  witness  dog-fights,  bull- 
baiting,  and  other  rude  sports,  now  happily  un- 
known in  the  locality.  This  'oldest  inhabitant' 
would  most  probably  contrast  the  dark  ages  of 
Somers  Town  with  its  present  enlightened  and 
civilised  days,  and  conclude  an  animated  harangue 
with  the  words — '  Nobody  would  believe  that  here, 
where  I  can  now  purchase  tea,  coffee,  beef,  every- 
thing I  want,  on  a  Sunday  morning,  that  such 
barbarous  practices  were  followed  while  bishops 
and  divines  were  preaching  in  St.  Paul's,  St. 
Pancras,  and  in  all  the  churches  and  chapels 
around  on  the  Divine  obligation  of  the  Sunday ; 
nobody  would  believe  such  a  thing  now.' 

"  As  the  philanthropic  or  curious  visitor  enters 
Skinner  Street,  about  eleven  o'clock  some  bright 
Sunday  morning,  his  ears  will  be  greeted,  not  by 
the  barking  of  dogs  and  the  roaring  of  infuriated 
bulls,  as  of  old,  but  by  the  unnaturally  loud  cries 
of  men,  women,  boys,  and  girls,  anxious  to  sell 
edibles  and  drinkables — in  fact,  everything  which 
a  hard-working  man  or  poor  sempstress  is  supposed 
to  need  in  order  to  keep  body  and  soul  together. 
The  various  so-called  necessaries  of  life  have  here 
their  special  advocates.  The  well-known  'buy, 
buy,  buy,'  has,  at  the  '  Brill,"  a  peculiar  shrillness 
of  tone,  passing  often  into  a  scream— and  well  it 
may,  for  the  meat  is  all  ticketed  at  4id.  per  pound. 
Here  the  female  purchasers  are  not  generally  styled 
'ladies,'  but  'women,'  and  somewhat  after  this 
fashion — '  This  is  the  sort  of  cabbage,  or  meat,  or 
potatoes  to  buy,  women  ; '  and  each  salesman  seems 
to  think  that  his  success  depends  upon  the  loud- 
ness  of  his  cry.  .  .  .  The  purchasers  not  only 
come  from  all  parts  of  Somers  Town  itself  to  this 
spot  on  a  Sunday  morning,  but  from  Camden  Town, 
Holloway,  Hampstead,  and  Highgate,  and  even  from 
distances  of  five  and  six  miles.  The  leading  im- 
pression made  by  the  moving  scene  is  that  of  great 
activity  and  an  '  eye  to  business.'  Every  one  at 
the  '  Brill,'  as  a  rule,  comes  there  on  a  Sunday 
morning  for  a  definite  purpose.  The  women  come 
to  buy  meat,  fish,  vegetables,  and  crockery;  and 
the  men,  chiefly  '  navigators,'  as  they  are  termed, 
come  to  purchase  boots,  boot-laces,  blouses, 
trousers,  coats,  caps,  and  other  articles  of  wearing 
apparel. 

"  Altogether,  at  the  Brill  matters  are  carried  on 
in  a  business-like  way.  The  salesmen,  many  of 
them  young  boys,  are  too  intent  on  selling,  and  the 
purchasers  too  intent  on  buying,  to  warrant  the  sup- 
position that  they  derive  much  spiritual  benefit 
from  the  preachers  of  all  persuasions  and  of  no 
persuasions  who  frequent  the  neighbourhood.  The 
'moit  ardent,  and  apparently  the  moit  lucceiiful,  of 


the  street  preachers  are  those  who  occupy  posts  in 
the  immediate  vicinity,  and  '  hold  forth '  in  familiar 
strains  on  the  advantages  of  teetotalism,  and  the 
evil  consequences  following  intemperance." 

Although,  as  we  have  stated,  a  large  portion  of 
the  houses  in  this  locality  have  been  swept  away, 
some  few  remain.  Of  these  we  may  take  as  a  speci- 
men, Chapel  Street,  in  which  the  same  attractions  at 
those  above  mentioned  are  still  held  out,  especially 
on  Saturday  evenings  and  Sunday  mornings. 

"  On  inquiry,"  says  the  writer  above  quoted,  "  it 
will  be  found  that  this  market  is  in  every  way  a 
very  profitable  concern,  both  to  those  who  expose 
their  goods  for  sale  and  those  who  own  the  pro- 
perty in  the  surrounding  neighbourhood.  The 
small  paltry-looking  houses,  with  a  front  shop,  and 
very  restricted  accommodation,  yield  a  yearly  rental 
of  from  £60  to  ^80  per  annum.  It  is  not  likely, 
therefore,  everything  considered,  that  either  the 
owners  of  the  property,  the  proprietors  of  the  shops 
and  stalls,  or  the  purchasers  themselves,  who  have 
special  advantages  given  them,  will  take  the  initia- 
tive in  abolishing  the  Sunday  morning  Brill  trade. 
Whatever  is  done  in  this  direction  must  be  brought 
to  bear  alt  extra;  wages  must  be  paid  earlier  in  the 
week,  facilities  afforded  to  the  poorer  classes  for 
purchasing  in  the  cheapest  markets,  and  other 
changes,  which  in  due  course  the  philanthropic  and 
humane  will  bring  about  when  they  once  know  the 
actual  state  of  things,  and  recognise  the  necessity 
of  abolishing  Sunday  trading  altogether." 

The  fourteen  acres  of  land  taken  by  the  Midland 
Railway  Company  were  covered  with  dwellings 
occupied  by  poor  people,  and  the  whole  of  this 
population  were  driven  out  of  their  old  homes  and 
compelled  to  seek  fresh  accommodation  elsewhere  : 
most  of  them  migrated  to  Kentish  Town  and  the 
Gospel  Oak  Fields,  already  mentioned  above. 

Ossulston  Street,  the  next  turning  westward  from 
Skinner  Street,  keeps  in  remembrance  the  name  of 
the  ancient  hundred  of  Ossulston,  a  geographical 
division  which  still,  as  in  the  days  of  our  Saxon 
ancestors,  embraces  a  great  part  of  the  north-western 
districts  of  London,  but  is  now  forgotten,  though  it 
furnishes  the  Earl  of  Tankerville  with  his  second 
title. 

Passing  still  further  along  the  Euston  Road,  we 
arrive  at  Charlton  Street.  In  this  street  is  a  public- 
house  called  the  "Coffee  House."  The  name 
seems  inappropriate  now,  but  is  not  really  so,  for 
in  early  times  it  really  was  what  that  name  imports 
—the  only  coffee-house  in  the  neighbourhood. 
"Early  in  the  last  centflry  Somers  Town  was  a 
delightful  and  rural  suburb,  with  fields  and  dower* 
gardeni,  A  ihort  distance  down  the  hill,'1  writei 


Som^To*,,]  THE  ABBE   CARRON.  34S 

Mr.  Larwood,  "  were  the  then  famous  Bagnigge  '.  On  one  side  of  the  square  stands  the  Roman 
Wells,  and  close  by  the  remains  of  Totten  Hall,  '  Catholic  Chapel  of  St.  Aloysius,  founded  in  1808, 
with  the  'Adam  and  Eve'  tea-gardens,  and  the  by  the  Abbe"  Carron,  for  the  use  of  the  French 
so-called  King  John's  Palace.  Many  foreign  refugees  who  settled  in  the  neighbourhood.  For 
Protestant  refugees  had  taken  up  their  residence  ^  more  than  half  a  century  the  Rev.  J.  Nerinckx 
this  suburb  on  account  of  the  retirement  it  officiated  here,  and  as  a  memorial  of  his  unremitting 


afforded,  and  the  low  rents  asked  for  small  houses. 
At  this  time  the  Coftee-House  was  a  popular  place 
of  resort,  much  frequented  by  the  foreigners  of  the 


attention  to  his  charge,  a  handsome  monumental 
tablet  was  erected  in  1857.  It  is  nearly  seven  feet 
high,  of  Gothic  design,  carved  in  Caen  stone,  and 


neighbourhood  as  well  as  by  the  pleasure-seeking '  richly  ornamented.  It  is  placed  immediately  out- 
cockney  from  the  distant  city.  There  were  near  \  side  the  railings  of  the  sanctuary,  and  is  inscribed 
at  hand  other  public-houses  and  places  of  enter- 1  "In  memory  of  the  Venerable  and  Saintly  John 
tainment,  but  the  speciality  of  this  establishment  Nerinckx,  born  at  Nenore,  in  Belgium,  August, 
was  its  coffee.  As  the  traffic  increased,  it  became  ,  1776  :  Pastor  of  the  Church  of  St.  Aloysius,  Somers 
a  posting-house,  uniting  the  business  of  an  inn  with  I  Town,  and  Founder  of  the  schools  attached  to  the 
the  profits  of  a  tea-garden.  Gradually  the  demand  I  same  ;  who  after  Fifty-four  Years  of  Faithful 
for  coffee  fell  off,  and  that  for  malt  and  spirituous  1  Service  in  the  Priesthood,  was  called  to  his  Lord 
liquors  increased.  At  present  the  gardens  are  all !  on  the  2ist  of  December,  1855.  On  his  soul 
built  over,  and  the  old  gateway  forms  part  of  the  Sweet  Jesus  have  Mercy."  With  the  reverend 
modern  bar ;  but  there  are  in  the  neighbourhood  j  gentleman's  life  the  history  of  this  "  mission  "  is 
aged  persons  who  remember  Sunday-school  ex-  •  closely  united.  He  joined  the  Abbe1  Carron  in 
cursions."  The  house  was  burnt  down  in  1880,  'January,  1800,  having  succeeded  in  escaping  from 
but  soon  rebuilt.  j  Cayenne,  where  he  had  been  sent  by  the  French 

Charlton  Street  terminates  in  the  south-east  j  Republicans ;  and  he  was  ordained  in  the  chapel 
corner  of  Clarendon  Square,  which,  as  stated  above,  |  in  Charlton  Street  by  the  emigrant  Bishop  of 
occupies  the  site  formerly  covered  by  the  barracks  ,  Avranches. 

of  the  Life  Guards.  This  is  somewhat  irregular!  In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1813,  Mr.  J.  T. 
in  its  plan  as  a  square,  inasmuch  as  in  its  '  Malcolm,  in  speaking  of  the  founder  of  this  church, 
centre  is  inscribed  a  circle  of  houses,  called  the  says  :— "  The  AbW  Carron  is  a  gentleman  who 
Polygon.  In  this  square  lived  Scriven,  the  en- ,  does  his  native  country  honour.  He  resides  in  the 
graver,  and  near  him  De  Wilde,  the  best  pictorial  house  lately  occupied  by  the  builder  Leroux,  and 
annalist  of  our  national  style,  and  from  whose  \  presides  over  four  schools-for  young  ladies,  poor 
pencil  came  all  the  portraits  illustrating  Bell's  ;  girls,  young  gentlemen,  and  poor  boys.  A  dor- 
edition  of  the  »  English  Theatre,"  so  highly  praised  ,  mitory,  bakehouse,  &c.,  are  situated  between  his 


Polygon  lived  ^  ^^  J~AbM  Carron       France, 

her  marriage  with  William  Godwin.     She  was  the       un  succeeded  to  this  charge, 


™s;"^ 

Square,  was,  when  Godwin  lived  in  it,  a  new  row  went  ^^^^^^^g  decorated 
o?  houses,  pleasantly  seated  near  fields  and  nursery  year  ^\\^^^J  The  projecting 
gardens."  Mary  Wollstoncraft  (Godwin)  here  d.ed  j  m  an  elaborate  JJjJW^  are  illished 
in  childbed  in  I797  5  her  infant  grew  to  >  (  P' .  "  m  compartrnents,  representing  the 

i_      j     ^_j     _      ..„  V.OI-Q    ctitprl    in    the    Drevious    wiiii  uaiuuwg^j  AI*,,(,;,IO 


hood,   and,    as  we  have   stated   m    the    previous 
chapter,  became  the  wife  of  the  poet  Shelley. 


, 


346 


ULD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


and  St.  Philomena.  Besides  the  monument  above 
mentioned,  there  are  also  in  this  church  monuments 
to  the  Abbe"  Carron  and  the  Bishop  of  St.  Pol ; 
the  busts  are  said  to  be  faithful  likenesses. 

On  the  west  side  of  Clarendon  Square  is  Sey- 
mour Street,  which,  with  Crawley  and  Eversholt 
Streets,  forms  a  continuous  thoroughfare  between 
the  north-east  corner  of  Euston  Square  and 
Camden  Town,  and  the  other  northern  suburbs. 
In  this  street  is  the  Railway  Clearing  House.  It 
was  established  in  1842,  for  the  mutual  use  of  the 
several  railway  companies.  It  is  regulated  by  an 
Act  of  Parliament  which  was  passed  in  1 850.  The 
following  description  of  its  scope  and  operations 
is  condensed  from  Charles  Knight's  "  Cyclopedia 
of  London  : — "  Many  of  our  readers  may  have  seen 
in  Seymour  Street,  close  to  the  Euston  Square,  an 
office  doorway  inscribed  with  the  name  of  the 
'  Railway  Clearing  House ; '  the  history  of  this 
establishment  is  full  of  instruction  in  connection 
with  our  railway  system.  When  the  various  lines 
of  railway  became  connected  from  end  to  cud,  it 
was  absolutely  necessary  to  devise  some  means  of 
combined  operation,  to  prevent  passengers  from 
being  shifted  from  one  train  to  another  when  they 
left  one  company's  territory  and  entered  upon  that 
of  another.  Again,  all  the  formalities  of  booking, 
weighing,  loading,  packing,  and  conveying  goods, 
and  of  booking  and  conveying  passengers,  if  they 
had  to  be  observed  and  gone  through  afresh  by 
every  company  for  the  same  goods  and  the  same 
passengers,  would  entail  a  great  deal  of  needless 
work  as  well  as  ruinous  delays  and  charges  ;  indeed, 
the  large  traffic,  and  especially  the  through  traffic, 
would  be  almost  paralysed.  To  remedy  this  evil 
a  remarkable  and  successful  scheme  was  adopted, 
even  in  the  early  days  of  railroad  travelling,  based 
on  the  'clearinghouse'  system  of  the  London 
bankers.  A  sort  oi"  imaginaiy  company  is  formed, 
called  the  Clearing  House,  to  \viiic  h  all  the  railways 
stand  related  as  debtors  and  creditors,  and  which 
manages  all  the  cross  accounts  and  fragments  from 
one  company  to  another.  .  .  .  Passengers  all 
pay  their  respective  fares  to  the  company  from 
whose  station  they  start  ;  but  the  goods  toll  may 
be  paid  at  either  end  of  the  journey,  according  to 
circumstances.  The  Clearing  I  louse  has  to  calcu- 
late how  large  a  share  is  due  to  each  company  re- 
spectively, according  to  the  mileage  run,  for  each 
passenger,  parcel,  and  ton  of  goods,  according  to 
the  rates  of  charge  decided  on  by  the  said  com- 
panies. Most  of  the  companies  provide  locomo- 
tives, carriages,  wagons,  and  trucks ;  and  as  all 
these  may  run  on  any  of  the  lines  according  to 
arrangements,  the  Clearing  House  has  to  determine 


how  much  each  company  is  entitled  to  charge  for 
the  use  of  such  rolling-stock  as  is  thus  employed. 
There  is  thus  a  double  account,  every  company 
charging  all  the  rest  for  the  use  of  every  mile  of 
its  fails ;  and  the  Clearing  House  has  to  work 
out  these  complicated  sums,  and  to  determine  the 
exact  ratios  day  by  day.  The  booking  company 
pays  all  the  Government  duty  on  each  passenger's 
fare,  and  this  matter  has  also  to  be  adjusted  by 
other  companies  over  whose  lines  the  same  train 
runs.  A  black  ink  return  is  forwarded  from 
every  station  to  the  Clearing  House  every  day, 
stating  the  amount  of  booking,  moneys  received, 
goods  sent,  £c.,  while  a  red  ink  return  daily  states 
the  amount  of  goods  arrived  and  received  ,  and  the 
Clearing  House  has  to  square  up  these  accounts. 
The  sum  total  of  all  the  black  accounts  ought  to 
agree  with  that  of  the  red  ;  and  if  this  agreement 
does  not  appear,  the  Clearing  House  has  to  seek 
out  the  cause  of  the  discrepancy  and  set  it  straight 
All  the  tickets  and  cheques  are  likewise  sent  in 
hither,  and  these  ought  to  agree  exactly  with  the 
amount  of  moneys  received.  There  are  agents  of 
the  Clearing  House  at  every  junction  and  every 
important  station ;  and  the  system  pursued  is  so 
rigorous  that  the  daily  history,  so  to  speak,  of  every 
locomotive  and  carriage  can  be  traced."  The 
Clearing  House,  it  may  be  added,  enters  into  a 
monthly  settlement  with  all  the  various  companies, 
and  its  managers  are  elected  by  the  companies 
interested  in  its  working. 

'  Some  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  work  accom- 
j  plished  at  the  Railway  Clearing  House  may  be 
\  gathered  from  the  fact  that  in  1842,  the  first  year 
of  its  establishment,  the  number  of  companies 
which  were  parties  to  it  was  forty-nine,  whereas  in 
'  1883  they  amounted  to  seventy-five;  that  in  the 
first  mentioned  year  the  approximate  number  of 
stations  was  887,  but  that  these  amounted  in  1883 
to  7,000 ;  the  approximate  number  of  miles  of 
railway  open  being  over  16,000,  as  against  3,633 
in  1^49;  and  that  the  gross  revenue  adjusted, 
which  was  at  first  ,£1,691,720,  is  now  nearly 
£  1 8,000,000.  The  employes  of  the  Clearing  House 
have  formed  amongst  themselves  a  Literary  Society, 
of  over  a  thousand  members,  with  a  library  of  nearly 
14,000  volumes,  and  various  other  useful  societies. 
In  this  street  are  the  Euston  Day  Schools,  built 
by  the  London  and  North-Western  Railway  Com- 
pany, about  the  year  1850.  The  number  of  boys 
and  girls  on  the  books  is  usually  about  400,  mostly 
the  children  of  railway  employes. 

St.  Mary's  Episcopal  Chapel  is  in  this  street 
The  building  was  erected  from  the  designs  of 
Messrs.  Inwood  :  it  is  constructed  of  brick,  with 


THE    NORTH-WESTERN   RAILWAY   TERMINUS. 


347 


stone  dressings,  and  in  plan  approaches  nearly  to 
a  square.  According  to  a  critical  writer  in  the 
Gentleman's  Magazine,  it  is  "  perhaps  the  completes! 
specimen  of  '  Carpenter's  Gothic '  ever  witnessed, 
the  church  at  Mitcham  only  excepted."  It  is  said 
to  have  cost  ,£15,000  (!),  though  it  seats  only 
1,500  persons.  In  this  street  was  formerly  a  chapel 
of  ease  to  St.  Pancras.  It  was  a  gloomy  building, 
erected  in  1787,  and  called  Bethel  Chapel;  it  after- 
wards belonged  to  the  Baptists. 

Drummond  Street,  which  we  now  enter,  unites 
Seymour  Street  with  the  Hampstead  Road.  At 
No.  57  in  this  street,  a  house  which  was  formerly 
used  as  the  Railway  Clearing  House,  are  now  the 
offices  of  the  Railway  Benevolent  Institution.  This 
association  was  established  in  1859,  for  the  purpose 
of  allowing  grants  and  pensions  of  from  £10  to 
£25  to  disabled  railway  servants  and  widows  o 
deceased  members,  and  to  educate  their  orphan 
children.  The  income,  which  in  1860  was  only 
I.j£i,i6&,  has  now  (1883)  risen  to  .£28,658.  I 
members,  who  are  composed  of  the  officers  am 
working  staff  of  nearly  all  the  chief  railways  in  th 
United  Kingdom,  are  now  upwards  of  80,000,  and 
its  object,  as  shown  above,  is  to  provide  for  these 
individuals,  when  left  in  necessitous  circumstances 
There  is  also  a  "  casualty  fund,"  the  tables  of  whicl 
show  that  2,454  individuals  (in  other  words,  one  i: 
thirty  of  all  the  subscribers)  were  relieved  durin 
the  year  1883,  when  injured  by  accidents.  Th 
institution  is  under  the  patronage  of  the  Queer 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Dukes  of  Sutherland 
Buckingham,  &c.,  and  of  the  principal  railwa; 
directors.  The  contributions  of  the  railwa 
employes  are  supplemented  by  about  10,000  of  th 
public  at  large.  The  subscription  is  IDS.  6d.  fo 
officers  yearly,  and  for  servants  2cl.  a  week.  Th 
sum  of  £2,000  is  now  set  apart  yearly  for  th 
relief  of  distressed  non-members  who  may  meet  wit 
accidents  in  the  performance  of  their  duties  a 
the  widows  of  those  who  are  killed.  There  is  als 
an  orphanage  in  Derby  which  belongs  to  th 
excellent  Institution. 

In  this  street  is  the  principal  entrance  to  tl 
London  and  North-Western  Railway  Terminu 
The  station  itself  occupies  a  surface  of  about  twel 
acres,  in  which  the  operations  necessary  for  t 
dispatch  and  reception  of  nenrly  one  hundr 
trains  per  day  are  carried  on  with  so  little  nois 
confusion,  or  semblance  of  bustle,  that  it  wov 
almost  seem  that  these  complicated  arrangemen 
acted  of  their  own  accord.  The  entrance  to  t 
station  is  through  a  gateway  beneath  a  lofty  ai 
apparently  meaningless  Doric  temple— for  it  seen 
placed  without  reference  to  the  court-yard  it  lea 


—in  the  centre  line  of  Euston  Square.  This 
;h,  which  cost,  it  is  said,  ^30,000,  and  stands 
ere,  judging  by  the  analogy  of  other  railway 
rmini,  we  should  have  expected  to  see  a  modern 
tel,  was  erected  from  a  design  by  Mr.  Hardwick ; 
.d  although  handsome  in  itself,  and  possibly  one 
the  largest  porticoes  in  the  world,  it  nevertheless 
Is  far  short  in  grandeur  to  the  Arc  de  TriompJu 
Paris.  Some  of  the  blocks  of  stone  used  in  its 
)nstruction  weighed  thirteen  tons.  Facing  this 
itrance  is  a  large,  massive,  plain  range  of  build- 
containing  the  offices,  waiting-rooms,  and 
oard  and  meeting-rooms  of  the  company. 

As  Melrose  should  be  seen  by  the  fair  moon- 
*ht,"  writes  Mr.  Samuel  Sidney,  in  his  "  Rides  on 
.ailways,"  in  1851,  "so  Euston,  to  be  viewed  to 
dvantage,  should  be  visited  by  the  grey  light  of  a 
ummer  or  spring  morning,  about  a  quarter  to  six 
'clock,  three-quarters  of  an  hour  before  the  starting 
f  the   parliamentary   train,  which   every  railway, 
nder  a  wise  legislative  enactment,  is  compelled  to 
n  '  once  a  day  from  each  extremity,  with  covered 
images,  stopping  at  every  station,  travelling  at  a 
ate  of  not  less  than  fifteen  miles  an  hour,  at  a 
harge  of  one   penny  per  mile.'    We   say  wise, 
ecause  the  competition  of  the  railway  for  goods, 
s  well  as  passengers,  drove  off  the  road  not  only 
11  the  coaches,  on  which,  when  light-loaded,  foot- 
ore  travellers  got  an  occasional  lift,  but  all  the 
ariety  of  vans  and   broad-wheeled  wagons  which 
fforded  a  slow  but  cheap  conveyance  between  our 
irincipal  towns.     At  the  hour  mentioned,  the  rail- 
vay  passenger-yard  is  vacant,  silent,  and  as  spot- 
essly  clean  as  a  Dutchman's  kitchen ;  nothing  is 
o  be  seen  but  a  tall    soldier-like   policeman   in 
green,  on  watch  under  the  wooden  shed,  and  a  few 
narrows  industriously   yet  vainly  trying   to   get  a 
breakfast  from  between  the  closely-packed  paving- 
stones.     How  different   from   the   fat   debauched- 
ooking  sparrows  who  throve  upon  the  dirt  and 
waste  of  the  old  coach-yards !     It   is  so   still,  so 
open ;   the  tall  columns  of    the  portico  entrance 
ook  down  on  you  so  grimly;  the  fronts  of  the 
oooking-offices,  in  their  garment  of  clean  stucco, 
look  so  primly  respectable  that  you  cannot  help 
feelin*  ashamed  of  yourself-feeling  as  uncomfort- 
able as  when  you  have    called   too  early  on  an 
economically  genteel  couple,  and  been  shown  into 
a  handsome  drawing-room,  on  a  frosty  day,  without 
a  fire.    You  cannot  think  of  entering  into  a  gossip 
with  the  railway  guardian,  for  you  remember  that 
'sentinels   on    duty  are^  not   allowed    to   talk- 
except  to  nursery-maids." 

Passengers   pass  firstly   into   an   immense   and 
beautiful  hall,  on  either  side  of  which  are  entrances 


348 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


to  the  booking-offices.  The  hall  was  designed  by 
Mr.  P.  C.  Hardwick  j  it  is  about  140  feet  in  length 
by  sixty  in  breadth,  and  between  seventy  and 
eighty  feet  high.  A  light  and  elegant  gallery  runs 
round  three  sides  of  the  hall,  guarded  by  bronze 
railings,  on  a  level  with  the  board-room,  which  is 
reached  by  a  noble  flight  of  thirty  steps,  surmounted 
by  a  range  of  Doric  columns,  the  sculptured  groups 
being  emblematical  of  the  progress  of  industry  and 


to  require  much  accommodation  in  the  intervals 
during  which  they  wait  for  the  departure  of  the 
trains.  At  foreign  railway  stations  passengers  are 
not  allowed  to  go  upon  the  platform  until  just 
before  the  time  for  departure.  In  England  the 
practice  is  to  allow  the  public  access  to  all  parts  of 
the  station  devoted  to  the  dispatch  of  the  trains, 
and  consequently  it  is  found  that  they  prefer 
walking  about  the  platforms  with  their  friends 


of  railways."  Above  the  staircase  and  around  the 
galleries  are  offices  for  the  chief  managers.  In  the 
angles  of  the  hall,  about  fifty  feet  from  the  floor, 
are  allegorical  figures  in  relief,  representing  the 
counties  travelled  by  the  several  railways  of  which 
this  station  is  the  terminus.  The  total  length  of 
platform  for  this  terminus  is  upwards  of  a  mile,  and 
it  is  divided  into  three  arrival  and  two  departure 
platforms. 

"The  booking-offices,"  says  Mr.  Weale,  in  his 
"London,"  "are  very  fine  specimens  of  architec- 
ture, but  the  waiting-rooms  are  far  from  correspond- 
ing with  them  in  magnificence.  Indeed,"  he  adds, 
"  the  habits  of  our  travelling  public  are  not  such  as 


until  the  last  moment.  A  very  social  result,  per- 
haps ;  but  the  presence  of  so  many  strangers  must 
sadly  interfere  with  the  execution  of  the  duties  of 
the  company's  servants." 

The  extensions,  branch  lines,  and  the  immense 

j  number  of  country  lines  which  communicate  with 
the  Ixjndon  and  North-Western  Railway  are  so 
numerous,  that  it  is,  perhaps,  impossible  to  say  pre- 
( isely  the  number  of  miles  over  which  passengers 
are  booked  here.  Originally  the  departure  plat- 

j  forms  for  the  main  line  adjoined  the  waiting-rooms 
on  the  east  side  of  the  great  hall,  and  those  for 
the  midland  counties  on  the  west  side;  but  the 
gradual  opening  up  of  new  lines  of  railway  and 
branches  has  somewhat  altered  this  arrangement. 
There  are  several  spare  rails  under  the  same  not 


EUSTON   STATION. 


349 


upon  which  the  carriages  are  examined,  cleaned,  I  which  the  roof  was  raised  bodily,  without  having 
and  arranged  for  departure  ;  and  at  the  end  of  the  j  to  be  taken  to  pieces  and  rebuilt, 
platform  is  a  series  of  turn-tables,    by  means   of  j      On  the  west  of  the  lines  leading  from  the  station 
vhich  the  carriages  can  be  easily  transferred  from    are  the  workshops  where  the  carriage  repairs  for 


one   set  of  rails  to  another.     The   whole  of  th 
operations  connected  with  the  reception  and  the 


the  London  end  of  the  line  are  effected ;  they  are 
very  extensive,  and,  of  course,  fitted  up  with  the 


dispatch  of  the  trains  are  thus  carried  on  under  a  j 
shed  of  immense  superficial  extent ;  some  idea  of 
its  size  may  be  gathered  from  Sir  Francis  Head's 
amusing  and  instructive  book  called  "  Stokers  and 
Tokers"  It  is  said  that  there  are  not  less  than 
8,980  square  yards  of  plate  glass  in  the  skylights 
only.  We  may  mention  here  that  the  roof  of  th 
range  of  building  on  the  west  side  of  the  platform 
remains  in  its  original  condition  ;  but  that  on  the 
east  side  has  been  considerably  heightened  by 
means  of  a  novel  and  ingenious  contrivance  by 


very  best  appliances.  The  line  between  Euston 
Station  and  Camden  Town  is  principally  carried  m 
an  open  cutting  about  twenty  feet  below  the  level 
of  the  neighbouring  streets.  The  works  were 
executed  in  the  London  clay,  and,  although  neatly 
carried  out,  it  was  afterwards  found  necessary,  on 
account  of  the  great  width  of  the  railway  at  this 
point  to  consolidate  the  retaining  walls  by  a  series 
of  immense  cast-iron  struts,  which  cause  that  portion 
of  the  line  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Camden  Town 
to  resemble  an  open  tunnel. 


35° 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


It  will  be  remembered  that,  when  in  1831-2  the  handkerchiefs,  how  many  little  musty  eatables  and 
London  and  Birmingham  Railway  (as  this  line  was  comfortable  drinkables,  how  many  little  bills,  impor- 
originally  called)  was  first  projected,  the  metro-  j  tant  little  notes,  and  other  very  small  secrets  each 
politan  terminus  was  at  Chalk  Farm,  near  the  :  may  have  contained,  we  felt  that  we  would  not 
north-east  corner  of  Regent's  Park.  It  was  not  for  the  world  have  tried  to  ascertain.  One  gentle- 


until  1835  that  a  bill  was  brought  into  Parliament, 
and  carried  after  great  opposition,  for  bringing  this 
terminus  as  near  to  London  as  what  was  then 
termed  "Euston  Grove."  Up  to  the  year  1845, 
for  fear  of  frightening  the  horses  in  the  streets,  the 


man  had  left  behind  him  a  pair  of  leather  hunting 
breeches,  another  his  boot-jack.  A  soldier  of  the 
22nd  Regiment  had  left  behind  him  his  knapsack 
containing  his  '  kit.'  Another  soldier  of  the  loth, 
poor  fellow !  had  forgotten  his  scarlet  regimental 


locomotive   engines   came   no   nearer  to    London  I  coat.      Some   cripple,  probably  overjoyed   at   the 


than  Chalk  Farm,  where  the  engine  was  detached 
from  the  train,  and  from  thence  to  Euston  Station 
the  carriages  were  attached  to  an  endless  rope 
moved  by  a  stationary  engine  at  the  Chalk  Farm 
end  of  the  line. 

•  In  1845  a  scheme  was  set  on  foot  for  converting 
a  part  of  the  bed  of  the  Regent's  Canal  into  an 
extension  of  the  North- Western  Railway,  so  as 
to  bring  the  terminus  nearer  to  the  City.  Indeed, 
it  was  proposed  to  carry  it  as  far  as  Farringdon 
Street,  but  the  opposition  offered  to  the  plan  was 
so  strong  that  it  had  to  be  abandoned,  and  it  was 
reserved  for  other  companies  to  carry  out  that  great 
desideratum  subsequently. 

The  Lost  Luggage  Office  at  the  Euston  Station 
is  not  the  least  important  feature  of  this  monster 
establishment.  "If,"  writes  Charles  Knight,  "a 
passenger  has  lost  any  of  his  luggage,  there  is  an 
office  where  he  can  apply  respecting  it ;  if  a  railway 
porter  finds  luggage  left  in  a  carriage  without  an 


sight  of  his  family,  had  left  behind  him  his  crutches. 
But  what  astonished  us  most  of  all  was  that  some 
honest  Scotchman,  probably  in  the  ecstasy  of  seeing 
among  the  crowd  the  face  of  his  faithful  Jenny, 
had  actually  left  behind  him  the  best  portion  of  his 
bag-pipes.  Some  little  time  ago  the  superintendent, 
in  breaking  open,  previous  to  a  general  sale,  a 
locked  hat-box  which  had  lain  in  this  dungeon  for 
two  years,  found  in  it,  under  the  hat,  ^£65  in  Bank 
of  England  notes,  with  one  or  two  private  letters, 
which  enabled  him  to  restore  the  money  to  the 
owner,  who,  it  turned  out,  was  so  positive  that  he 
left  his  hat-box  at  an  hotel  in  Birmingham  that  he 
made  no  inquiry  for  it  at  the  railway  office." 

Again,  the  Parcel  Office,  which  is  on  the  western 
side  of  the  departure  platform,  is  scarcely  less 
interesting ;  and  here,  too,  we  are  indebted  to 
Charles  Knight  for  a  sketch  of  its  interior  working: 
"  The  superintendent  has  within  view  two  offices 
or  compartments,  the  one  laden  with  parcels  which 


owner,  there  is  a  room  where  it  is  deposited,  and  I  are  about  to   be   dispatched,  and  the  other  with 


the  company  spares  no  pains  in  affording  facilities 
for  the  recovery  of  the  lost  property."  Yet  it  is 
surprising  how  much  luggage  is  left  at  various 


parcels  which  have  arrived  by  train.  In  the  day- 
time the  down  parcels  are  dispatched  in  the  break- 
carriages  of  the  passenger  trains,  while  at  night  a 


stations  and  never  called  for.  In  one  apartment  .  train  of  locked-up  vans  is  dispatched.  When  the 
such  articles  are  kept  for  two  months,  ticketed  and  parcels  are  about  to  be  thus  sent,  a  porter  calls  out 
numbered  ;  if  not  re-claimed  within  that  time,  they  j  the  name  of  the  party  to  whom  it  is  addressed, 
are  transferred  to  a  large  vaulted  chamber,  where  j  its  weight,  and  how  much  (if  anything)  has  been 
they  are  placed  in  different  apartments  classified  as  paid  upon  it.  One  clerk  enters  these  particulars  in 
to  their  character.  If  not  claimed  within  two  years,  ,  a  ledger,  another  clerk  writes  out  a  label ;  a  porter 
they  are  sold  by  public  auction,  and  a  pretty  pastes  this  label  on  to  the  packet,  which  is  forth- 
miscellaneous  sale  a  railway  auction  is,  consisting  •  with  dispatched,  with  others,  to  the  van  or  carriage." 
of  coats,  shawls,  hats,  caps,  rugs,  walking-sticks.  All  this  is  clone  with  extraordinary  quickness,  the 
umbrellas,  parasols,  opera-glasses,  gloves,  ladies'  result  of  daily  experience. 

scent-bottles,  boxes  of  pills  and  other  patent  It  should  be  mentioned  here  that  this  was  the 
medicines,  hair-dyes,  and  other  articles.  first  really  long  line  of  railway  from  London  that 

Sir  Francis  Head,  in  his  "  Stokers  and  Pokers,"  ;  was  opened  for  passenger  traffic.  The  line  was 
gives  a  lively  and  graphic  picture  of  what  he  saw  on  '  opened  throughout  between  London  and  Birming- 
paymg  a  visit  to  this  chamber:—"  One  compartment  j  ham  on  the  i?th  of  September,  1838.  At  that 
is  choke  full  of  men's  hats,  another  of  parasols,  |  time  the  journey  to  Birmingham  took  five  and  a- 
umbrellas,  and  sticks  of  every  possible  description,  half  hours,  being  an  average  rate  of  about  twenty 
One  would  think  that  all  the  ladies' reticules  in  the  miles  an  hour;  in  1777,  the  coach  was  twenty- 
world  were  deposited  in  a  third.  How  many  seven  hours  on  the  road  ! 
smelling-bottles,  how  many  embroidered  pocket-  The  daily  working  details  of  the  London  and 


Euston  Square.! 


1  PETER   PINDAR." 


35' 


North-Western  Railway  at  the  Euston  Station  were  on  taking  leave,  Taylor  exclaimed,  pointin 
graphically  sketched  many  years  ago  by  the  late 
Sir  Francis  Head,  in  an  article  on  "  Railways  in 
General "  in  the  Quarterly  Rei'ini>,  and  which  was 
subsequently  enlarged  and  re-published  in  the  small 
volume  above  mentioned,  entitled  "  Stokers  and 
Pokers."  Although  written  in  a  rattling  and  gossip- 
ing style,  it  contained  many  amusing  and  instructive 
details  relating  to  the  permanent  way,  rolling  stock, 
goods  and  passenger  trains,  signals,  telegraphs, 
accidents,  &c.,  which  are  still  more  or  less  true  in 


mutatis  mutandis,  to   other 


fact,  and    applicable, 
lines  beside  this. 

"  Euston,  including  its  dependency,  Camden 
Station,"  says  Mr.  Sidney,  in  his  "  Rides  on  Rail- 
ways," (1851),  "is  the  greatest  railway  port  in 
England,  or  indeed  in  the  world.  It  is  the  principal 
gate  through  which  flows  and  re-flows  the  traffic  of  a 
line  which  has  cost  more  than  twenty-two  millions 
sterling;  which  annually  earns  more  than  two 
millions  and  a  half  for  the  conveyance  of  pas- 
sengers, and  merchandise,  and  live  stock ;  and 
which  directly  employs  more  than  ten  thousand 
servants,  besides  the  tens  of  thousands  to  whom, 
in  mills  or  mines,  in  iron-works,  in  steam-boats 
and  coasters,  it  gives  indirect  employment.  Wha 
London  is  to  the  world,  Euston  is  to  Great  Britain ; 
there  is  no  part  of  the  country  to  which  ra 
communication  has  extended,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Dover  and  Southampton  lines,  which  may  not 
be  reached  by  railway  conveyance  from  Euston 
station." 


Euston  Square,  which 
side  from  the  front  of  the 


e  now  enter  on  the  north 
station,  between  the  Vic 


toria  and  Euston  Hotels,  dates  from  about  the  year 
1813.  It  is  named  after  the  Fitzroys,  Dukes  of 
Grafton,  Earls  of  Euston,  and  Lords  Southampton; 
who  are  the  ground  landlords,  and  it  occupies  a 
considerable  portion  of  what  was  formerly  known 
as  Montgomery's  Nursery  Gardens.  Dr.  Wolcot 
who  wrote  and  published  numerous  poems  undei 
the  cognomen  of  "  Peter  Pindar,"  resided  for  some 
years  at  the  latter  end  of  his  life,  in  a  small  housf 
in  these  gardens,  the  site  of  which  John  Timb 
identifies  with  the  north  side  of  the  square.  Her 
he  dwelt  in  a  secluded,  cheerless  manner,  bein0 
blind,  with  only  a  female  servant  to  attend  him 
occasionally  visited  by  some  of  his  old  friends,  am 
visiting  them  in  return.  One  of  his  most  frequen 
visitors  was  John  (commonly  called  Jack)  Taylor^ 
editor 


of  T/ie  Sun.  This  gentleman,  author  of 
Monsieur  Tonson,"  &c.,  was  a  most  inveterate 
and  reckless  punster,  and  often  teased  Peter  by 
some  pointless  ones,  which  provoked  the  caustic 
remarks  of  the  old  poet.  At  one  of  these  visits, 


Peter's  head  and  rusty  wig,  "  Adieu !  I  leave  thee 
without  hope,  for  I  see  Old  Scratch  has  thee  in  his 
claws." 

Mr.  C.  Redding  tells  us,  in  his  "  Fifty  Years' 
.ecollections,"  that    Dr.    Wolcot's  house,   though 
ow  built  in  among  streets  near  Euston  Square,  was 
his  time  standing  alone  in  a  gardener's  ground, 
ailed  "  Montgomery's  Nursery."     Beyond  its  en- 
losure  were  the  open  fields.     "  The  poet,"  adds 
/Ir.  Redding,  "  loved  the  smell  of  flowers,  and  the 
resh  air  of  the  place.     No  one  can  imagine  either 
owers  or  fresh  air  on  that  spot  now.    I  never  pass 
he  house  but  I  stop  and  look  at  it.     The  front  is 
nchanged,  though  completely  built  in.     I  cannot 
jut  think  of  the  many  pleasant  hours  I  passed 
here.     George  Hanger  used  to  drop  in  there  occa- 
ionally,  when  I  first  came  to  town.     He  died  in 
824,  an  eccentric,  genuine  in  his  oddities,  but  he 
md  no  taste  for  the  fine  arts,  like  Wolcot.     Both 
ere  humourists,  but  of  a  different  character.     He 
would  not  be  called  Lord  Coleraine,  when  the  title 
Itimately  came  to  him,  but '  plain  George  Hanger, 
r,  if  you  please.'    He  used  also  to  go  and  smoke 
pipe    occasionally  at  the  'Sol's  Arms'  in  the 
Hampstead  Road  in  the  evening,  where,  in  con- 
sideration of  his  rank,  a  large  arm-chair  was  placed 
for  him   every  evening   by  the   fire."     We  have 
already  mentioned  him  in  our  account  of  Chalk 
irm.  * 

Of  Dr.  Wolcot,  Mr.  Cyrus  Redding  tells  the 
following  anecdote  :— "  Speaking  of  Dr.  Johnson, 
Wolcot  said  that  everybody  appeared  in  awe 
of  him,  nor  was  he  himself  an  exception.  He 
determined  to  try  what  Johnson  would  say  in  the 
way  of  contradiction.  I  laid  a  trap  for  him.  '  I 
.hink,  doctor,'  I  observed,  'that  picture  of  Sir 
Joshua's  is  one  of  the  best  he  ever  painted,' 
naming  the  work.  '  I  differ  from  you,  sir ;  I  think 
it  one  of  his  worst.'  Wolcot  made  no  other 
attempt  at  conversation.  The  picture  was  really 
one  of  Sir  Joshua's  best.  'Traps  are  good  things,' 
said  Wolcot,  '  to  bring  out  character.  The  idea  of 
a  discussion  with  Johnson  never  entered  my  head. 
I  had  too  great  an  apprehension  of  his  powers  of 
conversation  to  attempt  disputing  with  the  giant  cf 

gives  us  the  following  sketch  of 
the  "inner  life"  of  this  eccentric  writer:-"  He 
sat  always  in  a  room  facing  the  south.  Behind 
the  door  stood  a  square  pianoforte,  on  which  there 
generally  lay  his  favourite  Cremona  violin  ;_on  the 
left  a  mahogany  table  with  writing-materials.  Every- 


35* 


OLD   AND   MEW  LONDON. 


tEuston  Squirt. 


thing  was  in  perfect  order,  and  the  doctor  knew 
where  to  put  his  hand  upon  it  without  aid.  Facing 
him,  over  the  mantelpiece,  hung  a  fine  landscape 
by  Richard  Wilson,  and  two  of  Bone's  exquisite 
enamels,  presents  from  that  artist,  who,  being  a 
Cornishman  and  a  native  of  Truro,  was  indebted 
to  the  doctor  for  some  valuable  and  influential 
introductions  on  making  his  debut  in  town.  In 
other  parts  of  the  room,  under  glass,  there  were 
suspended  a  number  of  the  doctor's  crayon  draw- 
ings, most  of  them  scenes  in  the  vicinity  of  Fowey, 
which  place  stands  in  the  midst  of  picturesque 
scenery.  In  writing,  except  a  few  lines  hap-hazard, 
the  doctor  was  obliged  to  employ  an  amanuensis, 
of  which  he  complained.  Of  all  his  acquisitions 
music  alone  remained  to  him  unaltered.  'He 
could  still,'  he  said,  'strum  the  piano  and  play 
the  fiddle' — what  resources  should  he  have  had 
without  these  attainments,  he  observed.  He  even 
composed  light  airs  for  amusement.  These  things 
were  more  in  the  way  of  resource  than  many  other 
people  possessed.  They  were  great  comforts. 
'  You  have  seen  something  of  life  in  your  time.  See 
and  learn  all  you  can  more.  You  will  fall  back 
upon  it  when  you  grow  old — an  old  fool  is  an 
inexcusable  fool  to  himself  and  others — store  up 
all;  our  acquirements  are,  perhaps,  most  useful 
when  we  become  old.'" 

Wolcot,  as  is  well  known,  lavished  much  of  his 
satire  on  George  III.  A  lady  at  a  dinner-party, 
who  was  one  of  that  king's  greatest  admirers,  once 
asked  him  if  he  felt  no  pricks  of  conscience  for 
having  so  grievously  held  up  to  scorn  and  con- 
tempt so  excellent  a  sovereign,  and  whether  he  was 
not  a  most  "  disloyal  subject  ?"  "  I  have  not 
thought  about  that,  madam,"  was  the  doctor's  reply; 
"but  I  know  the  king  has  been  a  deuced  good 
'subject'  for  me."  The  loyal  lady  was  annoyed 
and  petrified. 

When  he  was  dying  he  expressed  a  wish  "  to  lie 
as  near  as  possible  to  the  bones  of  old  Hudibras 
Butler."  He  had  his  desire  gratified,  for  he  was 
buried,  as  we  have  told  the  reader,*  at  St.  Paul's, 
Covent  Garden. 


a  pension."  We  may  add  that  Opie,  the  painter, 
in  the  early  part  of  his  career,  was  an  inmate  of 
Dr.  Wolcot's  house ;  it  is  said,  at  first  in  a  some- 
what menial  capacity. 

Strutt  tells  us,  in  his  book  on  "  Sports  and 
Pastimes,"  that  in  the  fields  about  here  parties  of 
Irishmen  used  to  meet,  about  the  year  1775,  and 
play  at  "hurling  to  goals."  Instead  of  throwing 
the  ball  with  the  hand,  they  used  a  kind  of  bat, 
differing,  however,  apparently,  from  that  employed 
in  cricket 

The  Euston  Road,  which,  as  we  have  already 
stated,  was  formerly  called  the  New  Road,  passes 
through  the  centre  of  the  square,  on  its  way  to 
Pentonville  and  Islington.  It  is  strange  that  it 
should  have  preserved  its  original  name  of  the 
"New  Road"  for  above  a  century.  It  was  pro- 
jected in  1754-5,  as  it  is  traced  in  the  map  pre- 
fixed to  the  edition  of  Stow's  "  Survey  of  London," 
published  in  the  former  year;  and  the  Public 
Advertiser,  of  Feb.  20,  1756,  enumerates  at  length 
the  advantages  which  were  thought  likely  to  accrue 
to  the  public  from  its  formation.  Horace  Walpole 
himself,  who  does  not  often  travel  so  far  afield 
from  his  favourite  haunts  about  Piccadilly  and  St. 
James's  Street,  thus  mentions  it  in  one  of  his  letters 
to  General  Conway,  a  month  later :  "  A  new  road 
through  Paddington  (to  the  City)  has  been  pro- 
jected, to  avoid  the  stones.  The  Duke  of  Bed- 
ford, who  is  never  in  town  in  the  summer,  objects 
to  the  dust  it  will  make  behind  Bedford  House, 
and  to  some  buildings  proposed  (no  doubt,  in  the 
rear  of  his  gardens),  though  if  he  were  in  town  he 
is  too  short-sighted  to  see  the  prospect."  An 
opening  in  the  central  enclosure  of  Euston  Square, 
on  the  north  side  of  the  road,  leads  directly  up  to 
the  entrance  to  the  North-Western  Railway  Station, 
and  by  the  side  of  this  opening  is  placed  a  colossal 
bronze  statue  of  Robert  Stephenson,  the  great 
railway  engineer ;  it  stands  upon  a  granite  pedestal. 
Along  this  route,  which  still  was  really  "  the  New 
Road,"  the  body  of  Queen  Caroline  was  conveyed, 
after  her  death  in  1821,  en  route  for  Harwich  and 
the  Continent.  "  I  saw  her  funeral  as  it  passed 


Dr.  Wolcot's  verses,  when  he  was  in  the  zenith  I  along,"  writes  Lady  Clementina  Davies,  in  her 
of  liis  powers,  would  command  a  ready  sale  of  j  "  Recollections  of  Society."  "  It  was  followed  by 
from  20,000  to  30,000  copies.  Though  they  were  |  a  multitude  of  people.  '  On  the  coffin-lid  was 
full  of  gross  attacks  on  George  III.,  they  were  j  the  inscription,  dictated  by  herself,  'Caroline  of 
great  favourites  with  the  Regent  and  the  Carlton  \  Brunswick,  the  murdered  Queen  of  England.'  This 


House  circle ;  and  the  doctor  despised  his  patron 
accordingly.  He  was  offered  a  pension  by  the 
ministers  on  condition  of  his  writing  them  up,  but 
he  declined  the  offer,  saying,  "  Peter  can  do  without 


*  S«  Vol.  III.,  p.  ,56. 


inscription  caused  some  ecclesiastical  authorities 
to  refuse  it  shelter  on  its  way  for  embarkation  ;  but 
Sergeant  Wilde  (aftenvards  Lord  Truro),  and  the 
late  Dr.  Lushington  accompanied  the  remains  of 
their  royal  client  to  their  place  of  final  repose." 
In  the  south-west  comer  of  the  square  is  Gower 


Euston  Square.] 


THE   NEW   CHURCH   OF   ST.    PANCRAS. 


353 


Street,  the  lower  end  of  which,  adjoining  Bedford 
Square,  we  have  noticed  in  the  preceding  volume.* 
Among  the  residents  in  the  upper  part  of  it  was 
"Jack  "  Bannister,  the  actor,  as  already  mentioned. 
Sir  George  Rose,  not  less  known  for  his  wit  and 


edifice  is  after  the  ancient  temple  of  Erectheus, 
at  Athens  ;  and  this  church  is  said  to  have  been 
the  first  place  of  Christian  worship  erected  in 
Great  Britain  in  the  strict  Grecian  style.  Mr. 
William  Inwood  was  the  architect.  The  steeple, 


vivacity  than  for  those  talents  which  he  displayed  as  I  upwards  of  160  feet  in  height,  is  from  an  Athenian 
a  lawyer,  was  a  near  neighbour  of  Bannister,  living  ,  model,  the  Temple  of  the  Winds,  built  by  Pericles  ; 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street.  One  day,  as  he  it  is,  however,  surmounted  by  a  cross  in  lieu  of 


was  walking,  he  was  hailed  by  Bannister,  who  said, 
"  Stop  a  moment,  Sir  George,  and  I  will  go  over  to 
you."  "  No,"  said  the  good-humoured  punster,  "  I 
never  made  you  cross  yet,  and  I  will  not  begin  now.1' 


the  Triton  and  his  wand,  the  symbols  of  the 
winds,  in  the  original.  The  western  front  of  the 
church,  of  which  we  give  an  engraving  on  page  349, 
has  a  fine  portico  of  six  columns,  with  richly- 


He  joined  the  valetudinarian,  and   held  a  short    sculptured   capitals.     Towards  the   east   end  are 
conversation,  and  immediately  after  his  return  home,  j  lateral  porticoes,  each  supported  by  colossal  female 

statues  on  a  plinth,  in  which  are  entrances  to  the 
catacombs  beneath  the  church ;  each  of  the  figures 


wrote — 

On  meeting  the  Young  Veteran  toddling  up  Cower 
Street,  when  he  told  me  he  was  seventy. 
"  With  seventy  years  upon  his  back 
Still  is  my  honest  friend  young  Jack, 
Nor  spirits  checked,  nor  fancy  slack, 

But  fresh  as  any  daisy. 
Though  time  has  knocked  his  slumps  about, 
He  cannot  bowl  his  temper  out, 
And  all  the  Bannister  is  stout, 
Although  the  steps  be  crazy." 

This  good-natured  jeu  d1  esprit,  we  may  here  remark, 
was  left  by  its  author  almost  immediately  afterwards 
at  Bannister's  door. 

A  chapel  at  the  north  end  of  this  .street,  within 


bears  an  ewer  in  one  hand,  and  rests  the  other  on 
an  inverted  torch,  the  emblem  of  death.  These 
figures  are  composed  of  terra-cotta,  formed  in 
pieces,  and  cemented  round  cast-iron  pillars,  which 
in  reality  support  the  entablatures.  The  eastern 
end  of  the  church  differs  from  the  ancient  temple 
in  having  a  semi-circular,  or  apsidal,  termination, 
round  which,  and  along  the  side  walls,  are  terra- 
cotta imitations  of  Greek  tiles.  The  interior  of 
the  new  church  is  in  keeping  with  its  exterior. 
Above  the  communion-table  are  some  verd  antique 
scagliola  marble  columns,  copied  from  the  Temple 


a  few  yards  of  the  Euston  Road,  was  at  one  time  of  Minerva.      The  pulpit  and  reading-desk   are 

the  head-quarters  of  open  and  avowed  Antinomian  made  of  the  celebrated  Fairlop  Oak,  which  stood 

doctrines  in  Hainault  Forest,  in  Essex,  and  gave  its  name  to 

No    40    Upper   Gower  Street  was   for   many  the  fair  at  Easter-tide  long  held  under  its  branches. 

'esidence  of  that  most  powerful  landscape  Gilpin  mentions  this  tree  in  his  "Forest  Scenery. 


years  the  re 

painter, 

and  masterly  touch  throws  nearly  every  other 


The  tradition  of  the  country,"  he  says,  "  traces  it 
•r  arusi  |  -alf  way  up  the  Christian  era."     The   tree 
excepting  Turner,  into   the   shade.      At   No.    15    blown  down  in  1820.^  When  the  new  church 


painter  Peter  de  Wint,  the  effect  of  whose  broad    "The  traditi 
'      artist,    half  way  up 


lived  and  died  Francis  Douce,  the  antiquary. 
In  1822  Charles  Dickens  as  a  boy  was  living  with 
his  parents  for  a  short  time  in  this  street,  but  the 
place  has  no  reminiscences  of  his  early  youth,  as 
the  future  "  Boz "  was  employed  during  that  time 
as  a  drudge  in  the  blacking  warehouse  at  Hunger- 


ford  Stairs. 


The   tree  was 
as 

erected  in  the  New  Road  the  fields  to  the  north 
were  quite  open ;  and  we  have  seen  a  print  showing 
the  unfinished  edifice  rising  out  of  a  surrounding 
desert  of  brick-fields. 

Of  the  several  vicars  of  St.  Pancras,  since  this 
new  church  was  built,  none,  perhaps,  have  been 
more  popular  than  the  Rev.  Thomas  Dale,  who 


afterwards  became  Canon  of  St.  Paul's,  and  subse- 


At  the  south-east  corner  of  the  square  stands 
the  New  Church  of  St.  Pancras.  The  foundation- 
stone  was  laid  by  the  Duke  of  York  in  July,  1819, 
and  the  church  was  consecrated  by  the  Bishop 
of  London  in  April,  1822.  The  model  of  the 


S«c  Vol.  IV.,  p.  567. 


t  Sec  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  572-3.. 


when  qu...^  «  • ,  —          -  .  .  . 

Christ's  Hospital,  and  in  due  course  he  found  his 
way  to  Cambridge.  In  1818,  while  still  an  under- 
graduate, he  published  "The  Widow  of  Nain, 
and  other  Poems,"  which  were  well  received  by  the 
public,  and  ran  through  several  editions^  On 
leaving  Cambridge,  Mr.  Dale  employed  himself 


354 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


I  Kuston  Square. 


for  a  time  in  taking  pupils,  and  was  soon  appointed 
to  the  incumbency  of  St.  Matthew's  Chapel,  Den- 
mark  Hill,  Camberwell.  In  1835  Sir  Robert  Peel 
conferred  upon  him  the  vicarage  of  St.  Bride's, 
Fleet  Street,  and  here  he  became  extremely  popular 
as  a  preacher.  In  1843  he  accepted  a  canonry  of 
St.  Paul's,  which  was  vacated  by  the  death  of 
Canon  Tate.  Three  years  later  he  resigned  St. 
Bride's,  on  accepting  the  larger  and  more  im- 


Mr.  Dale  was  succeeded  in  the  living  of  St. 
Pancras  by  the  Rev.  William  Weldon  Champneys, 
grandson  of  a  former  vicar  of  this  parish.  Born  at 
Camden  Town  in  1807,  he  was  ordained  in  1831, 
and  having  held  one  or  two  curacies  in  Oxford, 
became  afterwards  rector  of  Whitechapel,  where 
he  continued  till  his  appointment  to  this  vicarage, 
in  1860.  He  succeeded  Canon  Dale  in  the 
canonry  vacated  by  him  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral, 


porlant  living  of  St.  I'ancras,  which  he  held  for 
more  than  fourteen  years.  Already — namely  from 
1840  to  1849 — he  had  held  what  is  known  as 
the  "(lolden  Lectureship"  at  St.  Margaret's,  Loth- 
bury.  He  accepted  this  lectureship  not  so  much 
for  the  emolument  (though  that  was  considerable), 
as  to  break  up  the  evils  connected  with  it.  The 
principal  source  from  which  the  income  was  de- 
rived was  the  rent  of  a  notoriously  bad  but  licensed 
house  near  Temple  li.ir.  This  evil,  so  great  a  blot 
on  the  lectureship,  he  determined  to  root  out,  and 
therefore  he  not  only  refused  to  renew  the  lease, 
but  turned  out  the  tenants,  keeping  the  house 
empty  and  himself  with  a  greatly  reduced  income, 
until  he  could  find  a  respectable  person  willing  to 
\ake  if. 


and  in  1868  he  was  nominated  to  the  Deanery  of 
I.ichfield,  which  he  held  till  his  decease.  His  son, 
the  Rev.  Weldon  Champneys,  succeeded  him. 
From  1869  till  1877  the  Vicarage  was  held  by  Dr. 
Thorold,  now  Bishop  of  Rochester,  who  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Canon  Spence. 

From  St.  Pancras  Church,  a  walk  of  a  few 
minutes,  in  a  southward  direction,  by  way  of 
Woburn  Place  and  Tavistock  Square,  brings  us  once 
more  to  Guilford  Street,  the  southern  boundary  of 
the  parish  of  St.  Pancras.  The  Foundling  Hospital, 
which  stands  on  the  north  side  of  this  street,  but 
just  within  the  limits  of  the  parish  of  which  we  have 
been  treating,  having  been  unavoidably  passed  by  in 
our  previous  perambulation  in  this  neighbourhood, 
will  form  the  subject  of  the  following  chapter. 


OUTSIDE  LIMIT  OF  ST. 


356 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Foundling  Hospital 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 
THE    FOUNDLING    HOSPITAL    AND    NEIGHBOURHOOD. 

"The  helpless  young  that  kiss  no  mother's  hand 
She  gives  in  public  families  to  live, 
A  sight  to  gladden  Heaven."—  Thomim. 

Establishment  of  the  Hospital  by  Captain  Coram  in  Hatton  Garden—  Its  Removal  to  Lamb's  Conduit  Fields— Parliamentary  Grant  to  the  Hospital 
—Wholesale  Admission  of  Children— Tokens  for  the  Identification  of  Children  deposited  in  the  Hospital— Withdrawal  of  the  Parliamentary 
Grant— Rules  and  Regulations— Form  of  Petition  for  the  Admission  of  Children- Baptism  of  the  Infants— Wet-nurses— Education  of  the 
Children— Expenditure  of  the  Establishment— Extracts  from  the  Report  of  the  Royal  Commission— Origin  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Arts- 
Hogarth's  Liberality  to  the  Institution-His  "  March  of  the  Guard,  to  Finchley  Common  "-The  Picture  Gallery-The  Chapel-Handrfi 
Benefactions  to  the  Hospital— Lamb's  Conduit  Fields— Biographical  Notice  of  Captain  Coram— Hunter  Street— A  Domestic  Episode  in 
High  Life-Tonbridge  Chapel-The  British  College  of  Health. 

THIS  quaint  and  dull  old-fashioned  looking  build-     hospital  for  all  helpless  children  as  may  be  brought 
ing,  which  reminds  us  of  the  early  days  of  the  last  |  to   it,   "  in   order   that   they  may  be   made  good 


century,  stands  on  the  north  side  of  Guilford 
Street,  and  forms  part  of  the  south-eastern  boundary 
of  the  parish  of  St.  Pancras.  It  is  constructed  of 
brick,  with  stone  dressings,  and  consists  mainly  of  a 
centre  and  wings,  with  a  large  open  space  before 
it  for  the  exercise  of  the  children,  and  extensive 
gardens  at  the  back.  These  gardens,  including  the 
court  in  front,  which  is  laid  down  in  turf,  cover 
some  acres.  The  hospital  was  first  established  by 
royal  charter,  granted  in  1739  to  Thomas  Coram 
(master  of  a  trading  vessel),  for  the  reception, 
maintenance,  and  education  of  exposed  and  de- 
serted young  children,  after  the  example  of  similar 
institutions  in  France,  Holland,  and  other  Christian 
countries.  The  first  intention  of  Captain  Coram, 
however,  was  modified  after  his  death,  because  it 
was  feared  that  the  hospital  would  prove  in  prac- 
tice only  an  encouragement  of  vice,  if  illegitimate 
children  were  admitted  as  long  as  there  was  room, 
without  any  restriction  ;  and  the  restrictions  im- 


servants,  or,  when  qualified,  be  disposed  of  to  the 
sea  or  land  services  of  His  Majesty  the  King." 

The  governors  first  opened  a  house  for  "  found- 
lings" in  Hatton  Garden,  in  1740-1;  any  person 
bringing  a  child,  rang  the  bell  at  the  inner  door, 
and  waited  to  hear  if  the  infant  was  returned  from 
disease  or  at  once  received  ;  no  questions  whatever 
were  to  be  asked  as  to  the  parentage  of  the  child, 
or  whence  it  was  brought ;  and  when  the  full 
number  of  children  had  been  taken  in,  a  notice 
of  "  The  house  is  full "  was  affixed  over  the  door. 
Often,  we  are  told,  there  were  too  children  offered, 
when  only  twenty  could  be  admitted  ;  riots  ensued, 
and  thenceforth  the  mothers  balloted  for  the  ad- 
mission of  their  little  ones  by  drawing  balls  out  of 


It  was  not  until  some  years  after  the  granting  of 
the  charter  that  the  governors  thought  of  building 
the  present  hospital.  Fresh  air  is  as  necessary 
for  children  as  for  plants ;  and  so  the  governors, 
posed  so  far  diminished  the  applications,  that  in  j  wandering  round  the  then  suburbs  in  search  of 
a  few  cases  the  doors  were  thrown  open  for  the  !  some  healthy  spot  whereunto  they  could  transfer 
reception  of  some  legitimate  children  of  soldiers.  i  their  tender  "  nurslings,"  found  it  in  the  balmy 
In  the  petition  which  Coram  makes  for  a  charter,  [  meads  of  Lamb's  Conduit  Fields,  then  far  away 
backed  by  "a  memorial  signed  by  twenty-one  ladies  !  out  in  the  green  pastures,  five  minutes'  walk  from 
of  quality  and  distinction,"  he  recites  that,  "  no  Holborn.  The  governors  bought  fifty-five  acres  of 
expedient  has  been  found  out  for  preventing  the  ,  these  fields  from  the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  for  £5,500 ; 
frequent  murders  of  poor  infants  at  their  birth,  or  i  in  fact,  the  governors  bought  the  whole  estate, 
for  suppressing  the  custom  of  exposing  them  to  '  not  because  they  required  it,  but  because  the  earl, 
perish  in  the  streets,  or  putting  them  out  to  nurses''  \  its  owner,  would  not  sell  any  fractional  part  of  it. 
(i.e.,  persons  trading  in  the  same  manner  as  the  j  As  London  increased,  the  city  approached  this 
baby-farmers  of  more  recent  times),  "  who,  under-  |  property ;  and  in  course  of  time  a  considerable 
taking  to  bring  them  up  for  small  sums,  suffered  ;  part  of  the  estate — indeed,  all  that  was  not  actually 
them  to  starve,  or,  if  permitted  to  live,  either  turned  absorbed  in  the  hospital  and  its  contiguous 


them  out  to  beg  or  steal,  or  hired  them  out 
persons,  by  whom  they  were  trained  up  in  that  way 
of  living,  and  sometimes  blinded   or  maimed,  in 


order   to   mo' 


•e   pity,  and   thereby   become  fitter 


instruments  of  gain  to  their  employers."     In  order 
to  redress  this  shameful  grievance,  the  memoriali 


grounds — became  covered  with  squares  and  streetr, 
of  houses,  the  ground-rents  producing  an  annual 
income  equal  to  the  purchase-money.  The  new- 
building  was  at  once  commenced,  the  west  wing 
being  completed  first,  the  east  wing  afterwards ; 
the  chapel,  connecting  the  two,  was  finished  last. 


express  their  willingness  to  erect  and  support  a  I  The  edifice  was  built  from  the  designs  of  Jacobson. 


:  Hospital.]       TOKENS   FOR  THE  IDENTIFICATION  OF  INFANTS. 


357 


The  children,  600  in  number,  were  removed  hither 
in  1754,  when  the  expenses  of  the  establishment 
amounted  to  something  very  considerably  above 
the  income.  The  governors,  nevertheless,  who 
had  long  been  desirous  of  making  it  a  Foundling 
Hospital  on  the  largest  scale,  found  in  the  known 
favourable  inclinations  of  the  king  towards  them 


xcellent  opportunity  for  pushing  their  scheme. 
London  was  not  then  a  sufficient  field  for  their 
exertions,  and  they  accordingly  applied  to  Parlia- 
ment, who  voted  them  ^10,000,  and  sanctioned 
the  general  admission  of  children,  the  establishment 
of  county  hospitals,  &c. 

'  A  basket  was  hung  at  the  gate  of  the  hospital 
in  London  in  which  the  children  were  deposited, 
the  persons  who  brought  them  ringing  a  bell  to  give 
notice  to  the  officers  in  attendance.  In  order  to 
forward  the  "  little  innocents  "  up  from  the  country. 
a  branch  of  the  carrying  trade  was  established,  and 
babies  arrived  in  London  in  increasing  numbers 
from  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  country.  Large 
prices  were,  in  some  instances,  paid  for  their  con- 
veyance, a  fact  which  more  than  hints  at  the 
position'  of  the  parents  ;  and  as  the  carriage  was 
prepaid,  there  was  a  strong  inducement  on  the 
part  of  'the  carriers  to  get  rid  of  their  burthens  on 
the  way.  Many  of  the  infants  were  drowned;  all 
of  them'  were  neglected,  and  that,  in  the  large 
majority  of  cases,  was  equal  to  their  death.  It  was  moon, 
publicly  asserted  in  the  House  of  Commons  that 
one  man,  having  the  charge  of  five  infants  in 
baskets— they  appeared  to  have  been  packed  like 
so  many  sucking-pigs— and  happening  to  get  drunk 
on  his  journey,  lay  asleep  all  night  on  a  common 


that  they  had  not  been  fairly  dealt  with  ;  and  a 
person  was  actually  tried  for  infanticide,  and  would 
aave  been  hung,  were  it  not  that  he  was  able 
o  prove  that  the  crime  was  committed  by  the 
carrier.  In  order  to  secure  the  parents  against 
.ny  such  suspicion,  in  1757  a  notice  was  issued 
y  the  governors  to  the  effect,  that  all  persons 
wringing  children  should  leave  some  token  by 
which,  in  case  any  certificate  should  be  wanted, 
it  might  be  found  out  whether  such  child  had  been 
taken  into  the  hospital  or  not.  From  that  date  all 
the  children  received  had  some  token  attached  to 
their  person,  and  in  course  of  time  a  goodly  collec- 
tion of  these  was  accumulated.  Dr.  Wynter,-in  an 
article  on  this  subject  in  the  Shilling  Magazine, 
enumerates  several  of  these  tokens,  which  are  still 
preserved  in  the  hospital.  Here  are  a  few  of 
them  :  —  "  Coins  of  an  ancient  date  seem  to  have 
been  the  favourite  articles  used  for  this  purpose, 


but  there   are  many   things    of   a  more   curious 


and  in  the  morning  three  out  of  the  five  were  found 
dead.  Many  other  instances  of  negligence  on  th< 
part  of  carriers,  resulting  in  the  death  of  infants 
entrusted  to  them  for  carriage  to  London,  are  on 
record.  Even  the  clothing  in  which  the  children 
were  dressed  was  often  stolen  on  the  way,  and  the 
babes  were  deposited  in  the  basket  just  as  they 


nature.  A  playing  card— the  ace  of  hearts— with 
a  dolorous  piece  of  verse  written  upon  it ;  a  ring 
with  two  hearts  in  garnets,  broken  in  half,  and 
then  tied  together;  three  or  four  padlocks,  in- 
tended, we  suppose,  as  emblems  of  security;  a 
nut;  an  ivory  fish;  an  anchor;  a  gold  locket; 
a  lottery  ticket.  Sometimes  a  piece  of  brass, 

used  as  a  distinguishing  mark,  generally 
engraved  with  some  little  verse  or  legend.     Thus 
one  has  these  words  upon  it,  '  In  amore  hac  sunt 
vitia; '  another  has  this  bit  of  doggerel : — 
"' You  have  my  heart ; 
Though  we  must  part.' 

Again,  a  third  has  engraved  upon  it  a  hand  holding 


a  heart.  Whilst  we  were  musing  over  these  curious 
mementoes  of  the  past,  the  obliging  secretary  of  the 
hospital  brought  us  a  large  book,  evidently  bulged 
out  with  enclosures  between  its  leaves:  this  proved 
to  be  a  still  more  curious  recollection  of  the  past, 
as  it  enclosed  little  pieces  of  work,  or  some  article 
worked  by  the  mother  as  a  token,  with 
•  '  In  many 
tly 


e  inquiry  into  his  origin,  applied  at  the  hospital, 
n    all  the  information  he   could   obtain  from 


som 

when 

this  source  was 

the  establishmen 

at  the  gate  naked 


that  it  appeared  on  the  books  of 
t  that  he  was  put  into  the  basket 


On  the  first  day  of  this  general  reception  of 
infants,  June  2nd,  1756,  no  less  than  117  children 
were  deposited  in  the  basket.  The  easy  manner 


was  a  fine  piece  of  lace. 

arker  worked  in  beads,  with  the  words,  Cruel 
separation; 'and  again,  a  fine  piece  of  ribbon 
which  the  mother  had  evidently  taken  from  her 


the  book 
were  of  the 


own  person.  All  of  these  tokens  m 
indicated  that  the  maternal  parents  v 
better  class-many  of  them  that  they  were  of  the 
best  class"  Now  these  tokens  are  no  longer 
wanted.  The  letters  of  the  alphabet  and  figures 
"  to  supply 


358 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[FounJh,, 


Before  the  use  of  tokens  was  insisted  upon,  the 
only  means  of  identification  open  to  the  governors 
was  the  style  in  which  the  infant  was  dressed. 
Some  of  the  entries  show  that  "the  quality"  were 
by  no  means  above  taking  advantage  of  the 
hospital.  Thus  under  date  1741,  on  the  very 
opening  of  the  institution,  we  find  the  following 
record  : — "  A  male  child,  about  a  fortnight  old, 
very  neatly  dressed ;  a  fine  holland  cap,  with  a 
cambric  border,  white  corded  dimity  sleeves,  the 
shirt  ruffled  with  cambric."  Again,  "A  n 
child,  a  week  old ;  a  holland  cap  with  a  plain 
border,  edged  biggin  and  forehead  cloth,  diaper 
bib,  shaped  and  flounced  dimity  mantle,  and 
another  holland  one  ;  Indian  dimity  sleeves 
turned  up  with  stitched  holland,  damask  waist- 
coat, holland  ruffled  shirt."  This  poor  baby  of 
a  week  old  must  have  exhibited  a  remarkable 
appearance.  Doubtless  these  costly  dresses  were 
used  with  the  idea  that  special  care  would  be 
taken  of  the  wearers ;  but  this  was  a  vain  hope : 
the  offspring  of  the  drab  and  of  the  best  "quality" 
Stood  on  an  equal  footing  inside  the  Foundling 
gates ;  and  possibly  in  after  years  their  faces — that 
invariable  indication  of  breed — proved  their  only 
distinguishing  mark. 

Besides  the  tokens,  letters  were  occasionally 
deposited  in  the  basket  with  the  child  ;  some  of 
these  were  impudent  attempts  upon  the  credulity 
of  the  governors.  Thus,  one  had  the  following 
doggerel  lines  affixed  to  its  clothes  : — 

"  I'ray  use  me  well,  anil  you  -.linll  liml 
My  lather  will  not  prove  unkind 

Hcc.-uise  lie  is  a  hem-factor" 

In  less  than  four  years,  while  this  indiscriminate 
admission  lasted,  and  until  Parliament,  appalled 
at  the  consequences,  withdrew  the  grant,  no  less 
than  nearly  15,000  babes  were  received  into  the 
hospital  ;  but  out  of  this  number  only  4,400  lived 
to  be  apprenticed,  this  "massacre  of  the  inno- 
cents" having  been  effected  at  a  cost  to  the 
nation  of  ,£500,000.  After  the  withdrawal  of  the 
Government  grant,  the  governors  were  left  to  their 


own    resources,  to   recruit 


now    empty    ex- 


chequer  ;  and  this  they  did  by  the  very  notable 
plan  of  taking  in  all  children  that  offered,  accom- 
panied by  a  hundred-pound  note,  no  questions  being 
asked,  and  no  due  to  their  parents  being  sought. 
As  none  but  the  wealthy  could  deposit  children  at 
the  gates  of  the  hospital  on  such  terms,  it  is 
obvious  that  this  was  nothing  less  than  a  premium 
upon  pure  profligacy  in  the  well-to-do  classes. 
This  system  lasted,  nevertheless,  for  upwards  of 
forty  years  -in  fact,  till  the  year  iSoi  ;  and  of  all 


the  children  so  received,  no  sign  of  their  "  belong- 
ings "  is  left  behind. 

The  present  plan  of  admitting  children  dates 
from  the  abolition  of  these  hundred-pound  infants. 
The  regulations  are  very  curious,  and  apparently 
rather  capricious.  Thus,  the  committee  will  not 
receive  a  child  that  is  more  than  a  year  old,  not 
the  child  of  a  footman  or  of  a  domestic  servant, 
nor  any  child  whose  father  can  be  compelled  to 
maintain  it.  When,  however,  the  father  dies,  or 
goes  to  the  "  diggings,"  or  enlists  as  a  soldier,  the 
child  is  eligible.  The  mother's  moral  character 
must  be  generally  good,  and  the  child  must  b$.- 
the  result  of  her  "  first  fault ; "  and  she  must  show 
that,  if  relieved  of  the  incumbrance  of  her  child, 
she  can  shift  to  another  part  of  the  town  or 
country,  where  her  "  fault "  will  be  unknown.  The 
first  step  to  be  taken  by  the  mother  is  to  obtain  a 
printed  form  of  petition  ;  when  this  is  done  a  day 
is  appointed  for  her  examination,  when,  if  she 
prevaricates  in  any  of  her  statements,  her  applica- 
tion is  rejected,  and  many  otherwise  eligible  cases 
are  dismissed  on  this  ground. 

The  following  is  the  printed  form  of  petition  I—- 
THE I'KTirio.s  OF  (name)  OK  (place  of  abode) 
HUMBLY  SHEWETH— 

That  your  petitioner  is  a  (wiJo-.s  or  sfinster,  (  )  years  of 
a-e,  and  was  ,m  Ihe  (  )  day  of  (  )  delivered  of  «  \ 

(male  nr  Jcmalc)  child,  which  is  wholly  dependent  on  your  '• 
petitioner  for  it,  support,  being  deserted  l.y  the  father.  That  \ 
I /.>.'/;,•/.(  ii.im:)  is  the  father  of  the  said  child,  and  was,  wh«  : 
your  petitioner  became  acquainted  with  him,  a  (liis  trade),  at 
•  i-fi.lfHfc  :,'//,-«  ///,•  afifuainlante  Ayjw),  and  your  petitioner 
List  saw  him  on  the  (  )  day  of  (  ),  and  Micros  he 

is  now  ( :../„,/  is  Iwome  oj  him}.  Your  petitioner  therefore 
humbly  prays  th.it  you  will  be  pleased  to  receive  the  said 
child  into  the  aforesaid  hospital. 

The  instructions  appended  to  this  printed  form 
state  that  no  money  is  ever  received  for  the  ad- 
mission of  children,  nor  any  fee  or  perquisite 
laken  by  any  officer  of  the  hospital.  It  may  be 
idded  that  no  recommendation  is  necessary  to  the 
success  of  a  petitioner's  claim. 

The  mother  is  obliged  to  attend  before  the 
joard  and  tell  her  story,  and  inquiries  are  after- 
wards set  on  foot  in  as  secret  a  manner  as  possible 
o  verify  her  statement.  The  object  of  the  charity 
s  not  only  to  save  the  life  of  the  child,  but  to 
lide  the  shame  of  the  mother,  by  giving  her  time 
o  retrieve  her  faults.  The  world  is  but  too  prone 
o  be  hard  upon  poor  women  who  have  "  made  a 
;lip"  of  this  nature  ;  and  but  too  often  their  own 
sex  affix  a  kind  of  moral  ticket-of-leave  to  them, 
vhich  effectually  prevents  their  regaining  their 
>osition.  Under  the  contumely  and  the  despera- 
ion  to  which  such  treatment  reduces  them,  the 


Foundling  Hospital.l 


BAPTISM   OF   THE   FOUNDLINGS. 


359 


poor  creature  sometimes  sacrifices  not  only  her  own 
life,  but  also  that  of  the  unhappy  child. 

Immediately  the  infant  is  received  into  the 
house,  it  is  baptised.  Of  old,  contributions  were 
laid  upon  every  name  illustrious  in  the  arts  and 


accounts  in  the  handwriting  of  the  great  painter, 
in  which  he  shows  that  the  interest  he  took  in  the 
charity  was  of  the  most  intimate  kind  ;  that  he  not 
only  enriched  it  with  the  gifts  of  his  pencil,  as  we 
shall  presently  show,  but  also  with  his  tender 


When   these   were    exhausted,    all   our  I  solicitude  for  the  foundlings  who  could  make  him 


naval  heroes  were  pressed  into  the  service;  then 
our  famous  poets  once  more — in  name,  at  least — 
walked  the  earth.  The  Miltons,  Drydens,  and 
Shakespeares  that  nourished  within  the  walls  of  the 
Foundling  in  the  last  century  must  have  made  it  a 
perfect  Walhalla.  Let  no  man  flatter  himself  that 
he  is  descended  from  our  famous  bards  upon  the 
strength  of  a  mere  name,  however  uncommon,  lest 
ae  spiteful  genealogist  should  run  him  to  earth 


at  the  end  of  Lamb's  Conduit  Street. 


In  the  Cattleman's 


'ne,  under  date  zgth 


March,  1741,  occurs  this  entry:  "The  orphans  re- 
ceived into  the  hospital  were  baptised  there,  some 
nobility  of  the  first  rank  standing  godfathers  and 
godmothers.  The  first  male  was  named  Thomas 
Coram,  and  the  first  female  Eunice  Coram,  after 
the  first  founder  of  that  charity  and  his  wife.  The 
most  robust  boys,  being  designed  for  the  sea- 
service,  were  named  Drake,  Norris,  Blake,  &c., 
after  our  most  famous  admirals."  Thus,  when  the 
Foundling  was  first  opened,  noble  lords  and  ladies 


stood  sponsors  to  the  little  ones,  and  gave  their 
their  own  names.  As  these  foundlings  grew  up, 
however,  more  than  one  laid  claim  to  a  more 
tender  relationship  than  was  altogether  convenient. 
Now-a-days,  it  is  thought  best  to  fall  back  upon 
the  Brown,  Jones,  and  Robinson  class  of  names  of 
ordinary  life  to  be  found  in  the  Directory.  The 
governors,  however,  act  in  a  perfectly  impartial 
manner  in  this  respect.  A  list  of  names  is  made 
out  beforehand,  and  as  the  children  arrive  they  are 
fitted  to  them  in  regular  order.  As  soon  as  they 
are  baptised  they  are  dispatched  into  the  country, 
where  wet-nurses  have  been  provided  for  them. 
Within  a  distance  of  twenty  miles,  in  Kent  and 
Surrey,  there  are  always  about  200  of  these 
foundlings  at  nurse. 


no  return  for  the  care  with  which  he  watched 
over  them.  The  foster-children,  as  a  rule,  are  very 
well  taken  care  of;  a  large  per-centage,  indeed, 
surviving  the  maladies  of  childhood,  which  they 
certainly  would  not  have  done,  under  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  their  birth,  inside  the  walls  of 
the  asylum. 

Though  mothers  may  abandon  their  children 
to  the  tender  mercies  of  a  public  company,"  says  a 
writer  in  Chambers'  Journal,  "  they  cannot  do  so 
without  pain.  The  court-room  of  the  Foundling 
has  probably  witnessed  as  painful  scenes  as  any 
chamber  in  Great  Britain;  and  again,  when  the 
children,  at  five  years  old,  are  brought  up  to 
London,  and  separated  from  their  foster-mothers, 
these  scenes  are  renewed.  Even  the  foster-fathers 
are  sometimes  found  to  be  greatly  affected  by  the 
parting,  while  the  grief  of  their  wives  is  excessive ; 
and  the  children  themselves  so  pine  after  their  sup- 
posed parents,  that  they  are  humoured  by  holidays 
and  treats  for  a  day  or  two  after  their  arrival,  in 
order  to  mitigate  the  change.  In  very  many  cases 
the  solicitude  of  the  foster-mothers  does  not  cease 
with  their  charge  of  the  little  ones,  as  they  fre- 
quently call  to  inquire  after  them,  and  they,  in 
return,  look  upon  them  as  their  parents." 

The  education  which  the  children  receive  at  the 
Foundling  is  confined  to  reading,  writing,  and 
arithmetic,  and  they  are  also  taught  part-singing. 
At  fifteen  the  boys  and  girls  are  apprenticed,  the 
boys  to  tradesmen,  and  the  girls  to  private  families 
as  domestic  serv 


Every  child   has   its  name 


ants  ;  and  we  hear  that,  as  a  rule, 
both  turn  out  very  well.  The  governors  make  a  very 
strict  inquiry  into  the  characters  of  those  wishing 
to  receive  them  before  they  are  permitted  to  have 
apprentice,  and  they  desire  to  be  furnished 


with  regular  reports  as  to 


the  conduct  of  their  wards 


;wn  up  in  its  frock,  and  also  a  distinguishing  mark 
hung  round  its  neck  by  a  chain,  which  the  nurse 
is  enjoined  to  see  is  always  in  its  place.  These 
children  are  regularly  inspected  by  a  medical  man, 
and  the  greatest  care  is  taken  that  due  nourishment 
is  afforded  to  the  babes.  When  the  nurse  cannot 
do  this,  a  certain  amount  of  milk  is  required  to  be 
given.  The  foster-children,  whilst  at  nurse,  are 
under  the  observation  of  visitors  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. When  Hogarth  lived  at  Chiswick,  he  and 
his  wife  took  charge  of  a  certain  number  of  th 
little  ones ;  and  it  is  pleasant  to  rend  the  fadec 


Whilst  the  term  of  their  apprenticeship  lasts,  the 
governors  continue  their  careful  watch  over  them  ; 
and  when  they  are  out  of  their  time,  means  are 
afforded  the  boys  of  setting  out  in  life  as  artisans  : 
whilst  the  girls  are,  if  well  behaved,  entitled  to  a 
It  will  be  remembere  hat 


g 
marriage   portion 


Thoma 


e  . 

omas  Day,  the  eccentric  author  of     Sandford 
d  Merton,"  selected  from  the  Foundling  Hosprtal 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


ipprenticeship   all   connection   with    the    hospital  I  burden  of   adults,  the  number  of  late  years 


does  not  necessarily  cease,  as  many  of  the  children 
return  to  it  as  their  home  when  in  necessity,  and, 
if  well  behaved,  they  are  never  denied  assistance. 
Some  of  the  children,  crippled  and  helpless,  remain 
for  their  whole  lives  as  pensioners  upon  the  bounty 
of  the  institution.  It  is  stated  by  Hone,  in  his 
"  Year  Book,"  that  for  the  plan  adopted  in  rearing 
the  children  here,  the  hospital  was  largely  indebted 


been  reduced. 

It  appears  from  the  report  of  the  Royal  Com- 
mission,  instituted  in  1869,  to  inquire  into  the 
working  of  this  charity,  that,  though  the  infants 
received  into  the  hospital  are  never  again  seen  by 
their  mothers  (save  in  peculiar  cases),  a  s|n-<  ics  of 
intercourse  with  them  is  still  permitted.  Mothers 
are  allowed  to  come  every  Monday  and  ask  after 


to  .Sir  Il.ins  Sloane.  An  economical  kitchen, 
ingeniously  fitted  up  for  the  institution  by  Count 
Rumford,  is  described  at  some  length  in  the 
"Annual  Register'"  for  1798. 

The  whole  expenditure  of  the  establishment  in 
town  and  country,  for  the  year  ending  December, 
1882,  amounted  to  .£13,105  os.  4<1.,  which  after 
the  expenses  with  reference  to  ani.ren- 


dedi 


tices,  and  a  few  other  miscellaneous  accounts  — 
divided  by  the  average  number  of  children  on  the 
establishment  in  that  year,  namely,  497,  gave  an 
average  cost  of  ^£19  IDS.  per  head. 

The  girls  and  the  boys  in  the  hospital  are  pretty 
equally  divided.  Owing  to  the  liberal  support 
afforded  to  the  Benevolent  Fund,  the  design  of 
which  is  to  relieve  the  hospital  altogether  from  the 


their  children's  health,  but  are  allowed  no  further 
information.  On  an  average,  about  eight  women 
per  week  avail  themselves  of  this  privilege,  and 
there  have  been  some  who  attend  regularly  every 
fortnight.  Kven  when  application  is  made  by 
mothers  for  the  return  of  their  child,  the  request  n 
frequently  refused.  When  they  are  apprenticed 
no  intercourse  is  permitted  between  them,  unless 
master  and  mistress,  as  well  as  parent  and  child, 
approve  of  it  ;  nor  when  he  has  attained  maturity, 
unless  the  child  as  well  as  the  mother  demand  it 
Thus  a  woman,  who  was  married  from  the  hospital, 
and  had  borne  seven  children,  once  requested  to 
know  her  parents,  on  the  ground  that  "  there  was 
money  belonging  to  her,"  and  her  application  was 
refused.  But  in  November  of  the  same  year  the 


Foundim?  Hospital.:)    STRATAGEMS   FOR  IDENTIFICATION  OF  CHILDREN.  361 


name  of  a  certain  foundling  was  revealed  upon  the  ! 
application  of  a  solicitor,  and  his  setting  forth  that  j 
money  had  been  invested  for  its  use  by  the  dead 
mother.  The  governors  granted  this  request  upon 
the  ground  that  the  mother  herself  had  disclosed 

ie  secret,  which  they  were  otherwise  bound  to 
keen  inviolable.  Again,  in  1833,  a  foundling, 
seventy-six  years  of  age,  was  permitted,  for  certain 

od  reasons,  to  become  acquainted  with  his  own 


preserve  its  identification  during  its  subsequent 
abode  in  the  hospital,  since  the  children  appear  in 
chapel  twice  on  Sunday,  and  dine  in  public  on  that 
day,  which  gives  opportunities  of  seeing  them  from 
time  to  time,  and  preserving  the  recollection  of 
their  features.  In  these  attempts  at  discovery, 
however,  mistakes  are  often  committed,  and  atten- 
tion  lavished  on  the  wrong  child  ;  instances  have 
even  occurred  of  mothers  coming  in  mourning  attire 


name,  though,  as  may  be  imagined  not  with  hk 
parent  "  It  is  a  wise  child  in  the  roundhng  who 
knows  even  its  own  mother. ' 

The  stratagems  resorted  to  by  women  to  iden- 
tify their  children,  and  to  assure  themselves  oi 
their  well-being,  are  often  singularly  touching. 
Sometimes  notes  are  found  attached  to  the  infants 
garments,  beseeching  the  nurse  to  tell  the  mothe 
her  name  and  residence,  that  the  latter  may  visit 
her  child  during  its  stay  in  the  country;  and  they 
hive  been  even  known  to  follow  on  foot  the  van 
which  conveys  their  little  one  to  its  new  home. 
They  will  also  attend  the  baptism  in  the  chape 
in  the  hope  of  hearing  the  name  conferred  upon 
Se  infanl;  for,  if  they  succeed  ^  identifying  the 
child  during  its  stay  at  nurse,  they  can  always 


to  the  hospital,  to  return  thanks  for  the  kindness 
bestowed  upon  their  deceased  offspring,  only  to  be 
informed  that  they  are  alive  and  well.  One  ex- 
ception to  the  rule  of  non-intercourse  is  related, 
where  a  medical  attendant  certified  that  the  sanity 
of  one  unhappy  woman  might  be  affected  unless 
she  was  allowed  to  see  her  child. 

Another  piece  of  information  afiorded  by  the 
Commission,  and  this,  perhaps,  the  saddest  of  all, 
is  that  "twice  or  thrice  in  the  year  the  boys  are 
permitted  to  take  an  excursion  to  Primrose  Hill ; 
but  at  other  times  (except  when  sent  on  errands), 
and  the  girls  at  all  times,  are  kept  within  the 
hospital  walls/'  This  confinement,  it  is  asserted, 
so  affects  their  growth,  that  few  of  either  sex  attain 
to  the  average  height  of  men  and  women. 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


I  Foundling  Hospital. 


George  III.  on  more  than  one  occasion  testified 
in  a  marked  and  substantial  manner  the  interest 
which  he  took  in  the  institution,  and  on  the  2ist  of 
June,  1799,  his  Majesty,  accompanied  by  the  Queen, 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  and  five 
of  the  princesses,  visited  the  hospital  in  state. 

That  Tenterden  Steeple  was  the  cause  of  the 
Goodwin  Sands  does  not  seem  at  all  more  strange 
than  that  the  Foundling  Hospital  should  have 
been  in  some  sense  the  parent  of  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Arts.  Yet  such  was  the  case.  Not 
long  after  the  incorporation  of  the  society,  the 
present  building  was  erected,  as  we  have  men- 
tioned ;  but  as  its  funds  were  not  available  for  its 
decoration,  many  of  the  chief  artists  of  the  day 
generously  gave  pictures  from  their  own  easels  for 
the  decoration  of  its  several  apartments.  In  course 
of  time  these  came  to  be  shown  to  the  public  on 
application,  and  a  small  sum  being  charged  for 
admission,  they  took  their  place  among  the  sights 
of  the  metropolis.  Ultimately  they  proved  so 
attractive  that  their  success  suggested  a  combined 
exhibition  of  the  works  of  artists.  This,  as  we 
have  stated,*  first  took  shape  in  the  rooms  of 
the  Society  of  Arts  in  the  Adelphi,  from  which, 
again,  the  Royal  Academy  took  its  idea.  Thus, 
wilhin  the  walls  of  the  Foundling  the  curious 
visitor  may  sue  the  state  of  British  art  in  the 
era  immediately  preceding  the  extension  of  the 
patronage  of  George  III.  to  Benjamin  West. 

Among  the  earliest  "governors  and  guardians" 
of  this  charity  we  find  the  name  of  William 
Hogarth,  who  liberally  gave  his  time,  his  labour, 
and  his  money  towards  aiding  the  benevolent 
design  of  his  friend.  Captain  Ccfram.  His  first 
artistic  aid  \va.s  the  designing  and  drawing  of  a 
head-piece  to  a  power  of  attorney  drawn  for  collect- 
ing subscriptions  in  support  of  the  institution;  and 
he  next  presented  to  the  governors  an  engraved 
plate  01  C.tp'.am  Coram  s  portrait. 

The  list  of  the  early  art., tic  friends  and  sup-  j 
porters  of  the  newly-formed  society  includes  the 
sculptor  Ryshrach  ;  Ilaunan,  the  embellisher  of 
Vauxhall  Gardens;  Hudson.  Highmore,  Allan 
Kamsay.  and  Richard  Wilson,  the  prince  of  English 
landscape  painters  of  that  age.  They  often  met 
together  at  the  hospital,  and  thus  advanced  the 
charity  and  the  arts  at  the  same  time;  for  the  exhi- 
bition of  their  donations  in  the  shape  of  paintings 
drew  a  d.iily  crowd  of  visitors  in  splendid  carriages 
and  gilt  sedan  chairs,  so  that  to  pay  a  visit  to  the 
Foundling  became  one  of  the  fashionable  morning 
lounges  in  the  reign  of  George  II.  The  straight 


flat  ground  in  front  of  the  building  formed  the 
chief  promenade  ;  and  brocaded  silk,  gold-headed 
canes,  and  laced  three-cornered  hats  formed  a 
gay  and  constant  assembly  in  "Lamb's  Conduit 
Fields,"  when  they  were  fields  indeed. 

Some  very  interesting  memoranda  of  the  artists 
whose  works  adorn  the  Foundling,  with  a  catalogue 
raisonnce  of  the  pictures  which  they  presented, 
will  be  found  in  Mr.  Brownlow's  "  Memoranda  or 
Chronicles  of  the  Hospital."  Among  the  pictures 
are  "The  Charter  House,"  by  Gainsborough;  a 
portrait  of  Handel,  by  Sir  Godfrey  Kneller;  and 
three  works  of  Hogarth,  namely,  "  The  March  to 
Finchley,"  "  Moses  brought  to  Pharaoh's  Daughter," 
and  the  original  portrait  of  Captain  Coram. 

As  we  have  already  shown,  Hogarth  took  a  pride 
and  pleasure  in  this  institution.  Writing  about 
himself,  he  remarks  that  the  portrait  which  he 
presented  with  the  greatest  pleasure,  and  on  which 
he  spent  the  greatest  pains,  was  that  of  Captain 
Coram,  which  hangs  in  the  gallery  of  the  hospital ; 
and  in  allusion  to  the  detraction  from  which  he  had 
suffered  as  an  artist,  he  adds,  "  If  I  am  such  a 
wretched  artist  as  my  enemies  assert,  it  is  somewhat 
strange  that  this,  which  was  one  of  the  first  that  I 
)ainted  the  size  of  life,  should  stand  the  test  of  twenty 
years'  competition,  and  be  generally  thought  the 
best  portrait  in  the  place,  notwithstanding  the  first 
painters  in  the  kingdom  exerted  all  their  talents  to 
vie  with  it."  The  portrait,  we  may  add  here,  was 
engraved  by  McArdell,  who  resided  at  the  "Golden 
Ball,"  in  Henrietta  Street,  Covent  Garden,  and 
whose  engraved  portraits  were  pronounced  by  so 
good  a  judge  as  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  "  sufficient 
to  immortalise  their  author." 

The  "  March  to  Finchley,"  which  adorns  the 
secretary's  room,  like  several  of  his  other  works, 
was  disposed  of  by  Hogarth  by  way  of  lottery. 
There  were  above  1,840  chances  subscribed  for 
out  of  2,000 ;  the  rest  were  given  by  the  painter 
to  the  Foundling  Hospital,  and  on  the  same  night 
on  which  the  drawing  took  place,  the  picture  was 
delivered  to  the  governors  of  that  institution.  There 
is,  however,  some  little  doubt  as  to  how  it  came  into 
their  hands,  for  it  is  said  by  some  that  the  "prize" 
ticket  was  among  those  bestowed  on  the  hospital; 
others — an  anonymous  writer  in  the  Gcntltmarif 
Magazine,  for  instance — says  that  a  lady  was  the 
holder  of  the  fortunate  ticket,  for  which  she  had 
subscribed  with  the  view  of  presenting  the  picture 
to  the  governors.  The  writer  adds,  however,  that 
a  kind  and  prudish  friend  having  suggested  that 
a  door  would  be  opened  for  scandal  if  one  of  the 
female  sex  should  make  such  a  present,  it  was 
handed  back  to  Hogarth  on  condition  that  he 


Foundling  Hospital.] 


HANDEL'S   BENEFACTIONS. 


363 


should  give  it  in  his  own  name.     Our  readers  may    will  remember  how  Policeman  X.,  whom  she  let 
believe  which  version  of  the  story  they  please.  into  her  master's  house  in  Guilford  Street,  refers 

Another  good  story  is  told  about  this  picture,    to  that  unfashionable    locality  by   the   following 
When    Hogarth  had  finished   his   print  of  "  The    reminder  for  his  West-end  friends  :— 
March  of  the  Guards  to  Fmchley,"  he  proposed 
dedicating  it  to  the   king,    and  for  that  purpose 
went  to  court  to  be  introduced.     Previous  to  his 
Majesty's  appearance,  Hogarth  was  spied  by  some 
of  the  courtiers,  who,  guessing  his  business,  begged 


to  have  a  peep.  He  complied,  and  received  much 
laughter  and  commendation.  Soon  after,  the  king 
entered  the  drawing-room,  when  Hogarth  pre- 


P'raps  you  know  the  Fondling  Chapel, 
Wheie  the  little  children  sings  ? 

Lord  !  I  like  to  hear,  on  Sundays, 
Them  there  pretty  little  things  !" 


Those  who  have  attended  the  Foundling  Hos- 
pital chapel  must  have  been  charmed  with  the 
beautiful  effect  of  the  fresh  young  voices  swelling 
from  the  pyramid  of  little  ones  ranged  on  each 


sented  his  print ;  but  no  sooner  had  the  monarch  si(je)  an(j  towering  to  the  topmost  pipes  of  the 
thrown  his  eyes  upon  it,  than  he  exclaimed —  '  great  organ  (the  gift  of  Handel),  the  girls  in  their 
;  Dendermons  and  death !  you  Hogarth ;  what  you  quaint  costume  and  high  mob-caps,  the  boys  in 


mean  to  abuse  my  soldier  for?"  In  vain  the  other 
pleaded  his  attachment  to  the  army  in  general,  and 
that  this  was  only  a  laugh  at  the  expense  of  the 
dissolute  and  idle.  His  Majesty  could  not  be  con- 
vinced, till  the  late  Lord  Ligonier  told  him,  "  He 
was  sure  Mr.  Hogarth  did  not  mean  to  pay  any 
disrespect  to  the  army."  This,  however,  but  half 
pacified  him ;  for,  holding  up  the  print  hastily,  he 
carelessly  handed  it  to  one  of  the  lords  in  waiting, 
and  desired  him  to  let  the  artist  have  two  guine 


their  very  ugly  uniform. 

Among  the  principal  benefactors  to  the  hospital 
Handel  stands  among  the  foremost.  Here,  in  this 
chapel,  he  frequently  performed  his  oratorio  of  the 
Messiah,  the  score  of  which  he  left  by  will  to  this 
institution.  Lysons,  in  his  "  Environs  of  London," 
remarks  :  "  When  that  great  master  presided  there, 
at  his  own  oratorios,  it  was  generally  crowded ; 
and  as  he  engaged  most  of  the  performers  to  con- 
tribute their  assistance  gratis,  the  profits  to  the 


Hogarth  took  the  money,    as   the    etiquette    and    charity  were  very  considerable,  and  Jn  some  m- 
practice  of  courts  is   not  to  refuse  anything,  but    stances  approached  nearly  to  ^1,000." 
dedicated  his  piece  to  the  King  of  Prussia. 

The  council-room  adjoining  is  decorated  with 
four  large  subjects  from  Holy  Scripture,  including 
the  "  Finding  of  Moses,"  and  with  eight  medallion 
sketches  of  the  chief  London  and  suburban  hos- 
pitals— St.  Thomas's,  St.  Bartholomew's,  Chelsea, 

Greenwich,  £c.—  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century. 
In  a  corridor  beyond  hangs  a  fine  portrait  of 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Wilmot.     An  inner  room,  for- 

merly used  as  a  hall,  and  now  converted  into  a 

gallerv,  contains,  besides  the  portrait  of  the  founder 


Captain  Coram,  spoken  of  above,  the 
the   Innocents,"   by    Raffhe 


Murder  of 


The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  announcement 
of  Handel's  performance  of  the  Messiah  for  the 
benefit  of  the  charity  :— 

Hospital  for  the  Maintenance  and  Education  of  Exposed 
and  Deserted  Young  Children,  in  Lamb's  Conduit  Fields, 
April  18,  1750. 

George  Frederick  Handel,  Esq.,  having  presented  this 
Hospital  with  a  very  fine  organ  for  the  chapel  thereof,  and 
repealed  his  offer  of  assistance  to  promote  this  charity,*  on 
Tuesday,  the  first  day  of  May,  I75o,  at  twelve  o'clock  at 
noon,  Mr.  Handel  will  open  the  said  organ,  and  the  sacred 
oratorio 


alled  Messiah  will  be  performed  under  his  direc 


Tickets  for  this  performance 


The  chapel  has, 


ce  the  days  of  Handel 


, 

been  celebrated  for  the  attractiveness  of  the  musical 
part  of  the  services  on  Sundays,  when  its  doors  are 
open  to  the  public;  and  readers  of  Thackeray  s 
ballad  of  Eliza  Davis  and  the  false  deluding  sailor 


half-i 
By< 


ady  to  be  delivered  by 
Coffee  House, 
.mes's 
N.B.   There   will   be   no 


guinea    each 

der  of  the  general  Committee. 

11  ARM  AN  VERELST,  Secretary. 


- p^^lrcSi^BPc^s^w 

England,"  by  James   Northcote,    R.A.  ;  r  ic  ,  S( 

portraits  of  George  II,  Lords  Dartmouth  and 
Macclesfield,  Dr.  Mead,  Prince  Hoare,  Jacobson 
(the  architect),  and  other  friends  of  the  hospital. 
The  recesses  in  the  windows  are  filled  with  glass 
cases  containing  autographs  of  the  kings  and 
queens  of  England  from  Henry  VIII.  downwards, 
as  also  of  Hogarth,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  Benjamin 
West,  Captain  Coram,  Sir  W.  Sidney  Smith,  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  Charles  Dickens,  &c. 


The  concourse  of  visitors  on  this  occasion  was  so 
great,    that  the  performance  of  the   oratorio   was 
repeated  a  fortnight  afterwards.     In  the  course  of 
rs  the  Messiah  was  several 


the  following  twenty  yea 


lllca   ^formed    here,  and  the  entire    proceeds, 
hich   were   added  to  the  funds  of  the  hospital, 
;s  a  sum  than  £10,299.     Some 
nts  of  these  performances  read 


anted  to  no  less  a  sum  than  £10,299 


of  the  announceme 


us  now-a-days.    We  take  the  following  from  the 


•  Allusion  is  here  made  to  a  performa 
on  the  27th  of  May,  1749,  for  *e  benefit  of  this 


which   Handel  had  given 


364 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Foundling  Hospiul. 


General  Advertiser  of  the   i?th  of  May,  1751  :— 

"  Yesterday  the  oratorio  of  Messiah  was  performed 
at  the  Foundling  Hospital  to  a  very  numerous  and 
splendid  audience,  and  a  voluntary  on  the  organ 
was  played  by  Mr.  Handel,  which  met  with  uni- 
versal applause."  The  Gentleman:!  Magazine,  in 
giving  an  account  of  this  performance,  thus  ob- 
serves :  "  There  were  above  five  hundred  coaches, 
besides  chairs,  and  the  tickets  amounted  to  above 
seven  hundred  guineas."  For  the  oratorio,  in 
1752,  the  number  of  tickets  taken  was  1,200,  at 
half-a-guinea  each ;  and  in  the  following  year  the 


sum  realised  by  the  sale  of  tickets  was  925  guineas. 
The  performance  on  this  occasion  is  thus  noticed 


The  organ  still  in  use  in  the  chapel  is  the  same 
that  was  presented  by  Handel,  and  the  altar-piece, 
"Christ  Blessing  Little  Children,"  is  considered 
as  one  of  West's  finest  productions.  About  the 
year  1872  the  chapel  was  considerably  enlarged 
and  improved.  The  hospital,  in  fact,  has  not 
been  without  other  friends  also,  for  we  are  told 
how  that  a  black  merchant,  a  native  of  Calcutta, 
named  Omichand,  towards  the.  end  of  the  last 
century,  left  a  legacy  of  .£5,000,  the  interest  of 
which  is  shared  between  this  institution  and  the 
Magdalen  Hospital  Captain  Coram  himself,  the 


founder  of  the  hospital,    lies   buried   in   a  vault 
beneath  the  chapel,  as  also  does  Lord  Tenterden, 

by  the  Public  Advertiser  of  the  2nd  of  May,  1753: — j  the  chief  justice,  who  died  in  1832.  It  was  sug- 
"  Yesterday  the  sacred  oratorio  called  Messiah  '  gested  that  Handel  should  be  interred  near  the 
was  performed  in  the  chapel  at  the  Foundling  grave  of  the  founder,  but  this  idea  was  over- 
Hospital,  under  the  direction  of  the  inimitable  '  ruled,  and  the  remains  of  the  great  musician  found 
composer  thereof,  George  Frederick  Handel,  Esq.,  ,  a  resting-place  in  Westminster  Abbey.  It  may 
who  in  the  organ  concerto  played  himself  a  volun-  be  added  that  Laurence  Sterne  preached  in  this 


tary  on  the  fine  organ  he  gave  to  that  chapel.1 


chapel   in    1761,   and  that  in   more  recent  times 


In  Sch(clcher's   "Life  of  Handel"  we  are  told    Sydney  Smith  occupied  the  pulpit 
that  the  great   musician  in  a  manner  divided  his        Whilst,  as  we  have  said,  some  200  of  the  children 
"property"  in    the  Messiah  with   the    Foundling    on  the  books  of  the  hospital  are  laying  in  a  stock 


Hospital;    he  gave   the  institution  a  copy  of  the 

score,  and  promised  to  come  and  conduct  it  every 

year  for  the  benefit  of  the  good  work.     This  gift  j  the  walls  of  this  building,  in  itself  one  of  the  most 

was  the  occasion  of  an  episode  in  which  may  be    open  and  healthful  spots  in  the  metropolis.     It  is 

perceived    the    cl 

donor.     The  administrator 

desirous  of  investing   his    intentions  with   a  legal 

form,    prepared    a    petition   to   Parliament,    which 

terminated     in     the     following     manner  : — •'  That 

in  order    to  raise  a   further  sum    for    the    benefit 

of    the    said    charity,    George    Frederick    Handel, 

Esq..     hath    been    charitably    pleased    to    give    to 

thii    corporation    a    coi 

'The    Oratorio    of     7//< 

him;    the    said     Georgi 

the  same  for  his 

whereas  the  said  belief: 

•  !'  your  petitioiu 
authority  of  Parliament,  your  ] 
humbly  pray  that  leave  may  be 
bill  lor  the  purpose  afoi\  laid." 


of  health  in  the  cottages  and  amid  the  orchards 
of  Surrey  and  Kent,  the  rest  are  to  be  seen  within  , 


ric  humour  of  the  worthy  true  it  does  not  stand,  as  of  old,  in  the  centre  of 
of  the  hospital,  being  Iamb's  Conduit  "Fields,"  for  the  town  has  crept 
up  and  devoured  the  latter  ;  but  it  will  be  observed 
that  the  squares  that  flank  the  institution  on 
either  hand  have  no  houses  on  the  sides  next  to 
the  hospital,  and  that  consequently  these  large 
enclosures  act  as  supplementary  lungs  to  the  ample 
gardens  and  grounds  of  the  institution  itself. 
Nevertheless,  the  governors  at  the  end  of  the  last 
century  let  off  enough  of  their  land  for  building 
purposes  to  bring  in  upwards  of  £5,500  per 


position    of 


•annot   be   :,ec 


Frederick      Handel    re- 
It  only   the  liberty  of  performing    annum,  or  as  much  as  they  originally  gave  for  the 
own  benefit  during  his  life.      And     fee-simple    of    the    whole    estate     to    the    Earl    of 
Salisbury.     As    the    land    was    let    upon    building 
leases  of  ninety-nine  years,  large  house  property 
will  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  charity  in  the  course 
ig  in  a    of  a  few  years  from  the  present  time  ;  possibly  by 
of  the    that  period,  if  not  before,  the  Foundling  Hospital 


•titioners  therefore 

jivi  n  to  bring  in  a 
When 

governors  waited  upon  the  musician  with  this  form  will  be  transplanted  to  the  green  country,  as  the 
of  petition,  he  soon  saw  that  the  committee  of  the  Charterhouse  School  has  already  been,  and  pos- 
hospital  had  built  on  a  wrong  foundation,  for  sibly  Westminster  School  will  be  ;  for  why,  it  has 
Handel,  bursting  into  a  rage,  exclaimed,  "  De  been  asked,  should  we  keep  young  children  in  the 
Devil !  for  vat  sal  de  Foundling  put  mein  oratorio  midst  of  a  smoky  town  when  cheaper  and  better 
in  de  Parlement !  De  devil !  mein  music  sal  not  go  air  can  be  provided  for  them  in  fields  far  away,  and 
to  de  Parlement."  The  petition  went  no  further ;  brighter  than  were  even  the  Lamb's  Conduit  Fields 
but  Handel  did  not  the  less  fulfil  the  pious  engage-  j  of  old  ?  We  should  not  dream  of  planting  a. 
ment  which  he  had  contracted.  !  nursery-ground  in  the  metropolis  from  choice ;  and 


Handling  Hospital] 


A  SCANDAL   IN   HIGH  LIFE, 


365 


inst 
new, 


children,  it  should  be  remembered,  flourish  just  walking  round  the  table,  asks,  on  the  sly,  which  is 
as  ill  as  roses  in  contaminated  air.  When  this  Walter  Wilding  ;  or  how,  further  on  in  the  story, 
itution  is  removed  to  "  fresh  fields  and  pastures  Bintrey  asks  "  whether  Joey  Ladle  is  to  take  a 
,"  the  sale  of  their  land  for  building  purposes  share  in  Handel,  Mozart,  Haydn,"  &c.,  as  "  Mr. 
ill  probably  bring  in  upwards  of  ,£50,000  a  year.  Wilding  knows  by  heart  all  the  choruses  to  the 
and  the  charity  will  possess  the  means  of  vastly  anthems  in  the  Foundling  Hospital  collection;" 
increasing  the  field  of  its  usefulness.  and  how,  in  the  issue,  it  turns  out  that  Mr. 

At  the  gates  of  the  hospital,  facing  Lamb's  !  Wilding,  the  wine  merchant,  was  that  very  child 
Conduit  Street,  there  is  a  statue  of  Captain  Thomas  j  for  whom  "  Sally"  had  asked  so  tenderly. 
Coram,  by  AV.  Calder  Marshall.  The  following  j  The  "  Boat,"  an  isolated  tavern  in  the  open 
short  notice  of  the  founder  of  this  institution,  from  fields  at  the  back  of  the  Foundling,  doubtless  com- 
the  "  Biographical  Dictionary,"  may  not  be  out  of  memorated  the  time  when  boats  and  barges  came 
nlace  here  :  _  "  Captain  Coram  was  born  about  j  up  the  Fleet  River  as  far  as  Battle  Bridge.  It 
1668  bred  to  the  sea,  and  spent  the  first  part  of  formed  the  head-quarters  of  the  rioters  and  incen- 


his  life  as  master  of  a  vessel  trading  to  the  colonies. 
While  he  resided  in  that  part  of  our  metropolis 
which  is  the  common  residence  of  sea-faring  people, 


diaries  who  aided  and  abetted  Lord  George  Gordon 
in  his  anti-Popish  riots  in  1780. 

Behind  the  Foundling  Hospital,  in  a  line  with 


business  often  obliged  him  to  come  early  into  the  j  Judd  Street,  of  which  we  have  already  spoken,  is 

Hunter  Street.  At  No.  2  for  many  years  lived 
the  lady  who  called  herself  the  Marchioness 
Townshend.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Mr.  William 
Dunn  Gardner,  of  Chatteris,  in  the  Isle  of  Ely, 
and  in  1807  was  married  to  Lord  Chartley, 
afterwards  Marquis  Townshend,  who  died  in  1855, 


City  and  return  late,  when  he  had  frequent  occa- 
sions of  seeing  young  children  exposed,  through 
the  indigence  or  cruelty  of  their  parents. 


This 


:ited  his  compassion  so  far,  that  he  projected 
the  Foundling  Hospital,  in  which  humane  design 
he  laboured  seventeen  years,  and  at  last  by  his 


sole  application  obtained  the  royal  charter  for  it.    leaving    no   family.       The  story  of  her  married 

'-"-    :-    "~   -  ......  -1    ;"    "«*•**•"•    "  *-««•' 


highly  instrumental  in  promoting  another 
good  design—  viz.,  the  procuring  a  bounty  upon 
naval  stores  imported  from  the  colonies  ;  and  was 
eminently  concerned  in  setting  on  foot  the  colonies 


of  Georgia  and  Nova  Scotia.     His  last  charitable 
design,  which  he  lived  to  make  some  progress  in,  | 


life  is  thus  narrated  in  Hardwicke's  "Annual 
Biography:" — "Shortly  after  the  marriage,  Lord 
Chartley  separated  from  his  wife,  a  proceeding 
which  the  lady  endeavoured  to  set  aside  by  a  suit 
in  the  Ecclesiastical  Courts.  These  courts,  hovv- 


•ver,  are  proverbially  slow  in  their  proceedings,  and 
but  not  to  complete,  was  a  scheme  for  uniting  the    while  her  suit  was  pending,  she  eloped  from  her 


Indians  in  North  America  more  closely  to  the 
British  interest,  by  an  establishment  for  the  educa- 
tion of  Indian  girls.  Indeed,  he  spent  a  great  part 
of  his  life  in  serving  the  ,ml,li.-.  and  with  so  total  a 
mrA  tn  I^Q  nrivate  interest,  that  towards  the 


father's  house  with  a  Mr.  John  Margetts,  a  brewer 
of  St.  Ives,  with  whom  she  lived,  in  this  street  and 
other  places,  down  to  his  death  in  1842,  calling 
herself  at  one  time  Mrs.  Margetts  and  at  other 


y,,s 


voluntary  subscriptions  of  public-spirited  persons, 
at  the  head  of  whom  was  the  truly  amiable  jHid 
benevolent  Frederick  Prince  of  \"  ' 
singular  and  memorable  man  died  at 
near  Leicester  Square,  Man  h  29th,  1751,  in  his 
eighty-fourth  year  :  and  was  interred,  pursuant  to 
his  desire,  in  the  vault  under  the  chapel  of  the 
Foundling  Hospital,  where  his  memory  is  reco 
in  a  suitable  inscription." 

Readers  of  the  works  of  Charles   Dickens  w.ll 
scarcely  need  to  be  reminded  how  in  the  opening 
scene  of  "  No  Thoroughfare."  the  postern  gate  c 
the  Foundling  Hospital  opens,  and  Sally  steps  o 
and  asks,  with  all  a  mother's  affection,  what  name 
"  they  have  give  to  her  poor  baby."     Nor  will  they 
forget,  in  the  next  scene,  how,  whilst  the  foundling 
children  are  at  dinner  after  service,  a  veiled  lady 


and  daughters,  the  former  of  whom  were  sent  to 
Westminster  School,  first  in  the  name  of  Margetts, 
id  afterwards  under  the  names  of  I  .onl  A.  and  B. 
,'ownshend  The  eldest  son  was  actually  returned 
to  Pirliament  in  1841,  as  Earl  of  Leicester,  by  the 
electors  of  Bodmin,  who  fondly  imagined  that  they 
hid  secured  as  their  representative  the  eldest  son  ot 
a  live  marquis,  and  one  who  would  hereafter  prove 


a  live  marquis,  anu  u«<= - 

a  powerful  patron  of  their  interests  in  the  House  o 
!  Lords.  Atthis  time,  Lord  Charles  Townshend  nex 


366 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


reported  their  opinion  in  favour  of  a  bill  to  that  ,  Small-Pox  Hospital,  and  facing  the  terminus  of 
effect.  A  bill  accordingly  was  introduced  '  for  j  the  Midland  Railway,  stands  the  British  College 
declaring  the  issue  of  Lady  Townshend  illegitimate,'  i  of  Health.  It  was  erected  in  1828,  for  the  manu- 
and  it  passed  the  Houseof  Lords,  by  a  large  majority,  facture  and  sale  of  a  vegetable  pill,  by  Mr.  James 


May,  1843.  If  it  had  not  oeen  .or  this  procedure 
on  the  part  of  Lord  Charles  Townshend,  which  was 
rendered  more  difficult  by  the  forced  residence  of 
the  marquis  abroad  (for  he  had  never  taken  his  seat 


Morison,  a  gentleman  of  Scottish  extraction,  who 
began  his  career  as  a  merchant  at  Riga,  and  subse- 
quently in  the  West  Indies.  Ill  health  compelled 
him,  however,  to  leave  so  hot  a  climate,  and  in 
the  House  of  Peers,  nor  had  he  been  in  England  i  1814  he  settled  at  Bordeaux.  Finding  no  relief 


since  his  accession  to  the  title,  nor  seen  his  wife 
since  her  elopement),  the  marqufsate  of  Townshend, 
with  the  noble  estates  of  Kaynham,  in  Norfolk,  and 
the  castle  at  Tamwortli,  would  have  passed  to  a 
spurious  and  supposititious  rare,  the  children  of  a 
brewer  at  St.  Ives.  After  the  death  of  the  marquis, 
in  December,  1855,  his  disconsolate  wife,  having 
remained  a  widow  for  nearly  a  fortnight,  was 
married  by  special  licence  to  a  Mr.  John  Laidler, 
an  assistant  to  a  linendraper  at  the  west  end  of 
London." 

In  the  Euston  Road,  near  the  end  of  Jiuld 
Street,  is  Tollbridge  Chapel,  a  place  of  worship  for 
Dissenters  of  the  Congregationalist  denomination, 
dating  from  about  the  year  1812.  Close  to  Ton- 
bridge  Chapel,  opposite  to  the  former  site  of  the 


1830.     (See  fagf  369.) 


from  the  course  of  treatment  carried  out  by  his 
physicians,  he  at  length  decided  on  a  method  of  his 
own.  "  From  such  men  as  Culpeper,  and  others  of 
the  old  medico-herbalists,  he  sought  advice,  and  his 
adventitious  career  was  crowned  with  success.  He 
found  in  the  gardens  of  Nature  (what  his  physicians 
could  not  find  from  minerals  and  from  poisons)  that 
alleviation  of  his  disease  which  ultimately  led  to  his 
complete  recovery.  Stimulated  by  this  knowledge, 
his  philanthropy  was  excited,  and  he  decided  to 
benefit  others  as  he  himself  had  been  benefited 
This  was  the  origin  of  his  founding  the  British 
College  of  Health."  The  world-wide  fame  which 
Morison's  pills  speedily  attained,  as  well  as  the 
common  sale  attendant  thereon,  excited  first  the 
astonishment,  then  the  jealousy,  and  afterwards 


Euston  Road.] 


THE   ST.    PANCRAS   STATION. 


367 


368 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


the  malice  of  the   regular  practitioners.      Action  j  year  1856,  a  memorial  was  erected  in  front  of  his 


after  action  was  commenced  against  the  proprietor 
for  the  sale  of  "so  poisonous  an  article ; "  but 
falling  to  the  ground,  they  only  assisted  in  still 
further  extending  his  fame  and  sale,  until  his  very 
name  became  a  "  household  word,"  which  no  other 
medicine  has  obtained  either  before  or  since.  Its 
notoriety  was  such  that  Punch  of  those  days  con-  j 


tinually  referred  to  it.     On  Morison's  death,  in  the  i  quotations  and  remarks. 


establishment  in  the  Euston  Road  by  a  penny  sub- 
scription ;  "  no  person  was  allowed  to  give  more 
than  one  penny,  and  no  one  was  to  subscribe  but 
those  who  had  derived  some  benefit  from  the 
Hygeist's  medicine."  The  memorial  consists  of  a 
granite  pedestal,  surmounted  by  the  British  lion, 
and  on  the  sides  of  the  pedestal  are  various  poetical 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
AGAR   TOWN,    AND   THE   MIDLAND   RAILWAY. 

Origin  of  the  Midland  Railway-Agar  Town  as  it  was-A  Good  Clearance-Underground  Operations  for  the  Construction  of  the  Midland 
Railway  and  Tcrminus-Re-interment  of  a  Roman  Catholic  Dignitary-The  Midland  Railway-Mr.  William  Agar-Tom  Sayers,  the 
Pugilist-The  English  "Connemara"-A  Monster  Hotel-The  Midland  Terminus:  Vast  Sue  of  the  Roof  of  the  Station-A  Railway 
Goods  Bank— The  Imperial  Gas  Works-York  Road. 


THE  Midland  Railway,  unlike  most  other  long 
lines,  was  commenced,  not  in  London,  but  in  the 
provinces,  having  been  originated  in  1832  at  a 
village  inn  on  the  borders  of  Leicestershire  and 
Nottinghamshire,  in  the  necessities  of  a  few  coal- 
owners — not  of  the  richest  and  most  influential 
class.  It  has,  however,  gradually  found  its  way 
from  the  provinces  into  London,  and  has  spread 
out  its  paths  of  iron,  like  a  net-work,  north  and 
south,  east  and  west,  through  half  the  counties  of 
F,ngland,  till  they  stretch  from  the  Severn  to  the 
Humber,  from  the  Wash  to  the  Mersey,  from  the 
Thames  to  the  Solway  Firth.  Its  construction 
has  cost  fifty  millions  of  money,  bringing  in  an 
income  of  five  millions  a  year  ;  and  it  has  before 
it  an  almost  unlimited  future.  We  do  not  intend 
here  to  attempt  an  account  of  the  entire  Midland 
line;  but  as  we  have  already  given  some  details 
about  the  London  and  Xorth-Western  line  in  our 
account  of  Euston  Square,  so  our  description  of 
St.  Pancras  will  not  be  complete  without  a  few 
particulars  about  this  railway.  When  this  line  was 
brought  into  London,  in  1866,  it  wrought  a  mighty 
revolution  in  the  neighbourhood  where  we  now  are. 
"  For  its  passenger  station  alone  it  swept  away  a 
church  and  seven  streets  of  three  thousand  houses," 
writes  Mr.  F.  Williams,  in  his  "History  of  the 
Midland  Railway:  a  Narrative  of  Modern  Enter 
prise."  "  Old  St.  Pancras  churchyard  was  invaded, 
and  Agar  Town  almost  demolished.  Yet  those 
who  knew  this  district  at  that  time  have  no  regret 
at  the  change.  Time  was  when  the  wealthy  owner 
of  a  large  estate  had  lived  here  in  his  mansion  ; 
but  after  his  departure  the  place  became  a  very 
'abomination  of  desolation.'  In  its  centre  was 


what  was  termed  La  Belle  Isle,  a  dreary  and  un- 
savoury locality,  abandoned  to  mountains  of  refuse 
from  the  metropolitan  dust-bins,  strewn  with  decay- 
ing vegetables  and  foul-smelling  fragments  of  what 
once  had  been  fish,  or  occupied  by  knackers'-yards 
and  manure-making,  bone-boiling,  and  soap-manu- 
facturing works,  and  smoke-belching  potteries  and 
brick-kilns.  At  the  broken  doors  of  mutilated 
houses  canaries  still  sang,  and  dogs  lay  basking  in 
the  sun,  as  if  to  remind  one  of  the  vast  colonies  of 
bird-fanciers  and  dog-fanciers  who  formerly  made 
Agar  Town  their  abode  ;  and  from  these  dwellings 
came  out  wretched  creatures  in  rags  and  dirt,  and 
searched  amid  the  far-extending  refuse  for  the 
filthy  treasure  by  the  aid  of  which  they  eked  out  a 
miserable  livelihood  ;  whilst  over  the  whole  neigh- 
bourhood the  gas-works  poured  forth  their  mephitic 
vapours,  and  the  canal  gave  forth  its  rheumatic 
dampness,  extracting  in  return  some  of  the  more 
poisonous  ingredients  in  the  atmosphere,  and 
spreading  them  upon  the  surface  of  the  water  in  a 
thick  scum  of  various  and  ominous  hues.  Such 
was  Agar  Town  before  the  Midland  Railway  came 
into  the  midst  of  it." 

The  above  sketch  is  slightly — but  only  slightly — 
overdrawn ;  for  the  canal  still  flows  where  it  did, 
and  it  is  known  that  gas-works,  though  unsightly, 
are  not  really  unhealthy  neighbours.  Be  this,  how. 
ever,  as  it  may,  a  mighty  clearance  of  houses  was 
made,  and  a  population  equal  to  that  of  ten  small 
boroughs  was  swept  away,  as  the  first  step  towards 
a  new  order  of  things.  The  neighbourhood  for 
many  months  presented  the  appearance  of  an  utter 
chaos,  with  mounds  of  earth,  the  debris  of  houses 
and  tunnels  in  the  course  of  being  dug.  By  the 


Agar  Town.] 


SINGULAR   IDENTIFICATION   OF   A  SKELETON. 


369 


side  of  the  Euston  Road,  close  under  the  front  of 
the  Midland  Railway  Hotel,  was  dug  a  large  trench 
in  which  was  built  a  tunnel  for  the  use  of  the 
Metropolitan  Company  whenever  it  shall  need  to 
double  its  present  traffic-lines.  Further  to  the 
north  came  sweeping  round  another  large  cutting 
in  which  was  to  be  made  the  actual  junction  of 
the  Metropolitan  and  the  Midland  lines.  "  So  vast, 
indeed,  were  these  subterranean  operations,"  writes 
Mr.  Williams,  "  that  the  St.  Pancras  Station  became 
like  an  iceberg,  the  greater  portion  of  it  being 
•  below  the  surface;  indeed,  remarkable  as  is  the 
engineering  skill  displayed  in  the  large  building 
j  which  towers  so  majestically  above  all  its  neigh- 
[bours,  it  is  as  nothing  compared  with  the  works 
concealed  below  ground.  For  right  underneath 
the  monster  railway  station  are  two  other  separate 
constructions,  one  above  the  other,  none  the  less 
wonderful  because  they  will  never  see  the  light  o 
day,  but  are  irrevocably  doomed 

'To  waste  their  sweetness  on  the  desert  air.'  " 

These  works  are  the  Underground  Railway  and 
the  Fleet  Sewer,  while  the  branch  of  the  Metro 
politan  that  joins  the  Midland  not  only  crosses 
at  the  southern  extremity,  but  thence  runs  u\ 
under  the  western  side  of  the  station,  to  re-cros: 
at  its  northern  end  to  the  eastern  side,  where  i 
gradually  rises  to  its  junction  about  a  mile  dowi 
the  line. 

Of   the    difficulty   experienced    in  carrying  th 

railway  through   the  graveyard  of  Old  St.  Pancra 

Church,  and  also  through  that  of  St.  Giles's  paris 

which  adjoins  it,  without  any  unavoidable  disturb 

ance  of  the  dead,  we  have  spoken  in  a  previou 

chapter  ;  *  but  we  may  add  here,  that,  though  ever 

precaution  was  taken   by  the  agents  of  the  Mu 

land  Railway  Company,   a  most   serio-comic  me 

dent  occurred   during  the  process.     The  compan 

had  purchased  a  new  piece  of  ground  in  which 

re-inter  the  human  remains  discovered  in  the  pc 

which  they  required.     Among  them  was  the  corp 

of  a  high  dignitary  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Churc 

in  France.     Orders  were  received  for  the  transshi 

ment  of  the  remains  to   his  native  land,  and  tl 

delicate  work  of  exhuming  the  corpse  was  entrustc 

to    some   clever   gravediggers.      On    openinj 

ground  they  were   surprised  to  find  the  bones,  n 

of  one  man,  but  of  several.     Three  skulls  and  thr 

sets  of  bones  were  yielded  up  by  the  soil  m  whi 

they  had  lain  mouldering.     The  difficulty  was  h( 

to  identify  the  bones  of  a  French  ecclesiastic  an 

so  many.     After  much  discussion,  the  shrewdt 

of  the  gravediggers  suggested  that,  as   he  was 


Htt.    P.    336. 


eigner,  the  darkest-coloured  skull  must  be  his. 
cting  upon  this  idea,  the  blackest  bones  were 
"ted  and  put  together,  until  the  requisite  number 

lefts  and  rights  were  obtained.  These  were 
rerently  screwed  up  in  a  new  coffin,  conveyed  to 
ance,  and  buried  again  with  all  the  "  pomp  and 
•cumstance  "  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
Shortly  after  passing  the  churchyard  of  Old  St. 
ancras  the  line  crosses  the  Regent's  Canal,  and 
en  passes  under  the  North  London  Railway, 
hich  is  carried  above  it  by  a  bridge  of  three 
ches.  "  Their  construction,"  Mr.  Jackson  tells 
was  a  matter  of  no  ordinary  difficulty  on 
xount  of  the  ceaseless  traffic  on  the  line  over- 
ead  ;  it  was,  however,  accomplished  without  the 
terruption  of  a  single  hour."  The  Midland  line 

here  joined  by  the  branch  which  comes  up  from 
ie  Metropolitan  at  King's  Cross,  as  mentioned 
bove.  The  lines  actually  converge  near  the  Cam- 
en  covered-way ;  but  the  transfer  of  passengers 
sually  takes  place  at  Kentish  Town  Station,  half 

mile  farther  from   the  London   Terminus.     At 

entish  Town  a  line  branches  off  to  Holloway 
nd  Tottenham,  while  the  main  line  is  carried  by 
long  tunnel  under  Haverstock  Hill,  whence, 
merging  into  open  daylight,  the  trains  run  on  to 
Hendon  and  St.  Albans,  and  thence  northwards 
hrough  the  "  midland  "  counties. 

We  have  spoken  above  of  the  great  clearance  of 
louses  which  was  effected  in  this  locality  by  the 
.ormation  of  the  Midland  Railway.  The  district, 
vhich  is— or  was— known  as  Agar  Town,  consisted 
nostly  of  small  tenements  of  the  lowest  class, 
lamed  after  one  Mr.  William  Agar— or,  as  he  was 
commonly  called,  "  Councillor  Agar,"  an  eccentric 
and  miserly  lawyer— to  whom  the  site  was  let  on  a 
short  lease  for  building  purposes,  about  the  year 

1  Twenty  years  later  the  fee-simple  of  the  greater 
part  of  this  locality  was  transferred  by  the  Eccle- 
siastical Commissioners,  to  whom  it  had  reverted, 
to  the  Midland  Railway  Company  for  a  con- 
siderable sum,  and  most  of  the  houses  have  been 
swept  away  to  form  ale  and  coal  stores  and  other 
warehouses  in  connection  with  the  terminus  of  the 
Midland  Railway,  about  which  we  shall  speak 
presently.  Much  of  the  vacant  ground  not  required 
or  the  company's  use  has  been  laid  out  for  build- 
in,  warehouses,  and  has  raised,  as  it  were,  another 
town  in  the  place  of  this  already  overcrowded 

'1t"°Sl  be  expected  that  such  a  district  as 
this  can  have  any  historical  associations  worth 
r  cord  ng  ;  but  still  the  place  has  not  been  without 
£  °  cekbkties,''  for  here  lived  for  many  years  the 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


umaland  Railway 


well-known  pugilist,  Tom  Sayers.  His  notoriety 
arose  from  his  accepting  the  challenge  of  Heenan, 
the  American  champion,  in  1860,  to  fight  for  the 
champion  belt  of  the  world.  Sayers  was  com- 
paratively small  in  stature,  whilst  Heenan  was  much 
above  the  ordinary  height  ;  and  it  is  said  that  when 
Sayers  met  his  monster  opponent  for  the  first  time 
he  felt  a  little  daunted.  The  fight,  nevertheless, 
came  off,  and  in  the  first  round  Sayers's  right  arm 
was  broken  ;  but  still,  with  this  fractured  limb,  he 
continued  the  encounter  for  some  time,  and  in  the 
end,  if  he  did  not  obtain  the  victory,  he  made  it  a 
drawn  battle,  and  received  with  Heenan  the  honour 
of  a  double  belt.  Henceforth  Tom  Sayers  was 
everywhere  greeted  as  a  hero  ;  and  at  the  Stock 
Exchange  a  purse  of  _^Ji,ooo  was  handed  to  him 
for  his  "gallant  conduct,"  on  the  understanding 
that  he  at  once  retired  from  the  Ring.  For  a  time 
Sayers  was  the  topic  of  general  conversation  ;  but 
he  did  not  long  survive  his  triumph,  if  such  it  may 
be  called.  He  died  soon  afterwards  from  pul- 
monary consumption,  and  was  buried,  with  con- 
siderable ceremony,  in  the  Highgate  Cemetery,  his 
profile  and  a  portrait  of  his  dog  being  the  only 
memorials  on  his  tombstone  to  mark  the  place  of 
his  interment. 

If  the  Midland  Railway  had  conferred  no  other 
benefit   on    London   and    Londoners,   our   thanks 


while  the  critical  eye  of  the  student  will  observe 
touches  of  Milan  and  other  Italian  terra-cotta 
buildings,  interlaced  with  good  reproductions  of 
details  from  Winchester  and  Salisbury  Cathedrals, 
Westminster  Abbey,  &c, ;  while  in  the  interior  and 
exterior  may  be  seen  the  ornaments  of  Amiens, 
Laon,  and  other  French  edifices,  which,  though  a 
conglomerate,  must  have  required  great  pains  and 
skill  to  properly  harmonise  in  order  to  produce  so 
attractive  a  result  The  designs  of  the  interior,  as 
well  as  the  apartments  (some  of  which  are  em- 
bellished with  almost  regal  splendour),  were  the- 
production  of  Sir  Gilbert  Scott,  afterwards  assisted 
by  Mr.  Sang.  The  colouring  is  rich  and  almost 
faultlessly  pleasing  and  harmonious,  producing  a 
marked  mediaeval  character.  The  ceiling  of  the 
reading-room  glows  in  an  atmosphere  of  gold  and 
colour,  yet  free  and  graceful  in  its  figures  and 
ornaments,  designed  by  Mr.  Sang.  The  large 
and  magnificent  coffee-room,  the  "grand  saloon," 
together  with  the  adjoining  "  state  "  and  reception 
rooms,  probably  have  no  equal  in  point  of  design 
or  finish  in  any  building  of  the  kind ;  while 
the  corridors  and  staircases  throughout  are  all 
decorated  in  a  rich  style,  at  once  tasteful  and 
beautiful. 

A    broad   terraced   carriage-drive,    400   feet   in 
length,  separates  the  hotel  from  the  roadway,  and 


would  be  due  to  it  for  having  cleared  away  the  !  leads  by  various  entrances  to  the  building 
whole,  or  nearly  the  whole,  of  the  above-mentioned  archways  to  the  station.  Altogether,  the  hotel  has 
miserable  district  of  mud  and  hovels,  and  given  us  .  a  frontage  of  about  600  feet  ;  and  it  is  very  lofty, 
something  better  to  look  upon.  So  dreary  and  consisting  of  seven  storeys,  including  attics  in  the 
dirty  indeed  was  the  place—  though  its  creation  sloping  roofs.  At  the  south-east  corner  of  the 
was  only  of  so  recent  date  —  that  it  was  styled  by  building  is  a  clock-tower  240  feet  high,  nearly  forty 
Charles  Dickens  our  "  English  Connemar;'.."  It  .  feet  higher  than  the  Monument  at  London  Bridge. 
was  mainly  occupied  by  costermongers,  and  by  dog  ;  There  are  bedrooms  for  upwards  of  500  guests,  all 
and  bird  fanciers.  '  most  luxuriously  furnished  ;  and  a  uniformly  mild 

Having  made  these  general  remarks  about  the  temperature  is  maintained  in  all  seasons.  The 
line,  and  of  the  oite  which  it  occupies,  we  will  cost  of  the  hotel,  with  its  fittings  and  furniture,  is 
proceed  with  a  few  details  concerning  the  station  '  said  to  have  been  not  less  than  half  a  million 
and  the  "grand  hotel"  which  adjoins  it.  The  pounds  sterling.  The  whole  of  the  arrangements 
latter  building,  which  abuts  upon  the  Euston  Road,  for  conducting  the  business  of  the  hotel,  it  need 
facing  Judd  Street,  was  opened  in  1873.  and  com-  hardly  be  added,  are  most  complete.  There  are 
pleted  in  the  spring  of  1876.  It  was  erected  from  speaking-tubes,  electric  bells,  lifts,  and  dust-shafts; 
the  designs  of  Sir  (albert  Scott,  and  is  constructed  and  an  apparatus  for  the  extinction  of  fire  is  laid 
chiefly  of  red  brick,  with  dressings  of  Bath  stone,  on  at  every  floor.  In  the  basement  are  spacious 
in  the  most  ornate  style  of  Gothic  art.  It  must  and  extensive  cellars,  and  a  laundry  ;  and  it  may 
be  owned  that  towering  as  it  does  into  mid  air,  it  be  added  that  the  whole  of  the  washing  and  drying 
is  a  most  beautiful  structure  ;  indeed,  to  emote  the  is  done  by  steam  power. 

words  of  the  "  Tourist's  Guide,'1  "  it  stands  without  ;  It  was  found  necessary  to  raise  the  level  of  the 
a  rival  in  the  hotel  line,  for  palatial  beauty,  comfort,  terminus  about  fifteen  feet  higher  than  the  Euston 
and  convenience."  The  style  of  architecture  is  Road,  in  order  to  secure  good  gradients  and  proper 
a  combination  of  various  mediaeval  features,  the  levels  for  some  of  the  suburban  stations.  The 
inspection  of  which  recall  to  mind  the  Lombardic  space  underneath  was  then  utilised  as  a  cellarage 
and  Venetian  brick  Gothic  or  Gothic-Italian  types,  j  for  the  Burton  and  other  ale  traffic,  and  thus  the 


Midland  Railway.] 


A   RAILWAY  GOODS  BANK. 


entire  station  may  be  said,  seriously  as  well  as 
jestingly,  to  rest  on  a  substratum  of  beer.  The 
roof  of  part  of  the  cellarage  forms  the  flooring  of 
the  terminus  and  platform  of  the  station,  and  is  so 
constructed  as  to  bear  the  immense  weight  of 
many  locomotive  engines  at  the  same  time. 

The  roof  is  of  glass,  supported  by  huge  iron 
girders,  "  not  unlike  lobster's  claws,  from  which 
the  shorter  nippers  have  been  broken,"  and  forming 
a  Gothic  arch,  not  resting  on  piers,  but  embedded 
•In  the  ground.  It  is  100  feet  high,  700  feet  in 
length,  and  its  width  about  240  feet.  The  span  of 
the  roof  covers  four  platforms,  eleven  lines  of  rails, 
and  a  cab-stand  twenty-five  feet  wide ;  altogether 
the  station  occupies  a  site  of  nearly  ten  acres. 
There  are  twenty-five  principal  ribs  in  the  roof, 
and  the  weight  of  each  is  about  fifty  tons.  The 
very  scaffolding,  by  the  help  of  which  the  roof 
was  raised  into  its  position,  contained  eight  miles 
of  massive  timber.  1,000  tons  in  weight,  besides 
about  25,000  cubic  feet  of  wood,  and  eighty  tons 
of  ironwork.  No  other  roof  of  so  vast  a  span  ha 
been  attempted.  It  is  double  the  width  of  the 
Agricultural  Hall  at  Islington,  and  ten  yards  wider 
than  the  two  arches  of  the  neighbouring  terminus 
of  the  Great  Northern  Railway,  which,  when  first 
built,  were  considered  a  triumph  of  engineering 
skill.  Some  idea  may  be  formed  of  the 
expanse  of  the  roof  of  the  Midland  Terminus  when 
we  state  that  it  contains  no  less  than  two  acres  and 
a  half  of  glass.  The  gigantic  main  ribs  cost  a 
thousand  pounds  apiece.  These  and  the  other 
interior  portions  of  the  framework  are  painted  a 
sky-blue,  and  by  this  means  the  roof  is  made  to 


Bank  :"— "  The  '  Goods  Banks,'  as  they  are  called, 
are  three  in  number.  But  does  the  reader  know 
what  a  '  Goods  Bank '  is  ?  Let  me  attempt  a  de- 
scription. Suppose  a  building  of  adequate  length 
to  receive  a  tolerably  long  goods  train,  and  about 
sixty  or  eighty  feet  wide,  with  a  platform  raised 
ust  high  enough  to  load  a  cart  at,  or  to  unload 
a  train  of  trucks  without  the  toil  of  raising  the 
joods.  Fancy  this  platform  running  the  whole 
length  of  the  edifice,  and  more  than  half  its  width, 
packed  up  with  every  conceivable  sort  of  mer- 
chandise, with  little  passages  between  leading  to 
the  carts,  trucks,  and  various  parts  of  the  platform. 
Then  imagine  these  carts,  trucks,  and  passages  all 
alive  with  men,  some  in  uniform,  some  without, 
some  with  caps  that  tell  you  they  are  foremen,  &c., 
and  all  variously  employed.  Here  is  a  string  of 
them,  with  handbarrows  loaded;  there  another 
with  the  same  articles  empty  ;  here  are  men  at  the 
cranes  raising  the  goods  to  the  height  required, 
while  there  are  men  receiving  them ;  then,  again, 
over  there  are  the  officials  with  long  papers  in 
their  hands,  that  make  you  wonder  where  all  that 
writing  is  done,  and  how  they  manage  to  get  rid 
of  the  goods  described  on  them.  But  just  look 
around  on  the  goods.  You  will  no  longer  wonder 
that  Webster's  Dictionary  is  such  a  thick  volume, 
but  rather  stand  wondering  where  the  English 
language  gets  names  from  to  describe  the  mul- 
tiplicity of  articles  before  you,  and  you  go  away 
with  a  much  better  idea  of  the  intelligence  of  the 
railway  official  who  knows  how  to  describe  the 
items  in  such  a  miscellaneous  collection.  .Amongst 
this  endless  array  I  have  seen  sewing  machines, 


look  particularly  light  and  airy.     We  may  add  that    reaping  machines,  pianos,  harmoniums,  holly  and 

i    -._    -  ~    oK^rli^l     rv>icfl*»iTv^     KHCTQ   nnH     snrks     that    YOU    could     not 


the  station  and  its  approaches  were  absorbed 
about  sixty  millions  of  bricks,  nine  thousand  tons 
of  iron,  and  eighty  thousand  cubic  feet  of  dressed 
stone.  The  consulting  engineer  was  Mr.  Barlow. 

The  opening  of  the  St.  Pancras  Station  in  the 
year  1868,  and  its  connection  with  the  Metropolitan 
and  other  lines,  gave  the  Midland  Company,  for  the 
first  time,  a  London  terminus.  Up  to  this  period 
the  Midland  trains  travelled  on  the  Great  Northern 
line  from  King's  Cross  as  far  as  Hitchin,  and  thence 
by  a  branch  line  to  Bedford  and  other  portions  of 
the  Midland  Railway  system. 

At  the  Midland  Railway  Goods  Station  alone 
some  1,300  men  are  employed,  and  at  the  Coal 
Depot  in  York  Road,  close  by,  there  are  from 
150  to  200  coal  porters  and  carters.  From  the 
"  Report  of  the  London  City  Mission,"  which  gives 
an  account  of  the  work  that  is  being  done  by  the 
society's  agents  among  the  labourers  employed  here, 
we  quote  the  following  description  of  a  "  Goods 


mistletoe,  bags  and  sacks  that  you  could  not 
magine  what  was  inside,  and  bags  and  sacks  that 
rom  their  peculiar  colour  and  odour,  as  well  as 
rom  the  appearance  of  the  men  handling  them, 
you  know  at  once  to  be  soot.  On  one  occasion  an 
official  said  to  me,  '  Do  you  smell  anything  par- 
icular  this  morning  ? '  On  my  replying  negatively, 
he  said,  'We  have  just  had  a  large  arrival  of  cats' 
bad  condition;'  and  I  learnt  that  this 
article  sometimes  came  up  by  tons  from  Scotland— 
our  friends  out  north  being  too  canny  to  waste 
anything.  At  another  time  I  saw  the  dead  carcase 
of  a  horse  swinging  high  in  the  air,  as  it  was  about 
to  be  delivered  to  a  waiting  cart  or  van.  But," 
adds  the  missionary,  "  this  terrible  bustle  of  business 
makes  the  'Bank'  in  itself  an  unfavourable  place 
for  religious  work." 

Between  the  Midland  and  the  Great  Northern 
lines  a  large  space  of  ground  is  covered  partly  by 
the  Imperial  Gas  Works,  and  partly  by  a  coal  depot 


372 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


(Midland  Railway. 


and  the  Great  Northern  Railway  Goods  Depot. 
On  the  east  side  of  these  various  centres  of 
industry  runs  northwards  the  road  which  forms  the 
boundary  between  the  parishes  of  St.  Pancras  and 
Islington.  This  thoroughfare,  as  we  have  stated 
in  a  previous  volume,*  was,  till  recently,  called 
Maiden  Lane,  and  it  is  one  of  the  most  ancient 
roads  in  the  north  of  London.  The  historian 
Camden  says,  "  It  was  opened  to  the  public  in  the 
year  1300,  and  was  then  the  principal  road  for  all 


called  Longwich  Lane,  from  whence,  leaving  High- 
gate  on  the  west,  it  passed  through  Tallingdon 
Lane,  and  so  on  to  Crouche  Ende,  thence  through 
Hornsey  Great  Park  to  Muswell  Hill,  Coanie 
Hatch,  Fryene  Barnete,  and  so  on  to  Whetstone. 
This  anciente  waye,  by  reason  of  the  deepness  and 
dirtieness  of  the  passage  in  the  winter  season,  was 
refused  by  wayfaring  men,  carriers,  and  travellers, 
in  regard,  whereof,  it  is  agreed  between  the  Bishop 
of  London  and  the  countrie,  that  a  new  waye  shall 


travellers  proceeding  to  Highgate  and  the  north." 
It  was  formerly  called  "  Longwich  Lane,"  and  was 
generally  kept  in  such  a  dirty,  disreputable  state 
as  to  be  almost  impassable  in  winter,  and  was 
so  often  complained  of  that  the  Bishop  ol"  London 
was  induced  to  lay  out  a  new  road  to  Highgate 
Hill,  so  i!iat  a  carrier  might  get  to  the  north  by 
avoiding  Longwich  Lane.  But  of  this  we  shall 
have  more  to  say  when  we  reach  Highgate. 

"  The  old  and  anciente  highwaye  to  High 
Barnet,  from  Gray's  Inn  and  Clerkenwell,"  writes 
John  Norden,  in  his  "  Speculum  Britannia;,"  "  was 
through  a  lane  to  the  east  of  Pancras  Church, 


•  See  Vol.  II..  p.  376. 


be  bide  forthe  through  Bishop's  Park,  beginning 
at  Highgate  Hill,  to  leade  directe  to  Whetstone,  for 
which  a  certain  tole  should  be  paid  to  the  Bishop, 
and  for  that  purpose  has  a  gate  been  erected 
on  the  hill,  that  through  the  same  all  travellers 
should  pass,  and  be  the  more  aptly  staide  for  the 
tole." 

Before  quitting  Maiden  Lane,  we  may  here  men- 
tion the  fact  that  for  some  few  months  previous 
to  the  erection  of  the  Great  Northern  Terminus  at 
King's  Cross,  which  occupies  the  site  of  the  Small- 
pox Hospital,  the  trains  of  that  company  started 
from  a  temporary  station  in  Maiden  Lane. 

From  King's  Cross  as  far  as  Camden  Road  this 
thoroughfare  was  some  years  ago  named  York  Road, 


MAIDEN   LANE. 


on  account  of  the  contiguity  of  the  London  and  '  was,  a  few  years  ago,  re-named  the  Brecknock 
York  (now  the  Great  Northern)  Railway  ;  and  from  I  Road,  by  order  of  the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works 
the  "  Brecknock  Arms,"  at  the  north-east  corner  of '  By  this  road  we  will  now  proceed  leisurely  on  our 
Camden  Town,  to  the  foot  of  Highgate  Hill,  it  way  northwards. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 
HOLLOWAY. 

—Tiiallas. 

s"  Tavern-rDuel 
h_Holloway 

nts  of  the 
•  Richard 
Poet  Milton— The  Lazar  House— The  Small-pox  HospiUl-n  mumgion  s    oioi.c- 

Whittington. 

IN  a  previous  part  of  this  work,  whilst  speaking  >  to  the  parish  of  Islington  ;  and  it  received  its  name 
of  the  limits  of  the  old  Manor  of  Highbury,*  we  from  being  situated  in  the  "hollow  way  or  low- 
touched  slightly  upon  that  district  lying  to  the  land  valley  between  that  place  and  Highgate.  It 
west  of  theHornsey  and  Holloway  Roads,  known  is  said  that  the  soil  m  this  part  being  a  stiff  clay 
respectively  as  Upper  and  Lower  Holloway;  but  that  part  of  the  road  ^ J35*""*  toJ^*J 
many  other  interesting  details  not  mentioned  on  ,  which  passes  *roug^  ^°  °^y.  ^v  ^  Hiu  by  an 

ich  belon-ed  originally  i  amiable  hermit,  who  had  taken  up  his  abode  there. 
_    "  A    two-handed   charity,"    quaintly   remarks    old 
Fuller,  "  providing  water  on  the  hill,  where  it  was 


See  Vol.  II.,  p   273- 


224 


374 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Hollow,. 


wanting,  and  cleanness  in  the  valley,  which  before,  of  horned  cattle  through  the  neighbouring  streets, 

especially  in  winter,  was   passed  with  great  diffi-  had  become  so  intolerable,  that   the    matter  was 

culty."     It  is  stated  in  the  Ambulator  that  the  last  taken  in  hand  by  the  Corporation  of  London,  and 

"  hermit "  of  Highgate  was  one  William  Forte,  who  after  considerable  opposition    from    persons   with 

lived  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.     But  of  this  "  vested  interests,"  the  New  Cattle  Market  was 


hermit  and  his  work  we  shall  have  more  to  say  on 
a  future  occasion. 

A  large  portion  of  Holloway,  lying  between 
the  York  Road  and  Caledonian  Road,  was  for- 
merly known  as  the  Copenhagen  Fields— once  the 
resort  of  Cockney  lovers,  Cockney  sportsmen,  and 
Cockney  agitators.  Of  the  past  history  of  this 
place,  including  the  noted  Copenhagen  House, 
which  stood  here,  we  have  already  spoken  in  the 
chapter  above  referred  to  ;*  but  it  remains  to  be 
added  that  about  the  year  1852  much  of  the  ground 
hereabouts,  to  the  extent  of  some  seventy  acres, 
was  taken  by  the  Corporation  of  London,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  provisions  of  an  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment passed  in  the  above  year,  as  a  site  for  the 
new  cattle-market,  which  was  to  supersede  the 
old  market  at  Smithfield.  The  new  market  was 
planned,  and  the  various  buildings  connected  with 
it  erected,  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  J.  B.  Bunning, 
the  architect  to  the  City  of  London,  at  a  cost  of 
nearly  £500,000. 

The  question  of  the  removal  of  the  cattle-market 
from  its  old  quarters,  almost  in  the  heart  of  the 
City,  to  a  more  strictly  suburban  locality  had  long 
been  under  consideration;  and  its  absolute  removal 
in  the  end  became  almost  a  matter  of  sheer  neces- 
sity, not  only  on  account  of  the  inconvenience  in 


laid  out,  as  we  have  stated  above,  at  Copenhagen 
Fields,  and  it  was  opened  by  the  Prince  Consort 
in  person,  in  June,  1855. 

As  regards  the  site,  it  was  thought  by  many  at 
the  time  that  the  market  should  have  been  placed 
at  a  greater  distance  from  the  City ;  but  it  is,  never- 
theless, a  great  improvement  upon  old  Smithfield. 
In  our  account  of  Pentonville,  in  the  volume  above 
referred  to,  we  have  given  a  few  details  of  the 
new  cattle-market  at  Copenhagen  Fields,  but  we 
may  be  pardoned  for  giving  a  more  detailed  de- 
scription here.  It  forms  an  irregular  quadrangle, 
and  is  all  that  could  be  desired  in  its  architectural 
and  general  design.  All  the  plans  for  drainage,  so 
far  as  place  is  concerned,  are  said  to  be  excellent  •, 
the  space  for  the  various  animals  is  ample ;  water, 
&c.,  is  conveniently  at  hand ;  and  so  good  is 
the  opportunity  for  general  inspection,  that  much 
of  the  cruelty  which  was  so  justly  a  matter  of 
complaint  when  the  cattle  market  was  held  in 
Smithfield  is  avoided. 

The  open  area  of  the  market  is  partitioned  off 
into  divisions  for  the  reception  of  all  sorts  of  live 
stock,  and  is  inclosed  by  metal  railings,  well  worthy 
of  notice  for  their  artistic  merit ;  indeed,  ornament 
is  not  despised  in  the  midst  of  all  these  very  prac- 
tical arrangements,  for  in  those  parts  appropriated 


transacting  business,  but  from  the  danger  arising  |  to  cattle,  sheep,  £c.,  each  central  rail  is  orna- 
through  the  driving  of  cattle  along  the  crowded  I  mented  with  characteristic  casts  of  the  heads  of 
streets  of  London.  As  we  have  mentioned  in  a  '  oxen,  sheep,  pigs,  &c,  designed  and  modelled  by 
previous  volume, t  so  far  back  as  1836  a  cattle-  j  Bell,  the  sculptor.  In  the  centre  of  the  inclosure 
market  was  established  at  Islington,  but  its  career  is  a  lofty  clock-tower,  from  which  the  bell  gives 
seems  to  have  been  but  of  brief  duration.  The  j  notice  of  the  commencement  and  close  of  the 
situation  of  this  establishment  was,  perhaps,  con-  .  market ;  and  around  the  base  of  this  tower  is  a 
sidered  the  best  that  could  have  been  chosen  for  sort  of  rotunda  —  a  twelve-sided  structure  —  in 
its  purpose,  lying  open,  as  it  did,  to  most  of  the  [  which  are  the  branch  offices  of  several  banks, 
great  roads  from  the  northern  and  eastern  counties,  railway  companies,  salesmen,  telegraph  companies, 
from  Ivhich  the  chief  supply  of  cattle  and  sheep  to  '  shops  for  the  sale  of  chemicals,  &c.  This  edifice 
the  London  market  is  derived,  and  communicating  is  commonly  called  the  Bank  Building.  The  clerk 
conveniently,  by  means  of  the  New  or  City  Road,  !  of  the  market  has  also  his  office  here,  where,  with 
with  the  greater  part  of  the  town,  without  driving  the  aid  of  his  assistants,  he  is  busily  engaged  in 
through  the  heart  of  it,  than  any  other  would  have  registering  the  receipts  and  delivery  of  animals. 
As  we  have  intimated,  however,  this  market  On  ascending  to  the  belfry,  in  the  centre  of  the 


done. 


does  not  seem  to  have  met  with  the  success  which  \  enclosure,  and  looking  down,  the  geometrical 
was  anticipated,  and  the  old  market  was  carried  '  arrangement  of  the  pens  and  sheds  presents  a 
on  with  unabated  vigour  in  the  crowded  pens  of  j  curious  and  agreeable  appearance,  and  it  will  be 
Smithfield  Bars.  Latterly,  however,  the  nuisance  j  at  once  seen  that  nearly  all  round  the  market 
engendered  by  the  dirt  and  crowd,  and  the  rush  j  space  has  been  reserved  for  extension  —  a  neces- 

—  I  sary   consideration,    when    it    is    borne    in    mind 
*  Sec  Vol.  ii.,  p.  275.  t  s«  Vol.  ii.,  p.  282.  I  that  in  half  a  century  hence  the  population  of  the 


THE  NEW  CATTLE   MARKET. 


375 


metropolis,  if  it  goes  on  increasing  at  the  rate  of 
progress  which  it  has  shown  since  the  formation 
of  the  market,  may  perhaps  be  doubled.  The 
open  space  mentioned  above  will  accommodate 
about  7,000  cattle,  42,000  sheep,  and  a  proper- 
number  of  calves  and  pigs ;  and  the 


different    pens    and    sheds,  which    run    at   right 
angles,   are    lettered    and    numbered.      The    de- 
partments  for  calves   and    pigs    are    covered   in 
above  by  light,  partially-glazed  roofs,  supported  on 
iron  columns,  which   serve  at  the   same  time  as 
water-drains.     At  the  four  corners  of  the  principal 
area  of  the  market  are  taverns  of  large  size,  with 
stabling,  &c.,   adjoining ;   and  on  the  north  side, 
standing  upon  part  of  the  vacant  space  belonging 
to  the  market,  is  a  neat  red-brick  building,  orna- 
mentally constructed,  which  serves  as  the  Drovers 
Institute.     On  the  south  and  west  sides  are  ex 
tensive  "  lairs  "  for  the  reception  of  such  live  stock 
;.  as  may   not  have    been  disposed   of  on  marke 
days,  or  which  may  have  arrived  too  soon.     There 
are  also  store-houses  for  hay,  corn,  and  other  pro 
vender,  and  a  small  space  for  a  dead-meat  market 
On  the  east  side  a  large  space  of  ground  has  been 
covered  in  with  long  ranges  of  slaughter-houses  or 
abattoirs,  constructed  on  the  principle  so  generally 
exemplified  in  foreign  cities.     These  buildings  are 
very  spacious,  thoroughly  ventilated,  and  supplied 
with  water,  machinery,  and  every  other  necessary 
convenience.     By  the  erection  of  these  abattoirs, 
the  unpleasant  practice  of  driving  the  cattle  through 
the  crowded   streets  of  the  metropolis   has  in   a 
great    measure    been    avoided;  while   the   incon- 
venient   and   unsanitary   practice    of  slaughtering 
animals  in  back  slums  and  alleys,  and  in  the  midst 
of  a  large  population,  has  now  become  almost  a 
thing  of  the  past. 

Close  to  the  market  are  stations  for  the  reception 
of  cattle  from  the  lines  of  the  Great  Northern,  the 
London  and  North-Western,  and  other  railways, 
so  that  animals  can  be  brought  directly  into  the 
market  by  railway  from  almost  all  parts  of  the 


o  observe,  "  most  of  the  beasts  and  sheep  con- 
certed into  meat  for  sale  in  the  shops  of  London 
butchers  were  brought  to  London  alive,  and  then 
laughtered  by  the  retailers.  With  the  development 
of  our  railway  system,  and  the  additions  to  the  great 
main  lines  by  extensions  which  brought  them  into 
he  business  parts  of  the  metropolis,  the  dead-meat 
traffic  from  the  provinces  exhibited  year  by  year 
a  heavier  tonnage."  Most  of  the  large  meat  sales- 
men of  London  are  now  represented  in  the  shambles 
at  the  Cattle  Market,  and  a  considerable  quantity 
of  the  cattle  for  metropolitan  consumption  is  killed 
here  almost  as  soon  as  it  arrives  :  some,  it  is  true, 
is  still  slaughtered  in  different  parts  of  London, 
whilst  others  have  to  take  a  long  journey  before 
they  become  "  food  for  the  use  of  man." 

Of  late  years,  it  is  asserted,  enormous  strides 
have  been  made  in  the  improvement  of  our  cattle. 
The  old  big-boned  stock  has  now  been,  in  a  great 
measure,  replaced  by  the  smaller,  more  symmetrical, 
but   nevertheless    greater    meat-carrying,  animal ; 
consequently,  in  a  large  number  of  beasts  offered 
now,  the  actual  weight  of  meat  is  in  reality  much 
n  excess  of  what  it  would  have  been  a  few  years 
ack  ;    and   not   only  that,  but  the  quality  is  so 
nuch  better  that  waste  is  reduced  to  a  minimum, 
."he   year   1876  saw  the  introduction  of  a  novel 
eature  in  the  cattle  trade,  and  one  which  it  be- 
oves   the  home   breeders   to   watch   narrowly   if 
Con- 


kingdom. 


This,  indeed,  is  a  great  advantage  upon 


all  previous  shows.  Year  by  year  cattle-rearing 
is  becoming  more  and  more  of  a  science.  Greater 
judgment  is  required  in  the  selection  of  animals 
for  breeding  purposes,  and  increased  care  is 


the  old  system  of  bringing  cattle  to  the  metro 
politan  market,  for  it  must  be  remembered  tha 
in  former  times  it  took  five  or  six  weeks  to  dnv, 
oxen  and  sheep  from  the  north  of  Scotland  tc 
London,  whereas  they  can  now  be  brought  from 
the  same  distance  at  far  less  cost-taking  thei 

S±TJS  xrtsr^  ru  - --. — -  *- » 

when  the  market  was  first  established  here,  there 
have  been  great  changes  in  respect  of  the  supply 


hey  do  not  wish  to  fall  behind  in  the  race, 
umers  must  have  hailed  with  satisfaction  the 
pening  up  of  a  new  source  of  supply.  America 
has  now  entered  the  field,  and  judging  from  the 
ess  which  has  attended  the  initiation  of  the 
scheme,  she  may  be  considered  to  have  definitely 
,nd  permanently  taken  up  a  position  to  compete 
irith  our  graziers  for  the  supply  of  live  stock  to 
the  British  public.  Healthy  competition  is  to 
be  encouraged,  as  it  must  have  the  natural  effect 
of  stimulating  us  to  fresh  exertions,  and  if  the 
large  amount  of  success  which  has  already  attended 
us  is  to  be  taken  as  a  fair  criterion  of  our  powers, 
possibly  in  the  near  future  the  general  excellence  of 
our  cattle  will  be  so  advanced  as  to  greatly  excel 


necessary   in  their  managemer 


Well-bred   and 


food  for  the  population  of  the  metro- 
polis    "  Then,"  as  we  have  already  had  occasion 


of  animal 


l"fcd1/stock"is  now  so"  plentiful  that  a  second- 

stands  no  chance  in  the  market.     1 
expedite  sales,  good  quality  and  condition  must 
be  guaranteed.     The  Americans  are  to  be  praised 


for  the   manner 


which   they  placed  so   many 


good  beasts 


in  our  market,  apparently  but 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


distressed  with  their  long  voyage.     But  this,  per-    The  latter,  however,  were  acquitted,  and  Munro 


haps,  is  a  digression. 

The  market-days  here  are  Mondays  and  Thurs- 
days for  cattle,  sheep,  and  pigs,  and  Fridays  for 
horses,  donkeys,  goats,  &c. ;  but  the  great  market 
of  the  year  is  that  which  is  held  a  week  or  two 
before  Christmas,  when  the  sale  of  fat  stock  for 
consumption  at  the  festive  season  takes  place. 
The  number  of  beasts  exhibited  for  sale  at  Old 
Smithfield  Market  in  1844  was  about  5,700;  in 


evaded  the  hands  of  justice  by  seeking  refuge 
abroad ;  but  four  years  afterwards  he  surrendered 
to  take  his  trial  at  the  Old  Bailey.  He  was  found 
guilty  of  wilful  murder,  and  sentence  of  death  was 
recorded  against  him.  He  was  strongly  recom- 
mended to  mercy,  and  his  sentence  was  afterwards 
commuted  to  twelve  months'  imprisonment. 

At  the  top  of  Camden  Road,  at  its  junction  with 
Holloway,   stands   the  City  Prison,  or  House  of 


1854,  the  last  year  in  which  it  was  held  there,  I  Correction  for  male  and  female  prisoners  sentenced 
it  had  reached  upwards  of  6,100.  In  the  first  j  at  the  Central  Criminal  Court,  the  Mansion  House, 
Christmas  market  at  Copenhagen  Fields,  the  or  Guildhall  Justice  Rooms.  It  is  also  the  Queen's 
number  of  beasts  offered  for  sale  was  7,000 ;  in  and  Debtors'  Prison  for  London  and  Middlesex. 


1863,  as  many  as  10,300  were  shown,  which  was 
almost  double  the  number  brought  to  market  in 
1868.  Since  the  latter  year  the  numbers  have 
ranged  from  6,300  to  7,600. 

At  a  short  distance  from  the  north-west  corner 
of  the  market,  and  standing  at  the  corner  of  the 
Camden  and  Brecknock  Roads,  is  the  well-known 


This 


prison 


had 


origin 


the  old  Giltspur 


Street  Compter,  of  which  we  have  already  gi 
some  particulars ;  *  and  on  the  demolition  of  the 
Whitecross  Street  Prison  a  few  years  later,  the 
debtors  confined  there  were  removed  hither.  It 
was  built  in  1850,  on  land  originally  purchased  by 
the  Corporation  as  a  cemetery,  during  the  first 


tavern  bearing  the  sign  of  the  "  Brecknock  Arms,"    visitation  of  the  cholera  in  1832,  and  it  covers  about 
a  sign  which  keeps  in   remembrance  the  second    ten  acres.     Its  boundary  walls  are  nearly  twenty 


title  of  the   Marquis  Camden.      In   former  times 
it  vied  with  its  near  neighbour,  the  "  White  House," 


feet  in  height,  and  erected  as  it  is  in  the  castellated 
style,  and  standing  on  a  conspicuous  eminence,  it 
at  Chalk  Farm,  as  a  rendezvous  for  the  lovers  of '  presents  a  rather  imposing  appearance.  It  has 
athletic  exercises,  in  the  shape  of  single-stick  and  :  some  strongly  fortified  gateways,  and  is  embattled 
wrestling  matches,  &c.  The  house  stands  on  the  !  throughout  the  extent  of  its  radiating  wings,  which 
very  borders  of  Camden  Town  and  Holloway ;  it  are  six  in  number.  The  prisoners  are  employed  in 
is  an  attractive  building,  and  at  one  time  had  some  various  ways,  and  the  discipline  is  a  mixture  of  the 
pleasant  tea-gardens  attached  to  it.  In  the  summer  j  separate  and  associated  systems.  The  architect  of 
of  1843,  when  it  stood  almost  alone  in  the  road,  the  building  was  Mr.  J.  B.  Bunning,  and  the  cost 
the  place  acquired  considerable  notoriety  from  a  (  of  its  erection  was  about  £105,000.  It  is  fire- 
fatal  duel  which  was  fought  there  between  Colonel 
Fawcett  and  Lieutenant  Munro,  in  which  the 
former  was  killed.  The  record  of  this  duel  possesses 
a  twofold  interest,  from  the  fact  of  its  being  pro- 
bably the  last— certainly  the  last  fatal  one — that 


proof  throughout ;  it  is  ventilated  by  a  shaft  nearly 
1 50  feet  high,  and  is  supplied  with  water  from  an 
artesian  well  which  is  carried  down  into  the  chalk 
upwards  of  300  feet.  On  either  side  of  the  gate- 
house are  picturesque  buildings  of  red  brick  with 
stone  dressings,  which  serve  as  residences  for  the 


was  ever  fought  in  England,  and  also  that  the 
principal  actors  in  it  were  not  only  brother  officers,  governor  of  the  prison  and  the  chaplain.  The 
but  also  brothers-in-law— at  all  events,  they  had  |  gateway  tower  itself  is  an  imposing  structure ;  like 
married  Uvo  sisters.  The  origin  of  the  quarrel  the  main  portion  of  the  prison,  it  is  embattled,  and 


as  a  hasty  expression  used   by  Colonel   Fawcett 
respecting  some  family  differences,  which  led  his 


reminds  one  of  the  entrance  to  some  grand  old 
mediaeval  castle.     Above  the  entrance  gateway  are 


adversary,  Lieutenant  Munro,  to  send  him  a  chal-  the  dwelling-rooms  of  the  chief  warder.  In  the 
lenge.  The  duel  came  off  early  in  the  morning  of  I  rear  of  the  gate-house  is  a  spacious  court-yard,  on 
Saturday,  July  i,  in  a  field  in  Maiden  Lane  (now  !  the  farther  side  of  which  is  the  Gothic  arched  door- 
Brecknock  Road),  adjoining  the  ride-ground  be-  way  of  the  prison.  This  part  of  the  edifice  is 
longing  to  the  •'  Brecknock."  The  colonel  on  particularly  grand  and  massive,  having  been  built 
being  brought,  dangerously  wounded,  to  this  inn,  j  after  a  model  of  the  principal  front  of  Warwick 
was  refused  admittance ;  so  he  was  taken  to  the  ;  Castle.  On  either  side  of  the  window  above  the 
"  Camden  Arms,"  where  he  died  on  the  following  doorway  large  painted  griffins  appear  to  be  doing 
Monday.  The  coroner's  jury  on  the  inquest  re-  duty  as  sentinels,  and  over  the  door  are  some 
turned  a  verdict  of  wilful  murder,  not  only  against  — 
Lieutenant  Munro,  but  against  the  seconds  also,  j  •  s«  Vol.  11.,  P.  486. 


Holloway.] 


THE   CITY   PRISON. 


bold  machicolations.  Stretching  away  to  the  right  men's  committee-room,  and  the  visitors'  room, 
and  left  of  the  entrance  are  lofty  wings  ;  the  former  This  last-mentioned  apartment  is  divided  in  the 
is  used  for  female  prisoners,  and  the  latter  for  centre  by  two  partitions,  the  outer  side  of  each 
debtors,  or  rather — since  imprisonment  for  debt  j  being  further  subdivided  into  a  series  of  small 
has  been  abolished — for  those  persons  who  may  be  j  compartments.  These  compartments  have  an  open 
committed  for  contempt  of  court,  non-payment  of  j  aperture,  facing  each  other,  about  six  inches  by 
fines,  &c.  This  wing  was  at  first  occupied  by  twelve,  and  guarded  by  wire-work,  through  which 
juvenile  offenders,  and  at  times  as  many  as  eighty  the  conversation  is  carried  on  between  the  prisoner 


or  one  hundred  have  been  confined  there  at  once ; 
but  such  has  been  the  diminution  in  crime  of  late 
years,  owing  to  the  establishment  of  reformatories 
and  industrial  schools,  that  the  number  is  now  very 
considerably  diminished,  rarely  exceeding  ten  or 
twelve  at  one  time. 

Passing  through  the  doorway,  the  visitor  enters 
a  spacious   and   lofty  hall,  or  reception-room  for 


pnsoners, 


whence  a  broad  flight  of  steps  leads  to 


a  balcony  at  one  end,  and  so  on  to  a  long  corridor 

extending   back  to  that   part  of  the   prison  con-    next  are  confined,  as  far  as  practical 

taining  the  cells.     On  the  left  of  the  hall  is  a  room    mechanics,  and  persons  who   have 

into  which  prisoners  are  first  taken  to  be  weighed, 

to  be  duly  and  properly  described  in  a  large  book 

kept  for  that  purpose,  and  to  have  their  warrants 

of  commitment   checked.      Here,   too,  are   kept 

photographs  of  all  the  prisoners  confined  here,  with 

all  the  details  of  the  crimes  duly  set  down  to  their 

account;  these,  combined  with  the  entries  in  the 

book  above  mentioned,  would   doubtless   furnish 


and  the  visitor ;  in  the  intervening  space  between 
the  two  partitions  a  warder  is  on  duty  during  the 
visiting  time. 

At  the  end  of  the  corridor,  a  doorway  leads  at 
once  into  the  centre  of  the  prison.  From  this 
point  the  four  principal  wings  radiate;  they  are 
lettered  A,  B,  C,  and  D  respectively.  That  on 
the  left,  which  lies  parallel  with  the  "debtors' 
wing "  mentioned  above,  is  set  apart  for  prisoners 
who  have  never  before  been  convicted ;  in  the 
icable,  tradesmen, 
hitherto  filled 

respectable  position  in  life ;  the  third  wing  is 
devoted  to  the  reception  of  criminals  who  may 
have  been  convicted  for  petty  offences ;  and  the 
last,  or  D  wing,  serves  as  the  receptacle  for  known 
old  offenders.  These  wings  are  three  storeys  in 
height,  and  light  iron  galleries  run  round  three 
sides  of  each,  from  which  the  cells  are  reached. 


ample  material  for  a  biographical  memoir  of  many 
a  well-known  criminal.  These  records  are  kept 
posted  up,  upon  the  "double-entry  principle,"  in  a 
ledger  and  also  in  a  day-book  ;  all  particulars  con- 
cerning the  various  prisoners — such  as  their  names, 
ages,  height,  weight,  colour  of  hair  and  eyes,  and 
any  peculiarity  or  malformation  of  their  limbs — 
are  duly  set  down  in  writing,  so  that  little  or  no 
difficulty  is  experienced  by  those  whose  duty  ' 


For  criminals  there  are  349  cells,  289  for  males 
and  60  for  females  ;  and  for  "  debtors  "  there  are 
60  cells,  and  four  day-rooms.  Provisions  are  raised 
to  the  different  floors  by  lifts  in  the  central  hall. 
Each  cell  is  about  twelve  feet  long  by  seven  feet 
wide,  and  is  well  lighted,  warmed,  and  ventilated ; 
and  each  is  provided  with  every  necessary  for  the 
convenience  of  its  inmate.  The  chapel  is  a  large 
and  convenient  apartment  above  the  offices ;  it  is 
so  arranged  that  prisoners  of  each  class,  while  they 


to  keep  these  accounts,  in  finding  out  whether  any  can  see  and  be  seen  by  the  chaplain,  cannot  see 
criminal  has  been  previously  convicted,  although  one  another;  the  male  pnsoners  being  arranged 
he  may  have  assumed  a  different  name  from  that  by  on  a  deep  gallery,  in  four  groups  as  abov  dis- 


lav 

state  of  simple  perfect 

warder  of  the  prison,  an  offici; 


who,  h 


in"  risen  !  to  see  the  clergyman,  whose  reading-desk  is  placed 
—  the  east  side     " 


vanous 

duty,  while  enforcing  strict  discipline,  has  at  the 
same  time  endeavoured  to  blend  the  reformatory 
and  industrial  principles  laid  down  by  his  superior 
officers,  and  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  much  of 
the  information  here  given  while  acting  as  our 
cicerone.  On  either  side  of  the  corridor  mentioned 
above  are  the  various 
the  chief  warder ;  also  th 


gallery  are  seats  for  the  governor,  the  chief  warder, 
and  other  officers. 

At  the  ends  of  the  four  wings  above  mentioned 
are  the  various  work-rooms  for  mat-making,  tailor- 
in"-  shoemaking,  and  other  trades,  also  the  school, 

offi^r  t^ver^d    Infirmaries,  treaLheel,  and  dark  cells.    The  whole 
Socfor'sroL^healder-lof  the   water   supply   for   the   prison   ,s   pumped 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Holloway. 


from  the  well  above  mentioned  by  the  aid  of  the  labour  for  the  prisoners  are  from  half-past  five  in 

treadwheel.     Brickmaking  is  largely  carried  on  by  the  morning  till  eight  in  the  evening,  out  of  which 

the  prisoners  in  the  grounds  at  the  rear.     There  time  one  hour  is  set  aside  for  exercise,  another 

are   sufficient    means   for   enforcing   hard   labour,  hour  for  service  in  the  chapel,  and  two  hours  for 


according  to  the  numbers  sentenced;  and  prisoners 
are  at  all  times  under  supervision.  Prisoners  are 
allowed  to  participate  in  the  profits  of  their  labour 
if  they  perform  any  over  and  above  their  task-work. 
This  system,  it  is  affirmed,  makes  the  prisoners 


meals. 

Since  the  passing  of  the  above-mentioned  Act, 
a  new  system  of  accounts  has  come  into  operation 
throughout  the  prisons  generally.  The  perfecting 
of  the  whole  system  of  the  accounting  machinery 


more  industrious  and  attentive,  prevents  breaches  of  j 
discipline,  and  enables  them  to  earn  their  living  on  j 
discharge.     As  we  learn  from  the  published  report  j 
of  the  Commissioners  of  Prisons,  issued  in  1 883, 
the  average  daily  number  of  criminals  in  custody  . 
during  the  year  was  680.     The  greatest  number  in  • 
the    prison  at  any  one   time  during  the  year  was 
759,  and  the  least  number  during  the  same  period  • 
was  593,  the  prisoners  being  exclusively  males. 

Holloway  Prison  was  taken  over  by  Government, 
on  the  Prisons'  Act  of  1877  coming  into  force. 
The  prison  is  partially  self-supporting,  a  considerable 
sum  being  realised  annually  by  the  employment 
of  prisoners  on  such  work  as  mat-making,  brick - 
making,  oakum-picking,  shoe-making,  tailoring, 
and  other  branches  of  industry.  The  hours  of 


s    1825.      (.<,.(  face  jSi.l 

in  so  extensive  a  scheme  must  necessarily  be  a 
\\ork  of  time  and  experience.  At  the  suggestion 
of  the  Accounts  Committee,  a  variety  of  changes 
have  from  time  to  time  been  introduced,  having 
for  their  object,  on  the  one  hand,  the  improvement 
of  the  means  of  check,  and,  on  the  other,  the 
abolition  of  all  unnecessary  detail.  The  total 
ordinary  expenditure  of  Holloway  Prison,  including 
salaries  to  all  officers,  &c.,  is  about  ;£  11,000,  and 
the  average  annual  cost  per  prisoner,  without 
allowing  for  earnings  of  labour,  is  about  ^35. 

Great  danger,  from  a  sanitary  point  of  view, 
having  arisen  from  the  exceedingly  dirty  condition 
of  a  large  number  of  the  prisoners  on  their  re- 
ception, the  subject  has  been  fully  considered  by 
the  Commissioners  of  Prisons  ;  and  from  their 


38o 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Holloway 


Report,  above  referred  to,  it  is  satisfactory  to  learn 
that  steps  are  taken  to  remedy  the  evil,  and  that 
the  clothing  in  which  prisoners  are  received  is 
disinfected  by  exposure  to  heat  in  a  hot-air  chamber, 
or  stove,  for  the  purpose  of  being  thoroughly 
cleansed  and  purified  ;  if  it  is  found  "  utterly  vile  '' 


skill  by  mutual  communication.  The  system  now 
received  is  that  of  separation,  so  far  as  it  is  prac- 
ticable. Two  other  systems  were  tried — the  silent 
system  and  the  solitary  system.  The  former 
imposed  entire  silence  among  the  prisoners  even 
when  assembled  together  ;  the  latter  endeavoured 


it  is  destroyed,  and  other  clothing  is  furnished  to  to  accomplish  their  complete  isolation  from  sight 
the  prisoner  on  leaving.  of  or  communication  with  their  race.  By  the 

With  such  a  population  as  that  which  this  place  separate  system,  the  criminals  are  prohibited  from 
contains,  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  the  rules  communicating  with  each  other ;  but  they  are 
and  regulations  of  the  prison  are  not  sometimes  visited  by  various  persons  with  whom  intercourse 
broken,  or  that  the  warders  and  other  officials  is  more  likely  to  elevate  than  to  debase — as  chap, 
have  at  times  some  very  refractory  characters  to  lains,  teachers,  Scripture-readers,  the  superior  officers 
deal  with.  That  this  is  the  case  the  reader  may  of  the  prison,  and  those  who  have  the  external 
conclude  on  learning  that  during  the  year  above  i  control  over  it." 

mentioned  recourse  was  had  to  irons  and  handcuffs  It  may  be  interesting  to  learn  that  the  moral 
in  seven  cases  among  the  male  criminals  for  prison  welfare  of  the  inmates  receives  the  greatest  atten- 
offences ;  that  eighty  males  and  one  female  had  to  tion.  A  Bible,  prayer-book,  and  hymn-book  are 
be  placed  in  the  solitary  or  dark  cells;  and  1,435  '  placed  at  the  disposal  of  every  prisoner,  besides 
males  and  one  female  had  to  undergo  punishment  '  books  from  the  prison  library.  Two  services  are 
in  the  shape  of  a  stoppage  of  diet.  |  held  in  the  chapel  every  Sunday,  and  one  on  Good 

"  On  several  occasions,"  observes  the  writer  on  ]  Friday  and  Christmas  Day ;  and  prayers  are  read 
Prison  Discipline  in  "  Chambers'  Encyclopaedia,"  I  daily  to  the  prisoners  by  the  chaplain,  who  gives 
"  grave  abuses  have  been  exposed  by  Parliamentary  i  an  address  on  Wednesdays  and  Fridays  always, 
inquiries  and  otherwise,  in  the  practice  of  prison  !  and  frequently  on  other  days  a  short  exhortation, 
discipline  in  this  country.  The  exertions  of  John  j  Prisoners  not  belonging  to  the  Established  Church 
Howard,  Mrs.  Fry, and  other  investigators, awakened  I  have  the  privilege  of  being  visited  by  ministers 


of  their   several  communions.     Uneducated  male 
prisoners  receive   two  hours'  secular    instruction 


weekly, 


classes ;  and  in  special  cases,  individual 
i    in    their  cells.      The  females   receive 


in  the  public  mind  the  question,  whether  any 
practice  in  which  the  public  interest  was  so  much 
involved  should  be  left  to  something  like  mere 
chance — to  the  negligence  of  local  authorities,  and 
the  personal  disposition  of  gaolers.  The  tendency 
lately  has  been  to  regulate  prison  discipline  with  ex- 
treme care.  The  public  sometimes  complain  that 
too  much  pains  is  bestowed  on  it — -that  criminals 
are  not  worthy  of  having  clean,  well-ventilated 

apartments,  wholesome  food,  skilful  medical  attend-  j  which  was  erected  in  1871,  we  have  described  in  a 
ance,  industrial  training,  and  education,  as  they  former  chapter.* 

now  have  in  this  country.  There  are  many  argu-  j  Adjoining  the  above  building,  in  the  Camden 
inents  in  favour  of  criminals  being  so  treated,  and  Road,  is  the  New  Jerusalem  Church,  a  handsome 
the  objections  urged  against  such  treatment  are  ,  Gothic  edifice,  with  a  lofty  spire ;  and  at  the 
held,  by  those  who  are  best  acquainted  with  the  eastern  end  of  the  road,  at  its  junction  with  the 
subject,  to  be  invalid;  for  it  has  never  been  main-j  Caledonian  and  Holloway  Roads,  stands  the 
tained  by  any  one  that  a  course  of  crime  has  been  j  Holloway  Congregational  Chapel. 


four  hours'  instruction  weekly  in  class,  and  have 
lessons  in  their  cells  also. 

Opposite  the  gates  of  the  City  Prison,  standing 
at  the  junction  of  Park  Road  and  Camden  Road, 
is  the  Camden  Town  Athenaeum.  This  building, 


commenced  and  pursued  for  the  purpose  of  en- 
joying the  advantages  of  imprisonment.  Perhaps 
those  who  chiefly  promoted  the  several  prominent 
systems  expected  from  them  greater  results  in  the 
shape  of  the  reformation  of  criminals  than  any 
that  have  been  obtained.  If  they  have  been  dis- 
appointed in  this,  it  can,  at  all  events,  be  said 
that  any  prison  in  the  now  recognised  system  is 
no  longer  like  the  older  prisons— an  institution  in 
which  the  young  criminals  advance  into  the  rank 
of  proficients,  and  the  old  improve  each  other's 


On  the  north-east  side  of  the  Holloway  Road, 
and  forming  a  continuation  of  Camden  and  Park 
Roads,  is  the  Seven  Sisters'  Road,  which  leads  to 
Finsbury  Park,  and  so  on  to  Tottenham,  leaving 
the  Holloway  reservoir  of  the  New  River  Company 
on  the  right  side  of  the  road.  The  "Seven  Sisters" 
was  the  sign  of  an  old  public-house  at  Tottenham, 
in  the  front  of  which  were  planted  seven  elms  in 
a  circle,  with  a  walnut-tree  in  the  middle.  They 


SEVEN   SISTERS'   ROAD. 


were  upwards  of  500  years  old,  and  the  tradition 
ran  that  a  martyr  had  been  burnt  on  the  spot 
where  they  stood.  The  trees  were  more  recently 
to  be  seen  at  the  entrance  of  the  village  from  Page 
Green  ;  and  when  they  died  off,  a  few  years  ago, 
they  were  replaced  by  others.  But  we  shall  have 
more  to  say  about  them  when  we  reach  Totten- 
ham. At  a  short  distance  beyond  the  Seven  Sisters' 
Road  is  Holloway  Hall,  a  large  but  plain  modern 
edifice,  used  for  concerts,  lectures,  and  similar 
entertainments. 

Passing  northward  along  the  Holloway  Road, 
having  on  our  left  side  Tufnell  Park,  Dartmouth 
Park,  and  other  estates  now  being  rapidly  covered 
with  buildings,  and  named  after  their  respective 
ground-landlords,  we  next  wend  our  way  through 
Upper  Holloway,  a  place,  as  we  have  shown  in  a 
previous  volume,*  at  one  time  noted  for  its  cheese- 
cakes. 

The  old  "  Half  Moon  "  and  the  "  Mother  Red 
Cap"  taverns,  of  which  we  have  spoken  in  the 
volume  referred  to,  have  both  been  modernised,  or, 
for  the  most  part,  rebuilt.  The  former  house  was 
struck  by  lightning  about  the  year  1846.  A  view 
of  the  old  tavern  appears  in  the  Builder  of  that 
date. 

In  Alfred  Terrace,  near  the  Upper  Holloway 
station  on  the  Midland  Railway,  is  one  of  the 
numerous  charitable  institutions  that  abound  in 
this  neighbourhood,  namely,  St.  Saviour's  Hospital 
and  Refuge  for  Women  and  Children.  It  was 
founded  in  1864  for  the  purpose  of  rescuing  young 
women  from  a  life  of  sin,  and  providing  a  refuge 
for  those  fallen  ones  about  to  become  mothers, 
as  well  as  a  home  for  their  children ;  it  is  said  to 
be  the  only  institution  of  its  kind.  The  hospital 
is  wholly  dependent  on  voluntary  contributions. 
During  the  year  ending  March,  1876,  250  cases 
were  relieved,  the  average  number  in  the  institution 
being  seventy. 

On  the  left-hand  side  of  the  road,  just  beyond 
the  railway  station,  and  near  the  foot  of  Highgate 
Hill,  stands  St.  John's  Church,  a  large  brick 
building  of  the  "Perpendicular"  style  of  archi- 
tecture, erected  in  1828  from  the  designs  of  Sir 
Charles  Barry.  The  church  was  one  of  those  built 
under  the  auspices  of  the  late  Dr.  Wilson,  some 
time  Vicar  of  Islington,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of 
Calcutta. 

At  the  foot  of  Highgate  Hill,  and  in  the  angle 
formed  by  its  junction  with  the  Archway  Road, 
stands  the  Archway  Tavern,  a  house  which  has 
long  been  used  as  the  starting-point  for  the  various 


lines  of  omnibuses,  and  more  recently  for  the  cars 
of  the  various  tramway  lines  which  run  from  that 
point. 

In  this  neighbourhood,  in  former  times,  were 
the  residences  of  a  few  families  of  distinction ; 
otably  among  them  were  the  Blounts,  of  whom 
we  have  already  spoken.  Howitt,  in  his  "  Northern 
Heights  of  London,"  says  that  "  in  Nelson's  time 
there  were  some  old  houses  which  appeared  to  have 
belonged  to  persons  of  eminence,  on  the  north 
side  of  the  road  at  Upper  Holloway.  In  one  of 
them,  which  became  the  'Crown'  public-house, and 
which  has  long  disappeared,  there  was  a  tradition 
that  Cromwell  had  lived.  Nelson  doubts  Cromwell 
ever  having  a  house  there,  but  thinks  he  might 
have  visited  his  friend,  Sir  Arthur  Haselrigge, 
who,  undoubtedly,  had  a  residence  in  Islington,  as 
appears  by  the  following  entry  in  the  journals  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  May  21,  1664-5: — 'Sir 
Arthur  Haselrigge,  by  command  of  the  House, 
related  the  circumstance  of  an  assault  made  on  him 
by  the  Earl  of  Stamford,  and  Henry  Polton  and 
Mathew  Patsall,  his  servants,  in  the  highway  lead- 
ing from  Perpoole  Lane,  Clerkenwell,  as  he  was 
peaceably  riding  from  the  House  of  Commons  to 
his  house  in  Islington,  by  striking  him  with  a  drawn 
sword,  and  other  offensive  instruments,  and  was 
enjoined  to  keep  the  peace,  and  not  to  send  or 
receive  a  challenge.' " 

Of  the  dangers  of  the  roads,  particularly  in  the 
northern  suburbs,  in  the  last  century,  we  have 
already  had  occasion  more  than  once  to  speak. 
Claude  Duval,  the  dashing  highwayman,  as  we 
have  intimated  in  our  account  of  Tyburn,t  made 
Holloway  one  of  the  chief  scenes  of  his  predatory 
exploits.  Of  the  house  supposed  to  have  been 
occupied  by  him  in  this  neighbourhood  we  have 
spoken  in  our  notice  of  the  Hornsey  Road.  I 
Duval's  Lane,  branching  from  Holloway,  within 
our  grandfathers'  memory,  was  so  notoriously  in- 
fested with  highwaymen  that  few  people  would 
venture  to  peep  into  it  even  in  mid-day.  Another 
highwayman  who  infested  Holloway  and  the  back 
lanes  of  Islington,  in  the  early  part  of  the  last 
century,  was  none  other  than  the  noted  "Dick" 
Turpin.  On  the  22nd  of  May,  i?37,  he  here  robbed 
several  persons  in  their  coaches  and  chaises.  One 
of  the  gentlemen  so  stopped  signified  to  him  that 
he  had  reigned  a  long  time.  Turpin  replied, 
no  matter  for  that,  I  am  not  afraid  of  being  taken 
by  you;  therefore,  don't  stand  hesitating,  but  give 
me  the  gold."  . 

It  may  be  added  that  Holloway  shares  with 


'  See  Vol.  II.,  p.  274. 


See  Vol.  II.,  p.  275- 


OLD    AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Holloway. 


Hornsey,  Finchley,  and  Kentish  Town  the  benefits 
of  Sir  Roger  Cholmeley's  benefaction  as  founder  of 
the  Grammar  School  at  Highgate. 

There  is  but  little  else  to  record  in  the  way 
of  historical  memorabilia  so  far  as  Holloway  is 
concerned.  One  fact,  however,  of  some  little 
literary  interest  must  not  be  passed  over  by  us 
here,  for  in  Holloway  there  were  living,  as  recently 
as  the  year  1735,  Mary  and  Catherine  Milton,  the 
nieces  of  the  poet,  daughters  of  his  brother,  Sir 
Christopher.  A  note  in  Hazlitt's  edition  of  John- 
son's "  Lives  of  the  Poets  "  tells  us  that  "  at  that 
time  these  ladies  possessed  a  degree  of  health  and 
strength  as  enabled  them  on  Sundays  and  Prayer 
Days  to  walk  a  mile  up  the  steep  hill  to  Highgate 
Chapel.  One  of  them  was  ninety-two  at  the  time 
of  her  death.  The  parentage  of  these  ladies,"  he 
adds,  "  was  known  to  few  persons,  and  their  names 
were  corrupted  into  'Melton.'"  We  have  inci- 
dentally mentioned,  in  a  former  part  of  this  work,* 
another  relative,  and,  indeed,  a  descendant  of  the 
poet,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  poet's  daughter 
Deborah,  who,  having  married  Thomas  Foster,  a 
weaver  in  Spitalfields,  kept  "a  petty  grocer's  or 
chandler's  shop"  in  Holloway.  She  knew,  how- 
ever, little  of  her  grandfather,  and  that  little  was 
not  good;  for  she  was  chiefly  eloquent  on  the  poet's 
harshness  towards  his  daughters,  and  his  refusal  to 
have  them  taught  to  write.  In  1750  Comus  was 
played  for  her  benefit,  which  realised  ^130.  Dr. 
Johnson  wrote  the  prologue,  which  was  spoken 
by  Garrick  himself,  and  Tonson  was  among  the 
contributors.  With  this  addition  to  their  store 
she  and  her  husband  removed  to  Islington;  and 
this  is  said  to  have  been  the  greatest  pecuniary 
benefit  which  Milton's  family  ever  derived  from 
his  service  of  the  Muses. 

One  of  the  oldest  institutions  at  the  foot  of 
Highgate  Hill,  just  where  it  slopes  quietly  down 
into  Holloway,  \>as  a  lazar-house,  or  hospital 
for  lepers.  The  building  stood  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible on  the  site  of  Salisbury  Road,  which  was  laid 
out  about  the  year  1852.  Stowe,  in  speaking  of 
"  leprous  people  and  lazar-houses,"  enumerates 
certain  lazar-houses  "built  without  the  city  some 
good  distance  ;  to  wit,  the  Lock  without  South- 
wark,  in  Kent  Street ;  one  other  betwixt  the  Miles- 
end  and  Stratford,  near  Bow  ;  one  other  at  Kings- 
land,  betwixt  Shoreditch  and  Stoke  Newington  ; 
and  another  at  Knightsbridge,  west  from  Charing 
Cross."  There  were,  however,  at  least  three  or 
four  others  round  London — namely,  at  Hammer- 
smith, Finchley,  and  Ilford.  Of  that  at  Knights- 


bridge  we  have  spoken  in  a  former  chapter.t     The 
chapel  of  the  hospital  at  Kingsland   was    pulled 
down  in   1846.     Stow,   who   rightly  distinguishes 
between  those  lazar-houses  provided  for  patients 
"  without  the  city,"  and  institutions  not  exclusively 
devoted  to  the  purposes  of  the  citizens,  confines  his 
notice  to  the  first-named  four :  "  These  four,"  he 
'  says,  "  I  have  noted  to  be  erected  for  the  receipt 
'  of  leprous  people  sent  out  of  the  city"     But  these 
houses  were  not  wholly  limited  to   sufferers  from 
that  disease.     The  accounts  of  St  Bartholomew's 
|  Hospital,  about   the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, contain  items  of  expenses  incurred   for  the 
i  removal  of  general  patients  to  all  of  them,  includ- 
I  ing  "  this  lazar-house  at  Holloway,"  the  prevalence 
of  leprosy  having   then   considerably  diminished. 
Leprosy    was    "  the    linenless     disease."      "  This 
phrase,"  remarks  Mr.  W.  Howitt,  in  his  "  Northern 
!  Heights  of  London,"  "denotes  the  true  cause  of 
leprosy — the  wearing  of  woollen  garments  next  the 
;  skin;  for  through  the  habit  of  not  having  these 
garments  regularly  changed  and  washed,  but  wearing 
'  them  till  saturated  with  perspiration,  the  skin  be- 
!  comes  diseased.     On  the  introduction  of  linen  and 
I  more   frequent    washing    this    loathsome   disease 
rapidly  disappeared." 

This  house  was,  in  one  sense,  a  royal  foundation, 
as  we  gather  some  particulars  of  it  from  Stow's  re- 
j  marks.  He  says,  "  Finally,  I  read  that  one  William 
I  Pole,  yeoman  of  the  crown  to  King  Edward  IV., 
being  stricken  with  a  leprosy,  was  also  desirous  to 
,  build  an  hospital  to  the  honour  of  God  and  St. 
]  Anthony,  for  the  relief  and  harbouring  of  such 
leprous  persons  as  were  destitute  in  the  kingdom, 
to  the  end  they  should  not  be  offensive  to  others 
in  their  passing  to  and  fro  :  for  the  which  cause 
j  Edward  IV.  did  by  his  charter,  dated  the  [24th 
day  of  February,  1473,  i"  tne]  twelfth  of  his  reign, 
give  unto  the  said  William  for  ever  a  certain 
parcel  of  his  land  lying  in  his  highway  of  High- 
'  gate  and  Holloway,  within  the  county  of  Middle- 
'  sex,  containing  sixty  feet  in  length  and  thirty-four 
'  in  breadth."  The  intention  of  William  Pole  was 
carried  into  effect;  for,  four  years  afterwards  (1477), 
I  we  find  that  the  king  gave  and  granted  to  Robert 
Wilson,  who,  although  described  in  the  grant  as  a 
saddler  of  London,  yet  appears  to  have  been  a 
disabled  soldier,  and  to  have  served  in  the  Wars 
of  the  Roses,  and  also  to  have  been  afflicted  with 
leprosy :  "  The  new  lazar-house  at  Hygate,  which 
we  lately  caused  to  be  constructed  by  William 
Pole,  not  long  since  one  of  the  yeomen  of  our  . 
crown,  now  deceased,  to  have  and  to  hold  the  same 


t  Sec  attti,  p.  33. 


A   LAZAR-HOUSE. 


house,  with  the  appurtenances,  of  our  gift  and  of 
our  almoign,  to  the  same  Robert  Wylson,  for  the 


life  shall  find  and  provide  for  all  the  poor  persons 
in  the- house  aforesaid,  from  time  to  time  being, 


term  of  his  life,  without  any  matter  or  account  (  victuals  as  other  governors  or  keepers  of  the 
therefor  to  us  to  be  yielded  or  paid."  The  next  j  hospital  or  house  aforesaid  heretofore  have  from 
grant  that  occurs  is  in  the  fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  time  to  time  been  accustomed  to  do,  and  that  he 
Henry  VII.,  when  John  Gymnar  and  Katharine  will  repair,  sustain,  and  maintain  the  said  house  in 
his  wife  have  conferred  upon  them  the  "  keeper-  all  necessary  reparations  so  often  as  need  or  occa- 
ship  (custodiam)  of  a  certain  hospital,  with  a  certain 


chapel  of  St.  Anthony,  being  between  Highgate 
and  Holwey  (sic),  in  our  county  of  Middlesex,  to 
have  and  to  enjoy  the  same  keepership  to  the 
aforesaid  John  and  Katharine  during  their  lives, 
and  the  longest  liver  of  them."  No  allusion  to 
leprosy  appears  in  this  record,  nor  is  the  hospital 


sion  shall  require."  From  this  it  appears  that  the 
hospital  had  lost  its  character  as  a  leper-house,  as 
well  as  its  religious  associations ;  for  the  Reforma- 
tion must  have  swept  away  Saint  Anthony  and  all 
his  belongings  long  before  the  date  of  the  above 
appointment  However,  in  common  parlance,  it 
still  retained  its  name  of  the  "  spittle-house "  as 


even  styled  a  lazar-house  ;  from  which  it  may  be  well  as  that  of  a  common  poor-house ;  and,  as  late 
inferred  that  this  dreadful  disease  was  then  de- .  as  1605,  an  inmate  (presumedly  an  infant)  is  de- 
clining, or  else  that  it  was  designed  to  subserve  :  scribed  as  "  a  lazar  of  our  spital,"  in  the  parish 


register  of  St.  Mary,  at  Islington,  from  the  pages 
of  which  it  may  be  gathered  that  the  inmates  of 
this  institution  were,  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 


more  general  purposes.     We  meet  with  no  further 

records  of  appointments  to   this   hospital  till  far 

into  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  when  we  find 

under  the  Privy  Seal,  whereby  one  Simon  Guyer    and  commencement  of  the   seventeenth  century, 

had  a  grant  for  life  of  the  "  Spytyl  Howse  of  Holo- ;  such  as  were  subsequently  provided  for  in  parish 

wey,  Middlesex."     Perhaps,  it  has  been  suggested,  j  workhouses.     The  keeper,  ruler,  or  governor,  was 


the  poverty  of  the  institution,  coupled  with  the 
decline  of  leprosy,  may  have  rendered  the  appoint- 
ment of  little  worth.  That  the  institution  was  in 
some  respects  supported  by  "  voluntary  contribu- 
tions," or  offerings  at  the  chapel  of  St.  Anthony,  is 
of  William 


evidenced  by  a  bequest  in  the 

Cloudesley,   of  Islington,  dated  131)1  of  January,    curious: 
1517:  "  Item,   I  bequeath  to  the  poor  lazars  of      Thomas  Patton 
Hyegate,  to  pray  for  me  by  name  in  their  bede  role,    24"'  Jan.  1582. 
6s.  8d." 

A    contributor    to    the    Gentleman's    Magazine, 


also  commonly  called  the  "guide,"  being  in  fact 
some  person  of  medical  education,  or  one  whose 
previous  pursuits  may  have  qualified  him  for  under- 
taking the  duties  of  such  a  charge.  Here  are  a 
few  of  the  entries  in  the  parish  register  of  St.  Mary, 
Islington,  above  referred  to,  some  of  which  are 


s  buried  from  the  Spittle  howse,  the 
buried  from  the  Spitle  howse  on  the 


buried  the  I  Oct.  1583. 


Willi; 
Holloway, 


writing  on  the  subject,  remarks  that  in  the  reign  of 

Queen  Elizabeth  the  appointment  to  this  hospital, 

if  we  may  judge  from  the  formality  and  length  of 

the  grant,  was  considered  an  object  of  emolument  ; 

for  on  the  zsrd  of  March,    1565,  the  queen,  "in  ^ 

consideration    of  his  services  in  the  wars  of  her  •  buried  yC  J5  j 

progenitors,  and  in  consideration  of  his  age,  gave 

and   granted  to   William    Storye,  the   governance 

(gubernationetti)  of   our  hospital   or   almshouse   at 

Highgate,  in  our  county  of  Middlesex,  commonly 

called    the    poorhouse   or    hospital   of  Highgate, 

within  the  parish  of  Islington,  with  all  its  rights, 

members,  and  appurtenances,  and  also  the  keeper- 

ship  and  governance  of  all  the  poor  persons,  from 

time  to  time  in  the  same  house  being,  to  have, 

hold,  and  enjoy  the  keepership  and  governance  of 

the  hospital  or  house  aforesaid,  and  of  the  paupers 

aforesaid,  during  his  natural  life,  without  account, 

or  yielding,  or  paying  any  other  thing  therefor  to 


Ralph  Buxton  wa 
30  of  October  1583. 
Joane  Bristowe,   from  the  pore  howse  at  Iligate 


Storye,    Gwyder  of  yc  pore-howse,    at   Upper 


i  buried  the  30"'  day  of  March,  a'  1584. 

buried  from  the  same  howse  the  23" 


us,  our  heirs  or  successors.     Provided  always,  that 
the  afore-named  William  Storye  during  his  natural 


Jerome  Tedde 

A  pore  man,  from  Spitle  howse  at  Upper  Holloway,  was 

A  dome  child,  from  the  Spittle  howse  at  Upper  Holloway, 
was  buried  the  30'"  July,  1576. 

Anne,  the  daughter  of  Thomas  Watson,  giiyde  of  the 
Spitle  howse  at  Higate,  was  buried  the  5th  day  of  Sep'-  1593. 

A  crisom  childe  from  the  Spittle  howse  was  buried  the 
411-  day  of  May,  1593- 

Three  children  from  the  Spittle  howse,  sonnes  of  Arthur 

"  Anne3SSymomK°from  the  Spittle  howse,  bd-  13  Sep'- 1603. 

Jerome  Coxe,  the  Innocente,  was  buried  from  the  Sp.tle 
howse,  15  Sep<  1603. 

Elizabeth  , 

Mr.  Struggs  the  I 
1603 


childe  putt  to   the  Spittle  howse  by 
er,  was  buried  the  5"'  day  of  October 


Elizabeth  Slatewell,  lazer  of  our  Spitle,  was  baptised  at 
the  Spittle  the  thirde  day  of  Sep'- 1605. 

After  Storey's  death,  in  March,  1584,  a  similar 


3S4  OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON.  [Hoiioway. 

grant    and    appointment    passed    the    great   seal  an   Act   of  Parliament  with  "  the  sale  of  all  the 

(July  14)   in  favour  of  John  Randall,  to  whom,  manors  and  lands  heretofore  belonging  to  the  late 

in  consideration  of  his  infirmity,  was  granted  the  king  of  England,  or  queen,  or  prince,"  of  the  one 

keepership  in  precisely  the  same  form ;  and  about  part,  and  Ralph  Harrison,  Esq.,  of  London,  of  the 

five  years  later  he   received  a  second  grant  and  other  part,  it  was  witnessed,  that  in  consideration 

appointment  in  the  same  words  as  the  former,  but  of  ^130  los.  paid  by  the  said  Ralph  Harrison, 
with  the  addition  of  "  all  and  singular  orchards,  i  "  they  bargained  and  sold  to  him  all  that  messuage 

gardens,  lands,  tenements,  meadows,  pastures,  and  or  tenement,  with   the  appurtenances,  commonly 

hereditaments  whatsoever  to  the  same  almshouse  called  or    known  by  the   name  of  the   'Spittle 


belonging  or  appertaining,  and  together  with  the 
same  house  heretofore  used,  letten,  or  granted,  or 
as  part,  parcel,  or  member  of  the  said  almshouse 
heretofore  being,  with  all  oilier  rights,  members," 
&c.  With  a  proviso  that  if  he  should  at  any  time 
abuse  his  keepership,  or  the  poor  persons  afore- 
said, or  should  not  demean  himself  properly,  the 
appointment  should  be  void. 

In  due  course,  the  time  came  when  all  property 
of  the  Crown  was  carefully  surveyed  and  sold  to 
the  best  bidder ;  and,  therefore,  among  them  the 
old  "La/car  House"  passed  into  private  hands. 
By  deed  of  indenture  enrolled  in  Chancery,  in 
1653,  and  made  between  William  Steele,  Esq., 
Recorder  of  London,  Thomas  Coke,  William 
Bosserville,  and  others,  being  persons  entrusted  by 


House,'  situate  and  being  near  the  roadway  lead- 
ing from  London,  between  Highgate  and  Hollo- 
way,  within  the  parish  of  Islington,  in  the  county 
of  Middlesex  ;  and  all  the  houses,  outhouses,  yards, 
gardens,  yard  and  curtilage,  to  the  same  belonging, 
or  in  any  wise  appertaining,  containing  in  the 
whole  by  estimation  two  roods,  be  the  same  more 
or  less,  of  the  possessions  of  Charles  Stuart,  late 
King  of  England,  and  of  the  yearly  value  of  nine 
pounds." 

It  is  somewhat  singular  that  after  a  lapse  of  two 
or  three  centuries  another  institution  for  dealing 
with  a  malady  very  similar  in  its  loathsomeness  to 
the  leprosy  should  have  been  established  almost 
upon  the  site  of  the  old  Lazar  House ;  but  so  it  is. 
About  the  year  1860  the  Small-pox  and  Vaccina- 


THE  WH1TTINGTON  STONE. 


tion    Hospital   was   removed   hither  from   King's    are    received    each   year,   and   300   persons   vac- 
Cross,  where,  as  we  have  already  seen,  it  had  pre-  ,  coated ;    but    in    times   when    the    small-pox  is 
viously  stood  upon  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  I  prevalent  in  the  metropolis  the  resources  of  this 
Great  Northern  Railway  Station.*     On  page  361  ]  hospital  are  taxed  on  a  far  larger  scale, 
will  be  found  an  engraving  of  the  original  edifice  ';      At  the  foot  of  the  steep  road  which  leads  up 


820.      (From  an  Original  Sketch.) 


at  King's  Cross  previous  to  its  demolition  in  the 
year  1850,  or  thereabouts.  The  present  hospital 
is  an  attractive  building  standing  upon  its  own 
grounds,  slightly  receding  from  the  roadside,  in 
\Vhittington  Place.  The  institution  was  originally 
founded  in  1746,  "to  receive  and  treat  medically 
persons  suffering  from  small-pox,  and  to  vaccinate 
others."  At  present  upwards  of  200  in-patients 


Set  Vol  II.,  p.  278. 


Highgate  Hill,  almost  in  front  of  the  site  of  the  old 
Lazar  House,  and  at  the  corner  of  Salisbury  Road 
is  a  public-house  rejoicing  in  the  sign  of  the  "Whit- 
tington  Stone,"  the  stone  itself  being  at  the  edge 
of  the  pavement  in  front.  The  stone,  an  upright 
block  about  three  feet  high,  resting  upon  a  circular 
slab  of  stone,  is  enclosed  by  an  iron  railing  painted 
and  gilt,  from  which  springs  four  uprights  bearing 
a  lamp.  Upon  the  stone  is  the  following  in 
scription : — 


225 


386 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Holloway. 


WlIlTTINGTON    STONE. 

Sir 

Richard  Whittington, 
Thrice  Lord  Mayor 

of  London. 

1397.     Richard  II. 

1406.     Henry  IV. 

1420.     Henry  V. 

Sheriff  in  1393. 

This  stone  was  restored, 

The  railing  fixed,  and  lamp  erected, 

A.D.  1869. 

It  marks  the  spot  on  which,  as  we  are  told,  stood 
the  mile-stone  at  which  the  poor  boy,  Dick  Whit- 
tington, is  said  to  have  rested  when  he  listened  to 
the  peal  of  Bow  Bells,  and  heard  them,  or  fancied 
that  he  heard  them,  say— 

"  Turn  again,  Whittington, 
Lord  Mayor  of  London  town." 

It  is  stated  in  the  Ambulator  that  the  original  stone, 
being  broken  in  two  pieces,  was  removed  hence  to 
the  corner  of  Queen's  Head  Lane,  in  Lower  Street, 
and  placed  against  the  posts  to  serve  as  curb- 
stones. A  correspondent  in  the  Gentleman's  Maga- 
zine, for  September,  1824,  alluding  to  the  story  of 
Whittington,  observes,  "A  stone  at  the  foot  of 
Highgate  Hill  was  supposed  to  have  been  placed 
there  by  him,  on  the  spot  where  he  had  heard 
Bow  bells.  It  had  a  pavement  around  it  of  about 
eighteen  feet  in  circumference.  This  stone  re- 
mained till  about  1795,  when  one  S ,  who  was 

a  parish  officer  of  Islington,  had  it  removed  and 
sawn  in  two,  and  placed  the  halves  on  eacli  side  of 
Queen's  Head  Lane,  in  the  Lower  Street,  Islington. 
The  pavement  he  converted  to  his  own  use,  and 
with  it  paved  the  yard  of  the  'Blue  Last'  public- 
house  (now  the  '  Marlborough  Head '),  Islington." 
Whereupon,  it  is  added,  some  of  the  parishioners 
expressing  their  dissatisfaction,  Mr.  Finch,  a  mason, 
was  employed  to  place  another  stone  in  its  stead, 
on  which  the  inscription  "  WHITTINGTON'S  STONE" 
was  cut.  Another  correspondent  of  the  above- 
mentioned  work  also  observed,  "Some  land,  I 
have  always  been  told,  lying  on  the  left-hand  side 
on  ascending  the  hill,  and  probably  just  behind  the 
stone,  is  held  on  the  tenure  of  keeping  the  stone 
in  repair ;  and  when  the  officious  interference  of 
S— —  removed  the  stone  and  fareincnt  surrounding 
it,  a  new  one  was  immediately  placed  there  of 
smaller  dimensions,  though  it  was  never  known  by 
whom."  "The  substituted  stone  of  1795,"  writes 
a  subsequent  correspondent  of  Sylvanus  Urban, 
"in  fact,  consisted  of  three  stones,  namely,  the 
stone  called  Whittington's,  and  the  two  bases  that 
were  placed  in  order  to  keep  the  Whittington 


stone  upright,  and  to  render  it  as  much  in  con- 
formity with  the  ancient  stone  as  circumstances 
would  allow;  but  that  this  second  Whittington 
stone  was  removed  in  May,  1821,  by  order  of 
the  churchwardens  of  St.  Mary,  at  Islington,  at  a 
cost  of^io  135.  8d.,  when  the  present  battered 
memorial  was  set  up  at  the  point  where  it  now 
stands,  and  till  this  last  summer  it  stood  at  the 
edge  of  the  causeway  or  raised  footpath  in  a  bend 
of  that  side  of  the  road,  which  evidently  owed  itF 
irregular  form  from  the  room  occupied  by  the  pre- 
ceding Whittington's  Stone ;  but  a  straight  pave- 
ment being  now  made,  the  stone  at  present  stands 
between  that  and  the  site  of  the  ancient  curved 
causeway — in  fact,  between  the  footpath  and  the 
field,  instead  of  fronting  the  high  road  as  before. 
I  may  here  mention  that  this  field,  in  the  ancient 
Court  Rolls  of  the  manor  of  St.  Mary,  Clerkenwel!, 
is  styled  the  Lazarett  Field,  and  the  Lazarcot  Field, 
although  in  later  documents  it  has  obtained  the 
name  of  the  Blockhorse  Field,  an  appellation 
evidently  derived  from  the  use  to  which  the  stone 
had  been  applied."* 

In  the  year  1745  a  print  was  published,  from  a 
drawing  by  Chatelain,  in  which  the  observations  of 
the  writer  quoted  above,  showing  a  traditional  con- 
nection between  the  field  and  the  stone,  are,  to  a 
certain  extent,  bome  out.  The  engraving  is  a 
view  of  Highgate  from  Upper  Holloway.t  taken 
from  a  point  a  little  below  the  place  where  Whit- 
tington's Stone  stands,  or  stood,  in  which  the  stone 
appears  as  the  base  or  plinth  of  a  cross,  with  part 
of  the  pillar  still  remaining ;  and  it  has  been  sug- 
gested that  what  was  formerly  called  Whittington's 
Stone  was  nothing  else  than  a  way-side  cross  in 
front  of  the  chapel  of  St.  Anthony,  erected  for  the 
purpose  of  attracting  the  notice  of  the  traveller  to 
the  unhappy  objects  of  the  hospital,  and  as  a 
means  of  soliciting  the  alms  of  the  charitable,  and 
consequently  erected  long  after  the  time  when 
Whittington  flourished.  Considering  that,  accord- 
ing to  a  note  of  Mr.  W.  J.  Thorns,  in  his  edition 
of  Stow's  "London"  (1842),  the  earliest  narrative  of 
Whittington's  road-side  adventure  is  to  be  found 
in  a  work  published  as  late  as  1612  (Johnson's 
"  Crown  Garland  of  Roses "),  and  that  the  exist- 
ence of  what  served  for  a  way-side  seat  can  in 
every  probability  be  shown  to  have  been  commenced 
long  after  Whittington  had  ended  his  prosperous 
days,  we  are  afraid  that  we  must  dismiss  not  only 
the  story  of  the  "cat,"  but  also  the  very  pretty 
legend  which  shows  the  favourite  hero  of  our  child- 
hood as  making  his  escape  from  the  drudgery  to 


-     - 


Holloway.] 


THE   LEGEND   OF   DICK   WHITTINGTON. 


which  he  had  been  consigned  in  the  house  of  the 
rich  London  merchant,  Fitzwarren,  and  resting  by 
the  way-side  cross  at  Holloway.  Of  Whittington's 
birth  and  parentage,  of  his  benefactions  to  the  City, 
and  how  he  \\a.sfour  times  Lord  Mayor  of  London, 
we  have  already  spoken  in  our  chapter  on  "  famous 
Lord  Mayors  ; "  *  but  as  Holloway  is  so  closely 
associated  with  him,  not  only  from  the  popular 
legend  above  referred  to,  but  also  from  the  alms- 
houses  or  college  which  bear  his  name,  to  pass 
him  over  without  any  further  mention  would  be 
like  putting  on  the  stage  the  play  of  Hamlet 
and  at  the  same  time  omitting  the  character  of  the 
Prince  of  Denmark.  We  will  therefore  narrate 
what  Grafton  says  about  him,  as  quoted  in  Keight- 
ley's  "  Tales  and  Popular  Fictions  : " — "  This  year 
[1406]  a  worthy  citizen  of  London,  named  Richard 
Whittington,  mercer  and  alderman,  was  elected 
mayor  of  the  said  city,  and  bore  that  office  three 
times.  This  worshipful  man  so  bestowed  his  goods 
and  substance  to  the  honour  of  God,  to  the  relief 
of  the  poor,  and  to  the  benefit  of  the  common- 
weal, that  he  hath  right  well  deserved  to  be  regis- 
tered in  the  book  of  fame.  First,  he  erected  one 
house,  a  church,  in  London,  to  be  a  house  of 
prayer,  and  named  the  same  after  his  own  name, 
Whittington  College,  and  so  it  remaineth  to  this 
day ;  and  in  the  said  church,  beside  certain  priests 
and  clerks,  he  placed  a  number  of  poor  aged  men 
and  women,  and  builded  for  them  houses  and  lodg- 
ings, and  allowed  unto  them  wood,  coal,  cloth, 
and  weekly  money,  to  their  great  relief  and  com- 
fort. This  man,  also,  at  his  own  cost,  builded  the 
gate  of  London  called  Newgate,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord,  1422,  which  before  was  a  most  ugly  and 
loathsome  prison.  He  also  builded  more  than 
half  of  Saint  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  in  West 
Smithfield,  in  London.  Also  he  builded,  of  hard- 
stone,  the  beautiful  library  in  the  Grey  Friars,  in 
London,  now  called  Christ's  Hospital,  standing  in 
the  north  part  of  the  cloister  thereof,  where  in  the 
walls  his  arms  are  graven  in  stone.  He  also 
builded,  for  the  ease  of  the  mayor  of  London,  and 
his  brethren,  and  of  the  worshipful  citizens,  at  the 
solemn  days  of  their  assembly,  a  chapel  adjoining 
to  the  Guildhall ;  to  the  intent  they  should  ever, 
before  they  entered  into  any  of  their  affairs,  first 
go  into  the  chapel,  and,  by  prayer,  call  upon  God 
for  His  assistance.  And  in  the  end,  joining  on  the 
south  side  of  the  chapel,  he  builded  for  the  City  a 
library  of  stone,  for  the  custody  of  their  records 
and  other  books.  He  also  builded  a  great  part  o' 
the  east  end  of  Guildhall,  beside  many  other  good 


1  See  Vol.  I.,  p.  398. 


works  that  I  know  not.  But  among  all  others  I 
will  show  unto  you  one  very  notable,  which  I  re- 
ceived credibly  by  a  writing  of  his  own  hand, 
which  also  he  willed  to  be  fixed  as  a  schedule  to 
iis  last  will  and  testament.  He  willed  and  com- 
manded his  executors,  as  they  would  answer  before 
God  at  the  day  of  the  resurrection  of  all  flesh, 
hat  if  they  found  any  debtor  of  his  that  ought  to 
him  any  money,  if  he  were  not,  in  their  consciences, 
ell  worth  three  times  as  much,  and  also  out  of  the 
debt  of  other  men,  and  well  able  to  pay,  that  then 
hey  should  never  demand  it,  for  he  clearly  forgave 
t,  and  that  they  should  put  no  man  in  suit  for  any 
debt  due  to  him.  Look  upon  this,  ye  aldermen,  for 
it  is  a  glorious  glass  !  " 

Stow  informs  us  that  Richard  Whittington  rebuilt 
the  parish  church  of  St.  Michael  Royal,  and  made 
a  college  of  St.  Spirit  and  St.  Mary,  with  an  alms- 
bouse,  called  God's  House  or  Hospital,  for  thirteen 
poor  men,  who  were  to  pray  for  the  good  estate  of 
Richard  Whittington,  and  of  Alice  his  wife,  their 
founders ;  and  for  Sir  William  Whittington,  knight, 
and  Dame  Joan  his  wife  ;  and  for  Hugh  Fitzwarren, 
and  Dame  Malde  his  wife,  the  fathers  and  mothers 
of  the  said  Richard  Whittington,  and  Alice  his 
wife;  for  King  Richard  the  Second,  Thomas  of 
Woodstock,  &c.  Hence  it  clearly  follows  that  Sir 
Richard  Whittington  never  could  have  been  a 
poor  bare-legged  boy ;  for  it  is  here  plainly  stated 
.hat  his  father  was  a  knight,  no  mean  distinction 
n  those  days.  Yet  in  every  popular  account  of 
Whittington,  he  is  said  to  have  been  born  in  very 
humble  circumstances.  This  erroneous  idea  has 
evidently  been  owing  to  the  popular  legend  of  him 
nd  his  cat,  and  it  shows  how  fiction  will  occa- 
sionally drive  Truth  out  of  her  domain.  Such, 
then,  is  the  real  history  of  this  renowned  Lord 
Mayor ;  but  tradition,  we  know,  tells  a  very  dif- 
ferent tale.  In  the  words  of  Whitehead  in  the 
"  Legends  of  London  :  " — 

"  The  music  told  him  in  the  chime 

That  Whittington  must  '  turn  again,' 
And  by  good  fortune  high  should  climb, 

And  as  the  city's  magnate  reign. 
"  The  boy,  by  listening,  fancy-led, 

Quickly  arose  from  off  the  stone, 
And  proudly  raised  his  hand  and  head, 

While  thus  his  fortunes  were  made  known. 
"  '  Thrice,  thrice  Lord  Mayor,'  the  bells  repeat, 

'  Then  turn  again  yet,  Whittington  :' 
Thus  was  it  still— the  fond  deceit 

Beguiled  his  fancy  on  and  on. 
"  And  '  Whittington,  then  turn  again,' 

He  saw  the  city  spires  afar, 
And  through  a  cloud  of  hovering  rain 

He  saw  there  shone  one  lonely  star 


•38« 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


"  He  hastened  home,  that  n^tic  bull 

Lulled  him  to  sleep  upon  that  night ; 
The  pastoral  dream,  remembered  well, 
Lifted  his  hopes  to  high  delight." 

"In  the  whole  of  the  legendary  history,"  observes 
a  writer  in  the  Saturday  Magazine,  "  there  does 
not  appear  to  be  one  single  word  of  truth  further 
than  this — that  the  maiden  name  of  Lady  Whitting- 
ton was  Alice  Fitzwarren.  It  would  be  extremely 
interesting  to  ascertain  the  exact  age  of  the  legend. 
Neither  Grafton  nor  Holinshed,  who  copies  him, 
says  anything  of  the  legendary  history  of  Sir 
Richard ;  but  the  legend  itself,  as  we  now  have  it, 
must  have  been  current  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
for  in  the  prologue  to  a  play,  written  about  1613, 
the  citizen  says  : — '  Why  could  you  not  be  con- 
tented, as  well  as  others,  with  the  legend  of  Whit- 
tington ?  or  the  life  and  death  of  Sir  Thomas  Gres- 
ham,  with  the  building  of  the  Royal  Exchange  ? 
or  the  story  of  Queen  Eleanor,  with  the  rearing 
of  London  Bridge  upon  woolsacks  ? '  The  word 
legend  in  this  case  would  seem  to  indicate  the  story 
of  the  cat ;  and  we  cannot,  therefore,  well  assign  it 

a  later  date  than  the  sixteenth  century 

Whittington's  cat,"  continues  the  writer  above 
quoted,  "  has  not  escaped  tha  shrewdness  of  those 
persons  who  have  a  wonderful  inclination  to  dis- 
cover a  groundwork  of  historical  truth  in  popular 
legends,  for  in  some  popular  '  History  of  England,' 
the  story  has  been  explained,  as  it  is  called ;  and 
two  or  three  country  newspapers  have  copied  the 
explanation  with  evident  delight.  Sir  Richard 
Whittington  was,  it  seems,  the  owner  of  a  ship 
named  the  Cat,  by  his  traffic  in  which  he  acquired 
the  greater  part  of  his  wealth.  It  is  not,  however, 
quite  clear  that  our  worthy  mercer  was  directly  en- 
gaged in  foreign  traffic." 

A  few  yards  before  the  traveller  reaches  the 
Whittington  Stone  the  road  separates  into  two 
branches,  of  which  the  right-hand  one  is  a  modern 
cutting,  known  as  the  Archway  Road,  from  its 
passing  under  Highgate  Archway,  of  which  we 
shall  speak  presently.  On  the  right  hand  of  this 
road,  but  within  the  limits  of  Upper  Holloway, 
is  situated  Sir  Richard  Whittington's  College,  or 
almshouse,  originally  founded  in  the  parish  of  St. 
Michael  Paternoster,  London,  by  the  celebrated 
Lord  Mayor,*  who,  in  1421,  left  the  residue  of  his 
estate  for  the  foundation  and  endowment  of  aims- 
houses  for  thirteen  poor  people  under  the  control 
of  the  Mercers'  Company.  William  Howitt,  in  his 
"  Northern  Heights  of  London,"  thus  relates  the 


story  of  the  foundation  of  these  almshouses  : — "The 
'  Mercers'  Company  having  in  hand  .£6,600  from 


the  estates  of  Sir  Richard  Whittington, 
commenced  establishing  a  set  of  almshouses  for 


1  See  Vol.  II.,  p.  26. 


twenty-four  single  women  not  having  individually 
property  to  the  amount  of  £30  a  year.  They  re- 
ceive a  yearly  stipend  of  .£30  each,  besides  other 
gifts,  with  medical  attendance  and  nurses  in  time 
of  illness.  At  first  the  establishment  was  proposed 
to  be  erected  on  the  main  road  up  Highgate  Hill, 
near  to  the  Whittington's  Stone ;  but  the  ground 
not  being  procurable,  they  built  it  in  the  Archway 
Road  instead,  but  still  near  to  the  stone  which 
commemorates  the  name  of  the  founder.  This  is 
a  much  better  situation,  however,  on  account  of  its 
greater  openness  and  retirement  The  buildings 
are  Gothic,  of  one  storey,  forming  three  sides  of  a 
'  quadrangle,  having  the  area  open  to  the  road.  In 
!  the  centre  of  the  main  building  is  a  chapel  or 
oratory  for  the  reading  of  daily  prayers.  The 
establishment  has  its  tutor,  or  master,  its  matrons, 
nurses,  gardener,  gate-keeper,  &c.  It  is  a  remark- 
ably pleasant  object  viewed  from  the  road,  with  its 
area  embellished  by  a  shrubbery  and  sloping 
lawn."  The  remarks  of  Mr.  Howitt  in  censure  of 
the  "miserable  philosophy,  falsely  called  utilitarian," 
which  would  discourage  the  erection  of  such  homes 
and  retreats  for  our  aged  poor,  are  such  as  can  be 
cordially  endorsed  by  any  one  who  has  a  heart  to 
feel  for  the  sufferings  of  others. 

The  high  road  in  this  neighbourhood,  and  the 
fields  on  either  side,  leading  up  the  slopes  of 
Highgate,  must  have  presented  a  strange  sight 
during  the  "great  fire"  of  London,  for  John 
Evelyn  tells  us,  in  his  "  Diary,"  that  many  of 
the  poorer  citizens  who  had  lost  their  all  and 
their  homes  in  the  conflagration,  encamped  here- 
'  abouts.  "  I  then  went,"  he  writes,  under  date 
Sept.  yth,  1666,  "towards  Islington  and  Highgate, 
[  where  one  might  have  seen  some  200,000  people, 
,  of  all  ranks  and  degrees,  dispersed  and  lying  along1 
1  by  their  heaps  of  what  they  could  save  from  the 
fire,  deploring  their  loss  ;  and  yet  ready  to  perish 
for  hunger  and  destitution,  yet  not  asking  one 
penny  for  relief,  which  to  me  seemed  a  stranger 
sight  than  any  I  had  yet  beheld." 

The  houses  on  the  road  which  leads  from  the 
"  Archway"  Tavern  up  to  Highgate  are  poor  and 
mean,  and  inhabited  by  more  than  a  fair  propor- 
tion of  laundresses  and  rag-shop  keepers.  But  in 
the  parts  which  lie  off  the  road  are  many  comfort- 
able mansions,  belonging,  for  the  most  part,  to 
retired  citizens.  Few  of  them,  however,  are  old 
enough  to  have  a  history. 


THE   GATE   ON   THE   HILL. 


3S9 


Eta 


CHAPTER    XXX. 
HIGHGATE. 


•  hills  that  skirt  Augusta's  plain."- Thomson's  "Smtons." 


Population  of  Highgatc  at  the  Commencement  of  the  Century-The  Heights  of  Highgate-The  Old  Roadway-Erection  of  the  Gate-Healthiness 
of  the  Locality— Growth  of  London  Northwards— Highgate  Hill— Roman  Catholic  khools— St.  Joseph's  Retreat—"  Father  Ignatius  "— 
The  "  Black  Dog  "  Tavern— Highgate  Infirmary— The  "  Old  Crown  "  Tavern  and  Tea-gardens—Winchester  Hall— Hornscy  Lane— Highgate 
Archway— The  Archway  Road— The  "  Woodman  "  Tavern— The  Alexandra  Orphanage  for  Infants— Asylum  of  the  Aged  Pilgrims'  Friend 
Society— Lauderdale  House— Anecdote  of  Nell  Gwynne— The  Duchess  of  St.  Albans— Andrew  Marvell's  Cottage— Cromwell  House- 
Convalescent  Hospital  for  Sick  Children-Arundel  House-The  Flight  of  Arabella  Stuart-Death  of  Lord  Bacon-Fairseat 
of  Sir  Sydney  Waterlow. 


HIGHGATE,  though  now  it  has  gradually  come  to 
be  recognised  as  a  parish,  is  the  name  of  a  district, 
or  hamlet,  embracing  sundry  outlying  portions  of 
Hornsey,  Islington,  and  St.  Pancras;  and  it  is 
treated  as  such  not  only  by  older  writers,  but  by 
Lysons,  in  his  "  Environs  of  London."  It  must,  j 
however,  have  been  an  important  hamlet  of  the 


but   wound  round   its  eastern    slope,   by  way  of 
Crouch    End    and   Muswell    Hill;  but  we  have 


reason  to  believe  that  the  country  hereabouts 
through  which  it  passed  was  densely  covered  with 
forest-trees  and  brushwood,  and  was  the  home  and 
launt  of  all  sorts  of  "  beasts  and  game,"  among 
vhich  Fitzjames  enumerates  "  stags,  bucks,  boars, 

parish,  for  the  Parliamentary  Return  of  the  Popula-  '  and  wild  bulls ;"  to  which  "  wolves  "  also  must  be 
tion  in  1801  assigns  to  Highgate  no  less  than  299  |  added,  if  Matthew  Paris  is  to  be  believed,  who 
out  of  the  429  inhabited  houses  in  Hornsey.  ,  states  that  owing  to  such  beasts  of  prey  the  good 

It  may  well   be   styled   one  of  the  "northern  .  pilgrims  were  often  in  imminent  danger  of  their 
heights  "  of  London,  for  its  summit  is  about  350  [  lives  and  property. 

feet  above  the  level  of  the  Thames,  or  twenty-five  i  Norden  tells  us,  in  his  "  Speculum  Britannise," 
feet  higher  than  Hampstead  Heath ;  and — passing  j  that  "  the  name  is  said  to  be  derived  from  the 
into  the  region  of  poetry — Garth  has  suggested  that  High  Gate,  or  Gate  on  the  Hill,  there  having  been 
the  heights  of  Highgate  might  put  in  a  claim  to  from  time  immemorial  the  toll-gate  of  the  Bishop 
rivalry  with  the  mountain  in  Greece  which  was  the  of  London  on  the  summit, 
fabled  haunt  of  the  Muses— 


"Or  Highgate  Hill  with  lofty  Pindus  vie." 
We    have    already   seen*  that    the    old    highway 


It  is  a  hill 

over  which  is  a  passage,  and  at  the  top  of  the  said 
hill  is  a  gate  through  which  all  manner  of  pas- 
sengers have  their  way;  so  the  place  taketh  the 
name  of  the  High  Gate  on  the  hill,  which  gate  was 

between "  London "and  Barnet   ran  from   the"  east  i  erected  at  the  alteration  of  the  way  which  is  on 
end  of  St.  Pancras  Church,  and  thence  to  Crouch  :  the  east  of  Highgate.     When  the  way  was  turned 
End,  leaving  Highgate  considerably  to  the  left ;  but    over  the  said  hill  to  lead  through  the  park  of  the 
in  1 386,  or  thereabouts,  the  Bishop  of  London  con.    Bishop  of  London,  as  it  now  doth,  there  was  in 
sented,  on  account  of  the  "  deepnesse  and  dirtie"  I  regard  thereof  a  tole  raised  upon  such  as  passed 
passage  of  that  way,  to  allow  a  new  road  to  be  I  that  way  with  carriages.     And   for  that  no  pas- 
ied  through  his  park  at  Highgate,  at  the  same  !  senger  should  escape  without  paying  tole,  by  reason 
me   imposing  a  toll   on   all   carts,  wagons,    and  '  of  the  wideness  of  the  way,  this  gate  was  raised, 
ack-horses;  and  that  for  this  purpose  there  was     through  which',  of  necessity,   all  travellers  pass, 
reeled  on  the  top  of  the  hill  the  gate  which  for  i  The  road  here  described,  no  doubt,  as  Mr.  Pnckett 
ve    hundred   years   has   given  its   name   to   the  j  suggests,  in  his  "History  of  Highgate    formed 
locality      In  fact,  until  the  fourteenth  century  there    junction  with  the  northern  private  road  between 
woVseem  to  have  been  no  public  road  at  all    the  bishop's  palace ^and ^common ^Finchley. 
nto  the  midland  ana  i  Utner  writers,  n 


The   great  northern  road  was,  no  doubt,  very    suggest  that  the   name  denotes ;  simply  the  high 

-- •         --•-<•    — J    or  passage,  the    word      gate      oemg  iu> 

the  "gatf'or  "gate" 


largely  frequented  in  the  Middle  Ages,  because  it 


•as  the  only  means  of  access  to  the  shrine  of  St. 
Alban,  which  from  the  Saxon  days  was  a  constant 
object  of  pilgrimage.  The  road  at  that  time,  how- 
ever, did  not  lie  over  the  top  of  Highgate  Hill, 


almost  in  the  same  sense  a 
of  our  eastern  cou 


nties,  and  preserved  in  Danish 


in  the  Cattegatt. 

The  gateway,  which  thus  gave  its  name  to  the 
place,  is  described  by  Mr.  Prickett,  in  his  work 
above  mentioned,  as  having  been  built,  not  at  the 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Highgate. 


side  of  the  road,  but  across  it,  as  an  arch  ;  and  he 
tells  us  that  it  extended  from  the  gate-house  on 
the  west  side  of  the  road  to  the  old  burying-ground 
on  the  east  "  The  rooms,"  he  adds,  "  were  ap- 
proached by  a  staircase  in  the  eastern  buttress ; " 
but  they  do  not  seem  to  have  been  of  a  very 
imposing  character,  as  immediately  before  the 
removal  of  the  gateway  in  1769  they  were  occupied 
by  a  laundress.  The  cause  of  the  removal  of  the 


ridge,  in  Hertfordshire,  to  be  imprisoned  in  the 
Tower. 

Norden,  whom  we  have  quoted  above,  bears 
testimony  to  the  healthiness  of  this  locality.  He 
writes  :  "  Upon  this  hill  is  most  pleasant  dwelling, 
yet  not  so  pleasant  as  healthful ;  for  the  expert 
inhabitants  there  report  that  divers  who  have  long 
been  visited  by  sickness  not  curable  by  '  physicke 
have  in  a  short  time  repaired  their  health  by  that 


arch  was  the  fact  of  its  crown  being  so  low  that 
even    moderately    laden    stage-wagons    could    not 
pass  under  it  ;  but  whenever  it  was  found  that  the 
wagon    would    not    pass    under   the   archway,   the 
latter  was  taken  round  through  a  yard  in  the  rear 
of  the   "date   House  Tavern,"  on  the  site  after-  , 
wards  covered  by  the  Assembly  Rooms.      It  may  j 
be  added  here  that  there  was  a  corresponding  gate  j 
at  the  other  end  of  the  episcopal  demesne,  at  the 
"  Spaniards/'  just  at  the  north-east  end  of  Hamp-  j 
stead  Heath. 

The  newly-made  way,  no  doubt,  soon   became 
the  leading  thoroughfare  to  the  North  of  England,  j 
for  we  read  that  it  was  by  way  of  Highgate  that, 
in   the   reign    of   Mary,    her   sister,    the    Princess  | 
Elizabeth,  was  brought  up  to  London  from  Ash-  | 


(l-'rom  an   Original  Skt.ch.) 


sweet  salutary  air."  Indeed,  the  place  is  still  pro- 
verbially healthy,  and  therefore  has  been  chosen 
from  time  immemorial  as  the  site  of  hospitals  and 
other  charitable  institutions.  It  is  worthy  of  note 
that  Defoe,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Plague,"  records 
not  ar-single  death  from  that  fearful  visitation  having 
happened  here,  though  it  extended  its  ravages  into 
and  beyond  the  northern  suburbs,  and  even  as  far 
as  Watford  and  St.  Albans ;  and  his  silence  is 
corroborated  by  the  fact  that  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  plague  only  sixteen  deaths  are 
recorded  in  the  register.  Convalescent  hospitals 
and  infirmaries  abound  here  in  plenty ;  the  earliest 
—  except  the  Lazar  House  already  mentioned — 
being  a  hospital  for  children,  established  on  High- 
gate  Hill  in  1665. 


392 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


So  continuous  are  the  lines  of  streets  and  roads 
between  London  and  Highgate  that  the  latter  may 
now  be  reckoned  quite  as  much  a  part  of  the  great 
metropolis  as  Kensington  or  Chelsea.  Indeed,  not 
only  have  the  prophetic  lines  of  Mother  Shipton, 
already  quoted,*  been  to  a  certain  extent  verified, 
but  the  same,  in  a  great  measure,  may  be  said  of 
another  curious  prophecy,  which  appears  in  a  col- 
lection of  epigrams  written  by  Thomas  Freeman,  a 
native  of  Gloucester,  and  published  in  1614,  under 
the  title  of  "  Rub  and  a  Great  Cast"  The  lines 
are  headed  "  London  Progresse,"  and  run  as 
follows : — 

"  Why  how  now  Babell,  whilt  thou  build? 

The  old  Holborne,  Charing-Cross,  the  Strand, 
Are  going  to  St.  Giles'-in-the-Fields  : 

St.  Katerine,  she  takes  Wapping  by  the  hand, 
And  Hogsdon  will  to  Hy-gate  ere 't  be  long. 

London  has  got  a  great  way  from  the  streame; 
I  think  she  means  to  go  to  Islington, 

To  eat  (i  dish  of  strawl>erries  and  creame. 
The  City's  sure  in  progresse,  I  surmise, 

Or  going  to  revell  it  in  some  disorder 
Without  the  walls,  without  the  liberties, 

Where  she  neede  feare  nor  Mayor  nor  Recorder. 
Well,  say  she  do,  'twere  pretty,  yet  'tis  pity, 
A  Middlesex  Bailiff  should  arrest  the  citty." 

Brayley'i  "  Lotidiniana ." 

The  whole  of  the  above  prediction  may  be  said 
to  be  accomplished,  with  the  exception  of  the  union 
of  Hoxton  with  Highgate ;  but  even  that  is  in  a 
rapid  course  of  fulfilment.  This  extension  of 
"  modern  Babylon "  has,  no  doubt,  in  a  great 
measure  been  mainly  brought  about  by  the  easy 
means  of  transit  northwards  by  the  various  lines  of 


railway  running  thitherw: 


Perhaps  no  line  lias 


felt  so  rapidly  the  increase  of  the  suburban  traffic 
as  the  Great  Northern.  "There  was  a  time, 
indeed,"  says  the  Xvrth  Londoner,  "when,  in 
common  with  all  the  leading  railway  companies,  it 
rather  threw  cold  water  upon  it.  It  has  now  at 
least  4,000  season-ticket  holders,  and  trains  call  at 
Holloway  and  Finsbury  Park  almost  continuously 
during  the  working  hours  of  the  day,  and  every 
train  is  crowded  with  passengers.  Speculative 
builders  have  been  very  busy  in  the  north  of 
London,  which  was  till  lately  regarded  by  them  as  a 
terra  incognita.  Highgate  Hill  was  an  insurmount- 
able difficulty.  Nor  did  the  Archway  Road,  which 
at  the  time  of  its  construction  was  held  to  be  the 
eighth  wonder  of  the  world,  do  much  to  remove 
it.  A  heavy  toll  most  materially  interfered  with 
the  traffic,  and  thus  the  north  of  London  was 
almost  as  free,  and  airy,  and  untrodden  as  it  was 


when  the  Gunpowder  Plot  conspirators  (we  merely 
quote  a  local  tradition)  stood  on  the  hill  between 
Hampstead  and  Highgate  to  witness  the  speedy 
exit  to  the  upper  regions  of  the  British  Solomon 
and  his  Parliament ;  or  as  when  Dick  Turpin,  from 
his  far-famed  oak  on  Finchley  Common,  an  oak 
which  still  defies  the  battle  and  the  breeze,  was  in 
the  habit,  immortalised  by  Dickens,  of  accosting 
the  passing  traveller,  and  by  means  of  a  couple  of 
balls  in  his  saddle  prevailing  on  him  to  stop.  A 
fatal  blow  was  dealt  to  this  state  of  things  by  the 
connection  of  the  Great  Northern  with  the  Under- 
ground Railway.  All  at  once  London  discovered 
that  there  were  no  more  salubrious  breezes,  no 
greener  fields,  no  more  picturesque  landscapes,  no 
more  stately  trees  than  could  be  shown  in  the  dis- 
trict of  country  bounded  by  Highgate  Hill  on  one 
side  and  Barnet  on  the  other.  The  green  lanes  of 
Hornsey  and  Southgate  ceased  to  be  such.  The 
lucky  landowner  who  had  purchased  his  lands  at 
sixty  or  seventy  pounds  an  acre  sold  them  at  a 
thousand  pounds  an  acre.  Ancient  mansions, 
where  City  aldermen  had  lived,  where  lord  mayors 
had  dined,  where  even  monarchs  had  deigned  to 
shine,  were  pulled  down  ;  broad  parks  were  cut  up 
into  building  lots;  and  instead  we  have  semi- 
detached villas — much  better,  as  a  rule,  to  look  at 
than  to  live  in — advertised  as  being  in  the  most 
healthy  of  all  neighbourhoods,  and  within  half  an 
hour's  ride  of  the  City." 

From  Holloway  the  transition  to  Highgate, 
morally  speaking,  is  very  easy,  though  the  actual 
ascent  of  the  hill  which  leads  up  to  its  breezy 
heights  is  tolerably  steep,  in  spite  of  the  causeway, 
the  handy-work  of  the  amiable  hermit  whom  we 
have  mentioned  in  the  previous  chapter.  We  must 
accordingly  commence  it,  starting  from  "  Dick 
Whittington's  Stone." 

both  sides  our  road  is  fringed  by  small 
cottages,  some  standing  in  dreary  and  unkempt 
gardens,  and  mostly  belonging  to  laundresses  and 
small  shopkeepers.  Norden  says  that  the  maker 
of  the  causeway  was  not  only  a  hermit,  but  "  poor 
and  infirm;"  and  Dr.  Fuller  writes  that  it  was  a 
double  benefit,  "  providing  water  on  the  hill,  where 
it  was  wanting,  and  cleanness  in  the  valley,  which 
before,  especially  in  winter,  was  passed  with  great 
:lirnculty."  And  to  come  to  a  far  more  recent 
;ime,  that  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  we  find  it 
stated,  so  lately  as  1714,  in  a  preamble  of  an  Act 
:or  erecting  turnpikes  and  making  other  improve- 
ments on  the  roads  about  Islington,  Highgate,  &c., 
that  the  highways  were  very  ruinous  and  almost 
mpassable  for  the  space  of  five  months  in  the 
year.  It  may  be  added  here  that  the  hill  is  a 


Highgate] 


ST.   JOSEPH'S   RETREAT. 


mass  of  London   clay,   crowned   with  a  layer  of 
sand  and  gravel. 

Ascending  the  hill,  we  pass,  at  some  distance  up 
on  the  left-hand  side,  the  Roman  Catholic  schools 
for  boys  and  girls,  belonging  to  the  Passionist  Com- 
munity. The  schools  are  spacious  buildings  of 
light-coloured  brick,  with  ornamental  string-courses, 
&c. ;  and  the  porch  is  surmounted  by  a  turret 
rising  high  above  the  roof.  Higher  up  the  hill, 
and  standing  at  the  corner  of  Dartmouth  Park 

jjjjl which,  by  the  way,  is  a  continuation  of  the 

York  and  Brecknock  Roads,  which  we  have  noticed 

in  the  preceding  chapter,  and  like  them,  was  till 

very  recently  known  as  Maiden  Lane— is  a  large 

monastic  establishment,  called  St.  Joseph's  Retreat 

It  occupies  the  site  of  a  house  formerly  known  as  the 

"  Black  Dog  Inn,"  and  the  grounds  which  adjoined 

it,  enclosing  altogether  an  area  of  about  six  or  seven 

acres.     Mr.  Howitt,  in  his  "  Northern  Heights  o 

London,"  published  in  1869,  says :  "Of  late  year 

the  Catholics  have  established  a  large  chapel  and 

house  for  priests  on  the  hill  descending  toward 

Holloway,  by  the  entrance  to  Maiden  Lane,  unde 

the   name  of  St.  Joseph's  Retreat.      The  greate 

part  of  the  priests  there  being  foreign,  and  wit 

a  predominance  of  Italians,  speaks  pretty  plainl 

of  its  origin  in  the  Propaganda ;  and  it  seems  t 

have  succeeded  greatly,  its  chapel  being  general 

crowded,  especially  by  the   Irish  living  in  Upp 

Holloway.     For  many  years  the  Roman  Cathol 

Church  has  instituted  a  system  of  perpetual  praye 

which  is  carried  on  by  priests  and  nuns,  who 

especial  office  it  is  to  pray  for  the  conversion 

England;     and    the     strange    tendency    evince 

especially  amongst  the  established  clergy,  towar 

a  reversal   of  the  Reformation,   looks   as  th< 

these  ceaseless   prayers  were  in  course   of  be 

answered." 

The  first  superior  of  this  monastery  was  the  H 
and  Rev.  George  Spencer,  brother  of  the  Lo 
Althorp  of  Reform  celebrity,  and  himself  forme 
a  beneficed  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  Englai 
but  who  had  thrown  up  his  preferment  on  be. 
ing  convinced  of  the  claims  of  the  Roman  Catho 
Church.  He  had  been  educated  at  Eton  and 
Cambridge,  and  as  the  brother  of  a  cabinet  minis 
he  enjoyed  the  fairest  prospects  of  advancement 
his  profession  ;  but  these  he  abandoned  in  orde 
assume  the  cowl  and  coarse  gown  and  open  sand 
of  a  Passionist,  and  adopted  instead  of  his  her 
tary  title  the  name  of  "  Father  Ignatius.  He  d 
in  1864.  The  author  of  the  "Life  of  Pa 
Ignatius"  writes  shortly  before  his  death  :- 
1858  we  procured  the  place  in  Highgate  now  kn 
as  St  Joseph's  Retreat.  Providence  guided  us  to 


ost  suitable  position.  Our  rule  prescribes  that 
houses  shall  be  outside  the  town,  and  yet  near 
ugh  for  us  to.  be  of  service  in  it.  Highgate  is 
iderfully  adapted  to  all  the  requisitions  of  our 

and  constitution.     Situated  on  the  brow  of  a 

it  is  far  enough  from  the  din  and  noise  of 
Condon  to  be  comparatively  free  from  its  turmoil, 

yet  sufficiently  near  for  its  citizens  to  come 
our  church.  The  grounds  are  enclosed  by 
es ;  a  hospital  at  one  end  and  two  roads  meeting 
the  other  promise  a  freedom  from  intrusion  and 
continuance  of  the  solitude  which  we  now 
oy." 

The  new  monastery,  designed  by  Mr.  Francis 
Tasker,  and  erected  in  1875-6,  was  solemnly 
ssed  and  opened  in  the  latter  year  by  Cardinal 
inning.  It  forms  three  sides  of  a  square,  and  is 
ill  in  a  broad  Italian  style,  after  the  fashion  of 
e  monastic  buildings  of  the  Romagna  and  of 
entral  Italy.  The  walls  are  faced  with  white 
ffolk  bricks  with  stone  dressings,  and  the  roofs, 
lich  project  in  a  remarkable  manner,  are  covered 
th  large  Italian  tiles.  The  building  contains 
ests'  rooms,  a  choir  or  private  chapel  for  the 
religious,"  a  community-room,  library,  refectory, 
tchen  and  kitchen-offices,  and  infirmary,  with  forty 
cells "  or  rooms  for  the  monks.  The  chapel  is 
n  the  north  side  of  the  monastery,  and  adjoining 

is  a  room  for  the  meeting  of  the  members  of 
-ligious  brotherhoods  or  confraternities  connected 
ith  the  Passionist  order. 

We  have  stated  above  that  the  Retreat  occupies 
ic  site  of  the  "Black  Dog"  tavern  ;  and  we  may 
dd  here  that  the  dog,  in  one  of  its  various  kinds, 
as  always  been  a  common  sign  in  England,  and 
f  all  dogs  the  "  -Black  Dog  "  would  appear  to  have 
een  the  favourite  ;  possibly,  it  has  been  suggested, 
ecause  it  means  the  English  terrier,  a  dog  who 
once  "had  his  day"  among  us,  just  as  the  Scotch 
erriers  and  the  pugs  have  now.  The  Black 
Do«"  here  may  have  been  chosen  on  account  of  his 
being  the  constant  companion  of  the  drovers  who 
frequented  this  house.  But  it  is  also  possible  that 
the  "  Black  Dog"  may  have  been  of  a  more  poetica, 
-haracter,  and  have  derived  its  name,  as  Mr. 


aracter,  an       ave     e  , 

-mvood  suggests  in  his  "  History  of  Sign-boards 
rt;  "the  canine  spectre  that  still  ^f  ens  'he 
ignorant  and  fearful  in  our  rural  ***  J^£ 
the  'Dun  Cow'  and  the  Lambton  'Worm  were 
tie  terror  of  the  people  in  the  Midland  counties, 
and  the  North  of  England  in  former  tunes 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  Passionist  fathers  now 
own  noVonly  the  oW  "Black  Dog"  and  .sou, 

premises    but  the   adjoining  property,   a  private 
Ce  and  grounds,  and  on  the   conjoined  pro- 


334 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON.  [Highs*. 


perties  have  constructed  a  monastery  and  chapel  (  was  formed  in  order  to  avoid  the  steepness  ol  the 
in  which  all  traces  of  the  "  Black  Dog"  will  be  hill  itself. 

thoroughly  "  exorcised  "  in  the  course  of  time,  if,  I  In  cutting  this  road  various  fossil  remains  were 
indeed,  that  has  not  been  done  already.  found,  consisting  of  shells,  crabs,  and  lobsters,  the 

It  should  be  explained  that  while  the  St.  Joseph's  teeth  and  vertebrae  of  sharks  and  other  fish,  thus 
Retreat  enjoys  a  long  frontage  on  the  west  side  of  proving  that  there  was  a  time  when  the  hill  held  a 
Highgate  Hill,  it  is  bounded  in  the  rear  by  the  far  lower  level,  or  else  that  the  whole  valley  of  the 
steep  and  narrow  lane  mentioned  above.  On  the  j  Thames  was  one  large  arm  of  the  sea.  The  con- 
right-hand  side,  as  we  go  down  the  lane,  is  the  struction  of  this  roadway  cost  something  like 
Highgate  Infirmary,  a  large  modern  building,  of  .£13,000,  which  was,  perhaps,  rather  a  large  sum, 
nondescript  architecture,  affiliated  to  one  of  the  '  seeing  that  its  length  is  only  a  little  more  than  a 
large  London  parishes.  It  was  originally  con-  mile. 

structed  as  the  infirmary  of  the  St.  Pancras  Union,  j  Previous  to  the  formation  of  the  roadway  and 
The  foundation-stone  was  laid,  in  the  year  1869,  the  erection  of  the  arch,  a  scheme  was  projected 
by  Sir  William  H.  Wyatt,  chairman  of  the  Board  of  to  construct  a  tunnel  through  the  London  clay  at 
Guardians,  and  at  the  close  of  the  following  year  j  Highgate  Hill,  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  more 
the  management  of  the  building  was  transferred  to  easy  communication  between  Holloway  and  Finch- 
the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Central  London  ley.  The  attempt,  however,  failed,  and  the  result 
Sick  Asylum  District,  representing  the  following  was  the  construction  of  the  open  cutting  which 
unions  and  parishes  :— St.  Pancras,  St.  Giles-in-the- !  forms  the  present  Highgate  Archway  Road.  The 
Fields,  St.  George's,  Bloomsbury,  Strand  Union,  failure  appears  to  have  arisen,  in  a  great  measure, 
and  Westminster  Union.  The  building,  which  from  the  want  of  experience  on  the  part  of  the 
covers  a  large  space  of  ground,  commands,  at  the  engineers  who  had  charge  of  the  work,  more  espe- 
back,  extensive  views  over  the  fields — or  what  is  cially  as  they  had  such  very  difficult  and  heavy 
left  of  them  unbuilt  upon— in  the  direction  of  ground  to  work  in  as  the  London  clay.  The  tunnel 
Kentish  Town  and  Paddington.  It  was  erected  was  nearly  completed  when  it  fell  in  with  a  terrific 
from  the  designs  of  Messrs.  Giles  and  Biven,  and  crash,  in  April,  1812,  fortunately  before  the  workmen 
forms  a  square,  the  north  side  of  which  is  occu-  had  commenced  their  labour  for  the  day.  The 
pied  by  the  governor's  house  and  offices,  the  prin-  idea  of  forming  the  tunnel,  therefore,  was  ultimately 
cipal  entrance,  &c.  (  abandoned,  and  the  present  arch  constructed  in  its 

On  the  east  side  of  Highgate  Hill,  opposite  stead.  The  toll  which  was  levied  upon  passengers 
the  Passionist  Monastery,  is  the  "Old  Crown"  along  this  road  was  of  its  kind  unique,  for  not  only 
public-house,  with  its  tea-gardens.  The  grounds,  was  a  toll  levied  upon  the  drivers  of  horses  and 
which  are  cut  up  into  arbours,  are  not  very  exten-  vehicles,  but  one  penny  was  also  levied  upon  foot 
sive,  and,  notwithstanding  its  sign,  the  building  has  passengers  ;  sixpence  was  the  toll  upon  every  horse 
altogether  a  modern  appearance.  It  is  a  favourite  drawing.  When  the  subject  of  tolls  was  before  the 
resort  for  London  holiday-makers.  House  of  Commons  in  1861,  the  "  Holyhead  Road 

Close  by  the  grounds  of  the  above  establishment  Act  "  was  passed,  and  in  this  the  Highgate  Arch- 
is  a  narrow  thoroughfare,  running  in  an  eastward  way  Road  was  included.  It  is  not  an  ordinary 
direction,  known  as  Hornsey  Lane,  an  ancient  turnpike-road,  belonging,  in  fact,  to  a  company. 
cross-road,  forming,  in  this  place,  the  boundary  The  company  in  1861  owed  the  Consolidated 
Hue  of  Islington  parish.  Fund  Loans  .£13,000  ;  but  by  the  Holyhead  Road 

At  the  opposite  corner  of  the  lane,  and  adjoining  Act  the  debt  and  arrear  of  interest  were  com- 
tlie  grounds  of  Cromwell  House,  stands  a  large,  pounded  fora  payment  of  £9,000,  in  instalments 
old-fashioned,  red-brick  mansion,  called  Winchester  spread  over  fifteen  years.  Then  the  tolls  were  to 
Hall,  for  what  reason,  however,  it  will  puzzle  the  cease,  and  this  happy  time  having  at  length  come 
antiquary  to  explain.  |  round,  the  year  1876  saw  Highgate  freed  from  the 

Along  Hornsey  Lane  we  now  pass  on  our  way  impost.  Within  the  previous  twelve  years  more 
to  the  famous  Highgate  Archway.  This  structure,  than  one  hundred  turnpike-gates  had  been  removed 
at  the  time  of  its  erection  in  1813,  was  considered  from  the  thoroughfares  of  the  metropolis;  and 
an  engineering  triumph,  though  it  is  insignificant  before  many  years  are  passed  we  may  expect  to  see 
enough  by  the  side  of  more  recent  constructions,  all  the  toll-gates  in  our  suburbs  superseded. 
It  is  simply  a  bri^e  carried  over  a'  roadway,  !  The  archway  thrown  across  this  thoroughfare  is 
which,  as  we  have  already  stated,  strikes  off  on  about  thirty-six  feet  high,  and  eighteen  feet  in 
the  right  at  the  foot  of  Highgate  Hill,  and  which  width.  It  is  formed  of  stone,  flanked  with  sub- 


HIGHGATE  ARCHWAY. 


stantial  brick-work,  and  surmounted  by  three  semi- 
arches,  carrying  a  bridge  sufficiently  wide  to  allow 
of  the  transit  of  two  carriages  abreast.  An  open 
stone  balustrade  ranges  along  the  top.  The  only 
useful  purpose  attained  by  the  construction  of  this 
archway  is  the  continuation  of  Hornsey  Lane.  It 
is  recorded  on  a  brass  plate,  fixed  to  the  southern 
entrance  to  the  structure,  that  the  foundation-stone 
was  laid  by  Edward  Smith,  Esq.,  on  the  3ist  of 
October,  1812  ;  and  above  the  arch  is  cut  in  Roman 
capitals  the  following  inscription  : — "  GEO.  AVG. 
FRED.  WALLI^E.  PR.  REGIS.  SCEPTRA. 
GERENTE."  The  archway  presents  itself  as  a 
pleasing  object  to  the  traveller  either  leaving  or 
entering  London  by  this  road ;  and  from  the  path- 
way of  the  bridge  on  a  clear  day  is  obtained  an 
excellent  view  of  the  surrounding  country,  and  of 
many  buildings  in  the  metropolis,  among  which  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral  stands  finely  displayed. 

At  the  top  of  the  Archway  Road,  where  it  is  cut 
by  Southwood  Lane,  is  the  "  Woodman "  Inn,  a 
favourite  resort  for  Londoners.  The  "  Woodman  " 
is  a  common  sign  in  rural  villages,  but  not  often  to 
be  met  with  so  near  to  a  large  city.  The  sign- 
board is  almost  always  a  representation  of  Barker's 
picture,  and  evidently  suggested  by  Cowper's 
charming  description  of  a  winters  morning  in 
"  The  Task."  The  sign-board  at  Highgate  formed, 
and  possibly  forms,  no  exception  to  the  rule. 

On  the  slope  of  the  hill,  and  turning  out  of  the 
Hornsey  Lane,  a  little  to  the  east  of  the  archway, 
is  Hazelville  Road.  In  this  road  are  two  very 
useful  charitable  institutions,  places  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  two  extremes  of  the  great  human  family 
—namely,  of  infancy  and  old  age.  The  first 
hospital,  which  we  pass  on  our  left  in  descending 
the  hill,  is  a  neat  and  unostentatious  red-brick 
building,  called  the  Alexandra  Orphanage  for 
Infants.  It  was  founded  in  1864,  and  is  a  branch 
of  the  Orphan  Working  School  at  Haverstock  Hill, 
which  we  have  already  noticed.*  The  other  build- 
ing referred  to  stands  nearer  to  the  foot  of  the 
hill,  and  covers  a  large  space  of  ground.  This  is 
the  asylum  of  the  Aged  Pilgrims' Friend  Society ; 
an  institution  established  in  1807  for  giving  1!r 
pensions  of  five,  seven,  and  ten  guineas  per  annum 
to  the  aged  Christian  poor  of  either  sex,  and  of 
every  denomination,  who  are  not  under  three-score 
years  of  age.  The  present  asylum,  which  was 
opened  in  1871,  forms  three  sides  of  a  quadrangle 
and,  as  originally  constructed,  consisted  of  a  centre 
and  two  wings,  which  afforded  one  room  and  a 
small  scullery  for  each  of  the  eighty  inmates,  besides 


:ommittee-rooms,  warden  and  matron's  rooms,  a 
aundry,  and  a  beautiful  chapel ;  but  in  1876  the 
wo  wings  were  lengthened,  thus  giving  space  for 
orty  additional  rooms.  The  buildings  are  of  two 
toreys,  with  the  chapel  in  the  centre  of  the  north 
ide ;  the  south  side,  which  was  originally  unbuilt 
upon,  has  now  in  the  centre  a  large  hall  in  which 
ectures  and  addresses  are  sometimes  given,  and 
estive  gatherings  among  the  aged  inmates  take 
lace.  The  hall  is  connected  with  the  wings  of  the 
uilding  on  either  side  by  a  covered  pathway.  The 
spacious  central  enclosure,  owing  to  the  steepness 
)f  the  ground,  forms  two  or  three  grassy  slopes  and 
erraces,  connected  with  each  other  by  nights  of 
.teps. 

Since  the  foundation  of  this  institution,  in  1807, 
t  has  been  the  means  of  relieving  upwards  of  3,600 
iged  persons,  and  has  distributed  amongst  them 
he  sum  of  upwards  of  ^116,900.  The  total 
lumber  of  the  recipients  of  the  charity  in  1876  was 
1,038,  and  the  annual  sum  expended  in  pensions 
alone  is  upwards  of  £6,200.  The  pensioners  are 
each  provided  with  a  comfortable  home,  together 
•ith  a  sufficient  supply  of  coals,  with  medical 
attendance  when  sick,  and  other  comforts.  One  of 
the  earliest  and  best  friends  of  this  institution  was 
Mr.  John  Box,  of  Northampton  Square,  who,  in 
ddition  to  many  other  gifts,  bequeathed  a  sum  of 
^12,000  towards  the  funds  for  the  new  building. 

Retracing  our  steps  to  the  top  of  Highgate  Hill, 
lie  first  building  which  we  notice,  on  our  left,  is 
Lauderdale  House,  now  the  Convalescent  Home  to 
St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital.  The  house,  said  to 
have  been  erected  about  the  middle  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  was  formerly  the  residence  of  the 
Earls  of  Lauderdale,  and  at  one  time  the  home  of 
Nell  Gwynne.  It  has  about  it  nothing  in  the  way 
of  architectural  details  to  attract  the  attention  of 
the  passer-by.  A  high  wall  and  iron  gates,  with 
i  garden  on  either  side  of  the  stone  pathway  to  the 
door,  separate  it  from  the  high  road.  It  has  two 
fronts— one  facing  the  highway,  and  the  other  look- 
n«  down  south-eastward  towards  Holloway.  It 
las  on  each  front  a  very  simple  pediment,  and  has 
been  stuccoed,  probably  in  very  recent  times.  The 
upper  storey  on  the  side  of  the  house  overlooking 
the  garden  projects  somewhat  from  the  lower,  and 
is  supported  by  a  row  of  columns.  Much  of  the 
old  gardens  remain,  though  doubtless  considerably 
altered  from  what  they  were  when  "  poor  Nelly 
occupied  the  mansion.  "Those  who  remember 
this  house  some  years  since,"  writes  Mr.  Prickett, 
in  his  "  History  of  Highgate,"  "  describe  the  in- 
ternal arrangements  as  bearing  testimony  to  its 
antiquity;  indeed,  the  entrance-hall,  which  is  pro- 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


IHighgale 


bably  still  in  its  primitive  state,  the  delightful  terrace 
on  the  southern  side,  and  the  walls  of  the  garden, 
thoroughly  testify  to  the  remnants  of  ancient 
days." 

This  house  is  supposed  to  have  been  built  about 
the  time  of  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  "one  of 
whose  most  active  and  detestable  ministers  Lauder- 
dale  was  from  first  to  last,"  says  William  Howitt,  in 
his  "  Northern  Heights  of  London."  "  Nay,"  he 


whole  Cabal.  He  was  accused  of  being  deeply 
concerned  in  the  sale  of  Charles  I.  to  the  English 
Parliament,  and  was,  therefore,  in  the  estimation  of 
good  Cavaliers,  a  traitor  of  a  worse  description  than 
those  who  sat  in  the  High  Court  of  Justice.  He 
often  talked  with  noisy  jocularity  of  the  days  when 
he  was  a  canter  and  a  rebel.  He  was  now  the 
chief  instrument  employed  by  the  court  in  the  work 
of  forcing  episcopacy  on  his  reluctant  countrymen ; 


continues,  ''  we  arc  assured  that  he  was  a  prominent 
nun,  even  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  in  Scotland, 
being  then  a  Covenanter,  and  one  of  those  who  sold 
Charles  I.  to  the  English  army.  He  turned  round 
completely  under  Charles  II.,  and  became  one  of 
the  most  frightful  persecutors  of  the  Covenanters 
that  existed,  he  and  Archbishop  Sharpe  going 
hand-in-hand  in  their  diabolical  cruelties.  He  was 
not  only  an  English  minister,  a  leading  one  of  the 
celebrated  Cabal  Administration,  but  Lord-Deputy 
of  Scotland,  where  nothing  could  surpass  his 
cruelty  but  his  rapacity.  Ixird  Macaulay  draws  this 
portrait  of  him  :  '  Lauderdale,  the  tyrant  deputy  of 
-Scotland  at  this  period,  loud  and  coarse  both  in  mirth 
and  anger,  was,  perhaps,  under  the  outward  show  of 
boisterous  frankness,  the  most  dishonest  man  in  the 


nor  did  he  in  that  cause  shrink  from  the  unsparing 
use  of  the  sword,  the  halter,  and  the  boot  Yet 
those  who  knew  him  knew  that  thirty  years  had 
made  no  change  in  his  real  sentiments ;  that  he 
still  hated  the  memory  of  Charles  I.,  and  that  he 
still  preferred  the  Presbyterian  form  of  government 
to  any  other.'  If  we  add  to  this  picture  Carlyle's 
additional  touch  of '  his  big  red  head,'  we  have  a 
sufficient  idea  of  this  monster  of  a  man  as  he  was 
at  that  time  at  work  in  Scotland  with  his  renegade 
comrade,  Archbishop  Sharpe,  with  their  racks, 
thumbscrews,  and  iron  boot  in  which  they  used 
to  crush  the  legs  of  their  victims  with  wedges,  so 
vividly  described  by  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  'Old 
Mortality  '  and  in  the  '  Tales  of  a  Grandfather ; ' 
;  whilst  their  general,  Turner,  was  pursuing  the 


NELL  GWYNNE. 


__________ 397 

flying  Covenanters  to  the  mountains  and  morasses  j  of  the  Dukes  of  Richmond,  was  the  spy  of 
with  fire  and  sword."  To  complete  his  military  j  Louis  XIV.  of  France,  sent  expressly  to  keep 
despotism,  as  any  reader  of  English  history  will  '  Charles  to  his  obedience,  and  for  this  service, 
know,  Lauderdale  got  an  Act  passed  in  Scotland  Louis  gave  her  a  French  title  and  estate.  Moll 
for  the  raising  of  an  army  there  which  the  king  Davis,  the  rope-dancer,  the  mother  of  the  Rad- 
should  have  the  right  to  march  to  any  part  of  his  ]  clyffes,  had  lost  her  influence,  and  Miss  Stewart 
dominions  ;  his  design  being,  as  Bishop  Burnet  '.  had  got  married.  Of  all  the  tribe  Nelly  was 
stated  at  the  bar  of  the  House *of  Commons,  to  the  best;  and  yet  Marvell  launched  some  very 
have  "  an  army  of  Scotch  to  keep  down  the  English,  |  sharp  arrows  at  her.  He  describes  Charles  as 


MARVELL'S  HOUSE,   1825. 


and  an  army  of  Irish  to  keep  down  the   Scotch." 
"  When  Lauderdale  was  in  Scotland  on  this  devil's 
business,"  continues  Mr.   Howitt,   "no  doubt  his 
indulgent  master  used  to  borrow  his  house  at  High- 
gate  for  one  of  his  troop  of  mistresses  ;  and  thus 
it  was  that  we  find  pretty  Nelly  Gwynne  flourishing 
directly  under  the  nose   of  the    indignant  patriot 
Marvell.     If  Charles  had  picked  his  whole  harem,  i 
however,   he   could   not   have   found   one   of  his  , 
kdies   less    obnoxious    than    'poor    Nelly.'      As' 
for   Lucy   Walters,  the    mother   of   the    Duke   of 
Monmouth,    she    was    dead.      Lady   Castlemaine, 
Duchess  of  Cleveland,  the  mother  of  the  L> 
of  Grafton,  was  a  bold  and  fiery  dame  that  kept 
even  the  king  in  constant  hot  water.     Madame  de 
Querouaille,  created  Duchess  of  Portland,  mother 


he  might  be  seen  walking  in  the  Lauderdale 
gardens  as— 

1  Of  a  tall  stature  and  of  sable  hue, 
Much  like  the  son  of  Kish,  that  lofty  grew ; ' 

and  Nelly,  as  '  that  wench  of  orange  and  oyster,' 
in  allusion  to  her  original  calling ;  for  she  com- 
menced life  by  selling  oysters  about  the  streets, 
and  then  oranges  at  the  theatres." 

In  our  account  of  Pall  Mall  we  have  spoken  at 
some  length  of  Nell  Gwynne's  career  at  Court 
but  a  little  of  her  history  still  remains  to  be 
Thoueh  of  the  lowest  extraction,  "her  beauty,  wit, 
and  extreme  good  nature,"  writes  the  author  above 
quoted,  "  seem  to  have  made  her  friends  amongst 

•  See  Vol.   IV.,  p.  .26 


398 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


the  actors;  and  her  figure  and  loveliness  raised 
her  to  the  stage.  There  she  attracted  the  disso 
lute  monarch's  attention  by  a  merely  ludicrou 
circumstance.  At  another  theatre  an  actor  hac 
been  introduced  as  '  Pistol '  in  a  hat  of  extravagan 
dimensions.  As  this  caused  much  merriment, 
Dryden  caused  Nelly  to  appear  in  a  hat  as  large  as 
a  coach-wheel.  The  audience  was  vastly  diverted 
and  the  fancy  of  the  king,  who  was  present,  was 
taken  at  once.  But  as  she  was  already  the  mistress 
of  Lord  Buckhurst,  Charles  had  to  compound  with 
him  for  the  transfer  of  Nelly  by  an  earldom,  making 
him  Earl  of  Middlesex.  Nelly  soon  won  the 
ascendancy  among  the  mistresses  of  the  king, 
'  Who  never  said  a  foolish  thing, 

And  never  did  a  wise  one.' 

"Though  extremely  gay  and  witty,  poor  Nel 
Gwynne  seems  never  to  have  shown  any  hauteur 
in  her  elevation,  nor  any  avarice,  a  prominent 
in  some  of  her  rivals.  On  the  contrary,  she  made 
no  secret  of  condemning  her  peculiar  position, 
and  was  always  ready  to  do  a  good  action.  Charles 
never  endowed  her  with  the  wealth  and  titles  that 
he  lavished  on  other  women,  probably  because 
she  did  not  worry  him ;  but  on  his  death-bed  his 
conscience  pricked  him  for  his  neglect,  and  he 
said,  '  Don't  let  poor  Nelly  starve  ! '  a  frail  security 
against  starvation  for  a  king's  mistress  in  a  new 
court. 

"  The  circumstance  which  connects  her  memory 
with  Lauderdale  House  is  the  tradition  that,  as 
the  king  delayed  to  confer  a  title  on  her  child,  as 
he  had  done  on  the  eldest  son  of  others  of  his 
mistresses,  she  one  day  held  the  infant  out  of  an 
upper  window  of  Lauderdale  House,  and  said. 


'  Unless  you  do  something  for  your  son,  here  he 
goes  :'  threatening   to   let   him    Tail   to   the  ground. 
On   this    Charle^   replied,    'Stop,    Nelly;   save    the 
Karl  of  P.urford  :'     \Vhcthcr  tln-.se  words  were  said 
exactly  as  related  or  not,  at  all  events,  the  story  is 
very  like  one  of  Nell's  lively  sallies  ; 
was  created  Karl  of  liuriurd,  and  all 
of  St.    Albans."       An    t 


Thomas  Coutts,  the  banker,  and  who,  after  his 
death,  became  the  wife  of  William  Aubrey  de  Vere, 
ninth  Duke  of  St.  Albans.  Of  this  lady  we  have 
spoken  in  our  account  of  Piccadilly.*  "  Like 
Nelly,"  remarks  Mr.  Howitt,  "she  had,  whether 
actress  or  duchess,  a  noble  nature;  and  the  in- 
habitants of  Highgate  still  bear  in  memory  her 
deeds  of  charity,  as  well  as  her  splendid  fetes  to 
royalty,  in  some  of  which,  they  say,  she  hired  aH 
the  birds  of  the  bird-dealers  in  London,  and  fixing 
their  cages  in  the  trees,  made  her  grounds  one  great 
orchestra  of  Nature's  music." 

Lauderdale  House  of  late  years  has  been  occu- 
pied as  a  private  dwelling,  and  was  for  some  time 
the  residence  of  the  first  Lord  Westbury  before 
he  reached  the  woolsack.  In  1872  the  house  was 
converted  to  its  present  use,  having  been  made 
over  by  its  then  owner,  Sir  Sydney  Waterlow,  to 
the  governors  of  St  Bartholomew's  Hospital  for 
the  purposes  of  a  convalescent  hospital,  and  it  was 
opened  in  the  above  year  as  such  by  the  Prince 
and  Princess  of  Wales.  The  building  contains 
beds  for  thirty-four  patients.  In  its  external  appear- 
e  it  is  very  slightly  changed  from  what  it  must 
have  been  in  the  days  of  Lord  Lauderdale  and 
Nell  Gwynne. 

The  house  formerly  occupied  by  Andrew  Marvell, 
the  poet  and  patriot,  as  we  have  intimated  above, 
adjoins  the  grounds  of  I^auderdale  House,  on  the 
north  side.  The  house— or  cottage,  for  it  was 
scarcely  anything  more— was  small,  and,  like 
•Vndrew  Marvell  himself,  very  unpretentious.  It 
vas  built  mainly  of  timber  and  plaster ;  and  with 
ts  bay  window,  latticed  doorway,  and  gabled  roof, 

esque. 


had  about  it  all  the  attributes  of  the  pictur 


n  front  were  some  old  trees,  and  a  convenient 
>orch  led  to  the  door,  in  which  its  owner  doubtless 
ised  to  sit  and  look  forth  upon  the  road.  Most  of 
he  old  windows  had  been  modernised,  and  other 
Iterations  had  been  made  which  the  exigencies  of 
the  child  |  tenancy  had  rendered  necessary  since  Marvell's 
rds  Duke  days  ;  and  in  the  end  a  large  part  of  the  building 
portrait  of  Nell  ,  itself  was  demolished,  all  that  remains  being  a  few 

Gwynne,   by   Sir  Peter    I.ely.    i.-,    in   the   National  ,  fragments  of  the  lower  portion  of  the  walls,  now 

Portrait  Gallen.  profusely  overgrown  with  ivy,  and  the  stone'steps 

This  story,  it  will  be  seen,  differs  somewhat  from  ,  leading  up  to  the  door.  Of  Andrew  Marvell 

the  version  we  have  told  in  the  volume  above  re-  I  himself  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  speak 

ferred  to,  but  the  reader  is  at  iberty  to  choose  which    in  our   notices  of  the  Strand  and  of  St.  Giles's 

he  pleases  as  being  the  more  reliable  :  perhaps  the    Church.t 

one  is  as  truthful  as  the  other.     It  is  rather  a  curious        Mr.  Samuel  Carter  Hall,  in  his  "  Pilgrimages  to 

coincidence  that  on  the  western  slope  of  Highgate,     " 

a  few  years    ago,   lived  a  certain  Duchess  of  St. 

Albans,  the  wife  of  one  of  Nell's  descendants,  who 

had  also  begun  life,  like  her,  as  an  actress.     This 

was  Miss  Harriet  Mellon,  who  married  firstly  Mr.          •  s«  v0i.  iv.,  P.  iSj. 


English  Shrines,"  published  in  the  year  1850,  thus 
describes  his  visit  to  this  interesting  spot :— "  We 
know  nothing  more  invigorating  than  to  breast  the 


t  S.c  V»l.  III.,  pp.  64, 


Wighgate.] 


ANDREW  MARVELL. 


breeze  up  a  hill,  with  the  bright  clear  sky  above, 
and  the  crisp  ground  under  foot.  The  wind  of 
March  is  as  pure  champagne  to  a  healthy  consti- 
tution; and  let  mountain-men  laugh  as  they  will 
at  Highgate  Hill,  it  is  no  ordinary  labour  to  climb 
it,  and  look  down  upon  London  from  its  height. 
Here,  then,  are  we,  once  more,  opposite  the  house 
where  lived  the  satirist,  the  poet,  and  the  incor- 
ruptible patriot.  .  .  •  The  dwelling  is  evidently 
inhabited;  the  curtains  in  the  deep  windows  as 
white  as  they  were  when  we  visited  it  some  years 


previous   to 


the  visit   concerning  which  we   now 


write  ;  and  the  garden  is  as  neat  as  when  in  those 
days  we  asked  permission  to  see  the  house,  and 
we  were  answered  by  an  elderly  servant,  who  took 
in  our  message.  An  old  gentleman  came  into  the 
hall,  invited  us  in,  and  presented  us  to  his  wife,  a 
lady  of  more  than  middle  age,  and  of  that  species 
of  beauty  depending  upon  expression,  which  it  is 
not  in  the  power  of  time  to  wither,  because  it  is  of 
the  spirit  rather  than  of  the  flesh  ;  we  also  remem- 
bered a  green  parrot,  in  a  fine  cage,  that  talked  a 
great  deal,  and  was  the  only  thing  which  seemed 
out  of  place  in  the  house.  We  had  been  treated 
with  much  courtesy  ;  and,  emboldened  by  the 
memory  of  that  kindness,  we  now  again  ascended 
the  stone  steps,  unlatched  the  little  gate,  and 


knocked. 
"Again    we 


eceived    courteously    and 


kindly  by  the  lady  whom  we  had  formerly  seen 
here ;  and  a^ain  she  blandly  offered  to  show  us 
the  house.  We  went  up  a  little  winding  stair,  and 
into  several  neat,  clean  bedrooms,  where  everything 
was  so  old-fashioned  that  you  could  fancy  Andrew 
Marvell  was  still  its  master. 

"  '  Look  out  here,'  said  the  old  lady ;  '  here's  a 
view  !  They  say  this  was  Andrew  Marvell's  closet 
where  he  wrote  sense;  but  when  he  wrote  poetry, 
he  used  to  sit  below  in  his  garden.  I  have  heard 
there  is  a  private  way  under  the  road  to  Cromwel' 
House  opposite;  but  surely  that  could  not  be 
necessary.  So  good  a  man  would  not  want  to 
work  in  the  dark  ;  for  he  was  a  true  lover  of  hi 
country,  and  a  brave  man.  My  husband  used  t 
say  that  the  patriots  of  those  times  were  not  like 
the  patriots  now ;  that  then  they  acted  for  thei 


the  patriots 
country,  now 


they  talk  about  it !  Alas  !  the  day: 
„.  passed  when  you  could  tell  an  Englishmar 
from  every  other  man,  even  by  his  gait,  keeping 
the  middle  of  the  road,  and  straight  on,  as  one 
who  knew  himself,  and  made  others  know  him.  1 
am  sure  a  party  of  Roundheads,  in  their  sober 
coats,  high  hats,  and  heavy  boots,  would  have 
walked  up  Highgate  Hill  to  visit  Master  Andrew 
Marvell  with  a  different  air  from  the  young  men  ot 


our  own  time — or  of  their  own  time,  I  should  say 
—for  my  time  is  past,  and  yours  is  passing.' 

"  That  was  quite  true ;  but  there  is  no  reason, 
we  thought,  why  we  should  not  look  cheerfully 
towards  the  future,  and  pray  that  it  may  be  a 
bright  world  for  others,  if  not  for  ourselves ;  the 
greater  our  enjoyment  in  the  contemplation  of  the 
happiness  of  our  fellow-creatures,  the  nearer  we 
approach  to  God. 

"  It  was  too  damp  for  the  old  lady  to  venture 
into  the  garden ;  and,  sweet  and  gentle  as  she  was, 
both  in  mind  and  manner,  we  were  glad  to  be 
alone.  How  pretty  and  peaceful  the  house  looks 
from  this  spot.  The  snowdrops  were  quite  up, 
and  the  yellow  and  purple  tips  of  the  crocuses 
were  bursting  through  the  ground  in  all  directions. 
This,  then,  was  the  garden  the  poet  loved  so 
well,  and  to  which  he  alludes  so  charmingly  in  his 
poem,  where  the  nymph  complains  of  the  death 
of  her  fawn  : — 

"  '  I  have  a  garden  of  my  own, 
But  so  with  roses  overgrown 
And  lilies,  that  you  would  it  guess 
To  be  a  little  wilderness.' 

The  garden  seems  in  nothing  changed  ;  in  fact,  the 
entire  appearance  of  the  place  is  what  it  was  in 
:hose  glorious  days  when  inhabited  by  the  truest 
and  the  most  unflinching  patriot  that  ever  sprang 
rom  the  sterling  stuff  that  Englishmen  were  made 
of  in  those  wonder-working  times.  The  genius  of 
Andrew  Marvell  was  as  varied  as  it  was  remarkable  ; 
not  only  was  he  a  tender  and  exquisite  poet,  but 
..-titled  to  stand  facile  princeps  as  an  incorruptible 
patriot,  the  best  of  controversialists,  and  the  leading 
prose  wit  of  England.  We  have  always  considered 
his  as  the  first  of  the  '  sprightly  runnings '  of  that 
brilliant  stream  of  wit,  which  will  carry  with  it 
to  the  latest  posterity  the  names  of  Swift,  Steele, 
and  Addison.  Before  Marvell's  time,  to  be  witty 
was  to  be  strained,  forced,  and  conceited;  from 
him— whose  memory  consecrates  that  cottage- 
wit  came  sparkling  forth,  untouched  by  baser 
metal  It  was  worthy  of  him  ;  its  main  feature 
was  an  open  clearness.  Detraction  or  jealousy 
cast  no  stain  upon  it ;  he  turned  aside,  in  the 
midst  of  an  exalted  panegyric  to  Oliver  Cromwell 
to  say  the  finest  things  that  ever  were  said  c 
Charles  I. 

"  Beneath  Italian  skies  his  immortal  friendship 
with  Milton  seems  to  have  commenced;  it  was  ot 
rapid  growth,  but  was  soon  firmly  established;  they 
were  in  many  ways,  kindred  spirits,  and  their 
hopes  for  the  after-destinies  of  England  were  alike. 
In  1653  Marvell  returned  to  England,  and  during 
the  eventful  years  that  followed  we  can  find  no 


4oo 


OLD    AND    NEW   LONDON. 


record  of  his  strong  and  earnest  thoughts,  as  they 
worked  upwards  into  the  arena  of  public  life. 
One  glorious  fact  we  know,  and  all  who  honour 
virtue  must  feel  its  force,  that  in  an  age  when 
wealth  was  never  wanting  to  the  unscrupulous, 
Marvell,  a  member  of  the  popular  and  successful 
party,  continued  poor.  Many  of  those  years  he  is 
certain  to  have  passed — 

"  Under'the  destiny  severe 
Of  Fairfax,  and  the  starry  Vere,' 

in  the  humble  capacity  of  tutor  of  languages  to 
their  daughters.  It  was  most  likely  during  this 
period  that  he  inhabited  the  cottage  at  Highgate, 
opposite  to  the  house  in  which  lived  part  of  the 
family  of  Cromwell." 

In  1657  he  was  introduced  by  Milton  to  Brad 
shaw,  and  shortly  after  became  assistant-secretary 
along  with  Milton,  in  the  service  of  the  Pro- 
tector. After  he  had  occupied  this  post  lor  some 
time,  he  was  chosen  by  the  burgesses  of  his  native 
town,  Hull,  as  their  representative  in  Parliament. 
"  Whether  under  Cromwell  or  Charles,"  writes  the 
author  of  the  work  quoted  above,  "  he  acted  with 
such  thorough  honesty  of  purpose,  and  gave  such 
satisfaction  to  his  constituents,  that  they  allowed 
him  a  handsome  pension  all  the  time  he  continued 
to  represent  them,  which  was  till  the  day  of  his 
death." 

Opposite  the  door  of  Marvell's  house  was  the 
residence  of  General  Ireton  and  his  wife  Bridget, 
the  eldest  daughter  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  The 
house,  now  the  Convalescent  Hospital  for  Sick 
Children,  still  bears  the  name  of  Cromwell  House, 
and  is  thus  described  in  Prickett's  "  History  of 
Highgate  :  '  "Cromwell  House  is  supposed  to  have- 
been  built  by  the  Protector,  whose  name  it  bears, 
about  the  year  1(130,  as  a  residence  for  General 
Ireton,  who  married  his  daughter,  and  was  one  of 
the  commanders  of  his  army  ;  it  is,  however,  said 
to  have  been  the  residence  of  Oliver  Cromwell 
himself;  but  no  mention  is  made,  either  in  history 
or  in  his  biography,  of  his  having  ever  actually 
lived  at  Highgate.  Tr.uluion  states  there  was  a 
subterraneous  passage  from  this  house  to  the 
mansion  house,  which  stood  where  the  new  church 
now  stands,  but  of  its  reality  no  proof  has  hitherto 
been  adduced.  Cromwell  House  was  evidently- 
built  and  internally  ornamented  in  accordance  with 
the  taste  of  its  military  occupant.  The  staircase, 
which  is  of  handsome  proportions,  is  richly  deco- 
rated with  oaken  carved  figures,  supposed  to  have 
been  those  of  persons  in  the  general's  army  in 
their  costume,  and  the  balustrades  are  filled  in 
with  devices  emblematical  of  warfare.  On  the 


ceiling  of  the  drawing-room  are  the  arms  of  General 
Ireton ;  this,  and  the  ceilings  of  the  other  prin- 
cipal apartments,  are  enriched  in  conformity  with 
the  fashion  of  those  days.  The  proportions  of  the 
noble  rooms,  as  well  as  the  brickwork  in  front,  well 
deserve  the  notice  and  study  of  the  antiquarian 
and  the  architect  From  the  platform  on  the  top 
of  the  mansion  may  be  seen  a  perfect  panorama  of 
the  surrounding  country." 

The  staircase  above  described  is  a  remarkablj 
striking  and  elegant  specimen  of  internal  decora- 
tion, broad  and  noble  in  its  proportions ;  indeed, 
the  woodwork  of  the  house  generally  is  everywhere 
equally  bold  and  massive.  There  are  some  ceilings 
in  the  first  storey  which  are  in  rich  plaster-work, 
ornamented  with  the  arms  of  Ireton,  together  with 
mouldings  of  fruit  and  flowers.  The  series  of 
figures  which  stand  upon  the  newels  of  the  staircase 
are  ten  in  number ;  they  are  about  a  foot  in  height, 
and  represent  the  different  soldiers  of  the  Crom- 
wellian  army,  from  the  fifer  and  drummer  to  the 
captain.  It  is  stated  that  there  were  originally 
twelve  of  these  figures,  and  that  the  missing  two 
represented  Cromwell  and  Ireton.  In  1865,  at 
which  time  Cromwell  House  was  occupied  as  a 
boarding-school,  the  building  was  partially  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  but  it  did  not  injure  the  staircase, 
or  anything  of  historical  interest.  The  building 
was  thoroughly  restored,  and  now  presents  much 
the  same  appearance  that  it  did  before.  The 
front  of  the  house  is  rather  low,  being  only  of 
two  storeys,  finished  by  a  parapet,  so  that  the  roof, 
which  is  thrown  backwards,  adds  but  little  to  its 
elevation.  It  is  of  a  solid  and  compact  bright-red 
brickwork,  and  has  a  narrow  cornice  or  entablature 
running  the  whole  length  of  the  front  over  each 
row  of  windows.  Its  doorway  is  arched,  and  faced 
with  a  portal  of  painted  wood,  in  good  keeping 
with  the  building.  In  front  is  a  gateway,  with  solid 
square  pillars  surmounted  by  stone  globes.  At 
the  lower  end  a  lofty  archway  admits  to  the  rear  of 
the  building.  The  mass  of  the  mansion  running 
backwards  is  extensive,  and  behind  lies  a  portion, 
at  least,  of  its  ancient  gardens  and  pleasure- 

ninds. 

Ireton,  one  of  the  staunchest  and  bravest  of 
Cromwell's  generals,  was  a  native  of  Attenborough, 
in  Nottinghamshire,  and,  as  stated  above,  married 
Bridget,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Cromwell,  who, 
after  Ireton's  death,  became  the  wife  of  General 
Fleetwood.  Ireton  commanded  the  left  wing  of 
Cromwell's  army  at  the  battle  of  Naseby.  He  was 
constantly  with  the  Protector  when  he  was  in  treaty 
with  King  Charles,  at  Hampton  Court,  in  1647, 
and  in  the  following  year  sat  on  the  trial  of  the 


Highgatc.J 


ARUNDEL   HOUSE. 


king,  and  voted  heartily  for  his  death.  Morrice, 
in  his  "  Life  of  Lord  Orrery,"  declares  that  "  Crom- 
well himself  related  that  in  1647,  at  the  time  they 
were  endeavouring  to  accommodate  matters  with 
the  king,  Ireton  and  he  were  informed  that  a  scheme 
was  laid  for  their  destruction,  and  that  they  might 
convince  themselves  of  it  by  intercepting  a  secret 
messenger  of  the  king's,  who  would  sleep  that  night 
at  the  '  Blue  Boar,'  in  Holborn,  and  who  carried 
his  dispatches  sewed  up  in  the  skirt  of  his  saddle. 
Cromwell  and  Ireton,  disguised  as  troopers,  waited 
that  evening,  seized  the  saddle,  and  found  letters 
of  the  king's  to  the  queen  in  France,  confirming  all 
that  they  had  heard.  From  that  hour,  convinced 
of  Charles's  incurable  treachery,  they  resolved  on 
his  death."  Clarendon  describes  Ireton  as  taci- 
turn, reserved,  and  uncommunicative,  and  as  being 
"  never  diverted  from  any  resolution  he  had  taken." 
Such  was  the  son-in-law  for  whom  this  old  mansion 
was  built.  There  is  a  portrait  of  Ireton  by  Walker, 
in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery.  It  was  formerly 
in  the  Lenthall  collection. 

In  1869,  Cromwell  House  was  taken  as  a  con- 
valescent establishment  in  connection  with  the 
Hospital  for  Sick  Children,  in  Great  Ormond 
Street,  of  which  we  have  already  spoken.*  Fifty- 
two  beds  are  here  provided  for  the  little  ones  on 
leaving  the  hospital.  The  number  of  admissions  to 
the  Convalescent  Hospital,  as  we  learn  from  the 
printed  report  of  the  committee  of  management, 
amounts  annually  to  about  400,  and  the  testimony 
of  the  medical  officers  who  attend  at  Cromwell 
House,  in  reference  to  the  progress  of  the  children 
under  treatment  there,  is  of  a  most  satisfactory 
character.  The  spacious  play-ground  attached  to 
the  house  presents  an  attractive  picture  on  fine 
days,  when  nearly  all  the  children  are  out  of  doors 
at  sport. 

A  little  higher  up  the  hill,  or  bank,  as  it  is 
called,  than  Cromwell  House,  once  stood  Arundel 
House,  the  suburban  residence  of  the  Earls  of 
Arundel.  A  few  scattered  remains  of  the  ^  old 
mansion  and  its  garden-walls  still  exist.  "Its 
site,"  says  Mr.  Howitt,  in  his  "  Northern  Heights 
of  London,"  "  is  now  occupied  by  some  modern 
houses,  but  its  position  may  be  known  by  its 
abutting  on  an  old  house,  called  Exeter  House, 
probably  also  from  its  being  once  the  abode  of  the 
Earls  of  Exeter ;  of  this,  however,  there  seems  to 
be  no  record.  It  is  not  until  towards  the  middli 
of  the  reign  of  James  I.  that  we  hear  of  the  Earl  o 
Arundel  having  a  house  at  Highgate.  When 
Norden  wrote  his  'Survey  of  Middlesex,'  m  1596 


the  principal  mansion  was  thus  mentioned: — 'Upon 
this  hill  is  a  most  pleasant  dwelling,  yet  not  so 
pleasant  as  healthful,  for  the  expert  inhabitants 
there  report  that  divers  that  have  long  been  visited 
with  sickness,  not  curable  by  physick,  have  in  a 
short  time  repaired  their  health  by  that  sweete 

salutarie  air.     At   this   place, Cornwalleys, 

Esquire,  hath  a  very  faire  house,  from  which  he 

may  with  great  delight  behold  the  stateley  citie  of 

London,  Westminster,  Greenwich,  the  famous  river 

Thames,  and  the  country  towards  the  south  very 

farre.'     .     .     But  the   question  here  is,  was  the 

house  of  the  Cornwallis  family  on  what  is  called 

the  Bank  that  which  became  the  property  of  the 

Earl    of    Arundel  ?     Lysons    has    remarked    that 

there  is  in  the  Harleian  Manuscripts  a  letter  of 

Sir  Thomas  Cornwallis,  dated  'Hygat,   16  July, 

1587.'     Sir  Thomas,  who  was  Treasurer  of  Calais, 

and  Comptroller  of  the  Household  to  Queen  Mary, 

had  been  knighted  as  early  as  1548,  so  that  the 

Mr.  Cornwallis  mentioned  by  Norden  in  1596,  was 

oubtless  his  son  William,  who  had  taken  up  his 

esidence  there,  while  Sir  Thomas  had  retired  to 

lis  mansion  at  Brome,  in  Suffolk.     It  is  said  that 

his    house   at    Highgate   was   visited  by   Queen 

Elizabeth  in  June,  1589.     At  all  events,  it  is  on 

ecord  that  the  bell-ringers  of  St.  Margaret's,  West- 

ninster,  were  paid  6d.  on  the  nth  of  June,  when 

he  Queen's  Majesty  came  from  Highgate.t 

"It  is  certain,  however,  that  James  I.,  the  year 
ifter  his  accession,  visited  the  Cornwallises  here. 
On  May  i,  1604,  the  house  was  the  scene  of  a 
splendid  royal  feast.  Ben  Jonson  was  employed  to 
compose  his  dramatic  interlude  of  The  Penates 
for  a  private  entertainment  of  the  king  and  queen, 
,'iven  on  Monday  morning  by  Sir  William  Corn- 
vallis,  at  his  house  at  Highgate;  and  Sir  Basil 
Brooke,  of  Madeley,  in  Shropshire,  was  knighted 
there  at  the  same  time.  At  the  end  of  the  same 
year,  Sir  Thomas  Cornwallis  died  at  his  house  at 
Brome— namely,  on  the  24th  of  December— aged 
eighty-five  ;  and  a  writer  in  the  Gentleman's  Maga- 
zine for  1828  says  that  'it  is  most  probable  that 
Sir  William  then 'removed  to  reside  in  the  Suffolk 
mansion,  as  we  hear  no  more  of  his  family  in  High- 
gate.  This  residence,  it  is  clear,  from  what  has 
been  already  stated,  had  been  the  principal  mansion 
in  the  place;  and  as  we  find  the  Earl  of  Arundel 
occupying  a  house  of  a  similar  description  a  few 
years  later,  whilst  we  have  no  information  of  hit 
having  erected  one  for  himself,  there  appears  reason 
to  presume  that  it  was  the  same  mansion.' " 
Arundel  House  numbers  amongst  its  historical 

t  Nichols's  "Progresses  of  Queen  Elizabeth,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  3°. 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


"  James  might  have  permitted  Lady  Arabella  to 
marry,  and  dismissed  his  fears ;  but  then,  instead 
of  a  poor  pusillanimous  creature,  he  must  have  been 
She  was  dependent  on  the 


associations  two  very  different  and  yet  very  interest 


ents  :  the  flight  from  it  of  Arabella  Stuart, 


he  reign  of  James  I.,  and  the  death   of  the 


great  Chancellor  Bacon  in  the  same  reign,  about 


fifteen  years  afterwards.  The  story  of  the  early  life 
of  Arabella  Stuart,  and  how  she  was  held  in  dread 
by  King  James,  is  told  by  Mr.  Howitt  at  some 
length  in  his  work  above  mentioned,  but  it  will  be 
sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  extract  that  portion 
of  the  narrative  which  has  special  reference  to 
Arundel  House  : — 


Crown  for  fortune,  and  the  pension  allowed  her 

was  miserably  paid.     Under  these  circumstances 

she    met   with    an    admirer   of    her   early   youth, 

William  Seymour,  second  son  of  Lord  Beauchamp, 

'  the  eldest   son    of  the    Earl    of  Hertford.     Their 

>  juvenile  attachment  was  renewed,  and  the  news  of  it 

flew  to  James,  and  greatly  alarmed  him.    Seymour, 


LADY    ARABELLA    STUART. 


Vi KW    IN    HIGHGATC    CEMETERY. 


OLD    AND    NEW   LONDON. 


on  his  side,  was  descended  from  Henry  VII., 
and  there  were  people  who  thought  his  claim 
better  than  James's,  for  Henry  VIII.  had  settled 
the  descent,  in  case  of  failure  of  his  own  issue, 
on  his  youngest  sister,  Mary,  and  her  line,  which 
was  that  of  the  Seymours.  James  fiercely  repri- 
manded Seymour  for  presuming  to  ally  himself 
with  royal  blood,  though  Seymour's  was  as  royal  as 
his  own,  and  forbade  them,  on  their  allegiance,  to 
contract  a  marriage  without  his  permission.  But 
Love  laughed  at  James,  as  it  is  said  to  do  at  lock- 
smiths, and  in  1610  it  was  discovered  that  they 
were  really  married.  James  committed  Seymour 
to  the  Tower,  and  Arabella  to  the  custody  of  Sir 
Thomas  Parry,  in  Lambeth  ;  but  not  thinking  her 
safe  there,  he  determined  to  send  her  to  Durham, 
in  charge  of  the  bishop  of  that  see.  Refusing  to 
comply  with  this  arbitrary  and  unjustifiable  order, 
she  was  suddenly  seized  by  officers  in  her  bed, 
and  was  carried  thus,  shrieking  and  resisting,  to  the 
Thames,  and  rowed  some  distance  up  the  river. 
She  was  then  put  into  a  carriage,  and  conveyed 
forcibly  as  far  as  BarneL  But  by  this  time  her 
agitation  of  mind  had  brought  on  a  fever,  and  a 
physician  called  in  declared  that  her  life  must  be 
sacrificed  by  any  attempt  to  carry  her  farther. 
After  some  demur,  James  consented  to  her  being 
brought  back  as  far  as  Highgate.  The  account 
says  that  she  was  conveyed  to  the  house  of  a  Mr. 
Conyers ;  tradition  asserts  this  house  to  be  that 
now  called  Arundel  House.  Probably  it  belonged 
to  a  Mr.  Conyers  before  it  became  the  property  of 
the  Earl  of  Arundel,  whose  it  was  when  Lord 
Bacon  was  its  guest,  fifteen  years  afterwards.  Lady 
Arabella  had  leave  to  stay  here  a  month,  and  this 
term  was  extended  to  two  months,  which  she  made 
use  of  to  establish  a  correspondence  with  her 
husband  in  the  Tower,  and  to  plan  a  scheme  for 
the:.'  mutual  escape.  This  plan  was  put  into  effect 
on  June  3,  1611,  the  very  day  that  the  Bishop  of 
Durham  had  set  out  northward  to  prepare  for  her 
reception." 

How  the  Lady  Arabella  made  her  way.  dis- 
guised as  a  man,  down  to  Gravcsend,  where  she 
expected  to  find  her  husband  on  board  a  French 
vessel,  which  was  in  waiting  to  receive  them — how 
the  captain,  growing  impatient,  put  to  sea  before 
Seymour's  arrival ;  and  how  the  latter  engaged  a 
collier,  and  was  conveyed  safe  to  Flanders— are  all 
matters  of  history.  Poor  Arabella,  as  we  read,  was 
not  so  fortunate  as  her  husband  ;  for  no  sooner  had 
the  escape  of  the  two  prisoners  become  known 
than  there  was  a  fearful  bustle  and  alarm  at  Court.  ] 
A  number  of  vessels  of  war  dropped  hastily  down 
the  Thames  in  pursuit,  and  another  put  out  of  the 


Downs.  The  latter  intercepted  the  boat  carrying 
Lady  Arabella  in  the  Calais  roads,  and  after  a 
sharp  struggle  the  Frenchman  struck,  and  gave  up 
the  fugitive.  The  poor  distracted  Arabella  was 
carried  back  to  London  and  committed  to  the 
Tower,  exclaiming  trial  she  could  bear  her  own 
fate,  could  she  but  »e  sure  of  the  safety  of  her 
husband.  Her  grief  and  despair  soon  deprived 
her  of  her  senses,  and  after  a  captivity  of  four  years 
she  died  in  the  Tower,  on  September  27,  1615. 
Seymour,  who  was  permitted  to  return  to  England 
after  his  wife's  death,  did  not  die  till  1660,  nearly 
half  a  century  after  the  above  romantic  adventure. 

Mr.  Thorne,  in  his  "  Environs  of  London,"  states 
that  it  was  from  the  house  of  Mr.  Thomas  Conyers, 
at  East  Barnet,  that  the  Lady  Arabella  made  her 
escape,  and  not  from  Arundel  House,  as  generally 
stated  by  biographers  and  topographers;  but  the 
latter  tradition  is  too  firmly  grounded  at  Highgate 
to  be  lost  sight  of  here. 

Of  the  death  of  Lord  Bacon,  which  occurred  at 
Arundel  House  in  April,  1626,  the  following  par- 
ticulars are  given  by  John  Aubrey  :— "  The  cause 
of  his  lordship's  death,"  he  writes,  "  was  trying  an 
experiment,  as  he  was  takeing  the  aire  in  the  coach 
with  Dr.  Witherborne,  a  Scotch  man,  physitian  to 
the  king.  Towards  Highgate  snow  lay  on  the 
ground,  and  it  came  into  my  lord's  thoughts  why 
flesh  might  not  be  preserved  in  snow  as  in  salt 
They  were  resolved  they  would  try  the  experiment. 
Presently  they  alighted  out  of  the  coach,  and  went 
into  a  poore  woman's  house  at  the  bottome  of 
Highgate  Hill,  and  bought  a  hen,  and  made  the 
woman  exenterate  it  [take  out  the  entrails],  and 
then  stuffed  the  bodie  with  snow,  and  my  lord  did 
help  to  doe  it  himself.  The  snow  so  chilled  him 
that  he  immediately  fell  so  ill,  that  he  could  not 
return  to  his  lodgings  (I  suppose  then  at  Gray's 
Inn),  but  went  to  the  F,arl  of  Arundel's  house,  at 
Highgate,  where  they  put  him  into  a  good  bed, 
warmed  with  a  panne,  but  it  was  a  dampe  bed,  that 
had  not  been  layn  in  for  about  a  yeare  before, 
which  gave  him  such  a  colde,  that  in  two  or  three 
dayes,  as  I  remember,  he  (Hobbes)  told  me  he 
died  of  suffocation." 

Bacon  was  attended  in  his  last  illness  by  his 
near  relative,  Sir  Julius  C?esar,  the  Master  of  the 
Rolls,  who  was  then  grown  so  old  that  he  was 
said  to  be  "  kept  alive  beyond  Nature's  course  by 
the  prayers  of  the  many  poor  whom  he  daily  re- 
lieved." At  the  dictation  of  the  great  ex-chancellor 
Sir  Julius  Caesar  wrote  the  following  letter  to  Lord 
Arundel : — 

"  MY  VERY  GOOD  LORD, — I  was  likely  to  have 
had  the  fortune  of  Caius  Plinius  the  elder,  who 


DEATH   OF   LORD   BACON. 


405 


lost  his   life   by  trying  an  experiment   about   the  j 
burning  of  the  mountain  Vesuvius.     For  I  also  was  • 
desirous  to  try  an  experiment  or  two  touching  the  , 
conservation  and  induration   of  bodies.     For  the 
experiment  itself,  it   succeeded   remarkably  well ;  ' 
but  in  the  journey  between  Highgate  and  London  i 
I  was  taken  with  a  fit  of  casting,  as  I  know  not  ' 
whether  it  was  the  stone,  or  some  surfeit,  or  cold, 
or,  indeed,  a  touch  of  them  all  three.     But  when 
I  came  to  your  lordship's  house,  I  was  not  able 
to  go  back,  and  therefore  was  forced  to  take  up  i 
my  lodging  here,  where  your  housekeeper  is  very 
careful  and  diligent  about  me,  which  I  assure  my-  ! 
'  self  your  lordship   will   not   only  pardon   towards  : 
him,  but  think  the  better  of  him  for  it.    For,  indeed, 
your  lordship's  house  was  happy  to  me  ;  and  I  kiss 
your  noble  hands  for  the  welcome  which  I  am  sure 
you  give  me  to  it." 

This  letter  shows  that  at  the  moment  when  he  [ 

dictated  it  Bacon  did  not  suppose  himself  to  be  on  j 

his  death-bed ;  but  he  must  have  died  in  the  arms 

i  of  his  friend,  Sir  Julius  Caesar,  very  shortly  after 

the  epistle  was  penned. 

Arundel  House  was  originally  a  mansion  in  the 
Elizabethan  style,  with  spacious  windows  com- 
manding a  magnificent  view  of  the  surrounding 
country.  It  was  partially  pulled  down  in  the  year 
1825,  but  the  present  building  still  bears  the  name, 
and  the  walls  which  are  left  standing  of  the  old 
house  bear  evidences  of  great  antiquity. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  roadway,  and  ad- 
joining the  remains  of  Andrew  Marvell's  cottage,  is 
Fairseat,  the  residence  of  Sir  Sydney  Waterlow, 
Treasurer  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  whose 
gift  of  Lauderdale  House  to  that  institution  we 


have  mentioned  above.  Sir  Sydney  Waterlow  was 
Lord  Mayor  of  London  in  1872-3 ;  he  was  repre- 
sentative of  the  county  of  Dumfries  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  in  1868-9;  and  in  1874  he  was 
returned  as  one  of  the  members  for  the  borough 
of  Maidstone.  His  mansion  here  was  named  after 
that  of  his  late  father-in-law,  Mr.  William  Hickson, 
of  Fairseat,  Wrotham,  Kent. 

At  the  back  of  Sir  Sydney  Waterlow's  house,  and 
covering  a  greater  part  of  the  slope  of  the  hill  look- 
ing towards  Kentish  Town,  is  Highgate  Cemetery, 
of  which  we  shall  give  a  description  in  the  following 
chapter. 

;  We  find  but  very  scanty  mention  of  this  neigh- 
bourhood (and,  indeed,  of  all  the  northern  suburbs) 
in  the  Diaries  of  Pepys  and  Evelyn.  The  former, 
however,  incidentally  states,  under  date  January, 
1660-1,  that  Highgate  was  for  two  or  three  days  the 
•  head-quarters  of  sundry  "  fanatiques  at  least  500 
j  strong,"  who  raised  the  standard  of  rebellion,  avow- 
ing a  belief  that  "  the  Lord  Jesus  would  come  here 
and  reign  presently."  They  appear  to  have  routed 
the  king's  life-guards  and  train-bands,  and  to  have 
killed  twenty  persons,  before  they  were  captured 
and  their  outbreak  suppressed.  Again,  Pepys  men- 
tions the  fact  that  on  the  4th  of  August,  1664,  he 
and  a  friend  went  to  see  a  play  at  "  the  King's 
House,"  one  of  the  best  actors  of  which,  named 
Clun,  had  been  waylaid,  and  killed  in  a  ditch  by 
!  the  roadside  between  Kentish  Town  and  Highgate. 
,  The  following  day  the  little  secretary  and  his  cousin 
Joyce,  mounted  upon  two  horses  which  had  been 
lent  them  for  this  purpose  by  Sir  W.  Warren,  rode 
out  of  town  towards  Highgate,  to  inspect  the  scene 
of  the  murder. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 
II  I  G  II  G  AT  E    (coutimieJ). 

,ry  their  dead  in  the  fairest  suburb  of  the  city." 

.'.  Church,  B^fidd-D,  Coysh-Highgate  C-te^r=e,n  of  ^Grounds 


of  Highgate   which   was  formerly 


Ao6  OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON.  [Highgate. 


defence  of  London."  To  the  left  of  Swaine's 
Lane  stands  St.  Anne's  Church,  Brookfield,  a  large 
and  handsome  edifice  erected  by  a  Miss  Bamett  to 


Parliament  in  1839;  and  the  cemetery  itself  was 
one  of  the  first  which  was  actually  established  by 
the  Burial  Act  of  1835,  which  "  rung  the  death-knell 


the  memory  of  her  brother.  The  fine  peal  of  bells  of  intramural  interments."  The  London  Cemetery 
in  the  tower  was  the  gift  of  Miss  (since  Lady)  Bur-  t  Company  were  among  the  early  promoters  of  that 
dett-Coutts.  In  Swaine's  Lane  lived  the  celebrated  ;  reform  which,  as  we  have  stated  in  our  account  of 
medical  practitioner,  Dr.  Coysh,  as  is  certified  by  Kensal  Green  Cemetery,*  was  so  long  needed.  It 
the  following  memorandum  from  the  Court  Rolls  of  |  was  founded  by  Mr.  Stephen  Geary,  who  also  acted 
the  Manor  of  Cantelowes  : — "  These  very  ancient  as  architect  to  the  Company,  and  who  was  buried 
copyhold  premises  were  formerly  in  the  possession  here  in  1854. 
and  occupation  of  Dr.  Elisha  Coysh,  who,  at  the  By  the  artist-like  arrangement  of  the  landscape 


time  that  the  plague  of  London  prevailed,  in  the 
year  1665-6,  was  very  famed  in  his  medical  pract 
' 


gardener,  Mr.  Ramsey,  the  grounds  are  so  disposed 
that  they  have  the  appearance  of  being  twice  their 


and  advice  in  cases'  of  that  dreadful  malady,  and  ;  actual  size  ;   this  effect  is  produced  by  circuitous 
was  much  resorted  to  at  this  his  copyhold  residence  i  roads,  winding  about  the  acclivity,  and  making  the 

Besides  the  carriage  road, 

the  footpaths  in  all  directions  encircle  the  numerous 
plantations  and  flower-beds.  On  the  left  of  the 
entrance  is  the  chapel,  a  spacious  and  lofty  build- 
ing, well  adapted  and  fitted  up  for  its  solemn  pur- 


(modernly   called  Swaine's   Lane)  formerly  called  j  ascent  more  gradual. 
Swine's  Lane,  Highgate."     The  house  in  which  he    the  footpaths  in  all  dii 
resided  has  long  since  been   pulled  down,  but  a 
portion  of  the  ancient  garden  wall  is  standing. 

Passing  up  Swaine's  Lane,  we  soon  arrive  at 
the  entrance  to  Highgate  Cemetery.  This  is  a  |  pose.  The  absence  of  all  unnecessary  ornament 
showy  composition,  in  the  pointed  or  Old  English  produces  an  effect  of  appropriate  simplicity.  A  bier 
style  ;  for  the  most  part  machicolated,  and  flanked  stands  at  the  western  end,  which  can  be  lowered 


with  turrets  and  octagonal  buttresses,  pierced  with 
windows    or   panelled,    the    former    capped    with 


through  an  aperture  in  the  floor  by  hydraulic  pres- 
sure.   The  object  of  this  bier  is  to  convey  the  corrin 


cupolas  and  finials,  and  the  latter  surmounted  with  to  a  subterranean  passage  below,  at  the  termination 
pinnacles  and  finials.  In  the  centre  is  a  Tudor-  of  the  service  in  the  chapel,  so  as  to  facilitate  its 
arched  gateway,  above  which  is  an  apartment,  I  conveyance  to  the  new  ground  on  the  opposite  side 
lighted  at  each  end  by  a  bay  window ;  the  roof ,  of  the  lane ;  for  it  may  be  here  stated  that  the 
terminating  with  two  bold  pointed  gables,  bearing  original  ground  being  now  fully  occupied,  an  addi- 
in  its  centre  an  octangular  bell-tower  of  two  storeys,  tion  to  the  cemetery  has  been  made,  and  this  too 
enriched  with  pinnacles,  and  surmounted  with  a  |  is  now  being  rapidly  filled  up.  On  leaving  the 
cupola  and  finial.  The  right  wing  contains  the  lodge  '  chapel  we  pass  by  the  lodge  of  the  superintendent, 
and  clerk's  office  ;  and  the  left  wing  is  appropriated  and  ascend  a  flight  of  broad  stone  steps  which 
as  a  chapel,  the  windows  being  filled  with  stained  lead  up  towards  the  higher  and  more  distant  parts 
glass.  The  cemetery  covered  originally  about  of  the  grounds.  About  half  way  up  the  hill,  the 
twenty  acres  of  ground  on  the  southern  slope  of  the  roads  gradually  descend  again  to  the  entrance  of 
hill,  between  the  east  and  west  bay-,  ,  but  a  further  |  a  tunnel  or  passage,  called  the  Egyptian  Avenue. 
extension  has  since  been  made,  as  we  shall  presently  The  angular  aperture  at  the  entrance  of  this  avenue, 
show.  This  cemetery  possesses  many  natural  i  with  its  heavy  cornice,  is  embellished  with  the 
beauties  which  are  not  enjoyed  by  any  other  rival  I  winged  serpent  and  other  Oriental  ornaments;  the 
of  Pere  la  Chaise  in  or  out  of  London.  The  beauty  I  Egyptian  pillars  and  the  well-proportioned  obelisks 


that  rise  gracefully  on  each  side  Of  the  entrance 
recall    to  the  imagination  the  sepulchral  temples 


of  the  situation  would  naturally  lead  to  the  supposi- 
tion that  it  had  been  previously  a  p.irk  or  garden  of 

some  nobleman  ;  and  such,  indeed,  we  find  to  be  at   Thebes   described    by    Belzoni.       The   group 

the  case,  for  in  Mr.  Prickett's  "History  of  Highgate"  around  this  entrance  is  one  of  the  most  artistic 

it  is  stated  that  it  comprises  part  of  the  grounds  points  in  the  cemetery.      The  solemn  grandeur  of 
belonging  to  the  mansion  of  Sir  William  Ashurst.  j  this  portion  of  the  cemetery  is  much  heightened  by 

The  irregularity  of  the  ground,  here  rising  into  a  the  gloomy  appearance  of  the  avenue,  which  is  one 

terrace,  and  there  sinking  into  a  valley,  together  hundred  feet  long  ;  but,  as  the  road  leading  through 

with  its  many  winding  paths  and  its  avenues  of  dark  it  is  a  gentle  ascent,  the  perspective  effect  makes  it 

shrubs  and  evergreen  trees,  combine  to  impart  to  appear  a  much  greater  length.    There  are  numerous 

this  hallowed  spot  a  particularly  charming  effect.  square  apartments,  lined  with  stone,  on  each  side 

The  ground  is  the  property  of  the  London  Cenie-  , 

tery  Company,  which  was  incorporated  by  Act  of  I  •  see  antr,  p.  2*.. 


THE   CEMETERY.  40 


of  the  avenue  ;  these  sepulchres  are  furnished  with  j  Palermo  and  at  Syracuse  there  are  similar  recesses. 
stone  shelves,  rising  one  above  the  other  on  three  ,  In  the  island  of  Malta  catacombs  are  found  at  Citta 
sides  of  the  sepulchre,  capable  of  containing  twelve  Vecchia  cut  into  the  rock  in  which  that  old  town 
coffins,  in  addition  to  those  which  could  be  placed  \  stands.  They  occur  again  in  the  Greek  islands  of 
upon  the  floor.  The  doors  of  the  sepulchres  are  of  the  Archipelago.  At  Milo  there  is  a  mountain 
cast  iron;  they  are  ornamented  with  a  funeral  device  ,  completely  honeycombed  with  them.  In  Egypt 
of  an  inverted  torch.  At  the  termination  of  the  I  they  occur  in  all  parts  of  the  country  where  there 
avenue  is  a  circular  road  five  hundred  feet  in  circum-  1  is  rock  ;  and  in  Peru,  and  in  some  other  parts  of 
ference;  on  each  side  of  the  road  are  sepulchres  |  South  America,  catacombs  have  been  discovered. 
similar  to  those  already  described  ;  the  inner  circle  i  "  Many  names  familiar  to  London  ears,"  writes 
forms  a~  large  building,  flat  at  the  top,  which  is  the  author  of  "  Northern  Heights,"  "  present  them- 
planted  with  flowers  and  shrubs  ;  from  the  midst  selves  on  the  tombs  as  you  wander  through  this 
rises  the  magnificent  cedar  of  Lebanon.  The  city  of  decomposition  ;  and  some  of  considerable 
'javenue,  the  sepulchres  in  the  circles,  with  the  distinction.  The  French  have  found  their  Mont- 
elegant  flights  of  steps  leading  to  the  upper  ground  martre  or  Pere  la  Chaise  ;  Germans,  their  Friedhof  ; 
of  the  cemetery,  form  a  mass  of  building  in  the  and  natives  of  countries  still  more  distant  lie 
Egyptian  style  of  architecture  that,  for  extent  and  |  scattered  here  and  there.  Perhaps  no  tomb  has 
grandeur,  is  perhaps  unequalled.  !  ever,  as  already  stated,  attracted  so  many  thousand 

The  lower  parts  of  the  grounds  are  striking,  from  visitors  as  that  of  Tom  Sayers,  bearing  on  it  his  own 
their  beauty  of  situation  and  tasteful  arrangement  ;  '  portrait  and  that  of  his  dog.*  Wombwell,  with  his 
but  the  view  of  the  upper  plantations,  on  ascending  lion  standing  over  him,  as  if  to  say,  '  Well,  he  kept 
from  the  sepulchre,  is  still  more  so.  Here  we  have  me  cramped  up  for  many  years  in  his  vans,  but  I 
an  architectural  display  of  another  character  :  a  long  have  got  him  safe  under  my  paw  at  last,'  was,  in  its 
range  of  catacombs,  entered  by  Gothic  doorways,  '  newness,  a  thing  of  much  note  ;  but  it  never  had 
and  ornamented  with  buttresses,  the  whole  sur-  '  a  charm  for  the  pugnacious  populace  of  London 
mounted  with  an  elegant  pierced  parapet.  Above  like  the  tomb  of  the  great  boxer." 
the  catacombs  is  a  noble  terrace,  which  communi-  It  would  be  impossible,  and  indeed  superfluous, 
cates  with  the  centre  ground  by  an  inclined  plane  to  give  here  anything  like  a  complete  list  of  the 
and  a  flight  of  steps.  The  view  from  this  terrace  various  personages  who  have  been  buried  in  this 
on  a  clear  day  is  extensive  and  beautiful  :  the  fore-  '  cemetery  ;  but  a  few  of  the  most  important  may  be 
ground  is  formed  by  the  cemetery  gardens,  and  the  !  mentioned. 

pleasure  grounds  of  the  suburban  villas,  beyond  ,  Here  reposes  Michael  Faraday,  the  celebrated 
which  are  seen  the  spires,  domes,  and  towers  of  ,  chemist  and  philosopher,!  already  mentioned  by 
the  great  metropolis,  backed  by  the  graceful  sweep  |  us  in  our  account  of  the  Royal  Institution,  and  of 
of  the  Surrey  hills.  |  North  Marylebone.  He  died  in  August,  1857,  and, 

The  Gothic  Church  of  St.  Michael  at  the  summit  being  a  Sandemanian  of  the  mystic  school,  he  was 
of  the  hill,  with  its  lofty  spire  rising  from  amid  the  laid  in  his  grave  without  any  service,  not  even  a 
surrounding  trees,  forms  a  prominent  and  .interesting  I  prayer  or  a  hymn.  H.  Crabb  Robinson,  the  friend 
feature  in  the  background  as  the  cemetery  is  viewed  I  of  Coleridge,  Goethe,  Wordsworth,  Lamb,  Flaxman, 
from  Swaine's  Lane  On  the  upper  terrace  above-  ;  and  Clarkson,  and  the  author  of  a  most  interesting 
mentioned  is  the  long  range  of  Gothic  catacombs,  \  Diary,  who  died  in  February,  1867,  aged  mnety- 
immediately  beneath  this  church,  presenting  one  of  one,  was  here  interred  Here  too  he  Mr.  ana 
the  most  ingenious  points  of  design  in  the  architec-  ;  Mrs.  John  Dickens,  the  father  and  mother  of  Charles 
tural  arrangement  of  the  cemetery,  of  which  the  I  Dickens,  together  with  the  latter's  httk  daughter 
church  appears  to  be  an  integral  part,  though  such  Dora.  Sir  John  Gurney,  a  Baron  of  the  Court  o 
is  not  the  case  We  may  here  remark,  en  passant,  Exchequer,  was  buried  here  in  1845.  Sir  Thomas 
hat  caucombs  are  found  in  most  parts  of  the  world.  Joshua  Platt,  also  a  Baron  of  the  same  Court,  who 
Th  catacombs  of  Rome,  at  a  short  distance  from  died  in  l862,lies  here  here  too  -pose  :  t  eremau, 
the  city,  are  very  extensive,  and  have  evidently  been  of  Judge  Payne,and  ^^^SSSSrfoS 
used  as  burying  places  and  as  places  of  worship.  Lord  Lyndhurst,  thrice  Lord  Chancellor  ot  Grea. 
The  catacombs  of  Naples  are  cut  under  the  hill  |  Britain,  who  was  buried  here  m  i8634  Adm.ra! 
Sled  Corpo  di  Monte  ;  the  entrance  into  them  is  Lord  Radstock  was  mterred  here  in  1857- 
rendered  horrible  by  a  vast  heap  of  skull.  and  |  ^KV^^  ™ 

bones,  the  remains  of  the  victims  of  a  plague  which  (  ,  See  ante<  p.  3?0.  t  See  Vol.  iv,  P.  w.  and  «*.  P.  *» 
desolated  Naples  in  the  sixteenth  century.  At 


4o8 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


may  mention  Charles  Turner,  A.R.A.,  who  died  in 
1857  ;  Alfred  Edward  Chalon,  who  died  in  1860, 
brother  of  the  more  celebrated  John  James  Chalon, 
who  also  was  buried  here  in  1854.  He  was  a  native 
of  Geneva,  and  achieved  his  greatest  reputation  as 
a  portrait  painter  in  water  colours,  and  that  mostly 
by  his  sketches  of  courtly  and  well-born  ladies. 
Charles  Joseph  Hullmandel,  the  lithographic  artist, 
was  interred  here  in  1850.  Sir  William  Ross,  whom 


proprietor  of  the  Morning  Star;  Mr.  W.  J.  Pinks, 
the  Clerkenwell  antiquary;  Mr.  James  Kennedy, 
M.R.C.S.,  author  of  a  "  History  of  the  Cholera," 
&c. ;  Mr.  Joseph  Guy,  author  of  "Guy's  Geo- 
graphy;" "George  Eliot,"  the  novelist ;  and  Mr. 
George  B.  Sowerby,  the  naturalist,  author  of  "  The 
Genera  of  Recent  and  Fossil  Shells."  Here,  too, 
is  buried  the  Rev.  Frederick  Maurice,  the  Founder 
and  Principal  of  the  Working  Men's  College  in 


KOMWtLL    HOUSE,    H1G11GAIE.       (Set  fagt   4°°-) 


Sir  Thomas  Lawrence  declared  to  be  the  first  minia- 
ture painter  of  his  day,  and  who  died  at  an  advanced 
age  in  1860,  lies  buried  here.  Near  to  the  upper 
entrance  gate  lie  the  remains  of  Mrs,  Bartholomew, 
an  artist  of  some  note,  the  wife  of  Mr.  Valentine 
Bartholomew,  the  celebrated  flower  painter,  who 
also  rests  here.  Two  other  Royal  Academicians, 
Abraham  Cooper  and  George  Jones,  lie  buried 
here;  the  former  died  in  1868,  and  the  latter  in 
the  following  year. 

Among  persons  of  literary  note  whose  remains  are 
interred  here  we  may  notice  Mr.  Alaric  A.  Watts, 
editor  of  the  "Literary  Souvenir;"  Pierce  Kgan, 
author  of  "  Life  in  London,"  "  Boxiana,"  "  Life  of 
an  Actor,"  &c.,  the  veteran  historian  of  the  ring,  and 
sporting  journalist;  Mr.  Samuel  Lucas,  managing 


Great  Ormond  Street,  of  which  we  have  spoken 
in  a  previous  volume;*  and  also  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Hamilton,  a  well  known  author,  and  the  successor 
of  the  great  Edward  Irving. 

Of  the  miscellaneous  interments  we  may  mention 
those  of  Mr.  John  Vandenhoff,  the  actor;  Lillywhite, 
the  well-known  cricketer,  whose  marble  monument, 
erected  by  the  members  of  the  Marylebone  Cricket 
Club,  is  carved  with  a  wicket  struck  by  a  ball, 
representing  the  great  cricketer  as  "bowled  out;" 
of  Colonel  Stodare,  the  famous  conjuror ;  and 
Atcheler,  the  horse-slaughterer,  or  knacker,  to  the 
Queen,  whose  tomb  is  marked  by  a  rudely-carved 
horse,  to  show,  it  may  be  supposed,  his  fondness 
for  his  profession. 

•  SeeVoL  IV..  p.  fr 


Highg*e.J 


AN    ANCIENT   CEMETERY. 


As  an  appendage  to  an  account  of  Highgate  |  large  enclosure,  having  three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
Cemetery,  which  appeared  in  the  Mirror,  shortly  j  openings  or  sepulchres,  answering  to  the  days  of  the 
fter  these  grounds  were  laid  out,  the  writer  thus  year,  symmetrically  arranged.  The  campo-santo 

observes  : "  The  most  ancient  cemetery  we  are  i  or  cemetery  of  Pisa  is  on  every  account  worthy  of 

acquainted  with,  and  perhaps  the   largest  in  the     attention.     As  a  work  of  art,  it  is  one  of  the  first  in 

which  the  classical  style  of  architecture 
began  to  be  revived  in  modern  Europe. 
It  was  constructed  by  John  of  Pisa, 
being  projected  by  Ubaldo,  archbishop 
of  Pisa,  in  1 200.  The  length  of  this 
cemetery  is  about  490  feet,  its  width  170, 
height  60,  and  its  form  rectangular.  It 
contains  fifty  ships'  freights  of  earth  from 


hither  in  1288.     The  whole  of 
rf  ^  marbl,     The 


world,   is  that   of  Memphis  ;  and  of  all  the 

ancient  burial   places,    no   one   conforms  so 

nearly  to  modern  ideas  of  cemeteries  as  that 

of  Aries.     In  the  early  ages  of  Christianity 

the  cemeteries  were  established  without  the  T         j 

cities,  and  upon  the  high  roads   and  dead  bodies      eru  a  m 

were    prohibited    from    being    brought    mo   the    the  ornamented  with  various  specimens 

churches;   but  this   was  afterwards  abrogated  by    gJlenes  are  and         arcophagi  orna- 

the  Emperor  Leo.     The  early  Christians  celebrated    rf  ^  J^    gg  circumference,  raised  upon  con- 
their  religious  rites  in  the  cemeteries,  upon  the    m  n    the  &  ^^  ^ 

tombs  of  their  martyrs.     It  was  also  m  cemeter   s    ^es'  '        odoriferous  shrubs  in  their  ceme- 

that  they  built  the  first  churches    of  which  he  sub-    **»•£  d  a  salubrious  fragrance    and 

terranean    parts    were    catacombs.      Naples   and    ter  e  ^  ^^  ^  ^^  ^  m 

Pisa  have  cemeteries,  which  may  be  regarded     *    Pun^ddleb         and  Society  Islands." 
models,  not  only  for  good  order  and  convemency     the  M^d  V  buml-grounds  planted  and 

but  for  the  cultivation  of  the  arts  and  the  interest  ,      Cem    ^    »     ^  ^^  ^  metropoUs>  are  a 
of  humanity.     That  in   Naples  is  composed  c 
2  :1 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Highgate. 


novelty  of  our  time,  although  they  were  suggested  j  "  used  to  laugh  frequently  at  the  oddity  of  his 
just  after  the  Great  Fire  in  1666,  when  Evelyn  ,  countenance."  He  received  his  education  at 
regretted  that  advantage  had  not  been  taken  of  that  Merchant  Taylor's  School,  where  the  peculiar 
calamity  to  rid  the  city  of  its  old  burial-places,  j  manners  of  three  brothers,  schoolfellows,  incited 
and  establish  a  necropolis  without  the  walls.  He  j  his  first  attempts  at  mimicry,  and  which  he  after- 
deplores  that  "the  churchyards  had  not  been  wards  embodied  in  one  of  his  "entertainments." 


banished  to  the  north  walls  of  the  city,  where  a 
grated  inclosure,  of  competent  breadth,  for  a  mile 
in  length,  might  have  served  for  a  universal  ceme- 
tery to  all  the  parishes,  distinguished  by  the  like 


He  could  just  remember  Macklin,  the  centenarian 
actor,  on  whom   he  called  when  quite   a  yo 


Ulig 


man,  in  order  to  ask  his  advice  as  to  going  on  the 
stage.     The  old  man,  though  he  had  then  seen  his 


separations,  and  with  ample  walks  of  trees ;   the    hundredth  birthday,  frightened  him  so  much  that 
walks  adorned  with  monuments,  inscriptions,  and  }  he  was  glad  to  beat  a  retreat, 
titles,  apt  for  contemplation  and  memory  of  the        In  1803  Mathews  first  appeared  on  the  London 
defunct,  and  that  wise  and  excellent  law  of  the    stage  in  Cumberland's  Jew.     From  this  time  the 
Twelve  Tables  restored  and  renewed."  j  fame  of  the  comedian  was  fully  established  ;  "  never 

As  we  have  intimated  above,  Highgate  was  once  j  had  broad  humour  been  better  represented."    In 
important  enough  to  possess  a  "  Mansion  House,",  1818  he  first  resolved  on  giving  an   "entertain- 


the  grounds  of  which  now  serve  as  a  part  of  the 
cemetery.  The  house  itself  stood  at  the  top  of  the 
hill,  as  nearly  as  possible  on  the  site  now  occupied 
by  St  Michael's  Church.  The  mansion  was  built 
by  Sir  William  Ashurst,  Lord  Mayor  of  London  in 
1694,  and,  as  may  be  imagined  from  its  situation, 
commanded  a  most  delightful  prospect  over  the 


ment "  by  himself,  and  in  that  year  first  announced 
himself  "  At  Home  "  at  the  English  Opera  House. 
His  success  was  signal,  and  such  as  to  induce 
the  managers  of  Old  Drury  and  Covent  Garden 
to  attempt  to  interdict  the  performances ;  but  in 
this  they  failed. 

His    "  At   Home,"  as    we    learn   from   Crabb 


county  for  many  miles  on  the  one  side,  and  an  ex-  Robinson's  "  Diary,"  was  very  popular  in  1822, 
tensive  view  of  the  metropolis  on  the  other.  The  when  he  represented  Curran,  Wilkes,  and  other 
chestnut  staircase  is  said  to  have  been  executed  statesmen  of  the  reign  of  George  III.  His  imita- 


from  a  design  by  Inigo  Jones ;  some  of  the  rooms 
were  hung  with  tapestry,  and  the  chief  doorway  was 
richly  carved.  The  extensive  pleasure  grounds  are 
said  to  have  been  laid  out  with  considerable  taste. 
The  house  was  for  some  years  occupied  by  Sir 
Alan  Chambre,  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Common 
Pleas,  and  he  was  almost  the  last  person  who  used 
it  as  a  private  residence.  It  was  taken  down  in 
1 830.  The  stone  doorway,  with  the  coat  of  arms, 
has  been  placed  as  an  entry  to  a  house  in  the 
High  Street ;  and  some  other  armorial  bearings, 
carved  in  wood,  which  once  adorned  the  mansion, 
found  a  depositor)'  in  the  house  of  a  local  anti- 
quary. 

In  Milltield  Lane,  in  the  hamlet  of  Brookneld, 

not  far  west  from  the  spot  where  now  stands  St.  j  with  great  violence  on  the  house,  and  at  times 
Anne's  Church,  was  the  suburban  retreat  of  Charles  very  much  alarmed  Mrs.  Mathews.  "  One  night, 
Mathews,  the  comedian,  to  which  we  have  briefly  after  they  had  retired  to  rest,"  as  the  story  is  told 
referred  in  our  notice  of  Kentish  Town.*  This  by  Mr.  Palmer,  in  his  "  History  of  St  Pancras," 


tion  of  Lord  Ellenborough,  indeed,  is  stated  to 
have  been  so  remarkable,  that  he  was  rebuked  for 
the  perfection  with  which  he  practised  his  art  In 
1819  and  three  following  years  he  resumed  these 
profitable  labours  in  the  "  Trip  to  Paris,"  "  Country 
Cousins," &c.  These  "entertainments"  have  been 
given  in  almost  every  theatre  in  the  United 
Kingdom.  His  last  appearance  in  the  regular 

!  drama  was  in  Ham/ft,  when  Mr.  Young  took  leave 
of  the  stage,  in  183^. 

Charles    Mathews'   sense    of  humour,    however, 

1  was  so  strong,  that  he  was  unable  to  restrain  him- 

\  self  at  any  time  from  comic  speeches.  It  is  said 
that  his  residence  at  the  foot  of  Highgate  Hill 

,  was   so   situated  that   the   wind  when  high   blew 


celebrated  humourist  was  the  son  of  a  well-known 
theological  bookseller  in  the  Strand,  and  was  born 
in  1776.  He  used  to  relate,  in  his  own  amusing 


"  Mrs.  Mathews  was  awakened  by  one  of  these 
sudden  gales,  which  she  bore  for  some  time  in 
silence ;  at  last,  dreadfully  frightened,  she  awoke 


way,  that  he  had  ascertained  from  his  nurse  that  |  her  husband,  saying,  '  Don't  you  hear  the  wind. 
he  was  "a  long,  lanky,  scraggy  child,  very  good  j  Charley  '  Oh,  dear,  what  shall  I  do  ?'  'Do?' said 
tempered,  with  a  face  that  could  by  no  means  be  '  the  only  partially-awakened  humourist ;  '  open  the 
called  regular  in  features ;  in  fact,"  she  said,  she  '  window,  and  give  it  a  peppermint  lozenge ;  that  is 

.    the  best  thing  for  the  wind.'    At  another  time,  and 
•  sec  auti,  p.  321.  when  on  his  death-bed,  his  attendant  gave  him  in 


H;ghgatt]  LADY   BURDETT   COUTTS.  4U 

mistake,  instead  of  his  medicine,  some  ink  from  a  of  the  hill.  The  house— formerly  called  Hollybush 
phial  which  stood  in  its  place.  On  discovering  his  j  Lodge— was  purchased  by  Mr.  Thomas  Coutts,  the 
error  he  exclaimed,  '  Good  heavens,  Mathews,  I  j  well-known  banker,  of  whom  we  have  spoken  in 
have  given  you  ink  ! '  '  Never,  ne-ver  mind,  our  account  of  Piccadilly,  f  and  it  was  bequeathed 
my  boy,  ne-ver  mind,'  said  the  mimic,  '  I'll — I'll  by  him,  with  his  immense  property,  to  his  widow, 

sfr,allow bit -bit -of  blotting-paper.'     Fun  was    who  afterwards  married  the  Duke  of  St.  Albans. 

in  him  by -nature,  and  to  the  last  he  could  not  On  her  decease,  in  1837,  it  was  left,  with  the 
be  serious."  great  bulk  of  her  fortune,  amounting  to  nearly 


_^2, 000,000,  to  Miss  Angela  Burdett,  a  daughter 
of  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  the  popular  M.P.  for  West- 
minster, who  thereupon  assumed  the  additional 
name  of  Coutts.  As  we  have  intimated  in  the 


Charles  Mathews  has  been  styled  "  the  Hogarth 
of  the  English  stage."  His  pleasant  thatched 
cottage  here,  which  looked  down  on  Kentish  Town, 
and  commanded  a  distant  view  of  London,  was,  as 
he  was  wont  to  say,  his  "  Tusculum."  It  rose,  not '  chapter  above  referred  to,  the  extensive  power  of 
unlike  a  country  vicarage,  in  the  midst  of  green  benefiting  society  and  her  fellow-creatures,  which 
kwns  and  flower-beds,  and  was  adorned  externally  :  devolved  upon  her  with  this  bequest,  was  not  lost 
with  trellis-work  fancifully  wreathed  and  overgrown  '  sight  of  by  its  possessor,  and  her  charities  are 


known  to  have  been  most  extensive.     Amongst 
the  chief  of  these  have  been  the  endowment  of  a 


...th  jasmine  and  honeysuckles.  In  the  interior  of 
this  retired  homestead  was  collected  a  more  inte- 
resting museum  of  dramatic  curiosities  than  ever  bishopric  at  Adelaide,  in  South  Australia,  and 
was  gathered  together  by  the  industry  of  one  man.  another  at  Victoria,  in  British  Columbia ;  also  the 
Here  he  would  show  to  his  friends,  with  pride  and  j  foundation  and  endowment  of  a  handsome  church 
pleasure,  relics  of  Garrick— a  lock  of  his  hair,  the  and  schools  in  Westminster  in  1847,  and  the 
garter  worn  by  him  in  Richard  III.;  and  also  his  ]  erection  of  a  church  at  Carlisle  in  1864.  Besides 
collection  of  theatrical  engravings,  autographs,  and  i  the  above,  she  has  been  also  a  large  contributor  to 
portraits  now  in  the  Garrick  Club.*  I  a  variety  of  religious  and  charitable  institutions  in 

London — churches,   schools,   reformatories,   peni- 
Withinthelimit'ofbrcomingTrth,  tentiaries,    drinking-fountains,   Columbia    Market, 

] !  never  spent  an  hour's  talk  withal.  I  model    lodging-houses,   &C.      Miss    Burdett-CouttS 

His  eye  begat  occasion  for  his  wit,  'also  exercised  her  pen,  as  well  as  her  purse,  in 

For  every  object  that  the  one  did  catch  j  mitjgating   and  relieving   dumb  animals  and  the 

The  other  turned  to  a  mirth-moving  jest."  I  feathered  tribe  from  the  suffering  to  which   they 

Charles  Mathews,  whose  wit  and  versatility  were  ;  are  often  subjected,  having  written  largely  against 

proverbial    died  at   Devonport,  June  ajth,   1835,    cruelty  to  dumb  creatures.     In  recognition  of  her 

immediately  after  his  return  from  America.     Mrs.  j  large-heartedness  she  was,  m  the  year  1871,  rau 

Wr0tC    hCr   hUSband'S  "tr^^^^rSady  spoke. 


,ossession  of  the    ornamental  teatures  10  me  =>u  -  ---  , 

s  of  the  house    Lodge,  and  are  surrounded  by  trim  and  well-kep 


Garrick  Club.     Among  the  treasur 

als  rn  ,lr(1VLllc  ^.^^  „„„ 

the 
and 
"ho'uses'are  now  occupied  by  a  higher  class  in 

"^L^l^^rru  ""—i-  f  ,ht;-a  .^tJ'SiS 

SfSsSSSSSJK*** 

rn  slope  j  Some  of  the  houses  are  single,  am 

t  Sec  Vol.  IV.,  p.  280. 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


o  dwellings.     They  are  built  of  yellow,  white, 
and   moulded   brick,  some  with    stone  dressings. 


which  their  names  will  be  hereafter  remembered. 
Of  these  we  may  mention  "The  Ruined  Castles 

the 

the 


Although  bearing  a  general  resemblance,  and  in  and  Abbeys  of  Great   Britain  and   Ireland," 

one  or  two  instances  arranged  as  corresponding  "  Illustrated  History  of  England,"  "  History  of 

pairs,  they  all  differ  more  or  less  in  form,  and  Supernatural  in  all  Ages  and  Nations,"  "  Visits 

considerably  in  the  details.     All  of  them  have  a  to   Remarkable   Places,   Old    Halls,   and    Battle 

quiet  elegance  that  is  very  uncommon  in  buildings  Fields ;"  and  last,  not  least,  the  "  Northern  Heights 


of  their  class.  The  entrance  is  rather  elaborately 
adorned  with  two  carved  statues  of  females,  hold- 
ing a  lamb  and  a  dove ;  and  there  is  some  pretty 


of  London."    Another  residence  on  West  Hill, 
little  above  the  entrance  to  Millfield  Lane,  was 
called  the  Hermitage,  of  which  the  Howitts  were 


arving  elsewhere.     Mr.  Darbishire  was  the  archi-  j  the  last  occupants.    It  stood  enclosed  by  tall  trees, 
tect  of  this  model  village.  I  and  adjoining  it  was  a  still  smaller  tenement,  which 

The  ponds  mentioned  above  are  on  the  estate  of !  was  said  to  be  the  "  real  and  original  Hermitage." 
the  Earl  of  Mansfield,  and  lie  below  Caen  Wood,  |  It  is  thus  described   by  Mr.  Howitt : — "  It  con- 


in  the  fields  leading  from  Highgate  Road  to  Hamp- 
stead,  between  Charles  Mathews'  house  and  Traitors' 
Hill.  In  the  summer  season  they  are  the  resort  of 
thousands  of  Londoners,  whilst  the  boys  fish  in 


sisted  only  of  one  small  low  room,  with  a  chamber 
over  it,  reached  by  an  outside  rustic  gallery.  The 
whole  of  this  hermitage  was  covered  with  ivy, 
evidently  of  a  very  ancient  growth,  as  shown  by 


them  for  tadpoles  and  sticklebats,  or  sail  miniature  ,  the  largeness  of  its  stems  and  boughs,  and  the 
boats  on  their  surface.  The  ponds  are  very  deep,  '  prodigality  of  its  foliage.  In  fact,  it  looked  like 
and  many  a  poor  fellow  has  been  drowned  in  them,  [  one  great  mass  of  ivy.  What  was  the  origin  of 
some  by  accident,  and  more,  it  is  to  be  feared,  by  [  the  place,  or  why  it  acquired  the  name  of  thefj 
suicide.  About  the  year  1869  these  ponds  were  |  Hermitage,  does  not  appear;  but  being  its  last 
leased  to  the  Hampstead  Waterworks  Company,  j  tenant,  I  found  that  its  succession  of  inhabitants 
which  has  since  become  incorporated  with  the  had  been  a  numerous  one,  and  that  it  was  coiK 
New  River  Company.  These  ponds,  for  a  long  nected  with  some  curious  histories.  Some  dark 
time,  supplied  a  considerable  portion  of  the  parish  ;  tragedies  had  occurred  there.  One  of  its  tenants 
with  water.  was  a  Sir  Wallis  Porter,  who  was  an  associate  of 

Nearly  on  the  brow  of  the  West  Hill,  a  little '  the    Prince    Regent.     Here   the    Prince   used    to 
above   the  house  and  grounds  of  Lady  Burdett-  j  come  frequently  to  gamble  with  Sir  Wallis.     This 


Coutts,  as  we  ascend  towards  the  Grove  and  the 
town,  we  notice  a  roadside  inn,  of  a  retired  and 
sequestered  aspect,  rejoicing  in  the  name  of  the 
"Fox  and  Crown."  It  bears,  however,  on  its  front 
the  royal  arms,  conspicuously  painted,  with  a  notice 


to  the  effect   that  "  this  coat  of  arms 


is  a  grant 


from  Queen  Victoria,  for  services  rendered  to  Her 
Majesty  when  in  danger  travelling  down  this  hill," 
and  dated  a  few  days  after  her  accession.  Some 
accident,  it  appears,  happened  to  one  of  the  wheels 
of  the  royal  carriage,  and  the  landlord  had  the 
good  luck  to  stop  the  horses,  and  send  for  a  wheel- 
wright to  set  matters  straight,  accommodating  Her 
Majesty  with  a  seat  in  his  house  whilst  the  repairs 


hermitage,  hidden  by  the  tall  surrounding  trees, 
chiefly  umbrageous  elms,  and  by  the  huge  ivy 
growth,  seemed  a  place  well  concealed  for  the 
orgies  carried  on  within  it.  The  ceiling  of  the 
room  which  they  used  was  painted  with  naked 
figures  in  the  French  style,  and  there  they  could 
both  play  as  deeply  and  carouse  as  jovially  as  they 
pleased.  But  the  end  of  Sir  Wallis  was  that  of 
many  another  gamester  and  wassailer.  Probably 
his  princely  companion,  and  /us  companions,  both 
drained  the  purse  as  well  as  the  cellar  of  Sir  Wallis, 
for  he  put  an  end  to  his  existence  there,  as 
reported,  by  shooting  himself. 

"  There  was  a  pleasanter  legend  of  Lord  Nelson, 


were  being  executed.  The  event,  if  it  did  not  when  a  boy,  being  once  there,  and  climbing  a  very 
turn  the  head  of  Boniface,  brought  him  no  luck,  '  tall  ash-tree  by  the  roadside,  which  therefore  went 
for  he  died  heart-broken,  the  only  advantage  which  by  the  name  of  '  Nelson's  tree,'  till  it  went  the 
he  reaped  from  the  adventure  being,  it  is  said,  way  of  all  trees— to  the  timber-yard.  It  was 
the  right  of  setting  up  the  lion  and  unicorn  with  reported,  too,  that  Fauntleroy,  the  forger,  when 
the  crown.  I  the  officers  of  justice  were  in  quest  of  him,  con- 

On  West  Hill,  immediately  below  the  "  Fox  and  ;  cealed  himself  for  a  time  at  this  hermitage."  The 
Crown,"  stands  a  rustic  house,  at  right  angles  to  i  old  Hermitage,  however,  with  its  quaint  buildings, 
the  road,  called  West  Hill  Lodge.  This  was  j  its  secluded  lawn,  and  its  towering  trees,  dis- 
occupied  for  many  years  by  William  and  Mary  appeared  about  the  year  1860,  and  on  its  site 
Howitt,  who  wrote  here  manv  of  the  books  by  a  terrace  of  houses  has  been  erected 


Highgate.1 


"SWEARING   ON   THE   HORNS." 


CHAPTER     XXXII. 
HIGHGATE  (continued). 

' Many  to  the  steep  of  Highgate  hie  ; 

Ask,  ye  Bceotian  shades  !  the  reason  why  ? 
Tis  to  the  worship  of  the  sol«mn  Horn, 
Grasped  in  the  holy  hand  of  Mystery, 
In  whose  dread  name  both  men  and  maids  an 
And  consecrate  the  oath  with  draught  and  dar 


till 


'  -Byron. 


Charles  Knight-Sir  John' 
—A  Poetical  Version 


n  Wollaston-The  Custom  of  "  Swearing  on  the  Horns  "-Mr.  Mark  Boyd's  Reminiscence  of  this  Curious  Ceremonial 
ersion  of  the  Proceedings— Old  Taverns  at  Highgate— The  "  Angel  Inn"— The  Sunday  Ordinary— A  Touching  Story— The 
Chapel  and  School  of  Highgate-Tomb  of  Coleridge,  the  Poet-Sir  Roger  Cholmeley,  the  Founder  of  the  Grammar  School-Southwood 
Lane-The  Almshouses-Park  House-St.  Michael's  Church- Tablet  erected  to  Coleridge-Fitzroy  House-Mrs.  Caroline  Chisholm-Dr 
Sacheverel-Dorchester  House-Coleridge's  Residence-The  Grove-Anecdote  of  Hogarth-Sir  John  Hawkins1  House-A  Proclamation  in 


•     ,fHr 


•VIII.-NorthHill-The"! 


RETURNING  once  more  to  the  main  street  of  the 
village — "  this  romantic  rather  than  picturesque 
village,"  as  Crabb  Robinson  calls  it  in  his  "  Diary" 
—we  resume  our  perambulation,  starting  from 
Arundel  House,  of  which  we  have  given  an  account 
in  an  earlier  chapter.* 
A  small  house  close  by  the  site  of  Arundel  I  A  few  years  ago  it  was  usual  all  over  the  kingdom 


Samuel  Palmer,  "  ever  hears  of  this  hamlet  without 

at  once  referring  to  it : — 
'  It's  a  custom  at  Highgate,  that  all  who  go  through, 
Must  be  sworn  on  the  horns,  sir ;  and  so,  sir,  must  you. 
Bring  the  horns,  shut  the  door  ;  now,  sir,  take  off  your  hat, 
When  you  come  here  again,  don't  forget  to  mind  that: 


House  was  for  many  years  the  residence  of  Mr. 
Charles  Knight,  whose  name  is  well  known  in 
connection  with  popular  literature. 


ask,  '  Have  you  been  sworn  at  Highgate  ? ' 
And  if  any  person  in  conversation  laid  an  emphasis 
more  than  usual  on  the  demonstrative  pronoun 


A  little  to  the  north  of  this  house,  but  standing  !  that,  it  was  sure  to  elicit  the  inquiry.  Some  sixty 
back  from  the  high  road,  was  the  mansion  of  Sir  ]  years  ago  upwards  of  eighty  stage-coaches  would 
John  Wollaston,  the  founder  of  some  almshouses  j  St0p  every  day  at  the  '  Red  Lion '  inn,  and  out  of 
in  Southwood  Lane,  which  we  shall  presently  |  every  five  passengers  three  were  sworn.  So  soon  as 
notice.  Sir  John  Wollaston,  we  may  here  remark,  |  the  coach  drew  up  at  the  inn-door  most  pressing 
was  at  one  time  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  and  \  invitations  would  be  given  to  the  company  to 
held  several  appointments  of  trust  in  the  City,  alight,  and  after  as  many  as  possible  could  be 
He  died  in  the  year  1658,  and  was  buried  in  the  collected  in  the  parlour,  the  landlord  would  intro- 
old  chapel  of  Highgate.  I  duce  the  Highgate  oath.  A  little  artifice  easily 

The  main  street  of  the  village,  although  so  near  '  ied  to  the  detection  of  the  uninitiated,  and  as 
to  London,  has  about  it  that  appearance  of  soon  as  the  fact  was  ascertained  the  horns  were 
quietude  and  sleepiness  which  one  is  accustomed  brought  in.  There  were  generally  sufficient  of  the 
to  meet  with  in  villages  miles  away  from  the  busy  \  initiated  to  induce  compliance  with  those  who  had 
metropolis;  and  like  most  other  villages,  the 

number   of  its    public-houses,    as   compared  with     

other  places  of  business,  is  somewhat  remarkable.  upright  on  the  ground  before  the  person  who  was 
In  1826  there  were,  in  Highgate,  no  less  than  i  to  be  sworn.  The  neophyte  was  then  required  to 
nineteen  licensed  taverns,  of  which  Hone,  in  his  '  take  off  his  hat,  which  all  present  having  also  done, 
"  Everyday  Book,"  gives  the  signs.  In  former  the  landlord,  in  a  bold  voice,  began  the  ceremony. 
times  a  curious  old  custom  prevailed  at  these  •  tt  commenced  by  the  landlord  saying— 
public-houses,  which  has  been  the  means  of  giving  '  ( ^  tan(,m<T  and  unc0vered  :  silence.  Take  notice  what 
a  little  gentle  merriment  to  many  generations  of  ^  *  for  rt(I/is  the  nrst  word  of  the  oath  ;  mind 

'      '  :knowledge  me  to  be  your  adopted  father, 


The   horns 


not  yet  passed  through  the   ordeal 

were  fixed  on  a  pole  five  feet  in  height,  and  placed 


the  Citizens   of  London,    but    is    now  only   remem-  I  that,      -ou 

bered  as  a  thing  of  the  past.     It  was  a  sort  of    ,  must  ackn 
burlesque  performance,  presided  over  byine 


ledge  youto  * 


host,"  in  which  the  visitor,  whoever  he  might  be, 
was  expected  to  take  an  oath,  which  was  duly 
administered  to  him,  and  was  familiarly  called 
"swearing  on  the  horns."  "  No  one,"  writes  Mr. 


if  you  are  travelling  thr 


ne  at  any  house  you  may  think  proper  to  e 


ugh  this  village  of  Highgate,  and 
™  P^ket,  go  call  for  a  bottle  of 


it  to  your  father's  . 

you  may  treat  them  as  well  ;  but  if  you  have  money  of  your 

own  you  must  pay  for  it  yourself  ;  for  you  must  not  say  you 


If  you  have  any  Mends  with  yo 


414 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


have  no  money  when  you  have ;  neither  must  you  convey  '  I   have  now  to  acquaint  you  with  your  privileges 

your  money  out  of  your  own  pocket  into  that  of  your  friend's  as  &  freeman  of  Highgate.      If  at  any  time  you  are 

pocket,  for  I  shall  search  them  as  well  as  you   and  if  I  find  ^              ^  ^        ^   ^^   {o  rest 

*i  SR-  you  see  a  pig  lying  in  a  ditch  you  are 

not  eat      own  bread  while  you  can  get  white,  unless  quite  at  liberty  to  kick  her  Out  and  take  her  place  ; 

you  like  brown  the  best  ;  nor  must  you  drink  small   beer  but  if  you  see  three  lying  together,  you   must  only 

when  you  can  get  strong,  unless  you  like  small  the  best  ;  j^j^  Qut  ^  ^ddle  one,  and  lie  between  the  two ; 

you  must  not  kiss  the  maid  while  you  can  kiss  the  mistress  ^   ^    ^   ^    ^         ,„     These    ^   ^^ 

Larwood'  a  later 


I  wish  you  a  safe  journey  through  Highgate  ami  this  life. 
I  charge  you,  my  good  son,  that  if  you  know  any  in  this 
company  who  have  not  taken  this  oath,  you  must  cause 
them  to  take  it,  or  make  each  of  them  forfeit  a  bottle  of 
wine  ;  for  if  you  fail  to  do  so,  you  will  forfeit  one  yourself. 
So  now,  my  son,  God  bless  you  ;  kiss  the  horns,  or  a  pretty 
girl  if  you  see  one  here,  which  you  like  best,  and  so  be  free 
of  Highgate.' 

If  a  female  were  in  the  room,  she  was,  of  course, 
saluted  ;  if  not,  the  horns  were  to  be  kissed,  but 
the  option  was  not  allowed  formerly.  The 
peculiarity  of  the  oath  was  in  the  pronoun  that, 
which  generally  resulted  in  victimising  the  strangers 
of  some  bottles  of  wine.  So  soon  as  the  saluta- 
tion was  over,  and  the  wine  drank,  the  landlord, 
addressing  himself  to  the  newly-made  son,  said, 


addition  to  the  oath,  introduced  by  a  facetious 
blacksmith,  who  at  one  time  kept  the  "  Coach  and 
Horses." 

Mr.  Mark  Boyd  describes  at  length,  in  his 
"Social  Gleanings,"  the  whole  of  the  process  to 
which  it  appears  that  he  and  his  brother  were 
subjected  one  fine  Sunday  half  a  century  ago,  and 
to  which  they  submitted  with  all  the  less  reluctance 
because  they  learnt  that  Lord  Bryon  and  several 
I  other  distinguished  personages  had  been  sworn 
|  there  before  them.  He  relates  the  initiatory  steps 
of  ordering  a  bottle  of  the  Boniface's  best  port, 
and  another  of  sherry,  "  which  the  landlord  took 
care  should  be  excellent  in  honour  of  so  grave  a 
ceremonial,  and  for  which  he  did  not  omit  to  charge 


AN    ANCIENT   CUSTOM. 


4'5 


VIEWS    IN    H1GHGATE. 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Highgate. 


accordingly."     He  goes  on  to  describe  how  "  the 
landlord  and  his  waiter  then  retired  to  prepare  for 
the   imposing   ceremony,    and   in   ten   minutes   a 
thundering    knock    at    the    door    announced   the 
approach  of  the  officials.     In   marched,   with  all 
solemnity,  the  swearer-in,  dressed  in  a  black  gown 
with  bands,  and  wearing  a  mask  and  a  wig ;  his 
clerk  also  in  a  black  gown,  carrying  the   horns 
fixed  on  a  pole  in  one  hand,  and  in  the  other  a 
large  book,  from  which  the  oath  was  to  be  read.  [ 
The  landlord  then  proclaimed,  in  a  loud  voice,  | 
"Upstanding  and  uncovered.     Take  notice  what 
now  I   say  to  you,  &c.,"  and  so  proceeded  to 
administer  the   oath   verbatim,  as   above.     "The 
custom,"  adds  Mr.  Boyd,   "has   now  fallen   into 
disuse ;   but  at  the  '  Gate    House   Tavern,'  some  1 
months  ago  (1875),  whilst  the  waiter  was  admin- ' 
istering  to  me  an  excellent  luncheon,  I  mentioned 
that,  were  the  landlord  to  revive  the  custom,  many 
of  the  present  generation  would  extremely  enjoy  I 
the  fun  in  which  their  ancestors  had  indulged,  and  . 
none  more  than  our  '  American  cousins.'     '  More-  • 
over,'  said  I  to  the  waiter,  '  where  you  now  make  , 
five  shillings  you  would  pocket  ten ;  and  if  your  j 
landlord   provided   as  good    port   and   sherry   as  ! 
formerly,  he  would  sell  two  bottles  for  one.' "     In 
spite,  however,  of  Mr.  Boyd's  specious  argument,  ! 
and  even  the  example  of  Ix>rd  Byron,  we  believe  , 
that    the   landlord    has    not    at    present  ventured 
on   reviving   this   absurdity,  even  in  this   age   of 
"  revivals  "  of  various  kinds.     In  fact,  if  the  truth  ' 
must  be  told,  he  takes  no  interest  in  the  historic  ' 
past,  and  does    not  care  to  be  questioned  about 
the  ceremony. 

The  following  is  one  version,  among  several,  of 
an  old  initiation  song  which  was  used  on  these 
occasions  in  one  of  the  Highgate  inns,  which 
either  "  kept  a  poet,''  or  had  a  host  who  was  fond  of 
rhyming.  We  take  it  from  Robert  Bell's  "  Ballads 
and  Songs  of  the  Peasantry  of  England;"  the 
author  states  that  it  was  supplied  to  him  by  a  very 
old  man,  who  had  been  an  ostler  at  Hiphgate. 
"  The  old  man,"  adds  Mr.  Bell,  "  told  him  that  it 
was  not  often  used  of  late  years,  as  '  there  was  no 
landlord  that  to  aid  sing,  and  gentlemen  preferred 
the  speech.'  He  also  owned  that  the  lines  were 
not  always  alike,  some  saying  them  one  way 
and  some  another,  some  making  them  long,  while 
others  cut  them  short : " — 


Eni 


The  Landlord  then  says  or  sings  as  follows  : 
Silence  !  O  yes  !  you  are  my  son  ! 
Full  to  your  old  father  turn,  sir  ; 
This  is  an  oath  you  may  take  as  you  run, 
So  lay  your  hand  thus  on  the  horn,  sir. 

[Here  the  Candidate  places  his  right  hand  cm 

the  horn. 
You  shall  not  spend  with  cheaters  or  cozens  your  life, 

Nor  waste  it  on  profligate  beauty  ; 
And  when  you  are  wedded,  be  kind  to  your  wife, 
And  true  to  all  petticoat  duty. 

[The  Candidate  says  " I  will,"  and  kisses  the 
horns,  in  obedience  It  the  Clerk,  who  ex- 
claims, in  a  loud  and  solemn  tone,  "Kiss 
the  horns,  sir." 
And  while  you  thus  solemnly  swear  to  be  kind, 

And  shield  and  protect  from  disaster, 
This  part  of  the  oath,  you  must  bear  it  in  mind, 
That  you  and  not  she  is  the  master. 

[Clerk  :  "A'iss  the  horns  again,  sir." 
You  shall  pledge  no  man  first  when  a  woman  is  near, 

For  'tis  neither  proper  nor  right,  sir  ; 
Nor,  unless  you  prefer  it,  drink  small  for  strong  beer, 
Nor  eat  brown  bread  when  you  can  get  white,  sir. 

[Clerk:  "A'iss  the  horns  again,  sir." 
You  shall  never  drink  brandy  when  wine  you  can  get, 

Say  when  good  port  or  skerry  is  handy, 
Unless  that  your  taste  on  strong  spirit  is  set, 
In  which  case  you  may,  sir,  drink  brandy, 

[Clerk  :  "A',ss  the  horns  again,  sir." 
To  kiss  the  fair  maid  when  the  mistress  is  kind 

Remember  that  you  must  be  loth,  sir  ; 
But  if  the  maid's  fairest,  your  oath  does  not  bind, 
Or  you  may,  if  you  like  it,  kiss  both,  sir. 

[Clerk  :  "A'iss  the  horns  again,  sir.'' 
Shoulil  you  ever  return,  take  this  oath  here  again, 

Like  a  man  of  good  sense,  leal  and  true,  sir  ; 
And  be  sure  to  bring  with  you  some  more  merry  men, 

That  they  on  the  horn  may  swear  too,  sir. 
landlord.   Now,  sir,  if  you  please,  sign  your  name  in  that 
book  ;  and  if  you  can't  write,  then  make  your  murk,  and  the 
Clerk  of  the  Court  will  attest  it. 

[fffre  one  of  the  above  requests  is  complied  nnth. 
Landlord.  You  will  now  please  to  pay  half-a-crown  for 
court  fees,  ami  what  you  please  to  the  Clerk. 

Tht  tifffssary  cercmonv  being  thus  gone  through,  the 
business  terminates  by  the  Landtfrd  saying  "  God 
bless  the  Kin:;  (or  Queen)  and  the  Lord  of  the 
Man,*-,"  to  whifh  the  Clerk  responds,  "Amen, 
amen'."1  A'.fi.  The  f curt  fees  are  ah<ays  returned 
in  vine,  spirits,  or  porter,  of  whifh  the  Landlord 
and  the  Clerk  are  invited  to  partake. 

It  will  now  be  seen  what  is  the  meaning  of  the 
old  proverb  as  applied  to  a  knowing  fellow : — "  He 


•r  Landlord,  dressed  in  a  black  gown  and  bands,  <m,l  has  been  sworn  at  Highgate."  The  words  are 
-ivarins  an  antique-fashioned  wig;  follmed  by  the  Clerk  applicable  to  a  person  who  is  well  acquainted 
of  the  Court,  aho  in  appropriate  whiMt,  and  earning  „.•!,  A  .,  •  J 


apfrofria, 

the  register  book  and  the  horns. 
Landlord.  Do  yon  wish  to  be  sworn  at  Highgate  ? 
Candidate.  I  do,  father. 
Clerk.  Amen. 


>y>"g ,  wjtn  good   things,   and  who  takes  care  to  help 
'  himself  to  the  best  of  all. 

Grose   speaks   of  this   whimsical   ceremony  at 
some  length  in  his  "  Classical   Dictionary  of  the 


THE   "GATE   HOUSE.' 


Vulgar  Tongue,"   published    in    1785,   and  it  is 
clear  from  what  he  says  that  even  in  his  day  the 


comicality,  according  to  the  wit  of  the  imposer  of 
the  oath,  and  the  simplicity  of  the  oath-taker ;  and, 


ceremony  was  very  ancient.  Hone's  "Year  Book"  |  as  might  be  expected,  the  ceremony  was  not  a  dry 
contains  also  a  full  account  of  the  ceremony,  as  it  j  one.  Scarcely  ever  did  a  stage-coach  stop  at  a 
was  performed  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  Highgate  tavern  in  those  days,  without  a  few  of 
century  at  the  "  Fox,"  or  (as  it  was  then  styled)  the  passengers  being  initiated  amidst  the  laughter 


"  The    Fox    under    the    Hill,"    an   inn    already 
mentioned   by  us.     Hone   does  not  throw  much 


of  the  rest,  the  landlord  usually  acting  as   high 
priest  on  the  occasion,  while  a  waiter 


light  on  the  origin  of  the  practice,  which,  doubtless,  ,  would  perform   the   duty  of  clerk,  and  sing  out 
is  as  old  as  the  Reformation,  and  was  originally  i  "  Amen "  at  all  the  proper  places, 
intended  as  a  parody  on  the  admission  of  neophytes  j      Although  some  ten  or  dozen  pairs  of  horns  are 
into   religious   guilds   and   confraternities   by  the  |  religiously  kept  in  as  many  of  the  chief  inns  in 
clergy  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Highgate,  where  they  pass  along  with  the  house  in 


Grose,  being  a  shallow  antiquary,  apparently 
regarded  it  as  a  piece  of  comparatively  modern 
tomfoolery,  got  up  by  some  landlord  "  for  the 


the  inventory  from  one  landlord  to  his  successor  ; 
yet,  singularly  enough,  none  of  the  register  books 
in  which  the  neophytes  were  wont  to  inscribe  their 


of  the  house."  A  correspondent,  however,  sub-  names  after  taking  the  oath,  are  now  known  to 
sequently  points  out  the  antiquity  of  the  custom,  j  exist  Their  loss  is  much  to  be  regretted,  as  in 
and  sends  a  copy  of  the  initiation  song,  which  all  probability,  as  we  have  above  intimated,  an 
varies,  however,  considerably  from  our  version  i  inspection  of  them  would  have  shown  that  many 
above.  persons  otherwise  celebrated  for  wisdom  made 

It  may  be  added  that  Grose  was  in  error  on  fools  of  themselves  at  least  once  in  their  lives, 
another  score,  as  Mr.  Robert  Bell  observes,  when  j  It  appears,  however,  from  an  article  in  the  Penny 
he  supposed  that  the  ceremony  was  confined  to  j  Magazine,  published  in  1832,  that  even  then  the 
the  lower  orders ;  for  both  when  he  wrote,  and  in  j  ceremony  had  been  abandoned  by  all  respectable 
subsequent  times,  the  oath,  absurd  as  it  is,  has  ;  members  of  society. 

often  been  taken  by  persons  of  rank  and  educa-  j  The  origin  of  this  singular  custom  is  variously 
tion  too.  An  inspection  of  the  register-books,  had  '  accounted  for.  One  is  that  it  was  devised  by  a 
any  still  existed,  would  doubtless  have  shown  that !  landlord  who  had  lost  his  licence,  and  who  used  it 
those  who  have  kissed  the  mystic  horn  at  Highgate  to  cover  the  sale  of  his  liquors.  Another,  and 
have  belonged  to  all  ranks  of  society,  and  that  more  probable  one,  is,  that  "  Highgate  being  the 
among  them  the  scholars  of  Harrow  have  always  i  nearest  spot  to  London  where  cattle  rested  on 
been  conspicuous-led  on,  no  doubt,  like  so  many  ,  their  way  from  the  North  to  Smithfield  for  sale, 
sheep  by  the  example  of  their  bellwether,  Lord  \  many  graziers  put  up  at  the  '  Gate  House  for  th 
Byron  When,  however,  the  stage-coaches  ceased  ^  night.  These  men  formed  a  kind  of  fiatern.tjr, 
to  pas's  through  Highgate,  the  custom  gradually  and  generally  endeavoured  to  secure  the  mn  for 
denned  and  appears  to  have  been  kept  up  at  their  exclusive  accommodation  on  certain  days, 
only  three  inns,  respectively  called  ••  The  Original  Finding,  however,  they  had  no  power  to  exclude 
House"  the  "Old  Original  House,"  and  the  "Real  ;  strangers,  who,  like  themselves,  were  travelling  on 


which,  in  deference  ,0  ,,,ode,n  nono.s  of  eco»» .   mod  »  ^  ^^  ^  ^ 


:r:t^^ 

him  a  person  to  act  as  clerk  and  b,  •  ,  ™«  ^  ^  ^  Q{  ^  .^  however>  are  still 

Tcourse  there  was  room  for  a  luxuriance  of|tO  be  seen  a  gigantic  pair  of  mounted  horns,  the 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


same,  it  is  affirmed,  which  were  used  in  the 
administration  of  the  Highgate  oath. 

In  Hone's  time  the  principal  inn,  the  "Gate 
House,"  had  stag-horns,  as  had  also  the  "  Mitre," 
the  "  Green  Dragon,"  the  "  Bell,"  the  "  Rose  and 
Crown,"  the  "  Bull,"  the  "  Wrestlers,"  the  "  Lord 
Nelson,"  the  "  Duke  of  Wellington,"  the  "  Crown," 
and  the  "  Duke's  Head."  Bullocks'  horns  were 
used  at  the  "Red  Lion"  and  "Sun,"  and  rams- 
horns  at  the  "  Coach  and  Horses,"  the  "  Castle," 
the  "  Red  Lion,"  the  "  Coopers'  Arms,"  the  "  Fox 
and  Hounds,"  the  "  Flask,"  and  the  "  Angel."  At 
each  of  the  above  houses  the  horns  were  mounted 
on  a  stick,  to  serve  in  the  mock  ceremonial  when 
required. 

In  some  cases  there  was  also  a  pair  of  mounted 
horns  over  the  door  of  the  house,  as  designed  to 
give  the  chance  passengers  the  assurance  that  the 
merry  ceremonial  was  practised  there;  and  Mr. 
Thome  states  that  at  one  inn  in  Highgate  the  horns 
are  still  to  be  seen  on  the  outside  of  the  house.  It 
is  acknowledged  that  there  were  great  differences 
in  the  ceremonial  at  different  houses,  some  land- 
lords having  much  greater  command  of  wit  than 
others. 

In  the  good  old  days,  "  when  George  III.  was 
king,"  societies  and  corporations,  and  groups  of 
workpeople,  who  were  admitting  a  new  member 
or  associate,  would  come  out  in  a  body  to  High- 
gate,  to  have  him  duly  sworn  upon  the  "  horns," 
and  to  enjoy  an  afternoon's  merrymaking  at  his 
expense. 

The  only  historical  fact  which  has  been  pre- 
served regarding  this  singular  custom,  is  that  a 
song  embodying  the  burlesque  oath  was  intro- 
duced in  a  pantomime  at  the  Haymarket  Theatre 
in  1742. 

If  we  can  put  faith  in  Byron — in  the  lines  quoted 
as  a  motto  to  this  chapter — parties  of  young  people, 
under  (it  is  to  be  hoped)  proper  superintendence, 
would  dance  away  the  night  after  an  initiation  at 
the  "Horns."  It  may  be  added  that  similar 
customs  prevailed  in  oilier  places  besides  High- 
gate,  such  as  at  Ware,  at  the  "  Griffin  "  at  Hod- 
desdon,  and  other  villages. 

The  "Angel  Inn,"  on  the  crest  of  the  hill,  just 
opposite  the  old  village  forge,  is  remarkable  for  its 
antiquity,  dating  probably  from  before  the  era  of  the 
Reformation.  It  is  one  of  the  few  hostelries  now 
standing  which  are  built  wholly  of  wood.  Doubt- 
less it  was  originally  the  "Salutation"  Inn;  and 
when,  at  the  Reformation,  the  Virgin  Mary  was 
struck  out  of  the  signboard,  the  Angel  remained, 
and  so  became  the  sign. 

Whilst  on  the  subject  of  taverns  and  houses  of 


public  entertainment,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to 
speak  of  the  celebrated  "  Sunday  ordinary,  at  one 
shilling  per  head,"  at  one  of  the  Highgate  inns,  to 
which  in  former  times  the  London  citizens  flocked 
in  great  numbers.  A  curious  print,  representing 
some  of  the  characters  who  frequented  this  ordi- 
nary, was  published  by  Harrison  and  Co.,  towards 
the  close  of  the  last  century.  Mr.  Palmer,  in 
his  "  History  of  St.  Pancras,"  tells  the  following 
touching  story  in  connection  with  this  ordinary: — 
"  A  constant  visitor  at  this  table  d'hote  was  ac- 
customed to  take  considerable  notice  of  a  very 
attractive  young  girl  who  waited  at  table,  and 
from  passing  observations  drew  her  at  length  to 
become  the  partner  of  his  Sunday  evening  rambles. 
After  some  time  he  made  known  his  passion  to  the 
object  of  his  affection,  and  was  accepted.  He 
informed  her  that  his  occupation  would  detain  him 
from  her  all  the  week,  but  that  he  should  dine  at 
home  on  Sunday,  and  leave  regularly  on  the 
Monday  morning.  He  would  invest  in  her  own 
name  and  for  her  exclusive  use  .£2,000  in  the 
Three  per  Cent.  Consols  on  their  marriage  ;  but  she 
was  not  to  seek  to  discover  who  he  was  or  what  he 
did,  for  should  she  once  discover  it  he  would  never 
return  to  her  again.  Strange  as  were  the  terms, 
she  acquiesced,  and  was  married,  and  everything 
went  on  for  a  long  time  amicably  and  comfortably. 
At  length  her  woman's  nature  could  hold  out  no 
longer ;  she  must  at  all  hazards  discover  her 
husband's  secret.  She  tried  to  suppress  the  desire, 
for  she  really  loved  him  ;  but  Eve-like,  she  could 
resist  no  longer ;  and  therefore  on  his  leaving  her 
as  usual  one  Monday  morning,  she  disguised 
herself  as  well  as  she  could,  and  followed  him  from 
Highgate  to  London,  when  he  entered  a  low 
coffee-shop,  from  whence  after  a  while  he  issued — 
yes,  lier  husband — in  the  meanest  possible  dress, 
and  with  a  broom  began  to  sweep  the  crossing 
near  Charing  Cross.  This  was  more  than  she 
could  bear ;  she  made  herself  known,  and  reviled 
him  for  his  deceit.  After  an  angry  discussion 
she  saw  her  husband  return  to  the  coffee-shop, 
again  dress  himself  in  his  gentlemanly  attire,  and 
bidding  her  farewell,  depart,  no  more  to  return. 
Grieved  and  annoyed,  she  returned  to  Highgate ; 
his  marriage  bestowment  maintained  her  in  comfort, 
but  it  left  her  solitary  and  alone." 

Close  by  the  old  gate,  at  the  summit  of  the  hill, 
and  opposite  the  tavern  now  known  as  the  "  Gate 
House,"  stood,  till  the  year  1 833,  the  chapel  and 
school  of  Highgate,  which  dated  their  origin  from 
the  sixteenth  century,  as  the  following  minute 
records : — "  Mdum  that  the  fyrst  stone  of  the  Chapell 
and  free  Scoole  at  Higate  was  leyd  the  3rd  day  of 


THE  OLD  CHAPEL. 


Tulye  1576,  and  the  same  Chapell  and  Scoole  was 


finished  in  Sept' 


There  had,  however,  been 


charges  this  publiqve  and  free  gramer  schole;  and 
procvred  the  same  to  be  established  and  confirmed 
by  the  letters  patents  of  queen  Elizabeth,  her  en- 
dowinge  the  same  with  yearly  maintaynance  ;  which 
schoole  Edwyn  Sandys  Ld  bishop  of  London  en- 
larged an0  D'ni  1565  by  the  addition  of  this  chapel 
for  divine  service  and  by  other  endowments  of 
pietie  and  devotion.  Since  which  the  said  chappel 
hath  been  enlarged  by  the  pietie  and  bounty  of 
divers  honblc  and  worthy  personages.  This  inscrip- 
tion was  renewed  anno  D'ni  1668  by  the  governors 
of  the  said  schoole." 

From  the  above  inscription  some  doubts  were 
raised  as  to  the  exact  date  of  the  erection  of  the 
chapel;  and  about  the  year  1822,  when  the  new 
church  was  first  projected,  a  warm  controversy 
sprung  up  respecting  it.  The  main  subject  of 
the  dispute,  however,  was  the  right  of  property  in 
the  chapel,  whether  it  was  vested  entirely  in  the 
governors  of  the  school,  or  shared  by  the  inhabi- 
tants. "The  truth  appears  to  have  been,"  writes 
Mr.  Nichols,  "that  the  chapel  was  actually  the 
property  of  the  charity,  as  well  by  grant  from  the 
Bishop  of  London,  the  ancient  patron  of  the  her- 
mitage, as  by  letters  patent  from  the  Crown,  and 
also  by  transfer  from  a  third  party,  who  had  pro- 
chappie  for  the  ease  of  that  part  of  the  countrey,  \  cured  a  grant  of  it  from  the  queen  as  a  suppressed 
for  that  they  are  within  the  parish  of  Pancras,  religious  foundation ;  that  for  the  first  century  and 
which  is  distant  thence  neere  two  miles.'  "  j  a  half  the  inhabitants  had  been  allowed  to  have 

Hughson,  in  his  "  History  of  London,"  tells  us  seats  gratuitously;  and  that  about  the  year  1723 
that,  though  the  site  of  the  hermitage  in  ancient  the  pews  had  been  converted  into  a  source  of 
times  is  idealised,  little  is  known  about  it.  Nor  is  income  for  the  school." 

this  wonderful,  for  does  not  the  poet  write-  I      With  regard  to  the  association  of  the  name  of 

«  Far  in  a  wild,  remote  from  public  view,  I  Bishop  Sandys  with  the  date  1565,  one  error  is 

From  youth  to  age  a  reverend  hermit  grew?  "  '  manifest,  for  he  was   not  Bishop  of  London  until 

^firSi-r^i^^^^^^^^ 

SS&SS2SB  ££££££  -«•""  h<  ^ lhe  >-  ~  **""° 


a  chapel  on  this  spot  from  at  least  the  fourteenth 
century;  for,  in  the  year  1386,  Bishop  Braybroke 
gave  "  to  William  Lichfield,  a  poor  hermit,  op- 
pressed by  age  and  infirmity,  the  office  of  keeping 
our  chapel  of  Highgate,  by  our  park  of  Haringey, 
and  the  house  annexed  to  the  said  chapel,  hitherto 
accustomed  to  be  kept  by  other  poor  hermits." 
This  institution  is  noticed  by  Newcourt,  in  his 
"  Repertorium,"  but  he  had  met  with  one  other,  by 
which  Bishop  Stokesley, in  1531,  "gave  the  chapel, 
then  called  the  chapel  of  St.  Michael,  in  the  parish 
of  Hornesey,  to  William  Forte,  with  the  messuage, 
garden,  and  orchard,  and  their  appurtenances, 
with  all  tenths,  offerings,  profits,  advantages,  and 
emoluments  whatever."  "  Regarding  these  hermits," 
writes  Mr.  J.  Gough  Nichols,  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine,  "  we  have  this  further  information,  or 
rather  tradition,  related  by  the  proto-topographer 
of  Middlesex:  'Where  now  (1596)  the  Schole 
standeth  was  a  hermytage,  and  the  hermyte  caused 
to  be  made  the  causway*  betweene  Highgate  and 
Islington,  and  the  gravell  was  bad  from  the  top 
of  Highgate  hill,  where  is  now  a  standinge  ponde 
of  water.  There  is  adjoining  unto  the  schole  a 


together  with  certain  houses,  edifices,  gardens,  and 
orchards,  and  also  two  acres  of  pasture  abutting  on 
the  king's  highway. 

The  edifice  was  a  singular,  dull,  and  heavy  non-  [ 
descript  sort  of  building  of  brick  and  stone.  It  j 
consisted  of  a  nave,  chancel,  two  aisles,  and 
galleries,  together  with  a  low  squye  embattled  , 
tower  at  the  western  end,  flanked  on  either  side 
by  a  porch  with  a  semicircular-headed  doorway. 
Above  the  lowest  window  of  the  tower,  between  j 
the  two  doorways,  was  a  stone  bearing  the  follow- 
ing  inscription  : — 


Repertoriu 

A  searching  examination  which  the  records 


of  the  school  have"  since  undergone,  has  disclosed 


that  the  correct  date  is  either  1575  or  1576  ;  for 
it  was  in  the  former  year  that  the  rebuilding  was 
projected;  and  in  the  latter,  when  it  had  not  far 

see  of  York.  The  alteration  of  the  date  was  pro- 
bably accidentally  made  when  the  inscription  was 

One  portion  of  the  old  chapel  had  a  very  extra- 
ordinary appearance ;  for  small  round  windows 
were  placed  directly  over  the  round-headed  long 
-  '  '  ind  its  dot.  These 


r f  c :  ones,  not  unlike  the  letter 

Sir  Roger  Cholmeley  knt,  L1  chiefe  baron iol^   ^^  wmdows  originally  lighted  three  rooms  be- 


exchequer,  and  after  that  Ld  chiefe  justice  of  the 
king's  bench,  did  institvte  and  erect  at  his  own 


longing  to  the  master's  house,  which,  down  to  near 
the  close  of  the  last  century,  stood  over  the  body 


of  the  chapel. 


The  edifice  had  undergone  fou 


OLD    AND    NEW   LONDON. 


several  repairs  and  enlargements  between  the  years  in  1637  ;  also  a  monument  to  the  memory  of 
1616  and  1772,  and  also,  probably,  another  when  ;  Dr.  Lewis  Atterbury  (brother  of  the  celebrated 
the  inscription  was  renewed  in  1668.  The  repairs  bishop),  who  was  preacher  here.  This  monument, 
in  1720  seem  to  have  been  important,  as  they  in-  on  the  chapel  being  pulled  down  for  the  erection 

of  the  present  church  of  St.  Michael, 
was  removed  to  Hornsey  Church,  of 
which  Dr.  Atterbury  had  been  vicar. 
Sir  Francis  Pemberton,  Chief  Justice 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  who  died 
at  his  residence  in  Highgate,  was  buried 
in  the  old  chapel ;  as  also  was  Sir  John 
Wollaston,  the  founder  of  the  alms- 
houses  in  Southwood  Lane.  On  the 
demolition  of  the  chapel,  several  of  the 
monuments  and  tablets  were  removed 
to  the  new  church.  The  chapel  en- 
joyed some  celebrity  and  popular 
favour  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne 
and  George  I.,  when  it  was  the  only 


PEL,    HIOIIGATE,     1830.      (i>tt  pagt   418.) 


curred  an  expense  of  more  than  ,£1,000,  of  which 
sum  ^700  were  contributed  by  Mr.  Edward  Paunce- 
fort,  treasurer  to  the  charity,  and  the  balance  by 
the  inhabitants  of  Highgate.  Again,  in  1772,  the 
body  of  the  chapel  was,  in  a  great  measure,  re- 
built; and  it  was  then  that  its  ceiling  was  raised 
by  the  removal  of  the  three  rooms  above  men- 
tioned. Within  the  chapel  was  a  monument  to 
William  Platt,  Esq.  (the  founder  of  some  fellow- 
ships in  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge),  who  died 


place  of  worship  in  a  rather  extensive  neighbour- 
hood, and  was  consequently  a  centre  of  attraction 
to  persons  of  all  classes,  who,  after  service  was 
over,  used  to  promenade  the  terraced  sides  of 
the  Green.  One  of  its  ministers  was  the  Rev. 
Henry  Felton,  D.D.,  well  known  as  the  author  of 
a  learned  "  Dissertation  on  the  Classics,"  and  some- 
time Principal  of  St,  Edmund's  Hall,  Oxford. 

Becoming  inadequate  to  the  accommodation  of 
the   inhabitants  of  the    neighbourhood,  and    part 


THE   GRAMMAR   SCHOOL. 


passing  into  a  state  of  dilapidation,  it  was  taken 
down  in  1 833.  The  area  of  the  chapel  for  many 
years  formed  the  burial-ground  for  the  hamlet; 
and  till  1866  it  remained  much  in  its  original  con- 
dition. In  it  stood,  among  other  tombs,  that  of 
Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge,  the  poet  and  philo- 
sopher, who  during  the  latter  period  of  his  life 
resided  at  Highgate,  and  where  he  died  in  1834. 
The  tomb  itself  is  now  to  be  seen  in  the  resusci- 
tated chapel  of  the  Grammar  School. 


Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England,  about  the  year  of 
Christ  1564:  the  pencion  (sic)  of  the  master  is 
uncertaine;  there  is  no  usher,  and  the  schole  is 
now  in  the  disposition  of  six  governors,  or  feoffees. 
Where  now  the  schole  standeth  was  a  hermitage, 
and  the  hermit  made  the  causeway  between  High- 
gate  and  Islington."  From  the  same  authority  we 
leam  that  Sir  Roger  Cholmeley  "instituted  and 
erected  the  schole "  at  his  owne  charges,  obtain- 
ing a  confirmation  by  letters  patent  from  Queen 


JORCHESTER   HOUSE,    I7<X>.       (-!>'«  pagt  424') 


Sir  Roger  Cholmeley,  the  founder  of  the  Grammar 
School,  and  the  great  benefactor  of  Highgate,  was 
in  high  favour  under  Henry  VII.,  who  bestowed 
on  him  the  manor  of  Hampstead.  He  held  the 
post  of  Chief  Justice  under  Mary ;  but  was  com- 
mitted to  the  Tower  for  drawing  up  the  will  of 
Edward  VI.,  in  which  he  disinherited  his  sisters. 
He  spent  his  declining  years  in  literary  retirement 
at  "Hornsey"  — probably  at  no  great  distance 
from  the  school  which  he  had  founded— and  died 
in  1565. 

We  meet  with  the  following  description  of  the 
school  and  its  situation  in  Norden's  "Speculum 
Britannia:"-"  At  this  place  is  a  free  school  bu.lt 
of  brick,  by  Sir  R.  Cholmeley,  knight,  some  time 


Elizabeth,  who  was  always  ready  to  welcome 
and  encourage  such  improvements,  and  may  be 
supposed  to  have  taken  a  personal  interest  in  one 
which  lay  so  close  to  her  own  royal  chase  and 
hunting  ground.  It  appears,  from  Norden,  that 
the  chapel  was  added  in  order  to  enlarge  the 
school ;  but  how  this  addition  was  calculated  to 
effect  such  an  end  does  not  appear,  unless  the 
pew-rents  or  endowment  of  the  chaplain  were 
added  to  the  salary  of  the  schoolmaster,  and  this, 
1  as  we  have  shown  above,  really  seems  to  have 
been  the  case. 

It  is  perhaps  worthy  of  note  that  Mr.  Carter, 
who  was  master  of  the  school  during  the  civil  wars, 
was  ejected  and  treated  with  great  cruelty  by  the 


422 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Highgate. 


Puritans.  Walker,  in  his  "Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,' 
says  that  he  was  "  turned  out  of  the  house  with  his 
family  whilst  his  wife  was  in  labour,  and  that  she 
was  delivered  in  the  church  porch."  Another  fact 
to  be  recorded  is  that  Master  Nicholas  Rowe 
the  poet  and  Shakespearian  commentator,  was  a 
scholar  here. 

It  would  appear  from  the  "  Account  of  Public 
Charities,"  published  in  1828,  that  the  forty  boys 
in  the  school  were  then  taught  no  classics,  and 
that,  although  the  "reader"  of  the  chapel  was 
charged  with  their  education,  the  latter  performed 
his  duty  by  deputy,  and  that  his  deputy  was  the 
sexton !  It  is  somewhat  sarcastically  added  by 
the  compilers  of  the  "  Account,"  that  "  this  forms 
the  only  instance  we  have  met  of  the  conversion 
of  a  grammar  foundation  into  a  school  of  English 
literature  ! "  This  school,  it  may  be  added,  lias 
several  scholarships  and  exhibitions  for  boys  who 
are  proceeding  to  the  universities,  and  has  for 
some  years  held  a  high  place  among  the  leading 
grammar  schools  of  the  second  class,  under  Dr. 
Dyne  and  his  successor.  It  now  numbers  upwards 
of  two  hundred  scholars.  The  school  has  attached 
to  it  a  cricket  and  football  field  of  about  ten  acres, 
on  the  north  side  of  the  road  leading  to  Caen 
Wood  and  Hampstead  Heath.  The  ground  was 
in  great  part  paid  for  by  donations  of  friends  of 
the  school,  and  an  annual  payment  added  to  the 
boys'  fees.  A  pavilion  also  was  erected  by  the 
donations  of  "old  boys."  On  this  ground  the 
croquet  tournament  of  all  England  was  held  in 
1869.  The  original  school  buildings,  as  erected 
by  Cholmeley,  disappeared  many  years  ago.  A 
new  school-house  was  erected  in  1819.  but  this 
having  at  length  become  inadequate  for  the  wants 
of  the  pupils,  it  was,  at  the  tercentenary  of  the 
school  which  was  celebrated  in  June,  1865,  deter- 
mined to  raise  new  buildings.  The  old  school 
was  accordingly  taken  down  in  1866,  and  rebuilt 
from  the  design  of  Mr.  E.  Cockerell.  It  is  now  a 
handsome  Gothic  structure  (if  red  brick,  with  stone 
dressings,  and  has  attached  to  it  a  handsome 
chapel  in  a  similar  style  of  architecture,  and  a 
spacious  library,  school-room,  and  class-rooms. 
The  chapel,  built  in  remembrance  of  Mr.  George 
Abraham  Crawley,  a  governor  of  the  school,  was 
the  gift  of  his  widow  and  family  ;  the  expense  in- 
curred in  the  erection  of  the  library  was  mostly  paid 
for  by  funds  raised  by  former  scholars. 

Southwood  Lane  is  the  name  of  a  narrow  and 
irregular  road  which  runs  in  a  south-easterly 
direction  across  from  the  back  of  Sir  R.  Cholmeley's 
school  to  the  "Woodman,"  and  leads  thence  to 
Muswell  Hill.  In  this  lane,  in  the  year  1658,  Sir 


John  Wollaston  founded  six  almshouses,  which  he  ' 
devised,  with  their  appurtenances,  to  the  governors 
of  the  Free  School,  "in  trust  for  the  use  of  six 
poor  alms  people,  men  and  women,  of  honest  life 
and  conversation,  inhabitants  of  Hornsey  and  High- 
gate."  In  1722  the  almshouses  were  doubled  in 
number  and  rebuilt,  as  a  stone  over  the  entrance  in- 
forms us,  at  the  expense  of  Mr.  Edward  Pauncefort, 
who  likewise  founded  and  endowed  a  charity-school 
for  girls.  The  school,  however,  appears,  through 
some  neglect,  to  have  loet  much  of  the  endowment 
designed  for  it  by  the  founder.  The  Baptist 
chapel  in  this  lane  is  one  of  the  oldest  buildings  in 
the  parish,  having  been  founded  as  a  Presbyterian 
chapel  as  far  back  as  1662.  In  course  of  time 
the  Unitarians  settled  here,  when  the  chapel  had 
among  its  ministers  David  Williams,  the  "  High 
Priest  of  Nature,"  and  founder  of  the  Literaiy 
Fund,  of  which  we  have  spoken  in  our  notice 
of  Bloomsbury  Square.*  Dr.  Barbauld  and  DrJ& 
Alexander  Crombie  were  also  ministers  here. 
Early  in  the  present  century  the  chapel  passed  int<x-i 
he  hands  of  the  Baptists. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  lane  stands  a  largej 
modern  brick  mansion  known  as  Park  House.  The| 
•\sylum   for  Idiots  was  founded  here  in  1847,  by3 
Dr.  Andrew  Reed  ;  but  about  eight  years  later  wa$; 
ransplanted  to  more  spacious  buildings  at  Earls- 
rood,  near  Red  Hill,  in  Surrey.     In  1863,  Park 
House   was   purchased,   and    converted   into    the  •!' 
London  Diocesan  Penitentiary. 

The  new  Church  of  St.  Michael  stands  at  some' 
ittle  distance  from  the  site  of  the  old  chapel,  on 
he  summit  of  the  hill,   overlooking  the  cemetery 
on  the  one  side  and  Highgate  Grove  on  the  other  ; 
ind,  as  we  have  stated  in  the  preceding  chapter,  it 
occupies  the  site  of  the  old  mansion  built  by  Sir 
William  Ashurst,  who  was  Lord  Mayor  of  London 
n    1694.     It    is   a   poor   and   ugly   sham   Gothic  j 
structure,    though    the   spire    looks    well    from    a 
listance.     It  was  built  from  the  designs  of  Mr. 
Lewis  Vulliamy,   and  was  thought  to  be  a  won- 
lerful  triumph  of  ecclesiastical  art   when    it   was 
;onsecrated  in   1832.     At  the  end  overlooking  the  " 
cemetery  is  a   magnificent    stained-glass   window,  ' 
epresenting  the  Saviour  and  the  apostles,  the  gift  I 
of  the  Rev.  C.  Mayo,  many  years  preacher  in  the! 
old   chapel.      It   was   executed    in    Rome.      The| 
jorder   contains   several  coats  of  arms  from   the! 
vindows   of  the   old   chapel.      There   are   a   few 
nteresting  monuments  removed   hither  from   the  J 
former  edifice  ;  but  that  which  is  most  worthy  of 
lotice  is  a  tablet  erected  to  the  memory  of  Cole- 

•  Sec  Vol.  IV.,  p.  543. 


Highgate.J 


MRS.   CHISHOLM. 


ridge,  of  whose  tomb  we  have  spoken  above.     It  | 
bears  the  following  inscription  : — 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of 
SAMUEL    TAYLOR    COLERIDGE, 

Poet,  Philosopher,  Theologian. 

This  truly  great  and  good  man  resided  for 

The  last  nineteen  years  of  his  life 

In  this  Hamlet. 
He  quitted  "  the  body  of  his  death," 

July  25th,  1834, 

In  the  sixty-second  year  of  his  age. 
Of  his  profound  learning  and  discursive  genius 
His  literary  works  are  an  imperishable  record. 

To  his  private  worth, 

His  social  and  Christian  virtues, 

JAMES  AND  ANN  GILLMAN, 

The  friends  with  whom  he  resided 

During  the  above  period,  dedicate  this  tablet. 

Under  the  pressure  of  a  long 

And  most  painful  disease 

His  disposition  was  unalterably  sweet  and  angelic. 
He  was  an  ever-enduring,  ever-loving  friend, 

The  gentlest  and  kindest  teacher, 

The  most  engaging  home  companion. 

"  O  framed  for  calmer  times  and  nobler  hearts, 

O  studious  poet,  eloquent  for  truth  J 

Philosopher,  contemning  wealth  and  death, 

Yet  docile,  child-like,  full  of  life  and  love." 

Here, 
On  this  monumental  stone  thy  friends  inscribe  thy  worth. 

Reader  !  for  the  world  mourn. 

A  Light  has  passed  away  from  the  earth  ! 

But  for  this  pious  and  exalted  Christian 

41  Rejoice,  and  again  I  say  unto  you,  Rejoice  ! " 

Ubi 
Thesaurus 

ibi 

Cor. 
S.  T.  C. 

Besides  the  celebrities  whose  names  we  have 
already  mentioned,  Highgate  has  been  the  home 
of  many  others.  Lord  Southampton  had  a  mansion 
here,  called  Fitzroy  House,  which  was  situated  in 
Fitzroy  Park,  adjoining  Caen  Wood.  It  was  built 
about  the  year  1780,  and  is  said  to  have  been  a 
handsome  square  brick  building.  Lord  South- 
ampton was  the  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Totten- 
hall,  or  Tottenham  Court,  in  whose  family  it  still 
remains.  In  the  rooms  of  the  mansion  were 
portraits  of  Henry,  the  first  Duke  of  Grafton ; 
<  leorge,  Earl  of  Euston  ;  and  Charles,  Duke  of 
Crafton.  The  Duke  of  Buckingham  resided  at 
Fitzroy  House  in  1811.  In  1828  the  mansion 
was  taken  down,  and  the  park  sub-divided  and 
improved  by  the  erection  of  several  elegant  villas. 

Mrs.  Caroline  Chisholm  has  lived  at  Highgate, 
on  the  Hill,  for  some  years.  A  native  of  Wootton, 
in  Northamptonshire,  she  was  born  about  the  year 


1810.  Her  father,  Mr.  William  Jones,  was  a  man 
of  most  philanthropic  character,  which  his  daughter 
inherited  from  him.  The  energy  of  her  character 
was  exercised  for  the  benefit  of  the  needy  of  her 
own  neighbourhood,  until  her  marriage  with 
Captain  Alexander  Chisholm,  of  the  Indian  army, 
removed  her  to  a  more  extended  sphere  of  useful- 
ness. The  name  of  Mrs.  Chisholm  will  be  best 
remembered  as  the  champion  of  the  cause  of 
emigration  in  various  social  phases,  when  grievances 
of  any  kind  required  to  be  redressed.  Among  her 
efforts  in  this  direction  may  be  mentioned  the 
consigning  of  two  shiploads  of  children  from 
various  workhouses  to  their  parents  in  Australia  at 
the  expense  of  the  Government.  A  similar  success 
attended  her  efforts  on  behalf  of  convicts'  wives, 
who  had  been  promised  free  transmission,  in 
certain  cases  of  meritorious  behaviour  on  the  part 
of  their  husbands.  Her  greatest  achievement, 
however,  was  the  establishment  of  the  Female 
Colonisation  Loan  Society,  for  the  promotion  of 
female  emigration. 

In  1724,  died  at  his  house  in  the  Grove,  Dr. 
Henry  Sacheverel,*  the  great  leader  of  the  Tory 
party  in  the  factions  of  1709.  He  was  a  bigoted 
High  Churchman,  and  his  sermons  were  the  brands 
to  set  the  Established  Church  on  fire.  For  ex- 
pressions in  his  writings  he  was  impeached  and 
brought  to  the  bar  of  the  House ;  but  far  from 
disowning  his  writings,  he  gloried  in  what  he  had 
done.  His  trial  lasted  three  weeks,  and  excluded 
all  other  public  business  for  the  time,  when  his 
sermons  were  voted  scandalous  and  seditious  libels. 
The  queen  was  present  as  a  private  spectator. 
His  sentence  prohibited  him  from  preaching  for 
three  years,  and  his  sermons  were  ordered  to  be 
burnt  by  the  common  hangman.  '  The  following 
anecdote  is  recorded  : — A  portrait  of  this  divine, 
with  the  initials  S.  T.  P.  attached  to  his  name 
(signifying  Sanctuz  Thcologice  Professor],  was  hanging 
up  in  a  shop  window,  where  some  persons  looking 
at  it,  asked  the  meaning  of  the  affix,  when  Thomas 
Bradbury,  the  Nonconformist  minister,  hearing 
the  inquiry,  and  catching  a  glimpse  of  the  print  in 
passing,  put  his  head  among  them,  and  adroitly  said, 
"  Stupid,  Troublesome  Puppy,"  and  passed  on. 

Sir  Richard  Baker,  author  of  the  "Chronicles" 
which  bear  his  name,  died  at  his  residence  in 
Highgate  at  the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth 
century ;  as  also  did  Sir  Thomas  Cornwallis,  a  man 
who  had  acquired  considerable  eminence  in  the 
reigns  of  Edward  VI.  and  Queen  Mary.  Here 
lived  Sir  Henry  Blunt,  one  of  the  earliest  travellers 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[High*** 


in  Turkey,  and  also  Sir  John  Pettus,  a  distinguished 
mineralogist.  The  great  Arbuthnott  seems  also  to 
have  been  at  one  time  a  resident  here,  for  it 
appears  from  a  chance  expression  in  one  of  Dean 
Swift's  letters,  that  he  was  obliged  to  quit  Highgate 
by  the  res  angiista  donti. 

Dorchester  House,  a  large  mansion  of  note  here, 
was  formerly  the  seat  of  Henry  Marquis  of  Dor- 
chester, and  was  used  in  the  middle  of  the  last 
century  as  a  ladies'  hospital.  Part  of  Grove  Row 
covers  the  site  of  this  house,  which  was  devoted 
by  its  owner,  William  Blake,  a  draper  of  Covent 
Garden,  to  a  most  excellent  charity,  the  failure  of 
which  is  deeply  to  be  lamented,  as  its  only  fault 
appears  to  have  been  that  it  was  in  advance  of  the 
selfish  age  which  witnessed  its  birth.  The  mansion 
bore  the  name  of  its  former  owner,  the  Marquis  of 
Dorchester,  from  whom  Blake  purchased  it  early 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  for  .£5,000— all  that 
he  possessed— with  the  intention  of  establishing  it 
as  a  school  or  hospital  for  forty  fatherless  boys  and 
girls.  "  The  boys  were  to  be  taught  the  arts  of 
painting,  gardening,  casting  accounts,  and  naviga- 
tion, or  put  out  to  some  good  handicraft  trade. 
The  girls  were  to  learn  to  read,  write,  sew,  starch, 
raise  paste,  and  make  dresses,  so  as  to  be  fitted  for 
any  kind  of  service,  thus  anticipating  the  orphan 
working  schools  of  our  own  time.  When  he  sunk 
his  money  in  this  purchase,  he  hoped,  and  no  doubt 
believed,  that  the  benevolence  of  the  wealthy  would 
furnish  the  means  for  its  support.  But  here  he 
was  doomed  to  disappointment."  Far  from  being 
so  fortunate  as  Franke  of  Halle,  or  the  Cure  d'Ars, 
or  Miiller  of  IJristol,  he  found  charity  much  colder 
than  he  existed.  Having  exhausted  his  own 
resources,  he  made  earnest  appeals  to  the  titled 
personages  and  city  ladies  of  I^ondon,  but  in  vain. 
For  some  time,  indeed,  his  generous  establishment 
struggled  on.  \'.\  1667  there  were  maintained  and 
educated  in  it  thirty-si?:  poor  boys,  dressed  in  a 
costume  of  blue  and  yellow  -not  unlike  that  of 
the  boys  of  Christ's  Hospital.  It  still  existed  in 
1675,  but  it  cannot  be  traced  later  than  1688,  or 
about  twenty  years.  In  order  to  describe  and 
recommend  the  institution  which  lay  so  near  to 
his  heart,  Blake  wrote  and  published  a  curious 
book,  called  ''Silver  Drops;  or,  Serious  Things." 
It  is  written  in  a  most  eccentric  style.  He  speaks 
of  the  place  as  meant  "  at  first  only  for  a  summer 
recess  from  London,  which,  having  that  great  and 
noble  city,  with  its  numerous  childhood,  under 
view,  gave  first  thought  to  him  of  such  a  design." 
Mr.  Howitt  infers  from  the  style,  which  is  "  almost 
insane,"  and  from  the  "  nobility  of  soul  straggling 
thiough  it,"  the  piety  and  spirituality,  the  desire  to 


have  the  boys  taught  the  art  of  painting,  and 
finally  from  the  name  of  William  Blake,  that  the 
"  strange  and  good  "  founder  must  have  been  the 
grandfather  or  great-grandfather  of  the  "  eccentric 
but  inspired  writer-artist "  of  the  same  name,  whom 
we  have  already  mentioned  more  than  once  in  our 
account  of  the  neighbourhood  of  Oxford  Street, 
and  whose  father  is  known  to  have  been  a  hosier 
in  Carnaby  Market,  not  far  from  Covent  Garden. 
A  view  of  the  mansion  is  engraved  in  Lysons" 
"  Environs,"  and  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,*  and 
also  in  William  Howitt 's  "  Northern  Heights  of 
London." 

Part  of  the  site  of  Dorchester  House  is  now  also 
covered  by  Pemberton  Row,  in  which,  says  Mr. 
Prickett  in  his  "  History  of  Highgate,"  a  part  of 
the  materials  of  the  old  building  seem  to  have  been 
utilised  ;  for  "  on  examining  the  elevation  of  Dor- 
chester House  with  Pemberton  Row,  a  remarkable 
similitude  will  appear  in  the  character  and  style  of 
the  pedimented  dormers,  cornices,  and  heavy  roofs." 
Among  the  early  occupants  of  the  houses  erected- 
after  the  removal  of  Dorchester  House,  was  Sir 
Francis  Pemberton,  a  distinguished  judge  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  Sir  Henry  Chauncy  gives  a 
very  high  character  of  him  in  his  "  History  of  Hert- 
fordshire,"  and  there  is  a  portrait  of  him  among 
the  "  Council  of  the  Seven  Bishops."  The  row  of 
houses  has  since  borne  his  name. 

Dorchester  House  itself  stood  on  the  west  side 
of  the  Grove  or  Green,  and  the  house  occupied 
by  Mr.  Gillman,  the  surgeon,  who  had  Coleridge 
as  his  inmate,  stands  on  another  portion  of  its  site. 
Charles  Lamb  and  Henry  Crabb  Robinson  were 
frequent  visitors  of  Coleridge  whilst  he  was  living 
here;  in  the  "  Diary"  of  the  latter,  under  date  of 
July,  1816,  we  read  : — "I  walked  to  Bechcr's,  and 
he  accompanied  me  to  Mr.  Gillman's,  an  apothecary 
at  Highgate,  with  whom  Coleridge  is  now  staying. 
!  He  seems  already  to  have  profited  by  his  absti- 
j  nence  from  opium,  for  I  never  saw  him  look  so 
1  well."  Mr.  Thorne,  in  his  "  Knvirons  of  London," 

!  describes  the  house  in  which  Coleridge  lived  as 
"  the  third  house  in  the  Grove,  facing  the  church, 
a  roomy,  respectable,  brick  dwelling,  with  a  good 
garden  behind,  and  a  grand  look-out  Londonwards.' 
In  front  of  the  house  is  a  grove  of  stately  elms»j 
beneath  which  the  poet  used  to  pace  in  meditative^ 
mood,  discoursing  in  unmeaning  monologue  to 
some  earnest  listener  like  Irving  or  Hare,  or  an 
older  friend,  like  Wordsworth  or  Lamb.  The  house?' 
remains  almost  unaltered ;  the  elms,  too,  artf 
there,"  but,  he  adds,  "  some  Vandal  has  deprived^ 


See  Gentleman!  Magazine,  Vol.  LXX-,  Part  II.,  p.  711 


Highgate.] 


SAMUEL  TAYLOR   COLERIDGE. 


them  of  their  heads."  It  was  in  his  walks  about 
Highgate  that  Coleridge  one  day  met  Keats.  He 
thus  describes  him  : — "  A  loose,  slack,  and  not 
well-dressed  youth  met  me  in  a  lane  near  Highgate- 
It  was  Keats.  He  was  introduced  to  me,  and 
stayed  a  minute  or  so.  After  he  had  left  us  a  little 
way,  he  ran  back  and  said,  '  Let  me  carry  away  the 
memory.,  Mr.  Coleridge,  of  having  pressed  your 
hand."  '  There  is  death  in  that  hand,'  I  said, 
when  Keats  was  gone;  yet  this  was,  I  believe, 
before  the  consumption  showed  itself  distinctly.' " 

Coleridge  was  called  by  De  Quincey  "the 
largest  and  most  spacious  intellect,  the  subtlest 
and  most  comprehensive  that  has  yet  existed 
Among  men ; "  and  Walter  Savage  Landor  admits 
jhe  truth  of  the  statement  with  a  reserve  in  favour 
of  only  Shakespeare  and  Milton.  Charles  Lamb 
calls  him  "  metaphysician,  bard,  and  magician  in 
one."  If  he  had  written  nothing  but  the  "  Ancient 
Mariner,"  his  name  would  have  lived  as  long  as 
English  literature  itself,  though  Southey  denounces 
lit  as  "  the  clumsiest  attempted  German  sublimity 
?that  he  ever  saw."  It  was  after  a  visit  to  Cole- 
lidge,  at  Highgate,  in  all  probability,  that  Shelley 
thus  wrote  of  him  : — 

"  You  will  see  Coleridge  :  him  who  sits  obscure 
In  the  exceeding  lustre,  and  the  pure 
Intense  irradiation  of  a  mind 
Which,  with  its  own  internal  lustre  blind, 
Flags  wearily  through  darkness  and  despair, 
A  cloud-encircled,  meteor  of  the  air, 
A  hooded  eagle  among  blinking  owls." 

Almost  everybody  knows  the  general  outline  of 
the  story  of  the  wasted  life  of  Coleridge.  How  in 
early  manhood  he  enlisted  into  the  isth  Lighl 
Dragoons,  but  was  released  from  the  uncongenia! 
life  he  had  chosen  by  friends  who  accidentally  de 
tected  his  knowledge  of  Greek  and  Latin  ;  how 
even  when  he  had  gained  a  name  and  a  position 
as  an  essayist,  he  refused  a  handsome  salary  tor 
reg 

give  up  the  pleasure  of  la/.ily  reading  old  foil 
columns  for  a  thousand  a  year,"  and  that  "he 
considered  any  money  beyond  three  hundred  anc 
fifty  pounds  a  year  a  real  evil."  But  this  la/,; 
reading  of  folios  led,  in  his  case,  to  confirmed  idle 
ness,  an  indolent  resolution  to  gratify  the  mind  anc 
sense,  at  the  cost  of  duty.  "  Degenerating  mt 
an  opium-eater,  and  a  mere  purposeless  theorise 
Coleridge  wasted  his  time,  talents,  and  health,  anc 
came,  in  his  old  age,  to  depend  on  the  charity  o 
Others,  and  at  last  died  ;  all  his  friends  and  man 
others  besides  regretted  that  he  had  done  so  littl 
worthy  of  his  genius." 

Before  he  died  Coleridge  composed  for  himse 


ular  literary  work,  declaring  that  he  "  would  no 


ie  following  epitaph,  most  striking  for  its  simplicity 
nd  humility : — 
"  Stop,  Christian  passer-by!  stop,  child  of  God  ! 

And  read  with  gentle  breast.     Beneath  the  sod  ' 

A  poet  lies,  or  that  which  once  seemed  he  ; 

Oh,  lift  a  thought  in  prayer  for  S.  T.  C. ! 

That  he  who  many  a  year,  with  toil  of  breath, 

Found  death  in  life,  may  here  find  life  in  death; 

Mercy  for  praise— to  be  forgiven  for  fame. 

He  asked  and  hoped   through  Christ.      Do  thou  the 

Highgate  Green,  or  Grove,  is  situated  on  the 
nmmit  of  West  Hill,  opposite  St.  Michael's  Church. 
Intil  within  a  few  years  ago,  when  the  Green  was 
ompletely  enclosed  with  dwarf  iron  railings,  and 
lanted  with  shrubs  by  a  committee  of  the  inhabi- 
ants,  aided  by  the  assistance  of  the  vestry  of  St. 
^ancras,  it  was  an  open  space,  having  several  seats 
>laced  for  the  convenience  of  those  who  were 
/eary.  The  green  was  formerly  a  favourite  resort 
'f  the  London  folk,  as  it  afforded  space  for  re- 
reation  or  dancing.  Almost  in  the  centre  of  this 
Jreen  stands  the  "  Flask  "  Inn,  which  was  formerly 
)ne  of  the  head-quarters  of  revellers  at  Highgate, 
as  was  its  namesake  at  Hampstead. 

In  a  comedy,  published  in  1601,  entitled  Jack 
Drunis  Entertainment,  on  the  introduction  of  the 
Whitsun  morris  dance,  the  following  song  is  given 
n  connection  with  the  hostelry  : — 

"  Skip  it,  and  frisk  it  nimbly,  nimbly! 
Tickle  it,  tickle  it  lustily  ! 
Strike  up  the  labour, 
For  the  wenches'  favour, 
Tickle  it,  tickle  it  lustily  • 
Let  us  be  seen  on  Highgate  Green, 
To  dance  for  the  honour  of  Holloway  ; 
Since  we  are  come  hither, 
Let's  spare  for  no  leather, 
To  dance  for  the  honour  of  Holloway." 

The  following  story  is  told  connecting  Hogarth's 
name  with  this  Green  :— "  During  his  apprentice- 
ship he  made  an  excursion  to  this  favourite  spot 
vith  three  of  his  companions.  The  weather  being 
sultry,  they  went  into  a  public-house  on  the  Green, 
where  they  had  not  been  long,  before  a  quarrel 
arose  between  two  persons  in  the  same  room,  when, 
one  of  the  disputants  having  struck  his  opponent 
with  a  quart  pot  he  had  in  his  hand,  and  cut  him 
very  much,  causing  him  to  make  a  most  hideous 
grin,  the  humourist  could  not  refrain  from  taking 
out  his  pencil  and  sketching  one  of  the  most 
ludicrous  scenes  imaginable,  and  what  rendered  it 
the  more  valuable  was  that  it  exhibited  the  exact 
likenesses  of  all  present."  The  "public-house" 
here  mentioned,  no  doubt,  was  the  "  Flask." 

A  large  part  of  the  Green  was  formerly  a  pond, 
which  was  fringed  on  one  side,  at  least,  by  farm 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


buildings.  Once  a  year,  at  fair-time,  its  surface  | 
was  covered — if  tradition  speaks  the  truth — with  i 
little  sailing  vessels,  which  made  the  place  quite  ; 
gay  with  an  annual  regatta. 

It  is  perhaps  worthy  of  a  note,  by  the  way,  that  | 
this  village,  or  hamlet,  was  not  unrepresented  at 
the  "  Tournament  of  Tottenham  " — real  or  ima-  j 
ginary— recorded  by  Warton,  in  his  "  History  of  j 
Poetry,"  for  we  read  that  among  those  who  re-  I 


HilL  The  capacious  coach-house  and  stables  be- 
longing to  the  house  now  serve  as  the  lecture-hall 
and  offices  of  the  Highgate  Literary  Institute. 

Prior  to  the  construction  of  the  roadway  over  the 
hill,  the  whole  of  this  district  was  only  known  as  a 
portion  of  Hornsey,  and  was  for  the  greater  part 
covered  with  the  woods  of  Hornsey  and  Haringey 
Park  ;  indeed,  it  is  affirmed  that  it  originally  formed 
part  of  the  Forest  of  Middlesex,  wherein  King 


paired  to  it,  either  as  spectators,  or  to  bear  a  part 
in  the  lists,  were 

" all  the  IIRT.  of  that  country    - 

Of  Iscldon  (Minion),  of  Ih-ate.  ;in,l  of  ll.iU-n.iy." 
Church  Hotue,  on  the  (Ireen,  close  by  the 
entrance  to  Swaine's  Lane,  was,  in  the  middle  of 
the  last  century,  the  abode  of  Sir  John  Hawkins, 
author  of  a  "  Hi>,tory  of  Music,"  of  whom  we  have 
spoken  in  our  account  of  Westminster.*  At  the 
time  when  Sir  John  Hawkins  lived  here,  the  roads 
were  very  "badly  kept  ;  indeed,  so  difficult  was  the 
ascent  of  Highgate  Hill  tlat  the  worthy  knight 
always  rode  to  the  .Sessions  House,  Hicks's  Hall, 
in  a  carriage  drawn  by  four  horses.  Pepys  tells  us 
how  that  Lord  Brounckcr  found  it  necessary  to  put 
six  horses  into  his  coach  in  order  to  climb  Highgate 


IV..  p. 


Henry  VIII.  indulged  in  the  sports  of  the  chase, 
as  may  be  seen  by  the  following  proclamation 
issued  by  him  in  1546  : — 

I-ROCLAMATION. 

Y!  U.K.-  person  interrupt  the  Kinges  game  of  partridge 
or  pheasant— Rex  majori  ct  vicccomitibus  London.  Vob» 

Korasmudi  .is  the  King's  most  Royalc  Majestic  is  much 
desirou^  of  having  the  game  of  hare,  partridge,  pheasant, 
and  heron,  preserved  in  and  about  his  manour  at  Westminster 
for  his  di,|>ort  and  pastime  ;  that  is  to  saye.  from  his  said 
1'alace  toe  our  Udyc  of  Oke,  toe  Highgate  and  Hamsted 
Meathe,  to  be  preserved  for  hisowne  pleasure  and  recreation; 
his  Royale  Highncsse  doth  straightway  charge  and  cotn- 
mandeth  all  and  singular  of  his  subjects,  of  what  estate  and 
condition  soev'  they  be,  not  toe  attempt  toe  huntc,  or  hawke, 
or  kill  anie  of  the  said  games  within  the  precincts  of  Ham- 
ste-1,  as  they  tender  his  favour  and  wolvde  eschewe  the  im- 
prisonment  of  theyre  bodies  and  further  punishment,  at  hi* 
majestie's  will  and  pleasure. 


Highgate.  J 


A_  ROYAL   PROCLAMATION. 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


Testc  meipso  apud  Westm.  vij.   die  Julij  anno  tercesimo      the    "  Red    Lion,"    one    of    the    principal    Coaching 

septimo  Henrici  octavi  1546.  .  houses  of  former  times,  and  one  where  the  largest 

Of  Hornsey  Wood  itself,  the  chief  portion  left  '  number  of  persons  were  "  sworn  on  the  horns,'   as 
is   Bishop's    Wood,  extending  nearly   all  the  way  !  stated  above. 

from  Highgate  to  Hampstead  ;  a  smaller  fragment,  j  The  "  Bull  Inn,"  on  the  descent  of  the  Great 
known  as  Highgate  Wood,  lies  on  the  north  side  ;  North  Road  towards  Finchley,  is  worthy  of  note 
of  Southwood  Lane,  near  the  "  Woodman  "  Tavern,  1  as  one  of  the  many  such  residences  of  the  eccentric 
but  this  was  much  cut  up  in  forming  the  Highgate  i  painter,  George  Morland,  to  whom  we  have  fre- 
and  Edgware  Railway ;  another  piece,  somewhat  j  quently  alluded.  It  is  recorded  that  he  would 
less  encroached  upon,  lies  at  the  end  of  Wood  |  stand  for  hours  before  this  hostelry,  with  a  pipe 
Lane.  j  in  his  mouth,  bandying  jests  and  jokes  with  the 

North   Hill,  as  the  broad  roadway  north  of  the  I  drivers  of  all  the  coaches  which  travelled  by  this 
"Gate  House"  is  called,  is  cut  through  what  was  |  route  to  Yorkshire  and  the  North. 


once  part  of  the  Great  Park  or  bishop's  land,  and 
joins  the  main  road  about  half  a  mile  beyond  South- 
wood  Lane.  The  road  may  be  said  to  form  part 
of  the  village  of  Highgate,  for  its  sides  are  almost 
wholly  occupied  by  villas  and  rows  of  cottages, 


We  may  observe,  in  conclusion,  that,  in  the  opinion 
of  many  persons,  Highgate  does  not  possess  the 
same  variety  of  situations  and  prospects  as  Hamp- 
stead, nor  is  it  so  large  and  populous  a  place  ;  but 
its  prospects  to  the  south  and  east  are  superior  to 


among  which  are  several  public-houses,  including  !  those  in  the  same  direction  from  Hampstead, 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 
HORNSEY. 

"  To  vie  with  all  the  beaux  and  belles, 

Spirit  cftlu  1'iMU-  Journals,  1814. 

i  Situation  and  Gradual  Growlh-The  Manor  of  Homsfj—  Lodge  Hill-The  Ilishops' Park-Historical  Memorabilia- 
Kiver— Hornsey  Wood  and  "  Hornscy  Wood  House  "—An  Incident  in  the  Life  o(  Crablic—  Kiusbury  Park -Appearance  of  thU 
District  at  the  Commencement  of  the  Present  Century-Mount  neasant  -  Hornsey  Church  -The  Grave  of  Samuel  Rogers.  Author  of  "  The 
Pleasures  of  Memory  "—A  Nervous  Man  —  I-alla  Koolch  Cottage— Thomas  Moore  — Muswell  Hill — The  Alexandra  Palace  and  Park— 
Neighbourhood  of  Muswell  Hill,  .1*  seen  from  its  Summit-Noted  Residents  at  Hornsey-Cr.,uch  Knd. 

As  we  have  in  the  preceding  chapters  been  dealing  New  River  flows.  This  place  is  a  favourite  resort 
with  Highgate— which,  by  the  way,  was  originally  of  the  good  citi/ens  of  London."  Hornsey  and 
but  a  hamlet  situated  within  the  limits  of  Hornsey  j  London  since  that  time  have  approached  much 
— it  is  but  natural  that  we  should  here  say  some-  ,  nearer  to  each  other,  and  it  appears  probable  that 

before  long  it  will  form  a  portion  of  the  metropolis. 
The  opening  of  the  Alexandra  Park  doubtless 
tended  strongly  to  stretch  Ixindon  considerably  in 
the  direction  of  Hornsey.  The  citizens  of  London, 
instead  of  making  it  a  place  of  occasional  resort, 
have  made  it  a  place  of  residence.  Crosby  con- 
tinues :— "  In  its  vicinity  is  a  small  coppice,  known 
by  the  name  of  Hornsey  Wood.  The  Hornsey 


thing  of  the  mother  parish.  This  once  rural,  bu 
now  suburban  village,  then,  lies  about  two  miles 
to  the  north-east  from  the  top  of  Highgate  Hill, 
whence  it  is  approached  either  by  Hornscy  I,ane 
or  by  Southwood  Lane. 

The  etymology  of  this  locality  must  be  sought 
for  in    its    more    ancient    appellation.       From   the 


thirteenth  to  the  sixteenth   century  public  records 

call  it  "  Haringea,"  "  Haringhea."  or  "  Haringey."  Wood  House  is  a  famous  house  of  entertainment." 
About  Queen  Elizabeth's  time  it  was  usually  called  Both  the  Wood  and  the  "Wood  House  "  have  been 
"  Harnsey,"  or,  as  some  will  have  it,  says  Norden,  swept  away,  and  the  sites  have  been  taken  into 
"  Hornsey."  Lysons,  indulging  in  a  little  pleasantry,  |  Finsbury  Park.  In  1818,  as  we  learn  from  adver- 
observes  that  "if  anything  is  to  be  gathered  relating  tisements  of  the  time,  "coaches  go  daily  from  the 
to  its  etymology,  it  must  be  sought  for  in  its  more  •  White  Bear,'  Aldersgate  Street,  at  eleven  in  the 
ancient  appellation,  /far-ringe,  the  meadow  of  morning ;  in  the  afternoon  at  seven,  in  the  winter, 
hares."  In  "  Crosby's  Gazetteer,''  1816,  Hornsey  is  and  at  four  and  eight  in  the  summer."  Such,  how- 
described  as  "a  pleasant  village  situated  in  a  low  ever,  have  been  the  changes  brought  about  by  the 
valley  five  miles  from  London,  through  which  the  J  whirligig  of  time,  that  now,  during  the  day,  there 


THE   BISHOPS'   PARK. 


429 


are  railway  trains  to  and  from  London  and  various 
parts  of  Hornsey  to  the  number  of  upwards  of  fifty 
each  way. 

The  Manor   of  Hornsey   has   belonged  to  the 


portion  of  it  still  remains  as  forest-land,  though 
regarded  as  a  part  of  Caen  Wood. 

Hornsey  Park  is  not  altogether  without  its  scraps 
of  history,  for  it  is  said  to  have  been  the  place 


Bishops  of  London  from  a  time  antecedent  to  the    where,  in  the  year  1386,  the  Duke  of  Gloucester, 
Norman  Conquest  ;    and  in  the  centuries  immedi-    the   Earls  of  Arundel,  Warwick,  and  other  noble- 


tely  following  that  event,  those  prelates  had  a 
residence  here  long  before  they  owned  a  palace  on 
the  banks  of  the  Thames  at  Fulham.  Mr.  Prickett 
has  shown  pretty  conclusively,  in  his  "  History  of 
Highgate,''  that  the  site  of  this  residence  is  to  be 
looked  for  in  the  centre  of  Hornsey  Great  Park, 
about  half  a  mile  to  the  nortli-\vest  of  the  "  High 
Gate." 

Norden,  in  his  "  Speculum  Britannia,"  thus  de- 


men,  assembled  in  a  hostile  manner,  and  marched 
thence  to  London  to  oppose  Richard  II,  and  to 
compel  him  to  dismiss  his  two  favourite  ministers 
—the  Earl  of  Suffolk  and  Robert  Duke  of  Ireland 
— from  his  councils. 

As  we  learn  from  Stow's  "  Annals,"  the  Lodge 
in  Hornsey  Park,  then  the  residence  of  the  Duke 
of  Gloucester,  was,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.,  the 
scene  of  the  reputed  witchcraft  in  which  Eleanor 


scribes  it  :— "  There  is  a  hill  or  fort  in  Hornsey  Duchess  of  Gloucester  "was  concerned ;  for  here 
Park,  called  Lodge  Hill,  for  that  thereon  stood  j  the  learned  Robert  Bolingbroke,  an  astrologer, 
some  time  a  lodge,  when  the  park  was  replenished  j  and  Thomas  Southwell,  a  canon  of  St.  Stephen's, 
with  deer ;  but  it  seemeth  by  the  foundation  that  are  alleged  to  have  "  endeavoured  to  consume  the 
it  was  rather  a  castle  than  a  'lodge;'  for  the  hill  king's  person  by  necromantic  art,"  Southwell  having 
is  trenched  with  two  deep  ditches,  now  old  and  said  masses  over  the  instruments  which  were  to  be 
overgrown  with  bushes ;  the  rubble  thereof,  as  used  for  that  purpose.  Bolingbroke  was  executed 


brick,  tile,  and  Cornish  slate,  are  in  heaps  yet  to 
be  seen  ;  the  which  ruins  are  of  great  antiquity,  as 
may  appear  by  the  oak:;  at  this  day  standing,  above 
a  hundred  years'  growth,  upon  the  very  foundations 
of  the  building."  Lysons,  writing  at  the  close  of 
the  last  century,  says  that  "the  greater  part  of  it  is 
now  covered  with  a  copse,  but  the  remains  of  a 
moat  or  ditch  are  still  to  be  seen  in  an  adjoining 
field."  Lysons  adds  a  remark  to  the  effect  that 
"  Bishop  Aylmer's  house  at  Hornsey,  the  burning  of 
which  put  him  to  200  marks  expense,  must  have 


been  upon  another  site."     When  the  bishop's  lands 


as  a  traitor  at  Tyburn;  Southwell  died  in  the 
Tower ;  whilst  the  Duchess  had  to  do  penance  in 
the  public  streets,  an  incident  which  Shakespeare 
has  rendered  familiar  to  his  readers  in  the  second 
part  of  the  play  of  Henry  VI. 

Once  more,  when  the  ill-fated  and  short-lived 
Edward  V.  was  brought  to  London,  after  his 
father's  death,  under  the  escort  of  his  uncle, 
Richard  of  Gloucester,  he  was  here  met  by  the 
Lord  Mayor  and  500  citizens  of  London.  Hall, 
n  his  "  Chronicles,"  quaintly  tells  us  that,  "  When 


the  kynge  approached  neere  the  cytee,  Edmonde 


time  (1842)  tl..  ..  .       .       „ 

it  was  still  visible,  and  that  it  covered  seventy  yards    of  his  reigne. 
square.     He  writes,  "  The  site  of  the  castle  is  still 
uneven,  and  bears  the  traces  of  former  foundation  ; 


Henry  VII.,  on  his  return  from   a  Victory  m 
Scotland    was   likewise    here   met    by  the    Lord 
nd    citizens  of  London,  and   conducted 


we  have  mentioned    in  our  account  of  Primrose 
Hill  (page  287).     It  occupied  a  somewhat  irregular 


Glouceste 

tion  that  he  must  depart  with  all 


from    should  be  added  that  neither  Lysons  nor  P 

triangle,   the    base  of  which    would   extend   f ran   .  fhouW  C e  au  mentions  these  f; 

Highgate  to  Hampstead,  while   its  apex  reached    ^^^'SiSl^WBypV-L 
nearly  to  Finchley  northwards.     In  fact,  a  great  .  that  poss 


;"  but  It 
Prickett, 
facts,  so 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


Few  villages  near  London  have  retained  so  rural  telling  fortunes  to  the  rustics  ;  a  showman's 
a  character  down  to  quite  recent  times  as  that  of  i  drummer  on  the  stage  before  a  booth  beating  up 
Hornsey  ;  this  may  perhaps  be  accounted  for  by  i  for  spectators  to  the  performance  within,  which 
the  fact  that  both  the  high  north  road  and  the  i  the  show-cloth  represents  to  be  a  dancer  on  the 


thoroughfare  leading  to  Cambridge  leave  the  place 
untouched.  "The  surrounding  country-,"  writes 
the  author  of  the  "Beauties  of  England  and 
Wales,"  "  is  rendered  attractive  by  soft  ranges  of 
hills;  and  the  New  River,  which  winds  in  a 


tight-rope ;  a  well-set-out  stall  of  toys,  with  a 
woman  displaying  their  attractions ;  besides  other 
really  interesting  '  bits '  of  a  crowded  scene,  de- 
picted by  no  mean  hand,  especially  a  group  coming 
from  a  church  in  the  distance,  apparently  a  wedding 


tortuous  progress  through  the  parish,  is  at  many  |  procession,  the  females  well  looking  and  well 
points  a  desirable  auxiliary  of  the  picturesque."  I  dressed,  wearing  ribbons  and  scarfs  below  their 
Hone,  in  the  second  volume  of  his  "  Every-day  waists  in  festoons.  The  destruction  of  this  really 
Book,"  gives  an  engraving  of  "  The  New  River  at  interesting  screen,  by  worse  than  careless  keeping, 
Hornsey,"  the  spot  represented  being  the  garden  is  much  to  be  lamented.  This  ruin  of  art  is 
of  the  "  Three  Compasses  "  inn.  "  But,"  says  Mr.  within  a  ruin  of  nature.  '  Hornsey  Tavern '  and 
Thome,  in  his  "  Environs  of  London,"  "  the  New  |  its  grounds  have  displaced  a  romantic  portion  of 
River  would  now  be  sought  for  there  in  vain ;  its  the  wood,  the  remains  of  which,  however,  skirt  a 


course  was  diverted,  and  this  portion  filled  up  with 
the  vestigia  of  a  London  cemetery." 

"  About  a  mile  nearer  to  London  than  Hornsey," 
observes  the  Ambulator,  in  1774,  "is  a  coppice  of 


large  and  pleasant  piece  of  water  formed  at  con- 
siderable expense.  To  this  water,  which  is  well 
stored  with  nsh,  anglers  resort  with  better  prospects 
of  success  than  to  the  New  River ;  the  walk  round 


young  trees  called  Hornsey  Wood,  at  the  entrance    it,  and  the  prospect  from  its  banks,  are  very  agree- 
of  which  is  a  public-house,  to  which  great  numbers    able." 

of  persons  resort  from  the  City."  With  advancing  years,  the  old  tavern    became 

"  Hornsey  Wood  House,"  for  such  was  the  j  more  and  more  frequented,  and  in  the  end  it  was 
name  of  this  place  of  entertainment,  stood  on  the  altered  and  enlarged,  the  grounds  laid  out  as  tea- 
summit  of  some  rising  ground  on  the  eastern  side  j  gardens,  and  the  large  lake  formed,  which  was  much 
of  the  parish.  It  was  originally  a  small  roadside  frequented  by  cockney  anglers.  For  some  time 
public-house,  with  two  or  three  wide-spreading  '  previous  to  the  demolition  of  the  house,  in  1866, 
oaks  before  it,  beneath  the  shade  of  which  the  '  the  grounds  were  used  for  pigeon-shooting  by  a 
weary  wayfarer  could  rest  and  refresh  himself.  '  gun-club  section  of  the  "  upper  ten  thousand ; " 
The  wood  itself,  immediately  contiguous  to  the  ,  but  it  was  soon  superseded  as  such  by  the  attrac- 
house,  for  some  time  shared  with  Chalk  Farm  the  tions  of  the  "  Welsh  Harp"  and  of  "  Hurlingham." 
honour  of  affording  a  theatre  for  cockney  duellists,  j  Hone,  in  the  first  volume  of  his  "  Every-day  Book  " 
The  building  was  just  beyond  the  "Sluice  House,"  (1826),  speaks  thus  of  the  old  house  and  its  sue- 
so  celebrated  for  its  eel-pies  in  the  last  genera-  !  cessor :— "  The  old  '  Hornsey  Wood  House '  well 
tion.  Anglers  and  other  visitors  could  pass  to  it  became  its  situation ;  it  was  embowered,  and 
through  an  upland  meadow  along  a  straight  gravel-  j  seemed  a  part  of  the  wood.  Two  sisters,  a  Mrs. 
walk  anglewise.  It  was  a  good,  plain,  brown-brick,  Lloyd  and  a  Mrs.  Collier,  kept  the  house;  they 
respectable,  modern,  London-looking  building.  |  were  ancient  women,  large  in  size,  and  usually  sat 
Within  the  entrance,  to  the  left,  was  a  light  and  '  before  their  door  on  a  seat  fixed  between  two 
spacious  room  of  ample  accommodation  and  venerable  oaks,  wherein  swarms  of  bees  hived 
dimensions,  of  which  more  care  seems  to  have  ,  themselves.  Here  the  venerable  and  cheerful 
been  taken  than  of  its  fine  leather  folding  screen  dames  tasted  many  a  refreshing  cup  with  their 
in  ruins,  which  Mr.  Hone,  in  his  "  Every-day  Hook,"  '  good-natured  customers,  and  told  tales  of  bygone 
speaks  of  as  "an  unseemly  si-ht  lor  him  who  j  days,  till,  in  very  old  age,  one  of  them  passed  to 
respects  old  requisites  for  their  former  beauty  and  j  her  grave,  and  the  other  followed  in  a  few  months 
convenience."  "  It  still  bears,"  he  further  tells  us,  afterwards.  Each  died  regretted  by  the  frequenters 
"some  remains  of  a  spirited  painting  spread  all  |  of  the  rural  dwelling,  which  was  soon  afterwards 
over  its  leaves,  to  represent  the  amusements  and  j  pulled  down,  and  the  oaks  felled,  to  make  room 
humours  of  a  fair  in  the  low  countries.  At  the  for  the  present  roomy  and  more  fashionable  build- 
up of  a  pole,  which  may  have  been  the  village  ing.  To  those  who  were  acquainted  with  it  in  its 
May-pole,  is  a  monkey  with  a  cat  on  his  back  ;  former  rusticity,  when  it  was  an  unassuming  '  calm 
then  there  is  a  sturdy  bear-ward  in  scarlet,  with  a  '  retreat,'  it  is,  indeed,  an  altered  spot.  To  produce 
wooden  leg,  exhibiting  Mr.  Bruin ;  an  old  woman  j  the  alteration,  a  sum  of  ^10,000  was  expended 


HORNSEY  WOOD   HOUSE. 


by  the  present  proprietor  ;   and  '  Hornsey  Wood  I  sanctioning  the  formation  of  this  park  was  passed 
Tavern'    is   now  a  well-frequented   house.      The    so  far  back  as  1857.   The  site  is  what  was  formerly 


s  situation  is  a  great  attraction 


pleasantness  of  i 

in  fine  weather." 

for  fishing,  but  also  for  boating,  which  was  largely 

indulged  in  during  the  summer  months.     Indeed, 

the  attractions  of  the  place  seem  to  have  been  so 


known  as  Hornsey  Wood,  which  is  associated  with 


ly  i  many  interesting  events  in  the  history  of  North 
ly    London.     It  commands  a  view  of  Wood  Green, 

Highgate,  the  Green  Lanes,  and  other  suburban. 

retreats.    The  ground  has  a  gentle  southern  slope, 


to  inspire  the  mind  of  the  prosaic  anti-    from  Highgate  on  the  west  and   towards  Stoke 


miary,   Mr.  Hone,  who   commemorates  it  in  the 
following  sentimental  lines  : — 

"  A  house  of  entertainment— in  a  place 
So  rural,  that  it  almost  doth  deface 
The  lovely  scene  ;  for  like  a  beauty-spot 
Upon  a  charming  cheek  that  needs  it  not, 
So  '  Hornsey  Tavern '  seems  to  me.     And  yet, 
Though  nature  be  forgotten,  to  forget 
The  artificial  wants  of  the  forgetters 
Is  setting  up  oneself  to  Ije  their  betters. 
This  is  unwise  ;  for  they  are  passing  wise 
Who  have  no  eyes  for  scenery,  and  despise 
Persons  like  me,  who  sometimes  have  sensations 
Through  too  much  sight,  and  fall  in  contemplations, 
Which,  as  cold  waters  cramp  and  drown  a  swimmer, 
Chill  and  o'erwhelm  me.     Pleasant  is  that  glimmer 
•Whereby  trees  seem  but  wood.     The  men  who  know 
No  qualities  but  forms  and  axes,  go 
Through  life  for  happy  people.     They  are  so." 

We  are  told  in  the  "  Life  of  Crabbe,"  by  his  son 
that  Hornsey  Wood  was  one  of  the  favourite  haunts 
of  the  poet  when  he  first  came  to  London,  and 
that  he  would  often  spend  whole  afternoons  here 
in  searching  for  plants  and  insects.  "On  one 
occasion,"  writes  his  son,  "  he  had  walked  further 


than  usual  into  the  country,  and  felt  himself  too 
much  exhausted  to  return  to  town.     He  could  not 


'fewington  on  the  east ;  and  is  skirted  on  the 
>outh  by  the  Seven  Sisters  Road  and  on  the  east 
>y  the  Green  Lanes.  The  Great  Northern  Railway 
jounds  it  by  a  cutting  and  embankment  on  the 
western  side,  and  latterly  the  London,  Edgware, 
.nd  Highgate  Railway  has  been  made  with  a 
station  adjoining  the  park.  There  are  several 
pleasant  walks  and  drives,  and  in  the  centre  of  the 
,rk  a  trench  has  been  cut,  into  which  water  will 
be  brought  from  the  New  River,  and  in  this  way  a 
pretty  artificial  lake  will  be  added  to  the  other 
attractions.  The  cost  of  the  freehold  land  was 
about  .£472  per  acre.  The  funds  were  principally 
raised  by  a  loan,  in  1864,  of  .£50,000,  at  4^  per 
cent.,  for  thirty  years,  and  ^43,o°°  borrowed  on 
debenture  in  1868." 

The  lake  above  mentioned  is  an  oblong  piece  of 
water  surrounded  by  pleasant  walks,  and  in  parts 
shaded  by  trees,  and  in  it  are  one  or  two  islands 
well  covered  with  young  trees,  which  give  to  the 
lake  somewhat  the  appearance  of  the  "  ornamental 
waters  "  in  St.  James's  Park,  a  similitude  borne  out 
by  the  number  of  ducks  and  other  water-fowl 
disporting  themselves  on  its  surface 


The  Seven  Sisters  Road,  skirting  the  south  side 


Wood.     It  ought  to  be  styled,  in  common  honesty , 
Hornsey  Park. 

The  Illustrated  London  News,  in  noticing  th< 
opening  of  the  park  in   1869,  says:- 


all   collection  of  houses   belonging 


apparently  to  private  residents. 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[1I...M.-V. 


432 

A  pretty  walk  from  Finsbury  Park  to  Hornsey  |  view  from  the  neighbouring  uplands.  With  the 
Church  in  fine  dry  weather  is  by  the  pathway  j  exception  of  the  tower,  the  present  fabric  is  corn- 
running  in  a  northerly  direction  over  Mount  Plea-  paratively  modem,  dating  only  from  about  the  year 
sant,  a  somewhat  steep  hill,  from  which  some  1833  ;  it  is  built  of  brick,  and  is  of  Gothic  archi- 
pleasant  views  are  to  be  obtained  of  the  surround-  lecture.  Its  predecessor,  which  was  pulled  down 


ing  country,  embracing  Highgate,  the  Alexandra 
Palace,  Epping  Forest,  Tottenham  Church,  and 
the  valley  of  the  river  Lea.  The  summit  of  Mount 
Pleasant  is  upwards  of  200  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  river  ;  and  its  eastern  end,  from  its  peculiar 
shape,  has  been  called  the  Northern  Hog's  Back. 

The  parish  church  of  Hornsey  lies,  at  some  little 
distance  from  the  village,  in  a  valley  near  the 
Hornsey  Station  on  the  Great  Northern  Railway, 
and  its  tower  forms  a  conspicuous  object  in  the 


in  1832,  is  stated  by  Norden  and  Camden  to  have 
been  built  with  stones  taken  from  the  ruins  of  the 
palace  of  the  Bishops  of  London,  about  the  year 
1500.      The    Ambulator,    in    1774,  describes   the 
church  as  "  a  poor,  irregular  building,  said  to  have 
,  been  built  out  of  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  castle." 
i  The  tower,  which  is  now  profusely  covered  with 
j  ivy,  is  built  of  a  reddish  sandstone,  and  is  em- 
j  battled,  with  a  newel  turret  rising  above  the  north- 
west corner.     On  the  western  face  of  the  tower  are 


Hornsey.l 


THE   PARISH   CHURCH. 


sculptured  two  winged  angels,  bearing  the  arms 
of  Savage  and  Warham,  successively  Bishops  of 
London,  the  former  of  whom  came  to  the  see  in 
1407.  It  is  probable  that  both  of  these  prelates 
were  contributors  to  the  fabric.  Some  of  the  win- 
dows of  the  present  church  are  filled  with  stained 


parish,  who  died  in  1731.  This  monument  was 
brought  hither  on  the  demolition  of  the  old  chapel 
at  Highgate,  where,  as  we  have  stated  in  a  previous 
chapter,  Dr.  Atterbury  was  for  many  years  preacher. 
Samuel  Buckley,  the  editor  of  Thuanus,  who  died 
in  1741,  is  commemorated  by  a  monument;  as 


glass,  and  among  the  monuments  are  a  few  pre- 
served from  the  older  building.  Among  these  is  a. 
large  mural  slab,  on  which  are  engraved  the  kneel- 
ing figures  of  a  man,  two  females,  and  a  boy; 
the  dress  appears  to  be  of  the  latter  part  ol  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  the  monument  was  erected 
to  the  memory  of  George  Rev,  of  Highgate.  A 
Corinthian  column,  surmounted  with  armorial  bear- 
ings, commemorates  Dr.  Lewis  Atterbi.ry  (brother 
of  the  celebrated  bishop),  some  time  rector  of  th 
220 


76.     (See  paXc  435.) 


also  is  "  Master  Richard  Candish  [Cavendish],  of 
Suffolk  Esq."  An  inscription  in  verse  upon  the 
latter  monument  informs  us  that  "this  memorial 
was  promised  and  made  by  Margaret,  Countess  of 
Coberland,  1601." 

The  churchyard  is  sheltered  by  rows  of  tall  elms, 

which  impart  to  it  an  air  of  retirement  and  seclu- 

i  sion      Here,  amongst  other  tombs,  on  the  northern 

''  side  of  the  church,  is  that  of  the  poet  Rogers,  of 

whom  we  have  spoken  in  our  account  of  St.  James  s 


434 


OLD    AND    NEW   LONDON. 


Place.*  It  is  an  altar-tomb,  resting  on  a  high  base, 
and  surrounded  by  an  iron  railing.  The  following 
Jre  the  inscriptions  on  the  face  of  the  tomb  : — "  In 
this  vault  lie  the  remains  of  Henry  Rogers,  Esq., 
of  Highbury  Terrace;  died  December  25,  1832, 
aged  58.  Also  of  Sarah  Rogers,  of  the  Regent's 
Park,  sister  of  the  above;  died  January  29,  1855, 
aged  82.  Also  of  Samuel  Rogers,  author  of  the 
'  Pleasures  of  Memory,'  brother  of  the  above-named 
Henry  and  Sarah  Rogers ;  born  at  Newington 
Green,  July  30',  1763,  died  at  St.  James's  Place, 
Westminster,  December  18,  1855."  Near  the 
south-east  corner  of  the  churchyard  an  upright 
stone  marks  the  grave  of  Anne  Jane  Barbara,  the 
youngest  daughter  of  Thomas  Moore,  the  poet. 

Amongst  the  rectors  of  Hornsey  there  have  been 
a  few  who  have  become  known  beyond  the  circle 
of  the  parish.  Of  these  we  may  mention  Thomas 
Westfield,  who  resigned  the  living  in  1637,  after- 
wards Bishop  of  Bristol,  and  who  is  described  as 
"  the  most  nervous  of  men."  His  biographer  says 
that  "  he  never,  though  almost  fifty  years  a  preacher, 
went  up  into  the  pulpit  but  he  trembled;  and  never 
preached  before  the  king  but  once,  and  then  he 
fainted."  "  Yet  he  was  held  in  such  esteem  by 
all  parties,"  writes  Mr.  Howitt  in  his  "  Northern 
Heights  of  London,"  "that  on  May  13,  1643,  the 
committee  for  sequestrating  the  estates  of  delin- 
quents, being  informed  that  his  tenants  refused  to 
pay  his  rents  as  Bishop  of  Bristol,  speedily  com- 
pelled them,  and  granted  him  a  safe  conduct  for 
his  journey  to  Bristol  with  his  family,  being  a  man 
of  great  learning  and  merit,  and  advanced  in  years. 
His  successor  at  Hornsey,  Thomas  I>ant,  did  not 
meet  with  quite  such  agreeable  treatment.  He  was 
turned  out  of  his  living  and  house  witli  great  cruelty 
by  the  Puritans,  who  would  not  allow  him  even  to 
procure  a  place  of  retirement.  Samuel  Bendy, 
rector  in  1659,  petitioned  the  committee,  setting 
forth  that  his  income  was  only  £92,  out  of  which 
he  had  to  pay  £i(>  to  the  wife  and  children  of  the 
late  incumbent.  The  committee  made  him  recom- 
pense." The  Rev.  William  Cole,  the  Cambridge 
antiquary,  and  the  friend  and  correspondent  of 
Horace  Walpole,  held  the  rectory  for  about  a  year 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  century. 

At  the  end  of  the  lane  running  west  from  the 
church,  and  at  the  foot  of  Muswcll  Hill,  is  I.alla 
Rookh  Cottage,  where  Moore  was  residing  in  1817 
(vhen  he  wrote,  or,  at  all  events,  when  he  published, 
the  poem  bearing  the  title  of  "  Lalla  Rookh/'  for 
which,  as  we  learn  from  his  "  Life,"  he  received 
,£3,000  from  Messrs.  Longmans,  the  publishers. 


Sec  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  172-175. 


In  this  house  his  youngest  daughter  died,  as  above  1 
stated. 

A  native  of  Dublin  and  a  son  of  Roman  Catholk  I 
parents,  Moore  came  Over  to  England  when  still 
young  to  push  his  fortunes  in  the  world  of  litera- 
ture,  and  became  the  poet  laureate  of   Holland  I 
House  and  of  the  Whig  party.     During  his  latter 
years  he  occupied  Sloperton  Cottage,  a  small  house 
adjoining    Lord   Lansdowne's   park    at    Bowood, 
near  Calne,  in  Wiltshire,  where  he  died  in  1852,  at  j 
the  age  of  seventy-three.     Lord  Russell  claims  for  \ 
Moore  the  first  place  among  our  lyric  poets,  but  i 
few  will  be  willing  to  allow  his  superiority  to  Robert  I 
Bums,  though  he  was  certainly  the  English  Beranger. 
He  was  probably  the  best  hand  at  improvised  song- 
writing  on  the  common  topics  of  every-day  life,  but 
he  had  no  real  depth  of  feeling.     A  refined,  volup. 
tuous,  and  natural  character,  equally  frank  and  gay, 
he  passed,  after  all,  a  somewhat  butterfly  existence, 
and  has  left  behind  him  but  little  that  will  lasfe. 
except  his  "  Irish  Melodies." 

Continuing  along  the  pleasant  lane  westward" 
from  Lalla  Rookh  Cottage,  we  come  to  Muswell 
Hill,  a  place  which  has  now  become  familiar 
to  Londoners— and,  probably,  to  the  majority  of 
readers— from  the  fact  that  its  summit  and  sides 
are  for  the  most  part  occupied  by  the  Alexandra 
Palace  and  Park,  which  covers  altogether  an  area 
of  about  five  hundred  acres.  Before  venturing  to 
give  a  description  of  this  place  of  amusement,  or 
a  narrative  of  its  unfortunate  career,  we  may  be 
pardoned  for  saying  a  few  words  about  the  hill 
whereon  it  is  situated. 

Muswell  Hill,  then,  we  may  observe,  derives  its 
name  from  a  famous  well  on  the  top  of  the  hill, 
where  formerly  the  fraternity  of  St.  John  of  Jem-  j 
salem,  in  Clerkenwell,  had  their  dairy,  with  a  large 
farm  adjacent.     Here  they  built  a  chapel  for  the  ' 
benefit  of  some  nuns,  in  which  they  fixed  the  image 
of  Our  I-ady  of  Muswell.     These  nuns  had  the  sole 
management  of  the  dairy  ;  and  it  is  singular  that 
the  said  well  and  farm  do,  at  this  time,  belong  to  : 
the  parish  of  St.  James,  Clerkenwell.     The  water  i 
of  this  spring  was  then  deemed  a  miraculous  cure  j 
for  scrofulous   and   cutaneous  disorders ;   and,  as  j 
tradition  says,  a  king  of  Scotland— whose  name,  by 
the  way,  does  not  transpire — being  afflicted  with  a  ! 
painful  malady,  made  a  pilgrimage  hither,  and  was  j 
perfectly  cured.     At  any  rate,  the  spring  was  much  j 
resorted  to,  and  became  an  object  of  pilgrimage  in 
the  Middle  Ages ;  indeed,  for  some  considerable 

me  there  was  a  great  throng  of  pilgrims  to  the  , 
shrine  of  Our  Lady,   who  came  laden  with  their 
offerings  and  buoyed  up  with  their  hopes  from  all 
parts  of  the  country. 


THK   ALEXANDRA   PALACE. 


435 


Lysons,  writing  in  1795,  remarks  that  "the  well 
still  remains  ;  but,"  he  somewhat  naively  adds,  "  it 
is  not  famed,  as  I  find,  for  any  extraordinary  virtues." 
Muswell  farmhouse,  with  the  site  of  the  chapel, 
together  with  the  manor  of  Muswell,  was  alienated 
in  1546  by  William  Cowper  to  William  Goldynge, 
and,  after  a  few  other  changes  of  ownership,  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  Rowes,  in  whose  pos- 
session it  continued  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  It  soon  afterwards  came  into  the  family 
of  Pulteney;  and,  according  to  Lysons,  on  the 
death  of  Lady  Bath,  devolved,  under  Sir  William 
Pulteney's  will,  on  the  Earl  of  Darlington.  Muswell 
Hill,  it  may  be  added,  was  in  former  times  called 
also'pinsenhall  Hill. 

Shortly  after  the  close  of  the  second  International 
Exhibition  (that  of  1862)  at  South  Kensington,  it 
tms  resolved  to  erect  on  this  spot  a  place  of  popular 
entertainment  for  the  working  classes  of  northern 
London,  which  should  rival  the  Crystal  Palace  at 
Sydenham.  To  the  great  mass  of  people  in  the 
north  of  London  the  Crystal  Palace,  except  on  grea' 


occasions  and  great  attractions,  is  so  distant  as  to 

be 

proved 

Londoi.  r«, . 

ing  "  over   the  water."      There  seemed   no  valid    is  literally  true. 
reason,  therefore,  why  the  north  of  London,  with 


style;  and  round  the  eight  columns  which  sup- 
ported the  great  central  dome  were  ranged  groups 
of  statuary  surrounded  by  flowers.  Behind  this 
ornamental  walk  were  placed  the  cases  for  the 
exhibitors,  mixed,  as  in  the  nave  itself,  with  flowers 
and  statuary.  Then  there  were  a  variety  of  courts 
— such  as  the  glass  court,  china  court,  furniture 
court,  courts  for  French  goods,  courts  for  American, 
Indian,  Italian — in  short,  all  the  courts  which  we 
are  accustomed  to  find  in  a  regular  exhibition.  At 
the  north  end  of  the  centre  transept  was  built  a 
splendid  organ  by  Willis,  decorated  in  a  style  to 
be  in  harmony  with  its  surroundings,  and  in  front 
of  this  was  the  orchestra.  A  large  concert-room 
was  in  another  part  of  the  building.  Then  there 
was  a  theatre  capable  of  holding  2,000  spectators, 
and  having  a  stage  as  large  as  that  of  Drury  Lane 
Theatre. 

During  the  progress  of  the  building,  sundry 
stoppages  and  hindrances  arose  from  various 
causes ;  and  in  the  grounds  great  difficulty  was 
at  times  experienced  through  the  subsidence  of 
the  soil  ;  indeed,  to  use  the  words  of  one  of  the 


aSlOIla  OJiu  git-ai  HLH**V...  . 

almost  inaccessible  ;  and  it  is  reported,  as  was    contractor's  foremen,  the  hills  round  Muswell  had 
ved  by  railway  returns,  it  is  mainly  the  south    during  one  winter  "  ^^PP^^y*^; 


ts  equal  anywner                                  *«-•    """  ,                    •     j  and  in  one  night  between 

the  special  attractions  in  the   building wou             ^e  ^^  „      d  quietly  down  a  few  feet, 
sure  to  make  it  a  universal  favourite  with  both  the    J^J^  j£J  as  much  as  three  inches 

north  and  south  of  the  metropolis  but            d  this  lalldslip  none  ot 

With  regard  to  the  palace  .self,  it  «as  decided                g        ,  ^   moyed  tQ  any 

to  purchase  some  portion  ot  the  materials  oi   tli              hills  ro  1                      ^^  for  ^ 

intentional  Exhibition,  and  wit,,  them  to  erect ,  ma  er.1  e  ^  -ep t&  ^    -u  ^  ^ 


but  totally  altered  and  improved  in  their  re-con-  j 
struction.     It  had  only  one  of  the  noble  domes  in 


the  centre  transept,  with 
towers  at  either  end.     It  had  o 
,ive  of  the  entrances 


s,ve  o,   u.e  cuu«»,  about   900    feet  long,  and 
three  cross  transepts  of  about  400  feet  each.     1 
building  was  beautifullydecorated  intheRenaissa 


l  tr"s:  I  S£ :"»„,;.  p-*h«^r:,t 
^~i»  »-.»*;":: isr^rSdcosirick-,; 


presided  over  uy  on  — 

rf  the  leading  singers  of  the  day  took  pait 
das  !  about  mid-day  on  the  9*  of  June  the 


OLD    AND    NEW   LONDON. 


(Hornscy. 


building  fell  a  prey  to  the  flames,  and  all  that  was   great  beauty  in  connection  with  the  surrounding 


left  was  a  melancholy  and  gutted  ruin.  The  fire 
originated  at  the  base  of  the  great  dome,  where 
some  workmen  had  been  employed  in  "  repairing 
the  roof,"  and  had,  possibly,  let  some  lighted 
tobacco  fall  into  a  crevice.  During  the  brief  period 


scenery;  a  number  of  Swiss  chalets  and  other 
rustic  buildings,  also  horticultural  gardens,  with 
extensive  ranges  of  glass  houses.  At  the  foot  of 
the  hill  on  which  the  palace  stands  there  is  a  race- 
course upwards  of  a  mile  in  length,  and  the  grand 


the  palace  was  open  (fourteen  days  only)  it  was  |  stand   is   one  of  the  handsomest  and   most  sub- 


visited  by  as  many  as  124,124  persons,  and  its 
success  was  no  longer  doubtful.  Thus  encouraged, 
the  directors  resolved  at  once  to  rebuild  the  palace, 
and  in  its  re-construction  they  availed  themselves 
of  the  experience  so  dearly  purchased,  particularly 
with  reference  to  arrangements  for  protection  from 
fire. 

The  new  building,  which  was  opened  on  the  ist 
of  May,   1875,  occupies  an  area   of  about  seven 


acres,  and  is  constructed  in   the  most  substantial    comprising  a  temple,  a  residence,  and  a  bazaar. 


manner.  It  contains  the  grand  hall,  capable  of 
seating  12,000  visitors  and  an  orchestra  of  2,000; 
the  Italian  garden,  a  spacious  court  in  which  are 
asphalte  paths,  flower-beds,  and  a  fine  fountain; 
also  the  concert-room,  which  has  been  erected  on 
the  best  known  acoustic  principles,  and  will  seat 
3,500  visitors.  The  conservatory  is  surmounted  by 
a  glass  dome,  and  in  close  proximity  are  two  spa- 
cious halls  for  the  exhibition  of  works  of  art ;  also 
the  corridor  for  displaying  ornamental  works.  The 
reading-room  is  a  very  comfortable  apartment,  and 
near  thereto  are  the  modern  Moorish  house  and 
an  Egyptian  villa.  The  theatre  is  of  the  most 
perfect  kind,  and  will  seat  more  than  3,000  persons. 
The  exhibition  department  is  divided  into  two 
parts,  the  space  occupied  being  204  feet  by  106 
feet.  The  bazaar  department  is  213  feet  by  1 40 

feet.     The    frontage    of  the    stalls   is   upwards    of  0  _  .        ,  __ 0 

3,000  feet,  and  they  are  so  arranged  as  to  give  view  over  a  slope  which  descends  rapidly  from  the 
the  greatest  facility  of  access  to  visitors  and  pur-  j  prickly  barrier.  Very  few  such  oaks  are  to  be 
chasers.  The  picture-galleries  are  on  the  northern  found  within  this  island  :  lofty,  sturdy,  and  well- 
side  of  the  building,  and  comprise  six  fine,  large,  grown  trees,  not  marked  by  the  hollow  boles  and 


stantial  buildings  of  its  kind  in  this  country. 
There  is  also  a  trotting  ring  on  the  American 
principle,  and,  in  connection  therewith,  an  exten- 
sive range  of  stabling  for  several  hundred  horses, 
thus  rendering  the  property  well  adapted  for  horse 
and  agricultural  shows;  and  a  grand  stand  and 
paddock.  The  cricket-ground  is  ten  acres  in 
extent,  with  two  pavilions,  and  every  convenience 
for  cricketers.  There  is  also  a  Japanese  village, 


the  bazaar  articles  of  Japanese  work  were  offered 
for  sale.  A  circus  for  equestrian  performances  was 
likewise  erected  in  the  grounds,  together  with  a 
spacious  banqueting  hall,  an  open-air  swimming- 
bath,  and  other  novel  features.  Besides  all  these 
attractions,  there  is  a  charming  and  secluded  nook 
in  the  grounds,  called  the  Grove,  bordering  on  the" 
Highgate  Road.  In  a  house  here,  Thrale,  the 
brewer,  is  reported  to  have  lived,  and  to  have  had 
among  his  guests  the  great  lexicographer  of  the 
Georgian  era,  as  is  testified  to  this  day  by  a  path- 
way shaded  by  trees,  called  Dr.  Johnson's  Walk. 
The  Grove  has  been  described  by  an  able  writer 
as  "  a  wild  natural  garden,  clothed  with  the 
utmost  beauty  to  which  the  luxuriance  of  our; 
northern  vegetation  can  attain.  On  one  side  a 
low,  thick  hedge  of  holly,  pillared  by  noble  oaks, 
flanks  a  great  terrace-walk,  commanding  a  noble 


distorted  limbs  of  extreme  old  age,  but  in  the  very 
prime   of  vegetable    manhood.     Turning  at  right 


well-lighted  rooms.     The   refreshment  department 

is  of  the  most  complete  and  extensive  character, 

including   spacious   grill    and   coffee   rooms,    two  j  angles,  at  the  end  of  this  semi-avenue,  the  walk 

banqueting   rooms,    drawing,    billiard,  and  smoke    skirts  a  rapid  descent,  clothed  with   turf  of  that 

rooms,    and    private    rooms    for  large    or    small    silky   fineness   which   denotes    long    and    careful 


parties,  and  the  grand  dining  saloon,  which  will 
accommodate  as  many  as  1,000  persons  at  table. 
For  the  efficient  supply  of  this  vast  establishment, 
the  plan  of  the  basement  is  considered  to  be  the 
most  perfect  as  well  as  the  most  extensive  of  its 
kind  ever  yet  seen.  Also,  within  the  building,  are 
numerous  private  offices  for  manager  and  clerks, 
and  a  spacious  board-room. 

The  park  is  richly  timbered,  and  of  a  pleasingly 


undulated 


surface,   intersected   by  broad  carriage 


garden  culture,  and  set  with  a  labyrinth  of  trees, 
each  one  of  which  is  a  study  in  itself.  A  noble  : 
cedar  of  Lebanon  rises  in  a  group  of  spires  like  a 
foreshortened  Gothic  cathedral.  A  holly,  which, 
from  its  perfect  and  unusual  symmetry,  deceives 
the  eye  as  to  size,  and  looks  like  a  sapling  close  at 
hand,  has  a  bole  of  some  fifteen  feet  girth,  rising 
for  twenty-four  feet  before  it  breaks  into  branches. 
Farther  on,  the  walk  is  bordered  by  laurel  hedges, 
and  overlooks  a  wide  sweep  of  country,  undulated, 


drives,  and  there  are  several  ornamental  lakes  of  (  wooded,    and  studded   by  many  a  spiry  steeple 


CROUCH  END. 


437 


*o  the  north ;  and  here  we  .  meet  with  an  elm, 
standing  alone  on  the  turf,  as  perfect  in  its  giant 
symmetry  as  the  holly  we  have  just  admired. 
Then,  perhaps,  the  monarch  of  all,  we  come  upon 
a  gigantic  chestnut,  which  seems  as  if,  like  the 
trees  once  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  no  touch  of 
iron  had  ever  fallen  upon  its  limbs."  Notwith- 
standing all  these  varied  attractions,  the  Alexandra 
Palace  has  never  yet  answered  the  expectations  of 
its  promoters,  and  has  more  than  once  been 
offered  for  sale  by  auction  and  withdrawn,  the 
offers  falling  far  short  of  the  value  put  upon  the 
property  by  its  owners. 

The  view  from  the  top  of  the  hill  on  which  the 
palace   stands   is,  perhaps,  unrivalled   for  beauty 
within  many  miles  of  London.     At  our  feet,  look- 
ing northwards,  is  Southgate,  of  which  Leigh  Hunt 
wrote  that  it  was  a  pleasure  to  be  born  in  so  sweet 
a  village,  cradled,  not  only  in  the  lap  of  Nature, 
which   he  loved,   but   in   the   midst   of  the  truly 
English  scenery  which  he  loved  beyond  all  other. 
'  Middlesex  is,"  he  adds,  "  a  scene  of  greenery  and 
nestling  villages,  and  Southgate  is  a  prime  specimen 
of  Middlesex.     It  is  a  place  lying  out  of  the  way  of 
innovation,  and  therefore  it  has  the  pure  sweet  air 
of  antiquity  about  it."     And  the  remark  is  true 
with  a  few  exceptions,  of  all  the  towns  and  village: 
of  this  district.     Look  along  the  line  of  railwa; 
that  branches  off  at  Wood  Green,  and  you  will  sei 
the  Enfield  where  Keats  grew  to  be  a  poet,  an< 
where  Charles  Lamb  died.     Look  a  little  to  the 
left,  and  there  is  Colney  Hatch  Asylum,  with  its 
two  thousand   inmates.      A  little  farther  on   lies 
Hadley  Wood,  a   lovely  spot  for  a  picnic;   and 
there  rises  the  grey  tower  of  Barnet  Church,  re- 
minding you  of  the  battle  of  Barnet,  fought  but  a 
little  farther  on.     A  little  on  our  left  is  Finchley 
Common,   where    they    still    show   us   Grimaldi's 
Cottage  and  Dick  Turpin's  Oak.     If  we  look  over 
Wood  Green,  now  a  town,  but  a  short  time  back 
a  wild  common,  we  see  in  the  far  distance  Totten- 
ham and  Edmonton,  and  what  remains  of  Epping 
Forest.     Hornsey,  with  its  ivy  tower,  is  just  be- 
neath ;  to  our  right  is  Highgate ;  and  a  little  farther 
on  is  Hampstead  Heath. 

Johnson's  friend,  Topham  Beauclerc,  it  may  be 
added,  lived  for  some  time  on  Muswell  Hill ;  and 
Sir  Robert  Walpole,  it  is  asserted,  also  resided  at 


murder  of  his  steward,  for  which  he  was  executed  at 
yburn.*  His  conduct  even  whilst  here  was  most 
ccentric,  and  such  as  might  fairly  have  consigned 
'iim  to  a  lunatic  asylum.  He  mixed  with  the  lowest 
:ompany,  would  drink  coffee  out  of  the  spout  of 
i  kettle,  mix  his  porter  with  mud,  and  shave  one 
iide  of  his  face.  He  threatened  more  than  once 
o  "  do  for  "  his  landlady,  and  on  another  occa- 
sion he  violently  broke  open  on  a  Sunday  the 
stable  where  his  horse  was  locked  up,  knocking 
down  with  his  fist  the  ostler's  wife  when  she  asked 
iim  to  wait  a  few  minutes  while  her  husband 
Drought  the  key. 

Another  resident  at  Hornsey  in  former  times 
s  the  learned  John  Lightfoot,  the  commentator, 
who  selected  this  spot  in  order  that  he  might  have 
access  to  the  library  at  Sion  College.  Lightfoot, 
•ho  was  born  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  is  stated  to  have  published  his  first  work, 
entitled  "  Erubhim  ;  or,  Miscellanies  Christian  and 
Judaical,"  in  1629,  the  next  year  after  settling  at 
Hornsey.  He  was  a  strong  promoter  of  the  Poly- 
glott  Bible,  and  at  the  Restoration  was  appointed 
one  of  the  assistants  at  the  Savoy  Conference.  In 
1675  he  became  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  University 
of  Cambridge. 

Crouch  End,  which  lies  to  the  south-west  of  the 
village,  is  connected  with  the  Highgate  Archway 
Road  by  the  sloping  lands  of  Hornsey  Rise. 
Stroud  Green,  of  which  we  have  spoken  in  our 
ccount  of  the  manor  of  Highbury,t  is  in  this 
listrict  ;  and  although  it  is  fast  being  encroached 
ipon  by  the  demon  of  bricks  and  mortar,  it  has 
till  some  few  shady  lanes  and  "  bits  "  of  rural 
scenery  left.  On  rising  ground  on  the  south  side 
of  Crouch  End  stands  Christ  Church,  one  of  the 
district  churches  of  Hornsey.  It  was  built  in  1  863  , 
rom  the  designs  of  Mr.  A.  W.  Blomfield,  and  is  a 
neat  edifice,  in  the  Gothic  style  of  architecture. 
The  church  was  enlarged  about  ten  years  later, 
tower  and  spire  were  added.  St.  Luke's 
Church  Hornsey  Rise,  built  in  1861,  from  the 
esigns  of  Mr.  A.  D.  Gough,  is  a  respectable 
common-place  modern  Gothic  building  ;  and  con- 
sists of  a  nave  with  side  aisles,  transepts,  and 
chancel  with  side  chapels. 


one  time  in  this  locality. 


Boswell  is  silent  as  to 


the  connection  of  the  former  with  this  place,  a 
for  the  residence  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole  here 
have  only  a  local  tradition. 

Among  its  inhabitants  during  the  last  century 
was  Lawrence,  the  "  mad  "  Earl  Ferrers,  who  lodged 
here  for  some  months  previous  to  committing  thi 


At  the  beginning  of  1877  a  handsome  Gothic 
as  consecrated  here  ;  it  is  dedicated  to 
nnocents,  and  stands  near  the  railway 


church 
the  Holy  I 


, 

station  This  church  was  the  third  which  had  been 
built  during  the  incumbency  of  Canon  Harvey,  m 
which  period  Hornsey  has  grown  from  a  mere 
village  into  a  town  of  some  10,000  inhabitants. 


See  Vol.  II.,  p.  275- 


The  Etymology  and  Early  HUtorv  of  II,  ,,|,-t,-.,, 
DufTcrin  Lodge  -Oritfin  i.f  tlie  N.nn.-  of  Carndw 
—  I  ord  Man-lieM-Tlir  II, ,u--  -.n.-d  f|.,m  ..  Kii«i>u>  A 
Kleet  kiver-li,,hn,.\  W,,  ,d  Thr  "Spaniards"  New  (M-,,^!., 
North  En, I  I^.rd  «  •h.uh.'ms  (;i.».inv  r>tit--m,-Mt  -Wildwo.«l  I 
and  I'.-'t  Coventry  l'.,l.i.  ,n  Mi»  Mctcj  ,rd  Mr  T.  Kowcll  1! 

IN  commencing  this  chapter  we  may  observe  that 
there  arc  two  ways  by  which  the  pedestrian  can 
reach  Hampstead  from  lichgate  namely,  by  the 
road  branching  off  at  the  "Gate  House"  and 
running  along  the  brow  of  the  hill  past  the 
"Spaniards,"  and  so  on  to  the  Heath;  and  also 
by  the  pleasant  footpath  which  skirts  the  grounds 
of  Caen  Wood  on  its  southern  side.  This  pathway 
branches  off  from  Milllield  Lane,  nearly  opposite 
the  grounds  of  Lady  P.urdett-Coutts,  and  passing 
by  the  well-known  Highgate  Ponds,  winds  its 
course  over  the  gently  undulating  meadows  and 
uplands  which  extend  westward  to  the  slope  of  the 
hill  leading  up  to  Hampstead  Heath;  the  pathway 
itself  terminating  close  by  the  ponds  of  Hamp- 


lh.    llolluw  Tre— An  Inhn.l  Watrrmg.place-Caen  Wood  Towe 
,  V.-mirr  and  the  Fifth  Monarrl.y  Men-Caen  Wood  House  and  Groundl 

»vr  Ruse  -VMt  "f  Willwm  IV.-ll.lih^atcand  l!.in.|,,tcad  Pood.-Tb« 
,,k,,,e  ll^use  -The  tireat  lx>rd  Krekine-Heath  House-Trie  Kin- 

IM-     J:iik«in.  the    Iliahw.iym.in--Akensidc— William    lilake,  the   Artiit 

i-'llic  "  I'.uil  and  liush." 

stead,  of  which,  together  with  the  charming  spot 
close  by,  called  the  Vale  of  Health,  we  shall  have 
more  to  say  presently.  For  our  part,  we  shall 
take  the  first-named  route  ;  but  before  setting  out 
on  our  perambulation,  it  will  be  well,  perhaps,  to 
say  a  few  words  about  Hampstead  in  general. 

Starting,  then,  with  the  name,  we  may  observe 
that  the  etymology  of  Hampstead  is  evidently  de- 
rived from  the  Saxon  "ham"  or  home,  and  "stede" 
or  place.  The  modern  form  of  the  word  "home- 
stead "is  still  in  common  use  for  the  family  resi- 
dence, or  more  generally  for  a  farmhouse,  sur- 
rounded by  barns  and  other  out-buildings.  "  Home- 
stead," too,  according  to  the  ingenious  Mr.  Lysons, 
|  is  the  true  etymology  of  the  name.  "  Hame  "  is 


CAEN   WOOD   LODGE. 


440 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Hampstead. 


the  well-known  Scotch  form  for  "  home ;  "  and  the 
syllable  "ham"  is  preserved  in  "hamlet,"  and, 
as  a  termination,  in  innumerable  names  of  places 
in  this  country.  West  Ham,  Birming-ham,  Old- 
ham,  and  many  others  immediately  suggest  them- 
selves ;  and  we  can  easily  reckon  a  dozen  Hamp- 
tons, in  which  the  first  syllable  has  a  similar  origin 
to  that  of  Hampstead;  while,  under  the  modern 
German  form,  heim,  we  meet  with  it  in  Blenheim. 
There  are  two  Hampsteads  in  Berkshire,  besides 
Hemel  Hempstead  in  Hertfordshire.  The  name, 
then,  of  the  solitary  Saxon  farm  was  applied  in  the 
course  of  years  to  the  village  or  town  which 
gradually  surrounded  it  and  at  length  took  its 
place.  Who  the  hardy  Saxon  was  who  first  made 
a  clearing  in  this  elevated  part  of  the  thick  Middle- 
sex forest,  we  know  not ;  but  we  have  record  that 
this  wood  afforded  pannage  or  pasturage  for  a 
hundred  head  of  swine,  which  fed  on  the  chestnuts, 
beech-nuts,  and  acorns.  In  986  King  Ethelred 
granted  the  manor  of  Hamstede  to  the  Abbot  of 
Westminster ;  and  this  grant  was  confirmed  by 
Edward  the  Confessor,  with  additional  privileges. 
We  are  told  by  Mr.  Park,  in  his  "  History  of 
Hampstead,"  that  in  early  times  it  was  a  little 
chapelry,  dependent  on  the  mother  church  of 
Hendon,  which  was  itself  an  incumbency  in  the 
gift  of  the  abbot  and  monks  of  the  convent  of  St. 
Peter  in  Westminster.  To  this  day  the  Dean  and 
Chapter  of  Westminster  own  a  considerable  quan- 
tity of  land  in  the  parish,  whence  they  draw  a 
considerable  income,  owing  to  the  increased  and 
increasing  value  of  property.  Before  the  Reforma- 
tion, it  is  clear  that  the  Rector  of  Hendon  was 
himself  responsible  for  the  cost  of  the  keep  of  "  a 
separate  capellane,"  or  chaplain  to  serve  "the 
chapell  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  at  Hamsted  ;"  this, 
however,  was  not  a  very  heavy  cost,  for  the  stipend 
of  an  assistant  curate  at  that  day  was  only  from 
six  to  eight  marks  a  year ;  and  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI.,  the  curacy  of  Hampstead  itself,  as 
we  learn  casually  from  a  Chancery  roll,  was  valued 
at  £\o  per  annum.  It  is  not  at  all  clear  when 
the  benefice  of  Hampstead  was  separated  from 
that  of  Hendon,  but  the  ties  of  the  one  must  have 
been  separated  from  those  of  the  other  before  the 
year  1598,  when  the  churchwardens  of  Hampstead 
were  for  the  first  time  summoned  to  the  Bishop  of 
London's  visitation,  a  fact  which  looks  like  the 
commencement  of  a  parochial  settlement.  It  is 
probable  that  the  correct  date  is  1560,  as  the 
register  of  baptisms,  marriages,  and  burials  com- 
mences in  that  year. 

In  the   reign   of  Edward   VI.    the   manor   and 
advowson  of  Hampstead  were  granted  by  the  young 


king  to  Sir  Thomas  Wroth,  Knt.,  from  whose  family 
they  passed,  about  seventy  years  later,  by  purchase, 
to  Sir  Baptist  Hickes,  afterwards  Viscount  Campden, 
whose  descendant  Baptist,  third  Earl  of  Gains- 
borough, alienated  them  to  Sir  W.  Langhorne, 
Bart,  in  1707.  They  passed  from  the  Langhornes 
by  descent  through  the  hands  of  three  females,  to 
the  family  of  the  present  patron,  Sir  Spencer 
Maryon-Wilson,  Bart.,  of  Charlton  House,  Kent 

At  the  time  of  the  dissolution,  Hampstead,  it 
appears,  was  a  very  small  village,  inhabited  chiefly 
by  washerwomen,  and  for  the  next  150  years  its 
history  is  almost  a  blank.  In  the  Puritan  times 
the  "Hot  Gospellers,"  as  they  were  nicknamed, 
often  preached  under  the  shade  of  an  enormous 
elm,  which  was  certainly  a  great  curiosity,  its 
trunk  having  been  occupied  by  some  virtuoso 
unrecorded  in  local  history,  who  constructed  a 
winding  staircase  of  forty-two  steps  within  the 
hollow,  and  built  an  octagonal  tower  on  the 
summit,  thirty-four  feet  in  circumference,  and 
capable  of  holding  twenty  persons.  The  height 
from  the  ground  to  the  base  of  the  turret  was 
thirty-three  feet,  and  there  were  sixteen  side  lights. 
There  is  a  curious  etching,  by  Hollar,  of  this 
"  Hollow  Tree  at  Hampstead."  The  exact  locality 
of  this  tree  is  a  matter  of  doubt.  The  copy  of 
the  etching  in  the  royal  collection  at  Windsor 
forms  part  of  a  "broadside"  at  the  foot  of  which 
is  printed  "  To  be  given  or  sold  on  the  hollow 
tree  at  Hampstead."  One  Robert  Codrington, 
a  poetical  student,  and  afterwards  a  Puritan,  in- 
spired by  the  tree,  wrote  an  elaborate  poem,  in 
which  he  says, 

"  In  less  room,  I  find, 
With  all  his  trusty  knights,  King  Arthur  dined." 

Hampstead  is  now  nearly  joined  to  London  by 
rows  of  villas  and  terraces ;  but  within  the  memory 
of  the  present  generation  it  was  separated  from 
town  by  a  broad  belt  of  pleasant  fields.  Eighty  or 
a  hundred  years  ago  it  was  a  rural  village,  adorned 
with  many  fine  mansions,  whither  retired,  in  search 
of  health  or  recreation,  some  of  the  most  eminent 
men  of  the  age.  The  beauty  of  its  fields  is  cele- 
brated by  the  author  of  "  Suburban  Sonnets "  in 
Hone's  "  Table  Book  :  " 

"  Hampstead,  I  doubly  venerate  thy  name," 

for  it  seems  it  was  here  that  the  writer  first  became 
imbued  with  the  feeling  of  love  and  with  the  spirit 
of  poetry. 

It  is  the  fashion  to  undervalue  the  suburbs  of 
London  ;  and  several  clever  writers,  proud  of  their 
mountains  and  their  lakes,  have  a  smile  of  contempt 
ready  for  us  when  we  talk  of  our  "  upland  hamlets," 


Hampstead.] 


THE   FIFTH   MONARCHY   MEN. 


our  fertile  valleys.,  and  our  broad  river.  The  fact  is 
that  the  suburbs  of  London  are  beautiful  as  com- 
pared with  the  suburbs  of  other  great  cities.  But 
so  long  as  the  breezy  heath,  and  its  smooth  velvet 
turf,  sloping  away  to  the  north  and  east,  remain 
unbuilt  upon,  Hampstead  will  never  cease  to  be 
the  favourite  haunt  and  home  of  poets,  painters, 
and  artists,  which  it  has  been  for  the  last  century  or 
more.  There  still  attaches  to  the  older  part  of  the 
town  a  certain  stately  air  of  dignified  respectability, 
in  the  red-brick  spacious  mansions ;  and  the  parish 
church,  though  really  not  old  as  churches  count  age, 
with  its  spacious  churchyard,  bears  record  of  many 
whose  names  are  familiar  to  us  all. 

Hampstead,  it  has  been  observed,  is  in  every 
respect  a  watering-place — except  in  there  being 
no  sea  there.  With  that  important  drawback,  it 
possesses  all  the  necessary  attributes  :  it  has  its 
donkeys,  its  bath-chairs,  its  fashionable  esplanade, 
its  sand  and  sandpits,  its  chalybeate  spring,  its 
"  eligible  "  houses  "  to  be  let  furnished,"  its  more 
humble  "  apartments,"  its  "  Vale  of  Health,"  where 
"  parties  "  can  be  supplied  with  "  hot  water  for  tea,' 
at  various  prices,  from  twopence  to  fourpence  pei 
head;  its  fancy  stationers'  shop,  with  the  proper 
supply  of  dolls,  novels,  and  illustrated  note  paper 
its  old  church  and  its  new  church;  its  chapel  o 
ease ;  its  flagstaff— ready  to  "  dip  "  its  colours  t( 
steamers,  which,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  can 
never  appear  in  the  offing ;  its  photographii 
pavilion,  with  portraits  "in  this  style"  (a  styl 
which  would  effectually  prevent  any  sensible  persoi 
from  entering  the  place  of  execution);  its  countr; 
walks  and  rides;  its  residents,  so  exclusive;  it 
troops  of  visitors;  its  boys,  fishing  for  tadpole 
with  crooked  pins  in  the  (freshwater)  ponds ;  it 
tribes  of  healthy  children  with  their  nurses  an 
nursemaids ;— in  fact,  it  has  all  that  can  make  th 
heart  glad,  and  place  Hampstead  on  the  list  of  sea 
bathing  places,  with  the  trifling  omission  mentione 
above. 

With  these  remarks,  we  will  once  more  take  u 
our  staff  and  proceed. 

Leaving  Highgate  by  the  turning  westward  clos 
by  the  "  Gate  House,"  and  passing  by  the  Grov 
we  make  our  way  along  the  high  road  whic 
connects  the  village  with  Hampstead.  The  ol 
way  being  narrow,  and  nearly  impassable,  a  ne 
and  more  direct  road  was  made,  affording  a  sple 
did  panoramic  view  of  vast  extent.  In  the  form 
tion  of  the  new  road,  too,  its  course  in  one 
two  parts  was  slightly  altered.  On  the  slope 
the  hill  to  the  left,  and  standing  on  ground  whic 
originally  formed  a  portion  of  Fitzroy  Park,  is  Cae 
Wood  Towers,  till  lately  the  residence  of  M 


dward  Brooke,  the  patentee  of  the  magenta  and 
her  dyes.     The  building  occupies  part  of  the  site 

Dufferin  Lodge,  formerly  the  seat  of  Lord 
ufferin,  which  was  pulled  down  in  1869.  The 
esent  house,  which  was  completed  in  1872,  from 
e  designs  of  Messrs.  Salomons  and  Jones,  is  built 

red  brick  with  stone  dressings ;  and  with  its  bay 
ndows,  gables,  and  massive  towers,  stands  out 
ominently  amid  the  surrounding  trees. 
Pursuing  our  course  along  the  Hampstead  road, 
e  reach  the  principal  entrance  to  the  estate  of 
aen  (or  Ken)  Wood,  the  seat  of  the  Earl  of 
[ansfield.  Though  generally  regarded  as  part 
id  parcel  of  Hampstead,  the  estate  lies  just  within 
ie  boundary  of  the  parish  of  St.  Pancras,  and  was 
art  of  the  manor  of  Cantelows.  It  is  said  by 
utiquaries  to  form  a  part  of  the  remains  of  the 
ncient  forest  of  Middlesex.  Lysons  is  of  opinion 
lat  the  wood  and  the  neighbouring  hamlet  of 
Centish  Town  (anciently  Kentestoune)  were  both 
amed  after  some  very  remote  possessor.  There 
-as,  he  says,  a  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  named  Reginald 
e  "  Kentewode,"  and  "  the  alteration  from  Kent- 
'ode  to  Kenwood  is  by  no  means  unlikely  to 
appen."  Mr.  Howitt  looks  for  the  origin  of  the 
yllable  in  the  word  "  Ken,"  a  view.  As,  however, 
have  stated  in  previous  chapters,*  the  word 
Caen  may,  perhaps,  be  an  equivalent  to  "  Kaen " 
r  Ken,  which  lies  at  the  root  of  Kentish  Town, 
r««sington,  &c. 

The  earliest  mention  of  the  place,  remarks  Mr. 
'rickett,  in  his  "  History  of  Highgate,"  appears  in 
Veale's  "History  of  the  Puritans,"  where  it  is 
poken  of  as  affording  shelter  for  a  short  time  to 
Venner  and  his  associates— the  "  Fifth  monarchy 
men."  In  the  outbreak  of  the  "  Fifth  monarchy 
nen,"  under  Thomas  Venner,  the  cooper  of  Cole- 
nan  Street,  in  January,  1661,  these  fanatics  having 
."ought  one  engagement  with  the  "Train-bands," 
and  expecting  another  struggle  next  day,  took 
shelter  for  a  night  in  Caen  Wood,  where  some  of 
them  were  taken  prisoners  next  morning,  and  the 
rest  were  dispersed.  As  probably  few  or  none  of 
them  were  killed,  the  spot  where  the  encounter 
.ook  place  cannot  now  be  identified  by  any  dis- 
covery of  bodies  hastily  buried,  as  is  commonly  the 
case  in  the  neighbourhood  of  battle-fields. 

From  the  first  volume  of  "Selected  Views  in 
London  and  its  Environs,"  published  in  1804,  we 
glean  the  following  particulars  of  this  demesne  :— 
"  Caen  Wood,  the  beautiful  seat  of  the  Earl  of 
Mansfield,  is  situated  on  a  fine  eminence  between 
Hampstead  and  Highgate,  and  its  extensive 

•  See  ante,  pp.  118,  3'7' 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


grounds  contribute  in  no  small  degree  to  enrich 
the  neighbouring  scenery.  These,  with  the  wood 
which  gives  name  to  them,  contain  about  forty 
acres,  and  are  laid  out  with  great  taste.  On  the 
right  of  the  garden  front  of  the  house  (which  is  a 
very  noble  mansion)  is  a  hanging  wood  of  tall 
spreading  trees,  mostly  beeches  ;  and  on  the  left 
the  rising  hills  are  planted  with  trees,  that  produce 
a  pleasing  effect.  These,  with  a  sweet  shrubbery 
immediately  before  the  front,  and  a  serpentine 
piece  of  water,  render  the  whole  a  very  enlivening 
(sic)  scene.  The  enclosed  fields  adjoining  to  the 
pleasure-grounds  contain  about  thirty  acres  more. 
Hornsey  great  woods,  held  by  the  Earl  of  Mansfield 
under  the  Bishop  of  London,  join  this  estate  on  the 
north,  and  have  lately  been  added  to  the  enclosure." 
Mr.  Howitt,  in  his  "  Northern  Heights,"  gives 
the  following  interesting  particulars  about  Caen 
Wood  and  House  :  —  ''  Caen  House,"  he  writes,  "  is 
a  large  and  massive  building  of  yellow  stone, 


Every  morning,  when  the  night-watchman  goes  off 
duty,  at  six  o'clock,  he  fires  a  gun,  and  immediately 
three  long  winds  are  given  on  a  horn  to  call  the 
servants,  gardeners,  and  labourers  to  their  employ- 
ment. The  horn  is  blown  again  at  breakfast  and 
dinner  hours,  and  at  six  in  the  evening  for  their 
dismissal. 

"  This  charming  place  had  been  in  the  hands  of 
a  succession  of  proprietors.  In  1661  it  was  the 
property  of  a  Mr.  John  Bill,  who  married  a  Lady 
Pelham,  supposed  to  be  the  widow  of  Sir  Thomas 
Pclham,  and  a  daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Vane.  It 
must  afterwards  have  belonged  to  one  Dale,  an 
upholsterer,  who,  as  Mackay,  in  his  '  Tour  through 
England,'  says,  '  had  bought  it  out  of  the  '  Bubbles  ' 
—  i.e.,  the  South  Sea  affair.  This  was  in  1720. 
This  Mr.  Dale,  unlike  the  majority  of  speculators, 
must  have  been  a  fortunate  one.  It  then  became 
the  property  of  the  Dukes  of  Argyll  ;  and  the 
great  and  good  Duke  John,  whom  Sir  Walter 


impressive    from    its   bulk    and    its    commanding    -Scott  introduces  so  nobly  in  the  scene  with  Jeanie 


situation,  rather  than  from  its  architecture,  which 


I  )eans  and  Queen  Caroline  in  '  The  Heart  of  Mid- 


is  that  of  Robert  Adam,  who  was  very  fashionable    lothian,'  who  had  lived  in  the  reigns  of  Anne  and 
n  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  George  III.     Caen    Georges  I.  and  II.,  and  who  had  fought  bravely  at 

Ram  il  lies,   Malplaquet,  and  Oudenarde,  and  who 
afterwards  beat  the  rebel  Earl  of  Mar  and  drove 


Wood  House  has  two  fronts,  one  facing  the  north, 
with  projecting  wings ;  the  other  facing  the  south, 


extending  along  a  noble  terrace,  and  has  its  facade 
elongated  by  a  one-storeyed  wing  at  each  side.  The 
basement  storey  of  the  main  body  of  the  house 


the  Pretender  from  Scotland,  resided  here  when 
called  to  London.  The  property  was  then  devised 
by  the  Duke  of  Argyll  to  his  nephew  John,  third 


of  rustic  work,  surmounted  by  a  pediment  sup-  j  Earl  of  Bute,  who  is  only  too  well  remembered  in 
ported  by  Ionic  pilasters,  the  columns  of  the  wings  :  the  opening  of  the  reign  of  George  III.  for  his 
being  of  the  same  order.  Within,  Adam,  as  was  unpopularity  as  a  minister*  of  the  Crown. 


usual  with  him,  was  more  successful  than  without. 
The    rooms   are   spacious,    lofty,   and    finely    pro- 


" Lord  Bute  married  the  only  daughter  of  the 
celebrated  I-ady  Mary  Wortley  Montagu,  who,  of 


portioned.  They  contain  a  few  good  paintings,  course,  resided  much  here  as  Countess  of  Bute. 
among  which  are  some  of  Claude's;  a  portrait  of  It  is  observed  that  in  I.idy  Mary's  letters  to  her 
Pope,  the  poet,  with  whom  the  first  earl  was  very  '  daughter,  she  always  spells  the  name  of  the  place 
intimate;  and  a  full-length  one  of  the  great  law  'Caen.'  The  earlier  possessors  spelt  it  '  Ken,'  and 
lord  himself,  as  well  as  a  bust  of  him  by  N'ollekens.  it  is  curious,  too,  that  though  in  the  patent  of  the 
The  park  in  front,  of  fifty  acres,  is  arranged  to  earldom  granted  to  Lord  Mansfield  it  is  spelt 
give  a  feeling  of  seclusion  in  a  spot  so  near  to  'Caen,'  Lord  Mansfield  himself,  in  his  letters,  to 
London.  The  ground  descends  to  some  sheets  of  the  end  of  his  life  spelt  it  '  Ken.' 
water  forming  a  continuation  of  the  Highgate  |  "The  Earl  of  Bute  sold  Caen  Wood,  in  1755, 
Ponds,  lying  amid  trees  ;  and  a  belt  of  fine,  well-  j  to  Lord  Mansfield,  who,  on  his  death,  devised  it, 
grown  wood  cuts  off  the  broad  open  view  of  the  !  as  an  appendage  of  the  title,  to  his  nephew  (and 


metropolis.      Here   you 


sylvan  seclu-  j  successor    in    the    earldom    of    Mansfield),    Lord 


sion  of  a  remote  country  mansion  ;  and  charming  ',  Stormont,  whose  descendants  now  possess  it.     Lady 


walks,  said  to  be  nearly  two  miles  in  extent,  con 
duct  you  round  the  park,  and  through  the  woods, 
where  stand  some  trees  of  huge  growth  and 
grandeur,  especially  cedars  of  Lebanon  and  beeches. 
A  good  deal  of  this  planting,  especially  some  fine 
cedars  yet  near  the  house,  was  done  under  the 
direction  of  the  first  lord  himself.  A  custom  is 
kept  up  here  which  smacks  of  the  old  feudal  times. 


Mary  Wortley  Montagu's  daughter  brought  Lord 
Bute  seven  sons  and  six  daughters,  so  at  that  time 
the  house  and  grounds  of  Caen  Wood  resounded 
with  life  enough.  It  is  now  very  little  occupied, 
its  proprietor  being  much  fonder  of  Scone  Palace, 
his  Scotch  residence." 


Sec  Vol.   IV.,  p.  88 


HIGHGATE  PONDS. 


443 


Among  the  trees  mentioned  above  are  four  fine 
cedars,  planted  in  the  reign  of  George  II. ;  they 
are  now  upwards  of  a  hundred  feet  in  height. 

Mr.  Thorne,  in  his  "  Handbook  of  the  Environs 
of  London,"  says  that  among  the  treasures  that 
are  preserved  here,  are  "  the  charred  and  stained 
relics  saved  from  the  fire  made  of  Lord  Mansfield's 
books,  by  the  Gordon  rioters,  in  1780." 

Coleridge,  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Mr.  H.  C. 
Robinson,  speaks  of  being  "  driven  in  Mr.  Gillman's 
gig  to  Caen  Wood,  and  its  delicious  groves  and 
valleys_the  finest  in  England  ;  in  fact,  a  cathedral 
aisle  of  giant  lime-trees,  and  Pope's  favourite  com- 
position walk  when  staying  with  the  Earl  of  Mans- 
field." As,  however,  Pope  died  at  Twickenham, 
in  1744,  and  Lord  Mansfield  did  not  come  into 
possession  of  Caen  Wood  until  ten  or  eleven  years 
after  Pope's  death,  it  is  clear  that  there  must  be 
some  discrepancy  here. 

Although  born  in  Scotland,  Lord  Mansfield  seems 
to  have  turned  his  back  upon  his  native  country 
at  a  very  early  age  ;  indeed,  Dr.  Johnson,  if 
may  believe  Boswell,  "  would  not  allow  Scotland 
to  derive  any  credit  from  Lord  Mansfield,  for  he 
was  educated  in  England ;  much,"  he  would  say 
"  may  be  made  of  a  Scotchman,  if  he  be  caught 
young." 

In  our  account  of  Bloomsbury  Square,*  we  have 
spoken  of  the  burning  of  Lord  Mansfield's  house, 
and  of  the  escape  of  his  lordship  and  Lady  Mans- 
field. 

checked  excesses,  the 
"  to  Ken  Wood,"  the  rioters  evidently  intending 
that  this  mansion  should  share  a  similar  fate. 
"  The  routes  of  the  rabble,"  writes  Mr.  Prickett,  in 
his  work  above  quoted,  "  were  through  Highgate 
and  Hampstead,  to  the  '  Spaniards'  Tavern,'  kept 
at  the  time  by  a  person  named  Giles  Thomas.  He 
quickly  learnt  their  object,  and  with  a  coolness 
and  promptitude  which  did  him  great  credit,  per- 
suaded the  rioters  to  refresh  themselves  thoroughly 
before  commencing  the  work  of  devastation ;  he 
threw  his  house  open,  and  even  his  cellars  for  their 
entertainment,  but  secretly  dispatched  a  messenger 
to  the  barracks  for  a  detachment  of  the  Horse 
Guards,  which,  arriving  through  Millfield  Farm 
Lane,  intercepted  the  approach  northward,  and 
mely  presented  a  bold  front  to  the  rebels, 


House,  out  of  tubs  placed  on  the  roadside.  Mr. 
William  Wetherell,  also,  who  attended  the  family, 
happened  to  be  on  the  spot,  and,  with  great  reso- 
ution  and  presence  of  mind,  addressed  the  mob, 
and  induced  many  to  adjourn  to  the  '  Spaniards ' 
for  a  short  period.  The  liquors,  the  excitement, 
nd  the  infatuation  soon  overcame  the  exhausted 
condition  of  the  rabble,  who,  in  proportion  to  the 
ime  thus  gained  by  the  troops,  had  become  doubly 
disqualified  for  concerted  mischief;  for,  great  as 
were  their  numbers,  their  daring  was  not  equal  to 
the  comparatively  small  display  of  military,  which, 
the  leading  rioters  felt,  would  show  them  no  mercy ; 
they  instantly  abandoned  their  intentions,  and 
returned  to  the  metropolis  in  as  much  disorder  as 
they  quitted  it." 

In  1835,  King  William  IV.,  accompanied  by 
several  members  of  the  royal  family,  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  and  many  of  the  leading  nobility,  paid 
a  visit  to  Caen  Wood.  A  grand  entertainment 
was  given  by  Lord  Mansfield  on  the  occasion,  and 
a  triumphal  arch  was  erected  on  Hampstead 
Heath,  under  which  the  king  received  an  address 
from  his  loyal  subjects. 

In  the  lower  part  of  Lord  Mansfield's  grounds 
are  several  large  ponds,  of  which  we  have  spoken 
in  our  account  of  Highgate;  four  of  these  are 
within  the  demesne  of  Caen  Wood,  and  the  other 
three  are  in  the  fields  lying  in  the  hollow  below 
Fitzroy  Park  and  Millfield  Lane,  as  we  have 


Maddened  by   this  and   many   other  un-    stated  previously.     The  three  outside  Caen  Wood 
excesses,  the  word  of  command  was  given    are  known  as  the  Highgate  Ponds.     The  stream 


which  feeds  the  seven  extensive  and  well-known 
ponds,  and  gave  its  origin  to  the  Hampstead 
Waterworks,  takes  its  rise  in  a  meadow  on  the 
Manor  Farm  at  Highgate,  and  forms  a  spacious 
lake  in  Caen  Wood  Park,  whence  it  approaches 
Hampstead,  and  so  flows  on  to  Camden  Town  and 
London.  Its  waters  are  of  a  chalybeate  character. 


opporti 


the   road 


as  has  been  asc 


ertained  from  the  circumstance  of 


a  large  variety  of  petrifactions  having  been  met 
with  in  its  channel,  more  especially  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  of  its  source.  The  mineral  properties 
of  this  streamlet  are  of  a  ferruginous  nature,  its 
medicinal  virtues  are  of  a  tonic  character,  and  are 


said  to  be  efficacious  in 


cases  of  nervous  debility. 


who  by  that  time  had  congregated 
which  then  passed  within  a  few  pad 
sion.  ^hilst  some  Of  thenoterswer^,^  ;;; _ .^  ^  ^  ^  ^ 

Half 


at  the  '  Spaniards,'  others 

with  strong   ale  from   the  cellars  of  Ken  Wood 


S«VU!.  IV.,  p.  530- 


In  the  summer  season  these  ponds  are  the  resort 
of  thousands  of  Londoners,  more  especially  the 
possessors  of  aquariums,  for  the  sake  of  water- 

ure  boats  on  their  surface. 

ile  farther  to  the  south-west  are  I 
other  large  sheets  of  water,  known  as  the  Hamp- 
stead Ponds,  which  form  great  centres  of  attraction 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


-itors  to  the  heath.     These  ponds,  we  need    Westminster  was  authorised  to  search  for  spring, 
to  the  visitors  <(  conveyed  water  from  them  to 


to  tne  visuals  w  nn_  •  •  -«• 

scarcely  add,  are  familiar  to  the  readers  of 
wick,"  the  origin  of  the  "tittlebats"  or  ' 
backs  "  in  them  being  among  the  subjects  on  which 
at  least  one  learned  paper  had  been  read  before 
the  Pickwick  Club.  It  is  a  matter  of  interest  to 
record  that  the  originator  of  these  ponds  was  no 
other  person  than  Paterson,  the  founder  of  the 
Bank  of  England. 


on  the  heath,  and  conveyed  water  from  them  to 
his  manor  of  Hendon.  From  some  cause  or  other, 
as  Mr.  Lysons  tells  us,  the  water  company  and  the 
people  of  Hampstead  fell  into  disputes  about  what 
the  Americans  call  their  "  water  privileges,"  and  the 
inhabitants  amongst  themselves  even  proceeded  to 
law  about  the  year  1700.  Park  found  that  the 
present  ponds  existed  in  the  seventeenth  century, 


ha.  I 


The  Fleet  River,  or  the  River  ol 
we  have  spoken  in  a  previous  ch 
rise  in  this  locality.  This  river,  u 
the  same  as  the  Langbourne,  which 
London  and  gave  its  name  to  a  w. 
It  was  called  the  Meet  River  dov 
mencement  of  the  present  century. 

The  authorities  of  the  City  of  London,  remarks 
Mr.  Howitt,  in  his  "  Northern  Heights,"  were  pro- 
hibited by  their  Act  of  Henry  VIII.  from  interfering 
with  the  spring  at  the  loot  of  the  hill  of  Hamp- 
stead Heath,  which,  he  says,  "  was  closed  in  with 
brick  for  the  use  and  convenience  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Hampstead."  At  the  same  time  the  Bishop  of 


being    mentioned     amongst     the    copyholds  —  the 
upper  pond   on  the  heath    stated  to  contain  three 


roods,  thirty  perches;  the  lower  pond  one  acre, 
one  rood,  thirty-four  perches.  The  pond  in  the 
Vale  of  Health  was  added  in  1777.  "  The  ponds,"  ; 
he  adds,  "have  been  fatal  to  many  incautious 
bathers,  owing  to  the  sudden  shelving  of  their 
sides."  In  the  Vale  of  Health  are  visible,  or  were 
till  recently,  two  rows  of  wooden  posts,  which,  it 
has  been  suggested,  might  be  the  remains  of  a 
bridge  either  leading  across  the  water,  or  to  some 
aquatic  pleasure-house  built  upon  it. 

On  the  north  side  of  Hampstead  Lane,  facing 
the  entrance  to  Caen  Wood  House,  is  Bishop's 
Wood.  This  wood,  with  one  farther  to  the  north 
called  Mutton  Wood,  and  another  to  the  west 


THE   "SPANIARDS." 


445 


known  as  Wild  Wood,  was,  as  we  have  already  valleys,  and  sand-pits,  hath  now  made  pleasant 
shown,  a  portion  of  the  great  wood  attached  to  the  grass  and  gravel  walks,  with  a  mount,  from  the 
estate  and  castle  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  at  High-  |  elevation  whereof  the  beholder  hath  a  prospect 
gate.*  In  1755  it  was  purchased  by  Lord  Mans-  j  of  Hanslope  steeple,  in  Northamptonshire,  within 
field,  and  left  as  a  wild  copse  ;  it  has  since  been  eight  miles  of  Northampton ;  of  Langdon  Hills,  in 
strictly  preserved  as  a  cover  for  game.  [  Essex,  full  sixty  miles  east ;  of  Banstead  Downs, 


The  "Spaniards,"  a  well-known  tavern  by  the 
roadside,  just  as  it  emerges  upon  Hampstead 
Heath,  stands  on  the  site  of  a  small  lodge  once 


in  Surrey,  south ;  of  Shooter's  Hill,  Kent,  south- 
east ;  Red  Hill,  Surrey,  south-west ;  and  of  Windsor 
Castle,  Berkshire,  to  the  west.  These  walks  and 


occupied  by  the  keeper  of  the  park  gate— the  toll- 
gate  at  the  Hampstead  entrance  to  the  Bishop  of 
London's  lands,  of  which  we  have  already  spoken. 
It  is  said  by  some  writers  to  have  derived  its  name 
from  the  fact  of  its  having  been  once  inhabited 
by  a  family  connected  with  the  Spanish  embassy, 
and  by  others  from  its  having  been  taken  by  a 
Spaniard,  and  converted  into  a  house  of  entertain- 
ment. The  Spanish  Ambassador  to  King  James  I. 
wrote  whilst  residing  here,  complaining  that  he  and 
his  suite  had  not  seen  very  much  of  the  sun  in 
England.  Later  on,  its  gardens  were  "  improved  and 
beautifully  ornamented  "  by  a  Mr.  William  Staples, 
who  "  out  of  a  wild  and  thorny  wood  full  of  hills, 


HAMPSTEAD    HEATH. 


plats  this  gentleman  hath  embellished  with  a  great 
many  curious  figures,  depicted  with  pebble-stones 
of  various    colours."     Such  is  the  description   of 
the  "Spaniards"  in  a  MS.   account  of  the  place 
quoted   by   Park,   in   "History    of    Hampstead, 
and  by  Prickett,  in  his  "  History  of  Highgate ; 
but  the  statement  must  be  received  with  caution, 
for  certainly  no  resident  of  Hampstead,  so  far  as 
we  can  learn,   has   ever  been  able   to  descry  the 
steeple  of  Hanslope,   or  of  any  other  church    in 
Northamptonshire.     "  The  '  Spaniards/  "  says  Mr. 
Thome,   "still   has   its    garden  and   its  bowling- 
green  ;  but  the  curious  figures  are  gone,  and  so  las 
(is)  the  mound,  and  with  it  the  larger  part  o    the 
partly   perhaps,  owing  to  the  growth  of 
trees and  the  erection  of  two  or 


446 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Hampstead. 


three  large  houses  between  it  and  the  Heath." 
It  was  the  brave  landlord  of  this  inn  who,  as  we 
have  said  before,  saved  Caen  Wood  House  from 
being  wrecked  by  the  mob  during  the  Gordon  riots. 
As  we  have  stated  above,  he  detained  the  mob 
here  by  a  ruse  till  the  military  arrived.  Curiously 
enough,  the  "  Spaniards  "  is  not  mentioned  in  Mr. 
Lanvood's  otherwise  exhaustive  "History  of  Sign- 
boards," in  connection,  at  all  events,  with  Hamp- 
stead. 

Another  place  of  entertainment  in  this  neighbour- 
hood in  former  times,  though  now  quite,  forgotten, 
was  a  cottage,  with  gardens  attached  to  it,  which 
rejoiced  in  the  name  of  New  Georgia.  It  has 
been  identified  with  Turner's  Wood,  now  enclosed 
in  Lord  Mansfield's  grounds,  opposite  the  western 
lodge  of  Caen  Wood.  From  the  same  MS.  from 
which  the  above  description  of  the  "Spaniards" 
was  taken,  we  learn  that  "  here  the  owner  showeth 
you  several  little  rooms,  and  numerous  contrivances 
of  his  own  to  divert  the  beholder ;  and  here,  the 
gentleman  is  put  in  the  pillory,  and  the  ladies  are 
obliged  to  kiss  him,  with  such  other  oddities ;  the 
building  is  irregular  and  low,  of  wood,  and  the 
ground  and  wilderness  is  laid  out  in  a  romantic 
taste."  Among  the  '•  numerous  contrivances"  was 
a  chair  which  sank  into  the  ground  on  a  person 
sitting  in  it.  In  174^,  these  singular  grounds,  like 
"Spring  Gardens,"*  were  interspersed  with  repre- 
sentations of  various  reptiles,  so  connected  with 
mechanism,  as  to  make  efforts  of  attack  upon 
parties  who  unsuspectingly  Hod  upon  a  board  or 
spring.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  consequences 
of  those  frights  to  the  ladies  caused  the  disuse  and 
decay  of  New  Georgia,  for  about  the  year  1770 
this  species  of  mechanism  seems  to  have  been 
entirely  discontinued. 

The  house  next  to  the  '•Spaniards,"  and  close 
l>y  the  entrance  of  Hampslead  Heath,  is  railed 
F.rskinc  House,  as  having  been  the  residence  of 
the  famous  advocate,  but  less  famous  <:h  mcellor, 
Thomas  Lord  Erskine.  The  building  is  .1  plain 
white  house,  with  a  Ion.,'  portico  opening  upon  the 
roadway.  Of  the  house  itself  but  little  is  seen  from 
the  road,  excepting  one  end  ;  a  hi  Ji  wall  shuts  in 
what  little  garden  it  has  on  that  side,  and  another 


hi  'h  wall 


gardens  and  grounds  formerly  belonging  to  it  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  road.  The  house  itself, 
says  Mr.  Howitt,  is  "  simply  a  bald,  square  mass, 
shouldered  up  again  by  another  house  at  its  back. 
We  see,  however,  the  tall  windows  of  its  large  draw- 
ing-room on  the  second  floor,  commanding  a  splen- 


did view  over  Caen  Wood  and  some  part  of  High- 
gate.  Yet  this  was  the  house  inhabited  by  Thomas 
Lord  Erskine,  contemporary  with  both  the  law  lords, 
his  neighbours,  Mansfield  and  Loughborough.  Here 
he  converted  the  place  from  a  spot  of  no  account : 
into  a  very  charming  residence,  laying  out,  with 
great  enthusiasm,  its  grounds,  and  so  planting  it 
with  bays  and  laurels,  that  he  called  it  Evergreen 
Hill.  He  is  said  ,-.lso  to  have  planted  with  his 
own  hand  the  extraordinary  broad  holly  hedge 
separating  his  kitchen-garden  from  the  Heath,  oppo- 
site to  the  Fir-tree  Avenue."  The  garden  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  road  was  connected  with  the 
house  by  a  subterranean  passage.  This  garden, 
however,  has  long  been  taken  into  Lord  Mansfield's 
estate. 

Lord  Erskine's  account  of  his  residence,  where 
Edmund  Burke  was  a  frequent  visitor,  is  too 
amusing  to  be  omitted  here.  It  is  told  by  Mr. 
Rush,  in  his  "  Court  of  London  : " — "  When  we 
got  to  Mr.  Trotter's,  Lord  Erskine  kept  up  his 
sprightly  vein  at  table.  '  I  believe,'  said  our  host, 
'  the  soil  is  not  the  best  in  that  part  of  Hampstead 
where  your  seat  is.'  'No;  very  bad,'  he  replied, 
'  for  although  my  grandfather  was  buried  there  as 
an  earl  near  a  hundred  years  ago,  what  has  sprouted 
up  from  it  since  but  a  mere  baron  ? '  He  alluded,  of 
course,  to  his  own  title.  He  mentioned,  however, 
a  fact  which  went  to  show  that  although  the  soil 
yielded  no  increase  in  titles  of  nobility,  it  did  in 
other  things ;  for  in  his  description  he  referred  to 
a  chestnut-tree  upon  it,  which,  when  he  first  went  to 
live  there,  was  bought  by  his  gardener  for  sixpence, 
but  now  yielded  him  thirty  jxmnds  a  year." 

"  Here,"  says  Mr.  Howitt,  "  during  the  intervals 
of  his  arduous  professional  labour,  Lord  Erskine 
was  zealously  engaged  in  planning  and  carrying  out 
his  improvements.  With  his  old  gardener,  John 
Karnett,  he  took  his  spade,  and  schemed  and  dug, 
and  planted  and  transplanted ;  and  no  one  who 
lias  not  tried  it  ran  tell  the  immense  refreshment 
derived  from  such  an  active  diversion  of  otherwise 
exhausting  trains  of  thought.  To  men  compelled 
to  spend  long  days  in  crowded,  ill-ventilated  courts, 
the  health  and  spirits  given  by  such  tastes  is 
incalculable.  No  doubt,  from  these  occupations 
Erskine  returned  with  tenfold  vigour  of  body  and 
mind  to  his  pleadings,  and  to  his  parliamentary 
contacts."  Lord  Erskine,  at  one  time,  contem- 
plated cutting  down  a  renowned  group  of  elm- 
trees,  nine  in  number,  which  flourished  in  all  their 
ictnresque  beauty  near  his  mansion  ;  but  the  great 
lawyer  thought  better  of  his  purpose,  and  the  trees 
were  spared.  Cowper  commemorated  their  escape, 
in  a  poem,  in  which  we  find  that  the  Muses  (sym- 


Hampstead.:) 


THE   WITTY   LORD    ERSKINE. 


447 


pathising,  perhaps,  with  the  number  nine)  inter- 
fered :— 

"  Erskine  (they  cried)  at  our  command 
Disarms  his  sacrilegious  hand  ; 
Whilst  yonder  castle  [Windsor]  towers  sublime, 
These  elms  shall  brave  the  threats  of  Time." 

In  the  same  poem  the  poet  of  the  "  Task"  refers 
to  another  performance  of  the  Muses  in  the  same 
locality,  in  relation  to  another  great  lawyer,  the 
first  Earl  of  Mansfield  :— 

"  When  Murray  deign'd  to  rove 
Beneath  Caen  Wood's  sequester'd  grove, 
They  wander'd  oft,  when  all  was  still, 
With  him  and  Pope,  on  Hampstead  Hill." 

Lord  Erskine's  first  rise  in  his  profession,  as  he 

himself  told  Samuel  Rogers,  was  due  to  an  ace 

,}ent — the  fact  that  he  was  suddenly  called  upon  to 

defend  Captain  Baillie,  in  a  matter  of  contention 

between  himself  and  the  authorities  of  Greenwich 

Hospital.     His  astonishing  eloquence  and  energy 

joined  to  the  right  being  on  his  side,  gained  the  day 

and  the  all  but  briefless  barrister  went  home  tha 

night  with  sixty-seven  retaining  fees  in  his  pocket. 

From  an  account  by  Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  quotec 

by  Mr.  Howitt,  we  see  not  only  what  sort  of  mei 

frequented  his  house  in  those  days,  but  also  th 

nature  of  Erskine's  curious  hobbies  : — "  Here  h 

gave  gay  parties,  of  which  he  was  the  life,  by  hi 

good  humour  and  whimsicalities.      I  dined  ther 

one  day,  at  what  might   be  called  a  great  Oppc 

sition  dinner.     The   party  consisted  of  the  Duk 

of    Norfolk,     Lord   Grenville,    Lord    Grey,   Lor 

Holland,   Lord    Ellenborough,    Lord   Lauderdal 

Lord  Henry  Petty,  Thomas  Grenville,  Pigot,  Adan 

Edward    Morris,   Lord    Erskine's    son-in-law,   ai 

myself.     If  the  most  malignant  enemies  of  Erski 

had  been  present,  they  would  have  admitted  th 

nothing  could  be  more  innocent  than  the  conve 

sation  which  passed.     Politics  were  hardly  me 

tioned.      Amid  the    light   and   trifling    topics 

conversation  after  dinner,  it  may  be  worth  wl 

to  mention  one,  as  it  strongly  characterises  Lo 

Erskine      He   had   always   felt   and   expressed 


h  attached,  and  of  whom  all  his  acquaintances 
number  of  anecdotes  to  relate.     He  had  a 


hen  he  was 


have  a 

favourite  dog,  which  he  used  to  bring, 

at  the  bar,  to  all  his  consultations ;  another  favourite 

dog,  which,  at  the  time  he  was  Lord  Chancellor, 

he  himself  rescued  in  the  street  from  some  boys 


m  whenever  he  walked  about  his  grounds;  a 
rourite  macaw  ;  and  other  dumb  favourites  with- 
t  number.  He  told  us  now,  that  he  had  two 
vourite  leeches.  He  had  been  blooded  by  them 
icn  he  was  dangerously  ill  at  Portsmouth ;  they 
ad  saved  his  life,  and  he  had  brought  them  with 
m  to  town — had  ever  since  kept  them  in  a  glass 
— had  himself  every  day  given  them  fresh  water, 
id  formed  a  friendship  for  them.  He  said  he  was 
ure  they  knew  him,  and  were  grateful  to  him. 
!e  had  given  them  the  names  of  Howe  and  Clive, 
ic  celebrated  surgeons,  their  dispositions  being 
uite  different.  He  went  and  fetched  them  for  us 
see;  but  without  the  vivacity,  the  tones,  the 
etails  and  gestures  of  Lord  Erskine,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  give  an  idea  of  this  singular  scene." 
Apropos  of  Lord  Erskine's  consideration  for  dumb 
nimals,  Twiss  in  his  "  Life  of  Eldon,"  tells  the 
ollowing  anecdote  concerning  his  lordship  : — "  On 
occasion,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hampstead 
Heath,  a  ruffianly  driver  was  pummelling  a  miser- 
ible  bare-boned  hack  horse.  Lord  Erskine's 
ympathy  provoked  him  to  a  smart  remonstrance. 
Why,'  said  the  fellow,  'it's  my  own;  mayn't  I 
use  it  as  I  please? '  and  as  he  spoke,  he  discharged 
a  fresh  shower  of  blows  on  the  raw  back  of  the 
beast.  Lord  Erskine,  excessively  irritated,  laid  his- 
walking-stick  sharply  over  the  shoulders  of  the 
offender,  who,  crouching  and  grumbling,  asked 
what  business  he  had  to  touch  him  with  his  stick. 
'  Why,'  replied  Erskine,  to  whom  the  opportunity 
of  a  joke  was  irresistible,  '  it  is  my  own  ;  mayn't 
I  use  it  as  I  please  ? ' " 

His  lordship's  witty  sallies,  indeed,  rendered  his 
society  particularly  enjoyable,  and  doubtless  would 
have  filled  a  volume  of  Punch.  Of  those  which 
are  on  record,  we  cannot  do  more  than  quote  one 
or  two. 

On  one  occasion,  when  Captain  Parry  remarked 
that  "  when  frozen  up  in  the  Arctic  regions  they 
lived  much  on  seals,"  "Yes,"  observed  the  ex- 
chancellor,  "and  very  good  living  too,  if  you  keep 
them  long  enough!"  Being  invited  to  attend  the 
inisterial  fish  dinner  at  Greenwich  when  he  was 
he  replied,  "what  would 
ithout  the  Great  Seal?" 

otice  of  this  place,  says  :— 
house  possessed  by  Lord 
hich  he  transferred 
to  Lord  Mansfield,  there  is  a  window  of  stained 


glass 


hich  are   emblazoned    Lord   Erskine's 


™  '  with  the  baron's  coronet,  and  the  motto 
which  he  assumed,  'Trial  by  Jury.'  The  tunnel 
under  the  road,  which  connected  the  premises  with 
the  pleasure-grounds  on  the  other  side,  is 


448 


OLD  AND   NEW   LONDON. 


built  up,  Lord  Mansfield  having  resumed  the 
grounds  on  his  side.  Baron  (Chief  Justice)  Tindal 
at  one  time  lived  in  this  house." 

Heath  House,  the  residence  next  to  that  of  Lord 
Erskine,  and  overlooking  the  Heath,  was  suc- 
cessively the  abode  of  Mr.  Edward  Cox,  the  author 
of  some  poems,  published  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century;  and  of  Sir  Edward  Parry,  the  Arctic 


possible  ;  and  even  in  the  boards  of  the  floor  the 
marks  caused  by  his  lordship's  wheeled  chair  are 
well  preserved.  In  this  house,  in  more  recent  times, 
lived  Mr.  Tagart,  the  minister  of  Little  Portland 
Street  Unitarian  Chapel,  and  author  of  "  Locke's 
Writings  and  Philosophy,"  "  Sketches  of  the  -7 
Reformers,"  &c, 

On    the    opposite   side    of    the    road    towards 
Hendon,    over  against    the    summer-house    men- 
The  next  house,  called  The  Firs,  was  built  by    tioned  above,  an  elm-tree  marks   the  spot  where 
Mr.  Turner,  a  tobacconist  of  Fleet  Street,  who    formerly  stood  a  gibbet,  on  which  was  suspended 
planted  the  avenue  of  Scotch  firs,  which  so  largely    the  body  of  Jackson,  a  highwayman,  for  murdering 
contribute  to  the  beauty  of  this  part  of  the  Heath.  |  Henry  Miller  on  or  near  this  spot,  in  May,  1673. 
Mr.   Turner   also   made   the   roadway   across  the    "In     1674    was    published,"    says    Park,    in    his 
Heath,   from  The  Firs  to   the  pleasant  hamlet  of  j  "  History    of   Hampstead,"    "Jackson's    Recanta- 
North  End   and   Golder's  Green,  on  the  slope  of    tion  ;  or,  the  Life  and  Death  of  the  notorious  High- 
the  hill  looking  towards  Hendon,  whither  we  now  !  wayman  now  hanging  in  chains  at  Hampstead,"  &c. 
proceed.  Park  adds  that  he  was  told  that  the  post  of  this- 

A  large  house  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  hill  |  gibbet  was  in  his  time  (1818)  remaining  as  a 
leading  from  Hampstead  to  North  End  and  j  mantel-tree  over  the  fire-place  in  the  kitchen  of 
Hendon,  is  that  in  which  the  great  Lord  Chatham  the  "  Castle  "  public-house  on  the  Heath.  One  of 
lived  for  some  time  in  gloomy  retirement  in  1767.  j.the  two  trees  between  which  the  gibbet  stood  was 
It  is  now  called  Wildwood  House,  but  formerly  blown  down  not  many  years  ago!  Hampstead,  we 
bore  the  name  of  North  End  House.  The  grounds  may  add,  was  a  well-known  place  for  highwaymen, 
extend  up  the  hill,  as  far  as  the  clump  of  Scotch  who  waylaid  persons  returning  from  the  Wells  as 
firs,  where  the  roads  divide;  and  in  the  highest  !  they  rode  or  drove  down  Haverstock  Hill,  or  across 
part  of  the  gardens  is  a  summer-house  surmounted  j  the  Heath,  and  towards  Finchley.  We  are  told  in 
by  a  dome.  Recently  the  house  has  undergone  i  the  "Cabinet  of  Curiosities,"  published  by  Limbird 
considerable  alteration,  having  been  raised  a  storey,  in  1822,  that  Lord  Kenyon  referred,  to  a  case  in 
besides  having  had  other  additions  made  to  it  ;  which  a  highwayman  had  the  audacity  to  file  a  bill 
but  some  part  at  le.ist  of  its  interior  remains  un-  before  a  Court  of  Equity  to  compel  his  partner  to 
altered.  Mr.  Howitt,  in  his  "  Northern  Heights,"  account  to  him  for  a  half-share  of  his  plunder,  in 
says  : — "The  small  room,  or  rather  closet,  in  which  :  which  it  was  expressly  stated  that  the  plaintiff  and 
Chatham  shut  himself  up  during  his  singular  afflic-  his  partner,  one  Joseph  Williams,  continued  their 
tion— on  the  third  storey— still  remains  in  the  same  joint  dealings  together  in  several  places— viz.,  at 
condition.  Its  position  from  the  outside  may  be  "  Hagshot,  in  Surrey  ;  at  Salisbury,  in  Wiltshire;  at 
known  by  an  oriel  window  looking  towards  Finchley.  Hampstead,  in  Middlesex,  and  elsewhere,  to  the 
The  opening  in  the  wall  from  the  staircase  to  the  amount  of  ,£2,000  and  upwards."  It  is  satisfactory 
room  still  remains,  through  which  the  unhappy  to  learn  that  the  insolent  plaintiff  was  afterwards 
man  received  his  meals  or  anything  else  conveyed  executed,  and  one  of  his  solicitors  transported  for 
to  him.  It  is  an  opening  of,  perhaps,  eighteen  being  concerned  in  a  robbery. 

incb.es  square,  having  a  door  on  each  side  of  the  Golder's  Hill,  at  North  End,  was  the  residence 
wall.  The  door  within  had  a  padlock  which  still  of  Mark  Akenside,  the  author  of  "  Pleasures  of  the 
hangs  upon  it.  When  anything  was  conveyed  to  Imagination."  The  son  of  a  butcher  at  Newcastle- 
him,  a  knock  was  made  on  the  outer  door,  and  the  on-Tyne,  he  was  born  at  that  place  in  1721,  and 
articles  placed  in  the  recess.  When  he  heard  the  was  educated  at  the  grammar-school  of  that  town. 
outer  door  again  closed,  the  invalid  opened  the  He  afterwards 
inner  door,  took  what  was  i 


ent   to   Edinburgh,    in   order  to 

re,  again  closed  and  qualify  himself  for  the  ministry;  but  preferring  the 
study  of  physic,  he  took  his  degree  of  M.D.  in  1 744, 
by  royal  mandate  from  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge. In  that  same  year  he  produced  the  poem 


locked  it.     When  the  dishes  or  other  articles  were 

returned,  the   same  process  was  observed,  so  that 

no  one  could  possibly  catch  a  glimpse  of  him,  nor 

need  there  be  any  exchange  of  words."     It  may    above  mentioned,  and  it   was  well    received.      In 

be  added   that   in    making    the   alterations  above    the  following  year  he  published  his  first  collection 

mentioned,    the   condition  of  the  room   occupied    of  odes.     His  life  was  uneventful.     He  practised 

by  Lord  Chatham  was  as  little  interfered  with  as    as  a  physician  with  but  indifferent  success,  first  at 


NORTH   END. 


449 


Northampton,  afterwards  in  Hampstead,  and  finally 
in  London.  At  length,  just  as  bright  prospects 
were  opening  upon  him,  he  was  carried  off  by  an 
attack  of  fever,  in  1770.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
learning,  and  of  high  character  and  morality ;  he 
lies  buried,  as  we  have  seen,*  in  the  Church  of  St. 
Tames,  Piccadilly.  His  house  stood  on  the  site  of 
that  now  occupied  by  Sir  Spencer  Wells. 

At  a  farmhouse  close  by,  just  on  the  edge  of 
the  Heath,  William  Blase,  the  artist  and  poet,  used 
to  lodge.  Linnell,  the  painter,  frequently  occupied 
the  house  during  the  summer  months.  Mr. 
Coventry  Patmore,  too,  lived  for  some  time  at 
North  End;  Mrs.  Craik,  the  novelist  (formerly 
Miss  Dinah  Muloch),  likewise  formerly  resided 
here,  in  the  house  afterwards  occupied  by  Miss 
Meteyard,  the  authoress  of  the  "Life  of  Joshua 


Wedgwood"  and  other  antiquarian  works.  Collins' 
Farm,  at  North  End,  has  often  been  painted.  It 
is  the  subject  of  a  picture  by  Stuart,  exhibited  in 
1830.  The  large  house  on  the  right  of  the  avenue, 
descending  from  the  Heath,  was  for  some  time  the 
residence  of  Sir  T.  Fowell  Buxton,  whose  name 
became  associated  with  those  of  Clarkson,  Wilber- 
force,  and  other  kindred  spirits,  in  effecting  the 
abolition  of  slavery  and  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves  throughout  the  colonial  possessions  of  the 
British  empire. 

The  "Bull  and  Bush,"  a  well-known  public-house 
in  North  End,  was,  it  is  said,  the  frequent  resort 
of  Addison  and  his  friends.  The  house  has  attached 
to  it  some  pleasant  tea-gardens,  in  which  some  of 
the  curiously  constructed  bowers  and  arbours  are 
still  to  be  seen. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 
HAMPSTEAD   (continued).—  THE   HEATH   AND  THE   "UPPER  FLASK.' 

"  It  is  a  goodly  sight  through  the  clear  air. 

From  Hampstead's  healthy  height,  to  see  at  once 
England's  vast  capital  in  lair  expanse-- 
Towers, belfries,  lengthened  streets,  and  structures  fair. 
St.   Paul's  high  dome  amidst  the  vassal  bands 
Of  neighbouring  spires  a  regal  chieftain  stands ; 
And  over  fields  of  ridgy  roofs  appear, 
With  distance  softly  tinted,  side  by  side 
In  kindred  grace,  like  twain  of  sisters  dear, 
The  Towers  of  Westminster,  her  Abbey's  pride. 

Joanna  Baillte. 


ttempted  Encroachments  by  the  lord  of  the  Manor-His  Examination  before  a  Commitl 

-P-^or^H^L^ 

-The  Kacc.cour,e-S,,ic;de  of  John  Sadleir.  M.P.-The  Vale  of  Heal.h-J, 
Durite   Resort  for  Artists-Judge's  Walk,  or  King's  Bench  Avenue -1  he 


Memorabilia-Mr.  Hoare's  Hou 
stead  Heath-Jack  Straw's  Cast 
Shelley-Hampstead  Heath  a  1 
Stecle  and  the  Kit-Kat  Club-" 


:ee  of  the  House  c 
ind  Donkey-driv< 
lickens'  Partialit; 
-.hn  Kea:s,  Leigh 
'  Upper  Flask  "—Sir  Richard 


for  Hamp- 


.rlowe 


preceding  chapter,  are  its  breezy  heath,  which  has 
long  been  a  favourite  resort  not   cn.y   o 
holiday  folk,  but  also  of  artists  and  poets,  am 
choice  beauties  of  scenerv,  to  which  no  mere  de- 
scription can  do  justice.     Standing  upon  the  broad 
roadway  which  crosses  the  Heath,  in  continuation 
of  the  road  by  the  "Spaniards,"  and  loading  to  tae 
upper  part  of"  the  town,  the  visitor  wil 
whether  to  admire  most  the  pleasing  undu.ations 
of  the   sandy  soil,   scooped    out   into  a  tnous; 
cavities  and  pits,  or  the  long  avenues  of  limes,  or 
the  dark  fir-trees  and  beeches  which  fring 
north— of  which  we  have  already  spoken— or  tae 
gay  and  careless  laughter  of  the  merry  crowds  wno 
are  gambolling   on   the   velvet-like  turf,  or  riding 


Heath  to  which  Thompson  alludes  when  he  writes 

in  his  "  Seasons  :  "— 

"  Or  I  ascend 

Some  eminence,  Augusta,  in  thy  plains, 
\r,d  see  the  country  far  diffused  around, 
One  boundless  bush." 

Indeed,  few,  if  any,  places  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  metropolis  can  compare  with  its  range  o£ 
sce-K-y  or  show  an  equally  "boundless  bush. 
As  Richardson  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Clarissa 
ilarlowe  :  "  Now,  I  own  that  Hampstead  Heath 
affords  very  pretty  and  very  extensive  prospects: 
but  it  is  not  the  wide  world  neither." 

In  addition  to  the  charming  landscape  immedi- 
ately around  us,  teeming  with  varied  and  picturesque 
|  attractions,  the  view  is  more  extensive,  perhaps, 
j  than  that  commanded  by  any  other  spot  of  only 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


equal  elevation  in  the  kingdom ;  for  from  the  broad  [  the  Tower,  and  the  walls  ranging  from  Bishopsgate 
roadway  where  we  are  now  standing— which,  by  the  to  Cripplegate,  Aldersgate,  and  Ludgate.  Outside 
way,  seems  to  be  artificially  raised  along  the  ridge  the  City  gates,  however,  all  is  open  country,  except 

of  the  hill we  get  a  fine  view  of  St.  Paul's,  with    a  group  of  cottages  round  the  Priory,  at  Kilburn." 

the  long  line  of  Surrey  Hills  in  the  background  :  And  then  he  describes  how  London  stands  on  a 
extending  to  Leith  Hill,  the  grand  stand  on  Epsom  !  group  of  smaller  hills,  intersected  by  brooks  and 
race-course,  and  St.  Martha's  Hill,  near  Guildford.  j  water-courses,  as  we  have  already  seen  in  detail.* 
Standing  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  top  of  its  cross,         The  northern  side  of  the  Heath  is  particularly 
we  have  the  whole  of  the  eastern  metropolis  spread    wild  and  charming ;  and  the  groups  of  elms  and  fir- 


out  at  our  feet,  and  the  eye  follows  the  line  of  the 
river  Thames,  as  it  winds  its  way  onwards,  nearly 
down  to  Gravesend.  Dr.  Preston,  in  a  lecture 
on  Hampstead,  very  graphically  describes  how, 
throwing  himself  mentally  back  five  hundred  years, 
he  commands  from  its  high  ground  a  distant  view 
of  London  : — "  I  am  alone  in  the  midst  of  a  wood 
or  forest,  and  I  cannot  see  around  me  for  the 
thickness  of  the  wood.  Neither  roads  nor  bridle- 
paths are  to  be  seen  ;  so  I  climb  one  of  the  tallest 
of  the  oaks,  and  survey  the  landscape  at  leisure. 
The  City  of  London  rises  clear  and  distinct  before 
me  to  the  south,  for  I  am  at  least  three  hundred 
feet  above  the  level  of  its  river  banks,  and  no 
coal  is  burnt  within  its  walls  to  thicken  and 
blacken  the  atmosphere.  I  can  just  distinguish 


trees,  combined  with  the  broken  nature  of  the  sandy 
and  gravelly  soil,  add  greatly  to  the  picturesque 
beauty  of  the  foreground.  Looking  in  this  direc- 
tion, or  somewhat  to  the  north-west,  the  back- 
ground of  the  view  is  formed  by  the  dark  sides  of 
Harrow  hill  ;  nor  is  water  altogether  wanting  to 
lend  its  aid  to  the  picture,  for  from  certain  points 
the  lake  at  Kingsbury  at  times  gleams  out  like  a 
sheet  of  burnished  silver  in  the  mid-distance. 

From  this  description  it  is  obvious  that  a 
stranger  climbing  to  the  top  of  Hampstead  Hill  on 
a  bright  summer  morning,  before  the  air  is  darkened 
with  the  smoke  of  a  single  fire,  and  looking  down 
on  the  vast  expanse  of  London  to  his  left  and  to 


Sec  Vol.  I.,  p.  434;  Vol.  II.,  p.  416. 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Hampstcad. 


are  files,  and  people  go  up  there  to  amuse  then 
pay  an  acknowledgment. 

Have  you  not  treated  pedestrians  as  trespassers  !— No  ;  ^ 
do  not  know  that  I  have.  It  is  unenclosed  land,  and  I  could 
only  bring  an  action  for  trespass,  and  should  probably  get 
one  penny  for  damages. 

You  have  never  treated  the  public  as  trespassers  ?— Some  • 


his  right,  stretching  away  for  miles  along  the  bosom 
of  the  Thames  valley  from  Greenwich  and  Wool- 
wich up  to  Kew  and  even  Richmond,  with  its 
towers,  spires,  and  roofs  all  crowded  before  him 
as  in  a  panorama,  they,  with  pride  and  enthusiasm, 
may  well  exclaim,  with  the  essayist,  "Yonder  is 
the  metropolis  of  the  empire,  the  abode  of  the  arts  PJjjjPj 

and   of  science,  as  well  as  the  emporium  of  trade  j  and  there  are  cases  of  horses  and  cows  having  t>ee 
and  commerce ;   the   glory  of  England,   and   the  j  there< 
wonder  of  the  world." 

Turning  from  poetry  to  prose,  however,  we  may 
observe  that  the  Heath,  "  the  region  of  all  suburban 
ruralities,"  as  it  has  been  called,  originally  covered 
a  space  of  ground  about  five  hundred  acres  in 
extent;  but  by  the  gradual  growth  of  the  neigh- 
bouring town  of  Hampstead  and  of  the  surrounding 


But  people  go  there  and  amuse  themselves  ?— Just  as  they ' 
do  in  Greenwich  Park,  but  they  have  no  right  in  Greenwich  . 
Park. 

You  have  never  treated  people  as  trespassers  ?— No.  Ai*^ 
they  treated  as  trespassers  in  Greenwich  Park? 

Do  you  claim  the  right  of  enclosing  the  whole  of  the  Heath, 
leaving  no  part  for  public  games?— If  I  were  to  enclose  the 
whole  of  it,  it  would  be  for  those  only  who  arc  injured  t» 
hamlets,  and  also  by  occasional  enclosures  which  '  find  fault  with  me. 

,     ,       ,      ,      ,     f    .  JK  Would  you  sell  Hampstead  Heath  ?— I  have  never  dreamt 

have  been  made  by  the  lord  of  the  manor,  and  by  (  of  anythinyg  of  ^  ^J.  but  jf  thc  pubHc  chose  to  preyeat 

the  occupiers  of  villas  on  its  frontiers,  it  has  been  (  me>  or  lo  make  any  bargain  that  I  am  not  to  enclose  it,  they 

shorn  of  nearly  half  its  dimensions.  These  encroach-    must  pay  the  value  of  what  they  take  from  me. 

ments,  though  unlawful  at  the  time  when  made,  have        I)o  you  consider  Hampstead  Heath  private  property  ?— 

become  legalised  by  lapse  of  years.     As  an  "  open  ,  ^  **; 

....  To  be  paid  for  at  the  same  rate  as  private  land  adjoining? 

space     or  common  for  the  free  use  of  the  Lon-    y        ' 

doners,  its  fate  was  for  some  time  very  uncertain,  j  Do  you  concede  that  the  inhabitants  in  the  neighbourhood 
About  the  year  1851  an  attempt  was  made  by  the  j  have  rights  on  the  Heath ?— There  are  presentments  in  the 
lord  of  the  manor,  Sir  Thomas  Wilson,  to  build  on  <-'ourt  Rolls  t-j  show  that  they  have  none, 
the  Heath,  near  the  Vale  of  Health  ;  but  he  was  Sir  Thomas  Wilson  valued  the  Heath  at  two  and 
forced  to  desist.  A  new  road  and  a  bridge,  and  a  a  half  millions  of  money  for  building  purposes  -r 
range  of  villas  was  designed  and  commenced,  traces  aml  such  might,  perhaps,  have  been  its  market 
of  which  are  still  to  be  seen  on  the  side  of  the 
hill  rising  from  the  Vale  of  Health  towards  the 
south  front  of  Lord  Mansfield's  park.  Sir  Thomas 
other  attempt  at  enclosing  the 


Heath,  near  "Jack  Straw's  Castle,"  in  more  rec 

years,  but  was  forced  again  to  desist  by  a  dec 

of  the  Court  of  Chancery, 

appealed.      Indeed,  numerous  atte 

by  successive  lords  of  the  manor  to  beguile  P 


value  if  actually  laid  out  for  building.     But  the  law 
restricted  his  rights,  and  his  successor  was  glad  to 
sell  them  for  less  than  a  twentieth  part  of  the  sum. 
The  Metropolitan   Commons  Act,  procured   in 
1866  by  the    Right    Hon.  William    Cowper,  then 
Chief    Commissioner    of    the    Board    of    Works, 
li   the  residents    secured    the  Heath    from  further   enclosure;   and 
ere  made    in  1870,  the  manor  having  passed  to  a  new  lord, 
the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works  were  enabled  to 


ment    into    sanctioning    their    natural    desire    for    purchase    the    manorial    rights    for    the    sum    of 
power  of  enclosure  ;  but,  fortunately,  so  great  was    ^45,000,  and   thus  to  secure   the  Heath   in   per- 

the  outcry  r.: 
through  the 
was  slaved. 

How  far  Sir   Thomas  YY 
justified  in  his  attempted  enclosures  of  the 
and  the    conse'iuent   shutting   out   of    the    holiday 
folk  from  th.-ir  ancient  recreation-ground,  may  be 


the  gener.il  voice  of  the  people,    petuity  for  public  use.     Prior  to  this  exchange  of 
at   all   further   encroachment    ownership,  the  surface  of  the  Heath  had  for  several 
years  been  largely  denuded  of  the  sand  and  gravel 

on  considered  himself  of  which  it  was  composed,  the  result  being  that 
several  of  the  hillocks  and  lesser  elevations  had 
been  partially  levelled,  deep  pits  had  been  scooped 
out,  trees  in  some  parts  undermined,  and  their 
gathered  from  his  answers  before  tin-  •'  Select  Com-  gnarled  roots  left  exposed  above  the  surface  of  the 
mutee  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  Open  Spaces  ground  to  the  action  of  the  wind  and  rain.  But 
of  the  Metropolis."  The  extract  is  from  the  Report  since  the  Board  of  Works  has  taken  the  Heath 
of  the  S.-lec-t  Committee;  the  catechised  is  Sir  UIUicr  jts  fostering  care,  the  barren  sand  has 

j  become  in  many  places    re-clothed  with  verdure, 

Are  you  aware  th,t  many  tl,,,u,.in.]s  of  people  frequent    and  the  wild  tract  of  land  is    again   resuming  its 

Hampstead  Heath  on  holidays?—  They  go  there  on  holidays,     original   appearance,    gay   and    bright   with   purple 

ted  them  as  trespassers  ?—  When  there  j  heather  and  golden  furze  blossom. 


Hampstcad] 


THE   DONKEY-DRIVERS. 


Apart  from  an  occasional  sham  fight  on  its  slopes !  and  amusements  of  the  company  usually  brought 


on  a  volunteer  field  day,  the  Heath  is  now  left  to 
the  sole  use  of  the  people  as  a  place  of  common 


together  here  at    the    commencement  of  the  last 
century,  in   a  comedy   called   Hampstead   Heath, 


resort  and  recreation,  where  they  can  breathe  the  '  which  was  produced  at  Drury  Lane  Theatre  in 
fresh  air,  and  indulge  in  cricket,  and  in  such  rural ,  1706.  The  following  extract  will  serve  our  pur- 
pastimes  as  may  be  provided  for  them  by  the  pose  :— 

troops  of  donkeys  and  donkey-boys  who  congre-  Act  I.,  Sc.  i.    Scene,  Hampstead. 

gate   on   these   breezy   heights.       Indeed,    "  Hamp-        Smart    Hampstead  for  a  while  assumes  the  day ;  the  lively 

1  season  o    the  year,  the  shining  crowd  assembled  at  this  time, 
stead,"  as  the  modern  poet  says,  "is  the  place  to  ;  ^  the  MJ^ttan  rf  theBljUce>  give  us  the  nearest  show 

f  Paradise. 
Bloom.  London  now,  indeed,  has  but  a  melancholy  aspect, 


and  a  sweet  rural  spot 


adjou 


where  business  is  laid  fast  asleep,  variety  of  diversions  feast 


turalise ; "  it  is  also,  it  may  be  added,  especially 
at  Whitsuntide,  the  place  to  indulge  in  a  sort 
fa  equestrian  exercise.  Decked  out  with  white 

saddle-cloths,  frisking  away  over  the  sunny  heath,  everymams  a  foce  ot  P,easu 

'and  perhaps    occasionally  pitching  some  unlucky    Thc  cards  fly>  the  bowl  nms%he  dice  rattie)  somcLc  their 
rider  into  a  shallow  sand-pit,  the  donkeys,  we  need  |  monev  wit]l 
hardly   say,   are,  to   the   juvenile    portion   of   the    to  pock 
visitors  at  least,  the  chief  source   of  amusement. 
'-i)y  the  male  sex  the  horse  is  principally  affected ; 
the  women  and  children  are  content  with  donkeys. 
The  horse  of  Hampstead  Heath  has  peculiar  marks 
/Of  his  own.    His  coat  is  of  the  roughest,  for  he  knows 
'•  little  about  curry-combs,  and  passes  his  nights— at 
'"any  rate,  during  the  summer  months — under  the 

canopy  of  heaven.     For  his  own  sake  it  is  to  be 

hoped  that  he  has  not  often  a  tender  mouth,  when 

we  consider  the  sort  of  fellows  who  mount  him, 

and  how  mercilessly  they  jerk  at  the  reins.     The 

Hampstead  Heath  horse  is  a  creature  of  extremes. 

He  is  either  to  be  seen  flying  at  full  gallop,  urged 

along  by  kicks,  and  shouts,  and  blows ;  or  if  left  to 

himself,  he  shambles  slowly  forwards,  being  usually 

afflicted  in  one    or   more  of  his   legs  with  some 

equine  infirmity.       As  for  the    donkeys,  they  are 

much  like  their  brethren  everywhere  in  a  country 

where  the  donkey  is    despised  and   mismanaged. 

Thev   are   much    more  comfortable  to  ride  when 

homeward  than  outward  bound.     The  sullen  era 


se  and  negligence,  and  others  are  well  pleased. 
But  what  fine  ladies  does  the  place  afford  ? 
Smart.  Ass:mblies  so  near  the  town  give  us  a  sample  of 
each  degree.     We  have  court  ladies  that  are  all  air  and  no 
dress,  city  ladies  all  dress  and   no  air,  and  country  dames 
with  broad  brown  faces  like  a  Stepney  bun  ;  besides  an  end- 
less number  of  Fleet  Street  semptresses  that  dance  minuets 
in  their  furbeloe  scarfs  and  cloaths  hung  as  loose  about  them 


ick  jobber,  state  botcher, 

ind  terror  of  strolling  strumpets,  and  chief  beggar  hunter, 
:ome  to  visit  Hampstead. 

Driver    And  d'you  think  me  so  very  shallow,  captain,  to 
eave  the  good  of  the  nation  and  getting  money  to  muddle 
t  away  here  'mongst  fops,  fiddlers,  and  furbcloes,  where  ev'ry 
!,;„„'*  n=  ,l™r  ns  freeholders'  votes,  and  a  greater  imposition 
ome  hither,  but  it  is  to 
ne  o'  the  giddy  multitude 
assembly 


Smart.  Mr.  Deputy  BI 


Dutch  reckoning?  I  am 
out  a  frisking  wife  o'  mine, 
rambled  up  to  this  ridiculous 


That  this  exhilarating  subject  has  not  altogether 
lost  its  hold  en  the  play-going  public  may  be  in- 
ferred when  we  state  that  Happy  Hampstead  was 
the  title  of  a  comedy  or  force  produced  at  the 
Royalty  Theatre  in  the  year  1877. 

On  fine  Sundays  and  Mondays,  and  on  Lank 


We  get    some  little 


454 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Hampstc 


exercise,  is  the  certain  mode  of  turning  all  such 
advantages  into  popular  curses,  and  converting  the 
very  bosom  of  nature  into  a  hotbed  of  demoralisa- 
tion and  crime.  Any  one  who  has  witnessed  the 
condition  of  the  enormous  crowds  who  flock  to  the 
Heath  on  summer  Sundays,  as  they  return  in  the 
evening,  needs  no  argument  on  the  subject." 

Hampstead  Heath  has  very  few  historical  asso- 
ciations, like  Blackheath ;  but  there  is  one  which, 
though  it  savours  of  poetry  and  romance,  must  not 
be  omitted  here.  Our  readers  will  not  have  for- 
gotten the  lines  in  Macaulay's  ballad  of  "The 
Armada,"  in  which  are  described  the  beacons  which 
announced  to  the  outlying  parts  of  England  the 
arrival  of  the  Spanish  Armada  off  Plymouth  ;  how 

"  High  on  bleak  Hampstead's  swarthy  moor  they  started 
for  the  North." 

It  is,  of  course,  quite  possible  that  Hampstead 
Heath  may  have  been  used  for  telegraphic  pur- 
poses, but  there  is  no  actual  record  of  the  fact. 

Like  Blackheath,  however,  and,  indeed,  most  of 
the  other  bleak  and  open  spaces  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  London,  Hampstead  Heath  has  its  recol- 
lection of  highwaymen,  of  their  depredations,  and  of 
their  executions,  as  we  have  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
vious chapter.  In  a  poem  published  at  the  close 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  called  "  The  Triennial 
Mayor ;  or,  The  New  Raparees,"  we  read — 

"  As  often  upon  Hampstead  Heath 
We've  seen  a  felon,  long  since  put  to  death, 
Hang,  crackling  in  the  sun  his  parchment  skin, 
Which  to  his  ear  had  shrivelled  up  hi,  chin." 

Mr.  Howitt,  in  his  "Northern  Heights,"  says 
that  "  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  curious  facts  in 
history  connected  with  Hampstead  Heath  is  that 
stated  by  Matthew  of  Paris,  or  rather  by  Roger  of 
Wendover,  from  whom  he  borrows  it,  that  so  lately 
as  in  the  thirteenth  century  it  was  the  resort  of 
wolves,  and  was  as  dangerous  to  cross  on  that 
account  at  night,  as  it  was  for  ages  afterwards, 
and,  in  fact,  almost  down  to  our  own  times,  for 
highwaymen.'' 

Down  to  the  commencement  of  the  last  century, 
when  that  honour  was  transferred  to  Brentford  as 
more  central,  the  elections  of  knights  of  the  shire 
for  Middlesex  were  held  on  Hampstead  Heath,  as 
we  learn  from  some  notices  which  appear  in  the 
True  Protestant  Mercury,  for  March  2-5,  1681, 
\\ie  Ftying  Post  for  October  19-22,  1695,  and  for 
November  9-12,  of  the  same  year. 

The  poet  Crabbe  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  the 
hospitable  residence  of  Mr.  Samuel  Hoare,  on  the 
Heath.  Campbell  writes  :  "  The  last  time  I  saw 
Crabbe  was  when  I  dined  with  him  at  'the  house 


of  Mr.  Hoare,  at  Hampstead.  He  very  kindly 
came  to  the  coach  to  see  me  off,  and  I  never  pass, 
that  spot  on  the  top  of  Hampstead  Heath  without 
thinking  of  him."  The  mansion  is  called  "The 
Hill,"  and  was  the  seat  of  Mr.  Samuel  Hoare,  the 
banker.  Here  used  to  congregate  the  great  poets- 
of  the  age,  Rogers,  Wordsworth,  Coleridge,  Camp- 
bell,  Lucy  Aikin,  Mrs.  Marcet,  and  Agnes  and 
Joanna  Baillie ;  whilst  the  centre  of  the  gathering 
was  the  poet  Crabbe.  In  the  "  Life  of  the  Rev. 
George  Crabbe,"  by  his  son,  we  read :  "  During 
his  first  and  second  visits  to  London  my  father 
spent  a  good  deal  of  his  time  beneath  the  hos- 
pitable roof  of  the  late  Samuel  Hoare,  Esq.,  on 
Hampstead  Heath.  He  owed  his  introduction  to 
this  respectable  family  to  his  friend  Mr.  Bowles, 
and  the  author  of  the  delightful  '  Excursions  in  the 
West,"  Mr.  Warner;  and  though  Mr.  Hoare  was 
an  invalid,  and  little  disposed  to  form  new  connec- 
tions, he  was  so  much  gratified  with  Mr.  Crabbe's 
manners  and  conversation,  that  their  acquaintance 
grew  into  an  affectionate  and  lasting  intimacy.  Mr. 
Crabbe,  in  subsequent  years,  made  Hampstead  his. 
head-quarters  on  his  spring  visits,  and  only  repaired 
thence  occasionally  to  the  brilliant  circles  of  the 
metropolis." 

At  the  commencement  of  the  century,  if  we  may 
trust  Mr.  Chambers's  assertion  in  his  "  Book  of 
Days,"  Hampstead  and  Highgate  could  be  reached 
only  by  "  short  stages  "  (i.e.,  stage-coaches),  going 
twice  a  day ;  and  a  journey  thither  once  or  twice 
in  the  summer  time  was  the  farthest  and  most 
ambitious  expedition  of  a  cockney's  year.  Both 
villages  then  abounded  with  inns,  with  large 
gardens  in  their  rear,  overlooking  the  pleasant 
country  fields  towards  Harrow,  or  the  extensive 
and  more  open  land  towards  St.  Albans  or  towards 
the  valley  of  the  Thames.  The  "  Spaniards  "  and 
"Jack  Straw's  Castle  "still  remain  as  samples  of 
these  old  "rural  delights."  The  features  of  the 
latter  place,  as  they  existed  more  than  a  century 
since,  have  been  preserved  by  Chatelaine  in  a 
small  engraving  executed  by  him  about  the  year 
1745.  The  formal  arrangement  of  the  trees  and 
turf,  in  humble  imitation  of  the  Dutch  taste  intro- 
duced by  William  III.,  and  exhibited  on  a  larger 
scale  at  Hampton  Court  and  Kensington  Palace, 
may  be  noted  in  this  humbler  garden. 

To  Hampstead  Heath,  as  every  reader  of  his 
"  Life  "  is  aware,  Charles  Dickens  was  extremely 
partial,  and  he  constantly  turned  his  suburban 
walks  in  this  direction.  He  writes  to  Mr.  John 
Forster :  "  You  don't  feel  disposed,  do  you,  to 
muffle  yourself  up,  and  start  off  with  me  for  a  good 
brisk  walk  over  Hampstead  Heath?  I  know  a 


Hampslead.  1 


"JACK   STRAW'S   CASTLE." 


455 


good  house  there  where  we  can  have  a  red-hot  chop 
for  dinner  and  a  glass  of  good  wine."  "This 
note,"  adds  Forster,  "led  to  our  first  experience 
of  'Jack  Straw's  Castle,'  memorable  for  many 
happy  meetings  in  coming  years." 

Passing  into  "  Jack  Straw's  Castle,"  we  find  the 
usual  number    of  visitors   who  have  come  up  in 


Hansoms  to  enjoy  the  view,  to  dine  off  its  modern 
fare,  and  to  lounge  about  its  gardens.  The  inn, 
or  hotel,  is  not  by  any  means  an  ancient  one,  and 
it  would  be  difficult  to  find  out  any  connection 
between  the  present  hostelry  and  the  rebellion 
•which  may,  or  may  not,  have  given  to  it  a  name. 
The  following  is  all  that  we  could  glean  from  an 
old  magazine  which  lay  upon  the  table  at  which 
sv-e  sat  and  dined  when  we  last  visited  it,  and  it  is 
to  be  feared  that  the  statement  is  not  to  be  taken 
wholly  "  for  gospel :  "— "  Jack  Straw,  who  was 
second  in  command  to  Wat  Tyler,  was  probably 
•entrusted  with  the  insurgent  division  which  immor- 
talised itself  by  burning  the  Priory  of  St.  John  of 

•  Jerusalem,  thence  striking  off  to  Highbury,  where 

•  they   destroyed   the   house  of  Sir  Robert   Hales, 
and  afterwards  encamping  on  Hampstead  heights. 
4  Jack  Straw,'  whose  '  castle '  consisted  of  a  mere 
hovel,  or  a  hole  in  the  hill-side,  was  to  have  been 
king  of   one  of   the    English   counties— probably 
of  Middlesex ;  and  his  name  alone  of  all  the  rioters 
associated  itself  with  a  local  habitation,  as  his  cele 
brated  confession  showed  the  rude   but   still  no 
unorganised  intentions  of  the  insurgents  to  seize 
the  king,  and,  having  him  amongst  them,  to  raise 
the  entire  country." 

This  noted  hostelry  has  long  been  a  famou 
place  for  public  and  private  dinner-parties  and 
suppers,  and  its  gardens  and  grounds  for  alfresco 
entertainments.  In  the  "  Cabinet  of  Curiosities, 
published  by  Limbirdin  1822,  we  find  the  followm 
lines  "  on  'Jack  Straw's  Castle'  being  repaired  :"— 
"  With  best  of  food— of  beer  and  wines, 

Here  may  you  pa,s  a  merry  day ; 
So  shall  mine  host,  while  Ph-x-bus  shines^ 
Instead  of  straw  make  good  his  hay." 

The  western  part  of  the  Heath,  behind  "  Jac 
Straw's  Castle,"  would  appear  to  have  been  use 
in  former  times  as  the  Hampstead  race-course  Ion 
before  the  "Derby"  or  "Ascot"  had  been  estab 
lished  in  the  popular  favour.  The  races,  howeve 
do  not  appear  to  have  been  very  highly  patronise 
if  we  may  judge  from  the  fact  that  at  the  Septemb 
meeting,  1732,  one  race  only  was  run,  and  th 
for  the°very  modest  stake  of  ten  guineas.  "  Thr 
hor.es  started,"  says  the  Daily  Courant  of  th 
period-  "one  was  distanced  the  first  heat,  an 
one  was  drawn ;  Mr.  Bullock's  'Merry  Gentleman 


won,  but  was  obliged  to  go  the  course  the  second 
heat  alone."  We  learn  from  Park's  "History  oi 
Hampstead"  that  the  races  "drew  together  so 
much  low  company,  that  they  were  put  down  on 
account  of  the  mischief  that  resulted  from  them." 
The  very  existence  of  a  race-course  on  Hampstead 
is  now  quite  forgotten ;  and  the  uneven  character 
of  the  ground,  which  has  been  much  excavated  for 
gravel  and  sand,  is  such  as  would  render  a  visitor 
almost  disposed  to  doubt  whether  such  could  ever 
have  been  the  case. 

On  the  greensward  behind  "  Jack  Straw's  Castle," 
on  Sunday  morning,  February  17,  1856,  was  found 
the  dead  body  of  John   Sadleir,    the  fraudulent 
M.P.  for  Sligo.     The  corpse  was  lying  in  a  hollow 
n  the  sloping  ground,  with  the  feet  very  near  to 
pool  of  water ;  beside  it  was  a  small  phial  which 
lad  contained  essential  oil  of  almonds,  and  also 
silver  cream-jug  from  which  he  had  taken  the 
atal  draught.     In  his  pocket,  among  other  things, 
as  found  a  piece  of  paper  on  which  was  written 
John  Sadleir,  Gloucester   Square,  Hyde    Park." 
848,   as  we  learn  from  his   memoir  in    the 
Gentleman's  Magazine,  Mr.  Sadleir  became  chair- 
man of  the  London  and  County  Joint  Stock  Banking 
Company,  and  for  several  years  he  presided  over 
lat  body  with  great  ability.      Shortly  before  his 
ith,    he  vacated  the  chair ;   and  though  still  a 
irector,  he  ceased  to  take  an  active  part  in  its 


usiness.  He  continued  to  be  a  principal  manager 
of  the  affairs  of  the  Tipperary  Bank,  and  he  was 
hairman  of  the  Royal  Swedish  Railway  Company, 
n  which  it  appeared  that,  out  of  79,925  shares 
ssued,  he  got  into  his  own  possession  48,245; 
besides  which  he  dishonestly  fabricated  a  large 
quantity  of  duplicate  shares,  of  which  he  had  ap- 
propriated 19,700.  Among  other  enterprises  in 
which  Mr.  Sadleir  was  also  actively  engaged,  were 
the  Grand  Junction  Railway  of  France,  the  Rome 
and  Frascati  Railway,  a  Swiss  railway,  and  the 
East  Kent  line.  He  had  dealt  largely  in  the  lands 
sold  in  the  Encumbered  Estates  Court  in  Ireland, 
and  in  several  instances  had  forged  conveyances  of 
such  lands,  in  order  to  raise  money  upon  them. 
The  catastrophe  was  brought  about  by  Messrs. 


Glyn, 


the  London  agents  of  the  Tipperary  Bank, 
laming  its  drafts  as  "  not  provided  for,"  a  step 
which  was  followed  a  day  or  two  after  by  the  Bank 
of  Ireland.  On  the  day  preceding  that  on  which 
his  body  was  discovered  on  Hampstead  Heath, 


Sadleir 


wrote   to  Mr.  Robert  Keating,   M.P. 


for 


Waterford  (another  director  of  the  Tipperary  Bank), 
a  letter,  intended  to  be  posthumous,  commencing 

*"<  Dear  Robert,-To  what  infamy  have  I  come 


456 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Hampstead. 


step  by  step— heaping  crime  upon  crime  ;  and  sive  rights,  among  them  being  that  of  deodand,  and 
now  I  find  myself  the  author  of  numberless  crimes  is,  therefore,  in  the  case  of  a  person  who  commits 
of  a  diabolical  character,  and  the  cause  of  ruin,  and  suicide  within  the  manor,  entitled  as  heir  to  'the 
misery,  and  disgrace  to  thousands— aye,  tens  of  whole  of  the  goods  and  chattels  of  the  deceased, 
thousands !  Oh,  how  I  feel  for  those  on  whom  ,  of  every  kind,  with  the  exception  of  his  estate  of 
this  ruin  must  fall !  I  could  bear  all  punishment,  j  inheritance,  in  the  event  of  the  jury  returning  a 
but  I  could  never  bear  to  witness  the  sufferings  of  ,  verdict  of  felo  de  se.'  Sadleir's  goods  and  chattels 
those  on  whom  I  have  brought  this  ruin.  It  must  j  were  already  lost  or  forfeited ;  but  the  cream-jug 
be  better  that  I  should  not  live."  j  was  claimed  and  received  by  the  lord  as  an  acknow- 

One  of  the  Dublin  newspapers— the  Nation—    ledgment  of  his  right,  and  then   returned."    A* 


"fl'I'ER    FLASK,"    ABOUT    iSoO.      (Set  fa^'   459-) 


speaking  of  this  unexampled  swindler,  thus  ex- 
presses itself:  "He  was  a  man  desperate  by 
nature,  and  in  all  his  designs  his  character,  his 
object-),  his  very  fate,  seemed  written  in  that 
sallow  face,  wrinkled  with  multifarious  intrigue — 
cold,  callous,  and  cunning — instinct  with  an  un- 
scrupulous audacity,  and  an  easy  and  wily  energy. 
Huw  he  contrived  and  continued  to  deceive  men 
to  the  last,  and  to  stave  off  so  securely  the  evi- 
dences of  his  infamies,  until  now,  that  they  all 
seem  exploding  together  over  his  dead  body,  is 
a  marvel  and  a  mystery." 

" Hampstead."  says  Mr.  Thorne,  in  his  "Environs 
of  London,"  "  is  an  awkward  place  for  a  suicide  to 
select.  The  lord  of  the  manor  possesses  very  exten- 


"  deodands "  have  been  since  abolished  by  Act  of 
Parliament,  such  a  claim  could  not  arise  again. 

John  Sadleir,  we  need  hardly  remind  the  reader 
of  Charles  Dickens's  works,  figures  in  "  Little 
Dorritt "  as  Mr.  Merdle.  "  I  shaped  Mr.  Merdle 
himself,"  writes  Dickens,  "  out  of  that  gracious 
rascality." 

In  Hardwicke's  "  Annual  Biography"  for  1857 
we  read  thus  :  "  Strange  as  it  may  sound,  there  are 
not  wanting  those  who  believe  (in  spite  of  the 
identification  of  the  corpse  by  the  coroner,  Mr. 
Wakley,  who  had  formerly  sat  in  Parliament  with 
him),  that,  after  all,  John  Sadleir  did  not  commit 
suicide,  but  simply  played  the  trick  so  well  known 
in  history  and  in  romance,  of  *  pretended  death 


Hampstead.] 


THE  VALE   OF   HEALTH. 


and  a  supposititious  corpse.     These  persons  believe 
that  he  is  still  alive  and  in  America." 

Immediately  at  our  feet,  as  we  look  down  in 
the  hollow  towards  the  east,  from  the  broad  road 
in  front  of  "Jack  Straw's  Castle,"  is  the  Vale  of 
Health,  with  its  large  modern  hotel,  and  its  ponds 
glistening  in  the  sunshine  beyond.  We  wish  that 
it  could  be  added  that  this  hotel  forms  any  orna- 
ment to  the  scene  :  for  down  to  very  recent  years 
this  Vale  of  Health  presented  a  sight  at  once 
picturesque  and  pleasant.  "  In  front  of  a  row 
of  cottages,"  writes  Mr.  Howitt,  "  and  under  the 


cottage,  with  its  pretty  balcony  environed  with 
creepers,  and  a  tall  arbor  vita  almost  overtopping 
its  roof,  lived  for  some  time  Leigh  Hunt.  Here 
Byron  and  Shelley  visited  him;  and  when  this 
cottage  from  age  was  obliged  to  be  pulled  down, 
there  was  still  in  the  parlour  window  a  pane  of  glass 
on  which  Byron  had  written  these  lines  of  Cowper — 

" '  Oh  for  a  lodge  in  some  vast  wilderness, 
Some  boundless  contiguity  of  shade, 
Where  rumour  of  oppression  and  deceit, 
Of  unsuccessful  or  successful  war, 
Shall  never  reach  me  more.'  " 


i  from  the  Sketch  taken  by  Mr.  Severn.    (See  page  458-) 


shade  of  willows,  were  set  out  long  tables  for  tea, 
•where  many  hundreds,  at  a  trifling  cost,  partook 
of  a  homely  and  exhilarating  refreshment.  There 
families  could  take  their  own  tea  and  bread  and 
butter,  and  have  water  boiled  for  them,  and  table 
accommodation  found  for  them,  for  a  few  pence ; 


It  may  be  well  to  note  here  the  fact  that  on  this 
site  South  Villa  now  stands. 

Cyrus  Redding,  in  his  "Recollections,"  thus 
writes,  in  1850:— "I  visited  him  (Leigh  Hunt) 
in  the  Vale  of  Health  at  Hampstead,  where  there 
was  always  a  heartiness  that  tempted  confidence, 


to  see  that  the  more  imposing  and  dangerous  place 
of  entertainment  never  could  compete  with  the  , 


more  primitive  tea-tables,  nor  banish  the  homely 
and  happy  groups  of  families,  children,  and  humble 
friends." 

An  "old  inhabitant"  of  Hampstead  writes  thus 
in  1876  :— "  A  plot  of  land  lately  enclosed  in  the 
Vale  of  Health  is  classic  ground.  In  a  picturesque 


infringe  the  rule 


many  details,  which  would 
mde  for  myself  in 


nrnge 

mention  of  but  few  who  are  still  spared  from  a 
day  of  our  literature,  the  similar  of  which  is  hardly 
likely  soon,  if  ever,  to  recur  again."     Leigh  Hunt 
died  at  the  house  of  a  friend  at  Putney,  in  1859- 
The  "Cockney  poets,"   Keats,  Shelley,  Lelgh 


458 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Hampstcad. 


Hunt,  and  their  friends,  loved  Hampstead.  Cole- 
ridge, who  lived  many  years  at  Highgate,  was  no 
stranger  to  "The  Spaniards"  or  the  "Vale  of 
Health,"  with  its  toy-like  cluster  of  cottages  in  the 
little  hollow  where  we  are  gazing  down.  Keats 
(whom  the  author  of  "  Childe  Harold  "  styled,  in 
his  Ravenna  letter  to  the  elder  Disraeli,  "  a  tadpole 
of  the  lakes,"  but  to  whom  he  made  the  amende 
honorable  by  a  magnificent  compliment  a  year 
later)  was  residing  in  lodgings  at  Hampstead  when 
he  felt  the  first  symptoms  of  the  deadly  consump- 
tion which  shortly  afterwards  laid  the  most  fervid 
genius  of  this  century  in  the  Protestant  burying- 
ground  at  Rome. 

The  name  of  John  Keats  has  many  associations 
with  Hampstead.  At  Leigh  Hunt's  house  Keats 
wrote  one  of  his  finest  sonnets,  and  in  a  beautiful 
spot  between  Millfield  Lane  and  Lord  Mansfield's 
house,  as  we  have  already  narrated,  occurred  that 
one  short  interview  between  Keats  and  Coleridge, 
in  which  the  latter  said  that  death  was  in  the 
hand  of  the  former  after  they  had  parted.  These 
words  soon  proved  true.  In  a  recent  volume  of 
the  Gentleman's  Magazine  there  is  a  very  interest- 
ing passage  touching  the  author  of  "  The  Eve  of 
St.  Agnes."  "  I  see,"  says  Miss  Sabilla  Novello, 
"that  Sylvanus  Urban  declares  himself  an  un- 
measured admirer  of  Keats  ;  I  therefore  enclose  for 
your  acceptance  the  photograph  of  a  sketch  made 
of  him,  on  his  death-bed,  by  his  friend  Joseph 
Severn,  in  whose  diary  at  that  epoch  are  written, 
under  the  sketch,  these  words :  '  28th  January,  3 
o'clock,  morning — Drawn  to  keep  me  awake.  A 
deadly  sweat  was  on  him  all  this  night.'  I  feel  you 
will  be  interested  by  the  drawing."  The  sketch  is, 
indeed,  a  most  touching  memento  of  the  youth  who, 
having  his  lot  cast  in  the  golden  age  of  modern 
English  poetry,  left  us  some  of  the  finest,  and  purest, 
and  most  perfect  poetry  in  the  language,  and  died 
at  twenty-five.  So  excellent  a  work  is  this  little 
picture,  and  so  accurately  docs  it  suggest  the  con- 
ditions under  which  it  was  drawn,  that  no  doubt 
the  time  will  come  when  it  will  be  regarded  as  the 
best  personal  relic  of  the  author  of  "  Endymion." 
Severn's  portrait  of  Keats,  taken  at  Hampstead,  is 
in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery ;  and  hard  by,  in  ' 
the  South  Kensington  Museum,  Severn's  merits  as  I 
an  artist  may  be  seen  in  his  poetic  transcription  of ' 
Ariel  on  the  bat's  back. 

Connected  with  Keats's  illness  and  death  may 
be  mentioned  two  incidents  that  for  the  living  ' 
reader  contain  a  mournful  and  a  striking  interest. 
Among  the  earliest  friends  of  Keats  were  Haydon, 
the  painter,  and  Shelley,  the  poet.  When  Keats 
was  first  smitten,  Haydon  visited  the  sufferer,  who 


had  written  to  his  old  friend,  requesting  him  to 
see  him  before  he  set  out  for  Italy.  Haydon 
describes  in  his  journal  the  powerful  impression 
which  the  visit  made  upon  him — "  the  very 
colouring  of  the  scene  struck  forcibly  on  the 
painter's  imagination.  The  white  curtains,  the 
white  sheets,  the  white  shirt,  and  the  white  skin 
of  his  friend,  all  contrasted  with  the  bright  hectic 
flush  on  his  cheek,  and  heightened  the  sinister 
effect ;  he  went  away,  hardly  hoping."  And  he;. 
who  hardly  hoped  for  another,  what  extent  of  hope 
had  he  for  himself?  From  the  poet's  bed  to  the 
painter's  studio  is  but  a  bound  for  the  curious 
and  eager  mind.  Keats,  pitied  and  struck  down 
by  the  hand  of  disease,  lies  in  paradise  compared 
with  the  spectacle  that  comes  before  us— genius 
weltering  in  its  blood,  self-destroyed  because 
neglected.  Pass  we  to  another  vision !  Amongst 
the  indignant  declaimers  against  the  unjust  sentence 
which  criticism  had  passed  on  Keats,  Shelley  stood 
foremost  What  added  poignancy  to  indignation 
was  the  settled  but  unfounded  conviction  that  the 
death  of  the  youth  had  been  mainly  occasioned  by 
wanton  jx:rsecution.  Anger  found  relief  in  song. 
"  Adonais  :  an  Elegy  on  the  Death  of  John  Keats," 
is  among  the  most  impassioned  of  Shelley's  verses. 
Give  heed  to  the  preface: — "John  Keats  died  at 
Rome  of  a  consumption  in  his  twenty-fourth  year, 

on  the  —  of ,  1821,  and  was  buried  in  the 

romantic  and  lovely  cemetery  of  the  Protestants  in 
that  city,  under  the  pyramid  which  is  the  tomb 
of  Cestius,  and  the  massy  walls  and  towers,  now 
mouldering  and  desolate,  which  formed  the  circuit 
of  ancient  Rome.  The  cemetery  is  an  open  space 
among  the  ruins,  covered  in  winter  with  violets  and 
daisies.  It  might  mahe  one  in  Iwe  with  death  to 
think  that  one  should  be  buried  in  so  sweet  a place" 
Reader,  carry  the  accents  in  your  ear,  and  accom- 
pany us  to  Leghorn.  A  few  months  only  have 
elapsed.  Shelley  is  on  the  shore.  Keats  no  longer 
lives,  but  you  will  see  that  Shelley  has  not  forgotten 
him.  He  sets  sail  for  the  Gulf  of  I^erici,  where  he 
has  his  temporary  home ;  he  never  reaches  it.  A 
body  is  washed  ashore  at  Via  Reggio.  If  the 
features  are  not  to  be  recognised,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  of  the  man  who  carries  in  his  bosom 
the  volume  containing  "Lamia"  and  "Hyperion." 
The  body  of  Shelley  is  burned,  but  the  remains 

are  carried whither?     You  will  know  by  the 

description,  "The  cemetery  is  an  open  space 
among  the  ruins,  covered  in  winter  with  violets  and 
daisies.  //  might  make  one  in  love  with  death  to 
think  that  one  should  be  buried  in  so  sweet  a  plate." 
There  he  lies !  Keats  and  he,  the  mourner  and 
the  mourned,  almost  touch  each  other ! 


Hampstcad.l 


THE   "UPPER  FLASK." 


All  the  later  years  of  Keats's  life,  until  his  de- 
parture for  Rome,  were  passed  at  Hampstead,  and 
here  all  his  finest  poetry  was  written.  Leigh  Hunt 

ggys  . "  The  poem  with  which  his  first  volume 

begins  was  suggested  to  him  on  a  delightful  summer 
day,  as  he  stood  by  the  gate  which  leads  from  the 
battery  on  Hampstead  Heath  into  a  field  by  Caen 
Wood  ;  and  the  last  poem,  the  one  on  '  Sleep  and 
Poetry,'  was  occasioned  by  his  sleeping  in  the  Vale 
of  Health."  There  are,  perhaps,  few  spots  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Hampstead  more  likely  to  have 
suggested  the  following  lines  to  the  sensitive  mind 
of  poor  Keats  than  the  high  ground  overlooking  the 
Vale  of  Health  :— 

"  To  one  who  has  been  long  in  city  pent 

'Tis  very  sweet  to  look  into  the  fair 

And  open  space  of  heaven— to  breathe  a  prayer 
Full  in  the  smile  of  the  blue  firmament. 
Who  is  more  happy  when,  with  heart's  content, 

Fatigued  he  sinks  into  some  pleasant  lair 

Of  wavy  grass,  and  reads  a  debonair 
And  gentle  tale  of  love  and  languishment  ? 

Returning  home  at  evening  with  an  ear 
Catching  the  notes  of  Philomel— an  eye 

Watching  the  sailing  cloudlets'  bright  career, 
He  mourns  that  day  so  soon  has  glided  by, 

E'en  like  the  passage  of  an  angel's  tear, 
That  falls  through  the  clear  ether  silently." 

No  wonder  that  great  painters  as  well  as  poets 
have  loved  this  spot,  and  made  it  hallowed  ground 
Romney,  Morland,  Haydon,  Constable,  Collins 
Blake,  Linnell,  Herbert,  and  Clarkson  Stanfield  have 
all  in  their  turn  either  lived  in  Hampstead,  or,  a 
the  least,  frequented  it,  studying,  as  artists  and  poet 
only  can,  the  glorious  "  sunset  effects "  and  won 
drous  contrasts  of  light  and  shade  which  are  to  be 
seen  here  far  better  than  anywhere  else  within  fivi 
miles  of  St  Paul's  or  Charing  Cross. 

Linnell,  the  painter  of  the  "  Eve  of  the  Deluge 
and  the  "  Return  of  Ulysses,"  made  frequently  hi 
abode  at  a  cottage  beyond  the  Heath,  betweei 
North  End  and  the  "Spaniards.''  To  this  quie 
nook  very  often  resorted,  on  Sunday  afternoons,  hi 
friend  William  Blake,  that  "dreamer  of  drea: 
and  seer  of  visions,"  and  John  Varley,  artist  an 
astrologer,  who  were  as  strange  a  pair  as  ever  tro 
this  earth. 

Goldsmith,  who  loved  to  walk  here,  describe 
the  view  from  the  top  of  the  hill  as  finer  than  an; 
thing  he  had  seen  in  his  wanderings  abroad ;  an 
yet  he  wrote  "  The  Traveller,"  and  had  visited  th 
sunny  south. 

Between  the  Heath  and  the  western  side  of  th 
town  is  a  double  row  of  noble  lime-trees,  the  grav 
path  under  which  is  "still  called  the  Judge's  Walk 
or  King's  Bench  Avenue."  The  story  is,  that  whe 


the  plague  was  raging  in  London,  the  sittings  of 
the  Courts  of  Law  were  transferred  for  a  time  from 
Westminster  to  Hampstead,  and  that  the  Heath 
was  tenanted  by  gentlemen  of  the  wig  and  gown, 
who  were  forced  to  sleep  under  canvas,  like  so 
many  rifle  volunteers,  because  there  was  no  accom- 
odation  to  be  had  for   love   or   money  in  the 
llage.     But  we  do  not  guarantee  the  tradition  as 
ell  founded. 

Making  our  way  towards  the  village  of  Hamp- 
ead,  but  before  actually  quitting  the  H>ath,  we 
ass  on  our  left,  at  the  corner  of  Heath  Mount  and 
ast  Heath  Road,  the  house  which  marks  the  spot 
n  which,  in  former  times,  stood  the  "  Upper  Flask  " 
vern,  celebrated  by  Richardson,  in  his  novel  of 
Clarissa  Harlowe."  A  view  of  the  old  house, 
)rmerly  the  rendezvous  of  Pope,  Steele,  and 
thers,  and  subsequently  the  residence  of  George 
teevens,  the  commentator  on  Shakespeare,  will 
e  found  in  Mr.  Smith's  "  Historical  and  Literary 
Curiosities." 

The  "  Upper  Flask  "  was  at  one  time  called  the 
Upper  Bowling-green  House,"  from  its  possessing 
very  good  bowling-green.  We  have  given  an 
ngraving  of  it  on  page  456. 

When  the  Kit-Kat  Club  was   in  its  glory,   its 
members  were  accustomed  to  transfer  their  meetings 
n  the  summer  time  to  this  tavern,  whose  walls — if 
walls  have  ears— must  have  listened  to  some  rare 
and  racy  conversation.     We  have  already  spoken 
at  some  length  of  the  doings  of  this  celebrated  club 
i  a  previous  volume.*      In    1712,   Steele,   most 
enial  of  wits  and  most  tender  of  humorists,  found 


t  necessary  to  quit  London  for  a  time. 


As  usual, 


he  duns  were  upon  him,  and  his  "  darling  Prue " 
had  been,  we  may  suppose,  a  little  more  unreason- 
_bly  jealous  than  usual.  He  left  London  in  haste, 
and  took  the  house  at  Hampstead  in  which  Sir 
Charles  Sedley  had  recently  died.  Thither  would 
Mr.  Pope  or  Dr.  Arbuthnot  in  a  coach  to 
cany  the  eminent  moralist  off  to  the  cheerful 
meetings  of  the  Kit-Kat  at  the  "  Flask."  How 
Sir  Richard  returned  we  are  not  told,  but  there 
is  some  reason  to  fear  that  the  coach  was  even 
more  necessary  at  the  end  of  the  evei.ing  than  at 
its  beginning.  These  meetings,  however,  did  not 
last  long.  We  shall  have  more  to  say  of  Sir  Richard 
Steele  when  we  reach  Haverstock  Hill. 

Mr.    Howitt,    in    his    "Northern    Heights 


of 


London  "  gives'  a  view  of  the  house  as  it 
' 


Appeared 


hen  thatk  was  published  (1869).  The  author 
states  that  the  members  of  the  Kit-Kat  Club  used 
«  to  sip  their  ale  under  the  old  mulberry-tree,  which 


46o 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Hampstcad 


still  flourishes,  though  now  bound  together  by  iron 
bands,  and   showing  signs  of  great  age,"  in  the 
garden  adjoining.     Sir  Richard  Blackmore,  in  his 
poem,  "The   Kit-Kats,"  thus  commemorates  the 
summer  gatherings  of  the  club  at  this  house : — 
"  Or  when,  Apollo-like,  thou'st  pleased  to  lead 
Thy  sons  to  feast  on  Hampstead's  airy  head  : 
Hampstead,  that,  towering  in  superior  sky, 
Now  with  Parnassus  does  in  honour  vie." 
Since  that  time  the  house  has  been  much  altered, 
and  additions  have  been  made  to  it     One  Samuel 
Stanton,  a  vintner,  who  came  into  possession  of  it 
near  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  was  pro- 
bably the  last  person  who  used  it  as  a  tavern.     In 
1750  it   passed  from  his  nephew  and  successor, 
"Samuel  Stanton,  gentleman,"  to  his  niece,  Lady 
Charlotte  Rich,  sister  of  Mary,  Countess  of  War- 
wick; a  few   years    later    George   Steevens,    the 
annotator  of  Shakespeare,  bought  the  house,  and 
lived  there  till  his  death,  in  1 800. 

Steevens  is  stated  to  have  been  a  fine  classical 
scholar,  and  celebrated  for  his  brilliant  wit  and 
smart  repartee  in  conversation,  in  which  he  was 
"  lively,  varied,  and  eloquent,"  so  that  one  of  his 
acquaintances  said  that  he  regarded  him  as  a  speak- 
ing Hogarth.  He  possessed  a  handsome  fortune, 
which  he  managed,  says  his  biographer,  "  with  dis- 
cretion, and  was  enabled  to  gratify  his  wishes, 
which  he  did  without  any  regard  to  expense,  in 
forming  his  distinguished  collections  of  classical 
learning,  literary  antiquity,  and  the  arts  connected 

with  it He  possessed  all  the  grace  of 

exterior  accomplishment,  acquired  when  civility 
and  politeness  were  the  characteristics  of  a  gentle- 
man. He  received  the  first  part  of  his  education 
at  Kingston-upon-Thames ;  he  went  thence  to 
Eton,  and  was  afterwards  a  fellow-commoner  of 
King's  College,  Cambridge.  He  also  accepted  a 
commission  in  the  Essex  militia,  on  its  first  esta- 
blishment. The  latter  years  of  his  life  he  chiefly 
spent  at  Hampstead  in  retirement,  and  seldom 
mixed  in  society  except  in  booksellers'  shops,  or 
the  Shakespeare  Gallery,  or  the  morning  conversa- 
tions of  Sir  Joseph  Banks." 

"  Steevens,"  says  Cradock,  in  his  "  Memoirs," 
"  was  the  most  indefatigable  man  I  had  ever  met 
with.  He  would  absolutely  set  out  from  his  house 
at  Hampstead,  with  the  patrol,  and  walk  to  London 
before  daylight,  call  up  his  barber  in  Devereux 
Court,  at  whose  shop  he  dressed,  and  when  fully 
accoutred  for  the  day,  generally  resorted  to  the 
house  of  his  friend  Hamilton,  the  well-known 
editor  and  printer  of  the  Critical  Review." 

Steevens,  it  is  stated,  added  considerably  to  the 
house.  It  was  subsequently  occupied  for  many 


years  by  Mr.  Thomas  Sheppard,  M.P.  for  Frome, 
and  afterwards  by  Mrs.  Raikes,  a  relative  of  Mr. 
Thomas  Raikes,  to  whose  "Journal"  we  have 
frequently  referred  in  these  pages.  On  her  death 
the  house  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  Mr.  Lister. 
The  old  house  is  still  kept  in  remembrance  by  a 
double  row  of  elms  in  front  of  it,  forming  a  shady 
grove. 

With  the  interest  attached  to  the  place  through 
the  pages  of  "Clarissa  Harlowe,"  it  would  be 
wrong  not  to  make  more  than  a  passing  allusion 
to  it  We  will,  therefore,  summarise  from  the 
work  those  portions  having  special  reference  to 
the  "  Upper  Flask  "  and  its  surroundings : — 

Richardson  represents  the  fashionable  villain 
Lovelace  as  inducing  Clarissa — whom  he  had 
managed,  under  promise  of  marriage,  to  lure  away 
from  her  family — to  take  a  drive  with  him  in  com- 
pany with  two  of  the  women  of  the  sponging-house 
into  which  he  had  decoyed  her.  Lovelace,  after- 
wards writing  to  his  friend  Belford,  says  : — "  The 
coach  carried  us  to  Hampstead,  to  Highgate, 
to  Muswell  Hill;  back  to  Hampstead,  to  the 
'Upper  Flask.'  There,  in  compliment  to  the 
nymphs,  my  beloved  consented  to  alight  and  take 
a  little  repast ;  then  home  early  by  Kentish  Town." 
Clarissa  no  sooner  discovers  the  nature  of  the  vile 
place  into  which  Lovelace  has  brought  her,  than 
she  at  once  sets  about  endeavouring  to  effect  her 
escape.  By  one  of  Lovelace's  accomplices  she  is 
tracked  to  a  hackney  coach,  and  from  her  direc- 
tions to  the  driver  it  is  at  once  made  clear  that 
Hampstead  is  her  destination.  The  fellow  then 
disguises  himself,  and  making  his  way  thither, 
discovers  her  at  the  "  Upper  Flask,"  which  fact  he 
communicates  to  Lovelace  in  the  following  words  : 
—  "If  your  honner  come  to  the  'Upper  Flax,'  I 
will  be  in  site  (sight)  all  day  about  the  'Tapp- 
house'  on  the  Hethe."  Lovelace  pursues  his 
victim  in  all  haste,  and  arrives  at  the  "  Upper 
Flask,"  but  only  to  find  that  she  had  been  there, 
but  had  since  taken  up  her  abode  somewhere  in 
the  neighbourhood.  We  next  find  Lovelace  writing 
from  the  "  Upper  Flask  : " — "  I  am  now  here,  and 
have  been  this  hour  and  a  half.  What  an  indus- 
trious spirit  have  I."  But  all  that  he  could  learn 
with  any  certainty  respecting  the  runaway  was,  that 
"  the  Hampstead  coach,  when  the  dear  fugitive  came 
to  it,  had  but  two  passengers  in  it ;  but  she  made 
the  fellow  go  off  directly,  paying  for  the  vacant 
places.  The  two  passengers  directing  the  coach- 
man to  set  them  down  at  the  '  Upper  Flask,'  she 
bid  them  set  her  down  there  also." 

Clarissa  has  in  the  meantime  taken  up  her  abode 
in  the  lodging-house  of  a  Mrs.  Moore,  as  she  herself 


Hampstead.: 


CLARISSA  HARLOWE. 


461 


tells  us  in  one  of  her  epistles : — "  I  am  at  present 
at  one  Mrs.  Moore's,  at  Hampstead.  My  heart 
misgave  me  at  coming  to  this  village,  because  I 
had  been  here  with  him  more  than  once ;  but  the 
coach  hither  was  such  a  convenience  that  I  knew 
not  what  to  do  better."  She,  however,  is  not 
allowed  to  rest  quietly  here,  but  is  soon  surrounded 
by  Lovelace's  tools  and  spies.  She  attempts  to 
escape,  and,  making  her  way  to  the  window,  ex- 
claims to  the  landlady — "  '  Let  me  look  out ! 
Whither  does  that  path  lead  to?  Is  there  no 
probability  of  getting  a  coach  ?  Cannot  I  steal  to 
a  neighbouring  house,  where  I  may  be  concealed 
till  I  can  get  quite  away  ?  Oh,  help  me,  help  me, 
ladies,  or  I  am  ruined  ! '  Then,  pausing,  she  asks — 
'  Is  that  the  way  to  Hendon  ?  Is  Hendon  a  private 
•  place?  The  Hampstead  coach,  I  am  told,  will 
carry  passengers  thither?'"  Richardson  writes: 
"She,  indeed,  went  on  towards  Hendon,  passing 
ign  of  the  '  Castle '  on  the  Heath ;  then 


by  the  sig 

stopping,  looked  about  he 


Lovelace.  The  governor's  wife  seized  the  book, 
and  the  secretary  waited  for  it,  and  the  chief 
justice  could  not  read  it  for  tears.  He  acted 
the  whole  scene  as  he  paced  up  and  down  the 
Athenaeum  Library;  I  daresay  he  could  have 
spoken  pages  of  the  book." 

The  following  is  the  testimony  of  R.  B.  Haydon 
to  the  merits  of  "  Clarissa  Harlowe  "  as  a  work  of 
fiction : — "  I  was  never  so  moved  by  a  work  of 
genius  as  by  Othdlo,  except  by  'Clarissa  Har- 
lowe.' I  read  seventeen  hours  a  day  at  '  Clarissa,' 
and  held  up  the  book  so  long,  leaning  on  my 
elbows  in  an  arm-chair,  that  I  stopped  the  circula- 
tion, and  could  not  move.  When  Lovelace 
writes,  '  Dear  Belton,  it  is  all  over,  and  Clarissa 
lives,'  I  got  up  in  a  fury,  and  wept  like  an  infant, 
and  cursed  Lovelace  till  I  was  exhausted.  This  is 
the  triumph  of  genius  over  the  imagination  and 
heart  of  the  readers." 

Richardson,   by  all  accounts,  was  one  of  the 


and 


ed  down  the    vainest  of  men,  and  loved  to  talk  of  nothing  so 


valley  before  her.  Then,  turning  her  face  towards 
London,  she  seemed,  by  the  motion  of  her  hand- 
kerchief to  her  eyes,  to  weep;  repenting  (who 
knows?)  the  rash  step  that  she  had  taken,  and 


wishing  herself  back  again. 


Then,  con- 


tinuing on  a  few  paces,  she  stopped  again,  and, 
as  if  disliking  her  road,  again  seeming  to  weep, 
directed  her  course  back  towards  Hampstead." 

Hannah  More  bears  testimony  to  the  fact  that, 
when  she  was  young,  "  Clarissa  "  and  "  Sir  Charles 
Grandison"  were  the  favourite  reading  in  any 
English  household.  And  her  testimony  to  their 
excellence  is  striking.  She  writes  :  "  Whatever 
objection  may  be  made  to  them  in  certain  respects, 
they  contain  more  maxims  of  virtue,  and  more 
sound  moral  principle,  than  half  the  books  called 
'  moral.' " 


well  as  his  own  writings.  It  must  be  owned,  how- 
ever, that  he  had  something  to  be  vain  and  proud 
about  when  he  wrote  "  Clarissa  Harlowe,"  which  at 
once  established  itself  as  a  classic  on  the  book- 
shelves of  every  gentleman  and  lady  throughout 
England. 

"The  great  author,"  writes  Thackeray,  in  his 
"  Virginians,"  "  was  accustomed  to  be  adored — a 
gentler  wind  never  puffed  mortal  vanity;  enrap- 
tured spinsters  flung  tea-leaves  round  him,  and 
incensed  him  with  the  coffee-pot.  Matrons  kissed 
the  slippers  they  had  worked  for  him.  There  was 
a  halo  of  virtue  round  his  nightcap." 

So  great  is  the  popularity  of  the  author  of 
"Pamela,"  "Clarissa,"  and  "Sir  Charles  Gran- 
dison,"  that  foreigners  of  distinction  have  been 
known  to  visit  Hampstead,  and  to  inquire  with 


to  read  it,  the  whole  station  was  in  a  pass.on' of  j  Walk,  but  both   are  only  ghosts 
excitement  about  Miss  Harlowe  and  the  scoundrel ;  selves . 


462 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


CHAPTER   XXXVI. 
HAMPSTEAD  kontinurJ).— THE   TOWN. 


*•  A  steeple  issuing  from  a  leafy  rise. 

With  balmy  fields  in  fr.,]it.  and  sloping  green, 

Dear  Hampstead,  is  thy  southern  f..cc  serene, 

Silently  smiling  on  approaching  eyes. 

Within,  thine  ever-shifting  looks  surprise. 

Streets,  hills,  and  de!ls.  trees  overhead  now  seen, 

Now  down  below,  with  snu-king  roofs  between— 
Description  of  the  To 

The  "Hollybush"-The  Assembly  Rooms -Agnes  and  Joanna  Baillie-The  Clock  House-Branch  Hill  Lodge-The  Fire  Brigade  Station 
-The  "Lower  Flask  Inn  "-Flask  Walk  -Fairs  held  there-The  Militia  liarracks-Mrs.  Tennyson-Christ  Church-The  Wells-Concert* 
and  Halls-Irregular  Marriages-The  Raffling  Shops-Well  Walk-John  Constable-John  Keats-Geological  Formation  of  the  Northern 

THE  town  of  Hampstead  is  built  on  the  slope  of  tortuous,  irregular,  and  unconnected  fashion, 
the  hill  leading  up  to  the  Heath,  as  Mr.  Thorne,  There  are,"  he  adds,  "  the  fairly-broad  winding 
in  his  "  Environs  "  styles  it,  "  in  an  odd,  sidelong,  High  Street,  and  other  good  streets  and  lanes, 


A  village  revelling  in  varieties. 

Then  northward,  what  a  range— with  heath  and  pond, 
Nature's  own  ground  ;  woods  that  let  mansions  through. 
And  cottaged  vales,  with  pillowy  fields  beyond, 
And  clumps  of  darkening  pines,  and  prospects  blue, 
And  that  clear  path  through  all,  where  daily  meet 
Cool  cheeks,  and  brilliant  eyes,  and  morn-elastic  (ffl."—Lrifk  Hunt. 
ith  Street -The  li.,,,tist  Chapel     WhitefieU's  Preaching  at  Hampstead-The  Public  Library-Romney,  the  Painter- 


SITUATION   OF  THE  TOWN. 


4<M 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


lined  with  large  old  brick  houses,  within  high- 
walled  enclosures,  over  which  lean  ancient  trees, 
and  alongside  them  houses  small  and  large,  with- 
out a  scrap  of  garden,  and  only  a  very  little  dingy 
yard ;  narrow  and  dirty  byways,  courts,  and  pas- 
sages, with  steep  flights  of  steps,  and  mean  and 
crowded  tenements ;  fragments  of  open  green 
spaces,  and  again  streets  and  lanes  bordered  with 
shady  elms  and  limes.  On  the  whole,  however, 
the  pleasanter  and  sylvan  character  prevails,  espe- 
cially west  of  the  main  street.  The  trees  along 
the  streets  and  lanes  are  the  most  characteristic 
and  redeeming  feature  of  the  village.  Hampstead 
was  long  ago  '  the  place  of  groves,"  and  it  retains 
its  early  distinction.  It  is  the  most  sylvan  of  sub- 
urban villages."  Besides  these  avenues  or  groves, 
almost  every  part  of  "  old  Hampstead  "  is  distin- 
guished by  rows  of  trees,  of  either  lime  or  elm, 
planted  along  the  broad  footpaths  in  true  boulevard 
fashion.  Mr.  Howitt,  in  his  "  Northern  Heights," 
in  writing  on  this  subject,  says :  "  Its  old  narrow 
roads  winding  under  tall  trees,  are  continually  con- 
ducting to  fresh  and  secluded  places,  that  seem 
hidden  from  the  world,  and  would  lead  you  to  sup- 
pose yourselves  far  away  from  London,  and  in  some 
especially  old-fashioned  and  old-world  part  of  the 
country.  Extensive  old  and  lofty  walls  enclose 
the  large  old  brick  houses  and  grounds  of  what 
were  once  the  great  merchants'  and  nobles'  of 
London ;  and  ever  and  anon  you  are  reminded  of 
people  and  things  which  lead  your  recollection 
back  to  the  neighbouring  capital  and  its  intruding 
histories." 

Like  Tunbridge  Wells  and  other  fashionable 
resorts  of  the  same  kind,  Hampstead  was  not  with- 
out its  inducements  for  the  "  wealthy,  the  idle,  and 
sickly,"  who  flocked  thither  ;  and  "  houses  of  enter- 
tainment and  dissipation  started  up  on  all  sides." 
The  taverns  had  their  "  long-rooms  "  and  assembly- 
rooms  for  concerts,  balls,  and  card  parties  ;  and 
attached  to  them  were  tea-gardens  and  bowling- 
greens.  On  the  Heath  races  were  held,  as  we 
have  stated  in  the  previous  chapter  ;  fairs  were  held 
in  the  Flask  Walk,  and  the  Well  Walk  and  Church 
Row  became  the  fashionable  promenades  of  the 
place.  But  to  proceed. 

Leaving  the  Lower  or  East  Heath,  with  its 
pleasant  pathways  overlooking  the  Vale  of  Health, 
the  "  ponds,"  and  the  distant  slopes  of  Highgate 
behind  us,  we  descend  Heath  Mount  and  Heath 
Street,  and  so  make  our  way  into  the  town.  On 
our  left,  as  we  proceed  down  the  hill,  we  pass  the 
Baptist  Chapel  which  was  built  for  the  Rev. 
William  Brock,  about  the  year  1862.  It  is  a  good 
substantial  edifice,  and  its  two  towers  are  noticeable 


features  in  its  architecture.  This  fabric,  or  rather 
its  predecessor  on  the  same  site,  is  not  without  its 
historical  reminiscences.  "  The  Independent  con- 
gregation at  Hampstead,"  says  Mr.  Howitt,  "is 
supposed  to  owe  its  origin  to  the  preaching  of 
Whitefield  there  in  1739,  who,  in  his  journal  of 
May  17,  of  that  year,  says, '  Preached,  after  several 
invitations  thither,  at  Hampstead  Heath,  about 
five  miles  from  London.  The  audience  was  of 
the  politer  sort,  and  I  preached  very  near  the 
horse  course,  which  gave  me  occasion  to  speak 
home  to  the  souls  concerning  our  spiritual  race. 
Most  were  attentive,  but  some  mocked.  Thus 
the  Word  of  God  is  either  a  savour  of  life  unto 
life,  or  of  death  unto  death.'  The  congregation 
experienced  its  share  of  the  persecutions  of  those 
times.  The  earliest  mention  of  the  chapel  is  1775." 
It  was  some  time  leased  by  Selina,  Countess  of 
Huntingdon,  who  relinquished  her  right  in  1782. 
The  present  fabric  is  called  Heath  Street  Chapel. 

In  a  house  on  the  west  side  of  High  Street  is 
the  Hampstead  Public  Library.  After  undergoing 
many  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  this  institution  seems 
to  have  taken  a  new  lease  of  life  with  the  com- 
mencement of  1880. 

On  our  right,  between  the  High  Street  and  the 
Heath,  lived — from  1797  to  1799,  George  Romney, 
the  famous  painter.  He  removed  hither  from 
his  residence  in  Cavendish  Square.*  He  took 
great  pains  in  constructing  for  himself  a  country 
house,  between  the  "  Hollybush  Inn"  and  the 
Heath,  with  a  studio  adjoining.  He  did  not  derive, 
however,  any  great  pleasure  from  his  investment, 
for  lie  entered  the  house  when  it  was  still  wet,  and 
he  never  enjoyed  a  day  of  good  health  afterwards. 
Allan  Cunningham,  in  his  "  Lives  of  British 
Painters,"  says  that  Romney  had  resolved  to  with- 
draw to  the  [Hire  air  and  retirement  of  Hampstead 
"to  paint  the  vast  historical  conceptions  for  which 
all  this  travail  had  been  undergone,  and  imagined 
that  a  new  hour  of  glory  was  come ; "  but  after  a 
few  months — a  little  more  than  a  year— finding  his 
health  growing  worse  and  worse,  he  made  up  his 
mind  to  return  back  to  the  wife  whom  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century  before  he  had  deserted,  and 
who  nursed  him  carefully  till  his  death.  The  great 
artist's  studio  was  subsequently  converted  into  the 
Assembly  Rooms.  These  rooms  were  erected  on 
the  principle  of  a  tontine ;  but  all  sorts  of  legal 
difficulties  arose,  and  no  one  knows  who  is  now  the 
rightful  owner.  Here  formany  years— 1820  to  1860 
— were  held,  at  first  every  month,  and  subsequently 
every  quarter  of  a  year,  com'crsazioni,  to  which 


'  Sec  VoL  IV.,  p. 


Hampstead.] 


MISS  JOANNA  BAILLIE. 


465 


the  resident  artistic  and  literary  celebrities  used  to 
lend  all  sorts  of  works  of  art  to  enliven  the  winter 
evenings.  The  cessation  of  these  pleasant  gatherings 
was  much  regretted.  About  1868  an  attempt  was 
made  to  revive  these  gatherings  by  means  of  a 
succession  of  lectures  during  the  winter,  but  these 
also  came  to  an  end  after  the  second  season. 

The  "  Hollybush "  is  not  at  all  an  uncommon 
sign  in  England,  and  as  it  is  generally  found  near 
to  a  church,  we  may  conclude  that  it  points  back 
to  the  ancient  custom — now  so  generally  revived 
amongst  us — of  decking  our  houses  with  ever- 
greens at  Christmas.  It  is  said  that  this  custom 
is  as  old  as  the  times  of  the  Druids. 

The  sisters  Agnes  and  Joanna  Baillie  lived  in 
the  central  house  of  a  terrace  consisting  of  three 
mansions  facing  the  Assembly  Rooms  at  the  back 
of  the  "  Hollybush  Inn."  The  house  is  now  called 
Bolton  House,  and  is  next  door  but  one  to  Wind- 
mill Hill,  a  name  which  points  to  the  fact  of  a 
windmill  having  stood  there  at  one  time.  Joanna 
Baillie,  who  is  well  known  for  her  "  Plays  on  the 
Passions,"  enjoyed  no  small  fame  as  a  poetess,  and 
was  the  author  of  several  plays,  which  were  praised 
by  Sir  Walter  Scott  Basil  and  De  Montfort,  how- 
ever, were  the  only  tragedies  of  Miss  Joanna  Baillie 
that  were  performed  on  the  London  stage,  though 
The  Family  Secret  was  brought  out  with  some 
success  at  the  Edinburgh  Theatre. 

In  Mr.  H.  Crabbe  Robinson's  "Diary,"  under 
date  of  May,  1812,  we  find  the  following  particulars 
of  this  amiable  and  accomplished  lady  : — "  Joinec 
Wordsworth  in  the  Oxford  Road  (i.e.,  Oxforc 
Street) ;  we  then  got  into  the  fields,  and  walked 
to  Hampstead.  .  .  .  We  met  Miss  Joanna  Baillie 
and  accompanied  her  home.  She  is  small  in 
figure,  and  her  gait  is  mean  and  shuffling ;  bu 
her  manners  are  those  of  a  well-bred  lady.  She 
has  none  of  the  unpleasant  airs  too  common  to 
literary  ladies.  Her  conversation  is  sensible.  She 
possesses  apparently  considerable  information,  i 
prompt  without  being  forward,  and  has  a  fixec 
judgment  of  her  own,  without  any  disposition  to 
force  it  on  others.  Wordsworth  said  of  her  with 
warmth,  'If  I  had  to  present  to  a  foreigner  any 
one  as  a  model  of  an  English  gentlewoman 
would  be  Joanna  Baillie.' " 

Indeed,  according  to  the  testimony  of  all  thos 
who  knew  her,  Joanna  Baillie  was  a  plain,  simple 
homely,  unpretending  woman,  who  made  no  effor 
to  dazzle  others,  and  was  not  easily  dazzled  b 
others.  She  loved  her  home,  and  she  and  he 
sister  contrived  to  make  that  home  for  many  year 
a  centre  of  all  that  was  good,  as  well  as  intellectua 
"  I  believe,"  says  Miss  Sedgwick,  an  America 


ady,  "  of  all  my  pleasures  here,  dear  J.  will  most 
nvy  me  that  of  seeing  Joanna  Baillie,  and  of 
eeing  her  repeatedly  at  her  home— the  best  point 
if  view  for  all  best  women.  She  lives  on  Hampstead 

Hill,  a  few  miles  from  town,  in  a  modest  house, 
'th  Miss  Agnes  Baillie,  her  only  sister,  a  kindly 

and  agreeable  person.  Miss  Baillie— I  write  this 
or  J.,  for  women  always  like  to  know  how  one 

another  look  and  dress— Miss  Baillie  has  a  well- 
jreserved  appearance  :  her  face  has  nothing  of  the 
exed  or  sorrowful  expression  that  is  often  so 

deeply  stamped  by  a  long  experience  of  life.  It 
ndicates  a  strong  mind,  great  sensibility,  and  the 
Benevolence  that,  I  believe,  always  proceeds  from 
t  if  the  mental  constitution  be  a  sound  one,  as  it 

eminently  is  in  Miss  Baillie's  case.  She  has  a 
leasing  figure, .  what  we  call  lady-like — that  is, 

delicate,  erect,  and  graceful ;  not  the  large-boned, 

muscular  frame  of  most  English  women.  She 
vears  her  own  gray  hair— a  general  fashion,  by  the 

way,   here,   which   I  wish  we  elderly    ladies    of 

America  may  have  the  courage  and  the  taste  to 
mitate ;  and  she  wears  the  prettiest  of  brown  silk 
;owns  and  bonnets,  fitting  the  beau-ideal  of  an  old 
ady — an  ideal  she  might  inspire,  if  it  has  no 

pre-existence.     You  would,  of  course,  expect  her 
o  be  free  from  pedantry  and  all  modes  of  affecta- 
tion ;  but  I  think  you  would  be  surprised  to  find 
yourself  forgetting,  in  a  domestic  and   confiding 
ieeling,   that  you  were   talking  with  the  woman 
hose  name  is  best  established  among  the  female 
riters  of  her  country ;  in  short,  forgetting  every- 
thing but  that  you  were  in  the  society  of  a  most 
charming  private  gentlewoman." 

The  Quarterly  Review  also  gives  her  the  credit 
of  having  borne  a  most  tasteful  and  effective, 
though  subordinate  part,  in  that  entire  and  won- 
derful revolution  of  the  public  taste  in  works  of 
imagination  and  in  literature  generally,  which 
contrasts  this  century  with  the  latter  half  of  the 
last.  "  Unversed  in  the  ancient  languages  and 
literature,  and  by  no  means  accomplished  in  those 
of  her  own  age,  or  even  of  her  own  country,  this 
remarkable  woman  owed  it,  partly  to  the  simplicity 
of  her  Scottish  education,  partly  to  the  influence  of 
the  better  part  of  Burns's  poetry,  but  chiefly  to  the 
spontaneous  action  of  her  own  powerful  genius, 
that  she  was  able  at  once,  and  apparently  without 
effort,  to  come  forth  the  mistress  of  a  masculine 
style  of  thought  and  diction,  which  constituted 
then,  as  it  constitutes  now,  the  characteristic  merit 
of  her  writings,  and  which  contributed  roost_bene- 
ficially  to  the  already  commenced  reformation  of 
the  literary  principles  of  the  century." 
We  learn  from  Lockhart's  "Life,"  that  Sir 


466 


OLD  AND   NEW   LONDON. 


Hampstead. 


Walter  Scott,  too,  on  being  asked  whether  among 
poets  born  north  of  the  Tweed  he  preferred  Burns 
or  Campbell,  gave  no  direct  answer,  but  said,  "  If 
you  wish  to  speak  of  a  real  poet,  Joanna  Baillie  is 
now  the  highest  genius  of  our  country."  In  fact, 
Scott  was  one  of  her  most  ardent  admirers.  Men- 
tioning in  a  letter  at  the  time  his  own  "  House  of 
Aspen,"  he  says,  "  The  '  Plays  of  the  Passions '  have 
put  me  entirely  out  of  conceit  with  my  Germanised 
brat."  His  esteem  of  the  talents  of  the  author 
led,  in  Miss  Baillie's  case,  as  in  that  of  Miss  Edge- 
worth  and  others,  to  Scott's  acquaintance  and 
friendship  with  the  woman.  The  cordial  and 
agreeable  intimacy  between  Miss  Baillie  and  Scott, 
which  ceased  but  with  the  life  of  the  latter,  dates 
from  his  introduction  to  her  at  Hampstead,  in 
1806,  by  the  translator  and  poet,  Sotheby.  Joanna 
Baillie  herself,  many  years  afterwards,  described 
the  interview  to  a  friend  as  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able events  of  her  life.  She,  from  that  period  of 
their  first  acquaintance,  became  a  continual  corre- 
spondent of  the  mighty  minstrel ;  and  some  of  the 
most  entertaining  letters  he  ever  wrote  are  addressed 
to  her.  The  author  of  the  "  Man  of  Feeling  "  was 
also  her  friend.  The  prologue  to  the  play  of  The 
Family  Legend  was  written  by  Scott,  the  epilogue 
by  Mackenzie.  Joanna  Baillie  was  honoured  also 
from  Lord  Byron  with  the  remark  that  she  was  the 
only  woman  who  could  write  a  tragedy. 

When  her  "  Plays  on  the  Passions "  were  first 
published,  they  appeared  without  a  name,  and 
great  was  the  speculation  of  the  public  as  to  who 
the  author  could  be.  Mrs.  Piozzi  stood  almost 
single-handed  in  maintaining  that  they  were  the 
work  of  a  woman  ;  and  she  tells  us,  what  is  in 
itself  a  proof  of  the  faulty  taste  and  judgment  of 
her  age,  that  no  sooner  was  their  authorship  owned 
by  "  an  unknown  girl  "  than  the  work  fell  so  much 
in  value  as  to  become  almost  unsaleable. 

William  Howitt,  \\lio  knew  her  in  her  Hampstead 
home,  calls  her  a  "  powerful  dramatic  writer,"  a 
"graceful  and  witty  lyrist,"  and  a  "  sweet  and  gentle 
woman."  Miss  Berry  says  that  her  tragedies  were 
highly  appreciated  by  that  connoisseur  of  literature 
and  art,  Sir  George  Beaumont,  who  sent  them  to 
Charles  James  Fox,  and  that  the  latter  was  in  such 
raptures  about  them  that  he  wrote  a  critique  of 
five  pages  upon  the  subject. 

Miss  Lucy  Aikin  has  preserved  a  few  traits  of 
her  character,  having  been  acquainted  with  her 
through  meeting  her  at  Mr.  Barbauld's  house. 
She  was  shy  and  reserved  to  a  degree,  for  the 
"repression  of  all  emotions,  even  the  most  gentle 
and  the  most  honourable  to  human  nature,  seems 
to  have  been  the  constant  lesson  taught  by  her 


parents  in  her  Presbyterian  home."  The  first 
thing  which  drew  upon  Joanna  the  admiring  notice 
of  Hampstead  society  was  the  devoted  assiduity 
of  her  attention  to  her  mother,  then  blind  as  well  as 
aged,  and  whom  she  attended  day  and  night.  But 
this  part  of  her  duty  came  at  length  to  its  natural 
termination;  and  the  secret  of  her  authorship 
having  been  at  length  permitted  to  transpire,  she 
was  no  longer  privileged  to  sit  in  the  shade, 
shuffling  off  upon  others  h^r  own  fair  share  of 
conversation.  Latterly  her  discourse  flowed  freely 
enough ;  but  even  then  it  was  less  on  books  than 
on  real  life  and  the  aspects  of  rural  nature  that 
she  loved  to  talk.  "  Her  genius,"  writes  Miss 
Aikin,  "  had  shrouded  itself  under  so  thick  a  veil 
of  silent  reserve,  that  its  existence  seems  scarcely 
to  have  been  ever  suspected  beyond  the  domestic 
circle  when  the  '  Plays  on  the  Passions '  burst 
upon  the  world.  The  dedication  of  the  volume  to 
Dr.  Baillie  gave  a  hint  in  what  quarter  the  author 
was  to  be  sought ;  but  the  person  chiefly  suspected 
was  the  accomplished  widow  of  his  uncle,  John 
Hunter.  Of  Joanna,  at  all  events,  no  one  dreamed 
on  this  occasion.  She  and  her  sister — I  well 
remember  the  scene — arrived  on  a  morning  call 
at  Mr.  Barbauld's;  my  aunt  immediately  intro- 
duced the  topic  of  the  anonymous  tragedies,  and 
gave  utterance  to  her  admiration  with  that  generous 
delight  in  the  manifestation  of  kindred  genius 
which  always  distinguished  her.  But  not  even  the 
sudden  delight  of  such  praise,  so  given,  would 
seduce  our  Scottish  damsel  into  self-betrayal 
The  faithful  sister  rushed  forward,  as  we  afterwards 
recollected,  to  bear  the  brunt,  while  the  unsuspected 
author  of  the  '  Plays '  lay  snugly  wrapt  up  in  the 
asylum  of  her  taciturnity." 

Miss  Aikin  remarks  that  in  spite  of  her  long 
residence  in  the  neighbourhood  of  London,  Joanna 
Baillie  retained  her  Scotch  predilections  to  the 
last.  She  died  in  1851,  at  the  age  of  ninety,  carry- 
ing with  her  to  the  grave  the  love,  reverence,  and 
regrets  of  all  who  had  enjoyed  her  society. 

Hard  by  the  house  of  Joanna  Baillie  is  an  old 
mansion  named  Fenton  House,  but  generally  known 
as  "  The  Clock  House,"  from  a  clock  which  adorned 
its  front,  though  now  superseded  by  a  sundial ;  the 
house  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  its  heavy  high-pitched 
roof,  not  unlike  that  of  many  a  chateau  in  Nor- 
mandy. It  now  belongs  to  a  member  of  Lord 
Mansfield's  family. 

The  large  red-brick  house,  on  the  left  in  ascend- 
ing from  Hollybush  Hill  towards  the  Heath,  is 
called  Branch  Hill  Lodge.  It  was  in  part  rebuilt 
about  the  year  1745  for  Sir  Thomas  Clark,  Master 
of  the  Rolls.  The  house  was  afterwards  the 


FLASK  WALK. 


467 


residence  of  Lord  Chancellor  Macclesfield,  and 
subsequently,  among  others,  of  Lord  Loughborough, 
before  his  removal  to  Rosslyn  House,  where  we 
shall  presently  speak  of  him  again.  At  the  close 
of  the  last  century  it  was  purchased  of  Colonel 
Parker,  a  younger  son  of  Lord  Macclesfield,  by 
Sir  Thomas  Neave,  who,  as  Lysons  states  in  his 
"  Environs  of  London,"  here  had  "  a  very  large 
and  most  valuable  collection  of  painted  glass,  a 
great  part  of  which  was  procured  from  various 
convents  on  the  Continent,  immediately  after  the 
French  Revolution." 

At  the  junction  of  Heath  and  High  Street  is  the 
Fire  Brigade  Station,  an  attractive  building  of 
coloured  bricks,  with  a  lofty  watch  tower  and 
clock,  erected  by  public  subscription  in  1870;  i 
commands  a  view  over  a  large  extent  of  countr) 
Mr.  G.  Vulliamy  was  the  architect. 

On  the  east  slope  of  the  hill,  and  covering  the 
ground  on  our  left  as  we  descend  Heath  Street  and 
the  High  Street,  lies  that  portion  of  the  town  which 
may  fairly  lay  claim  to  being  called  "  Old  Hamp 
stead."  Our  approach  to  this  once  fashionable 
quarter  is  by  a  narrow  passage  out  of  the  High 
Street,  which  brings  us  at  once  to  the  "Lowe 
Flask  Tavern,"  which  we  have  incidentally  men 
tioned  at  the  close  of  the  previous  chapter. 

The  "  Flask"  is  a  very  appropriate,  and  there 
fore  a  very  common,  sign  to  mark  a  house  devotee 
to  the  service  of  topers.  There  was  a  cele 
brated  "  Flask"  in  Pimlico  ;  and  the  "  Upper"  an 
"  Lower  Flasks  "  at  Hampstead  are  historical. 

Flask  Walk,  which  runs  eastward  from  the  tavern 
is  a  long  straggling  thoroughfare,  in  part  plante 
with  trees  along  the  edge  of  the  broad  pavemen 
In  the  triangular  space  near  the  end— now 
pleasant  grass-plat— an  annual  fair  was  former! 
held.  It  was  noted  for  its  riotous  character ;  con 
ducted  as  it  was  much  on  the  same  principle  i 
the  celebrated  "  Bartlemy  Fair  "  in  Smithfield.  A 
advertisement  on  the  cover  of  the  original  editic 
of  the  Spectator  is  as  follows :— "  This  is  to  gi\ 
notice,  that  Hampstead  Fair  is  to  be  kept  upo 
the  Lower  Flask  Tavern  Walk,  on  Friday,  tr 
first  of  August,  and  holds  (i.e.,  lasts)  for  four  days 
Formerly  the  Flask  Walk  was  open  to  the  Hig 
Street,  and  was  shaded  throughout  with  fine  tre 
many  of  these,  however,  are  now  gone,  and  sma 
houses  have  taken  their  place.  In  Flask  Wa 
were  formerly  the  parish  stocks.  Not  long  ago  son 
busy-bodies  wanted  to  change  the  name  of  tl 
thoroughfare,  but  common  sense  ruled  otherwise. 
One  of  the  chief  sources  of  the  Fleet,  as  we  ha 
already  stated,  was  in  Hampstead ;  it  rose  m 
spring  nearly  under  the  walls  of  Gardner  Hous 


the  east  end  of  Flask  Walk,  and  within  a 
ndred  yards  westward  of  the  old  Wells.  At  the 
nction  of  Flask  Walk  and  Well  Walk,  and  nearly 
iposite  the  "Wells  Tavern,"  are  the  Middlesex 
ilitia  Barracks,  a  spacious  brick  building,  partly 
rmed  out  of  an  old  mansion,  called  Burgh  House, 
'o  projecting  wings  having  been  added.  The 
irracks  was  built  in  1863,  from  the  designs  of 
!r.  Henry  Pownall. 

In  a  house  at  the  corner  of  Flask  Row,  oppo- 
te  to  the  Militia  Barracks,  the  mother  of  the 
oet  Tennyson  spent  the  last  years  of  her  life ; 
nd  here  she  died  about  the  year  1861.  It  is 
Imost  needless  to  add  that  up  to  that  date  Alfred 
'ennyson  was  a  constant  visitor  at  Hampstead, 
nd  was  frequently  to  be  seen  strolling  on  the 
Heath  wrapped  up  in  thought,  though  he  mixed 
ttle  with  Hampstead  society.  Mrs.  Tennyson 
es  buried  in  Highgate  Cemetery. 

Close  by  this  spot,  on  the  sloping  ground 
eading  up  to  Squire's  Mount,  is  one  of  the  many 
eligious  edifices  of  the  town,  Christ  Church,  a 

-ge  Perpendicular  building,  with  a  lofty  spire, 
which  serves  as  a  landmark  for  miles  around ;  this 
:hurch  was  built  in  1852.  In  the  same  neighbour- 
lood  is  the  new  workhouse,  a  large  and  well-built 
tructure  of  brick  and  stone,  together  with  the 
ther  parochial  offices. 

Both  Flask  Walk  and  Well  Walk  have  an  air  of 
iding  gentility  about  them,  and,  like  many  of  the 
other  streets  and  lanes  in  the  village,  they  are 

lanted  with  rows  of  shady  limes  or  elms,  which 
:very  year,  however,  are  becoming  fewer  and  fewer. 
Well  Walk  (which  connects  Flask  Walk  with  the 
lower  portion  of  East  Heath)  and  the  "Wells 
Tavern"  still  serve  to  keep  in  remembrance  the 
.amous  "  wells,"  which  commanded  an  open  view 
across  the  green  fields  towards  Highgate. 

In  the  days  of  the  early  celebrity  of  its  "waters" 
Hampstead  must  have  rivalled  Tunbridge  Wells 
and  Epsom;  and  its  Well  Walk  in  the  morning 
with  all  its  gay  company  of  gentlemen  m  laced 
ruffles  and  powdered  wigs,  and  of  ladies  m  hoops 
of  monstrous  size,  must  have  reminded  one  of  the 
Mall  in  St.  James's  Park,  or  the  gardens  of  Ken- 
sington Palace.  At  the  time  when  London  was 
surrounded  by  "spas"  and  "wells "-when  the 
citizens  resorted  to  Bagnigge  Wells  in  the  morning, 

o  Sadlers'  Wells  and  the  White  Conduit  m  the 
evening,  and  to  Tunbridge  Wells,  Bath,  and  CheU 
tenham  in  the  summer  and  autumn-the  spring, of 
Hampstead  were  in  great  repute,  and  they  *ere 
no  doubt,  exceedingly  beneficial  to  people  whose 
principal  complaints  were  those  of  idleness,  dissi^ 
pation!  and  frivolity.  A  local  physician  wrote  a 


468 


OLD    AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Hampstcad. 


Jong  account  of  these  valuable  waters,  describing  j  days.  As  far  back  as  the  year  1698  they  are 
them  in  terms  of  extravagant  hyperbole,  and  lauding  spoken  of  by  the  name  of  "  The  Wells  ; "  and  two 
their  virtues  to  the  skies.  The  analysis  which  he  j  years  later  it  is  ordered  by  the  authorities  of  the| 
publishes  is,  however,  a  curious  practical  comment 
on  his  rapturous  enthusiasm.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 


the  water  was  and  is  simply  exceedingly  pure 
spring  water,  with  a  faint  trace  of  earthy  salts  such 
as  those  of  iron,  magnesia,  and  lime.  The  total 
Amount  of  solid  matter  is  but  seven  grains  to  the 


Manor  Court,  "  that  the  spring  lyeing  by  the  purg- 
ing wells  be  forthwith  brot  to  the  toune  of  Ham- 1 
sted,  at  the  parish  charge,  and  y'  ye  money  profitts  j 


arising  thereout  be  applied  tow" 
Rates  hereafter  to  be   made." 


easing  the  Poori 
It  was  not  loii 


before   they  came  into  fashion  and   general  ust. 


DID  CLOCK  HOISE,   1780.     (See  tagt  466.) 


i— about  as  much  as  is  to  be  found  in  the  \ 
water  of  the  Kent  Company,  and  about  a  fourth  of 
the  quantity  held  in  solution  by  the  water  of  the 
companies   which   derive   their    supply   from    the 
Thames.     Other  physicians  were  to  be  found  who  , 
were   as   ready  as   he  of  Hampstead  to  trumpet 
the  merits  of  the  spa.      Says  one  of  them,  "It 
is  a  stimulant  diuretic,  very  beneficial  in  chronic 
diseases  arising   from   languor   of  the   circulation, 
general   debility  of  the    system,   or   laxity  of  the 
solids,  or  in   all   cases   where  tonics   and   gentle  ] 
stimulants  are  required,  and  in  cutaneous  affections,  j 
The  season  for  drinking  it  is  from  April  to  the  end 
of  October." 

The  "Wells,"  we  need  hardly  say,  formed  one 
Of  the  leading  features  of  Hampstead  in  its  palmy 


The  Postman  of  April,  1700,  announces  that  "the 
chalybeate  waters  of  Hampstead,  being  of  the  same 
nature,  and  equal  in  virtue,  with  Tunbridge  Wells, 
are  sold  by  Mr.  R.  Philps,  apothecary,  at  the, 
"  Eagle  and  Child,"  in  Fleet  Street,  every  morning, 
at  threepence  per  flask,  and  conveyed  to  persons 
at  their  own  houses  for  one  penny  more.  [N.B. — 
The  flask  to  be  returned  daily.]  " 

Early  in  the  eighteenth  century  we  meet  with 
advertisements  to  the  effect  that  the  mineral  waters 
from  the  wells  at  Hampstead  might  be  obtained 
from  the  "  lessee,"  who  lived  "  at  the  '  Black  Posts,' 
in  King  Street,  near  Guildhall."  They  are  also  to 
be  had  at  ten  or  twelve  other  houses  in  London, 
including  "  Sam's  Coffee-house,  near  Ludgate,  and 
the  '  Sugar  Loaf,'  at  Charing  Cross." 


Hampstead. 1 


THE  WELLS. 


In  1734,  Mr.  John  Soame,  M.D.,  published  some 
directions  for  drinking  the  Hampstead  waters, 
which  he  designated  the  "  Inexhaustible  Fountain 
of  Health."  In  this  work  the  worthy  doctor 
placed  on  record  some  "  experiments  of  the 


469 


For  the  first  ten  or  twelve  years  of  the  last 
century  the  Wells  seem  to  have  been  in  full  favour, 
for  at  that  time  dancing  and  music  were  added  to 
the  attractions  of  the  place.  In  the  Postman,  of 
August  14-16,  1701,  it  is  announced  that  "At 


T,  OLD  WELL  WALK.     (See  page  472.) 


Hampstead  waters,  and  histories  of  cures."  Hamp- 
stead has  long  been  celebrated  for  the  choice 
medicinal  herbs  growing  abundantly  in  its  fields 
and  hedgerows;  and  Dr.  Soame  in  his  pamphlet 
tells  us  how  that  "  the  Apothecaries  Company  very 
seldom  miss  coming  to  Hampstead  every  spring, 
and  here  have  their  herbalising  feast.  I  have 
heard  them  say,"  he  adds,  "that  they  have  found 
a  greater  variety  of  curious  and  useful  plants  near 
and  about  Hampstead  than  in  any  other  place." 
232 


Hampstead  Wells,  on  Monday  next,  being  the  i8th. 
of  this  instant  August,  will  be  performed  a  Consort 
(sic)  of  both  vocal  and  instrumental  musick,  with 
some  particular  performance  of  both  kinds,  by  the 
best  masters,  to  begin  at  10  o'clock  precisely. 
Tickets  will  be  delivered  at  the  said  Wells  for  is. 
per  ticket ;  and  Dancing  in  the  afternoon  for  6d, 
per  ticket,  to  be  delivered  as  before."  In  September 
the  following  advertisement  appeared  :— "  In  the 
Great  Room  at  Hampstead  Wells,  on  Monday 


470 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Eh 


next,  being  the  I5th  instant,  exactly  at  n  o'clock 
forenoon,  will  be  performed  a  Consort  of  vocal  and 
instrumental  musick,  by  the  best  masters ;  and,  at 
the  request  of  several  gentlemen,  Jemmy  Bowen 
will  perform  several  songs,  and  particular  perform- 
ances on  the  violin  by  2  several  masters.  Tickets 
to  be  had  at  the  Wells,  and  at  Stephen's  Coffee- 
house in  King  Street,  Bloomsbury,  at  is.  each 
ticket.  There  will  be  Dancing  in  the  afternoon, 
as  usual."  In  1702,  the  London  Post,  for  May  5, 


doctor  enjoyed  those  meetings  with  Pope's  friend, 
Murray,  which  Cowper  celebrated. 

In  more  than  one  novel,  written  about  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,  we  are  treated  with 
some  remarks  upon  the  visitors  to  the  Wells  at 
Hampstead,  where  we  get  a  glimpse  of  the  vulgar 
cockneyism  which  had  succeeded  to  the  witty 
flirtations  of  the  fine  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  fifty 
years  previously.  One  author  tells  us  how  Madame 
Duval,  rouged  and  decked  in  all  the  colours  of  the 


has    this    advertisement :— "  Hampstead   Consort.  :  rainbow,  danced  a  minuet ;  how  "  Beau  Smith  "  pes- 
In  the  Great  Room  of  Hampstead  Wells,  on  Mon-  j  tered  the  pensive  Evelina,  who  was  thinking  only 


day  next,  the  nth  instant,  will  be  performed 
Consort  of  vocal  and  instrumental  musick  by  the 
best  masters,  with  particular  entertainments  on  the 
violin  by  Mr.  Dean,  beginning  exactly  at  1 1  o'clock, 
rain  or  fair.  To  continue  every  Monday,  at  the 
same  place  and  time,  during  the  season  of  drinking 
the  waters.  Tickets  to  be  had  at  Stephen's  Cofifee- 


of  the  accomplished  and  uncomfortably  perfect 
Lord  Orville,  and  much  annoyed  at  the  vulgar 
impertinence  of  the  young  men  who  begged  the 
favour  of  "hopping  a  dance  with  her."  Of  the 
Long  Room  our  author  says :  "  The  room  seems 
very  well  named,  for  I  believe  it  would  be  difficult 
to  find  any  other  epithet  which  might  with  propriety 


house,  in  Bloomsbury,  and  at  the  Wells  (by  reason    distinguish  it,  as  it  is  without  ornament,  elegance, 
the  room  is  very  large)  at  one  shilling  each  ticket  ;  or  any  sort  of  singularity,  and  merely  to  be  marked 


There  will  be  dancing  in  the  afternoon  as  usual." 
The   Postboy,   of  May   8-10,    1707,    informs    "all 


by  its  length."    This  building  was  used  for  many 
years  previous  to  1 850  as  a  chapel  of  ease  to  the 


persons  that  have  occasion  to  drink  the  Hampstead  parish  church  ;  and  a  few  years  later  was  fitted  up 
mineral  waters,  that  the  Wells  will  be  open  on  |  as  the  drill-room  for  the  Hampstead  (jrd  Middle- 
Monday  next,  with  very  good  music  for  dancing  j  sex)  Volunteers. 


all  day  long,  and  to  continue  every  Monday  during 
the  season ; ''  and  it  further  adds  that  "  there  is  all 
needful  accommodation  for  water-drinkers  of  both 
sex  (f/i-),  and  all  other  entertainments  for  good 
eating  and  drinking,  and  a  very  pleasant  bowling- 
green,  with  convenience  of  coach-horses  ;  and  very 


good  stables  for  fine  horses,  with  good  attendance ;  i  a  chapel  of  their  own 


Nor  is  this  all  that  we  have  to  say  about  the 
Wells.  From  an  advertisement  in  the  Postboyt 
April  1 8,  1710,  it  appears  that  Hampstead  rivalled 
for  a  time  Mayfair»  and  the  Fleet  f  in  the  practice 
of  performing  "  irregular"  marriages,  and  that  the 
"  Wells  "  even  enjoyed  sufficient  popularity  to  have 


"  As  there  are  many  weddings  at  Zion  Chapel, 
Hampstead,"  we  read,  "five  shillings  only  is  re- 
quired for  all  the  church  fees  of  any  couple  that 
arc  married  there,  provided  they  bring  with  them 
a  licence  or  certificate  according  to  the  Act  of 


and  a  farther  accommodation  of  a  stage-coach  and 
chariot  from  the  Wells  at  any  time  in  the  evening 
or  morning."'  No.  201  of  the  Taller,  July  22,  1710. 
contains  the  following  announcement : — "A  Consort 
of  Musick  will  be  performed  in  the  Great  Room  at 

Hampstead  this  present  Saturday,  the  22nd  instant,  j  Parliament.  Two  sermons  are  continued  to  be 
at  the  desire  of  the  gentlemen  and  ladies  living  in  !  preached  in  the  said  chapel  every  Sunday ;  and  the 
and  near  Hampstead,  by  the  best  masters.  Several  j  piace  WJH  be  given  to  any  clergyman  that  is  willing 
of  the  Opera  songs  by  a  girl  of  nine  years,  a  scholar  to  accept  of  it,  if  he  is  approved  of." 
of  Mr.  Tenoe's,  who  never  performed  in  public  |  The  lessee  at  this  time  was  one  Howe]1>  who 
.it  once  at^ork  Buildings  with  very  good  success.  ;  was  commonly  spoken  of  as  "the  Welsh  ambas- 
To  begin  exactly  at  five,  for  the  conveniency  of  sajor>--  and  un(ler  his  management  irregular 
gentlemen's  returning.  Tickets  to  be  had  only  at 
the  Wells,  at  25.  and  6d.  each.  For  the  benefit  of 
Mr.  Tenoe." 

Gay,  author  of  the  "  Fables  "  and  the  Beggar's 
Opera,  drank  of  the  waters  and  rambled  about  the 
Heath  in  1727,  and  was  cured  of  the  colic;  but 
his  friend,  Dr.  Arbuthnot,  had  less  success  a  few 


years  afterwards,  perhaps  from  medical  want  of 
faith.  While  he  was  staying  there,  Pope  used  to 
visit  him  ;  and  then  it  probably  was  that  the  worthy 


marriages  were  frequently  celebrated.  The  ad- 
vertisements of  the  period  show  pretty  plainly  what 
was  the  nature  of  the  proceedings  here.  One 
notice  which  appeared  in  1711  announced  that 
those  who  go  to  be  married  must  carry  with  them 
licences  or  dispensations,  a  formality  which  we  may 
readily  imagine  was  not  unfrequently  dispensed 
with.  In  Read's  Weekly  Journal,  September  8, 


•  S«  Vol.  IV.,  p.  3<7. 


t  Sec  Vol.  II., 


THE   RAFFLING   SHOPS. 


1716,  it  is  announced  that "  Sion  Chapel,  at  Hamp-  j  August,  1709,  he  says  :— "  I  am  diverted  from  my 
stead,  being  a  private  and  pleasure  place,  many  j  train  of  discourse  by  letters  from  Hampstead, 
persons  of  the  best  fashion  have  lately  been  marrii 


there.  Now,  as  a  minister  is  obliged  constantly  to 
attend,  this  is  to  give  notice  that  all  persons  upon 
bringing  a  licence,  and  who  shall  have  their  wed- 
ding dinner  in  the  gardens,  may  be  married  in  that 
said  chapel  without  giving  any  fee  or  reward  what- 
soever ;  and  such  as  do  not  keep  their  wedding 
dinner  at  the  gardens,  only  five  shillings  will  be 
demanded  of  them  for  all  fees." 

The  exact  site  of  this  chapel  is  no  longer  known, 
but  in  all  probability  it  adjoined  the  Wells,  and 
belonged  to  the  keeper  of  the  adjoining  tavern. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  was  a  capital 
speculation  before  the  trade  in  such  matters  was 
spoiled,  a  century  or  so  ago,  by  the  introduction  of 
the  "  Private  Marriage  Act,"  so  cruelly  introduced 
by  Lord  Hardwicke. 

This  being  the  condition  of  the  place,  we  need 
not  be  surprised  to  learn  that  its  popularity  with 
certain  classes  was  unbounded.  In  fact,  so  much 


which  give  me  an  account  there  is  a  late  institution 
there  under  the  name  of  a  Raffling  Shop,  which  is 
(it  seems)  secretly  supported  by  a  person  who  is  a 
deep  practitioner  in  the  law,  and  out  of  tenderness 
of  conscience  has,  under  the  name  of  his  maid 
Sisly,  set  up  this  easier  way  of  conveyancing  and 
alienating  estates  from  one  family  to  another." 

The  Wells  continued  to  be  more  or  less  a  place 
of  resort  for  invalids,  real  and  imaginary,  down  to 
the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  when  their 
fame  was  revived  for  a  time  by  Mr.  Thomas  Good- 
win, a  medical  practitioner  of  the  place,  who  had 
made  the  discovery  that  the  Hampstead  waters 
were  possessed  of  two  kinds  of  saline  qualities, 
answering  to  the  springs  of  Cheltenham  and 
Harrogate ;  but  the  tide  of  popular  favour  seems 
to  have  flowed  in  another  direction,  after  the  visit 
of  George  III.  and  his  Court  to  Cheltenham,  and 
Hampstead  soon  became  deserted  by  its  fashion- 
able loungers,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the 


was  Hampstead  the  rage  at  the  beginning  of  the    doctors,  who  missed  their  guineas,  and  those  of 
last    century,    that   in   the   comedy  of  Hampsiead\  the  proprietors  of  the  ball-rooms  and  the  ra" 


Heath  above  referred  to  we  find  one  of  the  cha- 
racters, "Arabella,"  the  wife  of  a  citizen,  thus 
telling  us  what  she  thinks  of  the  place : — 

"  Well,  this  Hampstead  's  a  charming  place,  to 
dance  all  night  at  the  Wells,  and  be  treated  at 
Mother  Huff's  ;  to  have  presents  made  one  at  the 
raffling  shops,  and  then  take  a  walk  in  Caen  Wood 
with  a  man  of  wit.  But  to  be  five  or  six  miles 
from  one's  husband  !— marriage  were  a  happy  state 


shops,  to  resuscitate  its  fame.  Dr.  Soame  com- 
plained that  the  royal  family  visited  the  wells  at 
Islington,  then  achieving  a  temporary  popularity, 
and  neglected  Hampstead  ;  and  he  also  seized  the 
opportunity  of  levelling  his  shafts  at  the  habit  of 
tea-drinking,  then  a  comparatively  modern  inno- 
vation. "I  hope,"  he  says,  "that  the  inordinate 
drinking  of  tea  vvill  be  retrenched,  which,  if  con- 
tinued, must  bring  a  thousand  ills  upon  us,  and 


could  one  be  always  five  or  six  miles  from  one's  <  generations  after  us— the  next  generation  may  be 
husband."  i  in  stature  more  ''ke  pig1™63  tnan  men  and  women." 

This,  we  need  scarcely  remark,  is  a  sentiment  |  What  would  Dr.  Soame  have  said  could  he  have 
very  congenial  with  the  morals— or  rather  want  of  ,  lived  to  see  the  members  of  the  Middlesex  Rifle 
morals— which  marked  the  age.  The  "  Mother  j  Volunteers,  every  fine  fellow  of  which  corps  drinks 


days.     The  wells   and  ball-rooms  remained,  and 


accommodating  disposition,  who  fixed  her  modest 


mentioned 
Bickerstaffe,    otherwise 


Richard    Steele,    the 


Christian  hero,"  thought  fit,  as  censor  of  public 
morals,    to   call   attention    to   them.      Writing   in 


ing  little  grove  called  Well  Walk,  which  leads  front 
Flask  Walk  towards  the  eastern  side  of  the  Heath, 
and  where  there  has  been  set  up,   as  though  in 
mockery  of  the  past,  a  modern  drinking-fountain. 
Well  Walk  was  in  former  times  the  fashionable 


472 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Hi 


morning  lounge  for  the  visitor  to  the  "  Wells  ; " 
and  here  the  gallants  of  the  period  could  enjoy  the 
fresh  air  in  the  shade  of  the  tall  lime-trees,  which 
still  remain  along  the  edge  of  the  raised  pathway. 
In  Well  Walk,  between  the  "  Long  Room  "and  the 
"Wells  Tavern,"  lived  and  died  John  Constable, 
the  painter.  Like  Gainsborough  and  Crome, 
Constable  always  proved  himself  a  heartfelt  lover 
of  r.n  English  homestead.  "  I  love,"  he  said, 
"  every  stile,  and  stump,  and  lane  in  the  village ; 
as  long  as  I  am  able  to  hold  a  brush  I  shall  never 
cease  to  paint  them."  "  The  Cornfield  or  Country 
Lane "  and  "  The  Valley  Farm,"  both  in  the 
National  Gallery,  may  have  suggested  to  Leslie  the 
following  passage  : — "  There  is  a  place,"  says  this 
most  sympathetic  of  critics  on  simply  English  art, 
"  among  our  painters  which  Turner  left  unoccupied, 
and  which  neither  Wilson,  Gainsborough,  Cozens, 
nor  Girtin  so  completely  filled  as  Constable.  He 
was  the  most  genuine  painter  of  English  cultivated 
scenery,  leaving  untouched  its  mountains  and  its 
lakes."  His  tomb  in  the  old  churchyard  records 
that  he  was  "  many  years  an  inhabitant  of  this 
parish."  He  died  in  1837.  Mrs.  Barbauld,  too,  at 
one  time,  lived  in  Well  Walk,  where  she  was  visited, 
not  only  by  literary  folks,  but  by  men  of  high 
scientific  attainments,  such  as  Josiah  Wedgwood. 
Sh-  afterwards  lived  at  the  foot  of  Rosslyn  Hill, 
where  we  shall  presently  have  more  to  say  con- 
cerning her. 

It  was  in  Well  Walk  that  John  Keats  wrote  both 
his  "  Kndymion  "  and  his  ''  Eve  of  St.  Agnes  ;  " 
and  it  was  probably  after  hearing  the  nightingale 
in  the  adjoining  gardens  that  lie  wrote  those  well- 
known  stun/as,  in  which  lie  apostrophises  "  The 
light-winded  Dryad  of  the  trees." 

Hone,  in  his  "Table  Hook,"  writes  of  this  place  : 
"  Winding  south  from  the  Lower  Heath,  there  is  a 
charming  little  grove  in  Well  Walk,  with  a  bench 
at  the'  end,  whereon  I  last  saw  poor  Keats,  the 
poet  of  the  '  1'ot  of  Dasil.'  sitting  and  sobbing  his 
dying  breath  into  a  handkerchief— glancing  parting 
looks  tuv.anls  the  quiet  landscape  he  had  delighted 
in  so  much  — musing  as  in  his  'Ode  to  a  Nightin- 
gale."' 

Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge  would  sometimes  come 
over  across  the  green  fields,  by  way  of  Millfield 
Lane,  from  Highgate,  to  have  a  chat  with  Keats 
on  his  seat  at  the  end  of  Well  Walk  ;  and  when  he 
last  shook  hands  with  him  here,  he  turned  to 
Leigh  Hunt,  and  whispered,  "There  is  death  in 
that  hand."  And  such  was  too  truly  the  case ;  for 
John  Keats  was  in  a  consumption ;  and  he  went 
abroad  very  soon  afterwards,  to  die  beneath  the 
sunny  skies  of  Italy. 


"  And  wilt  thou  ponder  on  the  silent  grave 

Of  broken-hearted  Keats,  whom  still  we  love 
To  image  sleeping  where  the  willows  wave 

By  Memory's  fount,  deep  in  the  Muses'  grove ; 
Shaded,  enshrouded,  where  no  steps  intrude, 

But  peace  is  granted  him  ;  his  dearest  boon  ; 
And  while  he  sleeps,  with  night-time  tears  bedew' d, 

'  Endymion '  still  is  watched  by  his  enamoured  moon." 
The  copyhold  property  in  the  rear  of  Well  Walk 
belongs  to  the  trustees  of  the  Wells  Charity,  who 
are  bound  to  devote  its  proceeds  to  apprenticing 
children,  natives  of  Hampstead,  under  a  scheme 
lately  approved  by  the  Court  of  Chancery. 

Although  it  has  not  been  attempted  in  these 
columns  to  enter  into  details  respecting  the  geo- 
logical structure  of  the  localities  which  we  have 
described,  yet  we  ought  not  to  omit  to  mention, 
with  respect  to  Highgate  and  Hampstead,  a  few 
facts  of  interest  to  those  who  have  the  least  taste 
for  that  branch  of  science. 

It  is  well  known  to  most  readers  that  the  whole 
of  London  lies  on  a  substratum  of  chalk  formation, 
which  is  covered  by  a  higher  stratum  of  a  stiff 
bluish  clay.  On  this  again,  there  is  every  reason 
to  believe,  there  once  lay  a  covering  of  gravel  and 
sand,  which  in  the  course  of  long  ages  has  been 
washed  away  by  the  action  of  water,  at  a  time  when, 
probably,  the  whole  valley  of  the  Thames  was  an 
arm  of  the  sea. 

The    "  Northern    Heights "    of    Highgate    and 

Hampstead,    if  their   formation    is   considered    in 

detail,  throw  considerable  light  on  this  statement. 

eir  summits  exhibit  a  top  coating  or  "cap "of 

gravel  and  sand,  which,  by  some  chance  or  other, 

has  not  been  so  swept  away,  but  has  maintained 

s  position  unchanged.     This  gravel  and  sand  rest 

on  an  undersoil  of  a  soft  and  spongy  nature,  from 

i(  h  issue  springs  of  water,  which  appear  to  be 

squec/cd  out  of  the  sides  of  the  hills  by  the  weight 

of  the  superincumbent  mass. 

These  spongy  soils  gradually  die  away  into  a 
blue  clay  from  thirty  to  five  hundred  feet  in  depth, 
n  which,  both  at  Hampstead  and  at  Highgate,  a 
.•ariety  of  fossils  have  been  found,  proving  the 
existence  here  of  plants,  trees,  and  animals  akin  to, 
but  still  differing  from,  those  of  our  own  age  and 
latitude ;  some  of  these  are  of  a  marine  and  estua- 
rine  aquatic  nature,  showing  that  a  sea  must  at  one 
time  have  washed  the  sides  of  the  heights  that  we 
have  been  climbing.  As  an  instance  in  point,  it 
may  be  mentioned  that,  in  1876,  in  boring  a  well 
through  the  clay  at  the  brewery  in  High  Street, 
the  workmen  came  upon  a  fine  specimen  of  the 
nautilus.  Other  marine  shells  of  a  smaller  kind 
ave  been  constantly  dug  up  in  the  same  stratum 
about  these  parts. 


Eampstead.] 


CHURCH  ROW. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
HAMPSTEAD   (continued).— TCS  LITERARY  ASSOCIATIONS,   &c. 

"  Well,  this  Hampstead  's  a  charming  place. "-Old  Play. 

:entury-Dr.  Sherlock-Dr.  John  Arbuthnot-Dr.  Anthony  Askew-Dr.  G 
Lucy  Aikin-Reformatory  Schools-John   Rogers   Herbert-Henry  Fu 


Church  Row— Fashionable  Frequenters  of  "  the  Row  "  in  the  Last  Ce 

Sewell-The  Rev.  Rochmont  Barbauld-Mr.  J.  Park-Miss  ^y  ™,,,-Re,ormatory  bchools-John  Rogers  Herbert-Henry  Fuseli- 
Hannah  L.ghtfoot-Charles  Dickens-Charles  Knight-An  Artistic  Gift  rejected  by  Hampstead-The  Parish  Church-Repair,'  and 
Alteration,  in  the  Building-Eminent  Incumbents-The  Graves  of  Joanna  Baillie,  Sir  James  Mackintosh  John  Constable  Lord  ErskTn" 
and  Others-St  Mary's  Roman  CathoUc  Chapel-Grove  Lodge  and  Montagu  Grove-The  Old  Workhouse. 

stead,  in  June,  1707,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six.  He 
was  induced  by  his  wife,  somewhat  reluctantly,  to 
submit  to  William  and  Mary.  Walking  with  his 
spouse,  he  was  pointed  at  by  a  bookseller,  who 
said,  "  There  goes  Dr.  Sherlock  with  his  reasons 
for  taking  the  oaths  on  his  arm."  Dr.  Sherlock 
was  the  author  of  a  "  Practical  Treatise  on  Death." 
He  was  buried  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral. 

Dr.  John  Arbuthnot,  of  whom  we  have  already 
spoken  in  our  account  of  Dover  Street,  Piccadilly,* 
was  for  some  time  a  resident  at  Hampstead.  He 
was  eminent  as  a  wit  and  man  of  letters,  even 
among  the  choice  spirits  of  the  reign  of  Queen 
Anne.  Soon  after  coming  to  England  from  Scot- 
land, the  place  of  his  birth,  he  went  to  practise  as 
a  physician  at  Dorchester,  but  the  salubrity  of  the 
air  was  unfriendly  to  his  success,  and  he  took 
horse  for  London.  A  neighbour,  meeting  him  on 
full  gallop,  asked  him  where  he  was  going.  "  To 
leave  your  confounded  place,  where  I  can  neither 
live  nor  die."  His  wit  and  pleasantry  sometimes 
assisted  his  prescriptions,  and  in  some  cases  super- 
seded the  necessity  of  prescribing.  Queen  Anne 

,f  its  row  of  lime-trees  growing  down  |  and  her  consort  appointed  him  their  physician  ;  the 

member,   and   the 


the  centre  of  the  roadway.  Those  in  the  High  J  Royal  Society  elected  him  a  member,  and  the 
Street  save  one,  disappeared  long  ago  ;  and  of  College  of  Physicians  followed.  "He  gained  the 
those  in  Church  Row  one  solitary  lime  remains  as  admiration  of  Swift,  Pope,  and  Gay,  writes  Hone 


RETRACING  our  steps  to  the  High  Street,  and 
passing  up  a  narrow  lane  on  the  west  side,  called 
Church  Lane,  we  find  ourselves  in  Church  Row. 
Here,  and  almost  only  here,  the  hand  of  the  "  im- 

•  Mover  "   and    "  restorer  "  has  not  been  at  work ; 
ithe   projecting  hooded   doorways  of  the   days  of 

Queen  Anne  still  frown  over  the  entrances  of  the 
red-bricked  houses  on  our  right  and  left,  just  as 
they  did  in  the  days  "  when  George  III.  was  king ; " 

-  and  the  whole  street  has  an  air  of  quiet,  homely, 
and  venerable  respectability  which  we  can  scarcely 

;-iee  elsewhere.  Long  may  it  remain  in  statu  quo, 
this  venerable  relic  of  the  days  when  the  fashion- 
able  crowd— the  "  quality  " — gentlemen  with  pow- 
dered wigs  and  gold-headed  canes,  and  ladies  in 
farthingales  and  "  hoops  Of  wondrous  size  " — used 
to  make  "the  Row"  their  evening  parade,  after 
drinking  the  waters  at  the  chalybeate  spring, 


as  we  have  just  seen, 


still  flows  so  invitingly  on  the 


other  side  of  the  High  Street.  Like  Flask  Walk 
and  Well  Walk,  and  some  other  thoroughfares 
which  we  have  mentioned,  Church  Row— and, 
indeed,  the  High  Street  also— could  in  former 


early  part  ot  the  j 
superseded    by    the    donkey-ca 
still  be  seen  driven  along  the  tr 


•es    which    may  '  poration.'     He  could  do  all  things  well  but  walk 
His    health    declined,   while   his  mind   remained 


thoroughfares. 


Till    comparatively    recent    times,    too,    the    link- 


sound  to  the  last.     He  long  wished  for  death  to 
from  a  complication  of  disorders,  and 


Mf- *^  %  ~cdhif'C  s^siss^irss 
siS-irirrs  !°c";  =;7,;/J":r  :±  s," 


the  introduction  of  gas 

Amo 
begi 
been 

and  Master  of  the  Temple 

the  witty  physician,  and  friend  of  Swift,  Gay,  and 
Pope.     The  former,  at  all  events,  died  at  Hamp- 


OLD   AND  NEW  LONDON. 


dozen  Arbuthnots  in  it;  if  so,  I  would  burn  my 
travels.'  Pope  no  less  passionately  lamented  him, 
and  said  of  him,  '  He  was  a  man  of  humour,  whose 
mind  seemed  to  be  always  pregnant  with  comic 
ideas.1  Arbuthnot  was,  indeed,  seldom  serious, 


phered.'  Satire  was  his  chief  weapon,  but  the 
wound  he  inflicted  on  folly  soon  healed;  he  was 
always  playful,  unless  he  added  weight  to  keenness 
for  the  chastisement  of  crime." 

To  the  above  names  of  the  frequenters  of  Church 


except  in  his  attacks  upon  great  enormities,  and 
then  his  pen  was  masterly.  The  condemnation  of 
the  play  of  Three  Hours  after  Jfarriage,  written 
by  him,  Pope,  and  Gay,  was  published  by  Wilkes, 
in  his  prologue  to  the  Sulfaness : — 

'  Such  were  the  wags  who  boldly  did  adventure 
To  club  a  farce  by  tripartite  indenture  ; 
But  let  them  share  their  dividend  of  praise, 
And  wear  their  own  fool's  cap  instead  of  bays." 

Arbuthnot    simply    retorted,    in    'Gulliver    Decy- 


Ro\v  may  be  added  that  of  Dr.  Johnson,  during 
his  sojourn  at  Frognal,  just  round  by  the  western 
end  of  the  church,  whose  "ivy-mantled  tower" 
forms  a  pleasing  termination  to  the  bottom  of 
Church  Row. 

Another  distinguished  physician  who  resided  for 
some  time  at  Hampstead,  and  who,  doubtless, 
might  have  been  seen  mixing  with  the  fashionable 
throng  in  Church  Row,  was  Dr.  Anthony  Askew, 
who  died  here  in  1 7  74.  He  practised  originally  at 


FASHIONABLE   RESIDENTS   IN   FORMER  TIMES. 


47S 


476 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


Cambridge,  but  seems  to  have  been  introduced  to 
London,  and  zealously  recommended  there,  by  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Mead.  Dr.  Askew  was  chiefly 
noted  for  his  collection  of  classical  works,  which 
were  sold  at  his  death.  Nichols  says  that  his  col- 
lection of  Greek  and  Latin  works  was  "  one  of  the 
best,  rarest,  and  most  valuable  ever  sold  in  Great 
Britain." 

Dr.  George  Sewell,  an  intimate  friend  of  Pope 
and  Arbuthnot,  had  lodgings  in  Hampstead,  where 
he  died  in  1725.  He  contributed  largely  to  the 
supplemental  volumes  of  the  Tatlcr  and  Spectator, 
and  wrote  the  principal  part  of  a  translation  of 
Ovid's  "Metamorphoses."  His  principal  work, 
however,  was  the  tragedy  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
which  was  produced  at  the  Duke's  Theatre,  in 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields. 

John  Wylde,  Lord  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer 
d.iring  the  civil  war,  spent  the  last  few  years  of  his 
life  in  retirement  at  Hampstead,  and  died  about 
ten  years  after  the  Restoration. 

The  Rev.  Rochmont  Barbauld — a  well-known 
Unitarian  minister  at  Hampstead  at  the  close  of 
the  last  century — resided  in  Church  Row,  where 
he  had  a  few  pupils.  Hampstead  at  that  time  was 
deemed  almost  inaccessible.  In  a  diary  kept  by 
Mr.  BarbauKl,  he  frequently  speaks  of  being  pre- 
vented from  going  to  town  by  the  state  of  the 
roads.  Mrs.  Barbauld  resided  in  Hampstead  long 
after  her  husband's  death,  but  chiefly  on  Rosslyn 
I  lill ;  we  shall  have  more  to  say  of  her  on  reaching 
that  place. 

Mr.  J.  Park,  the  author  of  the  "  History  of 
Hampstead,"  most  excellent  as  a  man  and  as  an 
antiquary,  lived  in  Church  Row  ;  lie  died  in  June, 
1833.  The  work  associated  with  his  name  was 
published  before  Mr.  1'ark  came  of  age,  and  in 
closing  the  preface,  which  is  dated  November  30, 
1813,  Mr.  Park  remarked,  "The  severer  studies  of 
an  arduous  profession  now  call  upon  me  to  bid  a 
final  adieu  to  those  literary  blandishments  which 
have  beguiled  my  youthful  days.''  To  this  reso- 
lution lie  firmly  adhered  ;  but  afterwards  committed 
to  the  care  of  Mr.  Nichols,  the  well  known  anti- 
quary, to  whom  we  have  frequently  had  occasion 
to  refer,  some  additional  documents,  which  were 
printed  as  an  appendix,  in  1818.  Mr.  Park  became 
a  barrister-at-law  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  two  years 
before  his  death  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Law 
and  Jurisprudence  at  King's  College,  London. 

Another    literary    name,    long    associated   with 
Hampstead,  is  that  of  Miss  Lucy  Aikin,  niece  of 
Mrs.  Barbauld,  and  the  author  of  "  Memories  of 
tlie  Court  of  Queen  Elizabeth,"  &c.     On  the  death  j 
of  her  father,  Dr.  Aikin,  which  happened  at  Stoke  I 


Newington,  in  December,  1822,  she  took  up  her 
abode  in  Church  Row,  to  be  near  her  aunt,  Mrs. 
Barbauld.  Her  mother  accompanied  her,  and  spent 
here  her  declining  years,  and  died  here  in  1830. 
She  had  been  brought  up  among  the  descendants 
of  the  old  Puritans,  and  afterwards  lived  much 
among  the  disciples  and  fellow-workers  of  Price 
and  Priestley  and  Dr.  Enfield— all  Unitarians,  or 
men  of  the  broadest  views  in  that  direction.  Her 
only,  or  at  all  events  her  chief,  publication  whilst 
living  here  was  her  "  Memoir  of  Addison,"  which 
appeared  in  1 843.  She  quitted  Hampstead  in  the 
next  year,  to  reside  first  in  London  and  afterwards 
at  Wimbledon,  but  returned  to  it  some  seven  or 
eight  years  later,  and  spent  the  last  twelve  years 
of  her  life  in  the  house  of  Mr.  P.  H.  Le  Breton, 
who  had  married  her  niece.  Late  in  life  she  wrote 
in  one  of  her  letters,  "  I  am  all  but  a  prisoner  to 
my  house  and  little  garden."  She  died  here  in 
January,  1864,  in  her  eighty-third  year,  and  her 
grave  in  the  old  churchyard  is  next  to  that  of  her 
great  friend,  Joanna  Baillie.  "To  Hampstead," 
writes  Mr.  Le  Breton,  in  his  preface  to  her  "  Me- 
moirs," "  Lucy  Aikin  was  much  attached,  and  her 
return  to  it  gave  her  much  pleasure,  as  many  dear 
relatives  and  friends  lived  there.  The  vicinity  of 
Hampstead  to  the  metropolis  afforded,  at  the  same 
time,  the  opportunity  of  intercourse  with  a  more 
varied  society.  She  enjoyed  with  a  keen  relish, 
and  thoroughly  appreciated,  the  company  of  literary 
men  and  of  eminent  politicians  and  lawyers,  with 
whom  she  delighted  to  discuss  questions  of  interest 
With  almost  ever}1  distinguished  writer  of  this 
period  she  was  acquainted,  and  of  many  of  them 
notices  will  be  found  in  her  correspondence." 
Miss  Harriet  Martineau  was  among  her  numerous 
friends  and  visitors  here. 

The  Hampstead  of  1830-40  is  thus  portrayed 
by  Miss  Lucy  Aikin,  in  one  of  her  charming  letters 
to  Dr.  Channing  : — "  Several  circumstances  render 
society  here  peculiarly  easy  and  pleasant ;  in  many 
respects  the  place  unites  the  advantages  and 
escapes  the  evils  both  of  London  and  provincial 
towns.  It  is  near  enough  (to  Ix>ndon)  to  allow  its 
inhabitants  to  partake  in  the  society,  the  amuse- 
ments, and  the  accommodations  of  the  capital  as 
freely  as  ever  the  dissipated  could  desire  ;  whilst  it 
affords  pure  air,  lovely  scenery,  and  retired  and 
beautiful  walks.  Because  every  one  here  is  sup- 
posed to  have  a  Ix>ndon  set  of  friends,  neighbours 
do  not  think  it  necessary,  as  in  the  provinces,  to 
force  their  acquaintance  upon  you  ;  of  local  society 
you  may  have  much,  little,  or  none,  as  you  please ; 
and  with  a  little,  which  is  very  good,  you  may 
associate  on  the  easiest  terms.  Then  the  summer 


CHARLES   KNIGHT. 


"brings  an  influx  of  Londoners,  who  are  often 
genteel  and  agreeable  people,  and  pleasingly  vary 
the  scene.  Such  is  Hampstead."  And  such,  to  a 
certain  extent,  it  may  be  added,  is  Hampstead  in 
the  present  day ;  for  as  yet  it  is  quite  distinct  from 
the  great  metropolis,  and  has  quite  a  character  of 
its  own. 

The  Hampstead  Reformatory  School  for  Girls, 
-founded  in  1857,  occupied  a  large-sized  house  in 
Church  Row,  down  to  the  close  of  1876,  when 
the  establishment  was  removed  to  Heathfield 
House,  near  "Jack  Straw's  Castle."  This  insti- 
tution is  certified  under  the  Reformatory  Schools 
Act  of  1866;  and  the  inmates,  numbering  on  an 
average  about  a  hundred,  receive  an  excellent 
•education.  Their  former  home  is  still  devoted  to 
reformatory  purposes,  being  occupied  by  girls  from 
the  Field  Lane  Refuge  on  Saffron  Hill.  The  large 
old-fashioned  house  at  the  corner  of  Church  Row 
and  Church  Lane  is  devoted  to  a  similar  purpose, 
though  its  inmates  are  somewhat  older. 

This  quarter  of  Hampstead,  in  fact,  seems  to 
^  nave  had  particular  attractions  for  authors  and 
artists.  Here,  or  close  at  hand,  lived  Henry  Fuseli, 
R.A.,  of  whom  we  quote  the  following  extract  from 
the  "Mitchell  Manuscripts"  in  the  British  Museum. 
The  letter  is  from  Mr.  Murdock,  of  Hampstead,  to 
a  friend  at  Berlin,  dated  Hampstead,  i2th  June, 
1764  :— "  I  like  Fuseli  very  much  ;  he  comes  out  to 
see  us  at  times,  and  is  just  now  gone  from  this 
with  your  letter  to  A.  Ramsay,  and  another  from 
me.  He  is  of  himself  disposed  to  all  possible 
economy  ;  but  to  be  decently  lodged  and  fed,  in  a 
decent  family,  cannot  be  for  less  than  three  shillings 
a  day,  which  he  pays.  He  might,  according  to 
Miller's  wish,  live  a  little  cheaper;  but  then  he 
must  have  been  lodged  in  some  garret,  where 
nobody  could  have  found  their  way,  and  must  have 
been  thrown  into  ale-houses  and  eating-houses,  with 
company  every  way  unsuitable,  or,  indeed,  insup- 
portable to  a  stranger  of  any  taste,  especially  as 
the  common  people  are  of  late  brutalised.  Some 
time  hence,  I  hope,  he  may  do  something  for 
himself;  his  talent  at  grouping  figures  and  his 
faculty  of  execution  being  really  surprising." 

Another  eminent  artist,  in  more  recent  times 
an  inhabitant  of  Church  Row,  was  John  Rogers 
Herbert.  He  was  for  some  years  head-master  of 
the  School  of  Design  at  Somerset  House,  and  in 
1846  was  selected  to  paint  one  of  the  frescoes  in 
the  vestibule  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament.  He 
was  afterwards  commissioned  to  paint  a  series  of 
nine  subjects,  illustrating  "  Human  Justice,"  for 
the  peers'  robing-room.  Mr.  Herbert  was  elected  a 
Royal  Academician  in  1846.  His  works  since 


1840,  when  he  embraced  the  Roman  Catholic  faith, 
have  assumed  a  character  in  accordance  with  his 
religious  convictions.  Of  these  we  may  mention 
his  "Introduction  of  Christianity  into  Great 
Britain,"  "Sir  Thomas  More  and  his  Daughter 
observing  from  their  Prison  Window  the  Monks 
going  to  Execution,"  "St.  John  the  Baptist  reproving 
Herod,"  and  "The  Virgin  Mary."  This  last- 
mentioned  picture  was  painted  for  the  Queen  in 
1860.  Sundry  other  Royal  Academicians  and 
artists  have  likewise  been  residents  here,  besides 
the  artists  whose  names  we  have  enumerated. 

Among  the  residents  at  Hampstead,  in  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,  was  Hannah  Lightfoot, 
the  fair  Quakeress  who  is  said  to  have  captivated 
the  heart  of  George  III.  ;*  and  here  she  made  her 
will  in  1767-8,  signing  it  "Hannah  Regina,"  re- 
commending "  my  two  sons  and  daughter  to  the 
kind  protection  of  their  royal  father,  my  husband, 
His  Majesty  George  III." 

Another  resident  here  was  Mr.  Hamond,  one  of 
the  literary  friends  of  Mr.  H.  Crabbe  Robinson. 
The  latter  writes  in  his  "  Diary,"  under  date 
August,  1812  :  "A  delightful  day.  The  pleasantest 
walk  by  far  I  have  had  this  summer.  The  very 
rising  from  one's  bed  at  Hamond's  house  is  enjoy- 
ment worth  going  to  Hampstead  over  night  to 
partake  of.  The  morning  scene  from  his  back 
rooms  is  extremely  beautiful."  And  then  he  de- 
scribes his  walk  past  the  "  Spaniards,"  and  down 
some  fields  opposite  Ken  Wood,  and  so  across 
Finchley  to  Colney  Hatcli  and  Southgate. 

Mr.  J.  Forster,  in  his  "  Life  of  Charles  Dickens," 
speaks  several  times  of  his  almost  daily  "fore- 
gatherings"  here,  in  the  early  period  of  his  literary 
life,  with  Maclise,  Stanfield,  David  Roberts,  and 
other  literary  friends. 

At  Hampstead  the  elder  Mr.  Dickens  resided 
during  part  of  the  time  whilst  his  son  was  at  school 
in  Mornington  Place,  but  the  exact  house  is  not 
known.  Charles  Knight,  the  well-known  author 
and  publisher,  was  a  resident  at  Hampstead  from 
1865  to  1871.  Mr.  Knight  died  at  Addlestone,  in 
Surrey,  in  1873,  aged  eighty-one.  The  whole  of 
his  long  and  honourable  career  was  devoted  to  the 
cause  of  popular  literature,  of  which  he  was  one  of 
the  earliest  and  most  accomplished  advocates.  We 
have  already  mentioned  him  as  living  at  High- 
gate.  Among  the  numerous  works  which  he  pub- 
lished or  edited  were  the  "  Penny  Magazine,"  the 
"  Library  of  Entertaining  Knowledge,"  the  "  Pic- 
torial History  of  England,"  "London  Pictorially 
Illustrated,"  the  "Land  we  Live  in,"  the  "  English 


478 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


Cyclopaedia,"  and  the  "  Popular  History  of  Eng 
land."  At  Hampstead  his  venerable,  but  genial 
and  pleasant,  face  and  snow-white  locks  were 
familiar  to  rich  and  poor,  old  and  young.  Here, 
surrounded  by  his  books  and  a  small  but  attached 
circle  of  literary  friends,  he  spent  his  declining 
years,  busying  himself  chiefly  with  two  genial  retro- 
spective works— his  "  Shadows  of  the  Old  Book- 
.  sellers,"  and  "  Passages  of  a  Working  Life,"  as  he 
modestly  termed  his  autobiography,  and  occasion- 
ally contributing  a  stray  paper  or  two  to  the 
literature  of  the  clay. 

We  have  mentioned  Hampstead  as  a  place  which 
for  many  a  long  year  has  been  a  favourite  home 
and  resort  of  artists.  As  a  proof  of  this  fact,  it 
may  be  mentioned  that  the  survivor  of  the  brothers 
Chalon,  the  eminent  painters,  about  the  year  1 860 
proposed  to  bestow  on  Hampstead  the  whole  of 
his  own  and  his  brother's  drawings  on  condition  of 
the  inhabitants  building  a  gallery  for  their  reception, 
and  paying  the  salary  of  a  custodian  until  his  own 
decease.  The  lord  of  the  manor,  in  order  to 
forward  the  arrangement,  offered  to  give  a  freehold 
site  upon  the  Heath,  just  opposite  to  the  "Upper 
Flask;"  but  there  was  not  enough  public  spirit 
or  taste  in  the  residents  to  raise  the  sum  required 
to  meet  the  benefaction  ;  the  gift  consequently 
lapsed,  and  the  arrangement  fell  through. 

The  old  parish  church  of  Hampstead,  as  we  have 
stated  above,  stands  at  the  bottom  of  Church  Row, 
and  its  green  coating  of  ivy  contrasts  pleasingly 
with  the  red  brick  and  tiled  houses  on  either  hand 
as  we  approach  it.  The  building  seems  to  hav 
exercised  a  strange  fascination  over  the  artist: 
mind  of  the  day,  for  a  proposal  to  pull  it  dow 
and  rebuild  it  was  received  a  short  time  ago  with 
perfect  shout  of  disapproval.  It  is  true  that  th 
church  is  most  picturesquely  situated,  and  that  th 
distant  view  of  the  spire  as  it  peeps  from  the  mass 
of  variegated  foliage  which  adorns  the  churchyard 
is  exceedingly  pretty ;  but  there  is  no  reason  why 
another  church  built  on  the  same  site  should  not 
be  even  more  pleasing.  The  body  of  the  church 
is  ugly,  awkward,  and  inconvenient  in  no  common 
degree ;  the  tower  is  mean,  and  the  spire  a  shabby 
minaret,  without  grace  or  beauty  of  any  kind. 
Nor  has  the  structure  the  merit  of  antiquity.  It 
dates  only  from  1747,  when  church  architecture 
was  at  its  lowest  ebb,  and  it  was  designed  with  a 
wilful  disregard  of  all  true  principles.  The  soil 
being  sandy,  and  the  position  the  side  of  a  steep 
hill,  it  was  necessary  to  lay  the  walls  upon  timber. 
In  process  of  time  the  timber— it  is  hardly  neces- 
sary to  say— rotted  away,  and  there  has  been  a 
series  ot  somewhat  alarming  settlements.  The 


church  had  hardly  been  finished  a  dozen  years 
when  it  was  found  necessary  to  pull  down  and 
rebuild  the  tower  and  spire.  As  a  reason,  we  are 
told  that  the  mason  had  proved  a  rogue,  and  had 
used  Purbeck  instead  of  Portland  stone.  The  fact 
probably  was  that  the  foundations  had  given  way,  | 
as  it  appears  has  been  the  case  on  more  than  one 
occasion  since.  In  1772  the  church  was  subjected 
to  a  general  repair  and  ornamentation  after  the 
usual  churchwarden's  fashion,  but  it  has  always 
been  insecure  and  uncomfortable. 

As  we  have  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  Hamp- 
stead, before  the  Reformation,  was  only  a  chapelry 
in,  and  dependent  on,  the  mother  church  of  ' 
Hendon,  and  it  was  only  after  the  dissolution  of 
the  monasteries  that  it  came  to  be  formed  into  a 
separate  parish,  the  advowson  of  the  living  being 
appended  to  the  lordship  of  the  manor. 

In  1549  the  lord  of  the  manor  presented  to  the 
living  for  the  first  time ;  but  it  was  not  till  a  much 
later  date  that  the  vicar  and  churchwardens  of 
Hampstead  put  in  an  appearance  at  the  bishop's 
visitation;  and,  indeed,  it  was  only  in  the  year 
1588  that  the  incumbent  acknowledged  himself  as 
bound  to  apply  to  the  bishop  for  his  licence  in 
order  to  officiate.  The  old  chapel  of  St  Mary, 
which  in  the  pre-Reformation  times  had  been 
"  served  "  on  Sundays  and  other  holy  days  by  the 
monks  from  Westminster,  or  by  a  chaplain  from 
Hendon,  was  a  quaint  and  unpretending  edifice, 
consisting  of  a  nave  and  low  side-aisles,  surmounted 
by  a  wooden  belfry.  There  is  a  very  scarce  print 
of  it  by  Hollar,  which  was  republished  by  Park  in 
his  "  History  of  Hampstead,"  now  a  rare  and 
valuable  book.  Park  tells  us  that  in  the  early  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  having  been  "  patched 
up  as  long  as  it  would  last,  and  being  at  length 
quite  worn  out,"  as  well  as  too  small  to  accommo- 
date the  inhabitants  of  Hampstead,  the  former 
church  was  taken  down  in  1745,  and  that  the 
present  edifice  was  finished  two  years  later.  It  is 
a  mistake,  therefore,  to  speak  of  it  as  dating  from 
the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  for  it  has  nothing  about 
it  older  than  the  second  George.  Before  under- 
taking the  work  of  rebuilding  their  church,  the  good 
people  of  Hampstead  applied  to  Parliament  for  aid, 
but  apparently  without  success,  for  shortly  after- 
wards they  raised  by  subscription  the  sum  ot 
,£3,000  for  the  purpose;  and  this  not  being  suf- 
ficient, they  had  recourse  to  a  measure  of  very 
doubtful  legality,  in  order  to  '•  raise  the  wind  ; "  for 
they  entered  into  a  sort  of  joint-stock  combination, 
by  which  it  was  agreed  that  several  persons  who 
contributed  ^20  and  upwards  should  be  elected 
rustees,  and  that  those  who  subscribed  ^50  and 


Harapstead.] 


THE   PARISH   CHURCH. 


479 


upwards  should  have  the  first  choice  of  seats  and 


pews, 


which   should   become   heirlooms    in  their 


families,  though  not  to  be  alienated  by  purchase, 
but  should  be  distributed  to  other  benefactors  of 
the  church  by  the  lord  of  the  manor,  the  vicar,  and 
the  trustees;  and  in  the  main  this  principle  still 
holds  good,  in  spite  of  all  efforts  to  put  an  end  to 
such  arrangements.  It  then  contained  pew-room 
for  550  persons,  exclusive  of  benches;  but  further 
accommodation  has  since  been  made  on  several 
occasions  by  the  addition  of  transepts  and  by 
other  expedients.  The  church  is  described  by 


Park 


a  neat  but  ill-designed  brick  building,  in 


the  common  style  of  modern  churches,  except  that, 
contrary  to  all  custom,  the  belfry  and  tower  are 
at  the  east  end,  behind  the  chancel."  No  doubt 
the  motive  for  this  arrangement  was  economy,  as 
the  ground  slopes  down  abruptly  at  the  west  end, 
and  had  the  tower  been  placed  there  it  would  have 
been  necessary  to  lay  deeper  foundations;  and 
another  inducement,  no  doubt,  was  the  wish  to 
create  an  imposing  effect  as  the  parishioners  ap- 
proached their  church  by  the  road  from  the  High 
Street.  The  total  cost  of  this  unsightly  structure  — 
'  for  such  it  really  is  externally—  was  between  four 
and  five  thousand  pounds,  to  which  nearly  half  as 
much  more  must  be  added  for  repairing  the  ravages 
of  the  dry  rot  five  years  later,  and  for  pulling 
down  and  rebuilding  in  1759  the  greater  part  of  the 
steeple,  owing  to  the  knavery  of  the  mason,  who, 
as  stated  above,  had  used  Purbeck  instead  of  Port- 
land stone  as  agreed  by  the  contract.  The  present 
insignificant  copper  spire  was  added  in  1784. 

Park,  who  wrote  at  the  commencement  of  this 
century,  observed,  in  words  which  are  as  true  now 
as  then,  that  "  considerable  settlements  are  appear- 


ing at 


the  east  end,  owing  to  the  weight  of  the 
tower."  The  church,  we  may  add,  is  still  under 
the  management  of  a  body  of  local  trustees,  who 
direct  the  repairs  and  alterations,  and  receive  and 
administer  the  pew  rents  for  the  benefit  of  the 
incumbent.  In  1874-5  the  parishioners  of  Hamp- 
stead were  engaged  in  a  keen  controversy  as  to 
whether  the  church  should  be  "rebuilt"  or  "re- 
stored," mainly  through  the  threatened  subsidence 
of  the  tower;  and  matters  even  went  so  far  that 
the  trustees  appointed  Mr.  F.  P.  Cockerell  as  their 
architect,  and  that  he  supplied  designs  for  the  two- 
fold purpose ;  but  here  the  matter  seems  to  have 
rested  for  a  time,  when  it  was  finally  decided  that 
the  church  should  be  enlarged  by  the  addition  of 
a  chancel  at  the  western  end,  sundry  alterations 


being 


made  in  the  interior  arrangements   at  the 


line  time,  and  the  tower  being  underpinned  and 
strengthened. 


And  yet  it  must  be  owned  that  the  church  itself 
looks  well,  and  even  imposing,  when  seen  from  a 
distance,  especially  from  the  south.     The  following 
interesting  sketch  of  the  parish  church  appears  in 
the  Sunday  at  Home  for  July,  1876  :— "  From  Prim- 
rose Hill  a  full  view  is  obtained  of  the  outline  of  the 
fine  ridge  to  the  north  on  which  rest  the  suburbs  of 
Highgate  and  Hampstead.    The  steeples  of  High- 
gate  Church  and  of  Christ's  Church,  Hampstead, 
are  conspicuous  marks  in  the  landscape,  while  St. 
John's  Church,  or,  as  it  is  commonly  called,  old 
Hampstead  Church,  may  be  dimly  descried  amid 
a  clustering  group  of  trees.     Proceeding  by  the 
Finchley  Road  to  the  old  church,  and  taking  the 
ascending  pathway  through   the  fields,  a  stranger 
would  confront  before  he  was  aware  the  object  of 
his  quest,  which  he  would  find  to  be  a  brick-built 
and  substantial,  though  a  plain  and  unpretentious 
building  in  the  Italian  style.     The  belfry  and  tower 
are  placed  in  the  east  end,  behind  the  chancel, 
contrary  to  the  usual  method  of  church  architecture. 
The  advantage,  however,  is  gained,  that  the  hand- 
;omest  part  of  the  building  is  brought  prominently 
nto  view  and  faces  the  village,  while  the  clinging 
vy  covering  almost  the  whole  front  removes  to 
some  extent  the  prosaic  character  of  the  brickwork, 
,nd  lends  an  air  of  antiquity  and  a  certain  poetic 
charm  to  the  sacred  edifice,  much  in  keeping  with 
he  beauty  of  the  situation  and  with  the  decayed 
nemorials  of  the  surrounding  burying-ground.    The 
still  older  church— smaller  but  more  picturesque — 
occupied  the  site  of  the  existing  building.     It  had 
been  patched  up  as  long  as  'it  would  last ;  but 
becoming  at  length  quite  worn  out  from  inevitable 
decay,  and  besides  being  too  small  to  accommodate 
the  increased  population,  it  was  pulled  down.     The 
new  building  was  finished  in  1747,  at  a  cost  of 
between  .£4,°°°  and  ^S>000>  and   was   conse" 
crated   by   Dr.    Gilbert,   Bishop   of   Llandaff,   by 
commission  from  the  Bishop   of  London,   on  the 
8th  of  October  of  that  year ;  it  was  dedicated  to 
St.  John." 

Of  the  various  clergymen  who  have  held  the 
incumbency  of  Hampstead,  since  the  living  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  lord  of  the  manor,  there  have 
been  some  few  whose  names  have  become  known 
beyond  the  circle  of  their  parishioners.  Of  these 
we  may  mention  the  Rev.  Robert  Warren,  D.D., 
who  was  an  able,  learned,  and  pious  minister,  and 
a  man  of  mark  among  the  clergy  of  his  day.  He 
preached  repeatedly  before  the  Lord  Mayor  of 
London,  and  was  the  author  of  several  works  of 
practical  devotion,  which  in  their  time  were 
popular,  and  ran  through  numerous  editions.  The 
general  pious  character  of  Dr.  Warren's  writings 


480  OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON.  [Hampstcad. 

may  be  learned  from  the  title  of  one  of  his  most  '  in  it : — "  It  is  my  positive  and  express  will  that 
successful  books,  originally  published  in  the  year  j  all  my  sermons,  letters,  and  papers  whatever,  which 
1720,  "The  Daily  Self-Exam inant,  or  an  Earnest  j  are  now  in  a  deal  box  directed  to  Dr.  Forester  (his 
Perswasion  to  the  duty  of  Self-Examination ;  with  chaplain),  and  now  standing  in  my  library  at 


Devout  Prayers,  Meditations,  Directions,  and  Ejacu- 
lations for  a  Holy  Life  and  Happy  Death."  Dr. 
Warren  broke  a  lance  with  Bishop  Hoadley  on  the 
nature  of  the  sacrament,  and,  in  his  "  Impartial 


Hampstead,  be  burnt,  without  being  read  by  any, 
as  soon  as  may  be  after  my  decease." 

Joseph  Butler  and  Dr.  Seeker,  afterwards  Arch- 
bishop  of    Canterbury,    were   both    the   eons  of- 


Churchman,"  published  an  earnest  and  affectionate  I  Dissenters,  and  were  schoolfellows  together  at  the 


address  to  Protestant  dissenters.  He  died  in  i 
1740;  his  son,  Langhorne,  was  nominated  his  i 
successor.  Unlike  to  the  father,  the  son  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  addicted  to  authorship ;  his 
only  publication  is  a  sermon  on  a  text  from  the 
Book  of  Proverbs.  During  the  incumbency  of 
Langhorne  Warren,  the  celebrated  Dr.  Butler, 
Bishop  of  Durham,  resided  at  Hampstead,  in  the 
house  of  Sir  Harry  Vane — the  house,  indeed,  from 
which  the  latter  was  taken  to  execution.  In  this 
house  are  some  curious  rondels  of  painted  glass, 
heirlooms  since  the  time  of  Butler. 

One  of  the  witnesses  to  the  bishop's  will  is  the  ' 
Rev.   Langhorne  Warren ;    the   will  was  made  at 
Hampstead,  and  bears  date  25th  of  April,   1752. 
The  following  is  one  of  the  directions  contained 


Dissenting  academy  of  Mr.  Jones,  at  Tewkesbury, 
where,  in  the  impressible  days  of  their  boyhood, 
was  contracted  that  warm  friendship  which  lasted 
through  life  between  these  eminent  men.  Seeker, 
when  in  residence  as  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  was  con- 
stantly in  the  society  of  the  author  of  the  "Analogy  " 
at  Hampstead,  and,  it  is  said,  dined  with  him  every 
day.  "  A  friend  of  mine,  since  deceased,  told 
me,"  says  the  Rev.  John  Newton,  "  that  when  hf • 
was  a  young  man  he  once  dined  with  the  late 
Dr.  Butler,  at  that  time  Bishop  of  Durham,  and 
though  the  guest  was  a  man  of  fortune,  and  the 
interview  by  appointment,  the  provision  was  no 
more  than  a  joint  of  meat  and  a  pudding.  The 
bishop  apologised  for  his  plain  fare  by  saying  that 
it  vas  his  way  of  living ;  that  he  had  been  long 


BISHOP   BUTLER. 


481 


disgusted  with  the  fashionable  expense  of  time 
and  money  in  entertainments,  and  was  determined 
that  it  should  receive  no  countenance  from  his 
example." 

When  his  health  was  fast  failing,  Dr.  Butler 
left  Hampstead  for  Clifton.  Afterwards  he  went 
to  Bath,  to  try  the  effect  of  the  waters  of  that 
place.  Dr.  Forester  thus  writes  from  Bath  to 
Seeker,  then  Bishop  of  Oxford,  on  the  4th  of  June, 


in  turn  succeeded  to  the  incumbency.  Dr.  White 
dying  in  1841,  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Ainger,  under  whose  incumbency  the  parish  was 
subdivided  into  ecclesiastical  districts,  for  which 
five  new  churches  were  erected.  Mr.  Ainger  was 
succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Charlton  Lane,  one  of  the 
professors  in  Gresham  College;  and  he  by  the 
Rev.  Sherard  Burnaby. 

Able  and  zealous  clergymen  connected  with  the 


I7S2:_«My  lord,  1  have  barely  strength  and 
spirits  to  inform  your  lordship  that  my  good  lord 
was  brought  hither,  in  a  very  weak  state,  yesterday, 
in  hopes  of  receiving  some  benefit  from  the 
waters."  On  the  i6th  of  the  same  month  Dr. 
Butler  died.  He  was  buried  in  the  cathedral  of 
Bristol,  where  two  monuments  have  been  erected 
to  his  memory. 

Ten  years  after  the  death  of  the  great  bishop, 
died  his  friend  Langhornc  Warren,  curate  of 
Hampstead,  who,  in  his  turn,  was  succeeded  by 
his  son  Erasmus.  This  gentleman  lived  unti. 
1806;  so  that  for  nearly  a  century  the  perpetual 
curacy  of  Hampstead  was  held  by  the  Warren 
family  Mr.  Warren's  two  assistant  curates,  the 
Rev.  Charles  Grant,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  White, 


churches  Which    have   sprung   up    ot    late   years 
efficiently   sustain   the   cause   of    the    Church   of 
England    in   Hampstead.      Of   these    we   would 
mention  the  name  of  the  Rev.  E.  H.  Bickersteth, 
!  the  vicar  of  Christ   Church.     Mr.   Bickersteth  is 
':  besides  favourably  known  in  the  world  of  letters, 
',  both  as  a  poet  and  an  essayist. 
:      The  amiable  and  accomplished  Joanna  Baillie, 
'  of  whom   we  have  already  spoken,  was   scrupu- 
lously regular  in  her  attendance  on  divine  service 
'  in  the  parish  church.     She  died  on  the  s$td  of 
February,  1851 ;  her  grave  may  readily  be  found 
among   the  other  memorials  of  the  dead  in  the 
burying-ground  adjoining  the  edifice.     One  other 
'  grave  there  will  specially  attract  the  visitor-it  is 
j  that  of  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  the  brilliant  lawyer 


432 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Hampstead. 


and  historian,  who  died  in  May,  1832.  Mackin- 
tosh was  a  man  of  great  powers  and  intellectual 
ability,  and  was  President  of  the  Board  of  Control 
under  P^arl  Grey. 

In  a  previous  chapter  (page  149)  we  have  men- 
tioned Sir  Thomas  Powell  Buxton  in  the  midst  of 
his  benevolent  labours  residing  at  North  End.  In 
his  "  Memoirs "  we  find  a  letter  from  him  to  Sir 
James  Mackintosh,  whose  mind  was  then  engaged 
on  the  questions  of  the  criminal  law  and  colonial 
reform,  inviting  him  to  lend  a  full,  hearty,  and  un- 
reserved co-operation  in  the  cause  of  the  West 
Indian  slaves.  The  death  of  Sir  James  Mackintosh, 
after  a  long  illness,  was  really  occasioned  by  a  piece 
of  chicken  sticking  in  his  throat  when  at  dinner. 
He  was  nearly  strangled,  and  though  the  meat  was 
dislodged  at  the  time,  his  health  suffered  ever 
afterwards. 

Sir  James  Mackintosh  is  praised  by  all  his  co- 
temporaries  for  his  wonderful  stores  of  information, 
his  philanthropy,  his  amiability,  and  great  powers 
of  conversation.  Lord  Russell  tells  us  that  he 
was  "  the  ablest,  the  most  brilliant,  and  the  best- 
informed  "  of  all  those  whose  conversational  talents 
are  mentioned  by  Tommy  Moore,  who  often  came 
from  Muswell  Hill  to  meet  him  at  the  hospitable 
table  of  the  Longmans  on  the  Green  Hill.  He 
is  thus  portrayed  in  the  "  New  Whig  Guide  :  "— 

" Mackintosh  strives  to  unite 

The  grave  and  the  gay,  the  profound  and  polite, 

And  piques  himself  much  that  the  ladies  should  say 

How  well  Scottish  strength  softens  down  in  Bombay! 

He  frequents  the  assembly,  the  supper,  the  ball, 

The  philosofhe  beau  of  unlovable  Starl ; 

Affects  to  talk  French  in  his  hoarse  Highland  note, 

And  gurgles  Italian  half-way  down  his  threat. 

His  gait  is  a  shuffle,  his  smile  is  a  leer, 

His  converse  is  quaint,  his  civility  qiK-er ; 

In  short,  to  all  grace  and  deportment  a  rebel, 

At  best  he  is  but  a  half-poli-Jicd  Scotch  pebble." 

This  beautiful  churchyard,  perhaps  one  of  the 
loveliest  in  England,  and  one  of  which  it  may  be 
said  with  truth  that  "  it  would  make  one  in  love 
with  death  to  think  that  he  should  be  buried  in  so 
sweet  a  spot,"  is  crowded  with  other  tombs  which 
bear  distinguished  names.  Among  them  are  those 
of  John  Constable,  the  artist;  of  Lord  Krskine ; 
of  Harrison,  who  discovered  the  mode  of  ascer- 
taining the  longitude ;  and  of  the  sweet-voiced 
Incledon,  "the  most  wonderful  nature-taught  singer 
this  country  has  ever  produced."  Not  the  least 
interesting  of  the  graves  is  that  of  an  old  lady  from 
St  Giles's  parish,  who  was  the  solitary  victim  in 
Hampsread  to  the  visitation  of  the  cholera  in  1849. 
The  story  is  extant,  and  written  in  very  choice 
English  in  the  reports  of  the  medical  officer  of  the 


Privy  Council  She  had,  it  seems,  lived  in  the 
parish  of  St  Giles,  and  having  drank  of  the  water 
from  the  church  pump,  fondly  imagined  that  no 
other  could  be  so  good.  When,  therefore,  her 
husband  died,  and  she  retired  upon  a  modest  com- 
petency to  the  northern  suburb,  she  arranged  with 
the  conductor  of  an  omnibus  to  bring  her  a  jar  of 
it  daily.  She  drank  of  it  and  of  it  only,  and  never 
tired  of  praising  its  excellences.  The  sparkle  which 
she  found  so  attractive  was,  however,  but  a  form  of 
death ;  the  water  was  literally  loaded  with  sewage 
gas  and  with  the  phosphates  which  had  filtered 
through  the  earth  from  the  churchyard  close  by. 
It  was,  as  it  were,  a  matter  of  course  that  sht 
should  die,  but  she  did  not  die  in  vain.  The 
history  of  her  case  has  been  of  a  value  to  medical 
science  which  few  can  over-estimate.  Had  the 
old  lady  known  much  of  local  history,  she  would, 
perhaps,  have  pinned  her  faith  to  the  waters  of 
Hampstead,  and  perhaps  have  been  living  at  the 
present  time.  Among  other  notabilities  preserved 
in  local  memories  as  resting  here  is  Miss  West, 
better  known  as  "  Jenny  Diver,"  the  most  accom- 
plished lady  pickpocket  of  her  age,  who  died  here 
in  1783,  leaving  .£3,000,  the  fruits  of  her  industry, 
to  her  two  children,  one  of  whom  was  bom  in 
Bridewell.  This  desultory  gossip  leads  us  to 
curious  associations  ;  but  the  grave,  like  misery, 
makes  us  acquainted  with  strange  bedfellows  ;  and 
the  ashes  of  poor  Jenny  lie  peacefully  enough  with 
those  of  better  people. 

The  old  churchyard  covers  about  three  acres, 
and  lies  chiefly  on  the  south  of  the  church.  A 
little  higher  up  on  the  slope  of  the  hill  is  the  new 
or  upper  churchyard,  one  end  of  which  abuts  upon 
Church  Row.  It  is  not  quite  so  large  as  the  other, 
and  was  consecrated  in  1812. 

At  the  northern  extremity  of  this  churchyard 
stands  the  little  Roman  Catholic  chapel  of  St 
Mary's,  its  western  front  conspicuously  decorated 
with  a  handsome  statue  of  the  Virgin  and  the  Divine 
Child  in  a  niche.  It  was  built  in  1815-16  by  the 
exertions  of  the  Abbe  Morel,  one  of  those  French 
emigres  whom  the  waves  of  the  first  French  Revo- 
lution threw  upon  our  shores.  For  many  years 
the  abbe  lived  in  Hampstead,  teaching  his  native 
anguagc  ;  his  gains  he  laid  by  in  order  to  found 
the  mission  and  chapel,  in  which  he  rests  beneath 
a  handsome  altar-tomb.  Before  the  consecration 
of  the  chapel  by  the  "Vicar  Apostolic"  of  the 
London  district  in  1816,  the  abbe"  used  to  say 
mass  over  a  stable  in  Rosslyn  Park,  and  afterwards 
at  Oriel  House,  at  the  upper  end  of  Church  Row. 
He  died  in  1851.  In  the  interior  of  the  chapel 
are  some  fine  sacred  pictures. 


Hampstcad.l 


CLARK30N  STANFIELD. 


483 


Grove  Lodge  and  Montagu  Grove,  near  here,  are 
places  worthy  of  mention,  the  former  as  having  been 
at  one  time  the  residence  of  Sir  Gilbert  Scott,  the 
architect ;  and  the  latter  as  the  residence  of  Mr. 
Edward  Montagu,  the  first  patron  of  the  Hamp- 
stead  Sunday  School.  Concerning  this  gentleman, 
the  European  Magazine  for  June,  1788,  tells  the 
following  anecdote: — "June  10.  This  morning 
Lord  Mansfield  sent  a  servant  from  Caen  Lodge, 
to  Mr.  Montagu,  the  Master  in  Chancery,  Frognal 
Grove,  near  Hampstead,  requesting  that  gentle- 
man's company  to  dinner.  The  answer  returned 
was  that  '  Mr.  Montagu  had  come  home  the  pre- 
ceding evening  from  London  ill,  and  remained 
then  indisposed.'  The  messenger  returned  back, 
pressing  Mr.  Montagu's  attendance  on  his  lord- 
ship, who  had  some  material  business  to  communi- 
cate, upon  which  Mr.  Montagu  replied, '  He  would 
wait  on  the  earl  in  the  afternoon.'  At  five  the 
master  went  to  Caen  Wood  Lodge,  where  he  was 
introduced  to  Earl  Mansfield,  who  was  alone.  '  I 


sent  for  you,  sir,'  said  his  lordship,  '  to  receive,  as 
well  officially  as  my  acquaintance  and  friend,  the 
resignation  of  my  office;  and,. in  order  to  save 
trouble,  I  have  caused  the  instrument  to  be  pre- 
pared, as  you  here  see.'  He  then  introduced  the 
paper,  which,  after  Mr.  Montagu  had  perused,  and 
found  proper,  the  earl  signed.  The  master  under- 
wrote it,  and  afterwards  dispatched  it  to  the  Lord 
Chancellor's  house,  who  laid  it  before  the  king." 
Montagu  Grove  was  afterwards  the  residence  of 
Chief  Baron  Richards. 

Opposite  Montagu  Grove,  on  some  sloping 
ground  leading  towards  Mount  Vernon,  and  now 
occupied  as  a  garden,  it  is  said  that  the  work- 
house of  Hampstead  formerly  stood.  The  old 
house,  as  depicted  in  Park's  "  Hampstead,"  was  a 
picturesque  building,  with  projecting  wings,  gabled 
roof,  and  bay  windows.  Here,  before  it  became 
the  parish  poorhouse,  Colley  Gibber  used  to  meet 
his  friends,  Booth  and  Wilkes,  the  actors,  to  concert 
plans  for  their  dramatic  campaigns. 


CHAPTER   XXXVIII. 

HAMPSTEAD  (continued).—  ROSSLYN    HILL,  &C. 
"  Hz  latebra  dulces,  et  jam,  si  credis,  amocna:."—  Harare. 

mc-Clarl«»n  Stanfield  -The  Residence  of  the  Longmans-Vane  House,  BOW  u;e  Soid.en,'  Daughter:  Home 
io-,"  Itm-The  Chicken  House-Queen  Elizabeth's  House-Carlisle  House-The  Presbyterian  Chapel-Mr. 
House-Lord  Loughborough-Belsizc  Lane-Downshire  Hin-Ha-np.ead  Green-Sir  *£***£ 

Francis  Pa!grave-Kenr,.or<-  House  .,nd  the  Rev.  Edward  Irving-St.  Stephen's  Church-Hie  "Oeorge  Inn-lhe  llajipstcad  Water 
works-Pond  S,r«t-Th<:  New  Spa-The  Small-pox  Hospiul-The  Hampstead  Town  Hall-The  "  Load  of  Hay»-S,r  Mchard  Sleek. 
Cottace—  Nan'-y  Dawscn--M..:i  King's  House—  Tunnels  ma 


Sailors'  Orphan  Girl,'  School 
Buikr  I  ht 
BtbJd-K 


RETRACING  our  steps  through  Church  Row  on  our 
way  towards  Rosslyn  Hill— which  is  a  continuation 
of  the  High  Street  toward*  London— we  notice  on 
our  right,  at  the  corner  of  Greenhill  Road  and 
Church  Lane,  a  large  and  handsome  brick  building, 
with  slightly  projecting  wings,  gables,  and  a  cupola 
turret.  This  is  the  Sailers'  Orphan  Girls'  School 


and  Home,  which  \\ 
1829,  in  Frognal  Hoi 
parish  church.  The  \ 


•iginally  established  in 
on  the  west  side  of  the 
-nt  building  was  erected 


n  1869,  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  Ellis.  The 
objects  of  the  institution  are  the  "maintenance, 
clothing,  and  education  of  orphan  daughters  of 
sailors  and  marines,  and  the  providing  of  a  home 
for  them  after  leaving,  when  out  of  situations." 
The  number  of  inmates  is  about  one  hundred,  and 
the  children  look  healthy  and  cheerful.  Its  annual 
income  averages  about  ,£?,ooo.  This  institution 
opened  by  Prince  Arthur,  now  Duke  of  Con- 


i  and  Haverstuck  Hills. 

On  the  Greenhill,  close  by  the  Wesleyan  chapel, 
and  where  Prince  Arthur's  Road  opens  into  the 


High  Stree 


stands  a  venerable  house,  once  the 


home  of  Clarkson  Stanfield,  the  artist,  till  lately 
used  as  a  branch  of  the  Consumptive  Hospital.  It 
is  now  a  school,  and  named  Stanfield  House.  A 
native  of  Sunderland,  and  born  about  the  end  of 
the  last  century,  Clarkson  Stanfield,  as  we  have 
stated  in  a  previous  chapter,*  commenced  life  as 
a  sailor.  He,  however,  soon  abandoned  the  sea 
ior  the  more  congenial  pursuit  of  a  scene-painter, 
having  accepted  an  engagement  at  an  east-end 
theatre,  whence  he  soon  after  migrated  to  Drury 
Lane.  His  familiarity  with  the  mysteries  of  the 
deep  enabled  him  to  surpass  most  other  painters  of 
sea-pieces.  Among  his  early  works,  not  already 
mentioned  by  us,  were  his  "View  near  Chalons- 
sur-Saone,"  and  "  Mount  St.  Michael,"  painted  for 
the  Senior  United  Service  Club.  Among  his  more 


naught,  in  whose  honour  the  road  between  it  and  j  - 
the  Greenhill  is  named  Prince  Arthur's  Road. 


4*4 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON1. 


•Hampstead 


important  later  works  we  may  mention  his  ".Castle 
of  Ischia,"  the  "  Day  after  the  Wreck,"  "  French 
Troops  crossing  the  Magra,"  "Wind  against  Tide," 
and   "  The    Victory  towed  into  Gibraltar  after  the 
Battle  of  Trafalgar.     Great  as  was  Mr.  Stanfield's 
knowledge  of  the  sea,   he  comparatively  seldom 
painted   it  in  a  storm.     Throughout  his  industry 
was  almost  as  remarkable  as    his  genius.     As  a 
scene-painter   he  had  the  means   of  doing  much 
towards  advancing  the  taste  of  the  English  public  j 
for  landscape  art.     For  many  years  he  taught  the  j 
public  from  the  stage — the  pit  and  the  gallery  to  j 
admire  landscape   art,  and  the  boxes  to  become 
connoisseurs;  and  he  decorated  the  theatre  with 
works  so  beautiful,  that  we  can  but  regret  the  frail 
material  of  which  they  were  constructed,  and  the 
necessity   for   "new  and    gorgeous   effects,"   and 
"  magnificent  novelties,"  which  caused  the  artist's 
works  to  be  carried  away.     It  was  not  the  public 
only   whom    Stanfield    delighted,    and   awakened, 
and  educated  into  admiration — the  members  of  his 
own  profession  were  as  enthusiastic  as  the  rest  of 
the  world  in  recognising  and  applauding  his  mag- 
nificent imagination  and  skill.     Mr.  J.  T.  Smith,  in 
his  "  Book  for  a  Rainy  Day,"  says,  "  Mr.  Stanfield's 
easel  pictures  adorn  the  cabinets  of  some  of  our  j 
first  collectors,  and  are,  like  those  of  Callcott,  Con-  | 
stable,  Tinner,  Collins,  and  Arnold,  much  admired 
by  the  now  numerous  publishers  of  little  works,  who 
unquestionably  produce  specimens  of  the  powers  of! 
England':;  engravers,  which   immeasurably  out-di.v  | 
tance  the  ettoits  of  all  other  countries."     Clarkson  ' 
Stanfield  died  in    1867  at  his  residence  in   Belsi/.e  i 
Park,  a  few  months  after  removing  from  his  long-  ' 
cherished  home. 

Another  large  old  red-brick  house,  just  below  that 
formerly  occupied  by  Clarkson  Stanfield,  for  many 
years  the  home  of  the  Longmans,  and  the  place  of! 
reunion  for  the  Moorcs,  Scotts,  Russells,  and  other 
clients  and  friends  of  that  firm,  has  been  swept 
away  to  make  room  for  the  chapel  mentioned 
above.  The  cedars  which  stood  on  the  lawn  are 
still  left,  and  so  also  are  some  of  the  ornamental  | 
evergreens ;  the  rookery  and  grounds  adjoining  are  i 
appropriated  to  sundry  new  Italian  villas.  The 
rooks,  who  for  successive  generations  had  built  their  ! 
nests  in  these  grounds  for  the  best  part  of  a  ; 
century,  frightened  at  the  operations  of  the  builders, 
flew  away  a  few  years  since,  and,  strangely,  migrated 
to  a  small  grove  half  a  mile  nearer  to  London,  at  I 
the  corner  of  Belsize  Lane. 

A  little  below  the  Greenhill,  on  the  same  side  i 
of  the  High  Street,  is  Vane  House ;  this  edifice  I 
stands  a  short  distance  back  from  the  road,  with  | 
a  gravelled  court  in  front  of  it.  Though  almost 


wholly  rebuilt  of  late  years,  it  is  still  called  by  the 
name  of  its  predecessor,  and  it  is  occupied  as 
the  Soldiers'  Daughters'  Home.  Vane  House  was 
originally  a  large  square  building,  standing  in  its 
own  ample  grounds.  In  Park's  time — that  is,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century — the  house 
had  been  considerably  modernised  in  some  parts, 
but  it  still  retained  enough  of  the  antique  hue  to  ' 
make  it  a  very  interesting  object.  The  entrance  at 
the  back,  with  the  carved  staircase,  remained  in  their 
original  condition.  In  the  upper  storey  one  very 
large  room  had  been  divided  into  a  number  of 
smaller  apartments,  running  along  the  whole  back 
front  of  the  house.  The  old  mansion,  when  inha- 
bited by  Sir  Harry  Vane,  probably  received  and 
welcomed  within  its  walls  such  men  as  Cromwell,. 
Milton,  Pym,  Fairfax,  Hampden,  and  Algernon 
Sidney  ;  and  from  its  doors  its  master  was  carried 
off  by  order  of  Charles  II.  to  the  executioner's- 
block  on  Tower  Hill.  The  house  was  afterwards 
owned  and  occupied  by  Bishop  Butler,  who  is 
said  to  have  written  here  some  portions  of  his 
masterly  work,  "  The  Analogy  between  Natural  and 
Revealed  Religion."  The  Soldiers'  Daughters' 
Home  was  instituted  in  1855,  in  connection  with 
the  Central  Association  for  the  Relief  of  the  Wives 
and  Children  of  Soldiers  oh  Service  in  the  Crimea, 
and,  as  the  report  tells  us,  "  for  the  maintenance, 
clothing,  and  education  of  the  daughters  of  soldiers, 
whether  orphans  or  not."  This  "  Home  "  is  one  of 
the  most  popular  among  the  various  charitable  in- 
stitutions in  the  metropolis.  The  present  buildings, 
which  are  spacious,  substantial,  and  well  adapted  to 
their  purpose,  were  erected  in  1858,  from  the  designs  i 
of  Mr.  Munt,  and  they  have  since  been  enlarged. 
The  "  Home  "  was  inaugurated  under  the  auspices 
of  the  late  Prince  Consort,  and  has  ever  since 
been  under  the  patronage  of  royalty,  including  Her 
Majesty,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Duke  of  Cam- 
bridge, and  others.  The  annual  felf  on  behalf  of 
the  institution,  held  in  the  charming  grounds  of 
the  "  Home,"  is  attended  by  the  (lite  of  fashion,  and 
has  always  been  quite  a  gala  day  at  Hampstead. 
In  1874  the  committee  of  the  institution  unani- 
mously resolved  to  add  three  girls  to  the  number  of 
admissions  into  the  Home  by  election,  to  be  called 
the  "  Gold  Coast  Scholars,"  one  from  each  of  the 
regiments  serving  in  the  African  war,  as  a  tribute  to 
the  gallantry  and  self-sacrifice  displayed  by  the 
troops  employed  under  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley  during 
the  campaign  in  Ashantee.  A  fourth  scholar 
from  the  Royal  Marines  has  since  been  added. 
The  Regimental  Scholarships'  Fund,  established  in 
1864,  was  then  very  liberally  responded  to,  but  the 
contributions  have  since  fluctuated  greatly.  These 


THE   CHICKEN   HOUSE. 


485 


contributions  are  all  funded ;  and  when  they  accu- 
mulate to  a  sufficient  sum,  according  to  the  age  of 
the  girl,  and  to  the  scale  of  payment  in  force, 
enable  regiments  to  nominate  a  scholar  for  direct 
admission  into  the  Home  independently  of  election. 
The  average  number  of  girls  in  the  institution  is 
about  150,  but  there  is  accommodation  for  200 
when  the  income  is  sufficient  for  their  maintenance. 
Still  on  our  right,  half  way  down  the  steep 
descent  of  Rosslyn  Hill,  on  the  site  now  occupied 
by  the  police-station,  stood  formerly  the  "Red 
Lion  Inn,"  a  wooden  house  of  great  antiquity, 
probably  dating  from  the  fourteenth  century.  The 
"  Red  Lion  "  is  so  common  a  sign  as  to  need  np 
other  remark  except  that  it  probably  was  put  up 
in  allusion  to  the  marriage  of  John  of  Gaunt,  Duke 
of  Lancaster,  with  Constance,  daughter  of  Don 
Pedro,  King  of  Leon  and  Castile.  But  this  house 
is  worthy  of  special  note,  as  it  was  held  on  lease 
from  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Westminster,  on 
^condition  of  its  "  Boniface "  supplying  a  truss  of 
hay  for  the  horse  of  the  "  mass-  priest,"  who  came 


m  '754;  he  lies  buried  in  the  churchyard.  In 
the  Chicken  House  Lord  Mansfield  is  Stated  to 
have  lodged  before  he  purchased  Caen  Wood. 
"  But  at  that  time,  no  doubt,"  says  Mr.  Howitt  in 
his  "  Northern  Heights,"  "  the  Chicken  House  had 
an  ample  garden,  and  overlooked  the  open  country, 
for  it  is  described  as  being  at  the  entrance  of 
Hampstead."  In  1766,  not  many  years  after  Lord 
Mansfield  and  his  legal  friends  had  ceased  to 
resort  hither  for  the  purposes  of  "  relaxation  from 
the  fatigues  of  their  profession,"  the  place  seems  to 
have  sadly  degenerated,  for  we  are  told  that  it  had 
become  a  rendezvous  of  thieves  and  vagabonds. 

Near  to  the  Chicken  House  there  used  to  stand 
another  building,  commonly  known  as  "  Queen 
Elizabeth's  House  ;"  its  architecture,  however,  was 
of  too  late  a  date  to  warrant  such  a  name,  though 
the  tradition  was  current  that  the  "  Virgin  Queen  " 
once  spent  a  night  there.  It  was  subsequently 
occupied  by  some  nuns,  who  changed  its  name  to 
"  St.  Elizabeth's  Home." 

Close  by  the  Chicken  House  stood,  till  1875-6, 


he  Abbey  to  celebrate  divine  service  at  i  a  fine  mansion  in  its  own  grounds,  known  as  Car- 


Hampstead  on  Sundays  and  the  greater  saints' 
days,  in  the  Chapel  of  St.  Mary,  on  the  site  of 
which  now  stands  the  parish  church.  Although 
the  inn  is  gone,  its  name  remains  in  "  Red  Lion 
Hill,"  as  Rosslyn  Hill  is  usually  called  among  the 
working  classes. 


lisle  House.  It  was  the  property  of,  or  at  all 
events  occupied  by,  a  gallant  admiral,  at  the  close 
of  the  last  century ;  and  it  is  a  tradition  in  Hamp- 
stead  that  Lord  Nelson,  when  in  the  zenith  of  his 
fame,  was  often  a  guest  within  its  walls.  The 
house  has  been  pulled  down,  and  the  site  utilised 


On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road,  but  a  trifle  '  for  building  purposes. 
lower  down  the  hill,  may  be  seen  what  little  Adjoining  is  the  site  of  the  Presbyterian  chapel 
now  remains  of  a  noted  old  building,  called  the  ,  Tins  edifice  was  constructed  as  the  successor  of 
Chicken  House,  which  Mr.  Park,  in  his  "History  another  chapel  winch  is  supposed  to  have  been 
-'Hampstead  "says  that  local  tradition  designates  established  in  the  reign  of  Charles  IL,  by  one  of 
-  "  In  this  work  it  is  ,  the  ejected  ministers  whose  lives  are  recorded  by 
The  first  Presbyterian  minister  was 


Hill  Lodge, 
Originally  it 


house  style,  and  of  ordinary  appearance.     The  side    last  tw 
which  abutted  upon  the  roadway  is  now  hid  by  I  stead 
houses   and  small   shops ;    the   only  view  of  the    health 

ling,  therefore,  is  obtained  by   passing  up  a  I  Burns  preached  a 


house 
building 


cut  up  into  small  tenements, 


For  about  ten  years,  and  until  his  failing 
.mnelled  him  to  desist,  the  Rev.  James  D. 
at  Hampstead  to  the  congregation 
byterians.      He   was   the 
of  Prophecy/'  and  other 
The  original  Presbyterian  chapel  is  sup- 
, u^or,   rr>mnvpil  in  :7?.6,  and  the 


486 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


IHampstead. 


chapel  which  superseded  it  was  rebuilt  in  1828.  ,  Dr.  Sayers,  and  William  Taylor,  of  Norwich,  were 

This,  in  turn,  gave  way  to  the  present  building,    amongst  the  pupils  of  the  Palgrave  school.     Here 

hich  was  completed  in  1862,  and  is  one  of  the    also  Mrs.   Barbauld  wrote  her  "Early   Lessons" 

and  "  Hymns  in  Prose."     Their  winter  vacation 
was  always  spent  in  London,  where  they  had  the 


ugliest  of  modern  ecclesiastical  structures. 
Mr.  Barbau 


chapel  from  1785  till  the  commencement  of  this    entree  into  good  society.      After  eleven  years    of 
century,  when  he  removed  to  Newington  Green,     teaching,    Mrs.    Barbauld   and    her    husband   left 


He  was   a  native  of  Germany,  and  died 


Palgrave,   and  ultimately  planted    themselv< 


year  i8oS.      His    widow,  who   resided   for  many  ! 
years  in  a  house  on  the  west  side  of  Rosslyn  Hill,  ' 
was  the   celebrated    Mrs.   Anna  Letitia  Barbauld,  ! 
and   sister  of    Dr.  John    Aikin,  the    distinguished 
author    and    physician.      The    eldest   child    and 
only  daughter  of  Dr.  John  Aikin,  and  of  Jane,  his 
wife,    daughter   of  the    Rev.  John    Jennings,  she  • 
was  born  at  the  village  of  Kibworth  Harcourt,  in  ' 
I  .eicestershire.      Shortly  after  their  marriage,   Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Barbauld  settled  at  Palgrave,  in  Suffolk,  | 
where  Mr.  Barbauld  was  a  Dissenting  minister,  and 
kept  a  school.     At   first  all   seemed   prosperous. 
In  addition  to   Lord  Penman,  Sir  V'illiam    Cell, 


491.) 


Hampstead.  Here  Mrs.  Barbauld  found  many- 
excellent  friends — Miss  Joanna  Baillie  and  others. 
One  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  occasional  guests  at  Hamp- 
stead was  Samuel  Rogers,  the  poet.  Mr.  H. 
Crabb  Robinson's  "  Diary "  contains  several  in- 
teresting entries  concerning  this  lady.  "In  1805, 
at  Hackney,"  writes  Crabb  Robinson,  "  I  saw 
repeatedly  Miss  Wakefield,  a  charming  girl.  And 
one  day,  at  a  party,  when  Mrs.  Barbauld  had  been 
the  subject  of  conversation,  and  I  had  spoken  of 
her  in  enthusiastic  terms,  Miss  Wakefield  came 
to  me  and  said,  '  Would  you  like  to  know  Mrs. 
Uarbauld  ? '  I  exclaimed,  '  You  might  as  well 


MRS.   BARBAUI.D. 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


ask  me  whether  I  should  like  to  know  the  angel 
Gabriel ! '  Said  she,  '  Mrs.  Barbauld  is  much  more 
accessible.  I  will  introduce  you  to  her  nephew.' 
She  then  called  to  Charles  Aikin,  whom  she  soon 
after  married.  And  he  said,  '  I  dine  every  Sunday 
with  my  uncle  and  aunt  at  Stoke  Newington,  and 
I  am  expected  always  to  bring  a  friend  with  me. 
Two  knives  and  forks  are  laid  for  me.  Will  you 
«o  with  me  next  Sunday?'  Gladly  acceding  to 
the  proposal,  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  make 
myself  agreeable,  and  soon  became  intimate  in 
the  house. 

"  Mr.  Barbauld  had  a  slim  figure,  a  weazen  face, 
and  a  shrill  voice.  He  talked  a  great  deal,  and 
was  fond  of  dwelling  on  controversial  points  of 
religion.  He  was  by  no  means  destitute  of  ability, 
though  the  afflictive  disease  was  lurking  in  him 
which  in  a  few  years  broke  out,  and,  as  is  well 
known,  caused  a  sad  termination  to  his  life. 

"  Mrs.  Barbauld  bore  the  remains  of  great  per- 
sonal beauty.  She  had  a  brilliant  complexion, 
light  hair,  blue  eyes,  a  small  elegant  figure,  and 
her  manners  were  very  agreeable,  with  something 
of  the  generation  then  departing.  Mrs.  Barbauld 
is  so  well  known  by  her  prose  writings,  that  it 
is  needless  for  me  to  attempt  to  characterise  her 
here.  Her  excellence  lay  in  the  soundness  and 
acuteness  of  her  understanding,  and  in  the  perfec- 
tion of  her  taste.  In  the  estimation  of  Wordsworth 
she  was  the  first  of  our  literary  women,  and  he 
was  not  bribed  to  this  judgment  by  any  especial 
congeniality  of  feeling,  or  by  concurrence  in  specu- 
lative opinions." 

Wordsworth,  like  Rogers,  greatly  admired  Mrs. 
Barbauld's  "  Address  to  Life,"  written  in  extreme 
old  age.  "  Repeat  me  that  stan/.a  by  Mrs. 
Barbauld,"  he  said  to  Robinson,  one  day  at 
Rydal;  the  latter  did  so,  and  Wordsworth  made 
him  repeat  it  again.  "And,"  as  Robinson  tells 
us,  "  so  he  learned  it  by  heart.  He  was  at  the 
time  walking  in  his  sitting-room,  with  his  hands 
behind  him;  and  I  heard  him  mutter  to  himself, 
'  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  grudging  people  their 
good  things,  but  I  wish  I  had  written  those  lines  :— 

'  Life  !  we've  been  Ion;;  together, 
Through  pleasant  ami  through  cloudy  weather  : 
'Tis  hard  to  part  when  friends  are  dear, 
Perhaps  'twill  cost  a  sigh,  a  tear : 
Then  steal  away,  give  little  warning  ; 

Choose  thine  own  time; 

Say  not  good  night,  bu>  in  some  brighter  clime 
Bid  me  good  morning.'" 

Mrs.  Barbauld  incurred  great  reproach  by  writing 
a  poem  entitled  "  iSn."  It  is  in  heroic  rhyme, 
and  prophesies  that  on  some  future  day  a  traveller 


j  from   the  antipodes   will,  from  a  broken  arch   of 

I  Blackfriars  Bridge,  contemplate  the  ruins  of  St. 
Paul's  !  "  This,"  remarks  Mr.  Robinson,  "  was 
written  more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger;  but  there 
was  a  disheartening  and  even  gloomy  tone,  which 
even  I,  with  all  my  love  for  her,  could  not  quite 
excuse.  It  provoked  a  very  coarse  review  in  the 
Quarterly,  which  many  years  aftenvards  Murray 
told  me  he  was  more  ashamed  of  than  any  other 
article  that  had  appeared  in  the  Jtei'ieu1"  Mrs. 
Barbauld  spent  the  last  few  years  of  her  life  at 
Stoke  Newington,  where  we  shall  again  have  occa- 
sion to  speak  of  her. 

A  little  lower  down  the  hill,  and  on  the  same 
side  of  the  way,  stands  Rosslyn  House,  formerly 
the  property  of  Alexander  Wedderburn,  first  Earl 
of  Rosslyn,  better  known,  perhaps,  by  his  former 
title  of  Lord  Loughborough,  which  he  took  on 
being  appointed  Lord  Chancellor  in  the  year  1795. 
Before  purchasing  this  mansion,  Lord  Lough- 
borough,  as  we  have  stated  in  a  previous  chapter, 
resided  at  Branch  Hill  Lodge,  higher  up  in  the 
town,  on  the  verge  of  the  Heath.  Rosslyn  House 
— or  as  it  was  originally  called,  Shelford  Lodge — at 
that  time,  and  long  after,  stood  alone  amidst  the 
green  fields,  commanding  an  extensive  view  over  the 
distant  country.  It  was  surrounded  by  its  gardens, 
groves,  and  fields,  with  no  house  nearer  to  it  than 
the  village  of  Hampstead  above  and  Belsize  House 
below. 

Lysons  states  that  the  mansion  was  for  many 
years  "  in  the  occupation  of  the  Cary  family,"  and 
that  it  was  held  under  the  Church  of  Westminster. 
It  has  been  supposed  that  it  was  built  by  a  family 
of  the  name  of  Shelford,  who,  being  Catholics, 
planted  the  great  avenue  leading  to  it  in  the  form 
of  a  cross,  the  head  being  towards  the  east,  and 
leading  direct  to  the  high  road.  "  But,"  says  Mr. 
Howitt,  "this  is  very  doubtful.  The  celebrated 
Lord  Chesterfield,"  he  adds,  "  is  said  to  have  lived 
here  some  years,  when  he  held  the  lease  of  the 
manor  of  Belsize,  of  which  it  was  a  part ;  and 
more  probably  his  ancestors  gave  it  the  name 
from  Shelford  Manor,  their  scat  in  Nottingham- 
shire ; "  for  the  Earls  of  Chesterfield  held  the  estate 
of  Belsize  from  1683  down  to  early  in  the  present 
century,  when  the  land  was  cut  up  in  lots,  and  sold 
for  building  purposes.  Mr.  Howitt  tells  us  that 
'•  when  Lord  Rosslyn  purchased  the  place,  he 
added  a  large  oval  room,  thirty-four  feet  long,  on 
the  west  side,  with  a  spacious  room  over  it  These 
rooms,  of  a  form  then  much  in  vogue,  whilst  they 

I  contributed  greatly  to  the  pleasantness  of  the 
house,  disguised  the  original  design  of  it,  which 

'  was  on  the  plan  of  what  the  French  call  a  maison  or 


HarapstcaJ.l 


LORD   ROSSLYN. 


489 


chdUan  a  quatre  tourella,  four-square,  with  a  high  1  In  1801  the  Great  Seal  passed  from  his  hands 
mansard  roof  in  the  centre,  and  a  square  turret  to  those  of  Lord  Eldon.  "  After  this,"  writes 
at  each  corner,  with  pyramidal  roof.  Notvvith-  Mr.  Howitt,  "  his  influence  wholly  declined.  He 


standing  various  other  alterations  by  Lord  Rosslyn 
and  his  successors,  part  of  this  original  structure  is 
still  visible,  including  two  at  least  of  the  turrets." 

Here  Lord  Loughborough  used  to  entertain  the 
Prince  of  Wales  and  the  leaders  of  the  Whig  party, 
including  Fox,  Sheridan,  and  Burke,  with  other 
distinguished  personages  of  opposite  politics,  such 
as  Pitt,  Windham,  and  the  Duke  of  Portland. 
"  Junius "  was  not  among  his  friends,  as  may  be 
guessed  from  the  fact  of  his  describing  him  as 
"  Wedderburn  the  wary,  who  has  something  about 
him  which  even  treachery  cannot  trust." 


seemed  to  retain  only  the  ambition  of  being  about 
the  person  of  the  king,  and  he  hired  a  villa  at 
Baylis,  near  Slough,  to  be  near  the  Court ;  yet  so 
little  confidence  had  he  inspired  in  George  III., 
with  all  his  assiduous  attentions,  that  when  the 
news  of  his  death  was  brought  to  the  monarch,  who 
had  seen  him  the  day  before — for  he  went  off  in 
a  fit  of  gout  in  the  stomach — the  king  cautiously 
asked  if  the  news  were  really  true;  and  being 
answered  that  it  was,  said,  as  if  with  a  sense  of 
relief,  '  Then  he  has  not  left  a  greater  knave 
behind  him  in  my  dominions  ! ' " 


Whilst  holding  a  subordinate  legal  office,  he  j  Lord  Brougham,  in  his  "  Historical  Sketches," 
fomented  the  war  against  America  by  furiously  gives  his  own  estimate  of  Lord  Rosslyn's  character, 
attacking  the  colonists  to  such  an  extent  that  j  which  is  equally  severe.  He  describes  him  as  a 
Benjamin  Franklin  swore  that  he  would  never  "  man  of  shining  but  superficial  talents,  supported 
forgive  the  insults  that  he  heaped  upon  his  country-  by  no  fixed  principles,  embellished  by  no  feat  of 
men.  Lord  Loughborough  was  much  disliked,  and,  I  patriotism,  nor  made  memorable  by  any  monu- 
to  speak  the  honest  truth,  despised  also,  by  Lord  |  ments  of  national  utility;  whose  life  being  at  length 


Thurlow.     The  fact  is  that  he  was  rather  a  turn- 
coat, and  played  fast  and  loose  with  both  parties. 


closed  in  the   disappointment   of  mean   and  un- 
worthy desires,  and  amidst  universal  neglect,  left 


'  Lord  Loughborough,"  says  Mr.  Howitt  in  his   behind  it  no  claim  to  the  respect  or  gratitude  of 
"  Northern  Heights  of  London,"  "  was  one  of  that  j  mankind,  though  it  may  have  excited  the  admira- 
group  of  great  lawyers  who,  about  the  same  time,  I  tion  or  envy  of  the  contemporary  vulgar." 
planted  themselves  on  the  heights  of  Hampstead,       After  Lord  Rosslyn's   death   the  house  passed 


but   with   very    different    characters   and    aims — 
Mansfield,    Loughborough,    and    Krskine.      Lord 


through  several  hands.    It  was  first  of  all  inhabited 
by  Mr.  Robert  Milligan,  the  projector  of  the  West 


Loughborough  was,  in  simple  tact,  a  legal  adven-  I  India  Docks,  and  afterwards  successively  by  Sir 
turer  of  consummate  powers,  which  he  unscru-  Francis  Freeling,  secretary  of  the  General  Post 
pulously  and  unhlushingly  employed  for  the  pur-  Office,  by  Admiral  Sir  Moore  Disney,  and  by  the 
poses  of  his  own  soaring  and  successful  ambition.'1  ,  Earl  of  Galloway.  The  place  subsequently  fell 
From  the  time  of  his  promotion  to  the  Lord  Chan-  ( into  the  hands  of  a  speculative  builder,  who, 
cellorship— the  -rand  aim  of  his  ambition— he  happily,  failed  before  the  old  mansion  was  de- 


seems  to  have  given  way  fully  to  his  unbounded 
love  of  making  a  great  figure  on  the  public  stage 


stroyed  or  all  the  old  trees  were  cut  down,  though 
it  was  shorn  of  much  of  its  beauty.      The  house 


"His  style  Of  living,"  sa°ys  Lord  Campbell,  "was!  still   stands,  though  much  altered  externally  and 
most   splendid.       Ever   indifferent   about   money,  I  internally,  and  deprived  of  most  of  its   grounds 


most   splendid 

instead  of  showing  mean  contrivances  to  save  a 

shilling,  he  spent  the  whole  of  his  official  income  in 


The  estate  was  cut  up  for  building  purposes  about 
1860-5,  and  is  intersected  by  roads  named  after 
Lords  Thurlow,  Mansfield,  Lymlhurst,  Eldon,  and 


For  some  four  years 


official  splendour.    Though  himself  very  temperate,  | 

"« —  :<"  ^£:?±^  ±ff£±£^*;£-'- 

been  used  as  a  cradle  for  the  Soldiers'  Daughters 


immense  retinue  of  servan, 

that  his  successor  would  walk  through  the  mud  to 


Westminster,  sending  the  Great  Seal  thither  in  a 
hackney  coach,  he  never  stirred  about  without  his 
two  splendid  carriages,  exactly  alike,  drawn  by  the 
most  beautiful  horses,  one  for  himself,  and  another 
for  his  attendants.  Though  of  low  stature  and 
slender  frame,  his  features  were  well  chiselled,  his 
countenance  was  marked  by  strong  lines  of  intelli- 
gence, his  eye  was  piercing,  his  appearance  was 
dignified,  and  his  manners  were  noble." 


Home.  In  1 860  Prince  Albert  led  the  children  up 
the  hill  to  their  new  home,  which,  as  we  have 
already  stated,  occupies  the  site  of  old  Vane  House. 
In  1861  the  mansion  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Charles 
H  L  Woodd,  a  descendant  of  John  Evelyn,  and 
of  Dr  Basil  Woodd,  Chancellor  of  Rochester,  who 
fought  under  Charles  I.  at  the  battle  of  Edge  Hill. 
In  the  course  of  alterations  and  repairs,  which  this 
gentleman  has  had  effected,  several  coins  of  Eliza- 


490 


OLD  AND   NEW   LONDON'. 


[Hair.psl 


beth,  Charles  II.,  and  William  III.  were  found 
under  the  flooring.  "  Upon  the  old  panellings, 
when  the  canvas  covering  was  removed,"  Mr. 
Howitt  tells  us,  "were  seen  the  words  written, 
'To-morrow  last  day  of  Holidays!!!  1769.'  At 
first  it  was  supposed  that  Lord  Chesterfield's  son, 
to  whom  the  'Letters'  were  addressed,  might 
have  inscribed  this  pathetic  sentence ;  but  the 
date  shuts  out  the  possibility.  Lord  Chesterfield 
died  in  1773,  and  this  his  only  son  five  years 
before  him." 

The  main  body  of  the  avenue  still  exists,  and 
amongst  its  trees  are  some  very  fine  Spanish  chest- 
nuts ;  they  are  supposed  to  have  been  planted 
about  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 

On  the  south  side  of  Rosslyn  House  there  is  a 
narrow  thoroughfare  called  Belsize  Lane,  which, 
down  to  about  the  year  1860,  had  a  truly  rural 
appearance,  its  sides  being  in  part  bordered  by 
hedge-rows,  and  overhung  by  tall  and  flourishing 
trees.  Part  of  these  trees  and  hedgerows  still  re- 
main. In  it,  too,  was  a  turnpike  gate,  which  stood 
close  to  the  farm-house  which  still  stands  about  the 


Tottenham.  It  was  he  who  showed  forcibly  the 
abuses  and  wastefulness  of  the  old  system  of  high- 
priced  postage,  and  it  is  to  him  that  the  middle 
classes  of  this  country  mainly  owe  the  introduction 
of  the  penny  post,  which  superseded  that  system 
in  1840,  as  well  as  the  improvements  of  the  Money- 
Order  Office,  and  the  use  of  postage-stamps.  His 
next  public  benefit  was  the  establishment  of  cheap 
excursion  trains  on  our  railways  on  Saturdays,  Sun- 
days, and  Mondays,  an  experiment  first  made  when 
Sir  Rowland  Hill  was  chairman  of  the  Brighton 
Railway  Company.  In  1854  he  was  recalled  to 
assist  in  the  Control  of  the  General  Post  Office, 
first  as  Assistant  Joint-Secretary,  and  afterwards  as 
Chief  Secretary.  He  was  rewarded  for  his  great 
public  services  by  a  knighthood,  with  the  Order  of 
the  Bath,  Civil  Division,  coupled  with  a  pension 
on  his  retirement.  But  the  reward  which  he 
valued  the  most  was  the  sum  of  £  1 3,000  which 


was  presented  to  him,  and  which  was  largely  con- 
tributed from  the  pence  of  the  poor.  In  1876, 
when  he  was  upwards  of  eighty,  it  was  resolved  to 
erect  in  his  honour  a  public  statue  at  Kidderminster, 
centre.  The  Queen  was  driving  up  this  lane  on  !  where  he  was  born.  The  veteran  philanthropist 
one  occasion  to  look  at  Rosslyn  House,  with  the  !  was  a  man  who  never  spared  himself  from  hard 
idea  of  taking  it  as  a  nursery  for  the  royal  children.  I  work,  and  as  a  schoolmaster,  as  a  postal  reformer, 
A  little  girl,  left  in  charge  of  the  gate,  refused  to 


gate, 


as  an  officer  of  "my  Lords  of  the   Treasury,"  as 


allow   Her  Majesty  to  pass.     The  Queen  turned 
back,    according   to    one   account ;    according   to 
another,  she   was  much  amused,  and  one  of  her 
equerries  advanced  the  money  necessary  to  satisfy 
the  toll;  but  however   that   may  have   been,   Her  |  Pa 
Majesty  did  not  become  the  owner  or  the  tenant  '  &c. 
of  Rosslyn  House 


i  railway  reformer,  and  as  a  social  reformer,  he 
lid  good  work  in  his  day.  He  died  here  in 
,879. 

Next  door  to  Sir  Rowland  Hill  lived  Sir  Francis 
ive,  the   historian  of  the  Norman  Conquest, 
He  was  of  Jewish  extraction,  and  at  an  early 
'  age  became  connected  with  the  Office  of  Public 


rVt  the  foot  of  Rosslyn  Hill,  on  the  left,  next  to  '  Records,  of  which  he  became  the  Deputy  Keeper 


one  of  the  ministers  in  Lord  North's  cabinet,  Lord  |  the"  History  of  the  Norman  Conquest,"  "Calendars 
Hillsborough,   afterwards  first    Marquis   of  Down-  ]  of  the  Treasury  of  the  Exchequer,"  and   of  many 
shire.     At  the  foot  of  Downshire  Hill 
Street  branches  off,  stands  a  plain  hea 


antiquarian  essays,  and  also  of  a  work  of  a  lighter 
character,  the  "  Merchant  and  the  Friar."  Two  of 
his  sons,  who  spent  their  childhood  here,  have 
since  attained  to  eminence — Mr.  Francis  T.  Pal- 
grave,  of  the  Privy  Council  Educational  Depart 
inent,  as  a  poet  and  art-critic;  and  Mr.  William 


here  fohi. 
structure, 

which  has    long    served    as    a  chapel    •>(  ease    to 
Hampstead,  and  known  as  St.  John's  Chapel. 

Hampstead  Green,  as  the  triangular  spot  at  the 
junction  of  Belsi/.e  Lane  and   Haverstock  Hill  was 

called  till  it  was  appropriated  as  the  site  lor  St.  (Jifford  Palgrave,  as  an  Eastern  traveller,  and  the 
.Stephen's  new  church,  has  many  literary  associa-  author  of  the  best  work  that  has  been  published  of 
•tions.  In  one  of  the  largest  houses  at  the  southern  late  years  on  Arabia. 

•end,  now  called  Uartram's,  Sir  Rowland  Hill,  the  Kenmore  House,  a  little  lower  down,  has  at- 
philanthropic  deviser  of  our  penny  post  system.  ,  tached  to  it  a  large  room  originally  built  for  the 
spent  the  declining  years  of  his  useful  and  valuable  '  Rev.  Edward  Irving,  who  would  here  occasionally 
life.  Born  of  yeoman  parents,  at  Kidderminster.  !  manifest  to  his  followers  the  proofs  of  his  power  of 
in  December,  1796,  in  early  life  he  became  a  j  speaking  in  the  "  unknown  tongues." 
schoolmaster,  and,  together  with  his  brothers,  he  j  St.  Stephen's  Church,  mentioned  above,  was 
established  the  large  private  school  which  for  more  j  built  in  1870,  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  S.  S.  Teuton. 
than  half  a  century  lias  flourished  at  Bruce  Castle,  |  It  is  of  the  early  semi-French  style  of  architecture, 


Hampst«d.l 


SIR   RICHARD   STEELE. 


491 


of  very  irregular  outline,  and  unusually  rich  in 
external  ornament.  Altogether,  the  church  has  a 
very  handsome  and  picturesque  appearance.  In 
the  lofty  campanile  tower  there  is  a  beautiful  peal 
of  bells  and  a  magnificent  carillon,  the  gift  of  an 
inhabitant  of  the  place. 

The  "George"  Inn,  on  Hampstead  Green,  once 
a  quaint  old  roadside  public-house,  is  now  re- 
splendent with  gas-lamps,  and  all  the  other  acces 
sories  of  a  modern  hotel.  Close  by  this  hotel  is 
the  church  belonging  to  the  religious  community 
known  as  the  Sisters  of  Providence ;  their  house, 
formerly  Bartram's  Park,  was  the  residence  of  Lord 
S.  G.  Osborne. 

Hampstead  Green,  at  the  lower  or  eastern  end 
gradually  dies  away,  and  is  lost  in  Pond  Street 
which  leads  to  the  bottom  of  the  five  or  six  ponds 
on  the  Lower  Heath.  Pond  Street  has  been,  a 
various  times,  the  temporary  home  and  haunt  o 
many  a  painter  and  poet.  Leigh  Hunt  at  one 
time  lived  in  lodgings  here ;  John  Keats  occupied 
at  the  same  date,  a  house  near  the  bottom  of  John 
Street,  immediately  in  the  rear,  almost  facing  th 
ponds.  Among  the  more  recent  residents  of  Pon 
Street  may  be  enumerated  Mr.  George  Clarkso 
Stanfield,  who  inherits  much  of  his  father's  talen 
and  Mr.  Charles  E.  Mudie,  the  founder  of  th 
great  lending  library  in  New  Oxford  Street 

Near  one  of  the  lower  ponds  on  the  East  Heath 
nearly  opposite  the  bottom  of  Downshire  Hill  anc 
John' Street,  is  a  singular  octagonal  dome-crowne 
building,  built  about  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne  ; 
is  connected  with  the  Hampstead  Water-works,  an 
forms  a  picturesque  object  to  the  stranger  as  h 
approaches  Hampstead  from  Fleet  Road  an 
Gospel  Oak. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  present  centu 
another  mineral  spring  was  discovered  on  the  cl 
soil,  between  the  bottom  of  Pond  Street  and  t 
lower  end  of  the  Heath.  It  was  called  the  "  N 
Spa,"  and  is  so  marked  on  a  map  which  appears 
a  small  work  published  in  1804  by  a  local  pr 
titioner,  Thomas  Goodwin,  M.I).,  and  a  Fellow 
the  College  of  Surgeons,  under  the  title  of  " 
\ccount  of  the  Neutral  Saline  Waters  lately  d 
covered  at  Hampstead."  The  work  includes 
essay  on  the  importance  of  bathing  in  general,  a 
an  analysis  of  the  newly-found  waters ;  but 
New  Spa  never  displaced  or  superseded  the  ol 
"Wells"  near  Flask  Walk ;  and  its  memory  and 
traces  of  its  site  have  perished,  though,  no  dou 
its  existence  caused  the  erection  of  so  many  mod 
houses  at  the  foot  of  the  slope  of  Pond  Street 
Close  to  Hampstead  Green,  on  the  eastern 
looking  down  upon  Fleet  Road  and  Gospel  0 


slo 


irregular  structure,  which  at  the  first  view  re- 
bles  barracks  hastily  thrown  up,  or  a  camp  of 
den  huts.    This  structure  was  first  raised  under 
authority  of  the  Metropolitan  Asylums  Board, 
temporary  Fever  Hospital,  about  the  year  1867  ; 
as  since  been  used  for  the  accommodation  of 
lauper  lunatics ;  and  in  1876-7  it  was  appropriated 
jatients  suffering  from  an  outbreak  of  small-pox, 
ry  much  to  the  discomfort  and  annoyance  of  the 
dents  of  Hampstead,  who  petitioned  Parliament 
its  removal,  but  in  vain.     Its  location  here,  in 
midst  of  a  population  like  that  of  Hampstead, 
d  close  to  two  thoroughfares  which  during  the 
nmer  are  crowded  by  pleasure-seekers,  cannot 
)e  too  strongly  censured,  as  tending  sadly  to  depre- 
:e  the  value  of  property  around  the  entire  neigh- 
)ourhood. 

On  the  right  of  Haverstock  Hill  the  visitor  can 
arcely  fail  to  remark  a  fine  old  avenue  of  elms, 
hich,  as  we  shall  see  presently,  once  formed  the 
>proach  to  Belsize  House.     At  the  corner  of  this 
enue  is  a  drinking-fountain,  most  conveniently 
iced  for  the  weary  foot-passenger  as  he  ascends 
e    hill;    and  close   by  it    stands    a  handsome 
n  Hall,  in  red  brick  and  stone,  in  the  Italian 
yle,  erected  in  1876-7,  at  the  cost  of  ^10,000. 
is  used  for  the  meetings  of  the   Hampstead 
iberal  Club,  and  of  the  Hampstead  Parliament. 
Lower  down   the   road,   on  the   opposite  side 
f  the  way,  and  just  by  the  top  of  the  somewhat 
urp  hill,  is  the   "  Load  ot  Hay,"  which  occu- 
es    the    place   of  a  much   older    inn,   bearing 
itness  to  the  once  rural  character  of  the  place. 
ts    tea-garden    used    to    be    a    favourite  resort 
f  visitors   on    their  way  to   Hampstead    Heath, 
vho  wished  to  break  the  long  and  tedious  walk, 
'he  entrance  to  the  gardens  was  guarded  by  two 
Minted  grenadiers— flat  boards  cut  into  shape  and 
minted— the  customary^custodians  of  the  suburban 
ea-gardens  of  former  times.     The  house  itself  was 
a   picturesque   wooden  structure   until  about  the 
ear  1870,  when,  shorn  of  most  of  its  garden,  and 
built -closely  round  with  villas,  it  degenerated  into  a 
nere  suburban  gin-palace. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  were  the  poplars 
that  stood  before  the  gate  of  Sir  Richard  Steele's 
.  over  the  site  of  which  Londoners  now 
drive  in  cabs  and  carriages  along  Steele's  Road. 
*.  view  of  Sir  Richard  Steele's  cottage  on  Haver- 
stock  Hill,  standing  in  the  midst  of  green  fieks 
and  apparently  without  even  a  road  in  front  of  it, 
from  a  drawing  taken  in  1809,  is  to  be  found  in 
Si's  "Historical  and  Literary  Curiosit.es,"  and  ,t 
fs  a  so  shown  in  our  illustration  above,  on  p.  295- 
It  may  be  interesting  t,  know  that  it  was  much  the 


402 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


same  in  outward  appearance  until  its  demolition,  j  would   rather  have   had   it   said  of  him   that   he 
about  the  year  1869,  though  close  in  front  of  it  i  prayed— 

ran  the  road   to   Hampstead,  from  which  it  was  !  '  O  thou  my  voice  inspire 

sheltered  by  the  row  of  tall  poplars  alluded  to  wh° touched  ^ s  hallowed  "?'  w'th  fi'< ' " 

above.  Nichols  somewhat  unkindly  suggests  that  there 

Sir  Richard  Steele  was  living  on   Haverstock  |  "  were  too  many  pecuniary  reasons  for  the  tempo- 
Hill  in  June,  1 7 1 2,  as  shown  by  the  date  of  a  letter  j  rary  solitude  "  in  which  Steele  resided  here. 
republished  \nfac-similem.  Smith's  "Historical  and  j      We  have  already  spoken  at  some  length  of  Sir 
Literary  Curiosities."     "  I  am  at  a  solitude,"  he  :  Richard  Steele  in  our  account  of  Bury  Street,  St 


writes,  "an  house  between  Hampstead  and  Lon- 
•don,  where  Sir  Charles  Sedlcy  died.  This  circum-  I 
stance  set  me  thinking  and  ruminating  upon  the 
employment  in  which  men  of  wit  exercise  them- 
selves. It  was  said  of  Sir  Charles,  who  breathed 
his  last  in  a  room  in  this  house — 


'  Sedlcy  had  that  prevailing,  gentle 
Which  can  with  a  resistless  charm 


The  loosest  wishes  to  the  chastest  heart  : 
Raise  such  a  conflict,  kindle  such  .1  fire, 
lictwccn  declining  virtue  and  desire, 
Till  the  poor  vanquished  maid  dissolves  away 
In  dreams  all  night,  in  sighs  and  tears  all  day." 

This  was  a  happy  talent  to  a  man  about  town,  but 
1  dare  say,  without  presuming  to  make  uncharitable 
conjectures  on  the  author's  present  condition,  he 


James's,*  but  still  something  remains  to  be  told 
about  him.  "  The  life  of  Steele,"  writes  his  bio- 
grapher, "  was  not  that  of  a  retired  scholar ;  hence 
his  moral  character  becomes  all  the  more  instruc- 
tive. He  was  one  of  those  whose  hearts  are  the 
dupes  of  their  imaginations,  and  who  are  hurried 
through  life  by  the  most  despotic  volition.  He 
always  preferred  his  caprices  to  his  interests ;  or, 
according  to  his  own  notion,  very  ingenious,  but 
not  a  little  absurd,  '  he  was  always  of  the  humour 
of  preferring  the  state  of  his  mind  to  that  of  his 
fortune.'  The  result  of  this  principle  of  moral 
conduct  was,  that  a  man  of  the  most  admirable 
qualities  was  perpetually  acting  like  a  fool,  and, 

•  Sec  Vol.  IV.,  p.  tot. 


Hampstead.] 


STEELE  AND   DR.   GARTH. 


493 


•with  a  warm  attachment  to  virtue,  was  the  frailest 
of  human  beings."  The  editor  of  the  "  Biographia 
Dramatica "  says  :  "  Sir  Richard  retired  to  a  small 
house  on  Haverstock  Hill,  on  the  road  to  Hamp- 
stead.  .  •  •  Here  Mr.  Pope,  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Kit-Cat  Club,  which  during  the  summer 
-was  held  at  the  'Upper  Flask,'  on  Hampstead 
Heath,  used  to  call  on  him,  and  take  him  in  their 
carriages  to  the  place  of  rendezvous."  Dr.  Garth, 


smiled   on  Steele  for  a  time,  and  we   next   hear 
of  him  as  having   taken  a  house  in   Bloomsbury 
Square,  where  Lady  Steele  set  up  that  coach  which 
landed   its  master   in    so   many  difficulties.     No 
mention,   apparently,   is   to   be  found  of  Steele's 
j  residence  at  Haverstock  Hill  in  Mr.  Montgomery's 
I  work  on   "  Sir   Richard   Steele  and  his   Contem- 
poraries."    In  the  Monthly  Magazine,  Sir  Richard 
Phillips  tells  us  that  in  his  time  Steele's  house  had 


SHEVHERD'S  \VEL 


too  was  a  frequent  visitor  here.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Kit-Cat  Club,  and  notorious  for  his  indo- 
lence. One  night,  when  sitting  at  the  "  Upper 
Flask,"  he  accidentally  betrayed  the  fact  that  h< 
had  half-a-dozen  patients  waiting  to  see  him,  and  j 
Steele,  who  sat  next  him,  asked  him,  in  a  tone  of , 
banter,  why  he  did  not  get  up  at  once  and  visit 
them  "  Oh,  it's  no  great  matter,"  replied  Garth  ; 
"for  one-half  of  them  have  got  such  bad  constitu- 
tions  that  all  the  doctors  in  the  world  can't  save 
them,  and  the  others  such  good  ones  that  all  the 
doctors  could  not  possibly  kill  them." 

Here  Steele  spent  the  summer  days  of  1712,  «» 
the  company  of  many  of  his  "Spectators,"  return- 
ing generally  to  town  at  night,  and  to  the  society  of 
hi?  wife,  who,  as  we  have  stated,  at  that  time  had 
lodgings  in  Bury  Street.  Fortune  seems  to  have 
234 


820.     (See  page  500.) 


been  "  converted  into  two  small  ornamental  cottages 
for  citizens'  sleeping  boxes.  .  .  -  Opposite  to 
it,"  he  adds,  "  the  famous  '  Mother  '  or  '  Moll  '  King 
built  three  substantial  houses  ;  and  in  a  small  villa 
behind  them  resided  her  favourite  pupil,  Nancy 
Dawson.  An  apartment  in  the  cottage  was  called 
the  Philosopher's  Room,  probably  the  same  in 
which  Steele  used  to  write.  In  Hogarth's  '  March 
to  Finchley  '  this  cottage  and  Mother  King's  house 
are  seen  in  the  distance  .  .  -  Coeval  with  the 
|  spectator  and  Tatler,  this  cottage  must  have  been 
a  delightful  retreat,  as  at  that  time  there  were  no 
a  score  of  buildings  between  it  and  Oxford  Street 
and  Montagu  and  Bloomsbury  Houses.  Now  con- 
"nous  rows  of  streets  extend  from  London  to 


's  cottage  was 


low  plain  building,  and 


494 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


the  only  ornament  was  a  scroll  over  the  central 
window.  It  was  pulled  down  in  1867.  The 
site  of  the  house  and  its  garden  is  marked  by 
a  row  of  houses,  called  Steele's  Terrace,  and  the 
"  Sir  Richard  Steele  "  tavern.  A  house,  very  near 
to  Steele's,  was  tenanted  by  an  author  and  a  wit  of 
not  dissimilar  character.  When  Gay,  who  had  lost 
his  entire  fortune  in  the  South  Sea  Bubble,  showed 
symptoms  of  insanity,  he  was  placed  by  his  friends 
in  retirement  here.  The  kindly  attentions  of 
sundry  physicians,  who  visited  him  without  fee  or 
reward,  sufficed  to  restore  his  mental  equilibrium 
even  without  the  aid  of  the  famous  Hampstead 
waters. 

Nancy  Dawson  died  at  her  residence  here  in 
May,  1767.  Of  this  memorable  character  Mr.  John 
Timbs  writes  thus  in  his  "Romance  of  London  :" 
— "Nancy  Dawson,  the  famous  hornpipe  dancer 
of  Covent  Garden  Theatre,  in  the  last  century, 
when  a  girl,  set  up  the  skittles  at  a  tavern  in 
High  Street,  Marylebone.  She  next,  according 
to  Sir  William  Musgrove's  '  Adversaria,'  in  the 
British  Museum,  became  the  wife  of  a  publican 
near  Kelso,  on  the  borders  of  Scotland.  She- 
became  so  popular  a  dancer  that  every  verse  of  a 
song  in  praise  of  her  declared  the  poet  to  be 
dying  in  love  for  Nancy  Dawson,  and  its  tune  is 


as  lively  as  that  of  'Sir  Roger  de  Coverley.'  In 
1760  she  transferred  her  services  from  Covent 
Garden  Theatre  to  the  other  house.  On  the  23rd 
of  September,  in  that  year,  the  Beggar's  Opera 
was  performed  at  Drury  Lane,  when  the  play, 
bill  thus  announced  her :  '  In  Act  3,  a  hornpipe 
by  Miss  Dawson,  her  first  appearance  here.'  It 
seems  that  she  was  engaged  to  oppose  Mrs 
Vernon  in  the  same  exhibition  at  the  rival  house ; 
and  there  is  a  full-length  print  of  her  in  that' 
character.  There  is  also  a  portrait  of  her  in  the 
Garrick  Club  collection."  She  lies  buried  behind ' 
the  Foundling  Hospital,  in  the  ground  belonging 
to  St.  George  the  Martyr,  where  there  is  a  tomb- • 
stone  to  her  memory,  simply  stating,  "Here  lie»; 
Nancy  Dawson." 

Both  Rosslyn  and  Haverstock  Hills,  it  may' 
here  be  stated,  have  had  tunnels  carried  through 
them  at  a  very  heavy  cost,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
the  soil  hereabouts  is  a  stiff  and  wet  clay.  The 
northernmost  tunnel  connects  the  Hampstead 
Heath  station  with  the  Finchley  Road  station  on 
the  branch  of  the  North  London  Railway  which 
leads  to  Kew  and  Richmond.  The  other  tunnel, 
which  is  one  mile  long,  with  four  lines  of  rails, 
passes  nearly  under  the  Fever  Hospital,  and  was 
made  by  the  Midland  Railway  in  1862-3. 


:  of  the  Manor  of  Belsizc  to  Westminster  Al, 

Then  adx 

hey—  Belsii 

re  landscapes  gazed  upon  awhile. 
e  Avtnue—  DM  IleKize  House-The  Family  of 

Amusement,  and  Incomes  :in  "   '• 
Spencer  Perceval—  Demolition   of  the  Hou 

f  r  l)i,si[,a 
fhi    M 

nnier  of  Mr.  James   Del.irue-St.    Peter's  Chi 

and  Memory-Corner  Thompson  —  !>r    I  .hn 

her  Ke-ilents  at   Fro^r-al-Oak   Hill  Park-U| 

CHAPTER      X  X  X  I  X. 
HAMPSTEAD  («»i/m«<-</).-BELSIZE   AND   FROGNAL. 


ly  of  Waad-Lord  Wotton-Pepys'  Account 
/c  converted  into  a  Place  of  Public 
Priv.ite  Residence— The  RiKht  Hon. 
Church— llelsize  Square     New  College— 
Finthlcy  Road-Frognal  Priory 
erracc-Wnt   F.nd-Rural  Fes- 

ON  our  riglit,  as  we  descend  H.werstock  Hill,  lies  manor  of  Belsi/e,  then  described  as  consisting  of 

the  now  populous  district  of  South  Hampstead,  or  a  house  and  284  acres  of  land,  on  condition  of  the 

Belsize    Park.      It    is   approached  on  the    eastern  monks  finding  a  chaplain  to  celebrate  mass  daily 

side  through  the  beautiful    avenue   of  elms   men-  for   the  repose  of  the  souls  of  Edmund,   Earl   of 

tioncd  at  the  close  of  the  preceding  chapter ;  on  I^ncaster,  and  of  Blanche,  his  wife.     This  earl  was 

the  west  it  nearly  joins  the  "Swiss  Cottage,"  which,  a  grandson  of  Henry  III.  :  he  had  taken  up  arms 

as  we  have  seen,  stands  at  the  farthest  point  of  St.  against  Edward,  but  was  captured  and  beheaded. 

John's  Wood.  His  name  survives  still  in  Lancaster  Road. 

It  is  traditionally  stated  that  the  manor  of  Belsize  About  1870  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  West- 
had  belonged  to  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  West-  minster  gave  up  the  fine  avenue  above-mentioned, 
minster  from  the  reign  of  King  Edgar,  nearly  a  called  Belsize  Avenue,  to  the  parish  of  Hampstead, 
century  before  the  Conquest ;  but  it  is  on  actual  on  condition  of  the  vestry  planting  new  trees  as 
record  that  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II.  the  Crown  the  old  ones  failed.  A  row  of  villas  is  now  built 
made  a  formal  grant  to  Westminster  Abbey  of  the  '  on  the  north  side,  and  at  the  south-east  corner,  as 


BELSIZE  HOUSE. 


495 


stated   above,    a    new    town-hall   for   Hampstead  :  blunderbuss  upon  the  thieves,  which  gave  the  alarm 
was  erected  in  1876-7.  to  one  of  the  lord's  tenants,  a  farmer,  that  dwelt  not 

At  the  lower  end  of  the  avenue  stood,  till  very    far  off,  who  thereupon  went  immediately  into  the 
recently,  a  house  which,  a  century  ago,  enjoyed  a    town  and  raised  the  inhabitants,  who,  going  towards 
celebrity  akin  to  that  of  the  Vauxhall  of  our  own    the  house,  which  was  about  half  a  mile  off,  it  is 
,  •  ,    ., ,: :_.j  I..A  .  u:..—.!     ought  —  "— -- *    -J  -"^ 


time,  but  which  at  an  earlier  period  had  a  history 

of  its  own.     An  engraving  of  the  house  soon  after 

this  date  will   be  found   in  Lysons'  "  Environs  of 

London,"  from  which  it  is  reproduced  in  Charles 

Knight's  "  Pictorial  History  of  England."     It  stood 

near  the  site  of  what  is  now  St.  Peter's  Church, 

facing  the  avenue  above  mentioned,  at  right  angles. 

Upon   the   dissolution  of  the   monasteries  one 

Armigel  Wade,  or  Waad,  who  had  been  clerk  to  the 

Council  under  Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  VI.,  and 

who  is  known  as  the  British  Columbus,  obtained 

a  lease  of  "Old  Belsize" — for  so  this  house  was 

called — for   a  term  of  two  lives.     He   thereupon 

retired  to  Belsize  House,  where  he  ended  his  days 

in  1568.     There  was  a  monument  erected  to  his 

memory  in  the  old  parish  church  of  Hampstead 

His  son,  Sir  William  Waad,  made  Lieutenant  o 

the  Tower,  and  knighted  by  James  I.,  also  livec 

at  Belsize   and   died   in  1623.     Sir  William   had 

married,    as  his   second  wife,   a   daughter   of  Sir 

Thomas  Wotton,  who,  surviving  as  his  widow,  go 

the  lease  of  the  house  and  estate  renewed  to  he 

for  two  more  lives,  at  a  yearly  rental  of  £19  25. 

exclusive  of  ten  loads  of  hay  and  five  quarters  o 

oats  payable  to  Westminster.     She  left  Belsize  t 

her  son,  Charles  Henry  de  Kirkhaven,  by  her  firs 

husband ;    and   he,    on   account   of   his   mother* 

lineage,  was  created  a  peer  of  the  realm,  as  Lor 

Wotton,  by  Charles  II.,  and  made  this  place  h 


robbers  hearing  thereof,  and  withal 
nding  the  business  difficult,  they  all  made  their 
scape.  It  is  judged  they  had  notice  of  my  lord's 
jsence  from  his  house,  and  likewise  of  a  great 
ooty  which  was  therein,  which  put  them  upon  this 
esperate  attempt." 

On  Lord  Wotton's  death  the  Belsize  estate  fell 
the  hands  of  his  half-brother,  Lord  Chesterfield, 
"he  latter,  however,  did  not  care  to  live  there,  but 
old  his  interest  in  the  place,  and  the  house  re- 
named for  some  time  unoccupied.     In  the  reign  of 
Jeorge  I.,  however,  we  find  Belsize  in  the  hands 
)f  a  retired  "  sea-coal "  merchant,  named  Povey, 
o  whom  the  then  French  ambassador,  the  Due 
d'Aumont,   offered    the   (at  that    time)   immense 
•ental  of  £1,000  a  year  on  a  repairing  lease.     It 
transpired  that  the  duke  wanted  the  place  because 
.t  contained  or  had  attached  to  it  a  private  chapel. 
Dn  this  the  coal-merchant  refused  to  carry  out  the 
bargain,  on  the  ground  that  he  "  would  not  have 
his  chapel  desecrated  by  Popery."     For  this  piece 
of  Protestant  zeal  he  hoped  that  he  would  have 
been  applauded  by  the  magistrates ;  his  surprise, 
therefore,  must  have  been  great  when,  instead  of 
praise,  he  received  from  the  Privy  Council  a  repri- 
mand, as  being  an  "  enemy  to  the  king."     It  is 
recorded  that  when  the  Prince  of  Wales  (afterwards 
George  II.)  came  soon  afterwards  to  see  the  house, 
Povey   addressed   to  him   a  letter,  informing  his 
royal  highness  of  these  particulars,  but  the  prince 
-  •>    t    .  -i *•„    i,:~x         reply. 


the    Lord   Wotton's    hou 


»„  ,„,„,  *ch  ,s   *Ti^;t«  pm  I.  •  d*  'or  some 


robber 

Wotton,    at  Hampstead,  and 

therein,  breaking  down  part  of  the  ^  ^  same 

c££^«"^^^'sas:'''**       * 


496 


OLD    AND   NEW    LONDON. 


[Hampstead. 


it  to  be  opened  as  a  place  of  fashionable  amuse- 
ment. 

For  a  period  of  about  forty  years— in  fact,  during 
the  reigns  of  George  I.  and  George  II. — Belsize 
ceased  to  be  occupied  as  a  private  residence,  being 
opened  by  a  Welshman  of  the  name  of  Howell  as 
a  place  of  public  amusement,  and  sank  apparently 
down  into  a  second-rate  house  of  refreshments  and 
gambling.  In  the  park,  which  was  said  to  be  a 
mile  in  circumference,  were  exhibited  foot-races, 
athletic  sports,  and  sometimes  deer-hunts  and  fox- 
hunts :  and  it  is  said  that  one  diversion  occasionally 
was  a  race  between  men  and  women  in  wooden 
shoes.  Upon  the  whole,  it  is  to  be  feared  that 
Belsize  was  not  as  respectably  conducted  as  it 
might  have  been  and  ought  to  have  been ;  the  con- 
sequence was  that  its  customers  fell  oft",  and  in  the 
end  it  was  shut  up. 

The  newspapers  of  the  period  announce  that  the 
house  was  opened  as  a  place  of  public  entertain- 
ment "  with  an  uncommon  solemnity  of  music  and 
dancing."  It  is  somewhat  amusing  to  note  that 
the  advertisements  wind  up  with  an  assurance  that 
for  the  benefit  of  visitors  timid  about  highwaymen 
"  twelve  stout  fellows  completely  armed  patrol 
between  Belsize  and  London.''  Notwithstanding 
that  the  house  had  been  the  residence  of  the  lord 
of  the  manor,  better  company  (we  are  told)  came 
to  it  in  its  fallen  estate  than  before.  A  year  or 
two  after  it  was  opened  to  the  public  grievous  com- 
plaints were  made  by  the  people  uf  Hampstead  of 
the  multitude  of  coaches  which  invaded  their  rural 
solitude.  The  numbers  were  often  as  many  as  two 
or  three  hundred  in  a  single  nulit.  \\"e  glean  from 
Park's  "History  of  Hampstead ''  the  following 
particulars  concerning  I!elsi/e  House  .is  a  place  of 
amusement: — "  Of  llelsi/.e.  Ilo.i  .  a  Me  mansion 
of  a  manorial  district  in  the  pari  ii  of  llampstead,  I 
have  already  spoken  :  it  is  intrudin  ed  again  here 
as  a  place  formerly  of  considerable  notoriety  for 
public  diversions.  The  following  extracts  will  give 
some  idea  of  the  nature  and  charai  ter  of  these 
amusements,  and  indicate  that  it  was  the  prototype 
of  Vauxhall,  Ranelagh,  and  many  other  more 
modern  establishments  : — 'Whereas  th  u  the  ancient 
and  noble  house  near  Hampste.id.  commonly 
called  Bellasis-house,  is  now  taken  and  fitted  i;ji 
for  the  entertainment  of  gentlemen  and  ladies 
during  the  whole  summer  season,  the  same  will  be 
opened  with  an  uncommon  so'.emnitv  of  music 
and  dancing.  This  undertaking  \\ill  exceed  all 
of  the  kind  that  has  hitherto  been  known  near 
London,  commencing  every  day  at  six  in  the 
morning,  and  continuing  till  eight  at  night,  all 
persons  being  privileged  to  admittance  without 


necessity   of  expense,'   &.c.,  &c. — Mist's  Journal 
April  1 6,  1720. 

"  A  hand-bill  of  the  amusements  at  Belsize  (for- 
merly in  the  possession  of  Dr.  Combe),  which  has  a 
print  of  the  old  mansion-house  prefixed,  announces 
Belsize  to  be  open  for  the  season  (no  date),  '  the 
park,  wilderness,  and  garden  being  wonderfully 
improved  and  filled  with  variety  of  birds, 
compose  a  most  melodious  and  delightful  1 
Persons  inclined  to  walk  and  divert  th 
may  breakfast  on  tea  and  coffee  as  cheap 
their  own  chambers.  Twelve  stout  fellows, 
pletely  armed,  to  patrole  between  Belsize 
London,' &c.,  &c.  'Last  Saturday  their  Royal 
Highnesses  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales  dined 
at  Belsize-house,  near  Hampstead,  attended  bjj 
several  persons  of  quality,  where  they  were  ente» 
tained  with  the  diversion  of  hunting,  and  such 
other  as  the  place  afforded,  with  which  they 
seemed  well  pleased,  and  at  their  departure  were 
very  liberal  to  the  servants.' — Read's  Journal 
July  15,  17:1. 

"In  the  same  journal,  September  9,  1721,  is  aa 
account  of  his  Excellency  the  Welsh  ambassador 
giving  a  plate  of  six  guineas  to  be  run  for  by 
eleven  footmen.  The  Welsh  ambassador  appears 
to  have  been  the  nickname  of  one  Howell,  who 
kept  the  house. 

"  '  The  Court  of  Justices,  at  the  general  quarter 
sessions  at  Hickes's-hall,  have  ordered  the  high- 
constable  of  Holbom  division  to  issue  his  pre- 
cepts to  the  petty  constables  and  headboroughs 
of  the  parish  of  Hampstead,  to  prevent  all  un- 
lawful gaming,  riots,  &c.,  at  Belsize-house  and  the 
Great  Room  at  Hampstead.' — St.  James's  Journal, 
May  24,  1722. 

•••On  Monday  last  the  appearance  of  nobility 
nnd  gentry  at  Belsize  was  so  great  that  they 
iv<  koned  between  three  and  four  hundred  coaches, 
at  which  time  a  wild  deer  was  hunted  down  and 
killed  in  the  park  before  the  company,  which  gave 
near  three  hours'  diversion.' — Ibid.,  June  7,  1722." 

In  1722  was  published,  in  an  octavo  volume, 
'• '  l!elsi/.e  House,"  a  satire,  exposing,  i.  The  Fops 
and  Beaux  who  daily  frequent  that  academy.  2. 
The  characters  of  the  women  who  make  this  an 
exchange  for  assignations.  3.  The  buffoonery  of 
the  Welsh  ambassador.  4.  The  humours  of  his 
customers  in  their  several  apartments,  &:c.  By  a 
Serious  Person  of  Quality."  The  volume,  however, 
is  of  little  real  value,  except  as  a  somewhat  coarse 
sketch  of  the  manners  of  the  age. 

According  to  this  poetical  sarcasm,  Belsize  was 
an  academy  for  dissipation  and  lewdness,  to  a  degree 
that  would  scarcely  be  tolerated  in  the  present 


MR.    SPENCER   PERCEVAL. 


497 


it  the  following  brief  description  of  the  house  : — 
1  This  house,  which  is  a  nuisance  to  the  land, 
Doth  near  a  park  and  handsome  garden  stand, 
Fronting  the  road,  betwixt  a  range  of  trees, 
Which  is  perfumed  with  a  Harapstead  breeze ; 
And  on  each  side  the  gate 's  a  grenadier, 
.  Howe'er,  they  cannot  speak,  think,  see,  nor  hear; 
But  why  they're  posted  there  no  mortal  knows, 
Unless  it  be  to  fright  jackdaws  and  crows  ; 
For  rooks  they  cannot  scare,  who  there  resort, 
To  make  of  most  umhoughtful  bubbles  sport." 


times,  and  that  would  be  a  scandal  in  any  ;  but  ,  originally  a  large  but  plain  Elizabethan  mansion, 
some  allowance  must  probably  be  made  for  the  j  with  central  tower  and  slightly  projecting  wings, 
jaundiced  vision  of  the  caustic  writer.  We  find  in  |  was  remodelled  during  the  reign  of  Charles  II., 

and  subsequently  again  considerably  altered.  Its 
park,  less  than  a  century  ago,  was  a  real  park, 
somewhat  like  that  which  encompasses  Holland 
House,  at  Kensington.  It  was  surrounded  by  a 
solid  wall,  which  skirted  the  south  side  of  a  lane 
leading  from  the  wood  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John 
towards  Hampstead. 

Belsize  seems,  on  the  whole,  to  have  been  rather 
an  unlucky  place.  The  mansion  was  pulled  down 
about  the  year  1852,  and  the  bricks  of  the  house 
The  grounds  and  gardens  of  Belsize  continued  and  of  the  park  wall  were  used  to  make  the  roads 
open  as  late  as  the  year  1745,  when  foot-races  were  which  now  traverse  the  estate,  and  to  form  the  site 
advertised  there.  In  the  course  of  the  next  gene-  of  the  handsome  villa  residences  which  now  form 
ration,  however,  a  great  change  would  seem  to  have  j  Belsize  Park  ;  and  at  the  present  time  all  that  is 
come  over  the  place  ;  at  all  events,  in  the  "  Ambu-  left  to  remind  the  visitor  of  the  past  glories  of  the 
lator,"  (1774),  we  read  :  "  Belsize  is  situated  on  the  spot  is  the  noble  avenue  of  elms  which,  as  we  have 
south-west  side  of  Hampstead  Hill,  Middlesex,  stated,  once  formed  its  principal  approach. 
and  was  a  fine  seat  belonging  to  the  Lord  Wotton,  On  the  aist  of  February,  1845,  Mr.  James 
and  afterwards  to  the  Earl  of  Chesterfield  ;  but  in  ,  Delarue,  a  teacher  of  music,  was  murdered  by  a 
the  year  1720  it  was  converted  into  a  place  of:  young  man  named  Hocker,  close  by  the  corner  of 
polite  entertainment,  particularly  for  music,  dancing,  !  Belsize  Park,  in  the  narrow  lane  leading  from  Chalk 
and  play,  when  it  was  much  frequented,  on  account  !  Farm  to  Hampstead.  The  lane,  at  that  time,  as 
of  its  neighbourhood  to  London,  but  since  that  [  may  be  imagined,  was  very  solitary,  seeing  that, 


j  with  the  exception  of  Belsize  House,  there  were  no 
houses  near  the  spot.     The  crime  was  perpetrated 


time  it  has  been  suffered  to  run  to  ruin." 

After  the  lapse  of  many  years,  during  which  little  '  houses  near  the  spot. 
or  nothing  is  recorded  of  its  history,  Belsize  came  ;  about  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening.  Cries  of 
a-ain  to  be  occupied  as  a  private  residence,  and;  "murder"  were  heard  by  a  person  who  happened 
among  its  other  tenants  was  the  Right  Hon.  Spencer  \  to  be  passing  at  the  time,  and  on  an  alarm  being 
Perceval  afterwards  Prime  Minister,  who  lived  here  :  given,  the  body  of  the  murdered  man  was  quickly 
for  about  ten  years  before  taking  office  as  Chan-  ''  discovered.  Hocker,  it  seems,  had  in  the  mean- 
cellor  of  the  Exchequer,  namely,  from  1798  to  while  gone  to  the  "Swiss  Tavern,"  and  there 
cond  son  of  the  '  called  for  brandy  and  water;  but  on  the  arrival 


office  when  he  was  assassinated  by  Bellingham,  m    wo ^an  u.  -----  rf 

the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Commons,  m  1812.*    A  ,  a  paper  ,       avounng  to 

portrait  of  Mr.  Perceval,  painted  by  Joseph,  from  a    murder    on    jj^jj0^  m  improbable 
mask  taken  after  death  by  Nollekens,  is  to  be  seen    he   did  not   c 
in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery. 
In  more   recent  time 


murder 
he  did 
!  story  of  the 


lothes  had  be- 

ouse  was  occu-  J  come   stained  with    blood.     The   reading   of  this 
r  only  impressed  the  court  and  the  crowd  of 


e  cour 

pied  by  a  Roman  Catholic  family  named  Wngh-    papa ^  an  y      p     ^    ^   ^  ^^   ^^ 
Who  were   bankers   m   London.      I  he   c          .use,    specu          ^   cold.bloodedness.      He    was  con- 

"    victed  and  executed."     Miss  Lucy  Aikin  alludes  to 


498 


OLD    AND    NEW   LONDON. 


tliis  murder  of  Delarue  in  one  of  her  letters  to 
a  friend :  "  I  rather  congratulate  myself  on  not 
being  in  Church  Row  during  the  delightful  excite- 
ment of  this  murder  and  the  inquest,  which  appear 

to  have  had  so  many  charms  for  the  million 

But  I  think  the  event  will  give  me  a  kind  of  a  dis- 
like to  Belsize  Lane,  which  hitherto  I  used  to  think 
the  pleasantest  way  from  us  to  you." 

We  have  stated  above  that  the  manor  of  Belsize 


he  was  elected  to  a  Craven  Scholarship,  together 
with  the  late  Lord  Macaulay.  Whilst  at  Cam- 
bridge, he  contributed  to  Knight's  Quarterly  Maga- 
zine, and  wrote  a  poem  entitled  "  Evening,"  which 
was  published  in  a  volume  of  poems  edited  by 
Joanna  Baillie.  In  1834  he  published  a  small 
work  on  the  "Origin  of  Universities  and  Aca- 
demical Degrees,"  which  was  written  as  an  intro- 
duction to  the  Report  of  the  Argument  before 


I-RliRV.      (See  figt  501.) 


belongs  to  the  Dean  ind  Chapter  of  Westminster  ;     the   Privy  Council    in    support  of  the    application 

ive  may  add  here  that  "  I'.uckland  "  Crescent  and     of   the   University   of   London    for  a  charter   em- 

*  Stanley "  (Gardens,  which  now  form   part  of  the     powerin.  it  to  ^r.uit  degrees. 

estate,    are   named    after  deans   of  that  collegiate 

establishment,   and    that   St.    Peter's   Church  is  so 

dedicated  after   St.    Peter's  Abbey  itself.      It    is  a 

neat  cruciform  building,  in  the  Decorated  style  of 

architecture,   with    side   aisle  and  tower,   and   was 

erected  in  1860. 

In    Belsize    Square    lived    for   some    time,    ami 

there  died  in  1875,  Henry  Maiden,  M.A.,  formerly  belonging  also  to  the  Nonconformists,  and  known. 
Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and  for  as  New  College  Chapel. 

forty-five  years  Professor  of  Greek  in  University  Down  till  very  recently,  Hampstead  was  separated 
College,  London.  The  son  of  a  surgeon  at  from  Belsize  Park,  Kilburn,  Portland  Town,  &c, 
Putney,  he  was  born  in  the  year  1800,  and  was  ;  by  a  broad  belt  of  green  meadows,  known  as  the 
educated  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  where  |  Shepherds'  or  Conduit  Fields,  across  which  ran. 


On  the  western  side  ot  the  Belsize  estate,  at  the 
angle  of  the  Finchley  and  Belsize  Roads,  stands 
New  College,  a  substantial-looking  stone-built 
edifice,  erected  about  the  year  1853,  as  a  place  of 
training  for  young  men  for  the  ministry  of  the 
Independent  persuasion.  Not  far  from  it,  at  the 
top  of  Avenue  Road,  is  a  handsome  Gothic  Chapel 


CONDUIT  FIELDS. 


5oo 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Hampstad. 


pleasant 


iway    sloping    up   to    the    south 


western  corner  of  the  village,  and  terminating 
near  Church  Row.  On  the  eastern  side  of  these 
fields  is  an  old  well  or  conduit,  called  the  Shep- 
herd's Well,  where  visitors  in  former  times  used  to 
be  supplied  with  a  glass  of  the  clearest  and  purest 
water.  This  conduit  is  probably  of  very  ancient 
date.  The  spring  formerly  served  not  only 
visitors  but  also  the  dwellers  in  Hampstead  with 
water,  and  poor  people  used  to  fetch  it  and  sell 
it  by  the  bucket.  There  used  to  be  an  arch  over 
the  conduit,  and  rails  stood  round  it ;  but  since 
Hampstead  has  been  supplied  by  the  New  River 
Company  the  conduit  has  become  neglected,  and 
the  spring  is  covered  over. 


Towards   the   close    of   the   last  ceni 


my, 


Lord 


Loughborough,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  was  then 
living  close  by,  desired  to  stop  the  inhabitants 
from  obtaining  the  water,  by  enclosing  the  well,  or 
otherwise  cutting  off  all  communication  with  it; 
but  so  great  was  the  popular  indignation,  that  an 
appeal  was  made  to  the  Courts  of  Law,  when  a 
decision  was  very  wisely  given  in  the  people's 
favour,  and  so  the  well  remained  in  constant  use 
till  our  own  times.  In  this  we  are  reminded  of 

ith  dauntless  breast, 
ithstood  ;  " 

but  who  the  "  village  Hampden  "  was  on  this  occa- 
sion is  not  recorded  by  local  tradition. 

From  Hone's  "  Table  Book  "  (1827)  we  glean  the 
following  particulars  concerning  this  well  :—  "  The 
arch,  embedded  above  and  around  by  the  green 
turf,  forms  a  conduit-head  to  a  beautiful  spring  ;  the 
specific  gravity  of  the  fluid,  which  yields  several 
tons  a  day,  is  little  more  than  that  of  distilled 

but 


Some  village  Hampden  that, 
The  little  tyrant  of  the  fields 


from  the  fluid  they  drink.  The  localities  of  the 
place  afford  almost  every  variety  of  aspect  and 
temperature  that  invalids  require  ;  and  a  constant 
sufficiency  of  wholesome  water  might  be  easily 
obtained  by  a  few  simple  arrangements."  It  may 
be  well  to  add,  however,  that  the  want  of  good 
water  is  not  among  the  requirements  of  Hampstead 
at  the  present  day;  and  also  that  what  Lord 
Loughborough  was  unable  to  effect  in  the  way  of 
stopping  the  supply  of  water  from  this  spring,  was 
partially  accomplished  about  the  years  1860-70, 
through  the  excavation  of  tunnels  under  the  hill 
on  the  side  of  which  it  stands,  when  the  spring 
became  almost  dried  up. 

The  fields  which  we  have  now  before  us  are 
those  over  which  Leigh  Hunt  so  much  delighted 
to  ramble,  and  which,  no  doubt,  he  found  far  more 
pleasant  than  the  interior  of  Newgate,  in  which  he 
had  been  immured  for  calling  the  Prince  of  Wales 
'•  a  fat  Adonis."  In  these  fields  Hunt  would  often 
meet  with  the  genial  company  of  his  fellow-poets. 
Shelley  would  walk  hither  from  his  lodgings  in 
Pond  Street,  and  Keats  would  turn  up  from  Well 
Walk.  Here  the  three  friends  once  frightened  an 
old  lady  terribly  :  they  thought  themselves  quite 
alone,  and  Shelley,  throwing  himself  into  attitude, 
began  to  spout  the  lines  — 

"  Come,  brothers,  let  us  sit  upon  the  ground, 
And  tell  sad  stories  of  the  deaths  of  kings." 

The  okl  lady  made  off  as  quick  as  her  feet  could 
carry  her,  and  told  her  friends  that  she  had  met  in 
the  fields  three  dangerous  characters,  who,  she  was 
quite  sure,  were  either  madmen,  or  republicans,  or 
actors  !  It  was  the  view  of  Hampstead  from  these 
fields  that  suggested  to  the  mind  of  Leigh  Hunt 


the  following  lines,  descriptive  of  their  beauties, 
uul  which  are  well  worthy  to  appear  among  his 
.uiinus  poems  on  the  scenery  of  this  neighbour- 

lood  :  — 


With  hed-erow 


water.  Hampstead  abounds  in  other  spring' 
they  are  mostly  impregnated  with  mini-nil  sub- 
stances. The  water  of  •  Shepherd's  Well,'  there- 
fore, is  in  continual  lequcst  ;  and  those  who  cannot 
otherwise  obtain  it  are  supplied  through  a  few  of 
the  villagers,  who  make  a  scanty  living  by  carrying 
it  to  houses  for  a  penny  a  pailful.  There  is  r.o 
carriage-way  to  the  spot,  and  these  poor  things 
have  much  hard  work  for  a  very  little  money.  .  .  . 
The  water  of  Shepherd's  \VelI  is  remarkable  for 
not  being  subject  to  free/.e.  There  is  another 
spring  sometimes  resorted  to  near  Kilbtirn  ;  but 
this  and  the  ponds  in  the  Vale  of  Health  arc  the 

ordinary  sources  of  public  supply  to  Hamp.^id.  these  grassy  slopes',  and  to  devote  them  'to  public 
The  chief  inconvenience  of  habitations  in  this  [  use,  in  the  shape  of  a  "park"  for  the  working 
delightful  village  is  the  inadequate  distribution  of  j  classes  of  the  neighbourhood;  but  the  plan  was 
good  water.  Occasional  visitants,  for  the  sake  of  I  brought  to  an  abrupt  termination  by  some  specti- 
health,  frequently  sustain  considerable  injury  by  j  lative  builders,  by  whom  the  greater  part  of  the 
the  insalubrity  of  private  springs,  and  charge  upon  ground  was  bought  and  laid  out  for  building  pur- 
the  fluid  they  breathe  the  mischief  they  derive  ;  poses,  a  broad  roadway,  called  Fitzjohn's  Avenue, 


et  looking  o'er  a  leafy  vine, 
yles  in  front,  and  sloping  fjreen, 
Mami'sii-ad.  is  thy  .southward  look  serene; 
uch  tli.m  welcomes!  approaching  eyes, 
a  double  charm  is  in  thy  skies 
her  meek  spirit,  oft  in  fancy  seen 
j;  the  twilight  with  her  placid  mien." 


In   1 874-5  'l  was  proposed  by  some  of  the  in- 
ints  of  Hampstead  to  purchase  a  portion  of 


Hampstead.l 


"  MEMORY-CORNER  THOMPSON." 


5°' 


being  made  at  the  same  time  across  their  centre, 
thus  connecting  the  town  of  Hampstead  with  St. 
John's  Wood,  Kilburn,  and  the  west  end  of 


This  neighbourhood  is  full  of  gentlemen's  seats 
and  villas,  standing  in  their  own  grounds.  On 
our  right,  as  we  ascend  the  hill,  we  pass  the  site 


London.     It   is  not  a  little  singular  that  just  a  '  on  which,  from  the  close  of  the  last  century  do 
hundred  years  previously — namely,   in  1776— the    to   the  year   1876,  stood  a  curious   building — an 
construction   of  a  new   road  was   proposed   from    absurd   specimen    of   modern    antiquity — in    the 


proposed   irom  ]  absurd   specimen 
Portman   Square   to   Alsopp's    Farm,   across    the    gingerbread   Gothic  style, 


fields,  and  on  through  a  part  of  Belsize,  to  the  foot 
of  Hampstead  Town. 

In  these  fields  and  in  those  lying  between  the 
southern  terrace  of  the  churchyard  and  the  lower 
portions  of  Frognal,  rise  two  or  three  springs, 
which  form  the  sources  of  the  brook  which  we 
have  already  seen  trickling  through  Kilburn,  and 
by  Westbourne  Green  down  to  Bayswater,  where 
it  forms  the  head  of  the  Serpentine  river. 

Leaving  the  Conduit  Fields  and  Fitzjohn's 
Avenue  on  our  right,  and  making  our  way  down 
College  Lane  by  some  neat  school-buildings,  which 
have  been  lately  erected  there,  we  emerge  upon 
the  Finchley  Road,  close  by  the  "North  Star 


tiquity- 
not  very  successful 


tavern,  whence  a   short  walk  along  the  road,  with  :  house  in  an   o 
pleasant   fields    and    hedgerows    on   either   hand, 
brings   us  to  the  western  part   of  the   village   of 


mitation  of  Horace  Walpole's  Strawberry  Hill, 
pretentiously  styled  Frognal  Priory.  Mr.  Howitt, 
in  his  "Northern  Heights,"  published  in  1869, 
gives  the  following  particulars  of  the  eccentric 
house,  and  its  still  more  eccentric  owner  :  —  "  This 
house,  now  hastening  fast  to  ruin,  was  built  by 
a  Mr.  Thompson,  best  known  by  the  name  of 
'Memory  Thompson,'  or,  as  stated  by  others,  as 
'  Memory-Corner  Thompson.'  This  Mr.  Thomp- 
son built  the  house  on  a  lease  of  twenty  years, 
subject  to  a  fine  to  the  lord  of  the  manor.  He 
appears  to  have  been  an  auctioneer  and  public- 
house  broker,  who  grew  rich,  and,  having  a  peculiar 
taste  in  architecture  and  old  furniture,  built  this 
ld  English  style,  approaching  the 
Elizabethan.  That  the  house,  though  now  ruinous, 


is  of  modern  date,  is  also  witnessed  by  the  trees 


Hampstead.     On  our  way  ak 
we  pass,  on  our  n,'u,  the  '. 
some  church  of  the   Holy  Ti 
the   Finchley  Road  stations 
North  London  Railways,  wh 
into    daylight,    after    passing 
already    stated,    under    the 
estates.       A    footpath, 
sloping  meadow,   between    some   vener 
takes    us    from    the    main    road,    behin 
Priory,  to  West  Knd   Lane   a  narrow  <• 
d  with 


_  .....    _______  _ 

i-  the  Finchley  "Road  i  around  it  being  common  poplar,  evidently  planted 
irge,  new,  and'  hand-  j  to  run  up  quickly.     Thompson  is   said   to   have 
nky;  and'  on  our  left,  ]  belonged  to  a  club  of  auctioneers  or  brokers,  which 
on'  the  Midland  and  '  met  once  a  week;  and  at  one  of  these  meetings, 
boasting  that  he  had  a  better  memory  than  any 
man  living,  he  offered  to  prove  it  by  stating  the 
name  and  business  of  every  person  who  kept  a 
corner  shop  in  the  City,  or,  as  others  have  it,  the 
name,  number,  and  business  of  every  person  who 
kept  a  shop  in  Cheapside.     The  former  statement 
is  the  one  most  received,  and  is  the  more  probable, 


dia-'onalh 


broker, 


affirm  that  on  a  clear  day,  with  the  aid  of  a 

telescope,  he  could  discern  the  windmill  at  Nettle 

bed   from   his   garden   at    Frognal,    the 

between    the    two   places   being    about   umi>'">"  |  ^jjj^ 

miles  in  a  direct  line.'' 


5C2 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


purchased  by  Government,  and  to  be  somewhere  ,  much  trace  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Hampstead 
in  one  of  the  palaces.  This  bedstead,  and  the  Muses.  The  fact  is  that  the  burly  doctor  preferred 
chairs  possibly,  had  some  authentic  character,  as  !  society  to  scenery,  and  with  the  winter  returned  to 
he  built  a  wing  of  his  house  especially  for  their  i  Fleet  Street,  and  presented  himself  once  more 
reception.  Thompson  had  an  ostensibly  mag-  amongst  his  friends,  in  whose  company  he  felt,  we 
nificent  library,  containing,  to  all  appearance,  most  .  may  be  sure,  much  more  at  home  than  amidst  the 
valuable  works  of  all  kinds  ;  but,  on  examination,  j  breezes  of  Hampstead,  and  whose  conversation 
they  proved  to  be  only  pasteboard  bound  up  and  [  gave  him  more  gratification  than  the  songs  of  her 
labelled  as  books.  The  windows  of  the  chief  ,  nightingales.  Park  says  the  house  at  which  Dr. 
room  were  of  stained  glass,  casting  '  a  dim,  reli-  Johnson  used  to  lodge  was  "  the  last  in  Frognal 
gious  light.'  And  this  great  warehouse  of  articles  southward,  occupied  in  his  (Park's)  time  by  Ben- 
of  furniture,  of  real  and  manufactured  antiquity,  jamin  Charles  Stephenson,  Esq.,  F.S.A."  The 
of  coins,  china,  and  articles  of  rfrtu,  became  so  house  has  been  rebuilt,  or,  at  all  events,  remodelled 
great  a  show  place,  that  people  flocked  far  and  since  that  date. 

near  to  see  it.  This  greatly  flattered  Thompson,  '  At  Frognal  lived  also  Mr.  Thomas  William  Carr, 
who  excluded  no  one  of  tolerable  appearance,  nor  some  time  solicitor  of  the  Excise,  whose  house  was 


restricted  visitors  to  stated  hours.  It  is  said  that, 
in  his  ostentation,  he  used  to  leave  five-guinea  gold 
pieces  about  on  the  window  seats."  But  this  last 
statement  is  mythical.  The  best,  and  indeed  the 


the  centre  of  literary  reunions.  Here,  Crabb 
Robinson  tells  us  in  his  "  Diary,"  he  met  Words- 
worth,  Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  Joanna  Baillie,  and 
some  other  persons  of  note.  One  of  Mr.  Can's 


only  good  portion  of  the  house,  was  the  porch,  a    daughters  married  Sir  Robert  M.  Rolfe,  afterwards 


handsome  and  missive  structure,  in  the  ornamented 
Jacobean  style,  and  which  had  formed  the  entrance 


Lord  Chancellor  Cranworth. 

Frognal  Hall,  standing  close  to  the  western  end 


of  some  one  of  the  many  timber  mansions  still  to    of  the  church,  was  formerly  the  residence  of  Mr. 


be  found  in  Cheshire  and  in  other  remote  counties, 
and  which  Thompson  had  "picked  up"  as  a 
bargain  in  one  of  his  business  tours.  It  was  sur- 


Isaac  Ware,*  the  architect,  and  author  of  "A 
Complete  Body  of  Architecture,"  and  of  a  transla- 
tion of  "  I'alladio  on  the  Fine  Arts,"  &c.  Although 


mounted  with  the  armorial  bearings  of  the  family  .  Mr.  Ware  found  a  patron  in  the  great  Lord  Bur- 
to  whom  it  had  belonged,  and  was  often  sketched  ,  lington,  he  is  stated  to  have  died  at  his  house  near 

by  artists.     After  his  death,  at  the  age  of  eighty  Kensington    Gravel    Pits   in    "depressed   circum- 

years,  a  sale  of  his  goods  and  chattels  took  place ;  stances."     A  French  family,  named  Guyons,  occu- 

but  the  principal  part  of  his  wealth  descended  to  pied    the    hall  after  Ware  quitted  it ;   and  it  was 

his  niece,  who  married  Barnard  Gregory,  the  pro-  subsequently    the     residence    of    Lord    Alvanley, 

prietor    of  the    notorious    Satirist.      Gregory,    it  Master  of  the  Rolls,  and  some  time  Chief  Justice 

seems,    on  the  death  of  his  wife,  did  not  pay  the  of  the  Court    of  Common    Pleas.     After   passing 

customary  fine  to  the  lord  of  the  manor,  and  Sir  through    one    or  two  other   hands,   Frognal    Hall 

Thomas  Wilson  recovered  possession  by  an  injunr-  became  the  residence  of  Mr.  Julius  Talbot  Airey. 

tion,  intending  to  remove  the  olfices  of  the  manor  It   has  now  been  turned  into  a  Roman  Catholic 

thither.      From  a  fear,  however,  of  the  appearance  boarding-school.     The  adjoining  seat,  that  of  Miss 

of  some  heir  of  Thompson  after  he  had  repaired  Sulivan,   is   known   as   Frognal   Mansion,  and  was 

it,  which  was  at  one  time  a  possibility,  Sir  Thomas  originally   the    manor   house  of  this    district.      A 
left  it  ///  statii  i/iii'  ante;  and  the  house  having  pom 
rapidly  to  decay  and  ruin,  was,  in   the  end,  wholU 


part  of  the  manorial  rights  attached  to  this  pro- 
perty consists  of  a  private  road  leading  past  the 
demolished.  A  few  trees,  forming  a  sort  of  grove,  north  side  of  the  parish  church,  with  a  private 
and  the  remains  of  a  small  lodge-house,  now  pro-  toll-gate,  which  even  royalty  cannot  pass  without 
fusely  overgrown  with  ivy,  are  all  that  is  left  to  payment  of  the  customary  toll.  It  is  nearly  the 


mark   the   site   of  the  singular  edifice  heretofore 
known  as  Frognol  Priory. 

In  a  cottage  close  by  the  entrance  to  the  Priory, 
as  we  have  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  Dr.  John- 


only  toll-gate  now  remaining  in  all  the  suburbs  of 
London. 

It  was  probably  in  the  upper  part  of  Frognal 
that  Cyrus  Redding  for  some  time  resided  ;  at  all 


son  stayed  for  a  time  as  a  visitor ;  and  here  Boswell    events,  it  was  in  a  lodging  on  the  western  slope  of 


tells  us  that  he  wrote  his  "Town,"  and  busied 
himself  during  a  summer  with  his  essay  on  the 
"Vanity  of  Human  Riches."  It  is  not  a  little 
singular,  however,  that  neither  of  these  poems  bear 


the   hill,  as  he  tells  us  himself,  that  he  began  in 
1858  his  "  Fifty  Years'  Recollections,  Literary  and 


RURAL   FESTIVITIES. 


503 


Personal."  His  windows  commanded  a  charming !  nesday  a  pig  will  be  turned  loose,  and  he  that 
and  extensive  view.  He  writes  picturesquely  :—  j  takes  it  up  by  the  tail  and  throws  it  over  his  head 
"  Before  me  palatial  Windsor  is  seen  rising  proudly  |  shall  have  it.  To  pay  twopence  entrance,  and  no 
in  the  distance.  The  spire  of  Harrow,  like  a  burial  I  less  than  twelve  to  enter.  On  Thursday,  a  match 
obelisk,  ascending  in  another  direction,  brings  will  be  run  by  two  men,  a  hundred  yards,  in  two 
before  the  glass  of  memory  eminent  names  with  sacks,  for  a  large  sum.  And  to  encourage  the 
•which  it  is  associated — Parr,  Byron,  Peel,  and  sport,  the  landlord  of  the  inn  will  give  a  pair  of 
others,  no  longer  of  the  quick,  but  the  dead.  The  gloves,  to  be  run  for  by  six  men,  the  winner  to 
hills  of  Surrey  southward  blend  their  faint  grey  i  have  them.  And  on  Friday,  a  hat,  value  ten 
outline  with  the  remoter  heaven.  The  middle  j  shillings,  will  be  run  for  by  men  twelve  times 
landscape  slumbers  in  beauty  ;  clouds  roll  heavily  round  the  green  ;  to  pay  one  shilling  entrance ;  no 


and  sluggishly  along,  with  here  and  there  a  break 
permitting  the  glory  of  the  superior  region  to  shine 
obliquely  through,  in  strong  contrast  to  the  shadowy 
face  of  things  beneath." 

To   the   west  of  Frognal   there  is  some  rising 
ground,  which  the  late  Mr.  Sheffield  Neave  laid 


less  than  four  to  start.  As  many  as  will  may  enter, 
and  the  second  man  to  have  all  the  money  above 
four." 

This,  doubtless,  was  the  locale  of  the  scenes 
mentioned  in  the  public  prints  of  June,  1786:— 
'  On  Whit  Tuesday  was  celebrated,  near  Hendon, 


out  for  the  erection  '  of  about  twelve  handsome  j  in  Middlesex,  a  burlesque  imitation  of  the  Olympic 
houses,  called  Oak  Hill  Park.  One  of  these  has  !  Games.  One  prize  was  a  gold-laced  hat,  to  be 
been  frequently  occupied  during  the  summer  !  grinned  for  by  six  candidates,  who  were  placed  on 
months  by  Miss  Florence  Nightingale.  Near  the  j  a  platform  with  horses'  collars  to  grin  through. 

Over  their  heads  was  written  'detur  tetriori' — '  The 
ugliest  grinner  shall  be  the  winner.'  Each  party 
had  to  grin  for  five  minutes  by  himself,  and  then 


of  this  park  is  a  house  which  was  occu- 
pied for  many  years  as  the  Sailors'  Orphan  Girls' 

Home,  before  the  transfer  of  that  institution  to  its  had  to  grin  for  five  minutes  Dy  mmseii,  ana  men 
new  buildings  between  Church  Row  and  Greenhill,  j  all  the  other  candidates  joined  in  a  grand  chorus 
and  Prince  Arthur's  Road.  To  the  north  of  j  of  distortion.  The  prize  was  carried  by  a  porter 
Fro^nal  is  the  Upper  Terrace,  which  screens  this  to  a  vinegar-merchant,  though  he  was  accused  by 
portion  of  Hampstead  from  the  bleak  winds  that  his  competitors  of  foul  play,  for  rinsing  his  mouth 
blow  across  the  Heath.  In  this  terrace  a  house  with  verjuice.  Jhe  sporty  were  concluded  by  a 
known  as  the  "  Priory  "  was  the  residence  of  the 
eminent  sculptor  and  Royal  Academician,  Mr.  J. 
H.  Foley.  In  another  house  in  this  terrace  lived 
Mr.  Magrath,  one  of  the  founders,  and  during  its 


hog  with'  his  tail  shaved  and  soaped  being  let  loose 
among  some  ten  or  twelve  peasants,  any  one  of 
whom  that  could  seize  him  by  the  queue  and  throw 
him  across  his  own  shoulders  was  to  keep  him  as  a 
prize.  The  animal,  after  running  for  some  miles 


,„,,„  ^  ,he  «™,a,,  o,         .  Kta^SSisrJSssms 

'    H,,f  u  ,,,i,c  ,«,.,„,.  beyond  F.ogna,,  fc  West   p,,™,  ,l»,  ,h»  a,  «  g™  up  ,„< :  cl»se   „, 


A         (\  sketch  of  a  dance  round  a  cuuuu;   w«v 
nolfl  be  found  in  Hone's  '<  Every-Day  Book, 


shady 


5°4 


OLD    AND    NEW   LONDON. 


West  End,  for  the  most  part,  lies  low,  and 
the  houses  are  but  poor  second  and  third-rate 
cottages ;  and  there  is  a  public-house  bearing  the 
sign  of  the  "Cock  and  Hoop."  Here  is  a  small 
Gothic  structure,  forming  at  once  a  village  school 
and  a  chapel  of  ease  for  the  parish. 

A  new  cemetery  for  the  parish  of  Hampstead 
was  formed  on  the  north  of  \Vest  End  in  1876  ;  it 
covers  twenty  acres  of  ground,  and  is  picturesquely 
laid  out  j  and  close  by  is  a  reservoir  belonging  to 
the  Grand  Junction  Waterworks  Company. 

A  little  farther  on  the  road  to  Hendon  is  an 
outlying  district  of  Hampstead  parish,  known  as 
Child's  Hill,  consisting  almost  wholly  of  cottages, 
dotted  irregularly  around  two  or  three  cross-roads. 
Here  a  small  district  church  was  erected  about  the 
year  1850;  it  is  a  Gothic  edifice,  consisting  of  a 
nave  and  chancel,  with  a  small  bell-turret.  The 
road,  here  branching  off  to  the  right,  will  take  the 
tourist  through  a  pleasant  lane  to  the  north-west 
corner  of  the  Heath,  where  the  gorse  and  furze 
bloom  in  all  their  native  beauty.  Following  this 
road,  and  leaving  on  his  right  Telegraph  Hill — the 
site  of  a  semaphore  half  a  century  ago — he  will 
find  himself  once  more  at  the  back  of  "Jack 
Straw's  Castle,"  whence  a  short  walk  will  take  him 
back  into  the  centre  of  Hampstead. 

Having  thus  far  made  our  survey  of  the  parish 
of  Hampstead,  little  remains  to  be  said.  The 
place,  as  we  have  endeavoured  to  show,  has  long 
been  considered  healthy  and  salubrious,  and,  there- 
fore, has  been  the  frequent  resort  of  invalids  for 
the  benefit  of  the  air.  From  the  formal  reports 
of  the  medical  officer  of  health  for  Hampstead, 
issued  yearly,  we  learn  that  the  death-rate  of 
late  years  has  varied  from  1 4  to  1 6  in  a  thousand 
— a  very  low  rate  of  mortality,  it  must  be  owned, 
though  not  quite  so  low  as  it  stood  in  the  year 
1875,  wllen  1)r-  I'""!  K-ive  to  the  parish,  in 
allusion  to  its  loftj  and  salubrious  situation,  the 
name  of  Mons  Salutis. 

The  parish  extends  over  upwards  of  2,000  acres 
of  land,  of  which,  as  we  have  stated,  between  200 
and  300  are  waste.  Jn  1801  there  were  691  in- 
habited houses  in  the  parish,  and  the  number  of 
families  occupying  them  was  953  ;  and  the  total 
number  of  the  inhabitants  was  4.343.  In  1851  the 


population  had  grown  to  12,000.  Ten  years  later 
it  had  increased  to  19,000;  in  1865  it  had  reached 
22,000 ;  and  at  the  present  time  (1884)  its  numbers 
may  be  estimated  at  nearly  50,000. 

On  more  than  one  occasion,  when  silly  prophets 
and  astrologers  have  alarmed  the  inhabitants 
London  by  rumours  of  approaching  earthquakes, 
and  tides  that  should  swallow  up  its  citizens,  the: 
high  ground  of  Hampstead  and  Highgate  has 
afforded  to  the  crowds  in  their  alarm  a  place  of 
refuge  and  safety.  An  amusing  description  of,  at 
all  events,  two  such  instances  will  be  found  in 
Dr.  Mackay's  "  Memoirs  of  Extraordinary  Popular 
Delusions,"  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  subject 
of  "  Modern  Prophecies."  It  may  sound  not  a 
little  strange  when  we  tell  our  readers  that  one  of 
these  unreasoning  panics  occurred  so  lately  as  the 
first  year  of  the  reign  of  George  III.  It  is  only 
fair  to  add  that  a  slight  shock  of  an  earthquake 
had  been  felt  in  London  a  month  before,  but  so 
slight,  that  it  did  no  harm,  beyond  throwing  down 
one  or  two  tottering  stacks  of  chimneys. 

Apropos  of  the  gradual  extension  of  the  limits  of 
the  metropolis,  of  which  we  have  already  more 
than  once  had  occasion  to  speak,  we  cannot  do 
better,  in  concluding  this  part  of  our  perambula- 
tions, than  to  quote  the  following  lines  of  Mr. 
Thomas  Miller,  in  his  "  Picturesque  Sketches  of 
London."  "Twelve  miles,"  he  writes,  "would 
scarcely  exceed  the  almost  unbroken  line  of  build- 
ings which  extends  from  Blackwall  to  far  beyond 
Chelsea,  where  street  still  joins  to  street  in  appa- 
rently endless  succession.  And  yet  all  around 
this  vast  city  lie  miles  of  the  most  beautiful  rural 
scenery.  Highgate,  Hornsey,  and  Hampstcad,  on 
the  Middlesex  side,  hilly,  wooded,  and  watered; 
and  facing  these,  the  vast  range  called  the  Hog's 
Hack,  which  hems  in  the  far-distant  Surrey  side 
I  from  beyond  Norwood  ;  .  .  .  .  whilst  the  valleys  on 
both  sides  of  the  river  are  filled  with  pleasant  fields, 
parks,  and  green,  winding  lanes.  Were  London  to 
extend  five  miles  farther  every  way,  it  would  still 
be  hemmed  in  with  some  of  the  most  beautiful 
country  scenery  in  England  ;  and  the  lowness  of 
the  fares,  together  with  the  rapidity  of  railway 
travelling,  would  render  as  nothing  this  extent  of 
streets." 


Haggerston.; 


HACKNEY  ROAD. 


505 


he  Last  Century-Cambridge  Heath-Nova  Scotia  Gardens-  Columbia  Buildings-Columbia  Market-The  "  New  ' 
ard's,  Shoreditch-Halley,  the  Astronomer-Nichols  Square-St.  Chad's  Church-St.  Mary's  Church-  Brunswick 
t  and  Mutton  "  Tavern-London   Fields  -The  Hackney  Bun-house-Goldsmiths'  Row-Thc 
Hospital  for  Sick  Children-The  Orphan  Asylum,  Banner's  Road-City  of  London  Hospital 
Fields-Botany  Bay-Victoria  Park-The  East-enders'  Fondness  for  Flowe 


CHAPTER   XL. 
THE    NORTH  EASTERN    SUBURBS.  -IIAGGERSTON,    HACKNEY, 

"Oppidum  rure  commistum."—  Tacitus. 
Appearance  of  HaggcrM 

Burial-ground  of  St.  Le 

*s-Mutton   Lane-The 
Goldsmiths'  Alm.houses-The  North-Ea 
for  Diseases  of  the  Chest-Bonner's  Hall-Bishop  Bon 
Amateur  Yachting—  The  Jews'  Burial-ground-  The  French  Hospital—  The  Church  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem—  The  Etymology  of  "  Hackney." 

HAVING  in  the  preceding  chapters  devoted  our  '  Hackney  Road,  which  divides  these  last-named 
attention  to  the  north-western  part  of  London,  we  i  districts  from  that  of  Haggerston. 
now  take  up  fresh  ground,  and  begin  anew  with  '  In  Rocque's  map  of  Hackney,  published  in 
the  north-eastern  districts,  which,  although  not  so  1745,  the  Hackney  Road  appears  entirely  unbuilt 
extensive  as  the  ground  over  which  we  have  tra-  upon,  with  the  exception  of  a  couple  of  houses  at 
veiled  since  starting  from  Belgravia  and  Pimlico,  the  corner  of  the  roadway  leading  to  the  hamlet 
will  doubtless  be  found  to  contain  much  that  may  of  Agostone  (now  Haggerston),  and  a  small  cluster 
prove  interesting  to  the  general  reader.  !  of  dwellings  and  a  roadside  public-house  called  the 

Taking  our  stand  close  by  the  north-easternmost  "  Nag's  Head,"  at  the  bottom  of  a  narrow  thorough- 
point  described  in  the  previous  parts  of  this  work  fare  called  Mutton  Lane,  which  passes  through  the 
—  namely,  by  St.  Leonard's  Church,  Shoreditch*  —  fields  in  the  north,  by  the  front  of  the  Goldsmiths' 
we  have  on  our  left  the  districts  of  Hoxton  and  Almshouses,  of  which  we  shall  have  more  to  say 
Islington,  and  on  our  right  that  of  Bethnal  Green,  presently.  The  greater  part  of  the  lane  itself  is 
Stretching  away  in  an  easterly  direction  is  the  now  called  Goldsmiths'  Row.  At  the  eastern 

-    |  end  of  the  Hackney  Road,  Cambridge  Heath  is 

•  See  vol.  ii.,  P.  i95.  I  marked  as  a  large  triangular  space,  the  apex  of 

235 


5o6 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


which  terminates  close  by  Coats's  Lane,  Bethnal 
Green.  From  Cambridge  Heath  the  roadway 
trends  to  the  north  by  Mare  (or  Meare)  Street, 
on  the  east  side  of  London  Fields,  forming  the 
principal  roadway  through  the  town  of  Hackney. 

At  a  short  distance  eastward  of  Shoreditch 
Church,  on  our  right  hand  as  we  pass  along  the 
Hackney  Road,  and  therefore  within  the  limits 
of  the  parish  of  Bethnal  Green,  the  eye  is  struck 
by  Columbia  Square  and  Market,  the  tall  roofs  of 
which  rise  against  the  sky,  reminding  us  of  the 
Houses  of  Parliament,  though  on  a  smaller  scale. 
They  were  erected  in  1869,  from  the  designs  of 
Mr.  H.  A.  Darbishire.  On  the  site  now  occupied 
by  the  market  and  a  few  of  the  surrounding 
buildings  existed  till  very  recently  a  foul  colony 
of  squalor  and  misery,  consisting  of  wretched  low 
tenements  —  or,  more  correctly  speaking,  hovel 


The  chief  feature  of  the  building,  which  occupies 
the  whole  of  the  eastern  side  of  the  quadrangle, 
is  a  large  and  lofty  Gothic  hall  The  exterior 
of  this  edifice  is  particularly  rich  in  ornamentation. 
The  basement  is  lighted  by  a  range  of  small 
pointed  windows,  above  which  is  an  ornamental 
string-course.  The  hall  itself,  which  is  reached 
by  a  short  flight  of  steps,  is  lighted  by  seven  large 
pointed  windows  on  each  side,  with  others  still 
larger  at  either  end;  the  buttresses  between  the 
windows  terminate  in  elaborate  pinnacles  ;  in  fact, 
the  whole  building,  including  the  louvre  in  the 
centre  of  the  roof,  and  the  tall  clock-tower,  bristles 
with  crocketed  pinnacles  and  foliated  finials. 

Whether  the  building  is  too  ornate,  or  whatever 
may  be  the  cause,  it  is  not  for  us  to  say ;  but,  at 
all  events,  as  a  place  of  business  in  the  way  de- 
signed by  its  noble  founder,  Columbia  Market 


and  still  more  wretched  inhabitants  ;  the  locality  [  for    many   years    proved    a   comparative   failure. 
bore  the  name  of  Nova  Scotia  Gardens,  and  it    Scarcely  any  of  the  shops   which  open  upon  the 


abounded  in  pestilential  drains  and  dust  heaps. 
Nova  Scotia  Gardens  and  its  surroundings,  in  fact, 
were  formerly  one  of  the  most  poverty-stricken 
quarters  of  the  whole  East-end,  and,  doubtless, 
one  of  those  spots  to  which  Charles  Dickens  refers 
in  his  "  Uncommercial  Traveller,"  when  he  draws 
attention  to  the  fact  that  while  the  poor  rate  in 
St.  George's,  Hanover  Square,  stands  at  seven- 
pence  in  the  pound,  there  are  districts  in  these 


arcades  were  occupied ;  indeed,  very  little  in  the 
way  of  business  was  ever  carried  on  there.  In 
1877,  it  was  re-opened  as  a  market  for  American 
meat,  but  the  attempt  proved  ineffectual.  It 


afterwards,  however,  became  established  as  a  fish 

depot,  to  which,  in  January,    1884,  a  vegetable 

market  was  added. 
On   the  opposite  side  of  the  Hackney  Road, 

facing  the  entrance  to  Columbia  Square,  is  the 
eastern  slums  where  it  stands  at  five  shillings  and  "  new "  burial-ground  belonging  to  St  Leonard's, 
sixpence.  By  the  benevolence  of  Lady  Burdett-  ,  Shoreditch.  This  has  been  long  disused,  and 
Coutts,  whose  charity  and  will  to  benefit  the  poor  j  within  the  last  few  years  the  grave-mounds  have 
of  London  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  remark  been  levelled,  the  place  being  made  to  serve  as  a. 
upon  in  our  account  of  Highgate,*  the  whole  of  recreation-ground  for  the  children  in  the  neigh- 
this  seat  of  foulness  and  disease  was  cleared  away,  bourhood. 

and  in  its  place  four  large  blocks  of  model  lodging- '  Haggerston,  on  our  left,  at  one  time  an  outlying 
houses,  forming  a  square  (ailed  Columbia  Buildings,  hamlet  in  the  parish  of  St.  Leonard's,  Shoreditch, 
have  been  erected,  and  are  occupied  by  an  orderly  is  mentioned  in  "Domesday  Book"  under  the  name 
and  well-behaved  section  of  the  working-class  popu-  !  of  Hergotestane.  It  is  now  an  extensive  district, 
lation  of  the  district.  Contiguous  to  the  square  stretching  away  from  the  north  side  of  the  Hackney 
stands  the  Market,  which  was  also  established  by  Road  to  Dalston,  and  from  the  Kingsland  Road 
the  same  benevolent  lady  for  the  convenience  of  on  the  west  to  London  Fields,  and  is  crowded 
the  neighbourhood.  The  market  covers  about  two  with  factories  and  with  the  residences  of  the 
acres  of  ground,  and  the  buildings,  which  are  prin-  artisan  class.  In  the  seventeenth  century  the 
cipally  constructed  of  brick,  with  stone  dressings,  hamlet  contained  only  a  few  houses,  designed  for 
are  very  elaborately  ornamented  with  carved  work,  '  country  retirement.  The  celebrated  astronomer, 
in  the  shape  of  medallions  and  armorial  bearings.  Halley,  was  born  and  resided  here,  though  the 
The  market-place  forms  three  sides  of  a  square,  ',  house  which  he  occupied  is  not  known.  He  died 
having  an  arcade  opening  on  the  central  area  in  1741,  and  lies  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  Lee, 
through  Gothic  arches.  Tables  for  the  various  Kent. 

commodities  which  may  be  brought  to  the  market  j  Nichols  Square,  which  we  pass  on  our  left,  keeps 
for  sale,  occupy  the  centre  of  the  quadrangular  !  in  remembrance  the  name  of  Mr.  John  Nichols, 


space,  and  are  partly  covered  in  by  a  light  roof. 


F.S.A.,  the  well-known  antiquary,  and  "the  Dug- 
dale  of  the  present  age."  Mr.  Nichols  was  the 
author  of  "  Literary  Anecdotes  of  the  Eighteenth 


Hackney  Road.l  LONDON    FIELDS. 


Century,"  the  "  History  of  the  County  of  Leicester," 


"  Progresses  and  Processions  of  Queen  Elizabeth/ 
&c.,  and  was  many  years  editor  of  the  Gentleman's 


The  open   space   in   front,  known  as  London 


Fields,  and  extending  over  several  acres,  has  within 

'  -  !  the  last  few  years  been  taken  in  hand  by  the 

•ziiu  in  its  palmy  days.  He  was  a  native  of  |  Board  of  Works,  and  has  had  its  surface  levelled, 
the  adjoining  parish  of  Islington,  where  he  chiefly  (  and,  where  necessary,  sown  with  fresh  grass ;  it  is 
resided.  He  died  in  1826,  and  was  succeeded  ,  crossed  by  numerous  paths,  and  in  part  planted 
in  his  property  in  this  neighbourhood  by  his  son,  1  with  trees.  The  spot  has  been  for  ages  the  resort 
Mr.  John  Bowyer  Nichols,  who  shortly  afterwards  of  the  dwellers  in  the  neighbourhood  for  the  pur- 
became  proprietor  of  the  Gentleman's  Magazine.  '  poses  of  recreation,  and  from  the  neighbouring 
This  gentleman  died  at  Ealing  in  1863.  The  '  tavern  and  its  associations  had  in  process  of  time 
Messrs.  Nichols  have  been  for  many  years  printers  become  better  known  as  the  "  Cat  and  Mutton" 
to  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament.  fields. 

In  the  north-east  corner  of  Nichols  Square  |  Strype  tells  us  that  the  Bishop  of  London  held 
stands  St.  Chad's  Church.  It  is  a  large  red-brick  j  demesnes  in  Hackney  as  far  back  as  the  time  of 
edifice,  with  an  apsidal  eastern  end,  and  comprises  (  Edward  I.,  in  the  nineteenth  year  of  whose  reign 
nave  and  aisles,  transepts,  and  chancel,  with  a  '  (A.D.  1290)  the  right  of  free  warren  in  this  parish 
dwarf  spire  at  the  intersection.  The  transepts  are  j  was  granted  to  Richard  de  Gravesend,  who  chen 
lighted  by  large  wheel  windows,  and  the  body  of  held  the  see ;  and  from  an  "  inquisition  "  in  the 
the  fabric  by  narrow  Gothic  pointed  windows,  j  same  reign,  it  is  clear  that  a  yeoman  named 
The  church  was  built  about  1865.  It  is  noted  for  Duckett  held  lands  here  under  the  bishop,  who  in 
its  "  High  Church  "  or  ritualistic  services.  <  his  turn  held  them  from  the  king  as  his  superior. 

St  Mary's  Church,  in  Brunswick  Square,  close  '  There  are,  or  were,  several  manors  within  the 
by,  was  built  in  1 830,  but  considerably  altered  in  parish  of  Hackney ;  the  principal  of  these  is 
1862.  It  is  of  Gothic  architecture,  and,  externally, '  termed  the  "  Lord's-hold,"  and  was  attached  to  the 
is  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  lofty  tower  at  the  bishopric  of  London  until  the  year  1550,  when  it 
western  end.  The  organ,  which  was  originally  in  was  surrendered  to  the  Crown  by  Bishop  Ridley, 
St.  George's  Chapel,  Windsor,  was  built  by  Father  whose  memory  is  kept  up  in  connection  with  this 
Smith.  It  has  been  within  the  last  few  years  locality  by  the  name  of  Ridley,  given  to  a  roadway 
much  enlarged  by  Willis.  j  on  the  north  side  of  Dalston  Lane. 

The  parish  of  Haggerston   contains   a  Church       In  the  short  thoroughfare  connecting  the  London 
Association,  of  which  all   the   communicants   are  '  Fields  with  Goldsmiths'  Row  there  is  a  shop  which 
members,  and  each  member  is  required  to  do  some  '  in  bygone  times  was  almost  as  much  noted  for  its 
work  for  the  cause  of  the  Established  Church.          ]  "  Hackney  Buns"  as  the  well-known  Bun-house  at 
On  the  west  side  of  Brunswick  Square  is  a  row    Chelsea  was  for  that  particular  kind  of  pastry  about 
of  almshouses,    of  neat  and  picturesque   appear-    which  we  have  already  spoken.* 
ance.     These  almshouses,  belonging  to  the  parish       Goldsmiths'  Row  extends  from  the  canal  bridge, 
of  Shoreditch,  were  founded  in  1836,  and   stood    near  the  south-west  corner  of  London  Hekls,tot 
ginally  on  the  south  side  of  the  Hackney  Road,    Hackney  Road.     The  thoroughfare  is  very  narrow 
twere  rebuilt  on  this  site  on  the  demolition  of   and  in  parts  consists  of  ver y   inferior  shops  and 


u   we 

the  houses,  in  order  to  make   room   for  the  ap-    tenements.     On  the  west  side  about  ha  f  way  down, 
proaches  to  Columbia  Square,  4c  j  stand  a  row  of  almshouses  belong^  ;  tc  ,  the  GoM- 

eastward,   by  the   Imperial   Gas-works,  '  smiths'  Company.     They  were  founded  in   1703, 
at  Gold  miths'  Row,  'which,  as   stated  ,  by  a  Mr.  MorreU,  for  six  poor  ahnsmen  be  ongmg 


Passing 
we 


i  the  Princess  Louise.     The  institui 
doggrel  lines  :-  ^^  ^  its  namg  implieS;  for  the  purpose  of  afford- 

I'ray,  Puss,  do  not  tare,         ^  I         medical  relief  to   sick   children ;   and  about 

IWaitsp  the  mutton  is  >o  rare.  6 


Because  the  mutt 

Pray,  Puss,  do  not  claw,  ,  SK  ante>  p.  69. 

Because  the  Mutt' 


So8 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Hackney. 


10,000  patients  are  annually  relieved  here.  Patients 
are  admitted  free,  on  the  production  of  a  sub- 
scriber's ticket;  otherwise  a  small  fee  is  paid  by 
out-patients  and  in-patients. 

At  the  eastern  end  of  Hackney  Road  formerly 
stood  the  Cambridge  Heath  turnpike  gate,  which 
was  removed  a  few  years  ago,  when  tolls  upon  the 
metropolitan  highways  were  abolished ;  its  site  is 
now  marked  by  an  obelisk  set  up  in  the  centre  of 
the  roadway.  From  this  point,  Mare  Street,  of 
which  we  shall  have  more  to  say  presently,  branches 


fashioned  structure  of  plaster  and  brickwork,  stood 
near  what  is  now  the  western  entrance  to  Victoria 
Park  down  to  about  the  year  1850. 

In  this  neighbourhood,  at  the  time  of  the  for- 
mation of  Victoria  Park,  was  swept  away  a  wretched 
village  of  hovels,  formerly  known  as  "  Botany  Bay,* 
from   so    many  of  its  inhabitants  being  sent 
"  another  place  "  bearing  that  name. 

By  the  side  of  the  park  gates  is  a  pictu 
lodge-house  of  the  Elizabethan  character,  built 
the  designs  of  Mr.  Pennethorne ;  it  is  constructed 


off  to  the  left ;  Cambridge  Road,  on  our  right,  leads  chiefly  of  red  bricks,  and  has  a  lofty  tower  and 
past  the  Bethnal  Green  Museum,  and  so  on  to  the  porch.  The  ground  now  forming  Victoria  Park 
Whitechapel  Road  and  Mile  End.  Prospect  Place,  :  was  purchased  by  the  Government  with  the  proceeds 
which  extends  eastward  from  the  Hackney  Road,  |  of  the  sale  of  York  (now  Stafford)  House,*  St  " 
and  its  continuation,  Bishop's  Road,  leads  direct  to  James's,  in  pursuance  of  an  Act  of  Parliament 
the  principal  entrance  to  Victoria  1'ark.  j  passed  in  1840  for  that  purpose.  It  is  bounded  on 

On  the  east  side  of  Bonner's  Road,  which  here    the  south-east  by  Sir  George  Duckett's  Canal — a 
branches  off  to  the  right,  leading  to  Old  Ford  Road,  '  branch  cut  from  the  Regent's  Canal,  near  Bonner's 
stands  an  Orphan  Asylum,  or  Home  for  outcast  j  Hall   Farm,  crossing  the  Grove  Road,  and  com-  .>• 
children ;  and  also  the   City  of  London  Hospital    municating  with  the  river  Lea,  near  Old  Ford ;  on 
Chest.     The  latter  edifice  is  a  •  the  north-east  by  Old  Ford  Lane,  or  Wick  Lane ; 


for  Diseases  of  the  Chest. 

large  and  well-proportioned  building  of  red  brick,    on 


consisting  of  a  centre  and  wings,  in  the  Queen 
Anne  style,  and  was  constructed  from  the  designs 
of  Mr.  Ordish.  It  has  a  central  campanile,  and  a 
small  Gothic  chapel  on  the  north  side,  connected 
with  the  main  building  by  a  covered  corridor.  The 
hospital,  which  was  opened  by  Prince  Albert  in 
1848,  for  "  the  relief  of  indigent  persons  afflicted 
with  consumption  and  other  diseases  of  the  chest," 
was  first  of  all  located  in  Liverpool  Street,  Fins- 
bury,  and  by  the  end  of  the  year  1849  about  900 


the    north-west    by   Grove  Street    and   lands 


belonging  to  Sir  John  Cass's  charity  and  to  St 
Thomas's  Hospital ;  and  on  the  west  by  the 
Regent's  Canal. 

Victoria  Park  is  nearly  300  acres  in  extent, 
with  avenues  which  one  day  with  an  ampler  growth 
will  be  really  superb,  a  lake,  or  chain  of  lakes,  on 
which  adventurous  spirits  daily  learn  to  "tug  the 
labouring  oar,"  and  such  a  pleasant  arrangement 
of  walks,  shrubberies,  green  turf,  gay  flowers,  and 
shady  trees,  that  if  the  place  were  situated  in  the 


patients  were  relieved.     Since  its  removal   to  the    western    suburbs,   it    would,  perhaps,  become   the 
neighbourhood  of  Victoria  Park  its  accommodation  '  resort  of  the  elite  of  fashion.     On  an  island  upon 

one  of  the  lakes  is  a  two-storeyed  Chinese  pagoda, 
which,  with  the  trees  and  foliage  surrounding  it,  has 
pretty  effect.     Here,  as  in  the  West-end  parks, 


has  vastly  increased,  so  that  in  the  year  1883  about 
800  in-patients  and  15,000  out-patients  had  expe- 
rienced the  benefits  of  this  most  excellent  charity. 
The  hospital  stain's  upon  a  large  triangular  plot  of,  floriculture  has  been  greatly  extended  of  late;  and 
ground,  surrounded  by  a  light  iron  railing  ;  and  the  i  through  the  summer  months,  its  variegated  parterres 
grounds  are  laid  out  in  grass  plats,  and  flower-beds,  •  are  aglow  with  flowers  of  every  hue,  making  alto- 
and  are  well  planted  with  shrubs  and  trees.  Some  '  gether  a  glorious  show.  Among  the  large  foliage 
of  the  latter  are  the  remains  of  an  avenue  formerly  plants  which  have  found  their  way  here,  may  be  re- 
extending  from  the  Old  Ford  Lane  to  the  principal  marked,  on  one  sheltered  slope,  a  group  of  Fitus 
entrance  of  Bonner's  Hall,  which  stood  on  the  '  elastiea,  the  india-rubber  tree,  and  close  by  is  a 
east  side  of  where  the  hospital  now  stands.  The  j  specimen  of  the  Yucca  gloriosa,  which  has  the  more 
old  building  is  traditionally  said  to  have  been  the  popular  name  of  "  Adam's  needle,"  the  tradition 
residence  of  Bishop  Bonner.  and  certainly  to  have  probably  being  that  one  of  its  pointed  leaves 
been  his  property.  The  surrounding  land  clown  to  helped  to  make  the  fig-leaf  apron.  Tropical  plants 
a  comparatively  recent  date  was  known  as  Bishop  of  different  varieties  are  to  be  found  in  the  snug 
Bonner's  Fields,  names  which  are  now  preserved  nooks  and  recesses  which  abound  here.  As  to 
in  the  two  roads  above  mentioned.  The  site  of  the  flowering  plants,  such  as  the  geranium,  cal- 


Bishop  Bonner's  Hall  was  occupied  by  some  private 
buildings  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century  ; 
and  Bishop  Bonner's  Hall  Farm,  a  curious  old- 


ceolaria,  verbena,   lobelia,  &c.,  reliance  is  placed 


S«  VoU  IV..  p.  in. 


VICTORIA   PARK.  509 


chiefly  upon  masses  of  colour  instead  of  the  narrow  J  and  striking  contrasts  of  colour,  are,  of  course,  a 
bands  adopted  in  the  other  parks.    In  the  Regent's  :  continual  source  of  pleasure  for  these  struggling 
Park,  as  we  have  already  seen,*  great  skill  has  been    artisans,   and    gladden    many  a    moment  when, 
shown  in  grouping  and  composition ;  there  is  an    perhaps,   work  is  not    too    plentiful,   and    home 
attempt  in  landscape-gardening  at  something  of  the    thoughts  are  not  very  happy.     In  Victoria  Park 
effects  of  landscape  painting,  using  Nature's  own  j  the  plants  and  flowers  are  labelled  in  letters  which 
colours,    with   the  ground  for  canvas.      In  Hyde  j  he  who  walks  may  read  without  need  of  getting 
Park  the  red  line  of  geraniums  between  Stanhope    over  fence  or  bordering.     This  is  not  always  the 
Gate  and  Grosvenor  Gate  is  as  well  known  among    case  in  the  other  parks,  where  the  labels,  from 
gardeners    as    the    "  thin  red  line  "  at   Balaclava    dirt  or  the  smallness  of  the  characters,  are  often 
among  soldiers.      But    in  Victoria    Park  the  old    practically  illegible.     One  of  the  lakes  is  devoted  to 
gardening  tactics  prevail ;  for  the  most  part,  masses    miniature  yacht  sailing.     This  amusement  seems 
of  colour  are  brought  to  bear  upon  the  eye  in  oval,    almost  confined  to  East  London ;  and  here  on  a 
round,  and  square  ;  and  with  a  wide  area  of  turf   summer  evening,  when  a  capful  of  wind  is  to  be 
in  which    to   manoeuvre    our  floral   forces,   these    had,  the  surface  of  the  lake  is  whitened  by  some 
tactics  are  probably  the  most  effective  that  could    forty  or  fifty  toy  boats  and  yachts,  of  all  rigs  and 
be  adopted.     More  ingenious  designs,  however,  are    sizes,  while  here  and  there  a  miniature  steamboat  is 
not  wanting.     Near  the  ornamental  water,  a  pretty    puffing  and  panting.    There  is  even  a  yacht-club, 
effect  is  produced  by  scrolls  of  purple  verbena  en- '  whose  members  compete  with  their  toy-yachts  for 
closed  by  the  white-leaved  Cerastium  tomentosum,  ;  silver  cups  and   other  prizes.     The   expense   of 
looking  like  amethysts  set  in  silver.     In  another  ;  keeping  up  a  yacht  here  is  not  considerable,  and 
part    of  the   park   this   design    is    reversed,   and  j  the  whole  squadron  may  be  laid  up  until  wanted 
the   blue  lobelia  is    made  a    frame  for  a  central    in  a  boat-house  provided  for  the  purpose.     But  the 
pattern  of  the  same  delicate  silvery  foliage  plant,  \  matches  and  trials  of  these  tiny  crafts  are  a  special 
lit  up  by  an  occasional  patch  of  scarlet,  with  a  |  attraction  of  the   park,  and  draw  together  every 
background  of  dahlias  and  evergreens.     Elsewhere    evening  hundreds    of   people.     Bathing,    too,   is 
upon  a  fanciful  figure  which,  after  some    largely  indulged  in  during  the  summer.     Ample 
solves  itself  into  an  outstretched  butterfly  |  space    is   available  for  cricket,   and    in   the  two 


we  come 


studv  resolves  itself  into  an  outstretcnea  Diutemy  spate   »  avau»u.                                 »•  _         ••- 

of  enormous  size,  with  wings  as  vividly  coloured  as  gymnasia  candidates  for  swinging,  jumping,  and 

•e  of  anv  that  fly  in  the  sun.     For  borderings  climbing  appear  to  be  never  wanting. 

,e  Amamnthus  melaiicholuus  and  the  usual  foliage  In    one    open    part    of  the  grounds   stands   a 

plants  of  small  growth  are  employed.  j  very  handsome  drinking-fountain,  ™ded  by 

In   fine   weather    when   the   band   plays,    over  parterres   of  flowers.      It   was   erected  by   Lady 

,    , ,,JLi  in  A«  Burdett-Coutts,  whose  care  for  the  social  welfare 


wretched-looking  yards,  where  little  air  and  only  On  the  nor  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  _ 
the  mid-day  sun  can  penetrate,  may  be  se«  plot  W  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  burial-place  for  the 
patches  of  garden,  evidently  te  e^uw^^r"1^  i  ""vi"h  community,  belonging  to  the  Hamburg 
common 


K-  tl^nv    stone  dressings,  which  presents  a.  H«~.""»  — --- 

leisure,  happy  when  he  can  make  up  a  birtlda)  ^  d  -  ^  ^  wWch  surround  it  I  he 
bouquet  for  some  friend  or  relation.  The  flo  ers  .  o  me  „  £Stablished  as  far  back  as  1708,  for 
in  the  neighbouring  park,  with  their  novel  groupmg  |  »»^l_______ 

\  See  Vol.  HI.,  p.  =99- 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


the  "  support  of  poor  French  Protestants  and  their 
descendants." 

A  short  walk  through  Lammas  Road  and  Groom- 
bridge  Road,  which  skirt  the  western  side  of  the 
Common,  brings  us  to  Grove  Street,  by  the  end  of 
King  Edward  Road,  where  stands  the  large  and 
handsome  church  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  the 
parish  church  of  the  recently-formed  district  of 
South  Hackney.  The  church,  which  is  built  of 


arched  and  foliated  ribs  ;  the  chancel  has  a  stone 
roof,  and  the  walls  of  the  apse  are  painted  and 
diapered— red  with  fleur-de-lis,  and  blue  powdered 
with  stars.  All  the  windows  are  filled  with  painted, 
stained,  or  richly-diapered  glass.  The  tower  has 
a  fine  peal  of  eight  bells. 

Before  proceeding  with  a  description  of  the  old 
town  of  Hackney,  upon  which  we  are  now  entering, 
we  may  remark  that  it  has  been  suggested,  and 


Kentish  rag-stone,  is  in  the  host  Pointed  style  of 
the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  and  was  '• 
erected  in  1846  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  K.  C. 
Hakewell,  to  supersede  a  church  erected  in  Well 
Street  early  in  the  present  century.  The  plan  of 
the  edifice  is  cruciform,  with  a.  tower  and  spire  of 
equal  height,  together  rising  nearly  200  feet ;  the 
latter  has  graceful  lights  and  broaches,  and  the 
four  Evangelists  beneath  canopies  at  the  four  I 
angles.  The  nave  has  side  aisles,  with  flying  ! 
buttresses  to  the  clerestory  ;  each  transept  is  lit 
by  a  magnificent  window,  about  thirty  feet  high, 
and  the  choir  has  an  apse  with  seven  lancet 
windows.  The  principal  entrance,  at  the  western 
end,  is  through  a  screen  of  open  arches.  The 
roof,  of  open  work,  is  very  lofty,  and  has  massive 


with  considerable  probability,  that  the  name  of  the 
place  is  derived  from  "  Hacon's  ey,"  or  the  island 
which  some  Danish  chief  named  Hacon  had,  in 
the  mild  method  prevalent  among  the  warriors  of 
fifteen  hundred  years  ago,  appropriated  to  himself. 
But  authentic  history  is  silent  upon  the  point ; 
and,  indeed,  almost  the  earliest  record  we  find  of 
the  place  is  that  the  Knights  Templars  held  the 
manor,  which  afterwards  became  the  property  of 
their  rivals,  the  Knights  of  St  John  of  Jerusalem. 
Of  late  years  the  parish  has  been  styled  by 
the  name  of  St.  John  at  Hackney,  as  though 
it  belonged  to  the  fraternity  of  the  Knights  of 
St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  who  had,  as  it  is  said,  a 
mansion  and  other  possessions  in  the  parish; 
but  from  ancient  records  preserved  in  the  Tower 


OLD    HACKNEY. 


BITS    OF    OLD    HACKNEY. 
2    Barber's  Barn,  1750. 


3.  Shore  Place,  1736. 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


of  London  it  is  found  to  be  written,  Ecclesia 
Parochialis  S.  Augustini  de  Hackney.  The  Temple 
Mills,  in  Hackney  Marshes,  even  now  preserve  the 
memory  of  the  priestly  warriors  of  the  Templar 
order. 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  when  the  first 
mention  of  the  place  occurs  as  a  village,  it  is 
called  Hackenaye,  and  Hacquenye ;  and  in  a 
patent  of  Edward  IV.,  granting  the  manors  of 
Stepney  and  Hackney  to  Thomas  Lord  Wentworth, 
it  is  styled  Hackeney,  otherwise  Hackney.  "  The 
parish,  no  doubt,"  says  Dr.  Robinson,  "derived 
its  appellation  from  circumstances  of  no  common 
nature,  but  what  they  were  it  is  at  this  time  difficult 
to  conjecture;  and  no  one  will  venture  to  assert 
that  it  received  its  name  from  the  Teutonic  or 
Welsh  language,  as  some  have  supposed." 

We  may  conclude  this  chapter  by  remarking 
that  Dr.  Robinson,  in  his  "History  and  Antiquities 


of  Hackney,"  describes  it  as  an  ancient,  extensive, 
and  populous  village,  "  situated  on  the  west  side  of 
the  river  Lea,  about  two  miles  and  a  half  from 
the  City  of  London,  within  the  division  of  the 
Tower  Hamlets,  in  the  hundred  of  Ossulston,  in, 
the  county  of  Middlesex."  "In  former  times," 
he  adds,  "  many  noblemen,  gentlemen,  and  others, 
of  the  first  rank  and  consequence,  had  their  country 
seats  in  this  village,  on  account  of  its  pleasant  and 
healthy  situation."  In  the  parish  of  Hackney  are 
comprised  the  nominal  hamlets  of  Clapton  (Upper 
and  Lower),  Homerton,  Dalston,  Shacklewell,  the 
greater  part  of  Kingsland,  and  that  part  of  Stoke 
Newington  which  lies  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 
high  road  to  Tottenham ;  but  modern  Hackney, 
considered  as  an  assemblage  of  dwellings,  is  quite 
united  to  Homerton  and  Lower  Clapton,  on  the 
east  and  north,  and  also  by  rows  of  buildings  on 
the  west  to  the  parish  of  St.  Leonard,  Shoreditch. 


CHAPTER   XLI. 
THE    NORTH-EASTERN    SUBURBS.— HACKNEY 


>n  at  a  Hackney  boarding-school." 
Madam  Cretruirll  to  ttoll  Quariti. 


Hackney  in  the  Last  Century-Its  Gradual  Growth- Well  Street-Hackney  College-Monger's  Almshouses-The  Residence  of  Dr.  Framplon- 
St.  John's  Priory-Si.  John's  Church-Mare  Street-Hackney  a  Great  Centre  of  Nonconformity-The  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  St.  John 

of  the  Great  Eastern  Railway- John  Millon's  Visits  to  Hackney -Darner's  Barn- LoJdUige's  Nursery- Watercress-beds-The  Gravel-pit 
Meeting  House-Thc  Church  House— The  Parish  Church  -The  "  Three  Cranes"— The  Old  Church  Towcr-The  Churchyard— The  New 
Church  of  St.  John-The  Hlack  and  White  House-Hoarding  Schools  for  Young  Ladies -Sutton  Place-The  "  Mermaid"  Tavern-"  Ward's 
Corner '-The  Templars' House- Hrooke  House-Noted  Residents  at  Hackney- Homerlon-The  City  of  London  Union-Lower  CUpton 
—John  Howard,  the  Prison  Rcformer-The  London  Orphan  Asylum- Salvation  Army  llarracks  and  Congress  Hall— The  Asylum  for  Deaf 
and  Dumb  Females  -Concluding  Remarks  on  Ha-  kney. 

IN  treating  of  this  parish  we  have  no  Pepys  or  of  merchants  and  wealthy  persons,  that  it  is  said 
Boswell  to  guide  or  interest  us,  and  to  gossip  there  are  near  a  hundred  gentlemen's  coaches 
with  us  over  this  neighbourhood,  and  to  furnish  us  kept."  The  writer  enumerates  its  several  hamlets, 
with  stores  of  anecdote  ;  but,  fortunately,  we  have  viz.,  •'  Clapton  on  the  north,  Dorleston  [Dalston] 
the  assistance  of  -Strype,  who,  in  his  edition  of  and  Shacklewell  on  the  west;  and  on  the  east, 
Stow's  "  London,"  includes  Hackney  in  his  "Cir- 
cuit Walk  on  the  North  of  London/'  He  styles  it 

a  "  pleasant  and  healthful  town,  where  divers  nobles     itself ;  but  I  )alston  has  thrown  out  lines  of  common- 
lace  villas  across  the  fields  and  orchards  on  the 
south-west ;  Clapton  has  developed  itself  on  the 


Homerton,  leading  to  Hackney  Marshes.'' 

There  is  still  an  old-fashioned  air  about  Hackney 


in  former  times  had  their  country  seats,"  enti 
merating  among  its  residents  an  Earl  of  Northum- 
berland, a  Countess  of  Warwick,  and  a  Lord  north  ;  Victoria  Park  has  initiated  a  new  town  on 
Brooke.  Still,  the  houses  and  their  walks,  for  the  the  south  ;  a  busy  railway  station  stands  near  the 
most  part,  have  no  stories  connected  with  them,  tower  of  the  old  church,  of  which  we  shall  speak 
carent  quta  vate  sacro,  and  the  whole  district  sup-  .  presently ;  and  down  in  the  Marshes  are  now  large 
plies  us  but  scanty  materials,  historical,  topogra-  j  hives  of  manufacturing  industry. 


phical,    and  biographical,    as   compared   with  St. 


The  town   (if  considered   independently  of  its 
hamlets),    down   to  a  comparatively   recent   date, 


Pancras  or  Hampstead. 

Hackney  is  described  in   the  "  Ambulator,"  in 

1774,  as   "a  very  large  and  populous  village,  on  ]  Street,  Mare  (or  Meare)  Street,  Grove  Street,  and 
the  north  of  London,  inhabited  by  such  numbers    Well  Street ;  but  such  has  been  the  growth  of  the 


consisted  chiefly  of  four   streets,  termed   Church 


MARE   STREET. 


place  during  the  past  half  century  that  large  num-  j  The  Priory,  within  the  memory  of  the  present  gene- 
bers  of  other  streets  and  terraces  have  sprung  up  ration,  was  a  strange-looking  brick  building,  divided 
in  all  directions,  on  land  which  hitherto  had  served  into  small  tenements,  and  inhabited  by  chimney- 


trie  gardens  attached  to  the  mansions  of  the 


nobility  and  City  merchants,  or  as  nursery  grounds, 
market  gardens,  and   even  watercress-beds.    The 


sweeps  and  others  of  kindred  callir 


A  chapel  of  ease,  dedicated  to  St.  John,  in  this 
street,  was  consecrated  in  1810  by  Bishop  Ran- 
population  of  Hackney,  too,  which  at  the  com-  dolph,  and  endowed  as  a  district  parish  church  for 
mencement  of  this  century  was  about  equal  to  that ;  South  Hackney.  In  1846  it  was  superseded  by 
of  a  good-sized  country  village,  had,  according  to  the  new  parish  church,  which  we  have  already 
the  census  returns  for  1881,  reached  something  like  :  described. 

400,000;  and  the  place,  since  1868,  has  enjoyed  i  Mare  Street,  as  we  have  already  stated,  com- 
the  privilege  of  Parliamentary  representation.  [  mences  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  Hackney  Road, 

From  Grove  Street,  incidentally  mentioned  near  j  and  forms  the  main  thoroughfare  through  the  centre 
the  close  of  the  preceding  chapter,  we  pass  into  '  of  the  town.  Throughout  its  entire  length  it  is 
Well  Street,  which  winds  somewhat  circuitously  well  sprinkled  with  the  remains  of  dwellings  of  the 
to  the  west,  where  it  unites  with  Mare  Street,  wealthy  classes  of  society,  who  formerly  inhabited 
Hackney  College,  which  we  notice  on  our  left  this  now  unfashionable  quarter  of  London.  Here, 
immediately  on  entering  Well  Street,  was  founded  j  too,  the  number  of  religious  edifices,  of  all  denomi- 
in  1803  with  the  object  of  preparing  students  for  '  nations,  is  somewhat  remarkable,  and  in  some 
the  Congregational  ministry,  and  of  granting  votes  |  cases  the  buildings  are  fine  specimens  of  ecclesias- 
in  support  of  chapels.  The  average  number  of  tical  architecture. 

students  in  the  college  is  about  twenty,  and  the  i  Hackney  has  altogether  upwards  of  twenty  places 
annual  receipts  about  .£1,500.  At  the  close  of  I  of  worship  for  Dissenters ;  it  has,  in  fact,  long  been 
the  last  century  there  was  a  college  for  Dissenters  renowned  as  a  great  centre  of  Nonconformity,  and 
established  at  Lower  Clapton,  to  which  Dr.  Rees,  some  eminent  Dissenting  divines  have  preached 
Dr.  Priestley,  and  his  scarcely  less  renowned  there.  Dr.  Bates,  the  learned  author  of  the  "  Har- 


Unitarian   coadjutor,   Mr.    Belsham,    and   Gilbert 
Wakefield  were  attached  ;  but  it  was  broken  up  in 


mony  of  the  Divine  Attributes,"  died  there  in  1679. 
Matthew  Henry,  the  compiler  of  the  well-known 


vvaKcneiQ  were  uiutcncu  ,  uui  u  wu.:>  uiL/n.tu  u^j  m  i  ^  *w**»y,   ... 

1797,  owing  to  the  bad  conduct  of  some  of  the  "  Commentary  "  on  the  Bible,  preached  at  Hackney 
students.  The  well-known  college  at  Homerton  between  1710  and  1714.  Robert  Fleming,  the 
was  established  about  the  latter  part  of  the  seven- !  author  of  "  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Papacy,'  died 
teenth  century.  Dr.  Pye  Sm.th,  the  .great  geologist,  at  Hackney  on  the  24*  of  May,  1716  H 
whose  conclusions  anticipated  some  of  the  views  prophecies  were  believed  to  have  been  fulfilled  in 
of  Mr.  Goodwin  in  his  ••  Mosaic  Cosmogony,"  was  1794  5  and  in  1848,  when  a  second  revolution 
for  many  years  the  principal  of  the  seminary;  and  occurred  in  Paris,  Fleming's  book  was  eagerly 
man™  eminent  ministers'  of  the  Nonconformist  sought  for,  and  reprinted,  and  read  by  thousand^ 
bodies  there  received  their  education. 


The  Presbyterian  Dissenters'  Chapel  was  estab- 


'  as  once  the  -sidence  of  the    and  occupied  by    ndepnden. 


into  shops.     This  was  once  t  o  "h    eas     s  de  o     Ma  re   Street,  near   King 


sinTe'shTrtenedTnto  Shore  Place  and  Shore  Road,    grave  of  ^^.^^  M^teucona  was  a 

.1,  rathnlir.  missionan',  and  the  author  of  a 


See  Vol.  H.,  P-  '94- 


Spanish  Catholic  missionary, 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


few  published  works,  among  them  a  pamphlet  in 
reply  to  some  of  the  writings  of  Dr.  Pusey. 

On  the  west  side  of  this  street,  near  the  narrow 
lane  leading  into  London  Fields,  stands  a  very  old 
public-house,  bearing  the  sign  of  the  "  Flying 
Horse."  It  is  a  large,  rambling  house,  of  two 
storeys,  and  consists  of  a  centre  and  two  wings. 
It  is  traditionally  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  old 
g-houses  of  the  time  of  "  Queen  Bess,"  on 
the  old  road  to  Cambridge  and  Newmarket 

Farther  to  the  north,  one  of  a  row  of  old  man- 
sions with  small  gardens  before  them,  has  a  large 
board  displayed  upon  its  front  inscribed  with  the 
words  "  Elizabeth  Fry's  Refuge."  This  institution 
was  founded  in  the  year  1849,  for  the  purpose  of 
providing  temporary  homes  for  female  criminals 
on  their  release  from  prison. 

Hackney  has  always  been  remarkable  for  the 
number  of  its  charitable  institutions  :  besides  those 
which  we  have  already  mentioned,  and  others  which 
we  have  still  to  notice,  are  some  almshouses  for 
widows  near  Mare  Street,  founded  by  Dr.  Spur- 
stowe,  who  died  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 

The  Town  Hall,  which  stands  in  The  Grove,  is 
a  modern  structure,  having  been  erected  only  a  few 
years  ago  to  supersede  an  older  and  less  com- 
modious building  farther  on,  near  the  old  parish 
church.  The  edifice,  with  its  noble  portico,  and 
its  ample  supply  of  windows— for,  like  Hardwick 
Hall,  it  might  almost  be  said  to  have  "  more 
windows  than  wall " — presents  a  striking  contrast 
to  many  of  the  quaint  old  buildings  which  surround 
it.  Notwithstanding  the  grand  appearance  of  the 
building  externally,  and  the  thousands  of  pounds 


trious  Parliamentarian,  no  other  than  John  Milton ; 
for  there  he  wooed  his  second  wife,  the  daughter 
of  Captain  Woodcock,  who  lived  here. 

On  the  east  side  of  Mare  Street,  and  covering  the 
ground  now  occupied  by  St  Thomas's  Place,  once 
stood  an  ancient  edifice  known  as  Barber's  Barn, 
or  Barbour  Berns,  which  dated  from  about  the  end 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  was  in  the  Elizabethan 
style  of  architecture,  with  pediments,  bay-windows, 
and  an  entrance  porch,  and  contained  numerous 
rooms.  It  is  said  to  have  been  the  residence  of 
John  Okey,  the  regicide.  He  is  reported  to  have 
been  originally  a  drayman  and  stoker  in  a  brewery 
at  Islington,  but  having  entered  the  Parliamentary 
army,  to  have  risen  to  become  one  of  Cromwell's 
generals.  He  sat  in  judgment  on  Charles  I., 
and  was  the  sixth  who  signed  the  warrant  for  the 
king's  execution.  About  the  middle  of  the  last 
century  Barber's  Barn,  with  its  grounds  and  some 
adjoining  land,  passed  into  the  possession  of  one 
John  Busch,  who  formed  a  large  nursery  ground 
on  the  estate.  Mr.  Loudon,  in  his  Gardener? 
Magazine,  says  that  Catharine  II.,  Empress  of 
Russia,  "  finding  that  she  could  have  nothing  done 
to  her  mind,  determined  to  have  a  person  from 
England  to  lay  out  her  garden."  Busch  was  the 
person  engaged  to  go  out  to  Russia  for  this  pur- 
pose. In  1771  he  disposed  of  his  nursery  at 
Hackney  to  Messrs.  Loddige,  who  ranked  with 
the  most  eminent  florists  and  nurserymen  of  their 
me.  Indeed,  the  name  of  the  Loddige  family  has 
been  known  for  nearly  a  century  in  the  horticul- 
tural and  botanical  world  ;  and  few  persons  who 
take  an  interest  in  gardening  and  flowers  can  fail 


spent  in  its  erection,  the  interior  does  not  seem  to  (  to  recognise  the  names  of  Conrad  Loddige  and  his 


have  given  that  satisfaction  to  the  parishioners 
which  they  were  led  to  expert,  and  the  accommo- 
dation, or  rather,  the  want  of  accommodation  in 
some  of  the  rooms  which  the  edifice  affords,  was 
such  as  to  serve  as  a  bone  of  contention  among 
them  for  some  considerable  time  after  its  erection. 

Running  parallel  with  Mare  Street,  on  the  west 
side,  and  overlooking  the  London  Fields,  is  the 
new  line  of  the  Great  Eastern  Railway,  from  which, 
at  the  Hackney  Downs  station,  a  line  branches 
off  on  the  left  to  Enfield.  In  the  construction  of 
this  railway  several  old  houses  were  swept  away, 
among  them  an  ancient  mansion  which  had  long 
been  used  as  a  private  lunatic  asylum,  and  another 
which,  with  its  gardens,  covered  a  large  space  of 
ground,  and  was  formerly  used  as  a  hospital  by 
the  Honourable  East  India  Company. 

To  the  Tower  House,  at  the  corner  of  London 
Lane,  which  connects  Mare  Street  with  London 


,  of  Hackney,  as  the  authors  of  the  "  Botanical 
Cabinet,"  published  in  twenty  large  quarto  volumes 
during  the  Regency  and  the  subsequent  reign  of 
George  IV.  They  had  here  extensive  greenhouses, 
and  also  hothouses  which  were  heated  by  steam. 
The  ancient  house  having  become  the  property  of 
Mr.  Conrad  Loddige,  was  taken  down  many  years 
ago,  and  Loddige's  Terrace,  together  with  some 
residences  called  St.  Thomas's  Place,  were  built  on 
its  site.  A  few  houses  in  Well  Street  occupy  the 
other  portion  of  the  former  gardens. 

In  1787  Mr.  Loddige  removed  from  what  was 
called  Busch's  Nursery,  and  formed  another  nursery 
on  some  grounds  which  he  purchased  from  the 
governors  of  St.  Thomas's  Hospital ;  these  grounds 
had  until  then  been  open  fields,  and  he  enclosed 
them  towards  the  north  with  a  brick  wall.  The 
last  vestiges  of  Loddige's  gardens  disappeared  about 
the  year  1 860,  when  some  of  the  plants  were  trans- 


Fields  and  the  railway  station,  often  came  an  illus- '  ferred  to  the  Crystal  Palace  at  Sydenham. 


HACKNEY  CHURCH. 


Hackney,  it  may  be  added,  was  celebrated  till  a 
comparatively  recent  date  for  its  market  gardens, 
and  even  for  its  watercress  beds.  A  large  water- 
cress garden  was  in  existence  until  1860,  and  per- 
haps even  more  recently,  only  a  few  yards  to  the 
south  of  the  North  London  Railway  Station. 

In  Paradise  Place,  at  the  end  of  Paragon  Road, 
stands  the  New  Gravel-pit  Meeting  House,  "  Sacred 
to  One  God  the  Father."  The  chapel  was  built 
on  what  was  formerly  Paradise  Fields.  The  old 
Gravel-pit  Meeting  House,  where  Dr.  Price  and  Dr. 
Priestley  were  formerly  ministers,  and  which  dates 
its  erection  from  the  early  part  of  the  last  century, 
stands  at  a  short  distance  to  the  east.  Dr.  Priestley 
preached  his  farewell  sermon  in  the  old  chapel  in 
1794,  previous  to  his  departure  for  America. 

At  a  short  distance  northward  from  the  new 
Town  Hall,  Mare  Street  is  spanned  by  the  North 
London  Railway.  Near  this  spot,  on  the  east  side 
of  the  street,  and  close  by  the  entrance  to  the 
churchyard,  was  standing,  in  Lysons'  time  or  at 
the  end  of  the  last  century,  an  ancient  building, 
thus  described  in  the  chantry-roll  at  the  Augmen- 
tation Office,  which  bears  date  the  first  year  of  the 
reign  of  Edward  I. : — "  A  tenement  buylded  by 
the  parishioners,  called  the  Churche  Howse,  that 
they  might  mete  together  and  comen  of  matters  as 
well  for  the  kyng's  business  as  for  the  churche  and 
parishe,  worth  205.  per  an.''  It  appeared  by  an 


inscription,   remaining 


on   the   front  towards  the 


street,  that   it  was   built  in  the 


1520,  when 


Christopher  Urswick  was  rector.  The  house  was 
for  many  years,  in  the  last  century,  used  as  a  free 
school,  but  in  its  latter  years  it  seems  to  have 
reverted  again  to  its  original  purpose.  The  site 
was  afterwards  occupied  by  a  more  modern  Town 
Hall,  which  is  still  standing,  but  which,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  has  since  been  superseded  by  the 
new  building  in  Mare  Street. 

If  we  may  follow  the  statements  of  Stow  and 
Strype,  Hackney  was,  as  far  back  as  the  close  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  a  distinct  parish,  with  a 
rector  and  also  a  vicar,  and  a  church  dedicated  to 


St    \ugustine ;   but  the  Knights  of  St.  John   of   parisn,  ana 
Terusalem  having   obtained   possession  of  a  mill    will  be  of  the  same 


tioned  in  the  will  of  Christopher  Urswick,  rector, 
and  also  Dean  of  Windsor. 

This  old  church,  then,  of  which  the  tower  alone 
now  remains,  though  dedicated  to  St.  Augustine, 
has  for  many  years  been  known  as  St.  John's 
Church.  Newport,  in  his  "  Repertorium,"  speak-  . 
ing  of  Hackney  Church,  says  :— "  The  church  has 
of  late  years  gone  by  the  name  of  St.  John  of 
Jerusalem  at  Hackney,  as  if  dedicated  to  St.  John, 
which  I  take  to  be  a  mistake ;  because  I  find  that 
Arthur  Wood,  in  December,  1509,  instituted  to 
the  vicarage  of  St.  Augustin  at  Hackney — to  which 
saint,  I  rather  believe,  that  church  had  been  dedi- 
cated— no  presentation  having  been  made  by  the 
name  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem  at  Hackney  till 
after  the  restoration  of  King  Charles  II.  One 
—  Heron,  Esq.,  is  taken  by  some  to  be  the  founder 
of  it,  by  his  arms  engraven  upon  every  pillar,  which 
is  a  chevron  ermine  between  three  herons ;  but  I 
rather  think  that  he  was  a  very  great  benefactor  to 
the  new  building  or  repairing  of  the  church,  for 
,vhich  reason  his  arms  (are)  upon  every  pillar ;  and 
n  the  north  aisle  thereof,  in  a  tomb  of  white  free- 
stone, without  any  inscription,  his  body  lies." 

In  the  Cottonian  Library  there  is  a  volume  re- 
lating to  the  Knights  Templars,  in  which  mention 
is  made  of  St.  Augustine's  at  Hackney,  and  of  the 
lands  and  rents  there  which  belonged  to  that  order, 
including  a  mill  which  was  known  as  Temple  Mill. 
It  appears  that  these,  after  the  suppression  of  the 
Templar  order,  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Knights 
of  St.  John,  whose  influence  in  and  upon  the  parish 
was  so  great,  that  the  very  dedication  of  the  church 
to  St.  Augustine  was  forgotten. 

There  is  in  the  Tower  records  a  patent  or 
licence  to  one  Henry  Sharp,  the  "parson"  of  St. 
Augustine's  at  Hackney,  to  erect  in  his  church  a 
"  Guild  of  the  Holy  Trinity  and  of  the  Glorious 
Virgin  Mary  ; "  in  whose  honour,  therefore,  doubt- 
less a  light  was  kept  constantly  burning  before  an 
altar  in  an  aisle  or  side  chapel.  This  guild,  or 
"perpetual  fraternity,"  was  to  consist  of  "two 
guardians  or  brethren,  and  sisters,  of  the  same 
parish  and  of  others  who,  from  their  devotion, 


Jeru 

and  other  possession 


n  the  parish  formerly  held 


by  the  Knights  Templars,  the  appellation  of  the 
church  came  to  be  changed  from  St.  Augustine  to 
St  John.  In  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  this  church, 
in  lieu  of  that  of  Bishop's  Stortford,  in  Hertford- 
shire, was  annexed  to  the  precentorship  of  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral.  In  confirmation  of  the  assertion 
that  the  church  was  dedicated  to  St.  Augustine,  it 
may  be  added  that  a  statue  of  that  saint,  erected 
in  it  as  lately  as  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  is  men- 


^ 
unp»  to 


_ 
he/^  church^  ^ 


ackney. 
rebuilt  in 


appears  to  nave  DCCU  «».«•  --       .    . 

the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century ;  and     it  is 
probable,"  says  Dr.  Robinson,  in  his  "History  of 
...„   «»!,„*   Qir  Thnmns  Heron,   who   was 


, 

Hackney,"   "that   Sir  Thomas  Heron, 
master  of  the  jewel  house  to  King  Henry  VIII. 
and  Christopher  Urswick  (then  rector) .were =  to 
principal  benefactors  to  its  re-erection  ;  for  be. 
the  arms  above-mentioned,  the  same  arms  occurred 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


on  one  side  of  the  chancel  window,  and  on  the  j  have  been  erected  at  different  periods,  and  did  not 
other  side  the  arms  of  Urswick."'   The  conjecture    reach,  as  is  usual,  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  the 


that  some  member  of  the  Heron  family  had  at  least 
something  to  do  with  the  rebuilding  of  the  fabric, 
receives  a  certain  amount  of  support  or  confirma- 
tion from  a  tradition  that  the  house  called  the 
"Three  Cranes,"  nearly  opposite,  was  the  first 
public-house  in  the  parish,  and  that  it  was  built  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  workmen  whilst  they 


church,  nor  extend  to  the  pillars  which  divided  the 
aisles ;  and  one  of  the  galleries  appeared  as  if  it 
"  were  hung  to  the  roof  by  iron  hooks."  Along 
the  frieze  of  the  organ  gallery  there  was  an  inscrip- 
tion, setting  forth  that  the  church  was  repaired  in 
1720;  and  above,  in  the  panels,  were  three  pic- 
tures, "drawn  with  much  taste  and  freedom  in 


KY  ciirxcii,  1750. 


were  erecting  the  church  :  it  is  said  to  have  had 
originally  the  sign  of  "  The  Herons."  The  ancient 
church  of  St.  Augustine  was  taken  down  towards 
the  close  of  the  last  century,  except  the  old  tower, 
which,  as  we  have  stated,  still  remains.  It  is  of 
Gothic  architecture,  and  contains  a  peal  of  eight 
bells.  From  an  account  of  the  old  church  printed 
in  the  Gentleman  s  Magazine  for  April,  1796,  we 
learn  that  its  exterior,  in  its  latter  days,  was  "  an 
incomprehensible  jumble  of  dissonant  repairs,  with- 
out a  trace  of  the  original  building  remaining, 
except  the  windows  of  part  of  it."  There  were 
two  side  aisles,  and  the  pillars,  twelve  in  number, 
are  described  as  being  "  remarkably  strong,  good, 
and  well-proportioned,  and  the  arches  pointed." 
The  galleries,  of  which  there  were  several,  seem  to 


black  and  white,  though  very  slight ;"  the  subjects 
were,  the  Miraculous  Draught  of  Fishes,  Christ  in 
the  Storm  at  Sea,  and  Elijah  fed  by  Ravens. 

A  view  of  the  old  church,  taken  in  1806,  shortly 
before  its  removal,  will  be  found  in  a  work  on  the 
suburbs  of  London,  entitled,  "  Ecclesiastical  Topo- 
graphy," published  in  1811,  anonymously.  The 
writer  describes  it  as  having  been  a  large  irregular 
building,  with  few  traces  remaining  of  the  original 
structure,  except  the  windows ;  and,  to  do  the 
writer  justice,  it  must  be  owned  that  never  was  a 
fine  mediaeval  church  more  ruthlessly  and  tastelessly 
perverted  into  a  chaos  of  confusion.  "  The  nave 
and  the  tower,"  he  adds,  "  may  probably  be  referred 
I  to  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century.  The 
sepulchral  inscriptions  were  extremely  numerous, 


Hackney.] 


EMINENT  VICARS. 


but  fortunately  most  of  these  are  preserved  in 
Strype's  additions  to  Stow,  and  others  in  Weever's 
'  Funeral  Monuments,'  and  in  Lysons'  '  Environs  of 
London.' " 

The  parish  of  Hackney  in  former  times  had 
among  its  vicars  many  men  who  attained  some 
eminence  in  the  ecclesiastical  world.  Among  them 
were  Cardinal  Gauselinus,  who  flourished  about 
1320;  David  Doulben,  afterwards  Bishop  of 


members  of  the  nobility  buried  here  were  Henry 
Lord  Percy,  Earl  of  Northumberland,  who  died  in 
this  town  in  1537,  and  of  whom  we  shall  have 
more  to  say  presently.  The  funeral  service  over 
his  remains  was  performed  by  the  Bishop  of  St. 
Asaph  and  the  Abbot  of  Stratford. 

Alice  Ryder,  who  died  in  r  5 17,  was  commemo- 
rated by  her  "  portraiture  in  brass,  with  a  milk-pail 
upon  her  head."  She  appears  to  have  been  a 


WHITE  HOUSE,  iSoo.    (See  pa^e  5'9-) 


Bangor ;  Gilbert  Sheldon,  afterwards  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury ;  and  William  Spurstowe,  a  well- 
known  divine  among  the  Nonconformists,  and 
mentioned  in  the  well-known  definition  of  the 
name  "  Smectymnus." 

"  If  any  are  ignorant  who  this  Smectyranus  is, 
.Stephen  Marshall, 
.Edmund  Calamy, 

Thomas  Jbung,  !•  can  tell  you. 

^/atthew  A'ewcomen, 
William  SpuiMowe, 


The  old  church,  before  its  demolition,  was  ex- 
tremely rich  in  monuments  and  brasses  most  o 
which  have  now  altogether  disappeared,  whus 
some  few  have  been  preserved  and  fixed  against 
the  new  church  of  St.  John.  Among  many  other 


!  milkwoman,  who,  having  obtained  great  wealth  by 
selling  milk  in  the  City,  was  a  great  benefactress 
to  the  church.  The  following  was  her  epitaph  :- 
"  For  the  Sowl  of  Alice  Ryder,  of  your  Charite,  ^ 

Say  a  Pater-noster,  and  an  Ave  .  .  •  1517- 
Besides  the  tower  mentioned  above,  the  Rowe 
Chapel,  which  was  built  in  the  reign  of  James  I., 
and  attached  to  the  south  side  of  the  church 
also  remained  after  the  demolition  of  the  body  of 
the  fabric,  and  is  still  standing.  This  chapel  or 
mausoleum  was  founded  by  Sir  Henry  Rowe  of 
Shacklewell,  as  a  place  of  interment  for  h* Jam  ly 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


[Hackney. 


here  in  1 704.  He  left  some  daughters,  .co-heirs, 
one  of  whom  married  an  ancestor  of  the  Marquis 
of  Downshire,  in  the  possession  of  whose  descen 
dants  the  Rowe  Chapel  has  continued.  Among  the 
freeholders  of  Hackney,  the  Marquis  of  Downshire 
is  mentioned  as  possessing  "  a  freehold,  fifteen  feet 
square,  in  the  old  church  yard;"  this  refers,  o; 
course,  to  the  above-mentioned  burial-place  of  the 
Rowes,  and  it  is  added  that  it  "  descended  to  the 
marquis  as  an  heir-loom."  A  monument  against 
the  interior  south  wall  of  the  mausoleum  is  in- 
scribed with  the  following  quaint  epitaph  : — 

"  Here  (under  fine  of  Adam's  first  defection) 
Rests  in  hope  of  happie  resurrection, 
Sir  Henry  Kowe  (sonne  of  Sir  Thomas  Rowe, 
And  of  Dame  Mary,  his  dearc  yoke-fellowc, 
Knight  and  right  worthy),  as  his  father  late 
Lord  Maior  of  London,  with  his  vertuous  Mate 
Dame  Susan  (his  twice  fifteen  yeres  and  seeven), 
Their  issue  five  (surviving  of  eleven), 
Four  named  here,  in  these  four  names  forepast, 
The  fifth  is  found,  if  eccho  sound  the  last, 
Sad  Orphanes  all,  but  most  their  heir  (most  debtor) 
Who  built  them  this,  but  in  his  heart  a  better. 
Quam  pie  obiit  Anno  Salutis  1612 
die  Novembris  12,  /litatis  6S." 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  John  Strype,  the 
antiquary,  to  whom  we  owe  so  much  of  the  retro- 
spective portions  of  this  work,  was  lecturer  at  this 
church  for  thirty-six  years,  and  died  in  1737,  at  the 
great  age  of  ninety-four. 

The  reason  why  the  tower  of  the  old  church  was 
permitted  to  remain  was  that  the  eight  bells  were 
believed  to  be  too  heavy  for  the  tower  of  the  new 
building ;  and  as  the  parishioners  were  unwilling  to 
lose  their  peal,  it  was  decided  that  they  should 
retain  their  original  position,  but  some  years  later 
they  were  moved  to  the  new  church,  where  they 
still  remain.  So  there  stand  the  weather-beaten 
old  tower  and  the  little  Rowe  Chapel,  a  few- 
paces  farther  to  the  east,  amidst  the  graves  of 
the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Hackney,  among  which 
a  winding  path  leads  to  the  more  modern  church, 
in  which  are  preserved  some  of  the  tombs  and 
carved  work  of  the  older  edifice.  It  is  recorded 
that  on  the  271)1  of  September,  1731,  a  sailor  slid 
clown  on  a  rope  from  the  top  of  the  church  steeple, 
with  a  streamer  in  each  hand. 

The  old  burial-ground  has  many  walks  through  it, 
most  of  which  are  public  thoroughfares,  and  occu- 
pied by  the  hurrying  and  thoughtless  passengers. 
"  Its  numerous  paths,  all  concentrating  towards  the 
sacred  edifice,"  says  Dr.  Robinson,  writing  about 
forty  years  ago,  "  are  lined  with  lofty  trees,  and  in 
the  summer  season  the  vastly  peopled  city  of  the 
dead  seems  one  beautiful  verdant  canopy  stretching 


over  the  peaceful  ashes  of  the  '  forefathers  of  the 
hamlet.'  Great  taste  has  been  displayed  in  planting 
Hackney  churchyard  with  so  many  fine  trees,  but 
amongst  them  the  yew-tree,  widi  its  sombre  foliage, 
is  nowhere  to  be  found.  Every  visitor  to  this  burial- 
ground  must  be  struck  with  the  curious  and  solitary 
appearance  of  the  old  square  grey  tower,  rearing 
its  lofty  walls,  a  singular  relic  of  the  ancient  church 
of  which  nothing  but  this  building  now  remains. 
We  can  only  guess  at  the  edifice,  which  must,  in 
times  long  since  passed  away,  have  extended  its 
aisles  and  raised  its  sacred  oriel  for  the  devotions 
of  our  ancestors.  The  marble  tombs  which  once 
must  have  filled  the  edifice  with  'hoar  antiquity,' 
and  the  '  storied  urn  and  animated  bust,'  which  once 
told  of  the  honoured  dead,  seem  all  swept  away 
by  the  hand  of  oblivion — obscuring  the  humble 
and  the  great — yet  Time,  as  if  willing  to  spare  us 
some  resemblance  of  the  older  days,  left  only  this 
old  grey  tower,  as  a  conspicuous  monument,  which, 
by  its  lonely  desolation,  tells  so  forcibly  of  the 
terrible  power  which,  by  one  fell  swoop,  has  eradi- 
cated all  besides.  The  bells  whose  music  once 
cheered  or  soothed  the  ears  of  those  who  have  now 
for  some  centuries  slept  the  sleep  of  death  around 
its  enduring  walls,  still  remain  and  retain  their 
vigorous  tones  in  the  same  elevated  chamber  where 
they  have  swung  from  the  time  of  our  Edwards 
and  Henries.  This  tower  must  have  sont  forth 
ts  loud  clamorous  notes  in  the  passing  of  many 
a  royal  progress,  when  banners  and  knights  and 
ladies  gay,  '  in  purple  and  pall,'  have  circled  past, 
or  when  the  proud  and  mitred  abbot,  with  princely 
train,  passed  to  and  fro  from  his  princely  abbey." 

The  new  church  of  St.  John,  which  stands  at  a 
short  distance  to  the  north-east  of  the  old  tower, 
ras  built  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  and  is 
constructed  chiefly  of  brick,  in  the  "  late  classical" 
style  of  architecture.  The  plan,  though  pretending 
to  be  cruciform,  is  really  an  unsightly  square ;  the 
projecting  face  of  the  elevation  of  each  front  is 
finished  by  a  triangular  pediment,  the  cornice  of 
which  receives  and  terminates  the  covering  of  the 
oof.  There  are  five  entrances,  each  of  which 
opens  to  a  spacious  vestibule,  like  that  of  a  theatre 
or  a  town-hall.  The  principal  entrance  is  on  the 
north,  and  is  protected  by  a  semi-circular  Ionic 
portico  of  Portland  stone.  The  interior  of  the 
church  is  plain  and  utterly  unecclesiastical,  and  is 
surmounted  by  a  vaulted  and  stuccoed  ceiling — 
certainly  no  improvement  on  the  structure  which  it 
as  built  to  supersede.  Some  of  the  windows  are 
enriched  with  coloured  glass,  and  that  over  the 
communion-table  is  painted  with  a  design  illustrative 
of  the  Scriptural  verse,  "  Let  there  be  light,"  &c. 


Hackney.] 


THE  NOTORIOUS  JOHN  WARD. 


Near  the  church,  on  the  west  side,  formerly 
stood  an  ancient  mansion  called  the  "Black  and 
White  House."  It  appears  to  have  been  built  in 
the  year  1578  by  a  citizen  of  London,  whose  arms, 
with  those  of  the  Merchant  Adventurers  and  the 
Russian  Company,  appeared  over  the  chimney  in 
one  of  the  principal  rooms,  and  also  in  the  windows 
of  the  great  parlour ;  other  armorial  bearings  also 
occurred  in  some  of  the  windows.  In  the  seven- 
teenth century  the  house  was  the  residence  of 
the  Vyner  family,  and  the  building  was  enlarged 
and  considerably  repaired  in  1662  by  Sir  Thomas 
Vyner.  At  the  close  of  the  last  century,  when  it 
was  pulled  down,  it  had  been  for  many  years  used 
'"  as  a  boarding-school  for  girls. 

Hackney  in  former  times  seems  to  have  been 
noted  for  its  boarding-schools  for  young  ladies.  In 
the  Taller,  No.  83,  there  is  this  reference  to  them  :— 
"  For  the  publication  of  this  discourse,  I  wait  only 
for  subscriptions  from  the  undergraduates  of  each 
university,  and  the  young  ladies  in  the  boarding- 
,  schools  at  Hackney."  Again,  "  Don  Diego,"  in 
Wycherly's  Gentleman 's  Dancing  Master,  makes 
this  remark  : — "  If  she  be  not  married  to-morrow 
(which  I  am  to  consider  of),  she  will  dance  a  corani 
in  twice  or  thrice  teaching  more;  will  she  noti 
for  'tis  but  a  twelvemonth  since  she  came  fron 
Hackney  School."  Shadwell  also,  in  The  Ha 
mourists,  makes  "Striker"  (a  haberdasher's  wife 
give  vent  to  the  following  ejaculation  :— "  Good 
Mistress  Gig-em-bob !  your  breeding  !  ha  !  I  am 
sure  my  husband  married  me  from  Hackney  Schoo: 
where  there  was  a  number  of  substantial  citizens 
daughters.  Your  breeding!"  These  three  quota 
tions  we  owe  to  Mr.  Peter  Cunningham. 

At  Hackney  Downs  are  large  Middle  Clas 
Schools  founded  by  the  Grocer's  Company  unde 
the  sanction  of  the  Charity  Commissioners. 

Sutton  Place,  on  the  southeast  side  of  th 
churchyard,  reminds  us  of  a  great  and  good  man 
whose  latter  days  were  passed  at  Hackney  ;  for  a 
his  house  here  died,  on  the  i2th  of  Decembe 
1611,  Thomas  Sutton,  the  worthy  and  benevolen 
founder  of  the  hospital  and  school  of  the  Charte 
house,  of  whom  we  have  already  spoken  at  som 
length  in  a  previous  part  of  this  work.* 

Close  by  the  "Three  Cranes,"  in  Mare  Stree 
stood,  till  recently,  another  ancient  hostelry,  call 
the  "  Mermaid,"  which  in  its  time  was  noted  f 
its  tea-gardens  and  its  assembly-room.  Mode 
shops  have  now  taken  the  place  of  the  old  taver 
and  its  gardens  have  been  covered  with  rows 
private  houses. 


:  Vol.  II.,  P.  383-8. 


At  the  upper  end  of  Mare  Street,  close  by 
alston  Lane,  in  a  large  house  which  remained 
anding  till  comparatively  recently,  and  known  as 
Ward's  Corner,"  lived  in  the  last  century  a  man 
10  was  noted  for  his  great  wealth  and  insatiable 
arice— the  famous  and  infamous  John  Ward, 
ember  of  Parliament,  pilloried  to  all  posterity  in 

0  stinging  lines  by  Pope,  who  linked  him  with 
e   infamous    Colonel    Francis  Chartres,   and  a 
ndred  worthy,  Waters : — 

"  Given  to  the  fool,  the  mad,  the  vain,  the  evil, 

To  Ward,  to  Waters,  Chartres,  and  the  devil." 
)hn  Ward  was  prosecuted  by  the   Duchess  of 
.ckingham  for  forgery,  and  being  convicted,  ex- 
iled the  House  of  Commons,  and  stood  in  the 
llory  in  March,   1727.      He  was   suspected  of 
ining  in  a  conveyance  with  Sir  John  Blunt  to 
ecrete  £50,000  of  that  director's  estate,  forfeited 
the  South  Sea  Company  by  Act  of  Parliament, 
he    company   recovered    the    ,£50,000   against 
ard ;  but  he  set  up  prior  conveyances  of  his  real 
state  to  his  brother  and  son,  and  concealed  all 
is  personal,  which  was  computed  to  be  .£150,000. 
"hese  conveyances  being  also  set  aside  by  a  bill   • 

1  Chancery,  Ward  was  imprisoned,  and  amused 
imself  in  confinement  by  giving  poison   to  cats 
nd  dogs,  in  order  that  he  might  watch  their  dying 
gomes.    To  sum  up  the  worth  of  this  gentleman 
,t  the  several  eras  of  his  life:. at  his  standing  in 
he  pillory  he  was  worth  above  £200,000  ;  at  his 
.ommitment  to  prison  he  was  worth  £150,000; 
3ut  has  been  so  far  diminished  in  his  reputation 
is  to  be  thought  a  worse  man  by  fifty  or  sixty 
housand.     After  his  death,  a  most  characteristic 
prayer  was  found  among  his   papers.     The  old 
sinner  did  not  pray  for  forgiveness  of  his  sins,  but 
n  this  fashion  :— "  0  Lord,  Thou  knowest  I  have 

nine  estates  in  the  City  of  London,  and  likewise 
hat  I  have  lately  purchased  an  estate  in  fee-simple 
.n  the  county  of  Essex.  I  beseech  Thee  to  preserve 
the  two  counties  of  Middlesex  and  Essex  from 
fire  and  earthquake  ;  and  as  I  have  a  mortgage 
in  Hertfordshire,  I  beg  of  Thee  likewise  to  have 
an  eye  of  compassion  on  that  county ;  and  for  the 
rest  of  the  counties  Thou  mayest  deal  with  them 
as  Thou  art  pleased."  He  then  prays  for  the  bank, 
that  his  debtors  may  be  all  good  men ;  and  for  the 
death  of  a  profligate  young  man,  whose  reversion 
he  had  bought-"  as  Thou  hast  said  the  days  of 
the  wicked  are  but  short  "—against  thieves,  and 
for  honest  servants. 

Tradition  says  that  an  old  building  close  by  the 
spot,  nearly  opposite  Dalston  Lane,  which  was 
not  completely  pulled  down  till  1823,  ™  f 
Templars'  House.  It  may  have  occupied  the 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


[Hackney. 


site,  but  could  scarcely  have  been  the  identic;: 
edifice;  for  it  was  built  with  projecting  bays,  i 
what  is  called  the  Renaissance  style.  About  th 
middle  of  the  last  century  it  was  a  public-house 
the  "  Blue  Posts ; "  afterwards  it  was  known 
"  Bob's  Hall,"  and  the  road  between  the  church 
yard  and  Clapton  Square  was  styled  Bob's  Ha! 
Lane. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  road  to  Clapton  foi 
merly  stood  a  mansion  called  "Brooke  House, 
and  at  one  time  the  "  King's  House,"  the  manor 
house  of  the  manor  termed   King's  Hold.     It  i 
said  to  have   belonged  originally  to  the  Knight 
Templars ;  and  after  the  dissolution  of  the  orde 
to  have    been    granted,   in   common    with   othe 
possessions,    to    the    monastery    of  St.    John    o 
Jerusalem.     On  the  dissolution  of  the  latter  orde 
the  estate  appears  to  have  been  granted  to  Henry 
Earl  of  Northumberland,  who  possibly  died  here 
since  he  was  buried,  as  we  have  seen,  at  Hackney 
This  earl  was  the  person  employed,  in  conjunction 
with  Sir  Walter  Walsh,  to  arrest  Cardinal  Wolsey  a 
his  house  at   Cawood.     He  had,  as  every  reader 
of  English  history  knows,    been,  in  his   youthfu 
days,  a  lover  of  Anne  Boleyn   (then  one   of  tht 
maids  of  honour  to   Queen  Catherine),  but  with- 
drew his  suit   in  consequence  of  the  interference 
of  kis  father,  who  had   been   purposely  made  ac 
quainted  with    the    king's    partiality  to   that   lady. 
When  the  inconstant  monarch's  affection  for  Anne 
Boleyn  (then  his  queen)  began  to  decline,  a  suj 
posed  pre-contract  with  the  Earl  of  Northumber- 
land was  made  the  pretence  for  a  divorce,  though 
the  ear],  in  a  letter  to  Secretary  Cromwell  (dated 
Newington  Green,   May   ijth,    1537),  denied    the 
existence  of  any  such  contract  in  the  most  solemn 
manner.     "  Henry,  Earl  of  Northumberland,  died." 
says  the  account   of   his  funeral  in    the    Heralds' 
College,  "  at  his  manor  of  Hackney,  now  the  King's 
House,  between  two  and  three  in  the  morning,  on 
the  zyth  of  June,    1537;  29    Hen.   VIII."      The 
earl,  as  we  have  stated  above,  was  buried  in  the  old 
church  close  by.     The  estate  afterwards  reverted 
to   the  Crown,  and   was  granted  by  Edward  VI., 
in   1547,  to  William   Herbert,  Earl  of  Pembroke. 
The  house   occupied  by  Lord   Pembroke   is   de- 
scribed   in    the    particulars    for    the   grant    of  the 
manor,   as   "a  fay  re  house,   all  of  brick,  with   a 
fayre  hall  and    parlour,   a  large  gallery,  a  proper 
chapel,  and  a  proper  gallery  to  laye  books  in,"  &c. 
It  is  also  stated  to  be  "situated  near  the  London 
road,"  and  to  be  "  enclosed  on  the  back  side  with 
a  great  and  broad  ditch." 

A  few  years  later  it  was  purchased  by  Sir  Henry 
Carey,  Lord  Hunsdon,  who  again  conveyed  it,  in 


1583,  to  Sir  Rowland  Hayward.  It  was  sub- 
sequently possessed  by  Fulke  Greville  (afterwards 
Lord  Brooke)  and  by  Sir  George  Vyner.  Under 
date  of  May  8,  1654,  John  Evelyn,  in  his  "  Diary," 
gives  us  the  following  note  of  a  visit  he  paid  to 
this  place  : — "  I  went  to  Hackney,"  he  writes,  "  to 
see  my  Lady  Brooke's  garden,  which  was  one  of 
the  neatest  and  most  celebrated  in  England ;  the 
house  well  furnish'd,  but  a  despicable  building." 

At  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  this 
manor  became  part  of  the  Tyssen  property,  of 
which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  more  fully 
hereafter. 

When  Lord  Brooke  sold  the  manor  of  King's 
Hold,  he  reserved  the  mansion,  which,  it  is  stated, 
continued  vested  in  his  family,  and  at  the  com- 
mencement of  this  century  was  the  property  of  the 
Earl  of  Warwick.  The  author  of  the  "  Beauties  of 
England  and  Wales,"  writing  in  1816,  says:  "Thu 
house  has  experienced  considerable  alterations, 

ut  large  portions  of  the  ancient  edifice  have  been 
preserved.  These  consist  principally  of  a  quad- 
•angle,  with  internal  galleries,  those  on  the  north 
and  south  sides  being  1 74  feet  in  length.  On  the 
ceiling  of  the  south  gallery  are  the  arms  of  Lord 
lunsdon,  witli  those  of  his  lady,  and  the  crests  of 
joth  families  frequently  repeated.  The  arms  of 
Lord  Hunsdon  are  likewise  remaining  on  the 
ceiling  of  a  room  connected  with  this  gallery.  It 
s  therefore  probable  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
louse  was  rebuilt  by  this  nobleman  during  the 
bhort  period  for  which  he  held  the  manor,  a  term 
f  no  longer  duration  than  from  1578  to  1583. 
The  other  divisions  of  this  extensive  building  are 
jf  various  but  more  modern  dates."  At  the  time 
vhen  the  above  description  was  written,  the  house 
eems  to  have  been  occupied  as  a  private  lunatic 
syluin. 

Several  of  the  nobility  and  wealthy  gentry,  in- 
eed,  appear  to  have  chosen  Hackney  for  a  resi- 
ence.  There  is  a  record  of  a  visit  to  Hackney  by 
)ueen  Elizabeth,  but  to  whom  is  not  certain,  in 
591.  The  son  and  daughter  of  her  dancing  chan- 
ellor,  Sir  Christopher  Hatton,  were  both  married 

Hackney  Church,  so  that  he,  too,  probably  lived 
ere.  Vere,  Karl  of  Oxford,  the  soldier  and  poet, 
ho  accompanied  Leicester  on  his  expedition  to 
Holland,  who  supplied  ships  to  oppose  the  Armada, 
nd  sat  on  the  trials  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  and 
ic  Earls  of  Arundel,  Essex,  and  Southampton, 
as,  in  his  latter  days,  a  resident  of  Hackney.  It 

also  said  that  Rose  Herbert,  a  lady  of  noble 
mily,  and  one  of  the  nuns  who  at  the  Reforma- 
on  were  turned  adrift  upon  the  world  from  the 
onvent  of  Godstow,  near  Oxford,  died  here 


JOHN  HOWARD'S  HOUSE. 


towards  the  end  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  in  a  state  of 
destitution,  at  the  age  of  ninety-six. 

Early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  George  Lord 
Zouch,  a  noted  man  in  his  day,  and  Lord  Warden 
of  the  Cinque  Ports,  had  a  house  at  Hackney, 
where  he  amused  himself  with  experimental  gar- 
dening. He  died  there,  and  was  buried  in  a  small 
chapel  adjoining  his  house.  Ben  Jonson,  who  was 
his  intimate  friend,  discovered  that  there  was  a 
hole  in  the  wall  affording  communication  between 
the  last  resting-place  of  Lord  Zouch  and  the  wine- 
cellar,  and  thereupon  vented  this  impromptu  :— 
"  Wherever  I  die,  let  this  be  my  fate, 

To  lye  by  my  good  Lord  Zouch, 
That  when  I  am  dry,  to  the  tap  I  may  hye, 

And  so  back  again  to  my  couch." 

Owen  Rowe,  one  of  those  who  sat  as  "  judges " 
at  the  trial  of  King  Charles,  died  and  was  buried 
at  Hackney,  in  1660. 

Another  memorable  inhabitant  of  Hackney  at 
this  time  was  Susanna  Prewick,  or  Perwick,  a 
young  musical  phenomenon,  whose  death,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-five,  in  1661,  was  celebrated  in 
some  lengthy  poems,  chiefly  commendatory  of  her 
personal  graces.  We  have  no  means  of  judging 
of  her  musical  powers,  which  created  an  extra- 
ordinary sensation  at  the  time  ;  Uit  it  is  gratifying 
to  know  that — 

"  All  vain,  conceited  affectation 
\Vas  unto  her  abomination. 
With  body  she  ne'er  sat  ascue, 
Or  mouth  awry,  as  others  do." 

Dr.  Thomas  Wood,  Bishop  of  Lichfield,  who 
died  in  1692,  was  a  native  of  Hackney. 

Defoe,  who  at  one  time  lived  at  Stoke  Newing 
ton,  in  all  probability  also  was  a  resident  here ;  fo 
in  1701  his  daughter  Sophia  was  baptised  ir 
Hackney  Church;  and  in  1724,  an  infant  son 
named  Daniel,  after  his  distinguished  father,  \va 
buried  in  the  same  church. 

Eastward  of  Hackney  churchyard  lies  Homer 
ton,  which,  together  with  Lower  Clapton,  may  b 
said  to  form  part  of  the  town  of  itself.  Hackne 
Union  is  here  sittiated  in  High  Street. 

In  1843  a  college  was  founded  close  by,  fo 
the  purpose  of  giving  unsectarian  religious  trainin 
to  young  men  and  women  who  wish  to  becom 
teachers  in  Government-aided  schools. 

Homerton  was  noted  in  the  last  and  early  pa 
of  the  present  century  for  its  academy  for  th 
education  of  young  men  designed  for  Dissentm 
ministers.  The  late  Dr.  John  1'yc  Smith  was  son- 
time  divinity  tutor  here. 

A  row  of  almshouses  in  the  village,  termed  1 
Widows'  Retreat,  has  upon  the  front  of  a  sn 


apel  in  the  centre,  the  following  inscription  :— 
For  the  Glory  of  God,  and  the  comfort  of  twelve 
dows  of  Dissenting  Ministers,  this  retreat  was 
ected  and  endowed  by  Samuel  Robinson,  A.D. 

Homerton  High  Street  leads  direct  to  Hackney 
arsh,  where,  says  the   "Ambulator"  of  1774, 
there  have  been  discovered  within  the  last  few 
ears  the  remains  of  a  great  causeway  of  stone, 
hich,  by  the  Roman  coins  found  there,  would 
>pear  to  have  been  one  of  the  famous  highways 
ade  by  the  Romans."     The  Marsh  Road,  too, 
ads  straight  on  to  Temple  Mills,  of  which  we 
ave  already  had  occasion  to  make  mention. 
The  City  of  London  Union  covers  a  large  space 
ground  to  the  north-east  of  Hackney  church- 
rd,  abutting  upon  Templar  Road.    Northward 
es  the  rapidly  extending  hamlet  of  Lower  Clapton. 
.ere,  in  a  curious  old  house,  which  was  pulled 
own  many  years  ago,  was  born,  in  the  year  1727, 
ohn   Howard,   the  future  prison   reformer    and 
hilanthropist.    The  house  had  been  the  "  country 
:sidence  "  of  John  Howard's  father,  who  was  an 
pholsterer  in  London ;  and  it  descended  to  the 
on,  who  sold  it  in  1785.      In  an  article  in  the 
'lirror  in   1826,    this    house,    so   interesting    to 
umanity,  is  said  to  have  been  "  taken  down  some 
ears  ago."    Much  of  Howard's  early  life  seems  to 
iave  been  passed  here ;  and  his  education,  which 
,-as  rather  imperfect,  was  gained  among  one  of  the 
Dissenting  sects,  of  which  his  father  was  a  member. 
On  the  death  of  his  father  he  was  apprenticed  to  a 
wholesale  grocer  in  the  City.    On  quitting  business 
e  indulged  in  a  tour  through  France  and  Italy. 
He  subsequently,  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  took 
odgings   at   Stoke    Newington.      We   shall    have 
-nore  to  say  about  him   on  reaching  that  place. 
The  old   house   at   Clapton  where   Howard  was 
born  is  said  to  have  been  built  in  the  early  part 
of  the  last  century ;  it  had  large  bay-windows,  a 
pedimented  roof,  numerous  and  well-proportioned 
•ooms,  and  a  large  garden.    The  site  of  the  house 
was  afterwards  covered  by  Laura  Place,  and  its 
memory  is  now  kept  up  by  the  name  of  Howard 
Villas,   which  has    been    given  to  some  houses 
lately  erected  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road.    A 

•>w  of  the  house  in  which  Howard  was  born 
w,ll  be  found  in  "Smith's  Historical  and  Literary 
Curiosities,"  and  also  in  the  seventh  volume  of  the 
Mirror. 

At  no  great  distance  from  the  site  of  Howards 
old  house,  but  on  the  west  side  of  the  road, 
was  a  school,  known  by  the  name  of  Hackney 
School  which  had  flourished  for  upwards  of  a 
century  on  the  same  spot.  This  academy  was 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Hackney. 


long  under  the  direction  of  the  Newcome  family. 
"It  was  celebrated,"  says  Mr.  Lysons,  "for  the 
excellence  of  the  dramatic  performances  exhibited 
every  third  year  by  the  scholars.  In  these  dramas 
Dr.  Benjamin  Hoadly,  author  of  the  Suspicious 
Husband,  and  his  brother,  Dr.  John  Hoadly,  a 
dramatic  writer  also,  who  were  both  educated  at 
this  school,  formerly  distinguished  themselves." 
In  1813,  the  London  Orphan  Asylum  was  in- 


fortune  by  manufacturing  and  selling  sundry  articles 
of  bed-room  ware  adorned  with  the  head  of  Dr. 
Sacheverell.  "The  date  of  its  erection  is  not 
exactly  known  ;  but  it  probably  was  after  the  year 
1710,  because  the  trial  of  Sacheverell  did  not  take 
place  till  the  February  or  March  of  that  year.  .  . 
There  are  at  the  present  time  (1842),"  he  adds, 
"two  urns  with  flowers,  surmounting  the  gate-piers 
at  the  entrance."  The  building  was  subsequently 


stituted  at  Lower  Clapton  ;  but  about  the  year 
1870  its  inmates  were  removed  to  new  buildings 
erected  at  Watford,  in  Hertfordshire.  The  building 
here,  which  consisted  of  a  <  entre,  with  a  spacious 
portico  and  wings,  together  with  the  outlying 
grounds,  was  bought  in  1882,  for  about  ,£23,000, 
by  the  Salvation  Army,  and  converted  into  a 
"Barrack  and  Congress  Hall.1'  What  was  one-c- 
an extensive  lawn  in  front  of  the  building  is  now 
covered  with  houses. 

Dr.  Robinson,  in  his  '•  History  of  Hackney," 
says  that  on  the  west  side  of  the  road,  nearly 
opposite  the  Congress  Hall,  stood  an  old  house, 
which  many  years  ago  was  known  by  a  very 
vulgar  appellation,  from  the  circumstance  of  the 
person  who  built  it  having  made  a  considerable 


(Seepage  521.) 


converted  into  an  Asylum  for  Deaf  and  Dumb 
Females. 

Among  the  historical  characters  connected  with 
this  place  whom  we  have  not  already  named,  was 
Major  Andre,  hanged  by  Washington  as  a  spy ;  he 
was  born  at  Clapton.  He  was  originally  intended 
for  a  merchant ;  but  being  disappointed  in  love  for 
Honora  Sneyd  (the  friend  of  Anna  Seward),  who 

|  became  afterwards  the  mother-in-law  of  Miss  Maria 

!  Edgeworth,  he  entered  the  army,  and  ultimately 

I  met  with  the  fate  above  mentioned. 

|  To  go  back  a  little  into  the  reign  of  antiquity, 
we  may  remark  that,  though  far  removed  from  the 
crowded  city,  and  generally  considered  a  salubrious 
spot,  Hackney  suffered  much  from  visitations  of  the 
plague,  which  in  1593  carried  off  42  persons;  in 


VIEWS   IN   KINGSLAND. 
Kingsland  Chapel,  1780.          2.  Lock  Hospital,  1780.       '    3.  Shacklewcll  House,  1700. 


524 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Hoxt, 


1603,  269;  in  1625,  170;  and  in  the  terrible  year 
1665,  as  many  as  225. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century 
Hackney  was  much  infested  by  robbers,  which  ren- 
dered travelling  after  dark  very  insecure.  The 
roads  between  London  and  this  rural  suburb  were 
then  lonely  and  unprotected ;  and  it  was  not  until 
January,  1756,  that  lamps  were  placed  between 
Shoreditch  and  Hackney,  and  patrols,  armed  with 
guns  and  bayonets,  placed  on  the  road.  In  the 
Marshes  towards  Hackney  Wick  were  low  public- 
houses,  the  haunt  of  highwaymen  and  their  Dul- 
cineas.  Dick  Turpin  was  a  constant  guest  at  the 
"White  House,"or  "Tyler's  Ferry,"  near  Joe  Sovvter's 
cock-pit,  at  Temple  Mills  ;  and  few  police-officers 
were  bold  enough  to  approach  the  spot. 

Maitland,  in  his  "  History  of  London,"  says, 
"The  village  of  Hackney  being  anciently  cele- 
brated for  the  numerous  seats  of  the  nobility 
and  gentry,  occasioned  a  mighty  resort  thither  of 
persons  of  all  conditions  from  the  City  of  London, 
whereby  so  great  a  number  of  horses  were  daily 
hired  in  the  City  on  that  account,  that  at  length 
all  horses  to  be  let  received  the  common  appellation 
of  '  Hackney  horses ; '  which  denomination  has 
since  communicated  itself  both  to  public  coaches 
and  chairs  ;  and  though  this  place  at  present  be 
deserted  by  the  nobility,  yet  it  so  greatly  abounds 
with  merchants  and  persons  of  distinction,  that  it 
excels  all  other  villages  in  the  kingdom,  and 
probably  on  earth,  in  the  riches  and  opulence  of 
its  inhabitants,  as  may  be  judged  from  the  great 
number  of  persons  who  keep  coaches  there."  Hut 
it  is  to  be  feared  that  in  this  matter  Maitland  is 
not  to  be  trusted ;  for  though  it  has  often  been 
supposed,  and  occasionally  assumed  even  by  well- 
informed  writers,  that  as  Sedan-chairs  and  Bath- 
chairs  were  named  from  the  places  where  they  were 
first  respectively  used,  so  the  village  of  Hackney 
lias  had  the  honour  of  giving  the  name  to  those 


hackney  carriages  which  were  the  immediate 
forerunners  of  the  London  cabriolet,  it  is  simply  a 
fact  that  the  word  "hackney"  may  be  traced  to 
the  Dutch,  French,  Spanish,  and  Italian  languages. 
In  our  own  tongue  it  is  at  leasf  as  old  as  Chaucer 
and  Froissart,  who  borrowed  it  from  the  French 
haqumec,  a  slow-paced  nag.  At  all  events,  in 
Chaucer's  "Romaunt  of  the  Rose,"  we  find  the 
phrase  thus  used  : — 

"  Dame  Richesse  on  her  hand  gan  lede 

A  yonge  man  full  of  semely  hecle, 

That  she  best  loved  of  any  thing, 

His  lust  was  much  in  householdyng ; 

In  clothyng  was  he  full  fetysc, 

And  loved  wel  to  have  horse  of  prise  ; 

He  wende  to  have  reproved  be 

Of  thrifte  or  murdre,  if  that  be 

Had  in  his  stable  an  hackenay" 

Froissart,  in  one  of  his  Chronicles,  says,  "  The 
knights  are  well  horsed,  and  the  common  people 
ai.d  others  on  litell  hakeneys  and  geldyngs."  The 
word  subsequently  acquired  the  meaning  of  "  let 
for  hire,"  and  was  soon  applied  to  other  matters 
than  horses.  In  Lore's  Labour's  Lost  Shakespeare 
says,  "Your  love,  perhaps,  is  a  hacknie."  In 
"  Hudibras  "  we  meet  with  "  a  broom,  the  nag  and 
hackney  of  a  tapland  hag."  Pope  calls  himself 
"a  hackney  scribbler."  Addison  and  Steele,  in 
the  Spectator  and  Taller,  speak  of  "driving  in 
a  hack,"  and  our  readers  surely  remember  the 
hackney  coach  in  which  Sir  Roger  de  Coverley 
went  to  Westminster  Abbey.  Hogarth  gave  the 
expressive  name  of  "  Kate  Hackabout "  to  the 
poor  harlot  whose  progress  he  depicted.  Cowper, 
in  the  "Task,"  uses  "hackneyed"  as  a  passive 
verb ;  and  Churchill  employs  it  as  an  adjective. 
So  there  are  authorities  enough  for  the  meaning  of 
"  hackney ; "  and  the  pleasant  village,  now  the 
centre  of  n  suburban  town,  must,  we  fear,  be 
deprived  of  the  honour  of  having  invented  hackney 
coaches. 


CHAPTER    XLII. 
HOXTOX,    KIXGSLAXD,    DAI.STOX,    &c. 

"Dalston,  or  Shacklcwell,  or  some  other  suburban  retreat  northerly."  -C.  /.ami,  "Ettayi  ff  Klia." 
Kin-shnd    Road-Hrirmcr's   Almshouses-Geffcrey's  Almshouses -The    Almshouses  of   the    Framework    Knittei 


St.  Columba's  Church— Hoxton— "  Pimlico  "—Discovery  of  a  Medicinal  Spring— Charles  Square— Aske's  Hospital— Btlmes.  or  Baurae« 
House -The  Practising  Ground  of  the  Artillery  Company- De  Ueauvoir  Town- The  Tyssen  Family— St.  Peter's  Church,  De  Beauvoir 
Square-The  Roman   Catholic  Church  of  Our  Lady  and   St.   Joseph- Hall's  Pond-Kingsland-A  Hospital  for   Lepers-Dalston-Th* 
les— The  German  Hospital— Shacklewell. 


Refuge  for  Destilutc  F 

HERE,  it  is  true,  we 


have   no  historian  or   old 


annalist  to  guide  our  steps,  for  the  district  had  no 
entity  of  its  own  till  quite  a  recent  date,  and  it  is 


not  old  enough  to  have  a  history.  Its  records  are 
the  annals  of  a  "  quiet  neighbourhood."  Beyond 
an  occasional  remark,  too,  we  can  glean  nothing 


HoxtonJ 


BALMES  HOUSi 


of  interest  about  the  neighbourhood  from  the  pages 
of  Strype,  Maitland,  or  honest  John  Stow ; 

"  The  quaint  and  antique  Stow,  whose  words  alone 
Seem  letter'd  records  graven  upon  stone." 

These  close-lying  suburbs — which  we  scarcely 
know  whether  to  reckon  as  parts  and  parcels  of 
the  great  metropolis  or  not — have  been  wittily 
denned  by  Mr.  G.  O.  Trevelyan,  in  his  "  Life  of 
Lord  Macaulay,"  as  "places  which,  as  regards  the 
company  and  the  way  of  living,  are  little  else  than 
sections  of  London  removed  into  a  purer  air." 
And  so  rapidly  is  London  growing  year  by  year 
that  even  Mr.  Trevelyan's  words  will  soon  prove 
out  of  date,  so  far  as  regards  purity  of  air. 

This  district  is  approached  from  the  City  by 
Bishopsgate  Street  and  the  broad  and  open 
thoroughfare  called  Kingsland  Road,  which  runs 
northward  from  the  end  of  Old  Street  Road, 
diverging  at  Shoreditch  Church  from  the  road  by 
which  we  have  travelled  towards  Hackney. 

On  the  east  side  of  the  road  we  pass  several 
almshouses.  The  first  of  these  belong  to  the 
Drapers'  Company,  and  are  known  as  Mariner's 
Almshouses.  The  buildings,  which  were  erected 
in  1713,  have  a  somewhat  picturesque  appearance, 
and  afford  homes  for  twelve  single  men  and  women. 
Gefferey's  Almshouses  and  Charity,  in  the  gift  of 
the  Ironmongers'  Company,  are  situated  close  to 
the  above  ;  these  were  founded  in  1703,  for  the 
purpose  of  providing  homes  and  pensions  for  a 
certain  number  of  poor  persons.  Next  we  have 
the  almshouses  belonging  to  the  Framework 
Knitters'  Company.  These  were  established  in 
the  early  part  of  the  last  century  as  homes,  &c., 
for  twelve  poor  freemen  and  widows  of  the  above- 
mentioned  company. 

The  only  buildings  worthy  of  mention  in  the 
Kingsland  Road,  which  we  pass  on  the  west  side 
on  our  way  northward,  are  the  Workhouse  of  the 
parish  of  Shoreditch,  and  St.  Columba's  Church 
The  latter  building,  a  large  and  lofty  red-brick 
edifice,  with  a  clergy  house  adjoining,  was  buill 
about  the  year  1868  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  P 
Brooks  ;  and  the  services  in  the  church  are  con 
ducted  on  "Ritualistic"  principles. 

Hoxton,  which  lies  on  the  west  side  ol  the 
Kingsland  Road,  and  north  of  Old  Street  Road 
now  included  in  Shoreditch  parish,  was  fo 
merly  as  we  have  stated  in  the  previous  chapter 
reckoned  as  part  of  Hackney.  The  locality  ir 
bygone  times  acquired  a  certain  celebrity  from  ; 
HOted  tavern  or  ale-house,  called  "Pimlico,"  whicl 
existed  there ;  it  is  referred  to  by  Ben  Jonson 
Dodsley,  and  others  in  plays  of  the  seventeent 
century.  The  name  of  "Pimlico"  is  kept  u 


emembrance  by  Pimlico  Walk,  near  the  junction 
f  the  New  North  Road  and  Pitfield  Street.  The 
rigin  of  the  name  of  Hoxton  is  somewhat  involved 

obscurity.  The  place  was  formerly  sometimes 
ailed  Hogsdon,  as  we  have  already  seen;*  and 
log  Lane,  in  Norton  Folgate,  close  by,  would 
ead  to  the  inference  that  it  was  so  named  in 
onsequence  of  the  number  of  hogs  that  might 
ave  been  reared  there ;  but  this  seems  doubtful, 
r  in  the  "  Domesday"  record  we  find  the  name 
f  the  place  entered  as  Hocheston,  and  in  a  lease 
f  the  time  of  Edward  III.  it  is  mentioned  as 
loggeston.  Stow,  in  1598,  describes  the  place 
s  "a.  large  street  with  houses  on  both  sides;" 
ut  it  has  long  since  lost  all  pretensions  to  a  rural 
r  retired  character.  A  medicinal  spring  was  dis- 
overed  at  Hoxton  in  the  seventeenth  century,  on 
igging  the  cellar  for  a  house  near  Charles  Square ; 
>ut  it  does  not  appear  to  have  attained  any 

inence  or  reputation.  In  Charles  Square  lived 
he  Rev.  John  Newton,  Cowper's  friend  and  corre- 
pondent,  many  years  rector  of  St.  Mary  Wool- 
loth,  in  Lombard  Street,  and  who  died  in  1807. 
"eter  Cunningham,  in  his  "  Handbook  of  London  " 
1850),  speaks  of  the  house  of  Oliver,  third  Lord 
it.  John  of  Bletsoe,  who  died  in  1618,  as  still 
standing. 

Hoxton  has  long  been  noted  for  the  number  of 
ts  charitable  institutions,  among  which  Aske's 
Hospital,  at  the  upper  end  of  Pitfield  Street,  held 
a  prominent  place.  It  consisted  of  some  aims- 
houses  and  schools,  founded  by  Robert  Aske,  an 
alderman  of  London,  and  a  member  of  the  Haber- 
dashers' Company,  in  1688,  as  homes  for  twenty 
poor  freemen  of  that  company,  and  for  the  educa- 
tion of  220  sons  of  freemen.  The  buildings  were 
extensive,  and  had  in  front  a  piazza  upwards  of 
300  feet  in  length.  The  chapel  was  consecrated 
by  Archbishop  Tillotson  in  1695.  In  1875-6  the 
almshouses  were  removed,  and  a  large  middle-class 
school,  called  Aske's  Haberdashers'  School,  now 
occupies  the  site. 

Hoxton  in  former  times  boasted  of  at  least  one 
mansion  of  some  importance ;  this  was  Balmes 
House-termed  in  old  writings  Bawmes,  or 
Baulmes.  In  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century  the  old  house  was  rebuilt  on  a  scale  of 
great  magnificence  by  Sir  George  Whitmore,  who 
was  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  and  a  considerable 
sufferer  for  his  loyalty  to  Charles  I.  The  mansion 
was  purchased  about  fifty  years  afterwards  by 
Richard  de  Beauvoir,  a  Guernsey  gentleman  who 
lived  there  in  great  style.  Foreigners  visited  the 


OLD  AND  NEW  LONDON. 


mansion  as  one  of  the  sights  of  London ;  and 
was  noticed  as  a  memorable  show  place  in  Frenc 
and  German  works  on  architecture  and  landscap 
gardening.     At  the  end  of  the  last  century  it 
surrounded  by  a  moat  spanned  by  drawbridges 
and    there    were    beautiful    gardens,   watered   b; 
streams  from  Canonbury  Fields.     But  Time  workec 
strange  changes  in  Eaumes ;  and  in  the  end  the 
"  old  house  at  Hoxton  " — a  melancholy  high-roofec 
dingy  building,  enclosed  by  high  walls — came 
be  a  private  lunatic  asylum,  of  which  Charles  Lamb 
was  once,  and  his  sister  Mary  more  than  once,  an 
inmate.    Some  few  years  ago   the  building  w< 
pulled  down  ;  but  Whitmore  Bridge  preserves  th 
memory  of  the  hospitable  alderman  of  the  Stua 
days,  and  the  smart  De  Beauvoir  Town,  near  a 
hand,  is  a  handsome  memorial  of  his  successor  in 
the  splendour  of  Baumes. 

The  fields  near  the  old  building  appear  to  have 
been  formerly  used  by  the  Artillery  Company  as  a 
place  of  exercise ;  and  the  "  Baumes  March  "  is 
said  to  have  been  "  a  favourite  exercise  at  arms." 
A  melancholy  interest  attaches  to  the  fields  here- 
abouts, from  the  fact  that  it  was  in  one  of  them 
that  Ben  Jonson  killed  in  a  duel  Gabriel  Spenser 
the  player.* 

Nearly  all  the  land  round  this  part  belongs  to 
the  Tyssen  and  De  Beauvoir  families,  after  whom 
and  their  connections  and  alliances,  streets,  squares, 
and  terraces  are  named  in  almost  endless  succes- 
sion. One  district,  indeed,  is  collectively  named 
De  Beauvoir  Town. 

The  Tyssens  were  formerly  merchants  at  Flushing, 
in  Holland,  but  about  the  reign  of  James  II.  they 
settled  in  London  and  became  naturalised  subjects. 
Like  many  other  City  merchants  at  that  time,  they 
seem  to  have  fixed  their  abode  at  Hackney  and 
Shacklewell,  and  several  of  them  were  buried  in 
Hackney  Church.  Francis  Tyssen,  of  Shacklewell, 
married  Rachel,  the  youngest  daughter  of  Richard 
de  Beauvoir,  of  Guernsey,  and  subsequently  of 
Baumes,  as  mentioned  above  ;  and  on  his  death, 
in  1717,  he  was  buried  at  Hackney  "with  great 
funeral  pomp  "  by  his  brother  merchants,  who  had 
resolved  to  do  honour  to  his  memory.  His  body 
lay  in  state  in  Goldsmiths'  Hall  (from  which  we 
may  infer  that  he  was  very  rich  indeed),  surrounded 
by  a  magnificent  display  of  plate,  gold  and  silver 
sconces  and  trophies.  Then  the  corpse  was  borne 
to  Hackney  Church  with  a  great  procession  of 
horse  and  footmen,  and  such  an  abundant  follow- 
ing, that  the  Earl  of  Suffolk,  deputy  Earl-Marshal, 
became  alarmed  for  the  funeral  privileges  of  people 


'SceVoL  II.,  p.  195 


of  quality,  and  published  a  notice  in  the  Gazette 
to  the  effect  that  the  display  "far  exceeded  the 
quality  of  the  deceased,  being  only  a  private  gentle- 
man," and  that  "  funerals  of  ignoble  persons  should 
not  be  set  forth  with  such  trophies  of  honour  as 
belong  only  to  the  peers  and  gentles  of  the  realm." 
The  funeral  must  really  have  been  a  grand  affair, 
for  it  cost  ^2,000,  a  large  sum  in  those  days. 
Three  days  after  Tyssen  was  laid  in  the  grave  with 
so  much  pomp,  his  widow  was  confined  of  a  son, 
the  heir  to  the  large  property.  This  his  only 
son,  Francis  John  Tyssen,  lord  of  the  manor  of 
Hackney,  died  in  1781,  leaving  a  daughter,  who 
subsequently  conveyed  the  property  by  marriage 
to  the  Amhursts,  of  Rochester.  At  the  close  of 
the  last  century,  through  failure  of  male  heirs,  the 
property  passed,  by  marriage  of  an  heiress,  to  Mr. 
William  George  Daniel,  of  Foley  House,  Kent, 
and  Westbrook,  Dorset,  who  thereupon  assumed, 
by  royal  sign-manual,  the  surname  and  arms  of 
Tyssen.  His  eldest  son,  who  inherited  the  manor 
of  Hackney,  took  the  additional  name  of  Amhurst, 
a  name  given  to  one  of  the  principal  thoroughfares 
connecting  the  main  street  of  Hackney  with  the 
high  road  at  Stoke  Newington. 

De  Beauvoir  Town  is  that  part  of  this  neighbour- 
hood lying  on  the  north  side  of  Hoxton,  stretching 
away  from  the  Regent's  Canal  on  the  south  to 
Hall's  Pond  Road  on  the  north,  and  from  Kings- 
and  Road  on  the  east  to  the  New  North  Road  and 
Canonbury  on  the  west  Its  centre  is  formed  by 
De  Beauvoir  Square,  which  is  surrounded  by  a 
number  of  small  streets  and  terraces.  St.  Peter's 
Church,  in  the-  south-west  corner  of  the  square,  is 
i  pseudo-Gothic  edifice,  and  was  erected  about  the 
•ear  1830. 

In  Tottenham  Road,  near  the  Kingsland  main 
oad,  is  the  Roman .  Catholic  church  of  Our  Lady 
ind  St.  Joseph,  which  was  solemnly  opened  in  the 
•ear  1856  by  the  late  Cardinal  Wiseman.  The 
>resbytery,  which  adjoins  the  church,  fronts  the 
Culford  Road.  The  church  is  a  spacious  brick 
dilice.  It  was  originally  built  for  manufacturing 
mrposes,  but  was  converted  to  its  present  use 
nder  the  direction  of  Mr.  Wardell.  Externally, 
he  building  has  not  much  pretensions  to  beauty 
r  ecclesiastical  architecture.  It  is,  however,  spa- 
ious,  and  will  accommodate  about  six  hundred 
•orshippers.  The  division  of  the  chancel  from  the 
ody  of  the  church  is  formed  by  a  flight  of  steps 
f  considerable  elevation,  and  on  each  side  is  a 
creened  enclosure — the  one  used  for  the  organ- 
hamber  and  choir,  and  the  other  for  the  sacristy, 
t  the  western  ends  of  these  enclosures  are  the 
ide  altars.  The  high  altar  is  arranged  with 


Ball's  Pond.] 


KINGSLAND. 


baldachino,  reredos,  and  frontal ;  and  the  roof  of 
the  chancel  is  divided  into  panels  of  a  blue  ground, 
relieved  with  sacred  monograms.  Underneath  the 
church  are  spacious  and  convenient  schools. 

The  north  end  of  the  De  Beauvoir  and  Culford 
Roads  is  crossed  at  right  angles  by  Ball's  Pond 
Road,  which  connects  Kingsland  Road  and  Dalston 
Lane  with  Essex  Road,  Islington. 

Ball's  Pond  was  originally  a  small  hamlet  belong- 
ing to  the  parish  of  Islington,  and  abutting  upon 
the  Newington  Road.  It  consisted  of  only  a 
few  houses  and  gardens,  and  received  its  name 
from  one  John  Ball,  whose  memory  is  preserved 
on  a  penny  token,  as  the  keeper  of  a  house  of 
entertainment  called  the  "Salutation,"  or  more 
commonly  the  "Boarded  House,"  at  this  place 
about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
inscription  on  the  token  is  as  follows :  "  John  Ball, 
at  the  Boarded  House,  neere  Newington  Green: 
his  Penny;"  and  the  sign  is  depicted  upon  the 
coin  by  the  representation  of  two  gentlemen 
saluting  each  other.  The  place  was  formerly 
famous  for  the  exercise  of  bull-baiting  and  other 
brutal  sports,  and  was  much  resorted  to  by  the 
lower  orders  of  society  from  all  parts  of  the 
metropolis.  There  was,  near  this  spot,  a  large 
pond,  which  by  the  frequenters  of  the  place  became 
coupled  with  the  name  of  "  mine  host."  This  pond 
was  used,  doubtless,  like  that  which  we  have 
mentioned  in  our  account  of  May  Fair,*  for  duck- 
hunting  and  other  such  cruel  and  unmanly  sports. 

When  the  citizens  of  London  used  to  take 
lodgings  for  the  summer  at  Islington  for  the  sake 
of  its  pure  and  healthy  air,  the  district  all  around 
us  must  have  consisted  of  open  fields,  and  nothing 
met  the  eye  between  Hoxton  and  Stoke  Newington. 
The  fields  were  doubtless  used  by  the  Finsbury 
archers  when  Hoxton  got  too  hot,  or  rather  too 
populous,  to  hold  them ;  and  probably  within  this 
present  century  a  stray  toxophilite  may  have  been 
seen  hereabouts  stringing  his  bow,  and  dreaming 
of  the  days  that  were  past. 

In  passing  through  Ball's  Pond  we  have  the 
New  River  on  our  left,  not,  however,  any  longer, 
as  it  used  to  be,  open  to  the  view,  and  reflecting 
the  sky  as  in  a  mirror,  but  stealing  along,  like  the 
mole,  underground,  being  arched  over  in  order  to 
keep  its  stream  clean  and  pure,  and  free  from  the 
smuts  and  other  impurities  from  which  it  would  be 
difficult  to  purify  it  by  all  the  filtration  in  the 
world. 

•v.      Kingsland  lies  to  the  north  of  the  Regent's 
Canal,  which,  after  leaving  the  Regent's  Park  and 


See  VoL  IV.,  p.  35»- 


:amden  Town,  is  carried  by  a  tunnel  under  the 
high  ground  of  Islington,  and  passes  hence  through 
Hackney  to  Mile  End,  and  so  into  the  Thames  at 
Limehouse.  It  probably  derived  its  name-  from 
he  royal  residence  on  Stoke  Newington  Green,  of 
ivhich  we  shall  have  more  to  say  presently.  The 
fields  adjoining  being  occupied  by  royalty  for  the 
:hase,  came  conventionally  to  be  styled  the  "  King's 
ands  "—hence  Kingsland. 

We  get  a  glimpse  of  the  pastoral  scenery  that 
t  one  time  lay  between  London  and  Kingsland 
n  the  "Diary"  of  the  inimitable  Pepys.  Under 
date  of  May  i2th,  1667,  he  writes :—"  Walked 
ver  the  fields  to  Kingsland  and  back  again;  a 
falk,  I  think,  I  have  not  taken  these  twenty  years ; 

ut  puts  me  in  mind  of  my  boy's  time,  when  I 
loarded  at  Kingsland,  and  used  to  shoot  with  my 
aow  and  arrow  in  these  fields." 

This,  and  the  whole  neighbourhood  with  which 
we  are  now  concerned,  must  at  one  time  have 
been  part  and  parcel  of  the  great  northern  forest 

f  Middlesex,  if  there  be  truth  in  what  Lord 
Lyttelton  tells  us  on  the  authority  of  an  old 
chronicler  of  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  that  the 
citizens  of  London  once  had  a  chace  or  forest 
which  extended  from  Hounsditch  nearly  twelve 
miles  north.  The  last  part  of  this  large  forest  was 
Enfield  Chace,  the  farthest  portion  from  town ;  and 
if  it  all  once  belonged  to  the  people,  it  would  be 
nteresting  to  find  out  how  it  passed  into  the  hands 
of  the  sovereign. 

Kingsland  is  a  chapelry  partly  in  Hackney  and 
partly  in  Islington  parish.  It  is  described  by  the 

Ambulator,"  in  1774,  as  a  hamlet  of  the  parish  of 
Islington,  lying  between  Hoxton  and  Clapton.  It 
consists  chiefly  of  rows  of  houses,  extending  in  a 
somewhat  monotonous  series  along  the  road  from 
London  to  Stamford  Hill. 
Lewis,  in  his  "Topographical  Dictionary"  (1835), 

rites :  "  Here  are  brick-fields,  and  some  part  of 
the  ground  is  occupied  by  nurserymen  and  market- 
gardens.  Previously  to  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century  there  was  at  Kingsland  a  hospital  for  lepers, 

hich,  after  the  Reformation,  became  annexed  to 
St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  and  was  used  as  a  sort 
of  out-ward  to  that  institution." 

This  hospital  appears  to  have  been  established 
at  a  very  early  period ;  for,  as  we  learn  from 
Strype's  "Survey  of  London,"  as  far  back  as  the 
year  1437,  "John  Pope,  citizen  and  barber,  gave 
by  will  to  the  Masters  and  Governors  of  the 
House  of  Lepers,  called  Lt  Lokes,  at  Kingeslond 
without  London,  an  annual  rent  of  6s.  8d.  issuing 
out  of  certain  shops,  situate  in  Shirborne  Lane, 
toward  the  sustentation  of  the  said  House  at 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


Kingeslond,  for  ever."  It  appears  from  the  records 
of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  that  soon  after  the 
establishment  of  that  charity  in  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII.,  certain  Lock,  or  Lazar,  Hospitals  were 
opened  in  situations  remote  from  the  City,  for  the 
reception  of  peculiar  patients;  and  the  ancient 
house  for  lepers  at  Kingsland  was  converted  into 
one  of  these  receptacles.  It  was  afterwards  rebuilt 
on  a  larger  and  more  commodious  plan.  A  sub- 


mother  hospital,  the  house  had  a  communication 
with  the  chapel,  so  contrived  that  the  patients 
might  take  part  in  the  service  without  seeing  or 
being  seen  by  the  congregation.  It  may  be  men- 
tioned here  that  there  was  a  similar  arrangement 
in  the  Lock  Chapel,  Grosvenor  Place.  In  1761  the 
patients  were  removed  from  Kingsland,  and  the  site 
of  the  establishment  was  let  out  on  building  leases, 
though  the  chapel  itself  was  suffered  to  stand,  and 


USE  is  1750.     (Set/age  525 


stantial  edifice  of  brick,  formerly  appropriated  to 
the  use  of  the  diseased,  having  over  the  door  the 
arms  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  remained 
standing  here  down  to  the  commencement  of  the 
present  century. 

This  hospital  was  anciently  called  the  "  Loke," 
or  "Lock."*  The  greater  part  of  the  building 
was  burnt  down  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
but  was  subsequently  rebuilt.  The  structure  joined 
a  little  old  chapel,  which  escaped  the  fire. 

A  writer  in  Notes  and  Queries  states  that  "  a  sun- 
dial on  the  premises  formerly  bore  this  inscription, 
significant  of  sin  and  sorrow :  '  Post  voluptatem 
misericordia.'"  Prior  to  its  alienation  from  the 

•  See  atitt,  pp.  214  and  215. 


to  be  used  as  a  proprietary  chapel.  It  was  a  small 
edifice  in  the  Early  English  style  of  Gothic  archi- 
tecture, with  pointed  windows  and  a  bell  turret 
It  was  in  the  patronage  of  the  Governors  of  St. 
Bartholomew's  Hospital,  and  the  endowment  was 
very  insignificant.  The  chapel,  it  should  be  added, 
was  removed  in  the  reign  of  William  IV.,  in  order 
to  make  room  for  building  private  residences.  The 
chapel  adjoined  the  turnpike  at  the  south-eastern 
corner  of  the  road  leading  to  Ball's  Pond,  and  was, 
perhaps,  coeval  with  the  first  establishment  of  the 
house  for  lepers  on  this  spot.  The  lower  part  of 
the  structure,  in  its  latter  years,  was  so  much 
hidden  by  the  accumulation  of  earth  on  the  out- 
side, that  the  floor  of  the  area  was  full  three  feet 
below  the  surface  of  the  highway. 


Dalston.] 


REFUGE  FOR   DESTITUTE  FEMALES. 


Dalston,  or  Dorlston,  as  it  was  spelt  formerly,  is 
usually  regarded  as  a  hamlet  of  Hackney  parish ; 
it  properly  designates  the  houses  on  either  side  of 
the  road  leading  from  Kingsland  and  Ball's  Pond 
to  Hackney,  called  Dalston  Lane ;  but  has  gradually 
come  to  be  applied  to  the  whole  neighbouring 


of  the  past,"  so  that  the  place  is  now  one  of  the 
most  populous  districts  in  the  suburbs  of  London. 
The  old  manor-house  at  Dalston  is  now  used  as 
the  Refuge  for  Destitute  Females,  which  was  insti- 
tuted in  1805,  with  the  view  of  reforming  female 
criminals,  and  training  them  for  domestic  service. 


locality.  j  The  Refuge  was  founded  under  the  auspices  of 

The  district,  which  is  still  styled  Dorlston,  is  |  Zachary  Macaulay,  William  Wilberforce,  Stephen 
curtly  described  in  the  "  Amulator"  (1774)  as  "a  I  Lushington,  Samuel  Hoare,  Thomas  Powell  Buxton, 


THE    MANOR-HOUSE,    DALSTON. 


small  but  pleasant  village  near  Hackney,  to  wh.ch  , 
parish  it  belongs  ;  "  and  it  is  spoken  of  by  Lambert, 
n   his  "  History  and  Survey  of  London  and 
Environs,"  published  in  ,806,  as  ••  a  smah  ham 
adjoining  Hackney,  which  has  nothing  remarkable 
bu   its  nursery  grounds."     Some  of  these  ground 
were  still  cultivated  as  lately  as  1860  ;  but  now  the 
"demon  of  bricks  and  mortar"  has  fairly  possesse 
the  neighbourhood,  and  acrowded  railway  junctton, 
with  constant  trains,  covers  the  once  rural  spot 


and  other  leading  philanthropists  of  that  day.  The 
sight  of  a  poor  destitute  boy  sitting  on  a  door-step, 
just  discharged  from  prison  homeless  and  friend- 
ess  first  kindled  the  spark  of  compass.on  which 
resulted  in  the  foundation  of  this  time-honoured 
charity  which  was  first  opened  in  the  month  of 
Bridge,  Lambeth.  *« 


oxton,  altho 


continued  m  the 


5*8 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


Kingeslond,  for  ever."  It  appears  from  the  records 
of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  that  soon  after  the 
establishment  of  that  charity  in  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII.,  certain  Lock,  or  Lazar,  Hospitals  were 
opened  in  situations  remote  from  the  City,  for  the 
reception  of  peculiar  patients;  and  the  ancient 
house  for  lepers  at  Kingsland  was  converted  into 
one  of  these  receptacles.  It  was  afterwards  rebuilt 
on  a  larger  and  more  commodious  plan.  A  sub- 


mother  hospital,  the  house  had  a  communication 
with  the  chapel,  so  contrived  that  the  patients 
might  take  part  in  the  service  without  seeing  or 
being  seen  by  the  congregation.  It  may  be  men- 
tioned here  that  there  was  a  similar  arrangement 
in  the  Lock  Chapel,  Grosvenor  Place.  In  1761  the 
patients  were  removed  from  Kingsland,  and  the  site 
of  the  establishment  was  let  out  on  building  leases, 
though  the  chapel  itself  was  suffered  to  stand,  and 


stantial  edifice  of  brick,  formerly  appropriated  to 
the  use  of  the  diseased,  having  over  the  door  the 
arms  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  remained 
standing  here  down  to  the  commencement  of  the 
present  century. 

This  hospital  was  anciently  called  the  "  Loke," 
or  "Lock."*  The  greater  part  of  the  building 
was  burnt  down  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
but  was  subsequently  rebuilt.  The  structure  joined 
a  little  old  chapel,  which  escaped  the  fire. 

A  writer  in  Notes  and  Queries  states  that  "  a  sun- 
dial on  the  premises  formerly  bore  this  inscription, 
significant  of  sin  and  sorrow :  '  Post  voluptatem 
misericordia.'"  Prior  to  its  alienation  from  the 

•Sceanit,  pp.  214  and  aij. 


to  be  used  as  a  proprietary  chapel.  It  was  a  small 
edifice  in  the  Early  English  style  of  Gothic  archi- 
tecture, with  pointed  windows  and  a  bell  turret 
It  was  in  the  patronage  of  the  Governors  of  St. 
Bartholomew's  Hospital,  and  the  endowment  was 
very  insignificant.  The  chapel,  it  should  be  added, 
was  removed  in  the  reign  of  William  IV.,  in  order 
to  make  room  for  building  private  residences.  The 
chapel  adjoined  the  turnpike  at  the  south-eastern 
corner  of  the  road  leading  to  Ball's  Pond,  and  was, 
perhaps,  coeval  with  the  first  establishment  of  the 
house  for  lepers  on  this  spot.  The  lower  part  of 
the  structure,  in  its  latter  years,  was  so  much 
hidden  by  the  accumulation  of  earth  on  the  out- 
side, that  the  floor  of  the  area  was  full  three  feet 
below  the  surface  of  the  highway. 


52'; 


REFUGE  FOR   DESTITUTE  FEMALES. 


Dalston,  or  Dorlston,  as  it  was  spelt  formerly,  i< 


usually  regarded  as  a  hamlet  of  Hackney  parish ; 


it  properly  designates  the  houses  on  either  side  of 
the  road  leading  from  Kingsland  and  Ball's  Pond 
to  Hackney,  called  Dalston  Lane;  but  has  gradually 
come  to  be  applied  to  the  whole  neighbouring 
locality. 

The  district,  which  is  still  styled  Dorlston,  is 
curtly  described  in  the  "  Amulator"  (1774)  as  "a 


of  the  past,"  so  that  the  place  is  now  one  of  the 
most  populous  districts  in  the  suburbs  of  London. 
Ihe  old  manor-house  at  Dalston  is  now  used  as 
the  Refuge  for  Destitute  Females,  which  was  insti- 
tuted in  1805,  with  the  view  of  reforming  female 
criminals,  and  training  them  for  domestic  service. 
Ihe  Refuge  was  founded  under  the  auspices  of 
Zachary  Macaulay,  William  Wilberforce,  Stephen 
Lushmgton,  Samuel  Hoare,  Thomas  Powell  Buxton 


small  but  pleasant  village  near  Hackney,  to  which 
parish  it  belongs ;  "  and  it  is  spoken  of  by  Lambert, 
in  his  "  History  and  Survey  of  London  and  its 
Environs,"  published  in  1806,  as  "a  small  hamlet 
adjoining  Hackney,  which  has  nothing  remarkable 
but  its  nursery  grounds."  Some  of  these  grounds 
were  still  cultivated  as  lately  as  1860  ;  but  now  the 
"demon  of  bricks  and  mortar"  has  fairly  possessed 
the  neighbourhood,  and  a  crowded  railway  junction, 
with  constant  trains,  covers  the  once  rural  spot ; 
indeed,  Dalston  has  lately  become  an  important 
suburb,  on  account  of  its  railway  junction.  Of  late 
years,  too,  large  numbers  of  streets  and  terraces 
have  sprung  up  in  this  neighbourhood ;  even  the 
small  open  space  known  as  Kingsland  Green  is 
now  (January,  1884,)  doomed  to  become  a  "  thing 
237 


and  other  leading  philanthropists  of  that  day.  The 
sight  of  a  poor  destitute  boy  sitting  on  a  door-step, 
just  discharged  from  prison  homeless  and  friend- 
less, first  kindled  the  spark  of  compassion  which 
resulted  in  the  foundation  of  this  time-honoured 
charity,  which  was  first  opened  in  the  month  of 
June,  1805,  at  Cupar's  Bridge,  Lambeth.  In  1811 
the  establishment  was  removed  to  the  Hackney 
Road.  The  male  branch,  in  1815,  was  transferred 
to  Hoxton,  although  the  females  continued  in  the 
former  locality.  The  institution  for  boys  was  dis- 
continued altogether  in  1849,  ten  years  after  the 
incorporation  of  the  society  (i  &  2  Vic.,  cap.  71), 
on  account  of  Government  retrenchments,  and 
about  the  same  time  the  females  were  removed  to 
the  present  commodious  and  desirable  premises  at 


53» 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Stoke  Newington. 


the  Manor  House,  Dalston.  Another  charitable 
institution,  in  Dalston  Lane,  is  the  German  Hos- 
pital, which  was  erected  in  1845.  It  is  a  hand- 
some building  of  red  brick,  capable  of  affording 
relief  to  a  considerable  number  of  patients.  It  was 
established  for  the  benefit  of  Germans  suffering 
from  disease,  and  also  of  English  in  cases  of 
accidents.  The  total  number  of  persons  annually 
relieved  is  about  12,000.  There  are  in  London, 
principally  at  the  East-end,  about  30,000  Germans, 
chiefly  of  the  working  classes,  and  occupied  as 
sugar-bakers,  skin-dressers,  and  skin-dyers. 

Shacklewell,  on  the  north  side  of  Dalston  Lane, 
is  said  to  have  been  named  after  some  springs  or 
wells  which  were  of  high  repute  in  former  days,  but 
the  very  site  of  which  is  now  forgotten.  It  is  a 


hamlet  to  the  parish  of  Hackney  lying  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Stoke  Newington  Road,  and  covering 
a  triangular  plot  of  ground,  the  north-east  side  of 
which  is  bounded  by  Amhurst  Road  and  Hackney 
Downs.  The  old  manor-house  originally  belonged 
to  the  family  of  Heron,  and  is  worthy  of  mention, 
as  having  been  the  abode  of  Cecilia,  the  daughter 
of  the  great  Sir  Thomas  More,  who  married  George 
Heron,  "  of  Shacklewell."  Her  husband  becoming 
involved  in  the  ruin  of  his  father-in-law,  and  her 
only  son  dying  in  infancy,  the  family  became  ex- 
tinct. The  estate  then  passed  into  other  hands, 
and  in  1 700  was  sold  to  Mr.  Francis  Tyssen,  by  its 
then  owner,  a  gentleman  named  Rowe,  who,  it  is 
said,  late  in  life  was  forced  to  apply  for  relief  to  the 
parish  in  which  he  had  once  owned  a  manor. 


CHAPTER   XLIII. 
STOKK     \K\VINGTO\. 

"  I  like  the  neighbourhood,  too,  the  ancient  places 

That  bring  back  the  past  ages  to  the  eye, 
Filling  the  Bap  of  cemurics-the  traces 
Mouldering  l«neath  your  head  that  lie  !  " 

AHam  and  Ert,  a.  Margal,  Story. 

Stoke  Newington  in  the  Last  Century—  The  Old  Roman  Road,  called  Ermine  Street—  Beaumont  and  Fletcher'*  Reference  to  May-day  Doings  at 
Newington  In  the  Olden  Times  -  Mildmay  Park  The  Village  I  Ireen-Mildmay  House-Remains,  of  the  King's  House-King  Henry1! 
Walk-Si.  Jude's  Church  and  the  Conference  Hall-Bishop'l  Place  The  Residence  of  Samuel  Rogers,  the  Poet-James  Burgh's  Academy 
-Mary  WollMonecraft  Godwin-St.  Matthias'  Church  -The  New  and  Old  Parish  Churches-Sir  John  Hartopp  and  hij  Family-Queen 
F.li/abeth's  Walk  The  OH  Rectory  House-Thc  Green  Lanes  -Church  Street  The  House  of  Isaac  D'Israeli-The  School  of  Edgar  Allan 
Poe  John  Howard,  the  Prison  Reformer  Sar.dford  House—  Defoe  Sireet-Uefoc's  House—  The  Mansion  of  the  Old  Earls  of  Essex—  The 
Manor  House-  Fleer  wood  Road  -The  Old  "Rose  and  Crown  "-The  Residence  of  Dr.  John  Aikin  and  Mrs.  Barbauld-The  "Three 

WK  arc  now  about  to  traverse  another  of  the  !  whom  this  part  of  the  northern  suburbs  of  London 
northern  suburbs  of  London,  but  one  which  it  !  will  always  be  a  welcome  subject;  we  mean  the 
would  not  be  possible  to  include  among  the  j  Nonconformist  portion  of  the  religious  world,  in 
"northern  heights"  of  the  great  metropolis.  We  whose  eyes  the  cemetery  of  AbneyPark  is  scarcely 
shall  find  ourselves  in  far  less  romantic  scenery  less  sacred  than  that  of  Bunhill  Fields. 
than  that  which  we  have  so  lately  seen  at  Highgate  Stoke  Newington  is  described  in  the  "  Ambu- 


and  Hampstead,  but  still  the  neighbourhood  now 
before  us  is  not  deficient  in  interest ;  at  all  events, 
to  those  who  in  their  youth  have  strolled  along  the 
banks  of  the  Lea,  rod  in  hand,  or  mused  in  its 
meadows  over  the  pleasant  pages  of  I/.aak  Walton  ; 
or  to  those  who  remember  the  legend  of  Johnny 
Gilpin  and  his  ride  to  Edmonton,  as  told  by 
Cowper ;  or  who  rejoice  in  the  "  Essays  of  Elia  " 
and  the  other  desultory  writings  of  Charles  l^mb. 
To  such  persons,  and  doubtless  they  may  be 
counted  by  millions,  even  the  full  straight  level 
road  which  leads  from  Dalston  and  Kingsland, 
through  Stoke  Newington,  and  Stamford  Hill,  and 
Tottenham,  to  Edmonton,  can  scarcely  be  wholly 
devoid  of  interest  and  of  pleasant  reminiscences. 
There  is  also  another  section  of  the  community  to 


lator"  (1774)  as  "a  pleasant  village  near  Islington, 
where  a  great  number  of  the  citizens  of  London 
have  built  houses,  and  rendered  it  extremely 
populous,  more  like  a  large  flourishing  town  than  a 
village.  The  church,"  adds  the  writer,  "  is  a  small 
low  Gothic  building,  belonging  to  the  Dean  and 
Chapter  of  St.  Paul's  .....  Behind  the  church  is 
a  pleasant  grove  of  tall  trees,  where  the  inhabitants 
resort  for  the  benefit  of  shade  and  a  wholesome 
air." 

"  Our  village,"  writes  the  Rev.  Thomas  Jackson, 
the  rector,  "was  once  called  Neweton  Canonicorum, 
ifi  order  to  distinguish  it  from  all  other  Stokes, 
Newtowns,  and  Newingtowns  in  the  world,  and 
especially  from  its  rival  on  the  south  of  the 
Thames,  Newington  Butts  ;  and  it  was  so  called 


Stoke  Ncwington.] 


MILDMAY  PARK. 


doubtless  because  the  manor  was  given  byAthel- 
stan  or  by  Edward  the  Confessor  to  the  canons  of 
St  Paul's." 

The  name  of  the  village  carries  us  back  to  the 
Saxon  times,  denoting  the  new  village  or  town 
built  on  the  borders  of  a  wood.  We  may  remind 
the  reader  that  our  land  is  full  of  Stokes,  and  that 
wherever  there  is  a  Stoke  we  may  be  sure  that  there 
was  once  a  wood.  Newington,  indeed,  appears 
formerly  to  have  been  situated  in  a  wood,  which  was 
part  of  the  great  Middlesex  forest  already  men- 
tioned by  us.  At  the  time  when  King  Charles 
was  beheaded  there  were  still  seventy-seven  acres 
of  woodland  in  the  parish.  The  timber  of  Stoke 
Newington  probably  helped  to  build  again  that 
London  which  had  perished  in  the  Great  Fire  of 
1666,  and  possibly  at  an  earlier  date  it  furnished 
fagots  for  the  fires  lit  at  Smithfield  alternately  by 
the  Protestants  and  the  Catholics. 

The  old  Roman  road,  known  as  the  Ermine 
or  Irmin  Street,  ran  northwards  through  Stoke 
Newington  to  Enfield,  though  its  exact  route  is  a 
subject  of  debate.  Mr.  Jackson,  in  his  "Lecture 
on  Stoke  Newington,"  says  : — "  One  boundary  oi 
our  Saxon  manor  is  the  Irmin  Street,  one  of  th 
central  highways  which  our  forefathers  dedicatee 
to  the  Hero-god,  the  illustrious  War-man,  or  Man  o 
Hosts,  as  his  name  literally  means — that  Herman 
or  Arminius,  the  mighty  Cheruscan,  who  fough 
the  fight  of  Winfield  on  the  Weser,  who  turnec 
back  the  tide  of  Roman  invasion,  routing  Varus  anc 
his  legions,  and  delivering  Germany  from  Italiar 
despotism — a  hero  truly  national,  the  benefacto 
and  relative  of  us  all.  Coming  a  little  down  th 
stream  of  time,  I  find  Newington  Manor  among  th 
first  of  religious  endowments  in  this  country.  . 
I  find  the  rents  and  profits  of  our  lands,  the  fruit 
of  the  fields  that  we  daily  tread,  supporting  th 
men  who  chanted  at  the  funeral  of  Edward  th 
Confessor,  and  assisted  at  the  coronation  of  William 
the  Norman." 

We  read  of  Stoke  Newington  in  the  plays 
the  seventeenth  century  as  a  place  of  pleasant  con 
viviality.  Thus  Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  in  th 
Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle,  first  published  ' 
1613,  introduce  Ralph,  dressed  as  a  king  of  th 
May,  who  thus  speaks  : — 

«  London,  to  thee  I  do  present  this  merry  month  of  May  ; 
I*t  each  true  subject  be  content  to  hear  me  whaU  say 

March  out  and  show  your  willing  minds  by  twenty  and  1 

To  Hogsdo'n   (Hoxton)  or  to  Newington,  where   ale  ai 

cakes  are  plenty  " 
Soon  afterwards  Stoke  Newington  appears,  b 


e  testimony  of  some  historians,  to  have  become 
nspicuous  for  its  Puritanism,  through  the  influence, 
obably,  of  the  Pophams  and  the  Fleetwoods,  and 
:erwards  through  the  worthy  family  of  Abney, 
10  had  purchased  the  manor. 
The  parish  is  described  in  Lewis's  "Topo- 
aphical  Dictionary"  (1835),  as  consisting  princi- 
illy  of  one  long  street,  extending  from  Kingsland 
oad  to  Stamford  Hill,  on  the  high  road  from 
ondon  to  Cambridge,  and  containing  at  that  time  a 
opulation  of  nearly  3,500  souls.  The  eastern  side 

this  street  is  actually  in  the  parish  of  Hackney, 

d  from  the  western  side,  near  the  centre  of  it, 
ranches  off  a  street,  called  Church  Street,  leading 

the  parish  church  and  the  Green  Lanes. 

From  the  western  end  of  Ball's  Pond  Road,  a 
loroughfare  called  Mildmay  Park— a  good  road- 

y  lined  on  either  side  by  private  residences — 
:ads  direct  to  Newington  Green.  This  place, 
ays  the  "Ambulator"  just  a  century  ago,  "consists 
f  a  handsome  square  of  considerable  extent, 
urrounded  by  houses  which  are  in  general  well 
uilt ;  before  each  side  is  a  row  of  trees,  and  an 
xtensive  grass-plat  in  the  middle."  The  green 
s  still  adorned  with  lofty  elms,  has  an  old- 
rorld  appearance,  and  forms  really  a  handsome, 
hough  somewhat  irregular  square.  It  is  situated 

rtly  in  the  parish  of  Newington,  and  partly  in 
hat  of  Islington,  and  is  principally  inhabited  by 
merchants  and  private  families. 

In  the  "  Beauties  of  England  and  Wales  "  (1816), 
ve  read  of  an  old  dwelling  situated  here,  called 
Mildmay  House,  then  a  boarding-school  for  young 
adies.  It  is  said  to  have  been,  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  I,  the  property  of  Sir  Henry  Mildmay, 
who  had  acquired  the  estate  by  marriage  with  the 
daughter  and  heiress  of  William  Halliday,  an 
alderman  of  London.  On  one  of  the  chimney- 
pieces  appeared  the  arms  of  Halliday;  and  the 
ceilings  contained  the  arms  of  England,  with  the 
initials  of  King  James,  and  medallions  of  Hector, 
Alexander,  &c.  Mildmay  Park  Road,  mentioned 
above,  was  so  named  from  this  house. 

On  the  southern  side  of  the  green  is  an  old 
mansion,  now  divided  into  two,  which  is  tra- 
ditionally said  to  have  been  at  one  time  a  resi- 
dence of  Henry  VIII,  when  his  Majesty  wished 
to  divert  himself  with  the  pleasures  of  the  chase, 
which  about  three  centuries  ago  extended  northerly 
hence  to  Hanngay  and  Enfield.  On  the  ceding 
of  the  principal  room  in  the  house  are  to  be  seen 
the  armorial  bearings  and  royal  monogram  of 
Tames  I.  This  room  contains  a  very  fine  and 

ofty  carved  mantelpiece  of  the  "Jacobean"  style, 
not  unlike  that  in  the  Governor's  Room  at  the 


532 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Stoke  Ncwington. 


Charterhouse.  Most  of  the  rooms  have  also  their 
walls  handsomely  panelled  in  oak.  It  is  probable 
that  this  residence  caused  the  adjoining  fields  to  the 
south  to  be  called  the  King's  Land — now  abridged 
into  Kingsland. 

At  the  north-west  corner  of  the  green  there 
formerly  stood  a  large  building,  called  Bishop's 
Place;  it  is  said  to  have  been  the  residence  of 
Percy,  Earl  of  Northumberland,  when  he  wrote 
the  memorable  letter  disclaiming  any  matrimonial 
contract  between  himself  and  Queen  Anne  Boleyn, 
referred  to  in  our  account  of  Hackney  Church,  and 
which  was  dated  from  Ncwington  Green  the  ijth 
of  May,  in  the  28th  year  of  Henry  VIII.  "This 
house,"  writes  the  author  of  the  "  Beauties  of 
England  and  Wales,"  "  was  popularly  reported  to 
have  been  occupied  by  Henry  VIII.  for  the  con- 
venience of  his  irregular  amours.  The  tradition 
is  supported  chiefly  by  the  circumstance  of  a 
pleasant  winding  path,  which  leads  to  the  turn- 
pike road  by  Ball's  Pond,  bearing  the  name  of 
'King  Henry's  Walk.'"  Mr.  Jackson,  in  his 
"  Lecture  on  Stoke  Newington,"  thus  muses  on 
this  old  mansion  in  connection  with  Bluff  King 
Ha!  : — "  Let  us  imagine  that  we  see  him,  blunt,  big, 
and  sturdy,  with  his  feet  wide  apart,  and  his  chin 
already  doubling,  sallying  forth  with  a  crowd  of 
obsequious  attendants  from  the  house  afterwards 
c.illed  Miklmay  House,  or  from  that  just  mentioned, 
to  disport  himself  in  the  woodlands  of  Newington. 
Is  Catharine  of  Arragon  his  queen,  or  the  hapless 
Anne,  of  the  swan-like  neck,  or  Jane  Seymour, 
who  died  so  young?  Is  lie  plotting  the  death  of 
a  wife,  or  of  his  chancellor?  Look  at  him  as 
represented  in  the  portraits  of  Holbein.  His  eye 
good-natured  ;  his  mouth  indicative  of  an  iron  and 
unscrupulous  will  ;  his  brow  strong  in  intellectual 
vigour ;  his  whole  physiognomy  sensual  and  selfish. 
Can  you  not  suppose  that  you  meet  him  in  some  of 
our  by-lanes  wondering  at  the  changes  which  have 
passed  upon  the  London  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
or  musing  on  the  suspicions  winch  he  entertained 
respecting  a  contract  of  marriage  presumed  to  have 
been  made  between  the  Karl  of  Northumberland 
and  Anne  Boleyn  previous  to  her  marriage  with 
the  king.  Poor  earl !  he  writes  to  Lord  Cromwell 
from  his  house  on  Newington  Green  a  letter  of 
such  abject  earnestness,  that  one  would  imagine 
his  neck  already  felt  the  halter,  or  his  eye  caught 
the  cold  gleam  of  the  executioner's  axe,  while  he 
denies  with  the  greatest  solemnity  the  fact  of  any 
such  contract." 

In  King  Henry's  Walk,  at  the  corner  of  Queen 
Margaret's  Grove,  and  near  the  North  London 
Railway,  stands  St.  Jude's  Church,  a  large  edifice 


of"  the  "  late  Decorated  "  style  of  architecture,  built 
in  1855  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  A.  D.  Gough.  It 
was  enlarged,  and  indeed  almost  reconstructed,  in 
1871.  In  connection  with  this  church,  but  situated 
in  Mildmay  Park,  near  Newington  Green,  is  a  large 
building  known  as  the  Conference  Hall. 

Dr.  Robinson,  in  his  "  History  of  Stoke  Newing-     { 
ton,"  describes  Bishop's  Place  as  having  been  a      • 
quadrangular  building  of  wood  and  plaster,  and  as 
having  had  a  square  court  in  the  centre,  with  com-     .1 
munications  to  the  various  apartments  all  round  by 
means  of  small  doors  opening  from  one  room  into 
another.     The  house,  prior  to  its  demolition,  had     3 
been  for  many  years  divided  into  a  number  of     ] 
small  tenements,  occupied  by  poor  people.     When 
the  house  was  taken  down,  some  parts  of  the  old 
wainscot  were  found   to  be  richly  gilt,  and  orna- 
mented with   paintings,   but  well-nigh   obliterated 
from  the  effects  of  time. 

Newington  Green,  in  its  time,  seems  to  have 
had  among  its  residents  many  members  of  the 
nobility  and  of  the  world  of  letters.  An  old  house 
on  the  western  side,  not  far  from  that  above 
lescribed,  was  for  many  years  the  residence  of 
Samuel  Rogers,  the  poet.  The  building,  which 
was  considerably  altered  in  appearance  by  its 
mbsequent  owners,  was  pulled  down  about  1879 
o  make  room  for  shops.  The  hall,  mentioned 
by  Rogers  in  his  "  Pleasures  of  Memory,"  and  the 
little  room  on  the  first  floor  in  which  he  used  to 
sit  and  write,  together  with  the  three  rooms  on 
the  ground  floor,  facing  the  south  and  the  sunny 
garden,  remained  unchanged.  But  the  hall  became 
lined  with  modern  canvas,  spread  over  the  old 
panelling,  and  had  lost  its  venerable  appearance. 
The  plane-tree,  under  which  the  poet  would  sit 
and  entertain  his  friends  in  summer  evenings,  also 
flourished  ;  but  the  greater  part  of  the  little  paddock 
in  the  rear  had  disappeared,  and  a  new  street 
was  carried  across  the  poet's  garden,  destroying 
a  part  of  the  mushroom-beds  which  he  cultivated 
with  such  care  and  pride.  Though  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century  had  passed  since  Samuel 
Rogers  was  its  master,  the  house  bore  to  the 
end  tokens  of  his  former  presence  ;  and  it  required 
no  great  stretch  of  imagination  to  picture  the 
venerable  face  and  figure  of  the  author  of  "  The 
Pleasures  of  Memory "  seated  in  his  arm-chair 
here  among  his  books  and  his  friends. 

Although  the  poem  is  stated  by  the  author  to 
refer  to  "  an  obscure  village,"  there  can  be  little 
doubt  in  the  minds  of  those  who  read  the  "  Plea- 
sures of  Memory "  with  attention,  that  many  of 
the  opening  lines  reflect  the  old  house  at.  Stoke 
Newington :— 


ST.  MARY'S  CHURCH. 


"  Mark  yon  old  mansion  frowning  through  the  trees. 

As  jars  the  hinge  what  sullen  echoes  call ! 
Oh !  haste,  unfold  the  hospitable  hall ! 
That  hall  where  once  in  antiquated  state 
The  chair  of  justice  held  the  grave  debate ; 
Now  stained  with  dews,  with  cobwebs  darkly  hung, 
•    Oft  has  its  roof  with  peals  of  rapture  rung, 
When  round  yon  ample  board  in  one  degree 
We  sweetened  every  meal  with  social  glee. 

Ye  household  deities,  whose  guardian  eye 
Marked  each  pure  thought,  ere  registered  on  high, 
Still,  still  ye  walk  the  consecrated  ground, 
And  breathe  the  soul  of  Inspiration  round. 

As  o'er  the  dusky  furniture  I  bend, 
Each  chair  awakes  the  feelings  of  a  friend. 
The  storied  arras,  source  of  fond  delight, 
With  old  achievement  charms  the  wildered  sight. 

That  massive  beam,  with  curious  carvings  wrought, 
Whence  the  caged  linnet  soothed  my  pensive  thought ; 
Those  muskets,  cased  with  venerable  rust, 
Those  once-loved   forms,    still  breathing  through  their 

dust ; 

Still  from  the  frame,  in  mould  gigantic  cast, 
Starting  to  life— all  whisper  of  the  past. 
As  through  the  garden's  desert  paths  I  rove, 
What  fond  illusions  swarm  in  every  grove. 

Childhood's  lov'd  group  revisits  every  scene, 
The  tangled  wood-walk  and  the  tufted  green ; 
Indulgent  memory  wakes,  and  lo  !  they  live, 
Clothed  with  far  softer  hues  than  light  can  give." 

A  writer  in  the  Mirror  (1824),  in  giving  his 
" Recollections,  of  Newington  Green,"  says  that 
it  is  memorable  for  having  been  the  residence  of 
persons  of  distinguished  talents.  An  academy, 
which  was  some  years  since  pulled  down,  formerly 
(1747)  belonged  to  the  celebrated  James  Burgh, 
which  he  supported  with  great  reputation  to  him- 
self and  benefit  to  his  scholars  for  nineteen  years. 
He  was  the  author  of  "  The  Dignity  of  Human 
Nature,"  "  Thoughts  on  Education,"  "  A  Warning 
to  Dram-drinkers,"  &c.  Its  last  master  was  Dr. 
James  Lindsay,  who  suddenly  expired  at  Dr. 
Williams's  Library,  Red  Cross  Street,  whilst  advo- 
cating the  cause  of  public  education.  He  was 
long  pastor  of  the  Dissenting  meeting-house  upon 
the  green,  whose  pulpit  had  been  occupied  by  Dr. 
Price,  Dr.  Towers,  &c.  On  this  spot,  too,  at  one 
time,  resided  Mary  Wollstonecraft  Godwin,  of 
whom  we  have  already  spoken  in  our  account  of 
St.  Pancras.* 

The  handsome  church  of  St.  Matthias,  so  noted 
for  its  "  ritualistic  "  services,  is  situated  at  the  end 
of  Howard  Road,  between  the  green  and  the  mam 
road.  It  was  consecrated  about  the  year  1854.  It 


s  a  large  Gothic  edifice,  and  was  built  from   the 
designs  of  Mr.  W.  Butterfield. 

From  Newington  Green  a  short  walk  by  way 
of  Albion  Road  brings  us  near  to  the  western  end 
of  Church  Street,  mentioned  above,  where  stands 
:he  new  parish  church,  dedicated  to  St.  Mary.  It 
s  a  very  spacious  and  handsome  structure,  con- 
sisting of  nave,  side  aisles,  chancel,  choir,  and 
:ransepts,  in  the  Early  Decorated  style,  and  was 
Duilt  from  the  designs  of  Sir  G.  Gilbert  Scott. 
The  interior  is  enriched  with  an  elaborate  reredos, 
representing  the  "  Last  Supper ;  "  and  the  capitals 
of  the  pillars  of  the  nave  are  sculptured  with 
'arieties  of  English  foliage  in  bold  relief.  Some 
of  the  windows  are  filled  with  painted  glass,  and 
:he  organ  and  the  pulpit  are  both  much  admired. 
The  church  was  consecrated  in  1858,  and  is  com- 
plete except  the  tower  and  spire. 

It  stands  on  the  south  of  the  road  directly 
acing  the  former  parish  church,  which  is  still 
allowed  to  remain  as  hitherto,  though  practically 
reduced  to  the  second  rank  of  a  chapel  of  ease  to 
the  daughter  edifice.  The  old  parish  church  is  a 
:ow-roofed  structure.  It  was  erected,  in  the  place 
of  a  still  older  edifice,  by  William  Patten,  the  lessee 
of  the  manor  in  1563,  which  date  appears  over 
the  south  doorway.  The  building  has  since  been 
repeatedly  enlarged,  and  a  spire  added.  It  is  small 
and  unattractive,  especially  in  its  interior,  where  are 
to  be  seen  a  variety  of  specimens  of  the  square 
family  pews,  now  almost  obsolete.  It  was  enlarged 
and  "  beautified"  about  the  year  1829  by  Sir  Charles 
Barry,  and  was  one  of  his  first  and  poorest  attempts 
in  the  Gothic  style.  The  only  part  of  the  structure 
that  can  boast  of  antiquity  is  the  south  aisle,  which 
contains  the  manorial  pew,  where  it  is  said  that 
the  Princess  Elizabeth  was  an  occasional  worshipper 
during  the  reign  of  her  sister  Mary,  during  the 
stolen  visits  which  she  paid  to  Newington  from 
Hatfield  House. 

In  the  chancel  is  a  fine  mural  monument  to 
Mrs  Sutton,  who  was  married  first  to  a  Mr.  Dudley, 
and  whose  second  husband  was  Thomas  Sutton, 
the  founder  of  Charterhouse  School  and  Hospital.t 
It  was  restored  some  years  ago  by  a  subscription 
among  the  gentlemen  who  had  been  educated  at 
the  Charterhouse.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Gaskm  a 
former  rector,  lies  in  a  vault  on  the  north  side 
of  the  church.  Fearing  that  his  body  might  be 
removed  from  its  grave  after  fas  death  he  was 
buried  by  his  own  desire,  not  here,  but  in  St 
SSl's,  Fenchurch  Street.  When  that  church 
was  taken  down  in  order  to  carry  out  improve- 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


ments  in  the  City,  his  coffin  was  removed  hither 
by  the  care  of  his  successor  in  the  rectory,  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Jackson,  and  consigned  to  what  it 
may  be  hoped  will  prove  his  last  resting-place. 

The  churchyard,  which  is  planted  with  ever- 
greens, is  full  of  family  tombs ;  few  of  them,  how- 
ever, possess  any  antiquarian  interest  Near  the 
southern  entrance,  where  once  probably  stood  a 


whom  we  have  already  mentionedt  as  having  en- 
deavoured to  improve  the  Strand  on  the  west  side 
of  Temple  Bar.  His  son  and  his  daughter  also 
are  recorded  on  his  monument  The  former  was 
killed  in  India,  and  the  latter  was  burnt  to  death 
whilst  performing  some  filial  attention  by  her  father's 
sick  bed.  Bridget,  the  daughter  of  Oliver  Cromwell, 
and  wife  of  General  Fleetwood,  lies  buried  beneath 


1  lych-gate,"  a  square  tomb  covers  the  remains  of    the  church. 


Mrs.  Barbauld  and  of  her  brother,  Dr.  Aikin, 
whom  we  have  already  mentioned  in  our  account 
of  Hampstead.*  At  the  extreme  south-west  corner 
is  the  grave  of  some  of  the  Wilberforces,  members 
of  the  family  of  the  eminent  philanthropist  t  \\ho 
lies  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Had  not  a  public 
funeral  been  voted  to  him,  in  all  probability, 
he  would  himself  have  been  laid  to  rest  in  this 
quiet  and  peaceful  spot.  On  the  south  of  the 
chancel  is  the  family  grave  of  Wilberforces  friend 
and  fellow-worker  in  the  cause  of  the  slave,  Mr. 
James  Stephen,  a  Master  in  Chancery,  the  father 
of  the  late  Right  Honourable  Sir  James  Stephen. 
In  the  churchyard  lies  buried  Alderman  Pickett, 

•  See  ante,  p.  476.  t  See  axte,  p.  95. 


The  parish  church  has  many  monuments  and 
memorials  of  the  family  of  Sir  John  Hartopp,  who 
were  at  one  time  residents  at  Stoke  Newington. 
Among  the  rest  is  this  curious  entry  in  the  register, 
relative  to  the  wife  of  Sir  John: — "1711,  Dame 
Klizabeth  Hartopp  was  buried  in  woollen  the  z6th 
day  of  November,  according  to  an  Act  of  Par- 
liament made  on  that  behalf:  attested  before  Mr. 
(Jostling,  minor  canon  of  St  Paul's,  London." 
And  again,  relative  to  another  member  of  the 
family  : — "  My  lady  Hartopp  was  buried  in  a  velvet 
coffin,  September  22,  1730,  in  the  church."  The 
dame  Elizabeth,  who  was  buried  in  woollen,  was 
the  daughter  of  General  Fleetwood,  who  married 

t  SnVoI.   Ill  ,p   10. 


LOCAL  TRADITIONS. 


4   St.  Mary's  New  Church. 
7.  Old  Gateway. 


536 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


[Stoke  Ncwington. 


Bridget,  one  of  Oliver  Cromwell's  children ;  and 
the  education  of  her  son  was  entrusted  to  the 
learned  and  pious  Dr.  Watts,  of  whom  we  shall 
have  more  to  say  presently.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Stoughton,  in  his  "Shades  and  Echoes  of  Old 
London,"  says  : — "  Dame  Hartopp  has  been  some- 
times regarded  as  the  offspring  of  Bridget,  and  con- 
sequently as  the  Protector's  granddaughter ;  and  if 


from  Dalston  to  Stamford  Hill.  It  was  evidently 
once  a  rural  lane,  and  was  probably  used  more 
by  farmers'  wagons  than  by  gentlemen's  carriages. 
It  is  fringed,  however,  on  both  sides  with  a  long 
series  of  private  dwelling-houses,  most  of  them  red- 
bricked  mansions  of  the  date  of  Queen  Anne  and 
George  I.,  with  projecting  summits  to  the  doorways, 
and  screened  from  the  street  by  iron  railings  of 


that  view  of  her  lineage  were  correct,  then  the  varied  and  handsome  designs,  not  unlike  those 
youth  to  whom  Watts  became  tutor  would  be  no  j  still  to  be  seen  in  the  older  parts  of  Kensington, 
other  than  a  great-grandson  of  the  strong-willed  {  Chelsea,  Hampstead,  and  Highgate.  One  of  the 
man  who,  without  a  crown,  swayed  a  sceptre  over  {  first  houses  on  the  northern  side  of  the  way,  now  a 
three  old  kingdoms."  But  Noble,  in  his  "  Memoirs  j  ladies'  school,  was  the  home  of  Mr.  Isaac  D'Israeli, 
of  the  Protectoral  House,"  shows,  as  we  think  the  author  of  the  "  Curiosities  of  Literature," 
satisfactorily,  that  Elizabeth,  who  was  married  to  Sir  j  before  he  settled  down  in  Bloomsbury  Square.  A 
John  Hartopp,  was  a  daughter  of  Fleetwood  by  his  large  white  house  near  it  was  the  scene  of  the 
first  wife,  Frances  Smith.  Still,  as  the  Hartopps  [  school-days  of  the  eccentric  and  gifted  poet,  Edgar 
would  be  intimately  connected  with  the  Crom-  i  Allan  Poe,  who  in  his  writings  ascribes  much  of  the 
wells,  the  family  traditions  of  the  latter  would  be  romantic  element  in  his  character  to  the  fact  of 
familiar  to  the  former,  and  stories  of  Oliver  and  ,  having  been  sent  as  a  boy  to  a  place  so  abounding 
his  son-in-law  would  often  be  told  in  the  dining-  ;  in  old  associations.  Edgar  Poe  (born  at  Baltimore 
hall  and  the  gardens  of  Sir  John  at  Newington.  in  January,  1811)  was  adopted  as  a  child  by  a 
Near  the  old  church,  on  the  northern  side  of  Mr.  Allan,  a  rich  gentleman  who  had  no  children 
it,  is  a  walk  between  trees,  still  called  Queen  of  his  own.  Mr.  Allan  brought  him  to  England, 
Elizabeth's  Walk  ;  and  as  some  justification  of  and  placed  the  spoiled  child,  then  a  witty,  and 


it  may  be  added  that  Ncwington  was  the 


beautiful,  and  precocious  boy,  at  school  in  Church 


Street.     He  remained  here  five  years,  but  returned 
to  the  United  States  in  1827. 

A  tall  red  house  on  the  same  side  of  the  way, 
now  embodied   in    Church    Row,    was   the  house 


the  nam 

abode  of  her  Majesty's  favourite,  Robert  Dudley, 
Earl  of  Leicester,  and  of  his  contemporary,  Edward 
Vere,  Earl  of  Oxford. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  road,  between  the  two    ...    , _ 

churches,  stood  formerly  a  picturesque  old  rectory-  '  where  John  Howard  lodged  when  he  married  the 
house,  mostly  built  of  wood,  with  a  curious  gable  widow  lady  who  kept  it,  as  we  have  mentioned  in 
projecting  into  the  street,  over  the  pavement.  The  !  our  account  of  Lower  Clapton.*  Here  he  studied 
south  and  west  sides  of  the  house  and  its  garden  his  first  essays  in  philanthropy.  "  The  delicate 
were  bounded  by  a  moat,  which  is  now  filled  up,  |  state  of  his  health  required  better  and  more 

attentive  nursing  than  he  found  where  he  first 
lodged,  so  he  removed  into  apartments  under  the 
roof  of  one  Mrs.  Sarah  Lowne,  a  widow  possessed 
of  a  little  property,  residing  in  Church  Street,  who 
devoted  her  time  to  the  care  and  comfort  of  the 


young  invalid,  who  was  only  twenty-five,  while  she 


the  present  rectory  being  built  upon  its  site.  The 
ribs  and  back-bone  of  the  old  rectory-house  were 
evidently  part  and  parcel  of  large  forest  trees ;  and 
where  oak  was  not  used  in  its  construction,  its 
place  was  supplied  by  other  hard  and  vigorous 
timber,  equally  heavy  and  durable. 

On  the  western  side  of  the  parish  there  is  a  large  -was  fifty-two.  From  being  his  nurse,  she  became 
but  rather  winding  road,  running  northwards,  popu- j  his  wife.  She  died  in  1755,  and  lies  buried  in 
larly  known  as  the  "  Green  Lanes,"  and  leading,  .  St.  Mary's,  Whitechapel."  It  is  on  record  that 
by  way  of  Wood  Green  and  Winchmore  Hill,  to  Mr.  Howard  was  a  constant  worshipper  in  the  old 
Enfield.  This  is  rather  a  sporting  neighbourhood,  j  Independent  chapel  here.  After  the  death  of  the 
and  the  road  is  largely  used  for  trotting  matches  by  nurse  whom  he  thus  strangely  endeavoured  to 
farmers,  butchers,  and  other  tradesfolk,  a  fact  which  reward,  Mr.  Howard  married  into  a  respectable 
does  not  contribute  to  the  quiet  or  comfort  of  the  j  family  of  Cambridgeshire.  His  second  wife,  how- 
residents.  The  Green  Lanes  dispute  with  Stoke  j  ever,  died  soon  after  she  had  given  birth  to  a  son. 
Newington  Road  the  claim  to  be  considered  the  In  the  course  of  a  voyage  to  Lisbon  Mr.  Howard 
old  Saxon  Ermine  Street  mentioned  above.  At  had  the  misfortune  to  be  captured,  and  was  lodged 
this  point  commences  a  narrow  and  slightly-winding  Jn  France  as  a  prisoner  of  war.  The  sufferings 
thoroughfare,  called  Church  Street,  which,  passing 
eastward,  leads  us  into  the  straight  and  wide  road 


QUEEN   ELIZABETH'S  WALK. 


which  he  was  now  compelled  to  witness  are  sup- 
posed to  have  operated  with  such  force  on  his 
mind  as  to  lead  to  those  indefatigable  exertions  for 
the  redress  of  abuses  in  prisons  which  speedily 
produced  such  important  effects  throughout  the 
greater  part  of  Europe.  Mr.  Howard  died,  in  the 
year -i  790,  at  one  of  the  Russian  settlements  on  the 
Black  Sea,  the  victim  of  a  malignant  fever,  which 
he  had  caught  in  visiting  some  prisoners.  A 
monument  to  his  memory  was  erected  in  1876  at 
Kherson. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  street,  a  similar  house, 
with  lofty  windows  and  a  handsome  entrance  door- 
way, was  the  home  of  the  eccentric  Thomas  Day, 
the  author  of  "  Sandford  and  Merton."  It  is  now 
styled  Sandford  House. 

A  few  yards  farther  to  the  east,  on  the  same 
side  of  the  way,  we  come  to  Defoe  Street.  This 
was  formed  in  1875,  by  the  demolition  of  the 
house  in  which  Defoe  resided,  and  in  which  he  is 
reputed  to  have  written  "  Robinson  Crusoe."  It 
is  said  to  have  been  remarkable  for  the  number  of 
its  doors,  and  for  the  massive  locks  and  bolts  with 
which  they  were  secured.  The  house  itself  was  a 
gloomy  and  irregular  pile  of  red  brick,  apparently 
of  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne.  It  had  thick  walls 
and  deep  window  seats,  with  curious  panelling  and 
cupboards  in  the  recesses.  Here,  besides  writing 
that  matchless  story  with  which  his  name  is  asso- 
ciated, Defoe  plotted  as  a  politician ;  and  here  he 
set  in  order  the  materials  on  which  were  founded 
the  union  between  England  and  Scotland.  Hence 
he  was  carried  a  prisoner  to  Newgate  in  1713.  A 
native  of  Cripple-gate,  he  had  been  educated  at  an 
academy  on  Newington  Green,  kept  by  Charles 
Morton.  "Robinson  Crusoe"  was  published  in 
April,  1719,  in  which  year  the  rolls  of  the  manor 
of  Stoke  Newington  mention  Defoe  as  a  resident 
in  Church  Street. 

Close  by,  and  on  the  same  side  of  the  street, 
stands  a  portion,  though  only  a  fragment,  of  the 
mansion  of  the  old  Earls  of  Essex,  dating  perhaps 
from  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  On  the  same  side  of 
the  street,  but  considerably  more  to  the  east,  stood 


Street,  is  a  dwelling  called,  though  incorrectly,  the 
Manor  House,  in  the  grounds  of  which  is  a  curious 


archway  of  brick,  which 


must  formerly  have  been 


a  house  which  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  century  poetic  antiquanamsra 
was  a  large  hotel  or  tavern,  with  gardens  and 
pleasure-grounds,  which  formed  a  favourite  resort 
for  newly-married  couples  to  spend  their  honey- 
moon, in  the  days  when  there  were  no  railways  to 
whirl  them  off  on  the  wings  of  steam  to  Brighton, 
Hastings,  or  the  Isle  of  Wight.  It  was  afterwards 
converted  into  two  private  houses,  one  of  which 
contained  a  spacious  apartment  that  had  formerly 


he  entrance  to  a  large  and  important  residence. 
It  is  probably  of  the  fifteenth  or  sixteenth  century. 
It  is  now  filled  up  with  modern  bricks;  but  the 
inges  on  which  its  huge  doors  once  swung  are 
still  to  be  seen  in  situ.  Little  or  nothing  appears 
to  be  known  about  its  history.  Mr.  Lewis,  in  his 
''  Dictionary"  quoted  above,  says  that  « the  ancient 
manor-house  is  particularly  worthy  of  notice ;  but," 
curiously  enough,  he  adds,  "a  brick  gateway,  with 

pointed  arch  on  the  northern  side  of  Church 
Street,  is  the  only  part  now  standing  of  the  buildings 
belonging  to  the  old  manor-house." 

The  same  ancient  tradition  which  connects 
Henry  VIII.  with  the  southern  portion  of  Stoke 
Newington,  tells  us  that  Queen  Elizabeth  visited 
the  manor-house  in  Church  Street ;  and  a  pleasant 
grove  of  elms,  close  by  the  old  church,  as  men- 
tioned above,  once  the  "  mall "  of  the  parish,  still 
retains  the  name  of  "Queen  Elizabeth's  Walk." 
But  when  did  the  "  maiden "  queen  make  Stoke 
Newington  her  abode  ?  Was  it  in  her  childhood, 
her  girlhood,  or  her  early  womanhood  ?  We  know 
that  a  branch  of  the  Dudleys,  Earls  of  Essex,  lived 
here  after  Elizabeth  had  come  to  the  throne,  but 
there  is  no  proof  of  their  having  been  here  at  an 
earlier  date.  Mr.  Jackson  tells  us  that  the  story 
current  in  the  village  in  the  last  century  was  that, 
some  time  in  Mary's  reign,  "probably  when  the 
house  of  the  French  Ambassador  Noailles  was  the 
rendezvous  of  the  discontented  of  every  descrip- 
tion, and  when  the  princess  herself  was  the  hope 
of  the  Protestants,  exasperated  by  persecution,  she 
was  brought  by  her  friends  to  the  secluded  manor- 
house,  embosomed  in  trees,  as  to  a  secure  asylum, 
where  she  might  communicate  with  her  friends, 
and  be  ready  for  any  political  emergency.  They 
tell  us  that  an  ancient  brick  tower  stood  in  the 
early  part  of  the  last  century  near  the  mansion, 
and  that  a  staircase  was  remembered  leading  to 
the  identical  spot  where  the  princess  was  con- 
cealed." But  even  Mr.  Jackson,  with  all  his 
unable  to  confirm  the 

tradition.     Church  Row,  we  may  add,  stands  on 
the  site  of  the  old  manor-house  and  grounds. 

Fleetwood  Road,  a  little  to  the  east  of  this,  still 
commemorates  the  residence  of  Fleetwood,   the 


Parliamentarian  general. 

About  a  hundred  yards  farther  to  the  east  we 
come  to  some  handsome  and  lofty  iron  gates, 
behind  which  are  some  fine  cedars  of  Lebanon 


and  other  tall  evergreens 


These  were  the  front 


been  the  assembly-room  of  the  tavern.  anu  -  ^  Abn    ,&  manslon)  of  which 

On  the  opposite,  or  northern,  side  of  Church  |  entrance 


OLD    AND   NEW    LONDON. 


[Stoke  Nfwington. 


we  shall  have  more  to  say  presently,  as  well  as  of 
its  owners. 

The  old  "  Rose  and  Crown  "  tavern  stood  at  the 
corner  of  a  road  leading  out  of  Church  Street  in 
a  southward  direction.  The  old  tavern  retained 
its  ancient  appearance  until  early  in  the  present 
century,  when  it  was  pulled  down,  and  a  new 
house  erected  on  its  site,  which  was  enlarged  and 
brought  forward  in  a  line  with  the  adjoining  houses ; 
previous  to  which  the  old  house  stood  back  some 
feet  from  the  footpath.  Robinson,  in  his  history 
of  the  parish,  gives  an  illustration  of  the  tavern  as 
it  appeared  in  1806.  Upon  the  sign-post  is  shown 
a  pair  of  homs,  similar  to  those  which  we  have 
described  in  our  account  of  Highgate.* 

Near  the  middle  of  Church  Street  are  two 
houses,  nearly  opposite  to  one  another,  which  have 
had  some  distinguished  residents ;  that  on  the 
north  side  was  Dr.  JohnAikin's;  his  sister,  Mrs. 
Barbauld,  lived  on  the  south,  in  a  small  private 
residence,  now  converted  into  a  jeweller's  shop. 
In  Dr.  Aikin's  house  the  "Winter  Evening  Con- 
versations "  were  written.  Dr.  Aikin  died  in 
December,  1822.  Crabb  Robinson  writes  of  him 
that  "  he  had  for  some  years  sunk  into  imbecility 
after  a  youth  and  middle  age  of  great  activity.  He 
was  in  his  better  days  a  man  of  talent  of  the  highest 
personal  worth — in  fact,  one  of  the  '  salt  of  the 
earth.'"  Mrs.  IJarbauld  was  a  resident  here  both 
before  and  after  her  living  at  Hampstead.  She 
is  frequently  mentioned  in  H.  Crabb  Robinson's 
"  Diary,"  from  which  we  cull  the  following  cha- 
racteristic entries  : — 

"1816— nM  Feb.— I  walked  to  N'ewington, 
and  dined  with  Mrs.  Karbauld.  As  usual,  we  were 
very  comfortable.  Mrs.  Karbauld  can  keep  up  a 
lively  argumentative  conversation  as  well  as  any 
one  I  know ;  and  at  her  advanced  age  (she  is 
turned  of  seventy),  she  is  certainly  the  best  speci- 
men of  female  Presbyterian  society  in  the  country. 
N.B. — Anthony  Robinson  requested  me  to  inquire 
whether  she  thought  the  doctrine  of  Universal 
Restoration  scriptural.  She  said  she  thought  we 
must  bring  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  a 
very  liberal  notion  of  the  beneficence  of  the  Deity 
to  find  the  doctrine  there." 

Here  is  a  picture  of  her  five  years  afterwards  :— 
"  1821  —  21  st  Jan.—  Went  to  Mrs.  Harbauld's. 
She  was  in  good  spirits,  but  she  is  now  the  con- 
firmed old  lady.  Independently  of  her  fine  under- 
standing and  literary  reputation,  she  would  be 
interesting.  Her  white  locks,  fair  and  unwrinkled 
skin,  brilliant  starched  linen,  and  rich  silk  gown, 


make  her  a  fit  object  for  a  painter.  Her  conversa- 
tion is  lively,  her  remarks  judicious  and  always 
pertinent" 

About  four  years  subsequently  Robinson  writes  : 
— "  1824— 4/A  Nov. — Walked  to  Newington.    Mrs. 
Barbauld  was  going  out,  but  she  stayed  a  short 
time  with  me.     The  old  lady  is  much  shrunk  in 
appearance,  and  is  declining  in  strength.     She  is  1 
but  the  shade  of  her  former  self,  but  a  venerable 
shade.     She  is  eighty-one  years  of  age,  but  she  ' 
retains  her  cheerfulness,  and  seems  not  afraid  of 
death.     She  has  a  serene  hope  and  quiet  faith — 
delightful   qualities  at  all  times,  and  in  old  age  \ 
peculiarly  enviable." 

Four  months  afterwards,  on  the  9th  of  March, 
1825,  she  died,  after  a  few  days'  serious  illness.  At 
the  end  of  the  same  year  we  find  Robinson  making 
this  entry:  — "  fjth  Dec. — At  Royston.  This 
morning  I  read  to  the  young  folks  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
'  Legacy.'  This  delightful  book  has  in  it  some 
of  the  sweetest  things  I  ever  read  'The  King 
in  his  Castle '  and  '  True  Magicians '  are  perfect 
allegories,  in  her  best  style.  Some  didactic  pieces 
are  also  delightful." 

Among  other  distinguished  residents  and  per- 
sonages connected  with  Stoke  Newington,  whose 
names  we  have  not  already  mentioned,  were  Adam 
Anderson,  author  of  the  "  History  of  Commerce, * 
and  Archbishop  Tillotson. 

The  "  Three  Crowns,"  at  the  junction  of  Church 
Street  and  the  main  road,  commemorates  the  spot 
where  James  I. — in  whom  the  three  crowns  were 
first  united — stayed  to  bait  his  horses,  after  meet- 
ing the  Lord  Mayor  and  aldermen  at  the  top  of 
Stamford  Hill. 

The  western  side  of  the  High  Road,  as  far  as 
Stamford  Hill,  formed,  till  recently,  part  of  the 
original  parish  of  Hackney ;  but  the  latter  has  been 
sub-divided,  and  West  Hackney  and  Stamford 
Hill  have  been  made  independent  ecclesiastical 
districts.  The  latter  was  formerly  a  private  and 
proprietary  chapel  of  ease,  but  it  was  purchased  by 
a  subscription  among  the  residents,  enlarged,  and 
consecrated. 

About  half  a  mile  to  the  north,  between  Stoke 
Newington  and  the  Seven  Sisters'  Road,  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Green  Lanes,  are  the  large  reservoirs 
n  which  the  New  River  Company  filter  their  water 
before  it  is  brought  into  London.  We  have  already 
sketched  the  history  of  this  river  in  our  account  of 
Islington,^  but  for  the  following  particulars,  which 
ought  to  have  a  place  here,  we  are  indebted  to 
the  "  Life  of  Sir  Hugh  Middleton,"  in  Mr.  Charles 


Set  Vol.  II.,  pp.  366,  167. 


Stoke  Newington.] 


THE   NEW  RIVER  RESERVOIR. 


Knight's  Penny  Cyclop(edia:—iirl^  fall  of  the 
New  River  is  three  feet  per  mile,  which  gives  a 
velocity  of  about  two  miles  an  hour.  The  average 
width  is  about  twenty-one  feet,  and  the  average 
depth  about  four  feet  in  the  centre ;  so  that,  taking 
it  at  about  half  that  depth,  there  is  a  section  of 
forty-two  square  feet  of  water  flowing  into  London 
at  the  rate  of  two  miles  an  hour.  At  the  sluice, 
near  Highbury,  the  river  is  dammed  back  to  the 
height  of  twenty  inches,  and  at  Enfield  to  two 
feet  four  inches ;  and  there  are  three  or  four  more 
such  interruptions  for  the  purpose  of  checking  the 
current  .  .  .  The  New  River  is  occasionally 
rendered  dirty,  especially  in  winter,  by  drainage 
from  the  land  and  villages  along  its  course ;  and 
the  company  has  been  at  a  great  expense  in  order 
to  purify  the  water  before  it  is  delivered  to  the 
inhabitants  of  London.  For  this  purpose  two 
large  settling  reservoirs  were  formed  in  1832  at 
Stoke  Newington,  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
Mylne,  the  company's  engineer.  The  water  here 
covers  an  area  of  thirty-eight  acres,  more  than 
twenty  feet  deep  in  some  parts,  and  twelve  feet  on 
an  average  throughout.  The  water  of  the  New 
River  can  be  turned  into  the  upper  reservoir,  where 
it  settles,  and  it  is  then  drawn  off  by  a  steam- 
engine,  and  poured  into  the  lower  reservoir,  where 
another  settlement  takes  place,  and  the  water  is 
then  turned  again  once  more  into  the  channel  of 
the  river.  Bathing  in  the  New  River  is  entirely 
prohibited  ;  and  men  called  '  walksmen'  mow  the 
bed  of  the  river  every  week  in  order  to  keep 


down  the  growth  of  weeds,  which  are  stopped  by 
gratings  placed  at  intervals,  where  the  weeds  are 
regularly  removed." 

We  may  conclude  this  chapter  with  an  apt 
quotation  from  the  Rev.  T.  Jackson's  "  Lecture  on 
Stoke  Newington  : " — "  It  is  said  that  in  North 
America  the  line  of  civilisation  stretches  farther 
and  farther  into  the  west  at  the  rate  of  about 
fifteen  miles  a  year.  The  modest  backwoodsman 
who  now  stands  on  the  frontier  of  civilised  life, 
finds  himself  a  twelvemonth  hence  within  its 
boundary.  The  progress  of  London— the  Babylon 
and  Nineveh  of  modern  times— is  scarcely  less 
remarkable,  if  less  rapid.  There  are  persons  yet 
living  (1855)  who  remember  the  erection  of  Fins- 
bury  Square,  upon  what  was  then  the  northern 
limit  of  the  great  town.  Others  have  heard  their 
lathers  speak  of  the  wall  in  front  of  Old  Bedlam, 
and  of  the  cherry-trees  that  grew  in  Broad  Street 
and  London  Wall.  Now  the  south  of  Stoke 
Newington  may  be  regarded  as  within  the  capital 
The  meadows  and  cornfields  of  Kingsland  are  no 
more;  they  are  covered  with  lines  of  busy  and 
well-inhabited  streets.  The  tide  of  population  is 
scarcely  arrested  by  the  uplands  of  Highbury  Hill, 
once  the  seat  of  a  Roman  summer  camp,  and 
threatens  to  invade  the  quiet  hill-top  of  Crouch  End. 
When  will  our  green  fields  be  finally  absorbed? 
when  will  Lordship  Road  be  covered  with  villas, 
to  be,  as  time  rolls  on,  gradually  deteriorated,  till 
they  are  joined  by  intervening  houses 
into  shops?" 


CHAPTER    XLIV. 
STOKE   NEWINGTOX   (continued),   AND  STAMFORD  HILL. 


Stamford  Hill— The  River  Lea— Izaak  Walton  and  the  "  Complete 

IN  the  foregoing  chapter  we  have  briefly  referred  to 
the  mansion  of  Sir  Thomas  Abney,  the  entrance 
to  which  was  on  the  north  side  of  Church  Street. 
It  was  a  large  square  substantial  red-brick  building 
with  stone  quoins,  and  dated  its  erection  from  the 
close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  roof  was 
flat,  with  a  balustrade  around  it ;  and  it  had  a 
central  turret,  which  commanded  an  extensive 
prospect  of  the  surrounding  country.  The  iron 
entrance-gates,  which  still  remain,  are  richly  orna- 
mented with  carved  work  of  fruit  and  flowers. 


ts  ,o  Abney  House-His  Library  and  S.udy-The  Death  of  Dr.  Watts- 
ouse  converted  into  a  School— Monument  of  Isaac  Watts— The  Moi 
re-Stamford  Hill— Meeting  of  King  James  and  the  Lord  Mayor  at 

The  principal  rooms  of  the  house  were  all  large 
and  stately,  and  the  walls  were  lined  with  oak 
wainscoting.  On  the  first  floor  an  apartment 
termed  the  "painted  chamber"  was  finished  in  a 
costly  manner,  and  might  be  considered  an 
interesting  specimen  of  the  taste  of  the  age  m 
which  it  was  arranged.  The  mouldings  were  gilt, 
and  the  whole  of  the  panels  on  the  sides  were 
minted  with  subjects  taken  from  the  works  o 
Ovid  On  the  window-shutters  were  some  pictorial 
decorations-strangely  contrasting  with  the  above 


540 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


heathenish  embellishments— in  the  form  of  emblems  |  mongers'  Company,  and  a  distinguished  Noncon- 
of  grief  and  death,  and  mingled  with  the  arms  of    formist.     He  was  knighted  by  William  III.,  and 


Gunston  and  Abney,  and  intended,  doubtless,  to 
honour  their  memory ;  these  were  supposed  to 
have  been  added  by  the  pencil  of  Dr.  Isaac  Watts 
himself,  who  was  an  artist  as  well  as  poet  and 
divine,  and  who,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  found 
in  this  mansion  an  asylum  for  upwards  of  six-and- 
thirty  years. 


served  the  office  of  Lord  Mayor  in  1700.  He  is 
celebrated  for  the  costliness  of  his  procession  on 
the  occasion  of  entering  on  the  mayoralty,  as  may 
be  seen  in  detail  in  Mr.  J.  G.  Nichols'  "  London 
Pageants."  We  are  told  how  that  "a  person  rode' 
before  the  cavalcade  in  armour,  with  a  dagger  in 
his  hand,  representing  Sir  William  Walworth.  the 


The  building,  with  its  "  old  brick  front,  its  old  ; 
brick  wall,  and  its  old  iron   gate,  all  redolent   of 
the  times  of  William  III.  and  Queen  Anne,"  was  ' 
commenced    about    the    year    1690,    by    a    Mr. 
Gunston,  who   at   that   time  had   purchased  con- 
siderable property  at  Stoke  Newington.     He  died, 
however,  before  the  house  was  completely  finished ; 
an  event  which  drew  forth  a  funeral  poem  from  the 
pen  of  Dr.  Watts,  in  which,  not  content  with  the 
calling  on  "  the  buildings  to  weep,"  he  writes — 

"  Mourn,  ye  young  gardens,  ye  unfinished  gates  !  " 

The  mansion  now  became  the  property  and 
residence  of  Sir  Thomas  and  I^ady  Abney,  who, 
with  their  family,  of  which  Dr.  Watts  may  be  con- 
sidered a  member,  took  up  their  abode  here. 

Sir  Thomas  Abney  was  a  member  of  the  Fish- 


head  of  the  rebel  Wat  Tyler  being  carried  on 
a  pole  before  him."  "  Sir  Thomas,"  as  John  Timbs 
informs  us,  "was  not  more  distinguished  by  his 
hospitality  than  by  his  personal  piety.  Neither 
business  nor  pleasure  ever  interrupted  his  ob- 
servance of  public  and  private  domestic  worship. 
Upon  the  evening  of  the  day  that  he  entered  on 
the  office  of  Lord  Mayor,  without  any  notice  he 
withdrew  from  the  public  assembly  at  Guildhall 
after  supper,  went  back  to  his  house,  there  per- 
formed his  devotions,  and  then  returned  back  to 
his  company." 

Isaac  Watts  began  to  preach  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
three,  while  living  under  the  roof  of  Sir  John  and 
Lady  Hartopp  at  Stoke  Newington,  where,  as  we 
have  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter,  he  was  engaged 


Stoke  Newneton.1 


DR.   WATTS. 


.as  tutor.  He  was  soon  afterwards  invited  to 
assist  Dr.  Chauncey,  of  whose  congregation  in 
Mark  Lane  Sir  John  Hartopp  was  a  member; 
subsequently,  on  the  retirement  of  the  old  pastor, 
Watts  was  induced— though  somewhat  reluctantly, 
owing  to  ill  health — to  undertake  ihe  charge,  in 
March,  1702.  Ten  years  later,  a  nervous  disease 
had  so  grown  upon  him  that  he  was  compelled 
to  suspend  his  public  labours,  and  abandon  the 


length  of  exactly  thirty  years.'  '  Sir,'  added  Lady 
Abney,  in  words  which  contained  infinitely  more 
than  mere  compliment,  '  what  you  have  termed  a 
long  thirty  years'  visit,  I  consider  as  the  shortest 
visit  my  family  ever  received.' " 

Stoke  Newington  thus  became  Dr.  Watts's  home; 
and  here,  and  at  Theobalds,  where  Sir  Thomas 
Abney  had  a  favourite  summer  retreat,  he  wrote 
.most  of  those  "Divine  and  Moral  Songs"  with 


ABNEY   HOUSE,    184$. 


exercise  of  his  ministry.  In  the  meantime  the 
congregation  had  removed  from  Mark  Lane  to  a 
chapeMn  Bury  Street,  where  Sir  Thomas  jAbney 
and  his  amiable  lady  were  members.  Ihey  had 
become  devoted  friends  to  the  poet  and  dmne 
"  Watts  being  lonely-a  bachelor  in  the  midst  of 
*%£££&  Abneys  invited  him  to  come 
and  stay  with  them  for  a  few  weeks'  change.  ^ 
did  so.  One  day,  long  afterwards  the  Couns 
of  Huntingdon  ca  on  the  invalid  Mad 


I  which  his  name  is  so  closely  associated.     Old  Sir 

Thomas  Abney  died  in  ,7.4  upwards  of  fourscore 

!  years  old  ;  but  Watts  continued  to  reside  at  Abney 

1  Park  with  Lady  Abney  and  her  daughter  until  his 

own  d  1     ''Here,"  writes  Dr.  Stoughton    "he 

enjoyed  the  uninterrupted  demonstrations  of  the 

Tel  friendship      Here,  without  any  care  of  his 


238 


542 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Stoke  Newington. 


grateful  intervals  from  his  laborious  studies,  and  [  expect,  limited  somewhat  by  the  wig  that  crowns 
enable   him   to   return   to   them   with    redoubled  !  and  borders  it ;  the  features  large  and  marked,  the 


vigour  and  delight." 

Watts  was  chaplain  to  the  household  of  the  good 
old  knight;  and  morning  and  evening  he  led  the 
devotions,  and  on  Sunday  night  preached  to  the 
family.  The  doctor's  study  in  Lady  Abney's  house 
at  Stoke  Newington  was  the  local  centre  of  his 


eyes  clear  and  burning." 

"  Isaac  Watts,"  observes  the  Rev.  T.  Jackson,  in 


his  lecture  on  Stoke  Newington, 
stantially  the  fatal  errors  of  Arms." 


'adopted  sub- 
This  accusa- 


tion may  or  may  not  be  true;  but  as  Dr.  Stoughton 
remarks,  "  without  trimming,  without  temporising, 


From  it  he  at  times  diverged  only  to    he  was  quiet  and  without  bustle ;  without  boasting 


return  to  it  again  with  a  deeper  feeling  of  home 
attachment  Mrs.  S.  Carter  Hall,  in  her  "  Pilgrim- 
ages to  English  Shrines,"  describing  her  visit  to  this 


or  parade,  he  did  his  own  business — the  work  that 
God  had  given  him.  And  now  no  church  repudiates 
him ;  Nonconformity  cannot  monopolise  him.  His 


nansion,  after  speaking  of  the  library,  says,  "  We  eulogium  is  pronounced  by  Samuel  Johnson  and 
followed  our  conductor  to  the  top  of  the  house,  Robert  Southey,  as  well  as  by  Josiah  Conder ;  and 
where,  in  a  turret  upon  the  roof,  many  of  Dr.  Watts's  ,  whilst  his  monument  looks  down  on  Dissenting 
literary  and  religious  works  were  composed.  We  j  graves  in  Abney  Park,  his  effigy  reposes  beneath 
sat  upon  the  seamed  bench,  rough  and  worn,  the  j  the  consecrated  roof  of  Westminster  Abbey."  Dr. 


very  bench  upon 
noonlight — poet, 


vhich  he    sat  by  daylight  and 
gician,  and  Christian  teacher. 


The  chamber  upon  whose  walls  hung  the  parting 
breath  of  this  benevolent  man  might  well  be  an 
object  of  the  deepest  interest  to  all  who  follow, 
however  humbly,  the  faith  of  Jesus.  We  were  told 
of  a  little  child  who,  knowing  every  hymn  he  had 
written,  was  taken  into  his  room,  having  some 
vague  but  happy  idea  that  she  should  meet  him 
there.  Learning,  as  she  eagerly  looked  round,  that 
the  author  of  '  Watts's  Hymns  '  was  dead,  she  burst 
into  bitter  tears,  which  did  not  cease  while  she 
remained  in  the  house.  Many  of  his  works  are 
said  to  have  been  produced  in  this  room,  which, 


Watts  died  at  Abney  Park,  surrounded  by  his 
friends,  on  the  24th  of  November,  1748;  and  his 
remains  were  interred  in  Bunhill  Fields. 

Miss  Abney,  the  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Abney, 
ordered  by  her  will  that  on  her  death  the  estate  of 
Abney  Park  should  be  sold  and  the  proceeds  given 
to  the  poor,  and  distributed  among  charities.  It 
was  accordingly  sold,  and  the  purchase  money  of 
the  new  owner,  whose  name  was  Eade,  was  devoted 
to  the  execution  of  her  intentions. 

The  mansion,  after  having  been  for  many  years 
used  as  a  college  for  the  instruction  of  youths  of 
the  Wesleyan  Society,  was  pulled  down  in  1845,  the 
park  and  garden-grounds  having,  four  or  five  years 


previously,  been  converted  into  a  cemetery.  Many 
of  the  fine  old  cedars  and  yews  that  adorn  the 
cemetery  flourished  here  during  the  lifetime  of  Dr. 
Watts,  who,  it  is  said,  wrote  much  of  his  poetry 
beneath  their  shade,  and  upon  the  mound  conse- 


thougli  small,  was  lofty  and  pleasant." 

Here  is  a  picture  of  the  doctor's  study  and  its 
learned  occupant,  as  drawn  by  Dr.  Stoughton,  in 
his  '•  Shades  and  Echoes  of  Old  London  :"— "  Here 
are  some  lines  from  Horace,  hung  up  in  a  frame 

outside  the  door,  denouncing  the  faithless  friend.  I  crated  by  his  name,  and  which,  a  vague  tradition 
Within,  the  shelves  are  loaded  with  a  goodly  array  [  tells  us,  covers  the  ashes  of  no  less  a  personage 
of  books— poetical,  philosophical,  historical,  theo  than  Oliver  Cromwell.  We  have  already  had 
logical,  and  critical.  Where  there  are  no  shelves,  occasion,  more  than  once,  to  record  some  of  the 
there  are  prints  of  noted  persons,  chiefly  divines,  traditions  concerning  Cromwell's  supposed  resting- 
A  lofty  panel  covers  the  fireplace,  with  inscriptions  place.*  That  his  body  received  but  a  mock  funeral 
from  Horace  on  either  side  :  the  one,  where  the  at  Westminster,  and  was  really  peaceably  reposing 
portraits  are  numerous,  indicating  that  the  space  j  elsewhere,  is  said  to  have  been  a  favourite  belief 
is  filled  up  by  shades  of  the  departed  ;  the  other,  '  with  his  partisans ;  and  General  Fleetwood's  resi- 
where  they  are  fewer,  soliciting  additions  to  the  dence  at  Stoke  Newington,  the  circumstance  of 
illustrious  group.  The  classical  fancifulness  of  all  his  marriage  with  Bridget,  the  eldest  daughter  of 
this  indicates  the  scholar  and  the  poet;  but  the  the  "Lord  High  Protector,"  and  widow  of  General 
avocations  of  the  worthy  occupant  of  this  literary  Ireton,  and  the  fact  that  he  was  a  very  distinguished 
retreat  indicate  those  noble  purposes,  those  high  ;  character  during  the  Protectorate  of  his  father-in- 
Christian  aims,  of  which  all  else  in  his  character  j  law — may  easily  have  led  to  the  tradition  above 
and  habits  were  ornamental  adjuncts.  There  he  mentioned,  however  .unfounded.  A  large  portion 
sits  at  his  writing  table,  enveloped  in  a  scholarly  of  Abney  Park,  ranging  from  the  magnificent 
robe,  small  in  figure,  and  sickly  in  complexion ;  _ 
the  forehead  not  so  broad  and  high  as  we  might  *  s«  VOL  in.,  pp.  437,  jjg:  Vol.  iv.,  p.  546. 


Stoke  Newington.] 


ABNEY   PARK   CEMETERY. 


cedar  of  Lebanon,  in  the  part  of  the  grounds  once 
called  the  Wilderness,  and  stretching  away  to  the 
north  extremity,  where  the  mound  is  placed,  and 
all  the  land  eastward  of  that  line,  extending  as  far 
as  the  principal  entrance  to  the  cemetery,  was, 
during  the  Commonwealth,  and  after  the  Restora- 
tion, the  property  of  General  Fleetwood,  of  whose 
house  we  have  spoken  in  the  previous  chapter. 

Abney  Park  Cemetery  covers  in  all  about  thirty 
acres  of  ground,  and  was  opened  in  1840.  It  is  full 
of  monuments  of  men  whom  time  will  not  let  die. 
A  cenotaph  monument  and  statue  to  the  memory 
of  Dr.  Isaac  Watts  rises  conspicuously  above  other 
mementoes  of  the  departed,  connecting  the  place 
with  his  name,  and  exciting  the  visitor  to  some 


543 


recollections  of  his  works  and 
Hall,  writing  in  1850,  says 


irtues.     Mrs.  S.  C. 
The  trees  and  the 


avenues,  preserved  with  a  most  delicate  respect  to 
the  memory  of  the  poet,  are  so  well  kept,  there  is 
such  an  air  of  solemnity  and  peace  and  positive 
'  beauty  '  in  the  arrangement  of  the  whole,  that  if 
spirits  were  permitted  to  visit  the  earth,  we  might 
hope  to  meet  his  shade  amid  his  once  favourite 
haunts.  There  is  nothing  to  offend  us  in  such 
receptacles  for  the  perishing  dust  of  humanity,  but 
everything  to  soothe  and  harmonise  the  feelings  of 
the  past  and  present.  A  statue  in  pure  and  simple 
character  of  this  high-priest  of  charity  stands  (we 
are  told)  upon  the  '  exact  spot  '  where  the  house 
stood  ;  but  we  think  it  has  been  placed  rather 
farther  back  than  was  the  dwelling."  The  inscrip- 
tion upon  the  pedestal  of  the  statue,  which  was 
executed  by  Mr.  K.  H.  Baily,  R.A.,  and  "  erected 
by  public  subscription,  September,  1845,"  is  as 
follows  :— 


"In  memory  of  Isaac  Watts,  D.D.,   and  in  testimony  of 
the  high  and    lasting 


hich  his   character  and 


writings  are  held  in  the  great  Christian  community  by  whom 
the  English  language  is  spoken.  Of  hi.,  Psalms  and  Hymns, 
it  may  be  predicted  in  his  own  word,-,  :— 

'  Ages  unborn  will  make  his  songs 

The  joy  and  labour  of  their  tongues  ' 

lie  was  born  at  Southampton,  July  171)1,  1674,  and  died 
November  24th,  1748,  after  a  residence  of  thirty-six  years  in 
the  mansion  of  Sir  Thomas  Abney,  Karl.,  then  .-.finding  in 
these  grounds." 

Dr.  Johnson  wrote  of  him  :—  "  Few  men  have 
left  behind  such  purity  of  character,  or  such  monu- 
ments of  laborious  piety;  he  has  provided  in- 
struction for  all  ages,  from  those  who  are  lisping 
their  first  lessons  to  the  enlightened  readers  of 
Malebranche  and  Locke.  He  has  left  neither  cor- 
poreal nor  spiritual  nature  unexamined  ;  he  has 
taught  the  Art  of  Reasoning  and  the  Science  of 
the  Stars  ;  such  he  was,  as  every  Christian  Church 
would  rejoice  to  have  adopted." 


The  mound,"  too,  which  we  have  mentioned 
above,  whence  the  poet  loved  to  overlook  the 
green  and  fertile  country—for  London  at  that 
time  had  not  escaped  from  Shoreditch— is  walled: 
in,  fenced  round,  and  guarded  as  a  sanctuary.  It 
is  in  the  north-east  corner  of  the  grounds. 

As  a  cemetery,  Abney  Park  has  some  natural 
features  of  great  beauty  and  interest.  It  is  remark- 
able for  its  fine  old  trees,  amongst  which  there 
is  a  splendid  cedar  of  Lebanon  of  two  centuries' 
growth.  It  contains  also  a  beautiful  arboretum, 
formed  with  great  taste.  The  buildings  are  bold 
and  effective,  though  of  limited  extent ;  and  what 
is  wanting  in  costliness  has  been  more  than  com- 
pensated by  the  skill  of  the  architect,  Mr.  W. 
Hosking,  who  has  here  shown  how  much  may  be 
effected  by  "that  true  simplicity  which  results 
from  a  few  carefully-studied  and  well-finished  fea- 
tures." Near  the  centre  of  the  grounds  stands  a 
neat  brick-built  chapel,  of  Gothic  architecture,  the 
tower  of  which  is  surmounted  by  a  tapering  spire. 
The  ground  is  (using  the  words  of  the  proprietors) 
"  a  General  Cemetery  for  the  City  of  London,  and 
its  eastern  and  north-eastern  suburbs,  which  shall 
be  open  to  all  classes  of  the  community,  and  to  all 
denominations  of  Christians,  without  restraint  in 
forms."  There  is,  therefore,  no  separating  line  in 
this  cemetery  between  the  parts  appropriated  to 
members  of  the  Church  of  England  and  to  Dis- 
senters. The  greater  part  of  the  ground  is  thickly 
studded  with  tombs  and  monuments,  most  of  which 
are  remarkable  for  simplicity,  and  many  of  the 
graves  are  enriched  with  flowers  or  other  touching 
emblems  of  the  grief  of  sorrowing  friends  of  the 
departed.  Unlike  Kensal  Green  and  other  ceme- 
teries which  we  have  visited  in  the  course  of  our 
perambulation  round  London,  Abney  Park  cannot 
boast  of  containing  the  ashes  of  many  who  have 
distinguished  themselves  "  by  flood  and  field ; " 
but  a  large  number  of  those  who  achieved  distinc- 
tion in  more  peaceable  walks  of  life  have  here 
found  a  resting-place.  Among  them  we  may 
mention  the  Rev.  Dr.  Fletcher,  of  Finsbury,  "  the 
Children's  Friend;"  the  Rev.  Andrew  Reed,  D.D., 
the  philanthropic  founder  of  many  orphan  asylums 
and  other  public  charities,  who  died  in  1862  ;  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Fletcher,  of  Stepney ;  Dr.  John  Camp- 
bell ;  the  Rev.  Thomas  Binney,  one  of  the  most 
prominent  leaders  of  the  Independent  connexion, 
and  for  many  years  minister  at  the  Weigh-house 
Chapel,  Fish  Street  Hill ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Pye  Smith ; 
Dr.  Archer;  and  last,  not  least,  Mr.  Braidwood, 
who  was  many  years  chief  of  the  London  Fire 
Brigade,  and  who  lost  his  life  during  the  great  fire 
in  Tooley  Street,  in  June,  1861. 


S44 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


Passing  northward,  after  leaving  the  cemetery 
gates,  we  soon  arrive  at  Stamford  Hill,  a  gentle 
eminence  on  the  main  road.  The  old  Cambridge 
Road,  which  we  have  mentioned  as  passing  through 
Hackney  by  way  of  Mare  Street,  after  continuing 
its  course  through  Lower  and  Upper  Clapton,  joins 
the  new  road,  by  which  we  are  now  proceeding,  at 
the  summit  of  the  hill.  Both  sides  of  the  road,  as 
we  pass  up  the  hill,  are  occupied  by  rows  of  houses 
and  detached  villas,  many  of  them  of  an  elegant 
character,  that  almost  force  upon  the  recollection 
the  lines  of  Cowper — 


"  Suburban  villas,  highway  side  retreats, 
That  dread  th'  encroachment  of  our  growing  streets. 
Tight  boxes,  neatly  sashed,  and  in  a  blaze 
With  all  a  July's  sun's  collected  rays, 
Delight  the  citizen,  who,  gasping  there, 
Breathes  clouds  of  dust  and  calls  it  country  air." 

So  much  may  the  neighbourhood  now  be  con-  > 
sidered  part  of  London,  that  the  road  itself  is 
traversed  by  tram-cars,  which  run  between  the  City 
and  the  top  of  Stamford  Hill.  On  our  right  we 
pass  a  new  Congregational  Chapel,  a  large  Gothic 
structure,  the  tall  spire  of  which  forms  a  prominent  ' 
object  for  some  distance  round. 

On  reaching  the  summit  of  the  hill,  where  the 
two  roads  meet  as  above  mentioned,  an  entirely 
different  scene  presents  itself,  and  we  begin  to  feel 
that  we  have  reached  almost  the  limits  of  our 
journey  in  this  direction.  Green  fields,  trees,  and 
hedge-rows  now  burst  upon  the  view  ;  and  winding 
away  to  the  north-east  the  road  leads  on  towards  ' 
the  village  of  Tottenham,  whither  we  will  presently  [ 
direct  our  steps.  Before  proceeding  thither,  how- 
ever, we  will  give  a  glance  back  over  the  ground  we 
have  wandered  ;  and  conjure  up  to  our  imagination 
the  sweeping  change  which  must  have  taken  place 
within  the  last  three  or  four  centuries,  when  London 
was  walled  in  on  every  side,  and  all  away  to  the 
north  was  fields — "  Moor  Felde,"  "  Smeeth  Felde," 
and  the  like — and  forest  land,  through  which  passed 
the  lonely  road,  called  "  Hermen  [or  Ermine! 
Strete,"  of  which  we  have  spoken  in  the  previous  , 
chapter,  after  emerging  from  "  Creple  Gate,"  on  its  ; 
way  by  Stoke  Newington,  to  St.  Albans  and  the 
north.  The  swampy  nature  of  the  ground,  too,  in 
some  parts  is  still  indicated  by  the  name  of  Fins-  i 
bury  (Fensbury) ;  but  all  this,  as  we  have  seen,  has 
long  been  built  upon,  and  "  Moornelds  are  fields  ' 
no  more." 

As  Mr.  Matthew  Browne  writes  in  "  Chaucer's 
England,"  we  must  "either  be  at  a  great  distance  i 
from  London  or  must  possess  a  very  lively  imagina-  i 
tion  to  conceive  of  the  English  capital  as  a  place  | 
01  gardens,  such  as  it  was  in  the  time  of  the  Plan- 


tagenets.  Within  my  own  memory,  the  area  within 
which  roses  will  not  grow  in  the  metropolis  has 
been  widening  and  widening  in  the  most  odious 
manner,  and  in  every  direction.  The  great  brick- 
giant  marches  out  towards  the  fields,  and  the  roses 
fly  before  him;  and  you  have  to  go  nearly  out  of  the 
sound  of '  Big  Ben '  to  see  gardens  no  sweeter  and 
gayer  than  lay  under  the  shadow  of  St  Paul's  and 
the  Savoy  Palace  in  the  days  of  John  of  Gaunt" 

In  the  reign  of  King  James,  Stamford  Hill  was 
crowned  with  a  grove  of  trees,  and  its  eastern 
declivity  was  overgrown  with  brushwood.  The 
whole  country  on  the  Essex  side  was  marshy  as 
far  as  Epping  Forest,  some  three  miles  distant 
Through  a  swampy  vale  on  the  right  the  river 
Lea,  so  dear  to  the  angler,  took  its  slow  and  silent 
course,  while  through  a  green  valley  on  the  left 
flowed  the  New  River. 

In  Mr.  Harrison  Ainsworth's  romance  of  the 
"  Star  Chamber  "  is  a  graphic  and  spirited,  though 
somewhat  sensational,  sketch  of  the  view  looking 
towards  London  from  this  elevated  spot  at  the 
above  period  :— "  Arrived  at  the  summit  of  the 
hill  commanding  such  extensively  charming  views, 
Jocelyn  halted  and  looked  back  with  wonder  at 
the  vast  and  populous  city  he  had  just  quitted, 
now  spread  out  before  him  in  all  its  splendour 
and  beauty.  In  his  eyes  it  seemed  already  over- 
grown, though  it  had  not  attained  a  tithe  of  its 
present  proportions ;  but  he  could  only  judge 
according  to  his  opportunity,  and  was  unable  to 
foresee  its  future  magnitude.  But  if  London  has 
waxed  in  size,  wealth,  and  population  during  the 
last  two  centuries  and  a  half,  it  has  lost  nearly  all 
the  peculiar  features  of  beauty  which  distinguished 
it  up  to  that  time,  and  made  it  so  attractive  to 
Jocelyn's  eyes.  The  diversified  and  picturesque 
architecture  of  its  ancient  habitations,  as  yet  un- 
disturbed by  the  innovations  of  the  Italian  and 
Dutch  schools,  and  brought  to  full  perfection  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  gave  the 
whole  city  a  characteristic  and  fanciful  appear- 
ance. Old  towers,  old  belfries,  old  crosses,  slender 
spires  innumerable,  rose  up  amid  a  world  of  quaint 
gables  and  angular  roofs.  Storey  above  storey 
sprang  those  curious  dwellings,  irregular,  yet  homo- 
geneous ;  dear  to  the  painter's  and  the  poet's  eye  ; 
elaborate  in  ornament,  grotesque  in  design,  well 
suited  to  the  climate,  and  admirably  adapted  to 
the  wants  and  comforts  of  the  inhabitants  ;  pic- 
turesque like  the  age  itself,  like  its  costume,  its 
manners,  its  literature.  .  .  .  Another  advantage  in 
those  days  must  not  be  forgotten.  The  canopy  of 
smoke  overhanging  the  vast  modern  Babel,  and 
oftentimes  obscuring  even  the  light  of  the  sun 


Stamford  Hill.l 


KING   JAMES'S   ENTRY   INTO   LONDON. 


545 


itself,  did  not  dim  the  beauties  of  the  ancient 
city — sea-coal  being  but  little  used  in  comparison 
with  wood,  of  which  there  was  then  abundance,  as 
at  this  time  in  the  capital  of  France.  Thus  the 
atmosphere  was  clearer  and  lighter,  and  served  as 
a  finer  medium  to  reveal  objects  which  would  now 
be  lost  at  a  quarter  the  distance. 

"  Fair,  sparkling,  and  clearly  denned,  then  rose 
up  Old  London  before  Jocelyn's  gaze.  Girded 
round  with  grey  walls,  defended  by  battlements, 
and  approached  by  lofty  gates,  four  of  which — to 
wit,  Cripplegate,  Moorgate,  Bishopsgate,  and  Aid- 
gate — were  visible  from  where  he  stood ;  it  riveted 
attention  from  its  immense  congregation  of  roofs, 
spires,  pinnacles,  and  vanes,  all  glittering  in  the 
sunshine;  while  in  the  midst  of  all,  and  pre- 
eminent above  all,  towered  one  gigantic  pile— the 
glorious  Gothic  cathedral.  Far  on  the  east,  and 
beyond  the  city  walls,  though  surrounded  by  its 
own  mural  defences,  was  seen  the  frowning  Tower 
of  London — part  fortress  and  part  prison— a  struc- 
ture never  viewed  in  those  days  without  terror, 
being  the  scene  of  so  many  passing  tragedies. 
Looking  westward,  and  rapidly  surveying  the 
gardens  and  pleasant  suburban  villages  lying  on 
the  north  of  the  Strand,  the  young  man's  gaze 
settled  for  a  moment  on  Charing  Cross— the 
elaborately-carved  memorial  to  his  queen  Eleanor, 
erected  by  Edward  I.,  and  then  ranging  over  the 
palace  of  Whitehall  and  its  two  gates,  Westminste: 
Abbey — more  beautiful  without  its  towers  thai 
with  them — it  became  fixed  upon  Westminste 


Hall ;  for  there,  in  one 


of  its  chambers,  the  ceiling 


of  which  was  adorned  with  gilded  stars,  were  helc 
the  councils  of  that  terrible  tribunal  which  hac 
robbed  him  of  his  inheritance,  and  now  threatene( 
him  with  deprivation  of  liberty  and  mutilation  o 
person.  A  shudder  crossed  him  as  he  thought  o 
the  Star-Chamber,  and  he  turned  his  gaze  else 
where,  trying  to  bring  the  whole  glorious  cit 
within  his  ken. 

"  A  splendid  view,  indeed  !  Well  might  Kin 
James  himself  exclaim,  when  standing,  not  man 
years  previously,  on  the  very  spot  where  Jocely 
now  stood,  and  looking  upon  London  for  the  fi" 
time  since  his  accession  to  the  throne  of  Englan 

well  might  he  exclaim  in  rapturous  accents,  as 

he  gazed  on  the  magnificence  of  his  capital,  A 
last  the  richest  jewel  in  a  monarch's  crown  is 
mine ! ' " 

However  much  the  above  description  of  t 
view  from  Stamford  Hill  may  be  overdrawn,  and 
whether  Jocelyn  could  descry  the  cross  at  Charing 
from  this  spot  or  not,  there  is  at  least  some  foun- 
dation for  the   exclamation   which  Mr.   Harrison 


insworth  has  put  into  the  mouth  of  King  James ; 
r  it  is  on  record  how  that  on  the  7th  of  May, 
103,  his  Majesty  was  here  met  by  the  Lord 
[ayor  and  aldermen  on  his  first  public  entry  into 
ondon  after  his  accession. 
The  river  Lea,  which  flows  at  the  distance  of 
om  one  to  two  miles  on  our  right,  all  the  way 
om  Kingsland,  and  which  here  makes  its  nearest 
pproach  to  the  road  that  we  are  travelling,  divides 
he  county  of  Middlesex  from  that  of  Essex,  as  far 

the  north  as  Waltham  Abbey.  Its  course  on 
e  whole  is  due  south,  though  somewhat  winding, 
nd  here  and  there  it  divides  its  water  into  two  or 
hree  separate  channels,  and  then  re-unites  them. 
Nearly  all  along  its  course  there  is  a  broad  belt  of 
neadow  and  marsh  land  on  one  side  of  the  river, 
r  on  both,  which  is  used  as  pasturage  for  cattle, 
he  Lea  itself,  after  sweeping  past  Chingford, 
btratford,  and  Bow,  falls  into  the  Thames  close  by 
he  Victoria  Dock.  This  river  in  former  times 
deemed  one  of  considerable  importance,  as 
he  means  of  supply  in  conveying  corn,  meal,  and 
to  the  metropolis ;  so  much  so,  in  fact,  that 
n  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.  an  Act  of  Parliament 
was  passed  for  improving  the  navigation.  It  has, 
oo,  an  historical  interest,  for  Drayton,  in  his 
'  Polyolbion,"  tells  us  how  that — 

"  The  old  Lea  brags  of  the  Danish  blood." 

It  is  said  in  Lambarde's  "  Dictionarium  Topo- 
graphicum"  that  "it  hath  of  longe  tyme  borne 
vessels  from  London  twenty  miles  towards  its  head : 
"or  in  the  tyme  of  King  yElfrede,  the  Danes  entered 
Leymouthe  and  fortified  at  a  place  adjoyning  this 
river  twenty  miles  from  London,  where  by  fortune 
Kinge  Alfred  passinge  by  espied  that  the  channel 
of  the  river  might  be  in  such  sorte  weakened,  that 
they  should  want  water  to  return  with  their  shippes; 
he  caused  therefore  the  water  to  be  abated  by  two 
great  trenches,  and  settinge  the  Londoners  upon 
them  he  made  them  batteil,  wherein  they  lost  four 
of  their  captaines,  and  a  great  number  of  their 
common  souldiers,  the  rest  flyinge  into  the  castell 
which  they  had  built  Not  long  after  they  were 
so  pressed  that  they  forsoke  all  and  left  their 
shippes  as  a  prey  to  the  Londoners ;  which,  break- 
inge  some  and  burninge  other,  conveyed  the  rest 
to  London."  He  adds  that  this  castle,  though  it 


i  defined,  and  must  always  remain  a  mooi  pomi. 
Other  authors,  however,  confirm  in  *e  main  the 
leading  statement  of  Lambarde,  namely,  Sir  William 
Dugdale  in  his  "  History  of  the  Embanking  and 
Draining  the  Fens,"  and  Sir  John  Spelman  in  his 
«  Life  of  Alfred  the  Great."  A  perusal  of  the  latter 


546  OLD    AND   NEW  LONDON.        .    .  rrh.Riv.rL... 

work  will  leave  the  honest  reader  in  very  little  tion  is  the  "  Complete  Angler,  or  Contemplative 
doubt  but  that  these  trenches  are  the  very  same  Man's  Recreation."  *  This  appeared  in  1653,  and 
that  now  branch  off  from  the  river  between  the  has  gone  through  numerous  editions.  The  motto 
Temple  Mills  and  Old  Ford,  and  crossing  the  to  the  first  edition  was,  "  Simon  Peter  said,  I  go  a 
Essex  Road  near  Stratford,  enter  the 
Thames  together  with  the  main  stream 
of  the  Lea. 

On  those  channels  of  the  Lea  which 
are  not  used  for  the  purposes  of  navi- 
gation there  are  corn  and  paper  mills, 
near  which  are  the  favourite  resorts 
for  the  disciples  of  Izaak  Walton's 
"gentle  craft."  At  many  places  the 
fishing  is  strictly  preserved,  and  ad- 
mission to  these  pleasant  spots  is  ob- 


tained  only  by  the  "  silver  key  "  of  a  yearly  sub- 
scription. There  is  a  tranquillising  influence  in  such 
spots,  which  harmonise  best  with  minds  formed  as 
those  of  John  Scott,  the  Quaker  poet  of  Amwell,  and 
of  the  author  of  the  "  Complete  Angler."  In  fact, 
Scott  has  paid  his  tribute  to  Izaak  Walton,  who 

"  Oft  our  fair  haunts  explored ;  upon  Lea's  shore 
Beneath  some  green  tree  oft  his  angle  laid, 
His  sport  suspending  to  admire  their  charms." 

"Honest  Izaak"  has  been  immortalised  by  his 
literary  labours,  which  were  mainly  of  a  bio- 
graphical character;  but  his  best  known  produc- 


fishing  ;  and  they  .said,  We  also  go  with  thee  ;"  but 
it  was  cancelled  in  subsequent  editions.  This 
"  pleasant  curiosity  of  fish  and  fishing,"  writes  his 
amiable  biographer,  "  is  a  series  of  dialogues — no 
long  '  and  watery  discourse,'  but  truly  a  rich  enter- 
tainment— quaint,  humorous,  and  cheerful,  abound- 
ing in  happy  touches  of  wit  and  raillery,  practical 
wisdom,  sagacious  reflections,  and  snatches  of 
poetry  and  song.  While  his  lectures  on  his  art  are 
so  clear  and  so  curious,  his  digressions  are  ever 
most  amusing." 

While  he  continued  in  London,  his  favourite 
recreation  was  angling,  in  which  he  was  the  greatest 
proficient  in  his  time ,  and  indeed  so  great  were 
his  skill  and  experience  in  the  art  that  there  is 


The  River  L«,.j 


IZAAK  WALTON. 


VIEWS    ON   THE    RIVER   LEA. 
enham  Church   from  Lea  River.  3.  Tumbling  Weir. 


Fishing  Cottage  5.  Tottenham  Lock 


OLD   AND    NEW   LONDON. 


scarce  any  writer  on  the  subject  since  his  time  who 
has  not  made  the  rules  and  practice  of  Walton  his 
very  foundation.  It  is  therefore  with  the  greatest 
propriety  that  Langbaine,  in  his  "Lives  of  the 
English  Dramatic  Poets,"  calls  him  "  the  common 
father  of  all  anglers."  The  river  that  he  seems 
mostly  to  have  frequented  for  this  purpose  was  the 
Lea,  which  has  its  source  above  Ware,  in  Hertford- 
shire, and  falls  into  the  Thames,  as  we  have  seen, 
a  little  below  Blackwall ;  unless  we  suppose  that 
the  vicinity  of  the  New  River  to  the  place  of  his 
habitation  might  sometimes  tempt  him  out  with 
his  friends — honest  Nat  and  R.  Roe,  whose  loss  he 
so  pathetically  deplores  in  his  preface  of  the  "Com- 
plete Angler" — to  "spend  an  afternoon  there." 
In  the  above  work,  the  kindness  of  old  Izaak's 
nature  often  peeps  out,  as  when  he  tells  his  friend 
and  disciple  or  scholar  who  had  caught  his  first 
chub,  "  it  is  a  good  beginning  of  your  art  to  offer 
your  first  fruits  to  the  poor,  who  will  thank  both 
you  and  God  for  it."  "  He  was  no  ascetic,  for 
he  liked  '  the  barley-wine,  the  good  liquor  that  our 
honest  forefathers  did  use  to  drink  of,'  and  he 
loved  such  mirth  '  as  did  not  make  friends  ashamed 
to  look  on  one  another  the  next  morning.'  His 
humour  is  sometimes  quite  comic,  as  when,  after 
instructing  his  listener  and  companion  in  the  art  of 
impaling  a  frog  upon  a  hook,  and  securing  the 
upper  part  of  its  leg  by  one  loop  to  the  arming 
wire,  he  naively  adds,  '  In  so  doing,  use  him  as  if 
you  love  him.' " 

According  to  Izaak  Walton,  the  river  Lea 
affords  fine  sport  to  the  angler,  not  only  in  perch, 
chub,  pike,  barbel,  dace,  roach,  gudgeon,  and  other 
common  fish,  but  also  in  trout.  He  speaks  of  the 
Lea  meadows  as  flowery  above  the  average,  and 
even  of  the  milkmaids  of  the  neighbourhood  as 
prettier  and  more  charming  than  their  sisters  in 
other  parts  ;  but  in  this  last  respect  he  probably 
mixed  up  too  much  of  the  poet  with  the  philo- 


sopher.  His  serene  heart,  in  fact,  is  ever  going 
out  in  admiration  of  the  clear  stream  in  its  shallows, 
pools,  and  flowery  banks ;  the  shady  trees,  the 
odorous  honeysuckle,  the  green  pastures,  the  dis- 
porting of  the  lambs,  the  hum  of  the  bee,  the  clouds 
and  sky,  and  the  song  of  the  linnet  and  the  lark, 
the  blackbird  and  thrush.  "The  book,"  writes 
its  reviewer,  "  will  ever  be  a  favourite  with  all  '  that 
love  virtue  and  angling,'  as  did  its  author,  who  was 
at  peace  with  himself  and  all  creation  excepting 
otters."  Yet,  in  spite  of  this,  Byron  could  write 
of  Walton  reproachfully  in  the  following  couplet — 
"  That  quaint  old  cruel  coxcomb  in  his  gullet 
Should  have  a  hook  and  a  small  trout  to  pull  it" 

Rennie,  in  one  of  his  notes  on  the  "  Complete 
Angler,"  tells  a  good  story  anent  this  river.  An 
old  river  Lea  angler  being  daily  seen  in  one  par- 
ticular spot  hereabouts,  a  brother  angler  conceived 
that  the  place  must  be  the  resort  of  abundance  of 
fish,  and  therefore  commenced  his  operations  there 
one  summer  morning  before  daybreak.  The  usual 
attendant  of  the  place  arrived  some  hours  after, 
and  threw  in  his  line.  After  a  long  silence,  the 
first-comer  remarked  that  he  was  out  of  luck,  not 
having  caught  a  single  fish  in  this  hole,  which 
he  had  noticed  to  be  such  a  favourite  with  his 
brother  of  the  rod.  "  Sir,"  replied  the  old  stager, 
"  I  confess  that  long  custom  has  made  me  very 
partial  to  the  spot;  but  as  for  fish,  I  assure  you 
that  here  I  have  angled  regularly  for  forty  years, 
and  have  never  had  a  bite  as  yet ! " 

The  "Jolly  Anglers"  inn,  at  Lea  Bridge,  a  little 
to  the  east  of  Upper  Clapton,  is  of  itself  sufficient 
to  indicate  that  the  stream  hereabouts  is  largely 
frequented  by  the  lovers  of  Walton's  "gentle  art." 
It  is  also,  during  the  summer  months,  much  fre- 
quented for  the  purposes  of  bathing  and  boating, 
and  the  number  of  fatal  accidents  arising  from  the 
unskilful  management  of  small  craft  by  youths  who 
can  neither  row  nor  swim  is  lamentably  great 


CHAPTER     XLV. 

TOTTENHAM. 


:  Division  of  the  Parish  into  Wards— Extent  and  Boundaries  of  the  Parish— Early  History  of  Tottenham—  The  Manor  ow  ned  by  King  David 
Bruce  of  Scotland— Other  Owners  of  the  Manor— The  Village  of  Tottenham-The  Hermitage  and  Chapel  of  St.  Anne-The  "Seven 
Sisters  "-The  Village  Green— The  High  Cross— The  River  Lea  at  Tottenham-bleak  Hall— Old  Almshouses— The  "George  and  Vulture" 
—The  Roman  Catholic  Chapel  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales -Bruce  Castle— The  Parish  Church— The  Chapel  and  Weil  of  St.  Loy—  Bishop's 
Well— White  Hart  Lane— Wood  Green— Tottenham  Wood— Concluding  Remark',. 


WE  descend  the  sloping  ground  to  the  north  of 

Stamford    Hill,  and    following   the  roadway the 

river  Lea  running  parallel  with  our  course  through 


the  green  fields  on  our  right — we  soon  enter  the 
village  of  Tottenham.  This  village,  or,  as  it  is 
generally  called,  Tottenham  High  Cross,  is  de- 


AN   ANCIENT  MANOR. 


scnbed  at  some  length  in  the  "Ambulator"  (1774).   Simon,  from  whom  the  king  took  away  the  estate 
It  is   stated  that  "  the  present  Duke  of  North-   and  gave  it  to  David,  the  son  of  Malcolm  III 
umberland  and  the  late  Lord  Coleraine  had  seats    King  of  Scotland,    who    then    married   Simon's 
here ;  and  there  are  also  a  great  number  of  pretty    mother  Maud.    Their  son  Henry,  their  grandson 
houses  belonging  to  the  citizens  of  London."  Malcolm,  and  their  great-grandson  William  the  Lion, 

The  parish  of  Tottenham  is  very  extensive,  or,  held  it  until  the  last  joined  Prince  Henry  against 
at  all  events,  was  so,  until  sundry  ecclesiastical  his  father,  Henry  II.,  who  ejected  William,  and 
districts  were  formed  out  of  it.  It  was  divided  restored  it  to  its  rightful  owner  Simon ;  but  after 
into  four  "wards,"  thus  enumerated  in  the  "Ambu-  his  death  the  king  gave  it  back  to  William,  and 
lator : "— "  i.  Nether  Ward,  in  which  stands  the  he  to  his  brother  David,  who  then  took  the  title 
parsonage  and  vicarage ;  2.  Middle  Ward,  compre-  of  Earl  of  Huntingdon.  On  his  death  the  manor 
hending  Church  End  and  Marsh  Street ;  3.  High  probably  fell  to  the  share  of  his  second  daughter 
Cross  Ward,  containing  the  hall,  the  mill,  Page  Isabel,  who  married  the  father  of  Robert  Bruce, 
Green,  and  the  High  Cross ;  4.  Wood  Green  Ward,  the  competitor  with  John  Baliol  for  the  crown  of 
which  comprehends  all  the  rest  of  the  parish,  and  Scotland,  and  afterwards  king.  It  was  he  who 
is  considerably  bigger  than  the  three  other  wards  made  Tottenham  his  place  of  residence,  and,  as 
put  together."  we  shall  presently  see,  gave  the  house  the  name  of 

Bedwell,  in  his  "  History  of  Tottenham,"  de-  Bruce  Castle,  or  rather,  as  it  was  then  called,  Le 
scribes  the  parish  as  being  nearly  fifteen  miles  in  Bruses.  On  his  revolt  from  Edward  I.  his  property 
circumference.  "  It  is  divided,"  he  writes,  "  on  in  England  was  forfeited,  and  came  into  the  hands 
the  east,  from  Walthamstow,  in  Essex,  by  the  river  of  the  Crown.  After  this  the  manor  was  split  up 
Lea ;  on  the  north  it  meets  the  parish  of  Ed-  among  different  persons,  to  whom  the  king  gave  it 
monton ;  on  the  west  it  is  bounded  by  Hornsey  in  return  for  some  service  or  other,  but  it  appears 
and  Friern-Barnet ;  and  on  the  south  by  Hackney  that  it  never  went  down  to  the  descendants  of  the 
and  Stoke  Newington.  The  western  division  is  owner,  but  always  reverted  to  the  Crown  after  his 
watered  by  the  circuitous  progress  of  the  New  death.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  VL  we  find  that 
River ;  and  a  little  brook,  termed  the  Mosell,  there  were  several  lesser  manors,  which  went 
which  rises  at  Muswell  Hill,  passes  through  the  by  the  following  names :— Bruce's,  Pembroke's, 
village  and  shortly  unites  with  a  branch  of  the  Mocking's,  and  Dawbeney's.  These  were  named 
Lea7,  from  their  owners,  and  were  held  on  condition  that 

The  first  that  we  hear  of  Tottenham  is  in  the  whenever  the  king  went  to  war  in  person  the 
reign  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  when  it  formed  part  owner  should  furnish  him  with  a  pair  of  silver 
of  the  possessions  of  Waltheof,  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  spurs  gilt. 


opposing  the  Norman  I      David   Bruce,    King -of  Scotland ^ing  thus 


He  took  a  prominent  part  in 


nd  church,  the 


tenham,  or,  as  it  was  then  called,  Toteham,  on  con-    it  to  the  Dear 

dition  that  she  should  pay  to  the  king  every  year   it  still  belongs.  „  ^  ^ 

the  value  of  five  hides,  equal  to  about  100  Norman       In  t  e     £nfaofl  ^^  ^  } 
shillings.     There   is  a  curious  old   record  in  the      ated that  t  erations  by  three  distinct 

Domesday  Book  which  mentions  this  fact,  and  also    been  heW  for  *v«   g  ^  ^  Qf 

that  the  land  consisted  of  ten  carucates,  or  plough-  fam.he ana  ^^  £  Bruce)>  ^  manor  of 
lands.  A  carucate  is  estimated  at  about  240  acres,  the  ma  Pembrokes-was  in  the 

and  thus  the  whole  estate  would  be  M«  acres.    Btolsan^tn^   ^  ^  ^.^  ^^^ 

The  value  of  the  land,  including  a  wood  tor  500   rag  gration  of  his  military  services."    King 

hogs  and  a  weir  worth  3s.,  amounted  to  ^25  155.      i  Ae  whde  egtate  to  sir  William 

and  three  ounces  of  gold.  After  the  death  of  »«^  '  &om  of  his  bedchamber,  who  enter- 
Jud.th  the  manor  passed  to  her  daughter  Maud,  Compt°n.  goon  ^^^^  ^  ^.^^  &nd  ^  gigtei 
who  married  a  Norman  noble,  Simon  e  -  j  ^^^  the  wife 

He  died  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.,  leaving 


S5Q 

who  made  Tottenham  their  place  of  meeting  when 
the  Scottish  queen  came  up  from  the  North.  The 
manors  thus  united  have,  it  is  stated,  ever  since 
that  time  passed  through  the  same  hands.  Early 
in  the  seventeenth  century  they  were  purchased  by 
Hugh,  second  Lord  Coleraine,  from  whom  they 
descended  to  his  next  brother,  the  third  lord,  who 
compiled  an  essay  towards  a  "  History  of  Totten- 
ham." His  lordship's  family  name  of  Hanger  may 
perhaps  be  still  commemorated  here  by  the  name 
of  Hanger  Lane,  though  there  is  another  possible 
derivation  of  the  term  from  the  hanging  woods 
which  fringed  it.  On  the  death  of  the  third  Lord 
Coleraine,  the  manor  of  Tottenham  did  not  devolve 


OLD    AND    NEW   LONDON. 


r» 


elms  in  a  circle,  with  a  walnut-tree  in  the  middle. 
Of  these  trees  we  have  given  an  illustration,  when 
describing  the  Seven  Sisters'  Road,  which  was 
named  after  them.  It  was  traditionally  asserted 
that  a  martyr  had  been  burnt  on  the  spot  where 
the  trees  were  originally  planted  more  than  five 
hundred  years  ago ;  but  the  tradition  wants  verifi- 
cation. 

The  centre  of  Tottenham  is  occupied  by  a 
large  triangular  enclosure,  called  the  Green.  Mr. 
Harrison  Ainsworth,  from  whose  romance  of  the 
'•'  Star  Chamber "  we  have  quoted  in  the  previous 
chapter,  introduces  to  our  notice  some  of  the 
rustic  scenes  which  may  have  been  witnessed  here 


upon  his  eccentric  brother,  the  fourth  and  last  lord,    at  the  period  at  which  the  plot  of  his  story  is  laid, 
of  whom  we  have  already  spoken  in  our  account  of  I  The  following  are  some  of  his  remarks  : — 
Chalk  Farm,*  but  were  bequeathed  to  a  natural  |      "  Long  before  Jocelyn  and  his  companion  reached 
daughter  of  the  third  lord ;  but  as  the  lady  was  I  Tottenham,  they  were  made  aware,  by  the  ringing 
an  alien,  the  estates  were  escheated  to  the  Crown,  i  of  bells  from  its  old  ivy-grown  church  tower,  and 


The  lady,  however,  having  married  Mr.  James 
Townsend,  an  alderman  of  London,  the  lands 
were  subsequently  granted  to  that  gentleman,  and 
have  since  changed  hands  by  sale  on  several 
occasions. 

At  Tottenham  the  first  ambassador  from  the 
"Emperor  of  Cathair,  Muscovia,  and  Russeland," 
who  had  been  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Scotland, 
was  met  in  1556  by  a  splendid  procession  of  the 
members  of  the  Russia  Company,  then  lately 
founded  for  carrying  on  traffic  with  that  country. 

The  main  street  of  the  village  of  Tottenham  is 
formed  of  good  houses,  irregularly  built,  along  each 


side  of  the  great  northern  road,  with  a  few  smaller 
streets  branching  off  at  right  angles  on  either  hand. 
The  situation  is  unpleasingly  flat,  and  the  buildings 
for  the  most  part  straggling  and  unequal,  yet  par- 
taking little  of  a  rural  character.  On  the  east  side 
of  High  Street,  and  at  a  short  distance  southward 
from  the  Cross,  stood  formerly  the  Hermitage  and 
Chapel  of  St.  Anne.  It  was  a  small  square  build- 
ing, constructed  chiefly  of^-ick,  and  had  a  narrow 


by  other  joyful  sounds,  that  some  festival  was 
taking  place  there ;  and  the  nature  of  the  festival 
was  at  once  revealed  as  they  entered  the  long 
straggling  street,  then,  as  now,  constituting  the 
chief  part  of  the  pretty  little  village,  and  beheld  a 
large  assemblage  of  country  folk,  in  holiday  attire, 
wending  their  way  towards  the  Green  for  the 
purpose  of  setting  up  a  May-pole  upon  it,  and 
making  the  welkin  ring  with  their  gladsome  shouts. 
All  the  youths  and  maidens  of  Tottenham  and  its 
vicinity,  it  appeared,  had  risen  before  daybreak 
that  morning,  and  sallied  forth  into  the  woods  to 
cut  green  boughs  and  gather  wild  flowers  for  the 


ceremonial.  At  the  same  time  they  selected  and 
hewed  down  a  tall,  straight  tree — the  tallest  and 
straightest  they  could  find ;  and,  stripping  off  its 
branches,  placed  it  on  a  wain,  and  dragged  it  to 
the  village  with  the  help  of  an  immense  team  of 
oxen,  numbering  as  many  as  forty  yoke.  Each  ox 
had  a  garland  of  flowers  fastened  to  the  tip  of  its 
horns  ;  and  the  tall  spar  itself  was  twined  round 
vith  ropes  of  daffodils,  bluebells,  cowslips,  prim- 
strip  of  ground  annexed  to  it,  stretching  away  roses,  and  other  early  flowers,  while  its  summit  was 
along  by  the  highway  southward  from  the  building  surmounted  with  a  floral  crown,  and  festooned  with 
to  the  "  Seven  Sisters."  The  "  Hermitage  "  was  a  !  garlands,  various-coloured  ribands,  kerchiefs,  and 
cell  dependent  on  the  Monastery  of  the  Holy  streamers.  The  foremost  yokes  of  oxen  had  bells 
Trinity  in  London,  and  its  site  is  now  covered  hung  round  their  necks,  which  they  shook  as  they 
by  the  "  Bull "  public-house  ;  whilst  on  the  strip  of  moved  along,  adding  their  blithe  melody  to  the 
ground  mentioned  above  a  row  of  houses  has  been  |  general  hilarious  sounds.  When  the  festive  throng 


erected  called  Grove  Place. 

The  "  Seven  Sisters,"  as  we  have  already  re- 
marked, t  is  the  sign  given  to  two  public-houses  at 
Tottenham.  In  front  of  that  at  Page  Green,  near 
the  entrance  of  the  village,  were  planted  seven 


t  See  ant,,  pp.  380,  ,8.. 


reached  the  village,  all  its  inhabitants — male  and 
female,  old  and  young— rushed  forth  to  greet  them ; 


were  able   to  leave   their   dwellings 
joined    in   the   procession,    at 


and   such   as 
for   a   short 

the  head  of  which,  of  course,  was  borne  the  May- 
pole. After  it  came  a  band  of  young  men,  armed 
with  the  necessary  implements  for  planting  the 


Tottenham.) 


THE  HIGH  CROSS. 


shaft  in  the  ground ;  and  after  them  a  troop  of 
maidens,  bearing  bundles  of  rushes.  Next  came 
the  minstrels,  playing  merrily  on  tabor,  fife,  sackbut, 
rebec,  and  tambourine.  Then  followed  the  Queen 
of  the  May,  walking  by  herself— a  rustic  beauty, 
hight  Gillian  Greenford — fancifully  and  prettily 
arrayed  for  the  occasion,  and  attended,  at  a  little 
distance,  by  Robin  Hood,  Maid  Marian,  Friar 
Tuck,  the  hobby-horse,  and  a  band  of  morris- 
dancers.  Then  came  the  crowd,  pell-mell,  laugh- 
ing, shouting,  and  huzzaing — most  of  the  young 
men  and  women  bearing  green  branches  of  birch 
and  other  trees  in  their  hands. 

"  The  spot  selected  for  the  May-pole,"  he  adds, 
"was  a  piece  of  greensward  in  the  centre  of  the 
village,  surrounded  by  picturesque  habitations, 
and  having  on  one  side  of  it  the  ancient  cross. 
The  latter,  however,  was  but  the  remnant  of  the 
antique  structure,  the  cross  having  been  robbed  of 
its  upper  angular  bar,  and  otherwise  mutilated,  at 
the  time  of  the  Reformation,  and  it  was  n 
nothing  more  than  a  high  wooden  pillar,  partly 
cased  with  lead  to  protect  it  from  the  weather,  and 
supported  by  four  great  spurs." 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  street,  not  far  from 
the  centre  of  the  village,  and  close  by  the  north- 
east angle  of  the  Green,  stands  the  high  cross 
whence  this  particular  "  ward "  or  division  of  the 
parish  receives  its  second  name.  The  structure 
forms  a  very  interesting  feature  in  the  antiquitie" 
of  Tottenham.  Lysons,  in  his  "Environs  o 
London,"  states  that  "  the  hie  crosse  "  is  mentionec 
in  a  Court  Roll,  dated  1456 ;  and  Norden,  in  hi 
"  Speculum  Britannia:"  (1593-1620),  says,  ".Totten 
ham  High  Cross  was  a  hamlet  belonging  to  Totten 
ham,  and  hath  this  adjunct  High  Cross  of  awooder 
cross  there  lately  raised  on  a  little  mound  of  earth.' 
Bedwell,  in  his  history  of  the  parish,  written  i: 
1631,  describes  the  appearance  of  the  cross  som 
fifty  years  previously  as  "a  columne  of  wood 
covered  with  a  square  sheet  of  leade  to  shoote  th 
water  off  every  way,  underset  by  four  spurres. 
He  adds  :  "  There  hath  been  a  cross  here  of  Ion 
continuance,  even  so  long  as  since  that  decree  wa 
made  by  the  Church  that  every  parish  should  • 
places  most  frequented  set  up  a  cross,  but  wheth 
it  were  such  at  the  first  as  afterwards  it  is  mamfe 
it  was  I  much  doubt  of,  for  that  it  hath  been 


an  extraordinary  height,  and  from  thence  the  town 
is."  *    Notwithstanr 
natives  spoken  of  by  Bolwcll,  tl 


oss  speedily  afterwards  sank  to  decay,  for  at  the 
immencement  of  the  seventeenth  century,  Dean 
'ood,  who  had  a  residence  close  by,  "  built  a 
ain  octangular  cross  of  brick,  which,"  says  Mr. 
rewer,  in  the  "Beauties  of  England  and  Wales" 
816),  "yet  remains,  but  has  recently  experienced 
msiderable  alteration.  In  consequence  of  a  sub- 
on  among  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  Totten- 
am,"  he  adds,  "a  complete  covering  of  stucco 
as  bestowed  in  1809,  and  at  the  same  time 
arious  embellishments,  of  the  character  usually 
ermed  Gothic,  were  introduced.  These  are  in  the 
yle  which  prevailed  in  the  Tudor  era,  and  it  is  to 
e  regretted  that  the  date  at  which  the  alterations 
ere  effected  is  not  placed  in  a  conspicuous  situa- 
on.  On  each  face  of  the  octagon  is  a  shield  with 
ne  of  the  letters  composing  the  word  Totenham 
n  the  old  character."  It  is  perhaps  even  still 
ore  a  matter  of  regret  that  the  "restoration"  of 
he  cross  was  not  postponed  for  half  a  century, 
ntil  the  public  had  become  a  little  more  en- 
ightened  as  to  the  principles  of  Gothic  archi- 
ecture.  In  that  case  it  would  not  probably  have 
)een  covered  with  a  composition  of  stucco,  but 
:onscientiously  renewed  in  Bath  stone. 

Bedwell,  in  speaking  of  the  "  Eleanor  crosses," 
does  not  venture  to  assert  that  this  is  one  of  the 
series,  but  remarks  that  "  it  was  against  the  corps 
jhould  come  thro'  the  towne  re-edified  and  perad- 
?enture  raised  higher." 

It  will  be  remembered  by  the  reader  of  Izaak 
Walton's  "  Complete  Angler"  how,  in  the  opening 
.scene,  "Piscator"  cries  out  to  his  friends  "Venator" 
and  "Auceps,"  who  are  on  their  way  to  the 

Thatched  House,"  in  Hodsden,  "  You  are  well 
overtaken,  gentlemen.  A  good  morning  to  you. 
I  have  stretched  my  legs  up  Tottenham  Hill  to 
overtake  you,  hoping  your  business  may  occasion 
you  towards  Ware;"  and  how  "Auceps,"  in  reply, 
agrees  to  bear  him  company  as  far  as  Theobalds,  at 
Cheshunt.  In  fact,  the  long  street  of  Tottenham 
is  the  direct  road  not  only  to  Theobalds,  but  to 
Enfield  and  Edmonton,  and  so  on  to  Ware  and 
Hatfield.  „  t. 

On  reaching  Tottenham  Cross,  "P.scator  thus 
addresses  his  fellows,  "Venator"  and  the  "  Scholar  : 
"And  pray  let  us  now  rest  ourselves  in 
shady 


sruuw  arbour,  which  Nature  herself  has  woven  with 
her  own  fine  fingers;  it  is  such  a  contexture  of 

- ,        ~    •  Wnnr1hmes  sweet-briars,  jessamine,  and  myrtle,  ana 

g^edtheadd^  as  will' secure   us  both  from  the 


ing   the  preser 


•  "A  Brief  Description  of  the  To™  of  T—m ^ •  *»> 

Krjtr^itr£=5»  ^ *°d 


sun's  violent  heat  and  from  the  approaching  shower 
And  being  sat  down,  I  will  requite  a  part  of  your 
cTrtesies'with  a  bottle  of  sack,  milk,  oranges  and 
sugar,  which,  all  put  together,  make  a  drmk  hke 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


a  few  cows,  perhaps,  standing  in  the  water,  and 
enjoying  with  philosophic  quiescence  the  cooling 
luxury — perchance  a  punt  in  the  middle  of  the 
river — a  bright  blue  sky  overhead,  reflected  with  a 
softened  lustre  in  the  clear  stream — an  abundance 
of  yellow  water-lilies  at  our  feet,  and  the  low  banks 


nectar— indeed,    too   good    for   anybody   but    us 


And  so,  master,  here  is  a  full  glass  to 


of  that  liquor ;  and  when   you  have  pledged 


me,  I  will  repeat  the  verses  which  I  promised  you. ' 


It  is  to  be  feared  that  the  "Piscator"  of  the  present 


day  would  find  this  pretty  picture  of  sweet  shady 


arbours,  overgrown  with  jessamine,  sweetbriars,  and 
myrtle,  to  say  the  least,  a  little  overdrawn. 

Almost  every  illustrated  edition  of  the  "Com- 
plete Angler"  has  an  engraving  of  a  fishery  and 
ferry  here,  called  "  Bower  Banks  ; "  and  no  wonder, 
for  the  river  Lea,  as  it  flows  by  Tottenham,  is 
very  charming,  especially  in  its  old  course  about 
the  Mill.  The  author  of  "Rambles  by  Rivers'" 
thus  sketches  the  scene  at  this  point : — "  An  old 
pollard  willow,  with  an  angler  under  its  shadow- 


decked  with  all  gay  flowers— these  are  the  mate- 
rials of  the  picture ;  and  he  who  has  not  his  heart 
gladdened  as  he  gazes  on  them,  has  yet  to  learn 
that  there  are  things  in  heaven  and  earth  not 
dreamt  of  in  his  philosophy.  Walton  was  not  one 
of  these : 

'  The  meanest  flow' ret  of  the  vale, 
The  simplest  note  that  swells  the  gale, 
The  common  sun,  the  air,  the  skies, 
To  him  were  opening  Paradise.' 


THE   "GEORGE  AND  VULTURE." 


And  only  such  as,  in  a  measure,  can  participate  in  I 
these  feelings  and  sympathies  are  fitted  to  wander  j 
along  Izaak  Walton's  Lea." 

A  short  distance  farther  up  the  stream,  at  a  place 
called  Cook's  Ferry,  stood  Bleak  Hall,  the  house 
•fixed  upon  as  being  the  one  to  which  "  Piscator " 
took  his  scholar,  and  which  was  then  "  an  honest 
ale-house,  where  might  be  found  a  cleanly  room, 
lavender  in  the  windows,  and  twenty  ballads  stuck 


In  1596,  an  almshouse  was  founded  in  the  High 
Street  of  Tottenham  by  one  Zanchero,  a  Spaniard, 
the  first  confectioner  ever  known  in  this  kingdom. 
Near  to  the  Cross  there  is  another  row  of  alms- 
houses,  founded  by  a  Mr.  Nicholas  Richardson, 
and  which  date  their  erection  from  the  early  part 
of  the  last  century. 

The  "  George  and  Vulture  "  tavern,  in  the  high 
road,  nearly  opposite  Bruce  Grove,  occupies  the 


BRUCE  CASTLE. 


about  the  wall ;  with  a  hostess  both  cleanly,  and 
handsome,  and  civil."  The  old  house  has  long 
been  swept  away ;  a  portion  of  it,  however,  re- 
mained standing  down  into  the  present  century. 
It  consisted  of  a  kitchen,  with  a  room  over  it 
(ascended  by  a  staircase  on  the  outside),  called  the 
"fisherman's  locker,"  from  its  having  been  used  as 
a  locker  for  their  tackle.  If  not  the  actual  place  | 
to  which  Izaak  Walton  refers,  it  must  long  have 
been  a  well-known  hostel  for  Lea  fishermen.  The 
evidence  appears  to  tell  against  its  identity  _as 
the  Bleak  Hall  of  old  Izaak,  but  local  tradition 
was,  and  is,  very  strong  in  its  favour.  The  Lea,  we 
need  scarcely  add,  is  the  only  river,  next  to  he 
Thames,  that  is  engrafted  in  the  affections  of  the 
Londoner. 
239 


site  of  a  much  older  inn,  which,  was  frequented  by 
the  Londoners  in  early  times  for  the  purpose  of 
recreation.  It  is  mentioned  in  the  "Search  after 
Claret,"  as  far  back  as  the  re.gn  of  \\ilham  ILL, 
but  was  probably  far  older.  Its  charms  are  thus 
described  in  a  newspaper  paragraph  immortalised 
by  Mr.  Lanvood  in  his  "History  of  S.gn-boards  : 

"'  If  lur'd  to  roam  in  summer  hours, 
Your  thought  inclines  tow'rd  Totnam  bowers, 
Here  end  your  airing  tour,  and  rest 
Where  Cole  invites  each  friendly  guest. 
Intent  on  signs,  the  prying  eye 
The'George  and  VuHure'wiU  descry: 
Here  the  kind  landlord  glad  attends 
To  wellcome  all  his  cheerfull  Friends, 
Who,  leaving  City  smoke,  delight 
To  range  where  vision's  scenes  mv.te. 


554 


OLD   AND    NEW    LONDON. 


[Tottenham. 


The  spacious  garden,  verdant  field, 

Pleasures  beyond  expression  yield ; 

The  Angler  here  to  sport  inclined, 

In  his  Canal  may  pastime  find. 

Next,  racy  Wine  and  home-brew'd  Ale 

The  nicest  palates  may  regale; 

Nectarious  Punch— and  (cleanly  grac'd) 

A  Larder  stor'd  for  every  taste. 

The  cautious  Fair  may  sip  with  glee 

The  freshest  Coffee,  finest  Tea. 

Let  none  the  outward  Vulture  fear ; 

No  Vulture  host  inhabits  here : 

If  too  well  us'd  ye  deem  ye — then 

Then  take  your  revenge,  and  come  again." 
On  the  western  side  of  the  chief  street,  near 
White  Hart  Lane,  stands  in  a  retired  situation,  as 
though  retreating  from  the  public  gaze,  the  Roman 
Catholic  Chapel  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales.  It  is  a 
small  and  unpretending  structure,  in  the  style  of 
the  Dissenting  chapels  of  half  a  century  ago,  about 
forty  feet  in  length  by  thirty.  It  was  erected  by 
the  late  Baroness  de  Montesquieu  in  1826-7,  on  a 
site  purchased  by  her  for  that  purpose,  and  was 
solemnly  opened  by  Bishop  Poynter,  in  the  May 
of  the  latter  year,  previous  to  which  time  the 
Roman  Catholics  here  had  been  content  with  the 
use  of  a  room  in  the  house  of  the  resident  priest. 
For  more  than  a  century  Tottenham  and  Edmon- 
ton have  been  noted  for  the  number  of  poor 
lodging-houses  in  which  lived  the  Irish  labourers 
who  worked  in  the  fields  and  market  gardens 
around  this  part.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  first 
French  Revolution  their  number  was  increased  by 
an  influx  of  emigrants  from  the  north  of  France, 
who  brought  with  them  much  skilled  industry,  but 
more  poverty.  It  was  not,  therefore,  till  about  1793 
that  any  regular  provision  was  made  in  Totten- 
ham for  their  religious  wants.  In  that  year  the 
Abbe  Cheircux,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Boston,  in 
the  United  States,  and  subsequently  Archbishop 
of  Bordeaux,  and  a  cardinal,  being  employed  as 
tutor  in  a  Protestant  family  in  Tottenham,  obtained 
the  use  of  a  room  in  Queen  Street,  Tottenham 
Terrace,  in  order  to  minister  to  the  spiritual  needs 
of  both  the  Irish  and  the  French  poor.  On  his 
departure  for  America,  the  Abbe  Cheireux  handed 
over  his  charge  to  another  French  emigre  priest, 
and  eventually,  about  the  year  1805,  the  Abbe  Le 
Tethier  erected  a  modest  chapel-house  and  stiil 
more  modest  presbytery  in  the  same  street.  This, 
however,  became  alienated,  through  debt  or  other 
causes,  and  the  Roman  Catholics  were  left  without 
a  chapel  or  chaplain  from  the  year  1818  down  to 
the  time  when  the  present  structure  was  built  by 
the  Baroness  de  Montesquieu,  as  mentioned  above. 
In  1871,  some  nuns  of  the  Servile  order  settled 
down  in  a  house  in  Hanger  Lane,  at  the  southern 


I  end  of  Tottenham,   where  they  have  opened  a 

I  school  and  a  chapel. 

Westward  of  the  main  street,  near  Bruce  Grove 
Station  on  the  branch  line  of  the  Great  Eastern 
Railway,  is  Bruce  Castle,  which  has  long  been  used 
as  a  private  school.  The  mansion  was  rebuilt  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  is 
a  good  specimen  of  Elizabethan  domestic  archi- 
tecture. The  structure,  as  stated  above,  takes  its 
name  from  a  castellated  mansion,  the  residence  of 
Robert  Bruce  the  elder,  father  of  the  Scottish  king 
of  that  name,  which  in  ancient  times  occupied  this 
site.  The  original  building  is  said  to  have  been 
erected  by  Earl  Waltheof,  who  married  Judith, 
niece  to  William  the  Conqueror,  who  gave  him  for 
her  portions  the  earldoms  of  Northumberland  and 
Huntingdon.  Their  only  daughter,  Maud,  after  the 
death  of  her  first  husband,  married  David  I.,  King 
of  Scotland,  and  being  heiress  of  Huntingdon, 
had  in  her  own  right,  as  appended  to  that  honour, 
"  the  manor  of  Tottenham,  in  Middlesex."  Through 
her  these  possessions  descended  to  Robert  Bruce, 
brother  of  William  III.,  King  of  Scotland.  Bruce 
contended  for  the  throne  of  Scotland  with  John 
Baliol,  who  was  ultimately  adjudged  heir  to  the 
crown.  Upon  this  adjudication  Robert  Bruce 

j  retired   to    England,   and,    settling   on  his   grand- 

|  father's  estate  at  Tottenham,  repaired  the  castle, 

;  and  acquiring  an  adjacent  manor,  named  it  and 
the  castle  Bruce.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 
the  property,  as  we  have  already  had  occasion  to 
remark,  was  granted  to  Sir  William  Compton,  then 
groom  of  the  king's  bedchamber. 

It  is  recorded  that,  in  1516,  Henry  VIII.  here 
met  his  sister  Margaret,  Queen  of  Scots.  Dr. 
Robinson,  in  his  "  History  of  Tottenham,"  says : 
"It  is  probable  that  Sir  William  Compton  rebuilt 

,  the  house  soon  after  he  became  possessed  of  the 
manor  in  1514,  and  that  it  was  finished  to  receive 
the  royal  guests  in  1516,  for  on  the  Saturday  after 

'  Ascension  Day  in  that  year  King  Henry  VIII.  met 
his  sister,  Margaret  Queer,  of  Scots,  at  '  Maister 

'  Compton's  house,  beside  Totnam  !'  "  The  next 
royal  visitor  was  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  became 
the  guest  of  Margaret's  grandson,  Henry,  Lord 
Compton,  so  that  it  would  seem  that  the  daughter 
of  the  Queen  of  Scots  had  married  the  heir  of  the 

:  Comptons.  A  passage  in  Robinson,  referring  to 
Queen  Elizabeth's  visit  to  Henry,  Lord  Compton, 
would  seem  to  throw  some  doubt  on  his  earlier 

|  statement  that  Sir  William  Compton  rebuilt  the 
house,  for  in  it  he  observes,  "  The  style  of  the 

j  building,  which  is  of  that  period — namely,  1570 

:  — seems  to  justify  the  conjecture  that  the  house 
was  built  by  Henry,  Lord  Compton ; "  but  it 


Tottenham.] 


BRUCE  CASTLE. 


receives  additional 

o—    '-«»*!    mc    lunowin0"    cover       p    f  • 

Coleraine's  MS. :— "  In  respect  !  ent'tl'd  „  U  ls  that  Bedwell,  in 

to  its   great  antiquity  more  than   conveniency    I  '  crosse"  !          ^  DescriPtion  of  Tottenham  High. 
keep  the  old  brick  tower  in  good  repair,  although  <  HarP     h  '"   l63l)'  mentions    tha<   Hugh 

I  am  not  able  to  discover  the  founder  thereof -and    £?         ^  Created  Lord  Colerai«e  in  1625  wa 
among  the  other  anticaglia  of  this  place  I  range1  H^'"  P°SSeSS1°n  °f  the  whole  estate'     This  Hu^h 
Sir  William  Compton's  coat  of  armes,  which  I  Ik  '  ±LT  *  """  "'""^ 
out  of  the  old  porch  when  I  raised  the  tower 
the  front^of  the  housed     It  appears,  therefore,  as  I  the  C; 


Lord  Coleraine 
st  statement  of 
referred  to  is  believed   to  be  that 


, 

evidence  goes  to  confirm  the  I  and  gave  uu  n  T 

first  statement  of  Robinson.     The  coat  of  arms  he  !  frof  1  at  L°ngf°rd>  in  Wiltshire'  for 


great  favourite  of  Charles   I ,  whc 
m  an   Irish  baron  when  he  was  onlj 
s  of  age.     On  the  breaking  nnf  nt 


r 

T      *' 
at  L° 
gamson-     But  thi*  was  afterwards  taken 


a    wc      s  now   and  nl  K  aen 

affixed  on  the  north  side  of  the  house    above  the    '  7  y  the  Roundheads.  and  his  other 

windows  of  one  of  the  class-rooms  !?*?   ^  seque^ed.      However,  soon  after 


Among   the   "Burghley  papers"   in  the  British 
Museum  there  is  a  curious  letter,  which  was  written 
by  the  Marquis  of  Winchester  to  Sir  W.   Cecil,  I 
afterwards  Lord    Burghley.     It  seems  to  refer 
the  occasion  of  some  visit  of  Queen  Elizabeth  to 
Henry,  Lord  Compton.     The  following  is  a  copy 

"After   my    hartie    commendacions    with    like 


Restoratlon 


y  were  all  restored.     His  son, 
t-grandson  all  held  the  estate. 


determined  in  favour  of  the  heirs  at  law.  The 
estate  having  thus  reverted  to  the  Crown,  a  grant  of 
it  was  obtained  by  Mr.  Chauncey  Townsend,  for  his 
son  James,  who  married  Miss  Duplessis.  By  her 
he  had  a  son,  James  Hare  Townsend,  who  in  1789 
had  to  sell  a  great  part  of  the  estate  to  pay  off  his 
father's  debts.  It  passed  through  the  hands  of 
various  owners,  and  in  1827  was  bought  by  Mr. 
(afterwards  Sir  Rowland)  Hill,  of  whom  we  have 
already  spoken  in  our  account  of  Hampstead.* 
Six  years  later  the  Messrs.  Hill  finally  removed 
hither  from  Hazelwood,  near  Birmingham,  where 
their  school  had  been  first  established. 

It  is  utterly  impossible  to  tell  how  many  houses 

shall  be  taken,  and  howe  it  shalbe  employed,  j  have  been  in  succession  built  on  these  grounds,  but 
and  if  my  Ladie  will  the  house  still  unrepaired,  i  there  must  have  been  three  at  least,  if  not  more, 
mynding  a  better  House  to  be  built  upon  the  i  It  is  probable  that  they  were  not  all  built  on  exactly 
ground,  You  and  I  shall  be  well  content  therewith  :  '  the  site  where  the  present  house  stands,  but  on 
for  that  you  and  I  shall  do  ys  for  the  Quene's  some  other  spot  near.  This  supposition  is  cor- 


thanks  to  you  for  your  letter  of  libertie  given 
me  for  the  repaire  of  Mr.  Compton's  House  at 
Totenham,  in  order  as  well  for  the  Queene's  High- 
ness, as  for  the  owner,  which  I  shall  gladlie  do. 
And  because  my  Ladie  of  Pembroke  hereth  that  th' 
Officers  take  the  loppes  and  toppes  of  the  Trees 
that  be  felled  for  reparations  for  their  fees,  which 
indeecle  ought  not  to  be,  and  that  resteth  in  your 
order,  and  then  the  wood  may  be  feld  to  the  profit 
of  the  reparation,  yet  the  Woodwarde  had  neede  to 
have  something  for  his  labour;  and  if  yt  shall 
please  my  Ladie  to  send  one  honest  man  to  your 
feodarie  and  me,  he  shall  see  all  the  tymber  that 


question  arose, 

— .  ~,  «„  ,.w  „  (t^ther  his  wife,  the 
first  Rose,  ought  not  to  forfeit  the  estate,  since  she 
was  an  alien;  and  in  1755  the  cause  was  finally 


honor  and  Mr.  Compton's  profitt,  otherwise  You 
and  I  meane  not  to  do  any  thing,  and  herein  knowe 
iny  Lord's  pleasure  and  write  to  me  againe  I  pray 
you  in  that  matter,  and  I  shall  yelde  myself  to  all 
that  shall  be  thought  for  the  best.  So  fare  you  well. 
Written  this  Xth  of  November  1563. 

"  Your  loving  friend 

"To  my  loving  friend  "  WINCHESTER. 

Sir  William  Cecil  Knight 

Principall  Secretary  to  the  Quene's  Matic." 


roborated  by  the  fact  that  very  frequently  when 
drains  are  dug  at  some  depth  old  brick  foundations 
and  walls  are  found.  For  instance,  a  few  years 
ago,  when  the  well  was  being  repaired,  three  or 
four  feet  below  the  surface,  the  workmen  came 
upon  the  top  of  a  wall,  which  extended  to  the 
depth  of  about  twelve  feet.  Near  the  bottom  of 
this  wall  a  silver  coin  of  the  beginning  of  King 
Henry  VIII.'s  reign  was  found,  and  on  the  side  of 
the  wall,  not  so  deep  down,  a  gilt  button,  probably 
of  the  time  of  Queen  Anne. 
The  Comptons  seem  to  have  held  the  estate  |  There  is  no  mention  of  any  castle  in  the  Domes- 


until  1630,  when  the  last  Compton  died.  The 
next  owners  were  the  Hares  of  Norfolk,  but  how 
they  got  possession  of  it  we  are  not  able  to  dis- 


day  Book  at  the  time  when  the  estate  was  in  the 


556 


OLD    AND    NEW    LONDON. 


possession  of  Earl  Waltheof ;  nor,  indeed,  do  we  |  rounded  by  two  external  galleries,   and  crowned 
find  any  record  of  a  house  until  the  reign   of  j  by  an  octagonal  turret.     The  rooms  throughout  the 

house  are  exceptionally  good,  the  boys'  dormitories 
being  all  lofty  and  well  ventilated.  The  walls  of 
the  dining-room  are  wainscoted  to  the  ceiling, 
and  are  hung  with  a  large  number  of  engraved 
portraits  of  old  divines  and  other  ancient  worthies ; 
and  to  add  to  the  effect,  and  to  give  the  place  a 
somewhat  baronial  character,  above  the  portraits 
are  placed  several  pairs  of  spreading  antlers.  The 
school-room  in  itself  is  a  large  and  lofty  apartment 
at  the  north-west  corner  of  the  house.  The  school 
and  grounds  occupy  upwards  of  twenty  acres.  The 
grounds  are  laid  out  in  the  style  of  a  park,  in  which 
are  some  very  fine  trees ;  and  they  include  a 
cricket-ground  and  a  field  for  football.  There  is 
also  an  old-fashioned  walled  kitchen-garden,  com- 
prising about  two  acres,  near  to  which  is  an  ex- 
cellent infirmary  for  such  of  the  boys  as  may  re- 
re  medical  treatment,  entirely  detached  from  the 
school  buildings.  A  detached  tower,  of  red  brick, 
which  covers  a  deep  well — now  disused  and  filled 
the  only  surviving  relic  of  the  previous 


Edward  II.  But  if  Bruce  lived  here— and  he 
must  have  done  so,  or  how  would  the  place  have 
received  the  name?— there  must  have  been  a  house 
for  him  to  live  in,  and  therefore  we  may  fairly  con- 
jecture that  there  was  a  castle  at  that  time.  As 
we  mentioned  above,  the  house  was  rebuilt  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII.  In  the  "Antiquities  of 
Tottenham  "  we  find  that  there  formerly  hung  over 
the  chimney-piece  in  one  of  the  parlours  a  picture, 
which  exhibited  two  other  towers,  besides  the  one 
which  is  still  left.  Lord  Coleraine  says  that  the 
house  was  either  rebuilt  or  new-fronted  by  the 
Hare  family  a  little  before  the  Revolution.  We 
suppose  that  the  middle  part  was  only  the  thickness 
of  the  refectory,  which  was  then  the  entrance-hall ; 
for  a  few  years  ago,  when  a  part  of  the  wainscoting 
of  the  inner  wall  in  one  of  the  class-rooms  was 
taken  down,  there  were  found  on  the  wall  inside 
some  dead  stalks  of  a  vine  or  other  creeping  plant, 
clearly  proving  that  that  had  been  once  the  outside 
will.  But  we  can  find  no  mention  of  the  other 


part  having  been  added.      The  room  which  is  now    edifice   which  was  built  by   the   Comptons   early 
called  the  porch-room  used  to  be  the  porch,  and  |  in   the  sixteenth  century.     This  structure  is  now 
from  it  a  passage  led  straight  through  the  house 
into  the  pleasure-grounds   beyond.       There   used 
formerly  to  be  a  west  wing  of  the  house,  but  it  was 
pulled  down,  together  with  the  stables  and  coach- 
house, about  sixty  years  ago,  by  Mr.  Ede,  the  then 
owner.      The  east  wing  was  added  by  Alderman 
Townsend,  and  in  it,  tradition  says,  John  Wilkes 
has  been  often  entertained. 
A  very  peculiar  custom  prevailed  here,  the  origin 


:li  is  not  known.      At  the  buri 


any  of 


the  family  the  corpse  was  not  suffered  to  be  carried 

through  the  gate,  but  an  opening  was  made  in  the 

wall  nearest  to  the  church,  through  which  the  corpse 

and  mourners  passed  into  the  churchyard.     "  There 

are  still,"  says  Dr.  Robinson,  "the  appearance  of 

several  apertures  which  have  been  bricked  up,  and 

among  them  is  that  through  which  passed  the  corpse  I  Rowland  Hill  and  his  family,  Bruce  Castle  School 

of  Mr.  James  Townsend,  the  last  that  was  carried    changed    hands    in    1877.      The  average  number 

from  the  castle  to  the  mausoleum  of  the  Coleraine  |  of   pupils  in  the    school    is  about  seventy.       On 

family.     This  aperture  has  been  recently  opened,  I  Sunday  mornings  the  whole  of  the  pupils  attend 

and  a  Gothic  dour  is  now  fixed  in  the  place."  I  the   service  in  the  parish  church,   which   is  close 


tury. 

used  as  a  larder.  A  fresh  well  has  been  dug  close 
by.  In  Hone's  "Year- Book  "there  is  an  engraving 
of  Bruce  Castle,  reproduced  from  a  view  taken  in 
1686,  from  which  it  appears  that  the  main  portion 
of  the  building  has  been  considerably  altered  since 
that  time.  Among  the  pictures  that  adorn  the 
walls  of  the  principal  staircase,  too,  is  an  oil 
painting  showing  the  castle  as  it  appeared  in  the 
early  part  of  the  last  century.  In  this  view  the 
upper  part  of  the  central  portion  of  the  house  on 
either  side  of  the  tower  is  terminated  by  a  gable 
with  one  window  in  each.  These  gables  have  now 
entirely  disappeared,  the  front  of  the  house  having 
been  carried  up  to  the  level  of  the  top  of  the 
gable,  and  two  false  windows  inserted. 

Having   been    for   fifty   years   managed   by   Sir 


Although  still  called  a  castle,  the  building  now 
presents   none   of  the  features   usually  associated 


by  the  north-west   corner  of  the  ground,  and  on 
Sunday   evenings   divine  service  is  conducted  by 


with  such  structures ;  it  is  constructed  of  brick,  j  the  head-master  of  the  school  in  the  house.  The 
with  stone  dressings,  and  is  altogether  a  spacious  j  pupils  have  daily  access  to  a  well-seiected  library, 
edifice.  It  consists  chiefly  of  a  centre,  with  pro- '  containing  nearly  3,000  volumes.  With  reference  to 
jecting  wings.  The  old  entrance-hall  in  the  centre  I  the  rise  and  subsequent  growth  of  this  library,  we 
— the  doorway  of  which  has  been  blocked  up,  the  '  may  state  that  it  was  first  started  about  the  corn- 
hall  itself  being  converted  into  a  small  sitting-room  mencement  of  the  present  century  by  Mr.  Thomas 
—is  surmounted  by  a  large  square  tower,  sur- 1  W.  Hill,  the  father  of  Sir  Rowland  Hill,  and  that 


ALLHALLOWS'  CHURCH. 


557 


it  was  for  two  or  three  years  so  small  that  it  was  j  did  with  such  great  difficulty  and  hazard  as  that 
kept  in  a  master's  desk.  When  the  school  was  ;  they  repented  their  foolish  attempt  long  afterwards, 
removed  to  Hazel  wood,  the  library  was  taken  there  one  breaking  his  leg  and.  the  rest  never  thriving 


and  added  to  occasionally  by  the  head-master, 
until  1817,  when  a  school  fund  was  started,  part  of 
which  was  spent  every  year  in  new  books.  Former 
members  of  the  school  used  also  sometimes  to  send 
a  book  or  two,  and  thus  the  library  kept  increasing 
slowly  year  by  year.  In  1827  rewards  were  first 
given  to  those  boys  who  passed  a  successful  ex- 
amination in  books  of  an  instructive  nature,  and 
from  that  time  the  reading  of  those  books  has 
formed  here  a  part  of  nearly  every  boy's  education. 


after  the  fact,  and  leaving  a  stump  for  the  grafting 
another  cross  upon  it,  as  a  token  of  their  rashness 
in  reformation."  It  is  indeed  somewhat  remark- 
able that  this  cross  on  the  church  tower  should 
have  escaped  the  zeal  of  the  early  reformers,  con- 
sidering the  ado  that  was  made  about  "  super- 
stitious" images  and  crosses  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  the  general  destruc- 
tion of  such  objects. 

From  the  statement  made  by  Lord  Coleraine 


When,  in  1827,  the  school  was  first  started  at  Bruce  that  the  steeple  of  Tottenham  Church  was  before 
Castle,  Mr.  Rowland  Hill  began  to  form  the  present  j  his  time  "more  lofty,"  many  persons  have  fallen 
library,  and  when,  six  years  later,  the  Messrs.  Hill  I  into  the  mistake  of  supposing  the  extra  height  to 
finally  removed,  as  we  have  stated  above,  to  Tot-  j  have  been  beyond  its  present  height.  Such  a  view, 


tenham,  they  brought  with  them  a  part  of  the  Hazel- 


wood  library. 
We  may  add, 


conclusion,  that  the  pupils  at 


this  school,  as  a  rule,  are  preparing  for  the  univer- 
sities, the  public  schools,  or  professional  life. 
While  very  accessible  from  London,  Bruce  Castle 
and  few 


however,  is  at  variance  with  the  true  sense  of  his 
lordship's  statement,  which  describes  the  windows 
which  had  been  sunk  as  the  upper  windows  of  the 
tower,  within  which  the  bells  (which  had  not  at  that 
time,  1693,  been  re-cast)  undoubtedly  hung. 

It  is  very  probable  that  the  upper  portion  of 
the  tower  was  at  one  time  covered  with  one  of 


has  all  the  advantages  of  the  country, 

schools  have  better  in-door  and  out-door  arrange-    those  pyramidal  roofs  or  dwarf  kind  of  steeples 

ments  for  the  health  and  comfort  of  their  pupils.       |  peculiar  to  some  of  the  ancient  church  towers, 

In  Bruce  Grove,  near  the  Castle,  are  the  Sail- 1  upon  the  apex  of  which  roof  or  steeple  the  cross 
maker's  Almshouses,  comprising  some  forty  or  more  |  referred  to  by  Lord  Coleraine  might  originally 
neat  brick-built  dwellings.  They  were  erected  in  |  have  stood,  and  which  he  might  fairly  describe  as 
the  year  1869,  and  are  in  the  gift  of  the  Drapers'  being  "fastened  into  the  centre  of  the  roof."  This 
Company  steePle  miSht  have  become  out  of  rePau"'  owins  to 

The  parish  church  of  All  Hallows,  which  stands  the  treatment  it  had  received  by  the  rebels,  and, 
at  a  short  distance  north  of  Bruce  Castle,  and  is  j  with  its  "stump,"  have  been  ,-emoved .tet  another 

made 
been 


have  been  more  loity  man  u  w«  »•<.  ••"  .....  .  lr,,viin<Tq 

wrote  his  history  of  the  parish  for  after  speaking  of   from  t  hem  in  .  *, 
the  upper  windows,  he  adds:  "And  as  the  steeple        Unu 


appe 

seems  to  have  been  heretofore  considerably  more 
lofty,  so  upon  the  middle  of  the  outside  top  of  it 
there  stood  of  old  a  long  cross  of  wood,  covered 


b       of  b,  ck   wrt  b 


nine,  m  h  ,  a    o  nt  o         P 
s  w  th  re 


since 


there  stood  of  old  a  long  cross  o    woo  ^ 

with  lead,  fastened  into  the  centre  of  the  roof,      UKW        »  .     ^  as    a 

edifice    o  , 


strongly  as  that  it  was  a  signification  of  some  cause 
why  the  town  n 


the  old  porch  to  this  church,  being  so  small 


about  the  pu 


lling  down  of  this  cross,  which  they 


558 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


older  than  Henry  VII.'s  time,"  and  states  that  he 
had  heard  that  it  was  built  by  a  widow  lady,  whom 
he  believes  was  Joan  Gedney,  "  who  was  lady  of 
some  of  the  manors  before  they  fell  to  the  Comp- 
tons,  or  by  one  of  the  Comptons'  ladys."  This 
porch  has  a  small  chamber  over  the  entrance, 
concerning  which  these  remarks  appear  in  Lysons' 
"  Environs  : " — "  This  was  originally  intended,  as 
I  suppose,  for  a  church-house,  a  building  of  which 


figure  representing  a  human  head ;  there  are  also 
corbel  heads  at  the  angles  beneath  the  basin.  The 
carving  is  of  the  Perpendicular  period,  and  is  in  a 
fair  state  of  preservation,  although  somewhat  worn 
with  age  and  disfigured  with  paint  The  figures, 
as  well  as  the  font,  were  re-chiselled  in  1854  by  a 
local  tradesman,  at  a  charge  of  ^5.  This  font  is 
probably  as  old  as  the  present  church;  the  roses 
carved  upon  it  correspond  with  those  on  the  door- 


traces  are  to  be  found  in  the  records  of  almost 
every  parish.  They  were,  as  our  vestries  are  now, 
places  where  the  inhabitants  assembled  to  transact 
the  parish  business."  In  this  room  there  formerly 
resided,  for  many  years,  an  old  almswoman, 
named  Elizabeth  Fleming;  she  died  in  1790,  a 
veritable  centenarian.  Of  late  years  this  upper 
chamber  was  used  as  a  school-room  for  the  children 
of  the  parish.  There  is  a  hagioscope,  or  "squint," 
made  in  the  wall  of  the  church,  so  that  the  occu- 
pant of  this  room  over  the  porch  might  be  enabled 
to  see  the  altar. 

The  font  is  octagonal  in  shape,  having  orna- 
mental panels  enclosing  quatrcfoils,  within  which 
are  roses,  a  three-leafed  plant  enclosing  berries,  a 
pelican,  a  mermaid,  a  dragon  or  wyvern,  and  a 


,  ways  ol  the  porch,  from  which  we  may  infer  that 
j  it  was  made  early  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

The  monuments  and  brasses  are  somewhat 
numerous ;  but  in  consequence  of  the  alterations 
recently  made  in  the  building,  few  of  them  retain 
their  original  position.  Some  of  the  more  ancient 
brasses  have  altogether  disappeared.  They  are 
fully  described  in  Robinson's  "  History  of  Totten- 
ham." The  oldest  brass  still  remaining  is  a  smalh 
•  plate  to  the  memory  of  Thomas  Hynnyngham  ; 
it  bears  the  date  1499.  Mr.  George  Waight,  in 
his  "  History  of  Tottenham,"  to  which  we  are 
indebted  for  much  of  the  information  here  given, 
describes  a  few  of  the  existing  monuments,  some  of 
which  are  of  peculiar  interest  At  the  east  end  of 
the  south  aisle  is  one  to  the  memory  of  Richard 


"HE  PARISH  CHURCH. 


S6o 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


Candeler,  Esq.,  who  died  in  1602,  and  Eliza  his    the  windows  being  absolutely  necessary,  as  is  proved 


wife,  1622 :  they  are  represented  kneeling  before 
desks,  on  which  are  placed  books.  Adjoining  this 
monument  is  another  to  the  memory  of  Sir  Ferdi- 
nando  Heyborne,  Gentleman  of  the  Privy  Chamber 
to  Queen  Elizabeth  and  James  I.,  dated  1618,  and 
his  wife,  the  daughter  of  Richard  Candeler,  who 
died  in  1612.  A  mural  monument,  with  effigies, 


by  the  unsightly  skylights  which  had  in  former  days 
been  inserted  in  various  parts  of  the  roof.  The  new 
work  has  been  carried  out  in  red  brick  and  stone, 
in  harmony  with  the  fine  red  brick  and  stone  south 
porch.  The  choir  part  of  the  chancel  is  fitted  up 
with  oak  and  walnut-wood  seats  and  desks,  and  is 
paved  with  tiles.  The  eastern  part,  or  sanctuary, 


commemorates  Sir  John  Melton,  Keeper  of  the  j  is  arcaded  in  stone  on  its  sides  and  east  end,  with 
Great  Seal  for  the  north  of  England ;  he  died  in  j  a  central  reredos  behind  the  altar-table.  Marble 
1640.  A  large  and  curious  monument  in  the  j  shafts  and  marble  in  various  forms  are  used  in  this 
north  aisle,  ornamented  after  the  fashion  of  the  |  part  of  the  chancel,  on  the  south  side  of  which  is  a 
period  in  which  it  was  set  up,  is  to  the  memory  of  j  graduated  sedilia  of  two  seats,  and  also  a  credence, 


Maria,  wife  of  Sir  Robert  Bark  ham,  of  the  county 
of  Lincoln,  and  daughter  of  Richard  Wilcocks,  of 
Tottenham.  She  died  in  1644.  Upon  this  monu- 


very  beautifully  designed  and  executed.  A  large 
east  window  of  five  lights  fills  the  gable  end  at  a 
high  level.  The  ceiling  above  is  vaulted  in  wood 


ment  are  busts  of  the  deceased  and  her  husband,  !  and  plaster,  and  is  delicately  painted  in  colours,  in 
and  beneath  are  the  effigies  of  their  twelve  children.  !  which  a  grey-blue  predominates,  with  stars  and 
A  sum  of  money  was  left  by  the  family  of  the  !  flowers.  The  east  five-light  chancel  window,  the 


deceased  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  this  monument 
in  good  condition.  In  the  chancel  was  the  grave- 
stone of  the  Rev.  William  Bedwell,  who  was  many 
years  vicar  of  this  church,  and  also  rector  of  St. 
Kthelburga's,  in  Bisliopsgate  Street  The  epitaph 
— which  commenced  with  some  account  of  his 
daughter,  who  was  married  to  one  Mr.  or  Dr. 
Clark,  and  died  December  2oth,  1662 — concluded 
as  follows : — 

"  Here  lies  likewise  interred  in 
this  chancel  the  body  of  Mr.  William 
Bedwell  her  father,  .some  time 
Vicar  of  this  Church,  and  one  of 
King  James's  translators  of  the 
Bible,  and  for  ICasterne  tongues 
as  learned  a  man  as  most  lived 
in  these  modern  times,  aged  70, 
dyed  May  5lh,  ,6;,2." 

He  was  the  author  of  the  "  History  of  Tottenham" 
mentioned  above,  and  also  of  a  book  called  the 


south  three-light  transept  window,  and  another 
three-light  window  in  the  new  bay  of  the  south 
aisle,  are  filled  with  stained  glass,  presented  by 
various  persons  as  memorials. 

"  From  the  occurrence  of  a  priest  with  half  a 
hide  of  land  at  '  Totanam,'  in  the  Doomsday 
Survey,  the  existence  of  a  church  may  be  fairly  pre- 
sumed at  least  as  early  as  the  Conquest,  although 
we  have  no  mention  of  it  as  a  benefice  till  the 
twelfth  century,  when  it  was  given  to  the  canons 
of  the  Holy  Trinity  by  Aldgate,  soon  after  the 
foundation  of  their  house  by  David,  King  of  Scot- 
land,* to  whom  it  was  appropriated,  and  a  vicarage 
endowed  about  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century  by  Bishop  William  de  Sancta:  do  Maria; 
Ecclesia;.''t 

"  The  rudeness  of  construction  and  plainness  of 
the  oldest  parts  of  the  building,"  observes  Mr. 
George  Waight,  in  his  work  above  mentioned, 
"  make  it  very  probable  that  the  original  church, 


"Traveller's  Calendar 

In  1875-7  the  church  underwent  a  thorough  of  which  they  formed  part,  was  built  by  one  of 
"  restoration  "  and  enlargement,  after  the  fashion  of  '  the  great  lords  of  the  manor,  for  there  is  always 
the  tune.  The  additions  to  the  fabric  on  this  occa-  a  marked  difference  observable  between  churches 
sion  consist  of  one  new  bay  at  the  cast  end  of  the  built  by  the  lords  of  the  soil  and  those  built  by 
nave  and  aisles  (or  rather  the  old  chancel  and  its  ;  monks  and  ecclesiastics  —  i.e.,  between  rectorial 
aisles),  with  a  new  chancel,  north  ami  south  Iran-  '  churches  and  vicarial  churches.  The  vicarial 
septs,  an  organ-chamber,  double  vestries,  with  a  '  churches  having  been  built  by  the  monks,  who  pos- 
furnace-room  for  heating  the  church  beneath  one  sessed  more  architectural  skill  and  probably  larger 

means  than  the  lords  of  the  soil,  for  that  reason, 


of  them,  and  a  north   porch.      The  old  chancel, 
with  the  addition  of  the  new  bay  mentioned  above, 


almost   uniformly   present    a  greater  elegance    of 


now  becomes  part  of  the  nave,  and  is  furnished  j  design  and  magnitude  than  the  former.  It  must 
with  seats  for  the  congregation.  To  meet  the  case  j  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  church  of  Tottenham 
of  so  greatly  enlarged  a  church,  all  the  new  roofs  '  did  not  become  vicarial  until  after  it  was  given  by 
arc  at  a  considerably  higher  level  than  they  were  ;  David,  King  of  Scotland,  to  the  canons  of  the  Holy 
originally.  A  clerestory,  with  windows  on  each  side  __  - 

of  it,  has  been  put  upon  the  new  bay  of  the  nave,      *  DUgd.  -Mon.,-  vol.  a.,  P.  s*    t  NCWC.  "R^-TOL  i,  p.  753. 


ST.   LOY'S  WELL. 


561 


Trinity,  London.  Up  to  that  time  the  church  j  disrepute,  and  had,  in  fact,  become  a  mere  parish 
and  advowson  had  been  appended  to  the  manor,  elementary  school;  but  about  the  year  1872  a 
which  had  remained  entire.  There  are  many  change  of  trustees  having  taken  place,  steps  were 
things,"  he  adds,  "  which  point  to  this  conclusion ;  j  taken  to  place  the  school  upon  a  more  efficient 
the  mention  of  a  priest  in  the  Domesday  Survey,  footing.  A  scheme  was  accordingly  drawn  up,  the 
the  existence  of  the  manorial  house  called  Bruce  '  school  premises  were  enlarged,  and  at  the  corn- 
Castle,  the  former  lordship  of  the  place  (the  road  j  mencement  of  the  year  1877  it  was  re-opened  as  a 
leading  to  it  being  still  called  Lordship  Lane),  and  second-grade  school. 


the  close    proximity   of  the  church  to  both,  all 
testify  to  the  antiquity  of  the  church  as  a  religious 


Down  to  comparatively  recent  times,  Tottenham 
could  boast  of  other  antiquities  besides  those  we 


foundation.  The  charter  by  which  David,  King  of ;  have  already  described ;  for  in  the  "  Ambulator " 
Scotland,  granted  the  church,  probably  soon  after  it  i  (1774)  we  read  that  St.  Loy's  Well,  in  this  parish,  is 
was  built,  to  the  canons  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  was  said  to  be  "  always  full,  arid  never  to  run  over ;  and 
directed  to  Gilbert,  Bishop  of  London  (surnamed  !  the  people  report  many  strange  cures  performed 
Universalis),  who  was  Bishop  of  London  in  the  at  Bishop's  Well."  The  field  in  which  the  first- 
reign  of  Henry  I.,  from  1128  to  1134,  and  was  con-  i  mentioned  well  is  situated  is  called  "South  Field 
firmed  by  William  de  Sancta  Maria,  who  was  Bishop  ;  at  St.  Loy's,"  in  a  survey  of  the  parish  taken  in 
of  London  from  the  tenth  year  of  Richard  I.  (1198) '..  1619.  It  is  situated  on  the  west  side  of  the  high 
to  the  sixth  year  of  Henry  III.  (1221)."  !  road,  near  the  footpath  leading  past  the  Wesleyan 

A  chantry  was  founded  in  this  church  by  John  chapel,  and  across  the  field  to  Philip  Lane.  Bed- 
Drayton,  citizen  and  goldsmith  of  London,  as  ap- !  well  speaks  of  St.  Loy's  Well,  in  his  history  of  the 
pears  by  his  will,  dated  271x1  September,  1456,  "to  [parish,  as  being  in  his  time  "nothing  else  but  a 
find  two  priests  daily,  one  to  say  divine  service  at  i  deep  pit  in  the  highway,  on  the  west  side  thereof;" 
St.  Paul's,  London,  and  the  other  at  the  Church  of !  he  also  adds  that  "  it  was  within  memory  cleaned 
All  Saints,  Tottenham,  at  the  altar  of  the  blessed  out,  and  at  the  bottom  was  found  a  fair  great  stone, 
virgin  and  martyr  St.  Katherine;  and  the  same  i  which  had  certain  letters  or  characters  on  it;  but 
priest  also,  on  Wednesdays  and  Fridays,  to  perform  being  broken  or  defaced  by  the  negligence  of  the 
the  like  service  in  the  Chapel  of  St.  Anne,  called  workmen,  and  nobody  near  that  regarded  such 


the  Hermitage,  in  this  parish,  near  the  king's  high- 
way; also  for  the  souls  of  King  Richard  II.,  Anne 
his  queen,  and  others,  his  own  two  wives,  parents 
and  benefactors,  and  all  the  faithful  deceased." 

The  bells  in  the  old  tower  are  six  in  number, 
and  one  of  them,  called  the  Saints'  Bell,  is  orna- 
mented with  medallions  and  other  figures  and 
ornamentation.  This  bell  was  taken  at  the  siege 
of  Quebec  -it  having  served  originally  as  the  alarm- 
bell  of  that  town— and  was  given  to  the  parish  at 
the  commencement  of  this  century.  The  old  vestry, 
at  the  eastern  end  of  the  church,  was  built  and 


endowed  by  Lord  Coleraine,  in'  1696,  upon  con- 


things,  it  was  not  known  what  they  were  or  meant.' 
The  condition  of  the  well  has  not  much  improved 
since  Bedwell's  time,  having  become  nothing  more 
nor  less  than  "  a  dirty  pool  of  water,  full  of  mud 
and  rubbish."  Dr.  Robinson,  in  his  "  History  of 
Tottenham"  (1840),  describes  the  well  as  being 
surrounded  by  willows,  about  500  feet  from  the 
highway,  and  adds  that  it  was  bricked  up  on  all 
sides,  square,  and  about  four  feet  deep.  The  water 
of  this  spring  was  said  to  excel,  in  its  medicinal 
qualities,  those  of  any  other  near  it;  and  in  a  foot- 
note, Robinson  says  that  the  properties  of  the  water 
are  similar  to  the  water  of  Cheltenham  springs. 
The  Chapel  or  "Offertory"  of  St.  Loy  is  de- 


having  become  decayed,  and  ultimately  the  building 
was  entirely  demolished. 

Tottenham  Grammar  School  dates  from  the  early 
part  of  the  last  century,  when  it  was  endowed  under 
the  will  of  Sarah,  Dowager  Duchess  of  Somerset. 
At  one  time  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  must 
have  been  in  a  fairly  nourishing  condition,  as  among 
its  head-masters  we  find  the  name  of  the  learned 
William  Baxter,  the  nephew  of  the  ce  ebrated 
Richard  Baxter.  Of  late  years  it  had  fallen  into 


was  one  of  the  greatest  oaths  which  men  swore  by 
in  the  Middle  "Age,     In  Chaucer's  "Canterbury 
Tales"  for  instance,  the   carter,  encouraging  his 
horses  to  draw  his  cart  out  of  a  slough,  says, 
"I  pray  God  save  thy  body  and  St.  Eloy." 
Bishop's  Well  is  described  by  Bedwell  as  "a 
srrina  issuing  out  of  the  side  of  a  hill,  m  a  field 
op^it    to  the  vicarage,  and  falling  into  the  Mosel 


562 


OLD   AND    NEW  LONDON. 


afore  it  hath  run  many  paces."  The  ground  near 
it  was  formerly  called  Well  Field,  but  now  forms 
part  of  the  cemetery.  The  water  was  said  never  to 
freeze,  and,  like  that  of  St  Loy's  Well,  to  be  effica- 
cious in  the  cure  of  certain  bodily  ailments. 

White  Hart  Lane,  mentioned  above,  the  road 
leading  to  Wood  Green,  has  long  been  built  upon. 
Indeed,  in  the  "  Beauties  of  England  and  Wales," 
as  far  back  as  1816,  we  find  it  spoken  of  as 
containing  "  several  capacious  villas,  and  some 
modern  houses,  of  less  magnitude,  which  are 
desirable  in  every  respect,  except  that  of  standing 
in  a  crowded  row.  On  the  left  hand  of  this  lane," 
adds  the  writer,  "  at  the  distance  of  three  quarters 
of  a  mile  from  the  village  of  Tottenham,  is  the 
handsome  residence  of  Henry  P.  Sperling,  Esq. 
This  is  accounted  the  manor-house  of  the  Pem- 
brokes,  but  has,  in  fact,  been  long  alienated  from 
that  estate.  The  building  was,  till  within  these 
very  few  years,  surrounded  by  a  moat,  over  which 
was  a  drawbridge.  The  moat  was  filled  up  by  the 
present  proprietor,  probably  to  the  advantage  of 
his  grounds,  which  are  of  a  pleasing  and  rural 
character."  Pembroke  House  is  stated  by  Dyson, 
in  his  "  History  of  Tottenham,"  to  have  been 
built  for  Mr.  Soames,  one  of  the  Lords  of  the 
Admiralty,  about  the  year  1636,  at  which  time 
"  the  moat  was  dug  and  walled  in." 

At  Wood  Green  are  the  almshouses  belonging 
to  the  Printers'  Pension,  Almshouse,  and  Orphan 
Asylum  Corporation.  The  objects  of  this  institu- 
tion, which  was  founded  in  the  year  1827,  are  the 
maintaining  and  educating  of  orphans  of  deceased 
members  of  the  printing  profession,  as  well  as 
granting  of  pensions,  ranging  from  ,£8  to  ,£25, 
to  aged  and  infirm  printers  and  their  widows. 
The  almshouses  are  a  picturesque  block  of  build- 
ings, with  a  handsome  board-room  and  offices  in  the 
centre,  containing,  with  the  two  wings,  residences 
for  twenty-four  inmates.  The  original  portion  of 
the  building  was  erected  in  1849,  and  the  addi- 
tional wings  in  1871. 

Tottenham  Wood,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  was 
celebrated  for  its  medicinal  spring ;  it  bore  the 
name  of  St.  Dunstan's  Well.  Of  the  Wood  itself, 
there  are  three  old  proverbs  extant.  To  express  a 
thing  impossible,  the  people  here  used  to  say, 
"  You  may  as  well  try  to  move  Tottenham  Wood," 
which  was  of  great  extent.  Another,  "  Tottenham 
is  turned  French,"  meaning  that  it  is  as  foolish  as 
other  places  to  leave  the  customs  of  England  for 
foreign  ones.  And  a  third— 

"  When  Tottenham  Wood  is  all  on  fire, 

Then  Tottenham  Street  is  nothing  but  mire." 

Tills  means,  when   a   thick  fog-like  smoke  hangs 


over  Tottenham  Wood,  it  is  a  sign  of  rain,  and 
therefore  of  mud  and  dirt.  We  need  hardly  add 
that  the  task  of  removing  Tottenham  Wood  has 
been  accomplished,  and  that  such  part  of  it  as  is 
still  unbuilt  upon,  is  under  arable  cultivation.  So 
much  for  the  familiar  "sayings"  connected  with 
Tottenham.  But  there  is  also  a  metrical  satire 
which  requires  some  brief  mention.  This  is  a 
mock  heroic  poem,  known  as  the  "  Tournament  of 
Tottenham,"  which  appears  to  be  a  kind  of  satire 
on  the  dangerous  and  costly  tournaments  of  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  and  is  supposed 
by  Warton  to  have  been  written  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VII.  The  full  title  of  the  work  is  "The 
Turnament  of  Tottenham,  or  the  wooeing,  winning, 
and  wedding  of  Tybbe,  the  Reeve's  daughter 
there ; "  and  the  poem  is  descriptive  of  a  contest 
between  some  five  or  six  lusty  bachelors,  bearing 
the  aristocratic  names  of  "  Perkyn,  Hawkya, 
Dawkya,  Tomkyn,"  &c.,  from  "  Hysseldon,  Hack- 
enaye,"  and  other  country  districts,  for  the  hand  of 
the  fair  Tybbe,  a  rustic  maiden,  the  daughter  of  a 
"  reeve,"  or  manciple  of  the  place,  whose  marriage 
portion  was  a  gray  mare,  a  spotted  sow,  a  dun 
cow,  and  "  coppel,  a  brode  hen  that  was  brought 
out  of  Kent."  The  scene  is  the  "  Croft "  at 
Tottenham ;  the  rushing  of  the  doughty  warriors 
at  each  other  in  the  lists,  the  broken  heads  and 
1  limbs,  the  falls  from  their  horses,  more  accustomed 
'  to  the  plough  than  the  jousts,  and  the  winning  of 
the  fair  Tybbe  by  the  stalwart  Perkyn ;  the  carry- 
'  ing  home  of  the  defeated  and  drunken  combatants  ; 
and  finally,  the  wedding  procession  to  Tottenham 
Church,  in  which  Perkyn,  Tybbe,  and  the  reeve 
are  the  foremost  characters— all  these  things  are 
!  described  in  a  style  which  excellently  takes  off 
!  the  ballad  style  which  has  so  often  been  used  to 
!  portray  a  genuine  tournament  of  knights,  that  the 
reader  might  almost  be  pardoned  for  indulging  in 
the  supposition  that  the  affair  really  happened  at 
Tottenham. 

It  does  honour  to  the  good  sense  of  our 
nation,  as  Bishop  Percy  remarks,  that  whilst  all 
Europe  was  captivated  by  the  bewitching  charms 
of  chivalry  and  romance,  two  of  our  writers  in  the 
ruder  times  could  see  through  the  false  glare  that 
|  surrounded  them,  and  could  discover  and  hold  up 
to  the  eyes  of  all  what  was  absurd  in  them  both. 
;  Chaucer  wrote  his  "Rhyme  of  Sir  Thopas"  in 
;  ridicule  of  the  latter,  and  in  the  "  Turnament  of 
I  Tottenham  "  we  have  a  most  humorous  burlesque 
of  the  former.  It  is  well  known,  of  course,  that 
the  tournament,  as  an  institution  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  did  much  to  encourage  the  spirit  of  duelling 
I  — under  another  name — and  that  it  continued  to 


THE   "TOURNAMENT  OF  TOTTENHAM." 


563 


flourish  ^inspite^of  the  vigorous  denunciations  of  statesman,  Sir  Julius  Csesar,  who  was  some  time 

Master  of  the  Rolls,  and  as  we  have  already  had 
occasion  to  observe,  lived  to  such  a  great  age,  that 


the   authorities  both  of  Church  and  State.     Such 
being  the  case,  the  author  of  the  "  Tournament ' 

has  availed  himself  of  the  keen  weapon  of  ridicule  :  he  was  said  to  be  "  kept  alive,  beyond  Nature's 
in  order  to  show  up  the  absurd  custom  in  its  true  \  course,  by  the  prayers  of  the  many  poor  whom 
colours.  With  this  view  he  here  introduces  with  j  he  daily  relieved."  He  was  in  attendance  on  his 
admirable  humour  a  parcel  of  country  clowns  and  |  friend  Lord  Bacon  at  the  time  of  his  last  illness, 
bumpkins,  imitating  at  the  Croft  in  Tottenham  all '  and  was  present  with  him  when  he  died.*  In 
the  solemnities  of  the  tourney.  Here  we  have  '  1598  Sir  Julius  resided  at  Mitcham,  in  Surrey, 
the  regular  challenge,  the  appointed  day,  the  lady  \  where  he  was  visited  by  Queen  Elizabeth.  He 


for  the  prize,  the  formal  preparations,  the  display 
of  armour,  the  oaths  taken  on  entering  the  lists, 
the  various  accidents  of  the  encounter,  the  victor 


lived  near  the  High  Cross,  and  died  in  1636. 

Here,  in  1842,  died  William  Hone,  the  author 
of  very  many  popular  works,  and  among  others 


of  the  "Every-day  Book."     "I  am  going  out  to 


leading  off  the  prize,  and  the  magnificent  feasting, 

with  all  the  other  solemn  fopperies  that  usually  j  Tottenham  this  morning,"  writes  Charles  Dickens, 

attended  the  pompous  "tournament."  "on  a  cheerless   mission  I  would  willingly  have 

The  "  Turnament   of  Tottenham,"   it   may  be   avoided.    Hone  is  dying,  and  he  sent  Cruickshank 


added,  though  now  rendered  popular  by  its  being 
placed  by  Bishop  Percy  in  his  "  Reliques,"  was 
first  printed  from  an  ancient  MS.  in  1631,  by  the 
Rev.  William  Bedwell,  Rector  of  Tottenham,  who, 


yesterday  to  beg  me  to  go  and  see  him,  as,  having 
read  no  books  but  mine  of  late,  he  wanted  to  see 
me,  and  shake  hands  with  me  '  before  he  went.' " 
The  request  so  asked,  Charles  Dickens  performed 


as  stated  above,  was  one  of  the  translators  of  the   with  his  usual  tender-heartedness.     In  a  month 
Bible,  and  who  tells  us  that  its  author  was  Gilbert  j  afterwards  he  paid  a  second  visit  to  Tottenham. 
Pilkington,  thought  by  some  to  have  been  also  in 
his  day  parson  of  the  parish, 


nd  the  author  of 


It  was  to  attend  Hone's  funer 

In  concluding  this  chapter,  we  may  be  pardoned 
for  referring  to  the  sanitary  condition  of  Tottenham. 
In  1837,  when  the  Registrar-General's  Department 
was  first  established,  the  village  was  a  decidedly 
healthy  place,  and  its  healthiness  was  further  im- 

a  veritable  tournament  written  before  the  "time  of!  proved  by  the  establishment,  about  twenty  years 
Edward  III,  in  whose  reign  tournaments  were  !  later,  of  an  excellent  system  of  drainage  and  water- 
prohibited.  A  perusal  of  the  «  Turnament"  itself .  supply,  which  reduced  for  some  years  the  death- 
will  be  sufficient  to  dispel  this  matter-of-fact  view  ;  rate  from  fever  by  nearly  one-half  About 
of  the  poem,  which  is,  perhaps,  the  best  piece  of .  year  !86o  the  population  of  Tottenham  began  to 
mock-heroic  writing  that  has  come  down  to  us  |  increase  very  rapidly,  and  _owmg^  mainly  to ^e 
since 
trayed  by  Virgil  in  his  fourth  Georgic. 

We  emote  the  following  stanza,  which  describes 
the  situation  of  the  contending  parties  subsequent 
to  the  combat,  and  may  serve  as  a  specimen  of 
the  production : — 

"  To  the  rich  feast  came  many  for  the  nonce ; 
Some  came  hop-halte,  and  some  tripping  on  the  stones ; 
Some  with  a  staffe  in  his  hand,  and  some  two  at  once ; 
Of  some  were  the  heads broken.of  some  the  shoulder-bones ; 
With  sorrow  came  they  hither. 
Wo  was  Hawkin  ;  wo  was  Harry ; 
Wo  was  Tymkin  ;  wo  was  Tirry  ; 
And  so  was  all  the  company, 
l!ut  yet  they  came  togither." 

It  may  be  added  that  the  poem,  in  its  entirety,  is 
given   in  the  various   histories  of  Totti 
Bedwell,  Oldfield,  and  Dyson,  as  well  as  in  Percys 
"  Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry." 

Ilefore  quitting  Tottenham,  we  may  state  that 
here  was  bora,  in  X5S7,  the  learned  civilian  and  j 


lother  piece  called  "Passio  Domini."  Bedwell, 
however,  though  a  learned  man,  does  not  seem  to 
have  appreciated  the  wit  of  his  predecessor,  and 
really  imagines  that  the  verses  are  a  description  of 


mock-heroic  writing   mai   "«   \.\jm<-  u^.."  -«  —  , .. — • •—  j      i     ..          .  , 

,,e  ..Ba,,,eoffc  £•  »  adn,iraUy  por-   •i^^£'J±?£1irf 

the  drainage  and  water-supply,  and  likewise  sup- 
plemented its  water-supply  from  wells  in  the  chalk 
by  land-spring  water  drawn  from  highly-manured 
land  The  Board  also  became  remiss  in  dealing 
with  nuisances.  The  result  was  that  the  death-rate 
rose  rapidly,  and  by  1870  it  was  20  per  cent, 
higher  than  formerly,  while  the  death-rate  from 
thge  seven  principal  zymotic  diseases^nearly 


OLD   AND   NE\V  LONDON. 


land-spring  water  was  excluded  from  the  water- 
supply,  ditches  and  water-courses  were  cleansed, 
nuisances  of  all  kinds  were  abated.  The  Local 
Board  issued  a  handbill  to  every  occupier,  urging 
the  need  of  house-drain  ventilation,  and,  better 
still,  began  to  insist  upon  efficient  drain  ventilation 
in  the  case  of  all  new  buildings.  An  immediate 
improvement  in  the  public  health  followed  upon 
these  measures.  The  death-rate  during  1876  was 
only  167  per  1,000;  the  rate  from  the  seven 


principal  zymotic  diseases  only  i  -9  per  i  ,000  ; 
and  that  from  fever  less  than  -2  per  1,000.  The 
water-supply,  as  shown  by  the  monthly  reports  fur- 
nished to  the  Registrar-General,  stands,  in  respect 
of  freedom  from  organic  impurity,  at  the  very  head 
of  all  the  waters  supplied  by  the  metropolitan 
water  companies.  Sanitary  reform  has  not  only 
diminished  the  number  of  deaths  and  the  amount 
of  illness,  but  has  also,  as  a  consequence,  greatly 
increased  the  prosperity  of  Tottenham. 


(l-rom  a*  (M  VU 


CHAPTER    XI.VI. 
NORTH    TOTTENHAM,    EDMONTON,    &C. 

"Away  went  C.llpin,   neck  or  nought, 
Away  went  hat  and  wi^."— Cm-ftr. 

n  the  Stile -How  Cowper  came  to  write  "Johnny  Girpin  "-A  Supplement  to  the  Story 

—  Historic  Reminiscences  of  the  ".Bell  "at  Kdmomon  -Charles  Iamb's  Visit  th-rc  Lamb's  Residence  at  Edmonton— The  Grave  of  Charles 
Lamb  K Jmonton  Church-The  "  Merry  Devil  of  Edmonton  "-The  Witch  of  Edmonton  -Archbishop  TUlotioo-Edmoiiton  Fain-South. 
gate  -  Arnu's  Grove-Hush  Hill  Park. 

WE  have  stated  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  the     Londoners  at  least,  as  the  scene  of  Johnny  Gilpin's 
main  road  northwards  runs  through  the  centre  of    famous  ride,  as  related  by  Cowper.     Indeed,  we 


;Ri,!e"-Mr 


the  village,  and  indeed  forms  the  principal  street 
of  Tottenham  High  Cross.  It  continues  straight  on 
for  some  two  miles  or  more  towards  Edmonton. 
This  bit  of  roadway  has  acquired  some  celebrity,  for 


might  ask,  what  traveller  has  ever  refreshed  himself 
or  herself  at  the  "  Bell,"  and  not  thought  of  Johnny 
Gilpin,  and  his  ride  from  London  and  back,  nor 
sympathised  with  his  worthy  spouse  on  the  disasters 


"JOHN   GILPIN'S  RIDE." 


565 


of  that  day's  outing?  The  "Bell"  inn,  where  j  playgoers  by  storm  in  1777  as  Shylock,  Hamlet, 
Gilpin  and  his  wife  should  have  dined,  is  on  the  and  Falstaff,  was  then  giving  readings  at  the  Free- 
left-hand  side  of  the  road,  as  we  proceed  along  j  mason's  Tavern.  He  had  succeeded  almost  to 

Garrick's  fame.  His  feeling  was  so  true,  his  voice 
so  flexible,  that  Mrs.  Siddons  and  John  Kemble 
often  went  to  hear  him  read.  Henderson  finding 
'John  Gilpin'  in  print,  but  not  yet  famous,  chose 
it  for  recitation.  Mrs.  Siddons  heard  it  with 


from  Tottenham.  The  balcony  which  the  house 
possessed  in  Cowper's  time  has  been  removed, 
and  the  place,  in  fact,  otherwise  much  altered.  It 
has,  however,  a  capacious  "  banqueting  hall,"  and 
large  pleasure-gardens  "abounding  with  all  kinds  of 
shrubs  and  flowers;"  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  it  I  delight,  and  in  the  spring  of  1785  its  succe 


EDMONTON  CHURCH,    I79O. 


is  a  favourite  resort  for  London  holiday-makers. 
A  painting  of  Johnny  Gilpin's  ride  is  fixed  outs.de 
the  tavern,  and  the  house  is  commonly  kno^n  as 
•<  Gilpin's  Bell ;"  the  landlord,  however,  designates 
it  "  The  Bell  and  Johnny  Gilpin's  Ride.' 

In  his  "  Library  of  English  Literature  "  Professor 
Henry  Morley  thus  tells  the  story  of  that  ever- 
populL  favourite  ballad :-« Lady  Austen  one 
evening  told  Cowper  the  story  of  'John  Gilpm 
which,  as  told  by  her,  tickled  his  fancy  so  much 
that  he  was  kept  awake  by  fits  of  laughter  dunng 
great  part  of  the  night  after  hearing  it,  and  must 
needs  turn  it  into  a  ballad  when  he  got  up.  MB. 
Unwin's  son  sent  it  to  the  Public  Adrertiser  wh  re 
it  appeared  without  an  author's  name  John  Hen- 
derson,  an  actor  from  Bath,  who  took  the  London 
240 


the  event  of  the  season.  It  was  reprinted  in  many 
orms,  and  talked  of  in  all  circles;  prints  of  Jo 
Gilpin,'  were  familiar  in  shop-windows ;  and  Cowper, 
who  was  finishing  the  'Task,'  felt  that  his j  more 
erious  work  would  be  helped  if  it  were  pubhsl  d 
with  this  'John  Gilpin,'  as  an  avowed  piece  by  the 
same  author."  It  is  now  fairly  established  as  the 


566 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


Mr.  John  Timbs,  in  his  "  Century  of  Anecdote,"  '      It  may  not  be  generally  known,   though   Mr. 
givc»  a  similar  vcr*ion  of  the  »tory  of  John  Gilpin: '  William  Hone  has  recorded  the  fact  in  his  amusing 

ii  Thjy  little   poem  was  composed  by  Cowper    "  Table-Book,"  that  Cowper  afterward*  added  an 

about  the  year  1782,  uj*>n  a  story  told  to  the  amusing  little  episode  to  John  Gilpin's  ride,  which 
poet  by  J-'i'Jy  Austen,  in  order  to  relieve  one  of  was  found  in  the  poet's  own  handwriting  among  the 
the  poet's  fit*  of  depressive  melancholy.  Lady  papers  of  his  friend,  Mrs.  Unwin,  illustrated  with 
An  -ten,  it  '.'<  happened,  rerncml>ered  the  tale  from  a  comical  sketch  by  George  Komney.  The  episode 
the  days  of  her  childhood  in  the  nurncry,  and  its  '  consisted  of  three  stanzas,  which  ran  as  follows : — 
effect*  on  the  fancy  of  Cowper  had  the  air  almost  ..  j  |,,.n  Mr,.  Gi||rfri  ,weelly  Mia 

of  enchantment,  for  he  told  her  the  next  morning 
that  he  had  Ix-'-n  kept  awake  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  night  by  convulsion*  of  irrepressible 


tighter,  brought  on  by  the  recollection  of  her 
story,  and  that  lie  had  turned  the  thief  fact*  of 
it  into  a  ballad.  Somehow  or  other  it  found  its 
way  into  the  newspapers,  and  Henderson,  the  actor, 
peneiving  how  true  il  wa»  to  nature,  recited  it  in 
some  of  his  public  readings.  Southcy,  whose  judg- 
ment on  Mich  subjects  it  worth  having  and  record- 


Unto  her  children  three, 
'I'll  clamber  o'er  the  Kyle  to  high, 

And  you  climb  after  inc. ' 
"  But  having  climbed  unto  the  top, 

She  could  no  farther  go  ; 
IJut  Ml,  to  every  paitcr-by 

A  tjicctaclc  and  khow. 
"  Who  Mid,  '  Your  »pou»e  and  you  to-day 

Jioth  »how  your  horicmaiuhip  ; 

A  n- 1  if  you  »tay  till  he  come*  back 

You,  l,or*e  will  need  no  whip.'  " 


ije<  lured  that  possibly  the  talc  might  have  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  no  more  lines  of 

i>' '  ii  in. i  vi, •/'••, t' <l  to  Cowpcr  by  a  poem  written  this  interesting  ballad  were  discovered,  as  they  were 

by  Sir  Thoin:r>  More  in  hi*  youthful  days,  entitled  evidently  intended   to  form  an  addendum  to  the 

'  The  Meiry  Jest  of  the  Serjeant  and  Fret-re  ;' and  "Diverting   History  of  Johnny  Gilpin,"  for  it    is 

it  it  '(mi'-  within  the  range  of  probability  that  the  supposed  that  in  the  interval  between  dinner  and 

t.ilr  v.l. i'h   L.i'ly  Austen  !•  lie  iiib<  iei|  and  related  tea   Mrs.  (iilpin,  finding  the  time  to  hang  rather 

may  have  originally  <  ome  from  thin  source,  for  there  heavily  on  her   hand*,   during    her    husband's    in- 

i .  next  to  nothing  really  new  under  the  mm."  voluntary  absence,  rambled  out  with  her  children 

II   h.n   been    mixh  disputed,    as    probably   our  into  the  field*  at  the  back  of  the  "  Bell,"  where  she 

!•  I'!.  •     are  aware,  whether  or  not  "John  (iilpin"  met  with  the  embarrassment  recorded  on  asccnd- 

wr,  .in   cntitely  fiitiiiout  roui.ime,  a   <reation  of  ing  one  of  those  awkward  gates  and  stiles  which 

<  .,  •.  |"  r  .  lir.iin,  or  whether  Hi  author  founded  his  abound  in  the   neighbourhood  of   Kdrnonlon  and 

pocrn  upon  an  adventure,  or  rather  a  mis  adventure,  Tottenham.      The   droll   picture  of    Mrs.    Gilpin 

in   the   hie  of  a   real   personage.      The  ((notation  seated  astride  on  the    stile  will   be  found  in   the 

.iliove  given  from  John  'I  imbs,  ;ind  the  opinion  of  pleasant  pages  of  Mr.  Hone. 

Southey,   would  eert.mily  seem  to  give  siipjiort  to  We  may  state  here  that  the  "Bell"  at   Kdmon- 

the  former  supposition  ,  but  in  one  of  the  volumes  ton  was  a  house  of  good  repute  as  far  back  as  the 

ol  the  (,'fnt/rmtin'i  Mw.inr  towards  the  Hose  of  days  of  James  I.,  a*  will  appear  from  the  following 

the  last  lentuiy  there  is  .in  eniiy  whi<  h  certainly  extract  from  John  Savile's  tractate,  entitled,  "  King 

looks    <|iiite    the    othi-i    v. ay.      A<i  otilin;'    to   th.it,  |  lines'*     I'jitertaiiunent    at    Theobalds,    with    his 

the  n. ime  ol   tin-   iMiir.i'in  J   wli»  -A  . .  i.  ally  the  Welcome  to  Ixindon."     Having  described  the  vast 

hubjccl  of  Cowpcr's  iiiimitalile  ballad  w  r.  fonathan  concourse  of  people    that   Hoiked   forth   to  greet 

(iilpin,  and  he  die<l  at    Ititli,  in   Si  pi.  ml.'  i     i  /•,  their  new  .sovereign  on  his  approach  to  the  metro- 

The   following   not  HI-   .i|,|.e.u  ,    m  th--   (,'rn  tlfin,ni  i  polis,  honest  John  says :---"  After  our  breakfast  at 

MuKtisiHf    for     Novembei     >,f    that    yeai  :     "The  Ivlmonton,    at    the    sign    of  the    'Hell,'    we    took 

gentleman  who  was  MI  seven  ly  niluuliil   for   b.-nl  o<  ( anion  to  note  how  many  would  come  down  in 

horsemanship  under  the  title  <,i    |..l,n  Oiljiin  die<l,  the  next  hour ;  so  coming  up  into  a  chamber  next 

a  few  days  ago,  at  Kith,  ami  has  left  an  unmamed  to  the  Mrcrt,  where  we  might  both  best  KCC,  and 

daughter,  with  a  fortune  of  /.  .10,000."    If  this  was  likewise  take  notice  of  all  passengers,  we  called  for 

really  the  case,  then,  in  nil  probability,  the  memo  an  hour  glass,  and  after  we  hod  disposed  of  our- 
rablc  tide  horn  London  to  the  "  Hell"  at  Kdmontoii  '  selves  who  should  take  the  number  of  the  hone, 

and  baik    again,  the   lohs  of  wig,   and  the  other  and  who  the  foot,  we  turned  the  hour-glass,  which 

accessories  of  the  xlory,  were  not  matters  of  pure  before  it  was  half  run  out,  we  could  not  |K>ssibly 

invention,  but  some  of  the  stern  realities  of  life  to  truly  number  them,  they  came  so  exceedingly  fast ; 
(i  certain  civic  dignitary  whose  name  has  passed  j  but  there  we  broke  off,  and  made  our  account  of 

away.  309  horses,  and  137  footmen,  which  course  con- 


CHA-RLES  LAMB. 


tinued  that  day  from  four  o'clock  in  the  morning 
till  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  day 
before  also,  as  the  host  of  the  house  told  us, 
without  intermission."  Besides  establishing  the 
existence  of  the  renowned  "  Hell "  at  this  period, 
the  foregoing  passage  we  have  quoted  is  curious  in 
other  respects. 

Charles  Lamb,  the  last  years  of  whose  life  were 
passed  at  Edmonton,  and  whose  boyhood  is  so 
pleasantly  connected  with  Christ's  Hospital,*  was 
in  the  habit  of  repairing  to  the  "  Hell "  with  any  of 
his  friends  who  may  have  visited  him,  when  on 
their  return  ;  and  here  he  used  to  take  a  parting 
glass,  generally  of  porter,  with  them. 

Lamb — » that  frail  good  man,"  as  Wordsworth 
affectionately  called  him— was  the  beloved  and 
honoured  friend  of  the  leading  intellectual  lights 
of  his  duy.  From  his  early  school  days  to  his 
death  he  was  the  bosom  friend  of  the  poet  Cole- 
ridge, and  the  intimate  of  Leigh  Hunt,  Rogers, 
Southcy,  and  Talfourd.  By  the  last-named  gentle- 
man his  biography,  including  his  letters,  &c.,  was 
published  in  1848.  The  writings  of  Lamb,  like 
those  of  Goldsmith,  and  especially  the  "  Essays  of 
Elia,"  mirror  forth  the  gentleness  and  simplicity  of 
their  author's  nature.  To  hi,  wit,  Moore's  line 
on  Sheridan  most  admirably  apply  :  - 

Ne'eTcarrie.'".-.  lLui"'um  .'.wi> u  l,Uk-.'"  ' 

Macaulaylus   paid   the   following  t.ib.il.:  to  h 
memorv  :— "  \\'c  admire  Ins  genius;    we  love  tl 


kind  nature  which 


ill  his  writings  ; 


or  introducing  one  or  two  scraps  of  correspondence 

-  in       '     I,  '       I.  .     I,,    111  li    i.i, 

Charles  Lamb  writes  to  a  friend  from  Enfield 

Chase,  Oct.  i,  18*7 :  "  Dear  R ,  I  am  settled, 

and  for  life  I  hope,  at  Enfield.  I  have  taken  the 
pettiest,  compactest  house  I  ever  law."  And  the 
ame  friend  writes  in  similar  terms :  "  I  took  the 
tage  to  Edmonton,  and  walked  thence  to  Enfield. 
I  found  them— i.e.,  Charles  and  Mary  Lamb— in 
heir  new  house,  a  small  but  comfortable  place, 
and  Charles  Lamb  quite  delighted  with  his  retire- 
nent.  Me  does  not  fear  the  solitude  of  the  situa- 
,  though  lie  seems  to  be  almost  without  an 
icijuaintance  (here),  and  dreads  rather  than  seeks 
ruritori." 
In  a  letter  addressed  by  Iamb,  about  this  time, 

0  his  friend  Tom  I  lood,  we  get  a  glimpse  of  the 
'  inner  life  "  of  the  Lambs  at  Enfield.     "  If  I  have 
inything  in  my  head,"  he  writes,  "  I  will  send  it  to 
Mr.  Watts.    Strictly  speaking,  he  should  have  had 
my  album-verses,  but  a  very  intimate  friend  im- 
portun'd  me  for  the  trifles,  and  I  believe  I  forgot 
Mr.  Watts,  or  lost  sight  at  the  time  of  his  similar 
souvenir.    Jamieson  conveyed  the  farce  from  me  to 
Mrs.  C.  Kemble ;  he  will  not  be  in  town  before  the 
zytli.     Give  our  kind  loves  to  all  at  Highgate,  and 
tell  them  that  we  have  finally  torn  ourselves  outright 
away  from  Colebrooke,  where  I  had  no  health,  and 
arc  about  to  domitiliate  for  good  at  Enfield,  where 

1  have  experienced  fftml. 

'  l/n<\,  what  (j'xxl  hours  <lo  we  keep  ! 

How  quietly  we  kleep!' 

"  See  the  rest  in  the  '  Complete  Angler.' 
"  U'e  have  got  our  books  into  our  new  house.    I 
am  a  dray-horse,  if  [I]  was  not  ashamed  of  the 
' 


undigested,  dirty  lumber,  as  I  toppled  'em  out  of 
the  cart,  and  blest  lif-ky  that  came  with  'em  for  her 
having  an  unstuff  d  brain  with  such  rubbish.  We 
•  !,ail  get  in  by  Michael's  Mass.  Twas  with  some 


known  him   personally.       un  on 

ami   Coleridge   were    conversing    to 

incidents   of   the    latins    ratlv   life, 

beginning  his  career  in  the  Clumh, 

was  describing  some  of  the  facts  in  ^ 

when  he  paused,  and  said,  "  I'r.-iy,  Mr.  Lamb,  did  :      .    ^  wer(.  ^.^d  frorn  Colebrooke.    You  may 

you  ever  hear  me  pre.u  h  ?  '  To  thin  the  latter  ,  ^  ^  of  ouf  fltth  8titking  ,0  the  door-posts, 
replied,  ••  I  neve,  heard  you  do  anything  else.'  !  T  (h  habitations  is  to  die  to  them;  and  in 
Lucy  Aikin,  in  one  of  her  letters,  gives  her  ^  j  ^  dicd  seven  deaths,  llut  I  dont 

estimate  of  the  character  of  Charles  Lamb  in  the  ,  ^  whelher  £very  such  change  does  not  bring 
following  words:  -There  is  no  better  Knglish  with  it  a  rejuvenesc«icc.  Tis  an  enterprise ;  and 
than  that  of  poor  Charles  Limb  -a  true  and  ^^  ^  ^  ^  of  death's  approximating, 
original  genius;  the  .It-light  of  :'»  *ho  **'•«>  '  which,  tho'  not  terrible  to  me,  is  at  all  times  par- 
and  much  more  of  all  who  read  hi.n,  and  *  .  rfuL  My  hoase-deaths  have  gene- 

man  whom  none  «li<>  bad  OIK 

"TiXi™,, '-»"'  ™"'"'  '""•" r* :  «*• ^^-'«i»i ,  i~n±: 

' 2 SSrSb^s^ i    -J^ST-S-'  •  - :::L 


.  fijUrly  aawsKuu-     -«/  MW»~ 

llirn  ™M    lally  been  periodkal,  recurring  after  seven  years, 
I  uit  th«  last  is  premature  by  half  that  time.    Cut 


using  on  to  Enfield,  where  uimo  app-.-*, 

nc  time  to  have  resided  ;  but  we  may  be  pardoned 


S«.  V.<1.  II.  p  370- 


568 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Edmonton. 


of  smoking,  and  on  being  asked  one  day  how  he 
had  acquired  the  habit,  he  replied,  "By  striving 
after  it,  as  other  men  strive  after  virtue." 

Charles  Lamb  survived  his  earliest  friend  and 
schoolfellow,  Coleridge,  only  a  few  months.  One 
morning,  it  is  said,  he  showed  a  friend  the  mourn- 
ing ring  which  the  author  of  "  Christabel "  had 
left  him,  and  exclaimed  sorrowfully,  "Poor  fellow! 
I  have  never  ceased  to  think  of  him  from  the  day 
I  first  heard  of  his  death  ! "  Only  five  days  after 
he  had  thus  expressed  himself— namely,  on  the 
zyth  of  December,  1834— Charles  Lamb  died,  in 
his  sixtieth  year. 

We  leave  the  house  in  which  he  lived  and  died, 
Bay  Cottage,  on  the  right-hand  side  of  Church 
Street,  as  we  walk  from  the  main  road  towards 
Edmonton  Church.  It  is  a  small  white  house, 
standing  back  from  the  roadway,  and  next  door 
to  the  large  brick-built  dwelling,  known  as  the 
"  Lion  House,"  from  the  heraldic  lions  supporting 
shields  on  the  tops  of  the  gate-piers. 

Poor  Lamb  was  buried  in  the  old  churchyard 
close  by,  and  the  tall  upright  stone  which  marks 
his  grave,  near  the  south-west  corner  of  the  church, 
bears  upon  it  the  following  lines,  written  by  his 
friend,  the  Rev.  Henry  F.  Gary,  the  translator  of 
Dante : — 

"  Farewell,  de.ir  Friend— that  smile,  that  harmless  mirth, 
No  more  shall  gladden  our  domestic  hearth  ; 
That  rising  tear,  with  pain  forbid  to  flow, 
Better  than  words — no  more  assuage  our  woe  ; 
That  hand  outstretch'd  from  small,  but  well-carn'd  store, 
Yield  succour  to  the  destitute  no  more. 
Yet  art  thou  not  all  lost  :  through  many  an  age, 
With  sterling  sense  and  humour,  shall  thy  page 
Win  many  an  Knglish  lx>som,  pleas'd  to  see 
That  old  and  happier  vein  reviv'd  in  thee  ; 
This  for  our  earth  ;  and  if  with  friends  we  share 
Our  joys  in  heaven,  we  hope  to  meet  thec  there." 

Mary  I,amb  continued  to  live  on  here  after 
her  brother's  death.  She  died  at  St.  John's  Wood 
in  1847,  but  was  buried  in  the  same  grave  with 
her  brother ;  so  it  may  truly  be  said  of  them,  that 
they  "  were  lovely  and  pleasant  in  their  lives,  and 
in  their  death  they  were  not  divided." 

Church  Street  has  another  literary  memory,  for 
here,  from  1810  till  1816,  resided  John  Keats, 
whilst  serving  his  apprenticeship  to  a  Mr.  Ham- 
mond, a  surgeon;  here  he  wrote  his  "Juvenile 
Poems,"  which  were  published  in  1817. 

The  parish  church  of  Edmonton,  dedicated  to 
All  Saints',  is  a  large  edifice,  chiefly  of  Perpen- 
dicular architecture.  At  the  west  end  is  a  square 
tower  of  stone,  embattled,  and  profusely  overgrown 
with  ivy.  The  remainder  of  the  building  was 
encased  with  brickwork  in  the  year  1772,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  most  reprehensible  liberties  were 


taken  with  the  original  character  of  the  fabric. 
"A  bricklayer  and  a  carpenter,"  says  the  author 
of  the  "Beauties  of  England  and  Wales,"  "at 
that  period  possessed  influence  over  the  decisions 
of  the  vestry.  A  general  casing  of  brick  was 
evidently  advantageous  to  the  former;  and  the 
carpenter  obtained  permission  to  remove  the 
stone  {millions  of  the  venerable  windows,  and  to 
substitute  wooden  framework !  The  interference 
of  higher  powers  prevented  his  extending  the  job 
to  the  windows  of  the  chancel,  which  yet  retain 
their  ancient  character,  and  would  appear  to  be 
of  the  date  of  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth 
century."  In  1866  the  interior  of  the  church  was 
carefully  restored,  new  Perpendicular  windows  of 
stained  glass  being  inserted  in  the  chancel,  and  a 
south  aisle  added  to  it  The  nave  has  a  north 
aisle,  separated  from  it  by  pointed  arches  sustained 
by  octangular  pillars.  There  are  galleries  at  the 
western  end,  and  in  the  north  aisle.  The  chancel 
and  its  side  aisles  are  separated  from  the  nave  by 
a  bold  arch.  Weever  mentions  several  monuments 
in  this  church,  which  do  not  exist  in  the  present 
day;  and  Norden,  in  his  MS.  additions  to  his 
"  Speculum  Britanniae,"  observes  that,  "  There  is  a 
fable  of  one  Peter  Fabell  that  lyeth  here,  who  is 
sayde  to  have  beguyled  the  Devyll  for  monie  :  he 
was  verye  subtile  that  could  deccyve  him  that  is 
deceyt  itselfe."  This  Peter  Fabell  is  supposed  by 
Weever  to  have  been  "  some  ingenious  conceited 
gentleman,  who  did  use  some  sleightie  tricks  for 
his  own  disport."  There  is  a  scarce  pamphlet, 
entitled  "  The  Life  and  Death  of  the  Merry  Devil 
of  Edmonton,  with  the  Pleasant  Pranks  of  Smug 
the  Smith,"  &c.  In  this  book  we  are  informed 
that  Peter  Fabell  was  born  at  Edmonton,  and 
lived  and  died  there  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VII. 
His  story  was  made  the  groundwork  of  a  drama, 
called  the  "  Merry  Devil  of  Edmonton,"  which  is 
stated  to  have  been  "sundry  times  acted  by  his 
Majesties  Servants,  at  the  Globe  on  the  Bankeside." 
Notwithstanding  that  this  drama  has  the  letters 
'  T.  B."  appended  to  it  as  the  initials  of  the  author's 
name,  it  was  long  the  fashion  to  attribute  it  to 
Shakespeare,  just  as  it  was  in  later  times  to  ascribe 
t  to  Michael  Drayton.  In  the  prologue  to  the 
play  we  are  informed  that  the  "  merry  devil "  was 
'  Peter  Fabel,  a  renowned  scholar ; "  and  are 
urther  told  that — 

"If  any  here  make  doubt  of  such  a  name 
In  Edmonton,  yet  fresh  unto  this  day, 
Fix'd  in  the  wall  of  that  old  ancient  church, 
His  monument  remaineth  to  be  seen." 

As  we  have  intimated  above,  however,  this  monu- 
ment has  long  since  disappeared. 


THE 


'WITCH    OF   EDMONTON." 


Edmonton  appears  to  have  produced  not  only 
a  "  merry  devil,"  but  also  a  witch  of  considerable 
notoriety — 

"The  town  of  Edmonton  has  lent  the  stage 

A  Devil  and  a  Witch— both  in  an  age." 
If  we  may  believe  the  compiler  of  the  "Beauties 
of  England  and  Wales,"  the  wretched  and  perse 
cuted  woman  alluded  to  in  the  above  lines  was 
named  Sawyer;  and  many  particulars  concerning 
her  may  be  found  in  a  pamphlet,  published  in  i62_, 
under  the  title  of  "The  wonderfull  discoverie  oi 
Elizabeth  Sawyer,  a  witch,  late  of  Edmonton ;  her 
conviction,  her  condemnation,  and  death ;  together 
with  the  relation  of  the  Devil's  accesse  to  her, 
and  their  conference  together.  Written  by  Henry 
Goodcole,  minister  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  her 
continual  visitor  in  the  Gaole  of  Newgate."  A 
play,  by  Ford  and  Dekker,  was  founded  on  this 
unhappy  female. 

At  a  short  distance  from  the  church,  on  the 
road  leading  towards  Bush  Hill,  in  a  mansion 
called  the  Rectory  House,  Dr.  Tillotson  resided 
for  several  years,  whilst  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  and 
occasionally  also  after  he  became  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  "The  day  previous  to  his  conse- 
cration as  Archbishop,"  remarks  the  compiler  of 
Tillotson's  works,  "he  retired  hither,  and  prepared 
himself,  by  fasting  and  prayer,  for  an  entrance  on 
his  important  and  dignified  duties  with  becoming 
humility  of  temper." 

The  ancient  fair  of  Edmonton,  with  all  its  mirth 
and  drollery,  its  swings  and  roundabouts,  its  spiced 
gingerbread,  and  wild-beast  shows,  is  now  a  thing 
of  the  past.  There  were,  in  fact,  three  fairs  annually 
held  within  the  parish  of  Edmonton.  Two  of 


these,  termed 


gar's  Bush  Fairs,  arose  from 


grant  made  by  James  I.,  when  he  laid  out  a  part  of 
Enfield  Chase  into  Theobalds  Park.  The  third 
was  called  Edmonton  Statute  Fair,  and  was  for- 
merly held  for  the  hiring  of  servants ;  it,  however, 
became  perverted  to  the  use  of  holiday-people, 
chiefly  of  the  lower  ranks,  and,  in  common  with 
similar  celebrations  of  idleness  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  metropolis,  became  a  source  of  great  moral 
degradation. 

In  1820,  one  of  the  chief  attractions  of  the  fair 
was  a  travelling  menagerie,  whose  keeper  walked 
into  the  den  of  a  lioness,  and  nursed  her  cubs 
in  his  lap.  He  then  paid  his  respects  to  the 
husband  and  father,  a  magnificent  Barbary  lion. 
After  the  usual  complimentary  greetings  between 
them,  the  man,  somewhat  roughly,  thrust  open  the 
monster's  jaws,  and  put  his  head  into  his  mouth. 
This  he  did  with  impunity.  A  few  days  after- 
wards, having  travelled  a  little  farther  north  with 


569 


us  show,  the  keeper  repeated  his  performance, 
and  fell  a  victim  to  his  rashness. 

Southgate,  the  favourite  haunt  of  Leigh  Hunt's 
childhood,  is  a  detached  hamlet,  or  village  belong- 
ing to  Edmonton,  and  derives  its  name  from 
having  been  the  southern  gate  to  Enfield  Chase 
which  stretches  away  northward.  The  village  of 
Southgate  lies  on  the  road  towards  Muswell  Hill 
Christ  Church,  a  handsome  edifice  of  Early-English 
architecture,  dates  its  erection  from  1862,  when 
it  was  built  in  place  of  the  old  Weld  Chapel. 

Minchenden  House,  in  the  village,  was  the  seat 
of  the  Duchess  of  Chandos  early  in  the  present 
century.  It  is  said  that  George  II.,  on  coming 
here  to  visit  the  duke's  father  or  grandfather, 
was  obliged  to  pass  through  Bedstiles  Wood,  which 
was  a  trespass.  The  man  who  kept  the  gate,  being 
ordered  to  open  it  for  his  Majesty,  refused,  saying, 

"If  he  be  the  D himself,  he  shall  pay  me 

before  he  passes."    The  king  had  to  pay;  but  the 
result  was  that  the  duke  threw  open  the  road. 

Arno's  Grove  is  another  mansion  of  some  note 
in  the  hamlet  of  Southgate.  It  stands  on  the  site 
of  a  more  ancient  structure,  termed  Arnold's,  which 
some  two  centuries  ago  belonged  to  Sir  John  Weld. 
After  some  intermediate  transmissions,  it  was  pur- 
chased, early  in  the  last  century,  by  Mr.  James 
Colebrooke,  father  of  Sir  George  Colebrook,  Bart., 
rvho  eventually  inherited  the  property.  Among  its 
iubsequent  owners  was  Sir  William  Mayne,  Bart., 
vho  was  in  1776  raised  to  the  peerage  with  the 
itle  of  Lord  Nevvhaven. 

Bush  Hill  Park,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  South- 
gate,  between  Edmonton  and  Enfield,  was  formerly 
he  seat  of  a  rich  merchant,  named  Mellish  (who 
was  M.P.  for  Middlesex),  and  afterwards  of  Mr.  A. 
Raphael,  and  of  the  Moorat  family.  Its  grounds 
are  said  to  have  been  laid  out  by  Le  Notre.  In 
he  hall  there  was  a  curious  carving  in  wood,  by 
Jrinling  Gibbons,  representing  the  stoning  of  St. 
5tephen.  "  It  stood  for  some  time,"  writes  Lam- 
jert,  "  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Gibbons,  at  Deptford, 
here  it  attracted  the  attention  of  his  scientific 
leighbour,  Mr.  Evelyn,  the  author  of  '  Silvia,'  who 
was  induced  by  this  specimen  of  his  work  to  recom- 
nend  him  to  Charles  II.  This  carving  was  pur- 
chased for  the  Duke  of  Chandos,  for  his  scat  at 
Canons,  near  Edgware,  whence  it  was  brought  to 
3ush  Hill."  The  estate  is  now  broken  up  and 
built  over  with  villas.  In  the  grounds  of  an  ad- 
oining  mansion  are  the  remains  of  a  circular 
encampment,  of  considerable  dimensions,  about 
vhich  antiquaries  are  divided  in  opinion  as  to 
•hether  they  formed  part  of  a  Roman  or  a  British 
camp. 


570 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


CHAPTER   XLVII. 
THE    LEA,    STRATFORD-LE-BOW,   &C. 


Lea-How  Bridge—  Slratford-.-me  Bowe,  and  Chau 


and   Rep 


hxc  meta  viarum."—  Virgil. 
r's  Allusion  thereto-  Construction  of  th«  Road  through  Stratford—  Alterations 


f— The 


School  and  Market  H.>i:se— The  Parish  W..rkhr.ine  How  and  P.rnmley  Institute-King  John's  Palace  at  Old  Ford— St.  John's  Church— 
The  Town  Hall  -West  Ham  Park-West  Ham  Abbey— Abbey  Mill  Pumping  Station-Stratford  New  Town— The  Great  Eastern  Railway 
Works -"Hudson  T>.wn  "— West  Ham  Cemetery  and  Jews'  Cemetery— St.  Leonard's  Convent,  Hromley— The  Chapel  converted  into  a 
Parish  Church—  Hromley  Church  rebuilt— Althallo»s' Church— The  Church  of  St.  Michael  and  all  Angel*— The  Manor  House— The  Old 
Palace-Wesley  House— The  Old  Jews'  Cemetery-The  City  of  London  and  Tower  Hamlet*  Cemetery. 

I.v  order  to  make  our  way  to  London  Bridge,  Here  it  divides  its  course  into  several  channels, 
which  is  our  destined  starting-point  in  the  next  the  principal  stream  being  that  which  is  spanned 
and  concluding  volume,  we  may  now  drop  quietly  by  Bow  Bridge.  The  name  of  Stratford  evidently 
down  the  river  Lea.  passing  between  green  and  points  to  the  existence  near  this  spot  of  a  ford 

which  doubtless  connected  London  with  the  old 
Roman  road  to  Camalodunum,  whether  that  were 
at  Maldon  or  at  Colchester.  In  the  course  of 
time,  however,  the  primitive  ford  was  superseded 
by  a  bridge,  which  appears  to  have  been  called 
"  Bow "  Bridge,  from  the  arches  (areus),  which 
supported  and  really  formed  the  structure ;  or 


flowery  meadows,  and  re-visiting  on  our  way  some 
of  those  shady  nooks  by  which,  as  we  have  seen  in 
our  wanderings  northward,  Izaak  Walton  so  much 
loved  to  lounge  when  engaged  in  his  favourite 
pastime  of  angling.  We  shall  in  due  course  find 
ourselves  at  Bow  Bridge,  which  crosses  the  Lea 
between  Whitechapel  Church  and  Stratford. 

The  river,  after  it  leaves  Clapton  and  Hackney,     possibly  because 


was  constructed  of  a  single 


passes  on  by  the  Temple  Mills  to  Stratford,  or  arch,  as  suggested  by  the  writers  of  the  "  Beauties 
as  it  is  frequently  called,  Stratford-le-Bow,  which  of  England  and  Wales."  Hence  the  village  was 
lies  between  Hackney  and  Whitechapel  parishes,  called  "  Stratford-atte-Bowe,"  under  which  name  it 


itforf-le-Bow.] 


BOW  BRIDGE. 


is  immortalised    by  Chaucer,   in  the 


the  "  Canterbury  Tales,"  in  terms  which  seem 
imply  that  five  centuries  ago  it  was  a  well-known 
place  of  education  for  young  ladies.  Most  of  our 
readers  will  remember  the  comely  prioress,  how, 
in  the  words  of  the  poet — 

"  French  she  spake  full  fayre  and  fetisly, 
After  the  scole  of  Stratforde-atte-Bowe, 
For  French  of  Paris  was  to  her  unknowe." 

We  may  be  pardoned  for  suggesting  as  a  solution 
of  the  meaning  of  this  allusion,  that  in  the  adjoin- 
ing parish  of  Bromley,  within  a  mile  of  the  bridge, 
stood  the  Convent  of  St.  Leonard's,  usually  termed 
the  Priory  in  Stratford,  and  that  the  nuns  of  that 
religious  house  probably  taught  the  French  language 
among  other  accomplishments  to  the  young  ladies 
of  that  favourite  suburb. 

But  it  is  time  that  we  said  something  about  the 
old  bridge,  which  was  really  an  historic  structure. 
Fortunately  we  have  to  guide  us,  not  only  the 
"  Survey "  of  Stow,  and  the  "  Collectanea "  of 
Leland,  but  also  a  document,  the  substance  of 
which  was  given  upon  oath  at  an  inquisition  taken 
before  two  justices  of  the  peace  in  the  year  1303, 
and  which  is  to  be  found  at  length  in  Lysons' 
"  Environs  of  London." 

"  The  jurors,"  writes  Lysons,  "  declared  that  at 
the  time  when  Matilda,  the  good  Queen  of  England, 
lived,  the  road  from  London  to  Essex  was  by  a 
place  called  the  Old  Ford,  where  there  was  no 
bridge,  and  during  great  inundations  was  so  ex- 
tremely dangerous  that  many  passengers  lost  their 
lives  ;  which,  coming  to  the  good  queen's  ears,  she 
caused  the  road  to  be  turned  where  it  now  is— 
namely,  between  the  towns  of  Stratford  and  West- 
ham,  and  of  her  bounty  caused  the  bridges  and 
road  to  be  made,  except  the  bridge  called  Chaner's 
Bridge,  which  ought  to  be  made  by  the  Abbot  of 
Stratford.  They  said  further,  that  Hugh  Pratt, 
living  near  the  roads  and  bridges  in  the  reign  <  ' 
King  John,  did  of  his  own  authority  keep  them  : 
repair,  begging  the  aid  of  passengers.  After  his 
death  his  son  William  did  the  same  for  some 
time,  and  afterwards,  through  the  interest  of  Robert 
Passelowe,  the  King's  Justice,  obtained  a  toll 
which  enabled  him  to  make  an  iron  railing  upon 
a  certain  bridge,  called  Lock  Bridge,  from  which 
circumstance  he  altered  his  name  from  Pratt  to 
Bridgewryght ;  and  thus  were  the  bridges  repaired 
till  Philip  Bagset  and  the  Abbot  of  Waltham,  being 
hindered  from  passing  that  way  with  their  wagon 
in  the  late  reign,  broke  down  the  railing ;  whereb; 
the  said  William,  being  no  longer  able  to  repair  it 
left  the  bridge  in  ruins ;  in  which  state  it  remamec 
till  Queen  Eleanor  of  her  bounty  ordered  it 


e  to     epaired,  committing  the  charge  of  it  to  William  de 


:apella,  keeper  of  her  chapel.  After  which,  one 
Villiam  Carlton  (yet  living)  repaired  all  the  bridges 
with  the  effects  of  Bartholomew  de  Castello, 


The  jurors  added  that  the  bridges  and 
oads  had  always  been  repaired  by  '  bounties,'  and 
hat  there  were  no  lands  or  tenements  charged 
mh  their  repair  except  for  Chaner's  Bridge,  which 
he  Abbot  of  Stratford  was  bound  to  keep  in 
epair." 

In  the  early  part  of  the  present  century  Bow 
fridge  consisted  of  three  arches.  It  was  very 
larrow,  and  bore  marks  of  venerable  age  ;  but  the 
umerous  alterations  and  repairs  of  four  centuries 
lad  obscured  its  original  plan,  and,  indeed,  left  it 
loubtful  how  much  of  it  was  the  work  of  the  good 
Queen  Matilda,  and,  indeed,  whether  any  part  of 
he  original  structure  remained.  The  bridge  was 
aken  down  about  the  year  1835,  and  superseded 
3y  a  lighter  and  wider  structure. 

Stratford-le-Bow  has  few  historical  or  personal 
associations  for  us  to  record.  It  may,  however,  be 
emembered  that  it  was  the  residence  of  Don 
\ntonio  Perez,  who  endeavoured  to  obtain  the 
:rown  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  but  who,  failing  in 
:he  attempt,  fled  for  refuge  to  England  as  an 
asylum.  He  is  said  to  have  lived  here  whilst 
negotiating  with  Elizabeth  for  aid  in  support  of  his 
pretensions,  and  his  residence  here  is  rendered  all 
he  more  probable  from  the  fact  that  the  parish 
register  contains  the  entry  of  the  burial  of  a 
foreigner  who  is  called  his  treasurer.  Another 
resident  in  Stratford  was  Edmund,  Lord  Sheffield, 
•ho  distinguished  himself  so  much  in  the  sea-fights 
off  our  coast  against  the  Spanish  Armada,  Lysons 
states  that  John  Le  Neve,  the  author  of  "  Monu- 
menta  Anglicana"  and  other  learned  antiquarian 
works,  also  had  a  house  within  the  parish.  The 
exact  situation,  however,  of  these  two  residences 
is  not  known. 

The  church  of  Stratford-le-Bow  was  built  as  a 
chapel  of  ease  to  Stepney  early  in  the  fourteenth 
century  in  consequence  of  a  petition  from  the 
inhabitants  of  this  place  and  of  Old  Ford,  stating 
the  distance  of  their  homes  from  their  parish 
church,  and  the  difficulty  of  the  roads,  which  in 
winter  were  often  impassable  on  account  of  the 
floods.  In  consequence,  Baldock,  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, issued  a  licence  for  the  erection  of  a  new 
chapel  upon  a  site  taken  from  "the  kings  high- 
±'  for  that  purpose.  The  chapel  ultimately 
blossomed  into  a  separate  parish  church,  and  was 
consecrated  as  such  in  1719-  It  consists  of  a 
chancel,  nave,  and  aisles,  separated  from  the :  nave 
by  octangular  pillars  supporting  pointed  arch 


572 


OLD   AND   NEW  LONDON. 


[Stratford. 


At  the  west  end  is  a  belfry  tower,  rather  low,  with 
graduated  buttresses,  and  embattled.  The  edifice, 
we  may  add,  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  high 
road,  the  houses  receding  slightly  from  the  straight 
line  on  either  side,  so  as  to  allow  of  a  roadway  on 
each  side  of  the  church. 

A  little  to  the  east  of  the  church  was  formerly  a 
building  which  had  been  used  at  various  times  as 
a  school  and  as  a  market-house.  Brewer,  in  his 
"  History  of  Middlesex,"  when  speaking  of  Bow. 
says  :  "  At  a  small  remove  from  the  church  towards 
the  east  is  a  building  which  appears  to  have  been 
used  as  a  market-house.  A  room  over  the  open 
part  of  this  building  had  long  been  occupied  as  a 
charity  school,  on  the  foundation  of  Sir  John 
Jolles,  established  in  1613,  and  intended  for 
thirty-five  boys  of  Stratford,  Bow,  and  St.  Leonard, 
Bromley."  About  the  year  1830  this  building 
was  removed  in  order  to  enlarge  the  churchyard, 
and  a  new  school-room  erected  in  its  stead  at 
Old  Ford. 

At  a.  short  distance,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
main  street,  stood  the  parish  workhouse,  which 
evidently  was  at  one  time  a  mansion  of  handsome 
proportions,  its  rooms  being  ornamented  with  fine 
ceilings  and  carved  chimney-pieces.  It  was  pulled 
down  several  years  ago,  its  site  being  converted  to 
business  purposes. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  high  road,  at  a  short 
distance  westward  of  Bow  Church,  stands  a  large 
and  attractive  building,  the  upper  part  of  which, 
known  as  the  Bow  anil  Bromley  Institute,  is  used 
occasionally  for  concerts,  lectures,  and  similar 
entertainments.  The  ground  floor  serves  as  the 
Bow  Station  of  the  North  London  Railway,  whicli 
here  runs  below  the  road.  In  the  roadway  close 
by  is  a  statue  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  presented  by  Mr. 
H.  T.  Bryant  in  i8S:>. 

The  hamlet  of  Old  Ford  is  situated  a  little 
to  the  north  of  IJow.  "  In  this  place,"  write 
the  compilers  of  the  '  Beauties  of  Kngland  and 
Wales,'  "  stood  an  ancient  mansion,  often  termed 
King  John's  Palace,  but  which  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  at  any  time  vested  in  the  Crown.  The 
site  of  this  mansion  was  given  to  Christ's  Hospital 
by  a  citizen  of  London  named  William  Williams, 
in  1665.  A  brick  gallery,  which  has  been  recently 
covered  with  cement,  is  now  the  only  relic  of  the 
ancient  building.  The  present  (1816)  lessee  of 
the  estate  is  Henry  Manley,  Esq.,  who  has  here  a 
handsome  residence,  and  has  much  improved  the 
grounds  and  neighbourhood."  The  last  vestige  of 
this  building  was  demolished  a  few  years  ago. 

Stratford— the  "ford  of  the  street,  or  Roman 
v.-ay  from  London  to  Colchester" — lies  on  the 


east  side  of  the  river  Lea,  and  is  consequently  in 
the  county  of  Essex.  It  is  also  on  the  Great 
Eastern  Railway,  whence  the  Colchester  and  the 
Cambridge,  and  the  Blackwall  and  Woolwich,  and 
the  Woodford  and  the  Tilbury  branch  lines  diverge; 
and  it  is  a  ward  of  the  parish  of  West  Ham.  The 
church,  dedicated  to  St  John,  is  a  large  and  hand- 
some edifice,  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  and  is  in 
the  Early  English  style.  Its  site  is  on  land  which, 
up  to  the  time  of  its  erection,  in  1834,  had  been 
an  unenclosed  village  green.  At  first  the  church 
was  founded  as  a  chapel  of  ease  to  the  parish 
church  of  West  Ham  ;  but  about  1859  it  was  con- 
stituted a  vicarage,  and  Stratford  became  a  parish 
of  itself. 

The  Town  Hall,  in  the  Broadway,  at  the  comer 
of  West  Ham  Lane,  was  opened  in  1869.  It  is  a 
handsome  building,  in  the  classic  style,  and  has  a 
frontage  of  about  100  feet  each  way.  It  has  a 
tower  about  100  feet  in  height,  and  the  building 
is  surmounted  by  various  figures  and  groups  of 
statuary,  illustrative  of  the  arts,  science,  agriculture, 
manufacture,  commerce,  &c.  The  lower  part  of 
the  building  comprises  some  commodious  public 
offices,  and  on  the  first  floor  is  a  spacious  hall, 
artistically  decorated. 

At  a  short  distance  eastward  is  West  Ham  Park, 
a  large  plot  of  ground  open  for  the  purpose  of 
recreation  for  the  inhabitants  of  this  district  It 
was  formed  a  short  time  ago,  under  the  auspices  of 
Sir  Antonio  Brady,  and  occupies  what  was  formerly 
Upton  Park,  the  seat  and  property  of  the  Gurneys. 
The  mansion  has  been  taken  down.  The  park  was 
laid  out  with  the  aid  of  City  funds.  In  December, 
1876,  a  grant  was  voted — ^1,500  for  necessary 
works  carried  out,  and  .£675  for  the  annual  main- 
enance  of  the  grounds. 

Stratford  (or  West  Ham)  Abbey  was  founded 
here  in  1135,  for  monks  of  the  Cistercian  order, 
the  abbot  of  which  was  a  lord  of  Parliament. 
There  are  considerable  remains  of  the  building. 

Abbey  Mill  Pumping  Station,  close  by,  is  an 
extensive  range  of  works,  in  connection  with  the 
main  drainage  of  North  London.  As  the  works 
icre  are  very  similar  to  those  already  described  in 
connection  with  the  Pumping  Station  at  Chelsea,* 
here  is  no  occasion  for  entering  upon  a  further 
account  of  them. 

Stratford  being,  as  stated  above,  the  point  where 
he  two  main  branches  of  the  Great  Eastern  Rail- 
vay  leading  respectively  to  Cambridge  and  Col- 
chester diverge,  has  of  late  years  given  birth  to 
i  new  town,  which  has  become  quite  a  railway 


ST.   LEONARD'S  CONVENT. 


573 


colony.  Here  the  company  has  its  chief  depot  for 
carriages,  engines,  and  rolling  stock,  and  yards  for 
their  repairs.  The  works,  which  were  established 
here  about  the  year  1847,  cover  a  very  large  extent 
of  ground,  and  give  employment  to  upwards  of 
2,500  hands,  independently  of  about  600  others 
engaged  in  the  running  sheds.  The  various 
buildings  used  as  workshops  for  the  different 
branches  of  work  required  to  be  done,  either  in  the 
construction  or  the  repair  of  engines,  &c.,  are  large 
and  well  lighted,  and  embrace  foundries  for  casting, 
forges,  fitting  rooms,  braziers'  shops,  carpenters' 
shops,  saw-mills,  &c.  The  principal  erecting  shops 
are  about  120  yards  in  length,  by  sixty  in  breadth. 
The  machinery  throughout  is  of  the  most  perfect 
description,  and  adapted  for  almost  all  kinds  of 
work ;  one  shop  alone  contains  upwards  of  100 
machines  for  the  performance  of  the  most  delicate 
work.  One  of  the  latest  and  most  useful  pieces  of 
machinery  in  operation  in  the  smiths'  shop  is  the 
hydraulic  riveting-machine.  To  give  some  idea 
of  the  amount  of  labour  accomplished  in  these 
works,  we  may  state  that  about  500  engines,  3,000 
carriages,  and  10,000  wagons  are  here  kept  in 
constant  repair,  and  that  the  sum  paid  weekly  in 
wages  in  the  locomotive  department  alone  amounts, 
on  an  average,  to  about  £6,000. 

The  new  town  which  has  sprung  up  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  works  is  the  residence  of  several 
hundreds  of  skilled  employes— engineers,  drivers, 
and  others.  At  first  it  was  called  Hudson  Town,  in 
compliment  to  the  "  Railway  King ;"  but  when  he 
lost  his  crown,  the  name  fell  into  disuse.  In  1871 


Conqueror,  by  William,  Bishop  of  London,  for  a 
prioress  and  nine  nuns;  other  writers,  however, 
are  of  opinion  that  it  was  founded  at  a  much 
earlier  period.  Indeed,  when,  or  by  whom,  the 
convent  was  really  founded,  seems  a  very  difficult 
matter  now  to  decide.  Stow  says  it  was  founded  by 
Henry  II.,  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign  (1154); 
but  Dugdale,  in  the  " Monasticon,"  says,  "This 
is  a  mistake,  it  was  in  being  before."  Weever  fixed 
the  foundation  still  later,  by  saying  that  "  this 
religious  structure  was  sometime  a  monastery  re- 
plenished with  white  monks,  dedicated  to  the  honour 
of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  and  Saint  Leonard ; 
founded  by  Henry  II.,  in  the  twenty-third  year 
of  his  reign."  But  Strype,  in  his  "  Survey  of  Lon- 
don," says,  respecting  this  statement  of  Weever : — 
"  How  to  reconcile  the  said  antiquary  with  an  elder 
than  he,  namely,  John  Leland,  and  the  'Monasticon 
Anglicanum,'  I  cannot  tell,  for  Weever  writes  that 
this  monastery  was  replenished  with  white  monks, 
and  founded  by  King  Henry  II.,  in  the  twenty-third 
year  of  his  reign ;  whereas  Leland  and  the  'Monas- 
ticon '  reports  it  a  religious  house  for  nuns,  founded 
by  William,  Bishop  of  London,  that  lived  in  the 
Conqueror's  time,"  which  was  nearly  a  century 
earlier.  Lysons,  in  his  "Environs  of  London," 
attempts  to  unravel  the  apparently  opposite  state- 
ments of  Stow,  Weever,  Leland,  Dugdale,  and  others, 
by  supposing  Weever  to  have  been  altogether  in 
error,  he  having  confounded  the  Abbey  of  Monks 
at  Stratford  (the  remaining  vestiges  of  which  is 
now  called  West  Ham  Abbey),  in  Essex,  with  the 
Convent  of  Nuns,  in  Middlesex,  which  convent, 


n  numbered  some  23,000  souls ;  and  |  says  Lysons,  was  invariably  said  in  ancient  wills  to 


of  Rothschild.  .  vij  rpnorted  to  have  met  with  but  little  encouragement, 

Adjoining  Bow  on  the  south-east,  m  the  paml     repo  ted  to  1 „  ^  ^  neighbourhood  of 

rf  Bromley,  was,  as  *»™^*^^\£££,  "uncertain,"  says  Fuller,  "whether  his 

•  want  of 


OLD   AND   NEW   LONDON. 


wages."    This  report  of  Leland's— for  such  it  really 

is Was  printed  in  Latin,  and  entitled  "  Antiquarii 

de  rebus ; "  and  in  it  he  says,  respecting  the  Priory 
at  Bromley,  "Gul.  Episcopus  London  fundator." 
Historians  generally  have  followed  this  dictum, 
since  Leland  wrote,  and  ascribed  the  first  founda- 
tion, both  of  the  structure  and  religious  society  of 
St.  Leonard,  to  William,  Bishop  of  London,  in  the 
Conqueror's  reign.  But  Speed,  in  his  "  History 
of  England  and  its  Monasteries,"  speaks  of  the 
Norman  bishop,  with  respect  to  the  Priory  at 
Bromley,  as  a  "benefactor"  only;  and  this  is 
quoted  against  Leland  in  the  "Monasticon."  Mr. 
Dunstan,  in  his  "  History  of  Bromley  and  St. 
Leonard,"  says :  "  That  William,  Bishop  of  London, 
was  a  benefactor  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  nay, 
more,  it  is  probable  that  he  enlarged  the  original 
priory  about  the  period  mentioned.  He  might 
also  have  much  enlarged  the  Lady  Chapel  attached 
to  the  priory  which  was  dedicated  to  St  Mary ; 
and  this  will  account  for  the  mixed  style  of  the 
old  church,  it  having  been  partly  of  Gothic,  partly 
of  Saxon,  and  partly  of  Norman  architecture,  which 
would  indicate  that  the  structure  was  not  all  the 
work  of  one  hand,  nor  even  of  one  age ;  for  whilst 
the  round-headed  arches  in  one  part  were  both 
Saxon  and  Norman,  the  pointed  arches,  yea,  even 
the  main  or  principal  doorway,  and  heavy  buttresses, 
were  purely  Gothic,  and  therefore  of  more  ancient 


"Speed,  therefore,  views  the  antiquity  of  the 
Convent  of  St.  Leonard  as  being  anterior  to  that 
of  Henry  II.,  as  mentioned  by  Stow  and  Weever, 
and  considers  Henry  II.  as  a  benefactor  only ;  and 
in  the  same  light  he  considers  all  the  others  whose 
benefactions  and  confirmations  have  been  named, 
including  William,  Bishop  of  London,  among  the 
rest.  And,  therefore,  in  tracing  that  antiquity  to  a 
reasonable,  nay,  to  a  probable  source,  it  does  appear 
from  the  many  foregoing  considerations  that  the 
original  foundation  of  the  Convent  or  Priory  of 
St.  Leonard  at  Bromley  may,  with  the  greatest 
propriety,  be  attributed  to  the  time  of  Edgar's 
reign,  about  one  hundred  years  before  William 
the  Conqueror  landed  on  the  British  shores — 
namely,  somewhere  about  the  middle  of  the  tenth 
century,  or  nearly  coeval  with  the  re^establish- 
ment  of  the  monastery  at  Westminster."  All  trace 
of  the  old  priory  buildings,  with  the  exception  of 
the  chapel,  has  long  since  passed  away.  The 
chapel  was  dedicated  to  St  Mary,  and  at  the 
dissolution  of  the  religious  houses  it  was  converted 
into  a  parochial  church.  Lysons  says  that  "  the 
chapel  of  St  Mary,  with  the  convent  of  St. 
Leonard,  Bromley,  is  mentioned  in  several  ancient 
wills."  The  fabric  consisted  of  a  nave  and  chancel, 
and  the  latter  was  separated  from  the  former  by  a 
chancel-screen  and  by  being  raised  one  step.  The 
principal  entrance,  at  the  western  end,  was  in  the 


date,  in  the  other.     It  is  very  probable,"  he  con-    same  situation  as    that   in    the   present   building, 
tinues,   "that  William,   Bishop  of  London,   might  ;  but  consisted  of  a  Gothic  arched  doorway.     This 


have  removed  some  portions  of  the  original  chapel,  j  doorway,  it  is  conjectured,  was  inserted  when  the 
and   added   others   of    more    c\tensi\e   and    lofty    old  chapel  first  became  appropriated  as  a  parish 


dimensions,  suited  to  the  style  of  Norman  architec- 
ture." This  hypothesis  is  particularly  strengthened 
by  the  fact  that  when  the  old  chapel  or  church  was 
taken  down  in  1842, 


church,  as  upon  the  removal  of  the  north  wall 
there  was  found,  bricked  up  and  plastered  over,  a 
very  ancient  doorway  of  small  dimensions  and  of 
.ian  architecture.  The  chancel  of  the  old 


considerable  quantity  of  N<> 
old  building  materials,  ch icily  consisting  of  very  church  occupied  precisely  the  same  position  with 
ancient  wrought  stone,  was  found  embedded  in  that  of  the  present  church,  as  portions  of  the 
various  parts  of  the  walls :  evidently  the  fragments  walls  of  the  old  building  are  now  standing,  both  in 
of  some  very  ancient  religious  structure,  which  the  north  and  south-eastern  ends  of  the  present 
probably  had  occupied  the  same,  or  nearly  the  church.  In  the  chancel  are  five  stone  stalls,  or 
same  site,  anterior  to  the  episcopacy  of  William,  in  sti/i/ia,  through  one  of  which  was  a  small  doorway 
the  Conqueror's  reign.  Moreover,  the  arches  which  opening  at  once  into  the  churchyard.  At  the 
were  found  blocked  up  and  plastered  over,  and  western  end  of  the  nave  was  a  capacious  gallery, 
covered  with  many  generations  of  whitewash  within,  :  and  the  body  of  the  church  was  fitted  up  with  pews 
and  rough-coat  without,  in  1825,  were  all  of  the  '  of  the  orthodox  fashion.  In  1692  the  chancel  was 
Gothic  style,  and  evidently  led  into  some  building  '  lengthened  by  Sir  William  Benson,  the  then  lord  of 
(as  Lysons  conceives)  on  the  south  side  ;  whereas,  j  the  manor,  "  by  the  addition  of  a  projecting  recess 
according  to  Newcourt  and  others,  the  nunnery  or  {  in  which  was  placed  the  communion-table."  At 
convent  in  the  days  of  Henry  VIII.  was  at  the  the  west  end  of  the  church  was  a  large  round- 
west  end  of  the  chapel ;  and  the  lofty  arch  at  the  headed  arch,  ornamented  with  lozenge  and  other 
western  end  of  the  church  contained  the  screen  Saxon  or  early  Norman  mouldings ;  this  was  much 
which  separated  the  chapel  from  the  convent  and  \  disfigured  by  the  galleries  inside,  and  also  by  the 

vestry-room  outside.     It  has  been  suggested  that 


cloisters. 


Bromley.] 


THE   PARISH   CHURCH. 


575 


the  church  as  it  remained  down  to  the  present 
period  was  only  the  chancel  and  lady  chapel  of  a 
much. larger  edifice ;  and  that  the  arch  here  spoken 
of  was  that  which  separated  it  from  a  nave,  of  which 


monument  is  particularly  chaste  and  emblematical. 
The  principal  feature  in  the  ornamentation  is  die 
representation  of  a  vine,  on  the  leaves  of  which 
are  written  the  names  of  his  twelve  children.  The 


every  trace  has  long  since  perished.     In  1843  the  ,  names  of  five  that  were  married,  and  their  respective 


new  church  was  opened,  the  old  fabric  having  been 
demolished  piecemeal.  It  is  a  plain  brick-built 
structure,  consisting  of  a  nave,  chancel,  and  side- 
aisles,  with  a  tower  and  dwarf  spire  at  the  south- 
west corner.  The  style  of  architecture  adopted 
is  that  of  the  Norman  period,  and  some  of  the 


alliances,  are  expressed  by  the  quartering  of  their 
several  coats  of  arms ;  whilst  the  younger  offshoots 
indicate  the  fruits  of  the  respective  unions,  on  the 
leaves  of  which  offshoots  are  inscribed  the  names  of 
their  children.  The  names  of  the  seven  unmarried 
remain  above  on  the  leaves  of  the  old  vine.  This 


windows  are  enriched  with  coloured  glass.  i  monument  -.vas  erected  by  Sir  John  Jacob,  who, 

The  font  is  of  Norman  design,  and  of  the  usual  after  the  death  of  his  father,  Abraham  Jacob,  had 
size ;  it  is  said  to  have  been  for  many  years  ex-  j  purchased  the  manor  and  advowson  of  Bromley,  in 
pelled  from  the  church,  and  to  have  lain  in  the  j  1634-  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  very  rich  and 
churchyard.  In  1825,  when  the  old  church  was  loyal  citizen,  and  one  of  the  "farmers  of  the  cus- 
repaired  and  "  beautified,"  the  churchwardens  had  toms."  He  was  a  great  sufferer  during  the  Civil 
the  antique  device  on  the  font  re  cut,  and  it  was  .  War,  and  was  at  one  time  confined  as  a  prisoner 
placed  upon  a  Gothic  pedestal.  Although  it  was  |  in  Crosby  House. 

so  far  restored  to  its  original  position,  it  appears  to  j  Bromley  possesses  also  three  or  four  other 
have  been  discarded  by  the  officiating  minister ;  a  '  churches,  besides  chapels  and  meeting-houses  for 
small  portable  font  having  been  used  for  many  members  of  various  denominations.  Allhallows' 
years.  It  has,  however,  now  been  fully  re-installed,  Church,  an  edifice  of  Early  English  architecture,  was 


and  the  Gothic  character  of  the  pedestal  changed 
into  Norman. 

The  old  church  was  particularly  rich  in  monu- 
ments and  funeral  hatchments.  In  the  nave 
formerly  lay  a  large  stone  which  contained  the 
brasses  of  a  man  and  woman,  with  much  orna- 
mental work  over  their  heads.  "  They  seem,"  says 
Strype,  "  to  be  some  nobleman  and  his  wife  interred 
in  this  religious  house.  Perhaps  the  Earl  [John 
I)e  Bohun]  and  his  wife,  already  mentioned."  If 
so,  it  would  have  dated  from  about  1336.  The 
stone  was  afterwards  removed  to  the  entrance  of  the 
old  church,  and  formed  a  part  of  the  floor;  it  is 
now  placed  in  the  floor  of  the  tower.  Against  the 
south  wall  of  the  church  was  a  large  muraljnonu- 
tnent  of 
and  dated  1625 


built  in  1874,  from  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the 
church  of  Allhallows  Staining,  Mark  Lane,  and  is 
in  the  patronage  of  the  Grocers'  Company.  The 
large  church  of  St.  Michael  and  All  Angels,  which 
is  of  similar  architecture,  and  consecrated  in  1865, 
contains  sittings  for  about  1,300  worshippers.  - 

About  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century 
Sir  John  Jacob  built  a  "large  brick  edifice"  on 
the  site  of  the  old  priory.  The  house  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  small  park  and  gardens,  the  east 
side  of  which  was  washed  by  the  river  Lea.  The 
building,  which  was  called  the  Manor  House,  was 
demolished  early  in  the  present  century,  and  its 
site  covered  by  rows  of  small  cottages,  whilst 


some  portion  of  the  grounds  was  added  to   the 


cratic  inhabitants  may  be  seen  from  the 


motto — 

"  Live  well,  and  dye  never, 
Dye  well,  and  live  ever." 

A  curious  and  interesting  monument  is  that  of 
Abraham  Jacob,  Esq.,  who  died  in  the  year  1629 
The  figures  of  himself  and  his  wife  are  represented 
kneeling  under  arches,  the  monument  being  adorned 
with  the  arms  of  the  family  and  its  alliances.  1  he 


titled  personages. 

At  a  short  distance  westward  of  the  church,  a 
large  brick-built  mansion— one  of  the  formei 
glories  of  the  place-is  still  standing,  but  cut  up 
into  three  or  four  tenements.  It  is  commonly 
known  as  the  Old  Palace,  and  is  sometimes  called 
Queen  Anne's  Palace.  The  building  is  very  lofty, 
and  has  a  slightly  projecting  wing  at  either  end. 


OLD  AND   NEW  LONDON. 


The  interior  bears  numerous  traces  of  its  original 
splendour  in  the  shape  of  stuccoed  ceilings,  carved 
panellings  and  chimney-pieces,  as  well  as  marble 
floors.  A  long  row  of  wooden  houses  standing 
at  right  angles  with  the  mansion,  and  forming  one 
side  of  another  street,  occupies  the  site  of  the 
ancient  stables.  Another  curious  old  house  in  this 
street,  with  the  words  "  Wesley  House "  painted 
over  the  doorway,  is  said  to  have  been  one  of 
the  first  meeting-houses  in  which  John  Wesley 
preached. 

Before  quitting  Bromley,  we  must  Jiot  omit  to 
mention  the  bowling-green,  the  village  stocks,  the 
whipping-post,  the  pond  and  ducking-stool,  and 
the  parish  pound,  all  of  which  remained  in  full 
operation  down  to  the  latter  part  of  the  last 
century. 

Adjoining  Bromley,  and  at  the  eastern  end  of 
the  Mile  End  Road,  not  far  from  Bow  and  Old 
Ford,  is  the  disused  Jewish  Cemetery,  formerly 
belonging  to  the  Great  German  Synagogue  in 
Duke's  Place.  Here  are  buried  nearly  all  the 
members  of  the  Jewish  religion  who  have  been 
connected  with  the  City  and  the  Mast  End  of 
London.  Among  them  lies  Baron  Nathan  Roths- 
child, the  great  millionaire,  and  head  of  the  well- 
known  banking  and  financial  house  which  bears  his 
name.  He  died  in  1*36.  and  his  funeral  was 
perhaps  the  most  imposing  ever  witnessed  in  these 
districts.  This  cemetery  was  da-el  in  iS^S,  on 
the  opening  of  the  IK\V  Jewish  Cemetery  near 
Stratford  New  Town,  as  mentioned  above.  The 
burial-grounds  for  Jews  are  mostly  laid  out  and 
planted  in  a  manner  similar  to  other  cemeteries. 
Formerly  their  burial-place  was  ''ontMtle  the  City 
Wall,  at  Leyrestowe,  without  CripeliMte." 

In  this  neighbourhood— at  South  Grove.  Mile- 
End— is  the  Cemetery  of  the  City  of  London  and 
Tower  Hamlets  Company.  It  occupies  about 
thirty  acres  of  ground,  north  of  Dow  Common,  and 


is  skirted  on  the  sputh-east  side  by  a  branch  of  the 
Great  Eastern  Railway,  on  its  way  from  Stepney 
\  Station  to  Bow  Roa'|  and  Stratford.  The  cemetery, 
j  which  is  altogether  a  dreary  place,  now  holds  the 
i  remains  of  many  thousands  of  persons,  mostly  of 
!  the  poorer  classes,  many  of  whom  occupy  nameless 
[  graves. 

It  now  only  remains  to  remind  our  readers  that 
in  the  course  of  the   present   volume  we   have 
endeavoured  to  act  as  their  guides  over  a  far 
,  larger    extent    of   ground    than    that    which  we 
traversed  in  all  our  previous  volumes.     We  have 
',  lounged  in  their  company  about  the  old  mansions 
'  of  Chelsea  and  Kensington ;    we  have  wandered 
with  them  through  the  green  fields  of  Bayswater 
I  and  Paddington,  of  Marylebone  and  the  Regent's 
•  Park ;  we  have  climbed  with  them  the  "  northern 
heights  "  of  Hampstead  and  Highgate  Hills ;  and 
lastly,   we   have    reconnoitred   the  northern  out- 
skirts of  Dalston  and  Hackney,  Stoke  Newington 
'  and  Tottenham ;  and  roamed  hand  n  hand  with 
1  them  the  pleasant  meadows  that  fringe  the  river 
Lea.     Here  we  must  leave  our  readers  for  a  time, 
purposing  in  the  following  volume  to  take  them 
through  quite  another  tract  of  country,  not  romantic 
in  its  outward  features,  but  full  of  historic  interest, 
on  the  south  bank  of  the  Thames,  feeling  assured 
that  but  scanty  justice  will   have   been   done   to 
"  London,  Old  and  New,"  unless  we  include  in 
our  perambulations  both  South wark  and  Lambeth, 
Bermondsey     and      Deptford,     Kennington     and 
Wahvorth,    \Vandsworth   and  Putney,  Fulham  and 
Hammersmith ;   in  each,  and  all  of  which,  once 
rural    villages,    though    now   large    and    populous 
towns   and   busy   "  hives  of   industry,"   we   shall 
studiously  endeavour  so  to  blend  the  present  with 
the  past  as  to  avoid,  and,  if  possible,  to  escape 
the  risk  of  proving  ourselves  dull  and  profitless 
companions.