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diff --git a/45695-0.txt b/45695-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b101ea0 --- /dev/null +++ b/45695-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6816 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Memorials of the Hamlet of Knightsbridge, +by Henry George Davis, Edited by Charles Davis + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Memorials of the Hamlet of Knightsbridge + with Notices of its Immediate Neighbourhood + + +Author: Henry George Davis + +Editor: Charles Davis + +Release Date: May 19, 2014 [eBook #45695] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEMORIALS OF THE HAMLET OF +KNIGHTSBRIDGE*** + + +Transcribed from the 1856 J. Russell Smith edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org. Many thanks to Royal Kensington Libraries for allowing +their copy to be used for this transcription. + + [Picture: Knightsbridge—The site of Albert Gate] + + + + + + THE + MEMORIALS OF THE HAMLET + OF + KNIGHTSBRIDGE. + + + With Notices of its Immediate Neighbourhood. + + * * * * * + + BY THE LATE + + HENRY GEORGE DAVIS. + + * * * * * + + * * * * * + + EDITED BY + + CHARLES DAVIS. + + * * * * * + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + + PUBLISHED BY J. RUSSELL SMITH, SOHO-SQUARE; + + AND TO BE HAD OF MR. DAVIS, ST. PAUL’S SCHOOLS, KNIGHTSBRIDGE. + + 1859. + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + TAYLOR AND GREENING, PRINTERS, GRAYSTOKE-PLACE, + FETTER-LANE, HOLBORN. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +IN presenting the MEMORIALS OF KNIGHTSBRIDGE to the public, apology must +be made for the delay in its appearance since the announcement of its +intended publication. This was occasioned by the sudden and protracted +illness of its Editor: since his restoration, he has prosecuted the work +with all the diligence which his time permitted. + +The book is published in the hope that its critics may treat its Author +kindly, since the brain that indited it is, alas! no more. It is the +result of great assiduity and perseverance amidst peculiar difficulties, +and was only completed just before the death of the compiler, who, +towards its close, had laboured at it with greater energy than his +weakened frame ought properly to have borne. + +The immediate motive for publication was the Editor’s regard, it might +almost be termed veneration, for its writer, seconded by favourable +opinions expressed by several literary gentlemen who perused the +manuscript, and knowledge that many notices by the same hand had already +appeared in “Notes and Queries,” “The West Middlesex Advertiser,” and the +various local papers that have occasionally been published in the +neighbourhood. + +The work was written from notes made at various times, some having been +taken when its author was yet a boy. It may therefore be described as +the labour of his short and painful life; and it was felt that so long as +the result of his application was laid aside, so long did the Editor’s +duty to his brother remain unperformed. + +As some little notice of our historian may be desirable, the following +sketch is subjoined:— + +Henry George Davis was born at 4, Mill’s Buildings, on August 14th, 1830. +While an infant he had severe inflammation of the lungs, which afterwards +became confirmed pleurisy. He was educated at the Philological School in +the New Road. Of this Institution he was to the last fond and proud. +Having carried off many of its prizes, he always felt an identity with +it. He was of a studious inclination—a disposition doubtless fostered by +his infirmities; for he was never able to join in the sports of his +fellows. As he arrived at manhood, his disease (increased in 1850 by +rheumatic fever) became much more severe, and finally released his soul +“to its Almighty source” on the 30th of December, 1857. + +The Editor has to acknowledge obligations to O. B. Cole, Esq.; to the +author of “Paddington, Past and Present;” to the Rev. M. Walcot, of “The +Memorials of Westminster;” Mr. Cunningham, of “The Handbook of London;” +Mr. Faulkner’s works; and to those sundry publications the name of which +is given with each quotation. He hopes his readers may have that +enjoyment in the perusal of the following History which was had in the +providing of it for them. + + * * * * * + +_St. Paul’s Schools_, _Knightsbridge_, _June_, 1859. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PAGE + CHAP. I. Introduction 1 + CHAP. II. Historical Associations 32 + CHAP. III. Modern Parochial Divisions: The Streets, 48 + Public Buildings, &c. Their Associations, + Eminent Inhabitants, &c. + CHAP. IV. Belgravia 216 + CHAP. V. The Sub-District of St. Barnabas 244 + CHAP. VI. Social and Political Summary 267 + +PERSONS. + + PAGE +Allen, John 181 +Bennett, Rev. W. J. E. 97 +Bensley, Richard 207 +Birkhead Family 88 +Blessington, Lady 138 +Bellamy, G. A. 215 +Bernal, Ralph 230 +Bowles, Carrington 143 +Broughton, Dr. 228 +Buckingham, Anecdote of Duke of 27 +Burton, Judge 115 & 185 +Carlisle, Frederick Earl of 233 +Caulfield, General 229 +Chardin, Sir John 215 +Cheselden, Mr. 182 +Chudleigh, Miss 164 +Clarendon, Hyde, Earl of 223 +Clarke, Mrs. 265 +Corbaux, Miss 266 +Cornellys, Mrs. 156 +Cromwell, Family of 75 +Danvers, Family of 82 +Derwentwater, Countess of 82 +De Dunstanville, Lord 110 +D’Oliveyra, Francis Xavier 210 +D’Orsay, Count 141 +Duncan, Sir H. 229 +Egremont, Lord 232 +Every, John 81 +Eyre, Major Robert 37 +Foote, Anecdote of 168 +Gamble, Rev. J. 107 +Gardiner, Sir R. 229 +Gascoigne, Mrs. 154 +George IV., Anecdote of 236 +Grant, General Sir W. K. 227 +Guthrie, Mr. 266 +Harness, Rev. W. 100 +Harrison, Thomas 207 +Hawke, Honourable Miss 228 +Higgins, Mr. M. J. 153 +Howard of Escrick, Lord 34 +Howard, Major 234 +Humphry, Ozias 115 +Humphrey, Sir William 82 +Hunter, John 182 +Inchbald, Mrs., Anecdote of 135 +Jones, Gentleman 227 +Lanesborough, Lord 180 +Laremar, William 186 +Lenthall, Sir John 75 +Lens, Bernard 210 +Lewis, Sir G. C. 110 +Lewis, Lady Theresa 110 +Lewis, William Thomas 265 +Liddell, Hon. and Rev. R. 97 +Liston, John 188 +Liston, Mrs. 196 +Louis Napoleon 139 +Madan, Rev. M. 238 +Maitland, Sir P. 229 +Marsh, Charles 110 +Marshall, J. 215 +Miller, Robert 210 +Milner, Isaac 138 +Molesworth, Sir W. 229 +Morgan, Lady 205 +Morgann, Maurice 147 +Morland, Sir Samuel 77 +Morison, Dr. 200 +Munster, Earl of 242 +Murphy, Arthur 172 +Nell Gwynne 258 +Orrery, Countess of 211 +Ossory, Lady 234 +Penn, William 214 +Pennington, Rev. Thos. 263 +Pettigrew, Dr. W. V. 228 +Pickett, William 188 +Read, John 161 +Reynolds, Sir Joshua 112 +Richmond, Rev. Legh 226 & 240 +Rodwell, H. 191 & 264 +Rutland, John, Duke of 177 +Ryland, W. W. 171 +Skelton, William 264 +Soyer, Mons. 142 +Stirling, E. 107 +Telfair, Cortez and James 146 +Thornton, Henry 137 +Thornton, James 257 +Trevor, Sir John 200 +Trotter, Thomas 177 +Troubridge, Sir T. 229 +Tytler, P. F. 97 +Underwood, Dr. M. 177 +Vandervelde, Cornelius 80 +Villiers, Hon. George 109 +Wakefield, Edward 215 +Walcot, Rev. M. 100 +Walpole, Robert 81 +Ward, Seth 211 +Warner, Captain 253 +Wellesley, Marquis of 170 +Wellington, Anecdote of Duke of 187 +Wilberforce, William 137 & 241 +Wilkes, John 136 +Wilkie, Note on 258 +Wright, Dr. Richard 215 +Yarmouth, Countess of 215 + +PLACES. + +Albert Gate 100 +All Saints’ Church 98 +Avery Farm Row 252 +Baber’s Floor-cloth Factory 106 +Belgravia 216 +Belgrave Chapel 237 +Belgrave Square 224 +Belgrave Street, Upper 242 +Blomfield Terrace 253 +Bridge, The 20 +Brompton Park Nursery 132 +Brompton Road 103 +Cake House, The 121 +Cannon Brewhouse, The 113 +Cavalry Barracks 118 +Chapel Street 226 +Chatham House 103 +Chelsea Bun House 259 +Chesham Place and Street 228 +Chester Street 228 +College of St. Barnabas 250 +Commercial Road, The 253 +Compasses, The 263 +Downing’s Floor-cloth Factory 158 +Dwarf, The 264 +Eaton Place 228 +Eaton Place West 229 +Eaton Square 230 +Eden Lodge 135 +Ennismore Place and Terrace 103 +Feathers, The 235 +Five Fields, The 219 +Fort at Hyde Park Corner 127 +Fox and Bull, The 111 +Gore House 136 +Graham Street 257 +Grosvenor Canal 249 +Grosvenor Crescent 231 +Grosvenor House 146 +Grosvenor Place 218, 232 +Grosvenor Row 257 +Grove House 143 +Half-Way House 179 +Halkin Street 237 +Halkin Street West 237 +Hamilton Lodge 136 +High Road 103 +High Row 111 +Hospital for Soldiers 235 +Hospital, the Lock 238 +Hyde Park 118 +Hyde Park Corner 125 +Infantry Barracks 187 +Jenny’s Whim 253 +Jenny’s Whim Bridge 253 +Kensington Gore 131 +Kent House 109 +Kingston House 164 +Kinnerton Street 144 +Knightsbridge Green 144 +Knightsbridge Grove 156 +Knightsbridge Schools 91 +Knightsbridge Terrace 146 +Lanesborough House 180 +Lazar House 52 +Lock Chapel 241 +Lock Hospital 238 +Lowndes Square 149 +Lowndes Street 242 +Lowndes Terrace 155 +Marble Arch, The 123 +Mercer Lodge 135 +Mills’ Buildings 117 +Montpelier Square 159 +New Street 159 +Osnaburg Row 242 +Park House 134 +Park Side 160 +Prince’s Gate 163 +Queen’s Buildings 170 +Queen’s Head, The 163 +Queen’s Row 171 +Ranelagh Grove 263 +Ranelagh Terrace 263 +Receiving House, Royal Humane Society 121 +Ring in Hyde Park, The 122 +Rising Sun, The 106 +Rose and Crown, The 104 +Rotten Row 125 +Rutland Gate 178 +Rutland House 177 +St. Barnabas College 250 +St. George’s Hospital 180 +St. George’s Place 185 +St. Paul’s Church 92 +„ „ Appendix 280 +St. Paul’s Schools, Append. 281 +St. Peter’s Church 231 +Serpentine, The 120 +South Place 106 +Spring Gardens 149 +Star and Garter, The 264 +Statue of Achilles, The 124 +Stratheden House 110 +Stromboli House 263 +Swan, The 176 +Tattersall’s 197 +Trevor Chapel 200 +Trevor Square 199 +Trevor Terrace 106 +Trinity Chapel 51 +Trinity Chapel (Appendix) 279 +Upper Belgrave Street 242 +Upper Ebury Street 264 +Westbourne, The 21 +Westbourne Place 265 +Westbourne Street 266 +White Hart, The 163 +White House, The 250 +William Street 205 +Wilton Crescent 206 +Wilton Place 206 +Wilton Street 243 +York Hospital, The 266 + +MISCELLANEOUS. + + PAGE +Act for Building Albert Gate (Appendix) 277 +Address to Liston by Rodwell 191 +Anecdote connected with the Duke of Wellington 187 +Assassination, Intended, of William III. 36 +Bad State of the Roads 24 +Boscobel Oak, Trees from 130 +Cattle ordered to be Slaughtered at Knightsbridge 33 +Churchwardens of St. Paul’s 97 +Club at the Fox and Bull 112 +Cromwell Tradition, The (Appendix) 275 +Cross-road Burial, The last 237 +Dangers of the Five Fields 220 +Derivation of Name 2 +Description of Communion-plate at Chapel 62 +Discovery of Curious Relics 34 and 153 +Discovery of Human Remains at Fox and Bull 113 +Duel between Hamilton and Mohun 122 +Enlargement of the Chapel 61 +Establishments similar to Lazar House 58 +Extracts from the Chapel Accounts 85 +Extracts, Curious, from Chapel Baptismal Registrars 70 +Extracts, Curious, from Chapel Marriage Registrars 69 and 73 +Geology of Knightsbridge 269 +Government of Knightsbridge 271 +Grant to Lazar House by James I. 52 +Historical Anecdotes of Hyde Park Corner 126 +Impromptu on Gore House 138 +Innkeepers of Knightsbridge 27 +Knightsbridge Volunteers 37 +Knightsbridge a Family Name (Appendix) 275 +Letter to Liston by Mathews, and reply 193 and 194 +Letter to Earl Bathurst by Sheriff Waithman 41 +Local Family Names 90 +Manor and Parochial Divisions 4 and 48 +Marriage Statistics of Knightsbridge Chapel 90 +Ministers of Knightsbridge Chapel 63 +Olden Time, The 23 +Parochial Divisions 49 +Patients discharged from Lazar House 56 +Perambulation Festivities 50 +Pimlico, Origin of Name of 245 +Population of Knightsbridge 268 +Reminiscence of the Compiler (Note) 104 + Ditto of Shelley’s first Wife 112 +Reputation of the Chapel for Suspicious Marriages 68 +Restoration of Knightsbridge Chapel 58 and 61 +Reviews in Hyde Park 119 +Riots at Knightsbridge 40 +Salubrity of Knightsbridge 269 +State Visits to French Embassy 102 +Tradition of Cæsar Crossing the Thames 250 +Trees from the Boscobel Oak 130 +Water Supply 30 +Wyatt’s Insurrection Quelled 33 +William III., Intended Assassination of 36 + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + PAGE +Knightsbridge, the Site of Albert Gate _Frontispiece_ +The Westbourne, from the Park 22 +Colours of the Knightsbridge Volunteers 39 +Trinity Chapel 62 +St. Paul’s Church 94 +The Westbourne, looking north from Knightsbridge 101 +The Cake House 122 +Fort at Hyde Park Corner 128 +Oak planted by Charles II. 130 +Hyde Park Corner, 1824 131 +Queen’s Buildings 172 +Half-Way House 179 +Lanesborough House 181 +The Lock Hospital 238 +Lock Chapel 241 + +ERRATUM + + +Page 235, line 19, for “Grosvenor Row” read “Grosvenor Place.” {0} + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + + “Instructed by the Antiquary Times, + We are, we must, we cannot but be wise.” + + SHAKSPEARE. + +KNIGHTSBRIDGE and Pimlico form the only suburbs west of the metropolis, +whose history remains unwritten. This neglect, perhaps, is owing to the +fact that neither place, till of late, assumed sufficient importance to +attract the topographical writer; nevertheless, I trust the following +pages will show that Knightsbridge is far from destitute of associations +deserving to be recovered and saved from the ravages of time. + +The derivation of its name is somewhat obscure: the earliest mention of +the place I am acquainted with occurs in a charter of Edward the +Confessor, in which it is called KYNGESBYRIG; in one of Abbot Herbert of +Westminster, nearly a century later, it is spelt KNYGHTSBRIGG. It is +similarly written in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Edward III. +The difficulty lies in the transposition from “Kyngesbyrig” to +“Knyghtsbrigg.” The former sufficiently indicates its origin; and to +avoid perplexity tradition comes opportunely to our aid, to point out the +latent allusion in the latter. + +Knightsbridge, of course, must have its legend. No place in the kingdom +exists but must have some story to tell; and if it cannot show a castle +built by Cæsar, and battered down by Cromwell, recourse must be had +elsewhere for such. Well, then, our legend tells, that in some 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 +Knightsbridge on their way to receive the blessing awarded to the +faithful by the Bishop at Fulham. From some cause, however, a quarrel +ensued between two of the band, and a combat was determined on to decide +the dispute. They fought on the bridge which spanned the stream, while +from its banks the struggle was watched by their partisans. Both, the +legend tells, fell; and ever after the place was called KNIGHTSBRIDGE, in +remembrance of their fatal feud. + +If this old story, which I many times have heard related, has tempted us +into the realms of fancy for awhile, another derivation of a totally +opposite kind will speedily drive us therefrom; according to this, the +name comes from the word “Neat,” signifying cattle, and refers to a time +when beasts for the London citizens were ordered to be slain here. + +And, again, a commentator of Norden, the topographer, gives the following +anecdote, which it has been thought may account for the +name:—“Kingesbridge, commonly called Stonebridge, near Hyde Park Corner, +where 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.” {3} + +Against these two proposed derivations, however, it must be answered that +the place was called “KNYGHTSBRIGG” in Herbert’s charter long before the +time to which either of these circumstances apply. Edward the Confessor +owned lands here, and probably built a bridge for the convenience of +those monks to whom he devised a part of them; hence the name +KINGSBRIDGE. Having nothing recorded whereby we can account for the +change to KNIGHTSBRIDGE, we can only surmise that it was caused by +corruption of the name, or that there may be some foundation, other than +the story of the brave Knyvett, for the legend I have related. + + + +THE MANOR AND PAROCHIAL DIVISIONS. + + +The land constituting this district appears to have belonged originally +to King Edward the Confessor. There is, in the British Museum, a charter +still preserved, a translation of which was printed by Mr. Faulkner, in +which, giving to the church at Westminster the manor of Cealchyth +(Chelsea), with various emoluments and privileges, the charter +proceeds—“Besides, together with this manor, every third tree, and every +horse load of fruits, grown in the neighbouring wood at KYNGESBYRIG, +which, as in ancient times, was confirmed by law.” This is the earliest +mention of Knightsbridge recorded; the land referred to is now occupied +by Lowndes-square and its neighbourhood. + +Knightsbridge is not mentioned in Doomsday Book, neither is Westbourn, +Hyde, nor Paddington; and it is most likely that the returns for these +places are given with the surrounding manors of Eia, Chelchith, +Lilestone, &c. Eia was confirmed to the Abbey of Westminster by William +the Conqueror, and included the land between the Tyburn on the east, the +Westbourn on the west, the great military road (Oxford-street) on the +north, and the Thames on the south. Yet, although given thus early to +the Abbey, it was not included in the franchise of the city of +Westminster, notwithstanding Knightsbridge, which chiefly lay beyond it, +was so included; for, in 1222, a dispute having arisen between the Bishop +of London and the Abbot of Westminster, respecting their ecclesiastical +jurisdiction, it was referred to Stephen Langton, Archbishop of +Canterbury, the Bishops of Winchester and Salisbury, and the Priors of +Merton and Dunstable; and they decided that the Tyburn stream was the +limit of St. Margaret’s parish westward; adding, however, that, “beyond +these bounds the districts of Knightsbridge, Westbourn, Padyngton with +its chapel, and their appurtenances, belong to the parish of St. Margaret +aforesaid.” Part of Knightsbridge still belongs to St. Margaret’s, and +it is most probable that some great proprietor living in that parish +owned lands here, and hence, in old assessments, such became to be +reckoned component parts of the parish. + +In the Confessor’s charter the mention of “the wood at Kyngesbyrig” +gives, I consider, an index to what the state of the place was then. It +doubtless formed a portion of the great forest which Fitzstephen +describes as belting the metropolis. It owned no lord, and the few +inhabitants enjoyed free chase and other rights in it. In 1218 it was +disafforested by order of Henry III., whom we afterwards find owned lands +here; and in the reign of his son, Edward I., Knightsbridge, according to +Lysons, is mentioned as a manor of the Abbey. + +The monks of Westminster gradually acquired other lands here, additional +to those granted by the Confessor. At Westbourn also they had lands, as +the decree of 1222 proves; how possession of them was gained is not, +however, known. These properties the monks erected into a manor, called +“The Manor of KNIGHTSBRIDGE and WESTBOURN;” and by such name it is still +known. The whole of the isolated part of St. Margaret’s, including a +part of Kensington, its palace and gardens, are included in the manor of +Knightsbridge. + +That there was a suspicion of the integrity of the monks’ proceedings, +however, we have proof in the fact that, in the twenty-second year of the +reign of Edward I. (1294–5), a writ of _Quo Warranto_ was issued to Abbot +Walter of Wenlock, to inquire “by what authority he claimed to hold the +Pleas of the Crown, to have free warren, a market, a fair, toll, a +gallows, the chattels of persons condemned, and of runaways, the right of +imprisonment,” and various other similar privileges, as well as “the +appointment of coroner in Eye, Knythbrigg, Chelcheheth, Braynford, +Padyngton, Hamstede, and Westburn,” &c.; to which he answered, that these +places were “members” of the town of Westminster, and that King Henry +III. had granted to God and the church of St. Peter of Westminster, and +the monks therein, all his tenements, and had commanded that they hold +them with all their liberties and free customs, &c.; and he produced the +charter proving the same. + +Such was the reply of Abbot Walter of Wenlock, who appears, however, to +have been by no means over chary of the ways by which he could bring +wealth to his abbey; for we find that, in the twelfth year of Edward II., +his successor, Richard de Kedyngton, was fined ten pounds because he +(Abbot Walter) had appropriated lay fees in Knythbrigg, Padyngton, Eye, +and Westbourne, without licence of the king. We also find that in the +same reign two inquisitions were held to ascertain what, if any, injury +the king would sustain if certain properties were allowed the Abbey:— + + INQUISITIO AD QUOD DAMNUM 9: EDW. II., No. 105. + MIDDLESEX. + + “Inquisition made before the Escheator of the Lord the King at the + church of St. Mary Atte Stronde, on Thursday next, after the Feast of + the Assumption of the Blessed Mary, in the ninth year of the reign of + King Edward, by the Oath of Robert de Aldenham, Alexander de Rogate, + Nicholas de Curtlyng, John de la Hyde, Walter Fraunceis, William de + Padinton, Hugh le Arderne, William Est, Arnold le Frutier, Simon le + Brewere, Roger de Malthous, and Roger le Marshall, junior—who say, + upon their oath, that Walter de Wenlock, lately Abbot of Westminster, + had acquired to himself and his House one messuage with appurtenances + in Knygthebregge of William le Smyth of Knygthebregge, and four acres + of land there of William Brisel and Asseline his wife, and nine acres + of land there of William Hond, and twelve acres of land in Padinton + of William de Padington, and three and a-half acres in Eye of Hugh le + Bakere of Eye, and thirteen acres of land in Westbourn of John le + Taillour, and eleven acres of land there of Matilda Arnold, and two + acres of land there of Juliana Baysebolle, after the publication of + the statute edited concerning the nonplacing of lands in Mortmain and + not before. And they say that it is not to the damage nor prejudice + of the Lord the King, nor of others, if the King grant to the Prior + and Convent of Westminster, that the Abbots of that place, for the + time being, may recover and hold the aforesaid messuages and land to + them and their successors for ever. And they say that the aforesaid + messuage is held of the said Abbot and Convent by service of a yearly + rent of sixpence, and of performing suit at the Court of the said + Abbot and Convent, and of finding one man for ten half-days to mow + the Lord’s meadow, price fifteen-pence; and one man for ten half-days + to hoe the Lord’s corn, price tenpence; and of doing seven + ploughings, price three shillings and sixpence; and of finding one + man for ten half-days to reap the Lord’s corn, price fifteen-pence; + and of making seven carriages to carry the Lord’s hay, price three + shillings and sixpence; and performing suit at the Court of the said + Abbot from three weeks to three weeks. And they say that the + aforesaid fifty-four acres and a-half of land are worth by the year, + in all issues over and above the aforesaid services, nineteen + shillings and sixpence. In witness of which thing the aforesaid + jurors have set their seals to this inquisition.” + +Endorsed twenty shillings and sixpence. {10} + +This sum due to the king and paid to him, shows that he still retained +some right or other over the lands mentioned. But this inquest does not +seem to have given satisfaction to all, for three years after, another +was held before the king’s escheator and a jury, concerning the same +lands; the return was, however, in the main similar to that of the first +inquiry, a fine of ten pounds being thereupon paid to the king. + +But as early as the reign of Henry I. some lands at Knightsbridge +belonging to the Abbey had been aliened from it—one Godwin, a hermit at +Kilburn, having given his hermitage there to three nuns; Abbot Herbert +not only confirmed the grant, but augmented it with lands at +Cnightebriga, {11} and a rent of thirty shillings. The charter states +the land to be granted with the consent of the whole “chapter and +council,” to the holy virgins of St. John the Baptist, at Kilburn, for +the repose of the soul of King Edward, founder of the Abbey, “and for the +souls of all their brethren and benefactors.” + +The next mention of this place occurs in a record dated 1270 (54 Henry +III.), when an inquisition was held to ascertain whether two acres of +land, &c., at “KINGESGOR between Knytesbrigg and Kensington” were of the +ancient demesne of the Crown or of escheat, its extent, value, &c. The +jury returned that the land was of the ancient demesne of the Crown, and +not of escheat, that it contained three acres, of which the Sheriffs of +Middlesex had received the issues, and was worth by the acre twelve-pence +per annum, and that such land belonged to the farm of the city of London. + +Part of the Hamlet of Knightsbridge was within the manor of Eia, the +boundaries of which I have described. It included, with others, all the +lands now forming the parish of St. George, Hanover-square, and was given +to the Abbey, in 1102, by Geoffry de Mandeville, in consideration of the +privilege allowed him of the burial of his wife Athelais in the cloisters +of the Abbey. In Doomsday Book it answers for ten hides, but was +afterwards divided into the three manors of Neyte, Eybury, and Hyde. +Neyte is mentioned as early as 1342 in a commission of sewers, and was +near the Thames; Hyde, with lands taken from Knightsbridge, afterwards +formed Hyde Park. All these manors were enjoyed by the Abbey till the +Reformation, and at that tremendous crisis they reverted to the king. + +In the account rendered to the king by the ministers appointed to receive +the revenues of the religious houses on their dissolution, the value of +the manor of Knightsbridge and Westbourn is thus given:— + + £ s. d. +Knyghtsbrydge et Westborne Firm’ Terr’ 2 6 8 +Knyghtebrydge, Kensyngton, et Firm’ 5 14 11 +Westbourne + Pquis Cur 0 6 4½ + +In the “Monasticon Anglicanum,” vol. i., p. 326, it is thus entered:— + + £ s. d. +Maniu de Knyghtebridge et Westbourne Firm’ Terr’ 2 6 8 +Westborne, Knightsbridge, et Kensington, Man 5 14c 11 +Redd et Firm + Pquis Cur 6 8½ + +Kilburn Priory was returned as of the value of seventy-four pounds, seven +shillings, and eleven-pence; and by the provisions of 27 Henry VIII., +chap. 28, all its possessions went to the king. By an act passed in the +next session (28 Henry VIII., c. 38) its lands were exchanged by the king +with Sir William Weston, Prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, +for his manor of Paris Garden, Southwark. This act recites the indenture +relating to this exchange, describing the property very fully. {14} +After specifying the site of the priory, the Act proceeds—“and all other +the demayne londes of the sayde late Pryory lyeing and beying in Kylborne +aforesayde, Hamstede, Padyngton, and _Westborn_, in the sayde countie;” +“the hedge rowes rounde aboute Gorefeld and Goremede” are stated as +“conteyning, by estimacon, xj acres and a half acre, and xxti rodes,” &c. + +The manors of Eybury, Neyte, and Hyde, were, with other Abbey lands, +exchanged with the king for the dissolved Priory of Hurley, Berkshire, +and the exchange was confirmed by Act of Parliament 28 Henry VIII., c. +49. + +In the _Valor Ecclesiasticus_, taken by command of King Henry VIII. in +1535, the following entries relating to these manors also appear:— + + “Repris ex offic Sacrist dei Monasterii + Reddit’ resolut’ videlt + Manerio de Eybury p. iijlz acr’ terr in Eyfelde per + annum iiij.” + + “Repris’ ex offic Novi opis + Midd + + Reddit’ resolut’ annuat’ de divs terr et tenements predict videlt. + + £ s. d. +Prioresse de Kilborne exeunt de xvj +Manerio de Eybery exeunt de xv +Cust capelle b~te Marie monaster predict p x xj +divs terris apud Knightsbridge +Et manerio de Ebery pro manerio de Hide vij +“Repris ex offic sellarar xiii iiij + +Reddit’ resolut’ annuat’ &c. + +Dict manerij de Eybury pro terr voc +Marketmede + +Notwithstanding the Reformation, Knightsbridge was still reserved to the +Abbey, and in the hands of its deans and chapters it has ever since +remained, excepting during the alienation of church lands in the +seventeenth century, when it became the property of Sir George +Stonehouse. The lands at the Gore, and near to it, passed into various +lay hands, and will be hereafter more fully noticed. + +The manor of Eybury also passed into lay hands. In the Act 28, Henry +VIII. c. 49, it is stated as lately in the occupation of Richard Whashe; +and a person of that name rented the more considerable part of it known +as Ebury Farm in 1592, direct from Queen Elizabeth. Other portions of +the manor were similarly rented by persons who underlet the land again, +thereby occasioning great wrong to the inhabitants at large—for +notwithstanding the great length of time these lands had been in priestly +possession, the people, in some measure, appear to have maintained a +claim over them, and considerable portions were always laid open for use +in common at Lammas-tide (Aug. 1). This ancient right these lessees +under the Queen appear to have been determined to resist, and enclosed +the fields with gates and hedges, on which the inhabitants appealed, in +1592, to Lord Burleigh, High Steward of Westminster, for his interference +in their behalf. He ordered Mr. Tenche, his under-steward, to empanel an +inquest; and the decision of the jury being favourable to the +petitioners, they, thinking they should have Lord Burleigh’s countenance, +proceeded on Lammas-day to assert their rights. The gates were pulled +down, and the fences cut away, on which the tenants appealed on their +part to Burleigh, who, again referring the matter to Mr. Tenche, that +functionary, after inquiry, replied, that “certain of the parishioners of +St. Martin’s and St. Margaret’s assembled together,” and made an entry +into their “ancient commons” by making “a small breach in every +enclosure;” that some of those assembled “were of the best and ancientest +of the parishes; that they carried no weapon, and had only four or five +shovels and pickaxes, and had divers constables with them to keep her +Majesty’s peace;” and that “having thus laid open such grounds as they +challenged to be their commons, they quietly retired to their houses, +without any further hurt-doing.” One Peter Dod, in his evidence before +the inquest, said “they told him they would break open to Knight’s Bridge +and Chelsey;” and R. Wood, a constable, testified to the breaking of the +enclosure at “Aubery Farm towards Chelsey,” whence they crossed to +“Crowfield,” at the upper end of Hyde-park. + +Her Majesty’s “poor tenants and farmours” petitioned Lord Burleigh to +commit some of the parishioners to the Star Chamber, and to stop further +proceedings until the case could be heard in the Court of Exchequer. The +inhabitants rejoined, stating “that Ebury Farm, containing 430 acres, +meadow and pasture, which was holden of her Majesty by lease, was granted +to one Whashe, who paid £21 per annum. And 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, for the +most part, as by ancient precedents thereof made, do more particularly +appear.” They then state this system of inclosure had prevailed for +about twenty years; that in the Neate, there were 108 acres belonging to +her Majesty similarly enclosed, although they should also be common at +Lammas. Strype, from whom this account is derived, does not state how +the contest terminated; but certain it is that for very many years the +owners of some of these lands paid money to the parish officers of St. +Martin’s, in lieu of this claim; but I cannot find that this right of the +poor has at all for many years been inquired into. Parochial officers +have, in many instances, sadly neglected their duty; and this is not one +of the lightest accusations against them. + +The manor of Ebury afterwards became the property of a family named +Davis, who owned it for a lengthened period. The last male of this +family, Alexander Davis, died July 2nd, 1665; by his wife, Mary, daughter +of Richard Dukeson, D.D., and who survived till July 11th, 1717, {19} he +had one daughter, Mary, who was married at St. Clement’s Danes, October +10th, 1676, to Sir Thomas Grosvenor. This manor devolved upon her; and +on her death, January 12th, 1730, came to be the freehold property of her +husband, whose descendant has been ennobled by the title of Marquis of +Westminster, and is the present Lord of the Manor of Ebury. + +We will now revert to Knightsbridge proper again. It anciently occupied +a great deal more land than its present appearance indicates. In the +reign of Elizabeth certain lands appertaining to the park were within it. +An indenture to that effect, dated July 6th, in the eleventh year of the +Queen’s reign, between the Marquis of Winchester, Lord High Treasurer, +and Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer, on behalf of the +Queen, and Francis Nevyll, one of the keepers of Hyde-park, on his own +behalf, was agreed to for the better preservation of the game; and it was +ordered that “our” land, called Knightsbridge land, containing, by +estimation, about forty acres, should, at the costs of her Majesty, be +“rayled” in, to hinder all manner of horses and cattle (except her +Majesty’s “dere”) entering the said enclosed land. The said Francis +Nevyll then covenants that while he is keeper he will keep the gates +thereof locked, and will not suffer any horses or cattle to be put +therein. He also agrees to make and sell in stacks, or carry into her +Majesty’s hay-barn, all the hay which may be made within the said +“rayled” lands, and deliver the same to “her Grace’s dere” in winter, and +shall not in the wintry half-year put to pasture within the said “rayled” +land above the number of ten kine or bullocks, or in lieu of every two +kine or bullocks, one horse or gelding. Another plot of ground, +belonging to the Lazar-house, was also enclosed within Hyde-park; but of +its extent, or why the institution should have been deprived of it, I +have not been able to ascertain. + +THE BRIDGE.—The bridge, whence the place derives its name, we are +informed by Strype, was a stone bridge, and most probably the one he +described was the same as remained to our own time. When, or by whom, +first erected, is not recorded; but it is not improbable that the saintly +king who first gave the monks possessions here, to render such more +available, would throw a bridge across the stream. For by this road even +then was the only way to the metropolis from the west, and the stream was +both broad and rapid. It was situated between the last house of +Knightsbridge-terrace (Mr. Jeffrey’s), and the French Embassy, and a part +of it yet exists under the road; a portion of it was removed for the +Albert-gate improvements. In the churchwardens’ accounts of St. +Margaret’s, Westminster, are the following entries regarding it:— + +1630. Item, received of John Fennell £23 6s. 4d. + and Ralph Atkinson, collectors + of the escheat, for repair of + Brentford Bridge and + Knightsbridge +1631. Item, paid towards the repaire £24 7s. 10d. + of Brentford Bridge, and of + Knights-bridge, and for charge + of the sute to defend ourselves + from the same, and other + expences touching the same, as + by the particulars appeareth + +THE WESTBOURN.—The Westbourn, for such was the ancient name of the +rivulet which ran through Knightsbridge, was one of the numerous streams +which flowed from the range of Hampstead and Highgate to the Thames. Its +name is derived from its being most westerly of those streams in or by +the metropolis. Rising at West End, Hampstead, and running towards +Bayswater, it passed through it, behind St. James’s Church; here it +crossed the Uxbridge-road, and entering Kensington-gardens, passed +through them and Hyde-park, where its silver thread ran along the centre +of the Serpentine, into which it entered, and by the addition of several +ponds, it was widened in 1731. Leaving the park, it crossed the Great +Western-road at Albert-gate, thence it passed in an oblique line behind +the east side of William-street and Lowndes-square, behind Lowndes-street +and Chesham-street, and bending to the right, passed under +Grosvenor-bridge, where it divided and emptied itself into old Father +Thames by two mouths. The eastern course was stopped up when the +Grosvenor Canal was formed, but the mouth may still be distinctly traced +at the back of Westmoreland-street. The western mouth is the entrance to +the Ranelagh sewer, to which the stream has for many years degenerated. +By an under current, formed in 1834, its course was diverted at +Bayswater, to prevent drainage passing into the Serpentine; and when the +Five Fields were intended to be built on, a new sewer, for which Smeaton +had previously made surveys, was constructed. The whole of its course is +now covered in, although part of it was open so late as 1854. + + [Picture: The Westbourne from the park] + +The Westbourn was occasionally a source of annoyance to the inhabitants +of Knightsbridge. After heavy rains it overflowed; on September 1st, +1768, it did so, and caused great damage, almost undermining some of the +neighbouring houses; and in January, 1809, it overflowed again, and +covered the neighbouring fields so deeply, that they bore the appearance +of a lake, and passengers were for several days rowed from Chelsea to +Westminster by Thames boatmen. + +THE OLDEN TIME.—It would appear from the warning of the chronicler, “not +to walk too late without good guard,” that our locality bore formerly +rather a bad name. And I fear I must admit that it did so, though, +perhaps, not more dangerous than any other of the chief highways to the +metropolis. The Great Western Road ran through the hamlet, which bore a +good proportion of inns, the proprietors of which would appear to have +rather connived at the iniquities practised, and thus rendered the action +of the law more difficult. + +In 1380, Richard II., by his letters patent, dated March 2nd, granted to +John Croucher, of Knightsbridge, towards the repairing of the king’s +highway from London to Brentford, customs of the several vendible +commodities therein mentioned (those of ecclesiastical men, and their +proper goods bought for their use, excepted), to be taken at +Knightsbridge and elsewhere, as he shall think expedient, for three years +next ensuing. In 1382 this was renewed, and in 1386 was granted to John +Croucher and Lawrence Newport. {24} But, notwithstanding this early care +of the road, it does not appear to have been always followed up, for +Wyatt’s men entered London, in 1554, by this road; its state materially +aided in their discomfiture, and so great was the delay occasioned that +the Queen’s party were able to make every preparation; and when +ultimately they reached London their jaded appearance gained them the +name of “draggletails.” It would appear from the extracts quoted from +the St. Margaret’s accounts that the law was applied to the parish for +its neglect in this respect, and in 1724 a petition was presented to the +House of Commons, praying for an Act to remedy the evil. Twelve years +later, when the Court had resided at Kensington for nearly fifty years, +we find Lord Hervey writing to his mother that, “the road between this +place (Kensington) and London is grown so infamously bad, that we live +here in the same solitude as we should do if cast on a rock in the middle +of the ocean, and all the Londoners tell us there is between them and us +a great impassable gulf of mud. There are two roads through the park, +but the new one is so convex, and the old one so concave, that by this +extreme of faults they agree in the common one of being, _like the high +road_, _impassable_.” {25} + +Mud and dust did not, however, form the greatest unpleasantnesses of the +road. In the Kensington register of burials there is an entry telling of +its terrible condition:— + + 25th November, 1687. Thomas Ridge, of Portsmouth, who was killed by + thieves, almost at Knightsbridge. + +And Lady Cowper, in her diary quoted by Lord Campbell, {26} writes, in +October, 1715, “I was at Kensington, where I intended to stay as long as +the camp was in Hyde-park, _the roads being so secure by it_, that we +might come from London at _any time of the night without danger_, which I +did very often.” + +It is difficult to understand the cool audacity of some of the attacks on +this road. The _Gentleman’s Magazine_, April, 1740, records that “the +Bristol mail from London was robbed a little beyond Knightsbridge by a +_man on foot_, who took the Bath and Bristol bags, and, _mounting the +post-boy’s horse_, rode off toward London.” On the 1st of July, 1774, +William Hawke was executed for a highway robbery here, and two men were +executed on the 30th of the ensuing November for a similar offence. {27a} +Even so late as 1799, it was necessary to order a party of light horse to +patrol every night from Hyde Park Corner to Kensington; {27b} and it is +within the memory of many when pedestrians walked to and from Kensington +in bands sufficient to ensure mutual protection, starting at known +intervals, of which a bell gave due warning. + +Respecting the innkeepers, the well-known Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, +in his Memoirs, tells the following curious story:—“I was informed that +the Earl of Rochester, the wit, had said something of me which, according +to his custom, was very malicious; I therefore sent Colonel Aston, a very +mettled friend of mine, to call him to account for it. He denied the +words, and, indeed, I was soon convinced he had never said them; but the +mere report, though I found it to be false, obliged me (as I then +foolishly thought) to go on with the quarrel; and the next day was +appointed for us to fight on horseback, a way in England a little +unusual, but it was his part to choose. Accordingly I and my second lay +the night before at Knightsbridge privately, to avoid the being secured +at London upon any suspicion; which yet we found ourselves more in danger +of there, because we had all the appearance of highwaymen, that had a +mind to be skulking in an old inn for one night; but this, I suppose, the +people of the house _were used to_, and so _took no notice of us_, _but +liked us the better_.” And in the “Rehearsal,” written in ridicule of +Dryden, we also have an allusion to the innkeepers’ habits and +characters:—“_Smith_: But pray, Mr. Bayes, is not this a little +difficult, that you were saying e’en now, to keep an army thus conceal’d +in _Knights-Bridge_?—_Bayes_: In _Knights-Bridge_? Stay.—_Johnson_: No, +not if the _inn-keepers be his friends_.” + +Until the age of railways set in, these inns did a brisk trade with the +numerous travellers from the western parts. One of the occurrences of +the day was to watch the mails set off for their destinations; there were +above twenty at one time, besides stage-coaches. Now there is but one of +the latter kind, which still, every other day, goes to Brighton. Moore +mentions in his Diary waiting at Knightsbridge for his Bessie, coming to +town by the Bath coach. All now is altered—highwaymen, patrols, and +mails are all gone—and the road is the best entrance into the capital. +An Act, passed June 19th, 1829, placed the Great Western Road, from +Knightsbridge to Brentford Bridge, under the charge of the Commissioners +of Metropolitan Roads. + +It was a long time before our hamlet became part and parcel of the +metropolis. A letter in my possession, written by an intelligent +mechanic, fresh from Gloucester, and dated August, 1783, describes it as +“quite out of London, for which,” says he, “I like it the better.” And +so it was; the stream then ran open, the streets were unpaved and +unlighted, and a maypole was still on the village green. It is not ten +years since the hawthorn hedge has entirely disappeared at the Gore, and +the blackbird and starling might still be heard. We have seen the +references to game in Elizabeth’s time, but few persons imagine, perhaps, +that within the recollection of some who have not passed long from us, +snipe and woodcocks might occasionally be lowered; now, however, we are +limited to our saucy friend the sparrow, for even the very swallows have +quitted us. + +Forty years since, there was neither draper’s nor butcher’s shop between +Hyde Park Corner and Sloane Street, and only one in the whole locality +where a newspaper could be had, or writing paper purchased. There was no +conveyance to London but by a kind of stagecoach; the roads were dimly +lighted by oil, {30} and the modern paving only to be seen along +Knightsbridge Terrace. + +Till about 1835, a watch-house and pound remained at the east end of +Middle Row; and the stocks were to be seen at the end of Park-side, +almost opposite the Conduit, as late as 1805. A magistrate sat once a +week at the Fox and Bull, and a market was held every Thursday. + +The water supply was anciently by means of springs and wells, which were +very pure, numerous, and valuable. In the beginning of the eighteenth +century, Park-side was leased from the Dean and Chapter of Westminster by +the Birkheads, and the few houses then there were supplied by a conduit +they were permitted by the Crown to use, within Hyde Park. There was a +row of conduits in the fields each side of Rotten Row, whose waters were +received by the one at the end of Park-side, known as St. James’s, or the +Receiving Conduit; and which supplied the royal residences and the Abbey +with water. {31} There were several excellent springs also in the +hamlet, one of which appears to have been public property, from a story +told by Malcolm, to the effect that in 1727, there being an excessive +drought, the supply of water was rendered very precarious, and disputes +arose between the inhabitants of Knightsbridge as to whom it belonged. +The women appear to have taken an unusual share in this quarrel, which +was so fiercely carried on, that requisition was had to a magistrate to +hinder the tongue giving way to the hands and nails. The magistrate +decided that the water belonged to the St. Margaret’s part of the hamlet. + + + + +CHAPTER II. +HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS. + + + —“Thus I entertain + The antiquarian humour, and am pleased + To skim along the surfaces of things, + Beguiling harmlessly the listless hours.” + + WORDSWORTH. + +SO small a place as our hamlet formerly was, it could not have many +historical associations of which to boast, and this chapter must, +therefore, be brief. Too small and unimportant to be the scene of great +contests, or of political intrigues, few notices of it in connection with +history occur, but those few are far from being uninteresting. + +In the year 1361, a dreadful plague broke out in France, and fears were +entertained that it might ravage London. To prevent this, great +precautions were taken, and the King promptly issued an order, in which, +reciting the evils which were occasioned by the offal and refuse being +thrown by the city butchers into the Thames, he ordered, on February 25, +with the consent of Parliament then assembled, that to provide “for the +honesty of the said city, and the safety of the people,” all “bulls, +oxen, hogs, and other gross creatures,” to be slain for the citizens, +should be led either to Stratford on the one side, or Knightsbridge on +the other, and be there slain and dressed ready for sale. And any +butcher offending by killing within these places should be imprisoned one +year: a piece of legislative wisdom our own times should imitate. + +When the Kentish insurrection under Wyatt broke out against the marriage +of Mary and Philip of Spain, Wyatt having vainly endeavoured to enter +London by the bridge, was compelled to march to Kingston, in order to +cross the Thames; arriving at Knightsbridge, he there rested his men +“untyll daye,” they “being very weary with travel of that night and the +daye before.” In London, the quaint old chronicler tells us, “there was +no small adowe,” and by nine o’clock on the morning of February 7, 1556, +Wyatt set his men in motion, and “planting his ordenance upon the hill, +almost over agaynst the park corner,” left it there under a guard, and +marched towards Charing Cross. The Earl of Pembroke, who commanded +Mary’s troops, hovered about “untyll all was passed by, saving the +tayle,” which he cut off from the main body. This misfortune ruined +Wyatt, who soon after was captured, and ultimately executed; his head +being set up on Hay Hill, not far from the spot where he had left his +cannon. + +During the contest between Charles I. and his people, many skirmishes are +traditionally said to have occurred here. Although in the numerous works +of all kinds I have referred to, no mention could be found of such; yet +that they did take place, many remains of that period, since brought to +light, testify. Mr. Faulkner records the discovery of a helmet, +breastplate, and some swords, on the site of Lowndes Square. In 1840, +many human remains, coins of Charles’ time, some curious horse-shoes, and +trappings, were dug up when the Albert Gate improvements were made. In +Grosvenor Place, and various spots in the Five Fields, similar remains +have also been discovered. + +The infamous Lord Howard of Escrick, on whose perjured evidence Algernon +Sidney was beheaded, had a house at Knightsbridge, and it was the resort +of all the desperate and unprincipled adventurers {35} who are sure to be +found attached to the ranks even of the noble and high-minded in such +contests as were then going on between Charles II. and the Whigs. He +wrought himself into their consultations, and pretended entire devotion +to their cause; but it was only to ruin their plans and consign the +leaders to the scaffold. + +Roger North, in his “Examen,” states that when the Rye House Plot became +known, the King commanded Howard’s apprehension, and accordingly the +Serjeant-at-Arms proceeded to Knightsbridge, beset his house, and going +in to search for him, “though he found the bed warm where he lay,” yet +could not find him, till at last they discovered him hidden behind a +chimney, on which “he came out in his shirt and yielded himself.” He +saved himself, as is well known, by despicably witnessing against others: +the ballads and satires of the day contain many allusions to him, and his +promised deeds, of which the following may serve as a specimen:— + + “Was it not a damn’d thing, + That Russell and Hampden, + Should serve all the projects of hot-headed Tory? + But much more untoward + To appoint my Lord Howard + Of his own purse and credit, to raise men and money, + Who at Knightsbridge did hide + Those brisk boys unspy’d, + That at Shaftsbury’s whistle were ready to follow, + But when aid he should bring, + Like a true Brentford king, + He was here with a whoop, and there with a hollo.” + +Lord Howard died in 1683, and was succeeded by his son Charles, at whose +death, in 1715, the sullied title became extinct. + +Our hamlet has one more association with Stuart plots; but this time the +Stuarts’ partisans were the plotters. In 1694 Sir William Barclay and +Sir William Perkins, two staunch Jacobites, formed a plot for the +assassination of William III.; the plan being to waylay the King on his +return to Kensington from some hunting excursion, and shoot him. The +plan required a number of conspirators to render it successful, and +herein lay the monarch’s safety. Captain Porter, one of the first to +join, gave notice to the ministers, and several engaged in the crime were +apprehended. Porter, on the trial, stated that he had been with two +others to survey the ground, lying at the Swan at Knightsbridge one +night, and there talking over their plans. Finally, it was agreed to +commit the foul deed in a lane near to Turnham Green. Perkins and others +were found guilty on most clear evidence, and suffered death at Tyburn +accordingly. + +THE KNIGHTSBRIDGE VOLUNTEERS.—Notwithstanding the declaration of our +brave tars on the threatened invasion of our shores, by Napoleon in 1803, +that he should not come by _water_, great excitement prevailed, and +volunteers were enrolled from one end of the country to the other, and a +deadlier contest never cursed the earth than such would have been, had +the Emperor dared to put his project into execution. Among those earnest +men who at this crisis rendered genuine service to the country by their +energies in this particular, was Major Robert Eyre, an officer who had +seen much and real service in the American War of Independence, and +elsewhere, but who had now settled down at Knightsbridge, where for years +he resided, one of the most respected of its inhabitants. He offered to +raise a corps in the hamlet, although it had already furnished a number +of men to the regiments of the surrounding locality. His offer was +accepted in the following terms:— + + London, August 14th, 1803. + + SIR,—Lord Hobart has acquainted me, that the King has derived great + satisfaction from the zeal and public spirit which have been + manifested by the offer lately communicated to me by you, which his + Majesty has most graciously been pleased to approve and accept. You + will be pleased to name your officers. + + I have the honour to be, Sir, + Your most obedient servant, + SCOTT TITCHFIELD. + + To Major Robert Eyre. + +The regiment was raised at the Major’s expense, numbering 146 men, and he +brought them to a high state of efficiency. Major Eyre presented them +with a pair of colours, one of which, a blue flag, has on it a painted +rebus device, of a knight in armour riding over a bridge, emblematical of +the name of the hamlet. {39} + + [Picture: The colours of the Knightsbridge volunteers] + +On the 26th and 28th October, 1803, King George III. in great state and +formality reviewed the volunteers of the metropolis in Hyde Park. The +Knightsbridge regiment appeared on the latter day, and the vast body +acquitted themselves with great satisfaction to the authorities. In the +United Service Institution Library is preserved a paper confidentially +communicated to the commander of every regiment, describing the position +each corps was to take up in case alarm should occur, and from it I find +that the 1st Battalion of the Queen’s Royal Volunteer Infantry, Col. +Hobart, were to patrol along Grosvenor Place and Pimlico, to the Palace, +and along Piccadilly, to communicate with the 2nd Battalion of the same +regiment, and the St. Margaret’s and St. George’s Regiments. This 2nd +Battalion were to patrol Sloane Street, leaving one company in Chelsea +Waterworks, and to communicate with the Knightsbridge corps, who were to +remain in reserve at the north end of Sloane Street. + +RIOTS AT KNIGHTSBRIDGE.—In those good old electioneering times, “the days +when George III. was king,” our hamlet was many a time the scene of riot. +Such scenes, of course, will not be here detailed; but two of them were +too serious to be passed over entirely, viz., on March 28th, 1768, and +October 4th, 1803. On the former occasion, Wilkes and Cooke were elected +for Middlesex; it was customary for a London mob to meet the Brentford +one in and 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. At the latter election, Burdett was the popular candidate, and +the excitement, which had been very great throughout, culminated with the +junction of the mobs at Knightsbridge, causing much confusion and damage. + +The last riot in Knightsbridge was on the occasion of the funeral of +Honey and Francis (who were shot in the rioting on the occasion of the +funeral of Caroline of Brunswick) on August 26th, 1821. It occasioned a +correspondence between the Sheriff and the Government; and being fully +described therein, I insert it here. + + MR. SHERIFF WAITHMAN TO EARL BATHURST. + + MY LORD,—I consider it my duty to apprise his Majesty’s Government, + through your Lordship, of a violent outrage on the public peace, + committed by some individuals of the Life Guards, at Knightsbridge, + yesterday, and of an attempt at assassination upon me personally, + while in the execution of my duty as Sheriff of Middlesex, as the + head of the civil power of the county. + + Your Lordship thought proper to direct the Lord Mayor on Saturday to + take the necessary measures to preserve the peace of the city, during + the intended funeral of Honey and Francis; and, although no such + caution was addressed to the Sheriff, as conservator of the public + peace of the county, I felt it my duty to direct the deputy-sheriffs + of the city and county to order out the constables of the divisions + nearest to, and through which the funeral was expected to pass; and + also to attend in person, with proper officers, to prevent or quell + any tumult or disorder. + + Conceiving that under the existing irritation of the people, and the + circumstances for which they had assembled, some insult might be + offered to the Life Guards in their barracks, I disposed of the + constables chiefly in that vicinity, and actually ranged a body of + them in front of the barracks, with instructions to apprehend every + person who should attempt to commit any outrage or disorder. + + The funeral, in consequence of these precautions, passed the barracks + in an orderly and quiet manner, marked by no other peculiar + circumstance than that of a brick being thrown from the barracks, + which fell near my horse, and wounded, as I am informed, a young + girl. My admonitions, and the presence of the constables, succeeded, + however, in repressing the irritation this wanton act was calculated + to excite. + + When the procession had passed, and while the road continued to be + crowded with people, the gates of the barracks were thrown open, and + the avenue filled with soldiers. The people, as might have been + foreseen, gathered round the spot, and expressed their displeasure. + + A tumult seemed inevitable. I requested to speak to the officer on + duty, but without effect; and, at length, by repeated expostulations + with the soldiers, I succeeded in prevailing on them to retire and + close the gates. + + Some time after, upon returning to the same spot, I saw a number of + soldiers running from the wicker gate, and pursuing the people on the + causeway. Finding an affray actually commenced, I sprung my horse + upon the causeway, interposed between the parties, and succeeded in + separating them. While thus engaged, a soldier, with whom I had + before been expostulating, and who was, therefore, acquainted with my + official situation, started forward at a man, and knocked him down. + At the same time, while using my utmost endeavours to prevail on the + soldiers to retire into the barracks, and the people to desist and + keep the peace, the bridle of my horse was violently seized, on the + one side by a young officer in undress, and on the other by the + soldier whose violence I had just noticed, and who, together, + endeavoured to throw my horse over the causeway; and I only succeeded + in extricating myself by striking the soldier with my stick, and + making my horse plunge. Immediately several of the soldiers rushed + at me with their swords drawn, and one actually loaded his carbine, + and directed it towards me, but was, I am informed, knocked down by + one of the constables. Further mischief was prevented by the + interposition of some military officers of higher authority, and the + soldiers at length retired into their barracks. + + My Lord, these circumstances require no comment. At a critical + juncture the soldiers were left to their own exasperated feeling, and + manifested a lawless spirit. The civil power under my direction was + fully adequate for the preservation of the peace among the people, + but not to encounter an armed soldiery. I had no communication from + his Majesty’s Government, nor could I obtain an interview with any of + the officers of the regiment. . . . I feel assured that had I not + interposed with the civil power and even risked my own life, a + frightful slaughter must have ensued. Of subordination to civil + authority the soldiers appeared to be wholly unconscious, and that + authority, in my person, was repeatedly insulted, and grossly + outraged. + + It would, my Lord, be as needless as presumptuous in me to attempt to + instruct your Lordship and his Majesty’s Government in the nature of + the constitutional authority under which I attended yesterday, or the + right I possessed in my official character to have claimed the aid + and assistance of these very military to suppress tumult, who have, + upon this occasion, in open defiance of the civil authority, been the + promoters of it; nor need I add one word in aggravation of the + enormity of the offences committed: the offenders can some of them be + identified, and I trust your Lordship will cause immediate and + effectual means to be adopted to bring them to justice, as a salutary + example to others. + + I have the honour to be, my Lord, &c., + R. WAITHMAN. + + Bridge Street, August, 27th, 1821. + +To this letter Earl Bathurst replied as follows:— + + Whitehall, August 28th, 1821. + + SIR,—I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th + inst., relative to a riot which took place at Knightsbridge on Sunday + last. I had, before the receipt of your letter, given directions for + an inquiry to be made into the circumstances of this transaction, in + consequence of representations made to me, which, I am bound to say, + differ in many essential particulars from the statement I have + received from you. + + I cannot refrain from expressing my regret and surprise, that when + the civil power under your direction was fully adequate (as you + state) for the preservation of the peace among the people, a mob + should have been permitted to remain in a continued state of riot, + after the soldiers had been withdrawn within their barracks, until + the Riot Act was read by Mr. Conant, and the rioters dispersed by the + peace officers under his immediate orders; and I do not understand + that in the execution of this duty he received any assistance from + you. + + I am, Sir, &c. + BATHURST. + + Mr. Sheriff Waithman. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +MODERN PAROCHIAL DIVISIONS: THE STREETS, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, ETC. THEIR +ASSOCIATIONS, EMINENT INHABITANTS, ETC. + + + “I pray you let us satisfy our eyes + With the memorials, and the things of fame + That do renown this city.” + + SHAKSPEARE. + +THE parish church of St. Margaret, Westminster, is the mother church of +this locality. Although the Decree of 1222, before referred to, limited +the western boundary of that parish to the Tyburn stream, it declared +that beyond that stream lay the town of Knightsbridge, which belonged to +it. In what parish the manor of Eia was situated is not stated, but it +is most likely that the higher portion of it was a forest, and the lower, +it is certain, was partly a marsh, and consequently altogether unnoticed +by the assessors; for the growth of parishes was very gradual, and their +proper boundaries for ages undefined. St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields is +mentioned as early as 1225, but did not become a regular parish till +after 1337, and not independent of St. Margaret’s till 1535. In St. +Martin’s the whole of the manor of Eia was then included; it consequently +reached as far as the Westbourne, and included a part of Knightsbridge; +this arrangement continued till the parish of St. George, Hanover Square, +in 1724, was formed out of St. Martin’s, and then this distant part was +included, absurdly enough, within the new parish. + +On the west of the rivulet, which here divides St. George’s parish from +St. Margaret’s and Chelsea, the hamlet stands partly in those and partly +in Kensington parish. St. Margaret’s stretches from William Street, +behind Lowndes Terrace, across the top of Sloane Street, behind Brompton +Road, continuing the line behind Arthur Street to the bottom of Ennismore +Mews, where, abutting on the north wall of Brompton Churchyard, it +strikes off in a north-west direction and crosses the Kensington Road +just below Hyde Park Terrace, whence it runs along the road into the +town, and, including a few houses on the north side of High Street, it +enters the Royal Gardens, including a considerable portion thereof, and +the whole of the palace, within its boundary; it joins Paddington at a +point on the Uxbridge Road, and thence returns through the Serpentine to +Knightsbridge. + +The parish officers of St. Margaret alone beat the bounds now, and they +appear always to have been strict in this duty, which, from some entries +in their books, one would consider to have been a little festive +occasionally:— + +1595. Item, paid for bread, drink, £7 10s. 0d. + cheese, fish, cream, and other + victuals, when the worshipfull + of the parish, and very many + others of the poorer sort, went + the perambulation to Kensington, + in this hard and dere time of + all things, as may appear by a + bill of particulars +1597. Item, for the charges of diet at £6 8s. 8d. + Kensington for the perambulacion + of the parish, being a yere of + great scarcity and deerness +1642. Item, spent at Knightsbridge, £2 19s. 9d. + when divers of the burgesses and + vestriemen of this parish went + the perambulation +1668. Item, expended at a £26 13s. 4d. + perambulation this yeare at + Knightsbridge + +Henry VIII.’s corpse passed through Knightsbridge for interment at +Windsor. In the St. Margaret’s books is the following entry:— + +1547. Paid to the poor men that did bere £0 3s. 0d. + the copis and other necessaries to + Knightsbridge, when that King + Henry the Eighth was brought to + his burial to Wynsor, and to the + man that did ring the bells + +Chelsea parish includes Lowndes Square and the adjoining streets, while +Kensington includes Queen’s Buildings, and a few houses in Sloane Street. +Thus is Knightsbridge absurdly divided, when for generations there has +existed within it a place of worship which could have been easily +rendered the focus of a new and independent parish, had its patrons been +so minded. The opportunity was lost when St. George’s was formed, and +Trinity Chapel, from having been, as it were, the nursing-mother around +which the village gathered, was permitted to dwindle, without a thought +for it, into comparative insignificance. This ancient religious edifice +I will now give an account of. + + + +TRINITY CHAPEL + + +Was anciently attached to a Lazar-house or Hospital, with the history of +which it is most intimately connected. When or by whom founded is not +known—at least, if such is recorded, it is not mentioned by any writer on +ecclesiastical affairs; but as it appears always to have been attached to +the Abbey of Westminster, we may conclude its foundation was connected +with that establishment. + +The earliest mention I have met with of the Lazar-house is in a grant of +James I., preserved in the British Museum, {52} as follows:— + + 1605, JAMES R. By ye king, + + Trustie and welbeloued wee grete you well. Whereas we are given to + understand that the sick, lame, and impotent people in our hospitall + of Knighte-bridge, in our county of Middlesex, are greatly distressed + for want of wholesome water, both for the dressing of their meat, and + for making condiment potions for their sores, and that in our park + called Hyde Park, in our sayd county, adjoyning to the sayd + hospitall, there is within of 140 paces of the sayd hospitall a meete + spring of good water, wof by pipe of lead of the charge of five and + thirty pounds, may safely be brought to serve the sayde house, for + their relief in yt behalf, without any inconvenience growing thereby + to our said parke; in consideration of ye poverty, and for the + contynuall use and ease of ye sayd impotent and distressed people, + wee are graciously pleased to bestow uppon them ye sayd sum of + xxxv_l._, lawful money of England, for and towards the charge of + bringinge the sayde springe water to the sayde house by pipe of lead. + Wherefore our pleasure is, that you, our warden of our Mint, shall + appoint workmen, and give order for the doing thereof, and defray the + charge, not exceeding the sayd sum of xxxv_l._; ffor the which wee do + hereby give you full allowance out of those our moneys as remayne in + your hande, lately coyned in our Tower. And this shall be our + sufficient warrant unto you, and the duplicate of this published by + you a sufficient warrant and discharge to ye keeper and keepers of ye + sayde parke, and to all other persons that may consent for the doing + hereof. Given under our sign, &c., at or Castle of Windsor, the + sixth day of September, in ye thyrd yere of our raigne of England, + France, and Ireland, and of Scotland the thirty-eighth. + + To our trusty and welbeloued servant Sr Thomas Knyvett, Knight, + warden of our mynt. C. C. INWOOD. + +But, although this is the earliest document concerning the Lazar-house I +have seen, there exist earlier, to which the public have not access. +Lysons says there is, among the records of the Dean and Chapter of +Westminster, a statement of its condition in 1595, drawn up by John +Glassington, Governor of the House, by profession a surgeon, and whose +family rented the hospital, &c., from the Church of Westminster (at the +rent of 4s. per annum) for many years. In this document he states that +there were no lands belonging to this hospital, nor a groat of endowment; +that there had been a certain piece, which was then enclosed within Hyde +Park, to the great detriment of the charity. He also states that when he +became governor, the building was ready to fall; that he had expended +above £100 on it; that there were commonly thirty-six or thirty-seven +persons in the house, who were supported by voluntary contributions; that +the charge of the previous year, in provisions only, and exclusive of +candles, linen, woollen, salves, medicines, burials, &c., had been £161 +19s. 4d. He adds a list of fifty-five persons whom he had cured, some of +whom had been dismissed as incurable from other hospitals. An account of +the regulations of the house is subjoined by him, by which it appears +that the patients attended prayers every morning and evening, and that on +Sundays there was morning and evening service for the neighbours; that +those who were able were obliged to work; that they dined every day on +“warm meat and porrege,” and that every man had his own “dish, platter, +and tankard, to kepe the broken from the whole.” {55} + +In the parish accounts of St. Margaret’s are several entries relating to +this hospital: + +1634. Item, for a pair of sheetes 3s. 6d. + for Jane Clare, when wee + sent her to the Spittle at + Knightsbridge +1638. Item, to Mr. Winter, keeper 16s. + of the hospitall at + Knightsbridge, for the + keeping of the Three + Innocents for one month +1639. Item, to Mr. Thomas Neale, 6s. 6d. + for three paire of shoes, + two paire for the poore + Innocents at the Spittle at + Knightsbridge, &c. +1646. Disbursements for the poore £4 2s. 11d. {56} + Innocents in the Spittle, or + Lazar-house, at + Knightsbridge; sum total, + +There are no books or accounts of the Lazar-house existing at the Chapel +now, neither have I been able to ascertain whether they exist elsewhere, +or even at all. But in one of the register books still preserved is a +list of persons discharged from it; the date of the year is not given, +but I have reason to think it about 1676. There are twenty-seven +entries, of which the following may serve as samples:— + + March 5—Priscilla Knight to London, criple. + + ,, 6—Mary ffranklin to Berkshire. + + ,, 9—John Wordner, his wife, to children, to Bristow, criple. + + ,, 10—Nicholas fflood, his wife, 4 children, to Wales, criple. + + ,, 18—Robert Dicerson, his wife, 2 children, to Gloster. + +These unfortunate creatures most probably begged their way up from the +country, and, while inmates here, owed their subsistence to charitable +contributions, and, when cured, had to beg their way home again. There +was also the following entry in another book, date about 1695:— + + “Thomas Pirkin, a soldier under Captain John Callipfield, in + Brigadier Solwin’s regiment, died in Hospital in August last past.” + +Like its origin, its end is obscure: I cannot trace when, or from what +causes, its useful and Christian career was terminated. It was certainly +existing when Newcourt was collecting materials for his “Repertorium,” +published in 1720, and that is the last allusion to it I can find. + +It has always been traditionally related in Knightsbridge, that during +the fatal year of the plague, 1666, the institution was for a while given +up to those who had been attacked by that scourge; and it is also said +that the enclosed plot on the Green was the spot where its victims, here +and elsewhere in the locality, were buried. + +In Butler’s “Hudibras” (III. c. ii. v. 1110), among other charges Cooper +urges against the Presbyterians is, that they + + “Fill’d Bedlam with predestination, + And Knightsbridge with illumination.” + +And the last editor of Gray’s “Hudibras” supposes that by the +Presbyterian Illuminati here, Butler alluded to the unfortunate inmates +of this Lazar-house! {58a} + +There were three other similar establishments in the suburbs of +London—namely, at Southwark, Kingsland, and Mile-end. Great care was +taken that those afflicted with leprosy, or other such disorder, should +be immediately conveyed to one of these places. The law was strictly +carried out, and where resistance was made, the sufferers were tied to +horses, and dragged thither. {58b} + +That the chapel attached to this hospital was of ancient foundation, we +may justly infer from its being described as “very old and ruinous, and +ready to fall,” as far back as 1629. In that year, for that cause, the +inhabitants petitioned Laud, who then filled the see of London, for leave +to rebuild it at their own cost, it being the place to which they usually +resorted “to perform their religious duties and devotions.” The Bishop, +by his licence, dated July 7th, 1629, gave them permission so to do (the +consent of the vicar and churchwardens of St. Martin’s being first +obtained), “therein to frequent Divine Service and sermons, which Divine +offices were to be performed by a sufficient minister, lawfully licensed +from time to time,” by the Bishops of London, or their Chancellors for +the time being; “provided that the said inhabitants, or their families, +did once every quarter of a year repair to their respective parish +churches to perform their devotions, and every Easter receive the Holy +Communion there, and pay all rights, duties, and profits to their +respective ministers to which they did belong,” and this licence was to +continue in force during the pleasure of the Bishops of London. + +The Chapel was accordingly rebuilt, and “consecrated to the use of the +poor of the Hospital,” who “having no maintenance but what they received +of alms,” and not being “able to maintain a curate, repair the Chapel, or +relieve themselves,” it was, on October 3rd, 1634, according to an +arrangement made by the Master of the Hospital, the curate, and some of +the principal inhabitants of Knightsbridge, ordered by Dr. Duck, then +Chancellor of London, that they, or the major part of them, should let +certain pews and seats in such manner as should best effect these +objects; that they should keep a register of their accounts, which were +to be adjusted every six months, reserving to the incumbents of St. +Margaret’s and St. Martin’s their respective rights and emoluments. Dr. +Duck presented one piece of the plate used in the celebration of the +Communion. + +In 1650 the Parliamentary Commissioners appointed to inquire into the +state of ecclesiastical benefices, reported that Knightsbridge Chapel, in +the parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, belonged to a Lazar-house there; +that twenty years before the date of inquiry it was re-edified and +enlarged by public contributions; and that Henry Walker, the minister, +placed there on probation by order of Parliament, received £10 per annum +from the inhabitants. The Commissioners afterwards allowed him £40 per +annum. {60} + +Among the records of the Dean and Chapter is a petition from John +Glassington, surgeon, dated 1654, praying to be admitted Governor of the +Hospital, which his ancestors had always rented of the church at +Westminster; which petition is accompanied by a certificate of Sir John +Thorowgood, one of the Commissioners for Middlesex, and an active public +officer in this locality at the time of the Commonwealth; but I infer the +application was unsuccessful for a time, for in the next year Henry +Walker was presented to the curacy by Cornelius Holland and George Reeve, +_joint-governors_ of the Chapel. John Glassington was, however, Governor +in 1659. + +In 1699, Nicholas Birkhead, who was then lessee of the Chapel, rebuilt +it, and the present building is mainly his work. In 1789, it was +enlarged by its front being brought in a line with the adjoining houses, +a grass-plot eight feet deep having previously occupied this space. The +present front, galleries, &c., were then erected. At the end of the last +century Dixon Gamble, Esq., became lessee, but now it is held direct from +the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, who nominate the incumbent. There +is an endowment of £30 per annum payable by them, but the income is +derived chiefly from the pew rents. + +The Chapel is as plain an edifice as possibly can be; there is no +ornament of any kind about it. It is built of brick, and is 53 feet +long, by 30 feet broad. The gallery is round three sides of the +building; the organ, built by Hancock, 1770, being on the south side. +The communion-table is at the _north_ end. The front terminates in a +pediment, over which is a small cupola containing one bell, thus +inscribed— + + “MRS. MARY BIRKHED GAUE ME, 1733.” + +In the brickwork are let in three stone slabs, the centre of which is +inscribed “Knightsbridge Chapel, 1789;” that on the right is inscribed, +“Rebuilte by Nicho Birkhead, Gouldsmith of London, Anno Dom. 1699;” the +left or western one has the following emphatic dedication cut in it, {62} +“Capella sanctæ Indiuidux Trinitatis.” + +The Communion Plate consists of five pieces, all of silver; they are +inscribed as follows:— + +THE LARGE CHALICE.—Sanctæ et Indiuidæ Trinitati—Rest to the Lord:—Mary +Birkhead (about 1708.) + +THE PATEN.—Sanctæ et Indiuidæ Trinitati.—The Guift of Arthure Duck, +Docter of the Ciuell Lawe and Chancelor of London (1628 or 1629). + +THE SMALL CHALICE.—Sanctæ et Indiuidæ Trinitati.—The Gift of the Right +Honbl. and Right Reverent Willm. Lord Bishop of London. {63a} + +THE PLATE.—The Gift of Elizebeth Knightly to Knights-Bridg Church, Oct. +18th, 1705. {63b} There is a coat of arms engraved on the edge of this +piece, doubtless that of the donor. + +THE FLAGON is modern, being the gift of the Rev. J. Foyster (about 1825). + + [Picture: Old Chapel, Knightsbridge] + +The list of its ministers is, as far as I have been able to trace them, +as follows:— + +1630. Nathaniel White, licensed May 24th. + +1637. William Pope—as curate. + +1640. Nehemia Dod—as curate. + +— Henry Walker on probation till 1655, when he was nominated curate. + +1658. Christopher Lee appears to have been minister, but various other +names also appear in the registers till May 23rd. + +1660. Thomas Wheatley then signs himself “Minister of Knightsbridge.” + +1661 (Feb.). Henry Tilley. + +1662 (April). Nathaniel Barker. + +1663 (April). — Herring (whose name occasionally appears between +1658–60.) + +1666. Robert Hodson, till October 20th. + +1667. Francis Hall, licensed October 25th. + +1669. Henry Herbert or Hubert, S.T.P., licensed April 26th. His +signature, however, occasionally appears before this date. + +1671. John Cull. + +1683. — Sanby, who was minister from January 1st, 1683, to December +31st, 1685. + +1686. Henry Watts, who quitted in May, 1695; strangers appear to have +officiated till + +1696. Thomas Bobar entered on his duties December 4th. He made way for +in + +1699. Philip Horneck, who officiated from March 9th to October 16th. + +1699. Thomas Knaggs appointed curate October 16th; he stayed till +January 10th, 1707, when Francis Jeffrey succeeded. But in February, +1708, Mr. Knaggs returned, and was minister till May 17th, 1713. + +1713. Robert Hicks, to June 10th, 1719. + +1719. Humphry Persehouse, who was minister forty-one years. He resigned +in December, 1759, when + +1760. — Bailey, chaunter of Westminster Abbey, was appointed on January +1st by the Dean and Chapter. I believe he was succeeded by the Rev. John +Gamble, nominated by his father, as lessee. He died in 1811. + +1811. — Harris. {65} + +1822. J. G. Foyster, M.A. of Queen’s College, Cambridge. He published a +volume of sermons preached here. In 1832, Lord Brougham gave him the +rectory of St. Clement’s, Hastings, on which he quitted Knightsbridge. +He died there May 17th, 1855. + +1832. John Martin, who shortly resigned, and was succeeded by the Rev. +Hibbert Binney, D.C.L., the late minister, who, since June, 1838 (when he +was appointed rector of Newbury), left the chapel to the ministry of the +Rev. John Wilson, now D.D., and the present incumbent. Dr. Binney died +June 6th, 1857. Among assistant ministers here have been the Rev. +Alexander Cleeve, author of several devotional works, who died September +23rd, 1805; the Rev. H. J. Symons, LL.D., who read the burial service +over Sir John Moore at Corunna. He gained the notice of the Duke of York +in this pulpit, and quitted it for the Peninsula with a regiment, to +which he was chaplain. + +Baptisms and marriages were formerly solemnised here, and twenty +register-books, some very small, and others quarto and folio size, are +still preserved. Many of them, however, are but duplicates of the +others, and three are memorandum-books of the clerks, with registrations, +expenses, notices, and other entries therein. The _regular register of +baptisms_ has been missing a very long while, but duplicates of several +years have been preserved; with the exception of a few leaves, all the +books of expenses are lost also. {67} I have stated before that the +books of the Lazar-house are also missing, and so is the burial book, if +such ever existed. I shall be glad to quit this statement, so +disgraceful to some of the former officials of the Chapel, and give a few +extracts from those still fortunately preserved. + +Previous to the passing of Lord Hardwick’s celebrated Marriage Act, in +1753, it was not necessary to the validity of a marriage that such should +be performed in a church, or solemnised by any religious ceremony. And +although the law of the Church visited with censure those who neglected +its canon in this respect, yet the Common Law recognised other and more +private modes. Consequently around and in London, at almost all the +chapels, marriages were performed, and at some in a very discreditable +manner. Lord Hardwick’s bill made it necessary to the validity of a +marriage that it should be solemnised in a parish church or public chapel +where banns had been regularly published. The result was, that as at +these chapels banns were not published, marriages therein solemnised were +no longer legal; and among others obliged to succumb to this law, +Knightsbridge Chapel was one. + +It would almost appear that our Chapel had some reputation for its +irregularities in this solemnity, if we are to trust some of the pointed +allusions in the literature of a bygone currency. Shadwell, in his play +of “The Sullen Lovers,” published in 1668, makes Lovell say:— + + “Let’s rally no longer: there is a person at Knightsbridge, that + yokes all stray people together; we’ll to him, he’ll despatch us + presently, and send us away as lovingly as any two fools that ever + yet were condemned to marriage.” + +And in the _Guardian_ (No. 14, March 27, 1713), a run-away marriage is +spoken of as being celebrated “last night at Knightsbridge.” Although +such references seem to illustrate what could be only known as a fact, I +yet think they were but a jocular remark as regards Knightsbridge, and +not indications of a reality. It is scarcely possible to think such +would have been allowed in a place of worship, so much under the control +of the Dean and Chapter as this was; and many memoranda in the books +vindicate its ministers from the charge of winking at wrong, as these +allusions insinuate. Of these curious entries I give the following as +specimens:— + + “MEM.—Thomas Palmer and Ann Clarke: if they come to be maryed, stop + them, and send for Mr. Clarke, next doore to the Mitre Tavern in + Duppin’s Ally, King Street, Westminster.” + + “William Squire, silver-smith, living in Long Acre, who stood father + to Elizabeth Goldingham, who was married to Edward Keyn ye 20th of + ffebruary, 1690/1, does give this account of the said Elizabeth + Goldingham, that she has lodged at his house for 2 years, that she is + no heyress, but ffollows the trade of a manta-maker for her living, + and further he adds that she has neither ffather or mother liveing, + nor no relation who does any way look affter her, but that she is + really at her own disposal.” + +But although such entries show the rule, I must admit that at a certain +period before the time to which the foregoing entries refer, are others +which appear suspicious; and if any irregularities occurred I should +place them between the two extreme dates, shown in the following +extracts:— + +1678, April 28. Jacob Stent and Mary Crouch, secrecy for life. + +1678, April 28. James Gibson and Anne Tarrant, secrecy. + +1678/9, April 28. William Taylor and Elizabeth Steward, great secrecy. + +1680, April 25. Edward Charlton and Alice Robinson, secret for 14 years. + +1682, May 7. Andrew Barry and Mary Elton, secrecy. + +With these curious notices of old systems, habits, and ideas, I proceed +to give some extracts from the registers, selecting those referring to +eminent persons, and which contain allusions of interest and peculiarity. +The earliest entry of baptisms is the following. + +1663, Aug. 28. Will, ye sone of will birke of this hamlett, by Mr. +Herring. + +1667, Jan. 23. Sofiah London, the daughter of Richard London and Mary +his wife. + +A family named London lived in this locality many years, and there are +several entries of the name. Probably the celebrated gardener so named, +who will be afterwards noticed, belonged to it. + +1668. Nathaniel, son of William Ipsley, baptised, September 8th. + +Most probably this name should be Hipsley. Persons of this name were +clerks here many years. + +1670, Nov. 3. James, son of James and Mary Rouse. + +1675, Feb. 19. Dorothy, daughter of James Took, Esq., and Magdalen his +wife. Westminster parish. + +1675, April 11. William Lord, son of Robert and Anne Thurlow. + +A family of this name lived in the St. Margaret’s part of the hamlet in +the 17th century. + +1675, Nov. 5. Joan, daughter of Robert and Hester Gunter, baptised. + +Persons of this name may be traced from this period to the present time +in our locality. It is the earliest entry of the name I have found. + +1676, Jan. 8. Margerite, the daughter of Elizabeth Bedford by Mr. Philip +Thomas. + +1677, June 17. Tristram, the son of Tristram and Anne Huddlestone. + +1677, July 20. George, son of Berkley Trye, Esq., by Mary his wife, +baptised by Jo. Andrews, entered at St. Martin’s. + +The Tryes are a very ancient Gloucestershire family. + +1678, Jan. 3. Robert, son of Robert and Hester Gunter. + +1681, April 11. Anne, the daughter of George Sams by Martha Wheatley, +his servant, as ’tis told me. + +1682, May 27. Thomas Dennis, 30 years of age, was baptised. + +1683, March 4. Jane Rutter was baptised. A black woman. + +1689, June 27. ffrances Wharton, the daughter of Jane Wharton, a child +of base (birth). + +1691, Dec. 21. Hannah Hipsley, daughter of Thomas and Mary Hipsley, by +Mr. Watts. Born Dec. 6th. + +1692, Feb. 14. Margaret Tarbet, the daughter of Margaret Perryvil; being +a woman-child that fell in travail in ye street. + +1702. Mary, daughter of Thomas Werd by Mary his wife, was baptised the +3rd of May by Mr. Killberk. + +This is the last baptism recorded, and only one is entered between +October 16th, 1694, and this date: the others are missing; and though I +know baptisms were occasionally solemnised here even to the end of the +last century, no later record has been preserved. + + + +MARRIAGES. + + +There are no registers of marriages here now, anterior to April 1st, +1658, but in the Bishop’s register are some earlier ones, the first of +which is the following:— + +16th April, 1632. Thomas Herbert, of Hammond Head, com. York, Esq., +bachelor, 24; and Lucy Alexander, spinster, 20, daughter of Sir William +Alexander. + +The earliest in the Chapel register book is as follows:— + +1658, April 1. William Eaton and Jane Hurley were married. + +1661, ffeb. 10. Richard Steele and Eliza Cotterill per me Ant. Dode. + +1666, July 17. William Adkins and Katherine Edwards at ye Bowling Green. + +The Bowling Green was perhaps at the Spring Garden, afterwards to be +noticed. + +1666, Oct. 14. Thomas Clark and Elizabeth Milton. + +1667, April 16. Philip Wharton and Hester Bewley. + +1672, June 11. Sir Philip Harcourte and Eliz Lee married by Mr. Cull. + +1672, July 13. Robert Chaloner, esq., and Dorothy Britten. + +The Chaloners were one of the few old Middlesex families. They were +seated at Chiswick. + +1675, Feb. 16. Christopher Benson and Eliz. Hilliard, belonging to ye +vice chancellor. + +1675, Nov. 24. Gabriel Hipsley and Penelope ffry. + +1676, May 7. Nicholas Brady and Bethia Chapman. + +1676, Oct. 27. Arthur Deavereux and Anne Ireland in pompe Courte in ye +midle temple, 3 payre of stayres. + +1677, July 17. Hugh Middleton, esq., and Mrs. Dorothy Oglander, married +by Mr. Nath. Cole, dd, his majesty’s Chaplain in ordinary. + +1678, Feb. 21. William Harbord, esq., and Mrs. Katherine Russell by Mr. +James Symonds. + +1678, July 23. Sir James Hayes and Grace Clavering. + +1678, August 3. Sir John Lenthall and ye Lady Catherine Lant, secrecy, +by Mr. Joseph Stretch, minister. + +Sir John Lenthall, only son of the Speaker, was Governor of Windsor, +under Cromwell, and knighted by him in 1657. On May 21, 1660, he moved +in the House of Commons that all who had borne arms against the king +should be exempted from pardon; and for such was called to the bar, +reprimanded, and degraded his knighthood. He afterwards lost his seat +upon petition against his return. He died in 1681. + +1678, August 15. Robert Grime and Barbara January, the king’s taylor, +nexte doore to 3 tuns taverne lane. + +1679, April 10. Thomas Lant, esq., and Mrs. Jane Bromfield. + +1681, Feb. 20. John Stibbs and Sarah Cromwell. + +For the last 250 years a family named Cromwell—and which, in the last +century, branched out considerably—has been resident in this part of +Middlesex. Cromwell, the minister of Henry VIII., was born at Putney, +not far out of the county; and Sir Richard Cromwell (grandfather to +Oliver the Protector), signed himself in letters to the “Mauler of +Monasteries” _his most bounden nephew_. In 1691 a Robert Cromwell lived +at Kensal Green, and is probably the person of the same name who sat on +the jury at the trial of Daniel Axtell. For many years a brewery at +Hammersmith has been conducted by persons of this name, not improbably +descendants from the Putney blacksmith. + +1682, January 31st. John Cull, curate of Knightsbridge, and Martha +Turner, by Mr. Yearwood. + +Mr. Cull was minister here twelve years. He died in 1683, and was buried +at Kensington on the 21st September. + +1682, Dec. 24. Sir John Hatton and Mary Hinton. + +1683, July 3rd. Heale Hooke, Baronet, and Hester Underhill by Seyward of +Kensington. + +Sir Hele Hooke, for many years a resident in Kensington Square, died +there in July, 1712, by which the title became extinct. Mr. Seward was +curate there. (See Faulkner’s “History of Kensington.”) + +1685, Sept. 12. David Gunter and Eliz. West. + +1686, Sept. 4. Sir Francis de Geilhausen and Flora Bishop for Feb. 6, +1685. + +1687, Feb. 1. Sir Samuel Morland, Knight, and Mrs. Mary Aylif, secrecy. + +This entry records the unfortunate marriage of the celebrated inventor, +described by himself in such terms of misery, to the diarist Pepys. In +all the biographies of Morland I have referred to, and even in Burke, his +wife’s name is not given, and therefore I presume it has hitherto been +unknown. The wedding was, as the register tells, private; and eighteen +days after it took place, he wrote to Pepys, that, “being in very great +perplexities, and almost distracted for want of moneys,” a person whom he +had befriended in time of need proposed to recommend him an heiress, “who +had 500_l._ per ann. in land, and 4,000_l._ in ready money,” and property +of other kinds. “Believing it,” he writes, “utterly impossible,” that +one whom he had assisted, “should ever be guilty of so black a deed” as +to betray him in his distress, “I was, about a fortnight since, led as a +fool to the stocks, and married a coachman’s daughter, not worth a +shilling,” and whose moral character proved to be none of the purest. +He, procuring evidence (shortly after) of adultery, took the case into +the Ecclesiastical Court, which granted a divorce on that ground on May +17. {78} It was the _fourth_ time Sir Samuel tied the matrimonial knot, +and the _last_. + +1687, May 3. Sir William Moet, and Antonetta Willobe. + +1687, Sept. 1. John Atley and Mary Crumwell. + +1689, Jan. 7. Richard Bailey and Eliz. Shakespeare. + +1690, July 20. Sir Thomas Fautherly and Mrs. Frances Brown. + +1690, July 31. John Lenthall and Eliz. Wildman. + +1693, Jan. 8. Thomas Cromwel and Ann Smith. + +1694, Aug. 12. Edward Shaxspear and Eliz. Ward. + +1695, May 26. Tristram Huddleston, Gentleman of St. James’, Wmr., and +Mrs. Mary Darker of the same. + +1695, Nov. 16. John Baptist Renoult, Minister of the parish of St. +Ann’s, Westminster, and Amery Henri, Widd. + +1696, July 23. John Line of St. Martin’s Neat Houses, and Dorothy ffall, +spinster of St. Margaret’s, Westminster. + +1697, Jan. 30. Jasper Arnold, Gent., of St. James, Westminster, and +Antonett Culmer of Kensington, spinster. + +The Arnolds were a numerous and opulent family long resident in +Westminster. Families of the same name, and probably connected, also +resided in Knightsbridge and Kensington for above a century. One of the +Westminster Arnolds was a brewer, and a juryman on the trial of the Seven +Bishops. (See “Macaulay’s History.”) + +1698, August 21. George Cumming, Taylor, at ye Woolstaple, near great +Tom, St. Margaret’s, Westminster, and Mary Watson of the same place. + +1698, Dec. 18. William ffinton, Life Guardsman in college-street, near +ye Black dog: Catherine Llewyllen in Dean’s Yard, Westmr. + +(Black Dog Alley still exists in College Street.) + +1699, Jan. 1. Thomas Lewsie, peruke maker in ye pel-mel at ye sign of ye +two pidgeons, in St. James’ Westmr, and Mary pigot, of St. Paul’s, Covent +Garden, in maiden lane. + +1699, Jan. 23. Richard Green, Barber, in St. Brides, at ye Barber’s pole +near ffleet-bridge, ye corner house but one, and Mary Truby of ye same +place. + +1699, May 23. Thomas Fenwick of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, servt to +Storey at ye Park Gate, and Mary Gregory of ye same. + +This notice is curious: Story’s Gate, named from the person here noticed, +is the entrance into St. James’s Park from Bridge Street. Story was +keeper of the Aviary to Charles II., hence Birdcage Walk. + +1699, August 18. Cornelius Vander Velde, Limner, of St. Giles’, living +in Dyot street, over agt ye Sparrow’s Nest, and Bernada Vander Hagen, of +ye same. + +Cornelius Vander Velde was brother to William Vander Velde the elder, the +great painter of sea pieces. He was himself a painter of nautical +subjects, and in the employ of Charles II. This is an addition to +Walpole’s notices. + +1699, Nov. 16. Charles Goring, Gentleman of Heysdown, in the parish of +Washington, and Frances Bridger of Hams in ye same county. (Sussex) by +Mr. Knaggs. + +Mr. Goring afterwards succeeded to the baronetcy. + +1700, July 30. Robt Walpole, Esquire, of Houghton in ye County of +Norfolk, and Katharine Shorter, of ye Parish of St. James, Westm. by Mr. +Prevoste. + +This record is that of the celebrated minister of the first two Georges. +His wife was daughter of a Lord Mayor of London, and mother of the +celebrated Horace. + +1700, Nov. 22. Miles Pennington, Gent., living in Tuttle Street, at ye +sign of ye Green Dragon, and Eliz. D’oyley of the same. + +1703, March 4. John Oldmixon and Elizabeth Parrey. + +1703, Dec. 25. Benjamin Houghton and Eliz. Mandeville. + +1704, April 28. John Every, Esq., and ye Honble Martha Thompson. + +Mr. Every afterwards succeeded his brother in the baronetcy; his wife was +daughter of John, Lord Haversham. + +1705, Jan. 6. Sir William Humphrey and Eleanor Lancashire. + +Sir William was Lord Mayor in the first year of George I., and +entertaining the new king at Guildhall, was made a baronet. His wife was +widow of a London merchant. + +1705, Jan. 8. Charles Danvers and Margaret Evans. + +Danvers has been a name in Chelsea these 250 years past, and is still to +be found there. Sir John Danvers, of Chelsea, was one who signed the +death-warrant of Charles I. + +1705, May 23. Henry Graham, Esq., and Mary, Countess of Darentwater. + +This lady was the youngest natural daughter of Charles II., by Mrs. Davis +the actress, and known before marriage as Lady Mary Tudor. On August 18, +1687, being then only in her fourteenth year, she was married to Edward +Radcliffe, afterwards second earl of Derwentwater, by whom she became +mother of that ill-fated earl executed on Tower Hill for his share in the +Rebellion of 1715; of Charles Radcliffe, who also perished on the +scaffold thirty years after, and of two other children. Her husband, +from whom she separated in 1700, died April 29, 1705; and within a month, +as this record shows, she married Henry Graham of Levens, Esq., who died +the following year. She married thirdly James Rooke, whom she likewise +survived. She died at Paris, November 5, 1726, in her fifty-fourth year. + +1710, May 30. Sir Tho. Robinson, Baronet, and Mrs. Elizabeth Hare by +license. Tho. Yalden, S.T.P. + +Sir Thomas Robinson, grandson of Sir Thomas Robinson, killed in jumping +from a window to escape from a fire in his chambers in the Temple. His +wife was daughter of Sir Thomas Hare of Stow Bardolph. The officiating +clergyman was doubtless the poet of that name. + +1710, Dec. 13. Charles May, esq., and Mrs. Jane Middleton. + +1712, Jan. 19. Mr. Martin Purcell and Mrs. Mary Glagg. + +1721, June 19. Charles Vanbrugh, esq., of the parish of St. Martin in +the Fields, and Anne Burt of ye same, married by Dr. Hough, rector of St. +George’s. + +Most probably this gentleman was brother of the celebrated architect and +dramatist, Sir John Vanbrugh. His brother Charles was baptised Feb. 27, +1680. + +1721, July 22. The Hon. Josias Burchett of St. Martin in ye Feilds, +esq., widower, and Margaret Aris, of St. Anne’s, Westminster, widow. + +1726, June 8. Francis Bytheway of St. Clement’s Danes, Batchelor, and +Ann Persehouse of St. Martin’s in ye feilds, spinster. + +1730, May 7. Noel Broxholme, M.D., St. James, Bachelor, 40, and Mrs. Amy +Dowdeswell, St. Ann’s Westminster, widow. + +1741, May 26. The Rev. Mr. John Pettingall of St. Margaret’s, +Westminster, Batch: and Susanna Long of ye same, spinster. + +Mr. Pettingall was minister of Duke Street Chapel, Westminster. + +1752, Dec. 2. John Fry ye younger, of Bromley in ye County of Middx, and +Elizabeth Eveleigh, of ye same, spins. + +This is the last entry; and the blank pages after show it to have been +the last marriage solemnised here. + +In Wilkinson’s “Londina” the following curious extracts from the Accounts +are given:— + + Monye laid out for and toward ye reparation of the said Chappell as + followeth: + + * October 17, 1655. +To the plumer for a gutter of lead 18 of April, 01 10 3 +1656 (Qy. 1655) +To Edward Rowles 00 08 3 +To Robert Darwinn, for mendinge the great window 00 12 0 +nexte the pulpit + * 1656. +To John Fitzwalter and his labourers 00 06 0 +ffor lathes, nails, and lime, and sand 00 06 0 +ffor three hundred of tiles 00 09 0 +To Rowles his man for mendinge the Chappell 00 02 0 +doore, and bell + * 24th October, 1657. +To Thomas Austin and his labourers 01 04 8 +To Darwinne for mendinge the north windows 00 08 0 + +Memorandum undated, but I think 1658 is the year:— + + Monnies gathered by the inhabitants of Knightsbridge for & towards + the Reparations of the Chappell called Trinitie Chappell, belonginge + to the Hospitale, Spittle, or Lazar House of Knightsbridge: + + lb. s. d. +The Lady Stonehouse 00 10 0 +Mr. Hall 00 05 0 +Mr. Pate 00 02 0 +Mr. Callaway 00 02 0 +Mr. White 00 02 6 +Mr. Harris 00 02 0 +Mr. Boll 00 01 6 +Mr. Lewis 00 01 0 +Goodman Paldin 00 01 0 +Mr. Hickman 00 01 0 + Som toto 01 08 0 + + More Collected the 29th day of June at the Chappell doore at the + Requeste of Mr. Anthony dod, minister of Paddington: + + 01 01 1 + 1 8 0 + 2 9 1 + + More Collected the 01th day of April att Chappell doore att the + Request of Mr. Lee, Minister now present of Trinitie Chappell of + Knightsbrige the some of fiftye eight shillings two-pence, by us 58s. + 2d. + + 2 18 2 + + Christopher Lee + Tho. Turner + Richard Halloway. + + July, 1659. + +Received of the Lady Langton (for her entrance 02 00 0 +into her yere) towards the repayringe of the +Chappell, the some of 2 +Received of Mr. Hall the same month 00 02 6 + + * The 9th of June, 1659. {86} + + Received of John Glassington, Governour of the Hospital of + Knightsbridge the some of 10s.—which was collected for a breefe for + and towards the losses by fire in the parish of Brides’, London, I + say received by me, + + Witness, Anthony Dod. + + JOHN GRAY. + + * The 27th Day of ffebr, 1658. + + Then received of Mr. Glassington of the Hospitall of Knightsbridge, + for the use of the Bayliffe and Burgesses of East Thetford (Retford), + in the County of Nottingham, the some of ten shillings, which was + gathered for the rebuilding of the church of East Thetford aforesaid. + + THO. MASON. + +The following entry refers, perhaps, to the law which made conformity to +the Church of England a necessary qualification for official employment:— + + Mr. Gamaleon Capell and Mr. John Adams received the Communion in + Trinitie Chappell at Knightsbridge the 14th day of July, 1680. + +And the next is an instance of the operation of a very absurd and immoral +law:— + + August ye 6, 1695. Recd of Mr. Tho. Hipsley {87} ten pounds and + seven shillings and six pence by order of ye Comishenors for + Marridges in Knightsbridge Chappell, at to shillings and six pence + per Marridg: + + By us + + JOS. RADLIFF + LAINE MEASE. + +The next extract informs us the rental received by the Birkheads as +lessees; for I presume it to be a receipt for the whole year:— + + Recd the third day of Jany, 1701, of Mr. Thomas Hipsley the sum of + fforty nine pounds for Rent, allowing all the King’s Taxes to + Christmas day last past, it being in full for Rent to the said + Christmas day. p. me, + + MARY BIRKHEAD. + +In Chelsea Register (1699) is the following entry—“Gave to the Beadle of +Knightsbridge, {88} yt brought Sir Thomas Ogle’s childrens clothes, at +their first coming to the parish 0 . 0 . 6.” + +Regarding burials, the only entry in the books recording such is the +following:—“Mrs. Smith the wife of Edward Smith of Bromtone deced the 5th +day of March, and was bereed the 6th day of ye same month 1667.” If +persons were interred here in any number, the interments ceased most +probably before 1683, when Mr. Cull was buried at Kensington. No +register of such is to be found now, although the tradition was very +strong that the enclosure on the Green was consecrated for the resting +place of the dead. + +Before concluding this account of the Chapel I must notice the Birkhead +family, with whom it was so many years connected. They appear to have +held considerable property in the hamlet, but I have not been able to +trace their history, other than what the following extracts from the +registers inform us:— + +1672 May 28th. “Nicholas Birkhead and Susan Robinson, married by Dr. +Littleton.” + +This, doubtless, was the “gouldsmith” who “rebuilte” the chapel: Dr. +Littleton was rector of Chelsea, and celebrated for his Dictionary and +other literary productions. + +1678. Nicholas ye son of Nicholas Birkhead, junior, by Susanna his wife, +bapt. Aprill 30th 1678: in the parish of Buttolphe’s, Aldersgate, London. + +This relates evidently to the same person: the other notices are as +follow:— + +1688 July 1. John Clements and Eliz. Birkhead. + +1689 Aug 20. Edward Nowell and Eliz. Birkhead. + +1693 April 27. Thomas Rouse and Hester Birkhead. + +1694 July 15. Richard Wright and Eliz. Birkhead. + +1694 Aug 27. James Birkhead, Joyner, of St. Andrews, Holborn; and Anne +Jinks, spinster of St. Giles’ in ye fields. + +1705 Feb 10. John Birkhead and Ann Gurney. + +1723 June 18. Edward Brind of Buckingham, Batch, and Elizabeth Birkhead, +of St. Martin’s in ye fields, spinster. {90} + +Here my account of this ancient foundation, which has afforded, bodily +and spiritually, aid to thousands, before the more splendid structures +which now eclipse it were erected, must close. I own I feel a deep +interest in the old place, shorn as it is of its usefulness in great +measure; and it is with regret I am compelled to bear witness against +those superiors of the venerable Abbey, to which it was attached, for +permitting its decay to go on, without one single attempt to renovate it +with fresh life and vigour. I cannot find that they have for the last +150 years aided it, or held out the parental hand in any way. They have +appointed its ministers, have allowed them a miserable endowment, and +this is the sum of their support. With the rentals they have drawn from +Knightsbridge for so lengthened a period, Church and Hospital ought now +to stand, both flourishing in useful prosperity, monuments alike to the +piety of our ancestors, and to the conservative care of their +descendants, who had striven to emulate their goodness by the extension +of the blessings their bounty bestowed. Is it so, that in this district +nothing can be done in the nineteenth to remedy the faults of the +eighteenth century? + +In connection with Trinity Chapel was a school, founded in 1783, chiefly +by the exertions of John Read, who will be hereafter further noticed. +The education afforded was substantially good, better than most schools +of the same kind generally afforded, and was entirely free. Its support +was derived from the contributions of the public, and collections at the +Chapel. For many years the number was limited to 34 boys and 18 girls, +but in 1832 it was increased to 45 boys and 25 girls, beyond which number +the income of the Committee would not allow them to extend. To Mr. +Kember, its Treasurer, for many years the institution mainly owed its +existence; but at length, in 1844, the subscribers at a general meeting +transferred the institution, and attached it to the new church of St. +Paul. + +Before this school was founded it would seem one of a similar kind had +previously existed, for Northvouck mentions one here, but with 6 boys and +6 girls only. + + * * * * * + +ST. PAUL’S CHURCH.—In this section the two churches to which the Hamlet +of Knightsbridge mainly pertains will be described. St. Paul’s claims +priority. + +The first stone of St. Paul’s was laid November 6th, 1840, in presence of +nearly 500 persons, by George Drummond, Esq., of Wilton Crescent. The +want of Church accommodation had been greatly felt, and in this year +measures were taken to realise that want. Public subscriptions were +commenced, and a large sum subscribed; {92} but after the work had for +some time been progressed with, it was stopped from lack of resources; +this difficulty was, however, surmounted, and on June 30th, 1843, the +edifice was consecrated by Dr. Blomfield, Bishop of London, who preached +on the occasion from the 4th chapter of St. John’s Gospel, verse 14. + +The site on which it stands was formerly an exercising ground belonging +to the foot-barrack, and was given by the Marquis of Westminster (who +likewise contributed £500 towards the organ), the lease being purchased +of the late Mr. Phillips. + +The Church is one of the most handsome of modern architecture in London, +and a great credit to its designer Mr. T. Cundy. Its style is that known +as Early Perpendicular; it is 106 feet in length, by 59 feet 6 inches in +breadth; the height is nearly 50 feet. It consists of a nave and two +aisles, with a chancel at the east end on an ascent of four steps; around +the Church, along three of its sides, galleries are placed; in the west +gallery is the organ, and on this side are also galleries above for the +school children. At the west end is a lofty and very handsome tower, +having an arch open on three sides at its base to form the porch, above +which it is carried to the height of 121 feet, in two storeys, each +containing a large and beautiful window, sides and front. It terminates +with an embattled parapet of open-work, and eight crocketted pinnacles, +four of which rise from the angles. The tower contains a clock by Dent, +and three bells by Meares; the tenor weighs 22 cwt. 11 lbs., second 8 +cwt, the small one 6 cwt. 4 lbs. + + [Picture: St. Paul’s Church] + +The chancel forms a very handsome termination to the interior; the +reading-desk and pulpit respectively occupy places at the north and south +corners of its entrance, while in advance, occupying a central position, +is the lectern, presented by the Rev. W. Bennett. In the south side of +the chancel are three _sedillæ_; over the Communion table are three +compartments of stonework, on which are inscribed the Lord’s Prayer, the +Ten Commandments, and the Creed; above the stonework it terminates in a +_rere-dos_, over which is the great window of stained glass by Wailes, +pourtraying the Prophets and the Twelve Apostles. This window and +ornamental stonework cost about £1,000. + +The font is of Caen stone, of beautiful design, and five feet eight +inches in height; it is of octagonal form, the panels being divided by +buttresses, the projecting portion of each resting on an angel, each +angel either clasping its hands, or holding a shield or book bearing some +symbol corresponding with the subject of the panel immediately preceding. +Under each panel is a boss, representing some plant answering to the +subject on the panel. The shaft, supporting the whole, is placed on two +steps; it consists of eight mullioned arches, and as many buttresses +decorated. It is the work of Mr. Charles Physick, of Gower Street, and +was presented by the Rev. D. A. Beaufort, Mr. Bennett’s successor at +Portman Chapel. Its cost was £100. + +The organ is a very powerful one; its case was designed by Mr. Cundy, and +harmonises with the general character of the Church. It covers 14 feet +square, and is 30 feet high. + +The roof is open, and is said to be the largest unsupported by pillars of +any ecclesiastical edifice in the metropolis. It is of timber, and the +tie beams are filled with tracery. + +Of the eight handsome windows of each side of the church, two in the +north and six in the south are filled with stained glass, all by Wailes, +of Newcastle, representing the most remarkable scenes and actions of St. +Paul, and of those Apostles whose names are to be read on each window. +Four of these windows were erected to the memory of various members of +his family by J. T. Horne, Esq.; one to John Backhouse, Esq., of the +Foreign Office, born October 14th, 1784, died November 13th, 1845; one to +the late Viscount Newry, to the Misses Alice and Caroline Colvile, and +one to Miss Caroline Carr. There is one also to Patrick Fraser Tytler, +born August 30th, 1791, died December 24th, 1849: he was author of “A +History of Scotland,” “Lives of Sir Walter Raleigh,” “Henry VIII.,” and +other works that have assumed a standard position in our literature. + +The church will hold nearly 1,600 persons; 600 of the sittings are free. + +The Rev. W. J. E. Bennett was nominated to the incumbency by the Bishop +of London; but certain differences having arisen between him and the +Bishop, he resigned in March, 1850, when the Hon. and Rev. Robert Liddell +was appointed in his stead. + +The following is a list of the Churchwardens:—September 30, 1845, Hon. +Eliot Yorke, M.P.; Charles Briscoe. (These gentlemen were re-elected +also for the three following years.) 1849, April 10, Sir John E. +Harington, Bart.; Charles Briscoe. 1850, Sir J. E. Harington; Charles +Briscoe. 1851, April 21, T. H. Sotheron, Esq., M.P.; J. H. Tuck. 1852, +April 13, Viscount Castlereagh; J. H. Tuck. 1853, March 29, T. H. Horne, +Esq.; Charles Westerton. 1854, April 18. This was a contested election: +opposition having been made by Mr. Westerton to the mode of conducting +Divine Service, and other matters connected with the Church, he was +opposed by Thos. Davidson, Esq.; but after a poll, the numbers were +declared to be—for Mr. Westerton, 203; Mr. Davidson, 200. Mr. Horne was +renominated; but a caveat being entered against this election, the case +came on for adjudication before Dr. Phillimore, in the Archdeacon’s +Court, on May 30th, 1854, who declared the election null, in consequence +of the rejection of the votes of certain parishioners; and a new election +taking place on June 15th, the same gentlemen were again nominated, and, +after a poll of two days’ duration, the result was declared to be—for Mr. +Westerton, 651; Mr. Davidson, 323. 1855, April 10, W. H. Jackson, Esq.; +Charles Westerton: and the same gentlemen still fill the office. + +ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH.—This handsome edifice was consecrated by the late +Bishop Blomfield on Saturday, July 21st, 1849. It was erected to supply +a very great want, for previously this isolated portion of St. Margaret’s +parish was destitute of a place of worship for the members of the Church +of England. Within the last twenty years the population has vastly +increased; and houses of first-class character have covered the +nursery-grounds and fields formerly abounding. + +All Saints’ Church was erected from the designs of Mr. Vulliamy, in the +Lombardic or Byzantine style of architecture, and when completed will be +one of the most original and striking edifices in London. It consists of +a nave, and side aisles, divided by pillars polished to imitate marble, +terminating in an apse, forming the chancel, and the roof of which is a +blue ground spangled with gold. Galleries are erected round three sides; +in the western one is a very fine organ. The roof is open, of woodwork, +and harmonises pleasingly with the other parts of the building, although +comparatively plain. + +A tower at the west end, and a suitable enclosure before the entrance, +yet remain to be accomplished, ere the work of completion is done. The +estimated cost of these works amounts to £2,100; and it is to be hoped +that the necessary funds may not be long forthcoming, to hinder their +commencement. + +The minister is the Rev. William Harness, known for his edition of +Shakspeare and other contributions to current literature; and the senior +curate is the Rev. Mackenzie Walcot, whose “Memorials of Westminster,” +and other works on the ancient city, have rendered him its most popular +and pleasing historian. + +Charles R. Harford and James Baber, Esqs., were the first chosen +churchwardens, and filled the office continuously till the present year, +when W. Aldridge, Esq., was instituted in room of Mr. Harford. + +ALBERT GATE occupies an arched surface over the bed of the Westbourne, +which was here open and crossed by two bridges, one just within the Park, +and erected about 1734; the other, the old bridge from which our Hamlet +is named. On its west side was the “Fox and Bull;” on its east a low +court of very old houses, named after the “White Hart,” which, with these +other buildings and the Cannon Brewhouse, were entirely removed by +authority of an Act of Parliament (4 Vict., c. 12) passed March 10th, +1841, which empowered the Commissioners of Works to purchase the land on +which these tenements stood and the buildings thereon, for the purpose of +forming a new entrance to Hyde Park. Accordingly, these improvements +were carried out, and the iron gates, which are of a very chaste design, +were fixed August 9th, 1845. The two stags on the side pedestals +formerly performed the same watch and ward at the Ranger’s Lodge in the +Green Park. They were modelled from a pair of prints by Bartolozzi. + + [Picture: “The Westbourne”—Looking North from Knightsbridge] + +Part of the ground bought by the commissioners they leased for +ninety-nine years to Mr. Thomas Cubitt, who immediately built on the +eastern side a large mansion, for which it is said Mr. Hudson, M.P., paid +him £15,000. It is now the residence of the French Ambassador: here our +Queen paid a visit in state on May 12, 1854; and the Emperor Napoleon +held a Levee on his visit to her in May, 1855. + +This house was at first the butt of the London wits, who named it +Gibraltar House, affirming it would _never be taken_. This opinion did +not deter Mr. Cubitt from erecting another, now the London and County +Bank Branch; and a third is now nearly finished for Captain Layland. +Architecturally, there is nothing in these mansions to admire, +notwithstanding the arrogance with which they force attention. Though so +gigantic, they are not imposing; of an unusual altitude, they are +destitute of ornament, and can only be likened to some “tall bullies,” +determined even in vulgarity to lord over their fellows. + +BROMPTON ROAD: a row of houses built about twenty years since on the +garden of Grosvenor House. The National School House attached to +Brompton Church was built in 1841, in the Tudor style, from designs by +Mr. George Godwin. + +ENNISMORE PLACE and TERRACE, built by Elger on land belonging to the Earl +of Listowel, from whose second title the name is derived; commenced in +1848, and finished in 1855. Along the curve at the bottom of the Terrace +(now called Princes Terrace) the boundary of St. Margaret’s parish abuts +on that of Kensington. No. 11, Princes Terrace, is the residence of Mr. +Bonamy Price. + +HIGH ROAD: a heterogeneous row of houses between the Green and Rutland +Gate is so called. They are built without any attempt at uniformity, and +are generally of a mean description. Parts of the western end are now +called Trevor Terrace, and South Place. The oldest houses in the Hamlet +are in High Road: Chatham House (why so called I know not), built in +1688, now a broker’s, was for many years a boarding-school, and +originally surrounded by a garden. Three doors beyond is an ancient inn, +now known as the “Rose and Crown,” but formerly the “Oliver Cromwell,” +and which has been licensed above three hundred years. It is the oldest +house in Knightsbridge, was formerly its largest inn, and not improbably +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, and an inscription to that effect was till lately painted +in front of the house; {104} and on an ornamental piece of plaster-work +was formerly emblazoned the great Protector’s coat-of-arms. Although I +have not been able to find any mention of this place in connection with +the Civil War, or with Cromwell, yet nothing is more certain than that +(as I have before noticed) our neighbourhood was frequently the scene of +skirmishes during that contest, or more probable than that it should be +so, considering it was the main road from the west to the capital. In +1647 the Parliament Army was encamped about here, and Fairfax’s +head-quarters were for awhile at Holland House; so also immediately +before and after the fight at Brentford. At all events, Mr. Corbould, +the distinguished painter, took this old inn as a subject; and “The Old +Hostelrie at Knightsbridge,” exhibited in 1849 at St. George’s Gallery, +formed a pleasing and animating picture. He laid the scene as early as +1497; and opposite the inn stands a well, surmounted by a figure of St. +George, while beyond is the spacious green, the meandering stream, the +bridge over it, surmounted by an embattled tower; while still further +appears the old hospital and chapel. All this is likely to be summarily +condemned as the painter’s fancy, but it nevertheless proves that an +interest in the place was not confined to the lower orders alone. The +house has of late been much modernised, and in 1853 had a narrow escape +from destruction by fire; but enough still remains in its peculiar +chimneys, oval-shaped windows, the low rooms, large yard and extensive +stabling, with the galleries above and office-like places beneath, to +testify to its antiquity and former importance. {106} + +The “Rising Sun” was for many years the residence of Major Eyre of the +Volunteers. It is built of red brick, and on the coping is the date 16—. +There was formerly much carved work about the rooms, but all has +disappeared: a plain, old-fashioned staircase still exists. It has not +been licensed above thirty years. + +Trevor Terrace consists of but ten houses. At the last, Mr. Pocock, the +architect, resides. + +At the corner of South Place, which contains only three houses, is the +celebrated floor-cloth manufactory belonging to Mr. Baber. It was the +earliest one ever established, and first erected, in 1754, by Nathan +Smith. The first block used for patterns was cut by him, and is still +preserved in the factory. A woodcut of it is given in “Dodd’s British +Manufactures,” where full particulars of the process of this manufacture +are given. In 1794 the building was entirely destroyed by fire, but +restored the ensuing year; the whole was rebuilt in 1824, and presents a +remarkable appearance from its great height. At the north end is a +clock, over which is placed a figure of Time cut in stone. + +The adjoining house (No. 2) was formerly called the “Parsonage,” because +inhabited by the Rev. J. Gamble, of Trinity Chapel. This gentleman was +in 1796 appointed Chaplain of the Forces, and in 1799 Rector of +Alphamstone and Bradwell-juxta-Mare, Essex. For many years also he was +private chaplain to the Duke of York, who generally attended his ministry +at the Chapel. Mr. Gamble was a Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, a +very able preacher, and a highly popular man. He died in this house July +27, 1811. + +Of late years this unpretending house has gained a world-wide celebrity, +having been the residence of Edward Sterling, the “Thunderer of the +Times.” + +Edward Sterling was born at Waterford on the 27th February, 1773. He +entered Trinity College, Dublin, and qualifying himself for the bar, was +duly called thereto; when the Irish Rebellion breaking out, in his +twenty-fifth year, the barristers resolved to raise a corps of +volunteers; and thus a complete change in Sterling’s career was +commenced. He fought at Vinegar Hill, and doubtless fought well. He +quitted the bar, joined the Cheshire Militia, whence he and his company +afterwards volunteered into the line. In 1805 the regiment was +disbanded, and he removed to Kaimes Castle, Bute, where he cultivated a +farm. Afterwards he went into Wales, and was appointed Adjutant of the +Glamorgan Militia; and in 1810 published a pamphlet on Military Reform. +It was dedicated to the Duke of Kent, and went through a second edition +the following year. + +In 1812 he wrote a series of letters to the _Times_, under the signature +of “Vetus,” which were afterwards collected and reprinted. In 1814 he +was at Paris, and witnessed the entry of Napoleon after his return from +Elba. He made the best of his way to London, which he never quitted as a +residence again. He resided at various places in the suburbs, but +ultimately settled at Knightsbridge, a more congenial home with its +military air; and from this modest nook poured forth the able, +torrent-like articles, which gained their unknown author the title of the +“Thunderer.” + +He died here in the year 1847; his wife, the excellent mother of John +Sterling, died here also, on April 16th, 1843. {109} + +This house was also a home to John Sterling when in London; and here +Carlyle, Maurice, Mill, and other gifted men, visited him. It is now the +residence of his brother, Colonel Sterling; and here also came, after his +honourable campaign in the Crimea, the brave Sir Colin Campbell, who for +his services in India was created Lord Clyde. + +KENT HOUSE.—H.R.H. the Duke of Kent, about fifty years ago, rented a +small house, to which he added till it attained its present size, and was +named after him, Kent House. He resided here but a few years. After +him, Lord George Seymour inhabited it; and in 1817 the Hon. George +Villiers resided here. He was next brother and heir-presumptive to the +second Earl of Clarendon, and held several official employments. He +married the Hon. Theresa Parker, only daughter of John, first Lord +Boringdon, and brother of the Earl of Morley, and died at Kent House, +March 21st, 1827, leaving a numerous family, three of whom at least have +attained a high reputation, viz., the present Earl of Clarendon, the Hon. +C. P. Villiers, M.P. for Wolverhampton, and Lady Theresa Lewis, author of +“The Friends and Contemporaries of Lord Chancellor Clarendon.” + +At Kent House (divided now) reside Earl Morley, and Sir G. C. Lewis, the +late Chancellor of the Exchequer. He married Lady Theresa (noticed +above), relict of P. H. Lister, Esq., and is author of many important +historical and political works, some of which were written in this house. + +STRATHEDEN HOUSE.—This was many years the residence of a highly respected +family named Marsh. Charles Marsh, Esq., was a magistrate of the county, +and William Marsh was senior partner in the house of Marsh, Graham, and +Co., with which the forgeries of Fauntleroy were so interwoven. In the +misfortunes occasioned by this man Mr. Marsh was innocently, but +bitterly, involved. He was a very public spirited man, and greatly +respected in the locality. + +Stratheden House was afterwards the residence of Francis Bassett, Lord de +Dunstanville. He was created baronet for his prompt heading of the +Cornish miners, and bringing them to the relief of Plymouth, when the +combined fleets of France and Spain cast anchor in the Sound in 1779. He +sat in the House of Commons many years, supporting Lord North, and +afterwards Pitt, by whom, in 1799, he was raised to the peerage. He +supported the Tory interest in the Upper House, and, though not a +prominent member, drew down on him the ire of the veteran reformer, +Cartwright. He died in 1835. + +This mansion is now the town residence of Lord Campbell and Lady +Stratheden, after whom it is named. The first volume of the “Lives of +the Chancellors” is dated from this house. + +HIGH ROW extends from Albert Gate Houses to the Barracks; part of it, in +an absurd spirit of sycophancy, is now called Albert Terrace. At the +west side of the stream, till the improvements were effected, stood a +celebrated inn, known as the “Fox and Bull,” traditionally said to have +been founded in the time of Elizabeth, and used by her on her visits to +Lord Burleigh at Brompton. Its curious sign is said to be the only one +of the kind existing. At the “Fox and Bull” 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 while its head; a Mr. Shaw, of the War Office, supplied +the _London Gazette_; and W. Harris, of Covent Garden Theatre, his +play-bills. {112a} Sir Joshua Reynolds is said to have occasionally been +a visitor, as also Sir W. Wynn, the patron of Ryland; and George Morland +frequently so. The sign was once painted by Sir Joshua, and hung till +1807, when it was blown down and destroyed in a storm. The house is +referred to in the “Tatler,” No. 259. + +The “Fox and Bull” was for many years the receiving house of the Royal +Humane Society; {112b} and here was brought the poor frame of the first +wife of the poet Shelley, who had drowned herself in the Serpentine. She +had lodged in Hans Place, a short time before, and was known to the +landlord’s daughter, Miss Mary Ann Phillips; hence, her remains were +treated “tenderly,” and laid out “with care.” An inquest was held, and a +verdict returned, which saved her the revolting burial then awarded to +the suicide. + +A magistrate used to sit here once a-week: the last was Mr. Bond, of +Sloane Street. The present is the third house that has existed under the +same sign. The first was undoubtedly of Elizabethan build; most of its +rooms were panelled and carved, with ornamented ceilings, &c.; and it was +not till 1799 that the immense fire-places and dog-irons were removed for +stoves. This house was pulled down about 1836, and the second +immediately built on its site; this stood till the alterations at Albert +Gate made necessary the removal of the business to its present situation. + +In 1809 the landlord, digging to form a grain pit for his cows, +discovered six entire male skeletons, supposed to be remains of some who +had been slain (perhaps attempting to cross the bridge) in the Civil War. + +The Cannon Brewhouse, a large unsightly brick building, occupied the +remainder of the site of the Albert Gate houses. Formerly here stood a +row of mean dwellings, with open cellars in front, and at the west end a +filthy court. They were all removed for the brewhouse, the first stone +of which was laid by the late Mr. James Goding, on April 10th, 1804; at +the top was a huge wooden cannon. {114} In 1841 the whole was pulled +down, and for ten years the ground was unoccupied; in 1851 a temporary +building for the Chinese Collection of Mr. Dunn was erected, which in +1852 made way for the large mansion not yet entirely finished. + +The house now inhabited by Mr. Murray was, rather more than thirty years +since, the residence of Lady Ann Hamilton—the faithful attendant of +Caroline of Brunswick. Afterwards Mr. Chalon, and then Mr. Davis, both +artists of repute, inhabited it. To Mr. Davis succeeded Mr. White, a +naturalist, who had here a large collection of wild beasts and birds. I +have heard he was tutor to Van Amburgh. + +Mr. Woodburn, when living supposed to be the first judge in matters +relating to ancient art, once lived in this house. He died in 1854. The +staircases still bear proof of the residence of these artists here. + +Captain Corbet, a comrade of St. Vincent, lived at No. 19; Ozias Humphry +at 13; Maurice Morgann, opposite Sloane Street, John Taylor, the singer, +Paul Bedford (for several years at 18), Mr. Justice Burton, and Mr. +McCarthy, the sculptor, at 17—were all residents of High Row. Of these, +Humphry will be noticed here. He was born at Honiton in 1742; and early +evincing a taste for drawing, was taken from the Grammar School of his +native town and sent to London, where he prosecuted his studies most +assiduously. Having, after two years’ stay, been compelled to return +through the death of his father, he engaged himself to Mr. Collins, a +miniature painter at Bath. But in 1763, by the advice of Reynolds, he +returned to London, and was brought under public notice through his +auspices. For some years he practised with increasing success, and in +1773 set out for Italy with Romney; he returned in September, 1777, and +his fame rapidly increased. Miniatures he had chiefly devoted himself +to, but now he turned to full-portrait painting, to which Hayley in his +poem addressed to Romney refers:— + + “Thy graces, Humphry, and thy colours clear, + From miniatures’ small circle disappear: + May their distinguished merit still prevail, + And shine with lustre on the larger scale.” + +In 1785 he sailed for India; but the climate compelling him to return +before he had attained his object, he, in 1789, again exhibited in +London, confirming his former reputation, and next year he was elected +R.A. He was employed to paint a series of original portraits of the +Sackvilles by the Duke of Dorset; but ere he had completed them his sight +failed him, and though various attempts were made to pursue his art, they +were unsuccessful, and he was compelled to terminate his professional +career. + +Humphry was held in high estimation by some of the greatest men of his +time; by Reynolds, Hastings, and Sir W. Jones. He is one of the heroes, +too, of Boswell’s inimitable biography: Johnson placed under his care his +godson, “a son of Mr. Paterson, eminent for his knowledge of books.” As +an artist, though he suffered many disadvantages, he ranked high; as a +man of moral worth, and kind affections, he was “zealous in good offices, +and strenuous in his efforts for rising genius;” and it was to him Dr. +Walcot first introduced Opie. + +Besides the poetic niche of Hayley, Owen Cambridge mentions him— + + “But, Humphry, by whom shall your labours be told, + How your colours enliven the young and the old?” + +And Cumberland likewise— + + “Crown’d with fresh roses, grateful Humphry stands, + While beauty grows immortal from his hands.” + +Humphry resided several years in Knightsbridge; he died at 13, High Row, +March 9th, 1810, and was buried in St. James’ Chapel ground, Hampstead +Road. {117} + +Out of the High Row runs Mills’ Buildings, so called from a builder of +that name who erected them in 1777. At the top, abutting on the Park, is +Park Row: at No. 5, Mr. Thomas Cooper for several years resided; and Mr. +F. Matthews once lived in this row. + +The spot of ground now occupied by the Duke of Wellington’s stables, just +erected from designs by Hardwick, was purchased by the Duke from a Mr. +Williams, whose freehold property it was. Several houses in Park Place, +the “Nag’s Head,” {118} and five other houses, were removed for these +stables. Two of them touched on the Park, and were called Williams’ +Cottages. + +At the west end of High Row is the barrack for the Horse-Guards, an +extensive range of brick buildings, built in 1795, and capable of +accommodating 600 men and 500 horses. In the centre of the chief +building is an oblong parade, around which are the apartments for the +men, and the chief stabling for the horses. A mansion for the officers, +riding school, &c., stand at the western end. + +HYDE PARK.—Of the glories of Hyde Park it is almost superfluous to speak; +it has been a place of great popular resort since the days of Charles II. +It was then visited, not as now, for air and exercise only, but was much +used by the citizens for their sports. May 1st, 1654, a great hurling +match was played before the Lord Protector. We read that on that day +also “great resort came to Hyde Park, many hundreds of rich coaches, and +gallants in attire; but most shameful powdered-hair men and painted and +spotted women.” Horse and footraces were also held here. “Shall we make +a fling to London, and see how the spring appears there in Spring Garden, +and in Hyde Park to see the races, horse and foot?”—(“Merry Beggars, or +Jovial Crew,” 1641.) + +Many and famous have been the reviews here, some of them of deep +historical interest. In October, 1803, as before-mentioned, George III. +reviewed the different Volunteer Corps raised by the metropolis, when the +total number inspected amounted to 27,077 men, of whom our local +contingent mustered in force of 124. The enthusiasm created by the +appearance of the Guards on their return from the Crimea, and the first +distribution of the Victoria Cross by her Majesty in person, are fresh in +the public memory. + +It is well diversified with wood and water; the Serpentine in its space +amply supplying the latter. + + “Well may the coyest of the Nine + Be proud to sing the Serpentine; + For never breeze has swept, nor beam + Shed light upon a luckier stream. + ’Tis but a brook, whose scanty source, + Hard by, just struggles in its course, + But scarce has reached, slow trickling thence, + The bounds of royal influence, + When, such the favour and protection + That flows from interest and connection, + ’Tis bidden a nobler form to take, + And spreads and widens to a lake.” {120a} + +Would that its waters were kept sweet and pure; how much more enjoyable +would its ride and walks be. Life at the Serpentine in the height of the +London season, and after a few days’ sharp frost, presents +characteristics that can be seen in the metropolis only. + + The Hyde Park river, which no river is, + The Serpentine—which is not serpentine, + When frozen, every skater claims as his, + In right of common, there to entertwine + With countless crowds, and glide upon the ice. + Lining the banks, the timid and unwilling + Stand and look on, while some the fair entice + By telling, yonder skaters are quadrilling; + And here the skateless hire the “_best_ skates” for a shilling. + {120b} + +As the Serpentine is at these two seasons productive of so much +enjoyment, so it is also at the same time the source of much danger. The +skater, the bather, and he who is sick of life’s miseries, too often +afford employment for the staff at the Receiving House of the Royal +Humane Society. + +This edifice was erected on its north bank in 1834. One devoted to the +same purpose had previously occupied the same spot. In it are beds, warm +baths, tables, and apparatus of all kinds for the restoration of those +apparently drowned, in the hope that “perchance a spark may be +concealed.” Every effort of science is here exercised on the cases +requiring such attentions; the inspection of the public is invited by a +notice to that effect affixed outside. + +Some little distance north and west of the Receiving House, formerly +stood a very ancient edifice, known by the name of “The Cake House;” it +was built with timber and plaster, and roofed with flat tiles. It was a +place for the sale of refreshments to those who visited the park—hence +its name. Pepys says, April 25th, 1669:—“Abroad with my wife in the +afternoon to the Park, where very much company, and the weather very +pleasant. I carried my wife to the Lodge the first time this year; and +there in our coach eat a cheesecake, and drank a tankard of milk.” We +may imagine by the following that it was the best known and more visited +than any other spot in the Park:—“Comely! nay, ’tis no London female; +she’s a thing that never saw cheesecake, tart, or syllabub, at the Lodge +in Hyde Park.”—(“The English Monsieur,” by the Hon. James Howard. 4to. +1674.) + + [Picture: The Cake House] + +Adjacent to this old Lodge was the famous Ring, where the racing and +other amusements were carried on; and where the ground was often dyed +with the blood of the duellist. + +The Ring, or parts of it, can still be distinctly traced on the east of +the Ranger’s Grounds. Here fell the Duke of Hamilton, after his duel +with the Lord Mohun. Swift, in his journal to Stella, Nov. 15th, 1712, +says, “The Duke was helped towards the Cake House, by the Ring, in Hyde +Park (where the duel was fought), and died on the grass, before he could +reach the house:” a graphic picture, and a sad one, of that fashionable +and cruel custom now happily abolished in this country. The journals a +century ago were replete with notices of duels fought in the Ring in Hyde +Park. + +Turn we now from these painful reminiscences. From the Ring, we have in +view the costly toy of George IV., the Marble Arch, which, for want of a +better destination, was removed to Cumberland Gate from Buckingham +Palace; it was designed by Nash, after the arch of Constantine at Rome, +and originally was intended to have been surmounted with a chariot and +horses, and afterwards with a classic equestrian statue of his Majesty; +this was actually executed by Chantry at a cost of 9,000 guineas, but it +never reached its intended elevation, and now occupies the pedestal at +the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square. Perhaps the most satisfactory +work of art in connection with the structure is the very beautiful pair +of gates. They are said to be the largest in Europe; are designed in +scroll, having six openings, two filled with St. George and the Dragon, +two with the royal cypher G.R., and two with lions _passant gardant_; +they cost 3,000 guineas, and are cast in an alloy composed largely of +copper. + +At present the erection produces a somewhat poor effect, but it is not +fair to criticise it, seeing that its original design has not been +carried out; were it surmounted with a well-harmonised group, as at first +intended, no doubt its appearance would have been much more imposing. + +We have in the Park, just within the entrance at the “Corner,” the statue +of Achilles, cast from cannon taken from the French, erected in honour of +the late Duke of Wellington, by a subscription of his “Countrywomen,” as +told by the inscription thus:— + + TO ARTHUR, DUKE OF WELLINGTON, + And His Brave Companions in Arms, + This Statue of Achilles, + Cast from Cannon taken in the Victories of Salamanca, + Vittoria, Toulouse and Waterloo, + is inscribed + By their Countrywomen. + Placed on this Spot + on the XVIII. day of June, MDCCCXXII. + By command of + HIS MAJESTY GEORGE IIII. + +We give a passing reference to Rotten Row, where, every evening during +the season, may be seen one of the most animating and national spectacles +of the metropolis; the fine gravelly road is then filled with equestrians +of both sexes mounted on the most beautiful horses, and parading up and +down to the admiration of the lounging spectators, whiling away their +evening hour on the seats or rails skirting the road. This road has +lately been injudiciously widened, being unused some eight months in the +year, and the crossing thereby rendered the more dangerous the remaining +four. + +It is needless to speak here of the Great Exhibition of 1851: these pages +are not to tell of its beauties, its results, or the enthusiasm it called +into play; suffice it to say that our dear old Park was the scene of its +glories. We will hope that its peaceful memories may never be effaced +from among the nations. + +HYDE PARK CORNER.—The earliest mention of this name I have met with is in +the “Chronicle of Queen Mary,” &c., published by the Camden Society, +where Wyatt is described planting his “ordenance over agaynst the parke +corner.” The name properly applies to that triangularly-shaped portion +of the Park formed by the line from Stanhope Gate to Apsley House. +Several interesting incidents have occurred at this spot deserving +notice. Here James I., in March, 1606, was met by his whole court and +the House of Commons, with the Speaker at their head, to welcome him on +his safe return from a hunting excursion near Woking, where it was stated +he had been murdered. Here, in 1625, Judge Whitelock sat on the grass +which grew in the road, and with his retinue ate the dinner brought with +them from the country, afraid to stay longer in London than absolutely +necessary, the plague having just carried off thousands of people. After +his meal, he galloped to Westminster Hall, adjourned the courts, and +quickly retired. + +By this road, on August 6th, 1647, Fairfax and his army, all with a +laurel branch in their hats, entered from Kensington, accompanied by the +House of Commons, to go to Westminster, the matter of the Declaration +having been agreed to. From Kensington to the fort here, a guard stood +three feet deep; and at Hyde Park Corner they were met by the Lord Mayor +and Corporation, come to congratulate them on their arrival. “Lieut. +General Cromwell’s regiment of horse” was among them, we are told: this +was not his last appearance here. When he returned from his Irish +campaign, Fairfax and others met him at Hounslow; and as he approached, +Colonel Barkstead’s regiment, drawn up in the highway at the Park Corner, +saluted him. In the journal of George Fox, the Quaker, too, is an +anecdote of his meeting the Protector here. + +After the fight at Brentford, consternation being felt by the Londoners +at the near approach of the Royal Army, a chain of forts was thrown up by +the citizens, connected with each other by means of earth works and +ramparts. Whitelock says it was wonderful to see how the women and +children, and vast numbers of people, would come and work at digging and +carrying earth to the fortifications. The newspapers of the day teem +with curious particulars of the prevailing excitement; one day we read of +five thousand felt-makers, another of four thousand porters, then of five +thousand shoemakers, and six thousand tailors, all to assist in the +pressing work. Nor were the fair sex behindhand; Butler, in his +“Hudibras,” alluding to this, says they + + “March’d rank and file, with drum and ensign + T’ intrench the city for defence in, + Raised rampiers with their own soft hands + To put the enemy to stands; + From ladies down to oyster-wenches, + Labour’d like pioneers in trenches; + Fall’n to their pickaxes and tools, + And helped the men to dig like moles.” + + [Picture: Fort—formerly at Hyde Park Corner] + +And Nash, in a note on this passage, says:— + + “Ladies Middlesex, Foster, Anne Waller, and Mrs. Dunch, were + particularly remarkable for their activity.” + +One of these forts stood on the brow of the hill at Hyde Park Corner; it +was a large one, consisting of four bastions, commanding the ascent and +the adjoining fields. Four years afterwards—no further use remaining for +them—the House of Commons ordered their removal. + +Dr. King relates an interesting anecdote of Charles II. meeting his +brother James at this spot, on his return from a hunting excursion, and +escorted by a party of the Guards. Charles, who was out for a stroll in +the Park, of which he was very fond, was attended by but two of his +Court. The Guards recognising the King, halted; and James being +acquainted with the cause thereof, stepped from his coach, and saluted +his brother, but expressed his surprise to meet him there almost +unattended, and thought he exposed himself to some danger. “No kind of +danger, James,” replied Charles, “for I am sure no man in England will +take away my life to make you king.” {129} + +Respecting this interesting anecdote, a tradition tells us that Charles +II. was very partial to a walk in Hyde Park, and that at the spot to +which he limited himself generally he planted two acorns from the +Boscobel Tree. The trees from them grew at the north side of the +Serpentine, just where the road turns off by the magazine towards +Bayswater. For many years they were fenced in, but one only now remains; +the other, much decayed, was removed in 1854. + + [Picture: Oak, planted by Charles the Second] + +Hyde Park Corner is now the most magnificent entrance to the metropolis; +the entrances to the Parks, Apsley House, and, in the background, the +glorious towers of Westminster, form a scene at once imposing and +national. Formerly the entrance was very mean; a turnpike blocked the +way, and instead of the classic archways, paltry lodges and iron gates +led to the parks. Between the lodge and park side was a dead wall, eight +feet high, built in the reign of Charles II., but removed in 1828. The +toll-house was sold by auction, October 4th, 1825, and cleared away +immediately. + + [Picture: Hyde Park Corner—1824] + +The existing entrance to Hyde Park was completed in 1828, from designs of +Mr. Decimus Burton; the frieze was designed by Archibald Henning; the +ironwork by Bramah. The Triumphal Arch leading to Constitution Hill was +built about the same time; its beautiful gates were likewise the work of +Bramah. + +From Hyde Park Corner the distances to the west are measured; a standard +stood near to Apsley House till about 1827. + +KENSINGTON GORE was, as before shown, originally called +Kyngsgore—firstly, because it belonged to the king; and secondly, from +its peculiar shape; gore, an old English word, meaning “a narrow slip of +land,” according to the old glossaries. In Kent, the peasantry call a +triangularly-shaped piece of ground a gore; and seamstresses use the word +in a similar manner to the present day, to express a gusset or piece of +stuff let into their work. The early history of the Gore in connection +with Kilburn Priory has been noticed; and here its modern story must be +told. From Prince Albert’s Road to Noel House is generally now +considered as the Gore. + +Brompton Park Nursery was established during the reign of Charles II. +During the greater part of the seventeenth century the land appears to +have belonged to the Percivals, ancestors of the Earl of Egmont. Philip +Percival, the friend of Pym and Hollis, was born here in 1603. Brompton +Park appears to have extended from what is now called Cromwell Road to +the road from Knightsbridge to Kensington. Various properties were cut +out of it; but the Percivals were here at least till 1675. Soon after +this date about sixty acres appear to have been formed into a nursery +garden, the first ever established in this country. It early excited +great attention, more particularly about 1690–1700, when it belonged to +George London and Henry Wise, the most celebrated gardeners of the time. +Evelyn, in his “Diary,” records, on April 24th, 1694, taking “Mr. Waller +to see Brompton Park, where he was in admiration at the store of rare +plants, and the method he found in that noble nursery, and how well it +was cultivated.” Evelyn again alludes to the nursery in his “Sylva,” +declaring that the “sight” of it “gave an idea of something greater” than +he could express. He speaks highly of the skill and industry here shown, +and says the like is not to be met with in this or any other country. +Bowack, writing in 1705, affirms that if the plants were valued but at +one penny each, they would be worth above £40,000. + +Messrs. London and Wise translated from the French “The Complete +Gardener,” published in 1701. They were gardeners to William III.; and +Kensington Gardens were laid out by them. Wise also superintended the +laying-out of Hampton Court; and Evelyn mentions visiting him there. +After them, the establishment went through various hands; but when the +surrounding fields were built on, the smoke injured the plants; and the +railways bringing up fruit and vegetables cheaper than they could be +brought to perfection at here, the business gradually diminished, and in +1853 entirely ceased. + +Along an ancient wall separating the grounds from those of Cromwell +House, a valuable collection of vines was planted, which were cultivated +with great success. This wall, the contents of the gardens, and the +dwellings therein, were cleared away in 1855. The following list of +owners is chiefly taken from Faulkner:— + +1681. Lukar and Co. 1714. Smith and Co. +1686. Cooke and Co. 1756. Jefferies and Co. +1689. Wise. 1788. Gray and Co. +1694. London and Wise. — Gray, Adams, and Hogg. +1700. Swinhoe. 1849. Adams and Hogg. + +Mr. James Gray, who was chief partner in this concern so long, died at +Brompton in 1849. He is mentioned with respect in Faulkner’s “History of +Kensington.” + +Park House, a plain but spacious mansion, pulled down in 1856, adjoined +Princes Gate. It was divided from the road by a brick wall, part of that +ancient one just mentioned, for this house stood within Brompton Park: +hence its name. Probably a more ancient mansion stood here; but the late +one was for many years the seat of the Veres, bankers of the city of +London. Afterwards it became the residence of William Evans, Esq., M.P., +soon after whose death it was sold. + +Eden Lodge was the residence of Lord Auckland, Governor-General of India. +Here he retired after his return, and died in 1849. + +Mercer Lodge, a small brick residence, was inhabited by Frank Marryat, +son of the novelist, and himself an author of one or two books of travel. +Mr. Henry Mayhew now resides here. + +Immediately adjoining is a row of five houses, called emphatically +Kensington Gore. All are faced with white stucco, are very small, and +appear as if intended for the lodge of some great mansion never erected. +Two of them, which seem to contain but one room, have, however, second +storeys at the back, and good gardens, which, with the Park in front, +render them very pleasant residences. At one of these houses, in 1816, +Mrs. Inchbald inquired after some lodgings which were to let. The +landlady was too fine a personage for the writer of “The Simple Story,” +and so exacting in her demands that her applicant indignantly wended her +way elsewhere. No. 2, now called Hamilton Lodge, was once the occasional +residence of John Wilkes. The house was kept by Mrs. Arnold, mother of +his second daughter Harriett, who married Mr. Serjeant Rough, afterwards +an Indian judge. Wilkes sometimes had high visitors here: Mr. Leigh Hunt +quotes a memorandum of his, regarding a dinner here to Counts Woronzow +and Nesselrode; and if we are to set down Sir Philip Francis as Junius, +here Junius visited, as Mrs. Rough said, frequently; and when a child he +once cut off a lock of her hair. Wilkes to the last walked hence to the +city, attired in his scarlet and buff suit, with a cocked hat and +rosette, and military boots, a dress authorised by his position as +colonel of militia. The urn over the doorway Mr. Leigh Hunt imagines to +have been placed there by him as an indication of his classic taste, and +the supposition is most probably correct. No. 5 was the residence for +awhile of Count D’Orsay. + +GORE HOUSE.—In 1808, Mr. Wilberforce took this mansion (which had +previously been the residence of a Government contractor) for his home. +He found it, he says, more salubrious than his house at Clapham; and +writes further, “We are just one mile from the turnpike at Hyde Park +Corner, 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 two hundred miles from the great +city.” Here he passed many years of his happy and useful life, his house +the resort of those men who awoke our land from the deadly torpor into +which years of fearful warfare had plunged it. Here came Clarkson, +Zachary Macaulay, Romilly, and others, to commune together on those +measures which, to quote Channing, brought about “the most signal +expression afforded by our times of the progress of civilisation and a +purer Christianity.” + +Wilberforce was exceedingly partial to Gore House, and his friends appear +to have always found a ready home within it. In 1814, Mr. Henry +Thornton, for many years M.P. for Southwark, and one of his most earnest +supporters, came here for the benefit of the air and medical aid. He +lingered a few weeks, and died here January 17th, 1815, aged fifty-three. +Isaac Milner, too, an early friend, who came to London to attend the +Board of Longitude, died here after five weeks’ illness, on April 1st, +1820. + +The following year Wilberforce quitted Gore House. He retired to Marden, +in Surrey, a lovely spot and an interesting locality; but he regretted +leaving + + “The still retreats that soothed his tranquil breast,” + +and often in after years alludes to his old home, its associations, and +his “Kensington Gore breakfasts.” + +Great is the contrast Gore House next presents: strange are the +mutabilities of a metropolitan mansion. After the philanthropist, a few +unknown persons held the place ere the next celebrity, one of a totally +opposite character, reigned. Lady Blessington—for to her allusion is +made—came here in 1836; and the opposition of ideas called forth by such +persons seems to have suggested to James Smith his + + GORE HOUSE: AN IMPROMPTU. + + Mild Wilberforce, by all beloved, + Once own’d this hallow’d spot, + Whose zealous eloquence improved + The fetter’d Negro’s lot; + Yet here still slavery attacks + When Blessington invites: + The chains from which he freed the Blacks, + She rivets on the Whites. + +Lady Blessington came to Gore House in 1836; and the brilliant circle +which thronged around her in Seamore Place was increased with the greater +capabilities of the new residence. Haydon, writing February 27th, 1835, +says, “Everybody goes to Lady Blessington’s. She has the first news of +everything, and everybody seems delighted to tell her. She is the centre +of more talent and gaiety than any woman of fashion in London.” To Gore +House came novelists and dramatists, artists and actors, statesmen and +refugees. Here Louis Napoleon, just escaped from captivity at Ham, first +came for the shelter of an English roof; and afterwards—deep lesson too—a +few years later she went forth as privately perhaps as her guest had +entered, from the palace of which she had been Queen, to seek in the +capital of him whom she had harboured, that support she had so freely +bestowed on him; the late refugee then having an empire rapidly falling +into his hands; her object was not gained, and on this occasion “hope +left a wretched one that sought her.” Lady Blessington finally quitted +Gore House April 14th, 1849. + +Marguerite, Countess of Blessington, was daughter of Edmund Power, a +coarse, unfeeling squire of Tipperary. She was born September 1st, 1790, +and at fifteen married to a Captain Farmer, as brutal a character as her +father. They separated in 1807, and he, compelled to go to India, died +there. + +Being denied a home under her father’s roof, she for some years lived in +seclusion and study, but becoming acquainted with the Earl of +Blessington, married him in February, 1818. Then another phase of her +life commenced, and their mansion in St. James’s Square was the resort of +the most fashionable of the day. Her beauty at this time was very great, +and afforded a theme for the pen of Byron, and the pencil of Sir Thomas +Lawrence. With the poet she became acquainted during her well-known +continental tour, during which the introduction to D’Orsay also took +place. Lord Blessington dying at Paris in 1825, his widow remained there +till after the Revolution of 1830, when she returned to London. + +Connected with the story of Lady Blessington, that of Count D’Orsay is +intimately woven. He was a great favourite of Lord Blessington, whose +daughter by his first wife was, when quite a young girl, fetched from +school to marry him; and a promise also is said to have been given from +the Count to his Lordship, and from the Count’s mother to Lady +Blessington, that they (the Count and her Ladyship) would never leave +each other. Be that as it may, they lived together for above a quarter +of a century, and increase of years seemed still stronger to consolidate +the engagement. D’Orsay led a gay and extravagant life in London, +considerably beyond his means, in great measure appearing to consider his +patronage sufficient payment. He undoubtedly possessed great abilities, +was an excellent artist, and a humourist of the first water. But his +conduct to his wife was cruel in the extreme; she was spurned by him +entirely; he still pocketing an income from her father’s estates! For a +long time he could only make his exit from Gore House on Sundays, for +fear of arrest, and his extravagancies vastly accelerated the day of +retribution. He and Lady Blessington retired to Paris, and Gore House +was stripped of its contents by public sale. There, whatever was the +cause, they met not with the reception anticipated. Lady Blessington +died soon after, on June 4th, 1849. D’Orsay designed her monument, and +in little more than three years after his career was ended. He died July +1st, 1852. + +Gore House became, in 1851, Monsieur Soyer’s “Symposium for all Nations.” +Here that celebrated minister of the interior provided international +feasts, farewell banquets, &c.; and various amusements in the +highly-decorated rooms conduced to the public pleasure. The gardens were +beautifully laid out and ornamented with sculpture, while the interior +testified to the industry and taste of Madame Soyer in the art of +painting. In February, 1852, all was again dismantled, its _Baronial +Hall_ and _Encampment of all Nations_ being sold by auction. + +Gore House was shortly afterwards purchased by the Royal Commissioners of +the Great Exhibition of 1851. The whole estate comprised about +twenty-one acres, added to which were Gray’s Nursery Grounds, Park House, +and Grove House, and various market-gardens, the grounds of Cromwell +House, and other lands belonging to the Earl of Harrington and the Baron +de Villars. Acts of Parliament were passed legalising the plans of the +Commissioners, and in accordance various old footpaths, &c., were +stopped, and houses removed. A complete revolution has been effected, +two magnificent roads leading from the Gore to Cromwell Road at Brompton +have been formed, and at length Gore House itself was doomed. Its +materials were sold by lots on July 17th, 1857, and soon after the +building was removed. + +Grove House, adjoining Gore House, was for many years the residence of +Lady Elizabeth Whitbread, widow of the celebrated statesman. With Gore +House it has, since 1852, been used for schools and offices of the +department of Science and Art. + +Beyond this spot our description does not extend: the district of All +Saints and manor of Knightsbridge stretch much further, but such parts +have been already described by Mr. Faulkner. Ere, however, I quite leave +the Gore, it must be mentioned that, among others, Carrington Bowles, the +celebrated printseller, had a house, and died here June 20th, 1793. The +Rev. Thomas Clare, vicar of St. Bride’s, Fleet Street, and an author of +some repute, also at one time resided here. + +KINNERTON STREET is so called from an estate belonging to the Grosvenor +family. Here is a dissecting school and anatomical museum attached to +St. George’s Hospital. + +KNIGHTSBRIDGE GREEN, formed by the junction of the Kensington and Fulham +Roads, was formerly of greater extent than at the present time. It was +formerly the village green in reality, and its last Maypole was preserved +as lately as 1800. At its east end was, till about 1835, a watch-house +and pound, and Addison, in a humorous paper in the “Spectator,” alludes +to it. Proposing to satisfy by home news the craving for intelligence +occasioned by the just concluded war, he writes,—“By my last advices from +Knightsbridge, I hear that a horse was clapped into the pound on the +third instant, and that he was not released when the letters came +away.”—(_Spectator_, No. 142.) + +The greater part of the Green is now covered by Middle Row, a medley of +very inferior houses. On the north side is an old inn (rebuilt in 1851) +called after the bluff Marquis of Granby. The soldier has been +dethroned, and Sir Joseph Paxton promoted in his stead. + + Vernon, the Butcher Cumberland, Wolfe, Hawke, + Prince Ferdinand, Granby, Burgoyne, Keppell, Howe, + Evil and good, have had their tithe of talk, + And fill’d the sign-posts then as Wellesley now. + +William Moffatt, who in conjunction with Frederick Wood, surveyed London +and published a valuable and clever map of the levels thereof, lived at +this time in Middle Row. His coadjutor still lives (in indigent +circumstances) in the locality. + +The small plot of ground railed in, is said, by a very general tradition, +to have been the spot where the victims of the plague from the Lazar +House and elsewhere in the hamlet were buried. I have strong reasons for +placing faith in this tradition; and in 1808, some human remains found +where now stands William Street were buried here, it being considered the +proper spot for such. King’s Row, built in 1785, has not a cellar to a +single house for this reason. At its end is a detached brick building, +the school-house of All Saints district. + +A market was held here till the beginning of the present century for +cattle every Thursday; the last pen-posts were not removed till 1850. A +fair was also held here annually on July 31st. + +Grosvenor House, which formed with Mr. Rogers’ premises one tenement, was +for many years the residence of the Gosling family, who were for a long +while connected with the hamlet. Francis Gosling, Esq., an eminent +banker, lived here; he died February 25th, 1817. Bennett Gosling, Esq., +his nephew, resided in Lowndes Square, where he died, May 12th, 1855. + +The “Pakenham” was built as the hotel for an intended railway terminus. +On its site was an old house, many years the residence of Mr. Egg, the +founder of the well-known firm of gunsmiths in Piccadilly. + +KNIGHTSBRIDGE TERRACE till within the last five-and-twenty years had not +a shop in it. Every house was private, and had a deep basement area in +front. The corner house, now divided, was for many years Mr. Telfair’s +“College for the Deaf and Dumb.” James Telfair died in 1796, aged 84; +his son, Cortez Telfair, died April 23rd, 1816, aged 65. Both were +buried at Kensington, and in the church is a tablet to their memory. It +states Cortez Telfair to have been celebrated for his literary +attainments; but what these were I have not been able to learn, other +than that, in 1775, he edited “The Town and Country Spelling Book.” {147} + +In one of the houses immediately facing the Chapel resided for many years +Maurice Morgann, Esq., author of an “Essay on the Character of Falstaff,” +and Under-Secretary of State to the first administration of Lord +Shelburne. He was also Secretary to the Embassy for ratifying the Peace +with the United States in 1783. + +Besides his remarkable “Essay on Falstaff,” he published “Remarks on the +Slave Trade,” a useful and earnest pamphlet. In the “Gentleman’s +Magazine,” December, 1815, a writer endeavoured to fix on him the +authorship of the “Heroic Epistle to Sir William Chambers,” now known to +have been concocted by Mason and Walpole, but published under the +pseudonyme of “Malcolm M‘Gregor, of Knightsbridge, Esq.” But Dr. +Symmons, Morgann’s friend and executor, denied the ownership, and +declared his repeated injunctions were, that all his papers should be +destroyed, and that he never published any but those with his name. +Symmons had previously said, “Some of those writings destroyed, in the +walks of politics, metaphysics, and criticism, would have planted a +permanent laurel on his grave.” {148} Mr. Morgann is one who has an +honourable niche in Boswell’s inimitable “Life of Johnson.” + +Morgann afterwards removed to High Row, where he died March 28th, 1802, +in his seventy-seventh year. “As a man, he stood detached from the +general contagion of the age he lived in; neither complying with the +vices of the great, however familiar or seductive, nor with their +frivolities, however general or imposing. His mind was compounded of +pure and simple elements, which inseparably mixed in his business, his +friendships, and intercourse with all mankind; and it was often no less +pleasing to his friends, than to the lovers of virtue in general, to see +with what lustre those plain but prepossessing colours outshone the glare +of fashion, and the accommodating varnish of modern morals.” {149a} + +LOWNDES SQUARE, so named from William Lowndes, Esq., of Chesham, to whom +the land belongs. According to Dr. King, rector of Chelsea (1694 to +1732), in his MS. account of that parish, {149b} this site at one time +belonged to a Benedictine convent. It certainly formed part of the gift +of Edward the Confessor to the Abbey, but has been in lay hands ever +since the Reformation. At about where William Street joins the Square +stood a large detached house, formerly a place of amusement, and known as +Spring Garden. Dr. King mentions it as “an excellent Spring Garden.” +{149c} And among the entries of “The Virtuosi, or St. Luke’s Club,” +Established by Vandyke, is the following allusion:— + + “Paid and spent at Spring Gardens, by Knightsbridge, forfeiture £3 15 + shgs.” {149d} + +That enjoyable chronicler, Pepys, too, I fancy alludes to Spring Gardens +in the following entry in his “Diary.” It must be premised that the +hearty clerk of the Admiralty had been to Kensington, and there, as was +frequently his wont, had had what he innocently and amusingly terms a +“frolic”:— + + “June 16, 1664. I lay in my drawers, and stockings, and waistcoat + 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 to St. James’,” &c. + +And again he chronicles (April 24th, 1665) a visit to the Park. “But the +King being there, and I now-a-days being doubtful of being seen in any +pleasure, did part from the town, and away out of the Park to +Knightsbridge, and there ate and drank in the coach and so home.” + +Spring Gardens was at this time a name applied to almost all places of +outdoor recreation, the appellation being borrowed from the celebrated +garden near Charing Cross. But Pepys speaks also of a place of +entertainment called “The World’s End,” at Knightsbridge, which I believe +could have been only the sign adopted by the owner of this garden for his +house. Pepys, on another occasion relating that he went forth to Hyde +Park, 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.” +(“Diary,” May 9th, 1669.) Again, on May 31st in the same year, he +records going “to the World’s End, a drinking-house by the Park, and +there merry, and so home late.” + +Congreve, in his “Love for Love,” alludes, in a regular woman’s quarrel, +to the place:— + + _Mrs. Frail_.—Pooh, here’s a clutter!—Why should it reflect upon + you?—I don’t doubt but you have thought yourself happy in a hackney + coach before now. If I had gone to Knightsbridge, or to Chelsea, or + to Spring Garden, or Barn Elms, with a man alone—something might have + been said. + + _Mrs. Foresight_.—Why, was I ever in any of those places! What do + you mean, sister? + + _Mrs. Frail_.—Was I? what do you mean? + + _Mrs. Foresight_.—You have been at a worse place. + + _Mrs. Frail_.—I at a worse place, and with a man! + + _Mrs. Foresight_.—I suppose you would not go alone to the World’s + End? + + _Mrs. Frail_.—The World’s End! What do you mean to banter me? + + _Mrs. Foresight_.—Poor innocent; you don’t know that there is a place + called the World’s End. I’ll swear you can keep your + countenance—surely you’ll make an admirable player. + + _Mrs. Frail_.—I’ll swear you have a great deal of impudence, and, in + my mind, too much for the stage. + + _Mrs. Foresight_.—Very well, that will appear who has most. You + never were at the World’s End? + + _Mrs. Frail_.—No. + + _Mrs. Foresight_.—You deny it positively to my face? + + _Mrs. Frail_.—Your face! what’s your face? + + _Mrs. Foresight_.—No matter for that, it is as good a face as yours. + + _Mrs. Frail_.—Not by a dozen years’ wearing. But I do deny it, + positively, to your face, then. + + _Mrs. Foresight_.—I’ll allow you now to find fault with my face; for + I’ll swear your impudence has put me out of countenance. But look + you here now; where did you lose this gold bodkin?—Oh, sister!—oh, + sister! + + _Mrs. Frail_.—My bodkin! + + _Mrs. Foresight_.—Nay, it is yours—look at it. + + _Mrs. Frail_.—Well, if you go to that, where did you find this + bodkin? Oh sister! sister! sister every way! + + _Mrs. Foresight_.—Oh! devil on’t that I could not discover her + without betraying myself. (_Aside_.) + +The house belonging to this garden stood till about 1826. For many years +it was the residence of a Dr. C. Kelly, who here had an anatomical +museum. He resided here in 1773, and quitted it about 1805. The house +was afterwards tenanted by a gentleman named Bowes; and the museum became +the auction-room of Mr. Herring. About 1818, Warren, builder to George +III., took the premises; he turned the whole into workshops. After him +came Mr. Cubitt, who, about 1828, procuring a lease from Mr. Lowndes, +pulled the whole down, and laid out the ground for buildings. The first +houses were erected about 1836–7, but it was not till 1849 that the +square was wholly completed. + +Various relics of the Civil War have been found on this site: arms, +spurs, bits, cockades, &c.; and relics telling of a different kind of +struggle—staves and handcuffs, evidences of successful rencontres between +the footpad and the constable. A path by the stream’s side ran along to +Bloody Bridge, proceeding thence to Ranelagh. On grand gala nights such +paths were protected by patrols and the more able of the Chelsea +Pensioners. + +Among the eminent inhabitants of Lowndes Square may be enumerated the +late Sir William Molesworth and Mr. Leader, M.P. for Westminster, at No. +1; Mr. M. J. Higgins, celebrated for his contributions on military +matters to the _Times_, also lived at No. 1. He is thus delineated by +Mrs. Gascoigne in her poem, “Belgravia:”— + + “Nor whilst my muse still haunts these favourite bounds, + Shall she forget to sing thy Square, O Lowndes! + Harbour of peace, near which the troubled sea + Of human traffic roars unceasingly, + Yet enters not—though day by day it swells + Fiercer and fiercer; at the opening dwells + A man whom rage and clamour ne’er withstood, + The well-known champion of the neighbourhood! + Him all who seek oppression view with fear, + For sharp his wit, his mind acute and clear! + With subtlest force, he wields the powerful pen. + But aims it at abuses, not at men! + Him Vestries know, and Rate Collectors dread, + For cool his spirit—hard his reasoning head; + And though a giant in his strength he be, + Yet free from Tyrant’s love of rule is he; + And whilst men seek, and to his judgment bend, + They find in him a leader and a friend.” {154} + +Mrs. Gascoigne, author of “Belgravia,” “Spencer’s Cross Manor House,” +“The Next Door Neighbours,” and other works, resides at No. 14. Admiral +Sotheby, one who fought at the Nile, lived at No. 38, and died January, +20th, 1854. Sir Henry Campbell, who died in 1856, Sir Willoughby Cotton, +Mr. Tite, M.P., Mr. Brassey, the extensive contractor, Mr. Whiteside, +M.P., Mr. R. B. Wingfield, and Mr. Malins, M.P., number also among the +inhabitants of Lowndes Square. + +The row of houses on the south side was designed by Mr. Lewis Cubitt, and +with greater regard to architectural effect than anything of its kind +then in the metropolis. It was built in 1843. + +LOWNDES TERRACE—A row of shops between William Street and Sloane Street, +occupying the site of a row of old-fashioned houses, of two storeys high, +with pleasant gardens in front and rear, giving the roadway quite a rural +appearance. The house at the eastern end belonged to one Banting, who +built some projecting shops over the front gardens in 1815, and named the +row Waterloo Market. His expectations were not realised; and in 1823 +these old premises were removed, and the present houses erected. There +were but six houses. At No. 5 resided, fifty years ago, Andrews, an +artist of some repute in his day; and at No. 6 for some years lived the +mother of Rodwell, the author and composer; and her son’s early years +were partly passed at this pleasant spot. + +At the west end of this row a narrow lane, called Porter’s Lane, led to +the fields. On its right-hand side, and divided from it by a hedge, +stood a large detached mansion, known as Knightsbridge Grove, approached +through a fine avenue of stately trees from the highway. For many years +a man named Hicks, a “sporting character,” kept the place, and George +IV., when Prince of Wales, and others of similar tastes, were led hither. +Mr. Egg, the gunmaker, once erected a large wooden building for some +balloon experiments in the grounds. And this was, I believe, the house +where the notorious Teresa Cornellys attempted to recover her bygone +reputation. + +Teresa Cornellys was a native of Germany; and early showing an +inclination to music, was brought up to it as a profession, and soon +became celebrated on the Continent as a public singer. Having +accumulated a considerable sum of money, she came to England, about 1757; +and her fame gradually becoming known, she was induced, in 1763, to open +Carlisle House, Soho Square, as a place of public entertainment. None +but the upper classes were admitted, and the rooms were decorated in the +most costly manner. Her balls, concerts, and masquerades soon gained +great celebrity, being carried on in a most glaring and extravagant +style. And this was not all: her masquerades were characterised, not +only by indecency, but also by mockery of the most solemn feelings and +principles. {157a} The lessees of the theatres were injured by her +popularity, and stimulated the outcry which began to arise; and at length +she was convicted before Sir John Fielding for performing dramatic +entertainments without a licence. The opposition of the managers, and +the Pantheon opening with a class of amusements somewhat similar in 1772, +with the restraint imposed by the magistrate’s decision, combined to ruin +her; and in August, 1772, her effects were sold by auction, and she +became a bankrupt. {157b} + +The allusions to Mrs. Cornellys in contemporary literature are +innumerable; Murphy, in his Epilogue to _Zobeide_, 1771, refers to her +popularity:— + + “Oh, farewell! + For her each haunt that charms a modern belle! + Adieu, Almack’s! Cornellys’! masquerade! + Sweet Ranelagh! Vauxhall’s enchanting shade!” &c. + +This allusion will suffice for one view of her career. The opposite is +severely described by Combe, in his satire “The Diabolady,” published in +1777:— + + “The ready ministers of hell’s commands, + Obedient fly, and take their several stands + At Court, Cornellys’, and the Coterie; + Where vice, more vicious by effrontery, + Fearless, unblushing, braves the eternal laws + Of God and man to aid the devil’s cause.” + +After her bankruptcy she followed her profession for several years at +various places in London, but in 1785 was obliged to retire from the +importunities of her creditors. Ten years after, to the great surprise +of the public, she reappeared at Knightsbridge as Mrs. Smith, a retailer +of asses’ milk. A suite of breakfast-rooms was opened; but her former +influence could not be recovered. The speculation utterly failed; and at +length she was consigned to the Fleet Prison. There she ended her +shallow career, dying August 19, 1797. + +Immediately beyond the entrance to the Grove stood Messrs. Downing’s +floor-cloth manufactory, formerly Morley and Downing’s. It was a +pleasant detached house, with a clean white front, and conspicuous green +verandahs. It was pulled down in 1823, and the manufacturing department +removed to the King’s Road. + +MONTPELIER SQUARE, so called from the salubrity of its air, {159} was +built about 1837. Mr. Fairholt, the distinguished artist and antiquary +(at No. 10), Mr. Walter Lacy (38), Dr. Morison (27), and the Rev. +Mackenzie Walcot, to whose writings on the city of Westminster I owe +several obligations, are among its residents. + +NEW STREET, built, I believe, about 1773, was a new street across the +fields to Sloane Street, and is the point dividing Knightsbridge and +Brompton—formerly, according to the landladies, a very “respectable” +street; it has in our day sadly changed. At No. 7, Chalon, the animal +painter, resided; and at No. 6, the Right Hon. David Pigott in 1824 and +’25, while studying under Mr., afterwards Chief Justice, Tindal. Mr. +Godwin, the editor of the _Builder_, also in his boyhood. In Exeter +Street resided a family named Perrin, one of whom it has been said was +employed by the Duchess of Kingston to furnish a place of meeting between +Prince George, afterwards George III., and his fair _inamorata_, Hannah +Lightfoot. {160} The Perrins appear to have long resided in +Knightsbridge; entries of the name occur in the registers of Trinity +Chapel as far back as 1680. + +PARK SIDE, abutting on the south side of Hyde Park, is a part of the +manor of Knightsbridge, although eastward of the stream, and is the +freehold of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. The Birkheads were once +the lessees; at present it is rented by the descendants of Mr. Gamble, of +Trinity Chapel. The row of petty shops at its east end were erected +about fifty years since, the houses formerly extending no further than +the one now occupied by Miss Marshall. The Knightsbridge Bank, a private +concern, was carried on in Mr. W. Stocken’s house, and these shops were +offices belonging thereto. + +Just within the park is a conduit, which supplies the palace with spring +water; a descent of three steps in the main road led to a receptacle for +its supply to the inhabitants of Knightsbridge, which still exists in +another form. Close to this “spring,” as it is termed, the stocks were +placed for the punishment of village sots and rogues. No hamlet around +the “great wen,” as Cobbett called the metropolis, was without one. +Taylor, the water-poet, says— + + “In London, and within a mile, I ween, + There are of jails or prisons full eighteen, + And sixty whipping-posts, and stocks, and cages!” {161a} + +At No. 10 resided for many years John Read, a man of great benevolence of +character, of scientific celebrity, and of high repute in the locality. +He was born in 1726, and being brought up as a mathematical +instrument-maker, settled in Knightsbridge about 1754. He became known +for his researches into electricity, {161b} and published, in 1793, an +octavo volume, entitled “A Summary View of the Spontaneous Electricity of +the Earth and Atmosphere,” an accurate and judicious work; but it led him +into a controversy with Dr. Peart, a writer on the same subject. He also +studied meteorology, and a journal on that subject he contributed to the +“Philosophical Transactions.” + +Other points of his history are told on the stone to his memory in St. +George’s Ground, Bayswater, where he was buried. The inscription I +subjoin:— + + Sacrum Memoriæ + of + MR. JOHN READ, + Mathematical Instrument Maker, + a Native of + WHALLEY IN LANCASHIRE, + who died at + KNIGHTSBRIDGE + (where he had resided nearly sixty years) + on the 22nd day of September, 1814, + in the 88th year of his Age. + + Without Patron, or Patrimony, by the honest fruits of Industry, he + laid the foundation of an easy competence. More indebted to Prudence + than Fortune for his acquisitions; but to Temperance alone for his + length of days. A deep Researcher of the latent causes of Nature’s + Phenomena; her vital Principle, he held in obedience, while he + enriched the science of Electricity with his experiments. Pleased in + the pursuit of Knowledge, and happy in the practice of Virtue; He was + a Philosopher with a benevolent heart, the Father of the + Knightsbridge Charity School; of the Free School of his native place + the Revivor. He lived an Example worthy of imitation, and died + without a groan. + + Thus lived John Read, and so his spirit fled + And here his ashes mingle with the Dead. + +Mr. Thomas Goding, founder of the well-known brewing firm, lived at No. +12. + +The Queen’s Head, an old inn next the Chapel, was pulled down in 1843. +The house was once very curious inside, but had been considerably +altered. On its removal the date 1576 was found inscribed in the +brickwork. + +The White Hart was more curious than the Queen’s Head, and retained its +characteristics to the last, when it was removed for the Albert Gate +improvements. Human remains, various ancient implements, and coins were +turned up below its foundation. A filthy court ran from it along the +bank of the stream. I have seen a memorandum of agreement by which a +house next door to the White Hart was let in 1694 for _five pounds per +annum_. + +PRINCES GATE.—Two terraces are so called, very absurdly. {163} The real +gate is an entrance to the Park opposite, named after the Prince of +Wales, and opened in October, 1848. It stands on the highest plot of +ground between Hyde Park Corner and Windsor Castle. + +Of the western terrace Mr. Leigh Hunt complains that “each house is too +high for its width,” and says “they resemble a set of tall thin gentlemen +squeezing together to look at something over the way.” I cannot agree +with Mr. Hunt’s humour, and consider them a very handsome and pleasing +row. Mr. Elmes, architect of St. George’s Hall, was designer, I believe, +and Mr. Elger the builder; the eastern row was finished in 1851, the +western in 1855. At No. 23, Vice-Chancellor Parker resided for a short +while before his death. Between the two terraces stands + +KINGSTON HOUSE, built about 1770, a large and pleasant mansion, and when +first erected attracting notice by the conservatory attached to it. In +this conservatory is a large window, representing a garden scene, painted +by John Martin when a pupil of Charles Muss, the enamel painter. + +Elizabeth Chudleigh was daughter of a Devonshire gentleman, who died when +she was very young; but her mother having interest with Mr. Pulteney, she +was appointed, at the age of eighteen, maid of honour to the Princess of +Wales, mother to George III. In the aristocratic circle into which she +was now introduced, she soon became a great favourite, and more than one +young scion of nobility cast a lover’s eye towards her. The young Duke +of Hamilton was, however, the successful one; and the pledge of affiance +passed mutually. He set forth on his travels, and she retired to the +residence of an aunt, Mrs. Hanmer, where she found one of the most +frequent visitors was the Hon. Mr. Hervey. He seems to have made up his +mind instantly; but aware of her pledge to the duke, he induced Mrs. +Hanmer to intercept their letters. The result of the scheme was as +Hervey expected: no letters arriving, Miss Chudleigh believed herself +slighted; and wrought on by the persuasions of Mrs. Hanmer, agreed to +accept Captain Hervey. They were married privately, August 4th, 1744, +but separated the day after, she continuing to fill her office as maid of +honour. The dissimulation this compelled her to practise was probably +the main cause of her after misfortunes; it was only by the knowledge +that he would be compelled to maintain her, that Captain Hervey could be +induced not to assert his claim; and her union being unknown at Court, +she was still as much courted as ever. Home came Hamilton—he had been +faithful to her—and demanded that explanation she was not able +(unaccountably to him) to give, offered his hand again, which, of course, +she was compelled to refuse. His despair was excessive; inquiries were +made, and the duplicity of Mrs. Hanmer unveiled. + +Unfortunately, instead of allowing time to soothe her sorrows, she began +to drown them in a manner which showed a disregard of her sex and +position. To escape the torrent of torment, she resolved to travel; but +unwilling to go alone, was indiscreet enough to advertise in the +newspapers for a companion. She succeeded, and off they started; but, as +might have been expected, were soon tired of each other, and separated at +Berlin. Here she was introduced to the great Frederick, who treated her +with great distinction. + +Returning home, she plunged into all the dissipation which then +characterised society in the metropolis; but again her husband crossed +her path and seemed determined to claim her, and finding remonstrance +useless, she resorted to the dishonest stratagem of tearing out the leaf +bearing the register of her marriage. Her husband had now no power to +prove their union, as the clergyman who performed the ceremony was dead. +This step she soon regretted; for Captain Hervey, succeeding to the +Earldom of Bristol, by his father’s death, her vanity made the rank of +Countess very acceptable, and through the clerk she succeeded in +replacing in the register-book the leaf she had abstracted. + +Such was her position when the Duke of Kingston offered her his hand. Of +course such was impossible; and accordingly they lived together for +several years, but with such observance of external decorum, that though +a moral, it was not an evidenced certainty. Her husband, on negotiations +being opened, refused to gratify her with the title of Duchess; but a +separation afterwards suiting his own wishes, he agreed not to oppose her +application for a divorce, and the necessary proofs being withheld, it +was granted. She now attained her wishes, and was married to the Duke +March 8th, 1769. + +While the Duke lived, the legality of the marriage was not questioned; +but he died September 24th, 1773, and left her his whole fortune, on +condition she did not marry again—a restraint she was by no means +inclined to abide by. She, however, set out for Rome, where Ganganelli +gave her apartments in the palace of one of his cardinals, and otherwise +showed her distinction. Here, however, her gaiety was soon stopped by +news of a disagreeable nature from home. + +A Mrs. Cradock had been present as a domestic at her marriage with Lord +Bristol, and, being in reduced circumstances, applied to the Duchess’s +solicitor for relief; he, discrediting her tale, refused any, on which +she went to Mr. Evelyn Pierrepoint, nephew of the Duke, and informed him +of every particular. He thereupon preferred an indictment for bigamy +against the Duchess, of which being informed, she, after surmounting +various obstacles, landed at Dover, and was immediately bailed before +Lord Mansfield, preparatory to taking her trial. + +Before, however, that came on, an unexpected enemy appeared. Foote, +imagining the case to afford capital material for his wit, wrote a piece, +called “The Trip to Calais,” in which the Duchess was cleverly satirised +as _Lady Kitty Crocodile_. Foote, whose real object was to obtain a sum +of money to suppress the piece, contrived to let her know what was astir; +and the Duchess, alarmed for once most terribly, sent for him. He waited +on, and read her a part of his play. She felt the sting, and rose in +great passion, declaring his delineation scandalous. He denied that the +character was intended for her ladyship, and the play was left for her +perusal. An intimation was made as Foote expected; but he refusing the +offer of £1,600, and declaring he would not abate one shilling from the +£2,000 demanded, he lost all; for her friends interceding with the Lord +Chamberlain, he sent for, and censured the play. Foote published a +letter of remonstrance, but the Duchess making every preparation for an +action at law, he was completely defeated. A paper-war ensued, in which +Foote had the advantage, greatly to the amusement, if not edification, of +the public. + +On April 15th, 1776, her trial commenced in Westminster Hall, Lord +Bathurst sitting as Lord Steward. She was convicted; but pleading the +privilege of the peerage, was discharged with a caution. + +She left England immediately, and passed the rest of her life abroad. +She purchased a magnificent estate near Fontainebleau, where she died, +August 20th, 1788. {170a} + +After the death of the Duchess of Kingston, her mansion at Knightsbridge +became the residence, successively, of Sir George Warren, Lord Stair, +Lord Listowel, and the Marquis of Wellesley, brother of the great Duke of +Wellington, and himself one of the foremost statesmen of the time. He +resided at Kingston House some years, living in great retirement, and +died in it September 26th, 1842, in his 83rd year. {170b} + +Kingston House was, after Lord Wellesley’s death, again the residence of +the Earl of Listowel, to whom the freehold belonged; and it is at present +inhabited by his son, the present earl. {170c} + +QUEEN’S BUILDINGS, commenced about 1770, and was named after Queen +Charlotte. That part of it between Sloane Street and Hooper’s Court was +originally called Queen’s Row, the remainder Queen’s Buildings, +Knightsbridge, and at one time Gloucester Buildings. + +First, I will notice Queen’s Row. Here, in 1772, the celebrated +engraver, William Wynne Ryland, resided. Ryland was born in 1732, and, +inclining towards the profession of an engraver, became a pupil of Simon +Revenet, then established in this country. On quitting him, his +godfather, Sir Watkin Williams Wynne, sent him to Paris, where he studied +under Francis Boucher, and J. P. Le Bas. After four years sojourn he +returned to England, and was appointed engraver to the King. He was the +first person who introduced into this country the style of engraving in +the chalk manner, applying himself chiefly to the pictures of Angelica +Kauffman. This system he greatly improved, and in it had no equal. + +Strutt laments that his “mercantile engagements should have occupied so +valuable a part of his precious time, and prevented his pursuing the art +with that alacrity his genius required, which seemed formed for great and +extensive exertions.” He commenced business originally in Cornhill, but +here became bankrupt. He afterwards came to Knightsbridge, where he +resided till the dreadful act was discovered which consigned him to the +gallows. + +On July 26th, 1783, he was tried before Judge Buller, for forging a bill +of exchange for £200. He well-nigh escaped; the forgery being so +beautifully executed that it was only the evidence of the paper-maker +which convicted him. Great exertions were made to save him, but +fruitlessly; and he was executed at Tyburn, August 29th, 1783. A few +months after, the stream being cleared of some of its mud, in order to +widen the roadway within the Park, a tin box containing some of the +unfortunate man’s plates for counterfeiting banknotes, was discovered. +{172} + +No. 14 (corner of Hooper’s Court) was from 1792 to 1797 the residence of +Mr. J. C. Nattes, an artist of celebrity in his time. About the year +1800 this house became the residence of the celebrated Arthur Murphy. + +Arthur Murphy was born at Cork in 1727. Early in life he was sent to St. +Omer’s, where he studied till his eighteenth year, when he returned to +Cork, and passed two years as clerk in a merchant’s counting-house. At +the end of this time he came to London, and entered a banking-house in a +similar capacity. But literature captivated him, the drama especially, +and it soon absorbed his mind. + + [Picture: The House in which Murphy lived, 14, Queen’s Buildings] + +His first publication, the “Gray’s Inn Journal,” commenced October 21st, +1752, and continued for nearly two years. But his prospects changing by +an uncle’s death, he, in October, 1754, betook himself to the stage, +appearing at Covent Garden, and performing _Othello_, _Hamlet_, +_Macbeth_, &c. But it was apparent an actor’s life he could not follow; +Churchill severely lashed him in the “Rosciad,” and Murphy retaliated in +an ode, an effusion as coarse as his opponent’s attack. + +To literature he now mainly turned his attention. In 1756 he produced +“The Apprentice,” a farce, for Garrick; in 1758 “The Upholsterer,” and in +the ensuing two years “The Orphan of China,” “The Desert Island,” and +“The Way to Keep Him;” and in 1761 he published “All in the Wrong,” “The +Citizen,” and “The Old Maid.” + +In the year 1757 he applied for admission to the Middle Temple, but, on +the ground of being an actor, was refused; he, however, induced Lord +Mansfield to interfere on his behalf, and through this influence he +entered Lincoln’s Inn. He was called to the Bar in 1762, and eventually +became leader of the Norfolk Circuit. Lord Loughborough also gave him a +Commissionership of Bankrupts—an office he held till his death. + +The study of “Coke upon Littleton” was not, however, sufficiently +attractive to wean him from his literary pursuits, and several plays, all +of which were highly popular, appeared in rapid succession. Among these +were his celebrated “Grecian Daughter” and “Know your own Mind.” This +latter piece, published in 1777, was written for Mr. Harris, and was the +last he brought on the stage. + +Besides these he also published an edition of Fielding’s works, with a +preliminary essay on his life and writings, an “Essay on the Life and +Genius of Dr. Johnson,” a translation of Tacitus, and various others. + +In 1788 he retired to Hammersmith, where he resided till 1800; he then +came to Knightsbridge, and here, with the exception of a short time in +Brompton Row, he resided till his death. In this house his “Life of +Garrick” was written; he appears to have been happy and comfortable in +it, occupying the first and second floors, and having a neat and +intelligent landlady, whose interest he secured by procuring her son a +presentation to Christ’s Hospital. He died June 18th, 1805, frequently +repeating during the day the couplet of Pope— + + “Taught half by reason, half by mere decay, + To welcome Death, and calmly pass away.” + +It was to Murphy, Johnson owed his introduction to Mr. Thrale. “I +question,” says Madame D’Arblay, “if Mr. Thrale loved any man so well.” +With Reynolds and Burke, too, he was intimate, and reviewed the latter’s +“Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful.” At Knightsbridge he became +intimate with Maurice Morgann; but from the singular construction put by +the latter on the characters of Shakespeare’s plays, silence on these +points was bespoke in their interviews. Morgann died before Murphy, who +deeply regretted, Mr. Foote tells us, his friend’s death. {175} + +At the corner of Sloane Street, and occupying the site of the first four +houses in it, was the Swan, an ancient and well-known hostelrie—a place +of great trade in former times. The sign still exists at No. 5, Sloane +Street; and that of the “Clock House” is also the same. Indeed the +latter was only the “tap” to the former, and the separation of interests +has not occurred above forty years. The old house was pulled down about +1777 or 1778. Otway, in “The Soldier’s Fortune,” alludes to it:— + + _Sir Davy Dunce_.—“I have surely lost, and ne’er shall find her more. + She promised me strictly to stay at home till I came back again; for + aught I know, she may be up three pair of stairs in the Temple now; + or it may be, taking the air, as far as Knightsbridge, with some + smooth-faced rogue or another; ’tis a damned house that Swan,—that + Swan at Knightsbridge is a confounded house.” + +Tom Brown also celebrates the Swan; and Dr. Wolcot (Peter Pindar) lays +the scene of one of his coarse effusions there:— + + “At Knightsbridge, at a tavern called the Swan, + Churchwardens, overseers, a jolly clan, + Ordered a dinner for themselves— + A very handsome dinner of the best, &c.” + +Beyond Hooper’s Court (so called from its owner) Mr. J. G. Huck, an +artist, lived at No. 11; Ozias Humphry in 1792 and 1793 at No. 19 +(Mitchell’s). At 21, Thomas Trotter, an ingenious engraver and +draughtsman, especially in portraits. He died February 14th, 1803, and +was buried in the Broadway ground, Westminster. + +At No. 7 resided Michael Underwood, M.D., one of the most distinguished +members of the medical profession then living. He wrote several +professional works, which, notwithstanding the advance of the science, +yet maintain their reputation. He attended Caroline of Brunswick at the +birth of the Princess Charlotte. Was a very benevolent man and the +gratuitous adviser to the poor of the whole neighbourhood. He died here +March 14th, 1820. + +RUTLAND HOUSE, a large red-brick mansion, occupied the site of the +present Rutland Gate. John, Duke of Rutland, who bore the sceptre at the +coronation of George III., and once filled the office of Lord Lieutenant +of Ireland, died here May 29th, 1779, aged 88. The celebrated Marquis of +Granby, his son, also resided here. {177} The whole estate, consisting +of above six acres, was offered for sale by Mr. Robins in 1833, but was +bought in, and in a year or two after the house was pulled down, and the +land let for building. It belongs to Furzon Manners, Esq., now, a +descendant of the Viceroy. + +Rutland Gate was commenced in 1838, and completed as far as Clytha House +in 1840. The remainder has been built since, the whole being completed +in 1856. + +The large detached house on the western side (24) was built by John +Sheepshanks, Esq., the distinguished patron of British Art, who here +gathered together that choice and valuable collection which he has so +nobly presented to the nation. The collection was removed early in 1857. + +Clytha House, the residence of Lord Edward Howard, was built for Mr. +Jones, of Clytha, who here gathered a collection, chiefly of the early +Italian schools, which was sold May 8th, 1852. + + [Picture: The Half-way House] + +Poor Eliot Warburton dated the second edition of his “Crescent and the +Cross” from Rutland Gate; at 21 resides Mr. Edward Corbould, one of our +finest delineators of female beauty; No. 22 was the residence of the +Marchioness Wellesley, widow of the eminent statesman; Mr. Albert Way, +the antiquary, Mr. Cotton and Mr. Prescott, both governors of the Bank of +England, also number among the residents of Rutland Gate. Nearly +opposite the western end of Rutland Gate, built in the roadway, stood an +old inn, of very bad character at one time, called the “Halfway House.” +An unusual array of stabling, troughs, pig-styes, &c., in a very +unsightly manner, were built along the causeway; and over the door were +several proofs of the faith in the old superstition that horse-shoes were +a preventive to the visits of evil spirits. In one sense the charm was +not efficacious, the house, from its lonely situation, being a resort for +the highwayman and footpad. A curious notice of a trial is given in +“Knight’s London,” where the thief-taker stated that if not met about +this spot, they should not have caught the robber at all: a proof of +their frequency, indeed! Jerry Abershaw is said to have been a visitor +here, and when the house was pulled down a secret staircase from a small +chamber in the western part of the house was found built in the wall, to +lead gradually down into the stables. Many a villain, doubtless, thus +escaped when the officers of justice were close upon him. + +The “Halfway House” was pulled down in 1846 at an expense of £3,050, in +addition to the purchase of the fee. {180} + +ST. GEORGE’S HOSPITAL.—A number of gentlemen of the medical profession, +dissenting from the system of management carried on at Westminster +Hospital, broke off their connection with it, and engaged Lanesborough +House for a new institution, conducted under their own auspices. + + [Picture: Lanesborough House, afterwards St. George’s Hospital] + +Lanesborough House is described by Pennant as the _country house_ of the +eccentric nobleman immortalised by Pope:— + + “Old politicians chew on wisdom past, + And totter on in business to the last, + As weak, as earnest, and as gravely out, + As sober Lanesbro’ dancing with the gout.” + +He caused the following quaint distich to be inscribed on the house front +in reference to its situation:— + + “It is my delight to be + Both in town and country.” + +The allusion of Pope to the dancing propensities of this nobleman is +curiously borne out by the fact, that when Prince George of Denmark died +he sought an interview with the widowed Queen, and advised her to dispel +her grief by following his favourite amusement. Not till disabled +entirely by the gout did he give up this relaxation. The “Golden +Gallery” around the dome of St. Paul’s was gilded at his expense. + +Lanesborough House was of red brick, three storeys high, with one small +doorway, approached by three or four steps to the centre; the new +authorities added two wings, also of red brick, and on January 1st, 1734, +the institution was opened, having been established on October 19th, +1733. + +One of those who took a leading part in this foundation was John Allen, +apothecary to the household of George I., George II., and George III. +successively. He remained a governor till his death, on March 17th, +1774. Another staunch supporter was the celebrated anatomist, Cheselden, +the friend of Pope and other literary men. Some of his greatest +operations were performed here. He was also surgeon to Chelsea Hospital, +and in its graveyard lies buried. + +The hospital gradually increased in wealth and usefulness, till in 1784 +the governors issued advertisements asking for increased aid to prevent +its decay. This arose from the fact that a large legacy left by a Mrs. +Crayle caused an idea to be spread abroad that further aid of this kind +was hardly wanted. Its legacies had been a main source of income; they +now fell off, and the Crayle bequest being reversionary, the income +rapidly fell, and at Christmas, 1783, the institution was above £1,900 in +debt; but a third of the profits of the Handel Festival held in +Westminster Abbey in 1784 enabled the governors to overcome their +difficulties. + +The celebrated John Hunter was one of the eminent men who have been +connected with St. George’s Hospital. He was appointed surgeon in 1768, +and always took an active part in its management. Here on October 16th, +1793, his life was suddenly terminated. He had long disputed a matter of +right with his colleagues, and in an altercation he was flatly +contradicted, when a trifling address might have turned aside the +quarrel. He rushed into an adjoining room and there fell into the arms +of Dr. Robertson, one of the physicians, and his life was gone in an +instant. + +The increasing prosperity and demand on the Hospital proved at last that +the old building did not afford the necessary accommodation, and +accordingly its destruction was resolved on. This was effected in 1827, +and the present building erected from designs by Wilkins. The old front +was towards Hyde Park; the new one faces the Green Park, and is rendered +imposing by its bold and massive tetrastyle portico, supported by square +columns. Besides its numerous wards, here are a chapel, museum, +lecture-room, and private apartments. The museum, so valuable to the +surgeon, is not adapted for the public, unless to point a moral to the +vicious and unwary. The mere curiosities are interesting; among them is +the half-sovereign taken from Mr. Brunel’s windpipe, by Sir Benjamin +Brodie, presented by its proprietor; the hide of the cow from which +Jenner took the first vaccine matter; a packet of needles, which came +simultaneously from the frame of a young lady, money and knives from +patients’ stomachs, and other similar relics. + +One regular fund is yet wanting to render the institution complete. Many +a fellow-creature, who is entirely destitute, enters here, and, when +recovered, re-enters the world, without a roof to shelter his weakened +frame, or the wherewithal to obtain the common necessaries of life. Of +late this has been to a certain extent remedied. A porcelain slab has +been let into the wall (a corner-stone of faith it has been called) +bearing the simple inscription—“In aid of those patients who leave this +Hospital homeless and in need.” Ought such an appeal to rest solely on +the charity of the busy multitudes passing by? To announce such a fund +would, I believe, ensure its success. + +In the burial-ground of St. George’s parish at Bayswater, is a headstone +inscribed— + + “Sacred to the Memory of the Rev. James Clarke, + who died June 9th, 1811, aged 85 years. + During fifty-one of which he discharged the duties of Chaplain + to St. George’s Hospital, with credit to himself, and benefit to + the Institution.” + +St. George’s Hospital formed a theme for one of Miss Landon’s poems. + +ST. GEORGE’S PLACE, till of late years, consisted of old-fashioned +houses, about two storeys high. About 1827 the first improvement was +made by the opening of Wilton Place, and gradually these old houses have +been pulled down to make room for superior ones. Towards the upper end, +these houses were detached. In one of them lived a Captain Warner, one +of the heroes of Quebec. About 1829, Liston lived at No. 7, and at No. +12 for many years resided Mr. Richards, a well-known London auctioneer, +who died here in 1810. + +At No. 14 resided for many years the mother of Mr. Justice Burton, to +whom belonged the freehold of this strip of land. She died here in 1799. +Her son, Mr. Justice Burton, resided for many years in the house at the +west corner of the entrance to the Barrack. Bred to the law, he became +Recorder of Oxford and a King’s Counsel, and in July, 1778, was appointed +one of the judges of Wales and Chester. He represented Woodstock and +Oxford in several Parliaments, supporting the ministry of William Pitt, +and at last became Father of the Benchers of Lincoln’s Inn. He died in +Brook Street, December, 1832, aged 89. The freehold mentioned was +originally vested in the Laremar family. The first one of whom anything +is known, was one William Laremar, captain of the Loyal Rebecca, a ship +trading to Virginia in 1676, a time when the colony was disturbed by the +rebellion of Nathaniel Bacon; the use of the vessel was given to the +governor, Sir William Berkeley, by whom Laremar was appointed Commodore +in St. James River, and was “maynly instrumental in the suppression of +that rebellion and mutiny,” for which good service he received +compensation from the Admiralty, the secretary of which was then Samuel +Pepys. From the Laremars the property passed to the Burtons, from them +to the Coles, and it is now enjoyed by Owen Blayney Cole, Esq. Liston +also resided at 14 many years; and the next house was once tenanted by +the Tathams, one of whom married Adam Adolphus, brother of the celebrated +counsellor. + +In No. 3 of the present houses lived General Campbell, an old Peninsular +veteran. He died in June, 1852. No. 10 is the residence of Mr. +Coningham, M.P. for Brighton, and 11, of James Goding, Esq. + +The “White Horse Inn” was formerly established on the site of No. 11.; +afterwards it was removed to the corner of the entrance of the Foot +Barracks, but was pulled down in September, 1856, with three houses, one +of which was Liston’s. Nos. 15 to 20 were built in 1849–50. + +From the corner of Wilton Place the row extends ten houses further. No. +28 was Mr. Blore’s, the statuary’s. A house which stood at the corner, +and narrowed the entrance to Wilton Place very considerably, was removed +about 1841. For many years a Mrs. Dowell carried on the business of +tobacconist here. She was an eccentric old damsel, and so exceedingly +partial to the late Duke of Wellington, that she was continually +inventing some new plan whereby to express her regard. She sent him +occasionally patties, cakes, and other similar _delicacies_, and as it +was useless to attempt to defeat the old woman’s pertinacity, everything +was taken in. To such a pitch did she carry this mania, that I have +heard she regularly laid for him at her table, constantly expecting he +would call in. With her lodged William Pickett, who lived in +Knightsbridge the greater part of his life. A gravestone in St. George’s +ground tells his short history:— + + “Sacred to the memory of Mr. William Pickett, artist, + who died at Knightsbridge, on the 23rd day of May, 1821, + aged 45 years.” + +I must not leave St. George’s Place without a notice of John Liston. He +was born in 1776; and his father, who lived in Norris Street, giving him +a superior education, he, in 1795, became second master at Archbishop +Tennison’s school near Leicester Square; but thus early the stage appears +to have fascinated him, for he quitted his situation for acting plays +with the elder boys. He then went into a mercantile house in the City. + +When Liston first appeared on the stage is not accurately known; but the +following note from a celebrated manager of the time appears to prove +that to him, at least, he was well known. It is as follows,—_verbatim_:— + + “SIR, + + “Your not favoring Me with an answr Relative to the I-dea of the + Cast, I at Random (tho’ very ill) Scratch’t Out, Makes it Necessary + for Me to have Your Opinion, in Order to Prevent Aney Mistake. I am, + + “Sir, + “With every Good Wish, + “Yours, &c., + “TATE WILKINSON.” + +He now followed the stage as a profession, and obtained engagements at +various provincial establishments; among others, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, +under Stephen Kemble. The first comic part he performed was the very +subordinate one of _Diggory_, and even in this little part contrived to +throw that irresistible originality of humour for which he afterwards +became so celebrated. I have seen the copy the actor learnt from, with +his erasures, interlineations, &c. + +His first acknowledged appearance on a London stage was at the Haymarket, +on June 10th, 1805, as _Sheepface_, in “The Village Lawyer.” On the same +evening Miss Tyrer made her re-appearance after a lapse of three years. +She was soon after to become his wife, and they were married on Sunday, +March 22nd, 1807, at St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. Their mutual friend, +Charles Taylor, the celebrated _Noodle_, in “Tom Thumb,” gave the wedding +breakfast. The union proved a happy one; one son and daughter were its +issue. The former entered the army; the latter married Rodwell, the +composer. + +It is impossible, in this sketch of Liston’s life, to notice all his +various performances and successes. His leading triumphs can alone be +glanced at. In January, 1823, he commenced a £50 per week engagement at +Drury Lane, as _Tony Lumpkin_; and in May, 1824, George IV. commanded the +“Hypocrite,” and heartily encored _Mawworm’s_ mock sermon. It was a +favourite part of Liston’s, and his performance of it inimitable. I have +seen a letter from a distinguished living actor, who had played the part, +he says, “greatly against the grain, well recollecting Mr. Liston’s +unapproachable excellence in it.” + +In the ensuing year he reached the pinnacle of his fame by his +impersonation of _Paul Pry_. The popularity of the piece was immense, +and chiefly through the unequalled ease and skill with which he acted his +part. His well-known countenance was to be met with in every conceivable +form, in plaster and clay, in china and butter, in the centre of pocket +handkerchiefs, tobacconists’ “screw” papers, and in a variety of other +ways, his unbounded success with the public was attested. + +In 1831 he joined Madame Vestris, and performed with increasing +popularity until the end of the season 1837. He never took a farewell +formally of the stage; and the last time he ever performed was for the +benefit of James Vining, in Planché’s “Peculiar Position;” and as +_Monsieur Champignon_ he ended his professional career. It was, I +believe, known to his friends that this would be his last appearance, and +the following address was written by Rodwell on this occasion. It has +never, I believe, been published:— + + “Liston, farewell! for once the Comic Muse + Looks vex’d and dismal, griev’d with thee to part; + And heaves true sighs from her reluctant heart, + While virgin tears her clouded eyes suffuse, + By sorrows forc’d, despite of struggling art. + Her mask avails not now. Her faltering voice + Betrays the o’er-mastering passion in her soul; + For she must lose the servant of her choice, + Who made her chariot merrily to roll, + When he the Coachman played; and not less great + As the mock Marquis help’d her mimic state + Absurdly grave; or at his tricks again + As gay-hair’d Figaro swell’d her menial train, + Pompous and plausible, serene and sly, + With witty impudence, and humour dry. + Expert at all trades, too, with _last_ or _block_ + Alike to _comb_ or _cobble_ wig or sock; + This he exactly fitted to her toe, + In walk, or jig, or gallopade to go; + And that so quaintly, whimsically curl’d, + It grew the merry wonder of the world. + Ney, just to keep the top or sole together, + He’d patch the Sock ev’n with the Buskin’s leather, + That she might follow in her sister’s path + With pewter poison-pot, and dirk of lath; + While he stalk’d on in Dollabella’s train, + A lord, of whom the Court might well be vain. + Our tears, O Liston! must with hers be blended + To see, too soon, thy comic labours ended. + And haply, oft when other servants bear + Some mawkish viand of our bill of fare, + Oft shall we turn dissatisfied, and wish + For Liston’s sauce, to help th’ insipid dish; + Whose very look and air were quite enough + To win our favour for the cook’s worst stuff. + Or, if the dish be good, provoked to see + Some clumsy serving-man instead of thee. + How shall we think, regretful of thy merit, + Who served up all with such bewitching spirit, + As made the best seem better, and the cook + To thee beholden, more than to his book, + However puff’d by papers, or by rumour:— + Thou great Original in comic humour!” + + 31st May, 1837. + +Nor was this the only tribute Liston received; numerous were the attempts +made to induce him to alter his decision, but he was inflexible, and it +remained irrevocable. One of several letters I have seen I include here, +notwithstanding its writer is living; but he cannot regret to see a +letter given to the world showing such ability and excellent feeling. It +is as follows:— + + T. R. C. G., Dec. 18, 1839. + + MY DEAR MR. LISTON,—My mother has told me of one or two half-laughing + conversations she has had with you, on the subject of your delighting + the public with a few performances. Jest sometimes leads to earnest, + and, on the principle of never throwing away a good chance, I venture + to send you this to say, that should such a joyful occurrence be + within the verge of possibility at any time, you may consider + yourself King of Covent Garden; act when you please, what you please, + and as long as you please; stop when you please, take what money you + please, and be sure that, do whatever you please, you cannot fail to + please. More than this I cannot say, except that you shall be + allowed to sweeten your own tea, and, when you are too late for + rehearsal, beat the prompter. In plain English, and in sober + earnest, if you will make up your mind to gratify us by playing a few + of your old parts, everything that mortals can do to make you + comfortable and happy shall be done, and we shall be most proud in + being the caterers of a national treat. + + I will not bore you more—only say the word, and we are “at your + feet.” + + Ever yours, with kind regards to Mrs. Liston, very truly and very + faithfully, + + C. J. MATHEWS. + +Liston wrote a copy of his answer on the fly-leaf of this letter as +follows:— + + MY DEAR MR. MATHEWS,—Notwithstanding the skill you exhibit in + endeavouring to arouse my dormant vanity, be assured, once for all, + it cannot prevail to overcome the unalterable determination I came to + when I quitted the stage, never to reappear professionally before the + public. Not only should I consider my reassuming the cap and bells, + at my advanced age, a moral indecorum; my decaying strength also + would render the experiment too hazardous, and I have no doubt were + Mr. Wakley the coroner to have to preside at an inquest on my + remains, he would—as he did the other day, in the case of a poor old + woman who drank herself to death—suggest to the jury the propriety of + returning a verdict of _Felo-de-se_. + + Accept, however, my very grateful thanks for your liberal proposal, + as well as for the terms in which the offer has been conveyed; they + bring back a pleasing remembrance of the position we stood in to each + other a few years back, to which, though for a time interrupted, I + trust we are once again happily restored. + + Mrs. Liston joins me in sincere hopes for the continual prosperity of + you and yours, and believe me (once again my _dear_ Charles), + + Your friend and well wisher, + J. LISTON. + +This correspondence, so interesting and so creditable to both parties, +shows Liston to have had a kind heart and joyous disposition, and that +such can exist with the highest notions of moral responsibility. +Liston’s private life was retired and becoming, the love of literature, +acquired early, never left him; few persons were greater students than +he, and his knowledge of the Scriptures is said to have been very +extensive. + +The illness which terminated his life first attacked him four years +previously, in the form of apoplexy. The last attack came on suddenly, +on March 16th, 1846, and he never spoke again. He lingered till the +ensuing Sunday, when he died in the arms of his wife. That same day, and +almost that same hour (half-past ten), thirty-nine years previously, and +_on a Sunday too_, she had sworn “to love and to cherish till death +should them part,” and thus literally she fulfilled her vow. + +He lies at Kensal Green; over his grave rises a column, bearing the +following inscription:— + + “Sacred to the Memory of John Liston, who died March 22nd, 1846, aged + 73. He lived many years an ornament to his profession, and died much + respected and regretted.” + +Mrs. Liston survived her husband eight years. Born about 1780, she +became a pupil of Kelly, and made her first London appearance in 1800. +She was always a favourite with the public, the very appropriate part of +_Queen Dolabella_, in “Tom Thumb,” being generally considered her best. +She died at No. 28, Brompton Square, whither she removed from +Knightsbridge, September 19th, 1854. + +Behind St. George’s Place was formerly a foot-barrack, established about +1758. It continued to be used as a depot until 1835 or 1836, when +Government sold the remainder of their lease. On part of the drill +ground St. Paul’s Church is built, and the barracks are let out as +tenements. Over a portion of its parade-ground Mr. Dunn built the St. +George’s Gallery, for his “Chinese Collection;” the “Exhibition of Modern +Art” was also, with other attractions, located here; among them Mr. +Gordon Cumming, with the relics of his African exploits. The lease of +this property is just expiring, and various improvements are +contemplated. + +TATTERSALL’S.—Richard Tattersall, founder of this well-known +establishment, was born in 1723. He became training-groom to the last +Duke of Kingston, after whose death, I presume, he started on his own +account at Hyde Park Corner, as I find he sold off the Duke’s stud, and +an injunction was applied for, December 14th, 1774, to prevent payment of +the money to the Duchess, then under indictment. In 1775 frequent +advertisements of Tattersall’s show that his business rapidly progressed, +and his establishment soon became the head-quarters of the sporting +world. That it early gained an aristocratic fame is proved by the +allusion in “The Belle’s Stratagem,” first performed in 1782:— + + “_Flutter_: Oh, yes! I stopped at Tattersall’s as I came by, and + there I found Lord James Jessamy, Sir William Wilding, and Mr. —. + But, now I think of it, you sha’nt know a syllable of the matter; for + I have been informed you never believe above one-half of what I say.” + +Richard Tattersall died February 20th, 1795, aged 72. Two portraits of +him are still in his descendants’ possession; from one of them a portrait +in “Knight’s London” is engraved. {198} He was succeeded in his business +by his only son, Edmund, who carried it on until his death, January 23rd, +1810. His son, Edmund, who founded the foreign trade, then succeeded; +who dying December 11th, 1851, the business came to its present +proprietors. + +The entrance to Tattersall’s is from Grosvenor Place, down a deep descent +under an unpretending archway. At the bottom is a tavern, bearing the +appropriate sign of “The Turf,” opposite to which is a gateway, leading +into a circular-shaped inclosure, on the skirt of which is a gravel path +encircling a grass-plot, from the centre of which rises a solitary tree; +here the horses are tried and examined. The subscription room—a well +proportioned one—was designed by Mr. George Tattersall, author of +“Sporting Architecture.” Over the mantelpiece of the counting-house hang +the regulations, dated 1780. In the courtyard is a domed structure +surmounted by a bust of George IV. in his eighteenth year, at which +period of life he was a frequent visitor. Beneath this dome is a pump, +surmounted by the figure of a fox. A writer in the “Sporting Magazine” +(June, 1852) stated that “Tattersall’s annual average of horses brought +to the hammer, is estimated at £45,000,” and that he believed “there were +97 stalls, and 13 loose boxes, or standing for 110.” The chief business +days are Mondays and Thursdays. + +TREVOR SQUARE, so named from Sir John Trevor, who had a house on its +site, was built about 1818. The freehold is still that of his +descendant, Lord Duncannon; hence the names to be met with here are +derived, such as Hill Street, Arthur Street, Duncannon Cottage, &c. + +At No. 1 in the square lived the notorious Harriette Wilson; and Mrs. +Andrée, a descendant of the Umfreville, whom William the Conqueror styled +his kinsman, died here in 1836. + +Trevor Chapel, one of the largest places of worship in the metropolis, +belonging to the Independents, was built about 1817, under the ministry +of the Rev. John Morrison, D.D. He is still its nominal minister, but +his great age and infirmities preclude any active duty. The officiating +pastor is the Rev. John Statham. Dr. Morrison is beloved not only by his +congregation, but by the whole community of London Dissenters. He is +known also as the author of several theological works, the best of which +is a “Commentary on the Psalms.” + +In the last century a portion of the land about this part was rented by a +French Protestant refugee family, named Moreau, of which General Moreau +was a member. They returned to France about eighty years since. {200} + +All this land one hundred and fifty years ago was the property of Sir +John Trevor, many years Master of the Rolls. He was second son of John +Trevor, of Bynkinsalt, Denbighshire, Esq., by an aunt of the infamous +Chancellor Jeffreys, and was born about 1638. After a very lowly +education, he was taken by a relative, Arthur Trevor, a barrister, as his +clerk. Here he assiduously applied himself to the study of the law, and +afterwards entered the Inner Temple, and was called to the bar. His +advancement was very rapid, for, entering the House of Commons, he upheld +the Royal Prerogative to an extreme, denying the right of Parliament to +inquire into its exercise. He took a prominent part in the unjust +prosecution of the unfortunate Lord Strafford, and strenuously defended +Jeffreys when he obstructed the right of petitioning in the great +controversy between the _Petitioners_ and _Abhorrers_. + +When James II. called his only Parliament in May, 1685, Trevor, who sat +for Denbigh, was, through the Government influence, elected Speaker. +{201} The new Parliament, however, did not suit James, and at the +commencement of a second session was dissolved. Trevor’s obsequiousness +was rewarded with the Mastership of the Rolls, an office to which he was +appointed October 20th, 1685. It is said he aimed now at the +Chancellorship, and, with that object, endeavoured to injure Jeffreys by +aiding the outcry against him on the occasion of the shameless case of +Alderman Cornish. + +In July, 1688, Trevor was sworn of the Privy Council; but William of +Orange soon after landing, with characteristic meanness he held aloof, +but when James returned after his first flight, imagining a reaction was +come, declared in his favour; his hopes proved transitory, and he +therefore joined the High Tories, who wished to make William Regent only. +He, however, was declared King, and Trevor was removed from the Rolls. + +In 1690 a new Parliament was called, and Trevor joined the more moderate +of the two sections into which his party was divided; and having offered +to support the new King, and also bring over partisans from the opposite +camp, if restored to the Speaker’s chair, his proposal was agreed to; and +so well did he perform his part, that William in a few weeks appointed +him First Commissioner of the Great Seal, he still retaining the +Speakership, and in less than two years, his successor at the Rolls +dying, he was restored to that position also. But great inconvenience +resulted, and on May 2nd, 1693, the Great Seal was given to Somers. + +In 1694 a great agitation was manifested in the House of Commons, in the +belief that the Court, and even the House itself, was tainted with +bribery. A committee was appointed, and on the 12th March, 1695, Mr. +Foley, the chairman, read its report, which implicated Trevor; and a +debate arising, a resolution was proposed “That Sir John Trevor, Speaker +of this House, receiving a gratuity of 1,000 guineas from the City of +London, after passing of the Orphans’ Bill, is guilty of a high crime and +misdemeanour.” This motion Trevor had the mortification to put from the +chair, and the unparalleled humiliation of declaring it unanimously +carried. The House immediately adjourned, and two days after he resigned +the chair, and on the 16th a motion for his expulsion from the House was +carried, and a new writ issued for the borough he represented. {203} He +was, strangely enough, permitted to retain his Mastership of the Rolls, +and no further proceedings were taken against him. The rest of his life +he wisely spent in his judicial office, never again withdrawing from it +for politics. He died at his house in Chancery Lane, May 20th, 1717, and +was buried in the Rolls Chapel. + +Trevor’s character, on the whole, is but a poor one; a selfish ambition +appears to have made him consider the end, and not the means, the chief +object of his care. + +His circumstances, doubtless, compelled him to practise a rigid economy, +which, as he advanced in years and position, grew into meanness. But it +would be unjust not to mention the redeeming points in his career. Lord +Campbell states that “he was not only an upright but an enlightened +judge, and he pronounced many decrees which to this day are considered of +high authority.” No charge of bribery or favouritism was ever brought +against him in the fulfilment of his judicial duties. “He had a villa at +Knightsbridge,” says Lord Campbell, “then almost a day’s journey from +London, and he has been absurdly censured for occasionally hearing cases +at his private residence, a practice all equity judges sometimes must +necessarily follow.” And notwithstanding his niggardly disposition he +founded six almshouses in St. Martin’s parish, Shropshire, and provided +also several other charities. He left issue an only daughter, Anne, who +married Michael Hill, of Hillsborough, Esquire, who had two sons—Trevor, +who became heir to the Hills, and was ancestor of the Marquis of +Downshire, and Arthur, who inherited this property, assumed the name of +Trevor, and was, April 27th, 1765, raised to the peerage as Viscount +Duncannon; and from him the present freeholder is descended. + +William Street was built about 1830. At No. 11 resided for many years +Lady Morgan, whose works occupy too distinguished a place in our +literature to need mention here. Mrs. Gascoigne, in her poem, +“Belgravia,” after sketching the portrait of Mr. Higgins, as before +given, describes Lady Morgan as follows: + + “Nor his the only pen Belgravia’s bounds + Can boast, whose glory far and wide resounds! + Endowed with manly powers, a woman’s quill + Can treat and master every theme at will; + And in her wisdom’s energetic scope, + Put down a _Wiseman_, and unchair a _Pope_.” + +The last line alludes to the controversy so cleverly sustained by her +ladyship, as to the genuineness of St. Peter’s Chair—a paper war, forming +a capital chapter for a future Disraeli, and the only amusing episode +connected with the Papal Aggression of 1851. + +WILTON CRESCENT was commenced in 1826 by Mr. Seth Smith. At No. 24 for +many years lived Mr. Hallam, the celebrated historian. Here the great +_literati_ of our times were wont to meet, for Mr. Hallam’s assemblies +were of the most celebrated and intellectual. At No. 16 the late Lord +Dudley Stuart once resided; it is now the residence of Mr. Richardson. +No. 20 is the town-house of the Earl of Winchelsea, the “Protestant +Earl;” 39 was the residence of the Rev. W. Bennett; and 30 of Lord John +Russell, before his removal to Chesham Place. Mr. Baron Watson resides +at 38; and Mr. Milner Gibson at No. 50. Lord Chewton, who so gallantly +fell in leading his men at the Battle of Alma, lived at 37. + +WILTON PLACE, occupying the site of a cow-yard, into which there was a +narrow entrance from the main road, was built in 1827. At No. 15 Sir +James Macdonald, the gallant defender of Hougoumont, lived, and died +there in May, 1857; also the Hon. Thomas Stapleton, an antiquary, at 13; +Mr. Westmacott at 21. The Chisholm used to occupy 35; and Miss Reynolds, +the actress, still resides at No. 4. + +With Wilton Place these notices of Knightsbridge (proper) close; mention +of those eminent persons whose _locale_ cannot be traced will, I think, +appropriately finish this chapter. + +RICHARD BENSLEY, the celebrated actor of the last century, resided the +latter part of his life at Knightsbridge. Appearing for the first time, +in 1765, as _Pierre_ in “Venice Preserved,” he maintained a good +reputation as an actor for a lengthened period, not quitting the stage +till May 6th, 1796. He had the honour to deliver Johnson’s prologue to +Goldsmith’s “Good-Natured Man;” and as _Pierre_, _Iago_, and _Hotspur_, +his fame stood high among his contemporaries. He was appointed +barrack-master at Knightsbridge (he had in early life been in the army), +which appointment he held till his death in 1817. + +THOMAS HARRISON, a poet, a friend of Addison and Swift—“my own creature,” +the latter calls him—who brought over the celebrated Treaty of Utrecht, +died at Knightsbridge, on February 14th, 1713. He was a _protégé_ of +Swift, who describes him, in 1710, as “a young fellow we are all fond of; +a little pretty fellow, with a great deal of wit, good sense, and good +nature.” He was then tutor to a son of the Duke of Queensbury on _forty +pounds a year_; Swift introduced him to the Ministry, and he was sent out +as Secretary to the Embassy to arrange the Peace of Utrecht, St. John +presenting him with fifty guineas to bear his expenses. Less than two +years had elapsed on February 11th, 1713, when Swift, returning from a +dinner, found a letter on his table from Harrison, telling him he was +ill, and desired to see him. He went in the morning, found him suffering +from fever and inflammation, harassed and penniless; got thirty guineas +for him from Bolingbroke, and a Treasury order for £100 of his arrears of +salary. He then removed him to Knightsbridge for change of air. On +February 14th, Swift writes,—“I took Parnell (the poet) this morning, and +we walked to see poor Harrison. I had the £100 in my pocket. I told +Parnell I was afraid to knock at the door. My mind misgave me. I +knocked, and his man, in tears, told me his master was dead an hour +before.” Swift seems to have loved Harrison, and felt his loss acutely. +“Think,” he says, “what grief this is to me! I went to his mother, and +have been ordering things for his funeral with as little cost as +possible, to-morrow at ten at night. Lord Treasurer was much concerned +when I told him; I would not dine with Lord Treasurer, or any one else. +No loss ever grieved me so much.” And the next day he records, “At ten +at night I was at his funeral, which I ordered to be as private as +possible. We had but one coach with four of us; and when it was carrying +us home, after the funeral, the braces broke, and we were forced to sit +in it, and have it held up, till my man went for chairs, at eleven at +night, in terrible rain.” {209} + +Tickell, in one of his poems, mentions Harrison as— + + “That much loved youth, whom Utrecht’s walls confine;” + +and indeed, though little is known of him, he seems to have been a +favourite with his contemporaries. + +BERNARD LENS, miniature painter to George II., retiring from his +profession, settled at Knightsbridge, where he died, December 30th, 1740. +According to Vertue, he was buried at Kensington, but his name does not +appear on the register. He was tutor to the celebrated Duke of +Cumberland, and excelled as a copyist of Rubens and Vandyke, whose +colouring he imitated admirably. + +ROBERT MILLER, a loyalist in the American War of Independence. He held +two official situations in Virginia, which he lost in the revolution. He +died at Knightsbridge, February, 17th, 1792. + +FRANCIS XAVIER D’OLIVEYRA, a Portuguese chevalier, born in 1702, and +filled the office of Secretary to the Embassy at Vienna. He was +persecuted by the Inquisition on account of the publication of his +travels, and accordingly came to England, where he abjured the Romish +creed. Thus sacrificing fortune to the dictates of conscience, he first +encountered great difficulties, but found friends, especially Archbishops +Potter and Herring. Frederick, Prince of Wales, also assigned him a +pension. He resided some years at Knightsbridge, which he quitted in +1775. He died October 11th, 1783. {211} + +The COUNTESS OF ORRERY, friend of Swift, died at Knightsbridge, October +27th, 1758. He esteemed her highly “as a person of very good +understanding, as any he knew of the sex.” In his will, Swift bequeathed +to Lord Orrery “the enamelled silver plates to distinguish bottles of +wine by,” given him by his “excellent lady.” + +SETH WARD, BISHOP OF SALISBURY, had his town residence at Knightsbridge. +He was born April 15th, 1617, at Aspedon, near Buntingford. Brought up +at the Free School of his native place, he was removed to Sydney Sussex +College; but refusing to subscribe the covenant, lost his fellowship, and +in 1643 removed to the neighbourhood of London. Part of his time he +spent at Albury, in company with Oughte, and there the two prosecuted +their mathematical studies together. + +In 1649, the Savilian Professors of Astronomy and Geometry being removed +from their offices by the Parliamentary Commissioners, Ward was chosen to +fill the former chair. On this he took the oath of allegiance to the +Commonwealth, and exerted himself to restore the lectures, which had been +greatly neglected, and under him they speedily revived. + +In 1652, he took his Doctor’s Degree, and in 1659 was made Principal of +Jesus College, and afterwards Master of Trinity College; but at the +Restoration he was compelled to resign these appointments. While at +Oxford he gained the acquaintance of some of the most eminent men of the +time, especially of Wilkins, afterwards Bishop of Chester. Their +meetings led to the formation of the Royal Society, which Ward strongly +supported, and of which he was one of the most efficient members. + +Although he had taken office under the Commonwealth, he had friends under +the Monarchy, who were able to forward his interests. Among them were +Monk and Clarendon; and through their intercessions he was presented to +St. Lawrence Jewry, and afterwards to the Precentorship of Exeter. His +rise was now rapid, for in 1661 he was appointed Dean, and in the ensuing +year Bishop of that Diocese. + +In 1667 he was translated to the Bishopric of Salisbury, and in the House +of Lords, being an able speaker, took a prominent part in the debates. +He has been accused of lending rather too complying an ear to the Court, +both in Parliament and the rule of his diocese; probably these charges +arose from his supporting the ill-advised and tyrannical Conventicle Act, +which his predecessor, Bishop Earl, a man beloved by all parties, had +opposed. On the other hand, it must be borne in mind he approved of the +opposition to James II., and to two copies of the petition his signature +was affixed. + +His residence, when his duties called him to the metropolis, was at +Knightsbridge, and here he was visited by all the leading literary and +scientific men of the day. Evelyn, in his “Diary,” March 25th, 1674, +writes, “I dined at Knightsbridge, with the Bishops of Salisbury, +Chester, and Lincoln, my old friends.” The celebrated Isaac Barrow was +also a frequent guest; and it was at the Bishop’s table he was seized +with the illness which in a short time ended his days. The celebrated +Sir Charles Scarborough was another friend—he also was Ward’s medical +adviser; and Burnet states he was at Knightsbridge with him when the +Queen’s coach came for him to attend her at the birth of the future +Pretender. + +The Bishop’s health towards the close of his life was very indifferent, +and at length he was deprived of his faculties altogether, and died at +Knightsbridge, January 6, 1689, in his seventy-second year. He was a +very learned man, as his writings abundantly show, and a very charitable +one. At his native place he founded almshouses, and also left a sum for +apprenticing its poor boys. I know nothing more beautiful or pure in a +great man’s character than to see him remembering in his old age those +villagers among whom, in a comparatively humble sphere, he first drew +breath. Such conduct indicates a benevolent mind and a good heart; and +such public acts which seem to show a different spirit, I would rather +attribute to a temporary fear or extraneous motive, other than the +genuine constitution of the mind. A life of Ward was published by Dr. +Pope, author of the celebrated ballad, “The Old Man’s Wish.” {214} + +William Penn resided at Knightsbridge, at No. 8, St. George’s Place, it +is said; in order to be nearer the Court, where he was a great favourite +with the Queen; he left it in 1706. Sir John Chardin, the famous Persian +Ambassador of the time of Charles II., lived once in this same house. So +imbued was he by his travels with Eastern ideas, that on Persian +festivals he used to illuminate his windows with candles. He was buried +at Chiswick, 29th December, 1713. The clever but unfortunate George Anne +Bellamy also lived here in 1747. Dr. Richard Wright, F.R.S., and +physician to St. George’s Hospital, died here, October 14th, 1786. J. +Marshall, a botanist and gardener, and well known as a writer on such +subjects, lived at Knightsbridge many years; and Edward Wakefield, author +of “Ireland, Political and Statistical,” died here, May 18th, 1854, aged +eighty-six. John Allen, of Knightsbridge, in 1685, left to the parish of +Hammersmith 10s. annually to twenty poor people. The Countess of +Yarmouth, mistress of George II., also numbered among its inhabitants. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +BELGRAVIA. + + + “Belgravia! that fair spot of ground + Where all that worldlings covet most is found! + Of this stupendous town—this mighty heart! + Of England’s frame—_the fashionable_ part!” + + BELGRAVIA: A POEM. + +BETWEEN the Hamlet of Knightsbridge and the district of Pimlico are a +number of streets and squares to which the fashionable term of Belgravia +has been given, and which is now the recognised name of the locality. +Southward of the old King’s Road has for 200 years been known as Pimlico. +To this boundary, sanctioned by usage, I shall adhere; considering only +those places as in Belgravia between this line, and one formed from St. +George’s Hospital, by Grosvenor Crescent and Motcomb Street; while the +east boundary is Grosvenor Place; and the west, the sewer. The name is +derived from a title of the Marquis of Westminster, taken from a village +in Leicestershire, where he has great property. Halkin, Motcomb, and +Kinnerton Streets, also derive their names from properties of the +Marquis; Eaton Square from his seat, and Wilton Place, &c., from the +title of his brother. + +I need hardly say Belgravia is yet in its youth; of history, strictly +speaking, it really has none. Where now stands this + + “Oasis of the fashionable west,” + +was, thirty years ago, nought but marshy fields—fields in a very forlorn +condition, covered with rank grass and weeds in full luxuriance; bounded +by mud-banks, and almost wholly given up to sheep and asses. I cannot do +better than let the lady, who has chosen Belgravia for her theme, +describe its former aspect. + + Time was, when here, where palaces now stand, + Where dwell at ease the magnates of the land, + A barren waste existed, fetid, damp, + Cheered by the ray of no enlivening lamp! + A marshy spot, where not one patch of green, + No stunted shrub, nor sickly flower was seen; + But all things base, the refuse of the town, + Loathsome and rank, in one foul mass were thrown; + Breeding the vapours that in fever’s hour + Lend to Disease its desolating power, + And quench the life of thousands, like the blight, + Noiseless, but sure, that in a single night + Upon the blossoms’ opening bloom descends, + And brooding rests, till all their promise ends. + +Belgravia was and still is within the manor of Ebury, and in ancient +times within the parish of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. It now belongs to +St. George’s, Hanover Square, but subdivided; about half pertaining each +to St. Paul’s, Knightsbridge, and St. Peter’s, Pimlico. The early +history of this manor has been already noticed; now for its modern. + +King George III., on taking up his residence at Buckingham House, wished +to purchase the fields lying immediately contiguous, in order to prevent +buildings being erected so as to overlook his garden. The Lock Hospital +stood then alone, but it was apparent that the ground would soon be +occupied, if the King should fix his abode so near. He therefore entered +into a negotiation for its purchase, but George Grenville, then Minister, +refused to sanction the expenditure of the sum demanded, viz., £20,000, +and Grosvenor Place was accordingly commenced building in 1767. The +streets running from this line were terminated by high mud banks, which +formed a boundary no traveller ventured over. The other side formed a +part of the Five Fields, and it was not till 1825 that the determination +was come to to cover it with houses. Mr. Thomas Cubitt and Mr. Seth +Smith then took leases from the Marquis of Westminster, and Belgravia +speedily arose. + +The Five Fields was an ominous name to our forefathers. Addison, in the +“Tatler” (No. 34), refers to them as the place “where the robbers lie in +wait;” and pages might easily be covered with the records of the +frightful crimes here committed. The King’s Road, anciently only a +trackway for the use of the farmers and gardeners, was the only road +across. A lane led to it from Hyde Park Corner, and other paths +intersected the fields into five large parts—hence the name; but it was +not till Charles II. found the road a near way from Whitehall to Hampton +Court that any public way was formed, and not then till after some +discussion between the Government and the parishioners of Chelsea. In +the reign of George I. disputes arose as to the right of way; but, after +inquiry, the Government acknowledged the claims of the inhabitants to be +just. {220} In the documents relating to this dispute the fields are +said to be open, and the bridge, then called “Bloody Bridge,” now known +as Grosvenor Bridge, only “a footbridge, with a plank or board,” till +built in a regular manner in the time of Charles II. The road across the +fields was very insecure; and for many years, under a royal order, +fifty-two privates, and six non-commissioned officers, half every +alternate night, patrolled the ground. On grand gala nights at Ranelagh +the number was greater; but on all occasions it was customary for persons +wishing to cross to wait for a sufficient number to meet together to +ensure mutual protection, and then, with two men carrying lanterns on +long poles, and who obtained their living by such service, sallying +across under their guidance. Such a relation almost forces a smile now; +but it must be borne in mind that no houses were situated along the +King’s Road a hundred years since. It was also then very circuitous, +running from the Palace garden wall along the present north garden of +Eaton Square to Sloane Square. Its dangers were very great, as the +newspapers of the last century afford melancholy proof. I give one +specimen:— + + “On Saturday evening last, February 24th, a servant belonging to Mrs. + Temple was robbed and barbarously wounded near Bloody Bridge in the + King’s Road, leading from Chelsea. Her Royal Highness the Princess + Amelia coming from Hampton Court, hearing a man groaning, ordered her + servant to stop; and it proving to be the man above-mentioned, he was + taken behind the coach and brought to town; and her Highness ordered + all possible care to be taken of him.” {221} + +Bloody Bridge seems to have gained its fearful character early; in +Chelsea register is the following notice of the name:—“1590. John Dukes +was this year enjoyned to make a Causie at _bloody_ Gate.” + +Charles Dartquineuve, the friend of Pope, and to whom Dodsley was once +footman, was appointed surveyor of the King’s Private Roads, in 1731, in +room of General Watkins. Pass-tickets of copper were issued in that +year, and are prized by the curious in such matters. + +Duellists also sought the Fire Fields, and Aubrey tells of one meeting +near to Ebury farm, in the time of Charles I., between Lord Mohun and a +foreign nobleman. The former was killed, not without suspicion of foul +play; and the credulous antiquary relates that at the time of the duel, +his mistress saw him approach her bed, draw the curtains, and go away +without speaking! + +Great numbers of the lower orders used to frequent the Five Fields, to +indulge themselves with the brutal sports so prevalent formerly among +them. Near where Coleshill Street now stands was a famous resort for +cock-fighting, and every Good Friday numbers came to witness the +barbarity. Duck-hunting in the ponds and bull and bear-baiting were also +largely carried on; the head-quarters of the latter being at a house by +the Willow Walk, once the habitation of the notorious Jerry Abershaw. + +It is pleasant to quit such recollections for those of a purer kind. The +old herbalists frequented these fields, where, they tell, the “wild +clary” grew plentifully; and along the river’s bank the “bitter cresses” +in great perfection. And Swift, walking to London from his Chelsea +residence in 1711, mentions the hay-making in the fields; “it smells so +sweet,” he says, “as we walk through the flowery meads;” but he spoils +the idea by telling us that “the hay-making nymphs are perfect drabs.” +The market gardens in the Five Fields, though not very numerous, were +very valuable, being devoted chiefly to the culture of the asparagus and +the rarer vegetables. Norden, in 1593, tells us, + + “The deepe, and dirtie, loathsome soyle, + Yields golden gaine to painefull toyle;” + +and that the labourer “will refuse a pallace to droyle in these golden +puddles.” The nursery ground of Messrs. Allen and Rogers was in being so +late as 1832, adjoining to the King’s Road. The father of Mr. Redgrave, +the distinguished artist, resided in a house on the King’s Road, and here +his eminent son was born. + +One historical reminiscence will conclude the notices of the fields. +Clarendon tells us that he, Hampden, Pym, Marten, and Fiennes had dined +together at Pym’s lodgings, when Fiennes proposed a ride into these +fields. Accordingly they set off; and the conversation turning on the +Episcopacy Bill, Fiennes asked Hyde why he so passionately adhered to the +Church, Hyde’s reply was an expression of doubt as to the stability of +the State, or of religion itself, if the government of the Church was +altered; and Fiennes rejoining that much blood would be shed ere that +would be submitted to, Hyde (Clarendon) remarks it was the first positive +declaration he had heard from any particular man of the party. Hampden, +Pym, and other leaders of those eventful times, are said to have sought +the air and private intercommunication in the Five Fields. This anecdote +concludes this early portion of Belgravia’s history; the reader’s +attention will now be drawn to its streets and squares. + +BELGRAVE SQUARE was commenced in 1825, and designed by Basevi. It is 684 +ft. in length, by 637 ft. in breadth. The two detached mansions on the +western side were designed by H. E. Kendall. The one in the south-west +was originally built for Mr. Kemp, of Kemp Town; afterwards it was +occupied by Lady Harriett Drummond, the Marquis of Tweeddale, and in 1837 +became the residence of Lord Hill, for many years Commander-in Chief. +After his death the late Earl Ducie lived here, and on his decease, in +1853, the house was sold, and enlarged to its present size. The mansion +in the north-west was the residence of the late Earl Brownlow. + +General Sir George Murray, the friend of Wellington and Peel, lived at +No. 5, and died there in 1846, respected and regretted. No. 2 was the +residence of the late James Goding, Esq., who formed a fine collection of +paintings, and other works of art. No. 6 is the Duke of Bedford’s, and +at No. 9 resides the celebrated Countess Dowager of Essex. At No. 10 +lived M. Drouyn de l’Huys, while Ambassador at St. James’ from France. +At 16 resides Sir Roderick Murchison, and at 18 lived the late Earl of +Ellesmere. No. 36, sometimes called Ingestrie House, was in 1840 the +residence of H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent, and at present of Colonel +Douglas Pennant. Mr. Labouchere at 27, the Archbishop of York 41, Sir M. +S. Stewart at 42, the Duke of Montrose, Mr. Abel Smith, and Field-Marshal +Lord Combermere, are also residents of Belgrave Square. + +The last of the Dukes of Gordon died at his residence here, May 28th, +1836, aged 66; and Mr. Scrope, last male of a family illustrious in our +historic annals, lived at No. 13. He was author of “Days of Deer +Stalking,” published in 1839; and “Days and Nights of Salmon Fishing,” +published in 1843. Mr. Scrope died in Belgrave Square, July 20th, 1852, +in the 81st year of his age. His son-in-law, Mr. Poulett Scrope, M.P., +and author of the “History of Castle Combe,” soon after quitted this +mansion for one at Prince’s Gate. + +CHAPEL STREET, so named from the Chapel attached to the Lock Hospital, +which abutted on it, was completed about 1811. Legh Richmond, while +Chaplain of the Lock, resided in this street. Writing to his wife, he +says, “It is surrounded by fields, has a very pleasing prospect, charming +air, great retirement and quietness, with a little garden, a remarkably +neat exterior, and as neat and comfortable an interior.” Nor was he the +only one who found in Chapel Street a comfortable and happy home: the +celebrated comedian, Gentleman Jones as he is called generally, for many +years lived at No. 14. “The very aspect of their rooms is exhilarating,” +writes Lady Chatterton, “though small, and furnished without any show or +expense. A vine which grows at the back of the house, half conceals the +windows with its luxuriant branches; and some fresh flowers in the rooms +are fit emblems of those who reared them.” {227} + +Mr. Jones acquired fame both as an actor and author, but in his later +years employed himself as a teacher of elocution. He died in Chapel +Street, and lies buried in St. Peter’s vaults. A marble tablet to his +memory, at the entrance to the Church, bears the following inscription:— + + “Beneath rest the mortal remains of Richard Jones, for more than + forty years in public life, a dramatic performer, he was admired; as + in private life respected as a teacher of elocution, he was a public + Benefactor. As a Christian and a Man his conduct was exemplary. He + died 20th of August, 1851, aged 72. Here also repose the remains of + Sarah, his wife. She died 18th of June, 1850, aged 71. And Eliza + Jane his sister, who died 29th November, 1828, aged 40.” + +General Sir W. K. Grant, one of the eight British officers who saved the +Emperor of Germany from capture, on the plains of Cambresis, in 1794, and +who otherwise saw severe service in the last great war, died in 1852, at +his residence, No, 24, Chapel Street. At her residence, in this street, +also died, in March, 1818, the Hon. Miss Hawke, author of a poem on the +“Fall of Babylon.” + +CHESHAM PLACE, the freehold of which belongs to the Lowndes family, is so +named from their seat in Buckinghamshire. No. 37 is the well known +residence of Lord John Russell, and No. 35 was Sir Charles Wood’s. To +Chesham Place the Russian Embassy was removed in 1852. + +CHESHAM STREET.—Henry Parish, Esq., of diplomatic celebrity, resided at +No. 7. + +CHESTER STREET.—At No. 13, the residence of Lady Gipps, died Dr. +Broughton, the first Bishop of Sydney. The Right Hon. Frederick Shaw +lived at No. 5, and Colonel Sibthorpe at 27; at No. 7 resides Dr. W. V. +Pettigrew, + + “Whose sympathetic mind + Delights in all the good of all mankind.” + +Mr. Hurlstone and Miss Shirreff are also residents in Chester Street. + +EATON PLACE.—Among former residents may be enumerated General Caulfield, +author of several works on the Government of India; Sir Robert Gardiner, +one of the bravest of the old Peninsulas; Sir H. Duncan, son of the +victor of Camperdown, and himself a _tar_ of true British stamp, died +here in 1836. Sir Thomas Troubridge was another of that mighty school; +he fought with Nelson at Copenhagen, and elsewhere, and died here in +1852. Sir William Molesworth, one of our ablest and most advanced +statesmen of modern times, and who has secured to himself a permanent +position in our literature, died at his residence (No. 87) in 1855. + +Among present residents are Dr. Lushington (18), Sir Erskine Perry (36), +Sir George Grey (14), Mr. Justice Wightman (38), Mr. Heywood (5), Sir +Arthur Elton, M.P., and the Bishop of Hereford. + +At No. 80, the residence of Captain Massingberd, the Hungarian statesman, +Kossuth, stayed on his first arrival in this country, in the autumn of +1851. + +EATON PLACE WEST.—General Sir Peregrine Maitland, who fought at Corunna, +and commanded a brigade at Waterloo, died at his residence in this +street, May 30th, 1852. Mr. Collier, M.P. (2), and Mr. H. F. Chorley +(13), live in this street. + +EATON SQUARE was commenced in 1827, but not wholly completed till 1853. +It is 1,637 ft. long by a breadth of 371 ft. Among its distinguished +residents may be noticed the late Lord Chancellor Truro, who died at his +residence (No. 83) in 1853. Mr. Henry Redhead Yorke, at 81; Lord +Alvanley, of celebrity in the days of the fourth George, at 62; General +Sir Thomas Bradford, and Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, the victor of +Navarino. + +The late Ralph Bernal, Esq., resided at 75, and here formed one of the +most splendid collections of ancient art ever brought together. He died +here in 1853. No. 71 is the residence (official) of the Speaker of the +House of Commons; in one year, says Mr. Cunningham, the rent, rates, and +taxes of this house amounted to £964. + +Among present residents in Eaton Square are the Earl of Ellenborough at +No. 115, Sir Frederick Thesiger, now Lord Chelmsford (7), Mr. Justice +Willes (16), Sir John Pakington (41), Sir Francis Baring (4), Mr. +Fielder, Commissary-General in the Crimea (57), Colonel Tulloch (63), Mr. +M. J. Higgins (71), Mr. Cardwell (74), Baron Martin (75), Sir Augustus +Clifford (92), Sir W. Clay (93), and General Codrington, our +Commander-in-Chief at the capture of Sebastopol, at 110. + +At the east end stands St. Peter’s Church, built in 1826, and denounced +by Mr. Cunningham as one of the “ugliest in all London.” The site is an +excellent one, few superior in the metropolis; it is a just source of +regret, therefore, that a more creditable design was not chosen. It was +designed by Henry Hakewill, in the Ionic Order, and consecrated by Dr. +Howley, then Bishop of London, July 27th, 1827. It was burnt down in +1835, when the altar-piece, “Christ crowned with Thorns,” a good specimen +of Hilton, R.A., was with difficulty saved. It was presented to the +Church by the British Institution. + +GROSVENOR CRESCENT is still unfinished. Here reside the Rev. A. P. +Stanley, Sir Charles Trevelyan, and at No. 1 the Earl of Clarendon, late +Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The Crescent is ultimately to be +continued to open into Grosvenor Place, and thus it will form the main +entrance to Belgravia; an improvement very greatly needed. + +GROSVENOR PLACE.—The story pertaining to the foundation of this street +has been told already. Originally the houses were built no further than +the Lock Hospital, which occupied the site of the Grosvenor Place Houses. +At the bottom, where the junction with the King’s Road was formed, was a +cluster of mean dwellings, and one inn, known as “The Feathers.” + +At No. 1, Dr. Lane’s celebrated School of Anatomy and Medicine has for +many years been established. No. 4 originally formed two houses, which +were thrown together by the late Earl of Egremont, who here first formed +the splendid collection of pictures now at Petworth. He was a great +patron of English artists, and an excellent judge of their productions. +Haydon, one of those he had befriended, declares he “never saw such a +character, or such a man, nor were there ever many. ‘Live and let live’ +seems to be the Earl’s motto.” Lord Egremont died in November, 1837. +{232} + +The mansion at the north corner of Halkin Street is that— + + “Where the Howards’ noble race + For many a year have made their resting place.” + +The first nobleman of this title who resided here was Frederick, the +fifth earl. He was born in 1748, and died in 1825, and is the nobleman +often mentioned by Boswell as gaining Johnson’s praise for his literary +performances. But however valuable these may be considered, he owes his +literary immortality to the attacks made on him by Byron. He was +guardian to the poet, who dedicated to him his “Hours of Idleness,” which +the Earl is said to have coolly received, an affront which deeply rankled +in Byron’s breast—causing a wound his mother did her best to widen. +Byron, however, seems to have forgotten his animosity, for in his +“English Bards and Scotch Reviewers,” as originally intended for the +press, he compliments Carlisle:— + + “On one alone Apollo deigns to smile, + And crowns a new Roscommon in Carlisle.” + +But the intended honour was not permitted to remain. Receiving, as he +considered, a fresh slight, Byron erased the praise, for the vituperative +sarcasm still to be read:— + + “Let Stott, Matilda, and the rest + Of Grub-street and of Grosvenor-place the best, + Scrawl on, till death release us from the strain, + Or common sense asserts her rights again.” + +But the poet regretted the severity, and afterwards, in his noble tribute +to Major Howard, gave utterance to his repentance;— + + “Their praise is hymned by loftier harps than mine; + Yet one I would select from that proud throng, + Partly because they blend me with his line, + And partly that I did his sire some wrong.” + +And of the Major he writes with rapturous eloquence:— + + “When shower’d + The death-bolts deadliest the thinn’d files along, + Even where the thickest of war’s tempest lour’d, + They reach’d no nobler breast than thine, young gallant Howard.” + +Byron’s staunchest friend, Hobhouse—now Lord Broughton—lived about No. 7, +when colleague with Burdett in the representation of Westminster; so also +did Lady Ossory, the correspondent of Horace Walpole. Writing to her, on +February 1st, 1775, he says:—“I hope this is the last letter I shall send +you before you land at Hyde Park Corner turnpike. You will have a very +good neighbourhood there; Lord and Lady Apsley are mighty agreeable +people.” + +No. 15 in 1773 was the Duke of Athol’s; the Marquis of Titchfield, +Lord-Lieutenant of the County fifty years ago, also resided in Grosvenor +Place, as did Mr. Orby Hunter, a leading man in the _ton_ in the days of +George IV. + +No. 44 is the residence of the Hanoverian Minister, and here his +Sovereign stayed during his visit to London in 1853. No. 24 is the +Bishop of Worcester’s, and No. 46 Sir James Graham’s. Earl Stanhope, the +historian, resided some years at No. 41, but now at No. 3, Grosvenor +Place Houses. The centre of these three is Sir Anthony Rothschild’s, the +other Lord Harry Vane’s. + +Near to the south end of Grosvenor Place stood, for above a century, a +small hospital for invalided soldiers. The poet Armstrong, friend of +Thomson, was in 1746 appointed physician to it. The establishment was +closed when the improvements here were contemplated about 1846. +Adjoining to it was “The Feathers,” to which a curious anecdote is +attached. A Lodge of Odd Fellows, or some similar society, was in the +habit of holding its meetings in a room at “The Feathers,” and on one +occasion when a new member was being initiated in the mysteries thereof, +in rushed two persons, whose abrupt and unauthorised entrance threw the +whole assemblage into an uproar. Summary punishment was proposed by an +expeditious kick into the street; but, just as it was about to be +bestowed, the secretary recognised one of the intruders as George, Prince +of Wales, afterwards George IV. Circumstances instantly changed: it +indeed was he, out on a nocturnal excursion; and accordingly it was +proposed and carried that the Prince and his companion should be admitted +members. The Prince was chairman the remainder of the evening; and the +chair in which he sat, ornamented, in consequence, with the plume, is +still preserved in the parlour of the modern inn in Grosvenor Street +West, and over it hangs a coarsely executed portrait of the Prince in the +robes of the order. The inn, the hospital, and various small tenements +were removed in 1851, when the present stately erections were immediately +commenced. On the ground being cleared away, various coins, old +horse-shoes, a few implements of warfare, and some human remains were +discovered. + +At the intersection of the cross-roads at the end of Grosvenor Place, +suicides were subjected to the revolting burial then awarded by the law. +The last person on whom the law was carried out here was named Griffiths, +the son of a colonel in the army, who had first murdered his father, and +then destroyed himself. This took place on June 27th, 1823. + +HALKIN STREET.—The north side is chiefly occupied by Mortimer House, the +residence of the late Earl Fitzwilliam, and by Belgrave Chapel, built in +1812. Its ministers have been the Rev. John Pitman, author of “Practical +Lectures on the Gospel of St. John,” the Revs. J. Thackeray, J. Jennings, +and the present minister, the Rev. W. Thorpe, D.D. + +The detached mansion at the corner, numbered as 49, Belgrave Square, +finished in 1850, is the residence of Mr. Sidney Herbert. The premises +now occupied by Messrs. Wimbush were those in which the same business was +conducted by Mr. Vernon, the munificent patron of modern British art. + +HALKIN STREET WEST contains a small chapel, now belonging to the National +Scottish Church, and in which Dr. Cumming occasionally preaches. Its +present minister is the Rev. L. Macbeth. Built by Mr. Seth Smith, it was +originally attached to the Church of England, under the ministry of the +Rev. J. Gibson. + +LOCK HOSPITAL (The), which formerly stood on the site of Grosvenor Place +Houses, was built in 1746, and patients admitted on January 31st, 1747, +for the first time. The Institution included an asylum for the reception +of penitent females, founded in 1787, and a chapel, built in 1764, with +the primary view of aiding the income by its pew rents. The chapel was +always celebrated for the powerful and popular preachers who occupied its +pulpit, among whom may be mentioned Martin Madan, Thomas Scott, editor +and commentator of the Scriptures, and C. E. De Coetlogon; while Legh +Richmond, Romaine, Rowland Hill, and the celebrated Dr. Dodd, have often +preached here. Of these, the one most connected with this locality was +the Rev. Martin Madan. + + [Picture: Old Lock Hospital] + +His father was M.P. for Wootton Basset, and Groom of the Bedchamber to +Frederick, Prince of Wales; his mother, a daughter of Spence Cowper, and +niece of the celebrated Chancellor; an accomplished woman, and authoress +of several poems of considerable merit. Martin was originally brought up +to the bar, which he forsook for the Church; was ordained, became +Chaplain to the Lock, and one of the most popular ministers of the day. +He was a distant relation of the poet Cowper, who first imbibed from him +those religious principles which afterwards formed so predominant a +feature of his mind. + +In 1780 his popularity received a severe blow from the publication of his +“Thelyphthora,” a singular work in defence of polygamy. There can be no +doubt that the work was issued with good intentions, but the manner of +treating the subject was at least novel, and especially so in a +clergyman. + +Madan was the author of various other works, and likewise of some repute +as a musical composer. Many of the tunes and chants in the “Lock Hymn +Book” have his initials attached. The “Song of Miriam” is, perhaps, his +most popular piece. At the same time, mention must be made of his +composition to Pope’s Ode, known as “Vital Spark,” also of the piece +“Before Jehovah’s awful Throne.” I have heard him spoken of by elderly +folks with deep respect; and whatever his shortcomings may have been, a +want of charity was not among them. That he was equally respected in +high society may be inferred from his friendship with Lord Chancellor +Bathurst, who gave him a chaplaincy. + +He died at Epsom in the 64th year of his age, and was buried at +Kensington, May 8th, 1791. + +The connection of Legh Richmond with the Lock was of very short duration. +He was induced to accept the minor office of assistant to the Rev. Thomas +Fry, then chaplain, and while here attracted the notice of Ambrose Serle, +author of “Horæ Solitariæ,” a constant attendant of the chapel. Serle +was applied to by Mrs. Fuller to recommend her a pious and practical +clergyman to fill her living of Turvey; he immediately recommended +Richmond, and thus it was that estimable man obtained the position he +filled with such great credit to himself and the Church, and benefit to +his people. His ministrations here extended only from February to +October 1805. + +Wilberforce strongly supported this Institution, and frequently attended +the Chapel. He occasionally alludes to it in his “Diary;” and Legh +Richmond mentions observing him at the communion-table on one occasion, +with a negro at his side, a coincidence which he afterwards found was +quite accidental. The incident was not without a lesson! + + [Picture: Lock Chapel] + +The buildings were of brick, and as plain as they possibly could be. +They were pulled down in 1846, and the Institution removed to the Harrow +Road. + +LOWNDES STREET.—Colonel Gurwood, the editor of “Wellington’s Dispatches,” +resided at 33, and Mrs. Gore, the novelist, once at 42. + +OSNABURG ROW, a court nearly at the lower end of Grosvenor Place, named +after the Duke of York, who also was Bishop of Osnaburg. The Guards’ +Hospital, before noticed, adjoined it, and the court was removed at the +same time that building was cleared away. + +UPPER BELGRAVE STREET.—Numbers 1 and 2 were the first houses finished by +Mr. Cubitt. No. 3 is Lord Charles Wellesley’s, and previously the +present Duke of Wellington’s; hither the great Duke might frequently be +seen escorting the present Duchess home. Mrs. Gore lived at No. 2, and +at 13 the late Earl of Munster. Several sketches of Lord Minister’s life +are given in Mr. Jerdan’s “Autobiography,” in which it is inferred the +fatal aberration of intellect which led to his self-destruction arose +from the discordant feelings arising from the anomalous position he held, +and which he was unable to brook. He was author of several works on the +history of our eastern empire, and was a patron of literature and +learning. {243} + +WILTON STREET.—Here Mr. Spencer Percival, eldest son of the minister +killed by Bellingham in 1812, resided. + + + + +CHAPTER V. +THE SUB-DISTRICT OF ST. BARNABAS. + + + “Nor rough nor barren are the winding ways + Of hoar antiquity, but strown with flowers.” + + WARTON. + +THE district parish of St. Paul’s, Knightsbridge, stretching southward to +the Thames, embraces in its bounds a considerable part of Pimlico. When +St. Barnabas’ Church was built, for the local management of the parish, +this southern portion was allotted to its minister’s care, and therefore +I follow a division most suitable for my plan, and give a brief outline +of the history of this part of the parish, in order that my notice may +not be incomplete. + +Of course, I do not intend to describe the suburb now called Pimlico as a +whole, but only that portion of it within the district of St. Paul’s; yet +I cannot even do so without touching on one or two items of general +history: and first, then, for the name. + +The first mention of the name Pimlico appears in the parish books of St. +Martin in the year 1626. {245a} The ancient name of the place was +Eybury, from the manor of Eia or Eye, signifying water; a most +appropriate name for a spot bounded on three sides by running streams. +There was a Manor House once existing, which we may infer was of some +importance, from its being one of those houses for which a licence to +crenellate or fortify was granted. This privilege was granted in 1307 to +John de Benstede, by Edward I. {245b} Hence the addition of _bury_ to +the original name of Eye or Eia, such addition meaning fortifications. + +But to the name. The true explanation of its origin is to be found in a +rare, if not unique tract, entitled, “News from Hogsdon,” 1598:—“Have at +thee then, my merrie boys, and hie for old Ben Pimlicoe’s nut brown.” +{245c} This “old Ben Pimlico,” of Hoxton, kept, in the days of Queen +Bess, a right famous hostelrie, a popular place of resort, as numerous +allusions in the dramatists {246} of the period testify. Pimlico Walk +still exists at Hoxton, and doubtless indicates the pathway along which +the pleasure-seekers wended their way to Old Ben’s. + +It is evident in the above quotation that a _person_ is alluded to; but +the word frequently expresses a _drink_, most probably derived from this +worthy. This is evident from the following verses:— + + “Let Hogsdon’s scrapers on their base, + Sound fum—fum—fum—from tattered case, + Nor Mean nor Treble now take place, + But Tenor. + + A Counter-Tenor is that note. + Tho’ easy—’tis ne’er sung by rote, + But got with wetting well your throat + With claret. + + Or stout March beer, or Windsor ale, + Or Labour-in-Vain (so seldom stale), + Or _Pimlico_, whose too great sale + Did mar it.” + + THE COUNTER RAT, 1670. + +This Ben Pimlico, and the ale named after him, are both spoken of with +equal laudation by the dramatists—by Ben Jonson more especially, who +lived in the neighbourhood, and doubtless was familiar with both. But in +his play of “The Alchemist,” the allusion, I think, points to a bygone +place:— + + “_Lovewit_: The neighbours tell me all here that the doors + Have still been open— + + _Face_: How, sir! + + _Lovewit_: Gallants, men and women, + And of all sorts, tag-rag, been seen to flock here + In threwes, these ten weeks, as to a _second Hogsdon_ + _In days of Pimlico and Eyebright_.” + +This evidence of Jonson I think conclusive that the original Ben +Pimlico’s had gone. The question is where; and my reply is, to Ebury. +The reasons are— + +1st. We had in this locality a pathway known as the Willow Walk, and +there is such yet remaining at Hoxton. + +2nd. The movement of places of amusement to the western suburbs +commenced in the time of James I. At this time the Exchange, Islington, +and Hoxton began to lose their charms, and pleasure-folk went to Spring +Garden, the Mulberry Garden, &c. + +Though this argument, if such it can be called, is wholly inferential, I +do not think there is anything to oppose to it, unless the number of +places called Pimlico {248} tells against the view taken. But here, +again, the probability is that they borrowed their names from the one at +Hoxton, because of its popularity; and the coincidence of the Willow Walk +is moreover wanting: what I argue for is, that on the decay, for some +reason or other, of Ben Pimlico’s establishment at Hoxton, he, or some +one belonging to it, came to Ebury, formed his Willow Walk leading to the +house, and his popularity being so great, the village became gradually to +be called after him, and its ancient appellation imperceptibly lost. + +That part of Pimlico now in St. Paul’s district was, in the last century, +a complete moral wilderness. As is apparent to the present day, the +dwellings were of the meanest character; and it was only the infamous who +long lived here. Jerry Abershaw lived in a house along the Willow Walk; +and Maclean the highwayman, whom the ladies went to see (according to +Horace Walpole), also lived on this spot. Its secure condition for +persons of this description may be imagined, when it is recollected that +there was, previous to 1768, no direct road to this part. The only way +was from Chelsea; the road through Belgrave Place was not fit for +carriages till this time. It was then completed and carried on to the +Stonebridge, a bridge over the Westbourne, by the end of Wilderness Row. +Parties going to Ranelagh by coach went along the King’s Road, a roadway +to the left leading to the Grove; but in that day the silent highway of +the Thames was much used, and as the ballad tells, the “fine city ladies” +delighted in a voyage to Ranelagh or Vauxhall. + +The Grosvenor Canal, which forms the boundary of our district on one +side, was formed in 1823; its head had been the property of the Chelsea +Waterworks Company, who in that year removed their works to their late +position at Ranelagh. The canal enters the Thames a few yards eastward +of the new Pimlico Bridge, the story of which is too recent, and too much +one of “discord dire” to obtain further notice in these pages. + +At the foot, where the Pimlico Bridge now stands, was the “White House,” +a lonely habitation by the river side, used once by anglers; opposite to +which, on the Surrey side, stood the “Red House,” a still more noted +place of resort. Fifty yards westward of this spot, according to +Maitland, Cæsar crossed the Thames, on his second expedition into +Britain; but the opinion of Maitland is not generally shared in by +antiquaries, who, notwithstanding the arguments advanced by different +writers, in favour of spots they themselves have fixed on, yet in general +adhere to the opinion of the father of English antiquaries, and agree +with Camden, that this passage of the Thames was at Coway Stakes. +Nevertheless it must be borne in mind, that many relics of this period +have been found in the bed of the Thames at and about this spot; and +during the progress of the bridge, coins and relics of a later time, many +of which were Roman, were also discovered. + +ST. BARNABAS’ COLLEGE consists of a Church, a Residentiary-house for the +Clergy attached thereto, and a School-house, with residence for the +teachers. The design originated with the Rev. W. J. E. Bennett, and the +ground was the gift of the Marquis of Westminster. The commencement of +the work was with the School-house, the foundation-stone of which was +laid June 11th, 1846 (St. Barnabas’ Day); the foundation-stone of the +Church was laid twelve months later, on which occasion the new +School-house was formally opened; and on St. Barnabas’ Day, 1850, the +Church was consecrated by the late Bishop of London. + +The architecture, chosen by Mr. Cundy, under whose superintendence the +College was erected, is the Early Pointed. The Church has a tower and +spire of Caen stone, containing ten bells, the gift of as many +parishioners; it is 170 ft. high. The interior is of great splendour, +the open roof being finely painted, and the windows throughout of stained +glass, by Wailes, of Newcastle, and representing incidents of the life of +St. Barnabas. The chancel is separated from the body of the Church by a +carved oak screen; the other wood fittings are also of oak. The lectern +(a brass eagle), the communion-plate, font, and other costly ornaments, +were the gifts of private individuals. + +The Church has sittings for about 1,000 persons, all of which are free. +It was erected entirely by voluntary contributions, and under the +energetic incumbency of Mr. Bennett. Its cost has been about £15,000, of +which the expense of the carcase of the Church, vestries, and buildings +attached, amounted to £10,232. + +St. Barnabas is but a Chapel-of-Ease to St. Paul’s, and is under the same +legal government. Churchwardens are, however, appointed by the Incumbent +of St. Paul’s for the maintenance of order and other similar offices; +but, in other respects, the usual legal duties devolve on the wardens of +St. Paul’s. The Schools are designed for 600 children—200 each of boys, +girls, and infants. + +During the Anti-Papal agitation of 1850, this Church was more than once +the scene of unseemly disturbances on the part of the mob, and, to +suppress which, it was necessary to call in the aid of the police. + +AVERY FARM ROW doubtless is a remnant in name of some rural time. A +family named Avery frequently appear in the registers of Knightsbridge +Chapel, from 1663 to 1691; the probability is they were farmers here. +Another Avery Row runs parallel to Bond Street. + +BLOMFIELD TERRACE was so named after the late Bishop of London. At No. +1, the late Captain Warner, so well known for his _invention_ of the +“long range,” died in December 5th, 1853. He had long resided in the +locality, and was well known in it. He left seven children with their +mother, in great distress, for whom the Hon. and Rev. Robert Liddell made +a public appeal; but it afterwards transpired his wife was living in +receipt of parochial relief at Ashford. Warner was buried in the West +Brompton Cemetery. + +COMMERCIAL ROAD (The), on the right-hand side of the canal, is occupied +almost entirely by factories, workshops, and the dwellings of those +employed therein. A “House of Refuge,” under the management of the +clergy of the parish, is situated here; and also a Ragged School, both +supported by public contributions. + +Jenny’s Whim Bridge, sometime called the Wooden, and now Ebury Bridge, +crosses the canal at the north end of the Commercial Road. Here was a +turnpike, similarly named, till 1825. Jenny’s Whim was a very celebrated +place of amusement, on the site of St. George’s Row. It was equally the +resort of high and low, and with all classes was for a lengthened period +a favourite place of recreation. I never could unearth the origin of the +name, but presume the tradition told me by an old inhabitant was the +correct account, viz., that it was so called from its first landlady, who +caused the gardens 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 she bore. Angelo says it was established by a celebrated +pyrotechnist in the reign of George I. The house had a large breakfast +room, and the grounds, though not large, contained a bowling green, +alcoves, arbours, and flower beds, with a fish pond in the centre. There +was also a cock-pit; and in a pond adjacent the brutal sport of +duck-hunting was carried on. This is alluded to in the following sketch, +quoted from the _Connoisseur_, May 15, 1775:—“The lower sort of people +have their Ranelaghs and their Vauxhalls as well as the quality. +Perrot’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, for your sixpence, at +Jenny’s Whim.” + +Angelo says:—“It was much frequented, from its novelty being an +inducement to allure the curious, by its amusing deceptions. Here 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—a harlequin, a Mother Shipton, or some terrific +animal. In a large piece of water facing the tea alcoves, large fish or +mermaids were showing themselves above the surface.” Horace Walpole, in +his Letters, occasionally alludes to Jenny’s Whim; in one to Montagu he +spitefully says—“Here (at Vauxhall) we picked up Lord Granby, arrived +very drunk from Jenny’s Whim.” + +Towards the close of the last century, Jenny’s Whim began to decline; its +morning visitors were not so numerous, and opposition was also powerful. +It gradually became forgotten, and at last sunk to the condition of a +beer-house, and about 1804 the business altogether ceased. + +Jenny’s Whim has more than once served the novelist for an illustration; +see “Maids of Honour; a Tale of the Times of George the First:”—“There +were gardens,” says the writer, mentioning the place, “attached to it, +and a bowling green; and parties were frequently made, composed of ladies +and gentlemen, to enjoy a day’s amusement there in eating strawberries +and cream, syllabubs, cake, and taking other refreshments, of which a +great variety could be procured, with cider, perry, ale, wine, and other +liquors in abundance. The gentlemen played at bowls—some employed +themselves at skittles; whilst the ladies amused themselves at a swing, +or walked about the garden, admiring the sunflowers, hollyhocks, the Duke +of Malborough cut out of a filbert tree, and the roses and daisies, +currants and gooseberries, that spread their alluring charms in every +path. + +“This was a favourite rendezvous for lovers in courting time—a day’s +pleasure at Jenny’s Whim being considered by the fair one the most +enticing enjoyment that could be offered her; and often the hearts of the +most obdurate have given way beneath the influence of its attractions. +Jenny’s Whim, therefore, had always, during the season, plenty of +pleasant parties of young people of both sexes. Sometimes all its +chambers were filled, and its gardens thronged by gay and sentimental +visitors.” {257} + +The house is still partly standing, and by its red brick and lattice-work +may be easily identified. + +GRAHAM STREET.—In this street lived and died a man for many years well +known in London, James Thornton. He was _cook_ to the Duke of Wellington +throughout the Peninsular and Waterloo campaigns. When, on the death of +his great master, it was stated in the papers that the Duke’s dinner on +the eventful 18th of June was dressed by a Frenchman, he indignantly +wrote to the _Times_, claiming his honour. He possessed an unlimited +fund of anecdote, and used to boast he buried Lord Anglesea’s leg, and +helped to support Raglan at the amputation of his arm. Thornton died in +1853. + +GROSVENOR ROW, together with Queen Street and Jews’ Row, form one +thoroughfare. It formerly was one of the most remarkable streets in or +around the metropolis, and, to a great extent, is so now. To Jews Row +came Wilkie to sketch his “Chelsea Pensioner reading the Account of the +Battle of Waterloo,” painted for the Duke of Wellington. The iron gate +shown in the picture is still to be seen. The numerous signs bear +witness to the military air of the neighbourhood, such as “The Snow +Shoes,” a recollection of Wolfe’s glorious campaign, the “General +Elliott,” and the “Duke of York.” + +Grosvenor Row, which terminates at the Stone Bridge (as the place is +marked in old plans), was built in 1768. At the end is the “Nell Gwynn,” +a tavern named after the mistress of Charles II. Its sign-board was +originally decorated with her likeness; and the legend, firmly believed +by old Chelsea folk, that to her the noble institution adjacent owes its +foundation, was painted underneath. Nell’s residence at Sandy End has +been doubted by Mr. Cunningham. It is certain that her mother resided +near the Neate Houses in Pimlico; and, in the records of Knightsbridge +Chapel, there are occasionally entries of the name—connections not +improbably of the royal mistress. One of the entries, Jan. 13, 1667, +records the marriage of Robert Hands and Mary Gwin, the former being the +name of a family long resident freeholders in Pimlico, and to whom +Chelsea Bun House, which I am now about to notice, belonged. + +CHELSEA BUN HOUSE was established early in the eighteenth century, but +the exact time is unknown. It had obtained a reputation for its buns as +early as 1712; for in that year, Swift, who then resided at Chelsea, +mentions buying one of them in his walks. It soon became quite a +fashionable resort of a morning: even the Royal Family used familiarly to +visit Mrs. Hands, who was a complete living history of all the affairs of +the district, and of those who came thither. To her customers her +garrulous anecdote was a fund of amusement, and her house and colonnade +were continually crowded with loungers. George II., his Queen, and their +family, patronised the place, and were frequently to be seen laying siege +to its delicacies. George III., too, after he had ascended the throne, +did not forget the spot where, in his childhood, he had paid many a +pleasant visit; and in his turn, when his family was young, he and Queen +Charlotte frequently accompanied it thither. The latter presented Mrs. +Hands with a silver half-gallon mug, highly ornamented, and five guineas +at its bottom, as a testimony of her appreciation of the attentions +bestowed on the royal children. + +On Good Fridays the concourse of people drawn hither was immense. +Business on this day was always commenced at four o’clock in the morning, +by which time numbers of customers were waiting; and on some occasions it +has been estimated that fifty thousand persons have assembled here for +hours before eight o’clock. Occasionally the crowd became unruly, and +disturbances ensued, and it was found necessary to close the +establishment partially. Handbills of a warning character were issued, +and constables stationed to preserve order. + +When Ranelagh declined from its zenith, the Bun House experienced the +reverse of fortune. Parties visiting the former generally called to +patronise the latter before they entered; and the success of the one +depended more perhaps than would have been easily credited on that of the +other, and it gradually dwindled away to complete insignificance. + +The Bun House consisted of but one storey, was about 50 ft. in length by +14 ft. in breadth, with a colonnade in front projecting over the +pavement, and affording a convenient shelter in wet weather. The +interior was fitted up in a perfectly unique manner; the array of +curiosities of every kind, and various countries, forming a collection +amusing and grotesque. There were artificial and natural curiosities, +the former including models of St. Mary Redcliffe, and of a ship; clocks +of curious devices, and a model on horseback of the Duke of Cumberland, +in the costume worn at Culloden; two grenadiers in the costume of the +same period, four feet in height, in lead, and weighing each nearly two +hundredweight. There were also some paintings, the most famous of which +was the portrait of Aurungzebe, Emperor of Hindostan. The natural +curiosities consisted of stuffed birds and animals, minerals, ores, and +similar rarities, arranged in cases; while the furniture, antique in +manufacture, multifarious in design, strong in make, and comfortable in +use, added to the peculiarity of the place, and its attractions. In the +King’s collection in the British Museum is an engraving of “A Perspective +View of Richard Hands’ Bun House, at Chelsea, who has the Honour to serve +the Royal Family.” + +Various improvements being carried out in this part of Pimlico, in +accordance with an Act of Parliament (introduced by Sir Matthew Wood), +passed in 1839, the Bun House was condemned and pulled down in that year; +preserving its ancient appearance, though not its ancient reputation, to +the last. + +After Mrs. Hands died, her son carried on the business. He was a most +eccentric character, and dealt also largely in butter, which in all +weathers he carried about the streets in a basket. He, like his mother, +was thoroughly versed in the lore of the district, and like the old +Bluegown in Scott’s “Antiquary,” was the bearer of its news as well as +butter. He was much respected in the neighbourhood; and on his death, an +elder brother, who had entered the army, and was then a poor knight of +Windsor, became proprietor. He also was eccentric in manner, and +peculiar in costume; and on his death, leaving no friends or relatives, +the property was claimed by the Crown. + +Chelsea Bun, House has given name to one of Miss Manning’s novels, +published in 1854. + +Opposite to the Bun House stood Stromboli House and gardens, a minor +place of recreation, at its height about 1788; on the site of St. +Barnabas’ College stood the Orange tavern and tea-gardens. Here was a +private theatre, at which the local genii of the sock and buskin +performed to their admiring neighbours; and at the junction of Grosvenor +Row and Ebury Street stood an old inn, a relic of the Republicans in the +neighbourhood, and which bore one of the peculiar and enthusiastic +appellations of that period—_God encompasseth us_. This was corrupted +into “The Goat and Compasses,” an absurd and unmeaning sign, but the +modern inn is now called simply “The Compasses.” + +RANELAGH GROVE AND TERRACE is so named from the celebrated place of +amusement of our ancestors; but is in the parish of Chelsea, and +therefore not within our design. At No. 2, Ranelagh Terrace, died the +Rev. Thomas Pennington, nephew of the celebrated Elizabeth Carter. He +was author of two works of foreign travel, and also of “Memoirs of the +Grand Dukes of the House of Medici.” He died December 21st, 1852, in his +92nd year. + +UPPER EBURY STREET.—Part only of this street is within the district of +St. Paul’s; in it died Rodwell, the composer, and William Skelton, a +celebrated engraver. Skelton’s productions are numerous, and extend over +a lengthened period, among them a series of portraits of the reigning +family from George III. to our present Queen. He died here, August 13th, +1848, in his 86th year, and was buried in Brompton Cemetery. + +Several places of public entertainment were in the neighbourhood of Ebury +Street, the chief of which were “The Star and Garter” and “The Dwarf;” +both were in their heyday about 1760; and notices of them were frequent +in the papers of the time. “The Cherokee Chiefs,” objects of wonder in +1760, and alluded to in Goldsmith’s “Citizen of the World,” were +frequently to be seen here. “The Star and Garter” stood near to the end +of Burton Street, “The Dwarf” on the site of the factory in Elizabeth +Street. There were besides these, places of minor resort, mere +tea-gardens. “To drink tea at Pimlico” became proverbial in the last +century. Here came from the close streets, to inhale the purer air of +the fields, hundreds of the working-classes; more especially on the +Sunday they poured forth, old and young, married and single. Gay says of +the spring-time— + + “Then Chelsea’s meads o’erhear perfidious vows, + And the press’d grass defrauds the grazing cows.” + +One of these places was attached to the house now numbered 75. + +WESTBOURNE PLACE is a neat double row of houses (deriving its name from +the stream) joining Eaton and Sloane Squares. No. 2 was the house taken +in 1808 by Colonel Wardle for the notorious Mary Ann Clarke, as part +recompense for the services she was to render in the prosecution of the +inquiry into the conduct of the Duke of York. Into the history of this +disgraceful connection I do not intend to enter, any more than to say, +that afterwards an action was brought against Colonel Wardle for the +value of the furniture supplied to this house, as was alleged, on the +faith of his personal promise. William Thomas Lewis, for many years a +popular comedian, and acting manager of Covent Garden Theatre, died at +his residence in Westbourne Place on January 13th, 1811. No. 23 was once +the residence of Miss Corbaux, celebrated as a painter, and for her +knowledge in those most recondite of studies, the histories and languages +of the ancient nations of the East. + +WESTBOURNE STREET branches off Westbourne Place. Mr. Smith, author of “A +History of Marylebone,” once lived here. In this street is a Baptist +Chapel. Formerly, on a part of this ground, was York Hospital, a depôt +for invalid soldiers, and named after the Duke of York. Here for two +years, _without pay_, Mr. Guthrie, the eminent surgeon, attended on the +poor fellows maimed at Waterloo. The establishment, in 1819, was removed +to Chatham. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SUMMARY. + + + “The more carefully we examine the history of the past, the more + reason shall we find to dissent from those who imagine that our age + has been fruitful of new social evils. The truth is that the evils + are, with scarcely an exception, old. That which is new is the + intelligence which discerns, and the humanity which remedies + them.”—MACAULAY. + +HAVING with the previous chapter brought my account of Knightsbridge to a +close, I cannot more appropriately conclude than by a few remarks on +subjects coming within the scope of the heading of this chapter. But +here again my notes must necessarily be meagre and brief, for +Knightsbridge never having been of itself parochial, books, such as +generally form the staple of such chapters as this, have never been kept +to show, with the accuracy parish books do, the rise and progress of the +place. + +The population of the parish of St. George, Hanover Square, was, +according to the census of 1851, 73,230 persons, of whom 40,034 were +within the two wards of Knightsbridge and Pimlico; and of this number, +about 14,000 are resident in the district of St. Paul’s. The population +of All Saints’ district cannot with accuracy be tested, a large part of +it lying beyond our bounds; and building having made very extensive +progress even since 1851, its population has increased in proportion. + +In 1578, Mr. Walcot states only six persons were rated by the St. +Margaret’s overseers in Knightsbridge and Kensington; and in 1687 only +five people are rated in St. Martin’s books for the whole of Pimlico. + +The progress of building appears to have taken place not so much +progressively as in two distinct movements. The first was from 1770 to +1780, and the other from 1825 to our own time; on examination, it will be +found that few of our streets were built at other periods. A letter +before me of a skilled carpenter, written in 1783, tells his friends in +the country he gets 2s. 8d. per day for his labour, and that he is +allowed to make seven days per week, “and if the peace continueth” he +shall be able to realise 20s. or a guinea per week; for his lodging he +paid 2s. per week. If this was a fair sample of the rate of wages then, +the mechanic’s financial condition must have improved to an extent little +credited perhaps by themselves. + +The air of Knightsbridge has always been considered pure and salubrious. +Swift brought Harrison to the place for the benefit of pure air; and +fifty years since it still maintained the character, for Lady Hester +Stanhope sent a faithful footman here for the same relief. Constitution +Hill and Montpelier Square derived their names from this fact. The main +street of Knightsbridge, from Hyde Park Corner to Kensington, stands on a +peculiar but well-defined terrace of the London clay, which separates the +gravels of Hyde Park from those more southward, {269} and is rather more +than thirty feet deep. The yellow gravel of Hyde Park, says Sir Charles +Lyell, is, comparatively speaking, of modern date, consisting of slightly +rolled angular fragments, in which portions of the white opaque coating +of the original chalk-flint remain uncovered. Southward of the clayey +line just mentioned the surface soil is a “made” one. Underneath the +native earth are thick layers of sand, beneath which is a blue clayey +earth, and then a sediment, consisting chiefly of cockle and oyster +shells, which beautifully retain their appearance. Thus the soil of our +locality is a porous one, and rapidly absorbs the surface water; an +advantage greatly tending to the health of the inhabitants, for parts of +Pimlico are but slightly above high-water mark, and the air would +consequently be very moist and relaxing. + +In a sanitary point of view all is not fair, even in Belgravia; behind +its imposing mansions many a foul spot is hypocritically hidden; and +although much has been done by the medical officer, there yet remains +plenty of work on hand for him: too many spots yet requiring thorough +transformation, and a vigilant watch to be kept, that selfishness be not +permitted to triumph over public good. {270} + +The local government of part of Knightsbridge and Belgravia was formerly +undertaken by a Board of Trustees chosen by authority of an Act of +Parliament passed in 1829. This was one of the local measures swept away +by the general Act of Sir B. Hall; and now the Knightsbridge ward +(extending to Ebury Street) returns twenty-seven members to the vestry of +St. George, as constituted by his bill. The other parts of the hamlet +were under control from various bodies deriving authority under several +Acts of Parliament, but now belong to wards of the parishes in which they +are situated. The bill passed by Sir B. Hall, though perhaps not all +that could be desired, is yet calculated to effect an immense improvement +over the old system, which in this locality, conflicting with other +interests and regulations, worked but poorly. Many of the improvements +and alterations, appearing in themselves to be but trifling, yet, when +looked at in the aggregate, are of great benefit and importance, were +effected by the energy of individuals instead of the action of the local +board. One instance will suffice. The footway between the Spring Gate +and Hyde Park Corner remained a gravel walk, which in winter time became +mere slush, until some of the inhabitants at length caused the Government +to pave it in 1854; and even the “crossing” from the Spring Gate to St. +George’s Place was paid for by Mr. Westerton and one or two other +inhabitants. + +In politics, in the days of Burdett, the Knightsbridgites were generally +Radicals of the first water. Burdett was in every respect their man. He +and Hobhouse once started on their “chairing” from the house at the +corner of Sloane Street. + +The right of voting for representatives is not the only privilege the +inhabitants of the hamlet enjoy. Those who are in the All Saints +District are qualified for all the numerous hospitals and charities in +the parish of St. Margaret’s, which are among the best and most liberal +in the metropolis. + +The Government having decided on erecting at the “Gore” museums and +galleries for our National Collections, it is only reasonable to believe +that such will result in a thorough revolution in the locality. Such has +already taken place at the Gore and Brompton, and it behoves those who +have the local management in their hands to render the neighbourhood a +fit one for such establishments. The improvement of its approaches +should, above all things, be considered; and in the main street of our +hamlet there is yet, unluckily, too much room for improvement. It would +be a worthy entrance to the capital of the kingdom, if the many +abominations now offending the eye could be removed; and it is doubtful +if there is any valid reason for not setting to at the work right +earnestly. If the Park could be thrown open all the way from Apsley +House to the Chapel (for it is hopeless to expect the removal of the +vulgar monsters at Albert Gate), and again continued to include the +Barracks, such would render the roadway the most beautiful and fine in +every way; would add to its healthiness by allowing the free air to +circulate, and ultimately prove to be of the most lasting benefit to the +community. But if in course of time the present buildings are but to +make way for others, it will not only perpetuate a nuisance, but a +disgrace. {273} + +I believe I have now noticed all that (in accordance with my plan) +requires illustration from me. I therefore close the subject, and trust +the reader will say “Farewell” to it with a spirit of satisfaction; that +at least in some respect amusement has been afforded and instruction +gained; and that the time spent in perusing these pages will not, in the +end, have been considered unprofitably employed. Good reader, farewell! + + + + +APPENDICES. + + +APPENDIX I. +KNIGHTSBRIDGE A FAMILY NAME. + + +IN the Issue Roll of the Exchequer, edited by Frederick Devon, are +several payments in the 43rd Henry III. to Henry de Knythebrig, Nicholas +de Eye, and others, carpenters employed at the King’s Palace. A Richard +Knightsbridge was rector of Sheatham in 1640; and the name, though +rarely, may still occasionally be met with. + + + +APPENDIX II. +THE CROMWELL TRADITION. + + +UNTIL the year 1853 there stood a curious and lonely mansion in the +Brompton Lanes known as Cromwell House. The original name was Hale +House, but it was never called by it within the memory of any now living. +There are one or two versions of the story attached to this old house +printed; but they do not entirely agree with that which I have always +heard—to the effect, that on some occasion Cromwell’s troop was quartered +at Knightsbridge; and he one day venturing to stray among the lanes of +Brompton, was met by some cavaliers who knew him, and pursued him to this +house, where he was sheltered till assistance arrived from Knightsbridge +and liberated him. And a confirmation was presumed to exist in the +inscription on the inn’s front at Knightsbridge that Oliver’s bodyguard +was once quartered there, and that it was once his “posting-house.” + +I am perfectly aware that almost every village has its Cromwellian +legend, and also that every endeavour to connect the Protector and this +mansion has hitherto failed. But I own I am by no means inclined to +throw over the pleasing belief entirely. There is a charity at +Kensington still, called Cromwell’s Gift, which always has been ascribed +by parish officers and inhabitants to the generosity of the great ruler; +and although this is unaccountably not entered in the parish books, I do +not consider such an omission a reason for disbelieving the history +handed down by successive generations of parish officers, and still to be +read in the church porch. In true earnest, I think the omission +favourable to my view. No other origin has ever been assigned to the +charity; and the church authorities at the Restoration would scarcely +have permitted a laudatory inscription to the Protector to remain. There +are no other claimants, and never were: the tradition is, and always has +been, that to Oliver Cromwell Kensington is indebted for this charity, +and to him alone. + +What reason, then, for this remembrance? The old legend of Cromwell +House, is the answer. We know the Parliament forces were frequently +quartered here. Through Knightsbridge ran the high-road from Oxford; and +Cavaliers proceeding thence would most probably take the bye-road as they +neared the metropolis. And the idea is surely not an improbable one that +Cromwell may have been met with in the manner related. + +So far for the legend; but apart from this is another consideration. In +1668, the Lawrences of Shurdington, in Gloucestershire, rented Cromwell +House of the Methwolds. Henry Lawrence was President of Cromwell’s Privy +Council, and in other ways a staunch adherent of his policy. If it could +be proved he resided here at any time during his official career, a new +light would be thrown on the subject, and probably clear it up. On the +whole, therefore, I consider there are grounds, though they may be but +slight, for not entirely discarding the tradition, which may yet be some +day entirely unravelled. + + + +APPENDIX III. +ACT FOR BUILDING ALBERT GATE. + + +AS the Act of Parliament which authorised the improvement at Albert Gate +may prove hereafter to be one greatly affecting the inhabitants of the +hamlet and the frequenters of the Park, the clause relating to +Knightsbridge is here appended. + +The Bill passed May 10th, 1841, and received the Royal Assent a short +time following:— + +“Anno Quarto Victoriæ Reginæ, Chapter XII. An Act to enable Her +Majesty’s Commissioners of Woods to make a new Street from Coventry +Street, Piccadilly, to Long Acre, and for other Improvements in the +Metropolis.” + +Clause LXXVII.—And whereas it is in contemplation by the Commissioners of +Her Majesty’s Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works, and Buildings, to +recommend to Her Majesty, with a view to public Improvement and the +Accommodation of the Inhabitants of the new Squares, Streets, and Places, +that have lately been erected and formed in the neighbourhood of +Knightsbridge, in the County of Middlesex, to make a new Thoroughfare and +Opening into Hyde Park, subject to such Regulations as Her Majesty may +approve of: And whereas the Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate Church of +Saint Peter Westminster are the Owners of certain Ground and Houses on +the North Side of the Knightsbridge Road, and immediately adjoining that +part of Hyde Park where the intended Opening is proposed to be made, and +it is essential to the Accomplishment of the projected Improvements that +the said Dean and Chapter should have Power to sell, or to lease for any +Term not exceeding ninety-nine Years, to the said Commissioners of Her +Majesty’s Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works, and Buildings, certain +small Portions of such Ground and Houses, for the Purpose of enabling the +said Commissioners to make the said intended Opening, and to erect Houses +of a suitable Class and Elevation on each Side thereof, be it enacted, +That it shall be lawful for the said Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate +Church of Saint Peter Westminster, and they are hereby authorised and +empowered to contract for, Sell, and convey to Her Majesty, Her Heirs and +Successors, at such Price or Prices as shall be agreed upon, or +ascertained in manner prescribed by the Act hereinafter referred to, to +be the fair value thereof, all or any Part of the Ground and +Hereditaments hereinafter described, that is to say, all that Piece or +Parcel of Ground, with the Cannon Brewery, the Fox and Bull Public House, +and other Buildings, thereon erected and built, situate on the North Side +of the Knightsbridge Road aforesaid, bounded on the East by the +Watercourse leading from and out of the Serpentine River to the River +Thames, and extending Westward from such Watercourse Two hundred and +thirty Feet or thereabouts on the North and South Sides thereof, and +containing in Breadth one hundred and thirty Feet or thereabouts on the +West Side thereof, and One hundred Feet or thereabouts on the East Side +thereof; and also all that other Piece or Parcel of Ground, with the +several Messuages and Buildings thereon erected and built, known and +distinguished by the Nos. 23, 24, and 25, Knightsbridge, bounded on the +West by the said Watercourse, and extending Eastwards therefrom +Seventy-four Feet or thereabouts on the North and South Sides thereof, +and containing in Breadth Eighty-four Feet or thereabouts on the West +Side thereof, and Seventy Feet or thereabouts on the East Side thereof, +with the Appurtenances; and that it shall be lawful for the said Dean and +Chapter, and they are hereby authorised and empowered, by Indenture under +their Common Seal, on the Surrender of any existing Lease or Leases of +the same Premises, or any Part or Parts thereof, to the said +Commissioners, or to such Person or Persons as the said Commissioners +shall appoint on behalf of Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, for any +Term or Number of Years not exceeding Ninety-nine Years, at such Rent, +and subject to such Covenants, Conditions, and Provisoes, and on such +Terms as shall be agreed upon between the said Dean and Chapter and the +said Commissioners, and to enter into such Contracts and Agreements for +the Purposes aforesaid as to them shall seem proper; and all Contracts, +Agreements, Sales, Leases, Conveyances, and Assurances, shall be valid +and effectual in the Law to all Intents and Purposes whatsover. + + + +APPENDIX IV. +TRINITY CHAPEL, MEMORIAL WINDOWS OF ST. PAUL’S CHURCH, AND ST. PAUL’S +SCHOOLS. + + +THE following brief notices are considered worthy of addition to the +work. In the first place, the days of the Old Chapel, with its present +undignified appearance and circumscribed circle of usefulness, are +numbered. It is purposed, so soon as Dr. Wilson can procure the +necessary funds, some £3,000, to pull down the present ruinous edifice, +and erect a structure in its stead more worthy of the present position of +Knightsbridge. Seventy years ago it was a poor rural hamlet: it is now a +wealthy populous district. Shall its oldest institution not keep pace +with the locality? May it not yet remain “the Nursing Mother” of its +natural and legitimate district? It is trusted that the authorities in +such matters may apportion it an ecclesiastical district, and thus at +last repair the blunder perpetrated at the various parochial divisions to +which our neighbourhood has been subjected. It may be argued that this +new arrangement is unnecessary; but to an observer it will have appeared +that when in our metropolitan districts new churches have been built, +they have been filled, and work has been found for their clergy without +at all lessening the congregation or otherwise disturbing to injury the +constitution of the parent parish. We anticipate a similar result: the +present chapel is not nearly large enough for its congregation; and one +has only to visit St. Paul’s to see that more space is wanted there. +“Division of work makes light labour;” with what greater force will that +apply in spiritual matters. We hope that the history of this old and +useful foundation recorded in this work may so interest the public that +they will at once so add to the £2,000 collected by Dr. Wilson as to +enable him to carry his praiseworthy design into effect immediately. + +The next point is, to the memorial windows of the Church, mentioned at +page 96, have been added the following, in memory of the persons here +named, one to each:—George Canning Backhouse, Esq.; Sir Joseph Bailey, +Bart.; Arthur Stert, Esq.; Major-General J. Bucknall Estcourt, +Adjutant-General to the Crimean Army; Captain the Hon. Robert Hay +Drummond, Coldstream Guards, wounded in the trenches before Sebastopol; +Lieutenant Hubert Greville, Coldstream Guards, killed 5th November, 1854; +Brigadier-General Arthur Wellesley Torrens, K.C.B.; and Captain Viscount +Chewton, Scots Fusiliers. On the whole, the list of those for whom these +are memorials is one of which those connected with the Church may well be +proud—monuments alike to the illustrious dead and the pious regard of +their survivors. + +The third and last addition is relating to the Schools. They will now, +in the course of this year (1859), be at length housed in buildings fit +and proper for the purpose. Since the original foundation in 1783, this +has never been the case. The new buildings are of a very tasteful +design, in the Early English style. They are built of white Suffolk +bricks, in the form of a cross, with ornamental red brickwork and +Bath-stone windows and dressings. They will have accommodation for 400 +children, although the average attendance does not exceed, of boys 120, +girls 70, infants 90; but occasionally the numbers are many more, as from +their position (that part of town being half empty greater part of the +year) the attendance is necessarily fluctuating: they are entirely +supported by voluntary contributions and the school-pence. The education +given is on the national system; and if we may judge from the number of +young persons who, having risen to respectable positions in life, come +occasionally to visit their late instructors, it is not unfruitful of +good results. The estimated cost of the present edifice is £3,000. The +requisite residences of the teachers will be attached thereto so soon as +the subscriptions will allow. The remainder of their history is told on +the parchment enclosed in the foundation-stone, thus:—“To the glory of +God and the welfare of Christ’s poor in the communion of his Church in +England, these parochial Schools of St. Paul’s, Wilton-place, +Knightsbridge, are devoted. The first stone was laid on St. Matthias’ +day, in the year of our Lord 1859, by Henry Barnett, Esq., Treasurer of +the Schools; Robert Liddell, Parish Priest; Thomas Cundy, Architect; +George Trollope, Builder.” + + * * * * * + + * * * * * + + London: TAYLOR AND GREENING, Printers, Graystoke-place, Fetter-lane. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +{0} In this Project Gutenberg eText the erratum has been applied.—DP. + +{3} “Memorials of Westminster,” by Rev. Mackenzie Walcott. + +{10} See “Paddington: Past and Present,” p. 22. + +{11} So the name is written in the body of the charter still preserved +in the British Museum in the title the name is spelt “KNYGHTSBRIGG.” + +{14} See “Statutes of the Realm,” published by the Record Commissioners. + +{19} After the death of her first husband she married John Tregonwell, +Esq., but lies in the same grave with the former, in St. Margaret’s +Churchyard, where a tomb may be still seen to their memory. + +{24} Faulkner’s Brentford. + +{25} Dated November 27, 1736. See Lord Hervey’s Memoirs, edited by Mr. +Croker. + +{26} “Lives of the Chancellors,” vol. iv., p. 420. See also Evelyn’s +Diary, November 15, 1699, where he complains of robberies here, even +while coaches and travellers are passing. + +{27a} This year seems to have been prolific in such cases; the following +is taken from the _London Chronicle_, December 27, 1774:—Mr. Jackson, of +the Court of Requests, Westminster, was attacked at Kensington Gore, by +four footpads: he shot one dead, and the others decamped. + +{27b} See _Morning Chronicle_, May 23, 1799. + +{30} The last oil-lamp was removed from Park-side about 1850. + +{31} See analysis, &c., of these waters in Dr. Aldis’ Report on Sanitary +Condition of this district, and _Builder_, October 10, 1856. + +{35} See “Notes of the Evidence given against Lord Howard of Escrick, at +the Grand Inquest,” &c., a single sheet, 1681. + +{39} The flags are preserved in the United Service Museum, to which +institution they were, with various papers, given by the Major’s son, S. +A. Eyre, Esq. There was a song written in honour of the corps by one +Bradshaw, of which I have only been able to recover the chorus:— + + “Then with Major Eyre we’ll go, my boys, + Then with Major Eyre we’ll go.” + +{52} Additional MSS., No. 5,755, British Museum. + +{55} Lysons’ “Environs of London.” + +{56} Nichols’ “Illustrations of the Manners and Expenses of Ancient +Times,” 4to, 1797; in which these accounts are published. + +{58a} See Bell’s edition of Butler. Mr. Bell’s doubt as to the +existence of the Lazar-house in the time of the Civil War is, as our +extracts show, unfounded. + +{58b} “Notes and Queries,” vol. i., p. 260. + +{60} “Parliamentary Surveys and Minutes of the Committees,” quoted by +Lysons. + +{62} Emphatic, notwithstanding its bad Latin. + +{63a} There having been but two Bishops of London with the Christian +name of William, about the time of any eminence that the Chapel enjoyed, +this must have been one of those two, William Laud or William Juxon; +seeing that Laud licensed its rebuilding, and that his chancellor was so +far interested in it as to give the Paten, I think it may be safely +assumed that the small chalice was presented by the former. Laud was +bishop from 1628 to 1633, when he was translated to Canterbury, and +afterwards beheaded. Juxon succeeded him in the See of London, 1633 +until 1660; he was the prelate present with Charles I. in his last +moments. + +{63b} It was frequently dignified with the title of church. I have +papers by me of 1837, so describing it. + +{65} “To forward Mr. Hervé’s plan for the support of such of the middle +classes of society who have fallen upon evil days, the Rev. Mr. Harris +has lent his chapel at Knightsbridge, where Mr. Hervé will deliver a +lecture on Tuesday morning. . . . Mr. Harris, perhaps, thinks with us, +that the most acceptable part of religion is that practice which comforts +the afflicted, and benefits the unfortunate; and, if report be true, Mr. +Harris does not confine himself merely to the recommendation of +benevolent actions.”—_Examiner_, August 30, 1812. + +{67} Doubtless, when they were in private hands, they were kept by the +clerk’s daughter, in 1819 (see Wilkinson’s _Londina Illustrata_); the +account of the chapel in this work is very erroneous, but most of the +papers therein published are missing. Dr. Wilson has the remainder in +his custody, and they having lately been repaired by the author of this +work, are likely to last many years. + +{78} See Correspondence at the end of Pepys’ “Diary,” vol. iv., pp. 235, +241, and 242. + +{86} The entries to which is affixed an asterisk are not at the Chapel +Books now; they have been made away with since 1819, when they were +copied for Wilkinson’s “Londina.” + +{87} Thomas Halley was clerk from 1664 to 1669, when William Hipsley was +appointed: in Kensington register his burial is entered December 2nd, +1689, when Thomas Hipsley succeeded him. He appears to have been the +builder and carpenter of the place, took great interest in the +Revolution, and in the Wars against Louis XIV., as appears by some of his +memoranda. He was clerk for many years. + +{88} The last beadle died in 1835, since when the office has been +vacant. + +{90} Many names still in the locality, or that have died out within the +last half century, are to be found in these Registers; it may be +serviceable to note a few:—Aley, Arnold, Baber, Beadle, Briscoe, Britten, +Burton, Coppin, Cowell, Cromwell, Danvers, Dexter, Faulkner, Gunter, +Gwin, Hipsley, Lilly, London, Merriman, Morland, Perrin, Pope, Rouse, +Thorowgood, Timberlake, Whitehead, Wise, Woolley. From their imperfect +condition it is useless to attempt a statistical analysis of the +baptisms, but of the marriages I have made a few notes, as follow:—In +1659 there were 36 marriages; in 1661, 81; in the half-year ending +December 31st, 1665, they had increased to the large number of 335. For +about twelve years they continue very numerous, but in 1696 there were +394 marriages, two years after the number fell to 155; in 1704 they +decreased to 45, and such decrease continued till, in 1747, only five +entries are made, in 1751 only _one_, and in 1752 but _two_. + +{92} When the foundation stone was laid they amounted to about £12,000; +among the contributors were Earl Fitzwilliam, £500; the Earls of +Bradford, Brownlow, Burlington and Winchelsea, Geo. A. Haldimand, J. A. +Smith, and E. J. Shirley, Esqs., each £200; Duke of Montrose, Marquis +Camden, Earl Sefton, Earl Carlisle, Sir J. Mordaunt, Sir J. Heathcote, T. +Cubitt, T. Cundy, Esqs., each £100; and Geo. Drummond, Esq., £200. + +{104} This inscription, through various means, I have traced back nearly +a century: another century makes us contemporary. Would all recollection +of such momentous times die away in that time? The writer of this spoke +to an old man in 1845, who remembered the bells ringing for the capture +of Quebec by Wolfe in 1759. + +{106} See the Appendix. + +{109} See for further notices of Sterling, Carlyle’s “Life of John +Sterling;” and “The Fourth Estate,” by F. K. Hunt. + +{112a} A number of these are in my possession. + +{112b} There was a very old wooden gate, opening from the yard at the +back into the park; the bodies of those drowned in the Serpentine were +brought in through it. + +{114} Afterwards bought by the well-known Andrew Mann, and placed by him +on the top of a public house at the corner of Warwick Street, Pimlico. + +{117} See “Gentleman’s Magazine,” 1810; “Life of Romney,” by his +brother; “Johnsoniana,” &c. Of Part XIV. of this work Humphry was +author. + +{118} Afterwards called the “Life Guardsman.” + +{120a} “Letters to Julia,” by Henry Luttrell. + +{120b} “Year Book,” 1826. + +{129} “King’s Anecdotes of His Own Times.” + +{147} See “Faulkner’s Kensington,” and “Notes and Queries,” vol. xii., +p. 186. + +{148} See “Symmons’ Life of Milton,” 2d edit., 1810, pp. 122–124. + +{149a} Cooke’s Preface to “Conversation: a Didactic Poem.” 1807. + +{149b} Quoted by Faulkner, “Hist. Chelsea.” + +{149c} “Journey to London,” quoted by Mr. Peter Cunningham. + +{149d} “Notes and Queries,” v. 487. + +{154} “Belgravia: a Poem.” + +{157a} See “Oxford Magazine,” for 1770; London and Country magazines, +between 1770 and 1774. + +{157b} In the Bankrupt List, _London Gazette_, November, 1772, appears +the following:—“Teresa Cornellys, Carlisle House, St. Ann, Soho, dealer.” + +{159} I need hardly point out the allusion. Montpelier is said to be +the Cheltenham of France. + +{160} See “Monthly Magazine,” April, 1821; and “Notes and Queries,” vol. +x., p. 228. + +{161a} See “The Virtues of a Jail.” + +{161b} His experiments were made by an electrometer of his own +construction, which extended several yards above his house. See +_Examiner_, October 2nd, 1814. + +{163} “Gate” is a modern stupidity for a square or terrace. What can be +more unmeaning? + +{170a} For report of her trial, &c., see “Gentleman’s Magazine,” and +“London Chronicle,” 1776; Ditto, ditto, 1788. “Walpole’s Letters to +Mason” (“Bentley’s Miscellany,” vol. 33). + +{170b} See Creasy’s “Eminent Etonians.” + +{170c} Kingston House is now sometimes called Ennismore House, from the +second title of Lord Listowel. It is generally considered the +termination of Knightsbridge in this direction. In old directories it is +described as No. 3, Knightsbridge. + +{172} See “London Chronicle,” June 22nd, 1784. + +{175} Life of Arthur Murphy, by Jesse Foote; Madame D’Arblay’s Diary, +&c. + +{177} The following are from newspapers:—“Births, Sep. 28. The lady of +the Marquis of Granby, of a daughter, at Rutland House, Knightsbridge.” +1772. + +“On Friday night the Marquis of Granby arrived at the seat of his +grandfather, the Duke of Rutland, at Knightsbridge, from making the tour +of France and Holland.”—_London Chronicle_, July 5, 1774. + +“Died yesterday at Rutland House, Knightsbridge, Lord William Robert +Manners, youngest brother of the Duke of Rutland.” 1793. + +{180} Timbs’ “Curiosities of London.” + +{198} The writer in “Knight’s London” fixes the opening of Tattersall’s +about 1779, but it was earlier.—See _Morning Post_, August 23rd, 1775. + +{200} Walcott’s “Memorials of Westminster,” Appendix. 2nd edition. + +{201} See “Macaulay’s History of England,” i., 512. + +{203} See “Macaulay’s History;” “A Collection of the Debates Concerning +the late Briberies and Corrupt Practices,” 1695; “Manning’s Lives of the +Speakers,” &c. + +{209} See “Journal to Stella,” Jan. 2nd and Feb. 4th, 1711; also Feb. +12th and 15th, 1713. + +{211} Lyson’s “Environs of London.” + +{214} In Kensington register are the following entries:— + + 1665. “Robert Southwell, of Whitehall, Esq., and Mrs. Elizabeth + Dering, daughter of Sir Edward Dering, of Surrenden, Kent, married by + Seth Ward, Lord Bishop of Exeter, 26th January.” + + 1686. (Buried.) “John Humfreys, servant to the Right Rev. Seth, + Bishop of Salisbury, at Knightsbridge, 2nd December.” + +{220} See “Faulkner’s Chelsea,” vol. i., p. 44. + +{221} “Read’s Journal,” May 24, 1753; see also “Faulkner’s Chelsea.” + +{227} Lady Chatterton, “Home Sketches,” vol. ii. p. 280. + +{232} See “Haydon’s Diary,” November 14, 1837. Also vol. iii, p. 77. + +{243} See “Autobiography of William Jerdan,” vol. ii., pp. 282–284. + +{245a} “Cunningham’s Handbook of London.” + +{245b} “Gentleman’s Magazine,” 1856. + +{245c} See “Notes and Queries,” vol. i., p. 474. + +{246} See Ben Jonson’s “Bartholomew Fair;” Greene’s “Tu Quoque;” “The +City Madam;” “The Devil is an Ass;” “The City Match,” &c. &c. + +{248} There was one at Bankside; also places so named are to be found in +Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cudham in Kent. + +{257} In 1755, a 4to satirical tract was published, entitled “Jenny’s +Whim; or, a Sure Guide to the Nobility, Gentry, and other Eminent Persons +in this Metropolis.” + +{269} Letter of Mr. R. W. Mylne in the _Times_, June 7, 1857. + +{270} See Dr. Aldis’s “Report on Sanitary Works in Belgravia;” “Letter +to the Vestry of St. George,” &c. + +{273} See the Appendix. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEMORIALS OF THE HAMLET OF +KNIGHTSBRIDGE*** + + +******* This file should be named 45695-0.txt or 45695-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/5/6/9/45695 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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