A Walk from London to Fulham
by Thomas Crofton Croker · English · Gutenberg #29541 · 399,038 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: A Walk from London to Fulham
Author: Thomas Crofton Croker
Editor: T. F. Dillon Croker
Illustrator: F. W. Fairholt
Release date: July 29, 2009 [eBook #29541]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29541
Credits: This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WALK FROM LONDON TO FULHAM ***
This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler.
A WALK
From London to Fulham
BY THE LATE
THOMAS CROFTON CROKER, F.S.A., M.R.I.A.
REVISED AND EDITED BY HIS SON,
T. F. DILLON CROKER, F.S.A., F.R.G.S.
WITH ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS, BY
F. W. FAIRHOLT, F.S.A.
[Picture: Illustration]
LONDON: WILLIAM TEGG.
1860.
CONTENTS.
Note by T. F. Dillon Croker. v
Dedication to Thomas Wright, Esq., M.A., F.S.A. vii
Memoir of the late Thomas Crofton Croker, F.S.A., M.R.I.A., ix
Etc.
Text of 'A Walk from London to Fulham.' 22
Index of Places. 250
Index of Names of Persons. 253
Footnotes.
NOTE.
A series of papers which originally appeared in 'Fraser' are now, for the
first time, published in a collected form with the consent of the
proprietors of that Magazine. It should, however, be stated, that this
is not a mere reprint, but that other matter has been inserted, and
several illustrations, which did not appear originally, are now added, by
which the work is very materially increased: the whole having undergone a
necessary revision.
Since the late Mr. Crofton Croker contributed to 'Fraser' the 'Walk from
London to Fulham,' there have been many important changes on the road:
time has continued to efface interesting associations; more old houses
have been pulled down, new ones built up, and great alterations and
improvements have taken place not contemplated a few years ago. It would
be impossible, for example, that any one who has not visited the locality
during the last few years could recognize the narrow lanes of yesterday
in the fine roads now diverging beyond the South Kensington Museum, which
building has so recently been erected at the commencement of Old
Brompton; but modern improvements are seemingly endless, and have of late
become frequent. It is in the belief that the following pages will be an
interesting and acceptable record of many places no longer in existence,
that they are submitted to the public in their present shape by
T. F. DILLON CROKER.
TO
THOMAS WRIGHT, ESQ., M.A., F.S.A.
MY DEAR MR. WRIGHT,
As a mark of sincere regard to an old and esteemed friend of my late
Father, I offer these pages to you.
Yours most faithfully,
T. F. DILLON CROKER.
19 _Pelham Place_,
_Brompton_, 1860.
MEMOIR
OF THE LATE
THOMAS CROFTON CROKER, F.S.A., M.R.I.A., ETC.
The late eminent genealogist, Sir W. Betham of Dublin, Ulster
King-at-Arms, well known as the author of numerous works on the
Antiquities of Ireland, and Mr. Richard Sainthill, an equally zealous
antiquary still living in Cork, were two of the most intimate friends and
correspondents of the late Mr. Crofton Croker.
The first-named gentleman drew up an elaborate table tracing the Croker
pedigree as far back as the battle of Agincourt. The Croker crest--"Deus
alit eos"--was granted to Sir John Croker, who accompanied Edward IV. on
his expedition to France in 1475, as cup and standard-bearer; but without
going back to the original generation, or tracing the Limerick or any
other branch of the family, it will be sufficient to say here that the
Crokers, if they did not "come over with William the Conqueror" came
originally from Devonshire, and settled in Ireland in the reign of
Elizabeth. Thomas Crofton Croker was the only son of Thomas Croker, who,
after twenty-five years of arduous and faithful military service in North
America, Holland, and Ireland, and after having purchased every step in
the army, was gazetted brevet-major on the 11th May, 1802, in the same
regiment which he had at first joined (the 38th, or 1st Staffordshire
Foot), and in which he had uninterruptedly served. Indeed, he was so
much attached to his regiment, that, in his case at least, the
Staffordshire knot became perfectly symbolic. The closer the knot was
drawn the firmer the tie became. He commenced, continued, and ended an
honourable life of activity in the service of his country from mere
boyhood, until ill-health and a broken constitution forced him to sell
his commission. Thomas Croker was the eldest son of Richard Croker, of
Mount Long in the county of Tipperary, who died on the 1st January, 1771;
and his mother was Anne, the daughter of James Long of Dublin, by the
Honourable Mary Butler, daughter of Theobald the seventh Earl of Cahir.
Thomas Croker was born on the 29th March, 1761. In 1796 he married
Maria, eldest daughter and co-heir of Croker Dillon of Baltidaniel in the
county of Cork, and on the 15th January, 1798, Thomas Crofton Croker was
born at the house of his maternal grandmother in Buckingham Square, Cork,
receiving his first Christian name after his father, and his second after
his godfather, the Honourable Sir E. Crofton, Bart.
While very young, during the years 1812 and 1815, Crofton Croker made
several excursions in the south of Ireland, studying the character and
traditions of the country, on which occasions he was frequently
accompanied by Mr. Joseph Humphreys, a Quaker, afterwards master of the
Deaf and Dumb Institution at Claremont near Dublin. In 1813 he was
placed with the mercantile firm of Messrs. Lecky and Mark, and in 1817 he
appeared as an exhibitor in the second exhibition of the Cork Society,
for he had already displayed considerable talent as an artist. In 1818
he contributed to an ephemeral production called 'The Literary and
Political Examiner:' on the 22nd March of that year his father died, and
he left Ireland, not to revisit it until he made a short excursion there
in 1821 with Alfred Nicholson and Miss Nicholson (who afterwards became
Mrs. Croker), children of the late Mr. Francis Nicholson, one of the
founders of the English water-colour school, and who died in 1844 at the
patriarchal age of ninety-one years.
Crofton Croker's first visit to England was paid to Thomas Moore in
Wiltshire; and soon after his establishing in London he received from the
late Right Hon. John Wilson Croker an appointment at the Admiralty, of
which office his namesake (but no relation) was secretary, and from which
he (Crofton) retired in 1850 as senior clerk of the first class, having
served upwards of thirty years, thirteen of which were passed in the
highest class. This retirement, although he stood first for promotion to
the office of chief clerk, was compulsory upon a reduction of office, and
was not a matter of private convenience. In 1830 Crofton Croker married
Miss Marianne Nicholson, and the result of their union was an only child,
Thomas Francis Dillon Croker, born 26th August, 1831, the writer of the
present memoir.
The literary labours of Crofton Croker were attended with more gratifying
results than his long and unwearied official services. The 'Researches
in the South of Ireland' (1824), an arrangement of notes made during
several excursions between the years 1812 and 1822, was his first
important work. It was published by John Murray, the father of the
present publisher of the 'Quarterly Review,' and contained illustrations
by Mr. Alfred and Miss Nicholson: with the 'Fairy Legends,' however, the
name of Crofton Croker became more especially associated, the first
edition of which appeared anonymously in 1825, and produced a
complimentary letter from Sir Walter Scott, which has been published in
all subsequent editions. The success of the first edition of the legends
was such as immediately to justify a second, which appeared the next
year, illustrated with etchings after sketches by Maclise, and which was
followed by a second series (Parts 2 and 3) in 1827. The third part,
although it appeared under the same title, namely 'Fairy Legends and
Traditions of the South of Ireland,' may be considered as forming almost
a separate work, inasmuch as it comprised the fairy superstitions of
Wales and other countries, in addition to those current in Ireland. A
translation of the legends by the Brothers Grimm appeared in Germany in
1825, and another in Paris in 1828 ('Les Contes Irlandais, precedes d'une
introduction par M. P. A. Dufau'), but it was not until 1834 that Murray
published them in a condensed form in his 'Family Library,' the copyright
of which edition, as revised by the author, was purchased of Murray by
the late Mr. Tegg, and is now published by his son. In October, 1826,
Croker was introduced to Sir Walter Scott at Lockhart's in Pall Mall.
Sir Walter recorded the interview thus:--"At breakfast Crofton Croker,
author of the Irish fairy tales--little as a dwarf, keen-eyed as a hawk,
and of easy, prepossessing manners, something like Tom Moore. Here were
also Terry, Allan Cunningham, Newton, and others." At this meeting, Sir
Walter Scott suggested the adventures of Daniel O'Rourke as the subject
for the Adelphi pantomime, and, at the request of Messrs. Terry and
Yates, Croker wrote a pantomime founded upon the legend, which was
produced at the Adelphi the same year. It succeeded, and underwent two
editions: the second was published in 1828, uniform with the legends, and
entitled 'Daniel O'Rourke; or, Rhymes of a Pantomime, founded on that
Story.' Croker wrote to his sister (Mrs. Eyre Coote, alive at the
present time) the following account of the breakfast party at Lockhart's,
which, though already published in 'The Gentleman's Magazine' (November,
1854), is sufficiently interesting to be repeated. He first mentions
"the writing and preparing for the Adelphi Theatre a Christmas pantomime
from the renowned adventures of Daniel O'Rourke, two or three meetings
with Sir Walter Scott, some anxious experiments in lithography under the
directions of Mr. Coindet, one of the partners of Englemann's house of
Paris, who has lately opened an establishment here, which will be of the
utmost importance to the advancement of the art in this country, and of
which I hope soon to send you specimens." Then he adds: "To tell half
the kindness and attention which I received from Sir Walter Scott would
be impossible. The breakfast party at Lockhart's consisted of Allan
Cunningham, Terry (the actor), Newton (the artist), a Dr. Yates of
Brighton, Captain, Mr., and Mrs. Lockhart, Miss Scott, Mr. Hogg, and your
humble servant. We had all assembled when Sir Walter entered the room.
Maclise's sketch does not give his expression, although there is
certainly a strong likeness--a likeness in it which cannot be mistaken;
but I have a very rough profile sketch in pen and ink by Newton, which is
admirable, and which some time or other I will copy and send you. When I
was introduced to the 'Great Unknown' I really had not the power of
speaking; it was a strange feeling of embarrassment, which I do not
remember having felt before in so strong a manner; and of course to his
'I am glad to see you, Mr. Croker, you and I are not unknown to each
other,' I could say nothing. He contrived to say something neat to every
one in the kindest manner--a well-turned compliment, without, however,
the slightest appearance of flattery--something at which every one felt
gratified. After speaking for a few moments to Mr. Terry and Allan
Cunningham, he returned to where I stood fixed and 'mute as the monument
on Fish Street Hill;' but I soon recovered the use of my tongue from the
easy manner in which he addressed me, and no longer seemed to feel myself
in the presence of some mighty and mysterious personage. He spoke
slowly, with a Scotch accent, and in rather a low tone of voice, so much
so, indeed, that I found it difficult to catch every word. He mentioned
my 'Fairy Legends,' and hoped he should soon have the very great
enjoyment of reading the second volume. 'You are our--I speak of the
Celtic nations' (said Sir Walter)--'great authority now on fairy
superstition, and have made Fairy Land your kingdom; most sincerely do I
hope it may prove a golden inheritance to you. To me,' (continued Sir
Walter) 'it is the land of promise of much future entertainment. I have
been reading the German translation of your tales and the Grimms' very
elaborate introduction.' Mr. Terry mentioned having received from me
Daniel O'Rourke in the shape of a Christmas pantomime. 'It is an
admirable subject,' said Sir Walter, 'and if Mr. Croker has only
dramatized it with half the skill of tricking up old wives' tales which
he has shown himself to possess, it must be, and I prophesy, although I
have not seen it, it will be as great a golden egg in your nest, Terry,
as Mother Goose was to one of the greater theatres some years ago.' He
then repeated by heart part of the conversation between Dan and the
Eagle, with great zest. I must confess it was most sweet from such a
man. But really I blush, or ought to blush, at writing all this
flattery." Here the origin of Maclise's illustrations to the legends is
thus given by the editor of the 'Gentleman's Magazine.' "The artist, who
had not then quitted his native city of Cork, was a frequent visitor to
Mr. Sainthill (the author of 'Olla Podrida'), at the time that the first
edition of the work appeared. Mr. Sainthill read the tales aloud from
time to time in the evening, and Maclise would frequently, on the next
morning, produce a drawing of what he had heard. These were not seen by
Mr. Croker until his next visit to Cork: but when he did see them he was
so much pleased with them that he prevailed upon Mr. Sainthill to allow
them to be copied for his forthcoming edition: and this was done by
Maclise, and the drawings were engraved by W. H. Brooke, and Maclise's
name was not attached to them, but merely mentioned by Mr. Croker in his
preface."
Scott made favourable mention of the 'Fairy Legends' in the collected
edition of the 'Waverley Novels' published in 1830. In a note on Fairy
Superstitions to Chapter XI. of 'Rob Roy,' speaking of the elfin
traditions peculiar to the wild scenery where Avon Dhu or the River Forth
has its birth, he observes: "The opinions entertained about these beings
are much the same with those of the Irish, so exquisitely well narrated
by Mr. Crofton Croker." Again, in his 'Letters on Demonology and
Witchcraft,' Scott says: "We know from the lively and entertaining
legends published by Mr. Crofton Croker, which, though in most cases,
told with the wit of the editor and the humour of his country, contain
points of curious antiquarian information" as to what the opinions of the
Irish are. And again, speaking of the Banshee: "The subject has been so
lately and beautifully investigated and illustrated by Mr. Crofton Croker
and others, that I may dispense with being very particular regarding it."
This was indeed gratifying from such an authority. The late Thomas
Haynes Bayley dedicated to Crofton Croker a volume entitled 'Songs from
Fairy Land.'
Having dwelt at considerable length upon the legends, the required limits
of this notice will not permit more than a reference to the literary
works of Mr. Croker which succeeded them; and as there is but occasion
for their enumeration, they shall be here given in the order of their
appearance, merely premising that the tales of 'Barney Mahoney' and 'My
Village _versus_ Our Village,' were not by Mr. Croker, although they bore
his name: they were, in reality, written by Mrs. Croker. The list stands
thus:--
1828-9. 'The Christmas-Box, an Annual Present for Children, a collection
of Tales edited by Mr. Croker, and published by Harrison Ainsworth' (Sir
Walter Scott, Lockhart, Ainsworth, Maria Edgeworth, and Miss Mitford were
among the contributors).
1829. 'Legends of the Lakes; or, Sayings and Doings at Killarney,
collected chiefly from the Manuscripts of R. Adolphus Lynch, Esq., H. P.
King's German Legion, with illustrations by Maclise (Ebers).' A second
edition, compressed into one volume as a guide to the Lakes, appeared in
1831. (Fisher.)
From this time Croker became contributor to the 'Gentleman's' and
'Fraser's' Magazines. In 1832 he was a steward at the famous literary
dinner given to Hogg the Ettrick Shepherd.
1835. 'Landscape Illustrations to Moore's Irish Melodies, with Comments
for the Curious.' (Only one number appeared.) (Power.)
1837. 'A Memoir of Joseph Holt, General of the Irish Rebels in 1798.
From Holt's Autobiographical MS. in the possession of Sir W. Betham.'
(Colburn.)
'The Journal of a Tour through Ireland in 1644, translated from the
French of M. de la Boullaye le Gouz, assisted by J. Roche, Father Prout,
and Thomas Wright.' (Boone.) Dedicated to the elder Disraeli, "in
remembrance of much attention and kindness received from him many years
ago;" which dedication was cordially responded to by that author.
1839. 'The Popular Songs of Ireland.' (Colburn.)
1843. A Description of Rosamond's Bower, Fulham {18} (the residence of
Mr. Croker for eight years), with an inventory of the pictures,
furniture, curiosities, etc., etc. (Privately printed.)
It was here that Moore, Rogers, Maria Edgeworth, Lucy Aikin, "Father
Prout" (Mahony), Barham (Ingoldsby), Sydney Smith, Jerdan, Theodore Hook,
Lover, Planche, Lords Braybrooke, Strangford, and Northampton, Sir G.
Back, John Barrow, Sir Emerson Tennent, Wyon, Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall, T.
Wright, and many others were the guests of Mr. Croker. One room in the
house was fitted up as a Museum, where such visitors delighted to
assemble.
During subsequent years Mr. Croker produced several minor works on
antiquarian and popular subjects, some of them printed for private
circulation among his friends, and others as contributions to the
different societies of which he was a member. He died at his residence,
3, Gloucester Road, Old Brompton, on the 8th of August, 1854, aged 57,
and was buried in the private grave of his father-in-law, Mr. Francis
Nicholson, in the Brompton Cemetery, a sketch of which, by Mr. Fairholt,
appears in these pages. It should not be forgotten that Mr. Crofton
Croker was a contributor to the 'Amulet,' 'Literary Souvenir,' and
'Friendship's Offering,' as well as (more extensively) to the 'Literary
Gazette,' when that journal possessed considerable influence under the
editorship of W. Jerdan. Mr. Croker also edited for the Camden and Percy
Societies (in the formation of which he took an active part) many works
of antiquarian interest. He was connected, also, with the British
Archaeological Association as one of the secretaries (1844-9) under the
presidency of Lord Albert Conyngham (the late Lord Londesborough). That
recently-deceased nobleman was one of Mr. Croker's most attached friends,
and opposite his Lordship's pew in Grimston church, Yorkshire, a neat
marble tablet was erected bearing the following inscription: "In memory
of Thomas Crofton Croker, Esq., the amiable and accomplished author of
the 'Fairy Legends of Ireland,' and other works, Literary and
Antiquarian. This tablet is erected by his friend Lord Londesborough,
1855."
To enumerate all the societies and institutions of which Crofton Croker
was a member, honorary or otherwise, would in these pages be superfluous;
but one society shall be here especially mentioned as originating with
Mr. Croker and a few members of the Society of Antiquaries. In 1828 a
club was established, composed of a select few F.S.A.'s, in consequence
of an excursion during the summer to the site, which, in the time of the
Romans, had been occupied by the city of Noviomagus. In a field at
Keston, near Bromley Common in Kent, Mr. Croker had learned that the
remains of a Roman building were apparent above the grass, and it was to
ascertain this fact that the excursion was undertaken. An excavation was
made, and a few fragments of Roman pottery and a stone coffin were
discovered. From this circumstance the club was called the Noviomagian
Society. Mr. Croker was elected its president, and although most of the
original members had died off, he continued in that office until within a
very few months of his death. There are amongst them at the present time
many highly-valued friends of their late president, who succeed in
keeping up their meetings in the true Noviomagian spirit. Long may they
be spared to assemble together, occasionally introducing fresh life to
the little society, that its pleasant gatherings may not be allowed to
die out! A portrait of Mr. Croker was painted a few years before his
death by Mr. Stephen Pearce (the artist of the 'Arctic Council'). It is
a characteristic and an admirable likeness. The next best is that in
Maclise's well-known picture of 'All Hallow Eve' (exhibited in the Royal
Academy in 1833), on which Lover, in describing the engraving, has
remarked: "And who is that standing behind them?--he seems 'far more
genteel' than the rest of the company. Why, 'tis Crofton Croker, or, as
he is familiarly called amongst his friends, 'The honourable member for
fairy-land.' There you are, Crofty, my boy! with your note-book in your
hand; and maybe you won't pick up a trifle in such good company." It may
be added, that Mr. Croker was for many years one of the registrars of the
Royal Literary Fund. And now, in drawing this slight sketch of Mr.
Croker's life to a close, the writer hopes that it may not be an
uninteresting addition to the present volume.
T. F. D. C.
CHAPTER I.
KNIGHTSBRIDGE TO THE BELL AND HORNS, BROMPTON.
[Picture: Anyone] Obliged by circumstances to lead the life of a
pendulum, vibrating between a certain spot distant four miles from
London, and a certain spot just out of the smoke of the
metropolis,--going into town daily in the morning and returning in the
evening,--may be supposed, after the novelty has worn off, from the
different ways by which he can shape his course, to find little interest
in his monotonous movement. Indeed, I have heard many who live a short
distance from town complain of this swinging backwards and forwards, or,
rather, going forwards and backwards over the same ground every day, as
dull and wearisome; but I cannot sympathise with them. On the contrary,
I find that the more constantly any particular line of road is adhered
to, the more intimate an acquaintance with it is formed, and the more
interesting it becomes.
In some measure, this may be accounted for by studious habits; a
tolerable memory, apt to indulge in recollections of the past, and to
cherish rather than despise, when not impertinent, local gossip, which
re-peoples the district with its former inhabitants,--
"Sweet Memory! wafted by thy gentle gale
Oft up the tide of time I turn my sail,
To view the fairy haunts of long-lost hours
Blest with far greener shades--far fresher flowers."
"We have all by heart," observes the author of the _Curiosities of
Literature_, "the true and delightful reflection of Johnson on local
associations, where the scene we tread suggests to us the men or the
deeds which have left their celebrity to the spot. 'We are in the
presence of their fame, and feel its influence.'" How often have I
fancied, if the walls by which thousands now daily pass without a glance
of recognition or regard, if those walls could speak, and name some of
their former inmates, how great would be the regret of many at having
overlooked houses which they would perhaps have made a pilgrimage of
miles to behold, as associated with the memory of persons whose names
history, literature, or art has embalmed for posterity, or as the scene
of circumstances treasured up in recollection!
If the feelings could be recalled, and faithfully recorded, which the
dull brick walls that I cannot help regarding with interest must have
witnessed, what a romantic chapter in the history of the human mind would
be preserved for study and reflection!--
"Ay, beautiful the dreaming brought
By valleys and green fields;
But deeper feeling, higher thought,
Is what the City yields."
The difficulty, however, is incredible of procuring accurate information
as to any thing which has not been chronicled at the moment. None but
those who have had occasion to search after a date, or examine into a
particular fact, can properly estimate their value, or the many inquiries
that have to be made to ascertain what at first view would appear to be
without embarrassment,--so deceptive is the memory, and so easy a thing
is it to forget, especially numbers and localities, the aspect and even
names of which change with a wonderful degree of rapidity in the progress
of London out of town. Thus many places become daily more and more
confused, and at last completely lose their identity, to the regret of
the contemplative mind, which loves to associate objects with the
recollection of those who "have left their celebrity to the spot."
These considerations have induced the writer to arrange his notes, and
illustrate them by such sketches as will aid the recognition of the
points mentioned, the appearance of which must be familiar to all who
have journeyed between London and Fulham,--a district containing, beside
the ancient village of that name, and remarkable as adjacent to the
country seat of the Bishop of London, two smaller villages, called Walham
Green and Parson's Green. The former of which stands on the main London
road, the latter on the King's Road,--which roads form nearly parallel
lines between Fulham and the metropolis. For all information respecting
the neighbourhood of Knightsbridge the reader may be referred to a
recently published work "The Memorials of the Hamlet of Knightsbridge,
with notices of its immediate neighbourhood," by the late Henry George
Davis, edited by Charles Davis (Russell Smith).
From Knightsbridge, formerly a suburb, and now part of London, the main
roads to Fulham and Hammersmith branch off at the north end of Sloane
Street (about a quarter of a mile west of Hyde Park Corner), thus:--
[Picture: Map]
And at the south termination of Sloane Street, which is 3,299 feet in
length, the King's Road commences from Sloane Square.
THE MAIN FULHAM ROAD passes for about a mile through a district called by
the general name of Brompton, which is a hamlet in the parish of
Kensington. The house, No. 14 Queen's Buildings, Knightsbridge, on the
left-hand or south side of the road, [Picture: Hooper's Court] at the
corner of Hooper's Court, occupied, when sketched in 1844, as two shops,
by John Hutchins, dyer, and Moses Bayliss, tailor, and now (1860) by
Hutchins alone, was, from 1792 to 1797 inclusive, the residence of Mr. J.
C. Nattes, an artist, who deserves notice as one of the sixteen by whose
association, in 1805, the first exhibition of water-colour paintings was
formed.
From 1792 to 1797 this house was described as No. 14 Queen's Buildings,
Knightsbridge; but in the latter year the address was changed to No. 14
Knightsbridge Green. {25a} In 1800 it was known as No. 14 Knightsbridge,
and in 1803 as No. 14 Queen's Row, Knightsbridge. {25b} In 1810 as
Gloucester Buildings, Brompton. {25c} In 1811 as Queen's Buildings.
{25d} In 1828 as Gloucester Row. {25e} In 1831 as Gloucester Buildings;
{25f} and it has now reverted to its original name of Queen's Buildings,
_Knightsbridge_, in opposition to Queen's Buildings, _Brompton_, the
division being Hooper's Court, if, indeed, the original name was not
Queen's _Row_, Knightsbridge, as this in 1772 was the address of William
Wynne Ryland (the engraver who was hanged for forgery in 1783). When
houses began to be built on the same side of the way, beyond Queen's
_Row_, the term "_Buildings_" appears to have been assumed as a
distinction from the row west of Hooper's Court; which row would
naturally have been considered as a continuation, although, in 1786, the
Royal Academy Catalogue records Mr. J. G. Huck, an exhibitor, as residing
at No. 11 Gloster Row, Knightsbridge.
These six alterations of name within half a century, to say nothing of
the previous changes, illustrate the extreme difficulty which attends
precise local identification in London, and are merely offered at the
very starting point as evidence at least of the desire to be accurate.
About the year 1800, the late residence of Mr. Nattes became the lodgings
of Arthur Murphy, too well known as a literary character of the last
century to require here more than the mere mention of his name, even to
those who are accustomed to associate every thing with its pecuniary
value; as Murphy's portrait, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds for Mr.
Thrale, sold at Christie's in the sale of Mr. Watson Taylor's pictures
(June, 1823), for 94 pounds 10s. Murphy had prepared his translation of
Tacitus {26} for the press, at his house on Hammersmith Terrace (the last
at the west end); but declining health and circumstances induced his
removal into lodgings near London, at "14 Knightsbridge." From these
apartments "he soon removed to others in Brompton Row, where he did not
remain long, not liking the mistress of the house, but returned to his
former residence (No. 14), where he resided till the time of his death."
In 1803, the late Lord Sidmouth (then Mr. Addington), conferred a pension
of 200 pounds a-year on Murphy, "to mark the sense" his majesty
entertained "of literary merit, particularly when accompanied with sound
principles and unquestionable character;" which gracious mark of royal
favour Murphy acknowledged on the 2nd of March, from "14 Queen's Row,
Knightsbridge." Here he wrote his life of Garrick, {27a} a work which,
notwithstanding Mr. Foot's ingenious defence of it, shews that Garrick's
life remains to be written, and that Murphy's intellectual powers were,
at the time when he composed it, in a state of decay.
Murphy, according to his biographer, "possessed the first and second
floors of a very pleasant, neat house, where there was a long gravel walk
in the garden; {27b} and though his library had been much diminished,
yet, in the remaining part, he took care to reserve the Elzevir editions
of the classics. Mrs. Mangeon (the mistress of the house) was a neat and
intelligent woman, and Mr. Murphy secured her friendship by giving her
son a presentation to Christ's Hospital. Anne Dunn, his own
servant-maid, was an excellent servant, honest, faithful, and attentive;
so that, what with the services he had rendered to the mistress of the
house, and what with the intrinsic fidelity of his female domestic, he
could put the whole family into a state of requisition, and command an
elegant table, as well as ready attention, upon any particular occasion.
Such was the situation of a man of genius, and an author, in the decline
of a long life, and in a country at the highest pitch of grandeur and
wealth. But it must be remembered, that the comforts he possessed were
not derived from the profits of literature."
During the last year of Arthur Murphy's life he possessed a certain
income of 500 pounds, and added to this was 150 pounds for the copyright
of his Tacitus, which, however, was less than half the sum he had been
frequently offered for it. The translation of Sallust, which Murphy left
unfinished, was completed by Thomas Moore, and published in 1807.
Murphy appears to have perfectly reconciled his mind to the stroke of
death. He made his will thirteen days previous to it, and dictated and
signed plain and accurate orders respecting his funeral. He directed his
library of books and all his pictures to be sold by auction, and the
money arising therefrom, together with what money he might have at his
bankers or in his strong box, he bequeathed to his executor, Mr. Jesse
Foot, of Dean Street, Soho. To Mrs. Mangeon (his landlady) he gave "all
his prints in the room one pair of stairs and whatever articles of
furniture" he had in her house, "the bookcase excepted." And to his
servant, Anne Dunn, "twenty guineas, with all his linen and wearing
apparel." After the completion of this will, Murphy observed, "I have
been preparing for my journey to another region, and now do not care how
soon I take my departure." And on the day of his death (18th June, 1805)
he frequently repeated the lines of Pope:--
"Taught, half by reason, half by mere decay,
To welcome death and calmly pass away."
All that we can further glean respecting the interior of Murphy's
apartment is, that in it "there was a portrait of Dunning (Lord
Ashburton), a very striking likeness, painted in crayons by Ozias
Humphrey."
Humphrey, who was portrait-painter in crayons to George III., and in 1790
was elected member of the Royal Academy, resided, in 1792 and 1793, at
No. 19 Queen's Buildings, _Knightsbridge_; but whether this was the fifth
house beyond Nattes', or the No. 19 Queen's Buildings, now called
_Brompton Road_ (Mitchell's, a linen-draper's shop), I am unable, after
many inquiries, to determine. It will be remembered that Dr. Walcott
(Peter Pindar) introduced Opie to the patronage of Humphrey, and there
are many allusions to "honest Ozias," as he was called in the
contemporary literature.
"But Humphrey, by whom shall your labours be told,
How your colours enliven the young and the old?"
is the comment of Owen Cambridge; and Hayley says,
"Thy graces, Humphrey, and thy colours clear,
From miniatures' small circle disappear;
May their distinguished merit still prevail,
And shine with lustre on the larger scale."
A portrait of Ozias Humphrey, painted by Romney in 1772, is preserved at
Knowle, a memorial of the visit of those artists to the Duke of Dorset.
It has been twice engraved, and the private plate from it, executed by
Caroline Watson in 1784, is a work of very high merit. In 1799 Humphrey
resided at No. 13 High Row, Knightsbridge, nearly opposite to the house
in which Murphy lodged, and there, with the exception of the last few
months, he passed the remainder of his life.
At No. 21 Queen's Buildings (the second house beyond that occupied by
Ozias Humphrey), Mr. Thomas Trotter, an ingenious engraver and
draughtsman, resided in 1801. He engraved several portraits, of which
the most esteemed are a head of the Rev. Stephen Whiston and a head of
Lord Morpeth. Nearly the last work of his burin was a portrait of
Shakspeare, patronized by George Steevens. Trotter died on the 14th
February, 1803, having been prevented from following his profession in
consequence of a blow on one of his eyes, accidentally received by the
fall of a flower-pot from a window. He, however, obtained employment in
making drawings of churches and monuments for the late Sir Richard Hoare,
and other gentlemen interested in topographical illustration.
Queen's Buildings, Brompton, are divided, rather than terminated, at No.
28 (Green's, an earthenware-shop) by New Street, leading into Hans
Place--"snug Hans Place," which possesses one house, at least, that all
literary pilgrims would desire to turn out of their direct road to visit.
Miss Landon, alluding to "the fascinations of Hans Place," playfully
observes, "vivid must be the imagination that could discover them--
'Never hermit in his cell,
Where repose and silence dwell,
Human shape and human word
Never seen and never heard,'
had a life of duller calm than the indwellers of our square." Hans Place
may also be approached from Sloane Street, and No. 22 Hans Place, is the
south-east corner. [Picture: No. 22 Hans Place] Among its inmates have
been Lady Caroline Lamb, {31} Miss Mitford, Lady Bulwer, Miss Landon,
Mrs. S. C. Hall, and Miss Roberts. How much of the "romance and reality"
of life is in a moment conjured up in the mind by the mention of the
names here grouped in local association!
The editor of the memoirs of L. E. L. records two or three circumstances
which give a general interest to Hans Place. Here it was that Miss
Landon was born on the 14th August, 1802, in the house now No. 25; and
"it is remarkable that the greater portion of L. E. L.'s existence was
passed on the spot where she was born. From Hans Place and its
neighbourhood she was seldom absent, and then not for any great length of
time; until within a year or two of her death, she had there found her
home, not indeed in the house of her birth, but close by. Taken
occasionally during the earlier years of childhood into the country, it
was to Hans Place she returned. Here some of her school time was passed.
When her parents removed she yet clung to the old spot, and, as her own
mistress, chose the same scene for her residence. When one series of
inmates quitted it, she still resided there with their successors,
returning continually after every wandering, 'like a blackbird to his
nest.'"
The partiality of Miss Landon for London was extraordinary. In a letter,
written in 1834, and addressed to a reverend gentleman, she ominously
says, "When I have the good luck or ill luck (I rather lean to the latter
opinion) of being married, I shall certainly insist on the wedding
excursion not extending much beyond Hyde Park Corner."
When in her sixth year (1808), Miss Landon was sent to school at No. 22
Hans Place. This school was then kept by Miss Bowden, who in 1801 had
published 'A Poetical Introduction to the Study of Botany,' {32a} and in
1810 a poem entitled 'The Pleasures of Friendship.' {32b} Miss Bowden
became the Countess St. Quentin, and died some years ago in the
neighbourhood of Paris. In this house, where she had been educated, Miss
Landon afterwards resided for many years as a boarder with the Misses
Lance, who conducted a ladies' school. "It seems," observes the
biographer of L. E. L., "to have been appropriated to such purposes from
the time it was built, nor was L. E. L. the first who drank at the 'well
of English' within its walls. Miss Mitford, we believe, was educated
there, and Lady Caroline Lamb was an inmate for a time."
It is the remark of Miss Landon herself, that "a history of the how and
where works of imagination have been produced would often be more
extraordinary than the works themselves." "Her own case," observes a
female friend, "is, in some degree, an illustration of perfect
independence of mind over all external circumstances. Perhaps to the L.
E. L., of whom so many nonsensical things have been said, as that she
should write with a crystal pen, dipped in dew, upon silver paper, and
use for pounce the dust of a butterfly's wing, a dilettante of literature
would assign for the scene of her authorship a fairy-like boudoir, with
rose-coloured and silver hangings, fitted with all the luxuries of a
fastidious taste. How did the reality agree with this fancy sketch?
[Picture: Attic, No. 22 Hans Place] Miss Landon's drawing-room, {33}
indeed, was prettily furnished, but it was her invariable habit to write
in her bed-room. I see it now, that homely-looking, almost uncomfortable
room, fronting the street, and barely furnished with a simple white bed,
at the foot of which was a small, old, oblong-shaped, sort of
dressing-table, quite covered with a common worn writing-desk, heaped
with papers, while some strewed the ground, the table being too small for
aught besides the desk; a little high-backed cane chair, which gave you
any idea rather than that of comfort. A few books scattered about
completed the author's paraphernalia."
In this attic did the muse of L. E. L. dream of and describe music,
moonlight, and roses, and "apostrophise loves, memories, hopes, and
fears," with how much ultimate appetite for invention or sympathy may be
judged from her declaration that, "there is one conclusion at which I
have arrived, that a horse in a mill has an easier life than an author.
I am fairly fagged out of my life."
Miss Roberts, who had resided in the same house with Miss Landon,
prefixed a brief memoir to a collection of poems by that lamented lady,
which appeared shortly after her death, her own mournful lines--
"_Alas_! _hope is not prophecy_--_we dream_,
_But rarely does the glad fulfilment come_;
_We leave our land_, _and we return no more_."
And within less than twenty months from the selection of these lines they
became applicable to her who had quoted them.
Emma Roberts accompanied her sister, Mrs. M'Naughten, to India, where she
resided for some time. On her sister's death Miss Roberts returned to
England, and employed her pen assiduously and advantageously in
illustrating the condition of our eastern dominions. She returned to
India, and died at Poonah, on the 17th September, 1840. Though
considerably the elder, she was one of the early friends of Miss Landon,
having for several years previous to her first visit to India boarded
with the Misses Lance in Hans Place.
"These were happy days, and little boded the premature and melancholy
fate which awaited them in foreign climes. We believe," says the
editor of the 'Literary Gazette,' "that it was the example of the
literary pursuits of Miss Landon which stimulated Miss Roberts to try
her powers as an author, and we remember having the gratification to
assist her in launching her first essay--an historical production,
{35} which reflected high credit on her talents, and at once
established her in a fair position in the ranks of literature. Since
then she has been one of the most prolific of our female writers, and
given to the public a number of works of interest and value. The
expedition to India, on which she unfortunately perished, was
undertaken with comprehensive views towards the further illustration
of the East, and portions of her descriptions have appeared as she
journeyed to her destination in periodicals devoted to Asiatic
pursuits."
The influence of Miss Landon's literary popularity upon the mind of Miss
Roberts very probably caused that lady to desire similar celebrity.
Indeed, so imitative are the impulses of the human mind, that it may
fairly be questioned if Miss Landon would ever have attuned her lyre had
she mot been in the presence of Miss Mitford's and Miss Rowden's "fame,
and felt its influence." Miss Mitford has chronicled so minutely all the
sayings and doings of her school-days in Hans Place (H. P., as she
mysteriously writes it), that she admits us at once behind the scenes.
She describes herself as sent there (we will not supply the date, but
presume it to be somewhere about 1800) "a petted child of ten years old,
born and bred in the country, and as shy as a hare." The schoolmistress,
a Mrs. S---, "seldom came near us. Her post was to sit all day, nicely
dressed, in a nicely-furnished drawing-room, busy with some piece of
delicate needlework, receiving mammas, aunts, and godmammas, answering
questions, and administering as much praise as she conscientiously
could--perhaps a little more. In the school-room she ruled, like other
rulers, by ministers and delegates, of whom the French teacher was the
principal." This French teacher, the daughter of an _emigre_ of
distinction, left, upon the short peace of Amiens, to join her parents in
an attempt to recover their property, in which they succeeded. Her
successor is admirably sketched by Miss Mitford; and the mutual antipathy
which existed between the French and English teacher, in whom we at once
recognise Miss Rowden:--
"Never were two better haters. Their relative situations had
probably something to do with it, and yet it was wonderful that two
such excellent persons should so thoroughly detest each other. Miss
R.'s aversion was of the cold, phlegmatic, contemptuous, provoking
sort; she kept aloof, and said nothing. Madame's was acute, fiery,
and loquacious; she not only hated Miss R., but hated for her sake
knowledge, and literature, and wit, and, above all, poetry, which she
denounced as _something fatal and contagious_, _like the plague_."
Miss Mitford's literary and dramatic tastes seem to have been acquired
from Miss Rowden, whom she describes as "one of the most charming women
that she had ever known:"--
"The pretty word _graziosa_, by which Napoleon loved to describe
Josephine, seemed made for her. She was full of a delicate grace of
mind and person. Her little elegant figure and her fair mild face,
lighted up so brilliantly by her large hazel eyes, corresponded
exactly with the soft, gentle manners which were so often awakened
into a delightful playfulness, or an enthusiasm more charming still,
by the impulse of her quick and ardent spirit. To be sure she had a
slight touch of distraction about her (distraction French, not
distraction English), an interesting absence of mind. She united in
her own person all the sins of forgetfulness of all the young ladies;
mislaid her handkerchief, her shawl, her gloves, her work, her music,
her drawing, her scissors, her keys; would ask for a book when she
held it in her hand, and set a whole class hunting for her thimble,
whilst the said thimble was quietly perched upon her finger. Oh!
with what a pitying scorn our exact and recollective Frenchwoman used
to look down on such an incorrigible scatterbrain! But she was a
poetess, as Madame said, and what could you expect better!"
Such was Miss Landon's schoolmistress; and under this lady's especial
instruction did Miss Mitford pass the years 1802, 3, and 4; together they
read "chiefly poetry;" and "besides the readings," says Miss Mitford,
"Miss R. compensated in another way for my unwilling application. She
took me often to the theatre; whether as an extra branch of education, or
because she was herself in the height of a dramatic fever, it would be
invidious to inquire. The effect may be easily foreseen; my enthusiasm
soon equalled her own; we began to read Shakspeare, and read nothing
else."
In 1810 Miss Mitford first appeared as an authoress, by publishing a
volume of poems, which, in the course of the following year, passed into
a second edition.
At No. 21 Hans Place, the talented artistes, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Wigan,
resided some time.
Returning from Hans Place to the Fulham Road through NEW STREET, No. 7
may he pointed out as the house formerly occupied by Chalon, "animal
painter to the royal family;" and No. 6 as the residence of the Right
Hon. David R. Pigot, the late Solicitor-General for Ireland, while (in
1824-25) studying in the chambers of the late Lord Chief-Justice Tindal,
for the profession of which his pupil rapidly became an eminent member.
BROMPTON was formerly an airy outlet to which the citizen, with his
spouse, were wont to resort for an afternoon of rustic enjoyment. It had
also the reputation of being a locality favourable to intrigue. Steele,
shrewdly writing on the 27th July, 1713, says:--
"Dear Wife,--If you please to call at Button's, we will go together
to Brompton.
"Yours ever,
"RICHARD STEELE." {38a}
Now is Brompton all built or being built over, which makes the precise
locality of crescents and rows puzzling to old gentlemen. Its heath is
gone, and its grove represented by a few dead trunks and some
unhealthy-looking trees which stand by the road-side, their branches
lopped and their growth restrained by order of the district surveyor; and
Brompton National School, nearly opposite to New Street, a building in
the Tudor style, was, in 1841, wedged in there "for the education of 400
children, after the design of Mr. George Godwin, jun.;" so at least the
newspapers of the day informed the public.
BROMPTON ROW on the north, or right-hand side of the main Fulham Road,
now consists of fifty-five respectable-looking houses, uniform, or nearly
so, in appearance; and, according to the statements in the 'Gentleman's
Magazine' {38b} and Mr. Faulkner's 'History of Kensington' {38c} here
died Arthur Murphy. But although this was not the case, in Brompton Row
have lived and died authors, and actors, and artists, whose performances
deserve full as much consideration from posterity.
No. 14 BROMPTON ROW was the abode for more than ten years (1820 to 1831)
of John Vendramini, a distinguished engraver. [Picture: No. 14 Brompton
Row] He was born at Roncade, near Bassano, in Italy, and died 8th
February, 1839, aged seventy. Vendramini was a pupil of Bartolozzi,
under whom he worked for many years, and of the effect he produced upon
British art much remains to be said. In 1805 Vendramini visited Russia,
and on his return to England engraved 'The Vision of St. Catherine,'
after Paul Veronese; the 'St. Sebastian,' after Spagnoletti; 'Leda,'
after Leonardo da Vinci; and the 'Raising of Lazarus,' from the Sebastian
del Piombo in the National Gallery.
No. 14 Brompton Row, in 1842, was the residence of the late Mr. George
Herbert Rodwell, a favourite musical and dramatic composer, who died
January 22nd, 1852.
At No. 23 Brompton Row resided Mr. Walter Hamilton, who, in 1819,
published, in two volumes 4to, 'A Geographical, Statistical, and
Historical Description of Hindostan and the Adjacent Country;' according
to Lowndes' 'Bibliographer's Manual,' "an inestimable compilation,
containing a more full, detailed, and faithful picture of the whole of
India than any former work on the subject." [Picture: Embellishment] Mr.
Hamilton subsequently lived for a short period at No. 8 Rawstorne Street,
which street divides No. 27 (a confectioner's shop), and No. 28 (the
Crown and Sceptre) Brompton Row, opposite to the Red Lion (a public-house
of which the peculiar and characteristic style of embellishment could
scarcely have escaped notice at the time when the annexed sketch was
made, 1844, but which decoration was removed in 1849.) Soon after his
return to his house in Brompton Row, Mr. Hamilton died there in July or
August, 1828.
Rawstorne Street leads to Montpellier Square (built about 1837). In this
square, No. 11, resides Mr. F. W. Fairholt, the distinguished artist and
antiquary, to whose pencil and for much valuable information the editor
of these pages is greatly indebted; and No. 38 may be mentioned as the
residence of Mr. Walter Lacy the favourite actor.
Mrs. Liston, the widow of the comedian, resided at No. 35 Brompton Row,
and No. 45 was the residence of the ingenious Count Rumford, the early
patron of Sir Humphry Davy. The Count occupied it between the years 1799
and 1802, when he finally left England for France, where he married the
widow of the famous chemist, Lavoisier, and died in 1814. Count
Rumford's name was Benjamin Thompson, or Thomson. He was a native of the
small town of Rumford (now Concord, in New England), and obtained the
rank of major in the Local Militia. In the war with America he rendered
important services to the officers commanding the British army, and
coming to England was employed by Lord George Germaine, and rewarded with
the rank of a provincial lieutenant-colonel, which entitled him to
half-pay. [Picture: No. 45 Brompton Row] In 1784 he was knighted, and
officiated for a short time as one of the under-secretaries of state. He
afterwards entered the service of the King of Bavaria, in which he
introduced various useful reforms in the civil and military departments,
and for which he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general, and
created a count. At Munich, Count Rumford began those experiments for
the improvements of fire-places and the plans for the better feeding and
regulation of the poor, which have rendered his name familiar to every
one,
"As his own household hearth."
No. 45 was distinguished some years ago by peculiar projecting windows,
now removed, outside of the ordinary windows--an experimental contrivance
by Count Rumford, it is said, for raising the temperature of his rooms.
The same house, in 1810, was inhabited by the Rev. William Beloe, the
translator of Herodotus, and the author of various works between the
years 1783 and 1812. In his last publication, 'The Anecdotes of
Literature,' Mr. Beloe says, "He who has written and published not less
than forty volumes, which is my case, may well congratulate himself,
first, that Providence has graciously spared him for so long a period;
secondly, that sufficient health and opportunity have been afforded; and,
lastly, that he has passed through a career so extended and so perilous
without being seriously implicated in personal or literary hostilities."
It is strange that a man who could feel thus should immediately have
entered upon the composition of a work which appeared as a posthumous
publication in 1817, under the title of 'The Sexagenarian; or, the
Recollections of a Literary Life;' and which contains the following
note:--
"Dr. Parr branded Beloe as an ingrate and a slanderer. He says, 'The
worthy and enlightened Archdeacon Nares disdained to have any concern
in this infamous work.' The Rev. Mr. Rennell, of Kensington, could
know but little of Beloe; but, having read his slanderous book, Mr.
R., who is a sound scholar, an orthodox clergyman, and a most
animated writer, would have done well not to have written a sort of
postscript. From motives of regard and respect for Beloe's amiable
widow, Dr. Parr abstained from refuting B.'s wicked falsehoods; but
Dr. Butler, of Shrewsbury, repelled them very ably in the 'Monthly
Review.'"
At No. 46 Brompton Row, Mr. John Reeve, an exceedingly popular low
comedian, died, on the 24th of January, 1838, at the early age of forty.
Social habits led to habits of intemperance, and poor John was the
_Bottle Imp_ of every theatre he ever played in. "The last time I saw
him," says Mr. Bunn, in his 'Journal of the Stage,' "he was posting at a
rapid rate to a city dinner, and, on his drawing up to chat, I said,
'Well, Reeve, how do you find yourself to-day?' and he returned for
answer, 'The lord-mayor _finds_ me to-day!'"
BROMPTON GROVE commences on the south, or left-hand side of the main
Fulham Road, immediately beyond the Red Lion (before mentioned as
opposite to 28 Brompton Row), and continues to the Bunch of Grapes
public-house, which was pulled down in August, and rebuilt in September,
1844, opposite to No. 54 Brompton Row, and in the wall of which
public-house was placed a stone, with "YEOMAN'S ROW, 1767," engraved upon
it--the name of a street leading to the "Grange," and, in 1794, the
address of Michael Novosielski, the architect of the Italian Opera House.
In that year he exhibited, in the Royal Academy, three architectural
designs, viz:--
"558. Elevation of the Opera House, Haymarket;
"661. Section of the New Concert Room at the Haymarket; and
"663. Ceiling of the New Concert Room at the Opera House."
But of Novosielski and the Grange more hereafter.
Brompton Grove now consists of two rows of houses, standing a little way
back from the main road, between which rows there was a green space
(1811), now occupied by shops, which range close to the footway, and have
a street, called Grove Place, in the centre.
_Upper Brompton Grove_, or that division of the Grove nearest London,
consists of seven houses, of which No. 4 was the abode of Major Shadwell
Clerke, who has reflected literary lustre upon the 'United Service,' by
the able and judicious manner in which he conducted for so many years the
periodical journal distinguished by that name. Major Clerke died 19th
April, 1849.
_Lower Brompton Grove_ consisted of three houses only in 1844, numbered
8, 9, and 10; the 11 of former days being of superior size, and once
known as "Grove House." The 12, which stood a considerable way behind
it, as the "Hermitage," and the 13, as the "House next to the Bunch of
Grapes," all of which, except No. 8, claim a passing remark.
In No. 9, where he had long resided, died, on the 12th of August, 1842,
Mr. John Sidney Hawkins, at the age of eighty-five. He was the eldest
son of Sir John Hawkins, the well-known author of the 'History of Music,'
and one of the biographers of Dr. Johnson. Mr. Hawkins was brother of
Letitia Matilda Hawkins, the popular authoress, and a lady of whom the
elder Disraeli once remarked, that she was "the redeeming genius of her
family." Mr. Hawkins, however, was an antiquary of considerable
learning, research, and industry; but his temper was sour and jealous,
and, throughout his whole and long literary career, from 1782 to 1814, he
appears to have been embroiled in trifling disputes and immaterial
vindications of his father or himself.
No. 10 Brompton Grove, now occupied by the "Sisters of Compassion," was
the residence of James Petit Andrews, Esq., younger brother of Sir Joseph
Andrews, Bart., and one of the magistrates of Queen Square Police Office;
a gentleman remarkable for his humane feelings as well as for his
literary taste. His exertions, following up those of Jonas Hanway, were
the occasion of procuring an Act of Parliament in favour of chimney-sweep
apprentices. Mr. Andrews was the author of a volume of ancient and
modern anecdotes in 1789, to which a supplemental volume appeared the
following year. He also published a 'History of Great Britain, connected
with the Chronology of Europe;' {45a} and a continuation of Henry's
'History of Great Britain:' {45b} soon after the appearance of which he
died, on the 6th of August, 1797.
Grove House (called in 1809 and 1810, as already mentioned, No. 11
Brompton Grove), was, for many years, the residence of Sir John
Macpherson, Bart.; and here he died, at an advanced age, on the 12th of
January, 1821.
[Picture: Grove House]
In 1781 he was appointed Member of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and
when proceeding to the East Indies, in the 'Valentine,' Indiaman,
distinguished himself in an action with the French fleet in Praya Bay.
Sir John, who was a very large man, to encourage the sailors to stand to
their guns, promised and paid them from his own pocket five guineas a
man, which, coupled with his bravery during the action, so pleased the
seamen, that one of them swore "his soul must be as big as his body," and
the jokes occasioned by this burst of feeling terminated only with Sir
John Macpherson's life. "Fine soles!--soles, a match for Macpherson's!"
was a Brompton fishmonger's greeting to Sir John, etc. In the
neighbourhood of Brompton he was known by the _sobriquet_ of "the Gentle
Giant," from his usually riding a very small pony, flourishing in the
most determined manner a huge oak stick over the little animal's head,
but, of course, never touching it with his club.
Upon the after-dinner conversation at Grove House of Mr. Hugh Boyd rests
chiefly that gentleman's claim to be considered as one of the many
authors of 'Junius.' His host, having temporarily retired from table,
Boyd's words were, "that Sir John Macpherson little knew he was
entertaining in his mansion a political writer, whose sentiments were
once the occasion of a chivalrous appeal from Sir John to
arms,"--immediately adding, "_I am the author of 'Junius_.'" The will of
Sir John Macpherson is a remarkable document, and contains the following
tribute to the character of George IV.:--
"I conclude this, my last will and testament, in expressing my early
and unalterable admiration of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales,
the truly glorious reigning prince of the British empire; and I
request my executors to wait upon his royal highness immediately
after my decease, and to state to him, as I do now, that I have
bequeathed to his royal highness my celebrated antique statue of
Minerva, which he often admired, with any one of my antique rings
that would please his royal highness. I likewise request you to
assure his royal highness that I will leave him certain papers, which
prove to a demonstration that the glorious system which he has
realised for his country and the world, in his difficult reign of
eight years, was the early system of his heart and his ambition."
The large room on the east side of Grove House, shown in the annexed
sketch, was used as the drawing-room, and measured thirty-two feet by
eighteen. It was built by Sir John Macpherson for the purpose of
entertaining the Prince Regent.
[Picture: Grove House from the East (1844)]
Grove House was afterwards occupied by Mr. Wilberforce, who, in his diary
of the 2nd of July, 1823, notes, "Took possession of our new house at
Brompton."
Mr. Wilberforce remained there about a year, and his successor in the
tenancy was Mr. Jerdan, the agreeable and well-known editor of the
'Literary Gazette' (1817-50). This house, pulled down in 1846, stood
upon the ground which now forms the road entrance to Ovington Square.
A narrow lane, which ran down by the west side of Grove House, led to the
Hermitage, a retreat of the much admired Madame Catalani during her
sojourn this country, and subsequently converted into an asylum for
insane persons. This building was pulled down in 1844, and Grove Place
has been erected on its site.
[Picture: The Hermitage (1844)]
In the house (No. 13 Brompton Grove) which stood a little way back from
the road, between Grove House and the Grapes public-house, and which was
taken down in December, 1844, and in the previous June, when sketched,
occupied by a stone-mason, Mr. Banim lodged from May, 1822, to October,
1824. [Picture: No. 13 Brompton Grove (1844)] While residing here, he
was engaged in contributing to and editing a short-lived weekly paper,
entitled the 'Literary Register,' the first number of which appeared on
the 6th of July, 1822, and which publication terminated with the
forty-fourth, on the 3rd of May, 1823, when Banim devoted his attention
to preparing the 'Tales of the O'Hara Family' for the press. It is a
remarkable local coincidence, that Gerald Griffin, who
"To his own mind had lived a mystery,"
the contemporary rival of Banim, as an Irish novelist and dramatist,
should have immediately succeeded him in the tenancy of "13 Brompton
Grove," as this house was sometimes called.
"About this period (1825) he [Griffin] took quiet, retired lodgings,
at a house at Brompton, now a stonemason's, close by Hermitage Lane,
which separated it from the then residence of the editor of the
'Literary Gazette,' and a literary intercourse rather than a personal
intimacy, though of a most agreeable nature, grew up between them."
{48}
On the 10th of November, 1824, Griffin, writing to his brother, commences
a letter full of literary gossip with,--
"Since my last I have visited Mr. J--- several times. The last time,
he wished me to dine with him, which I happened not to be able to do;
and was very sorry for it, for his acquaintance is to me a matter of
great importance, not only from the engine he wields--and a
formidable one it is, being the most widely-circulated journal in
Europe--but, also, because he is acquainted with all the principal
literary characters of the day, and a very pleasant kind of man."
To the honest support of the 'Literary Gazette' at this critical period
in Griffin's life may be ascribed the struggle which he made for fame and
fortune through the blind path of literary distinction. He came a raw
Irish lad to the metropolis, with indistinct visions of celebrity
floating through his poetical mind; or, as he candidly confesses
himself,--
"A young gentleman, totally unknown, even to a single family in
London, with a few pounds in one pocket and a brace of tragedies in
the other, supposing that the one will set him up before the others
are exhausted," which, he admits, "is not a very novel, but a very
laughable, delusion."
Banim's kindness--his sympathy, indeed, for Griffin, deserves notice.
"I cannot tell you here," writes the latter, "the many, many
instances in which Banim has shown his friendship since I wrote last;
let it suffice to say, that he is the sincerest, heartiest, most
disinterested being that breathes. His fireside is the only one
where I enjoy anything like social life or home. I go out (to
Brompton Grove) occasionally in an evening, and talk or read for some
hours, or have a bed, and leave next day."
Again, in a letter dated 31st of March, 1824, Griffin says:--
"What would I have done if I had not found Banim? I should have
instantly despaired on ****'s treatment of me. I should never be
tired of talking about and thinking of Banim. Mark me! he is a man,
the only one I have met since I left Ireland, almost. We walked over
Hyde Park together on St. Patrick's Day, and renewed our home
recollections by gathering shamrocks, and placing them in our hats,
even under the eye of John Bull."
MICHAEL'S PLACE, on the same side of the way with the Bunch of Grapes, is
railed off from the main Fulham Road, although a public footpath admits
the passenger as far as No. 14. It consists of forty-four houses, and
was a building speculation of Michael Novosielski, already mentioned,
whose Christian name it retains, having been commenced by him in 1786.
But the shells of his houses for many years remained unfinished, and in
1811, the two last houses (Nos. 43 and 44) of Michael's Place were not
built. Novosielski died at Ramsgate, in 1795; and his widow, for some
years after his death, occupied No. 13.
[Picture: No. 8 Michael's Place] No. 8 Michael's Place, to be recognized
by its bay-windows, was, for several years, the residence of the Rev. Dr.
Croly, now rector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, distinguished in the pulpit
by his eloquence, admired as a writer in almost every walk of English
literature, and respected and beloved by those who know him. Croly's
fame must live and die with our language, which he has grasped with an
unrivalled command.
BROMPTON SQUARE is opposite to the commencement of Michael's Place, to
which it will be necessary to return, after a visit to the square.
At No. 6 has lived Mr. John Baldwin Buckstone, the actor-author, or
author-actor, so well known and esteemed by the public. And at No. 14
has resided Mr. Edward Fitzwilliam, the musical composer, who died on the
19th of January, 1857, at the early age of 33.
No. 21 was, between the years 1829 and 1833, the residence of
Spagnoletti, the leader of the Opera band. He was succeeded in the
tenancy by Mrs. Chatterly, a lively and accomplished actress, who
continued to occupy the same house after her marriage with Mr. Francis
Place.
[Picture: Nos. 22, 23, 24, Brompton Square] At No. 22 (which now belongs
to the well-known and much respected actor Mr. James Vining, and is at
present tenanted by Mr. Shirley Brooks) George Colman the younger died on
the 26th of October, 1836, at the age of 74, having removed to this house
from No. 5 Melina Place, Kent Road. "He ceased to exist on the 17th of
October, 1836," says his medical attendant, in a letter published in the
memoirs of the Colman family. But this is an error, as on the 19th of
October he appears to have written to Mr. Bunn. The last earthly
struggle of George Colman has been thus described:--
"It has never fallen to my lot to witness in the hour of death so
much serenity of mind, such perfect philosophy, or resignation more
complete. Up to within an hour of his decease he was perfectly
sensible of his danger, and bore excruciating pain with the utmost
fortitude.
"At one period of his life a more popular man was not in existence,"
observes Mr. Bunn; "for the festive board of the prince or the peer
was incomplete without Mr. Colman. He has left behind him a
perpetuity of fame in his dramatic works; and much is it to be
lamented that no chronicle has been preserved of his various and most
extraordinary _jeux-d'esprit_. He has, moreover, left behind quite
enough of renown, could he lay claim to none other, to be found in
the following tribute from the pen of Lord Byron:--'I have met George
Colman occasionally, and thought him extremely pleasant and
convivial. Sheridan's humour, or rather wit, was always saturnine,
and sometimes savage; he never laughed (at least that I saw and I
have watched him), but Colman did. If I had to _choose_, and could
not have both at a time, I should say, let me begin the evening with
Sheridan, and finish it with Colman. Sheridan for dinner, Colman for
supper. Sheridan for claret or port, but Colman for everything, from
the madeira and champagne at dinner, the claret with a layer of port
between the glasses, up to the punch of the night, and down to the
grog or gin-and-water of daybreak. Sheridan was a grenadier company
of life-guards, but Colman a whole regiment--of light infantry, to be
sure, but still a regiment.'"
The sale of Colman's effects took place on the 29th of November, 1837;
among the pictures sold was the well-known portrait of George Colman the
elder, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, which has been engraved; another by
Gainsborough, also engraved; a third in crayons, by Rosalba; and a fourth
by Zoffani, which formerly belonged to Garrick, a highly-finished
miniature of Shakspeare, by Ozias Humphrey, executed in 1784 (a copy of
which, made for the Duchess of Chandos, sold at her sale for 40 pounds);
some watercolour drawings, by Emery, Mrs. Terry, and others; some
engravings; more than 1,000 volumes of French and English books; and a
collection of miscellanies, including the MSS. of the elder Colman's most
admired productions, and several by George Colman the younger,--amounting
in all to twenty-six pieces. John Reeve bought largely of the books; but
before two months had elapsed Reeve himself was no more.
No. 23 Brompton Square is occupied by Mr. William Farren, who was for a
long period the unrivalled representative of old men upon the stage, {53}
and who took his farewell at the Haymarket Theatre in 1855; and No. 24,
between the years 1840 and 1843, was the residence of Mr. Payne Collier,
who has given to the public several editions of Shakspeare, and who has
been long distinguished by his profound knowledge of dramatic literature
and history, and his extensive acquaintance with the early poetry of
England.
Mr. Collier's house, in Brompton Square, stood between that which Mr.
William Farren occupies, and one (No. 25) of which Mr. Farren was
proprietor, and has now been sold. At No. 28 resides Mr. William Frogatt
Robson, Solicitor and Comptroller of Droits of Admiralty. Mr. William
Farren has resided at No. 30, next door to Mr. Henry Luttrell (No. 31),
"the great London wit," as Sir Walter Scott terms him, well known in the
circles of literature as the author of many epigrams, and of a volume of
graceful poetry, entitled 'Advice to Julia,' and who died on 19th
December, 1851, aged 86.
In addition to these literary and dramatic associations of Brompton
Square, Liston resided for some time at No. 40, Mr. Yates and Mr. John
Reeve at 57 and 58; and that pair of comic theatrical gems, Mr. and Mrs.
Keeley, have been inhabitants of No. 19.
[Picture: First grave] BROMPTON NEW CHURCH, a little beyond the Square,
is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The architect was Mr. Donaldson, and
the first stone was laid in October, 1826. On the 6th of June, 1829, the
Bishop of London consecrated this church and its burial-ground, which had
been a flower-garden. When the first grave was made in the month
following, many of the flowers still appeared among the grass; and, after
viewing it, Miss Landon wrote the following verses. The "first grave" is
in the extreme south-west of the corner churchyard, close to the narrow
pathway that skirts the wall, leaving only space for a grave between.
The inscription on the stone which originally marked the "first grave,"
was,--
SACRED
TO THE MEMORY OF
MR. IOHN CORPE
OF THIS PARISH
OF ST. GEORGE'S HANOVER SQUARE
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE
18TH OF JULY 1829
AGED 51 YEARS.
"A single grave! the only one
In this unbroken ground,
Where yet the garden leaf and flower
Are lingering around.
A single grave!--my heart has felt
How utterly alone
In crowded halls, where breathed for me
Not one familiar tone.
"The shade where forest-trees shut out
All but the distant sky,--
I've felt the loneliness of night,
When the dark winds pass'd by.
My pulse has quicken'd with its awe,
My lip has gasp'd for breath;
But what were they to such as this--
The solitude of death?
"A single grave!--we half forget
How sunder human ties,
When round the silent place of rest
A gather'd kindred lies.
We stand beneath the haunted yew,
And watch each quiet tomb,
And in the ancient churchyard feel
Solemnity, not gloom!
"The place is purified with hope--
The hope, that is, of prayer;
And human love, and heavenward thought,
And pious faith, are there!
The wild flowers spring amid the grass,
And many a stone appears
Carved by affection's memory,
Wet with affection's tears.
"The golden chord which binds us all
Is loosed, not rent in twain;
And love, and hope, and fear, unite
To bring the past again.
But _this_ grave is so desolate,
With no remembering stone,
No fellow-graves for sympathy,--
'Tis utterly alone!
"I do not know who sleeps beneath,
His history or name,
Whether, if lonely in his life,
He is in death the same,--
Whether he died unloved, unmourn'd,
The last leaf on the bough,
Or if some desolated hearth
Is weeping for him now?
"Perhaps this is too fanciful,
Though single be his sod,
Yet not the less it has around
The presence of his God!
It may be weakness of the heart,
But yet its kindliest, best;
Better if in our selfish world
It could be less repress'd.
"Those gentler charities which draw
Man closer with his kind,
Those sweet humilities which make
The music which they find:
How many a bitter word 't would hush,
How many a pang 't would save,
If life more precious held those ties
Which sanctify the grave."
Now (1860) the grave-stone has received two additional inscriptions, and
the character of the upright stone has been altered.
[Picture: Reeve's Grave] Corpe was a ladies' shoemaker, and his son
carried on that business at No. 126 Mount Street, Berkeley Square, after
the father's death. While sketching the grave, the sexton came up, and
observed, "No one has ever noticed that grave, sir, before, so much as to
draw it out for a pattern, as I suppose you are doing."
John Reeve's grave ("alas, poor Yorick!") is in the first avenue at the
back of the church, to the left hand, and immediately at the edge of the
path that runs parallel with the north side of the building. The stone,
which is similar to others in the same vicinity, is inscribed:--
IN MEMORY
OF
IOHN REEVE ESQ.
LATE OF THE
THEATRE ROYAL ADELPHI.
OBIIT JANUARY. 24TH. 1838.
ALSO OF
IOHN REEVE ESQ.
UNCLE OF THE ABOVE
OBIIT JANY. 22ND. 1831 AGED 71.
In the central path, leading from the Church Tower, is the grave of
Harriet Elizabeth Farren, who died 16th of June, 1857, aged 68. She made
her first appearance in London in 1813, as Desdemona.
[Picture: Bell and Horns sign] Close to Brompton New Church, at a
public-house called the Bell and Horns, {58} the road branches off again;
that branch which goes straight forward leading to Old Brompton, Earl's
Court, Kensington, and North End, Fulham. The turn to the left, or bend
to the south, being the main Fulham Road. Here, till within the last few
years, was standing the stump of an old tree, shown in the accompanying
sketch. [Picture: Stump] A cluster of trees at the commencement of the
Old Brompton Road have also been removed, and the road has been
considerably widened. On the right-hand side, adjoining Brompton New
Church, is the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, a Roman Catholic Establishment
of considerable extent, which stands on the ground once occupied by Mr.
Pollard's school. It was opened on 22nd March, 1851, and was originally
located in King William Street, Strand. It is bounded on the east by the
avenue of lime trees leading up to Holy Trinity Church, on the north by
its cemetery, on the west by the South Kensington Museum, and on the
south by the road, which has been widened by the commissioners to eighty
feet. The superior in London is the Rev. F. W. Faber, and at Birmingham,
the Rev. J. H. Newman, D.D. The building, which does not show its size
to advantage from the road, is erected in the shape of the letter T.
Some idea of the scale on which the building is executed may be gathered
from the following dimensions. The oratory 72 feet long, 30 wide, 29
high. The library 72 feet long, 30 wide, 23 high. The refectory 50 feet
long, 30 wide, 28 high. The corridors of the house 164 feet long, 9
wide, 14 high. The architect is Mr. Scoles. Next to the oratory is the
South Kensington Museum, which was built upon the Kensington Gore estate,
[Picture: Oratory and Museum] purchased by the Royal Commissioners with
the surplus funds derived from the Exhibition of 1851. It was opened on
the 24th June, 1857, and is a result of the School of Design, founded at
Somerset House in 1838. It is the head-quarters of the Government
Department of Science and Art, previously deposited in Marlborough House,
which is under the management of Mr. Henry Cole. The collections are
temporarily placed in a range of boiler-roofed buildings, hence the term
"Brompton boilers" has been applied to them. There are specimens here of
ornamental art, an architectural, trade, and economical museum; a court
of modern sculpture, and the gallery of British Art, founded on the
munificent gift of Mr. John Sheepshanks. Mr. Sheepshanks having bestowed
on the nation a collection of 234 oil paintings, mostly by modern British
artists, and some drawings, etc., the whole formed by himself, including
some of the most popular works of Wilkie, Mulready, Sir Edwin Landseer,
Leslie, and other eminent artists of the English school. To these have
been since added, in several large rooms, the Turner Collection, and the
pictures from the Vernon Gallery; also the collection bequeathed to the
nation by the late Mr. Jacob Bell, and the pictures by British artists
removed from the National Gallery; all which are well lighted from the
roof. The objects of ornamental art consist of medieval furniture and
decoration, painted glass, plaster casts, electrotype copies,
photographs, engravings, and drawings, etc., the whole designed with the
view of aiding general education, and of diffusing among all classes
those principles of science and art which are calculated to advance the
individual interests of the country, and to elevate the character of the
people: facilities are afforded for taking copies of objects upon
application at the Art Library. The Educational collections formed by
the Government, which are in the central portion of the building,
comprise specimens of scientific instruments, objects of natural history,
models, casts, and a library; refreshment and waiting rooms are provided;
and there are lectures delivered in a building devoted to that purpose.
The admission, which is from ten till four, five or six, according to the
season, is free on Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday, also on Monday and
Tuesday evening, from seven till ten, when the galleries are lighted; on
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, being students' days, the admission is
6d.
In form the building is rectangular, the centre or nave is 42 feet wide,
and is open from the floor to the roof. Along the aisles galleries run,
access to which is obtained by two large central staircases at the ends
of the building, which is for the most part lighted from the roofs.
There is ample ventilation, and by means of hot water pipes, the building
is heated when required. The exhibition space in floor and galleries is
nearly one acre and a half, exclusive of the wall space in the galleries
and aisles. The arrangement, it may be seen from this description, is
much the same as that adopted in the Great Exhibition of 1851. There are
separate catalogues for each department to be had, which give the visitor
all necessary information. The building was constructed from designs and
drawings prepared by Messrs. Charles D. Young and Co. of Great George
Street, Westminster. Opposite the Museum is Thurloe Place. No. 1 may be
mentioned as the residence of Mr. Henry Holl, well known some years ago
as the light comedian of the Haymarket Theatre. That gentleman has now
retired from the profession, but in addition to some dramatic productions
written many years since, he is the author of two or three successful
pieces recently produced. It is not the intention of the writer to
follow the course of the Old Brompton Road, but he will at once return to
the main road after alluding to the newly-formed magnificent approaches
from this point to Kensington, by Exhibition Road and Prince Albert's
Road, on the site of Brompton Park, now broken up. {62} A winter garden
is in course of formation here, and the Horticultural Society intend to
appropriate part of the ground for their annual fetes. The total amount
expended on the purchase and laying out of the Kensington Gore Estate
from 1851 to 1856 inclusive, was 277,309 pounds.
CHAPTER II.
FROM THE BELL AND HORNS, BROMPTON, TO LITTLE CHELSEA.
To return to the continuation of MICHAEL'S PLACE. It is divided between
Nos. 11 and 12 by MICHAEL'S GROVE, which led to Brompton Grange, for some
years the seat of the favourite veteran vocalist, Braham, who made his
appearance as a public singer at the age of ten years, and so far back as
1787. The Grange was taken down in October 1843, and, in the course of
twelve months, its spacious grounds were covered by a decided crescent
and other buildings. Brompton Grange, which was constructed by
Novosielski for his own residence, was, previous to Mr. Braham's tenancy,
occupied by a gentleman of large fortune and weak nerves, which were most
painfully affected by the tone of a bell. After considerable research,
this spot was selected for his London residence, in the belief that there
he would be secure from annoyance. But the folly of human anticipation
was speedily illustrated by the building of Brompton Church on the north
side of his abode, and of Chelsea New Church on the west; so that,
whatever way the wind blew,
"The sound of the church-going bell"
was certain of being wafted to the Grange, which was got rid of in
consequence.
From Michael's Grove, BROMPTON CRESCENT is nearly a straight row of
twenty-five houses, and forms an angle to the line of the main Fulham
Road, uniting with Michael's Place at "Crescent House," where the
carriage communication was formerly interrupted by a bar, in place of
which a post supporting two lamps is now substituted.
No. 9 was for some time in the occupation of Dr. Oswald Wood, the
translator (1835) of Von Hammer's 'History of the Assassins,' and who
died at the early age of thirty-eight, on the 5th of November, 1842, in
the West Indies, where he held the appointment of Provost-Marshal of
Antigua.
At No. 13 Brompton Crescent resided Charles Incledon, the rival of his
neighbour Braham, whose singing he was wont to designate as "Italianised
humbug;" declaring that no one but himself, Charles Incledon, knew how to
sing a British ballad: and it must be admitted, that "The Storm" and
"Black-eyed Susan," as sung by Incledon, produced a deep impression on
the public mind. He was a native of Cornwall, and the son of a medical
gentleman. As a chorister, under the tuition of Jackson, in Exeter
Cathedral, Incledon acquired his knowledge of music; for when he was
fifteen he entered the Royal Navy, in which he served in the West Indies
from 1779 to 1783, when he abandoned the naval profession, and joined a
theatrical company at Southampton. After a popular professional career
of upwards of forty years as a public singer, Incledon died at Worcester,
on the 11th of February, 1826.
Of Incledon many amusing anecdotes are told, chiefly caused by his
inordinate vanity, and his mental singleness of purpose. He thought of
no one but himself; he saw nothing beyond the one and immediate object at
which he grasped; and yet these faults were caused rather by natural
weakness of intellect than by an unkind or selfish disposition. In fact,
Incledon lived and died a petted servant of the public; which
administered intoxicating draughts of applause to his self-esteem.
Mr. G. Rodwell, already mentioned as having been an inhabitant of No. 14
Brompton Row, resided at No. 15 Brompton Crescent, in 1830.
No. 20 Brompton Crescent was, between the years 1822 and 1844, occupied
by Mr. Planche, well known as, perhaps, the most prolific and skilful
dramatic writer of the day, and as a gentleman of high literary and
antiquarian attainments. His connexion with the last musical efforts of
the German composer Weber, in his opera of 'Oberon,' which was produced
at Covent Garden on the 12th of May, 1826, {65} cannot be forgotten; and
to Planche's knowledge of costume and taste for pictorial effects the
English stage is deeply indebted. In the drawing-room of this house have
some of our most agreeable acting dramas been composed, and nothing could
have been, in its style and appointments, more typical of Planche's
dialogue than was the apartment--smart and neat, fit for all occasions,
and suited in a moment to the present purpose, whatever that might be.
It was polished and elegant; but there was nothing superfluous, beyond a
bit of exquisite china on the mantel-piece, or a picture, excellent in
its way, on the wall; something which pleased the eye, and which the mind
received and relished like a nicely-pointed joke. A well-painted
portrait of Planche himself, by Briggs, the Royal Academician, which has
been engraved, hung opposite to the fireplace; and, as if to carry out
the similitude between Planche's writings and the place where they were
written, folding-doors revealed a back drawing-room, which, like his
memory, was richly stored with the works of heralds and antiquaries, and
of our elder dramatists and poets, so judiciously arranged, that in a
moment he was certain of producing the precise passage or the effect
which he desired. At the same time so completely was this little battery
of knowledge masked under quaint bindings and tasteful covers, that no
one suspected what a mine of learning lay beneath; nor, like his own
mental resources, was a volume displayed without cause, or unclasped
without its effect.
Speaking earnestly to Planche respecting the pains and pleasures of
authorship, L. E. L. once said, "I would give this moment all the fame of
what I have written, or ever shall write, for one roar of applause from a
crowded house, such as you must have heard a thousand times."
Mr. Planche afterwards removed to a new and detached house, built on the
site of Brompton Grange. He has now quitted the neighbourhood.
Mr. C. J. Richardson, an architect, whose publications illustrative of
Tudor architecture and domestic English antiquities have materially
tended to diffuse a feeling of respect for the works of our ancestors,
and to forward the growing desire to preserve and restore edifices which
time and circumstances have spared to the country, has resided at No. 22
Brompton Crescent. At No. 28 in this crescent, Mrs. Liston died in 1854.
The continuation of MICHAEL'S PLACE, which we left on our right to visit
Michael's Grove and Brompton Crescent, is the corner house, now Dr.
Cahill's and Mr. Hewett's. At No. 12, Lewis Schiavonetti, a
distinguished engraver, died on the 7th of June, 1810, at the age of
fifty-five. He was a native of Bassano, in the Venetian territory, and
the eldest son of a stationer, whose large family and moderate
circumstances made him gladly accept the offer of Julius Golini, a
painter of some repute, to receive his son, at the age of thirteen, for
instruction in the arts. [Picture: No. 12 Michael's Place] In three
years after, Golini expired in the arms of his youthful pupil. Upon the
death of his master he determined to seek the patronage of Count
Remaudini, who had given employment to Bartolozzi and Volpato, and began
to study the mechanical process of engraving, under a poor man named
Lorio, who, unable to support himself by his profession, officiated as
sacristan to a church, and could offer him no better accommodation for
study than the sacristy. The circumstances of Schiavonetti not
permitting him to seek for higher instruction, he remained with this
master about twelve months, when, finding that he had learned all that
poor Lorio was able to teach, and feeling an aversion to work
occasionally among dead bodies, he determined to alter his situation. A
copy of a 'Holy Family,' from Bartolozzi, after Carlo Maratta, gained
Schiavonetti immediate employment from Count Remaudini, and attracted the
notice of Suntach, an engraver and printseller in opposition to
Remaudini.
About this time there came to Bassano a Mr. Testolini, of Vicenza, a
wretched engraver of architecture, but a man of consummate craft and
address. He became acquainted with Schiavonetti at Suntach's, and,
finding in his genius and tractable disposition, a tool which he could
use to great advantage, he engaged him to work at his house.
Bartolozzi's engravings in the chalk manner were then in great repute at
Bassano, and Testolini made several abortive attempts to discover the
process. His young friend succeeded better, and imitated several of
Bartolozzi's prints to perfection; and Testolini took some of
Schiavonetti's productions to the son of Bartolozzi at Venice, and passed
them off as his own. They gained him an introduction to that artist, and
an invitation to London, where he was then in full occupation, and his
works highly appreciated. The change of climate seems to have
deteriorated the talents of Testolini; but such was his adroitness that
he gained a complete ascendancy over the easy temper of Bartolozzi, and
lived in his house at North End, Fulham, about three years. During that
time, finding that yet more important advantages might be derived from
the aid of his former friend, he made several propositions to
Schiavonetti to come to London. These were for a time declined: the
rising fame of the young artist caused his talents to be better
appreciated, and some Venetian noblemen offered him a pension and
constant employment if he would abandon his proposed emigration.
Testolini, to frustrate this, induced Bartolozzi to write a letter of
persuasion, partly dictated by himself; and, confident of its effect, he
set out for Italy to bring Schiavonetti over. During his absence
Bartolozzi gained an insight into his real character and interested
views, and, on his return with his _protege_, told him that his house was
no longer open to him, but that Schiavonetti was welcome to consider it
his home. Testolini, however, having found a house in Sloane Square,
soon persuaded Schiavonetti that it would be better for him to follow his
fortune than to remain with Bartolozzi, to which Schiavonetti consented.
This circumstance terminated the connexion between Bartolozzi and
Schiavonetti; and shortly after the reputation of the latter as an
engraver became established in London, where he conducted every
transaction he was engaged in with an uprightness and integrity that
cause his memory to be equally respected as a gentleman and as an artist.
The 'Madre Dolorosa,' after Vandyke; the portrait of that master in the
character of Paris; Michael Angelo's cartoon of the 'Surprise of the
Soldiers on the banks of the Arno;' a series of etchings from designs by
Blake, illustrative of Blair's 'Grave,' with a portrait of Blake after
Phillips; the 'Landing of the British troops in Egypt,' from De
Loutherbourg; and the etching of the 'Canterbury Pilgrims,' from
Stothard's admired picture, are some of the most esteemed works of Lewis
Schiavonetti. His funeral, which took place on the 14th June 1810, from
Michael's Place, was attended by West, the president, Phillips, Tresham,
and other members of the Royal Academy, by his countryman Vendramini, and
almost all the distinguished engravers of the day, with other artists and
friends to art.
The greater portion of No. 13, Michael's Place, is shown in the sketch of
No. 12, and the former may be mentioned as the residence of the widow of
the builder, Madame Novosielski, who died here on the 30th November,
1820. This was the address of Miss Helen Faucit, immediately previous to
her successful appearance in the English drama before a French audience,
and is at present in the occupation of Mr. Weigall, an artist whose works
are highly prized.
Mrs. Billington, the well-known singer and actress, has resided at No.
15.
Miss Pope, an actress of considerable reputation, died at No. 17,
Michael's Place, on the 30th July, 1818, aged seventy-five. Her talents
had been cultivated by the celebrated Mrs. Clive, and she was
distinguished by the notice of Garrick. As a representative of old
women, Miss Pope is said to have been unrivalled; and, for more than half
a century, she remained constant to the boards of Drury Lane Theatre,
never having performed at any other with the exception of a season at
Dublin and another at Liverpool.
Mr. John Heneage Jesse, in 1842, while engaged in the publication of
'Memoirs of the Court of England, from the Revolution of 1688 to the
Death of George II.,' 3 vols. 8vo, a continuation of his 'History of the
Court of England during the Reign of the Stuarts,' lodged at No. 18.
Mr. Yates, the manager of the Adelphi Theatre, and an actor of
considerable and varied powers, resided at No. 21, Michael's Place,
immediately previous to his accepting a short engagement in Ireland,
where he ruptured a blood-vessel, and returned to England in so weak a
state that he died on the 21st June, 1842, a few days after his arrival
at the Euston Hotel, Euston Square, from whence it was considered, when
he reached London, imprudent to remove him to Brompton. He was in the
forty-fifth year of his age, and made his first appearance in London at
Covent Garden on the 7th November, 1818. On the 30th November, 1823, Mr.
Yates married Miss Brunton, an exemplary woman and an accomplished
actress, who had retired from the profession for some years previous to
her death, aged 61, on 30th August, 1860. Before Mr. Yates' tenancy, No.
21 was the residence of Mr. Liston, whose comic humour will long be
remembered on the stage.
Mrs. Davenport, a clever actress and an admirable representative of old
women, died at No. 22, on 8th May, 1843, aged eighty-four. On the 25th
of May, 1830, she retired from the stage, after an uninterrupted service
of thirty-six years at Covent Garden Theatre, where she took her "first,
last, and only benefit," performing the Nurse in 'Romeo and Juliet.'
No. 25, Michael's Place, may be pointed out as the house in which Miss
Pope, "the other delicious old woman," dwelt previous to her removal to
No. 17; and No. 26, as the lodgings of Mrs. Mathews, when occupied in the
composition of the 'Memoirs' of her husband, {72} the eminent comedian,--
"A man so various, that he seemed to be,
Not one, but all mankind's epitome."
At No. 33 died Madame Delille, in 1857, at an advanced age. This lady
was the mother of the late Mr. C. J. Delille, professor of the French
language in Christ's Hospital and in the City of London School, and
French examiner in the University of London. Mr. Delille's French
Grammar is universally adopted by schools, in addition to his 'Repertoire
Litteraire,' and his 'Lecons et Modeles de Poesie Francaise.'
The ground upon which Michael's Place and Brompton Crescent are built was
known by the name of "Flounder Field," from its usual moist and muddy
state. This field contained fourteen acres, and is said to have been
part of the estate of Alderman Henry Smith, which in this neighbourhood
was upwards of eighty-four acres. He was a native of Wandsworth, where
he is buried. It has been asserted that, from very humble circumstances,
he rose to be an alderman of London--from circumstances so humble,
indeed, that Salmon, in his 'Antiquities of Surrey,' mentions that he had
been in early life whipped out of Mitcham parish for begging there.
Being a widower, and without children, he made over all his estates in
1620 to trustees for charitable purposes, reserving out of the produce
500 pounds a-year for himself. He died in 1627-8, and the intent of his
will appears to have been to divide his estate equally between the
poorest of his kindred, and in case of any surplus it was to be applied
to the relief and ransom of poor captives. Mr. Smith is said, but we
know little of the history of this benevolent and extraordinary man, to
have himself suffered a long captivity in Algiers. No application having
been made for many years to redeem captives, in 1772 an act of parliament
was passed "to enable the trustees of Henry Smith, Esq., deceased, to
apply certain sums of money to the relief of his poor kindred, and to
enable the said trustees to grant building leases of an estate in the
parishes of Kensington, Chelsea, and St. Margaret's, Westminster."
No. 1, North Terrace, leading into Alexander Square, was for some time
the residence of the celebrated "O." Smith, who, though a great ruffian
upon the stage, was in private life remarkable for his quiet manners and
his varied attainments. At the end of this terrace is the Western
Grammar School.
ALEXANDER SQUARE, on the north or right-hand side of the main Fulham
Road, between the Bell and Horns public-house and Pelham Crescent,
consists of twenty-four houses built in the years 1827 and 1830, and
divided by Alfred Place: before each portion there is a respectable
enclosure, and behind numerous new streets, squares, and houses have been
built, extending to the Old Brompton Road.
No. 19, Alexander Square, was the residence of Captain Glascock, who
commanded H.M.S. Tyne, and whose pen has enriched the nautical novel
literature of England {73} with the same racy humour which has
distinguished his professional career. When commanding in the Douro,
some communications which Glascock had occasion to make to the Governor
of Oporto not having received that attention which the English captain
considered was due to them, and the governor having apologised for his
deafness, Glascock replied that in future he would write to his
excellency. He did so, but the proceeding did not produce the required
reply. Glascock was then told that the governor's memory was defective;
so he wrote again, and two letters remained unanswered. In this state of
things it was intimated to Captain Glascock by a distinguished
diplomatist, that, as his letters might not have been delivered, he ought
to write another. "Certainly," replied that officer; "my letters to his
excellency, as you say, might not have been delivered, for I have had no
report absolutely made to me that they had ever reached his hands: but I
will take care this time there shall be no mistake in the delivery, for
you shall see me attach my communication to a cannonball, the report of
which I can testify to my government; and, as my gunner is a sure shot,
his excellency _will_ (Glascock was an Irishman) have my epistle
delivered into his hand." This intimation produced at once the desired
effect of a satisfactory reply and apology.
Captain Glascock was one of the inspectors under the Poor Relief Act in
Ireland. He died in 1847.
No. 24 Alexander Square is the residence of Mr. George Godwin, the editor
of the 'Builder,' and one of the honorary secretaries of the Art
Union,--an association which has exercised an important influence upon
the progress of the fine arts in England. Mr. Godwin is likewise
favourably known to the public as the author of several essays which
evince considerable professional knowledge, antiquarian research, and a
fertile fancy.
The bend of the Fulham Road terminates at
THE ADMIRAL KEPPEL
[Picture: The old Admiral Keppel] public-house, from whence the road
proceeds in a straight line to Little Chelsea; Marlborough Road and
Keppel Street, leading to Chelsea, branching off at each side of the
tavern. Since this sketch was taken, the old building has been pulled
down (1856), and a large hotel erected on the same spot, by B. Watts,
where, in addition to the usual comforts of an inn, hot and cold baths
may be had.
In 1818 the Admiral Keppel courted the custom of passing travellers by a
poetical appeal to the feelings of both man and beast:--
"Stop, brave boys, and quench your thirst;
If you won't drink, your horses murst."
There was something rural in this: the distich was painted in very rude
white letters on a small black board; and when Keppel's portrait, which
swung in air, like England's flag, braving
"The battle and the breeze,"
was unhinged and placed against the front of the house, this board was
appended as its motto. Both, however, were displaced by the march of
public-house improvement; the weather-beaten sign of the gallant
admiral's head was transferred to a wall of the back premises, where its
"faded form" might, until recently, have been recognised; but, though the
legible record has perished, _opus vatum durat_.
AMELIA PLACE is a row of nine houses immediately beyond the Admiral
Keppel. Within the walls of the last low house in the row, and the
second with a verandah, the Right Hon. John Philpot Curran died on the
14th of October, 1817. It had then a pleasant look-out upon green fields
and a nursery-garden, now occupied by Pelham Crescent. Here it was, with
the exception of a short excursion to Ireland, that Curran had resided
during the twelve months previous to his death. [Picture: No. 7 Amelia
Place] Curran's public life may be said to have terminated in 1806, when
he accepted the office of Master of the Rolls in Ireland, an appointment
of 5000 pounds a year. This situation he retained until 1815, when his
health required a cessation from its laborious attendance. Upon his
retirement from office, he "passed through the watering-places with the
season," and then fixed himself at No. 7, Amelia Place, Brompton, which
house has now Kettle's boot and shoe warehouse built out in front. To no
other contemporary pen than that of the Rev. George Croly can be ascribed
the following glowing sketch of Curran:--
"From the period in which Curran emerged from the first struggles of
an unfriended man, labouring up a jealous profession, his history
makes a part of the annals of his country: once upon the surface, his
light was always before the eye, it never sank and was never
outshone. With great powers to lift himself beyond the reach of that
tumultuous and stormy agitation that must involve the movers of the
public mind in a country such as Ireland then was, he loved to cling
to the heavings of the wave; he, at least, never rose to that
tranquil elevation to which his early contemporaries had one by one
climbed; and never left the struggle till the storm had gone down, it
is to be hoped for ever. This was his destiny, but it might have
been his choice, and he was not without the reward, which, to an
ambitious mind conscious of its eminent powers, might be more than
equivalent to the reluctant patronage of the throne. To his habits
legal distinction would have been only a bounty upon his silence; his
limbs would have been fettered by the ermine; but he had the
compensation of boundless popular honour, much respect from the
higher ranks of party, much admiration and much fear from the lower
partizans. In Parliament he was the assailant most dreaded; in the
law-courts he was the advocate deemed the most essential; in both he
was an object of all the more powerful passions of man but rivalry,--
'He stood alone and shone alone.'"
During Curran's residence in Amelia Place he suffered two slight
apoplectic attacks; but he, nevertheless, "occasionally indulged in
society, and was to his last sparkle the most interesting, singular, and
delightful of all table companions." The forenoon he generally passed in
a solitary ramble through the neighbouring fields and gardens (which have
now disappeared), and in the evening he enjoyed the conversation of a few
friends; but, though the brilliancy of his wit shone to the last, he
seemed like one who had outlived everything in life that was worth
enjoying. This is exemplified in Curran's melancholy repartee to his
medical attendant a few days before his decease. The doctor remarked
that his patient's cough was not improved. "That is odd," remarked
Curran, "for I have been practising all night!"
On Thursday, the 9th of October, Curran dined abroad for the last time
with Mr. Richard ("Gentleman") Jones, {78} of No. 14 Chapel Street,
Grosvenor Place, for the purpose of being introduced to George Colman
"the Younger." The party, besides the host and hostess, consisted of Mr.
Harris and Sir William Chatterton. Colman that evening was unusually
brilliant, anticipating, by apt quotation and pointed remark, almost
everything that Curran would have said. One comment of Curran's,
however, made a deep impression on all present. Speaking of Lord Byron's
'Fare thee well, and if for ever,' he observed that "his lordship first
weeps over his wife, and then wipes his eyes with the newspapers." He
left the dinner-table early, and, on going upstairs to coffee, either
affected not to know or did not remember George Colman's celebrity as a
wit, and inquired of Mrs. Jones who that Mr. Colman was? Mr. Harris
joined them at this moment, and apologised for his friend Colman
engrossing so much of the conversation to himself, adding, that he was
the spoiled child of society, and that even the Prince Regent listened
with attention when George Colman talked. "Ay," said Curran, with a
melancholy smile, "I now know who Colman is; we must both sleep in the
same bed."
The next morning Curran was seized with apoplexy, and continued
speechless, though in possession of his senses, till the early part of
Tuesday the 14th, when he sunk into lethargy, and towards evening died
without a struggle; so tranquil, indeed, were the last moments of Curran,
that those in the room were unable to mark the precise time when his
bright spirit passed away from this earth. His age has been variously
stated at sixty-seven, sixty-eight, and seventy.
The first lodging which John Banim, the Irish novelist, temporarily
occupied in England (April, 1822) was in the house where his illustrious
countryman had breathed his last, and from whence Banim removed to 13,
Brompton Grove, as already noticed. Banim's first wish, when he found
himself in England, was to visit the scene of Curran's death; led to the
spot by a strong feeling of patriotic admiration, and finding, by a bill
in the window, that lodgings were to be let there, he immediately took
them, "that he might dream of his country," as he energetically told the
writer, "with the halo of Curran's memory around him."
[Picture: Dropped Capitals for In] PELHAM CRESCENT, which consists of
twenty-seven houses, and is divided in the centre, between Nos. 14 and
15, by Pelham Place, both Crescent and Place built upon part of the
nursery-grounds over which Curran had wandered, dwell at No. 10 Mr. and
Mrs. Keeley. At No. 20 resides Mr. John Cooper the well-known veteran
actor. M. Guizot, the celebrated French statesman, after the overthrow
of the government of Louis Philippe, resided for some time at No. 21,
where Madame Guizot, his mother, died in March, 1848, at the advanced age
of eighty-three; and the same house was, by a singular coincidence,
afterwards occupied by Ledru Rollin. Pelham Place, at the back of the
Crescent, is notable for having, at No. 2, Mr. Lazarus, the celebrated
clarionet player, and at No. 8 resides Mr. A. Harris, the present lessee
of the Princess's Theatre.
Nearly opposite to Pelham Crescent is POND PLACE, where Mr. Curtis, the
eminent botanist, of whom more hereafter, died on the 7th July, 1799; and
a little further on, on the same side of the way, appears Chelsea New
Church, dedicated to St. Luke.
* * * * *
[Picture: Dropped Capital T] he first stone of this church was laid on
the 12th October, 1820, and the New Church was consecrated on the 18th
October, 1824. The architect was Mr. Savage of Walbrook. {80} The
burial-ground in which it stands had been consecrated on the 21st
November, 1812; and an Act of Parliament, 59 George III., cap. 35, 1819,
authorised the appropriation of part of that ground for the site of
building a church. In the burial-ground repose the remains of Dr. John
M'Leod, the companion and friend of the gallant Sir Murray Maxwell, and
the author of 'A Narrative of a Voyage in H.M.S. Alceste to the Yellow
Sea, and of her Shipwreck in the Straits of Gaspar,' published in 1817.
On his return to England, the services of Dr. M'Leod were rewarded by his
appointment to the Royal Sovereign yacht, which he did not long enjoy, as
he died in lodgings in the King's Road, Chelsea, on the 9th November,
1820, at the age of thirty-eight.
Signor Carlo Rovedino, a bass singer of some reputation, also lies buried
in this churchyard. He was a native of Milan, and died on the 6th of
October, 1822, aged seventy-one. The remains of Blanchard and Egerton,
two actors of established character, repose here side by side. William
Blanchard was what is termed "a useful comedian;" whatever part was
assigned to him, he made the most of it. At the age of seventeen, he
joined a provincial theatrical company at York, his native city, and in
1800, after fourteen years of laborious country practice, appeared at
Covent Garden as Bob Acres in 'The Rivals,' and Crack in 'The Turnpike
Gate.' At the time of his death, 9th May, 1835, he resided at No. 1,
Camera Square, Chelsea. Blanchard had dined with a friend at
Hammersmith, and left him to return home about six in the evening of
Tuesday. On the following morning, at three o'clock, poor Blanchard was
found lying in a ditch by the roadside, having been, as is supposed,
seized by a fit; in the course of the evening he was visited by another
attack, which was succeeded by one more violent on the Thursday, and on
the following day he expired.
Daniel Egerton--"oh! kingly Egerton"--personified for many years on the
stage of Covent Garden all the royal personages about whom there was
great state and talk, but who had little to say for themselves. He was
respected as being, and without doubt was, an industrious and an honest
man. Having saved some hardly-earned money, Egerton entered into a
theatrical speculation with a brother actor, Mr. Abbott, and became
manager of one of the minor houses, by which he was ruined, and died in
1835, under the pressure of his misfortunes. His widow, whose
representations of the wild women of Scott's novels, Madge Wildfire and
Meg Merrilies, have distinguished her, died on the 10th August, 1847, at
Brompton, aged sixty-six, having supported herself nobly amidst the
troubles of her latter days. Mrs. Egerton was the daughter of the Rev.
Peter Fisher, rector of Torrington, in Devonshire. She appeared at the
Bath theatre soon after the death of her father in 1803, and in 1811 made
her first appearance at Covent Garden Theatre as Juliet.
On the right-hand side, a little off the main road, is Onslow Square,
which was built upon the site of the extensive house and grounds once
occupied as a lunatic asylum. The row of large trees now in the centre
of the square was formerly the avenue from the main road to this house.
Mr. Henry Cole, C.B. lives at No. 17, Onslow Square; he is well known to
the public as a member of the Executive Committee of the Crystal Palace,
a promoter of art manufactures, and the author of numerous works
published under the _nom de plume_ of "Felix Summerly." No. 31 is the
residence of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Martin (better known as Miss Helen
Faucit). At No. 34 resides Baron Marochetti, the celebrated sculptor,
who settled in England after the French revolution of February, 1848, and
has obtained high patronage here. At the back of the house is the
studio, with an entrance from the main road, where the avenue of trees
continues. W. M. Thackeray, the popular writer, lives at No. 36, and
Rear-Admiral Fitzroy, the distinguished geographer and navigator, is at
No. 38.
A few yards beyond Sydney Place (leading into Onslow Square), on the
opposite side of the road, is Sydney Street, leading direct to St. Luke's
Church, the late incumbent of which, the Rev. Charles Kingsley, who died
on 29th February, 1860, aged 78, was the father of the well-known popular
writer, the Rev. Charles Kingsley, of Eversley Rectory, Hants. Sydney
Street was originally called Upper Robert Street, as being the
continuation of Robert Street, Chelsea; but, under some notion of raising
its respectability, the inhabitants agreed to change the name. It
happened, however, that the corner house adjoining the Fulham Road, on
the western side, was occupied by a surgeon, who imagined that the change
in name might be injurious to his practice, and he took advantage of his
position to retain the old name on his house. Thus for some time the
street was known by both names, but that of Upper Robert Street is now
entirely abandoned. The opposite corner house, No. 2, Sydney Street, was
for some years occupied by the Rev. Dr. Biber, author of the 'Life of
Pestalozzi,' and editor and proprietor of the 'John Bull' newspaper. On
his selling the 'John Bull,' it became incorporated with the 'Britannia.'
No. 24 was for some time the residence of Mr. Thomas Wright, the
well-known antiquary and historical writer, who now lives at No. 14.
ROBERT STREET, which connects the main Fulham Road with the King's Road,
passes directly before the west side of the spacious burial-ground, and
immediately opposite to the tower of St. Luke's Church; at No. 17
formerly resided Mr. Henry Warren, the President of the New Society of
Water-Colour Painters.
Returning to the main Fulham Road, and passing the Cancer Hospital, now
in course of erection, we come to YORK PLACE, a row of twenty-two
well-built and respectable houses on the south, or, according to our
course, left-hand side of the road.
No. 15, York Place, was, between the years 1813 and 1821, the retirement
of Francis Hargrave, a laborious literary barrister, and the editor of 'A
Collection of State Trials,' {84} and many other esteemed legal works.
Here he died on the 16th of August, 1821, at the age of eighty-one.
In 1813, when obliged to abandon his arduous profession, in consequence
of over-mental excitement, the sum of 8,000 pounds was voted by
Parliament, upon the motion of Mr. Whitbread, for the purchase of Mr.
Hargrave's law books, which were enriched with valuable notes, and for
300 MSS., to be deposited in the library of Lincoln's Inn, for public
use. As documents of national historical importance may be
particularised, Mr. Hargrave's first publication, in 1772, entitled '_The
Case of James Somerset_, _a Negro_, _lately determined by the Court of
King's Bench_, _wherein it is attempted to demonstrate the present
unlawfulness of Domestic Slavery in England_;' his '_Three Arguments in
the two causes in Chancery on the last Will of Peter Thellusson_, _Esq._,
_with Mr. Morgan's __Calculation of the Accumulation under the Trusts of
the Will_, _1799_;' and his '_Opinion in the Case of the Duke of Athol in
respect to the Isle of Man_.'
Opposite to York Place was a fine, open, airy piece of ground to which
Mr. Curtis, the eminent naturalist, removed his botanical garden from
Lambeth Marsh, as a more desirable locality. Upon the south-east portion
of this nursery-ground the first stone was laid by H.R.H. Prince Albert,
on the 11th July, 1844, of an hospital for consumption and diseases of
the chest, and which was speedily surrounded by houses on all sides;
probably a circumstance not contemplated at the time the ground was
secured.
The botanical garden of Mr. Curtis, as a public resort for study, was
continued at Brompton until 1808, when the lease of the land being nearly
expired, Mr. Salisbury, who in 1792 became his pupil, and in 1798 his
partner in this horticultural speculation, removed the establishment to
the vacant space of ground now inclosed between Sloane Street and Cadogan
Place, where Mr. Salisbury's undertaking failed. A plan of the gardens
there, as arranged by him, was published in the 'Gentleman's Magazine'
for August, 1810. {85}
Mr. Curtis, whose death has been already mentioned, was the son of a
tanner, and was born at Alton, in Hampshire, in 1746. He was bound
apprentice to his grandfather, a quaker apothecary of that town, whose
house was contiguous to the Crown Inn, where the botanical knowledge of
John Lagg, the hostler, seems to have excited rivalry in the breast of
young Curtis. In the course of events he became assistant to Mr. Thomas
Talwin, an apothecary in Gracechurch Street, of the same religious
persuasion as his grandfather, and succeeded Mr. Talwin in his business.
Mr. Curtis's love of botanical science, however, increased with his
knowledge. He connected with it the study of entomology, by printing, in
1771, 'Instructions for Collecting and Preserving Insects,' and in the
following year a translation of the 'Fundamenta Entomologiae' of
Linnaeus. At this time he rented a very small garden for the cultivation
of British plants, "near the Grange Road, at the bottom of Bermondsey
Street," and here it was that he conceived the design of publishing his
great work, 'The Flora Londinensis.'
"The Grange Road Garden was soon found too small for his extensive
ideas. He, therefore, took a larger piece of ground in Lambeth
Marsh, where he soon assembled the largest collection of British
plants ever brought together into one place. But there was something
uncongenial in the air of this place, which made it extremely
difficult to preserve sea plants and many of the rare annuals which
are adapted to an elevated situation,--_an evil rendered worse every
year by the increased number of buildings around_. This led his
active mind, ever anxious for improvement, to inquire for a more
favourable soil and purer air. This, at length, he found at
Brompton. Here he procured a spacious territory, in which he had the
pleasure of seeing his wishes gratified to the utmost extent of
reasonable expectation. Here he continued to his death;"
having, I may add, for many years previously, devoted himself entirely to
botanical pursuits.
To support the slow sale of 'The Flora Londinensis,' Mr. Curtis, about
1787, started 'The Botanical Magazine,' which became one of the popular
periodicals of the day, and Dr. Smith's and Mr. Sowerby's 'English
Botany' was modelled after it.
What Mr. Curtis, as an individual, commenced, the Horticultural Society
are endeavouring, as a body, to effect.
Immediately past the Hospital for Consumption is Fowlis Terrace, a row of
newly-built houses, running from the road.
At the corner of Church Street (on the opposite side of the road) is an
enclosure used as the burial-ground of the Westminster Congregation of
the Jews. There is an inscription in Hebrew characters over the
entrance, above which is an English inscription with the date of the
erection of the building according to the Jewish computation A.M. 5576,
or 1816 A.D. Beside it is the milestone denoting that it is 1.5 mile
from London.
The QUEEN'S ELM TURNPIKE, pulled down in 1848, was situated here, and
took its name from the tradition that Queen Elizabeth, when walking out,
attended by Lord Burleigh, {87a} being overtaken by a heavy shower of
rain, found shelter here under an elm-tree. After the rain was over, the
queen said, "Let this henceforward be called The Queen's Tree." The
tradition is strongly supported by the parish records of Chelsea, as
mention is made in 1586 (the 28th of Elizabeth, and probably the year of
the occurrence), of a tree situated about this spot, "at the end of the
Duke's Walk," {87b} as "The Queen's Tree," around which an arbour was
built, or, in other words, nine young elm-trees were planted, by one
Bostocke, at the charge of the parish. The first mention of "The Queen's
_Elm_," occurs in 1687, ninety-nine years after her Majesty had sheltered
beneath the tree around which "an arbour was built," when the surveyors
of the highway were amerced in the sum of five pounds, "for not
sufficiently mending the highway from the Queen Elm to the bridge, and
from the Elm to Church Lane." In a plan of Chelsea, from a survey made
in 1664 by James Hamilton, and continued to 1717, a tree occupying the
spot assigned to "The Queen's Elm," is called "The Cross Tree," and in
the vestry minutes it is designated as "The High Elm," which latter name
is used by Sir Hans Sloane in 1727. Bostocke's arbour, however, had the
effect of giving to the cross-road the name of "The Nine Elms." Steele,
on the 22nd June, 1711, writing to his wife, says, "Pray, on the receipt
of this, go to the Nine Elms, and I will follow you within an hour." {88}
And so late as 1805, "The Nine Elms, Chelsea," appeared as a local
address in newspaper advertisements.
Again let me crave indulgence for minute attention to the changes of
name; but much topographical difficulty often arises from this cause.
The stump of the royal tree, with, as is asserted, its root remaining in
the ground undisturbed, a few years ago existed squared down to the
dimensions of an ordinary post, about six feet in height and whitewashed.
But the identity appears questionable, although a post, not improbably
fashioned out of one of the nine elms which grew around it, stood till
within the last few years in front of a public-house named from the
circumstance the Queen's Elm, which house has been a little altered since
the annexed sketch was made, by the introduction of a clock between the
second floor windows, and the house adjoining has been rebuilt,
overtopping it.
[Picture: Queen's Elm Public House]
On the opposite or north side of the Fulham Road, some small houses are
called SELWOOD PLACE, from being built on part of the ground of "Mr.
Selwood's nursery," which is mentioned in 1712 by Mr. Narcissus Luttrell,
of whom more hereafter, as one of the sources from which he derived a
variety of pear, cultivated by him in his garden at Little Chelsea.
CHELSEA PARK, on the same side of the way with the Queen's Elm
public-house, and distant about a furlong from it, as seen from the road,
appears a noble structure with a magnificent portico. [Picture: Chelsea
Park Portico] The ground now called Chelsea Park belonged, with an
extensive tract of which it formed the northern part, to the famous Sir
Thomas More, and in his time was unenclosed, and termed "the Sand Hills."
It received the present name in 1625, when the Lord-Treasurer Cranfield
(Earl of Middlesex) surrounded with a brick wall about thirty-two acres,
which he had purchased in 1620 from Mr. Blake. In 1717 Chelsea Park,
which extended from the Fulham to the King's Road, was estimated at forty
acres, and belonged to the Marquis of Wharton, with whom, when appointed
in 1709 Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, Addison went over as Secretary. It
subsequently became the scene of a joint-stock company speculation under
a patent granted in 1718 to John Appletree, Esq., for producing raw silk
of the growth of England, and for raising a fund for carrying on the
same. This undertaking was divided into shares of 5 pounds each, of
which 1 pounds was paid down. Proposals were published, a
subscription-book opened, in which several hundred names were soon
entered; a deed of trust executed and enrolled in Chancery; directors
were chosen by the subscribers for managing the affairs of the Company;
and, Chelsea Park being thought a proper soil for the purpose and in a
convenient situation, a lease was taken of it for 122 years. Here
upwards of 2000 mulberry-trees were soon planted, and extensive edifices
erected for carrying on the work: this number of trees was, however, but
a small part of what the company intended to plant if they were
successful. In the following year Mr. Henry Barham, F.R.S., who was
probably a member of the company, published 'An Essay on the Silk Worm,'
in which he thinks "all objections and difficulties against this glorious
undertaking are shown to be mere phantoms and trifles." The event,
however, proved that the company met with difficulties of a real and
formidable nature; for though the expectation of this gentleman, who
questioned not that in the ensuing year they should produce a
considerable quantity of raw silk, may have been partly answered, the
undertaking soon began to decline, and, in the course of a few years,
came to nothing. It must, however, be admitted that the violent
stock-jobbing speculations of the year 1720, which involved the shares of
all projects of this nature, might have produced many changes among the
proprietors, and contributed to derange the original design. However,
from that period to the present time, no effort has been made to
cultivate the silkworm in this country as a mercantile speculation,
although individuals have continued to rear it with success as an object
of curiosity.
Walpole, in his 'Catalogue of Engravers,' tells us that James Christopher
Le Blon, a Fleming by birth, and a mezzotint-engraver by profession, some
time subsequent to 1732, "set up a project for copying the cartoons in
tapestry, and made some very fine drawings for that purpose. Houses were
built and looms erected in the Mulberry Ground at Chelsea; but either the
expense was precipitated too fast, or contributions did not arrive fast
enough. The bubble burst, several suffered, and Le Blon was heard of no
more." Walpole adds, "It is said he died in an hospital at Paris in
1740:" and observes that Le Blon was "very far from young when he knew
him, but of surprising vivacity and volubility, and with a head admirably
mechanic, but an universal projector, and with at least one of the
qualities that attend that vocation, either a dupe or a cheat; I think,"
he continues, "the former, though, as most of his projects ended in air,
the sufferers believed the latter. As he was much an enthusiast, perhaps
like most enthusiasts he was both one and t' other."
The present mansion was built upon a portion of Chelsea Park by Mr.
William Broomfield, an eminent surgeon, who resided in it for several
years. The late possessor was Sir Henry Wright Wilson, Bart., to whose
wife, Lady Frances Wilson (daughter of the Earl of Aylesbury), was left a
valuable estate in Hampshire, {92} said to be worth about 3,000 pounds a
year, under the following very singular circumstances. Her ladyship was
informed one morning in February, 1814, while at breakfast, that an
eccentric person named Wright, who had died a few days previously at an
obscure lodging in Pimlico, had appointed her and Mr. Charles Abbott his
executors, and after some legacies had bequeathed to Lady Frances the
residue of his property by a will dated so far back as August, 1800. As
Lady Frances declared herself to be unacquainted even with the name of
the testator, she at first concluded that there was some mistake in the
matter. After further explanation, the person of Mr. Wright was
described to her, and Lady Frances at last recollected that the
description answered that of a gentleman she had remembered as a constant
frequenter of the Opera some years previously and considered to be a
foreigner, and who had annoyed her extremely there by constantly staring
at her box. To satisfy herself of the identity, she went to the lodgings
of the late Mr. Wright, and saw him in his coffin, when she recognized
the features perfectly as those of the person whose eyes had so often
persecuted her when she was Lady Frances Bruce, but who had never spoken
to her, and of whom she had no other knowledge whatever.
Mr. Wright left legacies of 4,000 pounds to the Countess of Rosslyn,
4,000 pounds to the Speaker of the House of Commons, 1,000 pounds to the
lord-chancellor, and the same sum to Archdeacon Pott, the rector of St.
Martin-in-the-Fields, which church Mr. Wright had been in the habit of
frequenting, having as little acquaintance with any of these parties as
he had with Lady Frances Wilson. It may be supposed from these facts
that Lady Frances Wilson was exceedingly beautiful, and that an
admiration of her charms might have influenced Mr. Wright to make this
extraordinary bequest in her favour; but those who knew Lady Frances well
assert that such could not possibly have been the case, as she was far
from beautiful at any period of her life; and the oddity of the story is,
and it seemed to be the general opinion, that Mr. Wright's legacy was
intended for a lady who usually occupied a box next to that in which Lady
Frances sat, and who, at the period, was regarded as the _belle_ of the
Opera.
THISTLE GROVE, on the opposite side of the road from Chelsea Park, leads,
by what had been a garden pathway, to the Old Brompton Road. At each
side of "the Grove," now occupying the sites of trees, are detached
villas, houses, lodges, and cottages, named, or not named, after the
taste of their respective proprietors; one of which, on the left hand,
some fourteen houses distant from the main Fulham Road, was for many
years the residence of Mr. John Burke, whose laborious heraldic and
genealogical inquiries induced him to arrange and publish various
important collections relative to the peerage and family history of the
United Kingdom, in which may be found, condensed for immediate reference,
an immense mass of important information.
In Thistle Grove Mr. J. P. Warde, the well-known actor, died in 1840.
Immediately beyond Chelsea Park the village of LITTLE CHELSEA commences,
about the centre of which, and on the same side of the way, at the corner
of the road leading to Battersea Bridge, stands the Goat in Boots
public-house. [Picture: Goat in Boots] In 1663, there was a "house
called the Goat at Little Chelsea," which, between that year and 1713,
enjoyed the right of commonage for two cows and one heifer upon Chelsea
Heath.
How the Goat became equipped in boots, and the designation of the house
changed, has been the subject of various conjectures; the most probable
of which is, that it originates in a corruption of the latter part of the
Dutch legend,--
"MERCURIUS IS DER GODEN BOODE,"
(Mercury is the messenger of the gods,)
which being divided between each side of a sign bearing the figure of
Mercury--a sign commonly used in the early part of the last century to
denote that post-horses were to be obtained--"der goden boode" became
freely translated into English, "the goat in boots." To Le Blon is
attributed the execution of this sign and its motto; but, whoever the
original artist may have been, and the intermediate retouchers or
repainters of the god, certain it is that the pencil of Morland, in
accordance with the desire of the landlord, either transformed the
petasus of Mercury into the horned head of a goat, his talaria into spurs
upon boots of huge dimensions, and his caduceus into a cutlass, or thus
decorated the original sign, thereby liquidating a score which he had run
up here, without any other means of payment than what his pencil
afforded. The sign, however, has been painted over, with considerable
additional embellishments from gold leaf, so that not the least trace of
Morland's work remains, except, perhaps, in the outline.
Park Walk (the road turning off at the Goat in Boots) proceeds to the
King's Road, and, although not in a direct line, to Battersea Bridge.
Opposite the Goat in Boots is Gilston Road, leading to Boltons and St.
Mary's Place. At No. 6, St. Mary's Place, resides J. O. Halliwell,
F.R.S., F.S.A., the well-known Shaksperian scholar, whose varied
contributions to literature have been crowned by the production of his
folio edition of Shakspere--a work still in progress. At No. 8, Mr.
Edward Wright, the popular actor, resided for a short time.
A few paces further on the main Fulham Road, at the north or opposite
side, stood "Manor House," now termed Manor Hall, and occupied by St.
Philip's Orphanage, a large, old-fashioned building, with the intervening
space between it and the road screened in by boards,--which were attached
to the antique iron gate and railings about twenty years ago, when it
became appropriated to a charitable asylum. Previously, Manor House had
been a ladies' boarding-school; and here Miss Bartolozzi, afterwards
Madame Vestris, was educated.
SEYMOUR PLACE, which leads to Seymour Terrace, is a cul-de-sac on the
same side of the main Fulham Road, between Manor Hall and the Somerset
Arms public-house, which last forms the west corner of Seymour Place.
At No. 1, Seymour Terrace expired, on the 19th of June, 1824, in her
twenty-fifth year, Madame Riego, the widow of the unfortunate patriot
General Riego, "the restorer and martyr of Spanish freedom." Her short
and eventful history possesses more than ordinary melancholy. While yet
a child she had to endure all the hardships and privations consequent
upon a state of warfare, and under the protection of her maternal
grandfather, had to seek refuge from place to place on the mountains of
Asturias from the French army. At the close of 1821 she was married to
General Riego, to whom she had been known and attached almost from
infancy, and, in the spring of the following year, became, with her
distinguished husband, a resident in Madrid. But the political confusion
and continued alarm of the period having appeared to affect her health,
the general proceeded with her in the autumn to Granada, where he parted
from his young and beloved wife, never again to meet her in this world,
the convocation of the extraordinary Cortes for October 1822 obliging him
to return to the capital.
Accompanied by the canon Riego, brother to her husband, and her attached
sister, Donna Lucie, she removed in March to Malaga, from whence the
advance of the French army into the south of Spain obliged them to seek
protection at Gibraltar, which, under the advice of General Riego, they
left for England on the 4th of July, but, owing to an unfavourable
passage, did not reach London until the 17th of August. Here the
visitation which impended over her was still more calamitous than all
that had preceded it. Within little more than two months after her
arrival in London, the account arrived of General Riego's execution. {97}
Gerald Griffin, the Irish novelist, in a letter dated 22nd of November,
1823, says,--
"I have been lately negotiating with my host (of 76 Regent Street)
for lodgings for the widow and brother of poor General Riego. They
are splendid apartments, but the affair has been broken off by the
account of his death. It has been concealed from her. She is a
young woman, and is following him fast, being far advanced in a
consumption. His brother is in deep grief. He says he will go and
bury himself for the remainder of his days in the woods of America."
The house,
No. 1, SEYMOUR PLACE,
[Picture: No. 1 Seymour Place] as it was then, Seymour Terrace, Little
Chelsea, as it is now called, became, about this period, the residence of
the unhappy fugitives. Griffin, who appears to have made their
acquaintance through a Spanish gentleman, named Valentine Llanos, writes,
in February, 1824,--
"I was introduced the other day to poor Madame Riego, the relict of
the unfortunate general. I was surprised to see her look much better
than I was prepared to expect, as she is in a confirmed consumption."
Mental grief, which death only could terminate, had at that moment
"marked" Madame Riego "for his own;" yet her look, like that of all
high-minded Spaniards, to a stranger was calm--"much better than he was
prepared to expect."
On the 18th of May, exactly one month and a day before the termination of
her sufferings, Griffin says,--
"The canon Riego, brother to the poor martyr, sent me, the other day,
a Spanish poem of many cantos, having for its subject the career of
the unhappy general, and expressed a wish that I might find material
for an English one in it, if I felt disposed to make anything of the
subject. _Apropos_, Madame Riego is almost dead. The fire is in her
eye, and the flush on her cheek, which are, I believe, no beacons of
hope to the consumptive. She is an interesting woman, and I pity her
from my soul. This Mr. Mathews, who was confined with her husband,
and arrived lately in London, and who, moreover, is a countryman of
mine, brought her from her dying husband a little favourite dog and a
parrot, which were his companions in his dungeon. He very
indiscreetly came before her with the remembrances without any
preparation, and she received a shock from it, from which she has not
yet, nor ever will recover. What affecting little circumstances
these are, and how interesting to one who has the least mingling of
enthusiasm in his character!"
Madame Riego died in the arms of her attached sister, attended by the
estimable canon. In her will she directed her executor, the canon, to
assure the British people of the gratitude she felt towards them for the
sympathy and support which they extended to her in the hours of her
adversity. But what makes the will peculiarly affecting is her solemn
attestation to the purity and sincerity of the political life of General
Riego. She states that she esteems it to be the last act of justice and
duty to the memory of her beloved husband, solemnly to declare, in the
awful presence of her God, before whose judgment-seat she feels she must
soon appear, that all his private feelings and dispositions respecting
his country corresponded with his public acts and professions in defence
of its liberties.
A few yards beyond the turn down to Seymour Place, on the opposite side
of the road, stood, until pulled down in 1856, to make room for the new
one, the additional workhouse to St. George's, Hanover Square, for which
purpose Shaftesbury House was purchased by that parish in 1787; and an
Act of Parliament passed in that year declares it to be in "St. George's
parish so long as it shall continue to be appropriated to its present
use." [Picture: Shaftesbury House] [Picture: Back of Shaftesbury House]
The parochial adjuncts to Lord Shaftesbury's mansion, which remained,
until the period of its demolition, in nearly the same state as when
disposed of, have been considerable; but the building, as his lordship
left it, could be at once recognised through the iron gate by which you
entered, and which was surmounted by a lion rampant, probably the crest
of one of the subsequent possessors. It is surprising, indeed, that so
little alteration, externally as well as internally should have taken
place. The appearance of the back of Shaftesbury House, as represented
in an old print, was unchanged, with the exception of the flight of steps
which led to the garden being transferred to the west (or shaded side) of
the wing--an addition made by Lord Shaftesbury to the original house.
This was purchased by him in 1699 from the Bovey family, as heirs to the
widow of Sir James Smith, by whom there is reason to believe it was built
in 1635, as [Picture: Stone] was engraved on a stone which formed part of
the pavement in front of one of the summer-houses in the garden.
The Right Honourable Sir James Smith was buried at Chelsea 18th of
November, 1681. He was probably the junior sheriff of London in 1672.
[Picture: Summer-house]
"It does not appear," says Lysons, "that Lord Shaftesbury pulled down
Sir James Smith's house, but altered it and made considerable
additions by a building fifty feet in length, which projected into
the garden. It was secured with an iron door, the window-shutters
were of the same metal, and there were iron plates between it and the
house to prevent all communication by fire, of which this learned and
noble peer seems to have entertained great apprehensions. The whole
of the new building, though divided into a gallery and two small
rooms (one of which was his lordship's bedchamber), was fitted up as
a library. The earl was very fond of the culture of fruit-trees, and
his gardens were planted with the choicest sorts, particularly every
kind of vine which would bear the open air of this climate. It
appears by Lord Shaftesbury's letters to Sir John Cropley that he
dreaded the smoke of London as so prejudicial to his health, that
whenever the wind was easterly he quitted Little Chelsea," where he
generally resided during the sitting of Parliament.
In 1710 the noble author of 'Characteristics,' then about to proceed to
Italy, sold his residence at Little Chelsea to Narcissus Luttrell, Esq.,
who, as a book-collector, is described by Dr. Dibdin as "ever ardent in
his love of past learning, and not less voracious in his bibliomaniacal
appetites" than the Duke of Marlborough. Sir Walter Scott acknowledges
in his preface to the works of Dryden the obligations he is under to the
"valuable" and "curious collection of fugitive pieces of the reigns of
Charles II., James II., William III., and Queen Anne," "made by Narcissus
Luttrell, Esq., under whose name the editor quotes it. This industrious
collector," continues Sir Walter, "seems to have bought every poetical
tract, of whatever merit, which was hawked through the streets in his
time, marking carefully the price and the date of the purchase. His
collection contains the earliest editions of many of our most excellent
poems, bound up, according to the order of time, with the lowest trash of
Grub Street. It was dispersed on Mr. Luttrell's death," adds Sir Walter
Scott, and he then mentions Mr. James Bindley and Mr. Richard Heber as
having "obtained a great share of the Luttrell collection, and liberally
furnished him with the loan of some of them in order to the more perfect
editing of Dryden's works."
This is not exactly correct, as Mr. Luttrell's library descended with
Shaftesbury House to Mr. Sergeant Wynne, and from him to his eldest son,
after whose death it was sold by auction in 1786. On the title-page of
the sale-catalogue the collection is described as "the valuable library
of Edward Wynne, Esq., lately deceased, brought from his house at Little
Chelsea. Great part of it was formed by an eminent and curious collector
in the last century." At the sale of Mr. Wynne's library, Bindley
purchased lot '209, Collection of Poems, various, Latin and English, 5
vols. 1626, &c.,' for seven guineas; and '211, Collection of Political
Poems, Dialogues, Funeral Elegies, Lampoons, &c., with various Political
Prints and Portraits, 3 vols. 1641, &c.,' for sixteen pounds; and it is
probable that these are the collections to which Sir Walter Scott refers.
Dr. Dibdin, in his enthusiastic mode of treating matters of bibliography,
endeavours to establish a pedigree for those who
"Love a ballad in print a' life,"
from Pepys, placing Mr. Luttrell the Second in descent.
"The opening of the eighteenth century," he observes, "was
distinguished by the death of a bibliomaniac of the very first order
and celebrity; of one who had no doubt frequently discoursed largely
and eloquently with Luttrell upon the variety and value of certain
editions of old ballad poetry, and between whom presents of curious
old black-letter volumes were in all probability passing, I allude to
the famous Samuel Pepys, secretary to the Admiralty."
Of Narcissus Luttrell he then says:--
"Nothing would seem to have escaped his lynx-like vigilance. Let the
object be what it may (especially if it related to poetry), let the
volume be great or small, or contain good, bad, or indifferent
warblings of the Muse, his insatiable craving had 'stomach for all.'
We may consider his collection the fountain-head of these copious
streams, which, after fructifying in the libraries of many
bibliomaniacs in the first half of the eighteenth century, settled
for awhile more determinedly in the curious book-reservoir of a Mr.
Wynne, and hence breaking up and taking a different direction towards
the collections of Farmer, Steevens, and others, they have almost
lost their identity in the innumerable rivulets which now inundate
the book-world."
It is to the literary taste of Mr. Edward Wynne, as asserted by Dr.
Dibdin, that modern book-collectors are indebted for the preservation of
most of the choicest relics of the Bibliotheca Luttrelliana.
"Mr. Wynne," he continues, "lived at Little Chelsea, and built his
library in a room which had the reputation of having been Locke's
study. Here he used to sit surrounded by innumerable books, a great
part being formed by 'an eminent and curious collector in the last
century.'"
What Dr. Dibdin says respecting Mr. Wynne's building a library and
Locke's study is inaccurate, as there can be no reasonable doubt that the
room or rooms his library occupied were those built by Lord Shaftesbury,
which had (and correctly) the reputation of having been his lordship's
library, and the study, not of Locke, although of Locke's pupil and
friend. It is not even probable that Lord Shaftesbury was ever visited
by our great philosopher at Little Chelsea, as from 1700 that illustrious
man resided altogether at Oates, in Essex, where he died on the 28th of
October, 1704.
Whether to Lord Shaftesbury or to Mr. Luttrell the embellishments of the
garden of their residence are to be attributed can now be only matter for
conjecture, unless some curious autograph-collector's portfolio may by
chance contain an old letter or other document to establish the claim.
Their tastes, however, were very similar. They both loved their books,
and their fruits and flowers, and enjoyed the study of them. [Picture:
Summer-house] An account drawn up by Mr. Luttrell of several pears which
he cultivated at Little Chelsea, with outlines of their longitudinal
sections, was communicated to the Horticultural Society by Dr. Luttrell
Wynne, one hundred years after the notes had been made, and may be found
printed in the second volume of the Transactions of that Society. In
this account twenty-five varieties of pears are mentioned, which had been
obtained between the years 1712 and 1717 from Mr. Duncan's, Lord
Cheneys's, Mr. Palmer's, and Mr. Selwood's nursery.
Until recently it was astounding to find, amid the rage for alteration
and improvement, the formal old-fashioned shape of a trim garden of Queen
Anne's time carefully preserved, its antique summer-houses respected, and
the little infant leaden Hercules, which spouted water to cool the air
from a serpent's throat, still asserting its aquatic supremacy, under the
shade of a fine old medlar-tree; and all this too in the garden of a
London parish workhouse! [Picture: Hercules fountain] Not less
surprising was the aspect of the interior. The grotesque workshop of the
pauper artisans, said to have been [Picture: Workshop] Lord Shaftesbury's
dairy, and over which was his fire-proof library, was then an apartment
appropriated to a girls' school.
On the basement story of the original house the embellished mouldings of
a doorway, carried the mind back to [Picture: Doorway] the days of
Charles I., and, standing within which, imagination depicted the figure
of a jolly Cavalier retainer, with his pipe and tankard; or of a
Puritanical, formal servant, the expression of whose countenance was
sufficient to turn the best-brewed October into vinegar. The old carved
door leading into this apartment is shown in the annexed sketch.
Nor should the apartment then occupied by the intelligent master of the
workhouse be overlooked. The panelling of the room, its chimney-piece,
and the painting and [Picture: Fireplace with painting above] framework
above it, placed us completely in a chamber of the time of William III.
And we only required a slight alteration in the furniture, and Lord
Shaftesbury to enter, to feel that we were in the presence of the author
of 'Characteristics.'
The staircase, too, with its spiral balusters, as seen through the
doorway, retained its ancient air.
[Picture: Staircase seen through doorway]
Narcissus Luttrell died here on the 26th of June, 1732, and was buried at
Chelsea on the 6th of July following; where Francis Luttrell (presumed to
be his son) was also buried on the 3rd of September, 1740. Shaftesbury
House then passed into the occupation of Mr. Sergeant Wynne, who died on
the 17th of May, 1765; and from him it descended to his eldest son, Mr.
Edward Wynne, the author of 'Eunomus: a Dialogue concerning the Law and
Constitution of England, with an Essay on Dialogue,' 4 vols. 8vo; and
other works, chiefly of a legal nature. He died a bachelor, at Little
Chelsea, on the 27th of December, 1784; and his brother, the Rev.
Luttrell Wynne, of All Souls, Oxford, inherited Shaftesbury House, and
the valuable library which Mr. Luttrell, his father, and brother, had
accumulated. The house he alienated to William Virtue, from whom, as
before mentioned, it was purchased by the parish of St. George's, Hanover
Square, in 1787; and the library formed a twelve-days' sale, by Messrs.
Leigh and Sotheby, commencing on the 6th of March, 1786. The
auction-catalogue contained 2788 lots; and some idea of the value may be
formed from the circumstance, that nine of the first seventeen lots sold
for no less a sum than 32 pounds 7s., and that four lots of old
newspapers, Nos. 25, 26, 27, and 28, were knocked down at 18 pounds 5s.
No. '376, a collection of old plays, by Gascoigne, White, Windet, Decker,
&c., 21 vols,' brought 38 pounds 17s.; and No. 644, Milton's
'Eiconoclastes,' with MS. notes, supposed to be written by Milton, was
bought by Waldron for 2s., who afterwards gave it to Dr. Farmer. Dr.
Dibdin declares, that "never was a precious collection of English history
and poetry so wretchedly detailed to the public in an auction-catalogue"
as that of Mr. Wynne's library; and yet it will be seen that it must have
realised a considerable sum of money. He mentions, that "a great number
of the poetical tracts were disposed of, previous to the sale, to Dr.
Farmer, who gave not more than forty guineas for them."
CHAPTER III.
FROM LITTLE CHELSEA TO WALHAM GREEN.
After what has been said respecting Shaftesbury House, it may be supposed
that its associations with the memory of remarkable individuals are
exhausted. This is very far from being the case; and a long period in
its history, from 1635 to 1699, remains to be filled up, which, however,
must be done by conjecture: although so many circumstances are upon
record, that it is not impossible others can be produced to complete a
chain of evidence that may establish among those who have been inmates of
the ADDITIONAL WORKHOUSE OF ST. GEORGE'S, HANOVER SQUARE--startling as
the assertion may appear--two of the most illustrious individuals in the
annals of this country; of one of whom Bishop Burnet observed, {110} that
his "loss is lamented by all learned men;" the other, a man whose "great
and distinguishing knowledge was the knowledge of human nature or the
powers and operations of the mind, in which he went further, and spoke
clearer, than all other writers who preceded him, and whose 'Essay on the
Human Understanding' is the best book of logic in the world." After
this, I need scarcely add that BOYLE and LOCKE are the illustrious
individuals referred to.
The amiable John Evelyn, in his 'Diary,' mentions his visiting Mr. Boyle
at Chelsea, on the 9th March, 1661, in company "with that excellent
person and philosopher, Sir Robert Murray," where they "saw divers
effects of the eolipile for weighing air." And in the same year M. de
Monconys, a French traveller in England, says, "L'apres dine je fus avec
M. Oldenburg, {111} et mon fils, a deux milles de Londres en carosse pour
cinq chelins a un village nomme _le petit Chelsey_, voir M. Boyle." Now
at this period there probably was no other house at Little Chelsea of
sufficient importance to be the residence of the Hon. Robert Boyle, where
he could receive strangers in his laboratory and show them his great
telescope; and, moreover, notwithstanding what has been said to prove the
impossibility of Locke having visited Lord Shaftesbury on this spot,
local tradition continues to assert that Locke's work on the 'Human
Understanding' was commenced in the retirement of one of the
summer-houses of Lord Shaftesbury's residence. This certainly may have
been the case if we regard Locke as a visitor to his brother philosopher,
Boyle, and admit his tenancy of the mansion previous to that of Lord
Shaftesbury, to whom Locke, it is very probable, communicated the
circumstance, and which might have indirectly led to his lordship's
purchase of the premises. Be that as it may, it is an interesting
association, with something more than mere fancy for its support, to
contemplate a communion between two of the master-minds of the age, and
the influence which their conversation possibly had upon that of the
other.
Boyle's sister, the puritanical Countess of Warwick, under date 27th
November, 1666, makes the following note: "In the morning, as soon as
dressed, I prayed, then went with my lord to my house at Chelsea, which
he had hired, where I was all that day taken up with business about my
house." {112} Whether this refers to _Little Chelsea_ or not is more
than I can affirm, although there are reasons for thinking that
Shaftesbury House, or, if not, one which will be subsequently pointed
out, is the house alluded to.
Charles, the fourth Earl of Orrery, and grand-nephew to Boyle the
philosopher, was born at Dr. Whittaker's house at Little Chelsea on the
21st July, 1674. It was his grandfather's marriage with Lady Margaret
Howard, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, that induced the witty Sir John
Suckling to write his well-known 'Ballad upon a Wedding,' in which he so
lusciously describes the bride:--
"Her cheeks so rare a white was on,
No daisie makes comparison;
Who sees them is undone;
For streaks of red were mingled there,
Such as are on the Cath'rine pear--
The side that's next the sun.
"Her lips were red; and one was thin,
Compared to that was next her chin--
Some bee had stung it newly;
But, Dick, her eyes so guard her face,
I durst no more upon her gaze,
Than on the sun in July."
The second Earl of Orrery, this lady's son, having married Lady Mary
Sackville, daughter of the Earl of Dorset, is stated to have led a
secluded life at Little Chelsea, and to have died in 1682. His eldest
son, the third earl, died in 1703, and his brother, mentioned above as
born at Little Chelsea, became the fourth earl, and distinguished himself
in the military, scientific, and literary proceedings of his times. In
compliment to this Lord Orrery's patronage, Graham, an ingenious
watchmaker, named after his lordship a piece of mechanism which exhibits
the movements of the heavenly bodies. With his brother's death, however,
in 1703, at Earl's Court, Kensington, the connection of the Boyle family
with this neighbourhood appears to terminate.
Doctor Baldwin Hamey, an eminent medical practitioner during the time of
the Commonwealth, and a considerable benefactor to the College of
Physicians, died at Little Chelsea on the 14th of May, 1676, after an
honourable retirement from his professional duties of more than ten
years.
Mr. Faulkner's 'History of Kensington,' published in 1820, and in which
parish the portion of Little Chelsea on the north side of the Fulham Road
stands, mentions the residence of Sir Bartholomew Shower, an eminent
lawyer, in 1693; Sir Edward Ward, lord chief baron of the Exchequer, in
1697; Edward Fowler, lord bishop of Gloucester, in 1709, who died at his
house here on the 26th August, 1714; and Sir William Dawes, lord bishop
of Chester, in 1709, who, I may add, died Archbishop of York in 1724.
But in Mr. Faulkner's 'History of Chelsea,' published in 1829, nothing
more is to be found respecting Sir Bartholomew Shower than that he was
engaged in some parochial law proceedings in 1691. Sir Edward Ward's
residence is unnoticed. The Bishop of Gloucester, who is said to have
been a devout believer in fairies and witchcraft, is enumerated among the
inhabitants of Paradise Row, Chelsea (near the hospital, and full a mile
distant from _le petit Chelsey_); and Sir William Dawes, we find from
various entries, an inhabitant of the parish between the years 1696 and
1712, but without "a local habitation" being assigned to him. All this
is very unsatisfactory to any one whose appetite craves after map-like
accuracy in parish affairs.
Bowack, in 1705, mentions that
"At Little Chelsea stands a regular handsome house, with a noble
courtyard and good gardens, built by Mr. Mart, now inhabited by Sir
John Cope, Bart., a gentleman of an ancient and honourable family,
who formerly was eminent in the service of his country abroad, and
for many years of late in Parliament, till he voluntarily retired
here to end his days in peace."
And here Sir John Cope died in 1721. Can he have been the father of the
"Hey, Johnnie Cope, are ye wauking yet,
Or are ye sleeping, I would wit?
O haste ye, get up, for the drums do beat;
O fye, Cope! rise up in the morning!"
--of the Sir John Cope who was forced to retreat from Preston Pans in
"the '45," and against whom all the shafts of Jacobite ribaldry have been
levelled?
Faulkner says that this house, which was "subsequently occupied by the
late Mr. Duffield as a private madhouse, has been pulled down, and its
site is now called Odell's Place, a little eastward of Lord
Shaftesbury's;" that is to say, opposite to Manor Hall, and Sir John
Cope's house was not improbably the residence of two distinguished naval
officers, Sir James Wishart and Sir John Balchen. The former was made an
admiral, and knighted by Queen Anne in 1703, and appointed one of the
lords of the Admiralty, but was dismissed from the naval service by
George I. for favouring the interests of the Pretender, and died at
Little Chelsea on the 30th of May, 1723. In the 'Daily Courant,' Monday,
July 15, 1723, the following advertisement appears:--
"To be sold by auction, the household goods, plate, china ware,
linen, &c., of Sir James Wishart, deceased, on Thursday the 18th
instant, at his late dwelling-house at Little Chelsea. The goods to
be seen this day, to-morrow, and Wednesday, before the sale, from 9
to 12 in the morning, and from 3 to 7 in the evening. Catalogues to
be had at the sale.
"N.B. A coach and chariot to be sold, and the house to be let."
Admiral Sir John Balchen resided at Little Chelsea soon after Sir James
Wishart's death. In 1744, Admiral Balchen perished in the Victory, of
120 guns, which had the reputation of being the most beautiful ship in
the world, but foundered, with eleven hundred souls on board, in the Bay
of Biscay.
On the 31st of March, 1723, Edward Hyde, the third Earl of Clarendon,
died "at his house, Little Chelsea;" but where the earl's house stood I
am unable to state.
Mrs. Robinson, the fascinating "Perdita," tells us, in her autobiography,
that, at the age of ten (1768), she was "placed for education in a school
at Chelsea." And she then commences a most distressing narrative, in
which the last tragic scene she was witness to occurred at Little
Chelsea.
"The mistress of this seminary," Mrs. Robinson describes as "perhaps
one of the most extraordinary women that ever graced, or disgraced,
society. Her name was Meribah Lorrington. She was the most
extensively accomplished female that I ever remember to have met
with; her mental powers were no less capable of cultivation than
superiorly cultivated. Her father, whose name was Hull, had from her
infancy been master of an academy at Earl's Court, near Fulham; and
early after his marriage, losing his wife, he resolved on giving this
daughter a masculine education. Meribah was early instructed in all
the modern accomplishments, as well as in classical knowledge. She
was mistress of the Latin, French, and Italian languages; she was
said to be a perfect arithmetician and astronomer, and possessed the
art of painting on silk to a degree of exquisite perfection. But,
alas! with all these advantages, she was addicted to one vice, which
at times so completely absorbed her faculties as to deprive her of
every power, either mental or corporeal. Thus, daily and hourly, her
superior acquirements, her enlightened understanding, yielded to the
intemperance of her ruling infatuation, and every power of reflection
seemed absorbed in the unfeminine propensity.
"All that I ever learned," adds Mrs. Robinson, "I acquired from this
extraordinary woman. In those hours when her senses were not
intoxicated, she would delight in the task of instructing me. She
had only five or six pupils, and it was my lot to be her particular
favourite. She always, out of school, called me her little friend,
and made no scruple of conversing with me (sometimes half the night,
for I slept in her chamber) on domestic and confidential affairs. I
felt for her very sincere affection, and I listened with peculiar
attention to all the lessons she inculcated. Once I recollect her
mentioning the particular failing which disgraced so intelligent a
being. She pleaded, in excuse of it, the unmitigable regret of a
widowed heart, and with compunction declared that she flew to
intoxication as the only refuge from the pang of prevailing sorrow."
Mrs. Robinson remained more than twelve months under the care of Mrs.
Lorrington,
"When pecuniary derangements obliged her to give up her school. Her
father's manners were singularly disgusting, as was his appearance,
for he wore a silvery beard, which reached to his breast, and a kind
of Persian robe, which gave him the external appearance of a
necromancer. He was of the Anabaptist persuasion, and so stern in
his conversation, that the young pupils were exposed to perpetual
terror; added to these circumstances, the failing of his daughter
became so evident, that even during school-hours she was frequently
in a state of confirmed intoxication."
In 1772, three years afterwards, when Mrs. Robinson was fourteen, her
mother, Mrs. Darby, was obliged, as a means of support, to undertake the
task of tuition.
"For this purpose, a convenient house was hired at Little Chelsea,
and furnished for a ladies' boarding-school. Assistants of every
kind were engaged, and I," says Mrs. Robinson, "was deemed worthy of
an occupation that flattered my self-love, and impressed my mind with
a sort of domestic consequence. The English language was my
department in the seminary, and I was permitted to select passages
both in prose and verse for the studies of my infant pupils; it was
also my occupation to superintend their wardrobes, to see them
dressed and undressed by the servants, or half-boarders, and to read
sacred and moral lessons on saints' days and Sunday evenings.
"Shortly after my mother had established herself at Chelsea, on a
summer's evening, as I was sitting at the window, I heard a deep
sigh, or rather groan of anguish, which suddenly attracted my
attention. The night was approaching rapidly, and I looked towards
the gate before the house, where I observed a woman, evidently
labouring under excessive affliction. I instantly descended and
approached her. She, bursting into tears, asked whether I did not
know her. Her dress was torn and filthy; she was almost naked, and
an old bonnet, which nearly hid her face, so completely disfigured
her features, that I had not the smallest idea of the person who was
then almost sinking before me. I gave her a small sum of money, and
inquired the cause of her apparent agony. She took my hand, and
pressed it to her lips. 'Sweet girl,' said she, 'you are still the
angel I ever knew you!' I was astonished. She raised her bonnet;
her fine dark eyes met mine. It was Mrs. Lorrington. I led her into
the house; my mother was not at home. I took her to my chamber, and,
with the assistance of a lady, who was our French teacher, I clothed
and comforted her. She refused to say how she came to be in so
deplorable a situation, and took her leave. It was in vain that I
entreated--that I conjured her to let me know where I might send to
her. She refused to give me her address, but promised that in a few
days she would call on me again. It is impossible to describe the
wretched appearance of this accomplished woman. The failing to which
she had now yielded, as to a monster that would destroy her, was
evident, even at the moment when she was speaking to me. I saw no
more of her; but, to my infinite regret, I was informed, some years
after, that she had died, the martyr of a premature decay, brought on
by the indulgence of her propensity to intoxication--in the workhouse
of Chelsea!"
Mrs. Robinson adds, that--
"The number of my mother's pupils in a few months amounted to ten or
twelve; and, just at a period when an honourable independence
promised to cheer the days of an unexampled parent, my father
unexpectedly returned from America. The pride of his soul was deeply
wounded by the step which my mother had taken; he was offended even
beyond the bounds of reason.
* * * * *
"At the expiration of eight months, my mother, by my father's
positive commands, broke up her establishment, and returned to
London."
Nearly opposite to the workhouse is the West Brompton Brewery, formerly
called "Holly Wood Brewery," and immediately beyond it an irregular row
of six houses, which stand a little way back from the road, with small
gardens before them. The first house is now divided into two, occupied,
when the sketch was made in 1844, by Miss Read's academy (Tavistock
House) and Mrs. Corder's Preparatory School; the latter (Bolton House) to
be distinguished by two ornamented stone-balls on the piers of the
gateway, was a celebrated military academy, at which many distinguished
soldiers have been educated. [Picture: Bolton House gateway] The academy
was established about the year 1770, by Mr. Lewis Lochee, who died on the
5th of April, 1787, and who, in 1778, published an 'Essay on
Castrametation.' "The premises," says Mr. Faulkner, "which were laid out
as a regular fortification, and were open to view, excited much attention
at the time." When balloons were novelties, and it was supposed might be
advantageously used in the operations of warfare, they attracted
considerable notice; and, on the 16th of October, 1784, Mr. Blanchard
ascended from the grounds of the Military Academy, near Chelsea. The
anxiety to witness this exhibition is thus described in a contemporary
account:--
"The fields for a considerable way round Little Chelsea were crowded
with horse and foot; in consequence of which a general devastation
took place in the gardens, the produce being either trampled down or
torn up. The turnip grounds were totally despoiled by the multitude.
All the windows and houses round the academy were filled with people
of the first fashion. Every roof within view was covered, and each
tree filled with spectators."
Mr. Blanchard, upon this occasion, ascended with some difficulty,
accompanied by a Mr. Sheldon, a surgeon, whom he landed at Sunbury, from
whence Blanchard proceeded in his balloon to Romsey, in Hampshire, where
he came down in safety, after having been between three and four hours in
the air.
After Mr. Lochee's death, his son, Mr. Lewis Lochee, continued the
establishment which his father had formed, but, unfortunately for
himself, engaged in the revolutionary movements which agitated Flanders
in 1790; where, "being taken prisoner by the Austrians, he was condemned
to be hanged. He, however, obtained permission to come to England to
settle his affairs, upon condition of leaving his only son as a hostage;
and, upon his return to the Continent, he suffered the punishment of
death." {120}
"His son, a schoolfellow of mine," adds Mr. Faulkner, "afterwards married
a daughter of the late Mr. King, an eminent book auctioneer of King
Street, Covent Garden, and, lamentable to relate, fell by his own hands,"
8th of December, 1815.
The residence beyond Mr. Lochee's Military Academy is named WARWICK
HOUSE--why, unless, possibly, the name has some reference to Boyle's
brother-in-law, the Earl of Warwick, I am at a loss to determine. The
next house is Amyot House. Then comes MULBERRY HOUSE, formerly the
residence of Mr. Denham, a brother of the lamented African traveller,
Colonel Denham. The fifth house is called HECKFIELD LODGE, an arbitrary
name bestowed by its late occupant, Mr. Milton, the author of two clever
novels, 'Rivalry,' and 'Lady Cecilia Farrencourt,' recently published,
and brother to the popular authoress, Mrs. Trollope. And the sixth and
last house in the row, on the west side of which is Walnut-tree Walk,
leading to Earl's Court and Kensington, is distinguished by the name of
Burleigh House, which, some one humorously observed, {121} might possibly
be a contraction of "hurley burley," the house being a ladies' school,
and the unceasing work of education, on the main Fulham Road, appearing
here for the first time to terminate. [Picture: Burleigh House (1844)]
The following entry, however, in the parish register of Kensington,
respecting the birth of the fourth Earl of Exeter, on the 21st of May,
1674, may suggest a more probable derivation:--"15 May. Honble. John
Cecill, son and heir apparent of the Rt. Honble. John Lord Burleigh and
the Lady Anne his wife born at Mr. Sheffield's."
William Boscawen, the amiable and accomplished translator of Horace,
resided at Burleigh House; and here he died, on the 6th of May, 1811, at
the age of fifty-nine. He had been called to the bar, but gave up that
profession in 1786, on being appointed a commissioner for victualling the
navy. An excellent classical scholar, and warmly attached to literary
pursuits, Mr. Boscawen published, in 1793, the first volume of a new
translation of Horace, containing the 'Odes,' 'Epodes,' and 'Carmen
Saeculare.' This, being well received, was followed up by Mr. Boscawen,
in 1798, by his translation of the 'Satires, Epistles, and Art of
Poetry,'--completing a work considered to be in many respects superior to
Francis's translation. As an early patron and zealous friend of the
Literary Fund, Mr. Boscawen's memory will be regarded with respect.
Within five days of his death, he wrote a copy of verses for the
anniversary meeting, which he contemplated attending:--
"Relieved from toils, behold the aged steed
Contented crop the rich enamell'd mead,
Bask in the solar ray, or court the shade,
As vernal suns invite, or summer heats invade!
But should the horn or clarion from afar
Call to the chase, or summon to the war,
Roused to new vigour by the well-known sound,
He spurns the earth, o'erleaps the opposing mound,
Feels youthful ardour in each swelling vein,
Darts through the rapid flood, and scours the plain!
"Thus a lorn Muse, who, worn by cares and woes,
Long sought retirement's calm, secure repose,
With glad, though feeble, voice resumes her lay,
Waked by the call of this auspicious day."
Alas! the hand which on May morning had penned this introduction to an
appeal in the cause of literary benevolence,--that hand was cold; and the
lips by which, on the following day, the words that had flowed warmly
from the heart were to have been uttered,--those lips were mute in death
within a week.
On the 16th of April, 1765, Mr. James House Knight, of Walham Green,
returning home from London, was robbed and murdered on the highroad in
the vicinity of Little Chelsea; the record of his burial in the parish
register of Kensington is, "Shot in Fulham Road, near Brompton." For the
discovery of the murderers a reward of fifty pounds was offered; and, on
the 7th of July following, two Chelsea pensioners were committed to
prison, charged with this murder, on the testimony of their accomplice,
another Chelsea pensioner, whom they had threatened to kill upon some
quarrel taking place between them. The accused were tried, found guilty,
hanged, and gibbeted; one nearly opposite Walnut-tree Walk, close by the
two-mile stone, the other at Bull Lane, a passage about a quarter of a
mile farther on, which connects the main Fulham Road with the King's
Road, by the side of the Kensington Canal. In these positions, for some
years, the bodies of the murderers hung in chains, to the terror of
benighted travellers and of market-gardeners, who
"Wended their way,
In morning's grey,"
towards Covent Garden, until a drunken frolic caused the removal of a
painful and useless exhibition. A very interesting paper upon London
life in the last century occurs in the second volume of Knight's
'London;' in which it is observed that "a gibbet's tassel" was one of the
first sights which met the eye of a stranger approaching London from the
sea.
"About the middle of the last century, similar objects met the gaze
of the traveller by whatever route he entered the metropolis. '_All_
the gibbets in the Edgware Road,' says an extract from the newspapers
of the day in the 'Annual Register' for 1763, 'on which _many_
malefactors were being hung in chains, were cut down by persons
unknown.' The _all_ and the _many_ of this cool matter-of-fact
announcement conjure up the image of a long avenue planted with
'gallows-trees,' instead of elms and poplars,--an assemblage of
pendent criminals, not exactly 'thick as leaves that strew the brook
in Valombrosa,' but frequent as those whose feet tickling Sancho's
nose, when he essayed to sleep in the cork forest, drove him from
tree to tree in search of an empty bough.
"Frequent mention is made in the books, magazines, and newspapers of
that period, of the bodies of malefactors conveyed after execution to
Blackheath, Finchley, and Kennington Commons, or Hounslow Heath, for
the purpose of being there permanently suspended. In those days the
approach to London on all sides seems to have lain through serried
files of gibbets, growing closer and more thronged as the distance
from the city diminished, till they and their occupants arranged
themselves in rows of ghastly and grinning sentinels along both sides
of the principal avenues."
This picture is not over-coloured; and it is to the following occurrence
in the main Fulham Road that the removal of these offensive exhibitions
is to be attributed. Two or three fashionable parsons, who had
sacrificed superabundantly to the jolly god at Fulham, returning to
London, where they desired to arrive quickly, had intellect enough to
discover that the driver of their post-chaise did not make his horses
proceed at a pace equal to their wishes, and, after in vain urging him to
more speed, one of them declared that, if he did not use his whip with
better effect, he should be made an example of for the public benefit,
and hanged up at the first gibbet. The correctness of the old saying,
that "when the head is hot the hand is ready," was soon verified by the
postboy being desired to stop at the gibbet opposite Walnut-tree Walk,
which order, unluckily for himself, he obeyed, instead of proceeding at a
quicker pace. Out sprung the inmates of his chaise; they seized him,
bound him hand and foot, and throwing a rope, which they had fastened
round his body, over the gibbet, he soon found himself, in spite of his
cries and entreaties, elevated in air beside the tarred remains of the
Chelsea pensioner.
The reverend perpetrators of the deed drove off, leaving the luckless
postboy to protest, loudly and vainly, to "the dull, cold ear of death,"
against the loathsome companionship. When the first market-gardener's
cart passed by, most lustily did he call for help; but every effort to
get free only tended to prolong his suspense. What could the carters and
other early travellers imagine upon hearing shouts proceeding from the
gibbet, but that the identical murderer of Mr. Knight had by some miracle
come to life, and now called out, "Stop! stop!" with the intention of
robbing and murdering them also? And they, feeling that supernatural
odds were against them, ran forwards or backwards, not daring to look
behind, as fast as their feet could carry alarmed and bewildered heads,
leaving the fate of their carts to the sagacity of the horses. Finding
that the louder he called for help the more alarm he excited, the
suspended postboy determined philosophically to endure the misery of his
situation in dignified silence. But there he was suffered to hang
unnoticed; or, if remarked, it was only concluded that another criminal
had been added to the gibbet, as its second tassel. The circumstance,
however, of a second body having been placed there speedily came to the
knowledge of a magistrate in the neighbourhood, who had taken an active
part in the apprehension of Mr. Knight's murderers; and he proceeded,
without delay, to the spot, that he might satisfy himself as to the
correctness of the report. Judge, however, his astonishment on hearing
himself addressed by name from the gibbet, and implored, in the most
piteous manner, to deliver from bondage a poor postboy, whose only
offence was that he would not goad on two overworked horses to humour a
pair of drunken gentlemen. These "drunken gentlemen" are said to have
been men of rank and influence: their names have never transpired, but
the outrage with which they were charged led to the immediate removal
from the Fulham Road of the last pair of gibbets which disgraced it.
Upon the ground which was occupied by the gibbet where the kind-hearted
postboy was strung up, a solitary cottage stood some years ago; and
tradition asserted, that both the murderer and his gibbet were buried
beneath it. [Picture: Solitary cottage] This cottage is now pulled down;
Lansdowne Villas and Hollywood Place have been erected on the spot, and
villas and groves continue to the 'Gunter Arms,' a public-house that
takes its name from Richard Gunter, the well-known confectioner, by the
side of which is Gunter Grove. This is now the starting-point of the
Brompton omnibuses, which formerly did not go beyond Queen's Elm. Edith
Grove, a turning between Lansdowne Villas and Gunter Grove, is in a
direct line with Cremorne Gardens.
Proceeding on our road towards Fulham, the next point which claims
attention is the extensive inclosure of the West of London and
Westminster Cemetery Company,--a company incorporated by act of
parliament 1st of Victoria, cap. 180. The burial-ground was consecrated
on the 12th of June, 1840, and extends from the Fulham Road to what is
called, generally, "Sir John Scott Lillie's Road," and sometimes
"Brompton Lane Road," which, in fact, is a continuation, to North End,
Fulham, of the line of the Old Brompton Road,--the point, as the reader
may recollect, that we turned off from at the Bell and Horns, in order to
follow the main Fulham Road to Little Chelsea. The public way on the
east of the burial-ground is called Honey Lane, and on the west the
boundary is the pathway by the side of the Kensington Canal. The
architect of the chapel and catacombs is Mr. Benjamin Baud. The cemetery
is open for public inspection, free of charge, from seven in the morning
till sunset, except on Sundays, when it is closed till half-past one
o'clock. The first interment took place on the 18th of June, 1840, from
which time, to the 22nd of November, there were thirty-four burials, the
average number being then four per week. It is scarcely necessary to
add, that a considerable average increase has taken place; but the first
step in statistics is always curious.
One of the most interesting instances of longevity which the annals of
the West of London and Westminster Cemetery Company present occurs on a
stone in the north-east corner of the burial-ground, where the age
recorded of Louis Pouchee is 108; but this does not agree with the burial
entry made by the Rev. Stephen Reid Cattley--"Louis Pouchee, of St.
Martin's in the Fields, viz., 40 Castle Street, Leicester Square, buried
Feb. 21, 1843, aged 107."
This musical patriarch, however, according to a statement in the 'Medical
Times,' {128} was admitted as a patient to St. George's Hospital November
24, 1842. January 4, went out, and died, about three months afterwards,
of diarrhoea and dysentery.
Another instance of longevity, though not so extraordinary, is one which
cannot be contemplated without feeling how much influence the
consciousness of honest industry in the human mind has upon the health
and happiness of the body. A gravestone near a public path on the
south-east side of the burial-ground marks the last resting place of
Francis Nicholson, landscape-painter, who died the 6th March, 1844, aged
91 years.
Mr. Nicholson originally practised as a portrait-painter, but the
simplicity and uprightness of his heart did not permit him to tolerate or
pander to the vanities of man (and woman) kind. To flatter was with him
an utter impossibility; and, as he could not invariably consider the
"human face divine," he was incapable of assuming the courtly manners so
essential in that branch of the profession. He never, indeed, quite
forgave himself for an approach to duplicity committed at this time upon
an unfortunate gentleman, who sat to him for his portrait, and who
squinted so desperately, that in order to gain a likeness it was
necessary to copy moderately the defect. The poor man, it seemed,
perfectly unconscious of the same, on being invited to inspect the
performance, looked in silence upon it a few moments, and, with rather a
disappointed air, said--
"I don't know--it seems to me--does it squint?"
"Squint!" replied Nicholson, "no more than you do."
"Really! well, you know best of course; but I declare I fancied there was
a _queer look_ about it!"
The opening of the Water-Colour Exhibition, in 1805, may be dated as the
commencement of Mr. Nicholson's fame and success in London. In
conjunction with Glover, Varley, Prout, and others, an advance in the art
of watercolour painting was made, such as to astonish and call forth the
admiration of the public.
In a manuscript autobiography which Mr. Nicholson left behind him, and
which is full of curious anecdotes, he gives the following account of the
formation of that exhibition.
"Messrs. Hills and Pyne asked me to join in the attempt to establish
such a society, which I readily agreed to. It was a long time before
a number of members sufficient to produce so many works as would be
required to cover the walls of the exhibition room in Brook Street
could be brought to join it. Artists were afraid they might suffer
loss by renting and fitting up the room, the expense being certain
and the success very doubtful. After a great while the society was
formed, and, in the first and second exhibition, the sale of drawings
was so considerable, and the visitors so numerous, that crowds of
those who had refused to join were eager to be admitted into the
society."
[Picture: Nicholson's Grave] Since the annexed sketch of Mr. Nicholson's
grave was taken, the stone bears the two additional melancholy
inscriptions of Thomas Crofton Croker, son-in-law of Francis Nicholson,
who died 8th August, 1854, and Marianne, widow of Thomas Crofton Croker,
who died 6th October, 1854; and an iron railing has been erected on
either side of the grave.
[Picture: St. Mark's Chapel] Opposite to the Cemetery gates is Veitch's
Royal Exotic Nursery.
St. Mark's Chapel, within the grounds of the college, stands opposite to
St. Mark's Terrace, a row of modern houses immediately beyond the
cemetery. The grounds extend to the King's Road, and contain about
eleven acres, surrounded by a brick wall; and the entrance to the
National Society's training college is from that road. Stanley House, or
Stanley Grove House, which was purchased in 1840 for upwards of 9000
pounds by the society, stood upon the site of a house which Sir Arthur
Gorges, the friend of Spenser, allegorically named by him Alcyon, {131}
built for his own residence; and upon the death of whose first wife, a
daughter of Viscount Bindon, in 1590, the poet wrote a beautiful elegy,
entitled 'Daphnaida.' In the Sydney papers mention is made, under date
15th November, 1599, that, "as the queen passed by the faire new
building, Sir Arthur Gorges presented her with a faire jewell." He died
in 1625; and by his widow, the daughter of the Earl of Lincoln, the house
and adjacent land, then called the "Brickhills," was sold, in 1637, to
their only daughter, Elizabeth, the widow of Sir Robert Stanley; which
sale was confirmed by her mother's will, dated 18th July, 1643. The
Stanley family continued to reside here until 1691, when by the death of
William Stanley, Esq., that branch of this family became extinct in the
male line.
The present house, a square mansion, was built soon afterwards; and the
old wall, propped by several buttresses, inclosing the west side of the
grounds, existed on the bank of the Kensington Canal until it was washed
down by a very high tide. This new or square mansion remained unfinished
and unoccupied for several years. In 1724 it belonged to Henry Arundel,
Esq. and on the 24th May, 1743, Admiral Sir Charles Wager, a
distinguished naval officer, died here, and was buried in Westminster
Abbey. After passing through several hands, Stanley Grove became the
property of Miss Southwell, afterwards the wife of Sir James Eyre, Lord
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who sold it in 1777 to the Countess of
Strathmore.
Here her ladyship indulged her love for botany by building extensive
hot-houses and conservatories, and collecting and introducing into
England rare exotics.
"She had purchased," says her biographer, "a fine old mansion, with
extensive grounds well walled in, and there she had brought exotics
from the Cape, and was in a way of raising continually an increase to
her collection, when, by her fatal marriage, the cruel spoiler came
and threw them, like loathsome weeds, away."
Mr. Lochee, before mentioned, purchased Stanley Grove from the Countess
of Strathmore and her husband, Mr. Bowes. It was afterwards occupied by
Dr. Richard Warren, the eminent physician, who died in 1797, and who is
said to have acquired by the honourable practice of his profession no
less a sum than 150,000 pounds. In January 1808, Mr. Leonard Morse, of
the War Office, died at his residence, Stanley House, and about 1815 it
was purchased by the late Mr. William Richard Hamilton, who ranks as one
of the first scholars and antiquaries of his day. Between that year and
1840 Mr. Hamilton resided here at various periods, having occasionally
let it. He made a considerable addition to the house by building a
spacious room as a wing on the east side, in the walls of which casts
from the frieze and metopes of the Elgin marbles were let in.
When Mr. Hamilton proceeded as envoy to the court of Naples in 1821,
Stanley Grove House became the residence of Mrs. Gregor, and is thus
described by Miss Burney, who was an inmate at this time, in the
following playful letter {133} to a friend, dated 24th September, 1821:--
"Whilst you have been traversing sea and land, scrambling up rocks
and shuddering beside precipices, I have been stationary, with no
other variety than such as turning to the right instead of the left
when walking in the garden, or sometimes driving into town through
Westminster, and, at other times, through Piccadilly. Poor Miss
Gregor continues to be a complete invalid, and, for her sake, we give
up all society at home and all engagements abroad. Luckily, the
house, rented by Mrs. Gregor from William Hamilton, Esq. (who
accompanied Lord Elgin into Greece) abounds with interesting
specimens in almost every branch of the fine arts. Here are statues,
casts from the frieze of the Parthenon, pictures, prints, books, and
minerals; _four_ pianofortes of different sizes, and an excellent
harp. All this to study does Desdemona (that's me) seriously
incline; and the more I study the more I want to know and to see. In
short, I am crazy to travel in Greece! The danger is that some
good-for-nothing bashaw should seize upon me to poke me into his
harem, there to bury my charms for life, and condemn me for ever to
blush unseen. However, I could easily strangle or stab him, set fire
to his castle, and run away by the light of it, accompanied by some
handsome pirate, with whom I might henceforward live at my ease in a
cavern on the sea-shore, dressing his dinners one moment, and my own
sweet person the next in pearls and rubies, stolen by him, during
some of his plundering expeditions, from the fair throat and arms of
a shrieking Circassian beauty, whose lord he had knocked on the head.
Till these genteel adventures of mine begin, I beg you to believe me,
dear Miss ---,
"Yours most truly,
"S. H. BURNEY."
Theodore Hook notes, in one of his manuscript journals, "5th July, 1826.
W. Hamilton's party. Stanley Grove."
About 1828, Stanley Grove was occupied by the Marquess of Queensberry;
and, in 1830-31, by Colonel Grant, at the rent, it was said, of 1000
pounds per annum.
On the west side of the house the National Society added a quadrangle,
built in the Italian style after the design of Mr. Blore; and, in the
grounds near the chapel, an octagonal building as a Practising School,
for teaching the poor children of the neighbourhood.
[Picture: Practising School]
Crossing the Kensington Canal over Sandford Bridge, [Picture: Sandford
Bridge] sometimes written "Stanford" and "Stamford," we enter the parish
of Fulham. The road turning off on the west side of the canal is called
"Bull Lane;" and a little further on a footway existed not long since,
known as Bull Alley; both of which passages led into the King's Road, and
took their names from the Bull public-house, which stood between them in
that road. [Picture: Bull Alley] Bull Alley is now converted into a
good-sized street, called Stamford Road, which has a public-house (the
Rising Sun) on one side, and a bookseller's shop on the other. Here, for
a few years, was a turnpike, which has been recently removed and placed
lower down the road, adjoining the Swan Tavern and Brewery, Walham Green,
established 1765. [Picture: No. 4, No. 3 Stamford Villas] Houses are
being built in all directions opposite several "single and married
houses," with small gardens in front and the rear, known as STAMFORD
VILLAS, where, at No. 2, resided, in 1836 and 1837, Mr. H. K. Browne,
better known, perhaps, by his _sobriquet_ of "Phiz," as an illustrator of
popular periodical works.
No. 3 and No. 4 are shown in the annexed cut, and No. 3 may be noticed as
having been the residence of Mr. Kempe, the author of 'A History of St.
Martin-le-Grand,' the editor of the 'Losely Papers,' and a constant
contributor, under the signature of A. J. K., to the antiquarian lore of
the 'Gentleman's Magazine.' Mr. Kempe died here on 21st August, 1846.
The three last houses of the Stamford Villas are not "wedded to each
other," and in the garden of the one nearest London, Mr. Hampton, who
made an ascent in a balloon from Cremorne, on the 13th June, 1839, with
every reasonable prospect of breaking his neck for the amusement of the
public, came down by a parachute descent, without injury to himself,
although he carried away a brick or two from the chimney of the house,
much to the annoyance of the person in charge, who rushed out upon the
aeronaut, and told him that he had no business to come in contact with
the chimney. His reply exhibited an extraordinary coolness, for he
assured the man it was quite unintentional upon his part.
The milestone is opposite the entrance to No. 20 Stamford Villas, which
informs the pedestrian that it is one mile to Fulham; and passing Salem
Chapel, which is on the right hand side of the main road, we reach the
village of Walham Green.
CHAPTER IV.
WALHAM GREEN TO FULHAM.
The village of Walham Green, which is distant from Hyde Park Corner
between two and a half and three miles, appears to have been first so
called soon after the revolution of 1688. Before this, it was known as
Wansdon Green, written also Wandon and Wandham; all of which names,
according to Lysons, originated from the manor of Wendon, so was the
local name written in 1449, which in 1565 was spelled Wandowne. As the
name of a low and marshy piece of land on the opposite side of the Thames
to Wandsworth, through which _wandered_ the drainage from the higher
grounds, or through which the traveller had to _Wendon_ (pendan) his way
to Fulham; it would not be difficult to enter into speculations as to the
Anglo-Saxon origin of the word, but I refrain from placing before the
reader my antiquarian ruminations while passing Wansdown House, for few
things are more fascinating and deceptive than verbal associations.
Indeed, if indulged in to any extent, they might lead an enthusiast to
connect in thought the piers of Fulham (bridge) with the _Piers_ of
Fulham, who, in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, "compyled many praty
conceytis in love under covert terms of ffyssyng and ffowlyng;" and which
curious poem may be found printed in a collection of _Ancient Metrical
Tales_, edited by the Rev. Charles Henry Hartshorne. {138}
Two of "some ancient houses, erected in 1595, as appeared by a date on
the truss in the front of one of them," were pulled down at Walham Green
in 1812; after which the important proceedings in the progress of this
village in suburban advancement consisted in the establishment of
numerous public-houses; the filling up of a filthy pond, upon the ground
gained by which act a chapel-of-ease to Fulham, dedicated to St. John,
has been built, after the design of Mr. Taylor, at the estimated expense
of 9683 pounds 17s. 9d. The first stone was laid on the 1st of January,
1827; and it was consecrated by the Bishop of London on the 14th of
August, 1828. This was followed by the building of a charity-school upon
an angular patch of green, or common land, where donkeys had been wont to
graze, and the village children to play at cricket. Then the parish
pound was removed from a corner of the high road, near a basket-maker's,
to a back lane, thereby destroying the travelling joke of "Did you ever
see the baskets sold by the pound?" And, finally, Walham Green has
assumed a new aspect, from the construction of the Butchers' Almshouses,
the first stone of which was laid by the late Lord Ravensworth, on the
1st of July, 1840. Since that time, fancy-fairs and bazaars, with
horticultural exhibitions, have been fashionably patronised at Walham
Green by omnibus companies, for the support and enlargement of this
institution.
"Hail, happy isle! and happier Walham Green!
Where all that's fair and beautiful are seen!
Where wanton zephyrs court the ambient air,
And sweets ambrosial banish every care;
Where thought nor trouble social joy molest,
Nor vain solicitude can banish rest.
Peaceful and happy here I reign serene,
Perplexity defy, and smile at spleen;
Belles, beaux, and statesmen, all around me shine;
All own me their supreme, me constitute divine;
All wait my pleasure, own my awful nod,
And change the humble gardener to the god."
Thus, in the 'London Magazine' for June 1749, did Mr. Bartholomew Rocque
prophetically apostrophise Walham Green,--the "belles, beaux, and
statesmen," by which he was surrounded being new varieties of flowers,
dignified by distinguished names. In 1755, he printed a 'Treatise on the
Cultivation of the Hyacinth, translated from the Dutch;' and in 1761 an
'Essay on Lucerne Grass,', of which an enlarged edition was published in
1764. Mr. Rocque {139} resided in the house occupied by the late Mr.
King, opposite to the Red Lion, where Mr. Oliver Pitts now carries on
business as builder and carpenter.
Immediately after leaving Walham Green, on the south, or left-hand side,
of the main Fulham road, behind a pair of carriage gates, connected by a
brick wall, stands the mansion of Lord Ravensworth; in outward appearance
small and unostentatious, without the slightest attempt at architectural
decoration, but sufficiently spaci
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