THE site of Burlington House, at the time of the Restoration, was pure country, and consisted entirely of pasture-land; but between the years 1664 and 1667 a great change took place, and three large mansions were built upon what was then a portion of St. James's Fields. The Lord Chancellor Clarendon erected a house opposite to St. James's Street, and Lords Berkeley and Burlington built theirs on either side of him

Lord Berkeley on the west, and Lord Burlington on the

east.

He

Although the Earl of Burlington was living at this house in the year 1668, it is not quite clear whether it had not previously been in the possession of Sir John Denham, the poet of Cooper's Hill. The small amount of information which we have regarding the earliest history of the house is obtained from Pepys, and he twice speaks of Sir John Denham as having built it. It is possible, as Sir John held the office of Surveyor-General of his Majesty's Buildings, that he may have superintended the building of the house for the Earl of Burlington. On the other hand, it is not improbable that, as Sir John was about to marry the pretty Margaret Brook, he might have wished to build a mansion fit to receive her. A sudden cloud, however, came over all his prospects. married the lady on May 25, 1665, but in the following year we know that she was the mistress of the Duke of York, and was scandalizing Evelyn and Pepys by her public behaviour towards him. She did not long continue in this position, for on November the 10th, 1666, she was taken dangerously ill, and died on January the 6th, 1666-67. It was generally believed at the time that her death was occasioned by poison, but Pepys does not tell us by whom it was supposed to have been administered. Hamilton, in his Memoirs of Grammont, however, distinctly accuses Denham himself of the murder. He says: "As no person entertained any doubt of his having poisoned her, the populace of his neighbourhood had a design of tearing him to pieces as soon as he should come abroad; but he shut himself up to bewail her death, until their fury was appeased by a magnificent funeral, at which he distributed four times more burnt wine than had ever been drank at any burial in England." Another slander of the time attributed Lady Denham's death to the jealousy of the Duchess of York. Denham himself did not long survive his wife, for in March, 1668, he died insane.

Richard Boyle, second Earl of Cork, and first Earl of Burlington, otherwise Bridlington co. York, was the first

occupier of the house. He was son of the great Earl of Cork, and brother of the celebrated Robert Boyle, but, although little is known of his history, these relationships are not his only claims to our notice, for we find him during the civil wars loyal to his king, whom he supplied both with money and with troops. He afterwards promoted the Restoration with his utmost endeavours, for which he was rewarded in the year 1664 by being created Earl of Burlington. He married Elizabeth, the sole daughter and heiress of Henry Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, and it was this lady that Pepys describes as “a very fine-speaking lady."

"Thence to my Lord Burlington's house, the first time I ever was there, it being the house built by Sir John Denham, next to Clarendon House. . . . Here I first saw and saluted my Lady Burlington, a very fine-speaking lady and a good woman, but old, and not handsome; but a brave woman. . . Here I also, standing by a candle that was brought for sealing a letter, do set my periwigg a-fire, which made such an odd noise, nobody could tell what it was till they saw the flame, my back being to the table."1

One of the Earl and Countess's daughters married Lawrence Hyde, second son of the first Earl of Clarendon, and another, Lord Hinchingbroke, the son of the celebrated Earl of Sandwich. The Earl of Burlington died in 1697, at an advanced age, and was succeeded by his grandson, Charles Boyle, who only enjoyed the title seven years, and died in 1704. His son, then only nine years old, succeeded him as third Earl, and it is with his occupation that the chief historical interest of the house commences.

He was a munificent patron of the arts, and genius of every kind was sure of his support, but authors and artists more especially found in him a steady friend.

"See generous Burlington." 2

Pope, Gay, and many others echo his praises, and Walpole 1 Diary, Sept. 28th, 1668.

2 GAY'S Congratulatory Poem to Pope (CARRUTHER'S Life of Pope, 1857, p. 199.)