Towards the commencement of the century, a considerable part of Sloane Street, between the square and Cadogan Place, was laid out as a botanical garden by a Mr. Salisbury. The extent of the grounds was about six acres, and at one time formed an agreeable promenade for company. one dish in my own style—a little sucking pig, ask your friends to dinner, to ask your wife to fattened according to my method. Two hours write your cards. Sir, your penmanship is abomibefore breakfast I will present him to you alive, nable; it would disgrace a cobbler. I swear that fat, and healthy. You will engage to have him your day is written Thursday, not Friday,' at the killed and cooked, and I will not go near him till same time pulling the invitation out of his pocket. the moment when he is put on the table; you It turned out, however, that he was wrong, which shall cut him yourself into four pieces, choose that he was obliged to admit." which attracts you the most, and give me any piece you please. The day after this breakfast one of four things will have happened: either we shall be both dead or both alive, or I shall be dead and you alive, or you dead and I alive. Out of these four chances I give you three, and I bet 5,000 guineas that the day after the breakfast you will be dead and I shall be in good health. You will confess that no fairer offer could be made, and that you must either accept the wager or confess your ignorance, and that you have foolishly and dully cut your jokes upon a subject beyond your knowledge." This characteristic letter failed to persuade M. de Morande to breakfast, and he was fain to back out as best he might, getting well laughed at for his pains. At the corner of Cadogan Place and Lowndes Street is Chelsea House, the town residence of Earl Cadogan, whose family formerly had a mansion on the site of the Royal Military Asylum. The house was rebuilt in 1874, from the designs of Mr. W. Young. The principal entrance, in Cadogan Place, is marked by a tetrastyle portico, which is carried up to the first floor as a bay window; another bay window on the same front is carried up two storeys, and finished with balustrades. The front to Lowndes Street has a semioctagonal bay at each end, carried up the whole height of the building. The ground storey is of rustic stonework, and at the level of the first floor is a stone balcony carried all round the building. in proportion and design, have a most imposing effect. The chief rooms are large and lofty, and the principal staircase is of Sicilian marble. Count Cagliostro-or, to give him his proper name, Joseph Balsamo-used to advertise in the London newspapers that he was prepared to sell "the Egyptian pill of life at thirty shillings a dram;" doubtless about as efficacious as the preparation called "mummy," which was actually, The drawing-room windows, which are well studied dispensed as a curative for sores, by physicians duly provided with diplomas, so late as the reign of Queen Anne. Cagliostro's doings as a quack of quacks took place just after the "diamond necklace" affair; and through the bursting of that bubble he was temporarily "down on his luck." No legal proceedings were taken against him in England, but subsequently he went to Rome, where he was flung into prison by the Inquisition, not, oddly enough, because he was a charlatanthe Piazza Navona and the Corso swarmed every day with vendors of Elixirs of Life and Love-but because he pretended to be a spirit-rapper. A very different state of things prevails at the present day in our own country. The following story, having reference to this particular street, we give for what it is worth :"I had invited Porson," says an English author, "to meet a party of friends in Sloane Street, where I lived; but the eccentric professor had mistaken the day, and inade his appearance in full costume the preceding one. We had already dined, and were at our cheese. When he discovered his error, he made his usual exclamation of a whooe! as long as my arm, and turning to me, with great gravity, said, 'I advise you in future, sir, when you The manor and estate of Chelsea came into the possession of Lord Cadogan's family on the death of Mr. Hans Sloane by his own hand, Charles, second Lord Cadogan, having married Elizabeth, the daughter and co-heir of Sir Hans Sloane. It may be noted here that Horace Walpole was one of the trustees under Sir Hans Sloane's will. On the west side of the street, in Cadogan Terrace, is the Roman Catholic Chapel of St. Mary's, an unpretending structure, dating from 1811, and one of the oldest of the missionary chapels of that religion. Not far from the chapel are the convent and schools, together with a Roman Catholic burial-ground, with some large vaults and catacombs. The chapel itself was built by M. Voyaux de Franous, one of the French émigré clergy. Before its erection, mass was said in a room above a shop. The Duchess of Angoulême was a generous contributor to the building, and laid the first stone. Dr. Poynter, then VicarApostolic of the London district, officiated at the consecration. Poor as the building was, it cost £6,000. It was specially designed for the use of Chelsea.] HANS PLACE. 99 the French veterans confined at Chelsea. Among the residence of Lady Charlotte Denys, and now the assistant clergy here were Cardinal Weld, the of the Earl of Arran. This building was erected late Bishop of Troy, Dr. Cox, Mgr. Eyre, and Bishop Patterson. St. Mary's Church has been lately improved and enlarged. In Cadogan Street stood formerly an ancient house, which, in its latter days, was known as the "Marlborough Tavern;" the grounds adjoining were used for the purposes of cricket, &c. It is probable that the house was first established as a tavern during the lifetime of the great Duke of Marlborough, who, it is said, at one time resided in Chelsea, though his house is not identified. Marlborough Road, Blenheim Street, &c.—all contiguous in this neighbourhood-doubtless hence received their names. The old "Admiral Keppel" tavern, with its tea-gardens, in Marlborough Road, was demolished in 1856, and on its site a large inn has been erected. Hans Place, at the north-west corner, between Sloane Street and Brompton Road, is an irregular octagonal space, laid out after the fashion of a London square. Here (at the house No. 25, according to Mr. Peter Cunningham) was born, in August, 1802, Miss Letitia E. Landon, the "L. E. L." of "Annual" celebrity. She went to school three doors off (No. 22), under a Miss Rowden, the same who numbered amongst her pupils Miss Mary R. Mitford. Miss Landon was the daughter of an army agent, and niece of the late Dr. Whittington Landon, Dean of Exeter and Provost of Worcester College, Oxford, who took a sincere interest in the welfare and fame of his relative. Having had the misfortune to lose her father when very young, and her brilliant talents soon becoming manifest, she appeared before the world, while little more than a child, as an enthusiastic and delightful literary labourer. Her first efforts were made in the pages of the Literary Gazette. "To her honour, it must be added," says the editor of the Athenæum, "that the fruits of her incessant exertion were neither selfishly hoarded nor foolishly trifled away, but applied to the maintenance and advancement of her family." Hans Place is associated with all the earliest recollections of Miss Landon, whose home it was, in fact, until her marriage, in 1838, with Captain George Maclean, Governor of Cape Coast Castle, on the west coast of Africa. She died in October of the same year, universally beloved on account of her amiable and gifted nature, and as simple as a child. Her poems live, and will live. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Wigan, the popular actor and actress, resided for some time in Hans Place. Adjoining Hans Place is the Pavilion, formerly in the latter part of the last century by a Mr. Holland, who had taken from Lord Cadogan a lease of one hundred acres of land hereabouts, formerly called "Blacklands," and now Upper Chelsea, for the purpose of forming new streets, &c. Mr. Holland reserved to himself twenty-one acres of land, on which he erected an elegant house for his own residence. The front of the house was originally built as a model for the Pavilion at Brighton, and was ornamented by a colonnade of the Doric order, extending the whole length of the building. The mansion consisted of three sides of a quadrangle, open to the north, and the approach was from Hans Place. The south front of the house faced an extensive and beautifully-planted lawn, gently rising to the level of the colonnade and principal floor. On the west side of the lawn was an ice-house, round which was erected a representation of the ruins of an ancient priory," in which the appearance of age and decay is said to have been strikingly reproduced. The Gothic stonework was brought from the ancient but now demolished residence of Cardinal Wolsey, at Esher, in Surrey. The lawn was ornamented by a fine sheet of water, besides which the grounds had about them "considerable variety of fanciful intricate paths and scenery, properly ornamented with shrubs, and had a private communication with the house by the walks of the shrubbery." On the north side of Hans Place, near to Walton Street, is St. Saviour's Church. It was built about the year 1840, and has no particular pretensions to architectural effect. It has no spire, but two dwarf towers flank the entrance facing Walton Place. The interior is perfectly plain. Deep galleries, supported on octagonal pillars and iron girders, extend round three sides. The pillars supporting the front of the galleries are extended upwards, and from their capitals spring pointed arches along each side. In connection with this church there are some excellent schools and charitable societies. Close by is Prince's Cricket Ground, which was lately one of the principal centres of attraction and conversation during the London "season." The place has always been a cricket-ground of more or less importance, but more than once of late it has been suggested that it would not be bad to transfer to it the "Eton and Harrow Match" from "Lord's." Besides this, there is every accommodation for lawnA few years tennis, Badminton, and other games. ago a "skating-rink," with artificial ice, for practice at all seasons of the year, was added to the other attractions of "Prince's;" its career, however, was but of short duration. "Prince's" was always rather select and exclusive, but latterly its exclusiveness increased, the price of admission being raised, and all sorts of stringent regulations being introduced by the committee, in order to keep it "select." So "select" indeed had it become, that a cricketing husband, though an old subscriber, might not take his wife into its precincts, nor could a skating wife introduce her husband, or even her daughter. Nay, further, an edict was issued from the despots of "Prince's "—"That no lady was to be admitted at all unless she has been presented at Court." Of course, therefore, the members became very select:" no "nobodies" were there; "Lady Clara Vere de Vere" had the skating-rink all to herself, or shared it only with other "daughters of a hundred earls." How delightful! Yes, delightful for Lady Clara and her friend, but not so for the outside public. The "South Australian" is the sign of a small inn not far from Prince's Grounds. This building tells its own tale, having been put up about the year 1835, when the colony of South Australia was founded, by some one who had a pecuniary interest in it. CHAPTER IX. WEST BROMPTON, SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, &c. "Uplift a thousand voices, full and sweet, In this wide hall, with Earth's inventions stored, And praise th' invisible universal Lord, Who lets once more in peace the nations meet, Their myriad horns of plenty at our feet."-Tennyson. Situation of Brompton-Its Nurseries and Flower-gardens-Cromwell or Hale House-Thistle Grove-The Boltons-Westminster and West London Cemetery-Brompton Hall-St. Michael's Grove-Brompton Grove-John Sidney Hawkins-Gloucester Lodge-The Hospital for Consumption-The Cancer Hospital-Pelham Crescent-Onslow Square-Eagle Lodge-Thurloe Place and Square-Cromwell RoadThe International Exhibition of 1862-Annual International Exhibitions-A School of Cookery-Exhibition of Scientific Apparatus-The National Portrait Gallery-The Meyrick Collection of Arms and Armour-The Indian Museum-South Kensington Museum-The Raphael Cartoons-The Sheepshanks, Ellison, and Vernon Galleries-Ancient and Modern Jewellery-The Museum of Patents-The Science and Art Schools-The Royal Albert Hall-The National Training School for Music-Royal Horticultural Gardens. Cromwell House, and is traditionally said to have been the residence of Oliver Cromwell. But for such a tradition there appears no sort of authority. Mr. Lysons* shows that this house was the property of the Methwold family during Cromwell's time; and the same writer observes that 'if there are any grounds for the tradition, it may be that Henry Cromwell occupied the house before he went out to Ireland the second time.' It appears from the register of this parish that Mr. Henry Cromwell and Elizabeth Russell' were married on the 10th of May, 1653; and it may be observed that General Lambert, an eminent supporter of the Cromwell family, is known to have possessed a residence near Earl's Court. Hale House is now divided into two parts, each of which is occupied by a separate family. William Methwold, Esq., who died possessed of the above house in 1652, founded, near his residence, an almshouse for six poor women." BROMPTON, which is—or, rather, was till lately-a | This is termed Hale House, but is often called hamlet to the parish of Kensington, is situated on the north side of Little Chelsea, and on the west of Sloane Street. It has long been celebrated for its soft air, and for its nurseries and flower-gardens; indeed, "Brompton, with its two centuries of nurserygarden fame," writes Mr. John Timbs, "lasted to our times; southward, among the groves,' were the 'Florida,' the 'Hoop and Toy,' and other taverns, with tea-gardens attached; there still (1866) remains the 'Swan,' with its bowling-green." At the commencement of the present century the "village" of Brompton was considerably increased by building, and became nominally divided into two parts, termed Old and New Brompton. The latter division of the hamlet chiefly consisted of rows of houses crowded together more closely than was perhaps desirable. "Old Brompton," writes the author of the "Beauties of England and Wales," in 1816, "still retains a similitude of rural aspect, and is yet celebrated for well-cultivated nursery and garden grounds. In this part of the village," continues the writer, "are many handsome detached houses; and here is likewise a domestic building, of comparative antiquity, which requires notice. Mr. H. G. Davis, writing on the subject of Cromwell House in Notes and Queries, gives the "Environs of London," vol. ii., p. 507. West Brompton.] Brompton is briefly dispatched by Priscilla Wakefield with the remark that "it is a hamlet to Kensington, and has been much recommended to invalids for the softness of the air." An extensive botanical garden, containing also a botanical library, was established here by a Mr. Curtis, in the reign of George III., and was supported by subscriptions for many years. following version of the story as that which he Effingham, the birth of whose son is thus recorded had always heard: "That on some occasion in the parish registers :-'July 7, 1682. The Cromwell's troop was quartered at Knightsbridge, Honble Thomas Howard, son of the R Honourand he one day venturing to stray along the lanes of able Francis, Ld Howard, Baron of Effingham, Brompton, was met by some cavaliers who knew and the Lady Philadelphia, was born at Hale him, and pursued him to this house, where he was House, in this parish.' Hale House was still the sheltered till assistance came from Knightsbridge property of the Methwold family, who, in 1754, and liberated him." Faulkner, in his "History of sold it to John Fleming, Esq., afterwards created a Kensington," describing this house, says: "Over baronet; and in 1790 it was the joint property of the mantelpiece there is a recess, formed by the the Earl of Harrington and Sir Richard Worsley, curve of the chimney, in which it is said that the Bart., who married his daughters and co-heirs." Protector used to conceal himself when he visited Such is the brief history of the proprietors and this house; but why his Highness chose this place inhabitants of Cromwell House. It was a pleasant for concealment the tradition has not condescended rural seat in 1794, when Edmund Burke's only and to inform us. This recess is concealed by the beloved son died there of a rapid consumption a wainscot, and is still used as a cupboard." Mr. few days after his election to Parliament. The Faulkner then goes on to state that, though the father's hopes were blasted by the blow, and his tradition is "very strong and universal," all docu- own death followed within two years. The house ments he has consulted "seem to show that there itself was pulled down about the year 1853, to is not the least foundation for this conjecture;", make room for new improvements. The site of and presumes "from the marriage of Henry Crom- its grounds is now marked by part of Cromwell well having taken place in this parish, that he Road. resided here;" and hence the whole of the story. Mrs. Samuel Carter Hall, mentioning the tradition in her "Pilgrimages to English Shrines," says:"Upon closer investigation how grieved we have been to discover the truth. We found that Oliver never resided there, but that his son Richard had, and was a ratepayer to the parish of Kensington some time." Even this latter statement is doubted, for, according to Dr. Rimbault, it is not recorded in the parochial books. Dr. Rimbault, in Notes and Queries, states that "the house was known as Hale House in 1596, when a rentcharge of 20s. per annum was laid upon it for the poor of Kensington parish. In 1630 it was purchased by William Methwold, Esq., of the executors of Sir William Blake, who died in that year. This gentleman seems to have been its constant occupant till the period of his death, which occurred in 1652. He is described of Hale House in his will. On May 10, 1653, immediately after his return from Ireland, 'Mr. Henry Cromwell was married to Elizabeth Russell, daughter of Sir Thomas Russell,' at Kensington Church; after which, according to Noble, 'he chiefly resided at Whitehall.' In the following year (1654) he returned to Ireland, and upon his taking leave of that kingdom, he retired to Spinney Abbey, near Soham, in Cambridgeshire, where he died in 1673. The chances of Henry Cromwell having resided at Hale House are, therefore, but slender. In 1668 Hale House appears to have been inhabited by the Lawrences, of Shurdington, in Gloucestershire; in 1682 it was in the occupation of Francis Lord Howard of * What with its nurseries, its groves, and its pleasant detached mansions or cottages, standing apart in their own grounds, this neighbourhood, down to very recent times, presented much of the appearance of a suburban retreat. Thistle Grove, a turning out of the Fulham Road, nearly opposite the "Queen's Elm" Hotel, covers the site of what was known a century or more ago as "Brompton Heath." Here lived Mr. John Burke, the author of the "Peerage" and the "Commoners" of England. On the west side of Thistle Grove is "The Boltons," a sort of park, comprising two neat-built rows of houses on either side of an oval-shaped inclosure, in which stands St. Mary's Church, a handsome Gothic edifice. Further westward is the Westminster and West of London Cemetery. It covers about forty acres of ground, and was consecrated in 1840. It has a domed chapel, with semi-circular colonnades of imposing design. In the grounds is a large monument, consisting of an altar-tomb, with athlete figures, and a pompous epitaph, to the memory of Jackson, the prize-fighter, who kept the "Cock" * See page 88, ante. till lately," adds the author, "a grand porch at the entrance. The hall, or saloon, is a step lower than the rooms upon the same floor. The dining-room has a richly-carved ceiling of oak, displaying in the centre the rose and crown, and in its other compartments the fleur-de-lys and portcullis; and on taking down some ancient tapestry a few years since, the arms of Queen Elizabeth, carved in oak, and curiously inlaid with gold, were discovered above the chimney-piece. There are also in another room the relics of a very curious old wainscot, in small compartments." In St. Michael's Grove lived Douglas Jerrold; and it was in his house that Charles Dickens first made his acquaintance, in or about 1835, when staying at home invalided. general. Jerdan died in June, 1869, at the age of eighty-eight, nearly twenty years after resigning his editorial chair. His Autobiography, published in four volumes, contains many pleasant notices of his contemporaries. In Brompton Grove, too, lived Major Shadwell Clarke, the hospitable friend at whose table Theodore Hook was an ever welcome guest, and where he dined the last time that he ever left his house. In Lower Grove, Brompton, lived and died the antiquary, John Sidney Hawkins, the eldest son of Sir John Hawkins, Dr. Johnson's friend and biographer. He died about the year 1842, at an advanced age. He published several works on architectural subjects. At Gloucester Lodge, was living, in 1809, George |