Regent's Park.] ST. KATHARINE'S HOSPITAL. at the theatre. "At first," says a writer in the Athenæum, "the surface was hard and polished, and bore skating well; but the amateurs complained it would not enable them to cut a figure like real ice, so next year Bradwell invented an ice which cut well with the skate. The affair was on too small a scale to pay in those days." We have already mentioned this early attempt to make a skating-rink in summer in our account of Madame Tussaud's Exhibition, in Baker Street.* In spite of all this ingenuity, the projector failed, and the building passed, by sale, into other hands. The Colosseum was soon afterwards altered, with the exception of the panorama, and sundry additions and improvements were made to enhance its attractions. An entrance made on the east from Albany Street, a Gothic aviary, sundry pieces of rock scenery, and models of the ruins of the arch of Titus, the temples of Vesta and Theseus, as well as other classical subjects, a stalactite cavern, &c., were among the most important. In 1848, there was added a sort of theatre, highly decorated with reproductions of bacchanalian groups, some of Raphael's cartoons, &c. "Upon the stage," says John Timbs, "passed the Cyclorama of Lisbon, representing with terrible minuteness the terrible scenes which marked the earthquake of 1755." This exhibition was very popular for a time, and Dr. Bachhoffner added to its attractiveness by his lectures and other exhibitions. In the end, however, perhaps for the reasons we have stated above, the number of visitors dwindled, and the exhibition was closed. The Colosseum was put up to auction by Messrs. Winstanley in 1855, but no bid was made which reached the "reserve price," £20,000, about a tenth of the sum which had been up to that time expended upon it. The building afterwards passed into several hands, and ultimately it was purchased by a small number of gentlemen, with the idea of erecting there a grand hotel; but this idea was abandoned. Subsequently the lease was purchased by a Mr. Bird, and the walls were levelled to the ground, as stated above. On its site a number of private residences have been erected. Not far to the north of the Colosseum stands the modern Collegiate Church of St. Katharine's, once part of a royal hospital and religious foundation, established on the eastern side of the Tower of London, by Matilda, the queen consort of King Stephen. On the destruction of the former establishment in 1825, to make room for the St. Katharine's Docks, this building was erected from the • See Vol. IV., p. 421. 273 designs of Mr. Ambrose Poynter, and completed' in 1828. It is a Gothic structure, of yellow brick, consisting of a chapel, six residences for pensioners, and a detached residence for the master. The chapel is in the florid Gothic style, and is a poor imitation of the chapel of King's College, Cambridge; it has two octagonal towers, with a large window of perpendicular tracery, above which are the royal arms and those of the college; it has, moreover, a pulpit of wood, a gift to the church from Sir Julius Cæsar. Here, too, is the tomb of John Holland, Duke of Exeter (who fought in France in the wars of Henry VI., and who died in the year 1447), which was also removed hither from the old church of St. Katharine at Tower Hill. It is an altar-tomb, and on it rest the effigies of the duke and his two wives, under a rich canopy. On the dwellings of the chaplains the arms of the college are repeated, encircled with the motto, "Elianora fundavit," with the royal arms to correspond. The same arms are also carved on the two lodges, and are encircled with the inscriptions, "Fundavit Mathilda, 1548," and "In hoc situ restitit, 1828." In the centre of the court-yard is a conduit for the supply of the hospital. The west end of the chapel immediately faces the park road, on the opposite side of which stands the house of the master, whose office is in the gift of the Queen Consort for the time being, if there is one—if not, of the Crown. The present hospital was built with the money awarded as compensation for the removal of the old hospital, situated on the east of the Tower of London, described by us previously,† and whose homely buildings and cloisters are described by Stow as holding more inhabitants than some cities in England. Of the foundation of this hospital and its history, down to the time of its removal hither, we have already spoken; but we may add here something concerning the inmates of the hospital. Under the charter and statutes granted by Philippa, queen of Edward III., the brethren were to wear "a strait coat," and over that a black mantle, with "the sign of the holy Katharine." Green clothes or those entirely red, or any striped clothes, "as tending to dissoluteness," were not to be used. The clerks were to have shaven crowns. The curfew-bell was to ring home at night the brethren and sisters. The queen contributed to the rebuilding of the collegiate church in 1340, and her husband there founded a chantry for the repose of her soul. The hospital still remains under queenly patronage, and the mastership is a valuable sinecure. The revenues of the ancient hospital were directed † See Vol. II., pp. 117, 118. to the maintenance of "six poor bachelors and six whole house was threatened with dissolution, topoor spinsters." gether with the other monasteries of the kingdom, and was only rescued through the fact that, the patronage being in the hands of the queen consort, Anne Boleyn thought it worth while to induce her royal master to continue this source of influence to her and her successors. The Crown, The community now consists of a master and three brethren, all bound by the charter to be priests, three sisters, and twenty bedesmen, and alike the number of bedeswomen, their chief duties being regular celebration and attendance at divine service, and works of charity and almsgiving In the reign of Elizabeth, and with the queen among the poor, as examples of good Christian life herself, began the first abuse of this institution. and conversation. Conformably with these pious Up to that period the master had always been a instructions we find that the master is a layman | priest, and held a position similar to that of a of quality who resides near St. James's Palace; dean at the head of his chapter. that the three brethren have houses and occupations elsewhere, one at a time being "in residence" for a few months in the year; that the sisters "do not in general reside;" that the bedesmen and bedeswomen "have no residence," and though "still called by their ancient style, have no duties to perform," beyond receiving their annual dole of £10 a-piece; that the charity to the poor consists in the maintenance of a school containing as many as thirty-six boys and eighteen girls; and that the income of the community amounts to about £7,000, which, by better management, might be raised to £10,000 or £11,000. The chaplains hold country livings together with their appointments, which are practically fellowships without the restriction of celibacy. During the last century a MS. register-book of the monastery of Christ Church, or the Holy Trinity within Aldgate on the ground of which monastery Queen Matilda had founded her hospital -contained many interesting particulars about the connection of these two houses. Queen Eleanor, it seems, was not content that the government of a house, the patronage of which was in her gift, should remain in the hands of the Austin Canons. Both at Westminster and before the Lord Mayor she was defeated in her suit to obtain the entire control of this ecclesiastical foundation. But afterwards, at her request, a visitation was held by the Bishop of London, who cajoled the monks into surrendering their right by a threat of the king's displeasure if they continued to assert them. At length then, in her widowhood, the old queen was enabled to carry out her project, and she certainly founded an establishment which might have worked well down to the present day with no essential changes in its constitution. To her foundation were subsequently added various benefactions of chapelries, &c., and Edward II. presented, in 1309, the advowson, still held by the chapter, of Kingsthorpe, Northampton, with its belongings. The various chaplaincies have lapsed at some period unknown, probably at the Reformation, when the however, to whom the appointment on this occasion lapsed through default of a queen consort, contravened the old statutes, and, by a writ of non-obstante, placed Thomas Wilson, Doctor of Laws, in this ecclesiastical post, in which he ought, according to the charter of Queen Philippa (a special benefactress), to perform all priestly offices. This layman not only was incapacitated from carrying out the original intentions of the foundresses, but endeavoured in every possible way to enrich himself at the expense of the corporation. He surrendered the charter of Henry VI., on which foundation the hospital had hitherto rested, and in lieu thereof received one from the queen-one which remains in force to the present day. In this latter charter an important omission was made of all mention of the fair hitherto held by this hospital on Tower Hill for twenty-one days. This fair was now granted to the Corporation of the City of London, who paid to this generous master the sum of £466 13s. 4d., a slight fee which went into his own private purse. At this hospital, for ages, the queens consort had appointed their chaplains, their ladies of the bed-chamber, or other dependants, to posts where in their old age they might perform many useful offices to the poor around them, and in return for which they might receive a decent maintenance. There were plenty of duties, and the pay was tolerably good. Besides, foreign chaplains, or chaplains attached to foreign queens, would be the very men to understand best of all the language and customs of the seafaring men and foreigners who in each reign would come in greatest numbers from the country where the queen consort had passed her youth, and would settle down in this free precinct (both ecclesiastical and civil courts belonging to the hospital), just outside the City walls, where they would be entirely free from the exactions of the City merchants, ever jealous of outsiders. This institution, therefore, was remarkably well adapted for the locality in which it was placed. But in the reign of George IV., about the year 1824, an attempt was made, and, as we have seen, with success, to remove this venerable hospital from its ancient site, and to demolish its church, a fine edifice of Perpendicular architecture. At first a strong opposition was made by the inhabitants, but eventually the influence of the moneyed shareholders carried their point, and the king, nothing loth to adorn the park which was to commemorate his earlier administration, sanctioned its withdrawal to the north-west of London, where no precinct was assigned to it, where there was no necessity for such a mission-house, and no opening for its proper working and development. There was at St. Katharine's a "fraternity of the guild of our glorious Saviour Christ Jesus, and of the Blessed Virgin and Martyr St. Barbara." The beadroll runs as follows:-"First, ye shall pray especially for the good estate of our sovereign lord and most Christian and excellent prince King Henry VIII. and Queen Catherine, founders of the said guild and gracious brotherhood, and brother and sister of the same. And for the good estate of the French Queen's Grace, Mary, sister to our said sovereign lord, and sister of the said guild. Also, ye shall pray for the good estate of Thomas Wolsey, of the title of St. Cecilia of Rome, priest, cardinal, and legatus a latere to our Holy Father the Pope, Archbishop of York, and Chancellor of England, brother of the said guild. Also for the good estate of the Duke of Buckingham and my lady his wife; also for the good estate of the Duke of Norfolk and my lady his wife; the Duke of Suffolk; also for my Lord Marquis; for the Earl of Shrewsbury; the Earl of Northumberland; the Earl of Surrey; my Lord Hastings; and for all their ladies, brethren and sisters of the same. Also for Sir Richard Chomley, knt.; Sir William Compton, knt.; Sir William Skevington, knt.; Sir John Digby, knt., &c.; and for all their ladies, brethren and sisters of the same, that be alive, and for the souls of them that be dead; and for the masters and wardens of the same guild, and the warden collector of the same. And for the more special grace, every man of your charity say a Paternoster and an Ave. And God save the king, the master, and the wardens, and all the brethren and sisters of the same." Of the eminent Masters of St. Katharine's Hospital, prior to its removal hither, we have already spoken. Sir Herbert Taylor, G.C.B., held the office at the time of the change. He had served with the Duke of York during the whole of the campaign in Holland; he was for some time private secretary to George III.; and in 1812 he was nominated one of the trustees of the king's 275 private property; and soon after (in consequence of the Regency), private secretary to the Queen, a post which he afterwards held under William IV. and Queen Adelaide. He was appointed to the post of Master of St. Katharine's in 1818, and retained it till his death, in 1839. The next appointment was made by the late Queen Dowager, during the reign of Queen Victoria. When there is a queen consort a queen dowager loses her patronage. Between the site of the old Colosseum and Park Square, on the north of St. Andrew's Place, is the Adult Orphan Institution, which was established in 1820. The object of this institution is the education as governesses of the orphan daughters of clergymen and of naval and military officers. The number of inmates is generally about thirty, and the income is about £4,000 annually, but it is dependent mainly on voluntary contributions. In Chester Terrace the eminent architect, Professor Cockerell, R.A., spent the last ten years of his life, and he died here in 1863. We have already mentioned him in our account of St. Paul's Cathedral.* He was for some years Professor of Architecture in the Royal Academy, but, late in life, withdrew from active professional practice. His merits as an architect received the highest testimony of approbation by his election, in 1860, as President of the Institute of British Architects. In 1862, he resigned his position as R.A., and became one of the first of the " honorary retired Academicans." Professor Cockerell published, late in life, a large folio work, descriptive of the Temples of Jupiter and Apollo, in Ægina and the Peloponnesus, which many years before he had explored in company with Lord Byron. In Chester Place, which is also on the east side of the Park, Charles Dickens had a house for a few months in 1847, and there was born his son, Sydney Smith Dickens, who became a lieutenant in the navy, and died at sea soon after his father. Dickens had previously lived in Osnaburgh Terrace, which is close by, though only for a few weeks, in the summer of 1844, before he started for Italy, having let his house in Devonshire Terrace. The villa of Mrs. Fitzherbert, the wife of George Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.), stands on the north side of the Park, in the neighbourhood of Primrose Hill, facing the canal at North Gate. It now bears the name of Stockleigh House, and has been occupied by several different families in succession. The villa was severely injured by the gunpowder explosion on the canal, of which we have spoken above. See Vol. I., p. 260. reach back almost to the centre of the Park. We archery. With our ancestors it had a double will speak of both of these in turn. In 1781, as we have stated in a previous volume,* the survivors of the "old Finsbury Archers" established the Toxophilite Society in the gardens at the back of Leicester House, then in Leicester Fields, it is stated, principally through Sir Ashton Lever, who, as we have already mentioned, showed his museum there. The society then held their meetings in Bloomsbury Fields, behind the present site of Gower Street. Some twenty-five years later they removed on "target days" to Highbury Barn, and from thence to Bayswater, where we found them again. In 1834 they took up their quarters purpose to answer, that of a means of destruction in war, and an object of amusement in time of peace. The skill of the English, however, has always been proverbial; their many and glorious victories are their best eulogiums. By the Saxons, or Danes, though well acquainted with the use of the bow, it was used principally for pastime, or for the purpose of procuring food, in times anterior to the Conquest. Under the Normans, who used their bow as a military weapon, the practice of archery was much improved, and generally diffused throughout the kingdom; it was, in the age of chivalry, considered an essential part of the education of a young man who wished to distinguish himself." THE BOTANICAL GARDENS, REGENT'S PARK. (See page 279.) within the City and liberties of London, and to see that the leisure time upon holidays was spent in recreations with bows and arrows. In the fifth year of Edward IV., an ordinance was made, commanding every Englishman and Irishman dwelling in England to have a long bow of his own height; the Act directs that butts should be made in every township, at which the inhabitants were to shoot up and down upon all feast days, under the penalty of one halfpenny for every time they omitted to perform this exercise. In the sixteenth century we find heavy complaints of the disuse of the long bow, especially in the vicinity of London. Stow attributes this to the enclosures made near the metropolis, by which means the citizens were deprived of room sufficient or proper for the purpose. In arm; this bracer was to be made of materials sufficiently rigid to prevent any folds that might impede the bow-string when loosed from the hand; to this was to be added a shooting glove, for the protection of the fingers. The bow, he tells us, ought to be made of well-seasoned wood, and formed with great exactness, tapering from the middle towards each end. Bows were sometimes made of brazil, of elm, of ash, and several other woods, but yew was held in most esteem. With regard to the bow-string, the author was undecided which to prefer; he would, therefore, leave the choice to the string-maker. A thin string casts the arrow farther, a thick string gives greater certainty. For the arrow, he says, there are three essential parts-the stile, or wand, the feathers, and the head. |