10,000 patients are annually relieved here. Patients are admitted free, on the production of a subscriber's ticket; otherwise a small fee is paid by out-patients and in-patients.

At the eastern end of Hackney Road formerly stood the Cambridge Heath turnpike gate, which was removed a few years ago, when tolls upon the metropolitan highways were abolished; its site is now marked by an obelisk set up in the centre of the roadway. From this point, Mare Street, of which we shall have more to say presently, branches off to the left; Cambridge Road, on our right, leads past the Bethnal Green Museum, and so on to the Whitechapel Road and Mile End. Prospect Place, which extends eastward from the Hackney Road, and its continuation, Bishop's Road, leads direct to the principal entrance to Victoria Park.

fashioned structure of plaster and brickwork, stood near what is now the western entrance to Victoria Park down to about the year 1850.

In this neighbourhood, at the time of the formation of Victoria Park, was swept away a wretched village of hovels, formerly known as "Botany Bay," from so many of its inhabitants being sent to "another place" bearing that name.

By the side of the park gates is a picturesque lodge-house of the Elizabethan character, built from the designs of Mr. Pennethorne; it is constructed chiefly of red bricks, and has a lofty tower and porch. The ground now forming Victoria Park was purchased by the Government with the proceeds of the sale of York (now Stafford) House,* St. James's, in pursuance of an Act of Parliament passed in 1840 for that purpose. It is bounded on the south-east by Sir George Duckett's Canal-a branch cut from the Regent's Canal, near Bonner's Hall Farm, crossing the Grove Road, and communicating with the river Lea, near Old Ford; on the north-east by Old Ford Lane, or Wick Lane ; on the north-west by Grove Street and lands belonging to Sir John Cass's charity and to St. Thomas's Hospital; and on the west by the Regent's Canal.

On the east side of Bonner's Road, which here branches off to the right, leading to Old Ford Road, stands an Orphan Asylum, or Home for outcast children; and also the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest. The latter edifice is a large and well-proportioned building of red brick, consisting of a centre and wings, in the Queen Anne style, and was constructed from the designs of Mr. Ordish. It has a central campanile, and a small Gothic chapel on the north side, connected with the main building by a covered corridor. The hospital, which was opened by Prince Albert in 1848, for "the relief of indigent persons afflicted with consumption and other diseases of the chest," was first of all located in Liverpool Street, Finsbury, and by the end of the year 1849 about 900 patients were relieved. Since its removal to the neighbourhood of Victoria Park its accommodation | has vastly increased, so that in the year 1875 about 700 in-patients and 12,000 out-patients had experienced the benefits of this most excellent charity. The hospital stands upon a large triangular plot of ground, surrounded by a light iron railing; and the grounds are laid out in grass plats, and flower-beds, and are well planted with shrubs and trees. Some of the latter are the remains of an avenue formerly extending from the Old Ford Lane to the principal entrance of Bonner's Hall, which stood on the east side of where the hospital now stands. The old building is traditionally said to have been the residence of Bishop Bonner, and certainly to have been his property. The surrounding land down to a comparatively recent date was known as Bishop Bonner's Fields, names which are now preserved in the two roads above mentioned. The site of Bishop Bonner's Hall was occupied by some private ceolaria, verbena, lobelia, &c., reliance is placed buildings in the early part of the present century; and Bishop Bonner's Hall Farm, a curious old

Victoria Park is nearly 300 acres in extent, with avenues which one day with an ampler growth will be really superb, a lake, or chain of lakes, on which adventurous spirits daily learn to "tug the labouring oar," and such a pleasant arrangement of walks, shrubberies, green turf, gay flowers, and shady trees, that if the place were situated in the western suburbs, it would, perhaps, become the resort of the élite of fashion. On an island upon one of the lakes is a two-storeyed Chinese pagoda, which, with the trees and foliage surrounding it, has a pretty effect. Here, as in the West-end parks, floriculture has been greatly extended of late; and through the summer months, its variegated parterres are aglow with flowers of every hue, making altogether a glorious show. Among the large foliage plants which have found their way here, may be remarked, on one sheltered slope, a group of Ficus elastica, the india-rubber tree, and close by is a specimen of the Yucca gloriosa, which has the more popular name of "Adam's needle," the tradition probably being that one of its pointed leaves helped to make the fig-leaf apron. Tropical plants of different varieties are to be found in the snug nooks and recesses which abound here. As to the flowering plants, such as the geranium, cal

* See Vol. IV., p. 122.

Hackney.J

VICTORIA PARK.

509

continual source of pleasure for these struggling artisans, and gladden many a moment when, perhaps, work is not too plentiful, and home thoughts are not very happy. In Victoria Park the plants and flowers are labelled in letters which he who walks may read without need of getting over fence or bordering. This is not always the case in the other parks, where the labels, from dirt or the smallness of the characters, are often practically illegible. One of the lakes is devoted to miniature yacht sailing. This amusement seems almost confined to East London; and here on a summer evening, when a capful of wind is to be had, the surface of the lake is whitened by some forty or fifty toy boats and yachts, of all rigs and sizes, while here and there a miniature steamboat is puffing and panting. There is even a yacht-club, whose members compete with their toy-yachts for silver cups and other prizes. The expense of keeping up a yacht here is not considerable, and the whole squadron may be laid up until wanted in a boat-house provided for the purpose. But the matches and trials of these tiny crafts are a special attraction of the park, and draw together every evening hundreds of people. Bathing, too, is largely indulged in during the summer. Ample space is available for cricket, and in the two gymnasia candidates for swinging, jumping, and climbing appear to be never wanting.

chiefly upon masses of colour instead of the narrow and striking contrasts of colour, are, of course, a bands adopted in the other parks. In the Regent's Park, as we have already seen,* great skill has been shown in grouping and composition; there is an attempt in landscape-gardening at something of the effects of landscape painting, using Nature's own colours, with the ground for canvas. In Hyde Park the red line of geraniums between Stanhope Gate and Grosvenor Gate is as well known among gardeners as the "thin red line" at Balaclava among soldiers. But in Victoria Park the old gardening tactics prevail; for the most part, masses of colour are brought to bear upon the eye in oval, round, and square; and with a wide area of turf in which to manoeuvre our floral forces, these tactics are probably the most effective that could be adopted. More ingenious designs, however, are not wanting. Near the ornamental water, a pretty effect is produced by scrolls of purple verbena enclosed by the white-leaved Cerastium tomentosum, looking like amethysts set in silver. In another part of the park this design is reversed, and the blue lobelia is made a frame for a central pattern of the same delicate silvery foliage plant, lit up by an occasional patch of scarlet, with a background of dahlias and evergreens. Elsewhere we come upon a fanciful figure which, after some study, resolves itself into an outstretched butterfly of enormous size, with wings as vividly coloured as those of any that fly in the sun. For borderings the Amaranthus melancholicus and the usual foliage plants of small growth are employed.

In fine weather, when the band plays, over 100,000 persons are frequently collected in this park. The people are orderly, most of them being of the humbler class, and their appreciation of the flowers is quite as keen as that of the frequenters of the West-end parks. Some of the dwellers in the East-end have a great fondness for flowers, and contrive somehow or other, in the most unlikely places, to rear very choice varieties. In small, wretched-looking yards, where little air and only the mid-day sun can penetrate, may be seen patches of garden, evidently tended with uncommon care, and yielding to their cultivators a fair reward in fragrance and in blossom. In some places may be descried bits of broken glass and a framework which just holds together, doing duty as a greenhouse; and in this triumph of patience and ingenuity the poor artisan spends much of his leisure, happy when he can make up a birthday bouquet for some friend or relation. The flowers in the neighbouring park, with their novel grouping

See ante, p. 266.

In one open part of the grounds stands a very handsome drinking-fountain, surrounded by parterres of flowers. It was erected by Lady Burdett-Coutts, whose care for the social welfare of the poor of London, and particularly in the East-end districts, we have already had occasion to mention. In the part devoted to cricket and such like sports, some of the semi-octagonal recesses, which afforded shelter for foot-passengers on old Westminster Bridge,+ have been re-erected, and serve as alcoves.

On the north side of Victoria Park is a large plot of ground, which since the end of the last century has been used as a burial-place for the Jewish community, belonging to the Hamburg synagogue.

Making our way through Grove Street, we reach the south-west corner of Hackney Common. Close by this point stands the French Hospital, a large and ornamental building of dark red brick, with stone dressings, which presents a pleasing contrast to the foliage of the trees which surround it. The institution was established as far back as 1708, for

+ See Vol. III., p. 299.

the "support of poor French Protestants and their arched and foliated ribs; the chancel has a stone descendants."

A short walk through Lammas Road and Groombridge Road, which skirt the western side of the Common, brings us to Grove Street, by the end of King Edward Road, where stands the large and handsome church of St. John of Jerusalem, the parish church of the recently-formed district of South Hackney. The church, which is built of

roof, and the walls of the apse are painted and diapered-red with fleur-de-lis, and blue powdered with stars. All the windows are filled with painted, stained, or richly-diapered glass. The tower has a fine peal of eight bells.

Before proceeding with a description of the old town of Hackney, upon which we are now entering, we may remark that it has been suggested, and

Kentish rag-stone, is in the best Pointed style of | with considerable probability, that the name of the the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and was erected in 1846 from the designs of Mr. E. C. Hakewell, to supersede a church erected in Well Street early in the present century. The plan of the edifice is cruciform, with a tower and spire of equal height, together rising nearly 200 feet; the latter has graceful lights and broaches, and the four Evangelists beneath canopies at the four angles. The nave has side aisles, with flying buttresses to the clerestory; each transept is lit by a magnificent window, about thirty feet high, and the choir has an apse with seven lancet windows. The principal entrance, at the western end, is through a screen of open arches. The roof, of open work, is very lofty, and has massive

place is derived from "Hacon's ey," or the island which some Danish chief named Hacon had, in the mild method prevalent among the warriors of fifteen hundred years ago, appropriated to himself. But authentic history is silent upon the point; and, indeed, almost the earliest record we find of the place is that the Knights Templars held the manor, which afterwards became the property of their rivals, the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Of late years the parish has been styled by the name of St. John at Hackney, as though it belonged to the fraternity of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, who had, as it is said, a mansion and other possessions in the parish; but from ancient records preserved in the Tower

of London it is found to be written, Ecclesia of Hackney," describes it as an ancient, extensive, Parochialis S. Augustini de Hackney. The Temple and populous village, "situated on the west side of Mills, in Hackney Marshes, even now preserve the the river Lea, about two miles and a half from memory of the priestly warriors of the Templar the City of London, within the division of the order. Tower Hamlets, in the hundred of Ossulston, in the county of Middlesex." "In former times,” he adds, "many noblemen, gentlemen, and others, of the first rank and consequence, had their country seats in this village, on account of its pleasant and healthy situation." In the parish of Hackney are comprised the nominal hamlets of Clapton (Upper and Lower), Homerton, Dalston, Shacklewell, the greater part of Kingsland, and that part of Stoke Newington which lies on the eastern side of the high road to Tottenham; but modern Hackney, considered as an assemblage of dwellings, is quite united to Homerton and Lower Clapton, on the east and north, and also by rows of buildings on the west to the parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch.

In the reign of Henry III., when the first mention of the place occurs as a village, it is called Hackenaye, and Hacquenye; and in a patent of Edward IV., granting the manors of Stepney and Hackney to Thomas Lord Wentworth, it is styled Hackeney, otherwise Hackney. "The parish, no doubt," says Dr. Robinson, "derived its appellation from circumstances of no common nature, but what they were it is at this time difficult to conjecture; and no one will venture to assert that it received its name from the Teutonic or Welsh language, as some have supposed."

We may conclude this chapter by remarking that Dr. Robinson, in his "History and Antiquities

CHAPTER XLI.

THE NORTH-EASTERN SUBURBS.-HACKNEY (continued).

"I had a parcel of as honest religious girls about me as ever pious matron had under her tuition at a Hackney boarding-school." Tom Brown: Madam Cresswell to Moll Quarles.

Hackney in the Last Century-Its Gradual Growth-Well Street-Hackney College-Monger's Almshouses-The Residence of Dr. FramptonSt. John's Priory-St. John's Church-Mare Street-Hackney a Great Centre of Nonconformity-The Roman Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist-The "Flying Horse" Tavern-Elizabeth Fry's Refuge-Dr. Spurstowe's Almshouses-Hackney Town Hall-The New Line of the Great Eastern Railway-John Milton's Visits to Hackney-Barber's Barn-Loddidge's Nursery-Watercress-beds-The Gravel-pit Meeting House-The Church House-The Parish Church-The "Three Cranes "-The Old Church Tower-The Churchyard-The New Church of St. John-The Black and White House-Boarding Schools for Young Ladies-Sutton Place-The "Mermaid" Tavern-"Ward's Corner"-The Templars' House-Brooke House-Noted Residents at Hackney-Homerton-The City of London Union-Lower Clapton -John Howard, the Prison Reformer-The London Orphan Asylum-Metropolitan Asylum for Imbeciles-The Asylum for Deaf and Dumb Females-Concluding Remarks on Hackney.

IN treating of this parish we have no Pepys or Boswell to guide or interest us, and to gossip with us over this neighbourhood, and to furnish us with stores of anecdote; but, fortunately, we have the assistance of Strype, who, in his edition of Stow's "London," includes Hackney in his "Circuit Walk on the North of London." He styles it a "pleasant and healthful town, where divers nobles in former times had their country seats," enumerating among its residents an Earl of Northumberland, a Countess of Warwick, and a Lord Brooke. Still, the houses and their walks, for the most part, have no stories connected with them, carent quia vate sacro, and the whole district supplies us but scanty materials, historical, topographical, and biographical, as compared with St. Pancras or Hampstead.

Hackney is described in the "Ambulator," in 1774, as "a very large and populous village, on the north of London, inhabited by such numbers

of merchants and wealthy persons, that it is said there are near a hundred gentlemen's coaches kept." The writer enumerates its several hamlets, viz., "Clapton on the north, Dorleston [Dalston] and Shacklewell on the west; and on the east, Homerton, leading to Hackney Marshes."

There is still an old-fashioned air about Hackney itself; but Dalston has thrown out lines of commonplace villas across the fields and orchards on the south-west; Clapton has developed itself on the north; Victoria Park has initiated a new town on the south; a busy railway station stands near the tower of the old church, of which we shall speak presently; and down in the Marshes are now large hives of manufacturing industry.

The town (if considered independently of its hamlets), down to a comparatively recent date, consisted chiefly of four streets, termed Church Street, Mare (or Meare) Street, Grove Street, and Well Street; but such has been the growth of the