St. John's Wood.] JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 251 Hamilton Terrace and the surrounding streets commemorate, by their names, the governors and generation. Aberdeen Place, Abercorn Place, Cunningham Place, Northwick Terrace, &c., at all events, serve to show that the foundation of the honest yeoman of Preston, John Lyon, is not in danger of being forgotten or useless. In Hamilton Terrace is the large Church of St. Mark's. It was built in 1847, in the Gothic style of architecture, from the designs of Messrs. Cundy. of usefulness and honour in the work of life, side wings on each side have been converted into by side with those who possess all the inestimable dwelling-houses, one of them serving as a residence advantages of sight. In the industrial department, for the clergy. The windows of the chapel are the work among the boys consists chiefly of basket- "lancets," after the fashion of the twelfth or early making and chair-caning; amongst the girls, of part of the thirteenth century, and are filled with chair-caning, knitting, and bead-work. Of the stained glass, principally as memorial windows. progress made by the pupils generally, Mr. Charles Richards, the literary examiner, made the following encouraging remarks in his annual report to the other authorities of Harrow School in the last committee of the institution, in May, 1876-generation. Speaking of the boys, he says, "The difficulty in learning to write to one who is unable to see a copy is evident; but by means of embossed letters, &c., the difficulty has been so far overcome that many of the boys are able to write very creditably. I was somewhat surprised to find that those who had been at the school a few months only were able to read very fairly. The reading of the others would compare favourably with that of boys of their age who have the advantage of sight. Arithmetic is worked on boards with movable type, and necessarily takes more time than if worked with slate and pencil. Some have advanced as far as the extraction of square and cube roots. All the examples were correctly worked, and I consider this part of the examination to have been very satisfactory. . . In history, geography, grammar, and religious knowledge, I was altogether satisfied. The answers were given readily, and showed an intelligent knowledge of the subjects." Of the instruction of the girls in this department Mr. Richards' report is equally satisfactory, and he concludes by saying that he "cannot speak too highly of the excellent discipline in both schools, the principle of government being love rather than severity." The Roman Catholic Chapel in Grove Road is a large Gothic structure, built about the year 1836, through the munificence of two maiden ladies of the name of Gallini, whose father, an Italian refugee, had settled in London, and having taught dancing to sundry members of the royal family, became Sir John Gallini.* So noble and generous was their gift esteemed that they were rewarded with a magnificent testimonial from the Roman Catholic ladies of England, presented by the hands of the Princess Donna Isabella Maria of Portugal. The chapel was one of the early works of Mr. J. J. Scoles, and is a rather poor reproduction of some of the features of the Lady Chapel in St. Saviour's Church, Southwark. It is a cruciform structure in the Early English style, and it consists of a nave, chancel, and side aisles; the See Vol. IV., p. 318. * At the junction of the Finchley and St. John's Wood Roads, close by the station on the Underground Railway, is the St. John's Wood Chapel, with its burial-ground, in which a few individuals of note have been buried; and among them the impostors, Richard Brothers and Joanna Southcott. Of the former of these two characters we have spoken in our account of Paddington. Joanna Southcott was a native of Devonshire, and was born about the middle of the last century. In her youth she lived as a domestic servant, chiefly in Exeter, and having joined the Methodists, became acquainted with a man named Sanderson, who laid claim to the spirit of prophecy, a pretension in which she herself ultimately indulged. In 1792, she declared herself to be the woman driven into the wilderness, the subject of the prophecy in the 12th chapter of the Book of Revelation. She gave forth predictions in prose and doggerel rhyme, in which she related the denunciation of judgments on the surrounding nations, and promised a speedy approach of the Millennium. In the course of her "mission," as she called it, she employed a boy, who pretended to see visions, and attempted, instead of writing, to adjust them on the walls of her chapel, "the House of God." A schism took place among her followers, one of whom, named Carpenter, took possession of the place, and wrote against her: not denying her mission, but asserting that she had exceeded it. Although very illiterate, she wrote numerous letters and pamphlets, which were published, and found many purchasers. One of her productions was called "The Book of Wonders." She also issued to her followers sealed papers, which she termed her "seals," and which, she assured them, would See p. 212, ante. birth, at midnight, on the 19th of October, 1814, to a second "Shiloh," or Prince of Peace, miraculously conceived, she being then more than sixty years of age. The infatuation of her followers was such that they received this announcement with devout reverence, prepared an expensive cradle, and spent considerable sums, in order that all might be suitable for so great and interesting an occasion. The expected birth did not take place; but on the 27th of December, 1814, the woman died, at her house in Manchester Street.* On a postmortem examination, it was found that the appearance of pregnancy which had deceived others, and perhaps herself, was due to dropsy. Her followers, See Vol. IV., p. 425.. but I have reason to believe it is 200 or 300 at least. They meet together on Sundays, but I have not been able to discover the exact place; but I know they are most numerous in the parishes of St. Luke and Shoreditch. I lately met one of their preachers, or 'prophets,' and had some conversation with him. He was evidently a man of education, and strenuously maintained the Divine mission of Joanna. When I asked him how he got over the non-fulfilment of the promise, or rather the assurance, which she made to her 50,000 followers that she would rise from the dead on the third day, his answer was that the expression three days' was not to be taken in a literal sense, but as denoting three certain periods of time. Two of these periods, he said, had rather a practical character, if the following may be taken as a specimen :-"I am the Lord thy God and Master. Tell I- to pay thee five pounds for expenses of thy coming up to London; and he must give thee twenty pounds to relieve the perplexity of thy handmaid and thee, that your thoughts may be free to serve me, the Lord, in the care of my Shiloh." The Lord is made to inform his people somewhere, anxious to go to meet the Shiloh at Manchester, that travelling by the new cut is not expensive. On her death-bed, poor Joanna is reported to have said:" If I have been misled, it has been by some spirit, good or evil." In her last hours, Joanna was attended by Ann Underwood, her secretary; Mr. Tozer, who was called her high-priest; Colonel Harwood, and While vain sages think they know SABINEUS. About three years after the death of Joanna Southcott, a party of her disciples, conceiving themselves directed by God to proclaim the coming of the Shiloh on earth, marched in procession through Temple Bar, and the leader sounded a brazen trumpet, and proclaimed the coming of Shiloh, the Prince of Peace; while his wife shouted, "Woe! woe! to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the coming of Shiloh!" The crowds pelted the fanatics with mud, some disturbance ensued, and some of the disciples had to answer for their conduct before a magistrate. CHAPTER XX. MARYLEBONE, NORTH: ITS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS. "Suburban villas, highway-side retreats, That dread th' encroachment of our growing streets, Tight boxes, neatly sash'd, and in a blaze With all a July sun's collected rays, Delight the citizen, who, gasping there, Breathes clouds of dust, and calls it country air."-Cowper. North Bank and South Bank-Rural Aspect of the Neighbourhood Half a Century Ago-Marylebone Park-Taverns and Tea-gardens -The “Queen's Head and Artichoke "-The "Harp"-The "Farthing Pie House "-The "Yorkshire Stingo"-The Introduction of London Omnibuses by Mr. Shillibeer-Marylebone Baths and Washhouses-Queen Charlotte's Lying-in Hospital-The New Road-The Paddington Stage-Coach-A Proposed Boulevard round the Outskirts of London-Dangers of the Road-Lisson Grove-The Philological School-A Favourite Locality for Artists-John Martin, R.A.-Chapel Street-Leigh Hunt-Church Street-The Royal Alfred TheatreMetropolitan Music-Hall-Portman Market-Blandford Square-The Convent of the Sisters of Mercy-Michael Faraday as a BookbinderHarewood Square-Dorset Square-The Original "Lord's" Cricket Ground-Upper Baker Street-Mrs. Siddons' Residence-The Notorious Richard Brothers-Invention of the " "Tilbury." THE district through which we are now about to pass lies between Edgware Road and Regent's Park, and the St. John's Wood Road and Marylebone Road. At the beginning of the century, Cowper's lines quoted above might, perhaps, have been more applicable to it than now; but even to this day they are not altogether out of place when applied to those parts lying to the north of Lisson Grove, more especially towards the Park Road, and to the villas known respectively as North Bank and South Bank, the gardens of which slope down towards the Regent's Canal, which passes between them. Here we have "trim gardens," lawns, and shrubs; towering spires, banks clothed with flowers; indeed, all the elegances of the town and all the beauties of the country are at this spot happily commingled. Of the early history of Marylebone, and of that portion of the parish lying on the south side of the Marylebone Road, we have already spoken ;* but we may add here that at the beginning of the eighteenth century the place was a small village, quite surrounded by fields, and nearly a mile distant from any part of the great metropolis. Indeed, | down to a much later date-namely, about 1820we have seen an oil-painting, by John Glover, of Primrose Hill and the ornamental water in the Regent's Park, taken from near the top of Upper Baker Street or Clarence Gate, in the front of which are a party of haymakers, sketched from life, and there are only three houses dotted about near the then new parish church of Marylebone. Indeed, at the commencement of the present century Marylebone was a suburban retreat, amid "green fields and babbling brooks." A consider able extent of ground on the north side of what is now called the Marylebone Road, and comprising See Vol. IV., p. 428 et seq. besides nearly the whole of what is now Regent's Park, was at one time known as Marylebone Park, and was of course attached to the old Manor House, which we have already described.† A reminiscence of the Manor House, with its garden, park, and environs, as they stood in the time of Queen Elizabeth, when her Majesty here entertained the Russian ambassadors with a stag hunt in the said park, is preserved in a drawing made by Gasselin in 1700, and re-published by Mr. J. T. Smith in 1800. Marylebone Park Farm and its cow-sheds, which covered the rising ground almost as far northward as Le Notre's Canal, has now become metamorphosed into a rural city. From 1786 to 1792, the additions and improvements in this neighbourhood were carried into effect in quick succession. Almost all of the Duke of Portland's property in Marylebone, except one farm, was let at that period on building leases, and the new buildings in the north-west part of the parish increased with equal rapidity. The large estates at Lisson Grove, in process of time, all became extensively and, in many instances, tastefully built upon. A correspondent of "Hone's Year-Book" writes, in 1832, with an almost touching tenderness about "Marylebone Park," the memory of which name has long since passed away, confessing that it "holds in his affections a far dearer place than its more splendid but less rural successor "-referring, of course, to the Regent's Park. This, too, is the romantic district through which Mr. Charles Dickens, in the person of his "Uncommercial Traveller," must have descried at a distance in the course of his "various solitary rambles," which he professes to have "taken northward for his retirement," the West-end out of season, "along Sce Vol. IV., p. 429. Marylebone, North.] THE "QUEEN'S HEAD AND ARTICHOKE.” 255 the awful perspectives of Wimpole Street, Harley i.e., toy-trumpet. There was another tavern, with Street, and similar frowning districts." tea-gardens, bearing the same sign at Islington, down to the end of last century. But the district in former times was made attractive for the pent-up Londoner by its public tea- Mr. J. T. Smith, in his "Book for a Rainy Day," gardens and bowered taverns. Of the last-named under date of 1772, gives us the following graphic we may mention the "Queen's Head and Arti- sketch of this locality at that period -"My dear choke," which stood near what is now the southern mother's declining state of health," he writes, end of Albany Street, not far from Trinity Church. "urged my father to consult Dr. Armstrong, who "At the beginning of this century," says Mr. Jacob recommended her to rise early and take milk at Larwood, in his "History of Sign-boards," "when the cow-house. I was her companion then; and Marylebone consisted of 'green fields, babbling I well remember that, after we had passed Portbrooks,' and pleasant suburban retreats, there was land Chapel, there were fields all the way on either a small but picturesque house of public entertainment, yclept the Queen's Head and Artichoke,' situated in a lane nearly opposite Portland Road, and about 500 yards from the road that leads from Paddington to Finsbury'-now Albany Street. Its attractions chiefly consisted in a long skittle and 'bumble-puppy' ground, shadowy bowers, and abundance of cream, tea, cakes, and other creature comforts. The only memorial now remaining of the original house is an engraving in the Gentleman's Magazine for November, 1819. The queen was Queen Elizabeth, and the house was reported to have been built by one of her gardeners: whence the strange combination on the sign." at side. The highway was irregular, with here and there a bank of separation; and that when we had crossed the New Road, there was a turnstile the entrance of a meadow, leading to a little old public-house, the sign of the Queen's Head and Artichoke;' it was much weather-beaten, though, perhaps, once a tolerably good portrait of Queen Elizabeth. . . . A little beyond a nest of small houses contiguous was another turnstile, opening also into fields, over which we walked to the 'Jew's Harp House Tavern and Tea-Gardens.' It consisted of a large upper room, ascended by an outside staircase, for the accommodation of the company on ball nights; and in this room large parties Mr. Larwood tells us an anecdote about some dined. At the south front of these premises was a other public gardens in this neighbourhood, which large semi-circular enclosure with boxes for tea and is equally new to most readers, and interesting ale-drinkers, guarded by deal-board soldiers between to the topographer and the biographer. "There every box, painted in proper colours. In the centre was," he remarks, "in former times, a house of of this opening were tables and seats placed for amusement called the 'Jew's Harp,' with bowery the smokers. On the eastern side of the house tea-gardens and thickly-foliaged snuggeries, near there was a trapball-ground; the western side what now is the top of Portland Place. Mr. served for a tennis-hall; there were also public and Onslow, the Speaker of the House of Commons private skittle-grounds. Behind this tavern were in the reign of George II., used to resort thither several small tenements, with a pretty good portion in plain attire when able to escape from his chair of ground to each. On the south of the teaof office, and, sitting in the chimney-corner, to gardens a number of summer-houses and gardens, join in the humours of the other guests and fitted up in the truest cockney taste; for on many customers. This he continued to do for some of these castellated edifices wooden cannons were time, until one day he unfortunately happened placed; and at the entrance of each domain, of to be recognised by the landlord, as he was about the twentieth part of an acre, the old inriding, or rather driving, in his carriage of state scription of 'Steel-traps and spring-guns all over down to the Houses of Parliament; and, in con- these grounds,' with an 'N.B.-Dogs trespassing, sequence, he found, on the occasion of his next will be shot.' In these rural retreats the tenant visit, that his incognito had been betrayed. This was usually seen on Sunday evening in a bright broke the charm-for him, at least; and, like the scarlet waistcoat, ruffled shirt, and silver shoefairies in the legend, he never returned there any buckles, comfortably taking his tea with his family, more again from that day.'" From Ben Jonson's honouring a Seven-Dial friend with a nod on his play, The Devil's an Ass, act i., scene 1, it appears peregrination to the famed Wells of Kilburn. that it was formerly the custom to keep in taverns William's Farm, the extent of my mother's walk, a fool, who, for the edification of customers, used stood at about a quarter of a mile south; and I to sit on a stool and play the Jew's harp, or some remember that the room in which she sat to take other humble instrument. The Jew's harp, we may add, was an instrument formerly called jeu trompe, House." Called, in an early plan which I have since seen, "The White |