them perform all sorts of amusing feats-climbing of such birds, beasts, and fishes as require medical chairs, &c. The parrot-house, in the northern section of the gardens, is well worthy of a visit, containing, as it does, every variety of the gaudy inhabitants of the woods of South America and Australia. The screaming and screeching of these not very tuneful songsters, when they are heard in chorus, may reconcile us to the dull plumage of our native birds, and teach us that there is a law of compensation not only for human beings, but for the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air. We might add that, if inquests were held on the bodies of beasts, it would have been the duty of a jury to bring in a verdict of "Wilful murder" against the British public in the case of the seal and the ostrich which died in 1873, the former being killed by swallowing a bag of nuts thrown to it by some schoolboys, without cracking the shells; while the latter was shown, upon dissection, to have met its end by twenty-one penny pieces which it could not digest, although it was an ostrich. attendance. In one corner of the gardens, not easily found by chance visitors, is a small and unobtrusive dissecting room, where the carcases of such animals as die from natural causes are made subservient to the purposes of anatomical science. In 1875 an extensive addition was made to the gardens, by inclosing about four acres of land on the north side of the canal, which is crossed by a bridge, thus enabling the society to open an additional entrance in the Outer Circle of the Park, nearly opposite the foot of Primrose Hill. In these gardens were lodged, in a temporary building, the collection of beasts and birds brought back by the Prince of Wales from India, in 1876, including several tiger cubs, goats, sheep, dwarf oxen, and dwarf elephants, as well as several varieties of the pheasant tribe. We may add, in conclusion, that Regent's Park is, and must be, at a disadvantage when compared with the other places of fashionable resort in London; and although crowds of the bon ton flock to the fêtes at the Botanical Gardens, and lounge The climate, it is true, has something to do, at away their Sunday afternoons at "the Zoo" in the times, with the longevity of the animals for in-season, yet it never will or can become really "the stance, some fine white oxen from Italy, the gift of fashion," as the tide sets steadily in a south-west Count Cavour, are now all dead, reminding the direction. classical reader of the well-known line of Virgil— "Hinc albi, Clitumne, greges, et maxima taurus Victima." Some huge white oxen from India, however, now in the gardens, thrive well and multiply. "The Regent's Park, above all," writes the Viscomte d'Arlingcourt, in his account of a visit to England in 1844, "is a scene of enchantment, where we might fancy ourselves surrounded by the quiet charms of a smiling landscape, or in the delightful garden of a magnificent country house, if we did not see on every side a countless number of mansions adorned with colonnades, porticoes, pediments, and statues, which transport us back to London; but London is not here, as it is on the banks of the Thames, the gloomy commercial city. Its appearance has entirely changed. Purified from its smoke and dirt, and decked with costly splendour, it has become the perfumed abode of the aristocracy. No artisans' dwellings are to be seen here nothing less than the habitations of It should be added that at intervals a "duplicate list" of animals is issued and circulated by the secretary of the society; one of such lists now before us includes a large variety of specimens, ranging from the Indian elephant (offered at £450) down to ring-necked and crested paroquets, at 15s. and 10s., and a common heron at 10s. The books kept daily at the office of the society contain not only the list of "arrivals" and "departures," but also a record of the temperature in the various "houses" in the gardens, and what would be called an "æger list"—namely, a list | princes." Situation of Primrose Hill, and its Appearance in Bygone Times-Barrow Hill and the West Middlesex Waterworks-The Manor of ChalcotMurder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey-Duel between Ugo Foscolo and Graham-Primrose Hill purchased by the Crown, and made a Park for the People-The Tunnel through the Hill-Fireworks in Celebration of the Peace in 1856-The Shakespeare Oak-Lady Byron's Residence-Chalk Farm-Duels fought there-The Wrestling Club of Cumberland and Westmorland-The Eccentric Lord Coleraine-The Old Chalk Farm Tavern-The Railway Station-Pickford's Goods Depôt-The Boys' Home-The "York and Albany " Tavern-Gloucester Gate-Albany Street-The Guards' Barracks-Park Village East-Cumberland Market-Munster Square-Osnaburgh Street-Sir Goldsworthy Gurney-The "Queen's Head and Artichoke"-Trinity Church. a "park for the people," and its associations are the reverse of aristocratic. The hill lies on the north side of the park, and its name still bears testimony to its rural and retired situation, when its sides were covered with brushwood and an undergrowth of early spring flowers. Going back to the time of the Roman settlers, we find that when they planted their colony on the banks of the Thames and founded London, most part of the northern district consisted of a large forest filled with wolves and other wild animals. Early in the thirteenth century the forest of Middlesex was disaffores ed, but although portions were cleared, St. John's Wood, as we have already seen, remained sufficiently dense in Queen Elizabeth's reign to afford shelter and concealment to Babington, the conspirator, and his associates. At that time, however, the slopes of Primrose Hill were used as meadow land, and were probably in the mind of writers who allude to the many "haicockes in July at Pancredge" (St. Pancras), as a thing known to everybody. This district dates back to very early times, if we are to accept the name of Barrow Hill-formerly Greenberry Hill-which lies on its western side, as evidence that it was once the scene of a battle and place of sepulture for the slain. This, however, is a highly doubtful derivation, as we "The definite history of the place," says a writer in the Builder, "dates from the time when 'sunury devout men of London' gave to the Leper Hospital of St. James (afterwards St. James's Palace) four hides of land in the field of Westminster, and eighty acres of land and wood in Hendon, Chalcot, and Hampstead. Edward I. confirmed these gifts, but in course of time dissensions arose between the convent and the Abbey of Westminster, which Henry VI. brought to an end by giving the custody of the hospital into the hands of the provost and fellows of his newly-founded college of Eton, and with it the before-mentioned acres. In the twenty-third year of Henry VIII.'s reign the hospital was surrendered to the king, who turned it into a manor-house. The property of Chalcot and its neighbourhood was probably of little value, and no doubt the Eton authorities had not much difficulty in getting it into their own hands again." More than two centuries pass away, farmhouses are built, and the manor of Chalcot is divided into Upper and Lower, which are described as the Chalcots. Towards the close of the year 1678 the eyes of all England were directed towards this retired and lonely spot, for there had been discovered the dead body of Sir Edmund Berry They Harrison, the king's embroiderer. Godfrey, of whose murder we have already spoken in our account of Somerset House.* The hill at that time doubtless was famous for the primroses that grew upon it; and although the fields around It has been suggested that the confusion has were used for grazing, the place, covered as it was arisen partly from the likeness of the name to that with brambles, was inaccessible, and wonder was of the celebrated town in Suffolk, and partly from excited as to the means by which the body came the infrequent use at that time of two Christian there. The name of the victim has been variously names. Sir Edmund was a rich timber merchant, written: Macaulay; in common with many others, and lived at the river end of Northumberland calls him Edmundsbury Godfrey, whilst by some it is written Edmund Berry Godfrey. On a monument in the cloister of Westminster Abbey to the memory of a brother of Sir Edmund, the knight is designated as Edmundus Berry Godfrey; but the late Mr. J. G. Nichols went still further, and brought forward as his authority Sir Edmund's father. The following is an extract from the diary of Thomas Godfrey, of Lidd, Kent :-"My wife was delivered of another son the 23rd December, 1621, who was christened the 13th January, being Sunday. His godfathers were my cousin, John Berrie, his other godfather my faithful loving friend and my neighbour sometime in Grub Street, Mr. Edmund *See Vol. III., p. 92. Street, in the Strand. He was Justice of the Peace for the Court quarter of town, and was so active in the performance of his duties, that during the time of the Great Plague, in 1664-5, upon the refusal of his men to enter a pest-house in order to bring out a culprit who had furnished a large number of shops with at least 1,000 winding-sheets stolen from the dead, he ventured in alone and brought the wretch to justice. He was knighted for his conduct during the plague, and Bishop Burnet says that he was esteemed the best justice of the peace in England. At the time of his death he was entering upon the great design of taking up all beggars, and putting them to work. He is said to have been a zealous Protestant and Church of England man, but not forward to side of Primrose Hill, about two fields distant from the White House, or Lower Chalcot farmhouse, whither the corpse was taken, and where it lay for two days, being seen by large multitudes. From the "White House" the body of Sir Edmund was conveyed back to London, to be buried in St. Martin's Churchyard, having first "lain in state for two days at the Bridewell Hospital." The spot on which the corpse was found is thus described in a publication of the period:-"As to the place, it was in a ditch on the south side of Primrose Hill, surrounded with divers closes, fenced in with high mounds and ditches; no road near, only some deep dirty lanes, made for the convenience of driving cows, and such like cattle, in and out of the grounds; and those very lanes There were bruises, and his neck was broken. many drops of white waxlights on his breeches, which he never used himself; and since only persons of quality and priests use those lights, this made all people conclude in whose hands he must have been." Four medals were struck to commemorate his death, on one of which he was represented as walking with a broken neck and a sword in his body. On the reverse of this medal St. Denis is shown bearing his head in his hand. Underneath is the following inscription : "Godfrey walks up hill after he is dead; Denis walks down hill carrying his head." A great procession, consisting of eight knights, all the aldermen of the city of London, and seventytwo clergymen, accompanied the body to the grave in St. Martin's Church, and a portrait of Sir Edmund was placed in the vestry-room. The press now teemed with pamphlets on the subject. In one, the murder was charged to the Earl of Danby; in another, Garnet's ghost, addressing the Jesuits, is made to show the greatest delight in the horrors of the plot. Wishes are expressed "That the whole nation with one neck might grow, The nation, thus roused to a state of frenzy, thirsted for revenge, and Somerset House, as we have mentioned, then the residence of Queen Catherine of Braganza, consort of Charles II., was fixed upon as the scene of the murder. Three personsnamely, Robert Green, cushion-man of the queen's chapel; Lawrence Hill, servant to Dr. Godden, treasurer of the chapel; and Henry Berry, porter at Somerset House-were tried for the crime on the 10th of February, 1679, when the infamous witnesses, Oates, Prance, and Bedloe, declared "that he (Godfrey) was waylaid, and inveigled into the palace, under the pretence of keeping the peace between two servants who were fighting in the yard; that he was there strangled, his neck broke, and his own sword run through his body; that he was kept four days before they ventured to remove him; at length his corpse was carried in a sedanchair to Soho, and then on a horse to Primrose Hill." In spite of the abandoned character of the witnesses and the irreconcilable testimony they gave, the jury found all the prisoners guilty, and Lord Chief Justice Scroggs said he should have found the same verdict had he been one of the jury. The three men, all declaring their innocence to the last, were executed, and the law had its victims; but from that day to this the murder of Godfrey has remained an unsolved mystery. It was pointed out in a printed letter to Prance, 1681, that his story of Hill carrying the body before him on horseback could not be true on account of the condition of the district; and it was further stated that it would have been "impossible for any man on horseback, with a dead corpse before him, at midnight to approach, unless gaps were made in the mounds, as the constable and his assistants found from experience when they came on horseback thither." It has been a popular belief that Greenberry Hill, mentioned above, took its origin from the names of the three supposed murderers, but it is doubtful whether this was the case; and Narcissus Luttrell, in his contemporary Diary," remarks on the singular coincidence of the names of Green, Berry, and Hill with the old designation of the hill. The name has long since been changed 66 to Barrow Hill, thus assisting to bury in obscurity, if not in oblivion, the awful fate of a man who lived and died guiltless of any crime, except the strict execution of his duty. On the western side of Primrose Hill is another and a smaller eminence, the summit of which has been, beyond the memory of man, bare of all vegetable substance. "The popular tradition is," observes a writer in the Mirror, "that there two brothers, enamoured of the same lady, met to decide by arms to whom she should belong. Ridiculous idea! that a woman's heart would consent to receive a master from the point of a sword, or trust its hopes of happiness to the hired arbitration of a trigger! Both died at the same time, each by the weapon of his adversary!" Here, too, about the year 1813, Ugo Foscolo fought a duel— happily, bloodless-with Graham, the editor of the Literary Museum. In 1827, the provost and fellows of Eton began to see that their property would soon become valuable, and they obtained an Act of Parliament (7 Geo. IV., c. 25, private), enabling them to grant leases of lands in the parishes of Hampstead and Marylebone. Soon after the accession of Queen Victoria, endeavours were made to obtain Primrose Hill for the Crown, and a public act was passed (5 and 6 Vict., c. 78), for effecting an exchange between Her Majesty and the provost and college of Eton. By this act Eton College received certain property at Eton, and gave up all their rights in the Hill. In the schedules setting forth the particulars of the transfer we read of Shepherd's Hill, Square Field, Bluehouse Field, and Rugmere Close, all in the vicinity of Primrose Hill. The Eton property is now largely built upon, and the appropriate names of Eton, College, King Henry's, Provost, Fellows', Oppidans', and Merton Roads, all on the north, south, and east of the Hill, mark its position. It may be added here that the North-Western Railway, entering a tunnel at Chalk Farm, passes under Primrose Hill, emerging again between St. John's Wood and Kilburn. This tunnel, which runs in a parallel direction with a portion of the Adelaide Road, is nearly 3,500 feet in length, and was made in 1834. It was for many years considered one of the greatest triumphs of engineering skill in the neighbourhood of the metropolis; in fact, it was the largest work of the kind carried out by any engineers up to that time. It passes through 1,100 yards of stiff London clay, "the most unmanageable and treacherous of all materials." More recently another tunnel has been constructed for the main line traffic. |