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CHAPTER XI.

Bentley Priory-Stanmore Park-Queen Adelaide - Lord Abercorn - Sir Walter Scott and Marmion-Beautiful Scenery-Chandos Arms -Edgeware-Edgeware Church-Monken Hadley-Wrotham Park— Admiral Byng-Beech Hill House.

IT will be necessary once more to retrace some of our steps and to suppose ourselves at Pinner Station, in order to recommence the delightful walk that lies between Bentley Priory and Stanmore Park. Strangely enough, one of the places is offered for sale, and the other is to be let, since alluding to them on a former occasion; and indeed it was rather surprising to see so many houses, that offered every apparent attraction, with boards before them intimating that they were at the disposal of any passer-by they might suit. The very week that I had seen these empty houses I found in an illustrated paper, the organ of architects, a very interesting account of Bentley, which must almost have rivalled Holland House in the literary associations

that hang around it. Rogers, Southey, and Wordsworth were among its guests, and they all knew the haunts of the park well; and here sometimes Lord Sidmouth, the sententious Addington, used to meet Canning, of whose terrible satires he was so often the victim. And later on Bentley was a favourite rendezvous of the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel. Scott revised Marmion in a summer-house in the grounds, and Rogers wrote some of the Pleasures of Memory here-inspired, it has been suggested, by the shady avenues and the tranquil scenery of the park. Bentley was purchased nearly a century ago by Lord Abercorn, and it is interesting as having been the residence of the Dowager Queen Adelaide. It was rented from Lord Abercorn for her for three years, but she only lived to enjoy half the lease. Many old people yet living in the neighbourhood speak of her kindnesses, and her genial love for every one about her. Strathmore and Harrow Weald knew her well; and the last time that she appeared in public was when she laid the foundation stone of Stanmore new church, which stands at the corner of the boundary lane that ends the easterly direction of Stanmore and Bentley Parks. For nearly three years after Lord Abercorn had decided to live in Ireland, Bentley Priory re

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mained without a tenant, until Sir John Kelk, the eminent contractor, purchased it, and now again it seems to be at the disposal of the public. There are six lodges on the roads by which Bentley is surrounded, and some of them are very neat and tasteful. In no part of England do laurels and rhododendrons and yews grow to greater perfection. Often the house

These were usually

She

is lost to sight until we approach near its entrance, and by whichever road a visitor comes he must perforce arrive at the mansion by the northern entrance. The principal rooms from the hall are the billiard-room, picture-gallery, and great drawing-room, and library. But on the same floor are two rooms- -the morningroom, and gentlemen's-room. occupied by the Queen Dowager as a sitting-room and bedroom, and in one of these she died. chose these rooms on account of their having a warm southern aspect. They are undoubtedly very pleasant, and from the morning-room a door opens into a magnificent Italian garden and conservatory, 126 feet in length. In a summer-house on the lake Scott and Rogers spent many delightful days, and here much of Marmion was written. The stables of Bentley are models of perfection; there is accommodation for fifty horses. The fernery, the lime-tree avenue (which is

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only inferior to the magnificent one at "The Quarries in Shrewsbury), the orangery, the cedars of Lebanon, and the yews, are among the finest of their kind in Middlesex. Bentley Priory seems never to have remained for long in one family. After the dissolution of monasteries it would appear that Henry VIII. granted the lands to Messrs. Needham and Sacheverel; but they did not remain in their hands for long; they sold them to one Elizabeth Colt, and in the reign of Queen Anne this estate passed to two owners of the name of Coghill; and, though that was only in the first part of the eighteenth century, it passed through three handsMr. Bennet, Mr. Waller, and Mr. Duberly-before it was purchased in 1788 by the Marquis of Abercorn. Sir John Kelk made few additions to the mansion, only adding the projecting Italian front to the south. It is said that Lord Abercorn induced Scott while he was here to write the lines on Fox:

"For talents mourn untimely lost

When best employed, and wanted most."

Lockhart, in his Life of Scott, says that these lines came from the pen of the very conservative peer, Lord Abercorn.

From Stanmore Church, which lies at the extremity of Bentley and Stanmore Parks, a walk of rather less.

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than a mile will take us to the Edgeware Road, a few paces beyond the ninth milestone from London; and if we turn to the right, we shall skirt the old boundary wall of Canons and arrive at Edgeware.

This is on

the old Roman road of Watling Street, which traverses the kingdom, and appears in its proper name in a small street in London, and often after as it passes through country towns. But the journey from Pinner Station to Edgeware Road is very beautiful and full of sylvan delights. One of the shady lanes is here shown; the