Mackenzie, Esq., a member of a rich West Indian family, became possessed of it, and it descended, through his marriage with her youngest daughter, to Captain Frederick Garsham Carmichael, of the 9th Dragoons. After his death, in 1836, and the removal of his wife and numerous family, the estate was sold by auction and the house was pulled down shortly afterwards. This work of pulling down was a most laborious one, so strong and substantial was the building, which, I am informed, was erected by Inigo Jones for the Duke of Rochester; it is, however, supposed by some to have been of the same date as Hampton Court Palace. It stood within gates,* and commanded most extensive views; its grounds were very large, and contained a long row of fine cedartrees, only one of which now survives. I am told that it was also known by the name of "the Manor House," for what reason I am wholly unable to conjecture.

POULETT LODGE.-Just opposite the spot where the house before-mentioned stood, on the other side of the road, possessing a fine river frontage, is a house built by Dr. Batty, a physician of eminence, on the site of a much smaller house destroyed by fire on June 14th, 1734, then in the possession of Monsieur Chauvigny, the French Ambassador. To Dr. Batty succeeded the Right Hon. Vere, third Earl Poulett, and after his death, in 1788, the dowager Countess remained in this house for some time. It subse

* I am told that these gates were removed to, and now form the entrance of Cambridge House, in the Richmond Road.

quently became the residence of Mrs. Osbaldiston. This lady, having ten children, inspired Horace Walpole with horror. Rather than visit her he said. he would visit "a boarding dame at Eton School." He mentions also that, as Lady Poulett's house "would not hold her and her brood," she hired Dr. Duval's parsonage, which was much less, for seven months, at the extravagant rental of 100 guineas.* Lord and Lady Cardigan, and Colonel and Mrs. Webb, successively occupied the house for short periods. For a while it remained empty, and then another Dowager Countess Poulett came to live in it. This lady had been the fourth earl's second wife; she was only daughter of Ynyr Burges, Esq., and was first married to Sir John Smith Burges, of Havering Bower, Essex. On her death, in 1838, the property was purchased by Mr. Maclew, and left by him to his ward, Mr. C. Martin. Mr. Martin was succeeded by Mrs. Ogilby, who married Mr. E. M. Martin. On the death of Mrs. Martin, which occurred in 1870, the property was sold. It was purchased by Mr. W. H. Punchard, who is greatly enlarging and improving it.

Between this house and the next, on the opposite side of the road, stood the celebrated summer house belonging to the seat of the Ferrers family in Heath Lane, the grounds of which extended to this point. As in old times the road was open and not walled up, the summer house commanded an extensive view of the river, from which it was also a conspicuous object.

Miss Berry's Journal, vol. i. p. 421.

CROSS DEEP.-The next house is stated by Ironside to have been the residence of Colonel Pechell, late of the 2nd troop of Horse Guards, and formerly, about 1750, of Mr. Barnaby Backwell, and after him, of Mr. Shackerly, whose widow rented Dial House for a time. The Hon. Mrs. Butler, a Roman Catholic lady, subsequently resided in it. She made the present dining-room a chapel for her household. During the last years of Mrs. Butler's lease Miss Porter occupied the house, and after its expiration, Mr. George Barnard, who owned it, came to live in it, and his widow, Mrs. Paxton Jervis, and family reside in it now.

RIVERSDALE.-Adjoining this is the beautifullysituated house called Riversdale, belonging to Lord Clifden. A lease of a smaller house on its site was granted by the Right Hon. Welbore Ellis (afterwards Lord Mendip), for thirty years, from April 2nd, 1808, to Lady Monson, who greatly enlarged it. Lady Mendip resided here for some time. The next occupant was Mr. G. H. Drummond; then, for a short time, Lord Uxbridge resided in it, his wife, Lady Uxbridge, dying here on July 3rd, 1828. Lord Cawdor next had a lease of it, the remainder of which, after Lord and Lady Cowley had been tenants for a short time, was purchased by Mr. Henry Young, who lived in this house from 1848 until his death, and whose daughters reside in it still.

CROSS DEEP LODGE.-Opposite Riversdale, on the other side of the road, is Cross Deep Lodge,

once inhabited by Mr. Thomas Nobbes, executor and legatee to James Quin, the celebrated actor. Mr. Nobbes possessed a portrait of Quin, said to have been the most highly-finished picture which Gainsborough ever produced. Mr. John Blake, attorney at law, succeeded Mr. Nobbes; subsequently this house became the residence of the three Miss Murthwaites, one of whom married Colonel Barnard, son of Sir George Barnard, librarian to George III., whose son was Mr. George Barnard, of Cross Deep. In 1829, Mr. R. H. Matthews, of Buxar, in the East Indies, took a lease of the house, and lived in it until 1833, when he returned to India, where he died in 1840. His widow and her two children, and her father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop, continued to reside here. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop petitioned the House of Lords in 1839 as being next heirs to the earldom of Monteith and Airth, in opposition to the claim of Mr. Barclay Allardice; the House, however, made no decision, and the title has since remained dormant. Mrs. Matthews died in 1866: she was succeeded in the occupation of the house by her son, Mr. Graham Matthews, who survived her only four years. It is now in the possession of his widow and family.

Next to Riversdale is a modern house called "Pope's Villa," but which does not occupy the site of the celebrated poet's residence, which we must proceed to consider in the next chapter.

* Vide Burke's Dormant Peerage.

CHAPTER XV.

THE HOUSES-Continued.

POPE'S VILLA EARLY HISTORY OF ALEXANDER POPE HIS
HOUSE AT TWICKENHAM-HIS GROTTO-HIS LATER LIFE AND
WORKS-DEATH OF HIS MOTHER-HIS OWN DEATH AND
BURIAL DENIAL OF
THE STATEMENT CONCERNING THE
ABSTRACTION OF THE POET'S SKULL FROM HIS GRAVE-THE
POET'S PERSONAL APPEARANCE, HABITS, CONSTITUTION, TEM-
PERAMENT HIS RANK AS A POET-COMPARISON OF HIM WITH
DRYDEN-THACKERAY ON THE CONCLUDING VERSES OF "THE
DUNCIAD"-SIR WILLIAM STANHOPE ENLARGES THE HOUSE-
LORD MENDIP-DEATH OF POPE'S WILLOW-LADY HOWE
DEMOLISHES POPE'S HOUSE COMPLETELY-HER NEW HOUSE
-SUBSEQUENTLY LESSENED AND DIVIDED-PROPOSAL TO
REBUILD POPE'S VILLA IN FAC-SIMILE-SCHEME ABANDONED—
THE PRESENT SO-CALLED " POPE'S VILLA "THE CARE BESTOWED
BY TWICKENHAM ON HER GREATEST RESIDENT.

POPE'S VILLA. In the person of Alexander Pope the fame of Twickenham culminates. Whilst it would be impossible in a history of the village to omit the principal events and circumstances in his life, it is equally impossible to enter fully into them within the limits of the present work, for to do so would be to write the literary history of the nation for the first half of the eighteenth century; nor is it necessary, since many such works, of varying excellence and interest, exist.