Little Stanmore.] THE DOWNFALL OF CANONS. either the prose or the poetry of Pope when his satire exceeded the bounds of fact; and as the duke was highly respected for genuine worth of heart, and was said to have presented the poet with the sum of one thousand pounds as a tribute to his literary merits, much indignation was excited by the presumed libel. In one of the many brochures published against Pope occur the lines "Great Chandos' stream of bounty flow'd too high; Chandos' high soul forgets as he bestows." Whether Pope's lines were or were not really intended to be applied to the Duke of Chandos, the glory of Canons was but of short duration; hence the concluding lines of the essay were, at all events, in a certain sense fulfilled. In a truly prophetic spirit Pope foretells the transformation. of the proud and formal domain into pasture and farm-land : "Another age shall see the golden ear Imbrown the slope and nod on the parterre ; These lines were sadly verified in the very next generation, as we shall see. The duke's eldest surviving son, John, Marquis of Carnarvon, died in the lifetime of his father, leaving-by his marriage with Lady Catherine Tollemache, a daughter of the Earl of Dysart—one only daughter, also named Catherine. The duke himself died in 1744, and his widow followed him to the grave some six years later. Owing to disputes with the duke's younger son and successor, Henry, second Duke of Chandos, the duchess-dowager ordered that the provisions of her lord's will with regard to her interment should not be carried out, and she was accordingly buried elsewhere; but in the following year her remains were disinterred, and laid in the Chandos vault; no monument, however, representing the duke's best beloved wife was ever placed in the mortuary chapel. His Grace had experienced great losses from several public speculations in which he had embarked, the most important of which was the South Sea scheme, which had been productive of such a wide-spread ruin in the year 1720. He continued, however, to reside at Canons, though, as it would appear, with diminished splendour, till his death. Under the second duke the estate became more sadly encumbered than ever; and on his death, his executors found it necessary to put Canons up for sale, a special Act of Parliament having been passed to enable them to do so. No purchaser, however, could be found for the mansion and estate as a whole; so at last the house was pulled to pieces, 293 and the materials sold by auction in 1747, in separate lots, that which had cost half a million to build producing only £11,000. The costly furniture was also sold, crowds flocking to the scene― as a hundred years later crowds flocked to the Stowe and Strawberry Hill sales. The marble staircase was bought by Lord Chesterfield for his house in Mayfair; some of the pillars, too, at Chesterfield House originally belonged to Canons, and were termed by the witty earl "the canonical pillars of his house." The fine columns became a portico for Wanstead House, mentioned above, and which has since been also demolished. The equestrian statue of George I. (one of the many sculptures which adorned the grounds at Canons) was transferred to Leicester Square, where it was allowed to perish. The statue of George II. in Golden Square, too, was part of the Canons spoil. One of the marble fireplaces found a settlement at the "Chandos Arms" inn at Edgware; and a grand carving in wood, by Grinling Gibbons, which, as we find in Evelyn's "Diary," was purchased by the duke, was transferred to the great hall of Bush Hill Park, near Enfield. The immediate cause, or, at all events, one cause, of the break-up and forced sale of Canons was the attempt of the second duke to buy upat all sorts of fancy prices of course-the whole of the land which lay between his country seat and his town house near Cavendish Square-a house still immortalised by the name of Chandos Street. This he wished to do in order that he might drive his coach and six from the one place to the other without passing the bounds of his estate. the large houses* standing on the north side of Cavendish Square were erected as residences for the duke's porters and other members of his household. In order to carry his idea into effect, the duke would have had to buy up half Marylebone, St. John's Wood, Hendon, and Kingsbury-purchases for which no ducal coffers could have sufficed. The tourist who wishes to make a pilgrimage to Canons at the present time will find it very much like the play of "Hamlet," with the part of Hamlet left out. The park is still there; but, though for the most part under grass, it is cut up by hedges and railings into separate fields. A few of the fine elms which once formed the avenues still stand like solitary sentinels; the carp and tench still swim lazily about in the two large fishponds on either side of the carriage road which leads up to the present mansion from the town See "Old and New London," Vol. IV., p. 443. of Edgware; the shrubberies are still green with magnificent bays, laurels, cypresses, and other ornamental trees, interspersed with oaks, hazels, and chestnuts; and beyond the west end of Whitchurch churchyard may be distinctly traced, though now grown over with turf-not with corn, as prophesied by Pope-the splendid road down which the duke and his duchess used to drive in their coach and six, and with their tall guards in front, on Sundays, to hear Handel's music in their velvet sion itself may be formed from the fact that the two porters' lodges, each having six rooms on the ground floor, being raised a storey higher by the new owner of Canons, were let to private gentlemen, one of them being a baronet, Sir Hugh Dalrymple. Mr. Hallet's villa, built of stone, was a somewhat modest, but capacious, residence, and has been enlarged in recent times. The house stands on a gentle elevation, in the midst of a moderate-sized and well-timbered park. The property was sold by lined gallery, or tribune, at the west end of the sacred edifice. But the old mansion itself is clean gone, though the vistas which it once commanded may be seen. The iron gates which once closed the southern entrance now span the centre of the gardens of New College, Oxford; and it is said that the golden lamps which lighted the chief avenue to the house were for many years to be seen at Day and Martin's shop in Holborn. Sic transit gloria. Mr. Hallet, a cabinet-maker in Long Acre, bought the greater part of the estate and a large quantity of building materials, with which he erected a villa on part of the site of the original house. Some idea of the magnificence of the man 1 Mr. Hallet's grandson to Captain Dennis O'Kelly, whose name was well-known in the sporting world as the owner of a famous race-horse, "Eclipse," which in its old age is said to have been brought hither all the way from Epsom on a carriage made specially for him. This wonderful horse was bred by the Duke of Cumberland, and being foaled during the great eclipse, was so named by the duke in consequence. His royal owner did not survive to witness the very great performances he himself had predicted. When a yearling only, the horse was disposed of by auction, with the rest of his stud. At four or five years old Captain O'Kelly purchased half of him for 250 guineas, and in a short time after gave 750 for the remainder. The but old age has come upon me, and wonder not, King Fergus, when I tell thee I was drawn in a carriage from Epsom to Canons, being unable to walk even so short a journey. Every horse, as well as every dog, has his day; and I have had mine. I have outlived two worthy masters: the late Duke of Cumberland, that bred me, and the Colonel with whom I have spent my best days, but I must not repine; I am now caressed, not so much for what I can do, but for what I have done, and with the satisfaction of knowing that my present master will never abandon me to the fate of the high-mettled racer! "I am glad to hear, my grandson, Honest Tom, performs so well in Ireland, and trust that he, and gold, is the property of the Jockey Club, and constitutes a prize annually contended for at Ascot Races, the owner of the winning horse retaining the relic in his possession for a year. The remains of the above famous racehorse are interred in the park of Canons. The estate was subsequently sold by the nephew of Captain O'Kelly to Sir Thomas Plumer, who was some time Vice-Chancellor of England, and afterwards Master of the Rolls; and the property, after the death of Sir Thomas, remained in the possession of Lady Plumer till her decease. It was next held by Mr. Thomas Hall Plumer, the eldest son of Sir Thomas, and more recently by Mr. David Begg, M.D., since whose death, in 1868, Canons has been owned by his widow. The parish church of Whitchurch, close by the southern entrance to the park of Canons, and almost hidden from sight by the trees which surround it, is a small building, dedicated to St. Lawrence, and, with the exception of the tower, which is ancient, was built about the year 1715, at the expense of the Duke of Chandos, as the " chapel" of Canons. The internal decorations, which are in a style very rarely to be seen in country churches, were not completed till five years later. In the words of Pope, quoted above "Chandos western end of the church is the At the south-eastern corner of the churchyard is a grave-stone to the memory of William Powell, the "harmonious blacksmith." The stone, which bears, in a sunk medallion, a hammer, anvil, laurel wreath, and a bar of music, records his name, and date of death, "February 27th, 1780, aged 78," and adds that "he was parish clerk during the time the immortal Handel was organist of this church." The stone was raised by subscription in 1868, in place of a wooden rail, which formerly bore a similar inscription. This is the blacksmith in whose forge, one afternoon in 1721, Handel is said to have taken refuge during a storm, when he found Powell standing at his work, and "Here sprawl the saints of Verrio and Laguerre." At all events, the latter artist is said to have painted the ceiling and the walls. On each side of the Communion Table is "The Nativity" and "The Dead Christ," by Bellucci; behind it, instead of a reredos, is a recess for the organ supported by Corinthian columns. The organ was rebuilt and enlarged in 1878. In the background are paint-singing a beautiful melody, that chimed in exactly ings of "Moses Receiving the Tables of the Law" and of "The Saviour Preaching." Handel, who resided at Canons for three years as chapel-master to the duke, is said to have composed his sacred drama of Esther for the consecration of this church. During his stay here he produced also the two "Chandos" Te Deums, the twelve "Chandos" Anthems, and Acis and Galatea. In September, 1790, some thirty years after his death, a grand miscellaneous concert of sacred music, selected from the works of Handel, was performed in his honour and memory in this church. The large chamber, or mortuary chapel, on the north side of the chancel, built by the Duke of Chandos, and containing one or two monuments to members of his family, reminds the visitor in some degree of the tombs of the Russells at Chenies, in Buckinghamshire. The chamber, which is constructed over the family vault, is reached by a flight of steps. The ceiling and sides are painted, and the floor is paved with black and white marble. Within is a statue of the duke, in Roman costume, as large as life, standing between the statues of Mary, his first wife, and his first duchess, Cassandra, sister of Thomas Willoughby, Lord Middleton, whom the duke married in 1713, just one year after the death of the heiress of Canons. The two last-named effigies kneel on either side of that of the duke, in mourning attitudes. The inscription records the interment of the duke's third wife, "Lydia Catherine, daughter of John Vanhattem, Esq., and widow of Sir Thomas Davall, M.P., who died in the year 1714." This monument was restored by the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos in 1865. At the with the tone emitted by his anvil, as blow after blow fell upon it. Powell informed his delighted visitor that he had heard the tune, and caught it up, but did not know the name of the composer. So Handel, as the story goes, carried the melody in his head back to Canons, and elaborated the theme into the well-known "Harmonious Blacksmith." The original MS. air, in the treble. only, may be still seen in an old book in the British Museum. A lady who endowed some almshouses at Whitchurch has left it on record that Powell was a fine-looking man, nearly six feet high, and that he always wore a clean shirt, with the collar thrown back on his shoulders, and a red cap on his head, and she adds that he sang constantly as he worked. His anvil still exists, and its tone, when struck, is really in the same key as the "Harmonious Blacksmith." Both the anvil and hammer, having been long kept as sacred relics, were sold among the Snoxell collection of curiosities by Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, in June, 1879. On the north side of the churchyard are some heavy-looking and substantial almshouses, which were founded about 1640 by Lady Lake, the widow of Sir Thomas Lake of Canons, for seven poor persons. The recipients of this charity were to be appointed by Sir Thomas Lake's descendants, as long as they should be possessed of Canons, and afterwards by the minister and churchwardens. The endowment at the present time supports only four persons. The charity had an income of £44 per annum, which has been recently augmented by a bequest of £1,000 by Miss Hurst. The almshouses are built of red brick, of one floor, and form three sides of a quadrangle. Great Stanmore-Brockley Hill, the supposed Site of Sulloniaca-Discovery of Roman Antiquities-The Great Forest of Middlesex-The Domesday Notice of Stanmore-Descent of the Manor-The Village-Population-The Bernays Memorial Institute-The ChurchStanmore Park-Bentley Priory-The Property purchased by Lord Abercorn-Queen Adelaide-Sir John Kelk-Elstree--Situation and General Appearance of the Village-The Manor-Parish Church-Burial-places of Martha Ray and William Weare-Female Orphans' Home-Elstree Hill House-Elstree Reservoir-Watercourses-Pudding-stones. shire. The name of the parish, which appears as Stanmere, or Stanmera, in "Domesday Book," signifies a boundary-mark or stone. In legal documents it is written Stanmore Magna (or Great Stanmore), to distinguish it from the adjoining parish of Stanmore Parva (Little Stanmore), or Whitchurch, which we have just left. Both districts would appear to have formed one parish only at the time of the Norman survey, though the period at which they were divided has not been ascertained. GREAT STANMORE, which we have now reached, Pennywell, however, lies at some little distance lies on the border-line of Middlesex and Hertford- to the north-east of Brockley Hill, and nearer to Elstree than Stanmore. Norden asserts that Watling Street, which we have mentioned in a previous chapter as having followed the track of the present Edgware Road, crossed over Brockley Hill, passing in its course through a wild and dangerous range of woodland. Matthew Paris, in his "Life of the Twelfth Abbot of St. Albans," describes these woods as "almost of an impenetrable character, and so much infested by outlaws and beasts of prey, that the numerous pilgrims who travelled along the Roman road for the purpose of devotion at the shrine of Albanus were exposed to very imminent danger." Fitz-Stephen, whose "Survey of London" was written between the years 1170 and 1182, says that "beyond the suburbs of the city, which afford corn-fields, pastures, and delightful meadows, an immense forest extends itself, beautiful with woods and groves, and full of the lairs and coverts of beasts and game-stags, bucks, boars, and wild bulls." In this forest the citizens of London enjoyed the right of free chase-a privilege which was confirmed to them by several royal charters. The forest of Middlesex was "disafforested" early in the thirteenth century, but considerable tracts of the ancient wood remained down to much later ages. At the time of the Conquest, although there was probably a preponderance of woodland-from the large and frequent mention of "pannage "-it would appear that much even of this portion of the country was under the plough, and a fair proportion used as meadow-land, or for the purpose of pasturage. The entry in "Domesday Book" respecting this parish is as follows:-" Stanmere is held by the Earl of Moreton. It answered for nine hides and a half. There is land for seven ploughs. In the demesne are six hides and a half, and there are two ploughs therein, and another may be made. The villanes have one plough and a half; and two ploughs and a half might be made. A priest has half a hide there; and there are four villanes of one virgate each, and other two of one virgate; and three cottagers of ten acres, and At the time of the Roman invasion, and probably for a long time afterwards, this locality was thickly wooded, and formed part of that dreary tract which was known in more recent times as the forest of Middlesex. Many interesting evidences of the Roman occupation have been discovered in this neighbourhood, particularly in the north-eastern division of the parish, close by the high ground known as Brockley Hill, about midway between Edgware and Elstree, a spot which Camden, Stukeley, and other writers, have fixed upon as the site of the ancient city of Sulloniacæ. Reynolds, in his edition of the "Itinerary of Antoninus," unhesitatingly ascribes the site of that city to Brockley Hill; and after mentioning the numerous vestiges of Roman habitation which have been discovered there, observes that "no evidence is wanting on the subject, but to show that the distance is agreeable to the numerals." The distance between the presumed site of this city and Verulamium (St. Albans) is estimated, according to Mr. Reynolds, at nine miles and a quarter, which comes very near to the truth. Roman antiquities, consisting chiefly of coins, urns, rings, fibulæ, and other articles, arc said to have been found in large quantities from the site of Bentley Priory, which lies to the north-west of the village of Stanmore, eastward as far as Brockley Hill. These discoveries, says Lysons, gave rise to the following local couplet : "No heart can think, nor tongue can tell, 1 |