decision (writes Dutton Cook) he added courtesy and a spirit of forbearing generosity, he seemed to be almost a man who merited public encouragement." For it might be urged plausibly that if his profession was sure to exist, and that if he were removed, a successor might arise who would carry on the business in a less liberal spirit. Indeed, De Quincey seems to think that a shade of disgrace had fallen upon England in a previous generation, inasmuch as the championship of the road had passed for a time into the hands of a Frenchman like Claud Duval.

Notwithstanding the bold front which the highwayman was in the habit of assuming, he was occasionally outwitted. "Stand and deliver!" were the words addressed to a tailor travelling on foot by a highwayman, whose brace of pistols looked rather dangerous than otherwise. "I'll do that with pleasure," was the reply, at the same time handing over to the outstretched hands of the robber a purse apparently pretty well stocked; "but," continued he, "suppose you do me a favour in return. My friends would laugh at me were I to go home and tell them I was robbed with as much patience as a lamb; s'pose you fire your two bull-dogs right through the crown of my hat: it will look something like a show of resistance." His request was acceded to; but hardly had the smoke from the discharge of the weapons passed away, when the tailor pulled out a rusty old horse-pistol, and in his turn politely requested the thunder-struck highwayman to give up everything about him of value, his pistols not omitted. The locality of Hounslow and its Heath is at best anything but a haunt of the Muses; but still it has inspired at all events one poem, for the Rev. Wetenhall Wilkes, who was minister of the Chapelry in the reign of George the Second, dedicated to the Duke of Argyll a poetical epistle, in verse, after the style of Pope, entitled "Hounslow Heath." The lines are turgid and bombastical enough, but they give us some particulars which would else have escaped notice. And a modern reprint of the poem, by Mr. W. Pinkerton, F.S.A., contains some interesting notes, on which we have drawn considerably. For instance, we learn that a century and a half ago the Heath was a frequent meet for the royal stag-hounds and fox-hounds, and that the King, the Prince of Wales, and the Princess Amelia were frequently seen here pursuing the pleasures of the chase. In the early part of the last century, horse-racing of a more plebeian character was here indulged in; to use the bombastic phrase of Mr. Wilkes in his poem,

"Near to the town behold a spacious course,
The scene of trial for the sportive horse."

The site of Hounslow Racecourse is laid down on Rocque's Map (1754). It was on the left of the road to Staines, a short distance from the Bell public-house. Many notices of these races are to be found in the newspapers of the time; for instance, in the Evening Post of July 20 and 23, 1734, when seven horses started, and one broke its leg in the last heat. The names of the horses and of the owners are given; but they evidently were not of the same stamp as those of which we read as figuring at Newmarket.

"Houses and inhabitants," writes the Honourable Miss Amelia Murray, now occupy that part of Hounslow Heath where the grim gallows once stood within my recollection;" and Mason thus celebrates the place

"Hounslow, whose heath sublimer terror fills,
Shall with her gibbets lend her powder-mills."

Large gunpowder-mills stand on the banks of a small stream about two miles to the south of the village. The powder-mills here, like those at Faversham, in Kent, and at other places, have been subject to accidental explosions at different times. One of the most serious which has occurred here took place on the 6th of January, 1772, when damage to a very great extent was done, the effects of the explosion being felt for many miles round. In November, 1874, another explosion occurred here, when five lives were lost. Every precaution is now taken, by the separation of the buildings, &c., to localise the effects of such accidents as far as possible, should any occur. It is said that the first gunpowder manufactured in England was probably manufactured on Hounslow Heath; and at a very early date indeed; for we are told that one William of Staines was employed by Edward III. in 1346 to make the gunpowder which enabled him to gain the victory of Crecy, the first battle in which powder was used. We shall have more to say on the subject of gunpowder manufactories when we reach Waltham Abbey.

In 1793 extensive cavalry barracks, capable of accommodating above four hundred men, were erected by the Government on that part of the Heath which is in Heston parish. There is an exercising-ground, about three hundred acres in extent, which is used for reviewing troops. The 4th, or Royal South Middlesex Militia, has its head-quarters here, and there is also an arsenal.

Mr. Wilkes celebrates in his poem the song-birds of Hounslow, and also the game which was to be found in the neighbourhood. His "Philomele" may still be heard here in summer nights; but it is to be feared that his " 'Moorcocks," his

"Curlieus," his "Teal and Widgeon," his "Easterlings," and "Snipes," if they had any existence beyond the poetical imagination of the writer, have long since "flown to another retreat " upon the Surrey Hills, further out of the way of Cockney sportsmen.

Mr. Wilkes writes in his poem already quoted:

"Four large patrician elms behind the town, True as a beacon to the traveller known, Their lofty boughs with ancient pride display, And to fair Whitton point the cheerful way." According to Rocque's Map (1754), these elms stood a few yards down the Bell Lane, on the Whitton Road. Two of them still remain.

Whitton Park, on the edge of Hounslow Heath, the seat of Colonel Gostling-Murray, was, in the last century, the residence of the Duke of Argyll, formerly known as Lord Islay. The gardens were especially well laid out, planted and cultivated, and adorned with statuary. Among other ornaments was a celebrated group in marble by Gabriel Cibber: the figure of a Highland piper and his dog. It represents the piper described by De Foe in his "History of the Plague" as taken up for dead and carried off to his burial in the dead-cart, but awakening from his trance just as he was about to be thrown into the pit, sitting up in the cart, and playing on his pipes, after which it is said that he recovered. This is certainly wonderful; it would be more wonderful, however, to find that, being a Highland piper, and immortalised by the Duke of Argyll, he was anything but a Campbell. The group was afterwards to be seen in the flowergardens at Stowe. The gardens of Whitton Park gave rise to the following epigram :— "Old Islay, to show his fine delicate taste

In improving his gardens purloined from the waste, One day bade his gardener to open his views By cutting a couple of grand avenues; No particular prospect his lordship intended, But left it to chance how his walks should be ended. With transport and joy he beheld his first view end In a favourite prospect-a church that was ruined. But, alas! what a sight did the next cut exhibit! At the end of the walk hung a rogue on a gibbet! He beheld it and wept, for it caused him to muse on Full many a Campbell who died with his shoes on. All amazed and aghast at the ominous scene, He ordered it quick to be closed up again With a lump of Scotch firs that would serve as a screen.' Again, Mr. Wilkes writes grandiloquently"To sing those scenes where peace and grandeur dwell, Whitton demands her verse; the Nine conspire To swell my numbers with poetic fire. There nature's genial powers impregn the ground, And all her fragrant sweets are spread around."

"Walpole's Letters," Vol. I.

69

Although the Duke of Argyll was contemptuously called a "tree-monger" by Horace Walpole, the country is indebted to him for introducing many foreign trees and shrubs which, by the beauty of their forms and colours, have greatly contributed to the pleasing effect of the English landscape. Almost every tree at Whitton was raised from seed planted by the duke in 1724. The grounds were all laid out with careful precision, and included fish-ponds, a bowling-green, orange walk, a Gothic tower, a Chinese summer-house, aviary, &c. After the sale of the property to Mr. Gostling, shortly after the duke's death, the conservatory was converted into the elegant villa now known as Whitton House, upon the pediment of which is a bas-relief after the antique, representing the destruction of the Titans by Jupiter. There is a well-known print of the gardens at Whitton, as they appeared, filled with the "quality," in the time of the Duke of Argyll.

The southern portion of Hounslow, including the neighbourhood of Whitton Park, has lately been made into a separate parish under the name of Whitton, with a new church on a pleasant village green.

The mansion at one time occupied by Sir Godfrey Kneller stands near this, but in the parish of Twickenham, and consequently will be dealt with in a subsequent chapter.

Three miles south-west from Hounslow lies the village of Hanworth, the site of which was formerly a royal hunting seat. Hanworth Park was at one time a favourite resort of Henry VIII. One part of the gardens still remains just as it was laid out under the eye of Queen Elizabeth.

This was one of the jointure houses of the Queen Dowager, Katharine Parr, widow of Henry VIII., and here Elizabeth resided, both before and after the union of that lady with Lord Seymour of Sudley, whose loose conduct towards the young princess-apparently encouraged, or at least connived at, by his wife-was scandalous enough to deserve being mentioned in the histories of the time. If the "Burleigh Papers" are to be trusted, on one occasion the queen held the hands of the young princess whilst the Lord Admiral amused himself with cutting her gown into shreds; and on another she introduced him into the chamber of Elizabeth before she had left her bed, when a violent romping scene took place (writes Lucy Aikin), which was afterwards repeated in the presence of the queen." It is clear, then, that whatever merits Catharine Parr may have possessed, the morals of this widow did not render her a fit duenna to the future queen of England. Happily, however, her stay at Hanworth did not last long after this, for a violent scene took place

between the royal stepmother and stepdaughter, which ended, fortunately for the peace and honour of Elizabeth, in an immediate and final separation. About the middle of the sixteenth century the manor of Hanworth was granted to Anne, Duchess of Somerset, the widow of the Protector, and mother of the Earl of Hertford. In 1578 Queen Elizabeth was here on a visit to the duchess; the queen was here again in 1600, when she "hunted in the park." The mansion was at that time leased to William Killigrew, whose son, of the same name, the friend and servant of Charles I. and II., and a dramatic author of some note, was born here in 1605.

In 1627 Hanworth became the property of Sir Francis Cottington, who in the following year was created Baron Cottington of Hanworth. His lordship in 1635 here entertained Queen Henrietta Maria and her Court. On the fall of Charles I. Hanworth was confiscated, and given to President Bradshaw. Hanworth was, however, recovered by Lord Cottington's cousin and heir at the Restoration; but in 1670 it was sold to Sir Thomas Chamber, whose granddaughter conveyed it in marriage to Lord Vere Beauclerk, who in 1750 was created Baron Vere of Hanwortha title now absorbed in the ducal house of St. Albans.

Gossiping Horace Walpole thus writes to his friend, Sir Horace Mann, under date 1791:-"The Duke of St. Albans has cut down all the brave old trees at Hanworth, and consequently reduced his park to what it issued from-Hounslow Heath; nay, he has hired a meadow next to mine for the benefit of embarkation, and there lie all the good old corpses of oaks, ashes, and chestnuts, directly before your windows, and blocking up one of my views of the river! But, so impetuous is the rage for building, that His Grace's timber will, I trust, not annoy us long."

Old Hanworth House was destroyed by fire in March, 1797, but the moat and a few vestiges of the house may still be seen close by the western end of Hanworth Church. The grounds known as Queen Elizabeth's Gardens have retained to this day much of their old-fashioned character, being studded with fine specimens of pine and old yews, and other trees.

The present Hanworth House stands on higher ground than its predecessor, and is a well-built mansion of the ordinary type. It was long the property of Mr. Perkins, whose fine library, which was extremely rich in MSS., was dispersed under the hammer of Messrs. Gadsden, Ellis, and Co., in the year 1873. The collector of these treasures was Mr. Henry Perkins (of the firm of Messrs. Barclay and Perkins, of Southwark), who bequeathed them to his son, the late Mr. Algernon Perkins, who died in 1873. Under the tuition of the celebrated Dr. Parr, Mr. Henry Perkins acquired his love for books, and the bulk of the library was obtained between the years 1820 and 1830, from the great English and Continental sales. Among the treasures disposed of on that occasion were several curious MSS. of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; two copies of the noted Mazarine Bible, and a large number of ancient Bibles, Evangelaries, Missals, Books of Hours, Pontificals, &c.; there were also many very choice works of legend and romance, including Lydgate's "Siege of Troy," the "Romance of the Rose," &c. The house passed by sale into the hands of Mr. Lafone, a merchant of London.

Hanworth Church, dedicated to St. George, is a modern erection, having been built in 1865, on the site of the former parish church.

At Hatton, between this and Hounslow, Sir Frederick Pollock, many years Chief Baron of the Exchequer, spent the last twenty years of his life.

Twickenham.]

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century it acquired much celebrity in the fashionable world as the favourite haunt of Horace Walpole, and in the literary world as the home of Alexander Pope. Many of its noted houses, it is true, have disappeared, but the halo shed over the spot by their former inhabitants still remains. Although the village and its surroundings have lost much of their rural seclusion of late years by the formation of a railway through its very centre, and the rapid increase of modern dwelling-houses in all directions, much of its sylvan beauties are still visible, and its river-side aspect is as attractive as of old. Indeed, the locality is a particularly favoured one by the followers of the "gentle craft" which Izaak Walton did so much to popularise. Hofman, in his "British Angler's Manual" (1848), writes thus of the place :

"The neighbourhood of Twickenham is not only singularly beautiful and rich in its adornments of elegant villas and noble mansions, but it abounds in memorials interesting to the historian, the antiquarian, and the lover of literature and art. The manor-house was, for a long period, the jointure-house of the queens of England. Katharine of Arragon and Henrietta of France have here bewailed, in their day, a cruel and a martyred husband. Queen Anne was born here, in York House, and lost her promising son whilst inhabiting the mansion now, or lately, the property of Sir George Pocock, Bart., which was for some years inhabited by the present King of France, when Duke of Orleans. Strawberry Hill, the seat of the celebrated Horace Walpole (Lord Orford), the house where Lady Mary Wortley resided, that of Earl Howe, and several others of great interest, are all in view; and within a little distance is Marble Hill, immortalised by Swift and Gay; Ham House, the splendid seat of Lord Dysart; Twickenham Meadows House, once the property

of the celebrated Richard Owen Cambridge: these met the admiring eye of the angler as he made his way to the deep, where he now rests, and from which he gazes, untired, on that spot of ground which presents the most remarkable objects and associations, endeared by time and taste. Here, Pope wrote The deathless satire, the immortal song,' which neither time, fashion, nor envy can obliterate; here, he entertained the most highlygifted men of his own, or, perhaps, any other time, the most noble, influential, and amiable. grotto which he formed, and where he loved to sit with his friends, is before us, as well as the garden he planted; but which was much enlarged in

The

The name of the parish, formerly spelt Twicknam, is said to be derived from its situation between two brooks which run into the Thames, one at each end of the parish. An alms-dish in the parish church, however, has upon it an inscription which runs thus: "For the parish of Twitnaham." This alms-dish bears no date, but on a paten, dated 1674, the name is spelt exactly after the modern fashion. Norden says that "in several very ancient records antecedent to the Conquest, the name is written Twitnam, or Twittanham, or Twicanham." Twittenham, or Twitnam, survived as the common pronunciation of the name down almost to the present generation; in the last century it was a customary form of pronunciation, even among the best educated. Horace Walpole, who did so much to make Twickenham classic ground, invariably wrote the name Twit'nam, at least in his earlier works. In some verses of his, called "The Parish Register of Twickenham," the name is constantly written in that form:

"Where silver Thames round Twit'nam meads
His winding current sweetly leads:
Twit'nam, the Muses' fav'rite seat,
Twit'nam, the Graces' lov'd retreat;
There polished Essex went to sport,
The pride and victim of a court;
There Bacon tuned the grateful lyre
To soothe Eliza's haughty ire."

Pope, whose name is as closely associated with the memories of the parish as that of Walpole, spells the name "Twitenham" in most of his writings; and many other poets and men of letters of the last century wrote it in a similar manner. Thus, in Dodsley's collection of poems by various hands, we read:

"I saw the sable barge along his Thames,
Beating in slow solemnity the tide,
Convey his sacred dust. Its swans expired;
Withered in Twitnam bowers the laurel bough.
Silent, the Muses broke their idle lyres,

Th' attendant Graces checked the sprightly dance,
Their arms unlocked, and caught the starting tear,
And virtue for her lost defender mourned."

Thomson also, in his poem on "Richmond Hill," writes:

"Here let us trace the matchless vale of Thames,
Far winding up to where the Muses haunt,

To Twitnam's bowers."