Before proceeding to describe other houses in the parish, and to mention the many eminent inhabitants whose residence here has gone far towards making Twickenham one of the most popular suburbs of London, it will, perhaps, be best to close this chapter with a few extracts from the parish register, and to deal with one or two other matters which have affected the rise and progress of the town. The minutes of the vestry and the churchwardens' accounts are, for the most part, in good preservation, and date respectively from 1618 and 1606. In the latter, "Strawberry Hill" and the "Bull Lands" are mentioned for the first time. Of Strawberry Hill we shall have occasion to speak at some length presently. With regard to the entry concerning the "Bull Land," it may be stated that from a copy of the Court Roll of the Manor of Isleworth Sion, dated December 20th, 1675, it appears that one Thomas Cole surrendered four acres one rood of land, lying in several places in the fields of Twickenham, called the parish land, anciently belonging to the inhabitants of Twickenham, "in trust for the keeping and maintaining a sufficient bull for the common use of the said inhabitants."

the little seat, on the back side of the one where Gooddy Raynor sittes now in, and one on the south side of the seate where Gooddy Barker now sitteth in, shall be hereafter belonging to the house which Mr. Peirce now hath by the water-side, in lue of the seate which did formerly belong to the said house." And again, under date of May 9, 1667:"Ed. Gray having complained that ye Erle of Clarendon's pew for his servants in the gallery had been taken away from him by the churchwardens," it was ordered "that noe person should sitt in ye said pew but by leave of my Lord Clarendon or his

Amongst the receipts for 1631, and other years, are sums, usually about six shillings and sixpence, paid by other parishes, among which Teddington and Cranford are named," for the loan of the parish pewter," as the sacramental plate was described. In 1652 the churchwardens made an inventory of the parish goods, which they handed over to their successors in office. It is as follows:-"A greater silver and guilt cupp, with the cover, given by Mr. Hollingsworth. A lesser silver cupp with a cover. Two pewter flaggons. A greene velvett cushion for the pulpitt. Greene carpett for the comunion table. Blacke cloth for the ffuneralls. One joyned chest. Two joyned stooles. One little chest with two locks. One diaper table-cloth for the communion table." That the "free" and open seat movement was not thought of or dreamed about in the seventeenth century may be easily inferred from the following entry in the minutes of the vestry, under date of May 2, 1659:-"That

servants." On September 20th,

1674, it was ordered that bells were not to be rung "but according to a declaration, under my Lord Chief Justice's hand, how he sayes they may be legally ringed."

On April 17th, 1676, a parish officer was appointed "to secure the town against vagabones, beggars, and other persons harbouring in barnes or out-houses, also to prevent theefing' and robbing houses and grounds." That this precautionary measure did not have altogether the desired effect is pretty clear; at all events, there were highwaymen busily plying their work here a century later, for Mrs. Kitty Clive writes to Garrick, under date June 10th, 1776:

"Have you not heard of the adventures of your poor friend? I have been rob'd (sic) and murder'd coming from Kingston. Jimey and I in a postchey (sic) at half past nine, just by Teddington Church, was stoppt. I only lost a little silver and my senses, for one of them come into the carriage with a great horse pistol to sarch (sic) me for my watch, but I had it not with me."

In 1686 the parish authorities were ordered by the deputy-lieutenancy of the county "to provide coats, hatts, and belts for sixteene maimed souldiers." A box was made to keep the articles so contributed.

Two curious entries occur in the accounts for 1688. The first is as follows:- "Item: Paid to the relief of a sick man brought naked out of the camp, and passing him away, 11s. 3d." James II., as we have already shown (see ante, page 64), had his camp at this time on Hounslow Heath. The

Twickenham.]

other entry is as follows:-"Item: To Mr. Guisbey, for curing Doll Bannister's nose, 3s." On May 11th, 1696, it was ordered that the beadle should have 20s. per annum and the Crosshouse rent free," for to ward within and about this parish, and to keep out all Beggars and Vagabonds that shall lye, abide, or lurk about the towne, and to give correction to such that shall anyways stand in Opposition contrary to the Statutes in that case made and provided." In the accounts of 1698 is this entry:"Item : Paid old Tomlins for fetching home the Church-gates, being thrown into y Thames in the night by Drunkards, 2s. 6d."

In December, 1701, the parish allowed the Earl of Bedford, with the consent of His Grace the Duke

79

But Twickenham had not only its "rogues in grain," but its saints. At all events, at the end of the last century several of the leading inhabitants of the parish were staunch followers of the Wesleyan connection; and it is recorded in the "Life of Wesley" that he dined with one of them here less than a fortnight before his death.

TWICKENHAM PARK HOUSE. (See p. 81.)

of Somerset, "to set up a pillar or column in the middle of Twickenham, as his lordship should see fit." On December 5th, 1726, so many larcenies having been committed in the neighbourhood, and the sufferers being unwilling to prosecute, on account of expense, the vestry ordered that whenever any larceny, felony, or burglary was committed, Mr. James Taylor, of New Brentford, should be empowered to manage the prosecution of the same, and for his pains should be paid by a rate.

The churchwardens here, as in other country villages, were in the habit of paying for the destruction of vermin. In their accounts for the years 1773 and 1774, for instance, are these items: "Paid for 54 Hedgehogs, 18s. ;" and "Paid for 4 Pole-cats, Is. 4d." Similar entries occur in large numbers down to quite recent times. On the 4th of October, 1790, it was ordered "that a whipping-post be put up at the workhouse immediately."

in Feb

ruary, 1791.

It was probably the last occasion of his leaving home.

Still there was nothing specially austere in the customs of the inhabitants. It is stated in the Mirror for 1840 that "at the recent petty sessions here the magistrates granted the request of some of the inhabitants to enjoy the ancient right of playing at football on Shrove Tuesday-a custom observed in the principal suburban parishes of Middlesex and Surrey from time immemorial."

Since the formation of a Local Board, the duties of the parishioners, "in vestry assembled," have been much lessened and curtailed. All the responsibilities attaching to the lighting of the parish, the care of its roads and highways, and especially the urgent question of drainage, devolve upon the Board, and are now no longer managed by special

committees, elected for such purposes, as was the case previous to the year 1868.

The roads in Twickenham and its immediate neighbourhood were in former times mostly very narrow and ill-kept, which sometimes made travelling along them in coaches or other vehicles anything but easy or pleasant, and occasionally led to awkward blocks, from vehicles coming in opposite directions. An instance of this occurred on one occasion to the carriages containing Sir James Delaval and the Duke of Somerset. The latter, who is known to historians as the "proud" Duke of Somerset, was an inordinately arrogant nobleman, who seemed in his conduct as if vested with regal honours. His servants obeyed him by signs, and were not allowed to speak, and scarcely to appear, in his presence. His children obeyed his mandates with profound and servile respect. The story goes that the pleasant Sir James Delaval laid a wager of £1,000 that he would make the duke give him precedency; but that was judged impossible, as his Grace was all eyes and ears on such occasions. Delaval, however, having one day obtained information of the precise time when the duke was to pass a narrow part of the road on his way to town, stationed himself there in a coach, emblazoned for the day with the arms, and surrounded by many servants in the livery of the head of the house of Howard, who called out, when Somerset appeared, "The Duke of Norfolk!" The former, fearful of committing a breach of etiquette, hurried his postilion under a hedge, where he was no sooner safely fixed than Delaval passed, who, leaning out of the carriage, bowed with a familiar air, and wished his Grace a good morning. He indignantly exclaimed, “Is it you, Sir James? I thought it had been the Duke of Norfolk!" The wager thus won was paid, and the town made merry with the stratagem used by Sir James to gain it.

A map of Twickenham as it was in 1784, which we give on page 73, shows the distribution of property as it stood a century ago. At the extreme south-west is shown Strawberry Hill, marked simply "Mr. Walpole." Between it and the main street of the village are, on the river side of the road, the seats of Lord Sefton, Mr. Ellis (Pope's villa), Miss and Mr. Shirley, and Lord Poulett; on the other side, the grounds of Mr. Briscoe, Sir F. Bassett, Mr. Gostling, Miss Holden, and Mr. Blake. south side of the road leading to Twickenham Common stands the mansion of the late Lord Ferrers (the same who not long before had been executed at Tyburn). Fortescue House, at the north of the village, appears as "the late Lord Fortescue's." Around it lie the properties of several nobodies; and, curiously enough, the spot now occupied by the South Western Railway Station is marked "Staten" Field. To the east of the parish church we note the mansions of Mr. Shakerly, Mr. Whitchurch, and Mr. Condell, some of whom doubtless knew Alexander Pope in the flesh. Between the centre of the main street and the river stands the mansion of Lady Shelburne, enclosed apparently within walls, adjoining Water Street, which probably then was an important thoroughfare as leading down to "the silent highway" of the river. To the east of the map is Sir George Pococke's mansion, and beyond it Ragman's Castle and Montpelier Row and Chapel, with Mr. Hardinge's house by the river-side facing a small eyot. Between "Mow" Meadow, on the north, and the extreme north-east of the map are two bridle roads to Isleworth, on the one of which stands Mr. Nettleship's, and on the other "Folly House." Across the brook at the north, where Pope probably narrowly escaped drowning, as we shall see later, are the grounds of Mr. Cole, whose family was connected with Twickenham for some two or three generations.

THERE are few, if any, places within "a measurable distance" of the metropolis where there have resided such a host of distinguished persons as Twickenham. Among its former inhabitants have

been statesmen, poets, philosophers,” painters, authors, ecclesiastics, military and naval men, as well as many women of eminence in the worlds of society and of letters. Its classic bowers, in fact,

gained for it from Horace Walpole the name of "The Baie of Great Britain." In the lapse of years it would be difficult, perhaps, in every instance, to point out exactly the residences and characteristics of all these Twickenham worthies; but still, enough remains upon record, or lives in local tradition, to identify a goodly list, with their respective homes. First and foremost stand the names of Pope and Horace Walpole; but of each of these there is sufficient to form a separate chapter.

In 1722, De Foe wrote, in his "Tour through England and Scotland" :-"Twittenham, a village remarkable for abundance of curious seats, of which that of Boucher, the famous gamester, would pass in Italy for a delicate palace. The Earl of Marr, the Earl of Strafford, the Earl of Bradford, the Lord Brook, the Lord Sunderland, the Lady Falkland, have each their pretty villas in this parish; but I think that of Secretary Johnstone, for the elegancy and largeness of the gardens, his terrace on the river, and the situation of his house, makes much the brightest figure here." Horace Walpole, in his letter to Bentley, about thirty years later, writes of the place in much the same strain. He observes that "Nothing is equal to the fashion of this place: Mr. Muntz says we have more coaches here than there are in half France. Mrs. Pritchard has bought Ragman's Castle, for which my Lord Lichfield could not agree. We shall be as celebrated as Baie or Tivoli; and if we have not such sonorous names as they boast, we have very famous people Clive and Pritchard, actresses; Scott and Hodson, painters; my Lady Suffolk, famous in her time; Mr. H, the impudent lawyer, that Tom Harvey wrote against; Whitehead, the poet; and Cambridge the everything." In dealing with the annals of this parish, we have, fortunately, the "Memorials of Twickenham," by the Rev. R. S. Cobbett, to draw upon, and from this work we shall have occasion to quote largely in this and one or two succeeding chapters.

Commencing our survey of the houses at the north-east corner of the parish, near the banks of the river, and at the junction of the parish with Isleworth, we shall commence with Twickenham Park, a spot which lays claim to being the oldest among the Twickenham demesnes. It was originally called Isleworth Park, and also the New Park of Richmond. Honest John Stow, in his "Annals,” tells us that in 1263, during the disturb ances in the reign of Henry III., "Simon de

"This was Joseph Hickey, the most blunt honest creature' of Goldsmith's 'Retaliation,' whose 'one only fault,' in Oliver's estimation -though that was a thumper-was that he was a special attorney." Thorne's "Environs of London"

Mountfort, with the barons, pitched their tents in Isleworth or Thistleworth Parke." The site of the encampment is in the parish of Twickenham. In this park there stood from 1414 to 1431, as stated in a previous chapter, the ancient monastery of Sion. The Rev. Mr. Cobbett, in his "Memorials of Twickenham," says that in the parish chest of Twickenham are two deeds: one of them, dated 1444, is "a release from Matilda, abbess of the monastery, to their tenants of Istelworthe, of a certain yearly tallage of £20, which they were held to pay to the said abbess and convent ;" and the other, bearing the same date, is a deed confirming the grant of sundry manors to the abbess and convent. One of these deeds had been lost sight of for many years, and came to light again only on the restoration of the parish church in 1859.

Robert Boucher was appointed keeper of Twickenham Park in 1547; but the park, as such, seems to have been soon after broken up; for Norden, in the manuscript additions to his "Speculum Britanniæ," made towards the end of the sixteenth century, remarks that "Twyckenham Parke is now disparked." In 1574 the estate was demised to Edward Bacon, third son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, the celebrated Lord Keeper. In 1581 it was leased to one Edward Fitzgarret. Sir Francis Bacon, whom Voltaire calls "the father of experimental philosophy," spent much of his time here during the earlier period of his studious life; and in 1592 he somewhat suddenly took refuge here with several friends, owing to "a pestilential distemper which broke out in London, and dispersed the members of Gray's Inn-a community to which Bacon then belonged." At the end of that year he was honoured by a visit from Queen Elizabeth, “at his lodging in Twickenham Park," when he presented her Majesty with a sonnet in praise of her favourite, the Earl of Essex. Among the MSS. in the British Museum is a paper entitled "Instruc tions from the Lord Chancellor Bacon to his servant, Thomas Bushell," in which is set forth a scheme which he entertained for the purpose of exploring abandoned mineral works. On the supposition that such a project would meet with due encouragement, he says, "Let Twitnam Park, which I sold in my younger days, be purchased, if possible, for a residence for such deserving persons to study in, since I experimentally found the situation of that place much convenient for the trial of my philosophical conclusions, expressed in a paper sealed to the trust, which I myself had just in practice, and settled the same by Act of Parlia

* See page 44, ante.