inches of earth; width 3 feet, length 5½ feet.
“This passage was discovered, owing to the proprietor having been
robbed of a quantity of paper for years. The man now alive
volunteered to detect the thief; the paper was found on the staircase
descending to the passage.
“E. GULSTON.”
Alston House was for many years the residence of the Shrewsbury family.
* * * * *
George, Earl of Shrewsbury, succeeded his father in the title, June 28th,
the 13th Edward IV., while a minor. In the reign of Henry VIII. he was
in high favour with that monarch, was steward of the household, and a
privy counsellor, and accompanied the King at his interview with Francis
I. at Guisnes.
* * * * *
In 28 Henry VIII., on the rebellion in the North, called “the pilgrimage
of grace,” occasioned by the dissolution of the lesser monasteries, he
was constituted the King’s Lieutenant, to march thither with a powerful
army, he himself having raised a number of men at his own expense, when
the Earl, and the Duke of Norfolk, succeeded in bringing the rebels to
submission, and obtained for them the King’s pardon. This nobleman
resided occasionally at Chelsea; and here his sixth son, by his first
wife, was born. The Earl died 1538; he is characterised by Polydore
Virgil, “as a person noble, prudent, and moderate through the whole
course of his life.”
* * * * *
Francis, his son and heir, is mentioned among the freeholders in the
court rolls of the Manor of Chelsea, 35 Henry VIII. This nobleman also
enjoyed the favour of his sovereign during three succeeding reigns. In
1545 he was appointed the King’s Lieutenant in the North; and in the
following year was installed one of the Knights Companions of the most
noble order of the Garter. In 2 Edward VI. he had the command of a large
army that was sent into Scotland, and in 1st of Queen Mary was made
President of the Council of the North. He died September 21, 1560.
* * * * *
George, Earl of Shrewsbury, son of the preceding, was installed a Knight
of the Garter, May 17, 1562. In 1568 the custody of the Queen of Scots
was committed to his charge. In 1573, he presided as Lord High Steward
at the trial of the Duke of Norfolk; and on the death of his Grace, which
happened soon after, he was constituted Earl Marshal of England. He died
1590, and was buried at Sheffield, in the county of York. “An
inquisition, taken at Derby, 3rd April, 33 Elizabeth, on the death of
George, Earl of Shrewsbury; after reciting lands, &c., in many counties,
adds Middlesex, one capital messuage, &c., in Chelsea. The value is
lumped in many manors, into a gross sum of £800 a year.” The inscription
on his monument, among other things, sets forth, “That, as he excelled in
mind, so was he skilled in the affairs of war.” On the arrival of Mary,
Queen of Scots, in England, she was again put under his care, and so
continued till 1584. His behaviour to her was ever generous and
honourable, sparing no cost for her entertainment. Words cannot fully
express the care and concern he had for her, nor can envy itself say
otherwise than he was a faithful and prudent person; in a word, his
integrity in his high office was not to be suspected, although evil
disposed persons secretly and vaguely gave out that he had used too much
familiarity with his royal prisoner. Thus, noble by descent, he was more
noble and illustrious in his actions; famous at home and abroad; loyal to
his prince and true to his country; and he resigned his soul in “a good
old age.” The Earl married to his second wife, Elizabeth, widow of Sir
William St. Loo, Captain of the Guards to Queen Elizabeth, who survived
him, and to whom he probably bequeathed his house at Chelsea, as it
appears to have descended to her son William, first Earl of Devonshire.
In “Lodge’s Illustrations of English History,” is a letter of this
nobleman, dated from Chelsea, in 1585.
* * * * *
Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury. This lady, who was much celebrated
for her beauty and accomplishments, and still more for her extraordinary
fortune in the world, was daughter of John Hardwick, Esq., of the county
of Derby. At the age of fourteen she was married to Robert Barley, Esq.,
who, in about two years, left her a very rich widow. The next husband
was Sir William Cavendish, ancestor of the Duke of Devonshire. Her third
was Sir William St. Loo. In this third widowhood she had not survived
her charms of wit and beauty, by which she captivated the then greatest
subject of the land, George, Earl of Shrewsbury, whom she brought to
terms of considerable honour and advantage to herself and children; for
he not only yielded to a very large jointure, but to a union of families,
by marrying Mary, her youngest daughter, to Gilbert, his son and
afterwards his heir, and giving the Lady Grace, his youngest daughter, to
Henry, her eldest son. In 1590 she was a fourth time left, and continued
a widow till her death. Her’s was a change of conditions that, perhaps,
never fell to any one woman before or since: to be four times a
creditable and happy wife, and to rise by every husband to greater wealth
and higher honours; and, after all, to live seventeen years a widow in
absolute power and plenty. She built three of the most elegant seats
that were ever raised by one person in the same county—Chatsworth,
Hardwick, and Oldcoates; all transmitted entire to the first Duke of
Devonshire. The Countess died in 1607, aged 87. She bequeathed all her
estates to her son William, Earl of Devonshire; and we find this nobleman
to have been in possession of this mansion at Chelsea soon after her
death.
* * * * *
William, Earl of Devonshire, received his education with the sons of the
Earl of Shrewsbury, his father in-law; and, being distinguished for
eminent abilities, was advanced to the dignity of Baron Cavendish, by
James I. in the third year of his reign; at which time of his creation
his Majesty stood under a cloth of state in the hall at Greenwich,
accompanied by the princes and the greatest part of the nobility, both of
England and Scotland. In 1618 he was created Earl of Devonshire. He
died at Hardwick in 1625. The Earl married, to his second wife,
Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Boughton, Esq., of the county of Warwick,
and widow of Sir Richard Wortley. This lady survived him, and continued
to reside at Chelsea till her death, which happened in 1643, as appears
by the parish book, in which are also entries of the burials of some of
her domestics.
* * * * *
After the death of the Countess of Devonshire, this ancient house became
the property of Sir Joseph Alston, who was created a baronet by Charles
II. in 1682. Mrs. Mary Alston, the wife of this gentleman, died here in
1671, and her funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Littleton, who published
it shortly after, in quarto. Sir Joseph was in possession of this house
in 1664; it afterwards came into the possession of Mr. Tate, and was
occupied as a stained paper manufactory.
* * * * *
In 1813 it was pulled down, and the materials sold by a builder, who had
obtained possession; and now not a stone remains to show where it once
stood.
* * * * *
The family of Tate were originally of Chelsea, and had at one time large
property here, which they parted with by degrees. They attained property
also in Leicestershire, through a marriage with the daughter of Lord
Zouch.
Bishop of Winchester’s Palace.
The Bishop of Winchester’s Palace, which was pulled down some years
since, adjoined the gardens of Alston House, on the east, and on the site
of which is now Oakley Street, and a terrace of well-built houses,
fronting the river. The houses erected in Oakley Street are throughout
of a superior class, and as the road is of considerable width, with a
good pavement, it now forms the most respectable and important direct
thoroughfare from the King’s Road to the centre of Cheyne Walk. The
contemplated embankment and Albert Bridge will be noticed at the
conclusion of this work, so as to get correct information.
* * * * *
The ancient palace of the Bishops of Winchester, in Southwark, having
been dilapidated and laid waste, an Act of Parliament was passed in the
year 1663 empowering George Morley, Bishop of Winchester, to lease out
the houses in Southwark, and for other purposes. In the ensuing year the
Bishop, in pursuance of this Act of Parliament, purchased a new brick
house at Chelsea, then lately built by James Duke of Hamilton, and
adjoining to the Manor House, Cheyne Walk, on the east, and Alston House,
on the west, for £4250, to be the future residence of the bishops of this
see, and to be called Winchester House. By the Act it was held to be
within the diocese of Winchester.
* * * * *
The Bishopric of Winchester is of good antiquity, and has never changed
the see since its foundation. The Bishops are Chancellors of the see of
Canterbury, and Prelates of the most noble Order of St. George, called
the Garter, which office was vested in them by King Edward III. at the
establishment of that noble Order, and has continued with them ever
since. Anciently, they were reputed Earls of Southampton, and are so
styled in the Statutes of the Garter, made by Henry VIII.
BISHOPS SINCE THE RESTORATION OF KING CHARLES II.
1662. George Morley, Bishop of Worcester.
1684. Peter Mews, Bishop of Bath and Wells.
1707. Sir Jonathan Trelawney, Bart., Bishop of Exeter.
1721. Charles Trimnell, Bishop of Norwich.
1723. Richard Willis, Bishop of Salisbury.
1734. Benjamin Hoadly, Bishop of Salisbury.
1761. John Thomas, Bishop of Salisbury.
1781. Hon. Brownlow North, Bishop of Worcester.
1820. George Tomline, Bishop of Lincoln.
Dr. Tomline was the last Bishop of Winchester who had possession of this
ancient house, but he never resided in it.
* * * * *
George Morley, chaplain to Charles I., was a great scholar and an eminent
divine. After the death of the king he retired to the Hague, where he
attended on Charles II. At the Restoration he was made Dean of Christ
Church, and in the same year Bishop of Worcester, whence he was
translated to Winchester. His constant practice was to rise at five
o’clock in the morning, to go to bed at eleven, and to eat but once a
day. By these rules he preserved his health with very little
interruption through the course of a long life. He died in 1684.
* * * * *
Peter Mews was born at Parscandle, in Dorsetshire, in 1618, and was
educated at Merchant Tailors’ School, under the care of Dr. Winiffe, then
Dean of St. Paul’s, and afterwards Bishop of Lincoln. From school he was
elected scholar to St. John’s College, Oxford, and became Fellow of the
same College at the commencement of the civil war. Soon afterwards he
left Oxford, entered the royal army, and was promoted to the rank of
captain; he served for some time, and then went to Holland.
* * * * *
During the Interregnum he took holy orders, and at the Restoration
returned to his college, where he took the degree of D.D. On the death
of Dr. Bailey he was made President of St. John’s College. In 1669 he
was chosen Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, and in 1673 he was promoted to the
see of Bath and Wells, which he held for about twelve years, till he was
translated to Winchester. He died 1706, aged 88.
* * * * *
SINGULAR PREDICTIONS.—In 1706, John Needs, a Winchester scholar, foretold
the deaths of Mr. Carman, chaplain to the College, of Dr. Mews, Bishop of
Winchester, and of himself, within that year, to several of his
school-fellows, among others, to George Lavington. This declaration
exposed him naturally to much raillery in the school, and he was
ludicrously styled “Prophet Needs.” Mr. Carman died about the time he
mentioned. For this event, however, he had little credit, it being said,
that the death of such an old man might reasonably be expected. Within
the time prefixed Bishop Mews also died by a strange accident. He was
subject to fainting fits, from which he soon recovered by smelling
spirits of hartshorn. Being seized with a fit whilst a gentleman was
with him, and perceiving its approach, he pointed eagerly to a phial in
the window; the visitor took it, and in haste poured the contents down
the Bishop’s throat, which instantly suffocated him. As the time
approached which Needs had prefixed for his own dissolution, of which he
named even the day and the hour, he sickened, apparently declined, and
kept to his chamber, where he was frequently visited and prayed with by
Mr. Fletcher, second master of the school, and father of the Bishop of
Kildare. This gentleman reasoned and argued with the youth, but in vain;
for with great calmness and composure the patient resolutely persisted in
affirming that the event would verify his prediction. On the day he had
fixed, the house-clock being kindly put forward, struck the hour before
the real time; he saw through the deception, and told those who were with
him, that when the church clock struck he should expire—he did so!
* * * * *
Mr. Fletcher left a memorandum in writing to the above purpose; and
Bishop Trimnell, about the year 1722, having heard this story at
Winchester, wrote to New College, of which Mr. Lavington was then Fellow,
for further information. His answer was, that “John Needs had indeed
foretold that the Bishop of Winchester (Mews) and old Mr. Carman should
die that year; but then they being very aged men, he had foretold, for
two or three years before, that they should die in that number of years.
As to foretelling the time of his own death, I believe he was punctually
right.” Dr. Lavington gave the same account to his friends after he was
Bishop of Exeter.
* * * * *
Jonathan Trelawney was a younger son of Sir J. Trelawney, of Petynt,
Cornwall; but his elder brother dying in 1680, he inherited the title.
He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where there is a portrait of
him. He was in succession Bishop of Bristol, Exeter, and Winchester; a
man of polite manners, competent learning, and uncommon knowledge of the
world.
* * * * *
Bishop Trelawney was one of the seven prelates committed to the Tower by
James II. for their efforts to maintain the Protestant cause. When the
news of his probable peril of life reached Cornwall, the miners proposed
coming up to London in a vast body to demand the bishop’s release. The
song in every mouth was—
“And shall Trelawney die?
And shall Trelawney die?
Then twice five hundred Cornish men
Will know the reason why.”
It is said that the bishop was open, generous, and charitable, a good
companion, and a good man. He died in 1721. {100}
* * * * *
Charles Trimnell, son of the Rev. Charles Trimnell, Rector of Repton
Abbotts, Huntingdonshire, was educated at Oxford. He was consecrated
Bishop of Norwich in 1707; was made Clerk of the Closet to George I., and
translated to the see of Winchester in 1721. This bishop, naturally of a
weak constitution, did not long survive his last promotion. He died at
Farnham in 1723, aged 40. This prelate was a steady partizan of the
revolution, which he defended by his pen; warm, yet temperate; zealous,
yet moderate; and his piety did not prevent him from gaining a perfect
knowledge of mankind.
* * * * *
Richard Willis, Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, was promoted to the
deanery of Lincoln, by King William; and in 1714 was consecrated Bishop
of Gloucester, translated in 1721 to Salisbury, and thence to Winchester
in 1723, where he resided till his death, which happened suddenly at
Winchester House, Cheyne Walk, in 1734, aged 71; his wife was buried in
Chelsea Church, in 1727, but he himself was buried in his own Cathedral.
* * * * *
Bishop Hoadly, a prelate of great merit, was the son of the Rev. Samuel
Hoadly, Master of the Public Grammar School at Norwich; he was educated
at his father’s school till he went to Catherine Hall, Cambridge, where
he afterwards became College Tutor, and appears to have been held in high
esteem throughout the whole course of his academical studies. Although
he applied to study with an intensity of application that made him
eminent, he acquired at the same time considerable proficiency in music.
In 1698 he was ordained, and about three years afterwards he married Miss
Curtis, a great proficient in the art of painting, many of her portraits
exciting public attention, particularly one of Bishop Burnet.
* * * * *
In 1704 Mr. Hoadly obtained the rectory of St. Peter le Poor; he began
writing as soon as he came to London; and in 1709 the following vote was
passed in the House of Commons:—“Resolved, That the Rev. Benjamin Hoadly,
having often justified the principles on which his Majesty and the nation
proceeded in the late happy revolution, hath justly merited the favour
and recommendation of this House. That an humble address be presented to
her Majesty, that she would be graciously pleased to bestow some dignity
in the church on Mr. Hoadly, for his eminent services, both to the Church
and State.” A change of Ministry prevented any benefit arising to him
from this address; but he afterwards had bestowed on him, by the
grandmother of the Duke of Bedford, the rectory of Streatham, Surrey.
Soon after the accession of George I. he was made Bishop of Bangor. From
thence he was successively translated to those of Hereford, Salisbury,
and Winchester, which last he enjoyed nearly twenty-seven years.
* * * * *
It is somewhat a singular circumstance, that when Bishop Hoadly went to
Court to kiss the King’s hand on his promotion, he did not know the way
up stairs, the attendants being all busily engaged at the moment, and by
mistake he sat down in an outer room unobserved, and some affirm that he
lost the honour of being presented on that occasion to his Majesty.
* * * * *
The doctrines contained in his publications gave such offence to the
clergy, that they produced the famous Bangorian Controversy. On the 16th
of December, 1761, having supped, he retired to bed in perfect health,
but in the middle of the night he was seized with a fit of vomiting, of
which the violence abated in about an hour. Medical assistance was
immediately sent for, and the bishop seemed better, but about two o’clock
the following even, his lady found him dead, without knowing the precise
moment of his departure. As a writer, he possessed powerful talents; his
greatest defect, perhaps, was in extending his periods to a disagreeable
length; for which Pope has thus recorded him:—
“But, sir, of writers? Swift for closer style,
But Hoadly for a period of a mile.”
Amongst the most celebrated writers of modern times, who have possessed
great argumentative powers, this “defect” is generally a natural
consequence. Lord Brougham, for instance, was remarkable for the length
of his periods, or final sentences, but with him it evidenced deep
thought, and enabled him to impart into his writings and speeches that
eloquence and force of language for which he was so highly extolled.
Bishop Hoadly might have been one of those “powerful” writers.
* * * * *
Dr. John Thomas was born in 1696, and in 1733, being then Fellow of All
Souls College, Oxford, he was presented by the Dean and Chapter of St.
Paul’s, to the united parishes of St. Benedict’s and St. Peter’s, Paul’s
Wharf, London. In 1742 he became Canon Residentiary of St. Paul’s, and
was sworn in one of his Majesty’s Chaplains in Ordinary. He was
consecrated Bishop of Peterborough in 1747, and four years after was
appointed Preceptor to the Prince of Wales. On the death of Bishop
Hoadly he was presented to the see of Winchester. Dr. Thomas died at his
episcopal palace, Cheyne Walk, in 1781, aged 85, having sustained
throughout life the character of an exemplary prelate. {102}
* * * * *
The Hon. Brownlow North was born in 1741, was the younger son of the
first Earl of Guildford, and brother to that Lord North who became twice
Prime Minister of this country, once during the American war, and,
secondly, in conjunction with Mr. Fox. Mr. North was first educated at
Eton, and afterwards at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1770 he was
promoted from a canonry at Christchurch, to the deanery of Canterbury.
His elder brother being now Prime Minister he obtained the mitre of
Lichfield and Coventry in 1771, at the early age of 30. In 1744 he was
promoted to the see of Worcester, soon after which he was promoted to the
rich see of Winchester. By his wife, formerly Miss Bannister, a lady
previously well known in the fashionable world, he had a very numerous
family, of whom both sons and sons-in-law were amply provided with
valuable livings in the church. The bishop with his family went to
Italy, and shortly after their return his lady died; his lordship died at
his palace at Chelsea, after a long illness, accompanied with blindness,
at the age of 79, July 12, 1820.
* * * * *
Bishop North was kind and charitable. The present writer gladly embraces
this opportunity to testify to the truth of this statement. The bishop
was walking in front of his palace, as was his frequent custom, when the
writer, then quite a youth, fell accidentally with considerable force on
the shore of the river, it being at the time “low water.” The bishop
observing the accident, and perceiving the injury sustained, gave
immediate instructions for his being carried home, compensating the men,
and offering to pay any additional expenses. This may appear no more
than an act of duty on the part of the bishop, but the writer cannot
refrain from remembering it as a deed worthy of a “good Samaritan.”
* * * * *
Winchester Palace was of humble exterior, and displayed little of
grandeur or of magnificence. It was two stories in height, and built
with red bricks, without pilasters or any other architectural ornament;
but, however plain in its exterior, it comprised every convenience and
comfort that could be required for a large establishment. The building
formed a quadrangle, and its principal entrance was in the south front,
the ground floor of which comprised the great hall, kitchen, and chapel,
the latter being of moderate dimensions, plainly but neatly fitted up.
The great staircase at the eastern end of the hall led to three grand
drawing rooms, which extended the whole length of the south front, and
which, during the residence of Bishop North, were splendidly furnished.
The walls were covered with beautiful paper, having gold borders, the
ceilings were richly ornamented in stucco work, and the chimney-pieces
composed of various coloured marbles, put up at considerable expense by
the bishop after his return from Italy. The sleeping rooms, and other
domestic chambers, occupied the whole north front, commanding fine views
over the gardens adjoining. On the ground floor of this front were two
libraries, and other apartments, bounded on the east by a great gallery,
leading to the gardens.
* * * * *
Having been obliged in the year 1791, by the bad health of part of his
family, to seek the climate of Italy, Bishop North collected there many
curious articles of undoubted antiquity, of modern art, and of natural
history, of which the principal were, Greek sepulchral vases, specimens
of ancient marbles used in the Roman villas, mural paintings from
Herculaneum, beautiful works in Mosaic, fine bronzes, splendid gems,
curious china, &c. These were disposed with much taste in various
apartments of the house, and some of them we will notice.
* * * * *
The great entrance hall was 40 ft. long, and 20 ft. wide; on a table
stood an antique juvenile bust of Bacchus, which was much admired.
* * * * *
The grand staircase was of noble proportions, and was ornamented with a
variety of objects of taste, disposed in glass cases, consisting of
specimens of all the articles of domestic use among the ancient Romans.
Here likewise stood a sepulchral Roman vase of white marble, ornamented
with rams’ heads and elegant festoons of white flowers, with the
following inscription:—
Semproniæ
Elegantiorib. choreis
Psallendoq; Præstantis
Suæ viridis in medio juventæ
E. Vivis
Per crudelia fata direptæ
Sodaliu. Sibi. Choors. Dilecta
D.O.M.
Moer. M.P.
* * * * *
In bloom of youth, midst sweet companions dwelling,
With elegant and tuneful arts excelling,
Fate did Sempronia suddenly remove:
Submissive to the wise behests of Heaven,
Those lov’d companions (full of hope) have given
To her this token of their loss and love.
W. B.