WALHAM GREEN TO FULHAM.
The village of Walham Green, which is distant from Hyde Park Corner
between two and a half and three miles, appears to have been first so
called soon after the revolution of 1688. Before this, it was known as
Wansdon Green, written also Wandon and Wandham; all of which names,
according to Lysons, originated from the manor of Wendon, so was the
local name written in 1449, which in 1565 was spelled Wandowne. As the
name of a low and marshy piece of land on the opposite side of the Thames
to Wandsworth, through which _wandered_ the drainage from the higher
grounds, or through which the traveller had to _Wendon_ (pendan) his way
to Fulham; it would not be difficult to enter into speculations as to the
Anglo-Saxon origin of the word, but I refrain from placing before the
reader my antiquarian ruminations while passing Wansdown House, for few
things are more fascinating and deceptive than verbal associations.
Indeed, if indulged in to any extent, they might lead an enthusiast to
connect in thought the piers of Fulham (bridge) with the _Piers_ of
Fulham, who, in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, "compyled many praty
conceytis in love under covert terms of ffyssyng and ffowlyng;" and which
curious poem may be found printed in a collection of _Ancient Metrical
Tales_, edited by the Rev. Charles Henry Hartshorne. {138}
Two of "some ancient houses, erected in 1595, as appeared by a date on
the truss in the front of one of them," were pulled down at Walham Green
in 1812; after which the important proceedings in the progress of this
village in suburban advancement consisted in the establishment of
numerous public-houses; the filling up of a filthy pond, upon the ground
gained by which act a chapel-of-ease to Fulham, dedicated to St. John,
has been built, after the design of Mr. Taylor, at the estimated expense
of 9683 pounds 17s. 9d. The first stone was laid on the 1st of January,
1827; and it was consecrated by the Bishop of London on the 14th of
August, 1828. This was followed by the building of a charity-school upon
an angular patch of green, or common land, where donkeys had been wont to
graze, and the village children to play at cricket. Then the parish
pound was removed from a corner of the high road, near a basket-maker's,
to a back lane, thereby destroying the travelling joke of "Did you ever
see the baskets sold by the pound?" And, finally, Walham Green has
assumed a new aspect, from the construction of the Butchers' Almshouses,
the first stone of which was laid by the late Lord Ravensworth, on the
1st of July, 1840. Since that time, fancy-fairs and bazaars, with
horticultural exhibitions, have been fashionably patronised at Walham
Green by omnibus companies, for the support and enlargement of this
institution.
"Hail, happy isle! and happier Walham Green!
Where all that's fair and beautiful are seen!
Where wanton zephyrs court the ambient air,
And sweets ambrosial banish every care;
Where thought nor trouble social joy molest,
Nor vain solicitude can banish rest.
Peaceful and happy here I reign serene,
Perplexity defy, and smile at spleen;
Belles, beaux, and statesmen, all around me shine;
All own me their supreme, me constitute divine;
All wait my pleasure, own my awful nod,
And change the humble gardener to the god."
Thus, in the 'London Magazine' for June 1749, did Mr. Bartholomew Rocque
prophetically apostrophise Walham Green,--the "belles, beaux, and
statesmen," by which he was surrounded being new varieties of flowers,
dignified by distinguished names. In 1755, he printed a 'Treatise on the
Cultivation of the Hyacinth, translated from the Dutch;' and in 1761 an
'Essay on Lucerne Grass,', of which an enlarged edition was published in
1764. Mr. Rocque {139} resided in the house occupied by the late Mr.
King, opposite to the Red Lion, where Mr. Oliver Pitts now carries on
business as builder and carpenter.
Immediately after leaving Walham Green, on the south, or left-hand side,
of the main Fulham road, behind a pair of carriage gates, connected by a
brick wall, stands the mansion of Lord Ravensworth; in outward appearance
small and unostentatious, without the slightest attempt at architectural
decoration, but sufficiently spacious and attractive to have received the
highest honour that can be conferred on the residence of a subject, by
her Majesty and Prince Albert having visited the late lord here on the
26th of June, 1840. The grounds at the back of the house, though not
extensive, were planted with peculiar skill, care, and taste, by the late
Mr. Ord; and on that occasion recalled to memory the words of our old
poet, the author of 'Britannia's Pastorals,' William Browne:--
"There stood the elme, whose shade so mildely dym
Doth nourish all that groweth under him:
Cipresse that like piramides runne topping,
And hurt the least of any by the dropping;
The alder, whose fat shadow nourisheth
Each plant set neere to him long flourisheth;
The heavie-headed plane-tree, by whose shade
The grasse grows thickest, men are fresher made;
The oak that best endures the thunder-shocks,
The everlasting, ebene, cedar, boxe.
The olive, that in wainscot never cleaves,
The amourous vine which in the elme still weaves;
The lotus, juniper, where wormes ne'er enter;
The pyne, with whom men through the ocean venture;
The warlike yewgh, by which (more than the lance)
The strong-arm'd English spirits conquer'd France;
Amongst the rest, the tamarisks there stood,
For housewives' besomes only knowne most good;
The cold-place-loving birch, and servis-tree;
The Walnut-loving vales and mulberry;
The maple, ashe, that doe delight in fountains,
Which have their currents by the side of mountains;
The laurell, mirtle, ivy, date, which hold
Their leaves all winter, be it ne'er so cold;
The firre, that oftentimes doth rosin drop;
The beech, that scales the welkin with his top:
_All these and thousand more within this grove_,
_By all the industry of nature strove_
_To frame an arbour that might keepe within it_
_The best of beauties that the world hath in it_."
Since the royal visit, Lord Ravensworth's residence has been called
_Percy Cross_, but no reason has been assigned for the alteration of name
from Purser's Cross, which is mentioned as a point "on the Fulham road
between Parson's Green and Walham Green," so far back as 1602, and at
which we shall presently arrive. [Picture: View of Percy Cross] No
connection whatever that I am aware of exists between the locality and
the Percy family, and it only affords another, very recent local example
of what has been as happily as quaintly termed "the curiosity of change."
The most favourable aspect of the house is, perhaps, the view gained of
it from a neighbouring garden across a piece of water called Eel Brook,
which ornaments an adjacent meadow.
John Ord, Esq., the creator of Lord Ravensworth's London residence, is
better known as "Master Ord." He was the only son of Robert Ord, Chief
Baron of the Court of Exchequer in Scotland. In 1746 Mr. Ord entered
Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1762, vacated a lay fellowship by
marriage with Eleanor, the second daughter of John Simpson, Esq., of
Bradley, in the county of Durham. After being called to the bar, Mr. Ord
practised in the Court of Chancery; and, in 1774, was returned to
parliament as member for Midhurst. In 1778 he was appointed Master of
Chancery; and the next session, when returned member for Hastings, was
chosen chairman of "Ways and Means," in which situation his conduct gave
much satisfaction. Mr. Ord retired from parliament in 1790, and in 1809
resigned his office of Master in Chancery, and that of Attorney-General
for Lancaster the following year, when "he retired to a small place at
Purser's Cross, in the parish of Fulham, where he had early in life
amused himself in horticultural pursuits, and where there are several
foreign trees of his own raising remarkable both for their beauty and
size."
Lysons, in 1795, says--
"While I am speaking upon this subject" (the trees planted by Bishop
Compton in the gardens of Fulham Palace), "it would he unpardonable
to omit the mention of a very curious garden near Walham Green in
this parish, planted, since the year 1756, by its present proprietor,
John Ord, Esq., Master in Chancery. It is not a little extraordinary
that this garden should, within the space of forty years (such have
been the effects of good management and a fertile soil), have
produced trees which are now the finest of their respective kinds in
the kingdom. As a proof of this may be mentioned the _sophora
Japonica_, planted anno 1756, then about two feet high, now eight
feet in girth, and about forty in height; a standard _Ginko_ tree,
planted about the year 1767, two feet three inches in girth; and an
Illinois walnut, two feet two inches in girth, growing where it was
sown about the year 1760. Among other trees, very remarkable also
for their growth, though not to be spoken of as the largest of their
kind, are a black walnut-tree (sown anno 1757), about forty feet
high, and five feet four inches in girth; a cedar of Libanus (planted
in 1756), eight feet eight inches in girth; a willow-leaved oak (sown
anno 1757), four feet in girth; the Rhus Vernix, or varnish sumach,
four feet in girth; and a stone pine of very singular growth. Its
girth at one foot from the ground is six feet four inches; at that
height it immediately begins to branch out, and spreads, at least,
twenty-one feet on each side, forming a large bush of about fourteen
yards in diameter."
The second edition of Lysons' 'Environs of London' appeared in 1810, when
the measurement of these trees, in June 1808 and December 1809, was
placed in apposition. Faulkner's 'History of Fulham,' published in 1813,
carries on the history of their growth for three years more; but as, from
the marginal pencil note signed J. M., and dated January 1835 in Lysons',
I am led to conclude that some of these interesting trees exist no
longer, the following tabular view compiled from these sources may not be
unacceptable to the naturalist, who is well aware that
"Not small the praise the skilful planter claims,
From his befriended country."
About the time of Mr. Ord's death, 6th June, 1814, his garden contained
much that is remarkable in horticulture:--
"There was," we are told, "a good collection of American plants;
amongst others, a fine _Andromeda Arborea_, planted about eight
inches high in March 1804; and now (1812) eleven feet eight inches
high.
"The _Glastonbury Thorn_ flowered here on Christmas day, 1793.
"In the kitchen garden is (1812) a moss-rose, which has been much
admired. Many years ago Mr. Ord ordered his gardener to lay a
moss-rose, which, when done, he thought looked so well, he would not
allow the layers to be taken off, but laid them down year after year,
till it covered the ground it does at present, viz. a diameter of
forty-seven feet; want of room has confined it to its present size
for several years."
Girth at 3 feet Girth in June Girth in Girth in 1812 Girth in Jan
from the ground 1808 December 1809 (Faulkner) 1835 J.M.
in 1793
f. i. f. i. f. i. f. i. f. i.
_Sophora
japonica_,
{144a} in 1809, 8 0 9 4 9 7.5 10 1 0 0
about 50 feet
in height; it
flowered for
the first time
in August 1807,
and has
continued to
flower the two
succeeding
years.
_Ginko-tree_
(_Ginko
biloba_, 2 3 3 6 3 9 3 10 0 0
standard) about
37 feet high.
A tree from an
Illinois-nut,
given by Mr. 2 2 2 10 2 11 3 0 0 0
Aiton to Mr.
Ord, about 40
feet high.
{144b}
A black
walnut-tree,
(_juglans 5 4 6 11 {144c} 7 3 10 0
niger_), sown
where it stands
in 1757, about
64 feet high in
1809.
A cedar of
Lebanon, when
planted being 8 8 9 11 {144d} 9 9 10 0
two years old,
in 1809 being
about 55 feet
high.
A willow-leaved
oak, sown in
1757. 4 0 5 5 {144e} 5 7 5 10
The _rhus
vernix_, or
varnish sumach. 4 0 4 10 4 10 5 1
_Fraxinus
ornus_, which
is covered with 3 10
flowers every
year.
_Gleditsia
triacanthus_,
sown in 1759, 4 8
produced pods 2
feet long in
1780, but the
seeds
imperfect.
_Acacia
common_, sown
in 1757, 7 7
planted where
it stands in
1758.
_Ilex_ 6 9
_Tulip-tree_,
sown where it
stands in 1758, 5 6
first flowered
in 1782.
_Cyprus 5 6
deciduus_, sown
in 1760
_Corylus
colurna_
(Constantinople 3 2
hazel), between
30 and 40 feet
high, bears
fruit, but
imperfect.
_Virginian
cedar_, (red)
sown in 1758 4 0
_Guilandina 2 1
dioica_, or
_bonduc_
_Juglans alba_,
or white
hickory. 3 1
_Lombardy_, or
_Po poplar_, a
cutting in 1766 10 0
near 100 feet
high.
_Poplar_, 8 6
planted in 1772
Another column headed 1845, carrying out this view, would be an
important addition to statistical observation.
Two agaves, or American aloes, flowered in Mr. Ord's greenhouse in the
summer of 1812, one of which was a beautiful striped variety. The plants
had been there since the year 1756. Amid all these delightful
associations, there is one melancholy event connected with the place. On
the night of the 9th September, 1807, a fire broke out in the
garden-house of Mr. Ord's residence (a cottage upon the site of the
present stables): the flame raged so furiously as to burn the principal
gardener, an old and valued servant, almost to ashes before any help
could be afforded to him. Upon the following Sunday (13th), the Rev.
John Owen, the then curate of Fulham, preached so effective a sermon upon
the uncertainty of the morrow, {145} that having printed a large
impression "without any loss to himself," a second edition appeared on
the 3rd of the following month.
In the second volume of the 'Transactions of the Horticultural Society,'
a beautifully-coloured representation of 'Ord's apple' may be found,
illustrative of Mr. Salisbury's communication respecting it, which was
read to the Society on the 17th of January, 1817. After acknowledging
his obligations to Mrs. Anne Simpson, the sister of Mrs. Ord, and who Mr.
Salisbury represents as "being as fond of gardening as her late
brother-in-law, Mr. Ord," it is stated that,--
"About forty years ago, the late John Ord, Esq. raised, in his garden
at _Purser's Cross_, near Fulham, an apple-tree from the seed of the
New-town pippin, imported from North America. When this tree began
to bear, its fruit, though without any external beauty, proved
remarkably good, and had a peculiar quality, namely, a melting
softness in eating, so that it might be said almost to dissolve in
the mouth. The late Mr. Lee, of Hammersmith, often had grafts of
this tree, and he sold the plant so raised first with the name of
Ord's apple, and subsequently with the name of New-town pippin. . . .
.
"This seedling tree," continues Mr. Salisbury, "is now (1817) of
large dimensions, its trunk being four feet four inches round at a
yard above the ground; but it has of late years been very unhealthy,
and scarcely borne any fruit worth gathering, its roots having, no
doubt, penetrated into a stratum of unfavourable soil."
Mrs. Anne Simpson sowed some pippins from this remarkable tree,--
"And two of the healthiest seedlings of this second generation were
planted out to remain in the kitchen-garden, which are now (1817)
about twenty years old. One of these trees began to bear fruit very
soon, which is not unlike that of its parent in shape, with a thin
skin; and, being a very good apple, grafts of it have been
distributed about the metropolis with the name of _Simpson's pippin_.
The other seedling of the second generation was several years longer
in bearing fruit; and, when it did, the apples were quite of a
different shape, being long, with a thick skin and poor flavour, and
so numerous as to be all very small. Of late years, however, they
have gradually improved so much in flavour, as to become a remarkably
spirited, juicy apple, attaining a good size, which has probably been
promoted by thinning them, though a full crop has always been left
upon the tree; and they are now greatly esteemed by all who taste
them."
This apple is in perfection for eating from Christmas to the middle of
March. The skin is thick, and always of a green colour while on the
tree, but tinged with copper-coloured red, and several darker spots on
the sunny side; after the fruit has been gathered some time, the green
colour changes to a yellowish cast. It may be mentioned that, before the
death of the late Lord Ravensworth, the house was inhabited by those
celebrated artistes, Madame Grisi and Signor Mario.
On the opposite side of the road to Lord Ravensworth's, and a few yards
beyond it, on the way to Fulham, is Walham Lodge, formerly Park Cottage,
a modern well-built house, which stands within extensive grounds,
surrounded by a brick wall. This was for some years the residence of Mr.
Brand, the eminent chemist, who particularly distinguished himself by the
course of lectures which he delivered on geology, at the Royal
Institution, in 1816; and which may be dated as the popular starting
point of that branch of scientific inquiry in this country.
A house, now divided into two, and called Dungannon House and Albany
Lodge, abuts upon the western boundary wall of the grounds of Walham
Lodge. [Picture: Dungannon House--Albany Lodge] Tradition stoutly
asserts that this united cottage and villa were, previous to their
division, known by the name of _Bolingbroke Lodge_, and that here Pope
did, more than once,
"Awake my St. John,"
by an early morning visit.
At Albany Lodge, the farthest part of the old house in our view (then
Heckfield Villa), resided Mr. Milton, before-mentioned as having lived at
Heckfield Lodge, Little Chelsea; both of which names were introduced on
the Fulham Road, from that gentleman's attachment to the name of his
reverend father's living, near Basingstoke.
Dungannon House formerly went by the name of Acacia Cottage, and was so
called from a tree in the garden. It was for many years the country
residence of Mr. Joseph Johnson, of St. Paul's Churchyard, a publisher
worthy of literary regard; and here he died on the 20th of December,
1809. He was born at Liverpool, in 1738; and, after serving an
apprenticeship in London, commenced business as a medical bookseller,
upon Fish Street Hill; "a situation he chose as being in the track of the
medical students resorting to the hospitals in the Borough, and which
probably was the foundation of his connexions with many eminent members
of that profession."
Having entered into partnership, he removed to Paternoster Row, where his
house and stock were destroyed by fire, in 1770: after which, feeling the
advantage of a peculiar locality, he carried on business alone, until the
time of his death, at the house which all juvenile readers who recollect
the caterers for their amusement and instruction will remember as that of
"Harris and Co., corner of St. Paul's Churchyard." This step was
considered at the time, by "the trade," as a bold and inconsiderate
measure; but it was successfully imitated by the late Mr. Murray, in his
removal from Fleet Street to Albemarle Street; and, indeed, John Murray,
as a publisher, seems only to have been a fearless copyist, in many
matters, of Joseph Johnson. Whether, as a tradesman, he was judicious or
not in so doing, is a question upon which there may be two opinions; but
there can be no hesitation about the perfect application of Dr. Aikin's
words to both parties:--
"The character Mr. Johnson established by his integrity, good sense,
and honourable principles of dealing, soon raised him to eminence as
a publisher; and many of the most distinguished names in science and
literature during the last half century appear in works which he
ushered to the world."
The imprint of Johnson is to be found upon the title-pages which first
introduced Cowper and Darwin to notice:--
"The former of these, with the diffidence, and perhaps the
despondency, of his character, had actually, by means of a friend,
made over to him (Johnson) his two volumes of poems, on no other
condition than that of securing him from expense; but when the
public, which neglected the first volume, had discovered the rich
mine opened in the _Task_, and assigned the author his merited place
among the first-rate English poets, Mr. Johnson would not avail
himself of his advantage, but displayed a liberality which has been
warmly acknowledged by that admirable, though unfortunate, person."
A score of equally generous anecdotes might be told of Murray. In one
particular, however, there was, as publishers, a decided difference
between the views of Johnson and Murray. Those of Johnson are at present
in the ascendancy; but they may produce a revolution in favour of the
opinion of John Murray against cheap literature. Johnson was the
opponent of typographical luxury. Murray, on the contrary, supported the
aristocracy of the press, until obliged, "by the pressure from without,"
in some degree to compromise his views by the publication of the 'Family
Library.'
In the wing (comparatively speaking a modern addition) attached to this
house, and in the room where Mr. Johnson died, is a remarkable
chimney-piece, of a monumental character; but I can learn nothing
respecting it.
The history of Dungannon House when Acacia Cottage, could we procure a
correct record of all the ideas which [Picture: Chimney-piece] have
passed through the human mind within its walls, respecting literature and
art, would form a chronicle of singular interest. The late Mr.
Hullmandel, well known as one of the most experienced and successful
practitioners of lithography in England, resided here in 1839 and 1840,
when he discovered a new process in his favourite art, by simple mental
reasoning, upon the application of the process of copperplate aquatint to
lithographic purposes. For this discovery--and it is one of considerable
importance--he subsequently took out a patent, under the name of
lithotint. Ever since the infancy of lithography, hundreds of persons
connected with the art, beginning with its inventor himself, Senefelder,
had endeavoured to produce impressions from stone of subjects executed
with the brush, in the same manner as drawings are made with sepia, or
Indian ink. And it was natural enough that artists should have made
every effort to supersede the tedious and elaborate process by which
alone a liquid could be rendered available for the purpose of drawing on
stone. The mode of drawing technically called "the ink style," consists
merely of a series of lines, some finer, some thicker, executed on the
white surface of the stone, with ink dissolved in water, by means of a
fine sable or a steel pen, in imitation of an etching on copper. All
attempts, however, at producing variety of tints, by using the ink
thicker or thinner, failed,--the fainter lines either disappearing
altogether, or printing as dark as thick ones. In every attempt made to
use this ink as a wash, the result was still more disastrous, producing
only one dirty mass of indistinctness, amid which the original drawing
was scarcely to be traced. For twenty years did Mr. Hullmandel labour to
attain some mode of printing drawings, made by a series of washes, with a
brush, on stone, feeling this to be the great desideratum in the art.
Lithographers in Germany, in France, and in this country, had pronounced
it to be "utterly impossible;" when the idea suddenly flashed upon him,
that, if he could effect a minute granulation of the ink, by treating it
as a copperplate engraver would the ground of an aquatint plate, the
relative strength of the different washes might be preserved. He
hastened from Acacia Cottage to his printing-office in London, to put his
theory into practice, and was rewarded by the most satisfactory results.
Since that period, several prints, by this process of lithotint, were
produced by Mr. Hullmandel, from drawings made by Harding, Nash, Haghe,
Walton, and other clever artists, in which all the raciness, the
smartness, and the beauty of touch, are apparent, which hitherto could
only be found in the original drawing. [Picture: Arundel House--front]
[Picture: Arundel House--back] In fact, lithotint was not a translation,
but a multiplication of the original; and its discovery, or, rather, the
proper application of knowledge, became an eventful era in the history of
the fine arts.
Arundel House, a few yards beyond Dungannon House, stands on the same
side of the road, opposite to Parson's Green Lane, which leads to the
King's Road. It is a house of considerable antiquity, judging from the
stone mullions brought to light by some repairs,--probably as old as the
time of Henry VIII.; although the brick front, as shown above, appears to
be the work of the latter part of the seventeenth century.
The back of Arundel House is quite different in character, and retains an
old porch leading into the garden. At the farther end of the garden a
venerable yew-tree arbour exists; and not [Picture: Arundel House porch
and Yew Tree Arbour] far from it used to stand a picturesque old pump,
with the date 1758 close to the spout; which pump is now removed, and a
new one put in its place. Upon a leaden cistern at the back of Arundel
House, the following monogram occurs beneath an earl's coronet, with the
date 1703:--[Picture: Old Pump and monogram] Notwithstanding that this is
obviously compounded of the letters L. I. C., or C. I. L., and at the
first glance with the connexion of an earl's coronet and a date would
appear to present no difficulty respecting the correct appropriation, I
must confess my inability to state to whom the monogram belonged. For
the name of Arundel I am equally unable to account. No mention whatever
is made of this house by Mr. Faulkner; nor does the name of Arundel occur
in the parish records of Fulham, although in 1724, as before mentioned,
Stanley Grove House appears to have been in the possession of Henry
Arundel. In the midst of this obscurity, the residence of the late Mr.
Hallam, the historian, who occupied Arundel House in 1819, invests it
with a literary association of interest.
On the opposite side of the road is the carriage entrance to Park House,
which stands in Parson's Green Lane. A stone tablet has been let into
one of the piers of the gateway, inscribed
PURSER'S CROSS,
7TH AUGUST,
1738.
This date has reference to an occurrence which the monthly chronologer in
the 'London Magazine' thus relates:--
"An highwayman having committed several robberies on Finchley Common,
was pursued to London, when he thought himself safe, but was, in a
little time, discovered at a public-house in Burlington Gardens,
refreshing himself and his horse; however, he had time to remount,
and rode through Hyde Park, in which there were several gentlemen's
servants airing their horses, who, taking the alarm, pursued him
closely as far as Fulham Fields, where, finding no probability of
escaping, he threw money among some country people who were at work
in the field, and told them they would soon see the end of an
unfortunate man. He had no sooner spoke these words but he pulled
out a pistol, clapped it to his ear, and shot himself directly,
before his pursuers could prevent him. The coroner's inquest brought
in their verdict, and he was buried in a cross road, with a stake
drove through him; but 'twas not known who he was." {155a}
In the 'Beauties of England and Wales,' "Purser's Cross" is said to have
been corrupted from "Parson's Cross," and the vicinity of Parson's Green
is mentioned in support of the conjecture. However, that Purser, and not
Percy Cross, has been for many years the usual mode of writing the name
of this locality is established by the 'Annual Register' for 1781, where
the following remarkable coincidence is mentioned:--
"Died, 30th December, 1780, at Purser's Cross, Fulham, Mrs. Elizabeth
and Mrs. Frances Turberville, in the seventy-seventh year of their
ages, of ancient and respectable west country family; they were twin
sisters, and both died unmarried. What adds to the singularity of
this circumstance, they were both born the same day, never were known
to live separate, died within a few days of each other, and were
interred on the same day."
Park House presents a fac-simile of an old mansion which stood precisely
on the same site, and was known as Quibus Hall, a name, as is
conjectured, bestowed upon it in consequence of some dispute respecting
possession between the coheirs of Sir Michael Wharton, who died about
1725. {155b} When rebuilt by Mr. Holland for the late Mr. Powell, it was
called High Elms House, and was for some time occupied as a school,
conducted by the Rev. Thomas Bowen, who published in 1798 'Thoughts on
the Necessity of Moral Discipline in Prisons.' After Mr. Bowen's death
in the following year, his widow, with the assistance of the Rev. Joshua
Ruddock, carried on the establishment until 1825, since which time Park
House became the occasional residence of Mr. Powell, of Quex, in the Isle
of Thanet, until his death in 1849. A cottage opposite (formerly
"Brunswick Cottage") was called "Rosamond's Bower," during the time the
late Mr. Crofton Croker lived in it (1837-46).
In a privately printed description of this cottage, when the residence of
Mr. Croker, of which but a very few copies were distributed to his
friends, Mr. Croker himself writes:--
"In what, it may be asked, originates the romantic name of
'Rosamond's Bower?' A question I shall endeavour to answer. The
curious reader will find from Lysons' 'Environs of London' (II. 359),
that the manor of Rosamonds is an estate near Parson's Green, in the
[Picture: Old Rosamond's Bower and Park House, from a Sketch made
about 1750] parish of Fulham. Lysons adds, 'the site of the mansion
belonging to this estate, now (1795) rented by a gardener, is said,
by tradition, to have been a palace of Fair Rosamond.' There seems
to be, however, no foundation beyond the name for this tradition, and
it is unnoticed by Faulkner in his 'History of Fulham,' published in
1813. He merely mentions, adjoining High Elms, or Park House, an old
dwelling, which 'ancient house,' continues Faulkner, 'appears to be
of the age of Elizabeth, and is commonly called Rosamond's Bower.'
This 'ancient house' was taken down by Mr. Powell, in the year 1826,
and the present stables of Park House are built upon the site. But I
have recently learned that the name of 'Rosamond's Dairy' is still
attached to an old house probably built between two and three hundred
years, which stands a little way back from the high-road at the
north-west corner of Parson's Green.
"I have always felt with Dr. Johnson that relics are venerable
things, and are only _not_ to be worshipped. When, therefore, I took
my cottage, in 1837, and was told that the oak staircase in it had
belonged to the veritable 'Rosamond's Bower,' and was the only relic
of it that existed; and when I found that the name had no longer a
precise 'local habitation' in Fulham, I ventured, purely from motives
of respect for the memory of the past, and not from any affectation
of romance, to revive an ancient parochial name which had been
suffered to die out, 'like the snuff of a candle.' In changing its
precise situation, in transferring it from one side of Parson's Green
Lane to the other, a distance, however, not fifty yards from the
original site, I trust when called upon to show cause for the
transfer, to be reasonably supported by the history of the old oak
staircase. Indeed I may here venture to assert that the change of
name from 'Brunswick Cottage,'--so was 'Rosamond's Bower' called when
I took it,--and the assumption of that name, if contrasted with the
name changing and name travelling fashion of the district, is a
proceeding in which I am fully borne out by numerous precedents.
"Miss Edgeworth, in her reply, dated 31st January, 1840, to the
letter of a juvenile correspondent (then nine years of age) inquires,
'Is Rosamond's Bower a real name?' And I well remember the gestures
and even some of the jests which the omnibus passengers made when
'Rosamond's Bower' was first painted upon the stone caps of the gate
piers, such as Father Prout's '_Rosy_-man's Bower near the _White_
Sheaf' (Wheatsheaf). But the novelty wore off in a week or two, and
the name has long since ceased to be an object of speculation to any
but the inquisitive. For their information I may state, that in the
time of Elizabeth all the gardeners' cottages in this neighbourhood
were called bowers. It was the Saxon term for a room, and,
therefore, applied to the dwelling occupied by the labouring class.
And Rosamond, or Rosaman, is said to have been the name of a family
of gardeners bestowed upon the district which they had long
cultivated--possibly a sobriquet derived from the fame of their roses
in times when that flower was a badge of party distinction. . . . It
only remains for me to add, that 'Rosamond's Bower' stands 22 feet
back from the high road, and has a small garden or court before it,
measuring, exclusive of the stable-yard, 63 feet. The garden behind
the house is of that form called a gore, gradually narrowing from 63
to 22 feet, in a distance of 550 feet or 183 yards--five turns up and
down which 'long walk' may be reckoned, by exercise meters, 'a full
mile,' it being 73 yards over and above the distance, an ample
allowance for ten short turnings. Of the old 'Rosamond's Bower'
three representations have been preserved; two of these are
pen-and-ink sketches by Mr. Doherty, made about the middle of the
last century, one of which is an authority for the name of Pershouse
Cross. The third view appears in a well-executed aquatint plate of
'Fulham Park School taken from the Play Ground.'
"The foundation of the present 'Rosamond's Bower,' judging from the
brickwork on the south side, and the thickness of the walls, is
probably as old as the time of Elizabeth--I mean the original
building which consisted of two rooms, one above the other, 12 feet
square, and 7 feet in height. On the north side of this primitive
dwelling was a deep draw-well. Subsequently two similar rooms were
attached, one of which (the present hall) was built over the well,
and two attics were raised upon this very simple structure, thus
increasing the number of rooms from two to six. Then a kitchen was
built (the present dining-room), and another room over it (the
present drawing-room), at the back of the original building, which
thus from a labourer's hut assumed the air of an eight-roomed
cottage. It was then discovered that the rooms were of very small
dimensions, and it was considered necessary to enlarge four of them
by the additional space to be gained from bay windows in the
dining-room, drawing-room, blue bedchamber, and dressing-room. But
the spirit of improvement seldom rests content, and when it was found
that the kitchen, which looked upon the garden, was a more agreeable
sitting-room, both as to aspect and quiet, than the more ancient and
smaller room which looked upon the road, it was determined to create
another attachment on the north side, by building a kitchen of still
larger dimensions, with a scullery and storeroom behind, to replace
the old scullery and out-offices by a spacious staircase, and over
this new kitchen to place a room of corresponding size, or equal to
that of the two bedrooms upon the same line of building. Thus in
1826 did 'Rosamond's Bower' become a cottage of ten rooms; and as it
was soon afterwards presumed from the march of luxury that no one
could live in a decade cottage without requiring a coachhouse and
stable, an excellent one was built not far from the north side,
making the third, though not the last, addition in that direction.
"Parva domus! nemorosa quies,
Sis tu quoque nostris hospitium laribus
Subsidium diu: postes tuas Flora ornet
Pomonaque mensas."
THE GARDEN.
"It is much more difficult to describe the garden of Rosamond's Bower
than its shape. I may, however, mention that by means of a sunk
fence {159} and a wen-like excrescence upon the original gore, made
in the Spring of 1842, the extensive meadow of Park House, with the
piece of water which adorns it, appear to belong to my residence so
completely, that so far as the eye questions the matter, 'I am
monarch of all I survey.' [Picture: Distant View of 'Rosamond's
Bower' from the adjoining Meadow] The first lawn of the garden
rejoices in two very remarkable trees, one a standard Ayrshire rose,
rising ten feet in height from a stem ten inches in circumference,
and from which, during sunny June, 'every breeze, of red rose leaves
brings down a crimson rain.' {160} The other a weeping ash of
singularly beautiful proportions. It has been trained, or rather
restrained, to the measurement of fifty-six feet in circumference,
the stem being two feet round, and the branches shooting out at the
height of five feet with incredible luxuriance. Under its branches I
had the pleasure of seeing no less than thirty-eight friends sit down
to breakfast on the 22nd June, 1842; and Gunter, who laid covers for
forty-four, assured me, that another arrangement with circular
tables, made for the purpose, would have comfortably accommodated
sixty. A miniature shrubbery, not in height, but in breadth,
intervenes between the first lawn and the flower garden, where, in
the centre of beds, stands the 'Baylis Vase'--a memorial, I sincerely
trust, of a more enduring friendship. Miss Aikin's question--but a
very long acquaintance with that lady's fame warrants me here writing
'Lucy Aikin's question--to me, one evening while walking down the
garden, whether that urn had been placed over the remains of any
favourite, was the occasion of the following lines being painted on
it:--
Think not that here was placed this urn
To mark a spot o'er which to mourn.
Should tender thoughts awake a tear
For fading flowers or waning year,
Remember that another spring,
Fresh flowers and brighter hopes will bring.
Two elevated strawberry beds, facetiously termed 'twin strawberry
hills,' rear themselves between the vase and the back lawn, the
further corners of which are respectively protected from wheelbarrow
intrusion by an Irish Quern and a Capsular Stone, venerated in Irish
tradition--the former a remarkably perfect, the latter an exceedingly
compact specimen, having on one side a double, and on the other a
single hollow. . . . The remaining points of interest in my garden
may be noticed in a very few words. It gradually decreases in
breadth, and is fenced off on one side from the garden of a very kind
neighbour (which contains two of the finest walnut trees in the
parish) by an oak paling partially covered with broad, or Irish, and
embellished by the picturesque narrow-leaved ivy.
"On the other side a trim hedge, kept breast high, which runs beside
'the long walk,' separates it from the extensive meadow of Park
House, and at the termination the following inscription from one of
Herrick's poems has been placed--
Thine own dear grounds,
Not envying others larger bounds,
For well thou knowest 'tis not the extent
Of land makes life, but sweet content.
"The garden produces plenty of strawberries, an abundance of
raspberries, and generally a good crop of apples and pears, but few
vegetables; the cultivation, except of asparagus (of which there are
two excellent beds), having been abandoned, as the bird monopoly of
peas, caused every shilling's worth that came to table to cost five,
and the ingenuity of the slugs and snails having completely baffled
all amateur gardening schemes of defence against their slimy
invasions. [Picture: Rustic bench] Among many experiments I may
mention one. Some vegetables were protected by a circumvallum of
salt; but, notwithstanding, the slugs and snails contrived to pass
this supposed deadly line of demarcation by fixing themselves on dry
leaves which they could easily lift, and thus they wriggled safely
over it. My greatest enjoyment in the garden has been derived from a
rustic bench at the north side of the shrubbery, through the back and
arms of which a honeysuckle has luxuriantly interlaced itself; there,
particularly when recovering from illness, I have sat, and have
found, or fancied, that pain was soothed, and depressed spirits
greatly elevated, by the monotonous tone of the bees around me."
The pamphlet from which the above has been taken then enters into a
minute description of the curiosities, pictures, &c., collected by Mr.
Croker at 'Rosamond's Bower,' which it is unnecessary further to refer
to; indeed, although intended for private circulation only, it was not
completed, as Mr. Croker was led to believe it might appear but an
egotistical description of an unimportant house.
The following particulars, connected with Thomas Moore's visit to
'Rosamond's Bower,' may prove interesting:--
On the 6th October, 1838, Moore wrote to Mr. Crofton Croker as follows:--
"Many thanks for your wish to have me at Rosamond's Bower, even
though I was unlucky enough not to profit by that wish--some other
time, however, you must, for _my_ sake, try again; and I shall then
be most ready for a rummage of your Irish treasures. Already,
indeed, I have been drawing a little upon your 'Researches in the
South of Ireland;' and should be very glad to have more books of
yours to pilfer.
"Yours, my dear Mr. Croker,
"Very truly,
"THOMAS MOORE."
On the 18th November, 1841, Major-General (then Colonel) Sir Charles
O'Donnell lunched at Rosamond's Bower; before luncheon Mr. Croker
happened to point out to him the passage in the preface of the fourth
volume of Moore's Works, p. xxxv, in which the poet says--
"With the melody entitled, 'Love, Valour, and Wit,' an incident is
connected, which awakened feelings in me of proud, but sad pleasure,
to think that my songs had reached the hearts of some of the
descendants of those great Irish families, who found themselves
forced, in the dark days of persecution, to seek in other lands a
refuge from the shame and ruin of their own;--those whose story I
have associated with one of their country's most characteristic
airs:--
'Ye Blakes and O'Donnells, whose fathers resign'd
The green hills of their youth, among strangers to find
That repose which at home they had sigh'd for in vain.'
"From a foreign lady, of this ancient extraction,--whose names, could
I venture to mention them, would lend to the incident an additional
Irish charm,--I received about two years since, through the hands of
a gentleman to whom it had been intrusted, a large portfolio, adorned
inside with a beautiful drawing representing Love, Wit, and Valour,
as described in the song. In the border that surrounds the drawing
are introduced the favourite emblems of Erin, the harp, the shamrock,
the mitred head of St. Patrick, together with scrolls containing
each, inscribed in letters of gold, the name of some favourite melody
of the fair artist.
"This present was accompanied by the following letter from the lady
herself--"
It is unnecessary to quote this letter, but the gentleman alluded to was
Sir Charles O'Donnell, who had brought the parcel from the Continent, and
being about to proceed to Canada, and personally unacquainted with Moore,
requested Mr. Croker to get it safely delivered; who took the present
opportunity of pointing out to Sir Charles this public acknowledgment
that his commission had been executed.
They had not been at luncheon many minutes when Mr. Moore was announced,
and appeared to be no less pleased at meeting Sir Charles O'Donnell, than
the latter was at being introduced to Moore.
A few days afterwards, Mr. Croker received the following note from Mr.
Moore:--
"_November_ 24, 1841.
"DEAR CROKER,
"I was obliged to leave London much sooner than I originally
intended, and thus lost the opportunity of paying you another visit.
. . . My next visit to London will, I hope, be sufficiently free
from other avocations to allow me to devote a good deal of time to
the examination of your various treasures. Pray give my kind
remembrances to Mrs. Croker.--I constantly think of my great good
luck in lighting by chance on so agreeable a dinner-party that day.
The only drawback was, that it spoiled me--both mentally and
physically speaking--for the dinner that followed.
"Yours very truly,
"THOMAS MOORE."
The name of MOORE was subsequently cut by Mr. Croker on the back of a
chair which the poet occupied during this visit. It produced the
following epigram by the Rev. Francis Mahony (Father Prout):--
"This is to tell o' days
When on this Cathedra,
He of the Melodies
Solemnly sat, agrah!"
Mr. Thomas James Bell, the next tenant of 'Rosamond's Bower,' altered the
name to 'Audley Cottage,' which it now bears, and the agreeable
associations connected with the former title are in the recollection of
many who may be unaware of the change, and may regret the substitution of
a name, for which there appears to have been very little reason.
Parson's Green Lane continues from Rosamond's Bower to Parson's Green.
It is for the most part composed of small cottages. On the left-hand
corner of the Green is the 'White Horse' public-house, the sign of which
was, some few years ago supported by the quaint piece of iron-work shown
in the annexed cut. It is now altered.
[Picture: Iron-work sign and White Horse Public-House]
East End House, on the east side of the Green, next the pond, was
originally built by Sir Francis Child, who was Lord Mayor of London, in
1699. It was afterwards the residence of Admiral Sir Charles Wager; and
Dr. Ekins, Dean of Carlisle, died here 20th November, 1791. The house
was subsequently modernized by the late John Powell, and became the
residence of Mrs. Fitzherbert, who erected the porch in front of the
house as a shelter for carriages. Here the Prince of Wales (afterwards
George IV.) was a frequent visitor. Piccolomini lived here for a short
time lately.
The celebrated Sir Thomas Bodley lived at Parson's Green from 1605 to
1609. The old mansion at the west side of the Green was formerly the
Rectory House, and is traditionally reported to have been the residence
of Adoniram Byfield, the noted Presbyterian Chaplain to Colonel
Cholmondeley's regiment in the Earl of Essex's army, who took so
prominent a part in Cromwellian politics, that he became immortalized in
Hudibras. [Picture: The Rectory House] An old stone building is noticed
by Bowack in 1705, as adjoining this house, and presumed by him to be of
three or four hundred years' standing, and in all probability a chapel
for the rectors and their domestics. This building was pulled down,
according to Lysons, about the year 1742, and the house is now divided
into two, that at the corner being occupied by Dr. Lauman's Academy. At
the south-west side of the Green is the old entrance to Peterborough
House, a residence with the recollections of which the names of Locke,
Swift, Pope, Gay, Prior, and a crowd of others are associated.
The present Peterborough House, which is a little beyond the old brick
gateway, was built by Mr. J. Meyrick, who died there in 1801. Ho was the
father of Sir Samuel Meyrick the well-known antiquary. Ho purchased the
house, in 1794, of R. Heavyside, Esq., and pulled down the old mansion
that stood close to the site of the ancient maze, which became converted
into a lawn at the rear of the modern house. The place was originally
[Picture: Old Gate of Peterborough House] termed Brightwells, or
Rightwells, and here, in 1569, died John Tarnworth, Esq., one of
Elizabeth's privy counsellors, who lies buried at Fulham.
Brightwells afterwards belonged to Sir Thomas Knolles, who, in 1603, sold
it to Sir Thomas Smith, who had been secretary to the unfortunate Earl of
Essex, and became, under James I., Clerk of the Council, Latin Secretary,
and Master of the Requests; and here he died in 1609, and was buried in
the chancel of Fulham Church, where a handsome monument is erected to his
memory. After Sir Thomas Smith's death, his widow married the first Earl
of Exeter, and continued to reside at Brightwells until her death, in
1633. Sir Thomas Smith's only daughter having married the Honourable
Thomas Carey, the Earl of Monmouth's second son, he became possessed of
the estate in right of his wife, and after him the place was called Villa
Carey, which has led to the belief that old Peterborough House was built
by him. It stood facing the pond on Parson's Green, and at about the
same distance from the road as the present house. Francis Cleyne, who
came over to England in the reign of Charles I., was certainly employed
to decorate the rooms. Mr. Carey died about 1635; and his widow, about
five years afterwards, married Sir Edward Herbert, Attorney-General to
King Charles. Sir Edward was a firm loyalist, and resided at Parson's
Green till the death of his royal master, when he accompanied Charles II.
in his exile, who created him Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and he died
abroad in 1657. His estate was ordered to be sold with the estates of
other loyalists in 1653, but the sale does not appear to have taken
place, as Villa Carey, in 1660, was in the possession of Lord Mordaunt,
who had married the daughter and heiress of Mr. Carey. Lord Clarendon
bears honourable testimony to the daring spirit and devoted zeal in the
royal cause evinced by this "young gentleman," and to the no less
chivalric conduct of his charming bride.
"He was," says the historian, "of great vigour of mind, and newly
married to a young and beautiful lady of a very loyal spirit and
notable vivacity of wit and humour, who concurred with him in all
honourable dedications of himself."
When her husband was arrested and brought to trial in 1658, as a partizan
of Charles II., by her contrivance one of the principal witnesses against
him was kept out of the way, and his judges, being divided in their
opinion of his guilt, he was acquitted only by the casting vote of the
President, the notorious John Lisle, who had sat upon the trial of
Charles I., by whom he was addressed in the following remarkable
strain:--
"And I have now to speak to you Mr. Mordaunt: God hath appeared in
justice, and God doth appear in mercy, as the Lord is just to them,
so the Lord is exceeding merciful to you, and I may say to you that
God appears to you at this time, as he speaks to sinners in Jesus
Christ, for Sir, he doth clear sinners in Christ Jesus even when they
are guilty, and so God cleareth you. I will not say you are guilty,
but ask your own conscience whether you are or no. Sir, bless God as
long as you live, and bless my Lord Protector, by whose authority you
are cleared. Sir, I speak no more, but I beseech you to speak to
God."
The very active part which Lord Mordaunt had taken in effecting the
restoration of Charles II., in which service, according to his epitaph,
he "encountered a thousand dangers, provoking and also defeating the rage
of Cromwell," was not rewarded by any extraordinary marks of distinction
or favour, and he seems after that event to have quietly resided on his
estate at Parson's Green, where he died in the forty-eighth year of his
age, on the 5th June, 1675, and was buried in Fulham Church. The son of
Lord Mordaunt, who afterwards received the title of Earl of Peterborough,
married first, Carey, daughter to Sir Alexander Fraser, of Dover. His
second wife was the accomplished singer Anastasia Robinson, who survived
him. The earl was visited at Peterborough House by all the wits and
literati of his time. Bowack, in 1706, describes the gardens of
Peterborough House, as containing twenty acres of ground, and mentions a
tulip-tree seventy-six feet in height, and five feet nine inches in
girth. Swift, in one of his letters, speaks of Lord Peterborough's
gardens as the finest he had ever seen about London.
On the same side of the Green as Peterborough House, stood the residence
of Samuel Richardson, who removed to Parson's Green from North End in
1755, and in this house his second wife, who survived him, died in
November, 1773, aged seventy-seven. Formerly the same house belonged to
Sir Edward Saunders, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in 1682. A
sketch of the house will be found in Chambers' Cyclopaedia of English
Literature. Drury Lodge, situated on the King's Road adjoining Parson's
Green, and immediately opposite the Malt House, formerly known as Ivy
Cottage, was built by Walsh Porter in the Gothic style, and is now the
residence of Mr. E. T. Smith, who has called the house after his theatre.
The name of the lane which runs down by the side of Drury Lodge has,
however, not been altered to _Drury_ Lane, but still retains its old
title of Broom Lane.
It is said that on the site of what is now called Drury Lodge, was
formerly a house, the residence of Oliver Cromwell, which was called the
_Old Red Ivy House_. Part of the old walls of that building form the
west side of the present cottage.
Proceeding forward from Purser's Cross on the main Fulham Road, where St.
Peter's Villa may be noticed as the residence of Madame Garcia in 1842,
about a quarter of a mile brings us to Munster House, which is supposed
to owe its name to Melesina Schulenberg, created by George II., in 1716,
Duchess of Munster. [Picture: Munster house (1844)] According to
Faulkner, it was also called _Mustow_ House--this was not improbably the
duchess's pronunciation; and he adds that tradition makes it a
hunting-seat of Charles II., and asserts that an extensive park was
attached to it; but Faulkner also tells us that Munster House "was during
the greater part of the seventeenth century, the _residence_ and property
of Sir William Powell, Bart., who founded the almshouses." How, after
this statement, Mr. Faulkner could have admitted the tradition, requires
some explanation, as he seems to have followed, without acknowledgment,
the particulars supplied to Lysons from authentic documents by Mr. Deere,
of the Auditor's Office, who appears merely to have informed that
gentleman, that among the title-deeds of this property there is one of
Sir Edward Powell's, dated 1640, and that Sir William Powell's will bears
date 1680. According to the same unquestionable records, Munster House
came from the Powells into the possession of Sir John Williams, Bart., of
Pengethly, Monmouthshire.
In 1795, Lysons says that Munster House was "occupied as a school."
Faulkner, in 1813, states that it was "in the occupation of M. Sampayo, a
Portuguese merchant." And his successor in the tenancy was John Wilson
Croker, Esq., M.P., then secretary of the Admiralty, and afterwards the
Right Hon. Mr. Croker, {171} a gentleman who brilliantly retired into
private life, but whose character is so well known, and has been so often
discussed in political and literary circles, that I shall only venture to
remark the local coincidence of three indefatigable secretaries of the
Admiralty, during the most critical periods of England's history--namely,
Sir Philip Stevens, Sir Evan Nepean, and Mr. Croker--having selected the
quietude of Fulham as the most convenient and attractive position in the
neighbourhood of London, where they might momentarily relax from the
arduous strain of official duties.
[Picture: Marble bust]
About 1820, Mr. Croker resigned Munster House as a residence, after
having externally decorated it with various Cockney embattlements of
brick, and collected there many curious works of art, possibly with a
view of reconstruction. In the garden were two marble busts, one of
which is figured on previous page. The other a female head, not unlike
that of Queen Anne.
There was also a fragment of a group, representing a woman with a child
at her side, obviously the decoration of a fountain, and a rustic stone
seat, conjectured to have been the bed of a formidable piece of ordnance.
[Picture: Woman and child--Rustic stone seat]
A recent tenant of Munster House, the Rev. Stephen Reid Cattley, who is
known to the reading public as the editor of an issue of Fox's 'Book of
Martyrs,' was unacquainted with the history of the relics in the garden,
and can only remember the removal of two composition lions from the
gate-piers of Munster House,--not placed there, it must be observed, by
Mr. Croker, but which had the popular effect, for some time, of changing
the name to _Monster House_. It is now a Lunatic Asylum. Opposite
Munster House is Dancer's extensive garden for the supply of the London
market, by the side of which a road runs leading by a turning on the left
direct back to Parson's Green, or if the straight road is kept, the
King's Road is reached opposite Osborn's Nursery; adjoining which nursery
is Churchfield House, the residence of Dr. Burchell the African
traveller.
[Picture: Fulham Lodge] Fulham Lodge stood on the opposite, or south
side, of the road from Munster House, on the ground immediately beyond
Munster Terrace, which was built a short time prior to its demolition.
This cottage, for it was no more, was a favourite retirement of the late
Duke of York. An affecting story is told by George Colman the younger,
connected with his own feelings while on a visit here. He had lost sight
of an old college friend, the Rev. Robert Lowth, son of the Bishop of
London, from the year 1781 to 1822 (one and forty years!), when Colman
was surprised and pleased by the receipt of the following letter, written
and left upon his table by a gentleman who had called when he was not at
home:--
"_August_ 16, 1822.
"DEAR COLMAN,--It may be some five-and-thirty years since we met, and
I believe as near forty years as may be since I was promoted from my
garret, No. 3 Peckwater, into your _ci-devant_ rooms in the old Quad,
on which occasion I bought your things. Of all your household
furniture I possess but one article, which I removed with myself to
my first house and castle in Essex, as a very befitting parsonage
sideboard, viz., a mahogany table, with two side drawers, and which
still 'does the state some service,' though not of plate. But I have
an article of yours on a smaller scale, a certain little flat
mahogany box, furnished partially, I should say, with cakes of paint,
which probably you over-looked, or undervalued as a _vade-mecum_, and
left. And, as an exemplification of the great vanity of over-anxious
care, and the safe preservation _per contra_, in which an article may
possibly be found without any care at all, that paint-box is still
_in statu quo_, at this present writing, having run the gauntlet, not
merely of my bachelor days, but of the practical cruelties of my
thirteen children, all alive and merry, thank God! albeit as unused
and as little disposed to preserve their own playthings or chattels
from damage as children usually are, yet it survives! 'The reason
why I cannot tell,' unless I kept it 'for the dangers it had passed.'
"Though I have been well acquainted with you publicly nearly ever
since our Christ Church days, our habits, pursuits, and callings,
having cast us into different countries and tracts, we have not, I
think met since the date I speak of. I have a house at Chiswick,
where I rather think this nine-lived box is, and, whether it is or
no, I shall be very glad if you will give me a call to dine, and take
a bed, if convenient to you; and if I cannot introduce you to your
old acquaintance and recollections, I shall have great pleasure in
substituting new ones,--Mrs. Lowth and eleven of our baker's dozen of
olive-branches, our present complement in the house department, my
eldest boy being in the West Indies, and my third having returned to
the military college last Saturday, his vacation furlough having
expired. As the summer begins to borrow now and then an autumn
evening, the sooner you will favour me with your company the surer
you will be of finding me at Grove House, the expiration of other
holidays being the usual signal for weighing anchor and shifting our
moorings to parsonage point. I remember you, or David Curson, had
among your phrases, _quondam_, one of anything being 'd---d
summerly;' I trust, however, having since tasted the delights of the
sweet shady side of Pall Mall, that you have worn out that prejudice,
and will catch the season before it flies us, or give me a line,
naming no distant day, that I may not be elsewhere when you call, and
you will much oblige, yours sincerely,
"ROBERT LOWTH."
"P.S.--In your address to me you must not name _Chiswick_, but Grove
House, Turnham Green, as otherwise it goes into another postman's
walk, who walks it back again to the office, and it does not reach
me, per Turnham Green, peripatetic, till the next day, which is
_toute autre chose_."
Colman seems to have been sincerely delighted at the receipt of this
letter; he answered it immediately, expressing to his old friend how much
he had gratified him, and how readily he accepted the invitation.
"After refreshing my friend's memory," says Colman, "by touching on
some particulars which have already been mentioned, I informed him
that I was of late years in the habit of suburban rustication, and
that I had passed a considerable part of my summers in a house where
I was intimate at Fulham, whither I desired him to direct to me, as
much nearer Chiswick than my own abode, being within a few hundred
yards of his old family residence, where we last parted. Whenever I
was at this place, I told him the avenue and bishop's walk by the
river side, the public precincts of the moated episcopal domain, had
become my favourite morning and evening lounge. I told him, indeed,
merely the fact, omitting all commentary attached to it, for often
had I then, and oftener have I since, in a solitary stroll down the
avenue, thought of him, regretting the wide chasm in our intercourse,
and musing upon human events."
There is a regret expressed by Colman that he kept no copy of his answer,
"which," he adds, "was written in the 'flow of soul,' and at the impulse
of the moment?" Mr. Lowth wrote in reply to Colman, detailing in a most
amusing manner his having, in the pursuit of two Cockneys, who had made
an attack upon a grove of Orleans plum-trees in his grounds, taken cold,
which confined him to his room.
"But for this _inter poculum et labra_," continued Mr. Lowth, "it was
my intention to have made you my first _post restante_, with,
perhaps, a walk down the old avenue, in my way to town, that
identical day; and, still hoping to accomplish three miles and back,
I have hoped from day to day, but I cannot get in travelling
condition, even for so short a journey. Therefore I hope you will
send me word by my new Yorkshire groom lad, that you will take
pot-luck with me on Sunday as the most likely day for you to
suburbise."
Colman accepted the invitation, believing from the length of Mr. Lowth's
letter (three pages), and the playfulness of his old friend's
communication, that nothing more than an ordinary cold was the matter
with him. A note, however, which followed from one of Mr. Lowth's
daughters, stated that the meeting proposed by her father must be
postponed, that he "had become extremely unwell, that bleeding and
cupping had been prescribed," and the most perfect quiet enjoined.
On the day after the receipt of this note, Colman sent over to Grove
House, Chiswick, to make inquiries as to Mr. Lowth's health, when the
reply given by an elderly female at the gate, after considerable delay,
was that "her master was no more."
A letter from Dr. Badeley to Colman, dated 22d August, 1822, confirmed
the melancholy intelligence, which he had at first hesitated to believe.
It stated that "the decease of Mr. Lowth took place on Sunday evening,"
the very evening appointed by him for their anticipated happy reunion;
and that his remains were to be interred in the family vault at Fulham on
Monday morning at ten o'clock.
"I continued," said Colman, "at Fulham Lodge, which is nearer in a
direct line to the church than to the Bishop's Palace and the 'old
avenue.' On Monday the adjacent steeple gave early notice of the
approaching funeral; religion and sorrow mingled within me while the
slow and mournful tolling of the bell smote upon my heart. Selfish
feelings, too, though secondary, might now and then obtrude, for they
are implanted in our nature. My departed friend was about my own
age: we had entered the field nearly at the same time; we had fought,
indeed, our chief battles asunder, but in our younger days he had
been my comrade, close to me in the ranks: he had fallen, and my own
turn might speedily follow."
These are the ideas which George Colman the younger records as having
passed through his mind while an inmate of Fulham Lodge:--
"My walk next morning," he says, "was to the sepulchre of the Lowths,
to indulge in the mournful satisfaction of viewing the depository of
my poor friend's remains. It stands in the churchyard, a few paces
from the eastern end of the ancient church at Fulham. The
surrounding earth, trampled by recent footsteps, and a slab of marble
which had been evidently taken out and replaced in the side of the
tomb, too plainly presented traces of those rites, which had been
performed on the previous day. For several mornings I repeated my
walk thither, and no summer has since glided away, except the last,
when my sojournment at Fulham was suspended, without my visiting the
spot and heaving a sigh to the memory of Robert Lowth."
Theodore Hook's manuscript Diary contains the following entries with
reference to visits made by him at Fulham Lodge:--
"2nd January, 1826.--Called. Mrs. Carey's luncheon.
"Thursday, 5th January.--Drove over to Fulham. Mrs. Carey's din.
Colman, Harris, Mrs. G. Good hits. Mrs. Coutts, 'Julius Caesar,'
&c. Stayed very late, and walked home."
Fulham Park Road is now where Fulham Lodge stood, and the ground is
partly built on, the rest is to be let for building.
This walk is exactly three miles and a half from Hyde Park Corner; and
what an Irishman would call the iron mile-stone stood exactly opposite to
Ivy Lodge, until placed against the brick wall immediately beyond the
railings.
Ivy Lodge was for some years the residence of Rudolph Ackermann, a name,
as a printseller, known (it is not using too broad a word to say)
throughout the world, and whose representatives still carry on this
business in Regent Street.
Ackermann was a remarkable man. He was born in 1764, at Stollberg, near
Schneeberg, in Saxony; and, having been bred a coach-builder, upon
visiting England shortly before the French Revolution, found employment
as a carriage-draughtsman, which led to his forming the acquaintance of
artists, and becoming a print-publisher in London. The French refugees,
whose necessities obliged them to exercise their acquirements and talents
as a means of support, found in Mr. Ackermann's shop a repository for the
exhibition and sale of decorative articles, which elevated this branch of
business to an importance that it had never before assumed in England.
Ackermann's name stands prominently forward in the early history of gas
and lithography in England, and he must be remembered as the introducer
of a species of illustrated periodicals, by the publication of the
'Forget-Me-Not;' to which, or to similar works, nearly every honoured
contemporary name in the whole circle of British literature have
contributed, and which have produced a certain, but advantageously a
questionable, influence upon the Fine Arts.
After the battle of Leipzig, Mr. Ackermann publicly advocated the cause
of the starving population of many districts of Germany, in consequence
of the calamities of war, with so much zeal and success, that a
parliamentary grant of 100,000 pounds was more than doubled by a public
subscription. In the spring of 1830, when residing at Ivy Lodge, he
experienced a sudden attack of paralysis; and a change of air was
recommended by his medical attendants. This led to Mr. Ackermann's
removal to Finchley, where he died on the 30th of March, 1834.
Having now arrived at Fulham, we will in the next chapter accompany the
reader in a walk through that ancient village.
[Picture: The Entrance to Fulham (1844)]