1817, June 3, _Paris_.--Yesterday the _ladies_ of the market of St.
Germain, having invited the rector of St. Sulpice to bless their new
market-place, that pastor accompanied by the clergy of the parish,
repaired there at five o’clock, and sung the hymn, _Veni Creator_. A
procession took place inside the edifice, and the _market_ was formally
_blessed_. The whole concluded with _Domine, Salvum fac Regem_. The
market was to open the next morning.--_Moniteur._
[Illustration: ~Hornsey-wood House.~]
A house of entertainment--in a place
So rural, that it almost doth deface
The lovely scene: for like a beauty-spot,
Upon a charming cheek that needs it not,
So Hornsey Tavern seems to me. And yet,
Tho’ nature be forgotten, to forget
The artificial wants of the forgetters,
Is setting up oneself to be their betters.
This is unwise; for _they_ are passing wise,
Who have no eyes for scenery, and despise
Persons like me, who sometimes have sensations
Through too much sight, and fall in contemplations,
Which, as cold waters cramp and drown a swimmer,
Chill and o’erwhelm me. Pleasant is that glimmer,
Whereby trees _seem_ but wood:--The men who know
No qualities but forms and uses, go
Through life for happy people:--they _are_ so.
*
Hornsey-wood house is beyond the Sluice-house, from whence anglers and
other visitors pass to it through an upland meadow, along a straight
gravel-path, angle-wise. It is a good, “plain, brown brick,”
respectable, modern, London looking building. Within the entrance to the
left, is a light and spacious room of ample accommodation, and of which
more care has been taken, than of its fine leather-folding screen in
ruins--an unseemly sight for him, who respects old requisites for their
former beauty and convenience. This once partook of both, but disuse
hath abused and “time hath written strange defeatures” on its face,
which in its early days was handsome. It still bears some remains of a
spirited painting, spread all over its leaves, to represent the
amusements and humours of a fair in the low countries. At the top of a
pole, which may have been the village May-pole, is a monkey with a cat
on his back; then there is a sturdy bear-ward, in scarlet, with a wooden
leg, exhibiting his bruin; an old woman telling fortunes to the rustics;
a showman’s drummer on a stage before a booth, beating up for spectators
to the performance within, which the show-cloth represents to be a
dancer on the tight-rope; a well set-out stall of toys, with a woman
displaying their attractions; besides other really interesting “bits” of
a crowded scene, depicted by no mean hand, especially a group coming
from a church in the distance, apparently a wedding procession, the
females well-looking and well dressed, bearing ribbons or scarfs below
their waists in festoons. The destruction of this really interesting
screen by worse than careless keeping, is to be lamented. This ruin of
art is within a ruin of nature. Hornsey-tavern and its grounds have
displaced a romantic portion of the wood, the remains of which, however,
skirt a large and pleasant piece of water, formed at a considerable
expense.
[Illustration: ~Lake of Hornsey-wood House.~]
To this water, which is well stored with fish, anglers resort with
better prospect of success than to the New River; the walk around it,
and the prospect, are very agreeable.
The _old_ Hornsey-wood house well became its situation; it was
embowered, and seemed a part of the wood. Two sisters, Mrs. Lloyd and
Mrs. Collier, kept the house; they were ancient women; large in size,
and usually sat before their door, on a seat fixed between two venerable
oaks, wherein swarms of bees hived themselves. Here the venerable and
cheerful dames tasted many a refreshing cup, with their good-natured
customers, and told tales of by-gone days, till, in very old age, one of
them passed to her grave, and the other followed in a few months. Each
died regretted by the frequenters of the rural dwelling, which was soon
afterwards pulled down, and the old oaks felled, to make room for the
present roomy and more fashionable building. To those who were
acquainted with it in its former rusticity, when it was an unassuming
“calm retreat,” it is indeed an altered spot. To produce the alteration,
a sum of ten thousand pounds was expended by the present proprietor, and
Hornsey-wood tavern is now a well-frequented house. The pleasantness of
its situation is a great attraction in fine weather.