This parish and manor, three miles south-west of London, on the Surrey
bank of the Thames, appertained, from a very early period, to the Abbey
of St. Peter at Westminster; and is conjectured, by Lysons, to have
been therefrom named, in the Conqueror's Survey, Patricsey, which, in
the Saxon, is Peter's water, or river; since written Battrichsey,
Battersey, and Battersea. It passed to the Crown, at the dissolution of
religious houses: in 1627 it was granted to the St. John family, in
whose possession the property remained till 1763.
Here, in a spacious mansion, eastward of the church, was born, October
1, 1678, Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, one of the brilliant
lights of the Augustan age of literature in England. Here Pope spent
most of his time with Bolingbroke, after the return of the latter from
his seven years' exile;[79] and his house became also the resort of
Swift, Arbuthnot, Thomson, Mallet, and other leading contemporary men of
genius. Lord Marchmont was living with Lord Bolingbroke, at Battersea,
when he discovered that Mr. Allen, of Bath, had printed 500 copies of
the _Essay on a Patriot King_ from the copy which Bolingbroke had
presented to Pope--six copies only were printed. Thereupon, Lord
Marchmont sent Mr. Gravenkop for the whole cargo, who carried them out
in a waggon, and the books were burnt on the lawn in the presence of
Lord Bolingbroke. Thenceforth he mostly resided at Battersea from 1742
until his death in 1751. He sunk under the dreadful malady beneath which
he had long lingered--a cancer in the face--which he bore with exemplary
fortitude; "a fortitude," says Lord Brougham, "drawn from the natural
resources of his mind, and, unhappily, not aided by the consolation of
any religion; for having early cast off the belief in revelation, he had
substituted in its stead a dark and gloomy naturalism, which even
rejected those glimmerings of hope as to futurity not untasted by the
wiser of the heathens."
Bolingbroke, with his second wife, niece of Madame de Maintenon, lie in
the family vault in St. Mary's Church, where there is an elegant
monument by Roubiliac, with busts of the great lord and his lady; the
epitaphs on both were written by Lord Bolingbroke: that upon himself is
still extant, in his own handwriting, in the British Museum: "Here lies
Henry St. John, in the reign of Queen Anne Secretary of State, and
Viscount Bolingbroke; in the days of King George I. and King George II.,
something more and better."
The greater part of Bolingbroke House was taken down in 1778. In the
wing of the mansion, left standing, a parlour of round form, and lined
with cedar, was long pointed out as the apartment in which Pope composed
his _Essay on Man_; it is said to have been called "Pope's Parlour." The
walls may still be seen, but they support a new roof, and can only be
distinguished from the rest of the building by their circular form. The
mansion was very extensive--forty rooms on a floor.
Upon part of the site was erected a _horizontal mill_, by Captain
Hooper, who also built a similar one at Margate. It consisted of a
circular wheel, with large boards or vanes fixed parallel to its axis,
and arranged at equal distances from each other. Upon these vanes the
wind could act, so as to blow the wheel round. But if it were to act
upon the vanes at both sides of the wheel at once, it could not, of
course, turn it round; hence one side of the wheel must be sheltered,
while the other was submitted to the full action of the wind. For this
purpose it was enclosed in a large cylindrical framework, with doors or
shutters on all sides, to open and admit the wind, or to shut and stop
it. If all the shutters on one side were open, whilst all those on the
opposite side were closed, the wind acting with undiminished force on
the vanes at one side, whilst the opposite vanes are under shelter,
turned the mill round; but whenever the wind changed, the disposition of
the blinds must be altered, to admit the wind to strike upon the vanes
of the wheel in the direction of a tangent to the circle in which they
moved.--(Dr. Paris's _Philosophy in Sport_.) This mill resembled a
gigantic packing-case, which gave rise to an odd story, that when the
Emperor of Russia was in England, in 1814, he took a fancy to Battersea
Church, and determined to carry it off to Russia, and had this large
packing-case made for it; but as the inhabitants refused to let the
church be carried away, the case remained on the spot where it was
deposited.
This horizontal air-mill served as a landmark for many miles round: the
proprietor was Mr. Hodgson, a maltster and distiller. It was visited by
Sir Richard Phillips in his _Morning's Walk from London to Kew_, in
1813, who says: "The mill, its elevated shaft, its vanes, and weather or
wind-boards, curious as they would have been on any other site, lost
their interest on premises once the residence of the illustrious
Bolingbroke, and the resort of the philosophers of his day. In ascending
the winding flights of its tottering galleries, I could not help
wondering at the caprice of events which had converted the dwelling of
Bolingbroke into a malting-house and a mill. This house, once sacred to
philosophy and poetry, long sanctified by the residence of the noblest
genius of his age, honoured by the frequent visits of Pope, and the
birthplace of the immortal _Essay on Man_, is now appropriated to the
lowest uses. The house of Bolingbroke become a windmill! The spot on
which the _Essay on Man_ was concocted and produced, converted into a
distillery of pernicious spirits! Such are the lessons of time! Such are
the means by which an eternal agency sets at nought the ephemeral
importance of man! But yesterday, this spot was the resort, the hope,
and the seat of enjoyment of Bolingbroke, Pope, Swift, Arbuthnot,
Monson, Mallet, and all the contemporary genius of England--yet a few
whirls of the earth round the sun, the change of a figure in the date of
the year, and the group have vanished; while I behold hogs and horses,
malt-bags and barrels, stills and machinery!
"'Alas!' said I to the occupier, 'and have these things become the
representatives of more human genius than England may ever witness on
one spot again--have you thus satirised the transitory state of
humanity--do you thus become a party with the bigoted enemies of that
philosophy which was personified in a Bolingbroke or a Pope?' 'No,' he
rejoined, 'I love the name and character of Bolingbroke, and I preserve
the house as well as I can with religious veneration: I often smoke my
pipe in Mr. Pope's parlour, and think of him with due respect as I walk
the part of the terrace opposite his room.' He then conducted me to this
interesting parlour, which is of brown polished oak,[80] with a grate
and ornaments of the age of George the First; and before its window
stood the portion of the terrace upon which the malt-house had not
encroached, with the Thames moving majestically under its walls.
"'In this room,' I exclaimed, 'the _Essay on Man_ was probably planned,
discussed, and written!' Mr. Hodgson assured me this had always been
called 'Pope's Room,' and he had no doubt it was the apartment usually
occupied by that great poet, in his visits to his friend Bolingbroke.
Other parts of the original house remain, and are occupied and kept in
good order. He told me, however, that this was but a wing of the
mansion, which extended, in Lord Bolingbroke's time, to the churchyard,
and is now appropriated to the malting-house and its warehouses."
Sir Richard met with an ancient inhabitant of Battersea, a Mrs.
Gilliard, a pleasant and intelligent woman, who well remembered Lord
Bolingbroke; that he used to ride out every day in his chariot, and had
a black patch on his cheek, with a large wart over his eyebrow. She was
then but a girl, but she was taught to look upon him with veneration as
a great man. As, however, he spent little in the place, and gave little
away, he was not much regarded by the people of Battersea. Sir Richard
mentioned to her the names of several of Lord Bolingbroke's
contemporaries, but she recollected none, except that of Mallet, whom
she said she had often seen walking about in the village while he was
visiting at Bolingbroke House.[81]
In the first volume of the _Diaries and Correspondence of the Right Hon.
George Rose_, we find the following entry respecting the treachery of
Mallet:--"It appears by a letter of Lord Bolingbroke's, dated in 1740,
from Angeville, that he had actually written some Essays dedicated to
the Earl of Marchmont, of a very different tendency from his former
works. These Essays, on his death, fell into the hands of Mr. Mallet,
his executor, who had, at the latter end of his life, acquired a decided
influence over him, and they did not appear among his lordship's works
published by Mallet;[82] nor have they been seen or heard of since. From
whence it must be naturally conjectured, that they were destroyed by the
latter, from what reason cannot now be known; possibly, to conceal from
the world the change, such as it was, in his lordship's sentiments in
the latter end of his life, to avoid the discredit to his former works.
In which respect he might have been influenced either by a regard for
the noble Viscount's consistency, or by a desire not to impair the
pecuniary advantage he expected from the publication of his lordship's
works."
Upon this, the Editor of the _Diaries_, the Rev. Leveson Vernon
Harcourt, notes: "The letter to Lord Marchmont here referred to, has a
note appended to it by Sir George Rose, the editor of the _Marchmont
Papers_, who takes a very different view of its contents from his
father. He gravely remarks, that as the posthumous disclosure of Lord
Bolingbroke's inveterate hostility to Christianity lays open to the view
the bitterness as the extent of it, so the manner of that disclosure
precludes any doubt of the earnestness of his desire to give the utmost
efficiency and publicity to that hostility, as soon as it could safely
be done; that is, as soon as death could shield him against
responsibility to man. Sir George saw plainly enough that when he
promised in those Essays to vindicate religion against divinity and God
against man, he was retracting all that he had occasionally said in
favour of Christianity; he was upholding the religion of Theism against
the doctrines of the Bible, and the God of nature against the revelation
of God to man."
It is painful to reflect upon this prostration of a splendid intellect;
and we are but slightly relieved by Lord Chesterfield's statement, in
one of his Letters, published by Lord Mahon, in his edition of
Chesterfield's _Works_ (ii. 450), that "Bolingbroke only doubted, and by
no means rejected, a future state." We know that Bolingbroke denied to
Pope his disbelief of the moral attributes of God, of which Pope told
his friends with great joy. How ungrateful a return for this "excessive
friendliness" was the indignation which Bolingbroke expressed at the
priest having attended Pope in his last moments![83]
It is now, we believe, admitted on all hands that Christianity has not
found a very formidable opponent in Bolingbroke, and that his
objections, for the most part, only betray his own half-learning. Lord
Brougham, whose touching remark we have already quoted, concludes his
sketch of Lord Bolingbroke with this eloquent summing up: "Such was
Bolingbroke, and as such he must be regarded by impartial posterity,
after the violence of party has long subsided, and the view is no more
intercepted either by the rancour of political enmity, or by the
partiality of adherents, or by the fondness of friendship. Such, too, is
Bolingbroke when the gloss of trivial accomplishments is worn off by
time, and the lustre of genius itself has faded beside the simple,
translucent light of virtue. The contemplation is not without its uses.
The glare of talents and success is apt to obscure defects, which are
incomparably more mischievous than any intellectual powers can be
either useful or admirable. Nor can a lasting renown--a renown that
alone deserves to be courted of a rational being--ever be built upon any
foundations save those which are laid in an honest heart and a firm
purpose, both conspiring to work out the good of mankind. That renown
will be as imperishable as it is pure."[84]
Among the memorials of the Bolingbrokes, in Battersea Church, is the
altar-window, filled with old stained glass, preserved from the former
church, and executed at the expense of the St. Johns. It includes
portraits of Henry VII., his grandmother, the Lady Margaret Beauchamp,
and Queen Elizabeth; together with numerous shields of arms, showing the
alliances of the family.
York House, at Battersea, the mansion of Booth, Archbishop of York, who
died in 1480, and bequeathed it to his successors in the See, was mostly
taken down some sixty years ago. Archbishop Holgate was one of the few
prelates who resided here; he was imprisoned and deprived by Queen Mary
for being a married man, and lost much property by illegal seizure. In
Strype's _Life of Cranmer_, p. 308, it is stated that the officers who
were employed to apprehend the Archbishop rifled his house at Battersea,
and took away from thence 300_l_. of gold coin; 1600 ounces of plate; a
mitre of fine gold, set with very fine diamonds, sapphires, and balists,
other good stones and pearls; some very valuable rings; and the
Archbishop's seal and signet.
There was long a tradition at Battersea that some ancient walls
remaining there were a portion of the residence of the father of Queen
Anne Boleyn. It appears from the monument to Queen Elizabeth, in
Battersea Church, that the Boleyns were related to the St. Johns. Upon
this Sir Richard Phillips contends that at York House, above named,
resided Wolsey, as Archbishop of York. "Here Henry VIII. first saw Anne
Boleyn; and here that scene took place which Shakspeare records in his
play of Henry VIII.; and which he described truly, because he wrote it
for Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne Boleyn, within fifty years of the
event, and must himself have known living witnesses of its verity. Hence
it becomes more than probable, that Sir Thomas Boleyn actually resided
in the vicinity, and that his daughter was accidentally among the guests
at that princely entertainment. I know it is contended that this
interview took place at York House, Whitehall; but Shakspeare makes the
King come by water; and York House, Battersea, was, beyond all doubt, a
residence of Wolsey, and is provided with a creek from the Thames, for
the evident purpose of facilitating in the course by water. Besides, the
owner informed me, that a few years since he had pulled down a superb
room, called 'the ball-room,' the panels of which were curiously
painted, and the divisions silvered. He also stated that the room had a
dome and a richly-ornamented ceiling, and that he once saw an ancient
print, representing the first interview of Henry VIII. with Anne Boleyn,
in which the room was portrayed exactly like the one that, in
modernizing his house, he had found it necessary to destroy."