THE FASCINATION OF LONDON

THE KENSINGTON DISTRICT

_IN THIS SERIES. _

Cloth, price 1s. 6d. Net; leather, price 2s. Net, each. 

THE STRAND DISTRICT. 

By Sir WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON. 

WESTMINSTER. 

By Sir WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON. 

HAMPSTEAD AND MARYLEBONE. 

By G. E. MITTON. Edited by Sir WALTER BESANT. 

CHELSEA. 

By G. E. MITTON. Edited by Sir WALTER BESANT. 

KENSINGTON. 

By G. E. MITTON. Edited by Sir WALTER BESANT. 

HOLBORN AND BLOOMSBURY. 

By G. E. MITTON. Edited by Sir WALTER BESANT. 

[Illustration: HOLLAND HOUSE. 

_Herbert Railton_]

The Fascination of London

KENSINGTON

BYG. E. MITTON

EDITED BYSIR WALTER BESANT

LONDONADAM & CHARLES BLACK1903

PREFATORY NOTE

A survey of London, a record of the greatest of all cities, that shouldpreserve her history, her historical and literary associations, hermighty buildings, past and present, a book that should comprise all thatLondoners love, all that they ought to know of their heritage from thepast--this was the work on which Sir Walter Besant was engaged when hedied. 

As he himself said of it: "This work fascinates me more than anythingelse I've ever done. Nothing at all like it has ever been attemptedbefore. I've been walking about London for the last thirty years, and Ifind something fresh in it every day. "

Sir Walter's idea was that two of the volumes of his survey shouldcontain a regular and systematic perambulation of London by differentpersons, so that the history of each parish should be complete initself. This was a very original feature in the great scheme, and one inwhich he took the keenest interest. Enough has been done of thissection to warrant its issue in the form originally intended, but in themeantime it is proposed to select some of the most interesting of thedistricts and publish them as a series of booklets, attractive alike tothe local inhabitant and the student of London, because much of theinterest and the history of London lie in these street associations. 

The difficulty of finding a general title for the series was very great, for the title desired was one that would express concisely the undyingcharm of London--that is to say, the continuity of her past history withthe present times. In streets and stones, in names and palaces, herhistory is written for those who can read it, and the object of theseries is to bring forward these associations, and to make them plain. The solution of the difficulty was found in the words of the man wholoved London and planned the great scheme. The work "fascinated" him, and it was because of these associations that it did so. These linksbetween past and present in themselves largely constitute TheFascination of London. 

G. E. M. 

KENSINGTON

When people speak of Kensington they generally mean a very small arealying north and south of the High Street; to this some might add SouthKensington, the district bordering on the Cromwell and Brompton Roads, and possibly a few would remember to mention West Kensington as afar-away place, where there is an entrance to the Earl's CourtExhibition. But Kensington as a borough is both more and less than theabove. It does not include all West Kensington, nor even the whole ofKensington Gardens, but it stretches up to Kensal Green on the north, taking in the cemetery, which is its extreme northerly limit. 

If we draw a somewhat wavering line from the west side of the cemetery, leaving outside the Roman Catholic cemetery, and continue from here toUxbridge Road Station, thence to Addison Road Station, and thence againthrough West Brompton to Chelsea Station, we shall have traced roughlythe western boundary of the borough. It covers an immense area, and itbegins and ends in a cemetery, for at the south-western corner is theWest London, locally known as the Brompton, Cemetery. In shape theborough is strikingly like a man's leg and foot in a top-boot. Thewestern line already traced is the back of the leg, the BromptonCemetery is the heel, the sole extends from here up Fulham Road andWalton Street, and ends at Hooper's Court, west of Sloane Street. This, it is true, makes a very much more pointed toe than is usual in a man'sboot, for the line turns back immediately down the Brompton Road. Itcuts across the back of Brompton Square and the Oratory, runs alongImperial Institute Road, and up Queen's Gate to Kensington Gore. Thenceit goes westward to the Broad Walk, and follows it northward to theBayswater Road. Thus we leave outside Kensington those essentiallyKensington buildings the Imperial Institute and Albert Hall, and nearlyall of Kensington Gardens. But we shall not omit an account of theseplaces in our perambulation, which is guided by sense-limits rather thanby arbitrary lines. 

The part left outside the borough, which is of Kensington, but not init, has belonged from time immemorial to Westminster (see same series, _Westminster_, p. 2). 

If we continue the boundary-line we find it after the Bayswater Roadvery irregular, traversing Ossington Street, Chepstow Place, a bit ofWestbourne Grove, Ledbury Road, St. Luke's Road, and then curving roundon the south side of the canal for some distance before crossing it atLadbroke Grove, and continuing in the Harrow Road to the western end ofthe cemetery from whence we started. 

The borough is surrounded on the west, south, and east respectively byHammersmith, Chelsea, and Paddington, and the above boundaries, roughlygiven as they are, will probably be detailed enough for the purpose. 

The heart and core of Kensington is the district gathered aroundKensington Square; this is the most redolent of interesting memories, from the days when the maids of honour lived in it to the present time, and in itself has furnished material for many a book. Close by in YoungStreet lived Thackeray, and the Square figures many times in his works. Further northward the Palace and Gardens are closely associated with thelives of our kings, from William III. Onward. Northward above NottingHill is a very poor district, poor enough to rival many an East-Endparish. Associations cluster around Campden and Little Campden Houses, and the still existing Holland House, where gathered many who werenotable for ability as well as high birth. To Campden House Queen Anne, then Princess, brought her sickly little son as to a country house atthe "Gravel Pits, " but the child never lived to inherit the throne. Notfar off lived Sir Isaac Newton, the greatest philosopher the world hasever known, who also came to seek health in the fresh air of Kensington. 

The southern part of the borough is comparatively new. Within the lastsixty years long lines of houses have sprung up, concealing beneathunpromising exteriors, such as only London houses can show, comfortenough and to spare. This is a favourite residential quarter, though wenow consider it in, not "conveniently near, " town. Snipe were shot inthe marshes of Brompton, and nursery gardens spread themselves over thearea now devoted to the museums and institute. It is rather interestingto read the summary of John Timbs, F. S. A. , writing so late as 1867:"Kensington, a mile and a half west of Hyde Park Corner, contains thehamlets of Brompton, Earl's Court, the Gravel Pits, and part of LittleChelsea, now West Brompton, but the Royal Palace and about twenty otherhouses north of the road are in the parish of St. Margaret's, Westminster. " He adds that Brompton has long been frequented by invalidson account of its genial air. Faulkner, the local historian of allSouth-West London, speaks of the "delightful fruit-gardens of Bromptonand Earl's Court. "

The origin of the name Kensington is obscure. In Domesday Book it iscalled Chenesitum, and in other ancient records Kenesitune andKensintune, on which Lysons comments: "Cheneesi was a proper name. Aperson of that name held the Manor of Huish in Somersetshire in thereign of Edward the Confessor. " This is apparently entirely withoutfoundation. Other writers have attempted to connect the name withKings-town, with equal ill-success. The true derivation seems to be fromthe Saxon tribe of the Kensings or Kemsings, whose name also remains inthe little village of Kemsing in Kent. 

HISTORY. 

From Domesday Book we learn that the Manor of Kensington had belonged toa certain Edward or Edwin, a thane, during the reign of Edward theConfessor. It was granted by William I. To Geoffrey, Bishop ofCoutances, under whom it was held by Alberic or Aubrey de Ver or Vere. The Bishop died in 1093, and Aubrey then held it directly from theCrown. 

Aubrey's son Godefrid or Geoffrey, being under obligations to the Abbotof Abingdon, persuaded his father to grant a strip of Kensington to theAbbot. This was done with the consent of the next heir. The strip thusgranted became a subordinate manor; it is described as containing "2hides and a virgate" of land, or about 270 acres. This estate was cutright out of the original manor, and formed a detached piece or islandlying within it. 

The second Aubrey de Vere was made Great Chamberlain of England by KingHenry I. This office was made hereditary. The third Aubrey was createdEarl of Oxford by Queen Matilda, a purely honorary title, as he held nopossessions in Oxfordshire. The third Earl, Robert, was one of theguardians of the Magna Charta. The fifth of the same name granted lands, in 1284, to one Simon Downham, chaplain, and his heirs, at a rent of onepenny. This formed another manor in Kensington. This Robert and thethree succeeding Earls held high commands. The ninth Earl was one of thefavourites of Richard II. , under whom he held many offices. He was madeKnight of the Garter, Marquis of Dublin (the first Marquis created inEngland), and later on Duke of Ireland. His honours were forfeited atRichard's fall. However, as he died without issue, this can have been nogreat punishment. Eventually his uncle Aubrey was restored by Act ofParliament to the earldom, and became the tenth Earl. Kensington had, however, been settled on the widowed Duchess of Ireland, and at herdeath in 1411 it went to the King. By a special gift in 1420 it wasrestored to the twelfth Earl. In 1462 he was beheaded by King EdwardIV. , and his eldest son with him. The thirteenth Earl was restored tothe family honours and estates under King Henry VII. , but he was forcedto part with "Knotting Barnes or Knotting barnes, sometimes writtenNotting or Nutting barns. " This is said to have been more valuable thanthe original manor itself. It formed the third subordinate manor inKensington. The thirteenth Earl was succeeded by his nephew, who diedyoung. The titles went to a collateral branch, and the Manor ofKensington was settled on the two widowed Countesses, and later uponthree sisters, co-heiresses of the fourteenth Earl. 

We have now to trace the histories of the secondary manors after theirseverance from the main estate. The Abbot's manor still survives in thename of St. Mary Abbots Church. About 1260 it was discovered that Aubreyde Vere had not obtained the consent of the Archbishop of Canterbury orthe Bishop of London before granting the manor to the Abbot. Thereupon agreat dispute arose as to the Abbot's rights over the land in question, and it was finally decided that the Abbot was to retain half the greattithes, but that the vicarage was to be in the gift of the Bishop ofLondon. The Abbot's manor was leased to William Walwyn in the beginningof the sixteenth century. It afterwards was held by the Grenvilles, whohad obtained the reversion. In 1564 the tithes and demesne lands wereseparated from the manor and rectory, which were still held by theGrenvilles. The tithes passed through the hands of many people insuccession, as did also the manor. In 1595 one Robert Horseman was thelessee under the Crown. The Queen sold the estate to Walter (afterwardsSir Walter) Cope, and a special agreement was made by which RobertHorseman still retained his right to live in the manor house. This isimportant, as it led to the foundation of Holland House by Cope, who hadno suitable residence as lord of the manor. 

West Town, created out of lands known as the Groves, was granted by thefifth Earl, as we have seen, to his chaplain Simon Downham. This grantis described by Mr. Loftie thus: "It appears to have been that piece ofland which was intercepted between the Abbot's manor and the westernborder of the parish, and would answer to Addison Road and the land oneither side of it. " Robins, in his "History of Paddington, " mentions aninquisition taken in 1481, in which "The Groves, formerly only threefields, had extended themselves out of Kensington into Brompton, Chelsea, Tybourn, and Westbourne. "

The manor passed later to William Essex. It was bought from him in 1570by the Marquis of Winchester, Lord High Treasurer of England. He soldit to William Dodington, who resold it to Christopher Barker, printer toQueen Elizabeth, who was responsible for the "Breeches" Bible. It wasbought from him by Walter Cope for £1, 300. 

Knotting Barnes was sold by the thirteenth Earl, whose fortunes had beenimpoverished by adhesion to the House of Lancaster. It was bought by SirReginald Bray, who sold it to the Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond, mother of King Henry VII. This manor seems to have included lands lyingwithout the precincts of Kensington, for in an indenture entered into bythe Lady and the Abbot of Westminster in regard to the disposal of herproperty we find mentioned "lands and tenements in Willesden, Padyngton, Westburn, and Kensington, in the countie of Midd. , which maners, lands, and tenements the said Princes late purchased of Sir Reynolds Brayknight. " The Countess left the greater part of her property to the Abbeyat Westminster, and part to the two Universities at Oxford andCambridge. On the spoliation of the monasteries, King Henry VIII. Becamepossessed of the Westminster property; he took up the lease, grantingthe lessee, Robert White, other lands in exchange, and added it to thehunting-ground he purposed forming on the north and west of London. Athis death King Edward VI. Inherited it, and leased it to Sir WilliamPaulet. In 1587 it was held by Lord Burghley. In 1599 it was sold toWalter Cope. 

Earl's Court or Kensington Manor we traced to the three sisters of thelast Earl. One of these died childless, the other two marriedrespectively John Nevill, Lord Latimer; and Sir Anthony Wingfield. Family arrangements were made to prevent the division of the estate, which passed to Lucy Nevill, Lord Latimer's third daughter. She marriedSir W. Cornwallis, and left one daughter, Anne, who married Archibald, Earl of Argyll, who joined with her in selling the manor to Sir WalterCope in 1609. Sir Walter Cope had thus held at one time or another thewhole of Kensington. He now possessed Earl's Court, West Town, andAbbot's Manor, having sold Notting Barns some time before. His daughterand heiress married Sir Henry Rich, younger son of the first Earl ofWarwick. Further details are given in the account of Holland House (p. 76). 

PERAMBULATION. --We will begin at the extreme easterly point of theborough, the toe of the boot which the general outline resembles. We arehere in Knightsbridge. The derivation of this word has been muchdisputed. Many old writers, including Faulkner, have identified it withKingsbridge--that is to say, the bridge over the Westbourne in theKing's high-road. The Westbourne formed the boundary of Chelsea, andflowed across the road opposite Albert Gate. The real King's bridge, however, was not here, but further eastward over the Tyburn, and as farback as Henry I. 's reign it is referred to as Cnightebriga. Anotherderivation for Knightsbridge is therefore necessary. The old topographerNorden writes: "Kingsbridge, commonly called Stone bridge, near HydePark Corner, where I wish no true man to walk too late without goodguard, as did Sir H. Knyvett, Kt. , who valiantly defended himself, beingassaulted, and slew the master-thief with his own hands. " This, ofcourse, has reference to the more westerly bridge mentioned above, butit seems to have served as a suggestion to later topographers, who havefounded upon it the tradition that two knights on their way to Fulham tobe blessed by the Bishop of London quarrelled and fought at theWestbourne Bridge, and killed each other, and hence gave rise to thename. This story may be dismissed as entirely baseless; the realexplanation is much less romantic. The word is probably connected withthe Manor of Neyt, which was adjacent to Westminster, and aspronunciation rather than orthography was relied upon in early days, this seems much the most likely explanation. Lysons says: "Adjoining toKnightsbridge were two other ancient manors called Neyt and Hyde. " Westill have the Hyde in Hyde Park, and Neyt is thus identified withKnightsbridge. 

Until the middle of the nineteenth century Knightsbridge was an outlyinghamlet. People started from Hyde Park Corner in bands for mutualprotection at regular intervals, and a bell was rung to warn pedestrianswhen the party was about to start. In 1778, when Lady Elliot, after thedeath of her husband, Sir Gilbert, came to Knightsbridge for fresh air, she found it as "quiet as Teviotdale. " About forty years before this theBristol mail was robbed by a man on foot near Knightsbridge. The placehas also been the scene of many riots. In 1556, at the time of Wyatt'sinsurrection, the rebel and his followers arrived at the hamlet atnightfall, and stayed there all night before advancing on London. Asalready explained, the Borough of Kensington does not includeKnightsbridge, but only touches it, and the part we are now in belongsto Westminster. 

The Albert Gate leading into the park was erected in 1844-46, and was, of course, called after Prince Albert. The stags on the piers weremodelled after prints by Bartolozzi, and were first set up at theRanger's Lodge in the Green Park. Part of the foundations of the oldbridge outside were unearthed at the building of the gate, and, besidesthis bridge, there was another within the park. The French Embassy, recently enlarged, stands on the east side of the gate--the houseformerly belonged to Mr. Hudson, the "railway king"--and to the west areseveral large buildings, a bank, Hyde Park Court, etc. , succeeded by arow of houses. Here originally stood a famous old tavern, the Fox andBull, said to have been founded in the time of Queen Elizabeth; if so, it must have retained its popularity uncommonly long, for it was notedfor its gay company in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Itis referred to in the _Tatler_ (No. 259), and was visited by Sir JoshuaReynolds and George Morland, the former of whom painted the sign, whichhung until 1807. It is said that the Elizabethan house had wonderfullycarved ceilings and immense fire-dogs, still in use in 1799. The inn waslater the receiving office of the Royal Humane Society, and to it wasbrought the body of Shelley's wife after she had drowned herself in theSerpentine. 

In the open space opposite is an equestrian statue of Hugh Rose--LordStrathnairn--by Onslow Ford, R. A. Close by is a little triangular stripof green, which goes by the dignified name of Knightsbridge Green. Ithas a dismal reminiscence, having been a burial-pit for those who diedof the plague. The last maypole was on the green in 1800, and thepound-house remained until 1835. 

The entrance to Tattersall's overlooks the green. This famous horse-martwas founded by Richard Tattersall, who had been stud-groom to the lastDuke of Kingston. He started a horse market in 1766 at Hyde Park Corner, and his son carried it on after him. Rooms were fitted up at the marketfor the use of the Jockey Club, which held its meetings there for manyyears. Charles James Fox was one of the most regular patrons ofTattersall's sales. The establishment was moved to its present positionin 1864. 

The cavalry barracks on the north side of Knightsbridge boast of havingthe largest amount of cubic feet of air per horse of any stables inLondon. 

An old inn called Half-way House stood some distance beyond the barracksin the middle of the roadway until well on into the nineteenth century, and proved a great impediment to traffic. On the south side of the road, eastward of Rutland Gate, is Kent House, which recalls by its name thefact that the Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria, once lived here. Not far off is Princes Skating Club, one of the most popular andexpensive of its kind in London. Rutland Gate takes its name from amansion of the Dukes of Rutland, which stood on the same site. Theneighbourhood is a good residential one, and the houses bordering theroads have the advantage of looking out over the Gardens. There isnothing else requiring comment until we reach the Albert Hall, so, leaving this part for a time, we return to the Brompton Road. This roadwas known up to 1856 as the Fulham Road, though a long row of houses onthe north side had been called Brompton Row much earlier. 

Brompton signifies Broom Town, carrying suggestions of a wide and heathycommon. Brompton Square, a very quiet little place, a cul-de-sac, whichhas also the great recommendation that no "street music" is allowedwithin it, can boast of having had some distinguished residents. At No. 22, George Colman, junior, the dramatist, a witty and genial talker, whose society was much sought after, lived for the ten years previous tohis death in 1836. The same house was in 1860 taken by Shirley Brooks, editor of _Punch_. The list of former residents also includes the namesof John Liston, comedian, No. 40, and Frederick Yates, the actor, No. 57. 

The associations of all of this district have been preserved by CroftonCroker in his "Walk from London to Fulham, " but his work suffers frombeing too minute; names which are now as dead as their owners arerecorded, and the most trivial points noted. Opposite Brompton Squarethere was once a street called Michael's Grove, after its builder, Michael Novosielski, architect of the Royal Italian Opera House. In1835 Douglas Jerrold, critic and dramatist, lived here, and whilst herewas visited by Dickens. Ovington Square covers the ground where oncestood Brompton Grove, where several well-known people had houses; amongthem was the editor (William Jerdan) of the _Literary Gazette_, who wasvisited by many literary men, and who held those informal conversationparties, so popular in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, which must have been very delightful. Tom Hood was among the guests onmany occasions. Before being Brompton Grove, this part of the districthad been known as Flounder's Field, but why, tradition does not say. 

The next opening on the north side is an avenue of young lime-treesleading to Holy Trinity Church, the parish church of Brompton. It wasopened in 1829, and the exterior is as devoid of beauty as the datewould lead one to suppose. There are about 1, 800 seats, and 700 arefree. The burial-ground behind the church is about 4½ acres inextent, and was consecrated at the same time as the church. Crokermentions that it was once a flower-garden. Northward are EnnismoreGardens, named after the secondary title of the Earl of Listowel, wholives in Kingston House. The house recalls the notorious Duchess ofKingston, who occupied it for some time. The Duchess, who began life asElizabeth Chudleigh, must have had strong personal attractions. She wasappointed maid of honour to Augusta, Princess of Wales, and afterseveral love-affairs was married secretly to the Hon. Augustus JohnHervey, brother of the Earl of Bristol. She continued to be a maid ofhonour after this event, which remained a profound secret. Her husbandwas a lieutenant in the navy, and on his return from his long absencesthe couple quarrelled violently. It was not, however, until sixteenyears later that Mrs. Hervey began a connection with the Duke ofKingston, which ended in a form of marriage. It was then that sheassumed the title, and caused Kingston House to be built for herresidence; fifteen years later her real husband succeeded to the titleof Earl of Bristol, and she was brought up to answer to the charge ofbigamy, on which she was proved guilty, but with extenuatingcircumstances, and she seems to have got off scot-free. She afterwardswent abroad, and died in Paris in 1788, aged sixty-eight, after a lifeof gaiety and dissipation. From the very beginning her behaviour seemsto have been scandalous, and she richly merited the epithet alwaysprefixed to her name. Sir George Warren and Lord Stair subsequentlyoccupied the house, and later the Marquis Wellesley, elder brother ofthe famous Duke of Wellington. Intermediately it was occupied by theListowel family, to whom the freehold belongs. 

All Saints' Church in Ennismore Gardens was built by Vulliamy, and is inrather a striking Lombardian style, refreshing after the meaningless"Gothic" of so many parish churches. 

The Oratory of St. Philip Neri, near Brompton Church, is surmounted by agreat dome, on the summit of which is a golden cross. It is thesuccessor of a temporary oratory opened in 1854, and the present churchwas opened thirty years later by Cardinal Manning. The oratory is builtof white stone, and the entrance is under a great portico. The stylefollowed throughout is that of the Renaissance, and all the fittings andfurniture are costly and beautifully finished, so that the wholeinterior has an appearance of richness and elegance. A nave of immenseheight and 51 feet in width is supported by pillars of Devonshiremarble, and there are many well-furnished chapels in the side aisles. The floor of the sanctuary is of inlaid wood, and the stalls are after aRenaissance Viennese model, and are inlaid with ivory; both of thesefittings were the gift of Anne, Duchess of Argyll. The central pictureis by Father Philpin de Rivière, of the London Oratory, and it issurmounted by onyx panels in gilt frames. The two angels on each side ofa cartouche are of Italian workmanship, and were given by the late SirEdgar Boehm. The oratory is famous for its music, and the crowds thatgather here are by no means entirely of the Roman Catholic persuasion. Near the church-house is a statue of Cardinal Newman. 

Not far westward the new buildings of the South Kensington Museum arerapidly rising. The laying of their foundation-stone was one of the lastpublic acts of Queen Victoria. Until these buildings were begun therewas a picturesque old house standing within the enclosure marked out fortheir site, and some people imagined this was Cromwell House, which gaveits name to so many streets in the neighbourhood; this was, however, amistake. Cromwell House was further westward, near where the presentQueen's Gate is, and the site is now covered by the gardens of theNatural History Museum. 

All that great space lying between Queen's Gate and Exhibition Road, andbounded north and south by Kensington Gore and the Cromwell Road, hasseen many changes. At first it was Brompton Park, a splendid estate, which for some time belonged to the Percevals, ancestors of the Earls ofEgmont. A large part of it was cut off in 1675 to form a nursery garden, the first of its kind in England, which naturally attracted muchattention, and formed a good strolling-ground for the idlers who cameout from town. Evelyn mentions this garden in his diary at some length, and evidently admired it very much. It was succeeded by the gardens ofthe Horticultural Society, and the Imperial Institute now stands on thesite. The Great Exhibition of 1851 (see p. 66) was followed by anotherin 1862, which was not nearly so successful, and this was held on theground now occupied by the Natural History Museum; it in turn wasfollowed by smaller exhibitions held in the Horticultural Society'sgrounds. 

In an old map we see Hale or Cromwell House standing, as aboveindicated, about the western end of the Museum gardens. Lysons giveslittle credence to the story of its having been the residence of thegreat Protector. He says that during Cromwell's time, and for many yearsafterwards, it was the residence of the Methwold family, and adds: "Ifthere were any grounds for the tradition, it may be that Henry Cromwelloccupied it before he went out to Ireland the second time. " This seems alikely solution, for it is improbable that a name should have impresseditself so persistently upon a district without some connection, and asHenry Cromwell was married in Kensington parish church, there is nothingimprobable in the fact of his having lived in the parish. Faulknerfollows Lysons, and adds a detailed description of the house. He says:

 "Over the mantelpiece there is a recess formed by the curve of the chimney, in which it is said that the Protector used to conceal himself when he visited the house, but why his Highness chose this place for concealment the tradition has not condescended to inform us. "

In Faulkner's time the Earl of Harrington, who had come into possessionof the park estate by his marriage with its heiress, owned CromwellHouse; his name is preserved in Harrington Road close by. When the Manorof Earl's Court was sold to Sir Walter Cope in 1609, Hale House, as itwas then called, and the 30 acres belonging to it, had been especiallyexcepted. In the eighteenth century the place was turned into atea-garden, and was well patronized, but never attained the celebrity ofVauxhall or Ranelagh, and later was eclipsed altogether by FloridaGardens further westward (see p. 32). The house was taken down in 1853. 

The Natural History Museum is a branch of the British Museum, and, though commonly called the South Kensington Museum, has no claim at allto that title. The architect was A. Waterhouse, and the building rathersuggests a child's erection from a box of many coloured bricks. Thematerial is yellow terra-cotta with gray bands, and the ground-plan issimple enough, consisting of a central hall and long straight galleriesrunning from it east and west. The mineralogical, botanical, zoological, and geological collections are to be found here inconformity with a resolution passed by the trustees of the BritishMuseum in 1860, though the building was not finished until twenty yearslater. The collections are most popular, especially that of birds andtheir nests in their natural surroundings; and as the Museum is openfree, it is well patronized, especially on wet Sunday afternoons. TheSouth Kensington Museum, that part of it already standing on the eastside of Exhibition Road, is the outcome of the Great Exhibition, andbegan with a collection at Marlborough House. The first erection was ahideous temporary structure of iron, which speedily became known as the"Brompton Boilers, " and this was handed over to the Science and ArtDepartment. In 1868 this building was taken down, and some of thematerials were used for the branch museum at Bethnal Green. 

The buildings have now spread and are spreading over so much ground thatit is a matter of difficulty to enumerate them all. The elaborateterra-cotta building facing Exhibition Road is the Royal College ofScience, under the control of the Board of Education, for the Museum isquite as much for purposes of technical education as for meresightseeing. Behind this lie the older parts of the Museum, galleries, etc. , which are so much hidden away that it is difficult to get aglimpse of them at all. Across the road, behind the Natural HistoryMuseum, are the Southern Galleries, containing various models ofmachinery actually working; northward of this, more red brick andscaffolding proclaim an extension, which will face the ImperialInstitute Road, and parts have even run across the roads in bothdirections north and westward. The whole is known officially as theVictoria and Albert Museum, but generally goes by the name of the SouthKensington Museum. The galleries and library are well worth a visit, andofficial catalogues can be had at the entrance. 

From an architectural point of view, the Imperial Institute is much moresatisfactory than either of the above. It is of gray stone, with a hightower called the Queen's Tower, rising to a height of 280 feet; in thisis a peal of bells, ten in number, called after members of the royalfamily, and presented by an Australian lady. The Institute was thenational memorial for Queen Victoria's Jubilee, and was designed toembody the colonial or Imperial idea by the collection of the nativeproducts of the various colonies, but it has not been nearly sosuccessful as its fine idea entitled it to be. It was also formed into aclub for Fellows on a payment of a small subscription, but was neververy warmly supported. It is now partly converted to other uses. TheLondon University occupies the main entrance, great hall, central block, and east wings (except the basement). There are located here the Senateand Council rooms, Vice-Chancellor's rooms, Board-rooms, convocationhalls and offices, besides the rooms of the Principal, Registrars, andother University officers. At the Institute are also the physiologicaltheatre and laboratories for special advanced lectures and research. Therest of the building is now the property of the Board of Trade, underwhom the real Imperial Institute occupies the west wing and certainother parts of the building. 

The Horticultural Gardens, which the Imperial Institute superseded, weretaken by the Society in 1861, in addition to its then existing gardensat Chiswick. They were laid out in a very artificial and formal style, and were mocked in a contemporary article in the _Quarterly Review_: "Sothe brave old trees which skirted the paddock of Gore House were felled, little ramps were raised, and little slopes sliced off with a fiddlingnicety of touch which would have delighted the imperial grandeur of thesummer palace, and the tiny declivities thus manufactured were torturedinto curvilinear patterns, where sea-sand, chopped coal, and powderedbricks atoned for the absence of flower or shrub. " Every vestige of thishas, of course, now vanished, and a new road has been driven past thefront of the Institute. 

The Albert Hall was opened by Queen Victoria in 1871, and, like theother buildings already mentioned, is closely associated with theearlier half of her reign. The idea was due to Prince Albert, who wishedto have a large hall for musical and oratorical performances. It is inthe form of a gigantic ellipse covered by a dome, and the external wallsare decorated by a frieze. The effect is hardly commendable, and thewhole has been compared to a huge bandbox. However, it answers thepurpose for which it was designed, having good acoustic properties, andits concerts, especially the cheap ones on Sunday afternoons, are alwayswell attended. The organ is worked by steam, and is one of the largestin the world, having close on 9, 000 pipes. The hall stands on the siteof Gore House, in its time a rendezvous for all the men and women ofintellect and brilliancy in England. It was occupied by Wilberforce from1808 to 1821. He came to it after his illness at Clapham, which had madehim feel the necessity of moving nearer to London, that he mightdischarge his Parliamentary duties more easily. His Bill for theAbolition of Slavery had become law shortly before, and he was at thetime a popular idol. His house was thronged with visitors, among whomwere his associates, Clarkson, Zachary Macaulay, and Romilly. Whatcharmed him most in his new residence was the garden "full of lilacs, laburnum, nightingales, and swallows. " He writes:

 "We are just one mile from the turnpike at Hyde Park Corner, having about 3 acres of pleasure-ground around our house, or rather behind it, and several old trees, walnut and mulberry, of thick foliage. I can sit and read under their shade with as much admiration of the beauties of nature as if I were 200 miles from the great city. "

In 1836 the clever and popular Lady Blessington came to Gore House, andremained there just so long as Wilberforce had done--namely, thirteenyears. The house is thus described in "The Gorgeous Lady Blessington"(Mr. Molloy):

 "Lying back from the road, from which it was separated by high walls and great gates, it was approached by a courtyard that led to a spacious vestibule. The rooms were large and lofty, the hall wide and stately, but the chiefest attraction of all were the beautiful gardens stretching out at the back, with their wide terraces, flower-beds, extensive lawns, and fine old trees. "

Kensington Gore was then considered to be in the country, and spoken ofas a mile from London. Count D'Orsay, who had married Lady Blessington'sstepdaughter, rather in compliance with her father's wishes than his owninclination, spent much of his time with his mother-in-law, and at herreceptions all the literary talent of the age was gatheredtogether--Bulwer Lytton, Disraeli, and Landor were frequent visitors, and Prince Louis Napoleon made his way to Gore House when he escapedfrom prison. Lady Blessington died in 1849. The house was used as arestaurant during the 1851 Exhibition, and afterwards bought with theestate by the Commissioners. 

The name "gore" generally means a wedge-shaped insertion, and, if wetake it as being between the Kensington Gardens and Brompton andCromwell Roads, might be applicable here, but the explanation isfar-fetched. Leigh Hunt reminds us that the same word "gore" waspreviously used for mud or dirt, and as the Kensington Road at this partwas formerly notorious for its mud, this may be the meaning of the name, but there can be no certainty. Lowther Lodge, a picturesque red-brickhouse, stands back behind a high wall; it was designed by Norman Shaw, R. A. In the row of houses eastward of it facing the road, No. 2 was oncethe residence of Wilkes, who at that time had also a house in GrosvenorSquare and another in the Isle of Wight. Croker says that the actorCharles Mathews was once, with his wife, Madame Vestris, in Gore Lodge, Brompton. He was certainly a friend of the Blessingtons, and stayedabroad with them in Naples for a year, and may have been attracted totheir neighbourhood at the Gore. 

Behind the Albert Hall are various buildings, such as Alexandra Housefor ladies studying art and music, also large mansions and_maisonnettes_ recently built. The Royal College of Music, successor ofthe old College, which stood west of the Albert Hall, is in PrinceConsort Road. It was designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield, and opened in1894. The cost was defrayed by Mr. Samson Fox, and in the building is acurious collection of old musical instruments known as the DonaldsonMuseum and open free daily. In the same road a prettily designed church, to be called Holy Trinity, Kensington Gore, is rapidly rising. In thenorthern part of Exhibition Road is the Technical Institute of the Cityand Guilds in a large red and white building, and just south of it theRoyal School of Art Needlework for Ladies, founded by PrincessChristian. 

Queen's Gate is very wide; in the southern part stands St. Augustine'sChurch, opened for service in 1871, though the chancel was not completeduntil five years later. The architect was Mr. Butterfield, and thechurch is of brick of different colours, with a bell gable at the westend. In Cromwell Place, near the underground station, Sir John EverettMillais lived in No. 7; the fact is recorded on a tablet. HarringtonRoad was formerly Cromwell Lane, and there is extant a letter of LeighHunt's dated from this address in 1830. Pelham Crescent, behind thestation, formerly looked out upon tea-gardens. Guizot, the notableFrench Minister, came to live here after the fall of Louis Philippe. Hewas in No. 21, and Charles Mathews, the actor, lived for a time in No. 25. The curves of the old Brompton Road suggest that it was a lane atone time, curving to avoid the fields or different properties on eitherside. 

Onslow Square stands upon the site of a large lunatic asylum. In it isSt. Paul's Church, built in 1860, and well known for its evangelicalservices. There is nothing remarkable in its architecture save that thechancel is at the west end. The pulpit is of carved stone with inlaidslabs of American onyx. Marochetti, an Italian sculptor, who isresponsible for many of the statues in London, including that of PrinceAlbert on the Memorial, lived at No. 34 in the square in 1860. But itsproudest association is that Thackeray came to the house then No. 36, from Young Street, in 1853. "The Newcomes" was at that time appearing inparts, and continued to run until 1855, so that some of it was probablywritten here. He published also while here "The Rose and the Ring, " theoutcome of a visit to Rome with his daughters, and after "The Newcomes"was completed he visited America for a second time on a tour oflectures, subsequently embodied in a book, "The Four Georges. " By hismove from Young Street he was nearer to his friends the Carlyles inChelsea, a fact doubtless much appreciated on both sides. He contestedOxford in 1857, and in the following year began the publication of "TheVirginians, " which was doubtless inspired by his American experiences. In 1860 he was made editor of the _Cornhill_, from which his income cameto something like £4, 000 a year, and on the strength of this accessionof fortune he began to build a house in Palace Green, to which he movedwhen it was complete (p. 53). 

It has been remarked that this is rather a dismal neighbourhood, withthe large hospitals for Cancer and Consumption facing each other acrossthe Fulham Road, and the Women's Hospital quite close at hand. It iswith the Consumption Hospital alone we have to do here, as the othersare in Chelsea. This hospital stands on part of the ground whichbelonged to a famous botanical garden owned by William Curtis at the endof the eighteenth century. The building is of red brick, faced withwhite stone, and it is on a piece of ground about 3 acres in extent, lined by small trees, under which are seats for the wan-faced patients. The ground-plan of the building resembles the letter H, and the systemadopted inside is that of galleries used as day-rooms and filled withchairs and couches. From these the bedrooms open off. The galleriesmake a superior sort of ward, and are bright, with large windows, andpolished floors. There is a chapel attached to the hospital, which waschiefly presented by the late Sir Henry Foulis, after whom one of thegalleries is named, and who is also recalled in the name of aneighbouring terrace. The west wing of the hospital was added in 1852, and towards it Jenny Lind, who was resident in Brompton, presented£1, 600, the proceeds of a concert for the cause. There is also anextension building across the road. Here there is a compressed air-bath, in which an enormous pressure of air can be put upon the patient, to therelief of his lungs. This item, rendered expensive by its massivestructure and iron bolts and bars, cost £1, 000, and is one of the onlytwo of the kind in existence, the other being in Paris. A Miss Readbequeathed to the hospital the sum of £100, 000, and in memory of her aslab beneath a central window is inscribed: "In Memoriam Cordelia Read, 1879. " It was due to her beneficence that the extension building wasadded. 

In Cranley Gardens, which takes its name from the secondary title of theEarl of Onslow, is St. Peter's Church, founded in 1866. Cranley Gardensrun into Gloucester Road, which formerly bore the much less aristocratictitle of Hogmore Lane. 

Just above the place where the Cromwell Road cuts Gloucester Road, aboutthe site of the National Provincial Branch Bank, once stood a ratherimportant house. It had been the Florida Tea-gardens, and having gaineda bad reputation was closed, and the place sold to Sophia, Duchess ofGloucester, who built there a house on her own account, and called itOrford Lodge, in honour of her own family, the Walpoles. She had marriedprivately William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, brother of George III. Themarriage, which took place in 1766, was not revealed to King George II. Until six years had passed, and when it was the Duke and Duchess fellunder the displeasure of His Majesty. They travelled abroad for sometime, but in 1780 were reinstated in royal favour. The Duke died in1805, and the Duchess two years later. After her death her daughter, Princess Sophia, sold the house to the great statesman George Canning, who renamed it Gloucester Lodge, and lived in it until his deatheighteen years later. It was to this house he was brought after his duelwith Lord Castlereagh, when he was badly wounded in the thigh. Crabbe, the poet, visited him at Gloucester Lodge, and records the fact in hisjournal, commenting on the gardens, and remarking that the place wasmuch secluded. Canning also received here the unhappy Queen Caroline, whose cause he had warmly espoused. The house was pulled down about themiddle of last century, but its memory is kept alive in Gloucester Road. 

Thistle Grove Lane is one of those quaint survivals which enable us toreconstruct the past topographically, in the same way as the silentletters in a word, apparently meaningless, enable us to reconstruct thephilological past. It is no longer a lane, but a narrow passage, andabout midway down is crossed by a little street called Priory Grove. Faulkner makes mention of Friars' Grove in this position, and the twonames are probably identical. Brompton Heath lay east of this lane, andwestward was Little Chelsea, a small hamlet in fields, situated byitself, quite detached from London, separated from it by the drearyheath, that no man might cross with impunity after dark. 

The Boltons is an oval piece of ground with St. Mary's Church in themiddle. The church was opened in 1851, and the interior is surprisinglysmall in comparison with the exterior. It was fully restored abouttwenty years after it had been built. The land had been for many yearsthe property of the Bolton family, whose name impressed itself on theplace. 

Returning to the Fulham Road, and continuing westward, we pass the siteof an old manor-house, afterwards used as an orphanage; near it was anadditional building of the St. George's Union, which is opposite. Thereis a tradition that Boyle, the philosopher, once occupied thisadditional house, and was here visited by Locke. The present Unionstands on the site of Shaftesbury House, built about 1635, and bought bythe third Earl of Shaftesbury in 1699. Addison, who was a great friendof the Earl's, often stayed with him in Shaftesbury House. 

Redcliffe Gardens was formerly called Walnut-Tree Walk, another ruralreminiscence. At the eastern corner was Burleigh House, and an entry inthe Kensington registers, May 15, 1674, tells of the birth of "JohnCecill, son and heir of John, Lord Burleigh, " in the parish. There is nodirect evidence to show that Lord Burleigh was then living in thishouse, but the probability is that he was. To the east of this houseagain was a row of others, with large gardens at the back; one wasLochee's well-known military academy, and another, Heckfield Lodge, wastaken by the brothers of the Priory attached to the Roman Catholicchurch, Our Lady of Seven Dolours, which faces the street. The greaterpart of this church was built in 1876, but a very fine rectangular porchwith figures of saints in the niches, and a narthex in the same style, were added later. The square tower with corner pinnacles is aconspicuous object in the Fulham Road. 

Among other important persons who lived at Little Chelsea in or aboutFulham Road were Sir Bartholomew Shower, a well-known lawyer, in 1693;the Bishop of Gloucester (Edward Fowler), 1709; the Bishop of Chester(Sir William Dawes), who afterwards became Archbishop of York; and SirEdward Ward, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, in 1697. It is odd to read ofa highway murder occurring near Little Chelsea in 1765. The barbarity ofthe time demanded that the murderers should be executed on the spotwhere their crime was committed, so that the two men implicated werehanged, the one at the end of Redcliffe Gardens, and the other nearStamford Bridge, Chelsea Station. These men were Chelsea pensioners, andmust have been active for their years to make such an attempt. Thegibbet stood at the end of the present Redcliffe Gardens for very manyyears. 

Ifield Road was once Honey Lane. To the west are the entrance gates ofthe cemetery, which is about 800 yards in extreme length by 300 in thebroadest part. The graves are thickly clustered together at the southernend, with hardly two inches between the stones, which are of everyvariety. The cemetery was opened for burial in June, 1840. Sir RoderickMurchison, the geologist, is among those who lie here. In the centre ofthe southern part of the cemetery is a chapel; two colonnades and acentral building stand over the catacombs, which are not now used. Atthe northern end is a Dissenters' chapel. Having thus come to theextreme limits of the district, we turn to the neighbourhood of Earl'sCourt. 

Earl's Court can show good cause why it should hold both its names, forhere the lords of the manor, the Earls of Oxford, held their courts. Theearlier maps of Kensington are all of the nineteenth century. Beforethat time the old topographers doubtless thought there was nothing outof which to make a map, for except by the sides of the high-road, and inthe detached villages of Brompton, Earl's Court, and Little Chelsea, there were only fields. Faulkner's 1820 map is very slight and sketchy. He says: "In speaking of this part, proceeding down Earl's Court Lane[Road], we arrive at the village of Earl's Court. " The 1837 Survey showsa considerable increase in the number of houses, though Earl's Court isstill a village, connected with Kensington by a lane. Daw's map of 1846for some reason shows fewer houses, but his 1858 map gives a decidedincrease. 

Near where the underground station now is stood the old court-house ofEarl's Court. From 1789 to 1875 another building superseded it, but theolder house was standing until 1878. There was a medicinal spring atEarl's Court in the beginning of the nineteenth century. Beside thesetwo facts, there is very little that is interesting to note. JohnHunter, the celebrated anatomist, founder of the Hunterian Museum, livedhere in a house he had built for himself. He had a passion for animals, particularly strange beasts, and gathered an odd collection round him, somewhat to the dismay of his neighbours. 

The popular Earl's Court Exhibition is partly in Kensington and partlyin Fulham; it is the largest exhibition open in London, and ispatronized as much because it is one of the few places to which theLondoner can go to sit out of doors and hear a band after dinner, as forits more varied entertainments. 

One of the comparatively old houses of the neighbourhood of Earl'sCourt, that has only recently been demolished, was Coleherne Court, atthe corner of Redcliffe Gardens and the Brompton Road. It is nowreplaced by residential flats. This was possibly the same house as thatmentioned by Bowack (1705): "The Hon. Col. Grey has a fine seat atEarl's Court; it is but lately built, after the modern manner, andstanding upon a plain, where nothing can intercept the sight, looks verystately at a distance. The gardens are very good. " The house was lateroccupied by the widow of General Ponsonby, who fell in the Battle ofWaterloo. Its companion, Hereford House, further eastward, was used asthe headquarters of a cycling club before its demolition. 

The rest of the district eastward to Gloucester Road has no oldassociation. St. Jude's Church, in Courtfield Gardens, was built in1870. The reredos is of red-stained alabaster, coloured marble, andmosaics by Salviati. St. Stephen's, in Gloucester Road, is a smallerchurch, founded in 1866. Beyond it Gloucester Road runs into VictoriaRoad, once Love Lane. General Gordon was at No. 8, Victoria Grove, in1881. Returning again to Earl's Court Road, we see St. Stephen's, another of the numerous modern churches in which the district abounds;it was built partly at the expense of the Rev. D. Claxton, and wasopened in 1858. In Warwick Gardens, westward, is St. Mathias, whichrivals St. Cuthbert's, in Philbeach Gardens, in the ritualism of itsservices. Both churches are very highly decorated. In St. Cuthbert's theinterior is of great height, and the walls ornamentally worked in stone;there is a handsome oak screen, and a very fine statue of the Virgin andChild by Sir Edgar Boehm in the Lady Chapel; in both churches the seatsare all free. 

Edwardes Square, with its houses on the north side bordering KensingtonRoad, is peculiarly attractive, with a large garden in the centre, andan old-world air about its houses, which are mostly small. Leigh Huntsays that it was (traditionally) built by a Frenchman at the time of thethreatened French invasion, and that so confident was this good patriotof the issue of the war that he built the square, with its large gardenand small houses, to suit the promenading tastes and poorly-furnishedpockets of Napoleon's officers. The name was taken from the family nameof Lord Kensington. 

Mrs. Inchbald stayed as a boarder at No. 4 in the square when she wassixty-five. She seems to have chosen the life for the sake of companyrather than by reason of lack of means, for she was not badly off, having been always extraordinarily well paid for her work. She isdescribed as having been above the middle height, of a freckledcomplexion, and with sandy hair, but nevertheless good-looking. LeighHunt himself was at No. 32 for some years before 1853, when he removedto Hammersmith. He mentions, on hearsay, that Coleridge once stayed inthe square, but this was probably only on the occasion of a visit tofriends. In recent times Walter Pater was a resident here. 

Leaving aside for a time Holland House, standing in beautiful grounds, which line the northern side of the road, and turning eastward, we findthe Roman Catholic Pro-Cathedral, almost hidden behind houses. It is ofdark-red brick, and was designed by Mr. Goldie, but the effect of thenorth porch is lost, owing to the buildings which hem it in; this defectwill doubtless be remedied in time as leases expire. The interior of thecathedral is of great height, and the light stone arches are supportedby pillars of polished Aberdeen granite. 

After Abingdon Road comes Allen Street, in which there is the KensingtonIndependent Chapel, a great square building with an imposing portico, built in 1854, "for the worshippers in the Hornton Street Chapel. " Thehouses at the northern end of Allen Street are called PhillimoreTerrace, and here Sir David Wilkie came in the autumn of 1824, havingfor the previous thirteen years lived in Lower Phillimore Place. Hislife in Kensington was quiet and regular. He says: "I dine at twoo'clock, paint two hours in the forenoon and two hours in the afternoon, and take a short walk in the Park or through the fields twice a day. "His mother and sister lived with him, and though he was a bachelor, hisdomestic affections were very strong. The time in Phillimore Terrace wasfar from bright; it was while he lived here that his mother died, alsotwo of his brothers and his sister's _fiancé_; and many other troubles, including money worries, came upon him. He eventually moved, though notfar, only to Vicarage Gardens (then Place), near Church Street. 

In Kensington Road, beyond Allen Street, was an ancient inn, the Adamand Eve, in which it is said that Sheridan used to stop for a drink onthe way to and from Holland House, and where he ran up a bill which hecoolly left to be settled by his friend Lord Holland. The inn is nowreplaced by a modern public-house of the same name. Between this andWright's Lane the aspect of the place has been entirely changed in thelast few years by the erection of huge red-brick flats. On the otherside of Wright's Lane the enlarged premises of Messrs. Ponting havecovered up the site of Scarsdale House, which only disappeared to makeway for them. Scarsdale House is supposed to have been built by one ofthe Earls of Scarsdale (first creation), the second of whom married LadyFrances Rich, eldest daughter of the Earl of Warwick and Holland, butthere is not much evidence to support this conjecture. At the same time, the house was evidently much older than the date of the second Scarsdalecreation--namely, 1761. The difficulty is surmounted by Mr. Loftie, whosays: "John Curzon, who founded it, and called it after the home of hisancestors in Derbyshire, had bought the land for the purpose of buildingon it. "

At the end of this lane is the Home for Crippled Boys, established inWoolsthorpe House. The house was evidently named after the home of SirIsaac Newton at Woolsthorpe, near Grantham. But apparently he neverlived in it. His only connection with this part is that here stood "abatch of good old family houses, one of which belonged to Sir IsaacNewton. " It is possible that the name was given by an enthusiasticadmirer, moved thereto by the fact that Newton had lived in BullinghamHouse, Church Street, not so far distant. 

In the 1837 map of the district Woolsthorpe is marked "CarmaerthenHouse. " The front and the entrance are old, and in one of the roomsthere is decorative moulding on the ceiling and a carved mantelpiece, but the schoolrooms and workshops built out at the back are all modern. The home had a very small beginning, being founded in 1866 by Dr. Bibby, who rented one room, and took in three crippled boys. 

In Marloes Road, further south, are the workhouse and infirmary. 

Returning to the High Street, the Free Library and the Town Hall attractattention. The latter is nearly on the site of the old free schools, which were built by Sir John Vanbrugh with all the soliditycharacteristic of his style; and Leigh Hunt opined, if suffered toremain, they would probably outlast the whole of Kensington. However, nosuch misfortune occurred, and the only relics of them remaining are thefigures of the charity children of Queen Anne's period, which now standabove the doorway of the new schools at the back of the Town Hall. 

William Cobbett, "essayist, politician, agriculturist, " lived in a houseon the site of some of the great shops on the south side of the HighStreet, opposite the Town Hall. His grounds bordered on those ofScarsdale House, and he established in them a seed garden in which tocarry out his practical experiments in agriculture. His pugnacity andsharp tongue led him into many a quarrel, and he was never a favouritewith those who were his neighbours. He advocated Queen Caroline's causewith warmth, and was the real author of her famous letter to the King. But he will always be remembered best by his _Weekly Register_, a potentpolitical weapon. 

The parish church of St. Mary Abbots, with its high spire, forms a verystriking object on the north side of the road. There is a stone porchover the entrance to the churchyard, and a picturesque cloisteredpassage leading round the south side. Within the cloister is a tabletcommemorating the fact that it was partly built by Rev. E. C. Glyn andhis wife in memory of his mother, who died in 1892. A little further on, immediately facing the south door, is another tablet, stating that theporch at the entrance to the cloister was erected by the widow of JamesLiddle Fairless in memory of her husband, who died in 1891. Within thechurch the walls are thickly covered with memorial tablets, and on thenorth and south walls are rows of them set in coloured marble. Thereredos is a representation of the four evangelists in mosaic work infour panels, enclosed in a Gothic canopy of marble. On the north side ofthe chancel is a fresco painting enclosed in marble, presented by theArchbishop of York on leaving the parish. On the south side there isalso a small fresco painting, but the greater part of the wall isoccupied by the sedilia. The transept on the south side of the navecontains numerous memorial tablets and two brasses: nearly all of thesebelong to the eighteenth century. The monument of the Rich family isagainst the west wall in this transept, and is a conspicuous object. Alarge marble slab against the wall bears the name of Edward Rich, lastEarl of Warwick and Holland (died 1759), his wife Mary, who survived himten years, and their only child Charlotte, who died unmarried. Above arethe names of the Rich family, and below is the statue of the young Earlof Warwick and Holland, the stepson of Addison, who died in 1721, agedtwenty-four. He is in Roman dress, life-size, and is represented seatedwith his right elbow resting on an urn. 

On the further side of the south door we have a curious old white marblemonument to the memory of Mr. Colin Campbell (died 1708). This was inthe old church, and was placed in its present position by a descendantof the Campbell family. The font, a handsome marble basin, stands in thenorth aisle. Near it is a marble bust of Dr. Rennell, a former vicar ofKensington, by Chantrey. In the north chapel there is a large marbletablet to the memory of William Murray, third son of the Earl ofDunmore. The pulpit is of dark carved oak, and stood in the old church. The west porch is very handsomely ornamented with stonework. In thechurchyard are buried several persons of note, including Mrs. Inchbald, the authoress; and a son of George Canning, whose monument is byChantrey. 

Among other entries in the registers may be noticed the marriage ofHenry Cromwell, already mentioned. There are many records of the Hicks(Campden) family, also of the Winchilsea and Nottingham, Lawrence, Cecil, Boyle, Howard of Effingham, Brydges, Dukes of Chandos, Molesworth, and Godolphin families. The plate belonging to the church isvery valuable. The oldest piece is a cup dating from 1599, and a silvertankard is of the year 1619. A full description of the plate was givenby Mr. Cripps in the parish magazine in 1879. 

The church owes its additional name of Abbots to the fact of its havingbelonged to the Abbot and convent of Abingdon, as set forth in thehistory of the parish. Bowack says: "It does not appear that this churchwas ever dedicated to any saint, nor can we find, after a very strictsearch, by whom it was founded, though we have traced its vicars up tothe year 1260. "

It has already been explained that Aubrey de Vere made a present to theAbbot of the slice of land on which the church stands, and that thisformed a secondary manor in Kensington. This transfer had been made withthe consent of Pope Alexander, but without the consent of the Bishop ofLondon or the Archbishop. In consequence of this omission the title ofthe Abbey to the land was disputed, and it was at length settled thatthe patronage of the vicarage should be vested in the Bishop. This wasin 1260. At the time of the dissolution of the monasteries the Abbot'sportion became vested in the Crown, from which it passed to variouspersons; and when Sir Walter Cope bought the manor a special arrangementhad to be made with Robert Horseman, who was then in possession. 

So much for the history. The actual fabric has been subject to muchchange, and has been rebuilt many times. It is known that a church wasstanding on this site in 1102, but how old it was then is only matterfor conjecture; in 1370 it was wholly or partly rebuilt. And this churchwas pulled down about 1694, with the exception of the tower, and againrebuilt; but in seven years the new building began to crack, and in 1704the roof was taken off, and the north and south walls once more rebuilt. After this Bowack describes it as "of brick and handsomely finished; butwhat it was formerly may be guessed by the old tower now standing, whichhas some appearance of antiquity, and looks like the architecture of thetwelfth or thirteenth centuries. " In his encomium he probably spoke morein accordance with convention than with real approbation, for thischurch has been described by many other independent persons as anunsightly building, with no architectural beauty whatever; and as far asmay be gathered from the prints still extant this is the true judgment. In 1811 it showed signs of decay, and underwent thorough restoration;and in 1869 it was entirely demolished, and the present church builtfrom the designs of Sir Gilbert Scott. The spire, added a few yearslater, is only exceeded by two in England--namely, those of Salisburyand Norwich Cathedrals. 

There are many parish charities, which it would be out of place toenumerate here, and among them are several bequests for the cleansingand repair of tombs. 

The fine shops on the south side of the street inherit a more ancienttitle than might be supposed. Bowack, writing in 1705, speaks of the"abundance of shopkeepers and all sorts of artificers" along thehigh-road, "which makes it appear rather like a part of London than acountry village. "

Leaving aside for the time Church Street and all the interestingdistrict on the north, we turn to Kensington Square, which was begunabout the end of James II. 's reign, and from the very first was anotably fashionable place, and more especially so after the Court wasestablished at Kensington Palace. In Queen Anne's reign, "for beauty ofbuildings and worthy inhabitants, " it "exceeds several noted squares inLondon. " The eminent inhabitants have indeed been so numerous that it isdifficult to prevent any account of them from degenerating into a merecatalogue. "In the time of George II. The demand for lodgings was sogreat that an Ambassador, a Bishop, and a physician were known to occupyapartments in the same house" (Faulkner). 

The two houses, Nos. 10 and 11, in the eastern corner on the south sideare the two oldest that look on to the square. They were reserved forthe maids of honour when the Court was at Kensington, and the wainscotedrooms and little powdering closets speak volumes as to their bygonedays; these two were originally one house, as the exterior shows. Nextdoor is the women's department of King's College. J. R. Green, thehistorian, lived at No. 14 until his death, and in No. 18 John S. Millwas living in 1839. Three Bishops at least are known to have beendomiciled in the square: Bishop Mawson of Ely, who died here in 1770;Bishop Herring of Bangor, a very notable prelate, who was afterwardsArchbishop of Canterbury; and in the south-western corner Bishop Houghof Oxford, Lichfield, and Worcester had a fine old house until 1732. TheConvent of the Assumption now covers the same ground in Nos. 20 to 24. The original object of the convent was prayer for the conversion ofEngland to the Roman Catholic faith, but the sisters now devotethemselves to the work of teaching; they have a pleasant garden, morethan an acre in extent, stretching out at the back of the house. In thechapel there is a fresco painting by Westlake. 

No. 26 is the Kensington Foundation Grammar School. Talleyrand lived inNos. 36 and 37, formerly one house. He succeeded Bishop Herring in theoccupancy, after a lapse of fifty years, and the man who had abandonedthe vocation of the Church to follow diplomacy was thus sheltered by thesame roof that had sheltered a Churchman by vocation, if ever there wereone. Many foreign ambassadors patronized the square at various times. The Duchess of Mazarin, already mentioned in the volume on Chelsea, washere in 1692, and six years later moved to her Chelsea home, where shedied; but her day was over many years before she came here. JosephAddison lodged in the square for a time, four or five years before hismarriage with the Countess of Warwick. At No. 41 Sir Edward Burne-Joneslived for three years, subsequently removing to West Kensington, but theassociation which has most glorified the square is its proximity toYoung Street, so long the home of Thackeray. He came to No. 16, then 13, in 1846, aged only thirty-five, but with the romance of his life behindhim. A tablet marks the window in which he used to work. Six yearspreviously his wife, whom he had tenderly loved, had developedmelancholia, and, soon becoming a confirmed invalid, had had to beplaced permanently under medical care. Their married life had been veryshort, only four or five years, but Thackeray had three little daughtersto remind him of it. He had passed through many vicissitudes, from thecomparatively opulent days of youth and the University to the time whenhe had lost all his patrimony and been forced to support himselfprecariously by pen and pencil. Yearly he had become better known, andby the time he came to Young Street he was sufficiently removed frommoney troubles to be without that worst form of worry, anxiety for thefuture. He had contributed to the _Times_, _Frazer's Magazine_, and_Punch_. It is rather odd to read that at the time when _Punch_ wasstarted one of Thackeray's friends was rather sorry that he shouldbecome a contributor, fearing that it would lower his status in theliterary world! It was in _Punch_, nevertheless, that his first realtriumph was won. The "Snob Papers" attracted universal attention, andwere still running when he moved to Young Street. Here he began moreserious work, and scarcely a year later "Vanity Fair" was brought out innumbers, according to the fashion made popular by Dickens. It did notprove an instantaneous success, but by the time it had run its courseits author's position was assured. In spite of the sorrow thatovershadowed his domestic life--and he had by this time for many yearsgiven up any hope of communicating with his wife--the time he spent inthis house cannot have been unhappy. He had congenial work, manyfriends, among whom were numbered his fellow contributor Leech, also G. F. Watts, Herman Merivale, the Theodore Martins, Monckton Milnes, Kinglake, and others. He had also his daughters, and he was a loving andsympathetic father, realizing that children need brightness in theirlives as well as mere care, and taking his little family about wheneverhe could to parties and shows; and he had a growing reputation in theliterary world. "Pendennis" was published in 1848, and before it hadfinished running Thackeray suffered from a severe illness, that left itsmark on all his succeeding life. 

It was after this that Miss Brontë came to dine with him in YoungStreet. She had admired "Vanity Fair" immensely, and was ready to offerhero-worship; but the sensitive, dull little governess did not reveal insociety the fire that had made her books live, and we are told thatThackeray, although her host, found the dinner so dull that he slippedaway to his club before she left. He had now a good income from hisbooks, and added to it by lecturing. "Esmond" appeared in 1852, and thereferences to my Lady Castlewood's house in Kensington Square and theGreyhound tavern (the name of the inn opposite to Thackeray's own house)will be remembered by everyone. The novelist visited America shortlyafter, and then went with his children to Switzerland, and it was inSwitzerland that the idea for "The Newcomes" came to him. Young Streetcan only claim a part of that book, for in 1853 he moved to OnslowSquare, and the last number of "The Newcomes" did not appear until 1855. However, this was not his last connection with this part of Kensington, for in 1861 he built himself a house in Palace Green, but he onlyoccupied it for two years, when his death occurred at the early age offifty-two. 

The houses in Kensington Court, near by, are elaborately decorated withornamental terra-cotta mouldings. They stand just about the place whereonce was Kensington House, which had something of a history. It was fora while the residence of the Duchess of Portsmouth (Louise deQuerouaille), and later was the school of Dr. Elphinstone, referred toin Boswell's "Life of Johnson, " and supposed, on the very slightestgrounds, to have been the original of one of Smollett's brutalschoolmasters in "Roderick Random"; though the driest of pedagogues, Elphinstone was the reverse of brutal. The house was subsequently aRoman Catholic seminary, and then a boarding-house, where Mrs. Inchbaldlodged, and in which she died in 1821. 

Close by was another old house, made notorious by its owner'smiserliness; this man, Sir Thomas Colby, died intestate, and his fortuneof £200, 000 was divided among six or seven day labourers, who were hisnext of kin. A new Kensington House was built on the site of these two, and is said to have cost £250, 000, but its owner got into difficulties, and eventually the costly house was pulled down, and its fittings soldfor a twentieth part of their value. Near at hand are De Vere Gardens, to which Robert Browning came in June, 1887, from Warwick Crescent. 

Further eastward we come to Palace Gate. Some of this property belongsto the local charities. It is known as Butts Field Estate, and was socalled from the fact that the butts for archery practice were once setup here. 

KENSINGTON GARDENS AND PALACE. 

The Gardens are so intimately connected with the Palace that it isimpossible to touch upon the one without the other, and though LeighHunt caustically remarked that a criticism might be made on Kensingtonthat it has "a Palace which is no palace, Gardens which are no gardens, and a river called the Serpentine which is neither serpentine nor ariver, " yet in spite of this the Palace, the Gardens, and the riverannually give pleasure to thousands, and possess attractions of theirown by no means despicable. The flower-beds in the gardens nearest toKensington Road are beautiful enough in themselves to justify the titleof gardens. This is the quarter most patronized by nursemaids and theircharges. There are shady narrow paths, also the Broad Walk, with itsleafy overarching boughs resembling one of Nature's aisles, and theRound Pond, pleasant in spite of its primness. The Gardens were notalways open to the public, but partly belonged to the palace oftime-soiled bricks to which the public is now also admitted. 

The first house on this site of which we have any reliable detail isthat built by Sir Heneage Finch, the second of the name, who was LordChancellor under Charles I. And was created Earl of Nottingham in 1681, though it is probable that there had been some building on or near thesame place before, possibly the manor-house of the Abbot. The first Earlof Nottingham had bought the estate from his younger brother, Sir John, and it was from his successor, the second earl, that William III. BoughtNottingham House, as it was then called. 

William suffered much from asthma, and the gravel pits of Kensingtonwere then considered very healthy, and combined the advantages of notbeing very far from town with the pure air of the country. Of course, the house had to be enlarged in order to be suitable for a royalresidence, but it was not altogether demolished, and there are parts ofthe original Nottingham House still standing, probably the south side ofthe courtyard, where the brick is of a deeper shade than the rest. KingWilliam's taste in the matter of architecture knew no deviation; hismodel was Versailles, and as he had commissioned Wren to transform theTudor building of Hampton into a palace resembling Versailles, so hedirected him to repeat the experiment here. The long, low red walls, with their neat exactitude, speak still of William's orders; a buildingof heterogeneous growth, with a tower here and an angle there, wouldhave disgusted him: his ideal would have found its fulfilment in amodern barrack. Wren's taste, later aided by the lapse of time, softeneddown the hard angularity of the building, but it can in no sense beconsidered admirable. Thus Kensington Palace was built, and its wallsand its park like gardens were to be as closely associated with theHanoverian Sovereigns as the building and park of St. James's had beenassociated with the Stuarts whom William had supplanted. 

The Palace was not finished when Queen Mary was seized with small-poxand died within its walls, leaving a husband who, though narrow andaustere, had really loved her. He himself died at Kensington eight yearslater. Good-hearted Queen Anne, whose last surviving child had died twoyears before, took up her residence at the Palace, of which she wasalways extremely fond. The death of her husband in 1708 left her to alonely reign, and she seems to have solaced herself with her garden, superintending the laying out of the grounds. She had no taste, andeverything she ordered was dull and formal; yet she could not spoil thenatural beauty of the situation, and she still had Wren to direct herin architectural matters. The great orangery which goes by her name, andnow stands empty and forlorn, is seen on nearing the public entrance tothe state apartments of the Palace, and is in itself a wonderful exampleof Wren's genius for proportion. The private gardens of the Palace mustnot be confounded with the larger grounds, which stretched up to HydePark. The whole place had a very different aspect at that time: therewere King William's gardens, with formal flower-beds and walks in theDutch style, and northward lay Queen Anne's additional gardens, verymuch in the same style. The rest was comparatively uncared-for andwaste. Queen Anne died at Kensington from apoplexy, brought on byover-eating, and was succeeded by the first George, who spent so much ofhis time in visiting his Hanoverian dominions that he had not much leftfor performing the merely necessary Court duties at St. James's, andnone to spare for any lengthy visits to Kensington. However, he admiredthe place, and caused alterations to be made. It was in his reign thatthe ugly annexe on the east side, bearing unmistakably a Georgianorigin, was added, under the superintendence of William Kent, who hadsupplanted Wren. George's daughter-in-law, "Caroline the Illustrious, "loved Kensington, and has left her impress on it more than any otheroccupant. When her husband came to the throne, she spent much of hertime, during his long absences abroad, at the Palace. She employed Kentto do away with William's formal flower-beds, and she added much groundto the Gardens, taking for the purpose 100 acres from Hyde Park, anddividing the two parks by the Serpentine River, formed from the pools inthe bed of the Westbourne. There were eleven pools altogether, but inlater days, when the Westbourne stream had become a mere sewer, in whichform it still flows underground and empties itself into the Thames nearChelsea Bridge, the Chelsea waterworks supplied the running water. Theelaborate terrace, with its fountains at the north end, is a favouriteplace with children. The statue of Sir William Jenner stands near; itwas brought from Trafalgar Square. In winter, when frozen over, theSerpentine affords skating-room for hundreds of persons, and at othertimes bathing is permitted in the early morning. 

In her gardens the fair Queen walked with her bevy of maids of honour, that bevy which has always been renowned for its beauty, herself thefairest of all. These fascinating, light-hearted girls grew up in an ageof coarseness and vice, and were surrounded by temptation, which all, alas! did not resist, in spite of their royal mistress's example andcourage. It was an age of meaningless gallantry and real brutality; thehigh-flown compliment and pretended adoration covered cynical intentionand unabashed effrontery. Caroline herself preserved an untainted name, and her influence must have been a rock of salvation to the giddy, laughing girls. Leigh Hunt, quoting from the "Suffolk Correspondence, "thus summarizes these maids: "There is Miss Hobart, the sweet temperedand sincere (now become Mrs. Howard, afterwards Lady Suffolk); MissHowe, the giddiest of the giddy (which she lived to lament); MargaretBellenden, who vied in height with her royal mistress; the beautifulMary Bellenden, her sister, who became Duchess of Argyll; Mary Lepel, the lovely, who became Lady Hervey; and Anne Pitt, sister of the futureLord Chatham, and as 'like him as two drops of fire. '"

Caroline's devotion to her insignificant little lord and master, and theeagerness with which she hastened on foot to meet him, running acrossthe Gardens, on his return from the Continent, have been made thesubject of satire. She was generally accompanied by her five daughters, a pathetic little band, cramped in the fetters of royalty, so stringenttoward their sex. Portraits of two of them may be seen in the Palace. 

Caroline did not die at Kensington, though her husband did, after havingsurvived her more than twenty years, and having in the meantimediscovered her inestimable worth. At this time the Gardens were open tothe public on Saturdays by Queen Caroline's orders, and were a favouriteparade, though, as everyone was requested to appear in "full dress, " thenumbers must have been limited. The principal promenade was the BroadWalk, which Caroline herself had caused to be made. We can picture theseghosts of the past, with their gay silks and satins, the silver-buckledshoes with coloured heels, the men in their long waistcoats, heavilyskirted coats, and three-cornered hats--very fine beaux, indeed; and thewomen stiffly encased in the most uncomfortable garments that ever thewit of mortal devised, holding their heads erect, lest the marvellouspyramids, built up with such expenditure of time and money, shouldtopple over, and, in spite of all disadvantages, looking pretty andpiquant. It was a crowd not so far removed from us by time, so that wecan attribute to the men and women who composed it the same feelings andsensibilities as our own. And yet they were very far removed from us intheir surroundings, for many of the things that are to us commonplacewould have been to them miraculous, so that they seem more differentfrom us of a hundred years later than from those who preceded them bymany hundreds of years. It is this mingling of a life we canunderstand, with circumstances so different, that gives the eighteenthcentury its predominant and never-dying charm. 

In 1798 we hear of a man being accidentally shot while the keepers werehunting (presumably shooting) foxes in Kensington Gardens. 

In the Palace itself the state apartments are now open to the publicevery day of the week except Wednesdays. This admittance was granted byQueen Victoria in commemoration of her eightieth year. Previously tothis time the Palace had been allowed to fall into decay, and it neededa large grant from Parliament to put it into repair again. The staterooms, which are on the second floor, are well worth a visit, and thenames of each, such as "Queen Mary's Gallery, " "Queen Caroline'sDrawing-room, " and "King's Privy Chamber, " are above the doors, as atHampton Court. These rooms are nearly all liberally supplied withpictures, many of which were restored from Hampton Court after havingbeen previously taken there. We see here the winsome face of the poorlittle Duke of Gloucester (p. 72), handsome Queen Caroline, sardonicWilliam, and the family group of the children of Frederick, Prince ofWales. The selection has been made with judgment, and every picturespeaks to us of the reigns most closely connected with the Palace. It iswell to note the view eastward from the King's Drawing-room, whichcomes as a surprise. The outlook is over the Round Pond and down a vistaof trees to the Serpentine, and gives a surprising effect of distance. The rooms that will always attract most attention, however, are thosewhich were occupied by Queen Victoria as a child. 

When the Duke and Duchess of Kent came to Kensington Palace seven monthsafter their marriage, the fact that a child of theirs might occupy theEnglish throne was a possibility, but a remote one. George III. Was thenon the throne; the daughter and only child of his eldest son, PrincessCharlotte, had died a year previously, and it was natural that afterthis event the succession should be considered in a new light. The nextson, William, Duke of Clarence, had carried on a lifelong connectionwith Mrs. Jordan, by whom he had ten children, and when the death of hiselder brother's only child made him heir to the throne, it was necessaryfor him to contract a more suitable alliance, so with great reluctancehe married Adelaide, daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg Meiningen, in1818. Frederick, Duke of York, the next in age, had been married formany years, but his union had proved childless. He is the Dukecommemorated in the column in Waterloo Place, and also in thesoldier-boys' school at Chelsea. 

Therefore the birth of a daughter to the Duke of Kent, the fourth son, at Kensington Palace on May 24, 1819, was an event of no smallimportance. The room in which the Princess was born was one on the firstfloor, just below the King's Privy Chamber, and it is marked by a brassplate. This is not among the state apartments shown to the public, butthe little room called the Nursery, in which the young Princess played, and her small bedroom adjoining, lie in the regular circuit made byvisitors through the rooms. 

The Duke died less than a year after his daughter's birth, so there wereno small brothers or sisters to share the Princess's childhood; but herstepsister, Princess Feodore, her mother's child, was much attached toher, and might often be seen walking or driving with her in the Gardens. The Nursery has a secondary association, for the Duke and Duchess ofTeck lived for some time at Kensington Palace, and it was in this roomthat their daughter, the present Princess of Wales, was born. 

The chief objects in the room are the dolls' house and other toys, allof the plainest description, with which Princess Victoria played as achild. There was no extravagance in her bringing up. Her mother was thewisest of women, and made no attempt to force the young intellect totasks beyond its powers, nor did she spoil the child by undueindulgence. Early rising, morning walks, simple dinner, and games, constituted the days that passed rapidly in the seclusion of Kensington. When the young Princess had turned the age of five, her lessons beganunder the superintendence of Fräulein Lehzen, the governess of PrincessFeodore, who was afterwards raised to the peerage as Baroness Lehzen. Though the second of the children of the Duke of Clarence had diedbefore Victoria was three years old, and thus her chance of the thronewas greatly increased, she was not made aware of her prospects untilmuch later. The Princess Sophia, daughter of George III. , lived inChurch Street close by, at York House, and the Duke of Sussex, a youngerson of George III. , lived with his morganatic wife, called the Duchessof Inverness, in a set of apartments in the Palace. The rooms theyoccupied are those now tenanted by the Duke and Duchess of Argyll; thusaunts and an uncle were constantly sharing the simple pleasures of thelittle family circle. 

The singularly plain little bedroom near to the Nursery in the Palace isthat which Princess Victoria occupied during all her happy childhood, and it was here that she was awakened to meet the Archbishop andMinister who brought her the news that her great inheritance had comeupon her. The death of the Duke of York had already cleared the way tothe throne, and as the years went by and the Duke of Clarence had nomore children, it was seen that the little girl who played at Kensingtonmust, if she lived, be Queen of England. When George IV. Died, when shewas eleven years old, her prospects were assured, and since that timeshe had been prepared for her future position. William IV. 's short reignof only seven years seated her on the throne when she had just passedher eighteenth year. The account of her being awakened in the earlymorning by messengers bearing a message of such tremendous import, herhasty rising, and stepping through into the Long Gallery with her hairfalling over her shoulders, and only a shawl thrown around her, is wellknown to everyone. 

The room in which her first Council took place is below the Cube Room. No wonder that Queen Victoria had always a tender memory of KensingtonPalace. 

Her favourite daughter, Princess Beatrice of Battenberg, occupies asuite of rooms at the Palace, besides Princess Louise, Duchess ofArgyll; and there are several other occupants--widows, retired army men, and those who have some claim on the private generosity of theCrown--who live here in sets of apartments, in the same way as otherslive at Hampton Court. 

The somewhat untidy forcing-beds which now stand in the immediateproximity to the Palace, and which supply the royal parks, are shortlyto be cleared away--a decided improvement. 

Queen Victoria's connection with Kensington did not cease at heraccession. At Prince Albert's suggestion a great Exhibition was held in1851, and the huge palace of glass and iron, which was to house it, sprang up in the Gardens at the spot where the Albert Memorial nowstands. Foreigners from all parts of the world visited the Exhibition, and the buildings were crowded. Very different was that crowd from thatwhich had promenaded in the Gardens in the reigns of the Georges. Womenwore coalscuttle bonnets and three-cornered shawls, with the pointshanging down in the centre of their backs, and crinolines that gave themthe appearance of inverted tops. Their beauty must have been very potentto shine through such a disguise! The profits of the Exhibition amountedto £150, 000, which was invested in land in South Kensington. The CrystalPalace exactly suited the taste of the age, and when it had fulfilledthe function for which it was primarily intended, the difficulty was toknow what to do with it; it was not possible to leave it in the Gardens, so it was finally transported to Sydenham, where it still annuallydelights thousands. 

The Albert Memorial took twenty years to complete, and cost more than£130, 000. The four groups representing the continents of the world arefine both in execution and idea, also the bas-reliefs, in which everyfigure depicts some real person, and the smaller groups of Commerce, Manufactures, Agriculture, and Engineering. As much, unfortunately, cannot be said for the tawdry statue in its canopy. 

It has been necessary to linger long over the Gardens and the Palace, but we must now turn northward up Church Street to complete ourperambulation of the district. In Church Street is the Carmelite Church, designed by Pugin, and though very simple in style, not pleasing. It wasbuilt in 1865. The organ is an especially fine one, and the singing isfamous. There is a relic of St. Simon Stock beneath the altar, which isvery highly prized. The monastery extends along the side of Duke's Laneat the back of the church. It is rather an ornamental building, withstone pinnacles and carved stonework over the doorway. It opens upon thecorner where Duke's Lane meets Pitt Street, and close by stoodBullingham House, where Sir Isaac Newton lived. It has now disappeared, and red-brick mansions have risen upon the site. 

Mr. Loftie, writing in 1888, says: "When we enter the garden from PittStreet we see there are two distinct houses. One of them to the northappears slightly the older of the two, and has an eastward wing, slightly projecting from which a passage opened on Church Street. Theadjoining, or southern, house has greater architectural pretensions, andwithin is of more solid construction. Both have been much pulled aboutand altered at various times, and are now thrown together by passagesthrough the walls. A chamber is traditionally pointed out as that inwhich Sir Isaac Newton died. "

Sir Isaac at the time he came to Kensington was at the height of hisfame and reputation, and held the office of Master at the Mint, afterhaving been previously Deputy-Master. He had come to London fromCambridge, and settled in Leicester Square (see _The Strand_, sameseries), but finding his health suffer in consequence of the dirt andsmoke, he moved "out of London" to Kensington. He remained here twoyears consecutively, and returned shortly before his death. 

He may have been attracted to Kensington by its vicinity to the Palace. Queen Caroline, even as Princess of Wales, had always shown aninclination for the society of learned men, and in particular had showedfavour to Sir Isaac. His portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller hangs in one ofthe state apartments at the Palace. 

Bullingham House was probably called after John Bullingham, Bishop ofGloucester and Bristol, who died at Kensington in 1598. Later, Bullingham House was known at one time as Orbell's buildings, forStephen Pitt, after whom the street is named, had married the daughterof Orbell. The house was subsequently used as a boarding-school. 

On the eastern side of Church Street are the barracks and one or twolarge houses. In Maitland House lived James Mill, author of the "Historyof India, " and father of the better known J. S. Mill. There is a tabletto his memory on one of the pillars in the church. York House was, ashas been said, the home of Princess Sophia, who died here in 1848. Thishouse is now to be demolished. 

Church Street sweeps to the west a little further on, and at the cornerstands a Roman Catholic orphanage, where fifty or sixty girls areprovided for. There is a chapel within the walls, and night-schools areheld, which are attended by children from outside. The continuation ofthe road northward, which becomes Brunswick Gardens, was made in 1877, and as the old vicarage stood right in the way it had to be pulled down. Bowack says that the vicarage was "valued yearly in the Queen's [QueenAnne's] Book at £18 18s. 4d. , but is supposed to be worth near £400 perannum. " In Vicarage Gate northward is a small church (St. Paul's) servedby the clergy of St. Mary Abbots. The origin of the name Mall in thispart of Kensington is not definitely ascertained. It of course refers tothe game so popular in the reign of the Stuarts, and there may have beena ground here, but there is no reference to it in contemporary records. In the Mall there is New Jerusalem Church, with an imposing portico. Itwas formerly a Baptist Church, and was bought by the Swedenborgians in1872. A bright red-brick church of the Unitarians is a little furtheron. Behind the Mall is Kensington Palace Gardens--really a slice of theGardens--a wide road with immense houses, correctly designated mansions, standing back in their own grounds. This road is only open to ordinarytraffic on sufferance, and is liable to be closed at any time. 

The part of Kensington lying to the west of Church Street and extendingto Notting Hill Gate was that formerly known as the Gravel Pits, andconsidered particularly healthy on account of its dry soil and bracingair. Bowack says that here there are "several handsome new-built houses, and of late years has been discovered a chalybeate spring. " Swift hadlodgings at the Gravel Pits between 1712 and 1713, and Anne Pitt, sisterof Lord Chatham, one of the bright bevy of Queen Caroline's maids ofhonour, is reported to have died at her house at the Gravel Pits in1780. 

The most celebrated house here was Campden House, completely rebuiltfifty years ago, and entirely demolished within the last two years. OldCampden House was called after Sir Baptist Hicks, created ViscountCampden. It is said that he won the land on which it stands from SirWalter Cope at a game, and thereupon built the house. This is thegenerally accepted version of the affair, but it is probable that therewas some sort of a house standing here already. Bowack says: "Twohouses, called Holland and Campden Houses, were built . .. By Mr. Cope. .. Erected before the death of Queen Elizabeth. " And, again (quotingfrom the Rev. C. Seward), "The second seat called Campden House waspurchased or won at some sort of game of Sir Walter Cope by Sir BaptistHicks. " He adds that it was a "very noble Pile and finished with all theart the Architects of that time were capable of. " The mere fact of sucha prize being won at a game of chance was likely enough in the days whengaming ran high. Lysons, on the other hand, distinctly says that thehouse "was built about 1612 by Sir Baptist Hicks, whose arms with thatdate and those of his sons-in-law, Edward, Lord Noel, and Sir CharlesMorrison, are in a large bay-window in the front. " It is most probablethat Sir Baptist, on taking over the estate and the house then existing, so restored it as to amount to an almost complete rebuilding. He wascreated Viscount Campden in 1628, with remainder to Lord Noel, whosucceeded him. Lord Noel's son, Baptist, the third Viscount, hadRoyalist tendencies, for which he was mulcted in the sum of £9, 000during the Rebellion. He married for his fourth wife Elizabeth, daughterof the Earl of Lindsey, and the Earl himself died at Campden House. Thetitle went to Viscount Campden's eldest son Edward, who was created Earlof Gainsborough, and in default of male issue it afterwards reverted tohis younger brother. The house itself had been settled on another son, Henry, who died before his father, leaving a daughter, who marriedRichard Boyle, third Earl of Burlington. Previous to this Queen (thenPrincess) Anne had taken the house for five years on account of her onlysurviving child, William Henry, Duke of Gloucester. There are fewstories in history more pathetic than that of this poor little Prince, the only one of Anne's seventeen children who survived infancy. With hisunnaturally large head and rickety legs, he would in these days havebeen kept from all intellectual effort, and been obliged to lie down thegreater part of his time. But in that age drastic treatment was infavour, and the already precocious child was crammed with knowledge, while his sickly little frame was compelled to undergo rigorousdiscipline. He was a boy of no small degree of character, and withmartial tastes touching in one so feeble. He died at the age of elevenof small-pox, not at Kensington, and perhaps it was as well for himthat, with such inordinate sensibility and such a constitution, he didnot live to inherit his mother's throne. His servant Lewis, who wasdevotedly attached to him, wrote a little biography of him, which is oneof the curiosities of literature. 

In 1704 the Dowager-Countess of Burlington came here with her sonRichard, then only a boy, afterwards famous as an architect and artlover. In 1719 the house was sold, and came into possession of theLechmere family. It did not remain with them long, but was purchased byStephen Pitt, who let it as a school. In 1862 it was partially destroyedby fire. It was then bought by the Metropolitan Railway Company, whorebuilt it, and let it to tenants. Later on a charmingly-built row ofhouses and mansions rose up on its grounds to face Sheffield Terrace. The appearance of the later house was very different from that of theold one, and the arms mentioned by Lysons as being over a front windowhad quite disappeared. 

Little Campden House, on the western side, was built for the suite ofthe Princess Anne, and Stephen Pitt occupied this himself when he letCampden House. It was latterly divided into two houses; one was calledLancaster Lodge, and the other, after being renovated and redecorated, was taken by Vicat Cole, R. A. , until his death. 

Gloucester Walk, on the south side, is, of course, called after the poorlittle Duke. Sheffield Gardens and Terrace, as well as Berkeley Gardens, stand on the site of old Sheffield House. Leigh Hunt says that the housewas owned by Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire, but he adduces no factin support of his assertion; in any case, there are no historicalassociations connected with it. 

In Observatory Gardens Sir James South, the astronomer, had a house, where there was a large observatory. He mounted an equatorial telescopein the grounds, by the use of which, some years previously, he and SirJ. Herschel had made a catalogue of 380 binary stars. He strenuouslyresisted any opening up of the district by road or rail, lest thevibrations of traffic should interfere with his delicate observationsand render them useless. He died here in 1867. On the south side ofCampden Hill Gardens are a number of houses standing in their owngrounds, and, from the rank of their residents, this part has gained thename of the "Dukeries. " Holly Lodge was named Airlie Lodge for a fewyears when tenanted by the Earl of Airlie, but reverted to the oldername afterwards. Airlie Gardens is a reminiscence of the interlude. Lord Macaulay lived for the three years preceding his death in HollyLodge. 

Holland Lane is a shady footpath running right over the hill fromKensington Road to Notting Hill Gate; it passes the wall of AubreyHouse, once the manor-house of Notting Hill. Though the name is acomparatively new one, the house is old and, to use the favourite wordof older writers, much "secluded"; it is shut in from observation by itshigh wall and by the shady trees surrounding it. The building is verypicturesque and the garden charming, yet many people pass it daily andnever know of its existence. 

St. George's Church, Campden Hill Road, dates from 1864; the interior isspoilt by painted columns and heavy galleries, but the stained glass atthe east end is very richly coloured, and there is a carved stonereredos. The tower is high, but it is dwarfed by the tower of the GrandJunction Waterworks near at hand. Across Campden Hill Road is thereservoir of the West Middlesex Water Company, which, from itscommanding elevation, supplies a large district by the power ofgravitation. 

Holland Park is a great irregular oblong, extending from Kensington Roadon the south very nearly to Holland Park Road on the north. Its averagelength is little more than a mile, and it varies from five-eighths of amile in its widest part to a quarter of a mile in the narrowest. 

In the summary of the history of Kensington, at the beginning of thebook, it was mentioned that when Sir Walter Cope bought the manor at theend of the sixteenth century, Robert Horseman had the lease of theAbbot's manor-house, and being unwilling to part with it, he made acompromise by which he was to be still permitted to live there. SirWalter Cope had, therefore, no suitable manor-house, so in 1607 he builtHolland House, which at first went by the name of Cope Castle. He diedseven years later, leaving his widow in possession, but on herre-marriage, in another seven years, the house came to Cope's daughterIsabel, who had married Sir Henry Rich. He was created Lord Kensington ayear later, and in 1624 made Earl of Holland. He added considerably tothe house, which was henceforth known by his name. Holland was a youngerson of the Earl of Warwick, and after his execution for having takenarms in the cause of Charles I. , this title descended, through lack ofheirs in the elder branch, to his son, as well as that of Earl ofHolland. 

The house was seized by the Commonwealth, and the ParliamentaryGenerals, Fairfax and Lambert, lived there. Timbs quotes from the_Perfect Diurnal_, July 9 to 16, 1649: "The Lord-General Fairfax isremoved from Queen Street to the late Earl of Holland's house atKensington, where he intends to reside. " The house was restored to itsrightful owners at the Restoration. The widowed Countess seems later tohave let it, for there were several notable tenants, among whom was SirCharles Chardin, the traveller, who went to Persia with the avowedintention of seeking a fortune, which he certainly gained, in additionto unexpected celebrity. He died in 1735, and is buried at Chiswick. Afterwards, William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, was a tenant ofHolland House; the name of Van Dyck has also been mentioned in thisconnection, but there is not sufficient evidence to make it more than atradition. 

Joseph Addison married the widow of the sixth Earl of Holland andWarwick in 1716. He was an old family friend and had known her long, yetthe experiment did not turn out satisfactorily. The Countess wassomething of a termagant, and it is said that to escape from her heoften went to the White Horse inn at the corner of Lord Holland's Laneand there enjoyed "his favourite dish--a fillet of veal--his bottle, andperhaps a friend. " His married life was of very short duration, onlythree years, but his brief residence at Holland House has added to itsassociations more richly than all the names of preceding times. Addisonhad attempted from the first to influence the young Earl, whosestepfather he became, and some of his letters to the youth aresingularly charming, but his care seems to have been ill-requited, andthe famous death-bed scene, in which the man of letters sent for thedissolute young Earl to "see how a Christian can die, " was as much inthe nature of a rebuke as a warning. Addison left only one daughter, whodied unmarried. The last earl died in 1759, leaving no male heir, andthe title became extinct. 

Through an Elizabeth Rich, who had married Francis Edwardes, the estatespassed into the Edwardes family, by whom they were sold to Henry Fox, second son of Sir Stephen Fox, Paymaster-General of the Forces in thereign of Charles II. , through whose exertions it was in great part thatChelsea Hospital was built. Henry Fox followed in his father's steps, becoming Paymaster-General under George II. , and was created BaronHolland in 1763. His second son was the famous statesman Charles JamesFox. Thus, after the lapse of about four years only, the old title wasrevived in an entirely different family. Henry Fox's elder brother wascreated first Baron, and then Earl, of Ilchester, which is the title ofthe present owner of Holland House. 

The plan of the house is that of a capital letter E with the centrestroke extremely small, and was designed by Thorpe, but added to byInigo Jones and others. Sir Walter Cope's building in 1607 included thecentre block and two porches, and the first Earl of Holland, between theyears 1725 and 1735, added the two wings and the arcades. It is in agood style of Elizabethan domestic architecture, and within is full ofnooks and corners and unexpected galleries, betraying that variety whichcan only come from growth, and is never the result of a set plan. Therooms are magnificent, and are exceptionally rich in their fittings andcollections--collections by various owners which have made the wholehouse a museum. On the ground floor are the Breakfast, China, Map, Journal, and Print rooms--the last three known as the WestRooms--Allen's Room, and the White Parlour. On the first floor the mostimportant rooms are the Gilt, Miniature, and the Yellow Drawing-room, the Sir Joshua Blue-room and Dining-room, and Lady Holland's apartments. 

In the entrance-hall are busts of the Duke of Cumberland, by Rysbrach;Francis, Duke of Bedford, and Charles James Fox, by Nollekens; the RightHon. J. Hookham Frere, by Chantrey, and others. The staircase has afrescoed ceiling, by G. F. Watts, R. A. , who has done much for thedecoration of the house, and who lives in Melbury Road hard by. Thereis on the staircase a massive oaken screen with pillars, matching thecarved balustrade. The Breakfast-room, facing south, is a charming room;it was formerly the hall when the main entrance was on this side of thehouse. The walls are hung with velvet brocade and rich silk, andpanelled with four _arazzi_, enclosed in strips of gold embroidery. Thetapestries are Gobelins, by Coypel, director of the Gobelinestablishment. The China-room contains some splendid services, chieflyof Sèvres and Dresden. The rooms called the West Rooms contain manytreasures: a collection of prints after Italian masters, and some of theDutch and French schools. From these is reached the Swannery, a largeroom on the west side of the house, built by the present owner, andfinished in 1891; here there is an ornamental painting of swans byBouverie Goddard, which was exhibited in the Royal Academy. Allen's Roomowes its name to John Allen, an intimate friend of the third LordHolland, who accompanied him abroad, and was his confidant until hisdeath, after which Allen continued to live at Holland House. Thedescription of the White Parlour in any detail would be impossible, soelaborate is the decoration of its mouldings and panels. In this roomthere are two chests, the property of Sir Stephen Fox, thePaymaster-General, and very interesting specimens of their time theyare. In the Gilt Room upstairs are curved recesses prepared by the firstEarl of Holland, who proposed entertaining Prince Charles at a ball whenhe married Princess Henrietta Maria; however, in spite of the elaboratepreparations, the ball never took place. The medallions of the King andQueen, Sully, and Henri IV. Are still on the lower part of thechimney-breasts. The upper parts of the chimneypieces and the ceilingwere done by Francis Cleyn, who decorated much at Versailles; and whenthe chimneypieces came down, in 1850, G. F. Watts, R. A. , painted thegilt figures on the upper portions. The gilding and decoration of allthe rest of the room have never been touched since Charles I. 's day. Theceiling is, however, modern, copied from one at Melbury of date 1602. The Sir Joshua Room would probably be more attractive to many peoplethan any other in the house; there is here the "Vision of St. Anthony, "by Murillo, also a Velasquez, two Teniers, and many portraits by SirJoshua, including those of Charles James Fox, the first Lord Holland, Mary, Lady Holland, and Lady Sarah Lennox, whose "Life and Letters" havebeen edited by Lady Ilchester and her son, Lord Stavordale. In theAddison or dining room there are several other portraits and more china, including the famous Chelsea service presented by the proprietors of theChelsea Company to Dr. Johnson in recognition of his laborious andunsuccessful efforts to learn their trade. From here we can pass to thelibrary, a long gallery running the whole width of the house, as alibrary should do. Besides ordinary books, the library containspriceless treasures, such as a collection of Elzevirs, a collection ofSpanish literature, a MS. Book with the handwritings of Savonarola, Petrarch, several autograph letters of Philip II. , III. , and IV. OfSpain, and autographs of D. Hume, Byron, Sir D. Wilkie, Moore, Rogers, Campbell, Sir W. Scott, Southey, and foreigners of note, as Madame deStael, Cuvier, Buffon, Voltaire, etc. 

From the Yellow Drawing-room, in which, among other things, is a curiouspicture representing one eye of Lady Holland, by Watts, the MiniatureRoom is reached: miniature in two senses, for, besides containing anassortment of miniatures, it is very small. The miniatures are mostlyCosways, Plymers, and Coopers. On January 10, 1871, Holland House caughtfire, and the chief rooms that suffered were those known as LadyHolland's Rooms, on this side. Luckily the fire did not do much damage, and all trace of it was speedily effaced. 

Holland House is not shown to the public, and few persons have any ideaof the treasures it contains; to live in such a house must be a liberaleducation. It can hardly be seen at all in summer on account of theextent of the grounds of 55 acres stretching around it, and making it acountry place in the midst of a town. It has the largest private groundsof any house in London, not excepting Buckingham Palace, yet from theroad all that can be seen is a rather dreary field. Oddly enough, thereis a considerable hill on the west, though no trace of this hill is tobe found in Kensington Road; it is, however, the same fall that affectsHolland Park Avenue on the north. Besides the fine elms bordering theavenue, there are a variety of other trees in the grounds, among themmany cedars, still flourishing, though beginning to show the effects ofthe London smoke. Excepting for the Dutch Garden, with its prim, thoughfantastically-designed flower-beds, there is little attempt at formalgardening. Here stands the seat used by the poet Rogers, on which is theinscription:

 "Here Rogers sat, and here for ever dwell With me those 'Pleasures' which he sang so well. "

An ivy-covered arcade leads to the conservatory, and various buildingsform a picturesque group near; these belonged at one time to thestables, now removed. Not far off is the bamboo garden, in a flourishingcondition, with large clumps of feathery bamboos bravely enduring ourrough climate; in another part is a succession of terraces, throughwhich a stream runs downhill through a number of basins linked by acircling channel; the basins are covered with water-lilies, and thewhole is laid out in imitation of a Japanese garden. Alpine plants arespecially tended in another part, and masses of rhododendrons growfreely in the grounds, giving warmth and shelter. There is nothing stiffor conventional to be seen--Nature tended and cared for, but Natureherself is allowed to reign, and the result is very satisfactory. Thereare many fascinating peeps between the rows of shrubs or trees of theworn red brick of the house, seen all the better for its contrast withthe deep evergreen of the cedars. 

In a field close by Cromwell is said to have discussed his plans withIreton, whose deafness necessitated loud tones, so that the open air, where possible listeners could be seen at a distance, was preferable tothe four walls of a room. In the fields behind Holland House was foughta notable duel in 1804 between Lord Camelford, a notorious duellist, andCaptain Best, R. N. Lord Camelford fired first, but missed his opponent. He afterwards fell at Best's shot, and was carried into Little HollandHouse, where he died in three days. The exact spot where the duel wasfought is now enclosed in the grounds of Oak Lodge, and is marked by astone altar. 

To the west of Holland House is Melbury Road, a neighbourhood famous forits artistic residents. The houses, mostly of glowing red brick, arebuilt in different styles, as if each had been designed to fill its ownplace without reference to its neighbours. A curious Gothic house, witha steeple on the north side, was designed by William Burges, R. A. , forhimself. In the house next to it, now the residence of Luke Fildes, R. A. , King Cetewayo stayed while he was in England. Sir FrederickLeighton, P. R. A. , lived at No. 2, which has been presented to thenation. Little Holland House, otherwise No. 6, Melbury Road, is occupiedby G. F. Watts, R. A. The name was adopted from the original LittleHolland House, which stood at the end of Nightingale Lane, now the backentrance to Holland Park; this house was pulled down when Melbury Roadwas made. 

Melbury Road turns into Addison Road just below the church of St. Barnabas, which is of white brick, and has a parapet and four cornertowers, which give it a distinctive appearance. The interior isdisappointing, but there is a fine eastern window, divided by a transom, and having seven compartments above and below. Quite at the northern endof Holland Road is the modern church of St. John the Baptist; theinterior is all of white stone, and the effect is very good. There is arose window at the west end, and a carved stone chancel screen of greatheight. The church ends in an apse, and has a massive stone reredos setwith coloured panels representing the saints. All this part ofKensington which lies to the west of Addison Road is very modern. In the1837 map, St. Barnabas Church, built seven years earlier, and a line ofhouses on the east side of the northern part of Holland Road, are allthat are marked. Near the continuation of Kensington Road there are afew houses, and there is a farm close to the Park. 

Curzon House is marked near the Kensington Road, and a large nurserygarden is at the back of it; and further north, where Addison Roadbends, there are Addison Cottage and Bindon Villa, and this is all. Addison's connection with Holland House of course accounts for the freeuse of his name in this quarter. 

Going northward, we come to the district of Shepherd's Bush and theUxbridge Road, known in the section of its course between Notting HillHigh Street and Uxbridge Road Station as Holland Park Avenue--a fact ofwhich probably none but the residents are aware. Above it, Norland Roadforms the western boundary of the borough. Royal Crescent is marked onthe maps of the beginning of the nineteenth century as Norland Crescent;Addison Road was then Norland Road. Further westward is the square ofthe same name, on the site of old Norland House. 

[Illustration: KENSINGTON DISTRICT--SOUTH HALF. 

Published by A. & C. Black, London. ]

Addison Road leads up to St. James's Church, designed by Vulliamy, andconsecrated in 1845; it has a square tower of considerable height, witha pinnacle at each corner. The chancel was added later. St. Gabriel's, in Clifton Road, is an offshoot of this church, but, curiously enough, it does not come within the parochial boundaries. It was built in 1883. Following the road on the north side of the square, we pass the WestLondon Tabernacle, a brick building in the late Romanesque style. Closeby are St. James's Schools. 

St. John's Place leads us past Pottery Lane, a reminiscence of thepotteries once here, round which sprang up a notoriously bad district. The brickfields were hard by, and the long, low, red-tiled roofs of thebrick-sheds face a space of open ground known as Avondale Park. The Parkstands on a piece of ground formerly known as Adam's Brickfield. It wassuggested at one time that this should be used for the site of arefuse-destroyer, but it was bought instead by the Vestry for the sum of£9, 200 to be turned into a public park. The late Metropolitan Board ofWorks provided £4, 250 towards the sum, and the Metropolitan PublicGardens and Open Spaces Association gave £2, 000. The laying-out of theground, which covers about 4½ acres, cost £8, 000 more, and the Parkwas formally opened June 2, 1892, though it had been informally open tothe public for more than a year before this date. The most has been madeof the ground, which includes two large playgrounds, provided withswings, ropes, seesaws, etc. , for the children of the neighbouringschools, who come here to the number of three or four hundred. Just atthe back of the Park, on the west side, lie St. Clement's Board Schools, and on the east St. John's Church Schools. Returning through PotteryLane, we see facing us at the upper end large brick schools covered withVirginia creeper, adjacent to a small brick Gothic church. This is thechurch of St. Francis, a Roman Catholic Mission Church, in connectionwith St. Mary of the Angels, in Westmoreland Road. It was built aboutthirty-three years ago by Rev. D. Rawes at his own cost, and containssome very beautiful panels on slate by Westlake representing theStations of the Cross, which were the first done on that material inEngland. There is also a painting by the same artist on the pulpit. Thebaptistery, added later, was designed by Bentley, the late architect ofthe new cathedral at Westminster. The schools adjacent are for girls andinfants, and the boys are accommodated at the buildings in theSilchester Road. 

Hippodrome Place leads past the north side of the school to PortlandRoad. A great part of the district lying to the east of this, andincluding Clarendon Road, Portobello Road, and Ladbroke Grove, wasformerly covered by an immense racecourse called the Hippodrome. Itstretched northward in a great ellipse, and then trended north-west andended up roughly where is now the Triangle, at the west end of St. Quintin Avenue. It was used for both flat racing and steeplechasing, andthe steeplechase course was more than two miles in length. The place wasvery popular, being within easy reach of London, but the ground wasnever very good for the purpose, as it was marshy. The Hippodrome wasopened in 1837, and Count d'Orsay was one of the stewards; the last racetook place in 1841. St. John's Church stands on a hill, once a grassymound within the Hippodrome enclosure, which is marked in a contemporarymap "Hill for pedestrians, " apparently a sort of natural grand-stand. The Church was consecrated in 1845, four years after the closing of theracecourse. The entrance to the racecourse was in what is now Park Road, just above Ladbroke Road, near the Norbury Chapel. The district, therefore, all dates from the latter half of the nineteenth century; itis well laid out, with broad streets and large houses, though north ofLansdowne Road the quarter is not so good. It is very difficult to findanything interesting to record of this part of Kensington; aperambulation there must be, or the borough would be left incompletelydescribed, but such a perambulation can only resolve itself into acatalogue of churches and schools. Ladbroke Grove goes down the steephill above noticed. St Mark's Church gives its name to the road in whichit stands: it was consecrated in 1863. 

Northward, at the corner of Lancaster Road, stands a fine Wesleyanchapel in the Early English style, with quatrefoil and cinquefoil stonetracery in the windows. It is built of white brick and has large schoolsbelow. The foundation stone was laid in 1879 and the church opened May20, 1880. Very nearly opposite to it are the large brick buildings ofthe Kensington Public Baths. Between the Lancaster and Walmer Roads wecome again to the very poor district extending from the Potteries. InFowell Street there is a square, yellow brick Primitive Methodistchapel, with a stone stating that it was founded "Aug. 2nd, 1864, by J. Fowell, who gave the land. " Fowell Street leads into Bomore Road, at thecorner of which stands Notting Dale Chapel; this is a plain brickbuilding founded in 1851. In the other direction, westward, Bomore Roadtakes us past the top of St. Clement's Road, and turning into this wepass St. Clement's Church, opened in 1867. It is a plain yellow and redbrick building, but the walls of the chancel are decorated, and there isa pretty east window. The parish contains 12, 000 people, and is one ofthe poorest in London, not even excepting the worst of the East End. 

Mary Place is at right angles to St. Clement's Road, and in this thereis a supplementary workhouse. It contains the relief office, largecasual wards, the able-bodied workhouse, and a Poor Law Dispensary. Opposite are large Board Schools; the Roman Catholic Schools in theSilchester Road have been already mentioned in connection with theCatholic Schools of St. Francis. On the northern side of Silchester Roadis the Notting Barn Tavern, which stands on the site of the old NottingBarns Farm. Beyond Walmer Road, northwards, are a few rows of houses, and a Board School, and a great stretch of common reaching to St. Quintin Avenue. The backs of the houses in Latimer Road are seen acrossthe common on the west; these houses, however, lie without theKensington boundary line. A road called St. Helen's Gardens bounds thecommon on the east, and leads to St. Helen's Church, which is a severelyplain red-brick building. North of St. Quintin Avenue is another greatstretch of common, and at its south-eastern corner lies St. Charles'sSquare. The square was named after St. Charles's College, a RomanCatholic establishment, which forms an imposing mass at the east side. The College was founded by Cardinal Manning. It was humble in itsorigin, beginning in 1863 with a few young boys in a room near thechurch of St. Mary of the Angels, Bayswater. Other houses were taken asnecessity arose, and in 1872 the numbers were so great that the questionof building a suitable college arose. There was at first a difficultyabout obtaining the freehold of the site desired--that on which thepresent building stands--but this was overcome eventually, and the wholecost of the College came to about £40, 000. It stands in a square of 11acres, and was finished in 1874. The building is of red brick with stonefacings, and is ornamented by figures of saints; it is about 300 feet inextent. In the centre is a tower, rising to a height of 140 feet, onwhich are the Papal Tiara and Crossed Keys. A corridor runs nearly thelength of the building inside. On the laying-out of the recreationgrounds and gardens between one and two thousand pounds has been spent. 

The object of the College is to bring education within the reach of allscholars at a moderate cost. The students do not necessarily becomepriests, but enter various professions, and in 1890 it was reckonedthat no less than 1, 200 youths had passed through the curriculum. Amuseum and library are among the rooms. And standing as it does on theoutskirts of London, with much open ground in the vicinity, the buildingis very favourably situated for its purpose. 

Over the garden walls of the College we see the high buildings of theMarylebone Infirmary. Further northward are the western gasworks, andjust beyond them the well-known cemetery of Kensal Green. The principalentrance is a great stone gateway of the Doric order with iron gates inthe Harrow Road. Avenues of young lime-trees, chestnuts, and tallLombardy poplars line the walks, between which a straight centralroadway leads to the church at the west end. The multitude of tombstoneswithin the cemetery is bewildering. On either side of the way areimmense sepulchres of granite, marble, or stone. Some in the Gothicstyle resemble small chapels; others, again, are in an Egyptian style. The church and the long colonnades of the catacombs are built in thesame way as the gateway. The cemetery contains 77 acres, and the firstburial took place in 1833. The grave of the founder, with a stoneinscribed "George Frederick Carden, died 1874, aged 76, " lies not farfrom the chapel, with a plain slab at the head. 

The roll of those buried here includes many illustrious names: The Dukeof Sussex, died 1843, and the Princess Sophia, died 1848, both of whomwe have already met in another part of Kensington; Anne Scott and SophiaLockhart, daughters of Sir W. Scott; his son-in-law, J. G. Lockhart;Allan Cunningham, died 1842; Rev. Sydney Smith, died 1845; W. MackworthPraed, 1839; Tom Hood, died 1845; I. K. Brunel, died 1859; CharlesKemble, died, 1854; Leigh Hunt, died 1859; W. M. Thackeray, died 1863;J. Leech, died 1863; Sir Charles Eastlake, P. R. A. , died 1865; CharlesBabbage, P. R. S. , died 1871; Anthony Trollope, died 1882; besides manyothers distinguished in literature, art, or science. 

The name Kensal possibly owes its derivation to the same source asKensington, but there is no certainty in the matter. 

The Grand Junction Canal runs along the south side of the cemetery, andthe borough boundary cuts across it at Ladbroke Grove Road. There is aRoman Catholic church in Bosworth Road; it is of red brick, with pointedwindows, and is called Our Lady of the Holy Souls. The mission wasestablished here in 1872, and the present building opened in 1882. Inthe interior the arches and pillars are of white stone, and thealtar-piece is a large coloured panel painting. In Bosworth Road, further southward, there is a very small Baptist chapel with plasterfront. The church of St. Andrew and St. Philip stands to the east inGolborne Gardens. It was built in 1869, and is of red brick with stonefacings in the French Gothic style. In the upper or northern part ofMornington Road, on the eastern side, is a large Board School, wherespecial instruction is given to blind, or partially blind, children. Onthe opposite side, slightly further up, is Christ Church, a model ofsimplicity, and within it is light, lofty, and well proportioned. It hasa narthex at the east end. The font is a solid block of red-veinedDevonshire marble. The church was founded in August, 1880, andconsecrated May 14, 1881. 

In Golborne Road we pass a plaster-fronted brick chapel(Congregational). The Portobello Road is of immense length, runningnorth-west and south-east. This quarter is not so aristocratic as itshigh-sounding name would lead us to infer. Faulkner gives us the originof the name. "Near the turnpike is Porto Bello Lane, leading to the farmso called, which was the property of Mr. A. Adams, the builder, at thetime that Porto Bello was captured. " He adds: "This is one of the mostrural and pleasant walks in the summer in the vicinity of London. " Somuch could not be said now, for in the lower part the road is verynarrow and is lined with inferior shops. The Porto Bello Farm seems tohave stood almost exactly on the site of the present St. Joseph's Homefor the Aged Poor, which is just below the entrance of the GolborneRoad, and is on the east side. This is a large brick building, in whichmany aged men and women are supported by the contributions collecteddaily by the Sisters. It is a Roman Catholic institution, and wasfounded by a Frenchman in 1861, but the benefits of the charity are notconfined to Roman Catholics. It was humble in its origin, beginning in aprivate house in Sutherland Avenue. The present building was erected forthe purpose when the charity increased in size. There is a chapel inconnection with the building. Exactly opposite is the FranciscanConvent, with its appendage, the Elizabeth Home for Girls. The building, of brick, looks older than that of St. Joseph's. Behind the convent runsSt. Lawrence's Road, between which and Ladbroke Grove Road stands thechurch of St. Michael and All Angels, founded in 1870, and consecratedthe following year. It is of brick, in the Romanesque style, forming acontrast to the numerous so-called Gothic churches in the parish. 

If we continue southwards, either by Portobello or Ladbroke Grove Roads, we pass under the Hammersmith and City Junction Railway, carriedoverhead by bridges. Ladbroke Hall stands south of the bridge inLadbroke Grove, and a large Board School in Portobello Road. A littlefurther south in Ladbroke Grove is a branch of the Kensington PublicLibrary, opened temporarily in the High Street, January, 1888, andestablished here October, 1891. 

In Cornwall Road is the entrance to the Convent of the Poor Clares, which is a large brick building, covering, with its grounds, 1¾acres, and which was built for the convent purposes in 1859, having beenfounded by Cardinal (then Father) Manning. The nuns, numbering aboutthirty, are vowed to the contemplative life of prayer and manual labourin the service of God, but do no teaching or nursing, and there are nolay sisters. The next opening on the south side of Cornwall Road isKensington Park Road, in which stands a Presbyterian church, built oflight brick. On the north side of Cornwall Road is Basing Road, in whichis a Congregational chapel of white brick. In Talbot Road we see thehigh lantern tower of All Saints' Church, founded in 1852, andconsecrated 1861. Its tower is supposed to resemble the belfry ofBruges, and is 100 feet in height. The mission church of St. Columb's atNotting Hill Station is in connection with All Saints', and ministeredto by the same clergy. 

A few yards further on in Talbot Road is the entrance to the TalbotTabernacle. The building stands back from the road, behind iron gates, and is faced with blazing red brick, while over the doorways is aprofusion of ornamental moulding. 

The streets lying to the south of Talbot Road require no particularcomment. At the corner of Archer Street, Kensington Park Road takes asudden south-easterly turn, and below the turn is St. Peter's Church, very different from the other churches in the district, being in theItalian style. It was consecrated January 7, 1876. The decoration of theinterior is very elaborate, some of the pillars having gilded capitals. In Denbigh Road there is a stuccoed Wesleyan Methodist chapel, dated1856. Northward runs Norfolk Terrace, lately merged in Westbourne Grove. In it, at the corner of Ledbury Road, stands the Westbourne GroveBaptist Chapel, a fine gray stone building with two southern steepletowers. 

The southern end of Pembridge Road is joined at an angle by KensingtonPark Road, and at the corner stands Horbury Congregational Chapel, founded in August, 1848. It is built of gray stone and stands in a goodposition. Nos. 1 to 15, Clanricarde Gardens, and six shops in NottingHill High Street, belong to the poor of Kensington; they are built onland given to the parish by an anonymous benefactor in 1652. This isknown as Cromwell's gift, but there is not the smallest evidence toshow that Cromwell was the donor. Lysons mentions the tradition, butconfesses there is no evidence to support it. 

And now we have traversed Kensington from end to end, and in so doinghave come across many notable men and many fair women. Kensington isroyal among suburbs on account of its Palace, and its annals includehistory as well as the anecdotes of great men. Yet though oldassociations live in name and tradition, none of the buildings, as atpresent standing, date back further than the older parts of HollandHouse and Kensington Palace, and the greater part are much more modern. The zenith of Kensington's popularity was not reached until after theHanoverian Sovereigns sat on the English throne, and this is a merenothing in time compared with that enjoyed by some parts of outerLondon--for instance, Chelsea. That there should be so much to say aboutthe district, in spite of its comparative youth, shows how richly it hasbeen peopled. Statesmen, men of letters, royalties, court beauties, anddivines we have met. One of the greatest of our novelists and ourgreatest philosopher were closely connected with Kensington, and thetour made around the borough may fitly rival in interest any but thosetaken in the very heart of London. 

INDEX

Abbot's Manor, 7, 10, 46

"Adam and Eve, " 41

Addison, Joseph, 35, 50, 77

Addison Road, 85

Albert Gate, 12

Albert Hall, 25

Albert Memorial, 66

Alexandra House, 28

Allen Street, 40

Anne, Queen, 56

Aubrey House, 75

Bangor, Bishop of, 49

Barker, Christopher, 9

Barracks, The, 14

Blessington, Lady, 26

Boltons, The, 33

Boyle, Richard, 35

Bray, Sir Reginald, 9

Brompton, 4

Brompton Cemetery, 35

Brompton Grove, 16

Brompton Heath, 33

Brompton Park, 19

Brompton Road, 15

Brontë, Charlotte, 52

Brooks, Shirley, 15

Browning, Robert, 54

Brunswick Gardens, 69

Bullingham House, 67, 68

Burghley, Lord, 10

Burleigh, John, _see also_ Burghley, 34

Burlington, Earl of, 73

Burne-Jones, Sir E. , 50

Camelford, Lord, 84

Campden House, 3, 71

Campden, Viscount, 72

Canning, George, 32

Caroline, Queen, 32

Caroline the Illustrious, 57, 58

Chardin, Sir Charles, 77

Chester, Bishop of, 35

Church Street, 67, 69

Churches: All Saints', Ennismore Gardens, 18 All Saints', Notting Hill, 97 Carmelite, 67 Christ, 95 Holy Trinity, Brompton, 16 Holy Trinity, Kensington Gore, 28 Horbury Chapel, 98 New Jerusalem, 70 Our Lady of Seven Dolours, 34 Our Lady of the Holy Souls, 94 Pro-Cathedral, The, 40 St. Andrew and St. Philip, 95 St. Augustine's, 28 St. Barnabas, 85 St. Clement's, 91 St. Cuthbert's, 38 St. Gabriel's, 87 St. George's, 75 St. Helen's, 91 St. James's, 87 St. John's, 89 St. John the Baptist, 85 St. Jude's, 38 St. Mark's, 90 St. Mary Abbots, 43 St. Mary's, 33 St. Mathias', 38 St. Michael and All Angels', 96 St. Paul's, Onslow Square, 29 St. Paul's, Vicarage Gate, 69 St. Peter's, 98 St. Stephen's, Earl's Court, 38 St. Stephen's, Gloucester Road, 38 Talbot Tabernacle, 97

Clarence, Duke of, 62

Clarkson, 26

Cobbett, William, 43

Colby, Sir T. , 53

Cole, Vicat, 74

Coleherne Court, 37

Coleridge, 39

Colman, George, 15

Consumption Hospital, 30

Convent of the Assumption, 49

Convent of the Poor Clares, 97

Cope, Sir Walter, 8, 9, 10, 71, 76

Cornwallis, Sir W. , 10

Crabbe, 32

Cranley Gardens, 31

Croker, Crofton, 15

Cromwell, 84, 99

Cromwell Gardens, 21

Cromwell, Henry, 20, 45

Cromwell House, 19, 20

Cromwell, Oliver, 20

De Vere Gardens, 54

Dickens, 16

Disraeli, 26

Dodington, William, 9

Donaldson Museum, 28

D'Orsay, Count, 26

Downham, Simon, 6, 8

Dukeries, The, 74

Earl's Court, 36

Earl's Court Exhibition, 37

Earl's Court Manor, 10

Edwardes Square, 38

Elliot, Lady, 12

Elphinstone, Dr. , 53

Ely, Bishop of, 49

Ennismore Gardens, 16

Essex, William, 8

Evelyn, 19

Exhibition, Great, 20

Fairfax, General, 76

Finch, Sir Heneage, 55

Florida Tea-Gardens, 32

Flounder's Field, 16

Fowell Street, 90

Fox and Bull, 13

Fox, C. J. , 14, 78

Fox, Henry, 78

Fox, Sir Stephen, 78

Franciscan Convent, 96

Free Library, 42

French Embassy, 12

Gainsborough, Earl of, 72

George I. , 57

Gloucester, Bishop of, 35

Gloucester, Duchess of, 32

Gloucester, Duke of, 72

Gloucester Lodge, 32

Gloucester Road, 31

Gloucester Walk, 74

Gordon, General, 38

Gore House, 26

Gravel Pits, 4, 70

Great Exhibition, 66

Green, J. R. , 49

Grenvilles, The, 8

Guizot, 29

Hale House, _see_ Cromwell House

Half-way House, 14

Harrington, Earl of, 21

Herrington Road, 28

Hereford House, 38

Hervey, Hon. A. J. , 17

Hicks, Sir Baptist, 71

High Street, Kensington, 42, 48

Hippodrome, The, 89

Holland House, 76-84

Holland Lane, 75

Holland Park, 75

Holly Lodge, 74

Home for Crippled Boys, 41

Hood, Tom, 16

Horseman, Robert, 8

Horticultural Gardens, 24

Horticultural Society, 20

Hudson, Mr. , 13

Hunt, Leigh, 28, 39

Hunter, John, 37

Hyde, Manor of, 12

Ifield Road, 35

Ilchester, Earl of, 78

Imperial Institute, 22

Inchbald, Mrs. , 39, 45, 53

Jerdan, W. , 16

Jerrold, Douglas, 16

Jockey Club, 14

Kensal Green Cemetery, 93

Kensington Court, 53

Kensington Gardens, 3, 54

Kensington Gore, 27

Kensington Grammar School, 49

Kensington House, 53

Kensington Manor, 7, 10

Kensington Palace, 3, 54

Kensington Palace Gardens, 70

Kensington Square, 3, 48

Kent, Duke of, 62

Kent House, 14

Kingston, Duchess of, 16

Kingston House, 16

Knightsbridge, 10, 11

Knightsbridge Green, 13

Knotting Barns, _see_ Notting Barns

Ladbroke Grove, 90

Lambert, General, 76

Lancaster Lodge, 73

Landor, 27

Latimer, Lord, 10

Liston, John, 15

Little Campden House, 73

Little Chelsea, 33, 35

Little Holland House, 85

Locke, 35

London University, 22

Lowther Lodge, 27

Lytton, Bulwer, 26

Macaulay, Lord, 74

Macaulay, Zachary, 26

Maids of Honour, 59

Mall, The, 70

Marochetti, 29

Mary Place, 91

Mary, Queen, 56

Matthews, Charles, 27, 29

Mazarin, Duchess of, 50

Melbury Road, 85

Michael's Grove, 15

Mill, James, 69

Mill, J. S. , 49

Millais, Sir J. E. , 28

Morland, George, 13

Murchison, Sir R. , 35

Napoleon, Prince Louis, 27

Natural History Museum, 21

Newton, Sir Isaac, 4, 42, 67

Neyt, Manor of, 11

Noel, Lord, 72

Notting Barns, 7, 9, 10

Notting Hill, 3

Observatory Gardens, 74

Onslow Square, 29

Oratory, The, 18

Ovington Square, 16

Oxford, Bishop of, 49

Oxford, Earls of, 6

Palace Gate, 54

Pater, Walter, 39

Paulet, Sir William, 10

Pelham Crescent, 29

Penn, William, 77

Phillimore Terrace, 40

Pitt, Stephen, 73

Pitt Street, 69

Portobello Road, 95

Portsmouth, Duchess of, 53

Pottery Lane, 87

Princes Skating Club, 14

Priory Grove, 33

Queen's Gate, 28

Redcliffe Gardens, 35

Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 13

Rich, Sir Henry, 10, 76

Richmond, Countess of, 9

Romilly, Sir S. , 26

Royal College of Music, 28

Royal College of Science, 22

Royal Crescent, 86

Rutland Gate, 14

St. Charles's College, 92

St. Charles's Square, 92

St. George's Union, 34

St. Joseph's Home, 96

Scarsdale House, 41

Schools, Free, 42

Serpentine, The, 58

Shaftesbury, Earl of, 35

Sheffield House, 74

Sheffield Terrace, 74

Sheridan, 41

Shower, Sir Bartholomew, 35

Sophia, Princess, 64

South Kensington Museum, 19, 22

South, Sir James, 74

Stair, Lord, 17

State-rooms, 61

Strathnairn, Statue of, 13

Talleyrand, 49

Tattersall, 14

Technical Institute, City and Guilds, 28

Thackeray, 3, 29, 50

Thistle Grove Lane, 33

Town Hall, The, 42

Uxbridge Road, 86

Vere, Aubrey de, 5

Vestris, Madame, 27

Vicarage Gate, 69

Victoria and Albert Museum, _see_ South Kensington

Victoria, Queen, 62, 63

Victoria Road, 38

Walwyn, William, 7

Ward, Sir E. , 35

Warren, Sir G. , 17

Warwick, Countess of, 77

Warwick, First Earl of, 10

Watts, G. F. , 51, 79

Wellesley, Marquess, 17

West Town, 8, 10

Wilberforce, W. , 25

Wilkes, John, 27

Wilkie, Sir D. , 40

William III. , 55

Winchester, Marquis of, 8

Woolsthorpe House, 42

Wright's Lane, 41

Yates, Frederick, 15

York, Frederick, Duke of, 62

Young Street, 3

THE END

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BILLING AND SONS, LTD. , PRINTERS, GUILDFORD

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[Illustration: KENSINGTON DISTRICT--NORTH HALF. 

Published by A. & C. Black, London. ]