some of the old tradesmen who had served him when he resided there. As he passed along that place a man met him, pulled off his hat, and hoped His Royal Highness was well.
“What’s your name?” inquired the ex-king. He was told it. “I do not recollect it,” said the king. “What were you when I lived here?”
“Please your Royal Highness,” replied the man, “I kept the Crown,” an ale-house close to the entrance of Orleans House.
“Did you?” said Louis Philippe. “Why, my good fellow, you did what I was unable to do.”
In the upper part of Twickenham, towards Isleworth, there was a very ancient mansion, formerly the residence of Dr. Corbet, Bishop of Norwich in 1635. Adjoining is a house in which lived Sir Richard Perrin, one of the Barons of the Court of Exchequer, and close to it another in which the Duke of Montrose lived in 1797.
We now approach the hamlet of Whitton. In a conspicuous situation is Kneller Hall, built by and the residence of the celebrated portrait painter, Sir Godfrey Kneller. It is said that he painted so fine a full-length picture of Lady Kneller, that leaving the door of his studio open, Lady Kneller’s favourite spaniel got access to it, and seeing, as he thought, his beloved mistress, he jumped up at her likeness and injured the picture, which had been taken from the easel and placed against the wall. The staircase in this fine mansion was painted by Leguerre.
In this hamlet resided Sir William Chambers, whose name will be remembered as long as Somerset House exists. His house was built by Archibald, Duke of Argyle, Effie Deans’ duke, who resided here and planted those noble cedars, which are still the admiration of all who see them.
On approaching Twickenham Common, a very pleasing locality, may be seen the house formerly occupied by General Gunning, brother to those celebrated beauties, the Duchesses of Hamilton and Argyle, and Lady Coventry. The Marchioness of Tweeddale resided in it before General Gunning.
Near Twickenham church is a house formerly called York Place, once the residence of the great Lord Chancellor Clarendon. He tells us that when he attended the king (Charles II.) at Hampton Court, he came home every night to his house at Twickenham. This house, from its name, was probably once the residence of James, Duke of York, afterwards James II., as his two daughters, Mary and Anne, afterwards Queens of England, were nursed in it. When he married Lord Clarendon’s daughter, he is supposed to have resigned the house in favour of his father-in-law.
On the north side of Twickenham church is a house which stood on the site of one to which Queen Katherine of Arragon retired after she was divorced from Henry VIII. A part of this house is still remaining.
Robert Boyle, the celebrated philosopher, at one period of his life lived at Twickenham; but the locality has not been ascertained. He was the fifth son of the great Earl of Cork, and died in 1691.
Henry Fielding, the author of “Tom Jones,” &c., also resided at Twickenham. He died at Lisbon in 1754.
John Donne, the poet, was also an inhabitant of that place. He has been immortalised by Izaac Walton. He died in 1631.
Paul Whitehead, the poet, purchased a villa at Twickenham, where he died in 1774.
But we must not omit to mention amongst the celebrated persons who have resided at Twickenham the Lady Augusta Murray, the unhappy wife of the late Duke of Sussex, and the mother of his two accomplished children. That she supposed her marriage with the duke was a legal, although a clandestine one, cannot be doubted. Well might she exclaim:—
Malus clandestinus est amor, damnum est merum.
That learned divine, the Rev. Dr. Waterland, was vicar of Twickenham. He was the author of many works, and died in 1748. He had for his curate during many years the Jeremiah Seed, whose sermons and other works are still well known. He died in 1747.
Another celebrated vicar of Twickenham was the Rev. George Costard. He wrote and published several works on astronomy, and contributed to the Transactions of the Royal Society, of which he was a member.
We must now notice a house which belonged to Walter, Earl of Essex, the great favourite of Queen Elizabeth. He made a present of it to the famous Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, and Lord Chancellor, during whose disgrace it was sold. He resided much here, and entertained Queen Elizabeth in it.
Marble Hill, a delightful villa on the banks of the Thames, was built by the Countess of Suffolk, Philip Earl of Pembroke being her architect, and the gardens were laid out and planted by the hands of no less a personage than Alexander Pope. Although Lady Suffolk was celebrated as the mistress of George II., she was gentle and engaging in her manners, and much beloved by all who knew her. Horace Walpole, who lived on terms of great intimacy with her in her later years, says that “her mental qualifications were by no means shining—her eyes and countenance showed her character, which was grave and mild. Her strict love of truth, and her accurate memory, were always in unison. She was discreet without being reserved, and having no bad qualities, and being constant to her connections, she preserved no common respect to the end of her life, and from the propriety and decency of her behaviour, was always treated as if her virtue had never been questioned.” Her letters to and from her correspondents, which have been published, prove how much she was respected and beloved. Lady Suffolk died at Marble Hill in 1767, in her 80th year. General Peel, the late Secretary at War, now occupies that place. Mrs. Fitzherbert formerly lived in it.
Richard Owen Cambridge had a beautiful villa on the banks of the Thames, near Marble Hill. He must be well known to the readers of Boswell’s Life of Johnson as a man of literary eminence. Here he entertained Sir Joshua Reynolds, Beauclerk, Dr. Johnson, and other members of the literary club.
But it is time to conclude. We might, how-
