CHAPTER XXXIV.
HAMPSTEAD.—CAEN WOOD AND NORTH END.
THE VALE OF HEALTH.
"When the sweet-breathing spring unfolds the buds,
Love flies the dusty town for shady woods;
Then Tottenham fields with roving beauty swarm,
And Hampstead halls the City virgins warm."—Gay.
The Etymology and Early History of Hampstead—"Hot Gospellers"—The Hollow Tree—An Inland Watering-place—Caen Wood Towers—Dufferin Lodge—Origin of the Name of Caen (or Ken) Wood—Thomas Venner and the Fifth Monarchy Men—Caen Wood House and Grounds—Lord Mansfield—The House saved from a Riotous Attack by a Clever Ruse—Visit of William IV.—Highgate and Hampstead Ponds—The
Fleet River—Bishop's Wood—The "Spaniards"—New Georgia—Erskine House—The Great Lord Erskine—Heath House—The Firs—North End—Lord Chatham's Gloomy Retirement—Wildwood House—Jackson, the Highwayman—Akenside—William Blake, the Artist
and Poet—Coventry Patmore—Miss Meteyard—Sir T. Fowell Buxton—The "Bull and Bush."
In commencing this chapter we may observe that
there are two ways by which the pedestrian can
reach Hampstead from Highgate—namely, by the
road branching off at the "Gate House" and
running along the brow of the hill past the
"Spaniards," and so on to the Heath; and also
by the pleasant footpath which skirts the grounds
of Caen Wood on its southern side. This pathway
branches off from Millfield Lane, nearly opposite
the grounds of Lady Burdett-Coutts, and passing
by the well-known Highgate Ponds, winds its
course over the gently undulating meadows and
uplands which extend westward to the slope of the
hill leading up to Hampstead Heath; the pathway
itself terminating close by the ponds of Hampstead, of which, together with the charming spot
close by, called the Vale of Health, we shall have
more to say presently. For our part, we shall
take the first-named route; but before setting out
on our perambulation, it will be well, perhaps, to
say a few words about Hampstead in general.
Starting, then, with the name, we may observe
that the etymology of Hampstead is evidently derived from the Saxon "ham" or home, and "stede"
or place. The modern form of the word "homestead" is still in common use for the family residence, or more generally for a farmhouse, surrounded by barns and other out-buildings. "Homestead," too, according to the ingenious Mr. Lysons,
is the true etymology of the name. "Hame" is
the well-known Scotch form for "home;" and the
syllable "ham" is preserved in "hamlet," and,
as a termination, in innumerable names of places
in this country. West Ham, Birming-ham, Oldham, and many others immediately suggest themselves; and we can easily reckon a dozen Hamptons, in which the first syllable has a similar origin
to that of Hampstead; while, under the modern
German form, heim, we meet with it in Blenheim.
There are two Hampsteads in Berkshire, besides
Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. The name,
then, of the solitary Saxon farm was applied in the
course of years to the village or town which
gradually surrounded it and at length took its
place. Who the hardy Saxon was who first made
a clearing in this elevated part of the thick Middlesex forest, we know not; but we have record that
this wood afforded pannage or pasturage for a
hundred head of swine, which fed on the chestnuts,
beech-nuts, and acorns. In 986 King Ethelred
granted the manor of Hamstede to the Abbot of
Westminster; and this grant was confirmed by
Edward the Confessor, with additional privileges.
We are told by Mr. Park, in his "History of
Hampstead," that in early times it was a little
chapelry, dependent on the mother church of
Hendon, which was itself an incumbency in the
gift of the abbot and monks of the convent of St.
Peter in Westminster. To this day the Dean and
Chapter of Westminster own a considerable quantity of land in the parish, whence they draw a
considerable income, owing to the increased and
increasing value of property. Before the Reformation, it is clear that the Rector of Hendon was
himself responsible for the cost of the keep of "a
separate capellane," or chaplain to serve "the
chapell of the Blessed Virgin at Hamsted;" this,
however, was not a very heavy cost, for the stipend
of an assistant curate at that day was only from
six to eight marks a year; and in the reign of
Edward VI., the curacy of Hampstead itself, as
we learn casually from a Chancery roll, was valued
at £10 per annum. It is not at all clear when
the benefice of Hampstead was separated from
that of Hendon, but the ties of the one must have
been separated from those of the other before the
year 1598, when the churchwardens of Hampstead
were for the first time summoned to the Bishop of
London's visitation, a fact which looks like the
commencement of a parochial settlement. It is
probable that the correct date is 1560, as the
register of baptisms, marriages, and burials commences in that year.
CAEN WOOD, LORD MANFIELD'S HOUSE, IN 1785.
In the reign of Edward VI. the manor and
advowson of Hampstead were granted by the young
king to Sir Thomas Wroth, Knt., from whose family
they passed, about seventy years later, by purchase,
to Sir Baptist Hickes, afterwards Viscount Campden,
whose descendant Baptist, third Earl of Gainsborough, alienated them to Sir W. Langhorne,
Bart., in 1707. They passed from the Langhornes
by descent through the hands of three females, to
the family of the present patron, Sir Spencer
Maryon-Wilson, Bart., of Charlton House, Kent.
At the time of the dissolution, Hampstead, it
appears, was a very small village, inhabited chiefly
by washerwomen, and for the next 150 years its
history is almost a blank. In the Puritan times
the "Hot Gospellers," as they were nicknamed,
often preached under the shade of an enormous
elm, which was certainly a great curiosity, its
trunk having been occupied by some virtuoso
unrecorded in local history, who constructed a
winding staircase of forty-two steps within the
hollow, and built an octagonal tower on the
summit, thirty-four feet in circumference, and
capable of holding twenty persons. The height
from the ground to the base of the turret was
thirty-three feet, and there were sixteen side lights.
There is a curious etching, by Hollar, of this
"Hollow Tree at Hampstead." The exact locality
of this tree is a matter of doubt. The copy of
the etching in the royal collection at Windsor
forms part of a "broadside" at the foot of which
is printed "To be given or sold on the hollow
tree at Hampstead." One Robert Codrington,
a poetical student, and afterwards a Puritan, inspired by the tree, wrote an elaborate poem, in
which he says,
"In less room, I find,
With all his trusty knights, King Arthur dined."
Hampstead is now nearly joined to London by
rows of villas and terraces; but within the memory
of the present generation it was separated from
town by a broad belt of pleasant fields. Eighty or
a hundred years ago it was a rural village, adorned
with many fine mansions, whither retired, in search
of health or recreation, some of the most eminent
men of the age. The beauty of its fields is celebrated by the author of "Suburban Sonnets" in
Hone's "Table Book:"
"Hampstead, I doubly venerate thy name,"
for it seems it was here that the writer first became
imbued with the feeling of love and with the spirit
of poetry.
It is the fashion to undervalue the suburbs of
London; and several clever writers, proud of their
mountains and their lakes, have a smile of contempt
ready for us when we talk of our "upland hamlets,"
our fertile valleys, and our broad river. The fact is
that the suburbs of London are beautiful as compared with the suburbs of other great cities. But
so long as the breezy heath, and its smooth velvet
turf, sloping away to the north and east, remain
unbuilt upon, Hampstead will never cease to be
the favourite haunt and home of poets, painters,
and artists, which it has been for the last century or
more. There still attaches to the older part of the
town a certain stately air of dignified respectability,
in the red-brick spacious mansions; and the parish
church, though really not old as churches count age,
with its spacious churchyard, bears record of many
whose names are familiar to us all.
Hampstead, it has been observed, is in every
respect a watering-place—except in there being
no sea there. With that important drawback, it
possesses all the necessary attributes: it has its
donkeys, its bath-chairs, its fashionable esplanade,
its sand and sandpits, its chalybeate spring, its
"eligible" houses "to be let furnished," its more
humble "apartments," its "Vale of Health," where
"parties" can be supplied with "hot water for tea,"
at various prices, from twopence to fourpence per
head; its fancy stationers' shop, with the proper
supply of dolls, novels, and illustrated note paper;
its old church and its new church; its chapel of
ease; its flagstaff—ready to "dip" its colours to
steamers, which, from the nature of the case, can
never appear in the offing; its photographic
pavilion, with portraits "in this style" (a style
which would effectually prevent any sensible person
from entering the place of execution); its country
walks and rides; its residents, so exclusive; its
troops of visitors; its boys, fishing for tadpoles
with crooked pins in the (freshwater) ponds; its
tribes of healthy children with their nurses and
nursemaids;—in fact, it has all that can make the
heart glad, and place Hampstead on the list of seabathing places, with the trifling omission mentioned
above.
With these remarks, we will once more take up
our staff and proceed.
Leaving Highgate by the turning westward close
by the "Gate House," and passing by the Grove,
we make our way along the high road which
connects the village with Hampstead. The old
way being narrow, and nearly impassable, a new
and more direct road was made, affording a splendid panoramic view of vast extent. In the formation of the new road, too, its course in one or
two parts was slightly altered. On the slope of
the hill to the left, and standing on ground which
originally formed a portion of Fitzroy Park, is Caen
Wood Towers, the handsome villa residence of Mr.
Edward Brooke, the patentee of the magenta and
other dyes. The building occupies part of the site
of Dufferin Lodge, formerly the seat of Lord
Dufferin, which was pulled down in 1869. The
present house, which was completed in 1872, from
the designs of Messrs. Salomons and Jones, is built
of red brick with stone dressings; and with its bay
windows, gables, and massive towers, stands out
prominently amid the surrounding trees.
Pursuing our course along the Hampstead road,
we reach the principal entrance to the estate of
Caen (or Ken) Wood, the seat of the Earl of
Mansfield. Though generally regarded as part
and parcel of Hampstead, the estate lies just within
the boundary of the parish of St. Pancras, and was
part of the manor of Cantelows. It is said by
antiquaries to form a part of the remains of the
ancient forest of Middlesex. Lysons is of opinion
that the wood and the neighbouring hamlet of
Kentish Town (anciently Kentestoune) were both
named after some very remote possessor. There
was, he says, a Dean of St. Paul's named Reginald
de "Kentewode," and "the alteration from Kentwode to Kenwood is by no means unlikely to
happen." Mr. Howitt looks for the origin of the
syllable in the word "Ken," a view. As, however,
we have stated in previous chapters, (fn. 1) the word
Ken or Caen may be an equivalent to "Kaen" or
Ken, which lies at the root of Kentish Town, Kensington, &c.
The earliest mention of the place, remarks Mr.
Prickett, in his "History of Highgate," appears in
Neale's "History of the Puritans," where it is
spoken of as affording shelter for a short time to
Venner and his associates—the "Fifth monarchy
men." In the outbreak of the "Fifth monarchy
men," under Thomas Venner, the cooper of Coleman Street, in January, 1661, these fanatics having
fought one engagement with the "Train-bands,"
and expecting another struggle next day, took
shelter for a night in Caen Wood, where some of
them were taken prisoners next morning, and the
rest were dispersed. As probably few or none of
them were killed, the spot where the encounter
took place cannot now be identified by any discovery of bodies hastily buried, as is commonly the
case in the neighbourhood of battle-fields.
From the first volume of "Selected Views in
London and its Environs," published in 1804, we
glean the following particulars of this demesne:—"Caen Wood, the beautiful seat of the Earl of
Mansfield, is situated on a fine eminence between
Hampstead and Highgate, and its extensive
grounds contribute in no small degree to enrich
the neighbouring scenery. These, with the wood
which gives name to them, contain about forty
acres, and are laid out with great taste. On the
right of the garden front of the house (which is a
very noble mansion) is a hanging wood of tall
spreading trees, mostly beeches; and on the left
the rising hills are planted with trees, that produce
a pleasing effect. These, with a sweet shrubbery
immediately before the front, and a serpentine
piece of water, render the whole a very enlivening
(sic) scene. The enclosed fields adjoining to the
pleasure-grounds contain about thirty acres more.
Hornsey great woods, held by the Earl of Mansfield
under the Bishop of London, join this estate on the
north, and have lately been added to the enclosure."
Mr. Howitt, in his "Northern Heights," gives
the following interesting particulars about Caen
Wood and House:—"Caen House," he writes, "is
a large and massive building of yellow stone,
impressive from its bulk and its commanding
situation, rather than from its architecture, which
is that of Robert Adam, who was very fashionable
in the early part of the reign of George III. Caen
Wood House has two fronts, one facing the north,
with projecting wings; the other facing the south,
extending along a noble terrace, and has its façade
elongated by a one-storeyed wing at each side. The
basement storey of the main body of the house is
of rustic work, surmounted by a pediment supported by Ionic pilasters, the columns of the wings
being of the same order. Within, Adam, as was
usual with him, was more successful than without.
The rooms are spacious, lofty, and finely proportioned. They contain a few good paintings,
among which are some of Claude's; a portrait of
Pope, the poet, with whom the first earl was very
intimate; and a full-length one of the great law
lord himself, as well as a bust of him by Nollekens.
The park in front, of fifty acres, is arranged to
give a feeling of seclusion in a spot so near to
London. The ground descends to some sheets of
water forming a continuation of the Highgate
Ponds, lying amid trees; and a belt of fine, wellgrown wood cuts off the broad open view of the
metropolis. Here you have all the sylvan seclusion of a remote country mansion; and charming
walks, said to be nearly two miles in extent, conduct you round the park, and through the woods,
where stand some trees of huge growth and
grandeur, especially cedars of Lebanon and beeches.
A good deal of this planting, especially some fine
cedars yet near the house, was done under the
direction of the first lord himself. A custom is
kept up here which smacks of the old feudal times.
Every morning, when the night-watchman goes off
duty, at six o'clock, he fires a gun, and immediately
three long winds are given on a horn to call the
servants, gardeners, and labourers to their employment. The horn is blown again at breakfast and
dinner hours, and at six in the evening for their
dismissal.
"This charming place had been in the hands of
a succession of proprietors. In 1661 it was the
property of a Mr. John Bill, who married a Lady
Pelham, supposed to be the widow of Sir Thomas
Pelham, and a daughter of Sir Henry Vane. It
must afterwards have belonged to one Dale, an
upholsterer, who, as Mackay, in his 'Tour through
England,' says, 'had bought it out of the 'Bubbles'—i.e., the South Sea affair. This was in 1720.
This Mr. Dale, unlike the majority of speculators,
must have been a fortunate one. It then became
the property of the Dukes of Argyll; and the
great and good Duke John, whom Sir Walter
Scott introduces so nobly in the scene with Jeanie
Deans and Queen Caroline in 'The Heart of Midlothian,' who had lived in the reigns of Anne and
Georges I. and II., and who had fought bravely at
Ramillies, Malplaquet, and Oudenarde, and who
afterwards beat the rebel Earl of Mar and drove
the Pretender from Scotland, resided here when
called to London. The property was then devised
by the Duke of Argyll to his nephew John, third
Earl of Bute, who is only too well remembered in
the opening of the reign of George III. for his
unpopularity as a minister (fn. 2) of the Crown.
"Lord Bute married the only daughter of the
celebrated Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who, of
course, resided much here as Countess of Bute.
It is observed that in Lady Mary's letters to her
daughter, she always spells the name of the place
'Caen.' The earlier possessors spelt it 'Ken,' and
it is curious, too, that though in the patent of the
earldom granted to Lord Mansfield it is spelt
'Caen,' Lord Mansfield himself, in his letters, to
the end of his life spelt it 'Ken.'
"The Earl of Bute sold Caen Wood, in 1755,
to Lord Mansfield, who, on his death, devised it,
as an appendage of the title, to his nephew (and
successor in the earldom of Mansfield), Lord
Stormont, whose descendants now possess it. Lady
Mary Wortley Montagu's daughter brought Lord
Bute seven sons and six daughters, so at that time
the house and grounds of Caen Wood resounded
with life enough. It is now very little occupied,
its proprietor being much fonder of Scone Palace,
his Scotch residence."
Among the trees mentioned above are four fine
cedars, planted in the reign of George II.; they
are now upwards of a hundred feet in height.
Mr. Thorne, in his "Handbook of the Environs
of London," says that among the treasures that
are preserved here, are "the charred and stained
relics saved from the fire made of Lord Mansfield's
books, by the Gordon rioters, in 1780."
Coleridge, in one of his letters to Mr. H. C.
Robinson, speaks of being "driven in Mr. Gillman's
gig to Caen Wood, and its delicious groves and
valleys—the finest in England; in fact, a cathedral
aisle of giant lime-trees, and Pope's favourite composition walk when staying with the Earl of Mansfield." As, however, Pope died at Twickenham,
in 1744, and Lord Mansfield did not come into
possession of Caen Wood until ten or eleven years
after Pope's death, it is clear that there must be
some discrepancy here.
Although born in Scotland, Lord Mansfield seems
to have turned his back upon his native country
at a very early age; indeed, Dr. Johnson, if we
may believe Boswell, "would not allow Scotland
to derive any credit from Lord Mansfield, for he
was educated in England; much," he would say,
"may be made of a Scotchman, if he be caught
young."
In our account of Bloomsbury Square, (fn. 3) we have
spoken of the burning of Lord Mansfield's house,
and of the escape of his lordship and Lady Mansfield. Maddened by this and many other unchecked excesses, the word of command was given
"to Ken Wood," the rioters evidently intending
that this mansion should share a similar fate.
"The routes of the rabble," writes Mr. Prickett, in
his work above quoted, "were through Highgate
and Hampstead, to the 'Spaniards' Tavern,' kept
at the time by a person named Giles Thomas. He
quickly learnt their object, and with a coolness
and promptitude which did him great credit, persuaded the rioters to refresh themselves thoroughly
before commencing the work of devastation; he
threw his house open, and even his cellars for their
entertainment, but secretly dispatched a messenger
to the barracks for a detachment of the Horse
Guards, which, arriving through Millfield Farm
Lane, intercepted the approach northward, and
opportunely presented a bold front to the rebels,
who by that time had congregated in the road
which then passed within a few paces of the mansion. Whilst some of the rioters were being regaled
at the 'Spaniards,' others were liberally supplied
with strong ale from the cellars of Ken Wood
House, out of tubs placed on the roadside. Mr.
William Wetherell, also, who attended the family,
happened to be on the spot, and, with great resolution and presence of mind, addressed the mob,
and induced many to adjourn to the 'Spaniards'
for a short period. The liquors, the excitement,
and the infatuation soon overcame the exhausted
condition of the rabble, who, in proportion to the
time thus gained by the troops, had become doubly
disqualified for concerted mischief; for, great as
were their numbers, their daring was not equal to
the comparatively small display of military, which,
the leading rioters felt, would show them no mercy;
they instantly abandoned their intentions, and
returned to the metropolis in as much disorder as
they quitted it."
In 1835, King William IV., accompanied by
several members of the royal family, the Duke of
Wellington, and many of the leading nobility, paid
a visit to Caen Wood. A grand entertainment
was given by Lord Mansfield on the occasion, and
a triumphal arch was erected on Hampstead
Heath, under which the king received an address
from his loyal subjects.
In the lower part of Lord Mansfield's grounds
are several large ponds, of which we have spoken
in our account of Highgate; four of these are
within the demesne of Caen Wood, and the other
three are in the fields lying in the hollow below
Fitzroy Park and Millfield Lane, as we have
stated previously. The three outside Caen Wood
are known as the Highgate Ponds. The stream
which feeds the seven extensive and well-known
ponds, and gave its origin to the Hampstead
Waterworks, takes its rise in a meadow on the
Manor Farm at Highgate, and forms a spacious
lake in Caen Wood Park, whence it approaches
Hampstead, and so flows on to Camden Town and
London. Its waters are of a chalybeate character,
as has been ascertained from the circumstance of
a large variety of petrifactions having been met
with in its channel, more especially in the immediate vicinity of its source. The mineral properties
of this streamlet are of a ferruginous nature, its
medicinal virtues are of a tonic character, and are
said to be efficacious in cases of nervous debility.
In the summer season these ponds are the resort
of thousands of Londoners, more especially the
possessors of aquariums, for the sake of waterbeetles "and other interesting abominations," whilst
the boys fish in them for tadpoles and sticklebats,
or sail miniature boats on their surface.
Half a mile further to the south-west are the
other large sheets of water, known as the Hampstead Ponds, which form great centres of attraction
to the visitors to the heath. These ponds, we need
scarcely add, are familiar to the readers of "Pickwick," the origin of the "tittlebats" or "sticklebacks" in them being among the subjects on which
at least one learned paper had been read before
the Pickwick Club. It is a matter of interest to
record that the originator of these ponds was no
other person than Paterson, the founder of the
Bank of England.
HIGHGATE PONDS.
The Fleet River, or the River of Wells, of which
we have spoken in a previous chapter, (fn. 4) had its
rise in this locality. This river, we are told, was
the same as the Langbourne, which flowed through
London and gave its name to a ward of the City.
It was called the Fleet River down to the commencement of the present century.
The authorities of the City of London, remarks
Mr. Howitt, in his "Northern Heights," were prohibited by their Act of Henry VIII. from interfering
with the spring at the foot of the hill of Hampstead Heath, which, he says, "was closed in with
brick for the use and convenience of the inhabitants
of Hampstead." At the same time the Bishop of
Westminster was authorised to search for springs
on the heath, and conveyed water from them to
his manor of Hendon. From some cause or other,
as Mr. Lysons tells us, the water company and the
people of Hampstead fell into disputes about what
the Americans call their "water privileges," and the
inhabitants amongst themselves even proceeded to
law about the year 1700. Park found that the
present ponds existed in the seventeenth century,
being mentioned amongst the copyholds—the
upper pond on the heath stated to contain three
roods, thirty perches; the lower pond one acre,
one rood, thirty-four perches. The pond in the
Vale of Health was added in 1777. "The ponds,"
he adds, "have been fatal to many incautious
bathers, owing to the sudden shelving of their
sides." In the Vale of Health are visible, or were
till recently, two rows of wooden posts, which, it
has been suggested, might be the remains of a
bridge either leading across the water, or to some
aquatic pleasure-house built upon it.
On the north side of Hampstead Lane, facing
the entrance to Caen Wood House, is Bishop's
Wood. This wood, with one further to the north
called Mutton Wood, and another to the west
known as Wild Wood, was, as we have already
shown, a portion of the great wood attached to the
estate and castle of the Bishop of London, at Highgate. (fn. 5) In 1755 it was purchased by Lord Mansfield, and left as a wild copse; it has since been
strictly preserved as a cover for game.
THE "SPANIARDS," HAMPSTEAD HEATH
The "Spaniards," a well-known tavern by the
roadside, just as it emerges upon Hampstead
Heath, stands on the site of a small lodge once
occupied by the keeper of the park gate—the tollgate at the Hampstead entrance to the Bishop of
London's lands, of which we have already spoken.
It is said by some writers to have derived its name
from the fact of its having been once inhabited
by a family connected with the Spanish embassy,
and by others from its having been taken by a
Spaniard, and converted into a house of entertainment. The Spanish Ambassador to King James I.
wrote whilst residing here, complaining that he and
his suite had not seen very much of the sun in
England. Later on, its gardens were "improved and
beautifully ornamented" by a Mr. William Staples,
who, "out of a wild and thorny wood full of hills,
valleys, and sand-pits, hath now made pleasant
grass and gravel walks, with a mount, from the
elevation whereof the beholder hath a prospect
of Hanslope steeple, in Northamptonshire, within
eight miles of Northampton; of Langdon Hills, in
Essex, full sixty miles east; of Banstead Downs,
in Surrey, south; of Shooter's Hill, Kent, southeast; Red Hill, Surrey, south-west; and of Windsor
Castle, Berkshire, to the west. These walks and
plats this gentleman hath embellished with a great
many curious figures, depicted with pebble-stones
of various colours." Such is the description of
the "Spaniards" in a MS. account of the place,
quoted by Park, in "History of Hampstead,"
and by Prickett, in his "History of Highgate;"
but the statement must be received with caution,
for certainly no resident of Hampstead, so far as
we can learn, has ever been able to descry the
steeple of Hanslope, or of any other church, in
Northamptonshire. "The 'Spaniards,'" says Mr.
Thorne, "still has its garden and its bowlinggreen; but the curious figures are gone, and so has
(is) the mound, and with it the larger part of the
prospect, partly, perhaps, owing to the growth of
the neighbouring trees, and the erection of two or
three large houses between it and the Heath."
It was the brave landlord of this inn who, as we
have said before, saved Caen Wood House from
being wrecked by the mob during the Gordon riots.
As we have stated above, he detained the mob
here by a ruse till the military arrived. Curiously
enough, the "Spaniards" not mentioned in Mr.
Larwood's otherwise exhaustive "History of Signboards," in connection, at all events, with Hampstead.
Another place of entertainment in this neighbourhood in former times, though now quite forgotten,
was a cottage, with gardens attached to it, which
rejoiced in the name of New Georgia. It has
been identified with Turner's Wood, now enclosed
in Lord Mansfield's grounds, opposite the western
lodge of Caen Wood. From the same MS. from
which the above description of the "Spaniards"
was taken, we learn that "here the owner showeth
you several little rooms, and numerous contrivances
of his own to divert the beholder; and here, the
gentleman is put in the pillory, and the ladies are
obliged to kiss him, with such other oddities; the
building is irregular and low, of wood, and the
ground and wilderness is laid out in a romantic
taste." Among the "numerous contrivances" was
a chair which sank into the ground on a person
sitting in it. In 1748, these singular grounds, like
"Spring Gardens," (fn. 6) were interspersed with representations of various reptiles, so connected with
mechanism, as to make efforts of attack upon
parties who unsuspectingly trod upon a board or
spring. It is not improbable that the consequences
of those frights to the ladies caused the disuse and
decay of New Georgia, for about the year 1770
this species of mechanism seems to have been
entirely discontinued.
The house next to the "Spaniards," and close
by the entrance of Hampstead Heath, is called
Erskine House, as having been the residence of
the famous advocate, but less famous chancellor,
Thomas Lord Erskine. The building is a plain
white house, with a long portico opening upon the
roadway. Of the house itself but little is seen from
the road, excepting one end; a high wall shuts in
what little garden it has on that side, and another
high wall shuts out from observation the spacious
gardens and grounds formerly belonging to it on
the opposite side of the road. The house itself,
says Mr. Howitt, is "simply a bald, square mass,
shouldered up again by another house at its back.
We see, however, the tall windows of its large drawing-room on the second floor, commanding a splendid view over Caen Wood and some part of Highgate. Yet this was the house inhabited by Thomas
Lord Erskine, contemporary with both the law lords,
his neighbours, Mansfield and Loughborough. Here
he converted the place from a spot of no account
into a very charming residence, laying out, with
great enthusiasm, its grounds, and so planting it
with bays and laurels, that he called it Evergreen
Hill. He is said also to have planted with his
own hand the extraordinary broad holly hedge
separating his kitchen-garden from the Heath, opposite to the Fir-tree Avenue." The garden on the
opposite side of the road was connected with the
house by a subterranean passage. This garden,
however, has long been taken into Lord Mansfield's
estate.
Lord Erskine's account of his residence, where
Edmund Burke was a frequent visitor, is too
amusing to be omitted here. It is told by Mr.
Rush, in his "Court of London:"—"When we
got to Mr. Trotter's, Lord Erskine kept up his
sprightly vein at table. 'I believe,' said our host,
'the soil is not the best in that part of Hampstead
where your seat is.' 'No; very bad,' he replied,
'for although my grandfather was buried there as
an earl near a hundred years ago, what has sprouted
up from it since but a mere baron?' He alluded, of
course, to his own title. He mentioned, however,
a fact which went to show that although the soil
yielded no increase in titles of nobility, it did in
other things; for in his description he referred to
a chestnut-tree upon it, which, when he first went to
live there, was bought by his gardener for sixpence,
but now yielded him thirty pounds a year."
"Here," says Mr. Howitt, "during the intervals
of his arduous professional labour, Lord Erskine
was zealously engaged in planning and carrying out
his improvements. With his old gardener, John
Barnett, he took his spade, and schemed and dug,
and planted and transplanted; and no one who
has not tried it can tell the immense refreshment
derived from such an active diversion of otherwise
exhausting trains of thought. To men compelled
to spend long days in crowded, ill-ventilated courts,
the health and spirits given by such tastes is
incalculable. No doubt, from these occupations
Erskine returned with tenfold vigour of body and
mind to his pleadings, and to his parliamentary
conflicts." Lord Erskine, at one time, contemplated cutting down a renowned group of elmtrees, nine in number, which flourished in all their
picturesque beauty near his mansion; but the great
lawyer thought better of his purpose, and the trees
were spared. Cowper commemorated their escape,
in a poem, in which we find that the Muses (sympathising, perhaps, with the number nine) interfered:—
"Erskine (they cried) at our command
Disarms his sacrilegious hand;
Whilst yonder castle [Windsor] towers sublime,
These elms shall brave the threats of Time."
In the same poem the poet of the "Task" refers
to another performance of the Muses in the same
locality, in relation to another great lawyer, the
first Earl of Mansfield:—
"When Murray deign'd to rove
Beneath Caen Wood's sequester'd grove,
They wander'd oft, when all was still,
With him and Pope, on Hampstead Hill."
Lord Erskine's first rise in his profession, as he
himself told Samuel Rogers, was due to an accident—the fact that he was suddenly called upon to
defend Captain Baillie, in a matter of contention
between himself and the authorities of Greenwich
Hospital. His astonishing eloquence and energy,
joined to the right being on his side, gained the day;
and the all but briefless barrister went home that
night with sixty-seven retaining fees in his pocket.
From an account by Sir Samuel Romilly, quoted
by Mr. Howitt, we see not only what sort of men
frequented his house in those days, but also the
nature of Erskine's curious hobbies:—"Here he
gave gay parties, of which he was the life, by his
good humour and whimsicalities. I dined there
one day, at what might be called a great Opposition dinner. The party consisted of the Duke
of Norfolk, Lord Grenville, Lord Grey, Lord
Holland, Lord Ellenborough, Lord Lauderdale,
Lord Henry Petty, Thomas Grenville, Pigot, Adam,
Edward Morris, Lord Erskine's son-in-law, and
myself. If the most malignant enemies of Erskine
had been present, they would have admitted that
nothing could be more innocent than the conversation which passed. Politics were hardly mentioned. Amid the light and trifling topics of
conversation after dinner, it may be worth while
to mention one, as it strongly characterises Lord
Erskine. He had always felt and expressed a
great sympathy for animals. He has talked for
years of a bill he was to bring into Parliament to
prevent cruelty to them. He has always had
several favourite animals to which he has been
much attached, and of whom all his acquaintances
have a number of anecdotes to relate. He had a
favourite dog, which he used to bring, when he was
at the bar, to all his consultations; another favourite
dog, which, at the time he was Lord Chancellor,
he himself rescued in the street from some boys
who were about to kill it, under pretence of its
being mad. A favourite goose, which followed
him whenever he walked about his grounds; a
favourite macaw; and other dumb favourites without number. He told us now, that he had two
favourite leeches. He had been blooded by them
when he was dangerously ill at Portsmouth; they
had saved his life, and he had brought them with
him to town—had ever since kept them in a glass—had himself every day given them fresh water,
and formed a friendship for them. He said he was
sure they knew him, and were grateful to him.
He had given them the names of Howe and Clive,
the celebrated surgeons, their dispositions being
quite different. He went and fetched them for us
to see; but without the vivacity, the tones, the
details and gestures of Lord Erskine, it would be
impossible to give an idea of this singular scene."
Apropos of Lord Erskine's consideration for dumb
animals, Twiss in his "Life of Eldon," tells the
following anecdote concerning his lordship:—"On
one occasion, in the neighbourhood of Hampstead
Heath, a ruffianly driver was pummelling a miserable bare-boned hack horse. Lord Erskine's
sympathy provoked him to a smart remonstrance.
'Why,' said the fellow, 'it's my own; mayn't I
use it as I please?' and as he spoke, he discharged
a fresh shower of blows on the raw back of the
beast. Lord Erskine, excessively irritated, laid his
walking-stick sharply over the shoulders of the
offender, who, crouching and grumbling, asked
what business he had to touch him with his stick.
'Why,' replied Erskine, to whom the opportunity
of a joke was irresistible, 'it is my own; mayn't
I use it as I please?'"
His lordship's witty sallies, indeed, rendered his
society particularly enjoyable, and doubtless would
have filled a volume of Punch. Of those which
are on record, we cannot do more than quote one
or two.
On one occasion, when Captain Parry remarked
that "when frozen up in the Arctic regions they
lived much on seals," "Yes," observed the exchancellor, "and very good living too, if you keep
them long enough!" Being invited to attend the
ministerial fish dinner at Greenwich when he was
chancellor, "To be sure," he replied, "what would
your dinner be without the Great Seal?"
Mr. Howitt, in his notice of this place, says:—"On the staircase of the house possessed by Lord
Erskine, and the copyhold of which he transferred
to Lord Mansfield, there is a window of stained
glass, in which are emblazoned Lord Erskine's
arms, with the baron's coronet, and the motto
which he assumed, 'Trial by Jury.' The tunnel
under the road, which connected the premises with
the pleasure-grounds on the other side, is now
built up, Lord Mansfield having resumed the
grounds on his side. Baron (Chief Justice) Tindal
at one time lived in this house."
Heath House, the residence next to that of Lord
Erskine, and overlooking the Heath, was successively the abode of Mr. Edward Cox, the author
of some poems, published at the beginning of this
century; and of Sir Edward Parry, the Arctic
voyager.
The next house, called The Firs, was built by
a Mr. Turner, a tobacconist of Fleet Street, who
planted the avenue of Scotch firs, which so largely
contribute to the beauty of this part of the Heath.
Mr. Turner also made the roadway across the
Heath, from The Firs to the pleasant hamlet of
North End and Golder's Green, on the slope of
the hill looking towards Hendon, whither we now
proceed.
A large house on the eastern slope of the hill
leading from Hampstead to North End and
Hendon, is that in which the great Lord Chatham
lived for some time in gloomy retirement in 1767.
It is now called Wildwood House, but formerly
bore the name of North End House. The grounds
extend up the hill, as far as the clump of Scotch
firs, where the roads divide; and in the highest
part of the gardens is a summer-house surmounted
by a dome. Recently the house has undergone
considerable alteration, having been raised a storey,
besides having had other additions made to it;
but some part at least of its interior remains unaltered. Mr. Howitt, in his "Northern Heights,"
says:—"The small room, or rather closet, in which
Chatham shut himself up during his singular affliction—on the third storey—still remains in the same
condition. Its position from the outside may be
known by an oriel window looking towards Finchley.
The opening in the wall from the staircase to the
room still remains, through which the unhappy
man received his meals or anything else conveyed
to him. It is an opening of, perhaps, eighteen
inches square, having a door on each side of the
wall. The door within had a padlock which still
hangs upon it. When anything was conveyed to
him, a knock was made on the outer door, and the
articles placed in the recess. When he heard the
outer door again closed, the invalid opened the
inner door, took what was there, again closed and
locked it. When the dishes or other articles were
returned, the same process was observed, so that
no one could possibly catch a glimpse of him, nor
need there be any exchange of words." It may
be added that in making the alterations above
mentioned, the condition of the room occupied
by Lord Chatham was as little interfered with as
possible; and even in the boards of the floor the
marks caused by his lordship's wheeled chair are
still preserved. In this house, in more recent times,
lived Mr. Tagart, the minister of Little Portland
Street Unitarian Chapel, and author of "Locke's
Writings and Philosophy," "Sketches of the
Reformers," &c.
On the opposite side of the road towards
Hendon, over against the summer-house mentioned above, an elm-tree marks the spot where
formerly stood a gibbet, on which was suspended
the body of Jackson, a highwayman, for murdering
Henry Miller on or near this spot, in May, 1673.
"In 1674 was published," says Park, in his
"History of Hampstead," "Jackson's Recantation; or, the Life and Death of the notorious Highwayman now hanging in chains at Hampstead," &c.
Park adds that he was told that the post of this
gibbet was in his time (1818) remaining as a
mantel-tree over the fire-place in the kitchen of
the "Castle" public-house on the Heath. One of
the two trees between which the gibbet stood was
blown down not many years ago. Hampstead, we
may add, was a well-known place for highwaymen,
who waylaid persons returning from the Wells as
they rode or drove down Haverstock Hill, or across
the Heath, and towards Finchley. We are told in
the "Cabinet of Curiosities," published by Limbird
in 1822, that Lord Kenyon referred to a case in
which a highwayman had the audacity to file a bill
before a Court of Equity to compel his partner to
account to him for a half-share of his plunder, in
which it was expressly stated that the plaintiff and
his partner, one Joseph Williams, continued their
joint dealings together in several places—viz., at
"Bagshot, in Surrey; at Salisbury, in Wiltshire; at
Hampstead, in Middlesex, and elsewhere, to the
amount of £2,000 and upwards." It is satisfactory
to learn that the insolent plaintiff was afterwards
executed, and one of his solicitors transported for
being concerned in a robbery.
Golder's Hill, at North End, was the residence
of Mark Akenside, the author of "Pleasures of the
Imagination." The son of a butcher at Newcastleon-Tyne, he was born at that place in 1721, and
was educated at the grammar-school of that town.
He afterwards went to Edinburgh, in order to
qualify himself for the ministry; but preferring the
study of physic, he took his degree of M.D. in 1744,
by royal mandate from the University of Cambridge. In that same year he produced the poem
above mentioned, and it was well received. In
the following year he published his first collection
of odes. His life was uneventful. He practised
as a physician with but indifferent success, first at
Northampton, afterwards in Hampstead, and finally
in London. At length, just as bright prospects
were opening upon him, he was carried off by an
attack of fever, in 1770. He was a man of great
learning, and of high character and morality; and
the style of his poetry is lofty, chaste, and classical.
Akenside lies buried, as we have seen, (fn. 7) in the
Church of St. James, Piccadilly.
At a farmhouse close by, just on the edge of
the Heath, William Blake, the artist and poet, used
to lodge. Linnell, the painter, frequently occupied
the house during the summer months. Mr.
Coventry Patmore, too, lived for some time at
North End; Mrs. Craik, the novelist (formerly
Miss Dinah Muloch), likewise formerly resided
here, in the house afterwards occupied by Miss
Meteyard, the authoress of the "Life of Joshua
Wedgwood" and other antiquarian works. Collins'
Farm, at North End, has often been painted. It
is the subject of a picture by Stuart, exhibited in
1830. The large house on the right of the avenue,
descending from the Heath, was for some time the
residence of Sir T. Fowell Buxton, whose name
became associated with those of Clarkson, Wilberforce, and other kindred spirits, in effecting the
abolition of slavery and the emancipation of the
slaves throughout the colonial possessions of the
British empire.
The "Bull and Bush," a well-known public-house
in North End, was, it is said, the frequent resort
of Addison and his friends. The house has attached
to it some pleasant tea-gardens, in which some of
the curiously constructed bowers and arbours are
still to be seen.