George Morley, chaplain to Charles I., was a great scholar and an eminent divine. After the death of the king he retired to the Hague, where he attended on Charles II. At the Restoration he was made Dean of Christ Church, and in the same year Bishop of Worcester, whence he was translated to Winchester. His constant practice was to rise at five o'clock in the morning, to go to bed at eleven, and to eat but once a day. By these rules he preserved his health with very little interruption through the course of a long life. He died in 1684.

Peter Mews was born at Parscandle, in Dorsetshire, in 1618, and was educated at Merchant Tailors' School, under the care of Dr. Winiffe, then Dean of St. Paul's, and afterwards Bishop of Lincoln. From school he was elected scholar to St. John's College, Oxford, and became Fellow of the same College at the commencement of the civil war. Soon afterwards he left Oxford, entered the royal army, and was promoted to the rank of captain; he served for some time, and then went to Holland.

During the Interregnum he took holy orders, and at the Restoration returned to his college, where he took the degree of D.D. On the death of Dr. Bailey he was made President of St. John's College. In 1669 he was chosen Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, and in 1673 he was promoted to the see of Bath and Wells, which he held for about twelve years, till he was translated to Winchester. He died 1706, aged 88.

Singular Predictions.-In 1706, John Needs, a Winchester scholar, foretold the deaths of Mr. Carman, chaplain to the College, of Dr. Mews, Bishop of Winchester, and of himself, within that year, to several of his school-fellows, among others, to George Lavington. This declaration exposed him naturally to much raillery in the school, and he was ludicrously styled "Prophet Needs." Mr. Carman died about the time he mentioned. For this event, however, he had little credit, it being said, that the death of such an old man might reasonably be expected. Within the time prefixed Bishop Mews also died by a strange accident. He was subject to fainting fits, from which he soon recovered by smelling spirits of hartshorn. Being seized with a fit whilst a gentleman was with him, and perceiving its approach, he pointed eagerly to a phial in the window; the visitor took it, and in haste poured the contents down the Bishop's throat, which instantly suffocated him. As the time approached which Needs had prefixed for his own dissolution, of which he named even the day and the hour, he sickened, apparently declined, and kept to his chamber, where he was frequently visited and prayed with by Mr. Fletcher, second master of the school, and father of the Bishop of Kildare. This gentleman reasoned and argued with the youth, but in vain; for with great calmness and composure the patient resolutely persisted in affirming that the event would verify his prediction. On the day he had fixed, the house-clock being kindly put forward, struck the hour before the real time; he saw through the deception, and told those who were with him, that when the church clock struck he should expire-he did so!

Mr. Fletcher left a memorandum in writing to the above purpose; and Bishop Trimnell, about the year 1722, having heard this story at Winchester, wrote to New College, of which Mr. Lavington was then Fellow, for further information. His answer was, that "John Needs had indeed foretold that the Bishop of Winchester (Mews) and old Mr. Carman should die that year; but then they being very aged men, he had foretold, for two or three years before, that they should die in that number of years. As to foretelling the time of his own death, I believe he was punctually right." Dr. Lavington gave the same account to his friends after he was Bishop of Exeter.

Jonathan Trelawney was a younger son of Sir J. Trelawney, of Petynt, Cornwall; but his elder brother dying in 1680, he inherited the title. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where there is a portrait of him. He was in succession Bishop of Bristol, Exeter, and Winchester; a man of polite manners, competent learning, and uncommon knowledge of the world.

Bishop Trelawney was one of the seven prelates committed to the Tower by James II. for their efforts to maintain the Protestant cause. When the news of his probable peril of life reached Cornwall, the miners proposed coming up to London in a vast body to demand the bishop's release. The song in every mouth was-

"And shall Trelawney die?

And shall Trelawney die?

Then twice five hundred Cornish men

Will know the reason why."

It is said that the bishop was open, generous, and charitable, a good companion, and a good man. He died in 1721. [100]

Charles Trimnell, son of the Rev. Charles Trimnell, Rector of Repton Abbotts, Huntingdonshire, was educated at Oxford. He was consecrated Bishop of Norwich in 1707; was made Clerk of the Closet to George I., and translated to the see of Winchester in 1721. This bishop, naturally of a weak constitution, did not long survive his last promotion. He died at Farnham in 1723, aged 40. This prelate was a steady partizan of the revolution, which he defended by his pen; warm, yet temperate; zealous, yet moderate; and his piety did not prevent him from gaining a perfect knowledge of mankind.

Richard Willis, Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, was promoted to the deanery of Lincoln, by King William; and in 1714 was consecrated Bishop of Gloucester, translated in 1721 to Salisbury, and thence to Winchester in 1723, where he resided till his death, which happened suddenly at Winchester House, Cheyne Walk, in 1734, aged 71; his wife was buried in Chelsea Church, in 1727, but he himself was buried in his own Cathedral.

Bishop Hoadly, a prelate of great merit, was the son of the Rev. Samuel Hoadly, Master of the Public Grammar School at Norwich; he was educated at his father's school till he went to Catherine Hall, Cambridge, where he afterwards became College Tutor, and appears to have been held in high esteem throughout the whole course of his academical studies. Although he applied to study with an intensity of application that made him eminent, he acquired at the same time considerable proficiency in music. In 1698 he was ordained, and about three years afterwards he married Miss Curtis, a great proficient in the art of painting, many of her portraits exciting public attention, particularly one of Bishop Burnet.

In 1704 Mr. Hoadly obtained the rectory of St. Peter le Poor; he began writing as soon as he came to London; and in 1709 the following vote was passed in the House of Commons:-"Resolved, That the Rev. Benjamin Hoadly, having often justified the principles on which his Majesty and the nation proceeded in the late happy revolution, hath justly merited the favour and recommendation of this House. That an humble address be presented to her Majesty, that she would be graciously pleased to bestow some dignity in the church on Mr. Hoadly, for his eminent services, both to the Church and State." A change of Ministry prevented any benefit arising to him from this address; but he afterwards had bestowed on him, by the grandmother of the Duke of Bedford, the rectory of Streatham, Surrey. Soon after the accession of George I. he was made Bishop of Bangor. From thence he was successively translated to those of Hereford, Salisbury, and Winchester, which last he enjoyed nearly twenty-seven years.

It is somewhat a singular circumstance, that when Bishop Hoadly went to Court to kiss the King's hand on his promotion, he did not know the way up stairs, the attendants being all busily engaged at the moment, and by mistake he sat down in an outer room unobserved, and some affirm that he lost the honour of being presented on that occasion to his Majesty.

The doctrines contained in his publications gave such offence to the clergy, that they produced the famous Bangorian Controversy. On the 16th of December, 1761, having supped, he retired to bed in perfect health, but in the middle of the night he was seized with a fit of vomiting, of which the violence abated in about an hour. Medical assistance was immediately sent for, and the bishop seemed better, but about two o'clock the following even, his lady found him dead, without knowing the precise moment of his departure. As a writer, he possessed powerful talents; his greatest defect, perhaps, was in extending his periods to a disagreeable length; for which Pope has thus recorded him:-

"But, sir, of writers? Swift for closer style,

But Hoadly for a period of a mile."

Amongst the most celebrated writers of modern times, who have possessed great argumentative powers, this "defect" is generally a natural consequence. Lord Brougham, for instance, was remarkable for the length of his periods, or final sentences, but with him it evidenced deep thought, and enabled him to impart into his writings and speeches that eloquence and force of language for which he was so highly extolled. Bishop Hoadly might have been one of those "powerful" writers.

Dr. John Thomas was born in 1696, and in 1733, being then Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, he was presented by the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, to the united parishes of St. Benedict's and St. Peter's, Paul's Wharf, London. In 1742 he became Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's, and was sworn in one of his Majesty's Chaplains in Ordinary. He was consecrated Bishop of Peterborough in 1747, and four years after was appointed Preceptor to the Prince of Wales. On the death of Bishop Hoadly he was presented to the see of Winchester. Dr. Thomas died at his episcopal palace, Cheyne Walk, in 1781, aged 85, having sustained throughout life the character of an exemplary prelate. [102]

The Hon. Brownlow North was born in 1741, was the younger son of the first Earl of Guildford, and brother to that Lord North who became twice Prime Minister of this country, once during the American war, and, secondly, in conjunction with Mr. Fox. Mr. North was first educated at Eton, and afterwards at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1770 he was promoted from a canonry at Christchurch, to the deanery of Canterbury. His elder brother being now Prime Minister he obtained the mitre of Lichfield and Coventry in 1771, at the early age of 30. In 1744 he was promoted to the see of Worcester, soon after which he was promoted to the rich see of Winchester. By his wife, formerly Miss Bannister, a lady previously well known in the fashionable world, he had a very numerous family, of whom both sons and sons-in-law were amply provided with valuable livings in the church. The bishop with his family went to Italy, and shortly after their return his lady died; his lordship died at his palace at Chelsea, after a long illness, accompanied with blindness, at the age of 79, July 12, 1820.

Bishop North was kind and charitable. The present writer gladly embraces this opportunity to testify to the truth of this statement. The bishop was walking in front of his palace, as was his frequent custom, when the writer, then quite a youth, fell accidentally with considerable force on the shore of the river, it being at the time "low water." The bishop observing the accident, and perceiving the injury sustained, gave immediate instructions for his being carried home, compensating the men, and offering to pay any additional expenses. This may appear no more than an act of duty on the part of the bishop, but the writer cannot refrain from remembering it as a deed worthy of a "good Samaritan."

Winchester Palace was of humble exterior, and displayed little of grandeur or of magnificence. It was two stories in height, and built with red bricks, without pilasters or any other architectural ornament; but, however plain in its exterior, it comprised every convenience and comfort that could be required for a large establishment. The building formed a quadrangle, and its principal entrance was in the south front, the ground floor of which comprised the great hall, kitchen, and chapel, the latter being of moderate dimensions, plainly but neatly fitted up. The great staircase at the eastern end of the hall led to three grand drawing rooms, which extended the whole length of the south front, and which, during the residence of Bishop North, were splendidly furnished. The walls were covered with beautiful paper, having gold borders, the ceilings were richly ornamented in stucco work, and the chimney-pieces composed of various coloured marbles, put up at considerable expense by the bishop after his return from Italy. The sleeping rooms, and other domestic chambers, occupied the whole north front, commanding fine views over the gardens adjoining. On the ground floor of this front were two libraries, and other apartments, bounded on the east by a great gallery, leading to the gardens.

Having been obliged in the year 1791, by the bad health of part of his family, to seek the climate of Italy, Bishop North collected there many curious articles of undoubted antiquity, of modern art, and of natural history, of which the principal were, Greek sepulchral vases, specimens of ancient marbles used in the Roman villas, mural paintings from Herculaneum, beautiful works in Mosaic, fine bronzes, splendid gems, curious china, &c. These were disposed with much taste in various apartments of the house, and some of them we will notice.

The great entrance hall was 40 ft. long, and 20 ft. wide; on a table stood an antique juvenile bust of Bacchus, which was much admired.

The grand staircase was of noble proportions, and was ornamented with a variety of objects of taste, disposed in glass cases, consisting of specimens of all the articles of domestic use among the ancient Romans. Here likewise stood a sepulchral Roman vase of white marble, ornamented with rams' heads and elegant festoons of white flowers, with the following inscription:-

Semproni?

Elegantiorib. choreis

Psallendoq; Pr?stantis

Su? viridis in medio juvent?

E. Vivis

Per crudelia fata dirept?

Sodaliu. Sibi. Choors. Dilecta

D.O.M.

Moer. M.P.

In bloom of youth, midst sweet companions dwelling,

With elegant and tuneful arts excelling,

Fate did Sempronia suddenly remove:

Submissive to the wise behests of Heaven,

Those lov'd companions (full of hope) have given

To her this token of their loss and love.

W. B.

Near the preceding was a plaster cast of Dr. Burney, author of the History of Music, taken from the original bust by Nollekens. The three drawing-rooms were of the same dimensions as the hall; the first was ornamented with several mosaic and fresco paintings from Herculaneum, and other works of ancient arts. In the next apartments were portraits of Bishop North, and his lady. Along the gallery which led to the garden were disposed, in glass cases, a rich variety of beautiful shells, with spars and ores, and a large collection of Italian marbles. The house was also adorned with many specimens of modern art, in modelling and painting, executed by Miss North, the Hon. Mr. Brownlow North, and by others of his lordship's family.

Winchester House was well and expensively supplied with water, conveyed by pipes from a conduit, built by Henry VIII., situated in the King's forcing grounds at Kensington.

Upon pulling down the palace a singular discovery was made. In a small room, to the north front, and at the north-west corner, were found on the plaster of the walls, nine figures of the size of life, viz., three men and six women, drawn in outline with black chalk in a bold and animated style. Various opinions have been given respecting these spirited sketches. They displayed much of the manner of Hogarth, who lived on intimate terms with Bishop Hoadly, and it was supposed that these figures applied to some domestic incident in the bishop's family, or to some scene in a play. His lordship's partiality for the drama was great. A near relative, who resided in Chelsea, wrote the comedy of "The Suspicious Husband."

The palace remained unoccupied after the death of Bishop North; for Lady Tomline, the wife of Bishop Tomline, conceived a dislike to the place altogether. His lordship, in consequence, applied to Parliament and obtained an Act to enable him to sell the premises. The Lord of the Manor became the purchaser; and subsequently the whole fabric was sold by auction.

Description of the Manor House.

As full particulars have already been given of the distinguished occupiers of the ancient Manor House, Cheyne Walk, it is here only necessary to describe the structure of this once celebrated residence. [105]

Immediately adjoining Winchester Palace, on the east, was situated the ancient Manor House and lands. It was a spacious house, built by Henry VIII., the original consisting of a rather plain brick structure, one storey above the ground floor, with irregularly-shaped windows, and divided by four buttresses of great width, carried up considerably higher than the roof, either as ornaments or concealed flues. The parapet of this part was castellated. Two additions, on the east, seems to have been subsequently added to the original; one of them being three stories in height, the other of two, without either buttress or embrasures. The number of windows in the entire front was thirty-four, and the entrance door accorded with the period of Henry VIII. The whole presented an idea of monastic antiquity.

Sir Hans Sloane, it is said, was buried from the eastern end of the Manor House. A man, named Howard, who was employed in the removal of his books, stated that they amounted to nearly 40,000 volumes.

On part of the site of the old Manor House, and adjoining Winchester Palace, in the first house eastward in Cheyne Walk, resided for a long time the Rev. Thomas Clare. When the destruction of the episcopal domain took place, Mr. Clare, with some difficulty, obtained a portion of the land upon which the gardens of the above venerable edifice stood, in the arrangement and disposition of which he omitted nothing which might do justice to the memory of its former illustrious owners and occupiers, or excite the approbation of visitors of judgment and taste.

Sir Richard Steele appears, from the parish books, to have rented a house by the water-side, rated at ￡14 per annum. In a letter from Sir Richard to Lady Steele, dated Chelsea, 14th of February, 1716, he says, "Mr. Fuller and I came hither to dine in the air, but the maid has been so slow that we are benighted, and chuse to lie here rather than go this road in the dark. I lie at our own house, and my friend at a relation's in the town."

Sir Richard was born about the year 1676, in Ireland, but of English parents. At a very early age he was sent from Dublin to London, and was educated with Addison at the Charter House; from hence he removed to Merton College, Oxford; he left the University without taking a degree, and entered the army, a step highly displeasing to his friends. However, as he had a constant flow of good nature, a generous frankness of spirit, and a sparkling vivacity of wit, these qualities rendered him the delight of the soldiery, and having made choice of a profession which set him free from all the ordinary restraints in youth, he indulged his inclinations in the wildest excesses. He became Secretary to Lord Cutts, who obtained for him the rank of captain in Lord Lucas's regiment of Fusileers; and, in the beginning of Queen Anne's reign, he was appointed to the profitable place of Gazetteer, to which he had been recommended by Mr. Addison. Steele had already exhibited his talents as a dramatic writer with success, and in 1709 he began to publish "The Tatler," which was undertaken by him in concert with Dr. Swift, and others; and by this work his reputation was perfectly established. This was followed by "The Spectator," which was carried on chiefly by the assistance of his friend Addison, and the success of this paper being still superior to that of the former, encouraged him to proceed in the same design in the character of "The Guardian."

In 1710 Sir Richard was made a Commissioner of the Stamp Duties, which office he resigned in 1713; and from a placeman he became a violent oppositionist. He took his seat in the House of Commons as Member for Stockbridge, in Hampshire, but was expelled thence in a few days after for writing several seditious libels. From this time till the death of Queen Anne his attention was wholly engrossed in writing and publishing political tracts. [107]

On the accession of George I. he was again taken into favour; was appointed Surveyor to the Royal Stables at Hampton Court, had the honour of knighthood conferred upon him, and during the whole of this reign continued to receive many marks of the royal bounty.

It might now naturally be imagined that, taught by ample experience, Sir Richard would pay some attention to economy: such, however, was the power of habit, and such was his thoughtless profusion, that scarcely a twelvemonth had passed before he was obliged to sell his share in a theatre to relieve the oppressive exigencies of want. In 1725 he surrendered the whole of his property to his creditors, and retired to Wales, where, in the following year, he was seized with a paralytic stroke, which rendered him incapable of any further literary effort.

By the indulgence of the mortgagee he resided on his estate, near Carmarthen, which he had formerly acquired on his marriage with his second wife. After lingering nearly two years in this secluded situation, he died September 21, 1729. Such was the chequered life of Steele, at one time exulting on the wing of prosperity; at another depressed by all the evils of the most embittered poverty. His frailties were not the offspring of vice, but the effects of habitual carelessness and the want of prudence. Compassionate in his heart; unbounded in his benevolence; no object of distress that he could relieve ever left him with a murmur; and in the hour of prosperity he was ever ready, both with his influence and property, to promote the views of literature and science, and to assist the efforts of unprotected genius. Mental wealth, however poor and humble the possessor, was esteemed by him to be of invaluable worth. [108]

Don Saltero's Coffee House.

This well known coffee-house was first opened in the year 1695, by one Salter, who had been a servant to Sir Hans Sloane, and had accompanied him on his travels. The collection of curiosities, which were principally the gift of his master, being the duplicates of his various curious collections, drew from London a multitude of spectators. It existed for more than a century, and was at length sold by public auction in the year 1799.

In "The Tatler," No. 34, Sir Richard Steele has given the following humorous description of this once far-famed collection of rarities, and of its eccentric proprietor:-

"Being of a very spare and hective constitution, I am forced to make frequent journies of a mile or two for fresh air; and indeed by this last, which was no further than the village of Chelsea, I am farther convinced of the necessity of travelling to know the world; for, as it is usual with young voyagers, as soon as they land upon a shore, to begin their accounts of the nature of the people, their soil, their government, their inclinations, and their passions, so really I fancied I could give you an immediate description of this village from the Five Fields, where the robbers lie in wait, to the coffee-house, where the literati sit in council. A great ancestor of ours, by the mother's side, Mr. Justice Overdo, (whose history is written by Ben Johnson,) met with more enormities by walking incognito than he was capable of correcting; and found great mortifications in observing, also, persons of eminence, whom he before knew nothing of: thus it fared with me, even in a place so near the town as this. When I came into the coffee-house, I had not time to salute the company, before my eye was diverted by 10,000 gimcracks round the room, and on the ceiling. When my first astonishment was over, comes to me a sage, of thin and meagre countenance, which aspect made me doubt whether reading or fretting had made it so philosophic; but I very soon perceived him to be of that sect which the ancients call Gingivist?, in our language, tooth-drawers. I immediately had a respect for the man; for these practical philosophers go upon a very rational hypothesis, not to cure, but to take away the part affected. My love of mankind made me very benevolent to Mr. Salter; for such is the name of this eminent barber and antiquary. Men are usually, but unjustly, distinguished rather by their fortunes than their talents, otherwise their patronage would make a great figure in that class of men which I distinguish under the title of Odd Fellows; but it is the misfortune of persons of great genius to have their faculties dissipated by attention to too many things at once. Mr. Salter is an instance of this; if he would wholly give himself up to the string, instead of playing twenty beginnings to tunes, he might, before he dies play Roger de Caubly quite out. I heard him go through his whole round; and, indeed, I think he does play the Merry Christ Church Bells pretty justly; but he confessed to me, he did that rather to show he was orthodox than that he valued himself upon the music itself. Or if he did proceed in his anatomy, why might he not hope in time to cut off legs, as well as draw teeth?

"The particularity of this man put me into a deep thought, whence it should proceed that, of all the lower order, barbers should go further in hitting the ridiculous than any other set of men: watermen brawl, cobblers sing; but why must a barber be for ever a politician, a musician, an anatomist, a poet, and a physician. The learned Vossius says, his barber used to comb his hair in iambics; and indeed in all ages, one of this useful profession, this order of cosmetic philosophers, has been celebrated by the most eminent hands. You see the barber, in Don Quixote, is one of the principal characters in the history, which gave me satisfaction in the doubt, why Don Saltero writ his name with a Spanish termination; for he is descended in a right line, not from John Tradescant, as he himself asserts, but from that memorable companion of the Knight of Mancha; and I hereby certify, to all the worthy citizens who travel to see his rarities, that his double-barrelled pistols, targets, coats of mails, his sclopeta, and sword of Toledo, were left to his ancestor, by the said ancestor to all his progeny down to Don Saltero. Though I go thus far in favour of Don Saltero's merit, I cannot allow a liberty he takes of imposing several names (without my licence) on the collections he has made, to the abuse of the good people of England, one of which is particularly calculated to deceive religious persons, to the great scandal of the well-disposed, and may introduce heterodox opinions: he shows you a straw hat, which I know to be made by Madge Peskad, within three miles of Bedford, and tells you it is Pontius Pilate's wife's chambermaid's sister's hat. To my knowledge of this very hat, it may be added, that the covering of straw was never used among the Jews, since it was demanded of them to make bricks without it.

"Therefore this is really nothing, but, under the specious pretence of learning and antiquity, to impose upon the world. There are other things which I cannot tolerate among his rarities, as the china figure of a lady in the glass case, the Italian engine for the imprisonment of those who go abroad with it; both of which I hereby order to be taken down, or else he may expect to have his letters-patent for making punch superseded, be debarred wearing his muff next winter, or ever coming to London without his wife.

"It may be thought, perhaps, I have dwelt too long upon the affairs of this operator; but I desire the reader to remember that it is my way to consider men as they stand in merit, and not according to their fortune or figure; and if he is in a coffee-house at the reading hereof, let him look round, and he will find there may be more characters drawn in this account than that of Don Saltero; for half the politicians about him, he may observe, are, by their place in nature, of the class of tooth-drawers."

The curiosities of this collection were deposited in glass-cases, and consisted of a great variety of petrifactions, corals, chrystals, ores, shells, animals preserved in spirits, stuffed animals from various parts of the world, idols, curious Chinese manuscripts, missals, birds, snakes, butterflies, medals, models, fire-arms, fishes, portraits, prints, &c.

A catalogue of the whole was printed, with the names of the donors affixed; and under the management of skilful hands this collection could not have failed to produce ample remuneration and profit.

Such collections, aided by those of Tradescant, Ashmole, and Thoresby, cherished the infancy of science, and should not be depreciated now, as the playthings of a boy are scorned after he has arrived at manhood. Mr. Pennant's ancestor, who lived at Chelsea, often took his great nephew, Mr. Pennant's father, to the coffee-house, where he used to see poor Richard Cromwell, a little and very neat old man, with a most placid countenance, the effect of his innocent and unambitious life. He imagines this was Don Saltero's coffee-house, to which he was a benefactor, and has the honour of having his name mentioned in the collection. [111]

Mr. Pennant, when a boy, saw "his uncle's gift to the great Saltero," which was "a lignified hog." What Mr. Pennant thus facetiously denominates, is called, in the edition of Saltero's catalogue that we have seen, "a piece of a root of a tree that grew in the shape of an hog." He feared this matchless curiosity was lost; at least, it is omitted in the last, or forty-seventh edition of the catalogue.

What author, except Mr. Pennant, can flatter himself with delivering his works down to posterity in impressions so numerous as the labours of Don Saltero?

The name of Don Saltero made its first appearance in the newspaper, June 22nd, 1723; whence the following account of himself and his rarities is extracted.

"Sir, fifty years since to Chelsea great,

From Rodman, on the Irish main,

I stroll'd, and maggots in my pate,

Where, much impro'd, they still remain.

Through various employes I've past,

A scraper, virtuos', projector,

Tooth drawer, trimmer, and at last

I'm now a gimcrack-whim collector.

Monsters of all sorts here are seen,

Strange things in nature as they grow so,

Some relics of the Sheha queen,

And fragments of the fam'd Bob Crusoe.

Knick-knacks, too, dangle round the wall,

Some in glass cases, some on shelf,

But what's the rarest right of all,

Your humble servant shows himself.

On this my chiefest hope depends,

Now if you will the cause espouse,

In journals pray direct your friends

To my Museum Coffee-House:

And, in requital for the timely favour,

I'll gratis bleed, draw teeth, and be your shaver.

Nay, that your pate may with my noddle tarry,

And you shine bright as I do-marry, shall ye

Freely consult your Revelation Molly.

Nor shall one jealous thought create a huff,

For she has taught me manners long enough."

Chelsea Knackatory.

DON SALTERO.

Dr. Franklin, in his Life, mentions coming to Chelsea to see Don Saltero's collection:-"We one day (says he) made a party to go by water to Chelsea, in order to see the College, and Don Saltero's curiosities. On our return, at the request of the company, I undressed myself, and leaped into the river. I swam from near Chelsea the whole way to Blackfriars Bridge, exhibiting, during my course, a variety of feats of activity and address, both upon the surface of the water as well as under it. The sight occasioned much astonishment and pleasure to those to whom it was new. In my youth I took great delight in this exercise."

This noted coffee-house was for many years, in the present century, conducted in a most respectable manner. There was a subscription room, where gentlemen met and conversed, and which was frequently visited by men of literature and science, many of whom are still living, but of late years it had lost the celebrity of former days. It was rebuilt in 1867, is now a capital private residence.

Henry Redhead Yorke, Esq.-This accomplished scholar died at his residence, at No. 19, Cheyne Walk, in 1813, in the 41st year of his age. He was a great classical scholar. In his youth as he himself expressed it, he was "madly in love with ideal liberty." He became an officer in the French army, and a member of the National Convention, and personally acquainted with all the leading characters of the French Revolution. He was denounced by Robespierre; and but for a friendly hint from the celebrated Condorcet, must have been guillotined, had he been one hour longer in making his escape.

In the month of March, 1798, he was liberated from Dorchester Castle, after an imprisonment of four years, for a seditious libel. He had paid a fine of ￡200, and entered into securities for ￡2,000.

Some years previous to his death his political ideas became moderated, and he manifested a strong sense of the value of the British constitution. He had been called to the bar; a profession for which he was highly qualified, and in which there was every reason to hope he would have risen to high eminence, had his life been prolonged. Indeed, the zeal with which he devoted himself to his various professional pursuits, hastened, if it did not bring on, the disorder which put a period to his existence at the comparative early age of forty-one years. As a classical scholar, and nervous elegant writer, he has left few equals. His letters, under the signature of "Galgacus," have scarcely been surpassed since the days of Junius. In private life, Mr. Yorke was distinguished for benevolence and liberality of sentiment, openness of character, and his company was courted by men of all parties.

Francis Chalmer, Esq., (son of Edmund Chalmer, Esq.,) resided in Cheyne Row for a great many years. He was a magistrate for the county, and highly esteemed in the parish. As a gentleman he was affable and courteous, and kind to the poor. He died at his house in Cheyne Row, in July, 1859, and was interred in the Brompton Cemetery.

Leigh Hunt, Esq., the well-known author of many interesting works, and who was the associate of the most distinguished political as well as literary men of the earlier part of the present century, occupied a house in Upper Cheyne Row for a considerable time.

Miss Frances Elizabeth Eggleton, and Miss Christian Mary Eggleton, lived in Cheyne Walk. They were the daughters of Mr. David Eggleton, of Church Street, a very old Chelsea family. The former lady died in 1861, and the latter in 1867. Miss Frances Eggleton bequeathed a sum of money, to be given at her sister's death to the Rector and Churchwardens, in trust, for them to give, on Christmas Eve, "a shoulder of mutton of not less than seven pounds in weight, and not exceeding eight pounds in weight, and four pounds of bread, to each of twenty poor persons of Chelsea, being married persons and having a family." An extract from her will, respecting this gift, will be inserted amongst the other parochial legacies.

Charles Rawlings, Esq., who resided in Cheyne Walk for many years, was much respected in the parish, and was of a most benevolent disposition. His deed of gift in 1862, and the legacies in 1864, will be found in the list of Chelsea Charities.

Dr. Bayford, a distinguished proctor, and father of the present Dr. Bayford, resided with his family in a spacious house, within a few doors of Manor Street. His sons, in their younger days, were particularly attached to aquatic exercises.

Nathaniel Handford, Esq., an old and respected parishioner, resided also in Cheyne Walk, where he died. Mrs. Sarah Handford, his relict, who did not very long survive him, left several small legacies, in 1865, to various charitable societies in the parish.

W. Carpenter, Esq., well-known in literary circles, and who has long been connected with the press, resided likewise within the last few years in Cheyne Walk.

R. E. N. Lee, Esq., occupied the house at the corner of Manor Street, (now in possession of Dr. Sannemann,) for a considerable period. He was Steward of the Manor for eighteen years. He died in 1833, and in St. Luke's Church there is a tablet to his memory. No family was more respected in Chelsea.

Mr. J. Fraine, a solicitor, resided at No. 13, in Cheyne Walk, and died in 1785, aged 70. The history of this gentleman and his family was marked by some very uncommon circumstances. He was himself afflicted with a continual gnawing pain in his left arm, which he carried on a board in a sling; and by pinching his jaws and throat, and beating his right cheek through the violence of the pain, he had marked them very much. He compared the sensation to a worm in the marrow of the upper bone of his arm, and used to keep a boy to beat it with a stick whenever the pain returned, and to tap on the back of his head with a piece of wood covered with cloth. Mr. Fraine's death was occasioned by the fall on his right thigh of a leaden weight, with which he was exercising as a remedy for his complaint; the injury brought on a speedy mortification. This extraordinary case was fully described in a letter, subsequently written by Dr. Monsey. The calamities of this unhappy gentleman extended also to his son and daughter, both of whom fell by their own hands.

Mr. Fraine's only son. King Samuel, an amiable, accomplished young man, who received his education at Christ Church, Cambridge, put an end to his existence at his chambers in the Temple, in 1799, aged 22 years, for which no reason can be assigned but disappointment in love.

Miss Fraine, whose duteous attention to her tortured and frequently impatient father was most exemplary, after the dreadful catastrophe of her brother's suicide, not wholly unaccountable from hereditary irregularities of system, seemed to have a dread (not aversion) of marriage. The tendency of her social feelings, strictly regulated and controlled by the reserve of modesty and the dignity of virtue, almost irresistibly inclined her best affections towards wedlock; whilst her extremely sensitive forethought shunned the general result of engagements ennobling to mankind in general, but appalling in many lights to herself.

During this state of mind, repeatedly avowing her contempt for birds, cats, and dogs, she expressed great attachment for infant children. Miss Fraine, in 1780, frequently expressed to a very near neighbour her ardent wish that a particular child were placed under her own sole and immediate management. "I cannot safely marry," she would often observe, "but I shall undertake the charge of an infant's education with delight."

After making many serious colloquial attempts to reason against such an intention, the Rev. Weeden Butler sent some sportive lines to the highly gifted and unfortunate lady. It succeeded so far as to repress any further application by the lady, but her feelings remained the same. The following elegant jeu-d'esprit was written with similar effect. She appears to have possessed great sensibility of feeling without adequate reflection.

SALE OF A DAUGHTER,

In fairy guise and playful mood,

Euphrania, young and fair, and good,

Vows, if her friends a price would set

Upon their daughter Harriet,

Herself the gift of Heaven would buy,

And cherish it beneath her eye.

Does, then, Euphrania mean to say,

(If we would cast our young away,

Like ostriches) she'd prove a mother,

And rear the nestling of another?

Ye powers, it is a strange temptation!

Let us not treat it with flirtation.

Come, think upon it well, dear wife;

We love our offspring as our life.

Euphrania's offer is adoption:

Take it, or leave it, is our option.

Heigho! I read your tearful eye,

"For the babe's good we must comply."

'Tis said, 'tis done. Now, in a trice,

Let us determine well the price;

And, shunning all superfluous joke,

Settle the worth of infant folk.

The bargain is as clear as water;

Full many a one has sold a daughter.

The consent of the parents having thus been obtained, the price to be given for the infant daughter is the next consideration. The following is a summary of the supposed value of the child:-

Imprimis. For a hazel eye,

And tongue that never told a lie, &c.

￡52

Chapter 10 No.10

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