Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/268

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NOTP:S AND QUERIES. [11 s. ix. APEIL 4, m*.

heaven." after which the- mansion seems to have served the purpose of an occasional lodging for royal or illustrious guests. Its proximity to Placentia Palace then a new pile where foreign visitors and ambassadors were constantly coming and going, suited it well to such a use. Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV. and Richard III., made in 1480 a stay under its roof, lasting from July to September, during which time she obtained several licences to export oxen and sheep to Flanders, and wool free of custom. The preparations to get the cold, dismantled mansion ready for her reception were bustling and elaborate. " Shetes," fustians, " blankettes," " peces of arras," and " peces of worsted " were served out of the King's wardrobe, together with a liberal supply of hooks to hang the tapestries. Green sarsinet was needed for a traverse for the Duchess's chapel, and was instantly procured under the King's sign-manual. The watermen were measured for new suits in blue and " murrey " cloth, embroidered each with three small Yorkist roses, while the Master of the Barge, in con- sideration of his rank, was to wear a gown of black camlet.*

Upon the Duchess's landing, green velvet trappings garnished with aiglets of silver, gilt and bordered with spangles, were pre- sented to her for decking her horses, to- gether with crimson velvet for covering the headstalls, and reins for ten " hobies " and palfreys. Nor was this all, for on her departure another large call on the King's wardrobe was made to provide her body- guard Sir Edward Woodville, the King's brother-in-law, Sir James Radcliffe, Knight of the Body, and several esquires with splendid apparel in which to honour her Highness' s journey homeward. Upon her own suite too, following immemorial custom, cloths of every tissue and hue were bestowed with lavish display of courtesy.

When the visit was ended, Cold Harbour was, perhaps, again allowed to relapse into a period of desertion and repose.

The preference of King Henry VIII., with his love of jousts, banquets, and revels, for the neighbouring palace of Greenwich, must inevitably have brought the house many notable guests or temporary residents. Who they may have been is not now ascertain able ; perhaps some fascinating ladies o the Court may have been amongst them

of silk and camel's hair, but afterwards a fabric with long plushy pile came to be known as camlet.
 * Camlet was originally an Eastern stuff woven

Who shall say ? An extract from the Accounts of the King's Privy Purse hints

ihat he paid a flying visit hither from West- minster in November, 1531, when the watermen were paid 10s. 8d. for their labour on the way. Anthony van den Wyngaerde's panoramic view of London, executed about

jhis period, shows the group of gabled build -

ngs as still surrounded by fields, and far removed from the multiplying monster of

>ricks and mortar against which Elizabeth strove hard with Act of Parliament.

Tradition unconfirmed insists that Se- mstian Cabot, the great navigator, once ived in it ; if true this was probably on his recall from the service of Spain, when he was granted a State pension of L66Z. 13s. 4d. a year and, Hakluyt adds 'without apparent authority), appointed Chief Pilot. Whether Hakluyt is right or wrong, the pension was a large sum for no other purpose than to retain an option on the great navigator's services. Conceivably he did something to earn his annuity perhaps generally superintended the maritime affairs of the country. Or the source of the tradi- tion may be that a careless confusion has at some time or other identified this house with the Cold Harbour in the City whereat Cabot may have found a handy lodging when he sat as arbiter in the disputes between the Hanse merchants whose Steelyard ad- joined and the merchants of London. A slight suspicion of possibility is gained for the suggestion of Cabot's lodging there by the fact that at that time, 1551, the record of the succession of tenants of the Cold Harbour of Dowgate, otherwise fairly com- plete and coherent,' fails. Dare we fill in the vacancy with Cabot ?

To return to Blackwall. Sir Walter Raleigh, the inhabitants of Poplar maintain, lived for some time in this notable house in their parish. To crown their confidence, the eastern portion of Cold Harbour has been officially named " Raleana."

At this point History and tradition alike fall silent. Gascoyne's map of 1703 shows two defined areas, each of about 200 yds. square, marked " Cold Harbour " : the higher in big, the lower in small type ; but there is not the slightest trace of a house or an inn* The West India Docks, dug in 1802, abscfrbed both these plots to form their two outer basins. This is the utmost in- formation we can glean through the last 300 years.

A generation only ago the old mansion,, which stood in proximity to Globe Stairs^