Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/173

 26, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

165

] nyvet, Knight, who valientlye defended himself, 1 ler being assaulted, and slew the master thiefe \ ith his own hand." H

Jlven down to the commencement of the 1 resent century the locality retained a very i idifferent character :

"Knightsbridge long retained its suburban cha-
 * icier. It was retired and it was notorious ; a

1 irking-place for footpads, the resort of duellists, j haunt of roysterers and holi day-makers."! "he bridge referred to by Norden in the ioregoing quotation crossed the Westbourne, which, having its source in several small (streams in the vicinity of West Hampstead, after passing through Kilburn, Bayswater, Kensington Gardens, and Hyde Park, con- tinued by way of Albert Gate, William Street, and Lowndes Square, on its course to the Thames at the Hospital Gardens, Chelsea. It was the bridge here mentioned, together with the name of the manor Neyte that gave the modern name Knightsbridge to the hamlet, or the chapelry, as it is named by Lewis. The reason for the title " chapelry" is that

"eastward of the gate is a chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity, formerly attached to a lazar-

Cubitt, a member of the firm that assisted in converting the Five Fields, Chelsea, into the fashionable district Belgravia, obtained the lease of the ground and erected the two large mansions on the east and west sides of Albert Gate, named by the wits the "Two Gibraltars,' the idea, I suppose, being that they guarded the strait leading into the park, as they were at that time far loftier than any building in the vicinity. The ground had been previously occupied by the Cannon Brewery and an old tavern, at first known as the " Old Fox," but afterwards as the " Fox and Bull." It was a resort of the roysterers and wits, and is men- tioned, under its earlier name, by Addison. It is said, but I know not on what authority, that the sign, blown down in 1807, was painted by no less a hand than that of Sir Joshua Reynolds. When the large mansions were completed, the one on the east side was purchased by George Hudson, the York linendraper, who obtained notoriety during the period of the railway mania, for the sum of 15,000^. He was then known as the Rail- way King. When the debacle came and he lost both throne and fortune, the house became untenanted, and Hudson retired on

-. '/ -i t i i

when John Glassington, a surgeon, was governor of the house. In 1629 the hospital chapel was erected into a district chapel for the hamlet, but the hospital was then in existence and remained some years longer. "J

The present chapel was built in 1789, and the school attached to it was founded in 1783, and supported by voluntary contributions^ The ground at Albert Gate was purchased by Government from the Dean and Chapter of Westminster and other owners, and the roadway into the park was opened to the public on 6 April, 1842: "The gates were not then erected nor the noble mansions which stand on either side of the entrance."! | The iron gates were finished on 8 Aug., 1845. The stags erected on them were brought from the Ranger's lodge in the Green Park. This lodge stood on the Piccadilly side of the park, where the trees now stand by the curb of the footpath. A writer in the Times of 21 March, 1845, complaining of an enclosure in the park, asks, "Is it to be planted, or converted into a garden for the benefit of the twin giants untenanted as yet 1 ?" The dates 1842-5 indi- cate the period within which Mr. Thomas

quoted by Ashton in ' Hyde Park.'
 * Ellis's Introduction to Norden's ' Essex,' p. xv,

f Wheatley and Cunningham, ' London Past and Present.'

I Wheatley and Cunningham.

Lewis, ' Topographical Dictionary.'

II Ashton, * Hyde Park,' c. xxii. 255.

on which he lived till his death in 1871. mansion remained unoccupied for some time after this, but was ultimately taken by the ambassador of France, and has been since occupied by the successive representatives of that country. It was in this mansion that Count Walewski and his countess gave a bal costume" in 1854 which was attended by the Queen arid Prince Consort : "Contrary to cus- tom and almost contrary to etiquette, Her Majesty and her Royal Consort, and the Court, honoured the representative of Louis Napoleon with their presence."* In the following year, when Napoleon III. visited London, it was in this house that he held an official reception. It is said to be the intention to pull down some of the small houses adjacent, to build a ball-room and a banqueting-room, as well as to increase the accommodation for the staff of the em- bassy. As there are but three small houses between the embassy and the chapel, the extension cannot go very far eastward.

B. H. L.

' PARS OCULI.' In the Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, vol. vi. part ii. I p. 122, N.S., in the will of Ralph Bushy, clerk, these words occur : " Item, lego Radulpho Haynes unam togam, et unum libruni qui vocatur Pars Oculi." Mr. H. C. Maiden, ^ who is remarking upon this will, says: "One


 * 'Annual Register,' May, 1854.