Page:Once a Week Volume V.djvu/126

27, 1861.] He handed to her a telegraphic dispatch. It was from Charles Hawkesley. And it said,

“''Have no hesitation in handing to the bearer what he will ask from you. It is absolutely necessary. Fear nothing.''”

“Does the message explain itself, Madame?”

“I know the name of Mr. Hawkesley,” replied Laura.

“He instructs me to ask you for a packet. By the description in the message to myself”—and he produced another paper—“I should judge that the packet beside Madame is the one in question.”

Laura’s treasure—her sheet anchor—her last hope! No. She steadily refused compliance, and the stranger, with slight attempt to change her resolve, bowed and departed. On went the vessel, and Laura held her treasure fast when she wistfully gazed on the white cliffs of England.

know of no place in the United Kingdom, the metropolis excepted, in which there have resided such a number of distinguished persons as Twickenham. We can trace amongst its former inhabitants statesmen, poets, philosophers, painters, authors, ecclesiastics, military and naval men, as well as many women of historical eminence. In the lapse of years it would become difficult to point out the residences and characteristics of these Twickenham worthies, and therefore it is thought that short notices of them would not be found uninteresting as a literary record. It should be stated that Whitton, being a hamlet of Twickenham, such celebrated persons as have resided in that place will be included in the list now about to be given.

Let us begin with Pope and his villa, of which now, alas! but little is left. Here Pope resided with his father and mother about the year 1715. His garden, lawns, and pleasure-grounds consisted of five acres. Horace Walpole tells us in one of his letters that this space Pope twisted, and twirled, and rhymed, and harmonised till it appeared two or three sweet little lawns opening and showing beyond one another, and the whole surrounded with thick impenetrable woods. Here was his grotto, his willow, and the beauteous Thames, on which Pope delighted to be punted on fine days. At Pope’s death, his villa and grounds were sold to Sir William Stanhope, who hacked and hewed the trees, added to and spoilt the house, and desecrated the whole place. His friend, Lord Nugent, wrote the following sycophantic lines to him on what he called his improvements of Pope’s grounds:

Should we not rather read—

Not far from Pope’s villa was the lath-and-plaster house built by Horace Walpole in a charming situation, which he called Strawberry Hill. He himself has sufficiently described it in his letters, with its outside appearance and its internal decorations. Here was his printing-press, and here he wrote those letters which will be read probably as long as the English language lasts. At the end of a verdant meadow Walpole purchased a comparatively small house, in which the celebrated Kitty Clive, the actress, resided. He would trip across that field accompanied by his pet spaniel, in order to enjoy the society of that fascinating woman. At his death he left the house to the two beautiful sisters, the Misses Berry, who may be reckoned amongst the Twickenham worthies.

Near to Pope’s villa was the residence of Thomas Hudson, an eminent portrait painter, and who married the daughter of Richardson, the painter. Hudson had for his pupils Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Mortimer, Wright of Derby, and many other celebrated painters, who first studied under him.

The extravagant Philip Duke of Wharton, whom Pope satirised as “the scorn and wonder of the age,” had a house at Twickenham, pulled down a few years ago. A solitary cedar marks the spot, with a pond near it. A life of him, with his poems, speeches, and letters, was published in two volumes, after his death. He died in 1731, in a convent at Tarragona in Spain.

Lady Mary Wortley Montague lived in a house on the left-hand side of the road leading to Twickenham Common; it may still be known by two finely-carved stone vases on each side of the gateway. At one time she lived on terms of great intimacy and friendship with Pope; but they quarrelled, and hated each other cordially for the rest of their lives. She died in 1762. She deserves the gratitude of her country for having introduced inoculation into it.

That charming actress, Mrs. Pritchard, resided at a small house near the Thames, called Ragman’s Castle, and so called from its having been an alehouse and the great resort of beggars. She enlarged it considerably. At her death, in 1758, it became the residence of George Hardinge, Esq., who had been Attorney-General to Queen Charlotte, and afterwards a Welsh judge. Mr. Justice Hardinge was a man of learning, a good lawyer, and of infinite pleasantry and wit. He wrote a series of letters to Burke on his impeachment of Hastings, and many other works. He was the father of that brave Captain Hardinge who lost his life and his ship in fighting an American frigate of far superior force. Mr. Justice Hardinge died in 1816, and his speeches at the bar and in the House of Commons, with his miscellaneous works, and a life of him, have been collected and published.

Close to Ragman’s Castle is that fine villa now called Orleans House, from the late King of the French, Louis Philippe, having lived in it when Duke of Orleans. It was built in the reign of Queen Anne by Mr. Secretary Johnstone, a man whom Pope satirised most bitterly. At his death it was purchased by George Pitt, Esq., better known by the name of Diamond Pitt. It is now the residence of the Duke d’Aumale. This reminds us of the following anecdote. When Louis Philippe was staying at the Star and Garter, Richmond, he walked one day by himself to Twickenham for the purpose, as he said, of seeing