ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

joins Woolwich Common. It is now the feat of General Sir Thomas Spencer Wilson, bart. Fre

CHART-PARK, near Dorking, the beautiful feat of Captain Cornwall. 13 HURST PL to med su fur CHEAM, a village in Surry, between Sutton and Ewell. The only building of note in this parish, is the manor-houfe of Eaft Cheam, the feat of Philip Antrobus, Efq. It is an ancient structure, which had a chapel, now converted into a billiard room. In the church, on the fouth-fide of Lumley's Chancel, is a monument to the memory of Jane Lady Lumley. This lady, who died in 1577, was a very learned woman. She tranflated othe Iphigenia of Euripedes, and fome of the Orations of Ifo crates, into English, and one of the latter into Latin. It is remarkable, that of fix fucceffive Rectors of Cheam, between the years 1581 and 1662, five became bishops; namely, Anthony Watfon, bifhop of Chichefter, Lancelot Andrews, bishop of Winchester, George Mountain, archbishop of York, Richard Senhoufe, bifhop of Carlifle, and John Hacket, bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, Adjoining to this parish, is the fite of the village of Codinton, or Cudinton, which no longer exifts; but near which flood the celebrated royal palace of Nonfuch, See Nonfuch.

CHELSEA, a village, on the Thames, two M. FL. Here is the phyfic garden belonging to the company of apothecaries, which is enriched with a great variety of plants, both indigenous and exotic. This was given, in 1721, by Sir Hans Sloane, bart. on condition of their paying a quitrent of 51. and delivering annually to the Royal Society fifty fpecimens of different fort of plants, of the growth of this garden, till the number amount to 2000. In 1733, the company erected a marble statue of the donor, by Ryfbrack, in the centre of the garden, the front of which is confpicuoufly marked, toward the river, by two noble cedars of Libanus.:

Don Saltero's coffee-houfe here is much frequented, on account of its natural curiofities. At the upper end of Chyne Row is the palace of the bishops of Winchester. Adjoining to this, Sir Thomas More built a fpacious manfion of brick, the greater part of which remains, and is

now

now a paper manufactory. It has undergone many alterations, and has loft much of its Gothic and venerable appearance. On the fouth fide of the chancel of the church, the body of this great man was depofited, except his head, which, after it had been ftuck 14 days on a pole, on London Bridge, was taken away by his daughter, Mrs. Roper, who preferved it in a leaden box, till the could depofit it in a vault, belonging to her husband's family, adjoining to St. Dunstan's church, at Canterbury. In the church is a monument, erected by Sir Thomas More to the memory of his two wives, with a Latin infcription written by himself. In the church-yard is the monument of Sir Hans Sloane, the founder of the British Museum; and to the fouth-west corner of the church is affixed a mural monument to the memory of Dr. Edward Chamberlayne with a punning Latin epitaph, which, for its fingularity and quaintnefs, may detain the reader's attention. But in the church is a Latin epitaph upon his daughter, which is ftill more curious. It is, in English, as follows:

In an adjoining vault lies ANNE, only daughter of EDWARD CHAMBERLAYNE, Doctor of Laws, born in London the 20th of January, 1667; who, having long declined marriage, and afpiring to great atchievements, unusal to her sex and age, on the 30th of June, 1690, on board a fire-fhip, in man's cloathing, as a fecond Pallas, chafte and fearlefs,fought valiently fix hours against the French, under the command of her brother. Snatch'd, alas! how foon, by fudden death, unhonour'd by a progeny, like herself, worthy to rule the main! Returned from the engagement, and, after fome few months, married to JOHN SPRAGG, Efq. with whom, for fixteen more, the lived most amiably happy. At length, in childbed of a daughter, the encountered death 30th of October, 1691. This monument, for a confort most virtuous, and dearly loved, was erected by her husband.")

Beyond the town,' on a fine afcent from the Thames, are the villas of Lord Cremorne, and Lady Mary Coke; and, at Little Chelfea, in a houfe formerly occupied by

the

the Earl of Shaftefbury, refided the juflly celebrated John Locke. See Laver.

CHELSEA-HOSPITAL, for invalids in the land-fervice, was begun by Charles II. and compleated by William III. The firft projector of this magnificent ftructure was Sir Stephen Fox, grandfather to the Right Honourable Charles James Fox. "He could not bear," he faid, "to fee the common foldiers, who had spent their ftrength in our fervice, reduced to beg;" and to this edifice he contributed 13,000l. It was built by Sir Chriftoper Wren, on the fite of an old college, which had efcheated to the crown.

The north front opens into a piece of ground laid out in walks; and that, facing the fouth, into a garden extending to the Thames. In the centre of this edifice is a pediment fupported by four Tufcan columns, over which is a turret. On one fide of the entrance is the chapel, and on the other the hall, where the penfioners dine. In this hall is the picture of Charles II, on horfeback. The altarpiece in the chapel is adorned with the Refurrection, painted by Ricci.

The wings join the chapel and hall to the north, and are open on the Thames to the fouth. They are 360 feet in length, 80 in breadth, and three ftories high. A colonnade extends along the fide of the hall and chapel; and, in the midft of the quadrangle, is the statue of Charles II. Two other large fquares adjoining contain apartments for the fervants of the houfe, for old maimed officers, and the infirmary. In the wings are fixteen wards, in which are accomodations for above 400 men.

The penfioners confift of veterans, who have been at leaft twenty years in the army; or of difabled foldiers. They wear red Coats lined with blue, and are provided with all other clothes, diet, washing, and lodging. The upward of eight thoufand, and

out-penfioners

have each 71. Thefe

ducted

great

amount to year. 12s. 6d. a

expences are fupported by a poundage de

out of
the

once a year,

the

army, with one day's pay pav of from each officer and common foldier; and when there is any deficiency, by a fum voted by Parliathe fum voted was 173, 104l. 3s. rid.

ment

In

1792,

This hofpital, which coft 150,000l. is unquestionably a noble monument of national gratitude and humanity. It has been fuggefted, however, that if there were no fuch local eftablishment, the faving of the vaft expences incurred by it, would enable government to make a much more comfortable provifion for all our brave veterans, as out-penfioners; who, in that cafe, inftead of being collected in an hofpital, far from the tender" charities of father, fou, and brother," might more happily spend the evening of life in the cottages of their families.

CHERTSEY, a market town in Surry, 20 M. F. L. At this place, according to Camden, Julius Cæfar croffed the Thames when he first attempted the conqueft of Britain; but Mr. Gough, in his additions to the Britannia, has brought forward fome arguments in oppofition to this opinion.

Here was once an abbey, in which was depofited the corpfe of Henry VI, afterward removed to Windfor. Out of the ruins of this abbey, (all that remains of which is the outer wall of the circuit) Sir Henry Carew, mafter of the buck-hounds to Charles II, built a very fine house, which now belongs to Mr. Wefton; and on the fide of St. Anne's Hill, is the feat of the Right Hon. Charles James Fox. On this hill, which commands a beautiful profpect, is fill ftanding a part of a ftone wall, the remains of a chapel dedicated to St. Anne. Not far from this hill is Monk's Grove, near which was discovered a once celebrated medicinal fpring. It was loft for a confiderable time, but has been found again. Chertsey bridge, a plain but handfome ftructure, was built in 1785, by Mr. Paine. It confifts of feven arches, each formed of the fegment of a circle, and is built of Purbeck ftone, at the expence of 13,000l. The original contract was for 7,500l.

In 1773, in digging a vault, in the chancel of the church, for Sir Jofeph Mawbey, a leaden coffin was dif covered, containing the body of a woman in high prefervation. The face appeared perfectly freth, and the lace of the linen feemed found. As the church was built with the abbey, in the time of the Saxons, it is fuppofed that the body must have been deposited there before the Conqueft.

H

66 the Porch

queft. To this village Cowley, the poet, retired; and here he ended his days in a house, called Houfe," now belonging to Alderman Clark. His study is a clofet in the back part of the houie, toward the garden.

CHESHUNT, a village, once' a market town, 13 M. F. L. in the road to Ware, is fituated in an extenfive parish and manor, which have had many different proprietors fince they were firft granted by the Conqueror to Alan the red, Earl of Richmond. They were once in the pofeffion of John of Gaunt, fourth fon of Edward II; afterward of Henry Fitzroy, duke of Richmond, natural fon of Henry VIII; and the prefent proprietor of the greatest part of it, is George Prefcot Efquire.

This manor is divided into many fubordinate inanors. That of St. Andrew le Mot was granted by King Henry to Cardinal Wolfey, who is fuppofed to have refided in Chiefhunt Houfe, a plain brick ftructure, almost entirely rebuilt fince the time of the Carcinal, but still surrounded by a moat. It is, at prefent, uninhabited. The people here mention fome circumstances highly unfavourable to the character of his eminence, but which we do not think it right to relate, without better evidence than that of village tradition. His boundless ambition, rapacity, and oftentation, have fixed an odium on his memory, which it is unneceffary to heighten by the imputation of infatiable luft and inhuman affaffination. This manor is now

the property of Sir John Shaw, bart.

Chefhunt Nunnery, the feat of Mrs. Blackwood, was poffeffed by the Benedictine order. A very fmall part of the nunnery remains, and that appears to have been built not long before the diffolution. The infide of it has been modernized, and is now uied for a kitchen: the other parts of the house have been built at different times, but the apartments are modern and elegant. They contain an excellent collection of paintings; among which is a remarkable one by three different mafters, the buildings, by Viviani; the figures, by Jean Mial; and the background, by Claude Lorrain. The grounds are difpofed with tafte and judgment; the river Lea forms a canal in

the

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »