Read Ebook: Hyde Park from Domesday-book to Date by Ashton John

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Ebook has 533 lines and 83050 words, and 11 pages

"But lo! a faithful spaniel, there stretch'd out, Not food for powder meet, relentless gun!"

But the "relentless gun" was evidently necessary against the foxes, for there is a Minute of the Board of Green Cloth in 1798, by which Sarah Gray is granted a pension of ?18 per annum, to compensate her somewhat for the loss of her husband, who was accidentally killed by a shot from the gun of a keeper, who was hunting for foxes in Kensington Gardens. It would be a thankless task to look for them there at the present time; but it is not very many years since there was a badger, who took up his abode in a drain in the Gardens, and could not be dislodged. Strange and weird legends were told concerning this badger, one of which was that he had devoured a policeman, clothing and all, with the exception of his boots and helmet. The badger was ultimately caught, and purchased, I believe, by the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, who sent it into the country, and there gave it its liberty.

Hyde Park in the early Commonwealth--Its sale--Toll on horses and carriages--A hurling match--Cromwell's accident--Attempts to shoot him in the Park--Notices against trespassers--The Park at the Restoration.

At the beginning of the troubles between the King and Parliament, the exclusiveness of the Park grew somewhat lax, and it became a place of fashionable resort; but the sour, puritanical spirit of the times prevailed, and, in 1645, it was ordered "that Hyde Park and Spring Gardens should be kept shut, and no person be allowed to go into any of those places on the Lord's day, fast and thanksgiving days, and hereof those that have the keeping of the said places are to take notice and see this order obeyed, as they will answer the contrary at their uttermost peril." And, presumably, this order was acted on until 1649, when it was resolved that the London Parks--Whitehall, Hampton Court, the New Park at Richmond, Westminster Palace, Windsor Castle and Park, and Greenwich House and Park--should be the property of the Commonwealth, and thrown open to the public.

But in 1652, it was thought fit to sell Hyde Park, Greenwich House and Park, Windsor Park and Meadows, Cornbury Park, Oxon, Somerset House, and Vauxhall House and Grounds, for the benefit of the Navy, and duly sold they were. Three lots were made of Hyde Park--called the Gravel Pit division, or that part abutting on the Bayswater Road, which was very well wooded; the Kensington division, which lay on the south, which was principally pasture land; whilst the third comprised what were termed the Middle, which comprised the Ring, the Banqueting division--in which was the Cake House--near the present site of the Receiving House of the Royal Humane Society; and the Old Lodge division, which said Old Lodge was near Hyde Park Corner; and this third lot was very well wooded.

But, if Cromwell could drive the coach of State, he could not always manage to drive his own, and there is one memorable instance of his coming to grief in Hyde Park, in 1654, in endeavouring so to do, the story of which is thus told by General Ludlow in his Memoirs.

MY LORDS,--After the sending away of our letters of last friday, we were acquainted the next morning, which we heard nothing of the night before, that about that time a mischance happened to the lord protector, which might have been, in all likelihood, very fatal unto him, if God had not wonderfully preserved him; as we are informed the manner of it to be thus. His highness, only accompanied with Secretary Thurloe and some few of his gentlemen and servants, went to take the air in Hyde Park, where he caused some dishes of meat to be brought; where he made his dinner, and, afterwards, had a desire to drive the coach himself, having put only the secretary into it, being those six horses, which the earl of Oldenburgh had presented unto his highness, who drove pretty handsomely for some time; but, at last, provoking those horses too much with the whip, they grew unruly, and run so fast that the postillion could not hold them in; whereby his highness was flung out of the coach box upon the pole, upon which he lay with his body, and, afterwards, fell upon the ground. His foot getting hold in the tackling, he was carried away a good while in that posture, during which a pistol went off in his pocket; but, at last, he got his foot clear, and so came to escape, the coach passing away without hurting him. He was presently brought home, and let blood; and, after some rest taken, he is now pretty well again. The secretary, being hurt on his ancle with leaping out of the coach, hath been forced to keep his chamber hitherto, and been unfit for any business; so that we have not been able to further or expedite any business this week."

"Every day and hour has shown us his power, And now he has shown us his art. His first reproach was a fall from a coach-- And his next will be from a cart."

A pleasant allusion to his probable fate, for a criminal who was to be hanged, was taken to the gallows on a cart, and, the halter being round his neck, the horse was whipped, and the cart being drawn from under him, the unfortunate man was left swinging.

The other quotation, he says, occurs in a ballad called, "Old England is now a brave Barbary."

"But Noll, a rank rider, gets first in the saddle, And make her show tricks, curvate and rebound; She quickly perceived he rode widdle-waddle, And, like his coach-horses, threw his Highness to the ground."

Hyde Park seems to have been fraught with danger to the Protector, for in 1657 there was a plot to have assassinated him. The chief conspirators were a man named Sindercombe, or Fish, a cashiered quarter-master in Monk's army, and another named Cecil, who turned approver; who in his evidence said,

When the King "came to his own again," the gentlemen who had purchased Hyde Park, had to restore it to the Crown, on the grounds that the sale had never been ratified by Parliament: and an early Act of His Majesty's was to build a wall around the Park, and re-stock a portion of it with deer.

The camp in Hyde Park during the Plague of 1665--Boscobel Oaks in the Park--When first opened to the public--What it was then like--The Cheesecake House--Its homely refections--Orange girls.

In 1665, at the time of the great Plague, Hyde Park was put to a sad use, as is well described in a contemporary poem entitled "Hide Park Camp Limned out to the Life, etc."

"But leave them now, because Tat-too has beat, And fairly to our Tents let us retreat, Where we keep such a coyl, and such a quarter, And all to make the tedious nights seem shorter. Then down we lie, until our bones do ake, First one side, then the other weary make. When frost did pinch us, then we shake and shiver, And full as bad we were in stormy weather; A boistrous blast, when men with sleep were dead, Would bring their Houses down upon their head. Thus in extremity, we often lay, Longing to see the dawning of the day Which brought us little comfort, for the Air Was very sharp, and very hard our fare. Our sufferings were almost beyond belief, And yet we found small hopes to have relief.

For very grief, they gave away their drink: But it's no matter, let them laugh that wins, They were no loosers .

MISTRESS CAROLL. Harke, Sir, the Nightingale, there's better lucke Comming towards us.

FAIRFIELD. When you are out breath You will give over, and for better lucke, I do beleeve the bird, for I can leave thee, And not be in love with my owne torment.

M. CA. How, sir?

FA. I ha said, stay you and practise with the bird, 'Twas Philomel they say; and thou wert one, I should new ravish thee.

MISTRESS BONAVENT. I heard it yesterday warble so prettily.

LACY. They say 'tis luckie, when it is the first Bird that salutes our eare.

BO. Doe you believe it?

TRYER. I am of his minde, and love a happy Augury.

LA. Observe the first note alwayes Cuckoo! Is this the Nightingale?

RIDER. I wish your sillabub were nectar, Lady.

MISTRESS BONAVENT. We thank you, sir, and here it comes already.

MISTRESS JULIETTA. So, so, is it good milke?

BON. Of a Red Cow.

MISTRESS CAROLL. You talke as you inclin'd to a consumption. Is the wine good?

Not to know the Lodge was to show oneself of small account, as we see in a comedy called "The English Monsieur," by the Hon. James Howard, son of the Earl of Berkshire, acted with much applause at the Theatre Royal, in 1674.

"COMELY. Nay, 'tis no London female; she's a thing that never saw Cheesecake, Tart, or Syllabub at the Lodge in Hyde Park."

About this time the name of "the Lodge" was generally dropped, and it was called the Cake House or Mince Pie House, until it was pulled down early middle of the century. It was situated nearly on the site of the present Receiving House of the Royal Humane Society, as is shown in a "Plan of Hyde Park, as it was in 1725. From a Plan of the Parish of St. George, Hanover Square, in the Vestry Room of that Parish." It was made of timber and plaster, and must have had a very picturesque look when the accompanying illustration was taken in 1826. The other view of it, in 1804, shows its surroundings in the Park. "The Cake House" furnished the title of one of Charles Dibdin's table entertainments, first performed in 1800.

Then too there were the Orange girls, whose vocation was not entirely confined to the theatres,

L. MAL. Well, well, there are a thousand innocent diversions.

LA. MAL. What! Angling for Gudgeons, Bowls, and Ninepins?

L. MAL. More wholesome and diverting than always the dusty Mile Horse driving in Hide-Park.

LA. MAL. O law! don't profane Hide-Park: Is there anything so pleasant as to go there alone, and find fault with the Company? Why, there can't a Horse or a Livery 'scape a Man, that has a mind to be witty. And then I sell bargains to the Orange Women.

Foot and horse racing in the Park--Prize fighting--Duelling--The duel between Lord Mohun and the Duke of Hamilton.

L. BONAVENT. Be there any races here?

MR. LACY. Yes, Sir, horse and foot.

MISTRESS BON. Prethee, sweetheart, who runnes?

LA. An Irish and an English footeman!

M. BON. Will they runne this way?

LA. Just before you, I must have a bet!

The story of the duel is, briefly, this. The two noblemen were opposing parties in a lawsuit; and, on Nov. 13, 1712, met in the chambers of a Master in Chancery, when the Duke remarked of a witness--"There is no truth or justice in him." Lord Mohun replied, "I know Mr. Whitworth; he is an honest Man, and has as much truth as your Grace." This, fanned to flame by officious friends, was enough; and, two days afterwards, they fought, early in the morning, in Hyde Park, near Price's Lodge; their seconds, Col. Hamilton and General Macartney, also fighting, as was the custom; or, as they expressed it, "taking their share in the dance."

Duelling in Hyde Park.

"July 19, 1769. A duel is said to have been lately fought in Hyde Park between a Captain Douglas and the Rev. Mr. Green, who some time ago was tried for a rape at the Old Bailey, and acquitted. Mr. Green, it seems, disabled the Captain in his sword arm; but, what is the wonderful part of the story, the Captain Douglas, whom the Rev. Mr. Green disabled, cannot be found, so that it is supposed this parson, as the humourous sexton of a neighbouring parish says, never fights with a man but he buries him."

"Mar. 17, 1770. A duel was fought in Hyde Park, between George Garrick Esq^ and Mr. Baddeley, both of Drury Lane Theatre, when the former, having received the other's fire, discharged his pistol in the air, which produced a reconciliation."

George Garrick was the brother of David, the celebrated actor, and Baddeley is notable for two things, one, as being the last of the "King's Servants" who wore his master's scarlet livery, and the other in leaving a small legacy to provide cake and wine for the green room of Drury Lane Theatre every Twelfth Night; a custom which, for some time, was in abeyance, but has been revived, in a most liberal and costly manner, by Sir Augustus Harris.

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