called Pest-house Common, and at his own expense built a workhouse for the poor.

A part of this old park is now a dairy and grazing farm, in his Majesty's own hands. The remainder constitutes the royal garden, which was first laid out by Bridgman in avenues, and afterwards altered to its present improved state by Brown. About a quarter of a mile to the north-west of the old palace stood the hamlet of West Shene, consisting of eighteen houses, which were all taken down in 1769; and the site, being converted into a lawn, was added to the king's inclosures.

The New, or Great Park, was made by Charles I. who being addicted to the chace, was desirous of having an extensive inclosure for red, as well as fallow-deer, at this place, where he had large tracts of waste land and woods belonging to his manor, that were well adapted for the purpose; but as this could not be done without the consent of those parishes which had a right of common on the wastes, and such gentlemen and others as had estates intermingled with them, he purchased their rights to 265 acres belonging to the manor of Petersham, and 483 acres in that of Ham, for 4,0001. Exclusively of these the park consists of 650 acres in Mortlake, 230 in Putney, about 100 in Richmond, and as many more in Kingston as make 2253 in the whole. It is enclosed with a brick wall eight miles in circuit.

The rangership of this park was given by George II. to Robert, son of Sir Robert Walpole. That statesman himself spent much of his leisure time in this retirement, where he is said to have expended 14,000l. in the repairs of the Great Lodge, and other improvements. The office was afterwards conferred on the Princess Amelia: and whilst she held it complaints were, in 1752, set on foot by the inhabitants of this and the neighbouring parishes against the deputy-ranger and other keepers of the park and gates, for obstructing the foot-paths through it. After va rious trials and different verdicts in the three following years, a decision was at length given in their favour at Kingston Assizes,

in April, 1758, when their right was established. In 1761, the princess having surrendered her interest in this office, it was bestowed on the Earl of Bute; and since his death, in 1792, it has remained in the hands of the king.

Besides the Great Lodge already mentioned, sometimes called the Old Lodge, there is to the north of it, and nearer to Roehampton-gate, the New Lodge; on the other side of the park, near Kingston-gate, Birch's, or the Thatched Lodge, lately inhabited by Sir Charles Stuart, K. B,; and more to the northward, between that and Richmoud-hill gate, Hill Lodge, in the occupation of the Countess of Pembroke. The New, or Stone Lodge, was built by George I. from a design by the Earl of Pembroke, as a place of refreshment after the fatigues of the chace, His present Majesty, after fitting it up in 1802, gave it for life, with sixty acres of land round it, to Viscount Sidmouth, who was then prime minister.

In 1414 King Henry V. founded at this place a house for the maintenance and support of forty monks of the Carthusian order, whom he incorporated by the name of the House of Jesus of Bethlehem at Shene. The foundation charter describes. it as built on the north side of his manor-house or palace there, being 3125 feet in length, and 1305 in breadth: and Willis and Au brey inform us, from a manuscript copy of Florence of Worcester, though the account there given is not very clear, that the length of the hall was forty-four paces, the breadth 24; the great quad, rangle 120 paces long, and 100 broad; the cloisters, a square 200 paces long, and nine feet in height. The munificence of the founder in the endowment of this institution kept pace with the grandeur of the edifice; but, besides the estates possessed by this house, the privileges enjoyed by the monks established in it were uncommonly great and extensive, amounting to an exemp tion from every burden and service incident to a subject of the realm, both personal and pecuniary; and that not only for themselves, but also for their tenants. This monastery was one of those which voluntarily surrendered their estates to the Crown in

1539, when its annual revenues amounted to 9621. 11s. 6d. Its site was granted the following year to the Earl of Hertford, afterwards Duke of Somerset ; and on the attainder of that nobleman to Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk: but in 1557 Queen Mary resumed this grant, and reinstated the Carthusian monks. This new foundation was of short continuance; for in the beginning of 1559, soon after the accession of Elizabeth, it was finally suppressed. In 1650, the site of this house was sold as crown land, and purchased by Alexander Easton. On this occasion a survey was taken by order of Parliament, in which the buildings, according to the state of them at that time, are minutely described. The priory church is mentioned as standing, though very ruinous; the prior's lodg ings of brick-work; the refectory, a stone building; the Hermitage, or Anchorite's Cell, which was founded in 1416, and endowed with revenues, issuing out of the manors of Lewisham and Greenwich. This estate was resumed by the Crown on the restoration of Charles II. since which time it has been lett on lease to various persons. An ancient gate-way, the last remains of this priory, was taken down in 1769, when the little that was left of the hamlet of West Shene was annihilated.

About 1499 a convent was built here near the royal palace for Observant Friars, by King Henry VII. It was suppressed, with others of the same order, in 1534. In the Survey of 1649, a building is described as adjoining to the palace, and "called the Friers, containing three rooms below stayrs, and four handsome ones above stayrs," and then used as a chandler's shop. The lane which leads from the Green to the Duke of Queensberry's is called Friars Lane, in which two tenements mark the site of this establishment.

The Church, or rather chapel, of Richmond, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, consists of a nave, two ailes, and a chancel, built of brick. At the west end is a low embattled tower of white stone and flints in chequers, containing eight bells. The interior is very neat; and contains, among many other monuments, those of Henry Lord Viscount Brouncker, cofferer to Charles

II. who died in 1688; Mrs. Mary Ann Yates, the celebrated actress, who died in 1787; Robert Lewis, Esq. a Cambro-Briton, and barrister at law, so great a lover of peace," says his Latin epitaph," that when a contention began between life and death, he immediately gave up the ghost to end the dispute;" Admiral Holbourne; and James Thomson, the celebrated author of the Seasons, who died in 1748. There was nothing to mark the spot of his interment, till a brass tablet, with a suitable inscription, was put up in 1792, by the Earl of Buchan. The house in which the poet resided at Richmond was purchased after his death by George Ross, Esq. who, out of veneration for his memory, forbore to pull it down, but enlarged and improved it at the expense of 90001. It was afterwards the property and

residence of the late Hon. Mrs. Boscawen, who repaired Thomson's favorite seat in the garden, which she adorned with suitable inscriptions, and placed in it the table on which he wrote his verses. This house is now the property and residence of the Hon. Cropley Ashley Cooper, brother of the Earl of Shaftesbury.

The church-yard contains the remains of Jacques Mallet Du Pan, a native of Switzerland, well known as a political writer, and author of the "Mercure Britannique; the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield, eminent for his classical attainments; and Dr. John Moore, father of the brave and lamented general Sir John Moore, whose observations on society and manners made during his tours on the continent, besides novels and other productions, claim for him the character of one of the most entertaining writers of the age.

In 1719, Penkethman, of facetious memory, opened a new theatre at Richmond. This was probably the same as that which stood on the declivity of the hill, and was opened in 1756 by Theophilus Cibber, who, to avoid the penalties of the act against unlicensed comedians, advertised it as a Cephalic snuff warehouse. A few years afterwards a theatre was erected at the north-west corner of the green. This is licensed, and opened regularly in the summer season three, and sometimes four, times

in the week, and is generally supplied with performers from the London theatres.

At this place there is a Bridge of five stone arches over the Thames, which is here about 300 feet wide. It was finished in 1777, at an expense of 26,0001.

The beauties of Richmond Hill, with its varied and extensive prospect, have so often been celebrated both in verse and prose, that it would be superfluous to dwell on them here. Owing to its local advantages, no village in the kingdom contains so many clegant mansions as Richmond. Among these the following may be enumerated as most worthy of notice.

The late Duke of Queensberry's was built by George, the third Earl Cholmondeley, who obtained a lease of part of the old palace in 1708. The noble gallery in this house was ornamented with his fine collection of pictures. It was purchased, in 1780, by the late proprietor, who removed hither the furniture and paintings from his seat at Amesbury. The tapestry which hung" behind the Earl of Clarendon, in the Court of Chancery, now decorates the hall of this mansion.

Earl Fitzwilliam's house on the Green was the property of his lordship's maternal grandfather, Sir Matthew Decker, Bart, an eminent Dutch merchant, who here built a room for the reception of George II. whom he entertained, with his queen, on the day of his proclamation. It contains two curious paintings of Richmond Palace; and some good pictures of the Flemish school.

At the foot of the hill, on the banks of the Thames, is the villa which the late Duke of Buccleugh inherited from the Duke of Montague. From the lawn there is a subterraneous communication with the gardens and shrubberies on the opposite side of the road, which are laid out with great taste, and extend almost to the summit of the hill.

Spring Grove, the residence of Sir Charles Price, Bart. was built in the early part of the last century by the Marquis of Lothian. The present proprietor has made considerable addi