Peckham, as a metropolitan suburb, has a history completely of its own, made up of King John, Nell Gwynne, the great Duke of Marlborough, Hannah Lightfoot, Dr. Collyer, and other celebrities; yet it is nevertheless curtly described by Priscilla Wakefield, in her

Perambulations of London,

a hamlet in the parish of Camberwell, on the road proceeding to Greenwich.

a large fair is held at Peckham annually, affording a holiday to a vast number of the lower classes of Londoners.

Sir Thomas Trevor, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, created Lord Trevor by Queen Anne in , and of the individuals who were made peers at once during the struggle for power, purchased the Peckham estate from Sir Henry Bond. The judge resided here occasionally, and after his decease, in , the estate was purchased by a Mrs. Hill, from whom it descended to her nephew, Isaac P. Shard, Esq.; in it

In

1797

,

this ancient mansion was levelled to the ground for the then commencing great metropolitan improvements, and the present

Hill Street

forms the site of the once magnificent and stately mansion.

Shard Arms.

Branching out of the , a number of new thoroughfares have sprung up within the last quarter of a century, the names of which impart quite a legal tone to the district, the roads being dedicated to Lords Lyndhurst, Denman, and Selborne, and to Mr. Justice Talfourd. A few steps out of the is Peckham House, formerly an old private mansion, but for the last half century a lunatic asylum, kept by Dr. Stocker, whose predecessor was a Dr. Armstrong. Its interior has been more than once graphically described by newspaper writers. The fine old mansion and surrounding acres have not always been connected with the sad side of humanity, for prior to the noble building resounded with the merry laughter of freedom. The wealthy family of Spitta lived here in grand style, giving , or what would now be termed gardenparties, to their neighbours, and dispensing charity with no niggard hand amongst the poor of the locality.

The still boasts of many quaint houses, some of which can date back more than centuries. The police-station forms part of what was once a fine mansion, formerly occupied by a wealthy family of the name of Dalton, and subsequently used as a convent. The policestation occupies the site of of its outbuildings. Another house, now a draper's shop, was formerly the head-quarters of the Royal Asylum of Society, which was founded in ; whilst Avenue House, now the central office of Miss Rye's establishment for aiding the cause of female emigration, was, in days of old, a family mansion of some note.

Near the , on the ground now covered by , formerly stood Marlborough House, a fine old mansion, supposed at time to have been the residence of some members of the Churchill family. The building contained a noble entrance-hall and a fine oak staircase, and frescoes adorned the walls and ceilings. For some years prior to its demolition, the building was used as a workhouse, where the city paupers were farmed. Blenheim House, still standing in the , is thought to have been a minor building attached to the mansion.

The

Rosemary Branch

Rosemary Bush ;

Received of Mr. Travers, for a stranger dying at ye Rosemary Bush,

00

.

00

.

04d.

establishment which has no suburban rival.

The

Rosemary Branch

There's rosemary, that's for remembrance,

For you, there's rosemary and rue; these keep

Seeming and savour all the winter long;

Grace and remembrance be unto you both.

A local tradition says that King John, hunting at Peckham, killed a stag, and was so pleased with the sport, that he granted its inhabitants an annual fair of weeks' continuance; but no charter to that effect has been found. Another account says that it was granted, at the instance of Nell Gwynne, by our

merry monarch,

Merrie England in the Olden Time,

Kentish Drovers,

Kentish Drovers,

George I. R.

To the Lovers of Curiosities.

--To be seen, during the time of Peckham Fair, a grand Collection of Living Wild Beasts and Birds, lately arrived from the remotest parts of the world.

1. The Pelican, that suckles her young with her Heart's blood, from Egypt.

2. The noble Vulture Cock, brought from Archangell, having the finest tallons (sic) of any bird that seeks his prey. The fore part of his head is covered with hair; the second part resembles the wool of a Black; below that is a white Ring, having a Ruff that he cloaks his head with at night.

3. An Eagle of the Sun, that takes the loftiest flight of any Bird that flies. There is no bird but this that can fly to the face of the sun with a naked eye.

4. A curious beast, bred from a Lioness, like a foreign Wild Cat.

5

. The he-Panther, from Turkey, allowed by the curious to be

one

of the greatest rarities ever seen in England, on which are thousands of spots, and no

two

of a likeness.

6

&

7

. The

two

fierce and surprising Hyxnas, Male and Female, from the river Gambia. These creatures imitate the human voice, and so decoy negroes out of their huts and plantations to devour them. They have a mane like a horse, and

two

joints in their hinder legs more than any other creature. It is remarkable that all other beasts are to be tamed, but Hysenas they are not.

8

. An Ethiopian Tobo Savage, having all the actions of the human species, which, when it is at its full growth, will be upwards of

five

feet high.

9

. Also several other surprising Creatures of different sorts. To be seen from

9

in the morning till

9

at night till they are sold. Also all manner of curiosities of different sorts are bought and sold at the above place by John Bennett.

In , were to be seen at the fair such examples of the -footed race as bears, monkeys, dancing-dogs, learned pigs, &c. Mr. Flockton,

in his theatrical booth opposite the

Kentish Drovers,

inimitable musical clock.

first

performer to the king,

snip-snap, rip-rap, crickcrack, and thunder tricks, that the grown babies stared like worried cats.

will drive about

forty

twelve

-penny nails into any gentleman's breech, place him in a loadstone chair, and draw them out without the least pain! He is, in short, the most wonderful of all wonderful creatures the world ever wondered at.

His dress, address, and oratory fascinated the audience; in fact,

Jeffy was quite tonish.

At Peckham--though the statement is very doubtful at best--George III. is said to have been married to the fair Quakeress, Hannah Lightfoot, on the . We have already introduced this lady to our readers in our account of .

There was in the a theatre, at which, says tradition, Nell Gwynne sometimes performed, and her royal paramour attended the entertain-

In the , at the corner of , there formerly stood a very quaint old house, with a thatched roof; it had once been a farmhouse. It was pulled down in .

The house at Peckham, where Goldsmith was employed as tutor in a school under a Dr. Milner, and where he wrote the best part of his

Vicar of Wakefield,

Works

Tired of practice, or disappointed of success, he soon exchanged the phial for the ferule, and prescriptions for spelling-books. Goldsmith came out in the character of a schoolmaster's assistant at Peckham, a kind of employment to which he had been used before; and at the table of Dr. Milner--for so the master of the school was named-he became acquainted with Smollett, who

first

directed him to literature as a means of subsistence, by employing him as a contributor to the

Monthly Review

. Subsequently, physic and literature were combined to eke out a maintenance,

and, in the double capacity of doctor and author, he presents himself to our notice in a wretched lodging by

Salisbury Square

,

Fleet Street

. Here we have a peep into the life of a poor literary man of the eighteenth century, to which parallels are numerous enough in the

nineteenth

. Leaving his lodgings, he kept his appointments at some house of call; the Temple Exchange Coffee-house,

Temple Bar

, was his most favoured resort. There, indeed, was his ostensible abode; and the people who saw him by day had little idea of the forlorn lodging where he spent his nights.

Goldsmith's Walk,

, in (formerly ), was doubtless intended as a compliment to the House of Hanover, some members of that family having been great patrons of [extra_illustrations.6.290.1] , whose chapel, at the entrance to , is also known as Hanover Chapel. Basing Yard, in the rear of , serves as a memorial of Basing Manor, a well-known residence here during the time of the and Charles. Among the former residents of Peckham, there was Sir T. Gardyner, of Basing Manor, who, when writing to Lord Dorchester, in , concerning the Papal machinations in Spain, eccentrically remarks that he would write a book on the subject if his time

were not so much occupied with grooving melons and other fruits.

In is a large and well-built station, on the South London and the London, Chatham, and Dover Railways. Close by the station, a large building was erected in , as a Museum of Fire-Arms, and for the exhibition of everything connected with gunnery. After standing a few years, it was burnt down, but was subsequently rebuilt. A rifle-range was also connected with the building, which, in process of time, was made to serve the purposes of a pleasure resort; but this in the end was converted into a manufactory of fire-arms.

Peckham Rye--a tract of common said to be upwards of acres in extent--has from

time immemorial

the Rye

The lord of the manor formerly held considerable property in the vicinity of ; indeed, as Mr. Blanch tells us, at time the Bowyer family were the principal landowners in this parish. As far back as , and again in , protests were made by the parishioners against encroachments on the Rye, facts which are duly recorded in the Vestry Minutes. In , a meeting of the inhabitants was held, to consider the best means to be adopted to prevent the erection of buildings on the Rye; and the matter was taken up by Parliament. In his evidence before the Committee of the , in , the deputysteward of the lord of the manor claimed for Sir Bowyer Smyth the absolute ownership of the Rye, and asserted that he was entitled to the full building value of the land, there being at that time, in his opinion, no copy-holder having rights over it. In the end, however, as we have stated above, the manorial rights, whatever they may have been, were purchased by the vestry; and thus the Rye has become the common property of the parish, and made available for the free use of the South Londoner.

In former times, the people's claims to the commons were stoutly defended-even to the sacrifice of life--not so much for the right of recreation as for the right of grazing or. of gathering fuel. An old ditty, embodying the feeling of the people, runs thus :

'Tis very bad, in man or woman,

To steal a goose from off the common;

But who shall plead that man's excuse

Who steals the common from the goose?

In some old documents the Rye is spelled

Rey ;

ree,

On the north-east side of is Nunhead, which is rapidly becoming a place of some importance, with a large population, and the

Nun's Head,

Here is the Asylum of the Metropolitan Beer and Wine Trade Association, which dates from , when, at a general meeting of the beer-trade as a protection society, the idea assumed a substantial form, and a subscription was opened. The beer-sellers actively bestirred themselves to imitate the good example set by the licensed victuallers, by seeking to provide an asylum for their aged and decayed members. Indeed, of the original objects contemplated by the promoters of the society was,

To raise a fund from which to allow temporary or permanent assistance to members of the trade.

Nunhead Cemetery, covering an area of about acres, occupies the summit of some rising ground, whence a good view is obtained of the surrounding neighbourhood. The cemetery was consecrated by the Bishop of Winchester in , and is beautifully laid out with gravel walks, and thickly planted with trees, shrubs, and flowers. The chapels in the grounds are conspicuous objects for miles round.

Nunhead Hill is mentioned by Hone in his

Every-day Book

the favourite resort of smoke-dried London artisans.

On the north side of Nunhead Cemetery are the reservoirs of the [extra_illustrations.6.291.1] , covering several acres of land. The works include reservoirs- high-level and low-level; the former holding gallons, and the latter double that number. The water is drawn from the Thames, about miles above Teddington Locks. The water having been pumped up by an engine at , is forced on to Battersea, whence powerful engines again send it on to the reservoirs at Nunhead. The engine-house here, which stands between the upper and lower reservoirs, is a handsome brick structure, with a square tower feet high, and built in the Venetian style of architecture.

Within the grounds now occupied by College, stood a building of some note in the early part of the present century, and known as

Heaton's Folly.

On the right side of the path leading from Peckham to Nunhead, appears this building, environed with wood. It has a singular appearance, and certainly was the effect of a whim. Various tales are related of its founder; but the most feasible appears his desire of giving employment to a number of artificers during a severe dearth. It is related that he employed

five hundred

persons in this building, and adding to the grounds; which is by no means improbable, as, on entering the premises, a very extensive piece of water appears, embanked by the properties taken from its bosom. In the centre of it is an island, well cultivated; indeed, the whole ground is now (

1796

) so luxuriantly spread, that I much doubt if such another spot, within a considerable distance from the metropolis, can boast such a variety and significance. The whole is within a fence; and, time having assisted the maturity of the coppice, you are, to appearance, enjoying the effects of a small lake in the centre of a wood. Motives the most laudable, as before observed, induced the founder of this sequestered spot to give bread to many half-starved and wretched families; and, to use the phrase of our immortal Shakespeare,

It is like the dew from heaven, and doubly blesses.

If from appearance we are to judge of the phrase, it thrives indeed; and what was meant as assistance to a neighbouring poor, and stragglers, wretched and forlorn, is now, with all propriety, the Paradise of Peckham.

In the neighbourhood of , on the

Oak of Honour :

Honour Oak.

Environs,

In the Chamberlain's papers for

1602

is this entry:

On May-day the Queen [Elizabeth] went a-Maying to Sir Richard Buckley's, at Lewisham, some three or four miles off Greenwich.

Bulkeley's house was probably on the Sydenham side of Lewisham, where is Oak of Honour Hill, so named, according to the local tradition, from Queen Elizabeth having sat beneath the oak on its summit when she went hither a-maying.

Honour Oak, which is of the boundaries of the parish, has witnessed many interesting gatherings, not the least impressive being that performed there, in former times, on the occasion of

beating the bounds,

under the shadow of the Oak of Honour Hill.

On the south side of Forest , and within a short distance of Oak of Honour Hill, is Camberwell Cemetery.

Friern Place, on the south-west side of , keeps in remembrance the name of Friern Manor, the farm of which was known in recent times as a dairy-farm on a large scale. The Manor Farm-house and all its sheds and out-buildings were sold at the end of . The house, which was not the original manor-house, was built by Lord St. John, in ; and there is a tradition that Alexander Pope resided there for a season, writing a portion of the

Essay on Man

In , there was, in the time of William Hone, an inn called the

Plough

March 16, 1810

. Thomas Jones dined here, eat

six pounds

of bacon and drank

nineteen

pots of beer.

Plough

A writer in Hone's

Every-day Book

Below me, yet wearing its sober livery of brown, lies the wood. the shadowy haunt of the gipsy tribe ere magisterial authority drove them away. Many a pleasant hour have I spent in my younger days with its Cassandras, listening to their prophetic voices and looking at their dark eyes. I proceed: Sydenham lies before me; beyond it, in softened distance, Beckenham and

Bromley

meet the eye, with Dulwich below; and in the foreground lies a rich variety of upland and dale, studded with snowwhite dwellings.

Dulwich, which we now enter, is described in Hone's

Table-Book,

the prettiest of all the village entrances in the environs of London;

Perambulations

a hamlet to Camberwell, and is pleasantly retired, having no high road passing through it. It was formerly,

the resort of much company, on account of a medicinal spring, which has now lost its reputation. The house which has the sign of the

Green Man

was for some time the residence of Lord Thurlow. A fine avenue through the wood faces this house, and leads to a charming prospect. The manor of Dulwich belongs to the college founded there, in

1614

, by Master Edward

Alleyn

, the proprietor of the Fortune playhouse, in

Whitecross Street

, and also a favourite actor. The foundation was for a master and warden of the lineage and surname of Alleyn (but the impossibility of finding them has obliged the name of Allen to be of late years accepted), also

four

fellows,

six

poor brethren, and

six

poor sisters;

twelve

scholars,

six

assistants, and

thirty

outmembers or pensioners. It was originally built after a design by Inigo Jones, and formed

three

sides of a square. The picture-gallery, which is on the

first

floor, contains some scarce and valuable paintings. The chapel is a plain building, which serves as a chapel of ease to the inhabitants of the hamlet. The founder, his wife, and her mother, are buried in it; and a clause in the statutes permits that privilege to the master, warden, and fellows, but excludes all others.

Notwithstanding the active building operations that of late years have fenced in London and its suburbs with miles of bricks and mortar, the village of Dulwich still presents a rural aspect, and large tracts of meadow-land are yet to be found within its borders. From the high grounds of , , and , of which we

daily hold converse with motley groups of the vagabond class.

that they forbeare to hunt, chace, molest, or hurt the king's stagges with greyhounds, hounds, gunnes, or any other means whatsoever;

to take from any person or persons offending therein their dogges, hounds, gunnes, crossbowes, or other engynes.

Dulwich Wood has been the scene of several outrages, notably those which occurred in , when a man named Samuel Bentyman was murdered, and in , when Samuel Matthews, known as the Dulwich Hermit, met with a similar fate. Mr. Blanch informs us that the wood has been gradually disappearing from the time when Edward Alleyn issued his statutes and ordinances for the foundation of the college in the early part of the century, for by the th item it is ordered

that twentye acres of woode be felled and sold yearly, such wood-falls to be made at seasonable times, and in accordance with the laws and statutes of England, for the preservation of timber-trees, such trees to be of the growth of

ten

yeares;

that no timber-trees shall be sold to any pson. or psons. whatsoever, but to the tenants of the lands belonging to the said college in Dulwich, for the building or repayring of their tenements.

The same writer justly remarks, in his , that

the Dulwich College Building Act of

1808

, the Metropolis Local Management Act of

1855

, the Charity Commissioners' scheme of

1857

, the formation of the iron roads, and the craving of merchants for suburban residences, have done much to alter the aspect of the place ;

compared with neighbouring suburbs, it has died hard, and not until Cowper's

opulent, enlarged, and still-increasing London,

by sheer force of circumstances, has laid its hands upon it, will Dulwich surrender its individuality.

The village

stocks

cage,

It is a sport for a fool to do mischief; thine own wickedness shall correct thee,

pound,

Green Man

,

The famous Dulwich Wells were in close proximity to the

Green Man

,

noted house of good entertainment.

he has lately built a handsome room on

one

end of his bowling-green for breakfasts, dancing, and entertainment; a part of the fashionable luxury of the present age, which every village for

ten

miles round London has something of.

Philosophical Transactions,

History of Surrey,

In the autumn of

1739

, Mr. Cox, master of the

about a mile south of the village of Dulwich, having occasion to sink a well for his family, dug down about

sixty

feet without finding water. Discouraged at this, he covered it up, and so left it. In the following spring, however, he opened it again; when, the Botanical Professor in the University of Cambridge being present, it was

found to contain about

twenty-five

feet of water, of a sulphureous taste and smell.

Dr. Webster, who has been considered a high authority on the subject, writes as follows with reference to these waters :--

The saline spring was, and is, situated on Sydenham Common, in Wells Lane, on the slope of the hill between Dulwich and Sydenham. The little old cottage and garden where the

Sydenham Wells

are, belongs to

two

elderly women of the name ot Evans, and on my expressing surprise that they had not been

bought out

for building, as the spot is surrounded by modern mansions and good houses, they replied, they kept possession, as the little property would be beneficial to their deceased brother's children. It is not at all resorted to now for medicinal purposes; but the water is strongly saline, similar to that at the quondam

Beulah Spa,

at Streatham Common, and at E

1

psom. It is situated in the parish of Lewisham, Kent. The Dulwich Spa was a chalybeate spring, situated about a mile S.E. of Dulwich College, close to, or rather, I believe,

in

the premises of the

Green Man,

then a place of resort on the verge of Dulwich Common. This was as far back as the

seventeenth

century; but this house of entertainment was, when I

first

knew it (

1815

), a house of instruction, as Dr. Glennie's well-known academy, at which Lord Byron was a

Dr. Glennie's Academy, Dulwich Grove, In 1820.

pupil for

two

years. The old house was taken down about

ten

years after, when Dr. Glennie had left, but I remember then seeing a well within the premises, which had been long shut up or disused, and I tasted the water, which was decidedly chalybeate. On the site of the old

Green Man

now stands the

Grove Tavern,

of no celebrity in any way unless from the circumstances now stated, and which very few knew besides myself. I knew the supposed localities of both these places many years ago, but it is only recently that Evelyn's

Diary

fell in my way, and it is remarkable that he incidentally mentions them so as to identify the

two

springs. Under date

September 2nd, 1675

, he notes:

I went to see Dulwich Colledge, being the pious foundation of one Alien, a famous comedian in King James's time. The chapell is pretty; the rest of the hospital very ill contriv'd; it yet maintaines divers poore of both sexes. 'Tis in a melancholy part of Camerwell parish. I came back by certaine medicinal Spa waters at a place called Sydnam Wells, in Lewisham parish, much frequented in summer.

And further on :

1677, August 5th, I went to visit my Iord Brounker, now taking the waters at Dulwich.

So you see,

there were

two

distinct spas within a mile, but in different parishes and counties, as Dulwich is in Surrey.

taking the waters,

Among the pupils at Dr. Glennie's academy in Dulwich Grove, were several who in after years rose to fame and fortune-Lord Byron, General Le Marchant, Sir Donald M'Leod, Captain Barclay, the celebrated pedestrian, and others.

Once a week did the little party meet together in the spacious entrance-hall for a little rational amusement, and the Saturday evening concerts at Dulwich attracted visitors from outside the family circle. Tom Campbell the poet, Howard and Wilkie, artists and academicians, and Barker the well-known painter of panoramas, and many others, often found themselves at Dulwich. Campbell had not far to come, for he resided at Sydenham for seventeen years before that retired little village became an endless pile of brick. Here the happiest of the poet's days were spent in genial and congenial society, and much concerning evenings there may be found in the memoirs of Moore, Hook, Hunt, the brothers Smith, and others.

The narrow lane, lined with hedgerows, and passing through a little dell watered by a rivuletthe extensive prospect of undulating hills, parklike enclosures, the shady walks,

safe from all intrusion but that of the Muses,

Spring green lanes,

With all the dazzling field-flowers in their prime,

And gardens haunted by the nightingale's

Long trills and gushing ecstasies of song.

With respect to Byron's school-days at Dulwich, there is nothing remarkable for us to record. In a letter to Tom Moore, Dr. Glennie speaks of Byron's ambition to excel in all athletic exercises, notwithstanding his lameness;

an ambition,

which I have found to prevail in general in young persons labouring under similar defects of nature.

Stand and deliver

It must not be imagined,

that brigandage in Dulwich was all play, for at the commencement of the present century Sydenham Hill had then a reputation somewhat akin to Hounslow Heath. Dulwich Wood was the halting-place for gipsies; and highwaymen and footpads abounded in the locality.

Dulwich has long been a favourite resort for the working men of London, for the purpose of holding their annual gatherings at or other of its taverns, the chief of which are the

Greyhound,

Half Moon,

Crown.

Crown

institution

Half Moon,

Greyhound

Among the residents at Dulwich in recent times have been several whose names have become famous. Of these we may mention Mr. Howard Staunton, who lived at Ivy Cottage, while engaged in his Shakespearean researches at the college. Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall, the well-known authors, at time lived here. Another noted name in connection with Dulwich is that of Henry Bessemer, the inventor of a new process in the manufacture of steel, and whose numerous patents connected with improvements in machinery have been such as to have established his reputation as a scientific and practical engineer of the highest order.

Numerous mansions and seats are scattered about in the neighbourhood of Dulwich, notably Casino, on Dulwich Hill; Mr, Bessemer's house on ; Woodhall, formerly the residence of the late Mr. George Grote, the historian of Greece; the Hoo, on Sydenham Hill; and lastly, the . This last-mentioned edifice is a building of more than ordinary interest, from the fact that it was once the residence of Edward Alleyn, the Lord Mayor of London, and perhaps, at an earlier period, the summer retreat of the Abbots of . It was formerly called Hall Court.

The house, since Alleyn's time,

has undergone sundry additions and alterations, and at the present time is in a marvellous condition for so old a building --a fact which seems to confirm the belief that it was built before Alleyn's time, as the erection of the old college, which was closely watched by the founder, began to tumble to pieces soon after his death. The Manor House had been designed and built in a very different style. The magnificent oak staircase, and spacious entrance-hall, and lofty rooms, are worthy of the majestic actor; and, as one looks around, the form of its dignified host is conjured up; now receiving the poor brethren and sisters, holding consultations with the master, warden, and fellows, and anon holding converse and correspondence with the great men of the land, Alleyn's life at Dulwich must have been delightful. Possessing ample means--much given to home comforts and duties, to which he was so attached that within three months of losing his good sweete harte and loving mouse, he took unto himself another partner--regarded by his neighbours as a man of considerable substance, and treated in a manner befitting the squire of the place-having great worldly knowledge, serene temper, and considerable tact-he made many friends and few enemies; and as his journal teems with payments for sundry bottles of wine when he went to London to see his friends, it is fair to assume that his cellar at the Manor House was well filled, and at the service of his visitors. Old Matthews, the Dulwich Hermit

And what more delightful walks could any mortal have had than those surrounding the fine old mansion in Alleyn's time?-when the meadows were yellow with the crowfoot, flushed with the sorrel, or purple with clover; the thornbushes, white or pink with their blossoms; the commons, golden with mellowing fern or glowing with purple heather; and deciduous trees contributing their varied tints to the scene-all this was then a reality! Would that it were so now-and to the same extent!-and the shade of wood and grove, and the ramble O'er many a heath, through many a woodland dun, Through buried paths, where sleepy twilight dreams The summer-time away; and the feast of satisfaction as the founder viewed the progress of his college, at the end of a summer's stroll-all this must have made life more than endurable at the Manor House.

That Alleyn received at his board many distinguished men of his day is beyond doubt; but, strange to relate, no scrap of evidence has yet been produced in support of the supposition that Shakespeare ever made pilgrimage to Dulwich. It is, to say the least of it, an extraordinary circumstance, that two such prominent characters in the same profession should not have been brought together--or rather, that no evidence should be forthcoming in support of such a natural supposition. Garrick, Malone, Collier, Ingleby, Staunton, and other able and industrious workers have toiled diligently, and hoped unfalteringly, but without success. And yet Ben Jonson and Michael Drayton were intimate associates both of Shakespeare and Alleyn. They were not divided by disparity of age, for Alleyn was Shakespeare's junior by only two years, four months, and a week, and both relinquished the stage, and invested their earnings in houses and lands, at about the same time.

From the old , the home of Edward Alleyn, it is but an easy transition to pass to the [extra_illustrations.6.297.2] , of which he was the founderor, to give it its full title, to

Alleyn's College of God's Gift.

Worthies,

the Roscius of our age, so acting to the life that he made any part (especially a majestick

one

) to become him.

If Rome, so great, and in her wisest age,

Feared not to boast the glories of her stage,

As skilful Roscius and grave Aesop, men

Yet crowned with honours as with riches then,

Who had no less a trumpet of their name

Than Cicero, whose every breath was fame:

How can so great example die in me

That, Allen, I should pause to publish thee?

Who both their graces in thyself hast more

Outstript, than they did all that went before;

And present worth in all dost so contract,

As others speak, but only thou dost act.

Wear this renown. 'Tis just, that who did give

So many poets life, by one should live.

The connection of the name of Alien (usually spelt Alleyn, but now printed Alien) with the munificent endowment of Dulwich College,

has eclipsed his reputation as an actor; but, independently of this high encomium of Jonson, ample evidence has been traced, not only of the influential position he held in relation to the stage, but of his great skill as a player. He appears to have been the chief manager of the business of the company for Henslowe, with whom he was part-proprietor of the Fortune, and to whose stepdaughter he was married. He negotiated with authors, and made engagements with actors, for which he was better qualified, in some respects, than Henslowe, who, although an

excellent man of business, was illiterate. There is reason to believe, also, from certain entries in Henslowe's diary, that he sometimes helped to reconstruct, or adapt, pieces for the stage. As an actor he certainly stood in the

first

rank, and his special merits in particular parts are testified by Nash, Dekker, and Heywood. All the particulars of his life that are now likely to be recovered have been collected by Mr. Collier, in the

Memoir

of him, and in the

Alleyn Papers,

published by the Shakespeare Society.

In Alleyn had already commenced the acquisition of property at Dulwich. The most important of the valuable estates which now collectively form the endowment of the college were the lands and lordship of the manor, purchased in the above-mentioned year from Sir Francis Calton, to whose ancestor, Thomas Calton, they had been granted by Henry VIII. upon the dissolution of the Monastery of . The college land stretches southwards from the high ground, known in its several parts as , , and , through the whole length of the intervening valley, and up the opposite slopes to the summit of Sydenham and Forest Hills, a length of more than miles as the crow flies. The breadth of the estate from east to west is quite a mile and a half in its widest part. The village of Dulwich occupies a central position on the college lands. It lies, as we have stated above, in the bottom of the valley between the ridge on which rests the Crystal Palace and the less lofty ridge midway between Sydenham Hill and the Thames. It is so shut in by near hills, or by lofty trees, in all directions, that its horizon is nowhere more distant than a mile or . Visitors constantly remark that when in Dulwich they are as much in the country as if they were miles from London; and yet the village milestone in front of the college, bearing the hospital invitation to wayfarers,

Sisle, Viator,

In Alleyn contracted with a certain John Benson, of , for the erection of

a Chappell, a Schoole-house, and

twelve

Almeshouses,

I like well that Allen playeth the last act of his life so well,

to found and establish a college in Dulwich, to endure and remain for ever, and to be called

The College of God's Gift in Dulwich, in the county of Surrey.

Aubrey has recorded an amusing story, which the reader may believe or not as he thinks best, that Alleyn was frightened into his generous and charitable scheme by an apparition of the Prince of Darkness, , among theatrical demons in a certain piece in which he was playing. In the fright thus occasioned he was said to have made a vow, which he redeemed by the founding of the College of God's Gift.

The college was formally opened with great ceremony on the ; and Alleyn had the satisfaction of recording in his diary:

This day was the fowndacion of the Colledge finisht;

He who out-acted others in his life, out-did himself before his death.

the Lord Chancellor (Lord Bacon), the Lord of Arondell, Iord Ciecell (Cecil), Sir John Howland, High Shreve (Sheriff), and Inigo Jones, the king's surveyor.

They

first

herd a Sermond, and after the instrument of creacion was by me read, and after an anthem, they went to dinner.

Alleyn survived the opening of his college years, but there is some difficulty in determining the exact day of his death. On the present tombstone (which is, however, of recent erection) it is stated to have been ; but documentary evidence seems to point to Saturday, , as the correct date. At all events, be this as it may, he affixed his signature to the draft of his Ordinances and Statutes on , and was buried in the chapel of his college on .

God's Gift College,

to the honour and glory of Almighty God, and in a thankful remembrance of His guiftes and blessings bestowed upon me,

The most important of the modifications introduced by Alleyn's maturer judgment into his original scheme, it appears, were those designed to extend the basis of his educational foundation. He now ordained that his school should be for the instruction of boys, consisting of distinct classes :--() poor scholars; () children of inhabitants of Dulwich (who were to be taught freely); and ()

Towne or Forreign Schollers,

such allowance as the master and warden should appoint.

Though to some extent the issue and production of the stage, Dulwich College never greatly benefited the members of the dramatic profession. Alleyn had resolved to found and endow in his own lifetime an institution of a semi-monastic character, like the Charterhouse, for the reception of aged pensioners, and for the nurture and education of orphan boys. The original statutes and ordinances define the qualifications and duties of the several members of the college, and regulate the distribution of the income. They embrace provisions which have many times proved a fruitful source of costly litigation. Thus, the statute provides for a large addition, under the designation of

chanters,

In the dietary for the boys is included

a up of beere

beere without tint

with such increase of diett in .ent and gawdy days as the surveyor of diett may think fitt.

sweet and good, their beere well mewed, and their bread well baked, and made of clean and sweete wheatten meal.

good cloth, of sad cullor, the boddys lined with canvass.

Vacancies on the foundation, whether of scholars or old pensioners, or in the superior offices of fellow or warden, were to be filled up by the

drawing of lots

God's Gift

In spite of Fuller's declaration that

no hospital is tyed with better or stricter laws, that it may not sagg (swerve) from the intention of the founder,

intentions

The founder's scheme,

too rigid and inelastic to sustain the shock of modern notions, had long ceased to be seriously defended, even by those who dispensed its gifts and luxuriated in its most substantial rewards. Hampered by the fixity of inflexible statutes, embarrassed by riches which it could not spend without shame, and which invited incessant onslaught from the

four

interested

parishes, Alleyn's College succumbed on the last day of

1857

to public opinion, released its members from monastic rule, sent them forth well pensioned into the outer world, and opened its gates next day to its new rulers.

By the Act of Parliament, passed in , Alleyn's foundation was completely re-constituted. The government of the college is now vested in governors, of whom are nominated by the Court of Chancery, the rest being elected by the parishes to, which special privileges were attached by the terms of the original foundation. The officers of administration are a

Master of the College

The revenue of the college, which at the time of the founder's death was a year, now amounts to more than . The surplus revenue (after provision has been made for the maintenance of the fabric, and of the chapel and library) is divided

upper school

lower school.

upper school

lower school

upper school.

lower school

gratuities

The old college, though the central attraction of the village, has but limited pretensions to architectural merit. It has been thought by some topographers that it was built by the famous Inigo !

Dulwich College suffered its full share of the havoc committed by fanatics in the Civil Wars. It was turned into quarters for a company of soldiers of Fairfax's army, who, it is said, took up the leaden coffins in the chapel, and melted them into bullets. The fellows of the college were in arms for the king; in consequence of which they were deprived of their fellowships, and a schoolmaster and usher were appointed in their stead. During the government of Oliver Cromwell, and

The old college buildings are spacious, having regard to the limited numbers for whom they were built, and comprise a chapel, dining-hall, parlour, library, school-room, kitchen, and appurtenances. They occupy sides of a square. The entrancegates are of curiously wrought iron, surmounted with the founder's arms, crest, and the motto,

God's Gift.

ni/yon a)no/nhma mh\ mo/nan o)/yin.

(Wash sin, not the face only.)

A curious collection of pictures and portraits

merry meeting,

The pictures mentioned above are in no way connected with those belonging to the Dulwich College Picture Gallery, which is situated at the south-west corner of the old buildings. The gallery was built from the designs and under the direction of Sir John Soane, and was opened to the public in the year . The history of the collection is, in many ways, a remarkable . It owes its foundation to

a noble trio of benefactors.

Claude

to the master, wardens, and fellows of Dulwich College in trust for the public use, under the direction of the Royal Academy.

Madonna

without a ticket no person can be admitted, and no tickets are given at Dulwich.

The new school buildings, now popularly known as

Dulwich College,

Northern Italian style of the

thirteenth

century,

There can be no doubt that the art-schools of the college owe much of their remarkable success to their association with the splendid collection of pictures forming the Dulwich Gallery. It is at least certain that the study of art has been carried much farther and to higher perfection at Dulwich than at any other public school in the kingdom. On the annual

speech day,

In a small , entitled

Alleyn's College of God's Gift at Dulwich,

Thus, after many struggles and difficulties, and a long period of lethargy more fruitless still, Dulwich College has started at length into fresh and vigorous life, with powers of influence and means of usefulness which few foundations can rival, and with wellfounded hopes for the future which far surpass the utmost expectations of its pious and munificent founder.

[] See ante, p. 272.

[] See Vol. V., p. 496.

[extra_illustrations.6.288.1] Pelican Life Insurance Company

[extra_illustrations.6.289.1] Sir Jeffrey Dunstan

[] See Vol. IV., p. 207.

[extra_illustrations.6.290.1] Dr. Collyer

[] This case is as nearly as possible identical with that of Hampstead Heath. See Vol. V., p 45 .

[extra_illustrations.6.291.1] Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company

[extra_illustrations.6.292.1] Knight's Hill, near Dulwich

[extra_illustrations.6.292.2] College Charity Meeting at Adelphi Theater

[extra_illustrations.6.293.1] Dulwich Park

[extra_illustrations.6.297.2] College

[extra_illustrations.6.302.1] Great Hall, Dulwich College

[] Art and Artists in England, vol. ii., pp. 378-389.