Kenna's Kingdom: a Ramble Though Kingly Kensington
Brown, R. Weir
1881
CHAPTER IX. CAMPDEN HOUSE.
CHAPTER IX. CAMPDEN HOUSE.
IF any of us had found ourselves in the neighbourhood of Clerkenwell, some few years back, we might have cudgeled our brains with the statements on the milestones that we were two miles, or four miles, or three miles,from the spot where Hick's Hall formerly stood. Here was an enigma rivalling in difficulty the " Who's Griffiths?" or the " Ozokerit" of a later age. Charles Knight, in his "London," thus paints the perplexity of a worthy country schoolmaster, on his first visit to the Metropolis. "Who was Hicks? How did Hicks obtain such a fame, that even the milestones were inscribed to his memory? What was his Christian name? Was he General Hicks, or | |
176 | Admiral Hicks, or Bishop Hicks, or Chief Justice Hicks? Or was he plain Mr. Hicks? And if so, was he M.P., or F.R.S., or F.S.A., or M.R.I.A., and why did he build a hall?" The simple solution to all this was that one Baptist Hicks built, in Clerkenwell, a Sessions House for the Justices of Middlesex, which was called after him Hicks' Hall. But Hicks possesses another interest for us besides that which caused his name to be handed down on the milestones, for this said Baptist Hicks built Campden House, and thus we feel as much curiosity as the country pedagogue to know all about him. Baptist was the son of a rich silk mercer in Cheapside, was brought up to the business, and made a large fortune. Part of this fortune he invested in the embellishments of his signature, an easy matter in those days. King James the First, "the wisest fool in Christendom," was on the throne. King James wanted money, and he looked about, as persons naturally do when in want of cash, for something to sell. A clever expedient was hit upon. Titles were put up to sale. The demand was great at first; but the fees were heavy, and some economical people refused the |
177 | proffered " Sir." Our canny King James was not to be baulked. An old statute forcing all persons whereby to take on themselves the dignity of a knight, was put into force. If people would not pay fees for receiving knighthood when it was offered to them, they must pay fines for refusing it; and between the fines and the fees the king obtained a nice little addition to his income. On the king's accession, our Baptist Hicks was made a knight, and some seventeen years later a baronet. The latter title cost a thousand pounds, besides expenses. In the reign of Charles I., he was advanced to the peerage as Viscount Campden, in Gloucestershire. Baptist, however, did not disdain to keep a sharp eye on the main chance, and for some time after he had received knighthood kept his shop. He denied this, saying that his servants kept the shop, "though he had a regard to the special credit thereof," an answer reminding one of that of the schoolmaster, who said that he did not keep the school, for the school kept him. In , Sir Baptist obtained the ground on which Campden House was afterwards built from Sir Walter Cope who had erected Holland House some five years |
178 | before. We say obtained, rather than purchased, for there is an old tradition that it was won from Sir Walter at a game of skittles. Skittles was a more fashionable game in England then, and even now burgomasters and barons may be seen playing at it in Germany. But the estate was certainly a high stake to be laid on a game of ninepins, and we give Sir Walter credit for more sense than to let his pro- perty be bowled away in that fashion. Be that as it may, the estate became the property of Sir Baptist, and Campden House was built by him in the picturesque style of architecture belonging to that age. On his death, the eldest of his two daughters, each of whom, it was said, possessed a fortune of one hundred thousand pounds, married Lord Noel, who took the title. |
The third Lord Campden supported the Royalists in the troubled times of the civil war, and during the Commonwealth only escaped the loss of his estates by the payment of a large fine. But when the revolution took place, and "King Charlie got his own again," the merry monarch honoured Lord Campden with a special visit, and supped with him in the great | |
179 | oak-carved dining room, famous for its wonderful oaken mantelpiece, and settled Campden House on him and his heirs for ever. Here, too, died the Earl of Lindsey, who, when his father was wounded and taken captive at the battle of Edge Hill, at once yielded himself prisoner that he might attend on him. The action might seem slight, but it has been sufficient to hand his name down to posterity, and to put another link in the chain of anecdotes that belong to Campden House. |
Some twenty years after this event (in ) the house was hired by the Princess Anne, afterwards Queen, as a nursery for her son, the young Duke of Gloucester. He was the heir apparent to the throne, for William and Mary, the reigning sovereigns, were childless. The little Duke was only two years old when he came to Kensington; a weak, sickly, big- headed child. The Old Court Suburb was, even then, recommended by the doctors, and it was perhaps owing to its healthy air that the child lived as long as he did. There are few more pathetic histories than that of the little Duke of Gloucester, and the story belongs almost entirely to Campden House, for there | |
180 | he was brought up, and, with the exception of an occasional visit to Twickenham or Windsor, constantly resided. There, too, he died. Queen Anne stayed there also to watch the growth of her only son. |
To outward eyes the life of the prince was such as to awaken the envy of all the boys of his age. He had two wooden horses, and a real pony to ride on, he had a model ship so large that his playfellows could climb the masts, he had toys that moved and did all but speak, and, above all, he commanded a real army of little boys, armed with pikes, muskets, and swords; this little troop obeyed his orders, they guarded the gates of Campden House, they had field days in Kensington Gardens, or, as the little prince grew older, on Wormwood Scrubs; and to make it seem all the more real, they broke into the houses of the respectable inhabitants of Kensington, and took whatever they wanted, just as the real soldiers were breaking into the houses of poor Flemish peasants abroad. Then fireworks were let off on every great occasion, for his special gratification. | |
On his seventh birthday he was made a knight of the garter. His dress was crusted with jewels. Was not | |
181 | such a life the acme of juvenile felicity? And yet, notwithstanding all this, the poor little prince was not happy. He reminds us, in his manners and tastes, of Dickens's little Paul, in " Dombey and Son." Instead of Susan Nipper and Wickham, the little prince had for his governess, Lady Fitzharding, and for his nurse Mrs. Pack. Little Paul made a confidant of the old Bath-chairman, and got Glubb to tell him all about the sea and its wonders. The little prince made a confidant of his Welsh usher, and got Lewis Jenkins to tell him why the world was drawn in two round maps. |
Poor little prince. No one understood him with his queer old-fashioned ways; far beyond his age in intellect, never more than an infant in bodily strength. He was four years old before he could walk, and five before he could be forced to go up and down stairs by himself, and then only when his father, Prince George, had given him a severe thrashing. There can be little doubt that he suffered from water on the brain, and that when he tried to walk up or down stairs by himself his big head became full of feelings, which he, in his childish way, could not explain. His father's idea | |
182 | was that his son, as the heir to the British crown, and perhaps the leader of the British armies, must be strong and robust, used to hardships, fond of military exercises, and that he must not like dancing, or have a taste for poetry. But neither beating nor medicine would make the little prince strong or robust. Fond of military exercise he certainly was, and would put up with tolerably rough play. But any unusual exertion brought on a fit of illness. He longed to please his father, and he himself wished to be able to run about and play like other boys. None could understand why he should not. His mother, the Princess Anne, watched his every movement, yet his behaviour was considered the effect of caprice, or of some passing illness. Many are the little anecdotes told of him, which remind us so much of those which Dickens associated with little Paul. Sometimes the young Duke paid visits to Kensington Palace, when the King and Queen resided there. But Queen Mary was not on good terms with her sister Anne, and the mother never accompanied her child. On one of these occasions, and before he was five years old, he had been told that he would be made a Knight of the |
183 | Garter, as he was actually afterwards. The blue ribbon then vacant was given to the Duke of Shrewsbury. The Queen offered her little nephew a pretty bird instead, but the little boy was disappointed, and refusing the bird, said very calmly " that he would not rob her Majesty of it." |
The first time the little prince put on male attire was at Easter, . Under his suit of white camlet with silver buttons he was obliged to wear stiff stays; the stays hurt, and Mr. Hughes, the tailor, was sent for, and condemned to condign punishment. The sentence was that the unlucky tailor should be put on the top of one of the wooden horses, and it was to be carried out by the prince's mimic army of small boys in soldiers' coats. This was not the only time that offenders were thus condemned by martial law. On another occasion, when the young prince lay ill in bed, an automaton toy was sent him from a lady; the prince's regiment of urchins who kept guard round his bedside, decided that the present of a toy to a prince of the mature age of five was an affront. The toy was torn to pieces, and the messenger who had brought it, bethinking him perhaps of the | |
184 | fate of the tailor, rushed down Campden Hill into Kensington town, as fast as his legs would carry him; only, however, to be captured in the course of the afternoon, and soused all over by the small soldiers with water from enormous syringes and squirts. In fact, the bringing up of the heir to the British throne was in many respects rough. His mother once heard him state that he was " Confounded dry," and nearly sent away some of his attendants in consequence. |
He had always manifested a reluctance to the religious services, simply, perhaps, because he could not understand them; and preferred to employ his chaplain in building mimic fortifications to hearing him read psalms. But while on a temporary stay at Twickenham, the old gentlewoman with whom they lodged taught him the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments. The consequence was that he became regular in his attendance at church ever afterwards. | |
When quite a child the young prince showed a great hankering after knowledge, but was considered too weak to be taught until he was eight years old. He went to his Welsh usher for explanations of whatever puzzled him, but Jenkins was forbidden to give | |
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them. the little boy would say, But his governesss, Lady Fitzharding, found it out, and, considering her province invaded, complained to Anne that the Welsh usher had dared to teach the child and a stop was put to these conversations. |
Not long after this event, King William, now a widower, paid a visit to his sister-in-law, and prattling with his little nephew, asked him
replied the Duke, meaning his two wooden ones. The King laughed, and told him His nephew took the words in sober earnest, and insisted on the two wooden horses being buried with due ceremony, and himself composed some childish rhymes as an epitaph. His great ambition was to be a soldier, and he used to tell King William that he and his boy regiments would go out to Flanders with him and help to fight the French. | |
The time, however, was coming when the Duke was to put away childish things, and his regular education was | |
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to be commenced. This was confided to Dr. Burnet,
Bishop of Salisbury, while the Duke of Marlborough
was appointed his military tutor. said King William to the latter, Considering the King hated Marlborough like poison, this was a pretty speech. As for Bishop Burnet, he wearied the ladies of the Princess's establishment with his as we have no doubt he did the young Duke with long lessons. The Court ladies did not pay sufficient attention, but the Bishop had the pews raised so high that they could see nothing but the preacher,- says a ballad of that time. The fashion of high pews outlived the Bishop, and perhaps traces of it may be found in some rural parishes even at the present day. |
The worthy Bishop at once set to work to cram the Duke of Gloucester, as if he were preparing him for the Indian Civil Service now-a-days--jurisprudence, political economy, the feudal system, the Gothic constitution, | |
187 | the Greek and Roman histories made up the " extraordinary mental diet," as Miss Strickland (to whom we are indebted for many of these anecdotes) calls it, of this prodigy of nine years old. The four statesmen who periodically examined his progress confessed themselves astonished at his knowledge. It was, however, not likely that a weak, sickly child could stand such mental pressure. We have no doubt that the poor little fellow's head ached more and more, that getting up and down stairs became a greater task than ever, that his little bright flashes of wit grew fewer, and that he left off his rough play with his small soldiers, to think in his own way about the Gothic constitution and the feudal system. His eleventh birthday, the , passed off as usual, with great rejoicing. The boy soldiers were reviewed, his favourite cannon were fired off, and there were fireworks and a grand banquet. |
The little Duke had never shown the gluttonizing tendencies of his parents; in fact, so little did he care for food that he had often to be reminded that it was necessary to eat. Perhaps on this day he was not so abstemious as usual. He was, at all events, much | |
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heated and fatigued. The next day he was ill with a
sore throat and headache. Before night he was
delirious. says Bishop Burnet, He was bled, by order of the house physician. The clever but eccentric Dr. Radcliffe was at once sent for, but, when he heard that the young Duke had been bled, he refused to prescribe. said Radcliffe, Five days after his birthday, the young Duke died. His illness was said to be scarlet fever, but it doubtless originated in that big head, for which, even at four years of age, no peruke could be found large enough to fit, and which, with his whole demeanour showed that he had water on the brain. |
The poor little prince was probably saved a troubled life. He had been childishly harmless, but all the Jacobites, the exiled James at St. Germains, and Louis XIV. in his imperial palace of Fontainbleau, rejoiced that the little boy was dead, for the chief obstacle was now removed out of the way of the Pretender's succession. Even his uncle, William III., was more than two months before he took any notice | |
189 | of his nephew's death. Anne mourned for him as only a mother who had seen the last of her seventeen children stretched in death can mourn. Such is the idyll of Campden House and of the Duke of Gloucester. We have, perhaps, given a somewhat longer account of this portion of the house's history than usual, but the story is complete in itself, and forms the most touching, perhaps, of all that we have yet met with, or are likely to meet with in the course of our rambles. |
Little Campden House, which stands hard by the larger mansion, was built by Anne to accommodate her retinue, but after her death it was let as a separate residence under the name of "The Elms." | |
To return to the parent building. The next tenants we meet, after the little Duke and his royal mother, are the Countess Dowager of Burlington and her scientific son, Richard Boyle; the Boyles having married into the Noel family. In the latter part of Anne's reign the house was sold to Nicholas Lechmere, an eminent lawyer, who became successively Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Attorney-General; Lechmere was a Whig, and it was he who impeached the Earl of | |
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Derwentwater, after the Jacobite rebellion of ;
but not three months afterwards he opposed his party
on the Bill for Septennial Parliaments. writes a friend to the Whig Ministry, Swift thus describes him:-
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These verses are taken from the ballad of "The two Dukes." The other duke was Guise, and the story goes on to tell us how Guise refused an invitation to a quiet rubber at Campden House, and how Lechmere, on receiving the refusal-
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Lechmere enters Guise's house, tweaks his nose, and
gives him a box on the ear. A challenge, and a duel
ensue, but the worthy proprietor of Campden House,
thinking discretion the better part of valour, sneaks
off from the field of battle in his carriage:-
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How much of the ballad was founded on fact, and how much of it on fancy, history sayeth not; but we are afraid there was but one halfpenny worth of truth to an intolerable deal of fiction. Anyhow we are much obliged to the incident, for our ramble was getting musty, and wanted some of Swift's highly spiced ridicule to make it palatable. During the middle of the last century, and the commencement of the present one, Campden House became a fashionable ladies' boarding-school; so fashionable that the proper way of getting in and out of a carriage was included in the curriculum, and practised on a dummy; | |
192 | while we have a misty recollection of having heard that even the possession of locks of favourite dogs' hair was forbidden, as tending, no doubt, to instil dangerous ideas into the minds of the young ladies. It was afterwards again used as a private residence until the , when it caught fire, and before the close of that Sabbath evening, the old house, where the merry monarch had supped, and an heir apparent had passed his short, childish life, was a heap of smoking ruins, leaving nothing but its memories behind. |
It was, says an antiquary of the reign of Anne, The building was of brick with stone finishings. The Campden arms were sculptured above the first floor bay windows. On the east was the room called Queen Anne's bed-chamber, which had an arched plaster ceiling with pendants, while the walls were hung with red damask tapestry, in imitation of foliage. The house itself stood in large grounds, the approach to it being from Kensington, through a long avenue of elms, which extended nearly to High Street, passing | |
193 | through the spot now occupied by the cemetery. One of the mounds belonging to the Waterworks Company is still traditionally called and is said to have formed part of the Campden estate. The situation was so warm that the olive flourished out of doors; and we also read of a caper tree which had annually produced fruit without any artificial heat, for more than a hundred years. At the close of the last century, the land in front of the house was planted with trees, which nearly cut off the view from the town, while at the same time a road was made to the east. Should any of our readers at any time chance to pass down that road; we hope that they will look on the new house, built on the model of the old, with none the less interest, if they think of the touching story of the young Duke of Gloucester. |
