the border of the Green, a small area so termed near the entrance of the village." This was about the year 1770.

The widow of Jonathan Gurnell, jun., who afterwards married Admiral Peyton, was the next proprietor, and subsequently the manor was purchased by Soane, the famous architect, who, Brewer says, " took down some years back the whole of the original structure, except two rooms of spacious and fine proportions, and built the present villa, in which he for some time occasionally resided." "The front of the building is obscured from the road by a shrubbery and a stately fir tree, the whole being encompassed by an iron railing. The entrance to the garden is by an iron gate, supported by two picturesque square pillars, composed of flint and brickwork. A serpentine walk leads to the house. The entrance to the house is ornamented by four Ionic pillars, surmounted by figures copied from the antique; these project from the building, and give an air of lightness and elegance to the front. Between these the door opens to an elegant saloon ornamented with arches, composed of various kinds of marble, to which the stained glass over the door gives a pleasing effect." Such is the description given by Hughson in his Circuit of London, published 1806. Soane' was the founder of the Museum of Architecture at Lincoln's Inn Fields. His

career was a remarkable one. Of humble parentage, he attained a high rank in his profession, and filled several important official appointments. He was made Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy in 1806, became Architect to the Bank of England, St. James' Palace, etc., besides designing many country seats. Sir John Soane died in 1837, having generously bequeathed to the nation his house at Lincoln's Inn Fields, together with the

1 Beauties of Middlesex, p. 334.

› See Chambers' Encyclopædia, Sir John Soane.

2 Ibid., p. 335.

valuable art and antiquarian collection which he had made. Hogarth's "Rake's Progress", several of Turner's finest pictures, and some rare books, are in the list. Some of Sir John's work has been much criticised, but all will allow the munificence of his gift. Clifton, Esq., next inhabited Pittshanger, and he was succeeded by General Cameron.

For many long years the last surviving daughter of the Right Honourable Spencer Perceval has lived at the fine old mansion, her life beautiful with kindly deeds, as were the lives of the sisters who have gone from us. Few more delightful spots can be found than the house and grounds, the principal entrance to which is through the imposing flint archway, already described. Standing next to Miss Perceval's is another large house, the home of its owner, the Rt. Hon. S. H. Walpole. The names of these two families, so closely connected with the place for a lengthy period, are associated with much beneficence, and an unfailing concern for the welfare of the district. Towards

the church and parish their generosity has been great.

The Right Honourable Spencer Horatio Walpole' was born in 1806, and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge; he obtained the first prize for English declamation, and also a prize for an essay on William III. He was called to the bar in 1831, and became a Queen's Counsel in 1846. He is the oldest Q.C. now alive. He was elected member for Midhurst in 1846, and sat for that borough till 1856, when he was elected member for Cambridge University, which he represented until his retirement from Parliament in 1882. He was Home Secretary in Lord Derby's administration in 1852, and after leaving office was made chairman of the Great Western Railway Company. He was again appointed Home Secretary in 1858, and

1 Contributed by the Rev. W. E. Oliver, LL.D.

resigned in 1859, owing to a difference of opinion with his colleagues on their Reform Bill. He was again Home Secretary in 1866, and resigned that office in the following year, but retained a seat in the Cabinet without office. He was one of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners 1856-1858, and 1862-1866. He married Miss Perceval in 1835, one of the daughters of Spencer Perceval, who was Prime Minister and who was shot in the House of Commons in 1812. Among the many illustrious inhabitants of Ealing along these far-off years, of which this history treats, no name stands in greater lustre than the name of Mr. Walpole. Mr. Walpole has taken, as our record of his life shows, a great part in the statesmanship of the century, and hast occupied the highest positions of trust and responsibility, but we in Ealing have known him as the beau ideal of an English gentleman, full of courtesy, kindness, and an overflowing generosity. For over fifty years Mr. Walpole has been a resident here, and not only by the weight of his character, the splendour of family name, and exquisite urbanity of manner, he has won all hearts, but by his grasp of affairs he has taken chief lead in all matters parochial, ecclesiastical and educational. All things that were for the good of the parish have had his warmest sympathy and most energetic co-operation. Mr. Walpole with a munificent hand gave to the restoration of the Parish Church of St. Mary's, to the Almshouses, and to the Schools. No call was ever made upon him in vain. Although now retired from public life, we say of him, that he has in our midst nomen clarum et venerabile. He is held in highest regard and affection by all who have had the privilege of knowing him. He will be to us of the present generation a stimulus to high endeavour, and an inspiration to the call of duty, of patriotism, and noble living.

P

CHAPTER VIII.

Historic Brentford and Ealing.

Old Norden's Argument.-Antiquity of Brentford.-Brentford and the Old Saxon Chroniclers.-Two Kings of Brentford.-An Unique Celebration at the Red Lion Inn.-The Marian Persecution.-Six Martyrs Burnt at Brentford.-The Civil Wars.-Battle of Brentford.-Petition of the Inhabitants.-Its Answer.-Earl of

Brentford.

T is somewhat of an anomaly that the old county town of Middlesex, Brentford, which figures prominently in the pages of antiquity, should have been from its earliest known history, not a separate parish, but included within the two parishes of Ealing and Hanwell, about which places much less stirring and eventful traditions cling. This is the fact, however, and it is stated by all the earlier writers. Newcourt, writing in 1708, says :— "The hamlet of old Brentford is appended to Ealing, New Brentford or West Brentford is annexed to Hanwell, and so hath been these three hundred and sixty years and more," continues the same writer, "for John de Thoryndon was instituted to the Church of Hanwell, with the chappell of Brentford thereunto annext, in 1355.' 991 Norden has the following quaint notice of the old-world town :-" Brentforde, commonly called New Brentford, or Market

1 Newcourt had the custody of the muniments and records of the diocese of London from August 1669 to May 1690.

Brentforde, or Brayneforde, takes its name for that Brent brooke passeth through the towne. This Brentforde is a market towne, yet no parish, but belongeth unto Great Elinge. It is called New Brentforde as I take it of the late purchase of the market which was in the time of King Edward the sixt; for the chappell argueth it of greater antiquity than the other which hath the name of Old Brentforde, of the River Brent which runnethe on the west part of the towne, and between it and Syon entereth into the Thames.""

It is a matter of difficulty to decide the much contested claim for priority of settlement between Old and New Brentford; perhaps it is safe to consider the two ends of the long, straggling town as coeval, evidence being so nicely balanced, and to accept Norden's derivation of the name connecting it with the River Brent and the ford, rather than the supposition of a learned writer, that it may have been originally Breninford,' i.e., the King's road, or way, and so named from the belief that Julius Cæsar, on his second invasion of England, crossed the Thames at Old Brentford, the river being easily fordable at this point,' and the height of the banks being "an important consideration," says the same writer, "since it allowed the Britons more space to fortify them with stakes, and at the same time afforded the Romans a fairer opportunity of plying their engines over the heads of their own men as they entered the river, and of striking the enemy posted on the topmost verge of the opposite side. Thus, whilst the cavalry, sent in advance to cross higher up the stream, were threatening the flank, the main body of the legions pressing

1 Norden's Speculum Britanniæ, time of Elizabeth.

2 See Rev. Henry Jenkins in Journal of the British Archæological Association for 1860, p. 133.

Bishop Gibson observes that in his own time there was not at low ebb above three feet of water in the Thames at Old Brentford.