in history down to quite recent times, when we incidentally learn that the Prince Regent was nearly meeting with a serious accident here, in December, 1813, through a dense fog, which would not yield even to royalty. On his way to pay a visit to the Marquis of Salisbury, at Hatfield House, Herts, the Prince was obliged to return to Carlton House, after one of his outriders had fallen into a ditch at the entrance of Kentish Town, which at that time was not lit with gas, and probably not even with oil.

The road through this district, however, even when no fog prevailed, does not seem to have been very safe for wayfarers after dark, in former times, if we may judge from the numerous notices of outrages which appear in the papers of the times, of which the following may be taken as a sample:

The London Courant, August 8, 1751, contains the following:-"On Sunday night, August 5th, 1751, as Mr. Rainsforth and his daughter, of Clare Street, Clare Market, were returning home through Kentish Town, about eight o'clock, they were attacked by three footpads, and after being brutally ill-used, Mr. R. was robbed of his watch and money."

A few years later, the following paragraph appeared in the Morning Chronicle (January 9, 1773): -"On Thursday night some villains robbed the Kentish Town stage, and stripped the passengers of their money, watches, and buckles. In the hurry they spared the pockets of Mr. Corbyn, the druggist; but he, content to have neighbours' fare, called out to one of the rogues, 'Stop, friend! you have forgot to take my money.""

The result of these continual outrages was that the inhabitants of the district resolved upon adopting some means for their protection, as was notified by the following announcement in the newspapers: "The inhabitants of Kentish Town, and other places between there and London, have entered into a voluntary subscription for the support of a guard or patrol to protect foot-passengers to and from each place during the winter season (that is to say) from to-morrow, being old Michaelmas Day, to old Lady Day next, in the following manner, viz. :—That a guard of two men, well armed, will set out to-morrow, at six o'clock in the evening, from Mr. Lander's, the Bull,' in Kentish Town, and go from thence to Mr. Gould's, the 'Coach and Horses,' facing the Foundling Hospital gate, in Red Lion Street, London; and at seven will return from thence back to the 'Bull;' at eight will set out again from the 'Bull' to the 'Coach and Horses,' and at nine will return from thence to the Bull' again; and will so continue to do every

evening during the said winter season, from which places, at the above hours, all passengers will be conducted without fee or reward."

Kentish Town, in the middle of the last century, could boast of its Assembly Rooms, at which the balls were sufficiently attractive to draw persons from all parts of the neighbourhood of London. In fact, it became a second "Almack's "*-in its way, of course. It was a large wooden building, and stood at the angle of the main road, where the Highgate and Holloway Roads meet, and on gala nights it was lighted up with numberless lamps. In 1788 the house was taken by a person named Wood, who issued the following advertisement :"Thomas Wood begs leave to inform his friends and the publick in general, that he has laid in a choice assortment of wines, spirits, and liquors, together with mild ales and cyder of the best quality, all of which he is determined to sell on the most valuable terms. Dinners for public societies or private parties dressed on the shortest notice. Tea, coffee, &c., morning and evening. A good trap-ball ground, skittle ground, pleasant summerhouse, extensive garden, and every other accommodation for the convenience of those who may think proper to make an excursion to the above house during the summer months. A good ordinary on Sundays at two o'clock."

By the side of the roadway, facing the old Assembly Rooms, was an elm-tree, beneath whose spreading branches was an oval-shaped marbletopped table, the edge of which was surrounded with the following inscription :-" "Posuit A.D. 1725 in Memoriam Sanitatis Restauratæ Robertus WRIGHT, Gent." The old tree was struck by lightning in 1849.

A little farther from town, in or about the year 1858, some gardens were opened as a place of public amusement on the Highgate Road, near the foot of Highgate Rise. But the place was not very respectably conducted, and after a run of about a year the gardens were closed, the magistrates refusing a spirit licence to the proprietor, a Mr. Weston, the owner of a music-hall in Holborn.

In 1833 races were held at Kentish Town, the particulars of which, as they appeared in the Daily Postboy, are reprinted in Mr. Palmer's "History of St. Pancras." These races in their day drew as much attention as did Epsom then, but all memory of them has long passed away. There was also at one time established here a society or club, known as "The Corporation of Kentish Town," an institution, there is little doubt, much on a par with

• See Vol. IV., p. 197.

that which we have already described as existing at "The Harp," in Russell Street, Covent Garden, which is denominated "The Corporation of the City of Lushington." The club is referred to in the following announcements which appear in the newspapers of the period :—

The Officers and Aldermen of the Corporation of Kentish Town are desired to attend the next day of meeting, at Two o'clock, at Brother Legg's, the "Parrot," in Green Arbour Court, in the Little Old Baily, in order to pay a visit to the Corporation of Stroud Green, now held at the "Hole in the Wall" at Islington; and from thence to return in the evening to Brother Lamb's in Little Shear Lane, near Temple Bar, to which house the said Corporation have adjourned for the inter season. By order of the Court,

T. L., Recorder. October 1, 1754.

CORPORATION OF KENTISH TOWN, 1756.
GENTLEMEN,

Your Company is desired to meet the past Mayors, Sheriffs, and Aldermen of this Corporation, the ensuing Court Day, at Mr. Thomas Baker's, the "Green Dragon," in Fleet Street, precisely at Two o'clock, in order to go in a body to Mr. Peter Brabant's, the "Roman Eagle," in Church

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tions. He was entrusted with the management of the design, and the receipt of subscriptions, which flowed in largely; and he insured the house for £4,000. Circumstances having occurred to show that the destruction of the building was not caused by accident, suspicion fastened upon Mr. Lowe; but before he could be secured and brought to justice, he put an end to his life by poison.

Among the "worthies" of Kentish Town we may mention Dr. William Stukeley, the celebrated antiquary, who formerly lived here. We shall have occasion to mention him again when we reach St. Pancras. He was called by his friends "the Arch-Druid," and over the door of his villa a friend caused to be written the following lines:"Me dulcis saturet quies; Obscuro positus loco, Leni perfruar otio, Chyndonax Druida.”

These lines may be thus translated:

"Oh, may this rural solitude receive
And contemplation all its pleasures give
The Druid priest."

Mayor who now resides in that town.

By order of the Court,

J. J., Recorder. The Company of the Aldermen of Stroud Green, the Loyal Regiment of British Hussars, and the Brethren of the Most Antient and Noble Order of Bucks, will be esteem'd a great favour.

The "Castle" Tavern, in Kentish Town Road, stands upon the site of an older house bearing the same sign, which had the reputation-true or false-of dating its origin from the time of King John. The front of the old building had the familiar and picturesque projecting storeys, supported originally by a narrow pier at the side of a bolder one. The interior of one of the rooms had a fireplace of stone, carved with a flattened arch of the Tudor style, with the spandrils enriched with a rose and a leaf-shaped ornament terminating in a snake's tail. This fireplace had been for years hidden from view by a coat of plaster. It is possible that, in their ignorance of Gothic architecture, the good people of Kentish Town ascribed a Tudor arch to the early part of the thirteenth century.

Another old building at Kentish Town was the Emanuel Hospital, an establishment for the reception of the blind, which was burnt down in 1779. The house had been purchased by a Mr. Lowe, who was one of the chief promoters of the charity, and who took every possible method to forward the establishment and procure subscrip

• See Vol. III., p. 279.

of glass so inscribed in France, in which, the doctor believed, were contained the ashes of an Arch-Druid of that name, whose portrait forms the frontispiece to his work on Stonehenge. Dr. Stukeley's reputation, however, as an antiquary is not great at the present day, as he has been proved by Mr. B. B. Woodward, in the Gentleman's Magazine, to have been equally credulous and superficial.

Here, too, lived an eccentric old bachelor and miser, Mr. John Little, at whose sudden death, intestate, in 1798, about £37,000 of property, 173 pairs of breeches, and 180 old wigs were found in a miserably furnished apartment which he allowed no one to enter. These and his wealth all passed to a brother whom he had discarded, and whom he had meant to disinherit had not death prevented him.

It is generally said that Charles Mathews the elder was a resident in Kentish Town; but his home, Ivy Cottage, was in Millfield Lane, in the hamlet of Brookfield, of which, as well as of St. Anne's Church, Brookfield, it will be more convenient to treat in our notice of Highgate. At present we have no intention to climb the breezy "northern heights of London."

At No. 8, in Lower Craven Place, lived, for some time, Douglas Jerrold. He afterwards removed to Kilburn, where he died in June, 1857.†

+ See ante, p. 249.

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One of the peculiarities of this district, and one which it retained down to a very recent date, was its slate pavement. It certainly, on fine days, looked very clean, and was pleasant to the tread; but in wet and frosty weather it became slippery and dangerous in the extreme. It has now been superseded by the ordinary pavement of stone-flags. During the last few years the green fields which fringed one side of the road at Kentish Town have passed away, and unbroken lines of streets connect it with the Holloway Road. Many new churches and chapels have been erected, and the once rural village now forms, like Camden and Somers Town, but a portion of the great metropolis.

Great College Street, by which we return to the eastern side of Camden Town, in the direction of old St. Pancras Church, is so named from the Royal Veterinary College, which covers a large space of ground on its eastern side. This institution was established in 1791, with the view of promoting a reformation in that particular branch of veterinary science called "farriery," by the formation of a school, in which the anatomical structure of quadrupeds of all kinds, horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, &c., the diseases to which they are subject, and the remedies proper to be applied, should be investigated and regularly taught. Of the foundation of this institution we gather the following particulars from the Monthly Register of 1802" To the agricultural societies in different parts of this kingdom the public is greatly indebted. It will be matter of surprise to men of thought, that the improvements in the veterinary art, instead of originating with the military establishment to which it is so important for the benefit of the cavalry, has been chiefly promoted by an obscure association at Odiham, in Hampshire, which entertain the design of sending two young men of talents into France, to become students in this new profession. Monsieur St. Bel, in the year 1788, was driven from that country, either from his own pecuniary embarrassments, or by the internal disorganisation which then prevailed. He offered his services to this society, in consequence of which the college was instituted, and he was nominated to superintend it, and some noblemen and gentlemen of the highest rank and consideration in the country were appointed as managers of the undertaking. Monsieur St. Bel, possessing, however, many excellent qualities, was not precisely suited to his situation; his private difficulties impeded his public exertions. In 1792, to ascertain his ability to discharge the duties of his situation, he was examined by Sir George Baker and several other physicians and surgeons, and was considered com

petent to his duties. Whether these gentlemen, comparing the merits of Monsieur St. Bel with the ordinary farriers, imagined consummate skill in the profession not necessary to the success of this new enterprise, we will not determine; but it is certain, however ingenious he might be in shoeing and in the inferior branches, with the pharmaceutic art, or that which respects the healing the diseases of the animal, he was wholly unacquainted. In August, 1793, Monsieur St. Bel died, and it is probable that the fatal event was accelerated by the disappointment he felt at the ill success of the establishment he conducted.

"In the time of Monsieur St. Bel a house was taken at Pancras for the purposes of the institution. Since his decease the professorship has devolved to Mr. Coleman, and a handsome theatre has been prepared, with a museum and dissecting rooms for the use of the pupils, and for their examination; and for other purposes a medical committee has been appointed, comprising Dr. Fordyce, Dr. Bailie, Dr. Babington, Dr. Relp, Mr. Cline, Mr. Abernethy, Mr. A. Cooper, Mr. Home, and Mr. Houlstone.

"In consequence of the new regulations pupils are admitted for the sum of twenty guineas, and they are accommodated in the college with board or otherwise, according to their own convenience. For this sum they see the practice of the college, and by the liberality of the medical committee are admitted to the lectures of those who compose it gratis; and in the army the veterinary surgeons are advanced to the rank of commissioned officers, by which condescension of the commander-in-chief the regiments of English cavalry have, for the first time, obtained the assistance of gentlemen educated in a way to discharge the important duties of their situations."

The Duke of Northumberland was the first president of the college. A school for the instruction of pupils in veterinary science is carried on under the direction of a duly-qualified professor; and diseased horses are admitted upon certain terms into the infirmary. Such is thought to be the national importance of this institution, that Parliament has liberally afforded aid when the state of the college's finances rendered a supply essential.

Lectures are delivered daily in the theatre of the college during the session, which commences in October and ends in May; to these only students are admitted. The fee for pupils is twenty-five guineas, which entitles them to attend the lectures and general practical instructions of the college until they shall have passed their examination. On Tuesday evenings there are discussions on

various subjects connected with the veterinary art. The buildings are of plain brick, and have an extensive frontage to the street, from which they stretch back to the distance of more than 200 yards. The theatre for dissections and lectures is judiciously planned; and in a large contiguous apartment are numerous anatomical illustrations. The infirmary will hold about sixty horses. There is likewise a forge for the shoeing of horses on the most approved principles, and several paddocks are attached to the institution.

Not far from the Veterinary College lived, in 1802, Mr. Andrew Wilson, a gentleman who is described as " of the Stereotype Office," and who took out a patent for the process of stereotyping. He was not, however, the original inventor of the stereotypic art, nor was he destined to be the man who should revive it practically or perfect it. As early as the year 1711, a Dutchman, Van der Mey, introduced a process for consolidating types after they had been set up, by soldering them together at the back; and it is asserted that the process, as we now understand it, was practised in 1725 by William Gedd, or Gedde, of Edinburgh, who endeavoured to apply it to the printing of Bibles for the University of Cambridge. It is well known that the process was, half a century later or more, carried out into common use by the then Lord Stanhope, at his private printing-press at Chevening, in Kent.

Pratt Street, as we have already stated, is so called after the family name of Lord Camden. This is one of the principal streets in Camden Town, and connects Great College Street with the High Street. In it is the burial-ground for the parish of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, together with a chapel and residence for the officiating clergyman. The site formed originally two fields, called Upper Meadow and Upper Brook Meadow, and was purchased from the Earl of Camden and Dr. Hamilton, Prebendary of Canteloes, in accordance with the provisions of an Act of Parliament passed for that purpose, and the cemetery was laid out and consecrated by the Bishop of London in 1805. Here lies buried Charles Dibdin, the author of most of the best of our naval songs. Charles Knight speaks of him, somewhat sarcastically, it must be owned, as a man who, "had he rendered a tithe of the services actually performed by him to the naval strength of his country under the name of a 'Captain R.N.' instead of as a song-writer, would have died a wealthy peer instead of drawing his last breath in poverty."

St. Stephen's Church, in this street, with its adjoining parsonage and schools, covering several

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acres, is a large and commodious structure, in the Grecian style. It was built about the year 1836.

Among the residents in Camden Town in former times, besides those we have named, was the veteran composer, Sir Henry Rowley Bishop-the last who wrote English music in a distinctive national style, carrying the traditions of Purcell, Arne, Boyce, &c., far on into the present century. Born towards the close of the last century, he had as his early instructor Signor Bianchi. In 1806 he composed the music for a ballet performed at Covent Garden Theatre, and shortly afterwards. commenced to write regularly for the stage. From 1810 to 1824 he held the post of musical director at Covent Garden, and subsequently became a director of the Concerts of Ancient Music. He received the honour of knighthood in 1842, but it was a barren honour; and in spite of a knighthood and the Professorship of Music at Oxford, added to the more solid rewards of successful authorship, his last days were spent in comparative poverty. Such are the rewards held out in this country to professional eminence ! In every house where music, and more especially vocal music, is welcome, the name of Sir Henry Bishop has long been, and must long remain, a household word. Who has not been soothed by the melody of "Blow, gentle gales," charmed by the measures of "Lo! here the gentle lark," enlivened by the animated strains of "Foresters, sound the cheerful horn," or touched by the sadder music of "The winds whistle cold"? Who has not been haunted by the insinuating tones of "Tell me, my heart," "Bid me discourse," or "Where the wind blows," which Rossini, the minstrel of the South, loved so well? Who has not felt sympathy with "As it fell upon a day, in the merry month of May," or admired that masterpiece of glee and chorus, "The chough and the crow," or been moved to jollity at some convivial feast by "Mynheer van Dunck," the most original and genial of comic glees? Sir Henry Bishop died in 1855, at his residence in Cambridge Street, Edgware Road.

As we pass down Great College Street, we have on our left, stretching away towards Islington, a sort of "No man's land," formerly known as Agar Town, and filling up a part of the interval between the Midland and the Great Northern Railway, of which we shall have more to say in a future chapter. On our right, too, down to a comparatively recent date, the character of the locality was not much better; indeed, the whole of the neighbourhood which lay-and part of which still liesbetween Clarendon Square and the Brill and St. Pancras Road, would answer to the description of