Winchester House was well and expensively supplied with water, conveyed by pipes from a conduit, built by Henry VIII., situated in the King’s forcing grounds at Kensington.
Upon pulling down the palace a singular discovery was made. In a small room, to the north front, and at the north-west corner, were found on the plaster of the walls, nine figures of the size of life, viz., three men and six women, drawn in outline with black chalk in a bold and animated style. Various opinions have been given respecting these spirited sketches. They displayed much of the manner of Hogarth, who lived on intimate terms with Bishop Hoadly, and it was supposed that these figures applied to some domestic incident in the bishop’s family, or to some scene in a play. His lordship’s partiality for the drama was great. A near relative, who resided in Chelsea, wrote the comedy of “The Suspicious Husband.”
The palace remained unoccupied after the death of Bishop North; for Lady Tomline, the wife of Bishop Tomline, conceived a dislike to the place altogether. His lordship, in consequence, applied to Parliament and obtained an Act to enable him to sell the premises. The Lord of the Manor became the purchaser; and subsequently the whole fabric was sold by auction.
Description of the Manor House.
As full particulars have already been given of the distinguished occupiers of the ancient Manor House, Cheyne Walk, it is here only necessary to describe the structure of this once celebrated residence. [105]
Immediately adjoining Winchester Palace, on the east, was situated the ancient Manor House and lands. It was a spacious house, built by Henry VIII., the original consisting of a rather plain brick structure, one storey above the ground floor, with irregularly-shaped windows, and divided by four buttresses of great width, carried up considerably higher than the roof, either as ornaments or concealed flues. The parapet of this part was castellated. Two additions, on the east, seems to have been subsequently added to the original; one of them being three stories in height, the other of two, without either buttress or embrasures. The number of windows in the entire front was thirty-four, and the entrance door accorded with the period of Henry VIII. The whole presented an idea of monastic antiquity.
Sir Hans Sloane, it is said, was buried from the eastern end of the Manor House. A man, named Howard, who was employed in the removal of his books, stated that they amounted to nearly 40,000 volumes.
On part of the site of the old Manor House, and adjoining Winchester Palace, in the first house eastward in Cheyne Walk, resided for a long time the Rev. Thomas Clare. When the destruction of the episcopal domain took place, Mr. Clare, with some difficulty, obtained a portion of the land upon which the gardens of the above venerable edifice stood, in the arrangement and disposition of which he omitted nothing which might do justice to the memory of its former illustrious owners and occupiers, or excite the approbation of visitors of judgment and taste.
Sir Richard Steele appears, from the parish books, to have rented a house by the water-side, rated at £14 per annum. In a letter from Sir Richard to Lady Steele, dated Chelsea, 14th of February, 1716, he says, “Mr. Fuller and I came hither to dine in the air, but the maid has been so slow that we are benighted, and chuse to lie here rather than go this road in the dark. I lie at our own house, and my friend at a relation’s in the town.”
Sir Richard was born about the year 1676, in Ireland, but of English parents. At a very early age he was sent from Dublin to London, and was educated with Addison at the Charter House; from hence he removed to Merton College, Oxford; he left the University without taking a degree, and entered the army, a step highly displeasing to his friends. However, as he had a constant flow of good nature, a generous frankness of spirit, and a sparkling vivacity of wit, these qualities rendered him the delight of the soldiery, and having made choice of a profession which set him free from all the ordinary restraints in youth, he indulged his inclinations in the wildest excesses. He became Secretary to Lord Cutts, who obtained for him the rank of captain in Lord Lucas’s regiment of Fusileers; and, in the beginning of Queen Anne’s reign, he was appointed to the profitable place of Gazetteer, to which he had been recommended by Mr. Addison. Steele had already exhibited his talents as a dramatic writer with success, and in 1709 he began to publish “The Tatler,” which was undertaken by him in concert with Dr. Swift, and others; and by this work his reputation was perfectly established. This was followed by “The Spectator,” which was carried on chiefly by the assistance of his friend Addison, and the success of this paper being still superior to that of the former, encouraged him to proceed in the same design in the character of “The Guardian.”