Whilst there he often rode over to Petworth, where he was painting portraits for Lord Egremont, and in these ways he got the country air and rest that were out of the question when he was in town. He did not, however, improve in mental vigour; but the old mania for building came on with greater force than ever, and unfortunately Hayley did not scruple to encourage it for his own ends.
THE PARSON'S DAUGHTER.
In 1796 he was found one day by his son busy with extravagant ideas and designs for a great mansion in Edgware Road, and it was only the fact that his son was able to point out the folly of such an idea which dissuaded him from its accomplishment. The proposed purchase was eventually broken off, and Mr. John Romney records in his volume most gratefully his thankfulness to the solicitor, who behaved very handsomely in this matter.
Romney was, however, determined to leave Cavendish Square, and, acting on the advice of his son to buy a ready-built house rather than to erect one, he purchased an old dwelling-house near Holly Bush Hill, Hampstead, now identified with that known as The Mount, Heath Street, Hampstead, close to where he had been in the habit of lodging for some little while, and where he found the quiet and retirement which he desired.
This happened in 1796, and Romney let the residence in Cavendish Square and went to reside at Hampstead.
The accommodation did not, however, content him, and he acquired two copyhold plots of ground at the back of the house, on which he forthwith erected what Hayley describes as "a singular fabric," but which Cunningham calls a "strange new studio and dwelling-house."
He adds that it "cost £2,733, and was an odd whimsical structure, in which there was nothing like sufficient domestic accommodation, though there was a wooden arcade for a riding house in the garden, and a very extensive picture and statue gallery."
There is little doubt that this structure forms part of what is at present the Constitutional Club, the large room being Romney's picture gallery, although considerable additions have been made to the building.