At Kent House (divided now) reside Earl Morley, and Sir G. C. Lewis, the late Chancellor of the Exchequer. He married Lady Theresa (noticed above), relict of P. H. Lister, Esq., and is author of many important historical and political works, some of which were written in this house.
Stratheden House.—This was many years the residence of a highly respected family named Marsh. Charles Marsh, Esq., was a magistrate of the county, and William Marsh was senior partner in the house of Marsh, Graham, and Co., with which the forgeries of Fauntleroy were so interwoven. In the misfortunes occasioned by this man Mr. Marsh was innocently, but bitterly, involved. He was a very public spirited man, and greatly respected in the locality.
Stratheden House was afterwards the residence of Francis Bassett, Lord de Dunstanville. He was created baronet for his prompt heading of the Cornish miners, and bringing them to the relief of Plymouth, when the combined fleets of France and Spain cast anchor in the Sound in 1779. He sat in the House of Commons many years, supporting Lord North, and afterwards Pitt, by whom, in 1799, he was raised to the peerage. He supported the Tory interest in the Upper House, and, though not a prominent member, drew down on him the ire of the veteran reformer, Cartwright. He died in 1835.
This mansion is now the town residence of Lord Campbell and Lady Stratheden, after whom it is named. The first volume of the “Lives of the Chancellors” is dated from this house.
High Row extends from Albert Gate Houses to the Barracks; part of it, in an absurd spirit of sycophancy, is now called Albert Terrace. At the west side of the stream, till the improvements were effected, stood a celebrated inn, known as the “Fox and Bull,” traditionally said to have been founded in the time of Elizabeth, and used by her on her visits to Lord Burleigh at Brompton. Its curious sign is said to be the only one of the kind existing. At the “Fox and Bull” for a long while was maintained that Queen Anne style of society, where persons of “parts” and reputation were to be met with in rooms open to all. A Captain Corbet was for a long while its head; a Mr. Shaw, of the War Office, supplied the London Gazette; and W. Harris, of Covent Garden Theatre, his play-bills. [112a] Sir Joshua Reynolds is said to have occasionally been a visitor, as also Sir W. Wynn, the patron of Ryland; and George Morland frequently so. The sign was once painted by Sir Joshua, and hung till 1807, when it was blown down and destroyed in a storm. The house is referred to in the “Tatler,” No. 259.
The “Fox and Bull” was for many years the receiving house of the Royal Humane Society; [112b] and here was brought the poor frame of the first wife of the poet Shelley, who had drowned herself in the Serpentine. She had lodged in Hans Place, a short time before, and was known to the landlord’s daughter, Miss Mary Ann Phillips; hence, her remains were treated “tenderly,” and laid out “with care.” An inquest was held, and a verdict returned, which saved her the revolting burial then awarded to the suicide.
A magistrate used to sit here once a-week: the last was Mr. Bond, of Sloane Street. The present is the third house that has existed under the same sign. The first was undoubtedly of Elizabethan build; most of its rooms were panelled and carved, with ornamented ceilings, &c.; and it was not till 1799 that the immense fire-places and dog-irons were removed for stoves. This house was pulled down about 1836, and the second immediately built on its site; this stood till the alterations at Albert Gate made necessary the removal of the business to its present situation.
In 1809 the landlord, digging to form a grain pit for his cows, discovered six entire male skeletons, supposed to be remains of some who had been slain (perhaps attempting to cross the bridge) in the Civil War.
The Cannon Brewhouse, a large unsightly brick building, occupied the remainder of the site of the Albert Gate houses. Formerly here stood a row of mean dwellings, with open cellars in front, and at the west end a filthy court. They were all removed for the brewhouse, the first stone of which was laid by the late Mr. James Goding, on April 10th, 1804; at the top was a huge wooden cannon. [114] In 1841 the whole was pulled down, and for ten years the ground was unoccupied; in 1851 a temporary building for the Chinese Collection of Mr. Dunn was erected, which in 1852 made way for the large mansion not yet entirely finished.
The house now inhabited by Mr. Murray was, rather more than thirty years since, the residence of Lady Ann Hamilton—the faithful attendant of Caroline of Brunswick. Afterwards Mr. Chalon, and then Mr. Davis, both artists of repute, inhabited it. To Mr. Davis succeeded Mr. White, a naturalist, who had here a large collection of wild beasts and birds. I have heard he was tutor to Van Amburgh.