The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-08-13
NAKEMANS WANDERlNw
AMONG OLD CHELSEA PENSIONERS.

yistoric Home of British Army Veterans
Beside the Thamos-Pcnsioners' Daily
rJvcs-scencs in Ward Rooms. Chapel
and notwithstanding Traditions and
"reminiscences.
LONDON. England. Aug. LIN olden
fines discharged and destitute veterans
az the British army wandered from door
10 door. usually from tap room door 70
door. and secured food and drink by ex-
bibitinQ their scars or spinning delec-
table yarns for the entertainment Of any
who might bestow charity upon them.
They could also knock 40 the doors OF
Iuonastic houses with the assurance OF re
eeiving bread and ale and lodging for the
night
After the Restoration their condition
was scandal 70 King Charles ii and the
country. Authorities differ not only
widely but vituporously as 20 the origin OF
practical effort for their betterment. Some
hold that the English were piqued into
action through the establishment by Louis
XIV OF the Invalides in Paris as a retreat
for French veterans. There is record that
rs early as 1866 a scheme for an inhrmary
for disabled English sailors had been sub
Yntted 70 Pepys, as clerk of admiralty.
Others contest that the second Charles had
a law sort Of design 20 house and comfort
the ragged old veterans who bad been loyal
70 his father before the latter had lost his
kingiy head.
A romantic version Of the origin Of Chel-
sea hospital is that one day pretty Nell
was riding in the kings gilded coach and
being most disconsolate the king rallied
her, when she confessed that her distress
was owing TO the following dream
"Methought was in the fields of Chel-
sea, and slowly there rose before my eyes
beautiful palace Of a thousand cham
bers. and in aud out thereof walked divers
many old and worn out soldier men with
all kinds of scars, and many manned as to
their limbs All Of them were aged and
past service, and as they went out and
came I'm the old men Grid God bless King
Charlesr And / awoke, and ] was sore
discounted that il was only dream"
The story goes that the king was touched
by Nelrs dream, and then and there swore
a great oath that IL should come 20 reality.
And so il did. The king hardly saw more
than the cornerstone laid by Sir Christie
pher Wren, in 1851 but before DR.. Tension,
afterward archbishop Of Canterbury, had
preached Nell Gwynne's funeral sermon,
in 1890. there truly Slowly rose before her
eyes a. beautiful palace Of a thousand
chambers"
An easy and delightful way to visit Chel-
Fea hospital is to take one of the countless
Thames steamers. These ply up and down
II l.. g q Io 10 md uifrBf
taking on and landing hundreds of passen-
gers at piers about a quarter OF mile
apart on each side OF the river; something
a. the little Philadelphia pleasure boats
puff up and down the Schuylkill between
the dam and the Wissahickon.
This zlgzag trip on the Thames is the
most interesting in all the world, for its
distance; providing you 90 on board, say,
a. the cold Swan" pier, on the city side Of
London bridge; for the Tower, the Monu-
ment, St. pauls. Westminster Abbey, par
Lament houses, Lambeth palace and num-
berless other of London's greatest and most
historic structures are passed; while the
Thames here not only presents its liyehest
panOramas of stupendous interests, varied
scenes and characterful life, but shows
that portion most renowned in fiction and
history for more than a thousand years.
Abutting Albert bridge at the western
end Of that portion Of the Thames called
Chelsea reach, you step upon little pier
and thence upon the upper Thames EN-
bankment, and at once are within
charmed and charming region. Almost
within stones throw Of the hospital
grounds have tarried, or lived or died
l. -. 4
art. Smollett came here TO live in retire
nent in 1850 in house once owned by
Henry VIII Sir Thomas More's black
memorial slab is in Chelsea Old church;
Lady Dacre, Lady Jane Cheyne and the
Duchess Of Northumberland three Of
Chelsea's grand ladies, lie beneath monu.
ments within the church; while Charles,
George and Henry Kingsley once lived in
the rectory with their father, who had re-
ceived the living" from Lord Cardigan
In Cheyne walk lived Turner, the painter,
and in Cheyne row Lived and died George
Eliot and rugged old Carlyle. Queen
Elizabeth used TO visit tbs Earl of Shrews-
bury at Shrewsbury horse, just back Of
Cheyne walk, and doughty old Samuel
johnson, who thought he could mold
china as we'll as make dictionary, for
a long time came here every day to the old
Chelsea china works at the corner Of Law
renee street and Justice walk, his faithful
housekeeper trudging after him with a
huge basket containing his daily food.
The poet George Herbert dwelt in this
neighborhood. Rosetti lived and sang here
amid his garden Of flowers. and at a little
BARRIERS shop and coffeehouse Don Salte
rosn il was called in Cheyne walk
Richard Cromwell Steele and Addison
and Benjamin Franklin, who worked in a
printing shop in Bartholomew Close, came
10 get shaved and TO loiter over their cot
fee where the literati then sat ia council "
SaunteriRg on through the quaint
streets with their ancient and picturesque
mansions, hosts Of the silent great will
throng about you. But now and then
your delightful memories will be not un
pleasantly broken in upon by the appear
Rnce Of some shriveled old man, often with
q cane or a crutch and always in flaming
red.
Many an odd little study you will FIND
among these cantankerous past age heroes
hi the quiet streets of Chelsea. ChelseS
would hardly be Chelsea without them
Btraggling along its thoroughfares, sitting
bent aud silent on sunny benches, leaning
against fountains vases and statues, rest
ing as oomposedly as house owners OF
house steps and vestibules, or stumping
along with orders 60 this and that servant
Bs II long habit had given them acquired
ruuarv{eorv ,t,,Lfo e,so- 10 fTofrs - roe;