New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-02-16
IN OLD STREET.
"reminiscences of a Famous London
Suburb.
Suburb.

Suburb.
PARADISE Row or Broken Broke l Piece 6 of G 55
Macmillan Co,
Quaint Chelsea which is now suburb OF Lon
DON was for many centuries a Quainter country
village seated beside the Thames the river
flowing then as its deep waters now are flow
ing" Here kings and queens and statesmen
had their country houses. Str Thomas more
lived here. and Henry. the fat faced King VINO
was to send him to his death, came to SIT ana
talk with him in the years when they were
friends Master Holbein came, too, to paint Sir
Thomas and his family. Elizabeth, the greatest
woman of her time sorrowed here when neg
lected and oppressed young princess; the tart
Countess Of Shrewsbury, otherwise bess OF
Esrdyick had a house here and in later times
a multitude of authors, painters and WIS set up
their homes among its pleasant gardens. Inc
particular street. Paradise Row with whch
Mr. Blunt deals IN the volume before US ""'
built I'D about the end of the seventeenth cen
tur,, and its charming old houses, with their
tiled roofs and cosey dormers' theH oe"ut'iu'
corniced caves and porticoed door"aSs' ''e'
trim forecourts, pillared gateways ana la'l A'''P
irons" survived until something over year
ago. Then demolition came and they are no"
repIaced no doubt by smart modern houses
downfall
lover of "C,helsey,'' to the production of book
,,berair may he found the Curious and Divert
,re Annals of a Famous Village Street newly
1,es+roved together with Particulars OF Sundry
Noble and Notable Persons who in former Times
dvveIt There. TO which are added Likenesses OF
the Principal of them and of their seVera'
Houses"
A beautiful and not too fortunate French
duchess occupied one Of these comfort"
bouses of the village row in the Gays oi ''i'
second Charles This was that darK-eSeu h"'
tense Maucini. Duchess of Mazarin, VINO might
- ,,orr,ad Charles herself when he was
bo,, IN exile had not her uncle, the great Cai
d,ror disdained the match. Flying from her
80 ~ . husband. with whom she found lie
,ossible thc handsome Hortense finally iouhu
-otye in Chelsea, where for the next twenty
&C ,-ears she played the part or p"puia'
,-.aes There she gave her friends the most
evo,isite repasts In the world and concerts d.
which the most famous musicians were hedIu'
there was nothing in which the ioNeLy l'diia''
was not boundessly eXtravagant. Iheh 20 '"iS
darling of society and playmate OF KINGS caHo
grim poverty. In the enormous fortune iei' ~
her nv the Cardinal and given over TO her nus
hands hands she had no smallest snare '"e
ro,-aI pension ceased, and she had not Iie S''si'
80 ,dao Of how TO economize. She went on CIV
IN
neJed that 1T was usual for her noble guests
to leave under their plates the wherewithai 10
nav for their entertainment" She dled as olu
=, 40 crart IN mon her-and died possibly OF her
.,ae-and II Is said that the duke her nus
,d ,-bo had helped 10 make such shlp"Feci-
~ her life. paid her debts in order 20 reclaim
ber bodv. had 1t embalmed and carried IL aoou'
with him"
Sir Frank Windham lived in one of the Para
disc Row houses-that Windham who sheitereu
Charles Stuart after the battle Of Worcester anu
wont through those dangerous negotiations at
LYME for a ship which might carry away lle
tired fugitive Though the crown should haiB
49,, q hush 7 charge you forsake 1t not" said
thar Sturdy old Briton, Franks rather 10 ms
SON. and no doubt Sir Francis often repeated to
his guests in Paradise Row the story OF those
lo,,s oP fear and hardship In another house or
tho Row there lived, il is said, widowed
r,,cbeas whose name recalls a tragedy Of Queen
Anpe's reign-and recalls also one or the most
vivid chapters I'm "Esmond.' II was tlls
Duchess of Hamilton whose husband was muir
dered after his duel with Lord Mohun by the
latters second, Mccartney. on that unhappy
dav Swift spent two hours with the Wretched
Duchess. trying to console her, and their friend
ship endured though he declared upon occasion
that she talked too much was plaguey de-
tractor, and mad a dlaDoHcdl temper ti"' SiS
ragged. stormed and rallied and was the devil Of
a teaser" But his bark worse than his
bite:
His letters to Stella after the duel show how
tenderly he felt for her. great rabble collected
about their house in ST. Jamess Square when the
Dukes body was brought home and the Duchess
was removed, stupefed by the shock, to lodging
in the neighborhood. They would have removed
her to another more convenient Swift writes, nut
! would not suffer II because 1t had no room back
ward and she must have been tortured with the
noise Of the Grub street scrcamers mentioning her
husbands murder in her ears
Not only the residents OF the Row, but many
another famous parsonage, who has lived else
where within the bounds OF the old village, have
place in this entertaining book. It's pages make
an irresistible appeal 10 those Americans who
feel the fascination OF all such corners OF the
OLD World. The numerous full page portraits
and other illustrations add much to the interest
of Mr. Blont's pleasantly written text.