Isleworth

“ Whilst Angela was talking to Pigott, Sir John and Lady Bellamy were paying a call at Isleworth. They found George lying on the sofa in the dining-room, in which, though it was the first week in June, a fire was burning on the hearth. He bore all the signs of a man in the last stage of consumption. ”

“ Beyond the raised footpath is the old Deer Forest, on which stands Kew Observatory, and a minor stream, which afterwards forms a moat to Kew Gardens, runs along merrily. Isleworth is finely placed at a bend of the river, and though it is a manufacturing place, it is not so bad as Brentford. The large willow-covered ait in front affords occupation to the osier gatherers. The church is ugly; it is placed very like that at Hampton, and, like Hampton also, its ugliness is mitigated by a covering of ivy. The tower, as so frequently happens, is much older than the rest. ”

“ Isleworth 1868–77; read for the army but in 1877 devoted himself to travel; in Borneo 1877 where he discovered the black pern, a honey buzzard; hunted big game in Africa and discovered the junction of the Umvuli and the Umnyati 1879–81; naturalist to Emin Pacha relief expedition under H. M. Stanley 1887, contributing £1000 to the expenses ”

“ So, sighing to think that such a vulgar necessity as that of obtaining food should force him to depart, he put up his unused fishing-rod and started for Isleworth, where he arrived just as the bell was ringing for lunch.
George received him with cold civility, and asked him what sport he had, to which he was forced to reply—none.
“Did you see anybody there?”
“Yes, I met Miss Caresfoot.”
“Ah! trust a girl to trail out a man. What is she like? I remember her a raw-boned girl of fourteen with fine eyes.”
“I think that she is the handsomest woman I ever saw,” Arthur replied, coldly. ”

“ Pleasantly situated at a bend of the river between Mortlake and Kew, opposite to Chiswick and Isleworth, which present a very picturesque appearance from the towing-path on the Surrey side, and owning a green some twelve acres in extent, the ancient village of Kew still retains, in spite of the great number of modern houses in its parish, something of the rural charm that distinguished it before the beautiful gardens with which its name is now chiefly associated were laid out. ”

“ The nunnery of Sion and the manor of Isleworth were given by Edward VI. to the Protector Somerset, who at once pulled down the conventual buildings, using the materials for the foundation of the present mansion, that was still uncompleted when its owner's career was cut short by his attainder for high treason. The property then reverted to the Crown, and in 1553 it was given by the young king to John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who had been mainly responsible for the downfall of the Protector. ”

“ He returned to Sion House only a short time before his death, bequeathing it to his son, Algernon Percy, who was made guardian of the children of Charles I., the Dukes of York and Gloucester and the little Princess Elizabeth, who died the year of her father's execution. The royal prisoners, for such they were, appear to have been very happy in their Isleworth retreat, for they were {283} often allowed to go and see their father at Hampton Court, and it was not until they were taken to London to bid him farewell, just before his death, that they realised how terrible was their own position. ”

“ In its present form it is clearly corrupt. The amount of Danegeld due from the county implies an assessment of 8501⁄4 hides (at two shillings on the hide) , but the actual total is here given as 8531⁄2. This again does not tally with the “summa hundredorum,” which only records 8091⁄2, [530] while the detailed list of hundreds, it seems, gives no more than 7251⁄2. It should be observed that the hundred of “Mimms” is the Domesday hundred of Edmonton, while that of ‘Isleworth,’ similarly, is the Domesday hundred of Hounslow, which contained Isleworth and Hampton. ”

“ At the extremity of the garden on the north east, is another house that belonged to her Majesty, and near it the house of his late Royal Highness Frederic Prince of Wales, which is on the inside adorned with stucco. Opposite the Prince’s house is the Princess Amelia’s, built by a Dutch architect, the outside of which is painted.
To the west of the gardens are seen the fine houses of several of the nobility and gentry, particularly the Lady Buckworth’s, and Mr. Geoffrey’s, and extending the view across the Thames, there appears Isleworth.
But to return to the village of Richmond. ”

“ His mother was a Preston, and his name is Arthur Preston Heigham. George told me something about him just now, and, on thinking it over, I remember the whole story. He is an orphan, and George’s ward.”
“What is he like?” asked Angela, ingenuously.
“Really I don’t know; rather tall, I think—a gentlemanly fellow. It really is a relief to speak to a gentleman again. There has been a nice disturbance at Isleworth,” and then he told his daughter the history of the great dog fight. ”

“ Gunnersbury denotes the town, or enclosed habitation, named after Gunylda, the niece of King Canute, who resided here during the Danish occupation of England. Kew was anciently described in documents as Kay-hoo, meaning a quay situated on a hoo, or hoe, the Scandinavian for a spit of land. Brentford signifies the ford over the Brent, a tributary of the Thames that takes its rise near Hendon. Isleworth means a manor beside the water. The first portion of the word comes from the Celtic, Isis, water; the second is Anglo-Saxon for a manor. ”

“ Acted the stern guardian. Won't have an engagement. Must let Phillis have her run. Mustn't come here perpetually trying to gobble up my dainty heiress. Think upon that now, Cousin Agatha."
"She could not marry into a better family."
"Very true. The Dunquerques had an Ark of their own, I believe, at the Deluge. But then Jack is not Lord Isleworth; and he isn't ambitious, and he isn't clever, and he isn't rich."
"Go on, Lawrence; it is charming to see you in a new character—Lawrence the Prudent!" ”

“ It appears, however, as if the custom of lepers going about begging with a bowl and a clapper was considered the right thing, because it is said that the Proctor of the House went begging for the lepers. Probably those who could crawl were allowed at the outset to beg for themselves.
But other benefactions fell in. The lepers obtained rents and lands at Isleworth, St. Clement Danes, and round their own house; they also obtained the manor of Feltham in Middlesex; Henry the Second gave them lands at Heston; people left them houses in London; the House became wealthy. ”

“ The intercourse has conveyed nothing that can waken human response in you, good, bad or indifferent. There is no George Isley. And the discovery, if you make it, will not even cause you to creep with the uncanniness of the experience, because the exterior is so wholly pleasing. George Isley today is a picture with no meaning in it that charms merely by the harmonious colouring of an inoffensive subject. He moves undiscovered in the little world of society to which he was born, secure in the groove first habit has made comfortably automatic for him. ”

“ He is a West End man, knowing little of London outside of Piccadilly, so the chances are that he will not get very far, and that his wanderings will end in surrender or starvation. But Scotland Yard cannot wait for him to surrender, and Merrington, with an imagination stimulated by the necessity of finding him, decides in favour of Islington—the so-called Merry Islington of obsequious London chroniclers, though, so far as my personal observation goes, its inhabitants are merry only when in liquor. Islington is congested, Islington contains criminals, and Islington is an ideal hiding-place. ”

“ Holloway reminds us that this was once a miry hollow between Highgate and Islington. Barnsbury is a corruption of Berners-bury, originally a manor belonging to Lady Juliana Berners, Abbess of St. Albans. Islington has always been a favourite suburb in modern times, and even our mediæval ancestors must have been delighted with its situation, lying high and dry beyond the fens and the sloughy neighbourhood of the “old bourne.” Its name signifies “the settlement of the Islings.” ”

“ People of Quality do not flock to Islington. The medicinal waters are all gone; and that Islington is, even now, not in any great degree a resort of fashion is an incontrovertible fact.
Between this and Highgate, the road leading to what the poets call the “true and tender North” is by no means happy. Any other of the classic highways of England begins better, and however delightful the Holloway Road may have been in the coaching age, it is in these crowded days a very commonplace thoroughfare indeed. ”

“ For a considerable interval we neither moved nor spoke; the sudden change left the emotions in confusion; we had leaped from a height, from the top of the pyramid, from a star⁠—and the crash of landing scattered thought. I stole a glance at Isley, wondering vaguely why he was there at all; the look of resignation had replaced the power in his face; the tear was brushed away. There was no struggle in him now, no sign of resistance; there was abandonment only; he seemed insignificant. The real George Isley was elsewhere: he himself had not returned. ”

“ But if his life and joy were so gigantic that he never tired of going to Islington, he might go to Islington as regularly as the Thames goes to Sheerness. The very speed and ecstasy of his life would have the stillness of death. The sun rises every morning. I do not rise every morning ”

“ Uckfield, on the line from Lewes to Tunbridge Wells, is our true starting point for the high sandy and rocky district of Crowborough, Rotherfield and Mayfield; but we must visit on the way Isfield, a very pretty village on the Ouse and its Iron River tributary. Isfield is remarkable for the remains of Isfield Place, once the home of the Shurleys (connected only by marriage with the Shirleys of Wiston) . The house can never have been so fine as Slaugham Place, but it is evident that abundance also reigned here, as there. ”

“ And the sea looked lovely.
“I'm glad to find you here, whatever be the cause,” said Islington, with his old directness. “To-day, as you know, is my last day in Greyport, and it is much pleasanter to say good by under this blue sky than even beneath your father's wonderful frescos yonder. I want to remember you, too, as part of this pleasant prospect which belongs to us all, rather than recall you in anybody's particular setting.”
“I know,” said Blanche, with equal directness, “that houses are one of the defects of our civilization ”

“ The usual suburban perils awaited wayfarers to Islington at any time during the eighteenth century, and those bound for it from the city were accustomed to wait at the Smithfield end of St. John Street until a number had collected, when they were convoyed outwards by the armed patrol stationed there for that purpose. But the footpads were quite equal to the occasion, and simply waited until those parties dispersed for their several homes, and then, like skilful generals, attacked them in detail. ”

“ Ilsington Church retains a few poppy-head benches of rich work, unique in the county.
In Ilsington is Ingsdon, once the seat of the Pomeroy family, but no relics of the ancient house remain. According to tradition, the Pomeroy ancestor was jester to Robert the Magnificent, father of William the Conqueror. He was a dwarf, full of comical movements as well as of quips and quirks. As he came in with the dessert he was called Pomme-roy, the Apple King. His son became a faithful servant of William, and was rewarded by him with large manors in Devon and Somersetshire. ”

“ Islington at the time when this ballad was written was a country village quite unconnected with London, and a person who represented "a squier minstrel of Middlesex" made a speech before Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth in 1575, in which he declared "how the worshipful village of Islington [was] well knooen too bee one of the most auncient and best tounz in England, next to London."] ”

“ CLEVELAND. Ah, Miss Elsworth, this assurance gives me the greatest pleasure.
ROSE. Don't hurt the poor fellow though, Major, I beg of you. I should be quite sorry if anything happened to him. He is a good-natured, useful neighbour enough—an unpolished jewel, papa calls him. Ah, Major, our social wants in this community are lamentable enough, when we are obliged to content ourselves with such a poor substitute as you have seen, for all the polish and manner of London circles.
CLEVELAND. Lamentable, indeed, Miss Elsworth!
ROSE. The war brings one boon, at least,—the society of gentlemen. ”

“ You who did not know Isolda in her youth, cannot imagine what an enormous concession that was for her to make about any man.
It was Isolda herself who told me of Sebastian Prest the other day, else how would I know so much about it? Of course, I had long since guessed something of it, for one used to see Isolda and Prest about together; and then one night twelve years ago he was found dead in the snow within five miles of Moreton Taylor, Isolda’s place in Surrey. It looked as though he had just gone quite comfortably off to sleep in the snow, and one thought: “How tired he must have been!” ”

“ It is that they are unable even to imagine a time when Cadogan Square was a huddle of slum tenements, and Islington an expanse of meadow land, and the places they now occupy, quiet fields. Lacking such imagination, they find it impossible to stand up and face the domination of the present with the naked vision of the future. ”

“ The Town of Islington on the North side of the City, is in like Manner joyn'd to the Streets of London, excepting one small Field, and which is in itself so small, that there is no Doubt, but in a very few years, they will be intirely joyn'd, and the same may be said of Mile-End, on the East End of the Town. ”