a kingdom, in the vain hope, with the assistance of his father-in-law, of competing with the Catholic Emperor. Frederick lost everything, and his widow became a dependent on the bounty of Craven, who had fought in her husband's cause, and helped to bring up her children. It is through her that the family of Brunswick succeeded to the throne of this kingdom, as the next Protestant heirs of James I. James's daughter, being a woman of lively manners, a queen, and a Protestant leader, excited great interest in her time, and received more than the usual portion of flattery from the romantic. Donne wrote an epithalamium on her marriage, beginning— "Here lies a she sun, and a he moon there." Sir Henry Wotton had permission to call her his "royal mistress," which he was as proud of as if he had been a knight of old. And when she lost her Bohemian kingdom, it was said that she retained a better one, for that she was still the "Queen of Hearts." Sir Henry wrote upon her his elegant verses beginning— "You meaner beauties of the night," in which he calls her "Th' eclipse and glory of her kind." Her courage and presence of mind were so conspicuous, and her figure and manners so attractive, though not to be called a consummate beauty, that in her royal husband's time, “half the army were in love with her.” In 1664, Charles II. conferred upon her heroic admirer the titles of Viscount Craven and Earl Craven; and on the death of Monk, gave him the Colonelcy of the Coldstream regiment of Foot-guards. His Lordship resided in Drury House, which he rebuilt: it was then called Craven House. Earl Craven is said to have been privately married to the widowed Queen of Bohemia (he was her junior by twelve years); "and thus," remarks Dr. Whitaker, "the son of a Wharfdale peasant matched with a sister of Charles I." In Craven House, the romantic Queen would appear from some accounts to have resided; but the truth is, she lived in the adjoining house, probably built for her by Lord Craven, and called, for many years afterwards, Bohemia House, and finally converted into a public-house, which bore her head for its sign. There is said to have been a subterranean communication between the two houses, the sites of which, and grounds, are now occupied by Craven Buildings and the Olympic Theatre. The Queen quitted Bohemia House for Leicester House, 'afterwards Norfolk House, in the Strand,' where she died in February 1661-2. Whether Lord Craven attended her at this period does not appear; but she left him her books, pictures, and papers. Sometimes he accompanied her to the play: he built the fine house of Hampstead Marshall, on the banks of the river Kennet, in Berkshire, as a sort of asylum for his injured Princess: it cost, although not finished, 60,000l., and was destroyed by fire in 1718. Lord Craven long resided in Craven House; he was famed for his bustling activity: whenever there was a fire in London, Lord Craven was sure to be seen riding about to give orders to the soldiers, who were at such disasters called out to preserve order; and his horse is said to have "smelt a fire as soon as it happened." Pepys describes Craven as riding up and down, "like a madman," giving orders to the soldiery; and Lord Dorset sings of "Lord Craven's drums" beating day and night. When there was a talk in his old age of giving his regiment to somebody else, Craven said, that "if they took away his regiment they had as good take away his life, since he had nothing else to divert himself with." The next king, however, William III., gave it to General Talmash; yet the old lord is said to have gone on, busy to the last. He died in 1697, aged nearly 89 years. He was intimate with Evelyn, Ray, and other naturalists, and delighted in gardening. "The garden of Craven House ran in the direction of the present Drury Lane; so that where there is now a bustle of a very different sort, we may fancy the old soldier busying himself with his flower-beds, and John Evelyn discoursing upon the blessings of peace and privacy." Craven and Monk, Duke of Albemarle, heroically stayed in town during the dreadful pestilence; and, at the hazard of their lives, preserved order. For their noble services, two or three great silver flagons were made, as gifts of the King. Craven continued to reside at Craven House, Drury Lane, throughout the whole time of the Plague in 1665-6. He first hired and then purchased a field on which pest-houses (said to be 36 in number) were built by him for persons afflicted with that disease, and in which a common burial-ground was made for thousands who died of it. In 1687, the Earl this field and its houses in trust for the poor gave of St. Clement's Danes, St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, St. James's, Westminster, and St. Paul's, Covent Garden, to be used only in case of the plague re-appearing; and the place came to be known as the Earl of Craven's Pestfield, the Pest-field, the Pest-house-field, or Craven-field. In 1734, the surrounding district having become covered * See The Town. By Leigh Hunt, edit. 1858. with houses and streets, a private Act, 7th George II. c. 11, discharged this pest-house-field from its charitable trusts, transferring them without alteration to other land and messuages at and near Byard's Watering Place (Bayswater), Paddington, now called Craven Hill. A singular memorial of this heroic man existed to our time. Craven Buildings were erected in 1723, upon part of the grounds attached to Craven House. On the wall at the bottom of the buildings was formerly a fresco painting of the gallant Earl, who was represented in armour, mounted on a white charger, and with a truncheon in his hand, and the letters W. C. This portrait was twice or thrice repainted in oil; the last time by Edwards, A.R.A., author of A Treatise on Perspective: the picture has been some years obliterated. The Craven Head Tavern was one of the offices of Craven House; and the adjoining stabling belonged to the mansion. Craven Buildings have had some remarkable tenants : Hayman, the painter, contemporary with Hogarth, lived here. The famous actress, Mrs. Bracegirdle, had likewise a house here, which was afterwards inhabited by the equally celebrated Mrs. Pritchard. In the back parlour of No. 17, Dr. Arne composed the music of Comus. Elliston had a house during his lesseeship of the Olympic Theatre, and communicating with it; and the same house was temporarily occupied by Madame Vestris and Mr. William Farren, as Olympic lessees. It was in Drury Lane that Pepys, 7th June 1665, saw two or three houses marked with a red cross upon * In Pennant's London, edit. 1813, we read: "The portrait which was preserved by the late Earl, with laudable attention, is now covered with plaster." the doors, and "Lord have mercy upon us and the first of the kind he ever saw. writ there, It will be recollected, from the several accounts of the Plague in London, that a cross was affixed by the authorities to the door of the house where there was infection. In the Guildhall Library, not long since, among some broadsides, was found one of these "Plague Crosses." It was the ordinary size of a broadside, and bore a cross extending to the edges of the paper, on which were printed the words "Lord have mercy upon us." In the four quarters formed by the limbs of the cross, were printed directions for managing the patient, regulations for visits, medicines, food, and water. This "Cross" is not now to be found. ADDISON'S "CAMPAIGN." The THIS celebrated poem originated as follows. Lord Treasurer, Godolphin, though not a reading man, was mortified, and not without reason, by the exceeding badness of the poems which appeared in honour of the Battle of Blenheim. One of these poems has been rescued from oblivion by the exquisite absurdity of three lines: Think of two thousand gentlemen at least, And each man mounted on his capering beast; Where to procure better verses the Treasurer did not know. He understood how to negotiate a loan, or remit a subsidy: he was also well versed in the history of running horses and fighting cocks; but his acquaintance amongst the poets was very small. He consulted |