370 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2''<i S. V. 123., May 8. '58. 



If any of your friends can illustrate this sub- 

 ject by farther information, I shall feel myself 

 both interested in receiving it, and glad to have 

 drawn your attention to the inquiry. 



William Titb. 



42. Lowndes Square. 



RICHMOND NEW PARK. 



The White Lodge, otherwise the New or Stone 

 Lodge, in the above royal park, which has 

 become the residence of his Royal Highness 

 the Prince of Wales, is situated in the parish of 

 Mortlake, and is often confounded with a build- 

 ing long since razed to the ground, and to which 

 Swift alluded when he says*, — 



•' Sing on I must, and sing I will 

 Of Richmond-Lodge t and Marble-Hill."! 



This last lodge, having been the Duke of Or- 

 mond's, wns, after his attainder, purchased by the 

 Prince of Wales (George Augustus, afterwards 

 George II.). The New Park, as is well known, 

 was formed by Charles I., and, unfortunately for 

 him, his arbitrary and despotic measures in effect- 

 ing his purpose embroiled him with all the neigh- 

 bouring landholders and persons resident in the 

 vicinity ; and Lord Clarendon (^History of the 

 Rebellioii) thinks that primarily these circum- 

 stances might have somewhat contributed to his 

 unhappy fate ; and his intolerance created a de- 

 termined resistance to the wishes and control of 

 the Court for more than one hundred years. The 

 Lodge, now occupied by the Prince, was ori- 

 ginally erected by George II., and intended as 

 a rural retreat for his Majesty and the Royal 

 Family when they took the diversion of hunting 

 in the park. The part built by George II. was of 

 Portland stone, to which the Princess Amelia, 

 when ranger of this park, added wings of brick. 

 The Lodge is situate upon an eminence at the 

 head of a large piece of water, and commands a 

 delightful prospect over one of the finest parks in 

 the kingdom.§ The Star of Thursday, June 4, 

 1801, states that his Majesty had made a present 

 of the liirge stone lodge to Mr. Addington.|j It 

 was in the year 1805 that Humphrey Repton was 

 desired to visit this seat, and he proposed the 



* A Pastoral Dialogue. 



f It was advertised in the London Gazette of Saturday, 

 June 27, 1719, for sale, b}' way of cant, as tiie estate 

 " late of the late " Duke of Ormond, who was then an 

 exile attainted of high treason; and there is a very fine 

 engraving of it by Chdtelain. 



X Marble-Hill, built by the Countess of Suffolk, at 

 Twickenham. 



§ See Vitrmnus Britannicus, by Woolfe and Gandon, 5 

 vols., Lend. 17G7, vol. iv. plates 1, 2, 3, and 4., the Lodge 

 in Richmond Park; architects, Wright and Morris; en- 

 graved by Miller. 



11 It was on this occasion that Mr. Canning, alluding 

 to Mr. Addington's sobriquet of the "Doctor," called it the 

 Villa Medici. 



alterations which were afterwards carried out.* 

 After Lord Sidmouth's death it was assigned to 

 the Duchess of Gloucester. There was another 

 noble edifice in this park, built by Sir Rob. Wal- 

 pole when ranger, and which was a favourite 

 retreat of his ; it was called the Great Lodge, or 

 Old Lodge, and Deputy Ranger's Lodge. Of this 

 elegant building I know but of one published en- 

 graving.f This was formerly the residence of 

 Philip Medows, Esq., father of that distinguished 

 general, the Right Hon. Sir W. Medows, K.B., 

 Governor of Hull. This lodge was pulled down 

 a few years ago. 



I subjoin some extracts which, in some in- 

 stances, are indicative of the furore with which 

 royal and noble personages pursued the chase in 

 the above park at the periods specified. 



1647. A letter from Colonel Edmund Whalley 

 states that 



" the King [Charles I.] was a hunting on Saturday, 28 

 Aug*', in New parke, killed a Stag and a Buck : after- 

 wards dined at Syon, — stayed 3 or 4 hours with his Chil- 

 dren, — and then returned to Hampton Court, where there 

 is great resort of all sorts of people to him." — Perfect Oc- 

 currences, Fryday, September 3rd, 1647. 



In the same publication, at p. 236. : — 



"The King at Hampton, — the Dukes at Syon-House, 

 — the Prince Elector at Richmond, — the Duke of Yorke 

 with the Lords were hunting in the New Parke at Rich- 

 mond, where was good sport, — the King chearefull and 

 much Company there," &c. 



1723. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, in a letter 

 to the Countess of Mar, Oct. 20, 1723 :—» 



"You may imagine poor gallantry droops; and except; 

 in the Elysian shades of Richmond, there is no such thing 

 as love or pleasure." — Works of Lady M. W. Montagu, in 

 5 vols., London, 1803, vol. iii. p. 140. 



In the same volume, p. 150., she also writes to 

 the Countess of Mar, — 



" I pass many hours on horseback, and I'll assure 3'ou 

 ride staghunting, which I know you'll stare to hear of. I 

 have arrived to vast courage and skill that wa}% and am 

 as well pleased with it as with the acquisition of a new 

 sense. His Royal Highness J hunts in Richmond Park, 

 and I make one of the beau monde in his train. I desire 

 you, after this account, not to name tfce word old woman 

 to me any more. I approach to fifteen nearer than I did 

 ten years ago, and am in hopes to improve every j'ear in 

 health and vivacity." 



In Letters of the Countess of Suffolk, 2 vols., 

 1824, she writes in vol. i. p. 376. to Mr. Gay,— 



" We hunt here with great noise and violence, and have 

 every day a verj' tolerable chance to have a neck broke." 



* These are given and contrasted with its former state 

 in coloured plates in Fragments on the Theory and Practice 

 of Landscape Gardening, by H. Repton and his Son, Lon- 

 don, 1816, 4to. ; and in Landscape Gardening and Archi- 

 tecture, of the late Humphrey Repton, by J. C. Loudon, 

 London, 1840. 



t In the Seats of the Nobility and Gentry, engraved by 

 W. Watts, oblong 4to., 1779, plate IG, and drawn l)y 

 George Barret, R.A. 



X George Augustus Prince of Wales (postea Geo. II.). 



