GORHAMBURY. Cclvii 



In his youth he had exerted himself to improve the 

 gardens of Gray s Inn : () in gardens he always delighted,(c) 

 thinking them conducive to the purest of human pleasures, 

 and he now, as Chancellor, had the satisfaction to sign the 

 patent for converting Lincoln s Inn Fields into walks, (d) 

 extending almost to the wall where his faithful friend Ben 

 Jonson had, when a boy, worked as a bricklayer, (e} 



For relaxation from his arduous occupations he was 

 accustomed to retire to his magnificent and beautiful 

 residence at Gorhambury, the dwelling place of his ances 

 tors, where, (/) &quot;when his lordship arrived, St. Albans 

 seemed as if the court had been there, so nobly did he live. 

 His servants had liveries with his crest: his watermen 

 were more employed than even the King s.&quot; 



About half a mile from this noble mansion, of which the 

 ruins yet remain, and within the bounds of Old Verulam, 

 the Lord Chancellor built, at the expense of about 10,000, 

 a most ingeniously contrived house, where, in the society 

 of his philosophical friends, he escaped from the splendour 

 of Chancellor, to study and meditation. &quot; Here,&quot; says 

 Aubrey, his lordship much meditated, his servant, Mr. 

 Bushell, attending him with his pen and inkhorn to set 

 down his present notions. Mr. Thomas Hobbes told me 



(/) Ante, p. xxiii. (c) See his Essays on Gardens, vol. i. p. 152. 



(d) To the Marquis of Buckingham. 



My very good Lord, I send the commission for making Lincoln s Inn 

 Fields into walks for his majesty s signature. It is without charge to his 

 majesty. God preserve and prosper you. Your Lordship s most obliged 

 friend and faithful servant, FR. VERULAM, Cane. 



Nov. 12, 1618. 



(e} His mother, after his father s death, married a bricklayer, and it is 

 generally said, that he wrought some time with his father-in-law, and par 

 ticularly on the garden wall of Lincoln s Inn, next to Chancery Lane. 



Aubrey s account of Ben Jonson, vol. iii. p. 412. 

 (/) Aubrey. 

 VOL. XV. s 



