GARDENS OF CELEBRITIES 



the age of Queen Anne. Joseph Addison, then in the prime of his 

 manhood, though not yet of his literary fame, was doubtless often 

 there for he had written to order, after Blenheim, a eulogy on the 

 victor said to be excellent of its kind ; distinguished by more of 

 truth, and less of bombast and flattery, than is common in such 

 effusions and he was for a time Secretary of State under Sunder - 

 land, Marlborough's son-in-law. 



With Addison may sometimes have come his friend, Dick Steele, 

 who about the date when the Duke and Duchess went to Pall 

 Mall, issued the first number of The Taller soon to be followed by 

 the more famous Spectator. 



And others there were, more or less famous, in that motley 

 crowd of hooped and powdered dames, and splendid gentlemen ; 

 who laughed, and flirted, and talked scandal, and discussed high 

 politics, and took snuff, in that pretty garden in the early days of 

 the eighteenth century. At a distance from Marlborough House 

 one may recall them, but on the spot one chiefly remembers that 

 hither King Edward VII., when Prince of Wales, first brought his 

 bride, the " sea-King's daughter from over the seas," who took the 

 hearts of London, and afterwards of the whole country, by storm ; 

 arid that here he resided during the greater part of his life and 

 that here our present King was born. I should think that to 

 those who knew King Edward best, the garden must be pervaded 

 with a sense of his presence. One interesting corner is a dog's 

 burial-place, and here among many canine pets of the Royal pair 

 each little grave distinguished by a separate head-stone lies 

 Caesar, the faithful animal which half London saw following the 

 cortege, on the day of his master's funeral. 



The Prince dwelt chiefly at Marlborough House when in 

 England ; but he travelled much, and country life, and sport, 

 and in particular his estate at Sandringham, had great attractions 

 for his leisure. Yet from the fact that Queen Victoria had practi- 

 cally abandoned London, Marlborough House became from the 

 period of his marriage to his accession to the throne, the chief seat 

 of his activities. 



As after years abundantly proved, Edward VII. was born with 

 the instincts, and many of the special gifts, of a diplomat ; though 

 the opportunity to use them was denied him until he began to 

 reign. 



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