IV 

 THE VILLAGE : IN AND ABOUT IT 



KEW itself does not stand in the forefront of its 

 own story, for long remaining little more than 

 an obscure river-side hamlet, half a dozen miles 

 out of London, connected by a ferry with Brent- 

 ford, and with its quaint little neighbour Strand- 

 on-the-Green, which might have risen to equal 

 note had Gunnersbury or Chiswick taken a 

 king's fancy. It was not till the eighteenth 

 century that Kew began to burgeon under royal 

 favour ; and for the first half of that century, 

 Richmond lay basking on the sunnier side of 

 patronage. When George III. left Richmond 

 for Kew, the quiet village blossomed forth as in 

 a forcing-house, to grow into a banyan grove of 

 princely dwellings. 



The first distinguished resident mentioned is 

 Sir Peter Lely, as having a country house on 



113 15 



