116 KEW GARDENS 



famous or forgotten, some of whom must presently 

 be mentioned. In the close -packed church- 

 yard an unusual number of foreign names 

 seem related to the German colony of Queen 

 Charlotte's attendants, and to the Hanover 

 connection long kept up through the Dukes of 

 Cambridge and Cumberland, the former of these 

 princes having acted as regent or viceroy of 

 Hanover till the Salic law put his unbeloved 

 brother on its throne. 



One of the early ministers at Kew was that 

 Stephen Duck, already mentioned, who began 

 life as a Wiltshire labourer, then by dint of self- 

 education came to be known as the " thresher- 

 poet," taken up by Queen Caroline, to the 

 jealousy of unpatronised poets like Swift. She 

 settled a pension on him, made him first a 

 Yeoman of the Guard, then, as a post more suit- 

 able to the poet than to the peasant, Keeper of 

 her library at Richmond. He married her house- 

 keeper at Kew ; and one takes to be his daughters 

 the Misses Duck, who half a century later are 

 found in charge of the Dutch House, the last of 

 them living till 1818. The father's ambition led 

 him on to take Orders ; and he preached with 

 much acceptation at Kew Chapel. Before long 



