THE VILLAGE : IN AND ABOUT IT 147 



Kew seems more favoured by authors than by 

 artists. An inhabitant still remembered is Sir 

 Arthur Helps, Clerk of the Privy Council, and 

 recorder of those " Friends in Council " who 

 were so familiar to readers of the last generation ; 

 nor does the mild wisdom of "Milverton," 

 " Ellesmere " and the rest, deserve to seem out 

 of date. Perhaps his most enduring work will 

 be the narratives in which he told the dark story 

 of Spanish American conquest, with its dubious 

 heroes. He acted as editor for Queen Victoria's 

 first confidences in print ; and she granted him a 

 residence at Kew Cottage, near the chief gates. 

 To a member of his family whom I count among 

 my friends, I am indebted for threads of informa- 

 tion woven into these pages. 



I can speak from acquaintance of another 

 Kew resident, Richard Proctor, the well-known 

 writer and lecturer on astronomy, editor of 

 Knowledge, and a high authority upon whist, 

 to which his devotion was so sincere that he 

 never would play for money. Yet he won a 

 prize at the card-table, for, as he remarks in one 

 of his disquisitions on the relation of skill and 

 chance, "the lady who was my partner in this 

 game is now my partner for life." He was 



