MARLBOROUGH HOUSE 
little farther north, and in position was almost identical with the 
present Pall Mall, a street that, as most people know, received its 
name from the once fashionable game of “ Pell Mell,” played in 
St. James’s Park with mailes or mallets. The sport consisted in 
striking a ball through an iron hoop or ring suspended from a bar 
at the top of a pole, and in striking it from a considerable distance. 
The Mall in those days made a stately approach to the Royal 
Palace of St. James; and what is now clubland was, in the time 
of Pepys, a long road shaded by elms, of which, he says, there were 
one hundred and fifty. The houses, few and far between, and 
standing on the south side only, were “‘ fair mansions enclosed 
with gardens.’’ In one of these mansions dwelt Nell Gwynne, 
and her garden had a mount, or mound, or raised terrace, over- 
looking St. James’s Park. The north side of the Mall, according 
to Walford, was entirely open; one or two haystacks might be 
seen on the spot where now stands the Junior Carlton Club, and a 
thick grove of trees occupied the site of Marlborough House. 
“The Mall’ was the resort of fashion in the seventeenth and part 
of the eighteenth centuries, and during the reign of Queen Anne 
was thronged daily with gaily-dressed people in chariots, on foot, 
and in Sedan chairs. Men, as well as women, used these carrying- 
chairs, and in 1706, John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, came 
to the levee at St. James’s Palace in one of them; hoping, by so 
doing, to escape the attentions and acclamations of the multitude 
after his victory at Ramillies. Huis successful campaign in France 
had made Marlborough the idol of the nation, and Queen and 
Parliament had showered honours and gifts upon the all-con- 
quering general. But his successes abroad did not prevent his 
influence being undermined by party intrigues at home, and even 
before the battle of Oudenarde in 1708, the star of Marlborough, 
and of his handsome and imperious wife, was already rapidly 
on the wane, while Queen Anne’s love for Sarah Jennings was fast 
turning to aversion. 
Things, however, were not quite so bad in 1709, at least not 
openly so. The master of Blenheim required also a mansion in 
town, and on the 18th of April, 1709, the supplement to the London 
Gazette announced that he was to obtain it. ‘‘ Her Majesty having 
been pleased to grant to His Grace the Duke of Marlborough 
the Friary next St. James’ Palace in which lately dwelt the 
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