CHAPTER I.

DEFINITION—SITUATION—BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT—GENERAL AND MEDICAL TOPOGRAPHY—ETYMOLOGY OF NAMES—ORIGIN.

BLACKSTONE defines a parish to be “that circuit of ground which is committed to the charge of one parson, or vicar, or other minister having cure of souls therein.” In ordinary language a parish is “that place, or district, which manages its local affairs, and maintains its own poor.”

Newcourt says, “This parish of Paddington (which is a very small one) is within the liberties of Finsbury and Wenlakesbarn, and lies about three or four miles north-westward from London.”

Lysons tells us, that “The Village of Paddington is situated in the hundred of Ossulston, scarcely a mile north of Tyburn turnpike, upon the Harrow-road.”

All the other descriptions of the situation of the “pretty little rural village of Paddington,” which I have seen, resemble these given by Newcourt and Lysons; but these are now so inapplicable to its present state, that it would be useless to quote from other authorities.

The hundred of Ossulston originally comprised, as I have already observed, nearly, if not quite, half the county of Middlesex; but after a time “the liberties of Westminster,” and “the liberties of London,” were taken out of this hundred: that is to say, these places became of so much importance as to claim and obtain separate jurisdictions. The hundred of Ossulston was then reduced to a small portion of the county north and east of London, while by far the greater part of the old hundred, still waste and wood, was included under a separate jurisdiction, called in the old maps “Fynnesberry and Wen Lax Barne.” Another re-arrangement however has taken place; the ancient liberties of Finsbury and Wenlakesbarn are now included in the hundred of Ossulston; the hundred itself is separated into four divisions, and Paddington is included, with certain other districts, in “the Holbourn division” of this re-arranged hundred.

It has been shown, too, in the previous part of this Work, that the district, first known by the name of Paddington, was, very probably, confined within the comparatively small space bounded by the two Roman roads and the bourn; and that, antecedently to the establishment of this separate district, it formed a portion of the Tybourn manor. It is also very probable that Paddington was included in the Parish of Tybourn, before the monks of Westminster established their claim to it, and annexed it to St. Margaret’s. At a later period, when Paddington became a separate parish, the whole of that district which is now known as Westbourn; the manor of Notting Barns; and all that Chelsea now claims north of the Great Western Road; as well as the manor of Paddington, and a considerable portion of that which now belongs to Marylebone, were included in it.

The post-office authorities, even to this day, include a considerable portion of Marylebone in their map of Paddington; and if we take the “Via Originaria” of the Romans, “The Watling Street” of former days, to have been the eastern boundary of this parish at all periods, still even that would give to Paddington a long strip of the south-west corner of the present parish of Marylebone; for I think those who will examine this subject, will come to the conclusion, that the old Roman road was that road which is seen in Rocque’s maps, continuing in a straight line from Tybourn-lane along the high ground to the top of Maida-hill.

In “Baker’s Chronicle of the Kings of England,” p. 313, we find a record of many works of public utility, performed, in the reign of Edward the sixth, by the Rowland Hill of that day. And in the third year of that king’s reign, when Sir Rowland was Lord Mayor of London, we find it chronicled “that he likewise made the highway to Kilburne near to London;” previously to which time, I presume, the old military way was the only road in use.

In Rocque’s maps we see three roads branching off in a northerly direction from the Tybourn-road (now Oxford-street); one, opposite North Audley-street, another, opposite Tybourn-lane (now Park-lane), and the third, the present Edgeware-road. I believe it was the road nearest the city which was made by Sir Rowland Hill; the central one, as above indicated, being the ancient Roman road; and the present road being the most modern; but both “Watling-street” and “Watery-lane” are now obliterated from the map; and the land occupied by these roads, with the triangular or gore-shaped piece which lay to the west, between the ancient road and the present Edgeware-road, now forms a portion of the adjoining parish.

It was on this piece of land, the highest point of ground on this part of the Tybourn-road, that the gallows was erected when it was removed from “The Elmes.”

Whether the Great Western-road took a more southerly course previously to “the Hyde Farm” having been converted into Hyde, or “High,” Park, by Henry the eighth, I do not know; but from the facts already advanced, it appears certain that this triangular-shaped parish was at one time a much larger triangle than it now is; the base of which, in all probability, extended from Shepherd’s Rush to Kilbourn Bridge.

At the present time the eastern boundary of Paddington parish is formed by the Edgeware-road from where Tybourn-gate stood in 1829, {103a} to where Kilbourn-gate now stands; the southern boundary being marked out by the Uxbridge-road from its junction with the Edgeware-road to the head of the Serpentine, with the exception of that piece of Tybourn-field which was sold for a burying-ground to St. George’s, and which now, with St. George’s-terrace, forms a portion of that parish. Paddington claims a considerable strip of Kensington-gardens, and is bounded west and north-west by an imaginary and irregular line, known only to the authorities and a few parish boys, which runs over and through houses, greenhouses, &c., from the centre of the road opposite Palace-gardens, to Kilbourn-gate. Or, to use the official words of the district surveyor, “Paddington is bounded on the north by the parish of Willesden; on the south by the parish of St. Margaret, Westminster, and St. George, Hanover-square; on the east by the parish of St. Mary-le-bone; and on the west by the parishes of St. Mary Abbots, Kensington, and a detached part of St. Luke, Chelsea.” {103b}

In the population-returns for 1831, this area was said to contain 1,220 acres of land. Whether this return was made for the sake of giving round numbers, or whether the parish has extended during this century, I cannot say; but Lysons says that “Paddington contains, according to an actual survey in the possession of William Strong, esq. (a former bishop’s agent), 1197a. 3r. 30p.” In the “Registrar-General’s Report on Cholera in England, 1848–49,” I find the “area in acres” of Paddington put down at 1277. This estimate was given to the Registrar-General by Captain Dawson, R.E. of the Tithe Commission. {104a}

Lysons tells us, “the soil in the neighbourhood of the village is principally factitious, having been much enriched by great quantities of manure. On the east of a little brook which runs by Kilbourn and Bayswater, the soil is a thin clay upon a dry bed of gravel; on the west side of this brook a deep clay, the springs lying very far beneath the surface.” In proof of which he states that a well sunk by Mr. Coulson, of Westbourn house, had to be dug 300 feet deep before water was found; the earth of the first 100 feet, he tells us, was a bluish clay, “then, a thin stratum of stone, then, another bed of clay.” In another well, dug in the same neighbourhood, water was found at the depth of 250 feet.

These statements respecting the water must be taken to refer to the valley through which the Westbourn ran; for on the eastern side of the brook, south of Maida-hill, and on the eastern side of Craven-hill which lies to the west of the stream, many wells existed which were not more than ten or fifteen feet deep. {104b} Indeed, Lysons tells us, that “the springs at Bayswater lie near the surface, and that the water is very fine.” In fact, the people of Paddington seem to have had no lack of water, nor any reason to complain either of the quality or cost of this essential element of life.

Previously to the present century, the most desirable spots in the district had been selected for the dwellings of the inhabitants; and when the bishop’s first building Act was granted only 200 acres were allowed to be built on, because the other portions of the estate were not considered “fit for building purposes.” But the modern builder’s art despises any delicate notions about fitness or unfitness for the situation of a house. A plot of ground shall be covered; a street shall be built, says the money-making builder; and, when the street is finished, who will know whether this or that particular house is built on gravel, or clay, or mud? Who will take the trouble to ascertain whether the elevated road to his entrance-hall, or the spot on which his house is placed, was made by nature’s laws, or by the scavenger’s cart? As to the drainage of the house, and the supply of water, these are hidden mysteries, with which no dweller in a house, except a master-builder, is expected to trouble himself. Respecting any of these matters, the owner of the soil will be rarely found to interfere, excepting it is to take part with the builder; for the value of his land has been enormously increased by that industrious speculator.

Fortunately, however, those who live in houses, are beginning to find out that not only the healthfulness of their own dwelling, but that of their neighbours also, very much concerns them. Fortunately, too, especially for the dwellers in large towns, men who have made hygeic science a study cannot be sneered down, or “put down” by “practical builders.” But until _the people_ thoroughly understand the nature of those requirements which constitute healthful dwellings; and until they are determined to press upon the legislature the enactment of those laws which are necessary to constitute them such, and to restrain, by more stringent laws, the lust after mammon of “the speculative builder,” both their health and life will remain in very unsafe keeping.

The builder may say that the legislature of a country has no right to interfere in an affair of so private a nature as the building of a house; that every man is able to judge for himself in what house he will live; and that it is his own fault if he take a bad one. So long as houses were built to last _more_ than ninety-nine years, and were nearly a mile apart, all this may have been true, but experience has taught us that this does not hold good when applied to towns; it has taught us that cities would be in a much worse state than they now are but for those inefficient laws which exist at the present time; and it has taught us that to choose an abode in ignorance of almost all the necessary requirements which constitute a healthful dwelling is a species of ignorance by no means of the blissful family. To distinguish good from evil in every object which surrounds us is one of the necessities of our nature; to have “a foe under foot,” {105} a foe overhead, and a foe on every side, without a determination to subdue this legion, does not say much for the wisdom either of the governors, or the governed; and to care nothing about the expenditure of millions collected annually for local purposes, is no proof of confidence in the governors, is no proof of the happiness or wisdom of the governed; it may however prove, that the people are “silly sheep” {106} who may be shorn by any tool, at the bidding of any despot.

Experience has proved that no more healthful situation for a town can be chosen, than elevated ground above the banks of a pure stream; and those who fixed on the south portion of the Westbourn district, and on the site of the old village of Paddington, as spots for their dwellings, could not have been ignorant either of the material advantages such situations afforded, or of the effects produced both on the mind and body by the beauty and salubrity of these localities.

If we spoke of the beauties of Paddington to those whose acquaintance with this place is of recent date, they would naturally think we were about to describe the gorgeous mansions of the fashionable “Tyburnia.” But the old village of Tybourn, or Westbourn, and the new town of Pædings, were surrounded by a greater combination of natural beauty than those who have not studied the ancient topography of this district can well conceive.

Out of thirty-seven districts, into which, for certain special purposes, the Registrar-General has arranged London and its vicinity, in a series of excellent tables contained in his very valuable Report on Cholera, we find that there are only four parishes of greater average elevation than Paddington; the estimated elevation of this parish above Trinity high watermark being seventy-six feet; Pancras eighty; Islington eighty-eight; Marylebone one hundred; and Hampstead three hundred and fifty.

On referring to those accurate and beautiful surveys published by the Ordnance Map-Office, I find that the highest point in Paddington, the peak of Maida-hill, rises to 120 feet 9 inches, while the lowest, Elms-lane, sinks to 57 feet. In fact, Paddington consists chiefly of two hills, Maida-hill and Craven-hill; the north-eastern slope of Notting-hill; and a valley, through which the Tybourn ran. In the south part of the parish this valley is very narrow, but to the north it spreads out into Maida Vale.

Woodfield road, and the neighbourhood, is another elevated spot in Paddington, but in the whole of that part of the parish, as well as in Maida Yale, the clay is immediately below the surface. In some places the surface has been raised by the earth dug out of the Canal, and in others, by deposits brought from other parts of London; indeed the alterations which have taken place, inconsequence of the removal of the natural soil, and the addition of “made ground,” make it difficult to tell what is the natural elevation of any particular spot in the parish.

The tables from which I have just now quoted, and other authenticated statistical accounts, tend to prove that the number of feet we live above high water-mark is an appreciable quantity in the account of health and disease, life and death. But elevation is only one item, though an important one, in this important account. The _nature_ as well as the _height_ of the soil on which we live, influences the health and life of every living being.

A considerable portion of the ground, composing the south and south-eastern parts of Paddington, consists of sand and gravel; the northern and north-western parts being clay. Vast quantities of the former have been removed; and although the Paddington soil was sufficiently “factitious” at the time Lysons wrote, it has become much more so since that time. Those only who have carefully watched the modes which have been adopted to raise the ground for making new roads, and for elevating the basement of houses in certain parts of this parish, can form any idea of the immense quantity of “rubbish” which has been “shot here.” As to the nature of a great deal of that rubbish, I will not offend my readers by attempting any description. Suffice it to say, that thousands of loads of sand and gravel have been taken away since the Act passed which permitted the sale of this natural soil, and vegetable and animal matters of all kinds, and in all stages of putrefaction, have been emptied into hollow places. Besides the effect produced by the poisonous gases which must arise from such factitious soil, other bad effects frequently follow the removal of the natural earth and the substitution of made ground. All the house-drains which are laid on the latter, sink, and in a short time become either partially, or wholly, useless for the purpose for which they were made; and new drains, constructed at great expence and inconvenience, are necessary. When from this or any other cause, the drain does not empty itself into the common sewer, it is emphatically termed by the men who work in the sewers, “a dead’un.”

Having for several years lived in a house which owned one of these dead drains, and having been very nearly “a dead’un” myself in consequence, I was led to enquire into this subject somewhat minutely; and although the drainage of an immense city is too important a subject to be treated of by the topographer in a sketch of a single parish, yet I cannot refrain from saying a word or two in this place on a point of such vital consequence.

The Thames having been most mischievously used as the great common sewer for London and its neighbourhood; and Paddington which is so much above its level, having been drained into it, one would have imagined that the system of drainage here would have completely removed all debris from so elevated a spot. Such, however, has not been the case, as I have learned from the Reports of the Sewer Commissioners, and from a personal inspection of some of the sewers.

Nothing worthy the name of a system of drainage, can be secured, till the great river, which was intended by its Creator to bring health and life to the people, instead of being made by man the instrument of his own disease and death, is freed from the sewerage of a whole metropolis: yet much good may be done in the mean time, and at a comparatively small outlay.

Thousands of drains, now existing, have been made of such porous bricks, and these have been placed side by side with such an unadhesive layer of dirt, that instead of acting as an impervious tube through which the soil could pass to its destination, the common sewer, the bottom of the drain acts as a mere filter for its contents. Glazed earthenware pipe-drains have been introduced to obviate this and other great evils; and the dwellers in towns have seldom had a greater blessing befall them, than this discovery. These tubular drains are cemented together, so as to form a hollow tube, and are laid at so much per foot under the regulation of the Sewers Office, by workmen who understand what a _house-drain_ should be; and it must be understood that a _house_-drain and a _field_-drain are two distinct things; though very many builders have thought what would do for one, would do for the other.

Why there is not a good system of main drainage for London; why the Thames is still made the generator of disease and death, I do not know, except it be to shew the inefficiency of our governors; but if the New Sewers Commission had done no other good, it deserves praise for the facilities it has given for the use of this more perfect system of house-drainage; and after all it is of more consequence that the drain to the sewer should be perfect, than that the sewer itself should be so, although the latter is undoubtedly essential.

All those who wish to live in a healthful house, will adopt this tubular system of house-drainage; but those who cannot or will not have a perfect drain, may adopt a small part of the modern tubular system with great advantage and at a trifling cost. At present, the great majority of drains open directly into the common sewer, and act as chimnies for the conveyance of poisonous gases into the interior of the houses, the water-traps only partially preventing this evil. Others enter the sewer so low, that when they are not performing this office, they frequently form a portion of the common sewer itself, and are invariably filled with its contents, when “flushing” is performed.

A simple lid of glazed earth, hanging from the upper part of the mouth of the drain, provides against these evils to a very great extent; and this precaution should always be used, till a more effectual substitute is found.

Some portions of Paddington which have been built on, are amongst the most desirable spots, as places of residence, to be found in the immediate vicinity of London; and these would be rendered unexceptionable by a perfect system of water supply and drainage. But, as yet that good time has not come even for the most healthful and most fashionable houses in Tyburnia.

So much has been said and written on the subject of burying the dead in the midst of the living, that it would appear useless to add another word on this subject; and at length some of the effects produced on living bodies by the poisonous gases which arise from church-yards are well known.

We have already seen that Paddington is blessed with two burying grounds, one of which was established for the benefit of the rector of St. George’s, Hanover-square, and his rich parishioners; and although this burial-ground was at one time extra-mural, the inhabitants of Albion-street, Upper Berkeley-street, Connaught-square, and St. George’s-row, have found out that it is no longer so. For some of the particular evils attendant on having this large burial-ground surrounded by houses, I must refer my readers to “_An account of the measures __adopted by the Medical Practitioners residing in the Western District of Paddington_, _to obtain the_ CLOSURE _of the_ BURIAL-GROUND _situated in the_ UXBRIDGE ROAD,” and to a Return on the Metropolitan Burials, Act, just printed by order of the House of Commons. For an exposition of the general evils of intra-mural interment, and an account of some of the disgraceful practices connected with it, I cannot do better than refer to “GATHERINGS from GRAVE YARDS,” and Mr. Walker’s other works on these subjects.

To secure a healthful dwelling, then, it is necessary to know something of the elevation and the nature of the soil; the quality of the water; the efficiency of the drainage; the size of the house relative to the number of its intended inhabitants; and indeed, all those considerations which influence the quality of the air we breathe, should be taken into account. But it is not my intention to enter into an examination of all the items which compose a healthful dwelling; much less to count up those points which give an ideal value to a house on a “Bishop’s Estate,” though, judging from the puffing advertisements, which for years crowded the advertising columns of the _Times_, there must have been great and healing virtues in these magic words. In those advertisements, however, we saw no account of the contracted area; the deep narrow back yard; the thin and crumbling walls; the gaping doors and windows; the damp and ill ventilated basement; the absence of drainage; the want of bath-rooms, &c. &c.;—all such things had to be found out by the in-coming tenant, and remedied at his cost. But for the want of these essentials, the “pretty paper,” or the “handsome cornice,” made but poor compensation, even in houses advertised for sale at a few thousand pounds, “with a trifling ground-rent of seventy-five pounds per annum.”

Many suggestions have been offered relative to the derivation of the word _Paddington_; but that suggested by Mr. Kemble—one of the greatest living authorities on antiquarian topography—seems to me to be the most deserving consideration. Mr. Kemble observes, in his preface to the third volume of the Codex Diplomaticus, that the Anglo-Saxon, like most German names of places, are nearly always composite words; that is, they consist of two or more parts; the second generally of wide and common signification; the first a kind of definition limiting this general name to one particular application.

The former portion of these compound names, he says, may be classed under various heads, as the names of animals, birds, trees, fishes, &c.; others refer to mythological or divine personages; and others contain the names of individuals and families. To this latter division he refers Paddington in the first volume of his “Saxons in England;” where he has inferred a mark—“Pædingas”—for the name of this place—Tun, the enclosure or town, Pædingas of the Pædings. It is true, this is one of three names, of which Mr. Kemble appears to entertain some doubt; but all other explanations I have met with appear to me open to more serious objections. Dr. R. G. Latham, the father of the modern school of English philology, tells us that “in the Greek language the notion of lineal descent, in other words, the relation of the son to the father, is expressed by a particular termination;” and that this Greek mode of expression is very different from the English termination, _son_, and the Gaelic prefix, _mac_; which in fact make the words to which they are joined only compound words. But he asks is there anything in English corresponding to the Greek patronymics, and answers, “In Anglo-Saxon the termination _ing_ is as truly patronymic as IDES is in Greek. * * * In the Bible-translation the son of Elisha is called Elising. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle occur such genealogies as the following:—Ida was Eopping, Eoppa Esing, &c.—Ida was the son of Eoppa, Eoppa of Esing, &c.” The learned Doctor further informs us that “In the plural number these forms denote the _race of_—as Scyldingas—to the Scyldings, or the race of Scyld,” {111} or Pœdingas—to the Pædings, or the race of Pæd.

With other names in Paddington there is not much difficulty.

The burne, bourn, or brook, which ran through Paddington gave its name to a district. Tybourn I believe to have been the original name; but the houses erected on the west side of this stream, with the district surrounding them, were eventually called by the name of Westbourn; the name which was given to the stream. Respecting the origin of the word Bayswater—a name given to a portion of the Westbourn district—many suggestions have been offered; but the first of the three given by Mr. Osborne in his letter to Mr. Urban, in the Gentleman’s Magazine, dated March 25th, 1798, appears to me to be the correct one. He says “Perhaps the name of Bays is derived from the original owner of the land;” and from the Inquisitions taken in the early part of the fourteenth century, to be found in the first part of this Work, it will be perceived that there was then a Juliana Baysbolle holding land in Westbourn. At the end of the fourteenth century, we find from Tanner’s note, before quoted, that the head of water given by the Abbot was called Bayard’s Watering Place; and although this may have been the name used in legal documents for the district surrounding it, yet Bays Watering has been the name used by the people. There may, indeed, have been two watering places for the weary traveller; and mine host Bays, and mine host Bayard, may have been rivals for public favour; the one living on one side of the King’s highway, and the other on the opposite.

Knotting, or Notting, seems to have been but a corruption of Nutting; the wood on and around the hill of that name, having for centuries being appropriately so called.

Kensell, or Kensale, comes, as I take it, from King’s-field. In the Harleian MS. (printed at page 38,) the green of this name is called Kellsell, and Kingefelde. In Mary’s reign, we perceive by this document, also, that “the Green-lane” and “Kingsefelde-green” were the same place. And as “the Green-lanes” now exist—in name—we may ascertain with something like accuracy the situation of this field, or green, which formerly belonged to the King.

The names of Squares, Terraces, Streets, &c., have been for the most part furnished by the names of the owners of property, past or present, their native counties, or country residences.

Spring-street, Brook-street, Conduit-street, Market-street, &c., point out the situations of objects formerly on, or near, those sites.

“Tichborne-street,” although not built in the time of Henry the eighth, reminds us of one “Nicholas Tychborne, gent., husband of the second daughter and co-heir of Alderman Fenroper;” of Alderman Tichbourn, one of Cromwell’s peers and King Charles’s judges; and of a dirty ditch which ran down the side of the Edgeware-road from Maida-hill; and Maida-hill, itself, reminds us of the famous battle of Maida. Praed-street preserves the memory of the banker of that name; one of the first Directors of the Grand Junction Canal Company; and of the lands they secured, as well for the purposes for which they professedly obtained them, as for the purposes to which they have been applied.

The name of Frederick, once well known here, became so distasteful to the people of Paddington, that it is preserved only in a mews; while the memory of the capacious generosity of the Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond, to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, will be long preserved in Paddington by the Squares and Terraces of those names. There is now a Shelden-street, to remind us of a bishop’s gift to his nephews; and a Porteus Road and Terrace, that we may not forget the good and generous Beilby who gave away, or sold, two-thirds of the proceeds of the Paddington estate. Pickering-place and Terrace preserve the memory of a former curate, and of a friendly Chancery suit relating to the property here; and while all sorts of changes are rung on the names of the living, it has been thought expedient to place Blomfield and Cromwell Terraces in a continuous line in the highway to a Public School.

The civil division of the land, recognised by the Anglo-Saxons, were the Mark, or March; the Gâ, or Shire; and the Hid, or Hide. To understand these divisions, as Mr. Kemble has described them, is to comprehend the natural origin of every inhabited place in this country; and the origin of all our constitutional law.

The Mark he describes to be the smallest and simplest division of the land which was held by many men in common, or by several households under settled conditions, the next in order to the private estates, the hids or alods of the markmen. “As its name denotes, it is something marked out or defined, having settled boundaries; something serving as a sign to others, and distinguished by signs. It is the plot of land on which a greater or lesser number of free men have settled for the purposes of cultivation, and for the sake of mutual profit and protection; and it comprises a portion both of arable and pasture land, in proportion to the numbers that enjoy its produce.” {113} Other meanings were attached, to this word, Mark, which are thoroughly examined by this learned historian, and to his works I must refer those of my readers who wish to obtain a complete insight into the ancient divisions of the land, and the manners and customs of our Saxon ancestors.

The Gâ or Shire was but a number of these marks united under one general government.

The Hid or Hide was “the estate of one household, the amount of land sufficient for the support of one family.” By a series of learned calculations and investigations Mr. Kemble has proved that the hide was a stated quantity of _arable_ land, not much over thirty Saxon acres, equal to forty Norman acres; he shews that the Saxons had a large and a small acre, and explains, by this fact, how the hide came to have been considered one hundred and twenty acres. He shews that the forest, meadow, and pasture-land was common property; and that it was attached to the hyde as of common-right. But, for a complete exposition of this subject, I must also refer my readers to the fourth chapter of the first book of Mr. Kemble’s history.

The fact of Paddington in Surrey, or “Padendene” as it was called, being mentioned in the Conqueror’s survey, {114a} while Paddington in Middlesex was not noticed, inclines me to believe the _dene_, or _den_, in Surrey, was the original mark of the Pædings; and that the smaller enclosure in Middlesex was at first peopled and cultivated by a migration of a portion of that family from the _den_ when it had become inconveniently full.

I do not mean to say the Surrey valley was too crowded when this migration took place; but the lord, or his man, one or both might have pressed a little too hard on some of the young cubs in the Surrey den; and as they had no Press through which to make their wrongs known, they may have thought it best to move off before any other wrongs were inflicted.

At what period this migration happened, it is impossible to say; but there is very little doubt that the first settlement was made near the bourn, or brook, which ran through the forest. And this brook, though now a deep under-ground sewer {114b} which has been made, by the aid of the mason, to give a few more ground-rents to the bishop and his lessees, while it carries its hidden pollution to the capacious bosom of “Father Thames,”—once gave life to a most beautiful valley, and was itself, at times, no insignificant stream. At the beginning of this century it was a favourite resort for the young fishermen; and, as depicted in Norden’s Map of Middlesex, {115a} we see what it was in the time of Elizabeth, when the waters, taking their natural courses from the hills of Hampstead and Highgate, found their way into it.

What amount of disease and death has been caused by the impurities it has been made to hold since that time is a mystery; but one into which those have had a peep, who have taken the trouble to read the disclosures which have been made respecting the Serpentine, {115b} into which it was for years made to pour its many abominations.

By the side of a pure and then beautiful stream, at a later period named the Westbourn, the first “clearing” was made; and in all probability on the eminence above this brook, perhaps on the very spot where the first Christian temple was raised, the inhabitants of this Mark first offered up their adoration to that God which their intelligence had taught them to worship; and let not those who occupy their places in well cushioned pews near this spot, decry or despise that worship; for it was the sincere and spontaneous act of the unenlightened mind, unmixed with the sins of a cold formality, or the hypocrisy of a political sham. However misguided our ancestors were, they were sincere, and they wanted not the support of the State to bolster up their peculiar dogmas, but freely consecrated a portion of the Mark to the services of religion. And the present christian Bishop of London, and his lay lessees, may now have the honour of receiving the proceeds of land once dedicated to Pagan worship. {115c}

The Mark included a considerable extent of the forest around the portion cleared; and this portion of the Mark, the forest or waste-land, was, as we have seen, the common property of the inhabitants. To protect their rights in this common property against powerful and ambitious individuals, was for centuries the constant care of the people, as it was the special object of many of our ancient laws. How these laws were evaded; how by force or fraud “the lords of the soil” managed to transfer those lands to their own keeping; and how cunning and designing men have over-reached them in return; so that, at last, scarcely a scrap of all their former rights remain to the public, for public uses, I have made some attempt to tell, so far as the Paddington Mark is concerned. But a complete history of these transactions remains to be written.

The formation of the Mark, and the reception of its occupants into the family of the state, were not the work of a day: and these long preceded the parochial arrangement; which latter, indeed, was an ecclesiastical division of the land, said to have been introduced into England in the seventh century by Honorius, Archbishop of Canterbury: but this is evidently one of those errors so common in history, where one man is often credited or debited with deeds which belong to, and should be fairly divided among many individuals. It is this error, as Mr. Kemble has most strikingly pointed out, which has frequently made a saint, or a devil, when no heroic quality belonged to the person so set on high for admiration or detestation.

Modern research has made it pretty certain that the ancient parishes, “parochiæ,” of England were the districts adopted by the several teachers of Christianity who first promulgated the truths of the gospel in this country. These divisions, made for securing the spread of the “Good News” through the whole of the country, must necessarily, at first, have been very rudely defined—but then there was not, at that time, any fear that these overseers, or bishops, would set people by the ears about territorial titles. They were much better occupied, by the promulgation of God’s tidings, than to trouble themselves about those things which have lately become of so much more concern to christian bishops than the conversion of the heathen; and when those earnest and good men were assisted by others whom they had imbued with their religious spirit they lived in one house, in common, on the free-will offerings of a grateful people.—The overseer of the district being their overseer, and his parish, their parish.

As the religious wants of the people increased, these centres were found to be inconveniently remote from the circumference. The teachers, too, considerably increased in numbers; they demanded as a right that which had been conceded as a favour; and ambition creeping into their community, as their riches increased, separate spheres of action because additionally desirable. So at length, and by degrees, our present parochial system arose; the sub-divisions bearing the same name, diocese, or parish, as the original divisions had done.