him, for he is for a nobleman's pleasure, forsooth, worth one thousand pounds."

" So

Master Norris " [we again quote Stowe,] "took the fool, with whom my lord was fain to send six of his tallest yeomen to help him to convey the fool to the court: for the poor fool took on like a tyrant, rather than he would have departed from my lord. But, notwithstanding, they conveyed him, and so brought him to the court, where the King received him very gladly." This fool, from the value set upon him, appears to have been a fool after the fashion of him in Shakspeare, whom Jacques met in the forest,

"A fool-a fool-a motley fool

A noble fool-a worthy fool."

The Cardinal, for aught we know to the contrary, might have concealed a deep meaning under his present : "You will not take wise men into your favour, O King, therefore take this fool." The fool's head, however, we are justified in believing, would not have been of much worth, if Henry had perceived the satire. At all events, the fool showed that he had some sense, by his dislike to enter the service of a King whose propensity to taking off heads was so remarkable.

Among other reminiscences of Putney, we must not omit that it was the birth-place of the great historian Gibbon, and that Pitt died on Putney Heath. Here also, in a small house near the bridge, resided the novelist Richardson, and here he wrote part of "Sir Charles Grandison."

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CHAPTER IV.

The Two Sisters.-Poets of Barn Elms.-Loutherbourg the Artist.-Hogarth's Epitaph.-English love of Trees and Flowers.-Residence of Joe Miller.-Vanity in Death.Reminiscences of Mortlake. - Queen Elizabeth and the Alchymist. Pleasant Controversy between Swift and Partridge. Dirty Brentford.-Anecdote of George II.Kew Gardens.-Sion House.-Isleworth.

HE churches of Fulham and Putney, which look meekly towards each other from the two sides of the river, are said to have been built by two sisters. This, however, is but a foolish tradition. Grose, in his Provincial Glossary, says, the story was, that they had but one hammer between them, which they interchanged by throwing it across the river, on a word agreed upon between them. She on the Surrey side made use of the words, "Put it nigh!" and she on the opposite shore, "Heave it full home;" whence the churches, and from

them the villages, were called Putnigh and Fullhome, since corrupted to Putney and Fulham.

Both churches are of great antiquity; and, although it is not easy to fix precisely the date of their foundation, it is probable that it was shortly after the Conquest. The stone tower of Putney church is supposed to have been erected in the fifteenth century. Fulham has been known since the Conquest as the manor and residence of the Bishops of London, many of whom lie buried in the church. There are several monuments here to the memory of men who were celebrated in their day for their piety or their learning. There is also one to the memory of Dr. Butts, physician to King Henry the Eighth, who is known neither for his learning nor his piety, but who is familiar to the reader of Shakspeare from the part he plays in the drama of that name. Such is the influence of genius,-such is the homage that some enthusiastic hearts are ever ready to pay it, that Fulham has had its pilgrims for no other reason than this. The mention made of Dr. Butts by the great bard is small enough, but is sufficient with these to draw them hither, as to a shrine.

From Fulham the Thames bends towards

Hammersmith, and as we sail upwards we pass through lines of tall trees, and through banks all covered with clusters of wild flowers to the

very edge of the water. On the Surrey shore is Barn, or Barnes, Elms, famous as having been the residence of Sir Francis Walsingham, of the unfortunate Earl of Essex, of Cowley, and of Tonson the bookseller. The latter built a gallery here for the accommodation of the Kit-cat Club, and adorned the walls with their portraits, which have, however, been since removed. The poet Hughes, a man who in his day boasted many admirers, but whom three good judges, Pope, Swift, and Dr. Johnson, classed as "one of the mediocribus," strove to celebrate the noble trees that give name to this place by some encomiastic verses. A taste of their quality is afforded by the concluding lines.

"Ye verdant elms, that towering grace this grove,

Be sacred still to beauty and to love,

Nor thunder break, nor lightning glare between
Your twisted boughs-

The grateful sun will every morning rise

Propitious here, saluting from the skies
Your lofty tops, indulged with sweetest air,
And every spring your losses he'll repair,
Nor his own laurels more shall be his care."

It says but little for the taste of the age that