Privy Garden

Privy garden, betn the Cock pit W. and the Thames E. containing 3¼ Acres. See White hall.

[Privy Gardens] To this Palace [of Whitehall] there is a curious Garden called the Privy Garden, adorned with Stone Statues, and hath the Propsect of the Thames. This Garden is parted from the Street on the North with an ancient high Stone Wall. At the End of which is another Gatehouse over the Street of curious Work, with Buildings over it, which lead into others, now (or late) the Lodgings of the Earl of Rochester: And between these two Gates, on the North Side, is a Tenis Court, for the Entertainment of the Nobility and Gentry in that Exercise; adjoining to which is a large Apartment, generally taken up by some Great Court Officer. And behind that, where the Cockpit was, are large buildings, formerly the Lodgings of her Royal Highness the Princess Anne of Denmark, Daughter to King James the Second, late our Sovereign Lady and Queen.

Privy Garden, Whitehall, was formerly used as a private garden, though it extended almost to the Cockpit. The wall joined the arch still standing by the Cockpit, and ran on in a line to King street. Plan of London drawn in Queen Elizabeth's time.

Privy-Gardens, Whitehall,—about ⅕ of a mile on the L. from Charing-cross, and nearly opposite the Horse-guards, extending to the Thames.

Privy-Gardens, Whitehall, are nearly opposite the Horse-Guards, and derive their name from having been anciently the private gardens of Whitehall Palace. The site is now occupied by Richmond-buildings, and several mansions of the nobility and gentry.

Privy Garden, behind Whitehall, now called Whitehall Gardens, a square of ground containing 3¼ acres,¹ between Parliament Street and the Thames, and appertaining to the King's Palace at Whitehall.

May 21, 1662.—In the Privy Garden saw the finest smocks and linen petticoats of my Lady Castlemaine's, laced with rich lace at the bottom, that ever I saw; and did me good to look at them.—Pepys.

The Privy Garden, when Mr. Pepys was in it, was laid out into sixteen square compartments of grass, each compartment having a standing statue in the centre. The garden was concealed from the street by a lofty wall; from the river by the Stone Gallery and state apartments; from the court behind the Banqueting House by the lodgings of the chief attendants on the King; and from the Bowling-green, to which it led, by a row of lofty trees. It would appear to have been in every respect a private garden. In the original Privy Garden Charles I., when Prince of Wales, caused a dial to be set up, and by command of James I. there was written, "The Description and use of his Majesty's Dial in Whitehall Garden, by Edmund Gunter, London, 1624," 4to. It was defaced and went to ruin in King Charles II.'s time.

This place for a dial was too insecure,
Since a guard and a garden could not it defend;
For so near to the Court they will never endure
Any witness to show how their time they misspend.
Andrew Marvell

Other dials of glass, arranged pyramidically, were placed here by Francis Hall, alias Line, a Jesuit, in 1669. Vertue and Walpole speak of their remains.² "An explication of the diall sett up in the King's garden at London, anno 1669; in which very many sorts of dyalls are conteined, etc.," was printed at Liege, by Guillaume Henry Steel, in 1673, 4to. James II. relates in his Memoirs that on one occasion when Charles II. was rising from the Council he saw the Secretary of State lay several commissions before him, which he at once signed and passed on to the Privy Garden.

The Duke stay'd behind and took up one of the Commissions which prov'd to be that for the Duke of Monmouth's Generalship, and looking in it to see how it was drawn, he found the word Natural had been scrap'd out in all the places where it had been writt, and the word Son only left in. ... The Duke took the Commission and carryd it immediately to the King then walking in the Garden, and withall desired his Ma^ty that the word Natural might again be put into the Commission as it had been, and as it ought to be. Whereupon the King taking out his sizers cutt the Commission in two, and order'd an other to be prepar'd for him to sign with the word Natural in it.—Clarke's James II., vol. i. p. 497.

Evelyn records, May 31, 1672, that a day or two before he here took leave of "that incomparable person," the Earl of Sandwich, setting out to fight the Dutch, and full of foreboding of the death that was so close at hand. The wall that enclosed the Privy Garden was a favourite station for the display of the old ballad-sellers' wares. "I have seen Mr. Burke," said Joseph Moser, "examining the ballads, etc., upon the wall of Privy Garden, with an attention which our greatest authors might have thought it an honour to excite."³

The present Privy Garden, or Whitehall Gardens, consists of a row of large houses fronting the river, from which it is divided by the Victoria Embankment, and is part in the parish of St. Martin's-in-the Fields and part in the parish of St. Margaret's, Westminster. The centre house was the residence of Sir Robert Peel, the eminent statesman, who formed here the fine collection of Dutch and Flemish pictures, now a part of the National collection. He died in the dining-room on the ground-floor facing the river, July 2, 1850. In an action in the Court of Exchequer, February 1870, brought by the third Sir Robert Peel to recover £5355 from the Metropolitan Board of Works for damage and deterioration caused by the construction of the Thames Embankment, Sir Robert stated that the "house was built in 1824, that there were steps leading to the river, and he remembered that on one occasion, when a boy, preparations were made to remove the family and valuables by boats on occasion of a threatened attack by a riotous mob on his father's house." A house, which formed a part of the old palace, granted by William III. to the Earl of Portland, was long the town residence of the Dukes of Portland. Here lived the Duchess of Portland who purchased the Barberini Vase, and from it the house received its present name. Here the Duchess had collected an extraordinary museum, to the great disgust of her family. All the purchases were not like that of the Vase, which was kept secret from them till her death in the following year. Her museum was sold in this house, the auction beginning April 4 and ending June 7, 1786. The Duke of Portland bought the Vase for £1029, the cameo of Jupiter Serapis for £173:5s., and that of Augustus Caesar for £236:5Ss. The Vase was No. 4155—the last lot. At the south end of Privy Gardens is the fine modern mansion of the Duke of Buccleuch. [See Montague House, Whitehall.] The minister Earl of Liverpool resided in the Privy Gardens, and here at various times have lived the Earl of Fife, the Earl of Malmesbury, the Earl of Loudon, the Earl of Harrington, Lord Gage, and many other persons of distinction.

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¹ Hatton, p. 66, who describes it as "lying between the Cockpit and the Thames."
² Anecd. of Painting, vol. ii. p. 54.
³ Europ. Mag., 1796.

[Privy Garden.] The gardens adjoining Whitehall Palace on the south and south-west were laid out in terraces, square and formal in plan, and adorned, after the fashion of the times, with statues of marble and bronze, many of which were subsequently removed to Hampton Court. "In the Privy Garden," says John Timbs, "was a dial, which was set up by Edward Gunter, Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, and of which he published a description by command of James I., in 1624. A large stone pedestal bore four dials at the four corners, and the great horizontal concave in the centre; and, besides, east, west, north, and south dials at the sides." In the reign of Charles II. this dial was defaced by a nobleman of the court, when drunk; and Andrew Marvell wrote upon it the following epigram:—

"This place for a dial was too insecure,
Since a guard and a garden it could not defend;
For, so near to the court, they will never endure,
A witness to show how their time they mis-spend."

In the court-yard, facing the Banqueting House, was another curious dial, set up in 1669, by order of Charles II. It was invented by one Francis Hall, alias Lyne, a Jesuit and Professor of Mathematics at Liège. The dial consisted of five stages rising in a pyramidical form, and bearing several vertical and reclining dials, globes cut into planes, and glass bowls, showing besides "the houres of all kinds," and "many things also belonging to geography, astronomy, and astrology, by the sun's shadow made visible to the eye." Among the pictures were portraits of the King, the two Queens, the Duke of York, and Prince Rupert. Father Lyne published a description of this dial, which consisted of seventy-three parts, and was illustrated with seventeen plates. It would appear, from what the author of the "Curiosities of London" says, that it was subsequently set up at Buckingham House.

We read incidentally that the gardens were intersected by a brook or rivulet, which here ran into the Thames; for in 1667 there was an order made by the Court of Sewers, as to the "sluice near Sir Robert Pye's, and the outfall thereof into the river, near the old orchard at Whitehall, now the Bowling Green." This orchard dated back as far as the reign of Henry VIII.

The site of the old palace of Whitehall, which was made extra-parochial at an early date, formerly formed part of the parish of St. Margaret's, Westminster. In order to assert the extent of the parish, the authorities, in "beating the bounds," took a boat at Parliament Stairs and rowed to the centre arch of Westminster Bridge, where there was a mark, and then landing at Privy Garden Stairs, "passed before Montagu House to the house of the Earl of Lowden" (Loudoun), afterwards the Duke of Richmond's, of which we shall have more to say presently.

Down to a comparatively recent date, the gardens above mentioned were called by the old name of the "Privy Gardens," but this has now become changed to "Whitehall Gardens"—a name given to a row of houses in the rear of the Banqueting House, which, until the formation of the Victoria Embankment, had its gardens and lawns sloping to the Thames. Whitehall Gardens were very fashionable residences in the reign of William IV. In 1835, No. 1, the present home of the National Club, was the town residence of the Marquis of Ailsa, and afterwards of the Dowager Marchioness of Exeter; and further on were the houses of Lord Farnborough (better known as Sir Charles Long) and the Earl of Malmesbury. Here, too, lived, in the time of Pitt and Fox, old Lady Townshend, who in her early days had been one of the "queens of society" in the court of George II. Here used to drop in of an evening George Selwyn and the other wits of the age; and it was said of her by Sir N. W. Wraxall, that, "in the empire of mind, she had succeeded to the place left vacant by Mrs. Hervey and Lady Mary Wortley Montague, in the previous generation." The Right Hon. Benjamin Disraeli took the house, No. 2, in 1873, after the death of his wife, Lady Beaconsfield.

Lady Townshend's house was celebrated for the bon mots of its mistress. Lady Lepel Hervey tells a good story of her and two Sir Thomas Robinsons, who had both offended her. The one was very tall and thin, the other very plump and short. "I can't bear them; and I can't imagine," remarked her ladyship, "why the one should be preferred to the other, one bit. I see but little difference between them; the one Sir Thomas is as broad as the other is long." Lady Townshend's pleasantry, however, it should be remarked here, was scarcely just. The "broad" Sir Thomas was a man of merit and ability, and for some time Secretary of State, and afterwards was created Lord Grantham. The "long" Sir Thomas was a celebrated bore and butt of the day. Lord Chesterfield used to bear with his dulness for the sake of laughing at him. "One day," adds Lady Hervey, "when Sir Thomas requested his lordship to honour him with some poetic mention, Lord Chesterfield qualified his whim by the following couplet:—

Unlike my subject will I frame my song,
It shall be witty, and it shan't be long.'"

In No. 4, a house with a large bow window, the late Sir Robert Peel lived, before and during his premiership; and here he died, July 2nd, 1850, from the effects of a fall from his horse, a few days previously, on Constitution Hill. In this house, which is still occupied by the Peel family, there is a fine gallery of paintings by the old masters, and the best collection of modern portraits by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Those of Canning, Wellington, &c., are there, and a variety of others too many to enumerate here.

Among the other mansions built on the site of the old Privy Gardens two deserve to be mentioned here—viz., Pembroke House and Gwydyr House.

"Lord Pembroke's house at Whitehall," writes Lady Hervey, in 1762, "is taken for the Duc de Nivernois, the French Ambassador." His name will be remembered as one of the Quarante and an inveterate versifier; and it is said that not a sitting of that illustrious body took place at Paris which the duke did not enliven by reading out a fable. It is to be hoped that he was more merciful to West-end society here. The mansion known as Pembroke House was afterwards occupied by the late Earl of Harrington, and passed, in or about the year 1853, into the hands of the Government, who turned it into one of the departments of the State.

At Gwydyr House, for many years, were the offices of the Commissioners of Revenue Inquiry, the Commissioners for Promoting the Fine Arts, and the Commissioners of the Health of Towns. Within its walls is now carried on the business of the newly-constituted branch of the public service—the Local Government Board. Upon the establishment of this Board, in 1873, the Poor Law Board ceased to exist, and all the powers hitherto exercised by the Secretary of State and the Privy Council were transferred to this department. The powers exercised by the Local Government Board relate to the registration of births, deaths, and marriages, public health, drainage, public improvements, local government, &c., and also to the prevention of disease. Close by is the office of the Board of Trade and Plantations, and also that of the Statistical and Commercial Department of the Board of Trade.

One of the almost forgotten memories of the neighbourhood of Whitehall, is the celebrated Museum of Sculpture and Works of Art made by the Duchess of Portland. "Here," writes John Timbs, "Pennant was shown a rich pearl surmounted with a crown, which was taken out of the ear of Charles I., after his head was cut off. Here, also, was the Barberini or Portland Vase, purchased by the Duchess from Sir William Hamilton for 1,800 guineas, and subsequently deposited by the Duke of Portland in the British Museum."

Sir Christopher Wren was ordered by Queen Anne, in 1705, to erect a wall to enclose that part of the garden which contained the fountain, as a pleasure-ground to the house inhabited by the Scotch commissioners appointed to settle the terms of the union of the two kingdoms.

At the southern end of Whitehall Gardens is Montagu House, the town mansion of the Duke of Buccleuch, who inherited it from the noble family of Montagu. The old house was a low building, and, with the exception of the pictures it contained, had little or nothing to call for special remark. The building was demolished about the year 1860, when the present magnificent mansion, in the Italian style, was built upon its site, the architect being Mr. George Burn.

There is here a splendid gallery of pictures containing many examples of the first masters. One, having special reference to the locality, is Canaletti's fine view of Whitehall, showing Holbein's Gateway, Inigo Jones's Banqueting House, and the steeple of St. Martin's Church, with the scaffolding about it. Then there are a large number of portraits by Vandyck and others, formerly belonging to Sir Peter Lely, and purchased at the sale of his effects by Ralph, Duke of Montagu. There are also other fine pictures by Vandyck, and a series of family portraits.

On the site of what is now Richmond Terrace was formerly Richmond House, the town residence of the Dukes of Richmond. This mansion stood at the southern end of the Privy Gardens, and faced Whitehall and Charing Cross, on ground previously occupied by the apartments of the Duchess of Portsmouth, Louise Renée de Perrencourt, whose son, by Charles II., was the first Duke of Richmond. The house was built for George, second Duke, by the famous architect Boyle, Earl of Burlington, concerning whom Pope asks, "Who builds like Boyle?"

Among those enlightened noblemen and gentle men who co-operated practically, and not merely by word of mouth, with George III. in his zeal for the promotion of the fine arts, Charles, the third Duke of Richmond, who held the title from 1750 down to 1806, claims a prominent notice. After his return from "the grand tour," the Duke munificently opened a school for the study of painting and sculpture at his house, at the end of Privy Gardens. Here a spacious gallery was provided, with every convenience and accommodation for the students, and a fine collection of casts, moulded from the most select antique and modern statues at Rome and Florence, was procured. These were set out as models, and young artists were invited, by public advertisement, to make the gallery a school for the study of art. In consequence of this generous invitation several young artists, whose names were afterwards known to the world, entered themselves as students. Cipriani, the painter, and Wilton, the sculptor, presided as instructors, till the students were sufficiently advanced to follow their bent unaided, and silver medals were occasionally awarded. This benefit was given to the rising school without fee or emolument. The gallery was opened in 1758, ten years before the foundation of the Royal Academy. In 1770 it contained upwards of twenty-five statues, and among them may be noted the Apollo Belvidere, the Gladiator, the Venus de Medici, the Dancing Faun, Group of Hercules and Antæus, the Rape of the Sabines, and a variety of casts from the Trajan Column, &c. The value of such a school in London, at a time when there were no railways and other facilities for foreign travel, can hardly be exaggerated. Among the artists who owed some of their early art-training to this school, the Somerset House Gazette mentions John Parker, a painter of historical portraits, long resident in Rome; John Hamilton Mortimer, the pupil of Robert Edge Pine (known to his friends as "Friar Pine"), who outstripped all his compeers in the drawing of the antique figure, and obtained several prizes from the Society of Arts for drawings made here; Richard Cosway, the miniature painter, and William Parrs, whose productions figured on the walls at the first exhibition of the Royal Academy. This artist was a great traveller, and much patronised by the Lord Palmerston of that day. Another was John A. Grosse, a native of Geneva, and a pupil of Cipriani; another was William Parry, son of a blind Welsh harpist, who obtained several prizes for drawings made in this gallery, and afterwards was a favourite pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Parry made a drawing of the Duke's gallery itself, into which he introduced several portraits: to the curious the discovery of this representation of a place so memorable would be a prize indeed. The Duke of Richmond, too, was a liberal patron of the meritorious artists of his time, as is proved by their numerous works in the Gallery at Goodwood. In other respects the Duke was often attacked for a want of hospitality and liberality; but, possibly, if he had squandered his wealth in giving costly banquets at Whitehall the artists of a century ago would have been so much the more poorly off. It would be well indeed for art, and indeed for literature also, if there were amongst us more noblemen endowed with the same generous feelings as Charles, Duke of Richmond. There is a deep truth in the old line which says:—

Sint Mæcenates, non deerunt, Flacce, Marones."

But the house has also yet another claim to be remembered, for it was here that the first meeting of the friends of Parliamentary Reform was held, in May, 1782, a week or two before the subject was brought forward by Mr. Pitt in the House of Commons.

The mansion was burnt to the ground in December, 1791. There is an engraving of the house by Boydell; and Edwards, in his "Anecdotes," mentions the drawing of the gallery by Parry, alluded to above, which he considered curious, as being "the only representation of the place." On the site of this mansion, as already stated, has risen Richmond Terrace, a noble row of houses overlooking Montagu House and Whitehall Gardens, standing at right angles to the Thames Embankment, and having an entrance from Parliament Street through handsome iron gates.

We read in Macaulay that in the panic arising out of the perjuries of Titus Oates patrols were marched up and down the streets, and that cannon were planted round Whitehall. The same, too, was the case during the agitation respecting the bill for excluding the Duke of York from the throne.

The house No. 3 in Richmond Terrace is rich in some historical traditions of the last generation. On the formation of Lord Grey's ministry, in 1830, it was occupied by the Premier's brother-in-law, the late Mr. Edward Ellice, M.P., who had a very extensive acquaintance and influence among the Liberal party. As it was near to the Treasury and to the House of Commons, it soon became the head-quarters of the Whigs, and the chief centre of communication between the friends of the intended Reform Bill which was engrossing the attention of the public, including not only the old Whigs and modern Liberals, but also the Radicals of Birmingham. When Parliament was dissolved, in 1831, this house again became the chief centre of action, where candidates came to make inquiries for vacant constituencies, and deputations from near and distant boroughs came in search after eligible candidates, a committee for that purpose sitting there en permanence, under the auspices of Mr. Ellice, who here gave Parliamentary dinners and Liberal reunions. After the death of his wife, Lady Hannah Grey, the house passed into the hands of another leading Liberal, a son-in-law of Earl Grey, Sir Charles Wood, who, in the year 1866, was created Viscount Halifax in reward of his long official services.

It was conclusively shown, in the trial of Sir C. Burrell v. Nicholson, before Lord Denman, in December, 1833, that when the Palace of Whitehall was seized upon by Henry VIII., he added to its precincts the ground on the south, where Richmond Terrace now stands, the land originally being part of St. Margaret's parish, and belonging to the Abbot of Westminster. The two gardens and three acres of land which the king got from Wolsey were not enough for his Majesty.