Robert White, other lands in exchange, and added it to the hunting-ground he purposed forming on the north and west of London. At his death King Edward VI. inherited it, and leased it to Sir William Paulet. In 1587 it was held by Lord Burghley. In 1599 it was sold to Walter Cope.

Earl's Court or Kensington Manor we traced to the three sisters of the last Earl. One of these died childless, the other two married respectively John Nevill, Lord Latimer; and Sir Anthony Wingfield. Family arrangements were made to prevent the division of the estate, which passed to Lucy Nevill, Lord Latimer's third daughter. She married Sir W. Cornwallis, and left one daughter, Anne, who married Archibald, Earl of Argyll, who joined with her in selling the manor to Sir Walter Cope in 1609. Sir Walter Cope had thus held at one time or another the whole of Kensington. He now possessed Earl's Court, West Town, and Abbot's Manor, having sold Notting Barns some time before. His daughter and heiress married Sir Henry Rich, younger son of the first Earl of Warwick. Further details are given in the account of Holland House (p. 76).

Perambulation.—We will begin at the extreme easterly point of the borough, the toe of the boot which the general outline resembles. We are here in Knightsbridge. The derivation of this word has been much disputed. Many old writers, including Faulkner, have identified it with Kingsbridge—that is to say, the bridge over the Westbourne in the King's high-road. The Westbourne formed the boundary of Chelsea, and flowed across the road opposite Albert Gate. The real King's bridge, however, was not here, but further eastward over the Tyburn, and as far back as Henry I.'s reign it is referred to as Cnightebriga. Another derivation for Knightsbridge is therefore necessary. The old topographer Norden writes: "Kingsbridge, commonly called Stone bridge, near Hyde Park Corner, where I wish no true man to walk too late without good guard, as did Sir H. Knyvett, Kt., who valiantly defended himself, being assaulted, and slew the master-thief with his own hands." This, of course, has reference to the more westerly bridge mentioned above, but it seems to have served as a suggestion to later topographers, who have founded upon it the tradition that two knights on their way to Fulham to be blessed by the Bishop of London quarrelled and fought at the Westbourne Bridge, and killed each other, and hence gave rise to the name. This story may be dismissed as entirely baseless; the real explanation is much less romantic. The word is probably connected with the Manor of Neyt, which was adjacent to Westminster, and as pronunciation rather than orthography was relied upon in early days, this seems much the most likely explanation. Lysons says: "Adjoining to Knightsbridge were two other ancient manors called Neyt and Hyde." We still have the Hyde in Hyde Park, and Neyt is thus identified with Knightsbridge.

Until the middle of the nineteenth century Knightsbridge was an outlying hamlet. People started from Hyde Park Corner in bands for mutual protection at regular intervals, and a bell was rung to warn pedestrians when the party was about to start. In 1778, when Lady Elliot, after the death of her husband, Sir Gilbert, came to Knightsbridge for fresh air, she found it as "quiet as Teviotdale." About forty years before this the Bristol mail was robbed by a man on foot near Knightsbridge. The place has also been the scene of many riots. In 1556, at the time of Wyatt's insurrection, the rebel and his followers arrived at the hamlet at nightfall, and stayed there all night before advancing on London. As already explained, the Borough of Kensington does not include Knightsbridge, but only touches it, and the part we are now in belongs to Westminster.

The Albert Gate leading into the park was erected in 1844-46, and was, of course, called after Prince Albert. The stags on the piers were modelled after prints by Bartolozzi, and were first set up at the Ranger's Lodge in the Green Park. Part of the foundations of the old bridge outside were unearthed at the building of the gate, and, besides this bridge, there was another within the park. The French Embassy, recently enlarged, stands on the east side of the gate—the house formerly belonged to Mr. Hudson, the "railway king"—and to the west are several large buildings, a bank, Hyde Park Court, etc., succeeded by a row of houses. Here originally stood a famous old tavern, the Fox and Bull, said to have been founded in the time of Queen Elizabeth; if so, it must have retained its popularity uncommonly long, for it was noted for its gay company in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It is referred to in the Tatler (No. 259), and was visited by Sir Joshua Reynolds and George Morland, the former of whom painted the sign, which hung until 1807. It is said that the Elizabethan house had wonderfully carved ceilings and immense fire-dogs, still in use in 1799. The inn was later the receiving office of the Royal Humane Society, and to it was brought the body of Shelley's wife after she had drowned herself in the Serpentine.

In the open space opposite is an equestrian statue of Hugh Rose—Lord Strathnairn—by Onslow Ford, R.A. Close by is a little triangular strip of green, which goes by the dignified name of Knightsbridge Green. It has a dismal reminiscence, having been a burial-pit for those who died of the plague. The last maypole was on the green in 1800, and the pound-house remained until 1835.

The entrance to Tattersall's overlooks the green. This famous horse-mart was founded by Richard Tattersall, who had been stud-groom to the last Duke of Kingston. He started a horse market in 1766 at Hyde Park Corner, and his son carried it on after him. Rooms were fitted up at the market for the use of the Jockey Club, which held its meetings there for many years. Charles James Fox was one of the most regular patrons of Tattersall's sales. The establishment was moved to its present position in 1864.

The cavalry barracks on the north side of Knightsbridge boast of having the largest amount of cubic feet of air per horse of any stables in London.

An old inn called Half-way House stood some distance beyond the barracks in the middle of the roadway until well on into the nineteenth century, and proved a great impediment to traffic. On the south side of the road, eastward of Rutland Gate, is Kent House, which recalls by its name the fact that the Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria, once lived here. Not far off is Princes Skating Club, one of the most popular and expensive of its kind in London. Rutland Gate takes its name from a mansion of the Dukes of Rutland, which stood on the same site. The neighbourhood is a good residential one, and the houses bordering the roads have the advantage of looking out over the Gardens. There is nothing else requiring comment until we reach the Albert Hall, so, leaving this part for a time, we return to the Brompton Road. This road was known up to 1856 as the Fulham Road, though a long row of houses on the north side had been called Brompton Row much earlier.

Brompton signifies Broom Town, carrying suggestions of a wide and heathy common. Brompton Square, a very quiet little place, a cul-de-sac, which has also the great recommendation that no "street music" is allowed within it, can boast of having had some distinguished residents. At No. 22, George Colman, junior, the dramatist, a witty and genial talker, whose society was much sought after, lived for the ten years previous to his death in