parish church (St. John the Evangelist) rears its tower beyond a line of small lime-trees. The place has, however, recently been disfigured by high mansions.

The parish of Hampstead was originally included in that of Hendon. The churchwardens of Hampstead first appeared at the Bishop's visitation in 1598, which therefore marks the beginning of an actual parochial settlement, though the register commences in 1560, nearly forty years earlier. Until 1561 it was considered as a donative or free chapel, and after that date it became a perpetual curacy, subject to the jurisdiction of the Bishop and the Archdeacon.

The first church or chapel, which stood on the same site as the present one, must have been a curious little structure, if one may judge from the illustrations still extant—a low-pitched Gothic building with wooden belfry. This was dedicated to St. Mary, and the date of its origin is unknown. In 1745 it was taken down, and services were held in the chapel in Well Walk for two years, while the new church was being built. The building itself is of a kind of dingy earth-brick, which, in spite of the conspicuous date, 1745, at the east end, looks as fresh and sharp-edged as if it were of yesterday. The body of the church is mercifully clothed in ivy, but the square tower, with its abnormal battlements and stone courses and facings, rises up nakedly. The peculiarity of the church is that the tower is at the east end. The conical copper spire was added in 1784. An old clock-dial of stone faces eastward.

To raise funds for the building of the church a plan was formed by which those who gave £50 were to have first choice of seats, and to have the additional privilege of handing on such seats to their heirs. This arrangement continued until 1827. Besides many minor alterations and improvements, a thorough rearrangement of the interior took place in 1878. Then a chancel was added at the west end, and thus we have beneath it the open-arched vaults which form its support. The old pews were done away with, and the interior redecorated. The reredos is of mosaic work. The font is of Siena marble "with moulded bases and carved Ionic capitals of white statuary." The general scheme of decoration is of a free Renaissance colour. The restoration cost £14,000. The ceiling is very elaborately decorated, and in a side chapel is a large fresco painting. The choir is ornamented by beautiful inlaid wood, in the same style as the font cover. There is an excellent bust of Keats, presented by American admirers in 1894.

The churchyard is a peculiarly peaceful spot, surrounded by trees, beeches, acacia, and evergreens. There are no abnormal monstrosities such as are found among the tombstones of our big cemeteries, but plain altar-tombs, crosses, and upright slabs of stone. The main entrance is by flagged walks between neatly-trimmed hedges, and from this foreground even the church looks almost picturesque.

The tomb of John Constable the artist, his wife, and some of his children, is in a shaded corner in the south-east. Joanna Baillie is buried here, and Lucy Aikin, also Lord Erskine, and many minor artists. The churchyard was enlarged in 1738, and in 1811 an additional ground was formed on the north side of the road. Here, though it is very peaceful, there is not the same charm as there is about the older ground. Mrs. Rundle Charles, author of "The Chronicles of the Schonberg Cotta Family," rests here, with a plain Iona marble cross bearing date 1896, as her memorial.

The more important of the parish charities are:

The Wells and Campden Charity, originating in the Gainsborough bequest of the well and six acres of land in Well Walk. In 1642 Lady Campden bequeathed £200 to trustees to purchase land for the poor of the parish, and to this other legacies were added. Freehold land was purchased at Child's Hill, and in 1855 the distribution of the money was reorganized.

The oldest parish benefactor was Thomas Charles, who in 1617 left money to buy bread for the poor of the parish. The bread is still bought and distributed. Various other bequests of small amounts were made from time to time. About 1723 the then Bishop of London, John Robinson, left £169 odd for the poor.

The succeeding bequests were below this in value until 1771, when William Pierce, a surgeon, left the interest on £1,700 in 3 per cents. to endow a Friday evening lecture, to pay the parish clerk and others for attendance, and to buy Bibles and Prayer-Books. John Stock's Charity produces nearly £80 per annum for the clothing and education of poor children. The next in importance was Thomas Rumsey's gift of £900, the interest on which was to buy coals for the poor. The other bequests are too numerous and too small in amount to mention.

The origin of the name of Frognal is not known, though the locality is of some importance, as it contained the old manor-house where the Courts Leet were held. The demesne lands at Frognal occupied from four to five hundred acres of the best land stretching from Child's Hill to Belsize. The old manor-house, which stood at the north-east corner of West End Lane, was a long, low farmhouse building which contained a big hall. Mr. Pool, a lessee, pulled it down and built a brick house on the site, and, later, built a small house on the south side of the lane, where he went to live himself. The Courts followed him, and were held there. There are now on the site of the ancient manor-house two buildings side by side; the one to which the ancient title has descended appears the more modern. The Ferns next door looks older, in spite of Howitt's assertion that the manor-house built by Mr. Pool is the same now bearing the name, and The Ferns occupies the site of the former manor-house. There are numerous substantial and comfortable houses in the vicinity. Frognal Hall, near the west end of the church, was the residence of Isaac Ware, architect, and here Lord Alvanley died.

To the north-west are a row of new buildings, forming a crescent on the hill called Oakhill Park, and to one of these Miss Florence Nightingale is a frequent visitor during the summer months. At the top of Frognal Gardens the Editor of this survey lived. Returning again to West End Lane, we find the hand of the modern builder everywhere apparent. Until recently a mock antique erection in the Gothic style known as Frognal Priory formed a feature in the landscape; this has quite disappeared. It was built by a dealer in curios known as "Memory" Thompson about the end of the eighteenth century, and was full of curiosities. The owner was pleased to have visitors to inspect his property, and it is said that one of his freaks was to leave five-shilling pieces lying about for them to pick up. Lower down the Frognal Road all is modern, and we come into the part formerly known as Shepherd's or Conduit Fields. There was a spring here which used to be the principal source of the Hampstead water-supply. The water was carried in pails by persons who thus earned a livelihood. An old woodcut of this well is still extant; it is represented as a spring with an arch over it. The building of Fitz-John's Avenue, cutting right through the fields, quite destroyed their character, and they are now more or less covered with streets.

Rosslyn House, which stood between Wedderburn and Lyndhurst Roads, deserves a word of mention as one of the latest of the famous old Hampstead houses to be destroyed. It was originally called Shelford House, but changed its name when it became the property of Alexander Wedderburn, first Earl of Rosslyn, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, 1793. It was noted for its magnificent avenue of Spanish chestnuts said to have been planted in the reign of Queen