Hyde Park from Domesday-book to Date

but nearer the eastern end, is the favourite place for sailing miniature vessels, some of them being beautiful models, exquisitely fitted and very costly.

At the eastern end of the Serpentine, its water overflows in a miniature cascade into a very pretty little dell, in which are rabbits disporting themselves, together with pheasants, and in 1890 there was a squirrel. As the public are not allowed to invade this portion, but only to look at it, the small zoological domain increases and multiplies, and the animals become exceedingly tame. In this dell is a monolith, which came from Moorswater, in the parish of Liskeard, Cornwall, where it was quarried on Jan. 3, 1862. One of the excavators employed in the work was accidentally killed, and his death was the cause of the publication of two books, William Sandy, who died by an accident at Moorswater, etc., and The grace of God manifested in the life and death of William Sandy, etc. This monolith, although obviously only placed in the Dell for ornamental purposes, was, by a correspondent in Notes and Queries,[40] declared to be a phallic symbol.

Between Stanhope Gate and Grosvenor Gate, close by the flower-walk, may be noticed a circular basin having in its centre a fountain. This, which is shown in Roque’s Map, was a reservoir of the Chelsea Water Works Company, and it stood, as the same map well shows, in a double avenue of walnut-trees. These, ultimately, became very decayed, and about 1811 they were cut down, and their timber made into gun-stocks for the army. The flower-walk is a worthy successor to the avenue, and gives great scope to the gardener’s skill and sense of colour, from early spring, with its hyacinths, daffodils, narcissi and tulips, to late autumn, when the bedding out plants, which have afforded innocent delight to hundreds of thousands, are distributed among the poor, and thus continue their sphere of usefulness by brightening the homes of the recipients.

If the reader will turn to Roque’s Map, he will see, just where the Marble Arch now stands, a “Stone where soldiers are shot.” And it was a place for military executions, and the shooting of two sergeants for desertion, etc., is thus described by Draper in 1751:—

The Gentleman’s Magazine for 1747 gives an account of a military execution here. “Thursday, 26th Nov. A court-martial was held at Whitehall, general Wade president, on the trial of Sergeant Smith, who was lately bought from Scotland, for deserting into the service of the French, and, afterwards, to that of the rebels; and after hearing, and the facts being proved, he was found guilty.

“Friday, Dec. 11. Sergeant Smith was conducted from the Savoy to the Parade in St. James’s Park, and from thence by a party of the Foot-guards, commanded by Col. Dury, attended by the minister of the Savoy, to Hyde Park, where he was hang’d on a gibbet erected for that purpose, and bury’d near it: he seemed not much concerned, and professed himself a protestant. He had been in the service of several princes, and abus’d them all by desertion. Having thus acquir’d divers languages, he was of great service to our officers in Germany, as interpreter, who treated him as a companion, and promoted him to be paymaster sergeant, by which, and other perquisites, he had above £200 per annum; but he could not overcome his propensity to change.”

Anent this stone, Larwood says, that when Cumberland Gate was built, and the ground prepared for that purpose, this stone was found so deeply imbedded in the earth, that it was thought more convenient to cover than to remove it. The earth was consequently thrown over it, and it now lies buried in its original resting-place.

On the north-west side of the Serpentine, and close by the bridge, which there crosses it, is a magazine for gunpowder, generally known as “The Magazine,” a singularly exposed position for the storage of such destructive material. It now forms the starting place, at the commencement of the season, of the “Four-in-Hand” and “Coaching” Clubs, either of which, if the weather is propitious, is a very pretty sight.

The first of these clubs was started as the “Whip Club,” and in the Morning Post, June 9, 1808, is a description of a “Meet.”

“The Whip Club met on Monday morning in Park Lane, and proceeded from thence to dine at Harrow-on-the-Hill. There were fifteen barouche-landaus, with four horses to each; the drivers were all men of known skill in the science of charioteering. Lord Hawke, Mr. Buxton, and the Hon. Lincoln Stanhope were among the leaders.

“The following was the style of the set out: Yellow bodied carriages, with whip springs and dickey boxes; cattle of a bright bay colour, with plain silver ornaments on the harness, and rosettes to the ears. Costume of the drivers: a light drab colour cloth coat made full, single breast, with three tiers of pockets, the skirts reaching to the ankles: a mother-of-pearl button of the size of a crown piece. Waistcoat blue and yellow stripe, each stripe an inch in depth. Small clothes corded with silk plush, made to button over the calf of the leg, with sixteen strings and rosettes to each knee. The boots very short, and finished with very broad straps, which hung over the tops and down to the ankle. A hat three inches and a half deep in the crown only, and the same depth in the brim exactly. Each wore a large bouquet at the breast, thus resembling the coachmen of our nobility, who, on the natal day of our beloved sovereign, appear, in that respect, so peculiarly distinguished. The party moved along the road at a smart trot; the first whip gave some specimens of superiority at the outset, by ‘cutting a fly off a leader’s ear.’ ”

In the Annual Register, vol. 51, p. 883 (1809), is the following satire “On the Whip Club:—

The Morning Post, April 3rd, 1809, says that the title of the “Whip Club,” had then been changed to the “Four-in-Hand-Club,” and their first meet took place in Cavendish Square on April 28th of that year. The dress of the drivers was altered, and was as follows. A single-breasted blue coat, with a long waist, and brass buttons, on which were engraved the words “Four-in-Hand-Club,” waistcoat of kerseymere, ornamented with stripes alternately of blue and yellow; small clothes of white corduroy, made moderately high, and very long over the knee, buttoning in front over the shin-bone. Boots very short, with long tops, only one outside strap to each, and one at the back; the latter were employed to keep the breeches in their proper longitudinal shape. Hat with a conical crown, and the Allen brim(?); box, or driving coat of white drab cloth, with fifteen capes, two tiers of pockets, and an inside one for the Belcher handkerchief; cravat of white muslin spotted with black. Bouquets of myrtle, pink and yellow geraniums were worn. In May of the same year, the club button had already gone out of fashion, and “Lord Hawke sported yesterday, as buttons, Queen Anne’s shillings; Mr. Ashurst displayed crown pieces.”

Possibly this “Four-in-Hand-Club” was dissolved, for Captain Gronow says[42] that amongst his papers he found a list of the original members of the club, which met at Richmond on Saturday, June 2nd, 1838, and passed a series of resolutions, that formed the basis of the regulations which were observed during its existence: and he relates how “In the days of which I speak there were amateur coachmen, who drove with unflinching regularity, and in all weathers, the public stage-coaches, and delighted in the opportunity of assimilating themselves with professional jehus. Some young men then, heirs of large landed proprietors, mounted the box, handled the ribbons, and bowled along the high road; they touched their hats to their passengers, and some among them did not disdain even the tip of a shilling or half-crown, with which it was the custom to remunerate the coachman.

“Many persons liked travelling to Brighton in ‘The Age,’ which was tooled along by Sir Vincent Cotton, whilst others preferred Charley Tyrrwhit. On the Holyhead, Oxford, and the Bath and Bristol roads, Lord Harborough, Lord Clonmel, Sir Thomas Mostyn, Sir Charles Bamfylde, Sir Felix Agar, Sir Henry Parnell, Sir Bellingham Graham, Mr. Clutterbuck, Sir John Lade, and other members of the Four-in-Hand-Club, were seen, either driving the coach, or sitting cheek-by-jowl with the coachman, talking about horses and matters relating to ‘life upon the road.’ One of the members of the Four-in-Hand-Club, Mr. Akers, was so determined to be looked upon as a regular coachman, that he had his front teeth so filed, that a division between them might enable him to expel his spittle in the true fashion of some of the most knowing stage-coach drivers.”

In the Park, and close by the path which leads from Grosvenor Gate to the Magazine, are some small barracks for the use of the guards of the Magazine—but Hyde Park has been for more than two centuries the Campus Martius of London, and the first review recorded as having been held there was by Lord Hunsdon, the then Ranger, when as Stow says in his Annales, on the 28th of March, 1569, “The Pensioners well appointed in armour on horsebacke, mustered before the Queen’s Maiestie in Hide Park beside Westminster.”

In The Bow-man’s Glory, 1682, is “A Brief Relation of the several appearances of Archers, since His Majesties Restauration.—On March the 21st Anno Domini, 1661. Four hundred archers, with their bows and arrows, made a splendid and glorious show in Hide Park, with flying colours, and cross-bows to guard them. Sir Gilbert Talbot, Baronet, was their Colonel, Sir Edward Hungerford, Knight of the Bath, their Lieutenant-Colonel; Mr. Donne was their Major. Great was the appearance both of the nobility, gentry and commonalty: several of the archers shot near twenty score yards within the compass of a hat with their cross-bows; and many of them, to the amazement of the spectators, hit the mark; there were, likewise, three showers of whistling arrows. So great was the delight, and so pleasing the exercise, that three Regiments of Foot laid down their arms to come and see it.”

In the early days of the Commonwealth, London was fortified by the Parliament, and so urgent were they on this matter that we read in A Perfect Diurnall of the Passages in Parliament, April 24th to May 1st, 1643, “An order was made by the common Councell of London, that the Ministers in the severall Parishes of the Citie should stir up the Parishioners in their severall churches the next day to send such of their servants and children as are fit to labour, with spades, shovells and other necessary tooles to helpe and assist the raising of the out-workes for the defence of the Citie, which is very needeful to be finished with all expedition, in regard two great Armies are now on foote near the Citie, and that they would begin the work by Wednesday next.”

Nay, the very women helped in this work, as Butler tells us in Hudibras (part ii. cant. 2.):—

In a very fine copy of Hudibras (ed. 1793), with voluminous notes by T. R. Nash, he thus elucidates the line “Rais’d Rampiers with their own soft hands.” “When London was expected to be attacked, and in several sieges during the civil war, the women, and even the ladies of rank and fortune, not only encouraged the men, but worked with their own hands. Lady Middlesex, Lady Foster, Lady Anne Waller, and Mrs. Dunch, have been particularly celebrated for their activity.” The probability is that he took the names of these ladies from a not very scarce satirical tract printed in 1647, called The Parliament of Ladies, or Divers remarkable passages of Ladies in Spring Gardens; in Parliament Assembled, etc., which was never meant to be taken seriously. They are mentioned in the following resolution:—

“The House considered in the next place, that divers weake persons have crept into places beyond their abilities, and to the end that men of greater parts might be put into their rooms, they appointed the Lady Middlesex, Mistris Dunce, the Lady Foster, and the Lady Anne Waller, by reason of their great experience in Souldery in this Kingdome, to be a Committee of Tryers for the businesse.”

When London was fortified, in 1643, a large fort, with four bastions, was raised at Hyde Park Corner, where Hamilton Place now stands, and there it remained for four years, being pulled down in 1647. There was also at the north-east corner of the Park, where now stands the Marble Arch, a Guard House, to watch travellers on the Oxford Road, which was also defended by a large fort with four bulwarks, at the corner of Wardour Street. There was also in the neighbourhood of Hyde Park a small redoubt and battery on Constitution Hill; whilst another gives its name to Mount Street.

The guard at Cumberland Gate were especially watchful, for we read in A Perfect Diurnall of the Passages in Parliament, of 28th January, 1643: “There was also a Gentleman this day intercepted by the Courts of Guard of Hyde Parke, going to Oxford to the King, and being searched, there was divers letters found about him, which were brought to the Parliament and read, and found to be of very dangerous consequence, making a discovery of the state of things here, and the proceedings of the Lord Generall’s army.” And, also, in A Continuation of certain Speciall and Remarkable Passages from both Houses of Parliament, and other parts of the Kingdome, March 2-9, 1643. “Wednesday (8th March): a hat-full of Letters being intercepted by the Court of Guard at Hide Parke Corner, which came out of Wiltshire, (some of them being directed to persons disaffected to the Parliament,) they were brought to the House, and ordered that the Committee should take a view of them, that if any were of ill consequence, the same might be discovered, and the party found out.”

On August 6, 1647, Fairfax and the Parliamentary army marched, with laurel branches in their hats, through Hyde Park, where they were met by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, to the City.

In December, 1648, there was a camp of the Parliamentarians in Hyde Park; and Cromwell there reviewed two regiments of horse, on 9th May, 1649, which is thus described in Perfect Occurrences of every Daie iournall in Parliament, etc., May 4-11, 1649: “The Lord Generall commanding a Randezvous this day (9th May) in Hide-parke, of his Regiment, and the Lieutenant-Generalls of Horse. The Lieutenant Generall made Speeches, declaring the Parliament’s great care and paines: 1. In execution of Justice against the grand Delinquents. 2. In their Declaration and Resolution to put an end to this and future Parliaments. 3. Their care for settling trade, by setting forth a gallant Navy at Sea. And 4. Their proceedings for payment of Souldiers Arreares. And as for Martiall law, those that thought it a burden, should have liberty to lay down their Armes, receive their Tickets, and bee payd as those that stay. There was one Trooper made some objections, and was bold, for which he was committed, but at the solicitations of some of his followers, the Lieut.-Gen. ordered his freedome, and to be received in againe. The Levelers colours were pulled out of three or four of their hats.”

This was the Parliamentary account—now let us see the other side, as expressed in Mercurius Pragmaticus (for King Charles II.), May 8-15, 1649, which is specially jocose on the Lord Protector’s red nose. “Newes at London this Wednesday Generall Tom (Fairfax) drew his Regiment and Cromwel’s to a Randevouz in Hide-Parke, where Lieutenant-Gen. Nose made a Speech to them, setting forth very eloquently the good Acts his brethren were now about to doe for the destruction of the Subject: the particulars of his Oration would be too tedious to relate. Fairfax sayd nothing, save nodded with the head, and made mouths at the Souldiers. There was one Trooper made some bold demands and objections against Rubinose, for which he was committed, whereupon there began to be some grudging, or shew of mutiny, which made Nol to pull in his Nose, and give Liberty to the Trooper againe; yet those who had Sea greene Colours received some affronts, having their fancies taken from them, to which they said little, whatever they thought.”

CHAPTER XII.

A few weeks before the restoration of Charles II. Hyde Park was the scene of a very grand review, which is thus described in The Parliamentary Intelligencer, April 23-30, 1660. “On Tuesday, April 24, the Militia forces of the City Trained Bands and Auxiliaries, according to an Order of the council, marched into Hide-Park, the Maior in his Collar of S’s, with the Mace, Sword, Cap of Maintenance, the Aldermen in Scarlet, and the Commissioners of the Militia in handsome equipage going before them to a place erected for their entertainment. Each Colonel had his Tent and their Regiments very full, several of the Nobility and Gentry of great quality going as Volunteers. In Alderman Robinson’s Regiment were 250, the rest very many. The Regiments were all so numerous and so gallantly accoutred, as did sufficiently speak the strength and riches of the City, there being very little visible difference betwixt the Trained Bands and Auxiliaries, but only in their age.”

Strype, in his Continuation of Stow’s Survey, tells us that at this review there were six Regiments of Trained Bands, six of Auxiliaries, and one Regiment of Horse. The twelve Regiments of Foot consisted of 80 Companies, and each Company consisted of not less than 250 men—which would give a total of 18,000 men; and the Regiment of Horse numbered 600.

On March 21, 1661, there was a parade in Hyde Park of 400 archers, and, on Sept. 27, 1662, Charles II. here reviewed his Life Guards. The 4th July, 1663, saw another muster of the King’s Guards, which Pepys, who was present, thus records:—“Thence with Creed to hire a coach to carry us to Hyde Parke to-day, there being a general muster of the King’s Guards, horse and foot; but they demand so high, that I, spying Mr. Cutler, the merchant, did take notice of him, and he, going into his coach, and telling me that he was going to the muster, I asked, and went along with him; where a goodly sight to see so many fine horses and officers, and the King, Duke and others came a-horse-back, and the two Queens in the Queene-Mother’s coach, My Lady Castlemaine not being there. After a long time being there, I light, and walk to the place where the King, Duke, etc. did stand to see the horse and foot march by, and discharge their guns, to show a French Marquisse (for whom this muster was caused,) the goodness of our firemen, which, indeed, was very good, though not without a slip now and then; and one broadside close to our coach we had going out of the Park, even to the nearnesse as to be ready to burn our hairs. Yet, methought, all these gay men are not the Soldiers that must do the King’s business, it being such as these that lost the old King all he had, and were beat by the most ordinary fellows that could be.”

We have seen how, in the year of the Great Plague, the Guards were encamped in Hyde Park, and how miserably some of them died there: and it does not seem to have been again used for military display till Sept. 16, 1668, which Pepys saw. “When I come to St. James’s I find the Duke of York gone with the King to see the muster of the Guards in Hyde Park; and their Colonel, the Duke of Monmouth to take his command this day, of the King’s Life Guard, by surrender of my Lord Gerard. So I took a hackney coach, and saw it all; and, indeed, it was mighty noble, and their firing mighty fine, and the Duke of Monmouth in mighty rich clothes; but the well ordering of the men I understand not.” Evelyn, also, speaks of these reviews.

On Jan. 28, 1682, the Guards were again reviewed in Hyde Park, this time for the gratification, and in honour of the Ambassadors of the Sultan of Morocco, whose followers afterwards performed a fantasia, after the manner of their country. Queen Mary reviewed troops in the Park on the 9th and 10th of May, 1692, and there was a very grand parade of troops previous to their departure for Flanders on Dec. 23, 1695. The London Post, Nov. 8-10, 1699, says that on Nov. 9 “The King reviewed the 3 Troops of Guards in Hide-Park. They appeared all in their new Cloaths, and fine accoutrements, with Feathers in their Hats, and made an extraordinary show. His Majesty rid through every Rank, and was very well pleased to see them in so good an Appearance; after which, he placed himself on the left of the Front, till the whole marched by him in File; then they took their ground again, and afterwards were ordered to pass Man by Man before his Majesty; and a detachment was made out of all the 3 Troops, for His Majesty’s Guards, who attended His Majesty to Kensington. There was an incredible Crowd in the Park to see the Show, some computing that there could not be less than 10,000 People, and 600 Coaches.”

In 1715, King George I. being newly set upon the throne, there were Jacobite riots in many parts of England, and, in July of that year, a camp was formed in Hyde Park, for the protection of London, of a very strong body of troops, together with twelve pieces of artillery. The camp occupied the site of the Exhibition of 1851, and, according to the St. James’s Evening Post, July 23-26, 1715, “The three Battalions of Foot Guards on 23rd July marched to their Encampment in Hyde Park, and the Horse and Grenadier Guards took their Post there next day, and the Regiment of the Duke of Argyle is expected there this day.” The same paper says that “This Day His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales went to view the Camp in Hyde Park.” In the copy for July 30-Aug. 2 we read that on the anniversary of the King’s accession, Aug. 1, “There were likewise Rejoycings in the Camp at Hyde Park, where the King’s and other loyal healths were drank by the Officer and Soldiers, and a Discharge was made of their Artillery and Small-Arms. The first Regiment of Guards received their new cloathing, and made a very fine appearance.” The King, on Aug. 8th, “went to Kensington, view’d the Camp on his way, and return’d at Night to St. James’s.” The Flying Post, or The Postmaster, Nov. 1-3, 1715, gives an account of the celebration of the birthday of the Prince of Wales (Oct. 30) in the camp. It says: “It was solemnized with extraordinary Demonstrations of Joy, the Army being wonderfully pleas’d with his Royal Highness, because he inherits the Military, as well as the other Virtues of his Royal Father and other Great Ancestors. His Grace the Duke of Montague signaliz’d his Bounty on that Occasion, by giving an Ox to his Troop, which was roasted whole at the head of the Standard. His Grace gave them, likewise, 50 lbs. weight of Pudding, a Hogshead of Wine, and 2 of Strong Beer, with which they drank the Healths of His Majesty, their Highnesses the Prince and Princess, and of their Royal Issue, with those of the Dukes of Marlborough and Montague, and other loyal Healths. They had, also, Illuminations in Circles, throughout the Camp, and there were incredible Numbers of People, who came to see those Novelties, without committing any Disorder.”

Another newspaper, the St. James’s Evening Post, Nov. 1-3, 1715, supplements this account thus: “After the triple Salvo of the Artillery and Small Arms that was made in the Evening, Col. Oughton, one of the Grooms of His Royal Highness’s Bed Chamber, and Major of the first Regiment of Guards, invited all the Foot Officers to an Entertainment in his Tent; and, that the Soldiers might Share in the Universal Joy on this Occasion, distributed a Guinea per Company among the private Men, to drink the Prince’s Health, etc., which they did with repeated Huzzahs and Acclamations of Joy, under great illuminated Circles erected for that purpose at the head of every Company.” The same paper, of Dec. 10-13, tells us that on Dec. 10, “the Army decamped from Hyde Park, and the Artillery, etc., were sent back to the Tower.”

There was another camp in the Park next year, when the Prince of Wales reviewed the troops, and yet another in 1722, of which The Daily Post of May 9 records: “Yesterday, all the Foot Guards that were not upon duty, march’d to the Camp mark’d out in Hide Park; his Majesty and Royal Highness view’d them from the Terrass Walk in the Privy Garden at St. James’s as they passed by.” Every newspaper of the day had an account of the Royal Review of the troops in camp on June 11, 1722, but the best was in The Flying Post, June 12-14. “The Forces which were review’d by the King last Monday in Hyde Park, were only the three Regiments of Foot Guards, the Horse being to be review’d another time. His Majesty having rode round the three Regiments, the first of which was on the Right, the Second on the Left (the Posts of Honour), and the Scots Regiment in the center; his Majesty made a stand, afterwards, near the Ring, the Prince at some small distance from him, where all the Regiments passed by in review, Earl Cadogan standing on his Right, and General Withers on his Left, with each his half-pike.

“His Majesty and his Royal Highness, after having dined in one of the Earl of Cadogan’s tents, went into another, which Prince Eugene took from the Prime Vizier of the Turks, who presented it to the Duke of Marlborough, who afterwards made a present of it to my Lord Cadogan. There was an appearance of about sixty Dukes and other Peers, besides abundance of other persons of distinction, particularly the Bishop of Durham, who was finely mounted, in a lay habit of purple,[43] with jack-boots, and hat cock’d, and black wig ty’d behind him, like a militant officer. But, above all, the eyes of the numerous spectators were on his Majesty, whom they admired for that graceful, easy mien with which he sat on horseback and returned the salutes of the officers, and for the wonderful agility with which he dismounted.”

This camp was so famous, that there was a long poem published about it,[44] of which I extract some short portions, as it brings the place, its times and manners, very vividly before us.

In 1755, the King several times reviewed his Light Horse Cavalry in Hyde Park. Read’s Weekly Journal tells us how on 17th July, 1759, “the regiment of Norfolk Militia march’d to Kensington, where His Majesty stood under the Piazza in front of the Palace, and saw them file off in ranks of eight deep; the Earl of Orford, Colonel, march’d at the head of the first battalion, with drums beating and fifes playing; the second battalion had Sir Armine Woodhouse, Bart., Lieut.-Col., at their head, and were look’d on as a fine corps. His Majesty seem’d greatly pleas’d with their appearance. Their uniform is scarlet turn’d up with black. They march’d on Kingston, and other towns contiguous, on their way to Portsmouth.” Walpole, in his letters (19th July, 1759), says, “The crowds in Hyde Park, when the King reviewed them, were unimaginable.”

On 20th November, 1760, George II. held his last review in Hyde Park, for he died suddenly on the 26th. The following account of it is given in Read’s Weekly Journal, of 25th November. “Exactly at a quarter before ten, at the review of Colonel Burgoyne’s regiment of Light Horse, in Hyde Park, his Majesty entered the grand pavillion or tent, erected under the garden wall, where were likewise present their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke of York, Princess Augusta, and some other of the young princes and princesses; Lord Viscount Ligonier, Lord Anson, and a great number of other noblemen, etc. As soon as his Majesty entered the pavillion, the whole regiment, before they began their exercise, passed before him, four in a rank; after which they all dismounted, and drew up before the tent. His Majesty expressed the greatest satisfaction at seeing their manner of exercising, and retired at half-past ten; there were near 20,000 spectators present. As soon as the review was over, some pieces of a new construction, and of a globular form, were set on fire, which occasioned such a smoke, as to render all persons within a considerable distance invisible, and thereby, the better enabled, in time of action, to secure a retreat.”

CHAPTER XIII.

It would be wearisome to chronicle every review, except grand ones such as the following, which is thus described in the St. James’s Chronicle, June 25-28, 1763. “On the morning of the 27th inst. at half-past eight, his Majesty, the Duke of York, and Prince William Henry, attended by Earl Delawar, and escorted by the first troop of Horse Guards, mounted their horses at the Queen’s Palace,[46] and proceeded up Constitution Hill to Hyde Park. They were received at their entry into St. James’s Park by Lord Ligonier, the Marquis of Granby, Earl Talbot and Earl Harcourt, with their attendants and their led horses. At the gate of the Green Park they were received by Lord Orford, Ranger of the Parks, on Horseback; and, on their entry into Hyde Park, his Majesty received a Royal Salute from the Artillery. The manner of the three Regiments of Foot Guards going through their new method of exercise, need not be repeated; it is sufficient to observe that never men went through their discipline with greater exactness, which reflected the highest honour on their Officers, and filled the numerous spectators with admiration.

Besides the illustrious personages above mentioned, his Majesty’s two younger Brothers, and a great number of the First Persons of Distinction of both Sexes, and near One Hundred Thousand other People, were present. It is remarkable that Elliot’s Light Horse, the Matrosses,[47] who managed the artillery with such inimitable skill, and those of the Guards, who served abroad in Germany, wore in their Caps and Hats Sprigs of Laurel and Oak, emblematical of the Immortality and never-dying Fame of their late glorious Achievements.”

On July 25 following, the King again reviewed Elliot’s Light Horse in the Park, and the same newspaper (July 23-26) records the following accidents. “Colonel Elliot, in putting up his sword into the Scabbard, by the prancing of his Horse wounded himself in the Thigh, but not so dangerously but that he went through the whole Exercise of his Regiment, with great Composure and Exactness. A large arm of a Tree broke down, by which accident a Sergeant in the Guards had his Skull fractured, and several others were terribly bruised.”

George III. held many reviews in Hyde Park, especially during the early days of the American War of Independence, and the Park was a veritable Champ de Mars for military exercises. In 1778, an earthen rampart, twenty feet high and three feet wide at its base, was erected as butts for musket practice. It began at Cumberland Gate, and ran westwards towards Bayswater. Being near the high road, it was very dangerous, although at that time the other side of the road was all fields.

On June 2nd, 1780, broke out the fanatical riots generally known as the “Lord George Gordon Riots,” with which we have nothing to do, other than to chronicle the fact that the troops in and near London being considered insufficient to cope with the rioters, others were summoned from different parts of the country. Lodging must be found for these on their arrival, and we read in The London Chronicle, June 6-8, 1780, that “Orders are given from the War Office for a Camp to be formed in Hyde Park, and the several regiments that are to compose the same are now on their march; and, yesterday, the Hampshire Militia pitched their tents there for that purpose.” Also, later on in the same paper (p. 552), “Seven battalions of militia marched into Hyde-Park yesterday afternoon, where they immediately encamped. A large detachment of the Hampshire militia are doing duty at the President Lord Bathurst’s house in Piccadilly. The Park Gates are all shut, and no person suffered to pass through on any account whatever.”

The Morning Chronicle of June 10 says: “Thursday (June 8), six regiments of Militia were encamped in Hyde Park; they are to be joined by several other regiments, which will make their number 10,000 men”: and the same journal, June 13, tells us that, “The Grand Camp in Hyde Park consists of the nine following regiments: the Queen’s, the Royal Irish, the Twenty-second, Cambridge, South Hants, North Hants, Oxford, Northumberland, One of York.” On the 14th June, the King, Prince of Wales, and “the Bishop of Osnaburgh” (Duke of York) visited the Camp—and so he did on several other occasions. But the riots came to an end, and