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to have ended his days full of honour and of glory, for- pales merly belonged to Thomas Sainsbury, Esq. lord mayor of London, and was lately put up for sale. It is a mansion replete with conveniences, and beautifully situated. There are other handsome villas.

To the south of Merton, about ten miles from London, is MORDON: at the Conquest, according to Domesday Book," the abbey of Westminster held Mordone in Waleton hundred. In the time of king Edward it was rated at twelve hides, then at three hides. In demesne there were three carrucates and eight villans; and five cottages with four carrucates. There was one servant, and a mill of sixty shillings. In the time of king Edward it was valued at six pounds, then at ten pounds, and yielded fifteen pounds.'

There is no antient account of this lordship, previously to the dissolution of Westminster Abbey, when it came into the families of Ducket and Whitchurch, the latter of whom alienated it to Richard Garth, Esq. whose family held it till within these few years.

A manuscript memorandum informs us that the large house bear the church was built by Mr. Ewart, of Thames Street; it afterwards belonged to captain Conway, in the East India service, who made the greatest part of the pre sent improvements; since which it has undergone the fate of many a nobler mansion, preys to luxury and dissipation. It was purchased by auction by Edward Polhill, Esq. who has been more prudent in his choice, and he has happily embellished by art, what was beautifully formed by nature. The house is of a square ferm, built with brick and stone, upon a fine rising ground, with a southern aspect. The extensive pleasure grounds are agreeably diversified; two fine sheets of water, an elegant temple, tea room, &c. render MORDON PARK, an elegant domain.

In Mordon is the elegant mansion of ABRAHAM GOLDSMID, Esq. The structure is formed upon a lively and beautiful model; the furniture is in the highest degree mag. nificent, and part of the roof is supported by twelve porVOL. V. No. 114.

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phyry pillars. The plantations are composed of rich shrub beries, and scarce exotics; and the whole exhibits luxuriance and convenience.

The parish CHURCH, dedicated to St. Lawrence, is a picturesque object, built chiefly of brick; it has regular pointed windows, which belonged probably to the former fabric. In the east window are the Ten Commandments, with the figures of Moses and Aaron, &c. in stained glass. The present church was built in 1636, and contains various memorials of the Garth family.

The neighbouring village of CHEAM is situated between Sutton and Ewell. It was antiently called CHEYHAM, and the manor was granted by king Athelstan, in 1018, to the monks of Canterbury; and the king concluded his grant with the following anathema, against such as should infringe it: "Excommunicatus сит diabolo societur;" which is in substance, "May he go to the Devil." Archbishop Lanfranc, afterwards held it for the monks, and divided the manor into East and West Cheam. However Henry VIII. who feared neither excommunication nor the devil, took upon him to urge archbishop Cranmer to alienate East Cheam, for Chislet Park, in Kent; and it remained in the crown till queen Mary I. granted it to Anthony lord Montague, of whom it was purchased by Henry earl of Arundel, from whom it passed to. John lord Lumley, who married the earl's daughter and co-heiress. His lordship dying without issue, this manor was inherited by the descendants of his sister Barbara, who had married Humphrey Llwyd, Esq. the famous antient British antiquary East. Cheam was devised by the will of the reverend Robert Lumley Lloyd, who died in 1729, to John duke of Bedford, who sold it to Mr. Northey, and it is the property of his son. The manor house of East Cheam, the seat of Philip Antrobus, Esq. is an antient structure, and is worthy of attention;, the hall remains in its original form, about the time of archbishop Cranmer; the upper part is surrounded by an open wooden gallery: adjoining the hall are the buttery and cellar, with antient doors; the

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parlour is ornamented with rich mantled carving. The chapel is converted to a billiard room. The house was held, under the crown, by the family of Fromond, in the time of Henry VIII. after the manor itself was granted to lord Montague. Bartholomew Fromond was fined 240l. in the reign of James I. as a popish recusant, and was the last of that family who inhabited here. The mansion became afterwards the property of the noble family of Petre, from whom it was purchased by the present possessor.

The CHURCH is dedicated to St. Dunstan; in Lumley's Exha chancel, is the monument of Jane lady Lumley, who died palet ,in 1577. She translated the Iphigenia of Euripides, and 8 some of the orations of Isocrates, into English, and one of the latter into Latin. Also the tomb of. John lord Lumley, with a long Latin inscription. Camden says of him, that he was "a most complete pattern of nobility." His capital collection of books were purchased by James I. and were the foundation of the Royal Library, now deposited. in the British Museum. This church has a neat marble tablet to the memory of Sir Joseph Yates, judge of the King's Bench and Common Pleas, who died June 7, 1770. There are several other memorials to eminent persons.

It is remarkable, that of six successive rectors of Cheam, between 1581, and 1662, five became bishops; namely, Anthony Watson, bishop of Chicester; Lancelot Andrews, bishop of Winchester; George Mountain, archbishop of York; Richard Senhouse, bishop of Carlisle; and John Hacket, bishop of Lichfield and Coventry.

CUDDINGTON, or CODINGTON, was an adjoining parish to Cheam till Henry VIII. had it by exchange with Richard Codington, and admiring the situation, converted the whole into the palace and manor of NONSUCH, which obtained that name on account of its splendour. Hentzner says, "it was chosen for his pleasure and retirement, and built with an excess of magnificence. One would imagine every thing that architecture can perform to have been employed in this one work: there are every where so many statues that seem to breathe, so many miracles of consummate art,

so many casts that rival even the perfection of Roman an tiquity, that it may well claim its name of Nonsuch. It is so encompassed with parks full of deer, delightful gardens, groves ornamented with trellis-work, cabinets of verdure, and walks so embrowned by trees, that it seems to be a place pitched upon by Pleasure, herself to dwell along with Health. In the pleasure and artificial gardens are many columns and pyramids of marble, two fountains that spout water one round the other, like a pyramid, upon which are perched small birds that stream water out of their bills. In the grove of Diana is a very agreeable fountain, with Acteon, turned into a stag, as he was sprinkled by the goddess and her nymphs, with inscriptions; and there is another pyramid of marble full of concealed pipes, which spirt upon all who come within their reach." On the above description Mr. Walpole has made the following observations: "We are apt to think, that Sir William Temple and king William were, in a manner, the introducers of gardening into England; but, by the description of lord Burleigh's gardens at Theobalds, and of those at Nonsuch, we find that the magnificent, though false taste was known here as early as the reigns of Henry VIII. and his daughter. There is scarce an unnatural and sumptuous impropriety at Versailles, which we do not find in Hentzner's description of these gardens." Henry earl of Arundel, "for the love and honour he bare to his olde maister," purchased Nonsuch of queen Mary, and comcompletely finished it, according to the intentions of the royal founder. He left this house to his posterity; but lord Lumley, who had married his daughter, reconveyed it to the crown in 1591. It afterwards became a favourite residence of Elizabeth, and it was here that the earl of Essex first experienced her displeasure. It was settled upon Anne, queen of James 1. and, in the following reign, upon queen Hearietta Maria. Charles II. granted it to the duchess of Cleveland, who pulled down the house, sold the materials, and disparked the land. Her grandson, Charles duke of Grafton, sold the estate, in 1739, to Jo

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