ground floor, while the rooms under them were furiously' burning. Mr. Hartley was allowed 15007. a year from government for his invention.

On Putney Common, in the road to Roehampton, are many agreeable villas; but it is infamous for scenes of duelling, as well as, formerly, for highway robberies.

ROEHAMPTON, a hamlet of Putney, at the extremity of the heath, has many elegant mansions belonging to the nobility and gentry, particularly the elegant mansion ROEHAMPTON GROVE, the seat of William Gosling, Esq.; it is situated on part of the antient royal park of Putney, which no longer exists. The fee simple of this park was granted by Charles I. to Sir Richard Weston, afterwards earl of Portland, whose son alienated both the house and park. They were afterwards the residence of Christian, countess of Devonshire; whose son William, earl of Devonshire, resided in it, and made it an asylum for the famous Mr. Hobbes, of Malmsbury, who had been his lordship's tutor: the house was sold by that family in 1689; after which it came into the hands of different proprietors, till it was purchased by Sir Joshua Vanneck, who pulled down the old mansion, and built the present elegant villa, after a design of James Wyatt, Esq.; a fine piece of water, is supplied by pipes from a conduit on Putney Common. Sir Joshua, on the acquisition of his brother's estate, sold Roehampton Grove to Mr. Fitzherbert, who likewise expended great sums in improvements. The prin

* She was a woman of celebrity, and of singular character, but extolled for her devotion; she, however, retained Hobbes, the freethinker, in her house, as tutor to her son. She kept up the dignity of her rank, and was celebrated for her hospitality: yet so judicious in her economy, that her jointure of 5,000l. a year was nearly doubled. She extricated her son's estate from a vast debt, and thirty law-suits; so that Charles II. once jestingly said to her, “Madam, you have all my judges at your disposal." She was the patroness of the wits of that age; and here Waller often read his verses. She was active in the restoration of Charles II. who had such a sense of her services, that he frequently visited her at Roehampton, in company with the queen dowager, and the oyal family, with whom she enjoyed an intimacy till her death in 1675.

cipal front commands a view of Epsom Downs in the distance: but Richmond Park approaches so near, that it seems to belong to the grounds, and gives an air of sylvan wildness to the whole. The prospect to the north charms the eye with variety. At the termination of the lawn, is the piece of water before mentioned. Beyond this, the Thames at high water winds through a well wooded valley, whence a rich display of cultivated country, adorned with villages and seats, rises to Harrow and the adjacent elevated parts of Middlesex. ROEHAMPTON HOUSE, the seat of William Drake, Esq. at Roehampton, was built in the year 1710. The cieling of the saloon, was painted by Thornhill, and represents the Feast of the Gods.

Before we quit the parish of Putney, it will be very proper to notice one of its public charities peculiarly accommodated to its situation; a school for the education and maintenance of twenty watermens' sons, founded by Mr. Thomas Martyn, who died November 18, 1684. The surplus of the estates left for this purpose is appointed for donations to watermen who have lost a limb in the service of their country.

WIMBLEDON, is seven miles south-west of London. The manor, which includes that of Mortlake, belonged formerly to the see of Canterbury, and was exchanged by archbishop Cranmer, for other lands, with Henry VIII. We find it afterwards successively, by grant, settlement, purchase, or inheritance, the property or residence of Thomas Cromwell earl of Essex, queen Catharine Parr, Sir Christopher Hatton, Sir Thomas Cecil, afterward earl of Exeter; of his father, the great lord Burleigh, when Sir William Cecil; Edward Cecil, viscount Wimbledon; queen Henrietta Maria; general Lambert; queen Henrietta Maria, after the Restoration; George Digby earl of Bristol; the duke of Leeds; Sir Theodore Janssen, bart, and Sarah duchess of Marlborough. The duchess pulled down the old mansion house (a magnificent edifice, built in 1588, by Sir Thomas Cecil), and rebuilt it on the old site, after a design by the earl of Pembroke. Her grace let it to her grandson

Wimbledon, Willa the Seat of Gerard Pe Visme Esq.

grandson John Spencer, Esq. whose son the late earl Spencer, formed at Wimbledon one of the finest parks in England. It contains one thousand two hundred acres, and is adorned with fine plantations, beautiful declivities, and a sheet of water, containing fifty acres. The eminences present many varied and delightful points of view. This house was burnt down in 1785; but some of the offices, that were at a distance from the house, serve for the occasional residence of his lordship*.

On the east side of Wimbledon Common, is a seat, purchased of Benjamin Bond Hopkins, Esq. by M. de Calonne, comptroller general of the finances of France, before the Revolution in 1789. The plantations, which con

* On digging a well here in 1796, at the depth of five hundred and sixty-three feet, by Mr. Hossack, he discovered the following degrees of strata: The first seventy feet, of orchery red clay, alternating with sand; seventy to eighty, blue slaty clay, impregnated with pyrites; from eighty to one hundred, light sandy clay; from one hundred to one hundred and forty, blue slaty clay; from one hundred and forty to one hundred and ninety-two, light coloured shivery clay impregnated with pyrites; from one hudred and ninety-two to three hundred and ninety-six, hard blue clay, with various bands of pyritous stone; from three hundred and ninety-six to four hundred and twenty-five, light earth, with large and smaller masses of pyrites; from four hundred and twenty-five to four hundred and forty-three, hard and slaty clay; from four hundred and forty-three to four hundred and forty-four, hard rock; from four hundred and forty-four to four hundred and sixty-six, slaty clay; from four hundred and sixty-six to four hundred and sixty-seven one-half, hard rock; from four hundred and sixty-seven one-half to five hundred and thirty-six, blue slaty clay intermixed with sand and pyrites; from five hundred and thirty-six to five hundred and forty-two, hard blue clay, cocklesheils, coal, and pyrites; from five hundred and forty-two to five hundred and forty-four, hard blue clay and pebbles; from five hundred and fifty-four to five hundred and fifty-eight, strata of shelly limestone; from five hundred and fifty-eight to five hundred and sixty, red clay. A hole was then bored with an auger two feet deep, when the water, mixed with sand, rose so rapidly, that in the space of an hour it was at the height of three hundred feet, whence it ascended to one hundred and fourteen feet of the surface, and became stationary. By the influx of sand from the bottom, the depth dimininished one hundred and sixty fect, and the water became clear, white, and soft.-Hunter's London.