With the exception of the cathedral, a grand view of which is to be had from the Castle Green Promenade—a fine public walk on a small scale—there is nothing to detain the traveller. Some fragments of the city walls, however, and of an old priory, may be visited by the antiquary; together with an old house, a “brotherless hermit,” the last of a race demolished for the purpose of widening the street where the town hall stands—or rather sits—resting uneasily on some thin columns. The house, adorned with grotesque faces, bears its date, 1621.
The traveller may also go, if he will, to Pipe Lane, formerly called Pipe Well Street, leading from the bridge to the cathedral, to see the house where Nell Gwynn was not born, and the bedchamber where she did not sleep. These curiosities will be shown for a trifle, and they must now suffice: the dwelling which really had the distinction of giving birth to Mistress Eleanor having been pulled down more than twenty years ago.
After the removal of this celebrated lady to London, she made her first appearance in Drury Lane Theatre, in the character of a fruit-girl, not on the stage, but in the lobby. Mr. Hart, the manager, however, was induced to notice her by her natural humour and vivacity, and he produced her upon the boards about the year 1667. Here she became a favorite of Dryden, who wrote some of his prologues and epilogues expressly for her. “The immediate cause of her becoming the object of the king’s affection is thus represented. At the duke’s theatre, under Killegrew’s patent, the celebrated Nokes appeared in a hat larger than that usually assigned to Pistol, which diverted the audience so much as to help off a bad play. Dryden, in return, caused a hat to be made of the circumference of a large coach wheel, and made Mrs. Gwynn speak an epilogue under the umbrella of it, with the brim stretched out in its utmost horizontal extension, not unlike a mushroom of that size. No sooner did she appear in this strange dress, than the house was in convulsions of laughter. Amongst the rest, the king gave the fullest marks of approbation, by going behind the scenes after the play, and taking her home in his own coach to sup with him.” { 41} Her son, born in 1670, was afterwards created duke of St. Albans; and her grandson became a prelate of the church, and the denizen of the episcopal palace nearly adjoining the humble house in Pipe Lane, where his maternal ancestor was born. Mrs. Gwynne was one of the few royal favorites who have not abused their power, otherwise than in spending money which should have been under the control of the nation. She was munificent in her charities, and may be considered, if not the founder of Chelsea Hospital, the cause of its having been founded. “Her stature was short, her hair inclined to red; her eyes were small and lively, and she possessed what the French term embonpoint. Her feet were of the most diminutive size, and as such were the subject of frequent mirth to the merry monarch.”