part of the Combe estate appears to have belonged to CHAP. II. William de Watteville; and, in the succeeding reign, Maurice de Credon, styling himself a knight of Anjou, granted his hereditary right in the lordship of Combe, to Sir Robert Burnell and his heirs.* Richard Lowayte appears to have been in possession of it in the reign of Edward II. It afterwards belonged to William Neville, from whom it derived the appellation of Combe Neville, which it still retains. After passing through various hands, we find it, at the dissolution of monastic establishments, in the possession of Merton Abbey.† Soon after the suppression, it was annexed to the honour of Hampton court, and was granted by Edward VI. to the Duke of Somerset. It reverted to the crown after the duke's attainder, and was granted by the crown to several persons of distinction. It is now the property of the Right Honourable George John, Earl Spencer.

The manor of Ham is not mentioned in the Con- Manor of Ham. queror's Survey. King Athelstan granted lands there to his minister, Wulfgar. Henry II. made a grant of the manor, which reverted to the crown in the reign of King John, who granted it to Roger de Moubray.§ It had been held by the crown a considerable time, when it was leased by James I. to George Cole, Esq., of Petersham.|| At the time of the parliamentary survey, taken in 1650, it was vested in Sir Lionel Tollemache, Knt., who married Catherine, one of the daughters and coheirs of William Murray, Esq.¶

* Cart. 56 Hen. III. m. 4.

+ Pat. 2 Hen. V1. pt. 3. m. 24. and Cl. 2 Hen. VI. m. 1 and 5. Grants of lands by Edw. VI Augmentation Office.

§ Harleian MSS. Brit. Mus. No. 5.

Parliamentary Surveys, Augmentation Office.

¶ lbid.

BOOK VI. Charles II., in the year 1672, granted it in fee to the Duke and Duchess of Lauderdale, and to her heirs by her first husband. It has continued in the family ever since, and is now the property of the Right Honourable the Earl of Dysart.

Ham house

The manor house at Ham, which is situate near the Thames, was built in the year 1610, and was intended, as it is said, for the residence of Henry, Prince of Wales. This handsome mansion* was first erected by Sir Thomas Vavasour. In 1651, it came into possession of Sir Lionel Tollemache, in whose descendants, the Earls of Dysart, it is still vested. After the death of Sir Lionel, the house underwent great alterations, and many additions were made to it by his widow, on whom the peerage was first conferred; but it is said to have been furnished at a very great expense, in the taste of that time, by Charles II. Here, as it is reported, the Cabal held their meeting, after this mansion came into the hands of the earl, afterwards duke, of Lauderdale, by his marriage with the countess in 1671. The ceilings are painted by Verrio, and the apartments ornamented with that massy magnificence which was then in fashion. The furniture is very rich, the very bellows and brushes in some of the rooms being made of solid silver, or of silver fillagree. In the centre of the house is a large hall, surrounded with an open gallery. The ballustrades of the grand staircase, which is remarkably spacious and substantial, are of walnut-tree, and ornamented with military trophies. In the north drawing-room is a very large and beautiful cabinet of ivory, lined with cedar. On the west side of the house is a gallery, ninetytwo feet in length, hung with portraits. In the closet

⚫ Lysons says, this mansion is situated in the parish of Petersham.

adjoining the bed-chamber, which was the Duchess of CHAP II. Lauderdale's, still remains the great chair, in which she used to sit and read; it has a small desk fixed to it, and her cane hangs by the side.

The mansion contains many fine pictures of the old masters, among which the works of Vandeveldt and Wouvermans are conspicuous. Among the portraits are those of the Duke of Lauderdale and the Earl of Hamilton, in one picture, by Cornelius Janssen; the Duke and Duchess, by Sir Peter Lely; the Duke in his Garter robes by the same; Charles II. who was a visitor of this place; Sir John Maitland, chancellor of Scotland; Sir Henry Vane; William Murray, the first Earl of Dysart; Catherine, his wife, a beautiful picture in water-colours, by Hoskins; Sir Lionel Tollemache, first husband to the Duchess of Lauderdale; James Stewart, Duke of Richmond, a very fine picture by Vandyke; the late Countess of Dysart, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and many others deserving notice.

Of the gardens, though fine, it has been remarked, that "the very flowers are old fashioned; no American borders, no Chinese roses, none but flowers of the olden time, gay, formal knots of pinks and sweet peas, and larkspurs, and lilies, and hollyhocks, mixed with solid cabbage roses and round Dutch honeysuckles! The building and its grounds repose under the shade of venerable antiquity.

This house was the birth-place of that great statesman and general, John, Duke of Argyle, who was grandson to the Duchess of Lauderdale. His brother Archibald, who succeeded him in his title, and was lord keeper of Scotland, was also born here. Hume says, that on the arrival of the Prince of Orange in London, James II. was ordered to retire to this house,