are mostly small. Leigh Hunt
says that it was (traditionally) built by a Frenchman at the time of the
threatened French invasion, and that so confident was this good patriot
of the issue of the war that he built the square, with its large garden
and small houses, to suit the promenading tastes and poorly-furnished
pockets of Napoleon's officers. The name was taken from the family name
of Lord Kensington.

Mrs. Inchbald stayed as a boarder at No. 4 in the square when she was
sixty-five. She seems to have chosen the life for the sake of company
rather than by reason of lack of means, for she was not badly off,
having been always extraordinarily well paid for her work. She is
described as having been above the middle height, of a freckled
complexion, and with sandy hair, but nevertheless good-looking. Leigh
Hunt himself was at No. 32 for some years before 1853, when he removed
to Hammersmith. He mentions, on hearsay, that Coleridge once stayed in
the square, but this was probably only on the occasion of a visit to
friends. In recent times Walter Pater was a resident here.

Leaving aside for a time Holland House, standing in beautiful grounds,
which line the northern side of the road, and turning eastward, we find
the Roman Catholic Pro-Cathedral, almost hidden behind houses. It is of
dark-red brick, and was designed by Mr. Goldie, but the effect of the
north porch is lost, owing to the buildings which hem it in; this defect
will doubtless be remedied in time as leases expire. The interior of the
cathedral is of great height, and the light stone arches are supported
by pillars of polished Aberdeen granite.

After Abingdon Road comes Allen Street, in which there is the Kensington
Independent Chapel, a great square building with an imposing portico,
built in 1854, "for the worshippers in the Hornton Street Chapel." The
houses at the northern end of Allen Street are called Phillimore
Terrace, and here Sir David Wilkie came in the autumn of 1824, having
for the previous thirteen years lived in Lower Phillimore Place. His
life in Kensington was quiet and regular. He says: "I dine at two
o'clock, paint two hours in the forenoon and two hours in the afternoon,
and take a short walk in the Park or through the fields twice a day."
His mother and sister lived with him, and though he was a bachelor, his
domestic affections were very strong. The time in Phillimore Terrace was
far from bright; it was while he lived here that his mothe