awberries of Ely Garden were famous, and Shakespeare makes
reference to them, thus following closely Holinshed. But in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth a blight fell on the Bishops. It began with the envious
desires of Sir Christopher Hatton, who, by reason of his dancing and
courtly tricks, had won the susceptible Queen's fancy and been made Lord
Chancellor. He settled down on Ely Place, taking the gate-house as his
residence, excepting the two rooms reserved as cells and the lodge. He
held also part of the garden on a lease of twenty-one years, and the
nominal rent he had to pay was a red rose, ten loads of hay, and L10 per
annum. The Bishop had the right of passing through the gate-house, of
walking in his own garden, and of gathering twenty bushels of roses
yearly. Hatton spent much money (borrowed from the Queen) in improving
and beautifying the estate, which pleased him so well that he farther
petitioned the Queen to grant him the whole property. The poor, ill-used
Bishop protested, but was sternly repressed, and the only concession he
could obtain was the right to buy back the estate if he could at any
time repay Hatton the sums which had been spent on it. But Hatton did
not remain unpunished. The Queen, a hard creditor, demanded the immense
sums which she had lent to him, and it is said he died of a broken
heart, crushed at being unable to repay them. His nephew Newport, who
took the name of Hatton, was, however, allowed to succeed him. The widow
of this second Hatton married Sir Edward Coke, the ceremony being
performed in St. Andrew's Church. The Bishops' and the Hattons' rights
of property seem to have been somewhat involved, for after the death of
this widow the Bishops returned, and in the beginning of the eighteenth
century the Hatton property was saddled with an annual rent-charge of
L100 payable to the See; and, in 1772, when, on the death of the last
Hatton heir, the property fell to the Crown, the See was paid L200 per
annum, and given a house in Dover Street, Piccadilly, in lieu of Ely
Place. Malcolm says: "When a more convenient Excise Office was lately
wanted, the ground on which Ely House stood was thought of for it, but
its situation was objected to. When an intention was formed of removing
the Fleet Prison, Ely House was judged proper on account of the quantity
of ground about it, but the neighbouring inhabitants in Hatton Garden
petitioned against the prison being built there. A scheme is now (1773)
s