s were
built and looms erected in the Mulberry Ground at Chelsea; but either the
expense was precipitated too fast, or contributions did not arrive fast
enough. The bubble burst, several suffered, and Le Blon was heard of no
more." Walpole adds, "It is said he died in an hospital at Paris in
1740:" and observes that Le Blon was "very far from young when he knew
him, but of surprising vivacity and volubility, and with a head admirably
mechanic, but an universal projector, and with at least one of the
qualities that attend that vocation, either a dupe or a cheat; I think,"
he continues, "the former, though, as most of his projects ended in air,
the sufferers believed the latter. As he was much an enthusiast, perhaps
like most enthusiasts he was both one and t' other."

The present mansion was built upon a portion of Chelsea Park by Mr.
William Broomfield, an eminent surgeon, who resided in it for several
years. The late possessor was Sir Henry Wright Wilson, Bart., to whose
wife, Lady Frances Wilson (daughter of the Earl of Aylesbury), was left a
valuable estate in Hampshire, {92} said to be worth about 3,000 pounds a
year, under the following very singular circumstances. Her ladyship was
informed one morning in February, 1814, while at breakfast, that an
eccentric person named Wright, who had died a few days previously at an
obscure lodging in Pimlico, had appointed her and Mr. Charles Abbott his
executors, and after some legacies had bequeathed to Lady Frances the
residue of his property by a will dated so far back as August, 1800. As
Lady Frances declared herself to be unacquainted even with the name of
the testator, she at first concluded that there was some mistake in the
matter. After further explanation, the person of Mr. Wright was
described to her, and Lady Frances at last recollected that the
description answered that of a gentleman she had remembered as a constant
frequenter of the Opera some years previously and considered to be a
foreigner, and who had annoyed her extremely there by constantly staring
at her box. To satisfy herself of the identity, she went to the lodgings
of the late Mr. Wright, and saw him in his coffin, when she recognized
the features perfectly as those of the person whose eyes had so often
persecuted her when she was Lady Frances Bruce, but who had never spoken
to her, and of whom she had no other knowledge whatever.

Mr. Wright left legacies of 4,000 pounds to the Countess of Ro