sslyn,
4,000 pounds to the Speaker of the House of Commons, 1,000 pounds to the
lord-chancellor, and the same sum to Archdeacon Pott, the rector of St.
Martin-in-the-Fields, which church Mr. Wright had been in the habit of
frequenting, having as little acquaintance with any of these parties as
he had with Lady Frances Wilson. It may be supposed from these facts
that Lady Frances Wilson was exceedingly beautiful, and that an
admiration of her charms might have influenced Mr. Wright to make this
extraordinary bequest in her favour; but those who knew Lady Frances well
assert that such could not possibly have been the case, as she was far
from beautiful at any period of her life; and the oddity of the story is,
and it seemed to be the general opinion, that Mr. Wright's legacy was
intended for a lady who usually occupied a box next to that in which Lady
Frances sat, and who, at the period, was regarded as the _belle_ of the
Opera.

THISTLE GROVE, on the opposite side of the road from Chelsea Park, leads,
by what had been a garden pathway, to the Old Brompton Road. At each
side of "the Grove," now occupying the sites of trees, are detached
villas, houses, lodges, and cottages, named, or not named, after the
taste of their respective proprietors; one of which, on the left hand,
some fourteen houses distant from the main Fulham Road, was for many
years the residence of Mr. John Burke, whose laborious heraldic and
genealogical inquiries induced him to arrange and publish various
important collections relative to the peerage and family history of the
United Kingdom, in which may be found, condensed for immediate reference,
an immense mass of important information.

In Thistle Grove Mr. J. P. Warde, the well-known actor, died in 1840.

Immediately beyond Chelsea Park the village of LITTLE CHELSEA commences,
about the centre of which, and on the same side of the way, at the corner
of the road leading to Battersea Bridge, stands the Goat in Boots
public-house. [Picture: Goat in Boots] In 1663, there was a "house
called the Goat at Little Chelsea," which, between that year and 1713,
enjoyed the right of commonage for two cows and one heifer upon Chelsea
Heath.

How the Goat became equipped in boots, and the designation of the house
changed, has been the subject of various conjectures; the most probable
of which is, that it originates in a corruption of the latter part of the
Dutch legend,--

"MERCURIUS IS DER GODEN BOOD