ce, who, in his diary
of the 2nd of July, 1823, notes, "Took possession of our new house at
Brompton."

Mr. Wilberforce remained there about a year, and his successor in the
tenancy was Mr. Jerdan, the agreeable and well-known editor of the
'Literary Gazette' (1817-50). This house, pulled down in 1846, stood
upon the ground which now forms the road entrance to Ovington Square.

A narrow lane, which ran down by the west side of Grove House, led to the
Hermitage, a retreat of the much admired Madame Catalani during her
sojourn this country, and subsequently converted into an asylum for
insane persons. This building was pulled down in 1844, and Grove Place
has been erected on its site.

[Picture: The Hermitage (1844)]

In the house (No. 13 Brompton Grove) which stood a little way back from
the road, between Grove House and the Grapes public-house, and which was
taken down in December, 1844, and in the previous June, when sketched,
occupied by a stone-mason, Mr. Banim lodged from May, 1822, to October,
1824. [Picture: No. 13 Brompton Grove (1844)] While residing here, he
was engaged in contributing to and editing a short-lived weekly paper,
entitled the 'Literary Register,' the first number of which appeared on
the 6th of July, 1822, and which publication terminated with the
forty-fourth, on the 3rd of May, 1823, when Banim devoted his attention
to preparing the 'Tales of the O'Hara Family' for the press. It is a
remarkable local coincidence, that Gerald Griffin, who

"To his own mind had lived a mystery,"

the contemporary rival of Banim, as an Irish novelist and dramatist,
should have immediately succeeded him in the tenancy of "13 Brompton
Grove," as this house was sometimes called.

"About this period (1825) he [Griffin] took quiet, retired lodgings,
at a house at Brompton, now a stonemason's, close by Hermitage Lane,
which separated it from the then residence of the editor of the
'Literary Gazette,' and a literary intercourse rather than a personal
intimacy, though of a most agreeable nature, grew up between them."
{48}

On the 10th of November, 1824, Griffin, writing to his brother, commences
a letter full of literary gossip with,--

"Since my last I have visited Mr. J--- several times. The last time,
he wished me to dine with him, which I happened not to be able to do;
and was very sorry for it, for his acquaintance is to me a matter of
great importance, not