Once a Week (magazine)/Series 1/Volume 1/Ana (November 5, 1859)
ANA.
Scotch to the Back-bone.—The terrace behind Fife House, Whitehall, which looks upon the Thames, is made entirely of gravel brought up by sea from Banffshire; the old Earl of Fife, when he was made a British peer some century ago, having vowed that if he was forced to live in London half the year, at all events he would always walk on Scottish soil.
A Word about Hungerford Market.—Our readers probably know that Hungerford Market derives its name, in some way or other, from a member of the Hungerford family. They may not, however, be aware that Sir Edward Hungerford, the worthy knight who built and endowed Hungerford Market, lived in three centuries, having been born in 1596, and having died in 1711, at the great age of 115 years. As the market stands upon the site of the old town-house of the family, we are at liberty to imagine that the Thames smelt purer and ran with a more silvery and salubrious stream in the days of good old Sir Edward than in the present age. The ancient and noble family of Hungerford at one time held very large possessions in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, the principal seat and residence being at Farley Castle, Wilts, not far from Bath.
Cornwallis and Pitt on the Duke of Wellington.—The opinion of Cornwallis on the Duke of Wellington is expressed in a letter to Sir John Shore (Cornwallis Correspondence), so early as June 10th, 1796. “Dear Sir,—I beg leave to introduce to you Colonel Wesley, who is lieutenant-colonel of my regiment. He is a sensible man, and a good officer; and will, I have no doubt, conduct himself in a manner to merit your approbation.” The Marquis Wellesley, in a letter addressed to the late John Wilson Croker, and which was privately printed, details an account of his last interview with Pitt, then dying at Putney Hill, in which Pitt said of his brother Arthur, “I never met any military officer with whom it was so satisfactory to converse. He states every difficulty before he undertakes any service, but none after he has undertaken it.” The Marquis, coming away from Pitt’s death-bed, met Colonel Shawe in the Park, and told him, in addition to the statements in this letter, that Pitt congratulated himself on now having found a General to pit against Napoleon Bonaparte.