THE MIRROR
OF
LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
| Vol. 19. No. 551.] | SATURDAY, JUNE 9, 1832 | [PRICE 2d. |
MONKEY ISLAND.
This picturesque spot is situate in the middle of the riverThames, near Cliefden, Bucks,1 and aboutthree-quarters of a mile from the village of Bray.2 It was purchased and decorated forthe enjoyment of fishing parties by the third Duke of Marlborough.Upon its fine sward he erected a small rustic building calledMonkey Hall, from the embellishments of the interior being in partfancifully painted with a number of monkeys dressed in humanapparel, and imitating human actions. Some are representeddiverting themselves with fishing, others with hunting, &c. Oneis drawn gravely sitting in a boat, smoking, while a female"waterman" is labouring at the oar, rowing him across a river. Theceiling and cornices are ornamented with aquatic plants andflowers. In another building, raised at the expense of the Duke, onthis island, and named the Temple, is an elegant saloon, paintedwith green and gold, and enriched with figures in stucco-worksuperbly gilt, representing mermaids, sea-lions, fish, shells, andother objects. The place altogether might be calledMarlborough's Folly.
The perfection of the monkey embellishments would delight theadmirers of Mr. Landseer's famed Monkeyana.
Monkey Island has had several owners since the Duke ofMarlborough disposed of it: the lease of the place at£25l. a-year was, in 1787, purchased for 240 guineas,by Henry Townley Ward, Esq. who bequeathed it to P.C. Bruce, Esq.,of Taplow. Its vicinity to "Cliefden's hanging woods" andpicturesque home scenery must render it a delightful retreat.
Its establishment is stated to have cost the Duke of Marlboroughten thousand guineas.
SONG,
From the French of Béranger.
LE ROI D'YVETOT.
(For the Mirror.)
There once was a King, as they say,
Though history says naught about it,
Who slept sound by night and by day,
And for glory—who just did without it;
A night cap his diadem was,
Which his maid used to air at the fire,
And then put it on him, (that's poz:)
Such was his Coronation attire.
CHORUS.
"Lack-a-day, well-a-day!" then let us sing,
And mourn for the loss of this good little King.
In a cottage his banquets were given,
He lived upon four meals a-day, sir,
On which diet he seems to have thriven:
And an ass was his charger they say, sir,
A dog was his life-guard, we're told,
And many a peregrination
Thus attended, he must have been bold,
He made step and step through the nation.