Chiswick (St. Nicholas)

CHISWICK (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Brentford, Kensington division of the hundred of Ossulstone, county of Middlesex, 4½ miles (W. by S.) from London; containing 5811 inhabitants. This place is pleasantly situated on the margin of the Thames, to the left of the great western road from London, and contains many elegant seats belonging to the nobility and gentry, the principal of which, Devonshire House, is adorned on each side with fine rows of cedars: in this mansion died Charles James Fox, in 1806, and George Canning, in 1827. Here are the extensive gardens belonging to the Horticultural Society of London, incorporated by charter in 1808, for the improvement of horticulture in all its branches. The living is a vicarage, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, London (the appropriators), valued in the king's books at £9. 18. 4.; net income, £601. In the churchyard are some ancient tombs, and a monument to the memory of Hogarth. At Turnham-Green is a second church. The late Rev. H. F. Cary, the translator of Dante, was for some time curate, and afterwards lecturer, of Chiswick, where he resided in the house once occupied by Hogarth, which he had purchased.