In 1829 his fame and fortune had both outgrown what Wilkie called his ‘beautiful cottage at North End,’ and he was intending to build himself a house upon the Heath; but there were difficulties in the way of the purchase of the ground, which caused him eventually to give up the idea of building, and content himself with renting a larger house near the Heath. In the end he returned to London, where the latter years of his life were spent. It was at North End, according to the author of the ‘Northern Heights,’ that his three talented sons were born, and here Wilkie—his great friend—and many other artists, and men of note visited him. Shortly before 1813, Mr. Abraham Robarts, senior partner in the banking house of Robarts, Curtis and Co., resided at North End, in the house previously occupied by —— Dingley, Esq., about 1777, a gentleman memorable for the part he took in the introduction of sawing-mills into this country, which the mob resented and destroyed. When Park wrote his History, the same house (but he does not describe its situation) was in the possession of John Vivian, Esq., solicitor to the Excise. In all probability it was the square brick house at the end of the avenue, which the inhabitants of North End regard as the house which Dr. Akenside resided in—the house with the newly-laid-out garden running up on one side under the umbrageous shade of the trees that once sheltered a lovely glade, locally known as the Lovers’ Bank or Lover’s Walk, and which, through oversight or forgetfulness on the part of those entrusted with the preservation of the Heath, was left out in the purchase of it, and was granted to the present owner. In this house at one period resided Sir Fowell Buxton, the friend and fellow-labourer with Clarkson and Wilberforce, in their noble efforts for the emancipation of the negro, which led to the abolition of slaves in our colonies, and began that crusade which we are still waging on their behalf. At that period his sister-in-law, Mrs. Charles Buxton, was living at Wildwood, in Mrs. Earle’s house, the white house facing the avenue. It is right that the homes of eminent men and women should be remembered, and amongst such homes at North End, Wildwood Cottage is one of the most interesting. Here for some time lived Dinah Mulock, the late Mrs. Craik, author of ‘John Halifax,’ and other standard works of fiction; and here subsequently resided, from 1864 to 1871, Eliza Meteyard, the painstaking author of the ‘Life of Wedgwood the Potter,’ a work containing much valuable information on the subject of this beautiful manufacture, the interest in which her labour undoubtedly contributed to revive and enlarge. Here she expended years of studious research in the prosecution of her task, in recognition of which Mr. Gladstone—himself a lover and collector of the charming ware—granted her a Government pension of £100 per annum, which, however, she only lived to enjoy one year. She may be said to have