Charles Dartquineuve, the friend of Pope, and to whom Dodsley was once footman, was appointed surveyor of the King’s Private Roads, in 1731, in room of General Watkins. Pass-tickets of copper were issued in that year, and are prized by the curious in such matters. Duellists also sought the Fire Fields, and Aubrey tells of one meeting near to Ebury farm, in the time of Charles I., between Lord Mohun and a foreign nobleman. The former was killed, not without suspicion of foul play; and the credulous antiquary relates that at the time of the duel, his mistress saw him approach her bed, draw the curtains, and go away without speaking! Great numbers of the lower orders used to frequent the Five Fields, to indulge themselves with the brutal sports so prevalent formerly among them. Near where Coleshill Street now stands was a famous resort for cock-fighting, and every Good Friday numbers came to witness the barbarity. Duck-hunting in the ponds and bull and bear-baiting were also largely carried on; the head-quarters of the latter being at a house by the Willow Walk, once the habitation of the notorious Jerry Abershaw. It is pleasant to quit such recollections for those of a purer kind. The old herbalists frequented these fields, where, they tell, the “wild clary” grew plentifully; and along the river’s bank the “bitter cresses” in great perfection. And Swift, walking to London from his Chelsea residence in 1711, mentions the hay-making in the fields; “it smells so sweet,” he says, “as we walk through the flowery meads;” but he spoils the idea by telling us that “the hay-making nymphs are perfect drabs.” The market gardens in the Five Fields, though not very numerous, were very valuable, being devoted chiefly to the culture of the asparagus and the rarer vegetables. Norden, in 1593, tells us, “The deepe, and dirtie, loathsome soyle, Yields golden gaine to painefull toyle;” and that the labourer “will refuse a pallace to droyle in these golden puddles.” The nursery ground of Messrs. Allen and Rogers was in being so late as 1832, adjoining to the King’s Road. The father of Mr. Redgrave, the distinguished artist, resided in a house on the King’s Road, and here his eminent son was born.