s, if the king grant to
the Prior and Convent of Westminster that the Abbots of that place for
the time being may recover and hold the aforesaid messuages and land to
them and their successors for ever."

But the Abbot had to pay the King a small yearly sum, and cause certain
services of reaping and ploughing to be performed for him, which showed
that he held the land in some sense subject to the Crown. In Henry
VII.'s reign his mother, the Countess of Richmond, bought certain lands
in Kensington, Willesden, Paddington, and Westbourne. She left the
greater part of her possessions to Westminster, so that the Abbey lands
in this vicinity must have been increased. The manor acquired by the
Countess seems to have consisted chiefly of two farms--Notting Barns in
Kensington, and "Westborne" in Paddington; the former is fully dealt
with in the section devoted to Kensington. Besides the lands left to the
Abbey, she bequeathed part of her possessions to the Universities of
Oxford and Cambridge.

In the account of the Church property which fell into Henry VIII.'s
hands at the dissolution of the monasteries we find mentioned
"Westborne."

King Henry also held other lands here, which he had obtained by exchange
or purchase. He made Paddington a part of the endowment of the new See
of Westminster. After the abolition of that See Edward VI. gave "the
mannor and rectory of Paddington" to Dr. Nicholas Ridley, then Bishop
of London, "and his successors for ever" (Newcourt).

Westbourne remained in the possession of the Dean and Chapter of
Westminster; thus the two manors parted company. Paddington was
confiscated during the Commonwealth, but was claimed by Bishop Sheldon
at the Restoration. It was restored to him, and he let it to his nephew,
Sir Joseph Sheldon, knight, and Daniel Sheldon. It was held by the
Sheldon family until 1740, when it was let by Gibson, the Bishop of
London, to Sir John Frederick, in whose family it remained for many
generations.

_Perambulations._

A survey of London in 1827 shows us very few streets in the quarter to
the south of Praed Street and east of Westbourne Terrace and Street.
Connaught Square and Connaught Place are marked, and the curious
rectangular piece of ground of about 5 acres belonging to St. George's,
Hanover Square. This was bought by St. George's Vestry in 1764, when the
land was surrounded by fields, and was suitable for a cemetery. Among
others buried there was Laurence Sterne,