She refused to say how she came to be in so
deplorable a situation, and took her leave. It was in vain that I
entreated--that I conjured her to let me know where I might send to
her. She refused to give me her address, but promised that in a few
days she would call on me again. It is impossible to describe the
wretched appearance of this accomplished woman. The failing to which
she had now yielded, as to a monster that would destroy her, was
evident, even at the moment when she was speaking to me. I saw no
more of her; but, to my infinite regret, I was informed, some years
after, that she had died, the martyr of a premature decay, brought on
by the indulgence of her propensity to intoxication--in the workhouse
of Chelsea!"

Mrs. Robinson adds, that--

"The number of my mother's pupils in a few months amounted to ten or
twelve; and, just at a period when an honourable independence
promised to cheer the days of an unexampled parent, my father
unexpectedly returned from America. The pride of his soul was deeply
wounded by the step which my mother had taken; he was offended even
beyond the bounds of reason.

* * * * *

"At the expiration of eight months, my mother, by my father's
positive commands, broke up her establishment, and returned to
London."

Nearly opposite to the workhouse is the West Brompton Brewery, formerly
called "Holly Wood Brewery," and immediately beyond it an irregular row
of six houses, which stand a little way back from the road, with small
gardens before them. The first house is now divided into two, occupied,
when the sketch was made in 1844, by Miss Read's academy (Tavistock
House) and Mrs. Corder's Preparatory School; the latter (Bolton House) to
be distinguished by two ornamented stone-balls on the piers of the
gateway, was a celebrated military academy, at which many distinguished
soldiers have been educated. [Picture: Bolton House gateway] The academy
was established about the year 1770, by Mr. Lewis Lochee, who died on the
5th of April, 1787, and who, in 1778, published an 'Essay on
Castrametation.' "The premises," says Mr. Faulkner, "which were laid out
as a regular fortification, and were open to view, excited much attention
at the time." When balloons were novelties, and it was supposed might be
advantageously used in the operations of warfare, they attracted
cons