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GENEALOGY   COLLECTION 


THE   BERNARDS   OF   ABINGTON   AND 
NETHER   WINCHENDON 

Vol.  III. 


Vols.  I.  &  II.  8vo.  2  is.  net. 

THE   BERNARDS    OF   ABINGTON 

AND  NETHER  WINCHENDON: 

A    FAMILY    HISTORY. 

By  MRS.  NAPIER   HIGGINS. 


LONGMANS,  GREEN,  &  CO.,  39  Paternoster  Row,  London, 
New  York  and  Bombay. 


THE  BERNARDS  OF 
ABINGTON  AND 
NETHER  WINCHENDON 
A   Family   History 


BY 

MRS.  NAPIER   HIGGINS 


Vol.  III. 


LONGMANS,     GREEN,     AND     CO. 

39     PATERNOSTER     ROW,     LONDON 
NEW   YORK   AND  BOMBAY 
1904 

All     rights     reserved 


11SI372 
CONTENTS 

OF 

THE     THIED     VOLUME 
CHAPTEE  I 

SCROPE  BEENARD's  OXFORD  DAYS 

PAGE 

Scrope  Bernard  wins  the  Christ  Church  Prizes — William  Wyndham 
Grenville's  admiration  for  Scrope  Bernard — Scrope  Bernard  takes  his 
Degree — Eev.  Timothy  Shaw,  Vicar  of  Bierton — George  Shaw — An 
Election  Song — Letters  from  William  Grenville  to  Scrope  Bernard — 
Scrope  Bernard's  English  Prize  Essay — Verses  by  William  Grenville — 
Scrope  Bernard's  visit  to  the  North—The  Aylesbury  Eaces— George 
Shaw's  Career 1 

CHAPTEB  II 

THE    DISPERSED    FAMILY 

The  Competitors  for  the  Christ  Church  Prizes — Letters  from  William 
Wyndham  Grenville — Life  at  Wendover — Julia  Smith  nee  Bernard — 
Fanny  Bernard  and  Julia's  Wedded  Happiness — A  Remarkable  Gar- 
ment—The '  Courting  Bower  ' — Rev.  Richard  King — Mrs.  Edmunds — 
Fanny  Bernard's  Engagement  to  Mr.  King — Thomas  Bernard— His 
MatrimonialEngagement  with  Margaret  Adair — Their  Marriage — Scrope 
Bernard's  First  Love— Fanny  Bernard's  Determination— Her  Marriage  .     20 

CHAPTEE   III 

SCROPE  Bernard's  introduction  to  political  life 

Scrope  Bernard's  Interest  in  Politics— His  Project  of  taking  up  a  Tutorship 
— William  Wyndham  Grenville's  offer  of  Assistance — Scrope  Bernard 
accepts  a  Tutorship — A  Sudden  Change  in  his  Prospects— He  gives  up 
his  Medical  Studies  and  becomes  Private  Secretary  to  Earl  Temple  in 
Ireland— His  First  Visit  to  Ireland— The  State  of  Parties  in  Ireland— 
The  Coalition  Ministry — Earl  Temple  Resigns  the  Viceroyalty  of 
Ireland— Letter  from  Lady  Roche— The  Irish  Volunteers— The  Earl  of 
Hillsborough— Earl  Temple's  Viceroyalty 38 


vi  THE  BERNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

CHAPTER  IV 

EXCURSIONS  AND  RETURN  TO  NETHER  WINCHENDON 

PAGE 

Scrope  Bernard's  Komance— Crazes  of  the  Time— Mrs.  Siddons— Scrope 
Bernard's  Plans— The  Hon.  George  Fulke  Lyttelton— Scrope  Bernard's 
Visits  to  France — His  Interest  in  Poor  Law — Marriage  of  AmeUa 
Bernard— Rumours  of  Scrope  Bernard's  Approaching  Marriage— His 
anxiety  to  become  Possessor  of  Nether  Winehendon — Mr.  and  Mrs. 
King — Life  in  a  Country  Parish — Scrope  Bernard  becomes  Lord  of 
Nether  Winehendon  Manor — He  is  Offered  and  Accepts  the  Secretary- 
ship to  a  Commission  of  Inquiry  into  Public  Offices       .        .        .        .57 

CHAPTER  V 

BRIDAL   VISITS   TO   LINCOLN   AND   NETHER   WINCHENDON 

The  Morlands  of  Woolwich— Sir  Samuel  Morland— Scrope  Bernard's 
Engagement — Samuel  Gillam — The  Marquess  of  Buckingham's  Testi- 
mony to  Scrope  Bernard's  Character — Scrope's  Marriage  with  Harriet 
Morland — They  Visit  Worcester  and  Lincoln — The  '  Stuff  and  Colour 
Ball  '—They  Visit  Nether  Winehendon— The  State  of  the  Manor 
House— Friendship  with  the  Lees  of  Hartwell— Scrope  Bernard's  Last 
Appearance  as  a  Public  Speaker  in  Oxford — His  Work  as  Secretary  to 
the  Commission — Birth  of  his  Eldest  Son  William — The  Nether 
Winehendon  Estate — The  Knollys  Family — Portraits  at  Nether  Win- 
ehendon—Mrs.  Beresford's  Burial 77 

CHAPTER  VI 

THE    SECOND    VICEROYALTY   OP   IRELAND 

Scrope  Bernard  appointed  Usher  of  the  Black  Eod  and  Private  Secretary 
to  the  Marquess  of  Buckingham — Death  of  his  Son  Thomas — His 
intention  to  contest  Aylesbury — His  post  of  Private  Secretary — 
Debates  in  the  House — William  Grenville  and  the  appointment  of 
Master  of  the  Rolls  in  Ireland — Lord  Nugent — Scrope  Bernard's  de- 
parture for  England — The  Trial  of  Warren  Hastings — Disagreement 
between  the  Marquess  of  Buckingham  and  the  King — The  King's 
illness — Thomas  Grenville — Birth  of  Margaret  Bernard — The  Opposi- 
tion to  the  Viceroy 101 

CHAPTER  VII 
SCROPE  Bernard's  political  career 

Recovery  of  the  King— Scrope  Bernard's  Election  as  Member  for  Aylesbury 
— Friction  between  the  Marquess  of  Buckingham  and  the  King — The 
Thanksgiving  for  the  King's  Recovery — Scrope  Bernard  appointed 
Under-Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Department — The  Marquess  of 
Buckingham  resigns  the  Viceroyalty— Election  Riots  at  Aylesbury — 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  THIED  VOLUME  vii 

PAGE 

Scrope  Bernard's  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Civil  Law — British  Slaves  in 
Algeria — The  Family  Name  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington — Colonial 
Questions  of  the  Day — Ministerial  Changes 121 

CHAPTEE  VIII 

INCIDENTS    OF   A    STORMY   TIME 

The  French  Eevolution — News  from  Paris — Birth  of  Thomas  Tyi'ingham 
Bernard — The  Manors  of  Great  and  Little  Kimble — Trespasses  of 
Villagers — Purchases  of  Land  by  Scrope  Bernard — Chequers — Emigra- 
tion from  France — The  Descoeiilles — War  with  France — Petitions  for 
Peace — Death  of  the  Second  Viscount  Barrington — Birth  of  Richard 
Scrope  Bernard  and  Mary  Ann  Bernard — Scrope  Bernard  re-elected  for 
Aylesbury — He  becomes  a  Partner  in  Ransom  and  Morland's  Bank       .  143 

CHAPTEE  IX 

SIR   JOHN   BERNARD 

Sir  John  Bernard's  Prospects — The  First  Massachusetts  Act  of  Confisca- 
tion— Proscriptions  in  New  York — Poverty  of  Sir  John  Bernard — The 
American  Loyalists — Ministerial  Changes — Sir  John  Bernard's  Claims 
upon  the  Government — Sabine's  unsympathetic  Account  of  Sir  John's 
Life — Contrast  between  his  Situation  and  that  of  Thomas  and  Scrope 
Bernard — Sir  John's  Return  to  England — The  alleged  Restoration  to 
him  of  Mount  Desert  Island — Efforts  of  the  Family  to  dissuade  him  from 
Returning  to  America — His  Visit  to  France — He  is  appointed  to  an  Office 
in  Barbados — He  receives  tardy  Compensation  for  Losses  in  America— 
His  Life  in  Dominica — His  Death 160 

CHAPTEE  X 

THE    AMERICAN   LOYALISTS 

Distressing  Cases  of  Insanity — Richard  King — The  Fate  of  General  Lyman 
and  his  Family — Fate  of  Colonel  Robinson  and  his  Family — Atrocities 
in  the  Northern  Provinces— Sufferings  of  the  Episcopal  Clergy — The 
Retaliation  exercised  by  Loyalists — The  Share  of  John  Adams  in  the 
Policy  against  the  Loyalists — Treatment  of  the  Exiles  in  England — Dr. 
Peter  Oliver — Parson  Peters — Captain  Fenton — Peter  Van  Shaack — 
Action  of  the  Commissioners  in  England — Timothy  Ruggles — Jonathan 
Sewall — Daniel  Leonard — Samuel  Quincy — John  Adams,  Ambassador 
of  the  United  States — John  Hancock — Samuel  Adams  ....  179 

CHAPTEE  XI 

THOMAS    BERNARD,    TREASURER   OF   THE    FOUNDLING   HOSPITAL 

Cordial  Relations  between  Thomas  and  Scrope  Bernard — Retiring  Disposi- 
tion of  Thomas  and  Margaret  Bernard — Their  Circle  of  Friends — '  The 

VOL.  III.  a 


viii  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

r.Kc.r. 
Clapham  Sect  '—Thomas  Bernard  Purchases  a  House  at  Tver — Serjeant 
Adair — Thomas  Bernard  Eetires  from  Practice  at  the  Bar — His  Disposi- 
tion towards  Philanthropic  Efforts — Neglect  of  Officers  charged  with 
the  care  of  the  Poor — Addison's  Denunciation  of  the  Prevalence  of 
Infanticide — The  Founding  of  the  Foundling  Hospital — Infant  Mortality 
in  the  Hospital— The  Trade  in  Carrying  Children— Indiscriminate 
Admission  to  the  Hospital  stopped — Suppression  of  the  Branch 
Establishments — Jonas  Hanway  promotes  an  Inquiry  into  the  Con- 
dition of  Children  in  the  Workhouses — Thomas  Bernard's  Connection 
with  the  Hospital— He  Supports  the  Suggested  Admission  of  Exposed 
and  Necessitous  Children  of  Soldiers  and  Sailors — He  is  elected 
Treasurer — His  Administration  of  the  Hospital — The  Mothers  of  the 
Foundlings 204 

CHAPTEE   XII 

THE    SOCIETY   FOE    BETTERING   THE    CONDITION    OF   THE    POOR 

Count  Kumford's  Grates — The  Establishment  of  a  Rumford  Eating-house 
on  the  Foundling  Estate — Thomas  Bernard's  Projects — The  General 
Object  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Poor — Thomas 
Bernard  Requested  to  Arrange  the  Publication  of  Extracts  from  the 
Communications  Received — The  First  General  Conamittee  of  the 
Society — The  Reports  of  the  Society — Thomas  Bernard's  Views  as  to 
the  Wants  of  Agricultural  Labourers — The  Parish  Windmill  on  Barham 
Downs — Thomas  Bernard  is  Instrumental  in  Forming  a  School  for  the 
Indigent  Blind  in  London — Houses  of  Recovery  for  Fever  Patients — 
Lord  Winchelsea's  Experiments  with  Small  Holdings    ....  227 

CHAPTEE   XIII 

THE    society's    WORK   IN    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

Thomas  Bernard's  House  at  Iver — Papers  Contributed  to  the  Society's 
Reports  by  Members  of  His  Family — His  Interest  in  the  Working  of 
the  Poor  Laws — His  First  Contribution  to  the  Society's  Reports — His 
Decided  Opinion  in  Favour  of  Boarding-out  Workhouse  Children — The 
Village  Soup  Shop  at  Iver— The  Provision  of  Fuel  for  the  Poor  of 
Lower  Winchendon — Resistance  to  the  Introduction  of  Proper  Chimneys 
into  Cottages— The  Society  at  Wendover  for  Encouraging  Prudence 
and  Industry — The  Progress  of  Vaccination  for  Small-pox— Mrs.  Parker 
Sedding's  Interest  in  the  Poor  in  the  Workhouse— Her  Work  as  an 
Overseer 246 

CHAPTEE   XIV 

LONDON    CHARITIES   AND    THE   ROYAL    INSTITUTION 

Institutions  for  the  Blind— The  Asylum  for  the  Blind  at  Liverpool— The 
School  for  the  Indigent  Blind — Houses  of  Recovery  for  Fever 
Patients— Prevalence  of   Malignant  Fever  in  London— Opening  of  a 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  THIED  VOLUME     ix 

VAGK 

House  of  Becovery  in  Gray's  Inn  Lane — Erection  of  the  Cancer 
Institution — Count  Eumford's  Career — The  Acquaintanceship  between 
Thomas  Bernard  and  Count  Kumford— Their  Plan  for  Founding  the 
Royal  Institution — The  Committee  appointed  to  consider  the  Plan — 
The  Objects  of  the  Institution — Its  Constitution — Count  liumford's 
and  Thomas  Bernard's  Scheme  with  regard  to  Bridewell— Thomas 
Bernard's  Interest  in  the  Casual  Mendicant  Poor — '  Martin's  Act '         .  264 

CHAPTEE   XV 

PAROCHIAL   WORK   AND    HOLIDAY    EXCURSIONS 

Fanny  King's  Interest  in  the  Children  of  her  Parish— The  Establishment 
of  Sunday  Schools  by  Eobert  Raikes — Membership  of  the  S.  P.  C.  K. — 
Mrs.  Trimmer's  Work — Mrs.  King's  Parochial  Lending  Libraries— Her 
Love  of  Nursing— Mr.  King  a  Candidate  for  the  Wardenship  of  New 
College— Mrs.  King's  Letters— A  Visit  to  Alveston— Mrs.  King's 
Acquaintance  with  Hannah  More— Hannah  More  and  the  People  of 
Cheddar— Report  of  Thomas  and  Margaret  Bernard  on  the  Mendip 
Schools— Attack  of  Mr.  Bere  upon  Hannah  and  Martha  More— A 
Charitable  Effort  in  Bath — Thomas  Bernard  sells  his  House  at  Iver      .  287 

CHAPTEE   XVI 

THE    FREE    CHAPEL   IN    ST.    GILES's 

Mr.  Daubeny's  Chapel  at  Bath— The  First  Mention  of  "West  Street  Chapel, 
St.  Giles's— It  becomes  John  Wesley's  West  End  Mission  Station— 
The  Chapel  in  Thomas  Bernard's  hands— The  Galleries  of  the  Chapel 
let  to  Tradesmen  in  Order  to  Defray  Expenses — Thomas  Bernard's 
Account  of  the  Progress  of  the  Chapel — The  Religious  Destitution  of 
the  Day — Neglect  by  the  Church  of  the  Poor — Thomas  Bernard's 
Scheme  for  the  Establishment  of  Free  Chapels  for  the  Poor — Proposed 
Free  Chapel  in  Douglas,  Isle  of  Man— Offshoots  from  the  West  Street 
Chapel — Public-houses  Patronised  by  Beggars  in  St.  Giles's — The 
Weakness  of  English  Schemes  of  Improvement — West  Street  Chapel 
passes  out  of  the  hands  of  Thomas  Bernard's  Trustees — The  Later 
History  of  the  Chapel— The  Rev.  R.  W.  Dibdin 307 

CHAPTEE   XVII 

CHIMNEY    SWEEPERS'    APPRENTICES 

The  Origin  of  Climbing  Chimneys — The  Sale  of  a  Child  to  a  Master 
Sweep — Appeal  in  the  '  Gentleman's  Magazine  '  on  Behalf  of  Climbing 
Boys — The  Interest  taken  by  Jonas  Hanway  and  Thomas  Bernard 
in  Climbing  Boys — The  Neediness  of  Master  Sweepers — The  Act  of 
1788 — Thomas  Bernard's  Efforts  to  Abolish  the  System  of  Employing 
Boys — David  Porter's  Scheme  on  Behalf  of  Climbing  Boys — Thomas 
Bernard  Promotes  a  Movement  for  the  Invention  of  a  Sweeping 
Machine — Meeting  at  the  Mansion  House  on  Behalf  of  Climbing  Boys — 


THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 


PAGE 


Some  of  the  Horrors  of  Chimney  Sweeping — Sydney  Smith's  Article  on 
the  Subject  in  the  '  Edinburgh  Review '-  -Acts  of  Parliament  dealing 
with  the  Subject— Final  Triumph  of  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury — The  Act 
of  1875 326 

CHAPTEE   XVIII 

CHILDREN    IN    COTTON    MILLS 

Invention  of  the  Fly-shuttle  and  the  '  Spinning  Jenny  ' — The  Inventions 
of  Richard  Arkwright  and  Samuel  Crompton,  and  Dr.  Cartwright  and 
Robert  Millar— The  Creation  of  a  Demand  for  Child  Labour— The  Use 
of  Parish  Apprentices — Edwin  Hodder's  description  of  the  Employment 
of  Children  in  Mills — Pubhc  Protest  against  the  Employment  of 
Children — Thomas  Bernard  attacks  the  System— David  Dale's  Mills — 
Thomas  Bernard's  Strictures  upon  the  System  in  Force— Regulations 
suggested  by  him — Strength  of  the  Mill-owning  Interest — Sir  Robert 
Peel  introduces  a  Bill  for  the  Amelioration  of  the  Children's  Condition 
—The  Opposition  to  the  Bill— The  Second  Bill 346 


THE    BEENAEDS 

OF 

ABINGTON  AND  NETHER  WINCHENDON 

CHAPTEE   I 

SCEOPE   BEENAED'S   OXFOED   DAYS 

Serope  Bernard  wins  the  Christ  Church  Prizes — William  Wyndham  Grenville's 
admiration  for  Serope  Bernard— Serope  Bernard  takes  his  Degree — Key 
Timothy  Shaw,  Viear  of  Bierton — George  Shaw — An  Election  Song — 
Letters  from  William  Grenville  to  Serope  Bernard — Serope  Bernard's 
English  Prize  Essay — Verses  by  William  Grenville — Serope  Bernard's  visit 
to  the  North — The  Aylesbury  Eaees — George  Shaw's  Career. 

The  grave  had  scarcely  closed  over  the  earthly  remains 
of  Sir  Francis  Bernard,  in  June,  1779,  when  his  children 
became  aware  that,  through  the  confiscation  of  his  American 
estates  by  the  Eevolutionary  Government,  their  lot  was 
cast  in  comparative  poverty.  This  news  had  probably 
reached  England,  and  appeared  in  the  public  journals,  before 
Sir  John  Bernard  arrived  to  confirm  it.^  In  consequence 
of  his  father's  death  he  visited  Aylesbury  during  the 
ensuing  autumn.  As  the  war  with  America  still  continued, 
there  remained  a  chance  that  the  Acts  of  Confiscation  might 
be  revoked  or  annulled  ;  but  it  was  a  slender  chance,  since 
the  Americans  had  been  reinforced  by  French  troops,  and 

'  It  appears,  from  a  message  in  a  letter,  that  Sir  John  Bernard  was  in 
England  at  this  time,  and  made  some  stay.  I  have  not  ascertained  the  precise 
date  of  the  New  York  Confiscation  Act,  but  it  may  not  have  affected  the  family 
so  severely  as  the  Massachusetts  Act,  since  Sir  F.  Bernard  had  not  apparently 
begun  to  '  settle  '  his  30,000  acres  in  New  York  Province. 

VOL.  III.  B 


2  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

fortune  was  turning  against  the  mother  country,  to  the 
amazement  and  consternation  of  her  people. 

It  must  have  been  almost  immediately  after  the  decease 
of  his  father  that  Scrope  Bernard  discovered  himself  to  be 
the  winner  of  the  Christ  Church  prizes,  as  they  are 
designated  in  a  private  letter.  Of  the  composition,  whether 
in  prose  or  verse,  which  obtained  this  reward,  I  have  no 
account  beyond  the  statements  of  William  Wyndham 
Grenville,  already  mentioned  as  the  third  son  of  the  Prime 
Minister.  His  mother  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  another 
statesman,  Sir  William  Wyndham,  and  of  Catherine,  sister 
of  the  seventh  Duke  of  Somerset.^  Possibly  some  feeling 
of  compunction,  for  the  trouble  which  his  father's  Stamp 
Act  had  brought  upon  the  Bernard  family,  first  induced 
young  Grenville  to  cultivate  Scrope's  acquaintance  during 
their  residence  at  Christ  Church ;  but,  whatever  may  have 
been  the  originating  cause  of  his  regard,  it  is  evident  from 
Grenville's  gushing  epistles,  that  he  soon  became  enthusiastic 
in  his  admiration  of  the  Governor's  son. 

Mr.  Grenville  writes  ^  concerning  the  prizes : '  '  Dear 
Bernard,  you  may  judge  by  your  own  feelings  of  the  real 
and  excessive  satisfaction  which  I  have  in  sending  you 
the  enclosed  list ;  it  was  given  out  last  night.'  Scrope 
headed  a  list  of  four  candidates.  '  Jackson  ' — afterwards 
Dean — '  says  that  yours  was  incomparably  the  best ;  there 
being  no  doubt  at  all  of  the  decision.  Eandolph  desires 
me  to  tell  you  that,  if  it  may  be  done  with  propriety,  he 
wishes  you  to  be  here  on  Monday,  as  Wednesday  next  is 
fixed  for  the  recital.'  The  expression  '  with  propriety,' 
contains,  I  imagine,  an  allusion  to  Sir  Francis  Bernard's 
recent  death,  and  thus  serves  as  a  clue  to  the  date,  which  is 
not  given  in  the  hastily  penned  note.  This  epistle  is 
endorsed,  by  Scrope,  *  sent  express.' 

On   September  7,  in   the   same  year  1779,  about  three 

'  See  Debrett's  Peerag^e,  17th  Edition,  '  Duke  of  Somerset,'  and  'Earl  of 
Egremont,'     Also  preface  to  The  Grenville  Papers,  vol.  i. 

^  This  and  other  extracts  in  this  chapter  are  from  MS.  Letters  at  Nether 
Winchendon,  written  by  W.  W.  Grenville  to  Scrope  Bernard. 


TIMOTHY  SHAW  3 

months  subsequent  to  the  family  bereavement,  Juha  Bernard 
married  the  Eev.  Joseph  Smith,  and  went  to  reside  at 
Wendover.  The  home  at  Aylesbury  appears  to  have  been 
then  broken  up.  Fanny  Bernard  had  been  promised  a 
welcome  by  Julia,  and  joined  her  some  little  while  after 
the  marriage.  Emily,  or  Amelia,  had  evidently  arranged 
to  live  with  her  sister  Jane  White  at  Lincoln,  Sir  John 
Bernard  probably  spent  his  time  in  visiting  friends  and 
relations  and  in  urging  his  claims  on  the  British  Govern- 
ment, until  he  returned  to  America  in  the  following  spring 
or  summer ;  there  he  will  be  found  once  more  battling 
against  adverse  fate.  Thomas  continued  his  legal  studies 
in  London,  and  Scrope  remained  at  Oxford  studying 
medicine. 

The  first  Earl  Temple  died  on  September  11,  1779,  from 
the  effects  of  a  carriage  accident ;  ^  and  his  nephew  George, 
the  eldest  brother  of  William  Wyndham  Grenville,  succeeded 
to  the  title. 

Scrope  Bernard  took  his  B.A.  degree  in  1780,^  and 
apparently  spent  the  long  vacation  in  his  old  neighbourhood, 
at  the  vicarage  of  Bierton,  a  parish  adjoining  Aylesbury. 
The  vicar  was  a  man  of  some  note,  whose  biography  has 
been  condensed  by  the  county  historian  ^  as  follows  : 

Timothy  Shaw,  A.B.  inst.  1752.  He  was  of  St.  John's  College, 
Camb.,  A.B.  1740,  A.M.  1763;  kept  a  very  reputable  school  in 
the  village  during  many  years,  and  was  highly  esteemed  by  his 
pupils.  He  was  inst.,  August  30,  1763,  to  the  Vicarage  of  St. 
Michael,  St.  Albans,  but  resigned  in  1777.  He  was  indefatigable 
in  the  discharge  of  his  clerical  functions,  and  of  so  friendly  and 
accommodating  a  temper,  that,  though  he  constantly  officiated  in 
his  parish  church  and  its  members  Stoke  Mandeville  and  Buck- 
land,  he  very  frequently  extended  his  assistance  to  the  neighbouring 
clergy  of  less  activity,  and  among  his  famihar  acquaintances 
obtained  the  title  of  '  The  Angel  of  the  Seven  Churches '  from 
having  at  one  time   no   less   than   that   number   to   provide   for 

'  Debrett  and  Burke  Peerages,  '  Buckingham,  Duke  of,'  until  1889.     See 
also  '  Baroness  Kinloss,'  and  '  Earl  Temple,'  in  more  recent  editions. 
^  Oxford  University  Calendar. 
^  Lipscomb,  History  of  Buckinghamshire,  vol.  ii.,  '  Bierton.' 


4  THE  BERNARDS  OP  ABINGTON 

simultaneously.  He  died  in  1786,  having  been  long  infirm,  and  for 
some  time  was  assisted  in  the  performance  of  his  clerical  duties 
by  his  younger  son. 

This  younger  son,  George,  eventually  attained  a  more 
widely  spread  reputation  than  his  father,  by  whom  he  had 
been  early  initiated  into  various  branches  of  natural  history  ; 
he  first  studied  medicine,  but  was  afterwards  admitted  to 
deacon's  orders,  and  acted  as  his  father's  curate  in  Bierton 
and  the  adjacent  parishes  for  about  ten  years,  during  which 
period  Scrope,  who  had  probably  been  well  acquainted  with 
this  cultivated  family  in  the  lifetime  of  Sir  Francis  Bernard, 
became  an  inmate  of  the  parsonage.  Soon  after  his  return 
to  Oxford,  in  November,  1780,  George  Shaw  wrote  ^ : 

It  is  with  great  pleasure  that  I  hear  of  your  being  so  agreeably 
and  usefully  engaged  in  the  attendance  of  Dr.  P.'s  Clinical  Lectures, 
which  I  am  certain  must  be  of  the  greatest  possible  advantage 
to  you,  especially  if  you  continue  regular  and  constant  in  your 
attendance  on  the  Hospital,  and  take  proper  notes  from  the 
Lectures  ;  at  the  same  time  1  cannot  help  observing  that  unless 
the  celerity  of  your  pen  be  equal  to  that  of  Dr.  P.'s  tongue  your 
extracts  will  not  be  very  considerable  ;  at  all  events,  however, 
I  shall  be  happy  to  read  them,  and  shall  therefore  depend  upon 
your  promise  of  bringing  them  with  you  when  you  mean  to  return 
to  Bierton,  and  above  all  I  beg  you  will  remember  to  take  the 
history  and  progress  of  any  uncommon  or  curious  case. 

I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  in  your  next  letter  who  the  pupils  are 
that  constitute  the  clinical ;  I  think  if  I  was  at  Oxford  for  any 
length  of  time  I  should  be  strongly  tempted  to  make  one  of  the 
party  ;  I  suppose  you  do  not  take  the  range  of  a  great  part  of  the 
Hospital,  but  only  select  a  certain  number  of  cases  for  the  clinical 
pupils ;  at  least  that  used  to  be  the  custom  at  Edinburgh,  and 
I  think  it  greatly  preferable  to  the  confused  practice  of  a  large 
London  Hospital,  where  the  multiplicity  of  business  and  variety 
of  cases  rather  tend  to  puzzle  than  inform  the  student.  I  re- 
member when  1  was  at  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital  1  used  to 
neglect  the  generality  of  cases,  and  confine  myself  to  a  very  few, 
which  1  used  to  observe  and  attend  in  my  own  way,  exclusive  of 
seeing  them  in  company  with  the  physicians. 

For  some  time  past  my  time  has  been  engaged  in  writing  over 
several  old  lectures  of  a  miscellaneous  nature,  on  a  variety  of 
'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winehendon. 


AN  ELECTION  SONG  6 

subjects,  and  which  had  lain  by  so  long,  quite  neglected,  that 
some  appeared  in  such  a  state  of  inextricable  confusion  as  to 
oblige  me  to  burn  them  to  prevent  further  trouble.  When  we 
have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  again  at  Bierton  you  shall  see 
them,  and  copy  any  that  may  happen  to  please  you.  Amongst 
them  are  several  clinical  cases  from  Edinburgh,  &c. 

This  letter  contains  some  further  information,  which 
may  relate  to  an  old  acquaintance  of  Sir  Francis  Bernard. 

The  Queen's  Eegiment  under  Colonel  Dalrymple  is  quartered 
at  Aylesbury,  and  Sir  "William  Lee  has  made  the  officers  an  offer 
of  Sir  F.  B.'s  house,  which  is  accordingly  inhabited  by  the 
gentlemen  of  the  military. 

Sundry  letters  were  exchanged  between  Scrope  Bernard 
and  William  Grenville  in  the  course  of  this  year.  I  possess 
only  the  Grenville  side  of  the  correspondence,  except  in  one 
instance,  when  Scrope  left  a  rough  draft  among  his  papers 
which  shows  his  growing  interest  in  politics ;  it  contains 
some  crude  but  spirited  verses  entitled,  '  Smith's  the  Man,' 
to  the  tune  of  the  '  Dusky  Night,'  and  was  written  during  his 
stay  at  Mr.  Shaw's  house,  with  this  explanation  : 

As  I  was  leaving  Aylesbury  about  one  o'clock  to  return  to 
Bierton,  I  happened  to  hear  an  election  song,  in  favour  of  the 
other  party,  when  it  struck  me  that  I  might  have  been  useful  in 
that  province  myself.  In  my  walk  I  composed  the  underwritten, 
which  on  reaching  home  I  put  to  paper,  and  returned  with  it  to 
Aylesbury,  but  found  matters  too  far  gone,  and  the  poll  almost 
concluded,  which  I  had  been  told  would  not  have  been  done  till 
the  next  day.  Perhaps  this  was  a  lucky  circumstance,  for  I  doubt 
whether  it  would  have  done  most  injury  or  service  to  the  cause. 

Of  this  effusion  three  stanzas  may  suffice  : 

The  rest  your  favour  wish  to  buy. 

But  this  is  all  their  plan— 
To  sell  themselves  full  twice  as  high  ; 

But  Smith  must  be  your  Man. 

They  bow  and  cringe  for  place  and  gains, 

Get  pensions  if  they  can  ; 
But  Smith  such  sordid  arts  disdains 

Then  Smith  must  be  your  Man. 


6  THE   BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

'Gainst  courtiers  he  your  trade  defends, 

Protects  each  artisan, 
Your  lace  and  lacemakers  befriends, 

Then  Smith  must  be  your  Man. 

You  will  observe  [continues  Scrope  in  his  letter  to  William 
Grenville]  that  Smith  proposed  himself  as  a  Minority  Man,  in 
opposition  to  the  noted  principles  of  the  others — hence  all  the 
abuse  of  courtiers,  &c.  You  will  at  least  allow  that  it  was 
calculated  for  the  meanest  capacities,  among  such  it  was  to  be 
disseminated. 

After  some  further  allusion  to  the  election,  followed  by 
a  paragraph  in  Greek,  the  writer  ends  by  requiring  his 
friend  to  burn  his  letter.^  But  he  kept  the  original  draft. 
I  find  no  clue  in  the  local  histories  to  the  candidature  of 
Mr.  Smith,  although  two  gentlemen  of  that  name  were 
returned  for  Wendover ;  the  members  elected  to  represent 
Aylesbury  were  Anthony  Bacon  and  Thomas  Orde  ;  those 
for  the  shire,  Kalph,  Earl  Verney,  and  Thomas  Grenville. 
It  was  the  polling  for  the  borough  that  Scrope  had  witnessed.^ 
He  writes  in  the  same  letter :  '  At  the  late  election  for 
Aylesbury,  with  the  warmest  wishes  for  Smith,  I  could 
go  no  farther  than  talk  with  my  late  Taylor  and  such  persons 
as  had  been  our  Servants,  upon  the  subject.'  And  :  '  The 
County  Election  I  hear  is  fixed  for  this  day  se'night.' 

Scrope  Bernard  seems  to  have  been  capable  of  more 
elaborate  efforts,  if  any  reliance  is  to  be  placed  on  the 
following  utterances  of  William  Grenville,  of  which  the 
meaning  from  the  first  was  so  slightly  veiled  as  to  be  quite 
evident.  He  dates  from  Tunbridge  Wells,  October  12, 
1780: 

My  dear  Bernard, — I  write  these  few  lines  in  haste  to  beg  that 
you  will  tell  me  seriously  whether  you  know  anything  of  a  copy 
of  verses  which  came  to  me  by  the  post  to-night.  They  are 
addressed  to  me  on  the  occasion  of  my  coming  of  age,  and  are 

'  Possibly  the  letter  may  have  been  much  altered,  if  it  was  sent  at  all, 
after  the  enthusiasm  of  the  moment  went  off. 

^  Lipscomb,  History  of  Bucks,  vol.  i.  ;  '  General  History,'  vol.  ii. ;  '  Aylesbury 
with  Walton,'  Gibbs  (Eobert) ;  History  of  Aylesbury,  chapter  xxv. ;  '  Parlia- 
mentary History '  (resumed). 


A   COPY  OF  VEESES  7 

such  as  I  did  not  imagine  any  person  now  living,  much  more  in 
the  confined  circle  of  my  acquaintance,  was  equal  to.  I  should 
be  inclined  to  speak  more  largely  still  in  my  admiration  of  them 
if  they  were  not  so  flattering  to  myself  as  to  prevent  me  from 
commending  them  without  the  imputation  of  vanity. 

I  apply  to  you,  because  I  remember,  in  one  of  the  letters 
I  received  from  you  the  other  day,  your  enquiring  about  the  day 
on  which  I  shall  be  of  age.  I  have  no  time  now  for  a  longer 
letter,  but  am  so  impatient  that  I  would  not  delay  a  moment 
writing  to  you.  I  beg  that  you  will  answer  me  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  let  me  know  whether  you  can  satisfy  my  curiosity 
on  a  subject  respecting  which  I  am  very  desirous  to  be  informed. 
Believe  me 

Ever  most  afftely  yours 

W.  W.  Geenville. 

There  is  a  postscript—'  Direct  to  me  at  my  brother's  in 
Pall  Mall,  but  do  not  enclose  your  letter  to  him.'  Grenville 
wrote  again,  a  little  later,  on  other  topics  ;  and  that  letter  will 
be  presently  quoted  at  length.  It  contains  one  allusion  to  the 
birthday  greeting  :  '  You  have  probably  by  this  time  received 
the  note  I  wrote  the  other  day  about  the  verses.  Pray  tell 
me  if  you  know  anything  about  them,  for  I  am  on  the  rack 
of  curiosity.'  Scrope's  answer  I  do  not  possess,  but  the 
following  letter  from  William  Grenville  refers  to  its  contents, 
and  is  dated  November  7. 

My  dear  Bernard, — You  will  doubtless  think  it  very  strange 
that  after  the  confession,  if  I  may  call  it  such  in  a  matter  of  such 
infinite  honour  to  yourself,  contained  in  yr  last  letter,  you  should 
have  heard  nothing  from  me  for  so  long.  All  I  can  say  in  excuse 
is  that  I  have  been  following  most  exactly  the  dictates  of  a  certain 
inspired  Bard,  who  has  counselled  me  to  persevere  in  my  under- 
taking. 

'  Tho'  Dissipation's  frantic  sons  deride,'  &c. 

'  Tho'  gaudy  fashion,'  &c,,  &c.,  which  stanza,  you  will  observe, 
I  think  one  of  the  best,  if  not  the  best,  in  the  whole.  If  it  were 
not  that  the  matter  contained  in  the  last  is  such  as  I  cannot 
praise  with  any  face  at  all,  I  should  be  inclined  to  give  that  the 
preference. 

I  do  not  know  whether  you  will  think  it  any  compliment  to 
you  when  I  tell  you  how  much  the  verses  alluded  to  exceed  the 


8  THE  BEKNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

opinion  I  had  of  your  poetical  abilities ;  but  to  myself  it  is  one, 
and  of  the  most  flattering  nature  ;  since  you  must  allow  me  to  be 
vain  enough  to  imagine  that  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Muse  was 
a  little  assisted  by  that  of  very  warm  and  sincere  friendship,  such 
as  I  have  always  experienced  from  you,  and  such  as  it  shall 
always  be  the  pride  of  my  life  to  cultivate. 

After  this  complimentary  exordium,  Grenville  continues  : 

You  must  permit  me  now  to  play  the  critic  a  little,  at  the  same 
time  assuring  you  that,  except  what  I  am  going  to  mention,  there 
is  not  a  word  that  I  could  wish  otherwise  than  it  is. 

Then  follows  a  good  page  of  severe  analysis,  after  v^^hich  the 
writer  adds : 

But  something  I  will  say,  as  hoping  that  it  will  be  more 
agreeable  to  you  than  the  greatest  encomiums  I  could  bestow 
on  the  verses.  What  I  mean  is  this,  that  they  came  to  me  at  one 
of  the  most  discouraging  moments  that  I  have  yet  encountered, 
or  hope  to  encounter,  and  were,  as  well  as  continue  to  be,  of  very 
great  use  and  real  service  in  raising  my  spirits,  and  pointing  them 
to  their  true  end.  This  is  a  very  uncommon  effect  of  modern 
poetry,  which  consists  chiefly  in  the  7iiig(B  canora  ;  while  your 
poem  would,  if  it  were  divested  of  all  its  fine  imagery  and  strong 
expression,  make  as  good  a  serious  discourse  to  a  man  in  my 
situation  as  could  be  addressed  to  him.  The  difficulties  you  state 
are  the  very  difficulties  I  feel,  at  least  many  of  them,  and  the 
answers  you  make  to  them  are  the  real  and  true  answers,  and 
those  which  suggest  themselves  in  my  most  confident  moments. 

It  is  unfortunate,  considering  the  encomiums  lavished  by 
Mr.  Grenville  on  this  poem,  that  no  copy  should  have  been 
preserved  in  the  composer's  family  ;  but  I  have  not  found 
any  copy  or  even  memorandum  amongst  the  papers  at 
Nether  Winchendon. 

Two  other  letters,  belonging  to  this  correspondence,  and 
dated  October '  of  1780,  are  here  noticed  together,  because 
they  refer  to  a  special  subject,  distinct  from  the  birthday 
poem.  From  these  two  epistles  it  is  evident  that  William 
Grenville  was  prepared  to  see  his  friend  a  physician,  in  full 

'  The  figures  in  the  dates  of  these  letters  are  not  very  clear.  I  believe  them, 
however,  to  be  October  3  and  15,  as  stated  below. 


THE  CHOICE  OF  A  PEOFESSION  9 

confidence  that  he  would  prove  a  distinguished  member  of 
the  profession  ;  but  that  he  had  a  decided  objection  to  his 
becoming  more  closely  attached  to  the  University. 

As  for  your  sub-librarianship,  I  must  still  say  that  if  it  prevents 
your  attending  either  Parsons,  or  whatever  else  might  be  of  use 
to  you  in  your  studies,  you  can  never  answer  it  to  yourself 
hereafter — considering  especially  that  from  the  circumstance  of 
Parson's  being  of  so  much  longer  standing  than  yourself,  it  is 
your  business  to  push  yourself  in  point  of  time  as  much  as  possible. 
I  am  dreadfully  afraid  of  your  involving  in  some  speech  or  other 
which  will  be  only  a  fresh  interruption  without  any  one  advantage. 
Everything  that  can  be  done  in  point  of  character  at  Ch.  Ch. 
I  consider  as  already  done.  Would  not  some  medical  prize  (for 
I  believe  there  are  such  things)  at  Edinburgh  be  a  much  more 
rational  object  of  pursuit  ?  As  for  the  point  of  income,  I  will  not 
hear  of  it.  Without  being  impertinent,  or  going  into  particulars 
which  do  not  belong  to  me,  that  cannot  be  an  object  to  any  man 
whatever  who  has  a  profession  to  pursue.  You  should  consider 
that  you  are  not  obliged  to  any  expence  which  is  in  any  degree 
inconvenient  to  you. 

I  have  said  perhaps  too  much  on  this  subject,  but  you  will, 
I  know,  attribute  it  to  its  true  cause.  There  is  still  another 
objection  behind,  which  is  the  continuance  of  a  college  life  to 
a  man  bound  to  go  out  into  the  world  bye-and-bye,  and  who 
already  wants  something  of  the  manners  of  the  world,  a  deficiency 
which  will  grow  upon  you  more  and  more  every  day.  I  wish  you 
to  think  these  things  over  and  over. 

'  Nocturne  versare  animo,  versare  diurno.' 

See  how  others  have  succeeded  in  your  line.  The  practice  of 
such  men  is  the  best  lesson  for  you.  Without  being  able  to  speak 
from  any  previous  knowledge,  I  am  confident  you  will  find  it 
militate  against  your  present  ideas.  Unless  you  are  as  fixed  as 
fate,  pray  let  me  hear  from  you  soon,  with  your  answer  to  all 
these  objections.  Nevertheless  wherever  you  are,  and  whatever 
you  are,  either  Censor  at  Ch.  Ch.  or  King's  Physician,  believe  me 
ever 

Most  afftely  yours 

W.  W.  G. 

Tunbridge  Wells, 
Oct.  3rd  1780. 

P.S. — See  how  even  Eandolph  was  able  to  reconcile  a  college 
life  with  your  pursuits,  and  then  ask  yourself  whether  you  expect 


10  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

to  succeed  better.  As  for  the  command  of  books,  I  am  sure  that 
except  in  critical  pursuits,  which  you  have  no  business  with,  they 
rather  distract  than  assist  you — too  great  a  number  of  them 
I  mean— such  as  you  will  find  the  Library  will  afford  you. 

Direct  to  me  still  at  my  Brother's,  Pall  Mall,  but  do  not 
enclose  your  letters  to  him. 

Then  came  the  already  discussed  verses,  and  the  enthu- 
siastic epistle  w^hich  has  been  quoted.  Scrope,  however, 
still  maintained  his  own  views  against  his  confident  juvenile 
mentor.  And  so  it  was  that  William  Grenville  wrote,  on 
October  15  : 

My  dear  Bernard, — I  sit  down  to  confess  the  weight  of  your 
arguments.  If  it  be  really  true  that  the  advantages  of  Oxford  are 
equal  or  nearly  so  to  those  of  other  places,  it  certainly  is  an  object 
to  you  to  keep  up  your  connections  and  your  name  there.  Your 
arrangement  with  Pell  is  in  one  point  of  view  very  satisfactory, 
but  not  in  all  equally  so ;  for  if  it  is  to  keep  you,  as  it  did  Sawkins 
at  Oxford,  in  vacation  time,  it  will  hardly  do  you  less  harm  than 
if  it  was  to  stop  you  from  attending  Lectures.  Indeed  it  would 
fall  under  that  objection  precisely — it  would  debar  you  from  the 
most  useful  of  all  lectures — lectures  in  worldly  manners — lectures 
which,  to  the  shame  of  Oxford,  are  not  to  be  got  there,  but  just 
their  reverse — lectures  which,  say  what  you  will,  we  both  stand 
in  need  of,  and  you  from  character  perhaps  less,  but  certainly  now 
from  situation  more  than  myself — lectures  in  short  which  I  am 
studying  to  very  little  purpose.  What  a  happy  man  you  are 
to  love  dancing  !  Eemember  that  I  by  no  means  admit  all  that 
you  say,  hardly  indeed  any  part  of  it,  about  your  own  disposition 
for  bustling  and  putting  yourself  forward.  Fortunately  you  have 
a  noble  ambition — the  most  so  of  any — the  ambition  of  distin- 
guishing yourself  by  honest  means.  That  will  I  hope  supply  the 
place  of  a  more  active  turn,  but  be  not  too  confident.  Pray  tell 
me  whether  you  look  so  far  forward  as  to  next  summer,  and  what 
is  to  become  of  you  then  ?     I  have  a  reason  for  asking. 

With  regard  to  the  profession  itself,  I  think  you  undervalue 
its  consequence — the  consequence  which  it  gives,  I  mean — for, 
as  to  the  study,  I  perfectly  agree  with  you  that  Hippocrates, 
Chrysostom,  and  Lord  Coke  are  indifferent  (do  not  let  Sawkins 
see  that !)  I  know  but  of  one  which  gives  more  of  the  Hie  illc 
Wardus,  &c.,  than  Physick,  and  by  that  you  may  guess  I  mean 
Law.     As  to  your  E — s,  your  L — s,  &c.,  &c.,  peace  be  to  all  such 


COEEESPONDENCE   WITH  W.  W.   GEENVILLE      11 

— such  peace  I  mean  as  can  be  enjoyed  by  people  who  have 
neither  opinions  nor  characters  of  their  own,  but  are  obliged  to 
borrow  them  from  the  reflection  of  some  red-heeled  luminary 
or  other.  God  forbid  that  any  one  whom  I  value  but  half  as  much 
as  I  do  you,  should  engage  in  the  most  toilsome  of  all  drudgery, 
and  I  think  the  most  unprofitable,  since  its  means  and  its  end  are 
both  that  greatest  curse  in  Nature — Dependence. 

I  laugh  at  your  Eudiometer,  it  is  true,  but  at  the  same  time 

I  rejoice  in  it.     What  the had  you  to  do  with  Gas  ?     I  do  not 

see  how,  when  the  particular  view  which  had  to  do  with  that  was 
at  an  end,  it  was  at  all  better  than  mosses  and  toadstools. 

And  now  I  think  I  have  pretty  well  answered  your  letter. 
The  print  was  left  there  for  your  approbation,  and  if  it  met  with 
that,  for  your  acceptance. 

There  is  no  description  to  indicate  the  subject  of  the 
print ;  but  the  passage  about  the  verses,  already  quoted, 
follows.  There  is  also  an  allusion  at  the  close  of  this  letter 
to  the  possibility  of  Scrope  entering  the  Militia.  William 
Grenville  w&s  averse  from  the  idea  of  his  friend  joining  that 
corps,  apparently  because  he  thought  it  v^ould  tend  to  divide 
his  energies.  The  step,  however,  had  probably  been  sug- 
gested by  Lord  Temple,  or  those  around  him,  for  it  was  the 
Bucks  Militia  which  Scrope  eventually  joined,  perhaps  some 
time  later.  At  this  period  the  correspondence  betv^een  the 
two  young  men  was  briskly  carried  on ;  Scrope  w-rote 
speedily,  perhaps  more  than  once,  in  response  to  Grenville's 
desponding  remarks,  warning  him  against  indulgence  in 
the  feelings  which  had  prompted  them.  The  next  letter  in 
my  collection  is  dated,  '  Pall  Mall,  November  30,  1780.' 

My  dear  Bernard, — You  seem  to  have  taken  in  too  strong 
a  sense  what  I  said  about  the  difficulties  I  find  in  attaining  what 
I  am  so  very  sensible  that  I  want ;  or  perhaps  (for  I  really  forget) 
my  letter  might  have  been  written  as  you  suppose  in  an  unlucky 
moment.  But  you  certainly  misunderstood  the  cause,  or  rather 
the  object,  of  my  despair,  be  that  more  or  less  according  as  the 
wind  is  in  the  East  or  the  West ;  you  wonder  that  I  should 
suppose  myself  incapable  of  acquiring  what  is  already  attained  by 
so  many  men  for  whom,  as  you  justly  suppose,  I  must  have  so 
perfect  a  contempt ;  and  you  state  that  by  using  the  proper  means 
nothing  is  more  easy — why  then  should  I  despair  ?    You  give  me 


12  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

here,  I  see,  credit  for  a  modesty  and  diffidence  of  myself  which 
I  have.  I  have  treasured  up  in  my  mind  a  saying  of  Lord 
Cobham's  M^hich  was  repeated  to  me  frequently  by  my  Uncle,^ 
after  having  been  confirmed  to  him,  as  he  said,  by  all  his  ex- 
perience. This  was  that  there  is  nothing  within  the  compass  of 
a  reasonable  man's  wish  which  he  may  not  be  sure  of  attaining, 
if  he  will  use  the  proper  means.  If,  then,  I  hold  nothing  to  be 
impossible  to  me  which  I  in  my  sober  senses  desire,  how  much 
less  must  I  imagine  those  things  to  be  which  the  most  con- 
temptible of  mankind  possess  ?  But  it  is  the  road  to  them  of 
which  I  despair,  I  have  no  doubt  if  I  could  bring  myself  to 
attend  Mr.  Hart's  school,  where  grown  gentlemen  are  taught  to 
dance,  that  I  should  acquit  myself  as  well  as  any  Alderman  of 
them  all.  But  you  are  too  good  a  logician  not  to  know  that  the 
premises  being  taken  away,  the  conclusion  follows  it  [sic].  And 
certainly  if  I  set  out  on  the  Oxford  road,  that  will  not  carry  me 
to  Scotland ;  that  is  to  say,  that  the  being  a  student  at  Ch.  Ch.  for 
four  years  and  then  moving  to  Lincoln's  Inn,  or  at  least  living  in 
Pall  Mall  as  if  I  was  at  L.  Inn,  is  not  the  ready  way  to  carry  off 
a  rich  heiress.  And  so  much  for  that,  observing  only — that 
I  think  myself  already  improved,  notwithstanding  that  I  can 
reproach  myself  with  no  neglect  of  my  Blackstone,  but  on  the 
contrary  can  affirm  with  truth,  that  at  no  time,  hardly  even  when 
in  the  furor  of  prize-writing  did  I  employ  myself  better,  I  mean 
in  point  of  application,  or  even  so  well,  in  the  quiet  shades  of 
Oxford,  than  now  during  my  first  month's  residence  in  London. 

The  next  paragraph  apparently  refers  to  some  assistance 
which  Scrope  gave  to  Lord  Wellesley,  eldest  son  of  the 
Earl  of  Mornington,  in  translating  the  '  Odyssey,'  he  being 
senior  by  nearly  two  years  to  the  young  lord. 

You  may  perhaps  expect  that  I  should  attack  you  on  what 
Wellesley  had  told  me  about  Homer's  '  Odyssey ' ;  but  on  the 
contrary  I  approve  very  much — in  great  measure  on  your  account, 
and  infinitely  more  on  his.  It  was  the  greatest  act  of  friendship 
you  could  show  him,  and  I  think  you  will  find  your  account 
in  it. 

Perhaps  you  will  not  think  the  following  lines  equally  ex- 
'  The  uncle  must  have  been  the  Earl  Temple  recently  deceased ;  and  the 
'Lord  Cobham,'  Kichard  Temple,  Viscount  and  Baron  Cobham  (died  1749), 
whose  sister  Hester,  created  Countess  Temple,  was  wife  of  Richard  Grenville 
of  Wotton,  mother  of  the  first  Earl  Temple  and  grandmother  of  the  second, 
and  of  William  Wyndbam  Grenville.    See  Debrett's  and  Burke's  Peerages. 


THE  ENGLISH  PEIZE  ESSAY  13 

cusable,  since  I  could  derive  no  benefit  from  making  them,  and 
I  am  afraid  they  only  show  how  soon  disuse  swallows  up  whatever 
little  one  has  had  that  way,  &c.,  &c. 

Then  follow  some  Latin  verses  about  Medea.  Further 
on  Mr.  Grenville  adds  :  '  I  am  glad  to  hear  from  yourself 
and  from  Wellesley,  to  what  good  account  your  time  is 
turned  in  Oxford.' 

There  is  a  postscript  to  this  letter,  which  refers  to 
Thomas  Bernard  : 

I  saw  your  Brother  in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  the  other 
day,  taking  the  oaths  (without  his  wig)  on  being  called  to  the 
Bar. 

Then  Mr.  Grenville  returns  to  the  old  topics : 

Do  you  come  to  town  at  all  at  Xmas  ?  and  when,  for  I  would 
contrive  to  be  here.  '  'Gainst  the  soft  magic  '  has  a  peculiar 
beauty  from  being  connected  with  '  Victor  unto  bondage  charmed  ' 
in  the  next  line. 

In  the  following  year,  1781,  Scrope  Bernard  was  the 
fortunate  writer  of  the  English  Prize  Essay.  A  rush  of 
congratulatory  epistles  from  friends  and  relatives  proclaimed 
their  satisfaction,  in  some  cases  approaching  to  delight,  at 
his  triumph.  There  is  scarcely  one  of  these  letters  more 
jubilant  than  the  following  effusion  from  William  Grenville 
dated  '  Lincoln's  Inn,  June  18.' 

My  dear  Bernard, — I  am  sure  you  do  not  expect  a  formal 
congratulation  from  me,  but  judge  from  your  own  feelings  what 
mine  are  on  the  occasion.  I  heartily  wish  it  was  in  my  power 
to  come  down  on  Saturday,  but  it  is  absolutely  necessary  in  order 
to  keep  the  term  that  I  should  be  one  day  in  Hall  next  week. 
That  day  shall  be  Sunday,  and  unless  anything  should  intervene 
(which  is  just  possible)  you  may  expect  me  on  Monday  time 
enough  for  the  ceremony.  At  all  events  nothing  but  an  immediate 
offer  of  the  Seals  should  make  me  miss  Wednesday.  Can  you  get 
me  any  rooms  for  that  week  ?  I  am  afraid  not.  If  so,  you  must 
engage  lodgings  for  me  at  Brown's  or  anywhere  that  you  can  get 
them. 

I  am  overjoyed,  but  not  surprised,  so  Adieu. 

Ever  most  afftely  yours 

W.  W.  G. 


14  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Thomas  Bernard  wrote  kindly  and  calmly  as  ever,  though 
his  letter  was  evidently  penned  in  haste. 

My  dear  brother, — Accept  my  congratulations.  I  did  not 
venture  to  say  how  much  I  set  my  heart  on  your  success,  as  in 
possibility  it  might  add  to  a  disappointment.  It  is  exactly  what 
your  friends  would  wish  for  you.  Mr.  Jackson  wished  me  joy  on 
your  success  just  before  I  came  to  my  chambers  and  found  your 
letter. 

I  have  every  reason  to  expect  that  I  shall  be  able  to  be  with 
you  on  Wednesday.  I  certainly  will  come  if  I  can.  May  I  re- 
commend you  to  try  (and  to  be  sure  of)  the  tone  of  voice  which 
you  can  command,  which  will  best  suit  the  Theatre ;  it  is  the  fault 
of  all  young  speakers  ;  a  jury  of  your  friends  who  have  ears  would 
enable  you  to  decide  upon  it  with  precision. 

The  other  subject  I  reserve  till  I  see  Oxford. 

Yours  ever  with  the  warmest  wishes, 

Tho.  Bernaed. 
19  June,  1781. 

Mr.  Harwood,  who  has  just  come  in,  desires  to  add  his  con- 
gratulations. 

How  this  Commemoration  passed  off  and  especially  how 
Scrope  acquitted  himself  in  the  Theatre,  I  have  not  been 
able  to  discover.  A  printed  notice  of  his  life  in  the  *  Annual 
Biography  and  Obituary  of  1831  '  ^  gives  the  name  of  his 
essay  '  The  Origin  and  Use  of  Fable.'  This  is  probably 
correct,  although  the  notice  contains  some  mistakes  on 
other  points.  But  it  is  curious  that  Scrope's  sister  Julia, 
writing  to  one  of  his  sons  after  his  death,  on  the  subject  of 
the  proposed  obituary  notice,  entitled  his  essay  '  Antiquity,' 
and  states  that  Dr.  Hall,  afterwards  Dean  of  Christ  Church, 
recited  the  Latin  Prize  Poem  on  the  same  occasion.  No 
copy  of  Scrope's  Essay  is  now  to  be  found  amongst  the 
family  papers. 

When  the  excitement  was  well  over,  Scrope  Bernard 
evidently  sent  a  copy  of  his  treatise  to  Dr.  Drury,  who  must 
have  been  his  tutor  or  master  at  Harrow ;  perhaps  at  the 
doctor's  request.     The  reply  is  extant. 

'  '  Annual  Biography  and  Obituary,  1831 :  A  General  Biographical  List  of 
Persons  who  have  died  in  1829-30.' 


VEESES  BY   W.  W.  GRENVILLB  15 

My  dear  Friend, — I  thank  you  for  your  excellent  Essay,  which 
I- have  already  perused  twice  with  infinite  Pleasure.  It  is  a  close, 
compact,  and  elegant  Peace  [sic]  of  Eeasoning,  and  without  pro- 
truding any  amhitiosa  ornamenta  on  the  reader,  it  engages  his 
attention,  satisfies  his  enquiries,  and  commands  his  approbation. 
That  you  may  continue  to  enrich  your  mind  with  various  know- 
ledge, and  ever  meet  with  Honors  suitable  to  your  Deserts  is  the 
sincere  wish  of  your 

Affectionate  Friend 

J.  Druky. 
Harrow,  Sept.  25th,  1781. 

Scrope  Bernard's  success  inspired  William  Grenville  with 
some  grandiloquent  Long  Vacation  verses,  written  while  he 
was  staying  with  other  friends  in  Cornwall,  near  the  Land's 
End.     They  are  headed  : 

Bernarde  salve,  maxime  Physice  ! 
Bernarde  salve  !  Te  Boerhavius 
Hippocratesque  Galenusque 
Suspicient  Dominumque  dicent. 

Then  follows  a  Greek  introduction,  after  which  the  poet 
bursts  into  English  verse  which  he  terms  Pindaric, 

Bernard,  whom  rebel  Jersey  bore 

There,  where  the  hostile  shore 

O'er  the  vast  Atlantic  frowns, 

Where  Indians  howl  away  the  night 
And  Yankees  tremble  while  they  fight 

To  shake  Imperial  George's  crowns  ; 

Nursed  in  the  lap  of  Power 

And  in  a  luckless  horn- 
Doomed  to  cross  the  foaming  main, 

Thee  Medycina  gave 

To  be  the  ever-scowling  Jackson's  slave 
O'er  Logic's  gulf  to  yawn  in  vain. 

And  so  on.     Scrope's  appearance  on  the  occasion  of  taking 
his  B.A.  degree  is  noted  with  : 

Bare  was  thy  hallowed  head 
Which  PhcelDUS  circles  with  his  laurel  wreath, 
A  lambskin  o'er  thy  shoulders  spread 
Emblem  of  innocence  and  honours  new. 


16  THE  BEENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

The  young  graduate  is  then  depicted  as  spurning  *  un- 
hooded  undergraduates,'  and  beholding  them  '  with  exulting 
joy,'  placed  beneath  his  feet  in  church. 

Nor  this  thy  soaring  mind  could  satisfy, 

Ever  to  ambition  true ; 
Such  as  when  William  passed  th'  ensanguined  Boyne, 
You  viewed  with  ardent  eyes, 
You  seized  the  envied  prize,  &c.  &c. 

Grenville  and  his  friends,  for  it  was  probably  a  joint 
composition,  continue  : 

Bernard  all  hail ! 
Prom  that  remotest  bay 
Lashed  by  the  salt  sea's  whitening  spray. 
Where  scowls  the  fabled  Michael's  Mount, 
The  seat  of  warrior  and  of  chieftain  bold, 
O'er  Marazion  and  Pensanza's  hold. 
The  youths,  who  spread  the  daring  sail 
From  Foy  to  Mevagissey's  rocky  pier, 
And  braved  perfidious  Galha's  threat'ning  privateer, 


With  votive  verse  thy  footsteps  greet. 

This  might  mean  that  Scrope  had  joined  the  party,  or 
was  about  to  join  it ;  but  I  have  no  note  of  any  journey  that 
year  except  in  a  northerly  direction.  The  Latin  and 
Grecian  Muses  are  next  described  as  showering  *  lyric 
chaplets  '  and  scattering  *  epigrammatic  lays  '  before  Scrope. 
And  then : 

Though  not  the  briefest,  next  the  British  maid. 
Daughter  of  Freedom,  on  Pindaric  wing 
Soaring  aloft,  spurns  metre's  iron  chains 
And  times  to  thee  her  native  strains. 
Rejoiced  one  loyal  Yankee's  worth  to  sing. 

Sundry  learned  Latin  annotations  illustrate  and  explain  this 
interesting  effusion. 

From  a  letter,  of  September  15,  written  by  George  Shaw 
to  Scrope   Bernard,^  it   appears  that  the  latter  must  have 

'  MS.  Letters  at  Nether  Winchendon, 


SCAEBOEOUGH  17 

visited  Scarborough  before  that  date.  From  that  gay  resort 
he  wrote  an  '  extremely  pictm'esque'  description,  from  which 
his  friend  gathered  that  it  was  '  an  excellent  place  for 
killing  time,'  but  that  its  medical  merits  were  doubtful. 
Probably  Scrope  either  met  his  cousin  Mrs.  Edmunds 
there,  or  visited  her  at  Worsborough,  and  through  her 
made  the  acquaintance  of  a  young  lady  who  will  be  men- 
tioned again  more  than  once,  but  whose  name  has  not 
transpired. 

Mr.  Shaw's  letter  is  addressed  to  Oxford  ;  it  is  therefore 
probable  that  the  query  which  follows  may  be  answered 
in  the  negative,  and  that  Scrope,  having  once  returned  from 
the  north,  did  not  travel  in  that  direction  again  ;  indeed, 
although  the  idea  of  studying  in  Edinburgh  had  at  one 
time  apparently  crossed  his  mind,  I  cannot  find  any 
evidence  of  his  having  visited  that  city  at  all. 

Do  you  still  continue  your  intention  of  taking  a  much  longer 
Northern  journey  this  season,  or  do  you  mean  to  pursue  your 
medical  studies  at  Oxford  or  in  London  ?  The  London  Lecturers, 
I  observe,  are  already  filling  the  newspapers  with  their  advertise- 
ments, and  promising  great  advantages  to  a  rising  race  of  homi- 
cides. If  you  continue  in  Oxford  during  the  winter  I  make  no 
doubt  of  your  attending  Dr.  Wall's  Lectures,  which  I  venture  to 
predict  will  be  excellent  and  well  attended. 

After  some  reference  to  a  controversy  on  respiration, 
Mr.  Shaw  adds  : 

If  I  remember  right,  a  great  part  of  your  own  studies  during 
your  residence  at  Bierton  was  directed  to  this  sublime  subject ; 
in  particular,  I  remember,  a  treat  of  air  which  you  was  ambitious 
of  having  reputed  greatly  superior  to  common  atmospheric  air, 
but  which,  from  some  perverse  circumstances  attending  your 
experiment,  proved,  so  far  as  could  be  guessed  from  the  trial  of 
common  sense  and  perception,  to  be  not  quite  so  good  as  the  air 
we  are  obliged  to  make  shift  with  in  general. 

After  all,  however,  I  do  by  no  means  ridicule  the  investigation 
of  this  important  fluid,  but  am  inclined  to  express  a  doubt  whether 
Dr.  Priestly's  experiments  are  so  conclusive  as  he  persuades  him- 
self to  believe. 

To  descend  at  once  from  these  lofty  speculations.     Aylesbury 

VOL.  III.  C 


18  THE  BEENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

races  you  know  are  almost  at  hand,  but  the  expectations  of  people 
do  not  seem  to  be  raised  very  high  on  this  subject ;  and  I  believe  it 
is  generally  thought  that  these  will  be  the  last  Aylesbury  races. 
If  they  should  prove  any  temptation  to  you  to  leave  more  im- 
portant pursuits  for  a  few  days,  we  shall  rejoice  very  much  in  the 
hope  of  seeing  you  at  Bierton. 

Scrope  must  have  accepted  this  invitation,  since  he 
writes  to  Mr.  Edmunds  :  ^ 

The  Aylesbury  races,  or  rather  the  races  of  Buckinghamshire, 
have  been  particularly  gbod  this  year,  and  have  made  a  great 
noise  in  this  part  of  the  world.  I  will  not  flatter  the  county  by 
comparing  them  with  Doncaster  ;  nor  shall  I  flatter  Yorks  if  I  say 
that  in  consideration  of  Doncaster  they  were  very  insignificant ; 
we  had  no  Pilots,  or  Fortunes,  no  Mansion-house  for  our  balls ;  no 
playhouse  or  company  of  players.  However,  we  exhibited  some 
decent  gallops  upon  the  race-grounds,  had  one  or  two  hops  at 
night,  and  made  altogether  a  snug  party,  and  what  the  Bucking- 
hamshires  called  a  magnificent  meeting. 

To  return  to  Mr.  Shaw's  letter,  the  following  postscript 
bears  witness  to  his  love  of  horticulture,  and  to  his  friends 
attentive  care  : 

When  you  write  to  Mr.  Wickham,  be  so  good  as  to  give  my 
compliments  to  him,  and  tell  him  I  am  extremely  obliged  to  him 
for  the  trouble  he  has  taken  in  preserving  a  specimen  of  the 
cactus.  That  any  other  plant  he  may  think  curious,  if  not  too 
troublesome  to  him,  would  be  extremely  acceptable. 

There  is  another  postscript  relating  to  a  Mr.  Hare,  who 
had  been  admitted  to  Holy  Orders  somewhat  late,  and 
who  seems  to  have  regretted  this  step.  George  Shaw  had 
apparently  entered  his  sacred  profession  too  early  to  have 
ascertained  his  vocation.  When,  soon  after  this  period, 
his  home  was  broken  up  by  the  successive  deaths  of  his 
mother,  sister,  and  father,  he  reverted  to  his  medical  studies. 
This  indeed  would  not  have  been  conclusive,  since  many 
clergymen  of  the  time  combined  the  practice  of  the  healing 
art  with  their  clerical  duties  ;  but  Mr.  Shaw,^  after  taking 

'  MS.  Letters  at  Nether  Wincliendon. 

"  Lipscomb,  Hist,  of  Bucks,  vol.  ii.,  '  Bierton.' 


GEOEGE  SHAW  19 

his  M.A.  degree,  devoted  himself  entirely  to  natural  history, 
lectured  in  London  on  botany  and  zoology,  became  a  Vice- 
President  of  the  Linnaean  Society,  a  Fellow  of  the  Koyal 
Society,  and  Principal  Keeper  of  the  Natural  History 
Collections  at  the  British  Museum.  His  brother  the  Eev. 
John  Shaw,  D.D.,  of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  wrote  a 
Latin  epitaph,  describing  his  career,  for  his  grave  in  St. 
George's  churchyard,  Bloomsbury. 


c  2 


20  THE  BEENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 


CHAPTER   II 

THE    DISPERSED    FAMILY 

The  Competitors  for  the  Christ  Church  Prizes — Letters  from  William  Wyndham 
Grenville — Life  at  Wendover — Julia  Smith  n^e  Bernard— Fanny  Bernard 
and  Julia's  Wedded  Happiness — A  Remarkable  Garment— The  'Courting 
Bower' — Rev.  Richard  King — Mrs.  Edmunds— Fanny  Bernard's  Engage- 
ment to  Mr.  King — Thomas  Bernard — His  Matrimonial  Engagement  with 
Margaret  Adair— Their  Marriage— Scrope  Bernard's  First  Love— Fanny 
Bernard's  Determination — Her  Marriage. 

It  will  of  course  be  concluded  that  Scrope  Bernard  had 
many  college  friends  besides  William  Wyndham  Grenville, 
but  he  was  probably  first  on  the  list ;  I  certainly  have  not 
the  same  amount  of  correspondence  from  any  other  youth. 
Mr.  Godschall,  who  continued  to  express  himself  chiefly 
in  careless  verse,  comes  next ;  and  I  ought  not  to  omit 
Mr.  Sawkins,  whose  name  occurs  immediately  after  Scrope 
Bernard's  in  the  list  of  competitors  for  the  Christ  Church 
prizes.  The  others  were  Buckle,  and  Harwood  whose 
congratulations  to  Scrope  on  his  University  Prize  Essay 
have  been  mentioned.  Mr.  Sawkins  wrote  several  letters 
during  the  continuance  of  a  college  quarrel ;  he  seems  to 
have  been  a  sensitive  young  man,  and  believed  for  a  time 
that  Grenville  and  Bernard,  who  may  have  been  somewhat 
exuberant  in  their  mirth,  were  turning  him  into  ridicule. 
The  bundle  of  letters,  labelled  by  Scrope  Bernard,  '  Letters, 
Negotiations,  &c.,'  shows  that  every  effort  was  made  to 
soothe  him,  and  that  William  Grenville  gave  himself  much 
trouble  in  the  matter ;  the  result  being  a  complete  restoration 
of  harmony. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  follow  the  career  of  this  gentle- 
man, and  of  others  connected  with  those  Oxford  days,  but 


LETTEES  PEOM  W.  W.  GEENVILLE  21 

this  I  am  unable  to  do  in  all  cases.  In  the  case  of  William 
Granville,  there  are  ample  materials,  owing  to  his  originally 
distinguished  surroundings,  and  his  eminent  public  career, 
which  is  only  touched  upon  in  these  volumes  when  it  has 
any  bearing  on  the  Bernard  history.  And  it  must  be  added 
that,  by  reason  of  his  early  advantages,  and  of  the  use 
which  he  made  of  them,  being,  even  in  youth,  not  only 
a  scholar,  but  a  thinker,  his  early  letters  are  the  most 
interesting  of  the  collection. 

Soon  after  the  Long  Vacation  of  1781,  William  Grenville 
wrote  to  Scrope  Bernard  from  Lincoln's  Inn,^  one  of  those 
epistles  no  longer  to  be  met  with — lengthy,  erudite,  and 
well-thought  out — which  have  vanished  before  the  penny 
post  and  the  general  scramble  for  existence : 

My  dear  Bernard, — I  rejoice  exceedingly  in  your  account  of 
your  industry,  especially  as  I  know  you  have  not  exaggerated  it 
from  my  having  often  observed  how  little  you  are  disposed  (less 
than  any  man  I  know)  even  to  do  justice  to  your  own  merit. 
And  I  say  merit,  because  1  think  it  would  be  preposterous  if  men 
were  allowed  to  arrogate  merit  to  themselves  for  their  abilities, 
which  are  such  as  God  has  given  them  ;  or  their  rank  or  fortune, 
which  they  owe  too  often  to  the  guilt  of  their  ancestors,  or  to  their 
own,  and  that  none  should  be  allowed  to  the  sacrifice  of  time, 
pleasure,  or  health  to  laborious  and  useful  pursuits.  When  there- 
fore you  tell  me  of  your  adding  to  your  other  advantages  that 
alone  which  is  wanted  from  you,  I  already  see  you  at  the  head  of 
a  lucrative  and  honourable  profession,  doing  credit  to  it,  both  by 
that  extensive  circle  of  knowledge  for  which  it  is  so  distinguished, 
and  by  your  own  gentleness  of  manners  and  a  natural  humanity 
which  is  too  often  wanting  in  the  profession. 

If  this  should  sound  a  little  too  grave  you  will  excuse  me,  and 
attribute  it  to  my  pleasure  in  hearing  that  you  was  leaving  step  by 
step.  The  medical  society,  especially  under  such  auspices,  is  not 
a  hobby  horse ;  it  is  the  steady  and  trained  horse,  assigned  you  in 
that  troop  of  life  in  which  you  have  a  commission,  and  you  can- 
not exercise  yourself  upon  it  too  often,  since  it  is  upon  that  that 
you  are  to  exert  yourself  in  certamine,  and  by  that,  that  you  ac- 
quire, not  wealth  only  (which,  by  the  by,  is  not  in  itself  to  be 

'  MS.  Letter  of  William  Grenville,  at  Nether  Winchendon,  dated  Lincoln's 
Inn,  November  23,  1781. 


22  THE  BBKNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

despised,  but  the  vicious  desire  for  it  and    the  bad  use   of  it). 

But:— 

Honour,  Love,  Obedience,  troops  of  Friends, 
Praises  both  loud  and  full — heart-honour — ^ 

Immediately  after  this  quotation  the  writer  makes  a 
digression  from  his  theme  by  entering  into  questions  of 
style,  as  a  vehicle  for  thought  more  especially  ;  but  it  appears 
in  the  course  of  a  page  of  the  large  letter-paper  then  in  use 
that  he  kept  the  original  subject  in  viev^,  and  that  the 
digression  was  subsidiary.     It  begins  : 

At  the  same  time  you  must  give  me  leave  to  tell  you  my 
opinion  upon  your  St.  Johnian  or  Bolingbrokian  furor,  which 
appears  to  me  more  likely  to  vitiate  and  corrupt  your  title  than  if 
you  had  a  taste  for  all  the  bad  writing  that  was  never  read.  This 
perhaps  you'll  vote  a  paradox.  My  idea  is  grounded  upon  the 
clear  distinction  which  appears  to  me  to  exist  between  the  didactic 
and  the  epic  stile  of  prose,  between  the  simple,  clear,  elegant  and 
philosophical  stile  of  Addison  and  Swift,  and  the  oratorical  and 
declamatory  effusions,  I  might  almost  say  rhapsodies,  of  Boling- 
broke  ;  which  are  nevertheless  as  well  suited  to  his  subjects  as 
the  stile  of  the  others  is  to  theirs. 

Mr.  Grenville  then  instances  Steele  as  an  author  who 
made  the  mistake  of  writing  in  the  same  style  in  his  essays 
as  in  his  political  pamphlets. 

Now  if  Bolingbroke  wishes,  either  by  a  speech,  a  pamphlet,  or 
a  craftsman,  to  raise  or  to  foment  a  faction  against  a  minister,  it 
is  for  his  purpose  to  inflame  the  passions  of  his  countrymen.  He 
is  to  raise  in  them  a  certain  degree  even  of  phrensy,  before  he  can 
hope  to  accomplish  that  end  to  which  his  labour  is  directed.  Is 
this  the  case  with  a  moralist  or  a  philosopher  ?  And  is  it  not  still 
less  so  with  a  man  who  is  explaining  the  theory  of  a  science,  or 
deducing  practical  consequences  from  its  nature  and  principles  ? 

'  I  do  not  know  whether  Mr.  Grenville  altered  Shakespeare  in  this  instance 
himself.     The  passage  in  Johnson  and  Stevens,  and  in  Theobald  runs  : 
'  And  that  which  should  accompany  old  age, 
As  honour,  love,  obedience,  troops  of  friends, 
I  must  not  look  to  have  ;  but,  in  their  stead. 
Curses,  not  loud,  but  deep,  mouth-honour,  breath, 
Which  the  poor  heart  would  fain  deny,  and  dare  not.' 

Macbeth,  Act  V.,  Scene  III. 


A  'MUTUAL  IMPEOVEMENT'  COEEESPONDENCE  23 

Certainly  you  say  very  truly  that  the  Thoracic  Duct  is  a  bad 
subject  for  a  declamatory  composition.  But  it  does  not  follow 
that  it  is  so  for  a  clear  and  elegant  composition.  Observe  v^hat 
is  the  practice  of  a  great  man,  and  great  master  of  both  stiles. 

This  means  Cicero,  and  after  illustrating  his  meaning 
from  his  works,  Mr.  Grenville  proceeds  to  instance  Virgil 
for  a  like  purpose,  ending  with  :  '  It  is  an  endless  and 
inexhaustible  subject,  but  I  will  release  you  at  last ' ;  and 
then  alludes  to  the  project  of  a  sort  of  '  mutual  improvement ' 
correspondence : 

I  shall  be  most  sincerely  obliged  to  you  for  such  letters  as  you 
mention,  which  will  afford  me  a  most  agreeable  relaxation  from 
my  own  studies,  and  will  in  some  degree  supply  what  I  always 
considered  a  deficiency  in  my  Oxford  education.  My  own  hobby 
at  present  is  the  following  (tho'  I  must  do  myself  the  justice  to 
say  that  I  give  little  time  to  anything  but  law) — I  want  to  collect 
what  I  call  historical  parallels.  Such  is,  tho'  it  is  a  very  trite 
example,  that  of  the  deaths  of  Epaminondas  and  Wolfe,  or  that 
of  the  resignations  of  Charles  Vth  and  Diocletian  or  that  more 
extraordinary  one  of  Sylla.  By  throwing  these  together  one  sees 
how  different  men  have  acted  in  the  same  events,  and  one  derives 
a  certain  degree  of  advantage  with  some  little  amusement  in  the 
composition.  If  you  should  happen  to  meet  with  or  recollect  any 
at  all  remarkable,  I  wish  you  would,  whenever  you  have  leisure, 
send  me  either  a  simple  note  of  the  names,  or — what  I  should  like 
much  better — a  little  parallel  drawn  up  by  yourself.  You  will 
observe  I  mean  them  to  be  short,  as  the  plan  merely  goes  to  one 
incident  and  not,  like  Plutarch's,  to  whole  lives.  Whenever  I 
see  you  I  shall  have  one  or  two  to  show  you.  It  is  at  least  a 
harmless,  and  perhaps  not  quite  useless,  lounge. 

But  do  not  let  it  interrupt  better,  much  better  things,  such  as 
Anatomical  Discourses  and  Harangues  on  the  Diseases  of 
Children.  It  would  be  a  curious  speculation  on  that  subject,  to 
know  whether  more  have  not  perished  since  it  has  become  the 
fashion  for  all  mothers  to  suckle  their  children.  I  own  I  should 
think  that  a  cow,  or  a  farmer's  wife,  would  be  a  much  fitter  nurse 
than  the  Duchess  of  Devonshire.  But  I  am  going  very  far  ultra 
crepidam,  so  I  shall  return  to  my  reports,  and  wish  you  good 
night. 

But  the  writer  had  not  quite  finished  yet.  A  postscript 
or  short  appendix,  originally,  no  doubt,  jotted  down  on  a 


24  THE  BERNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

stray  bit  of  paper,  is   stuck  by  sealing-wax  to  the  end  of 
the  letter, 

I  never  knew  what  good,  or  rather  fine  criticism  was,  till  I 
dipped  the  other  day  into  Longinus,  and  read  his  observations  on 
the  passage  in  Demosth.  '  De  Corona  ':  Ov  fia  tou?  ii>  MapaOwvt 
TrpoKLvSweva-avTU';,  &c.,  &c.  You  may  easily  find  it  out,  and  pray 
read  it  if  you  have  leisure.  I  have  even  found  time  to  translate 
both  text  and  commentary,  but  not  satisfactorily  to  myself. 

That  Scrope  was  now  commencing  in  earnest  the  battle 
of  life  is  evident  from  this  and  other  letters,  and  that  he 
was,  as  part  of  the  necessary  effort,  vigorously  striving  to 
concentrate  his  energies  on  the  profession  he  had  chosen,  an 
effort  always  painful  to  persons  conscious  of  varied  abilities, 
and  obliged,  as  it  were,  to  suppress  a  portion  of  themselves 
in  order  to  achieve  success.  He  was  so  far  his  own  master, 
being  left  without  father  or  mother,  as  to  make  the  effort 
doubly  hard,  since  he  lacked  the  external  support  and 
pressure  of  parental  authority,  the  only  substitute  being  the 
wise  and  kindly  counsel  of  his  brother  Thomas,  and  of  other 
members  of  the  family  in  their  degrees. 

At  this  period  the  current  of  life  flowed  onward  with  a 
peacefulness,  probably  unexpected,  for  all  the  family  of  Sir 
Francis  Bernard,  notwithstanding  their  previous  bereave- 
ments and  disappointments — for  all,  that  is,  except  the 
unfortunate  eldest  son  in  America.  Scrope,  while  at 
Oxford,  was  not  precluded  by  distance  from  an  occasional 
visit  to  Wendover,  where  an  unmarried  sister  lived  with 
Julia,  ordinarily  Fanny,  but  in  her  absence,  Emily.  The 
Eev.  Joseph  Smith's  parish,  nestling  under  the  shelter  of 
the  Chiltern  Hills,  was  divided  into  the  '  borough  and 
forrens,'  ^  and  the  said  borough  returned  two  members  to 
Parliament,  having  done  so  since  the  28th  of  Edward  I., 
except  for  an  interval  in  the  following  reign.     It  was  dis- 

'  Lipscomb,  Hist,  of  Bucks,  vol.  ii.,  '  Wendover.'  England's  Gazetteer,  1751, 
vol.  ii.,  '  Wendover.'  It  sent  members  to  Parliament  the  28th  of  Edward  I., 
and  intermitted  the  two  first  years  of  Edward  II.,  but  was  restored  to  that 
privilege  with  Amersham. 


WENDOVER  25 

franchised  by  the   Keform   Bill  of  1832,  at  which  time  it 
contained  264  houses  and  1,387  inhabitants. 

The  situation  [says  Lipscomb]  is  pleasant  and  even  picturesque, 
the  town  being  partly  enclosed  by  lofty  irregular  eminences 
whose  surfaces,  clothed  with  beechwood  and  firs,  or  dotted  with 
sheep,  are  in  full  view  from  the  streets,  whilst,  in  an  opposite 
direction,  the  eye  ranges  over  the  contiguous  Vale  of  Aylesbury, 
rich  with  corn  and  pasturage,  to  the  bold  hills  which  are  its 
northern  boundaries.  .  .  .  The  town,  properly  so-called,  is  situated 
about  the  middle  of  the  parish ;  the  forrens,  consisting  of  detached 
farmhouses  and  cottages,  interspersed  among  some  dwellings  of 
superior  description,  being  chiefly  southward  of  the  tovm. 

The  population  V7as  almost  entirely  agricultural,  and  the 
women  made  lace,  then  an  important  industry  in  Bucks. 
The  site  of  the  old  vicarage  is  still  shown,  though  it  has 
been  pulled  down  some  years,  and  another  built  in  a  different 
part  of  the  parish ;  and  Wendover  is  a  pretty  village,  not- 
withstanding the  nearness  of  a  railway  which  has  cut  up 
that  line  of  country.  The  value  of  the  living  must  have 
been  small  indeed  when  Julia  Bernard  married  its  vicar, 
if,  as  I  have  heard  my  father  say,  their  income,  from  all 
sources,  did  not  exceed  SOOl.  per  annum ;  by  no  means  a 
large  sum,  even  in  those  days.  Julia  wrote,  in  her 
*  Keminiscences '  :  '  His  good  prudence  and  my  willing 
acquiescence  enabled  us  to  get  on  pretty  well.  Certainly  it 
was  a  small  style  I  had  not  been  accustomed  to,  but  a 
willing  and  contented  mind  made  us  very  happy.'  I  have 
been  told  that  the  young  wife,  conscious  of  her  inability 
to  give  her  friends  luxurious  dinners,  yet  anxious  for  her 
reputation  as  a  housekeeper  and  hostess,  used  to  ask 
them  to  name  some  favourite  dish,  that  she  might  provide 
it  when  they  visited  her,  and  which  was  brought,  of  course, 
as  nearly  to  perfection  as  previous  study  and  practice  could 
achieve. 

And  the  vicarage,  as  appears  from  glimpses  given  of  the 
life  in  her  letters,  was  not  entirely  left  to  soHtude,  quiet  as 
its  social  intercourse  must  have  been.  Julia  has  noted  in 
an  especial  manner  the  continued  kindness  of  the  Hartwell 


26  THE  BEENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

family  under  the  new  circumstances :  '  Good  Sir  William 
and  Lady  Elizabeth's  first  visit  to  us  was  a  family  dinner ; 
only  themselves.' 

From  her  rural  home  the  vicar's  wife  corresponded  in 
French  with  Scrope  at  Oxford  ;  and,  in  spite  of  mistakes, 
such  as  were  to  be  expected,  her  letters  show  a  considerable 
aptitude  for  entering  into  the  spirit  of  the  language.  They 
are  not  dated ;  but  one  of  those  in  my  possession  was 
probably  written  very  soon  after  her  marriage. 

In  this  epistle  Julia  tells  her  brother  that  want  of  time 
prevented  her  from  writing  the  day  before,  that  he  will 
no  doubt  smile  at  this,  she  being  a  '  jeune  dame '  living  in 
the  country,  but  that  she  would  gladly  borrow  from  those 
who  have  too  much  time  ;  and  does  he  not  sometimes  wish 
for  more  leisure  than  he  can  obtain  ?  She  continues : 
'I  wish  to  do  all  that  can  be  done;  I  wish  to  read  very 
many  books,  I  wish  to  play  well,  to  do  all  that  a  good 
woman  ought  to  do  in  her  own  house,  not  only  to  work 
much,  but  also  to  look  after  everything  ;  yet  when  we  have 
company  I  am  obliged  to  devote  myself  to  conversation,  to 
excursions,  to  cards,  to  badinage,  and  very  often  to  etiquette 
only.'  After  sundry  philosophical  reflections,  she  informs 
her  brother  that  she  has  been  reading  Eobertson's 
'  Charles  v., '  Voltaire's  '  Peter  the  Great,'  and  '  Charles  XII.' 
and  has  greatly  enjoyed  the  visit  of  a  Mr.  Crowe,  who  had 
spent  three  weeks  in  Kome  and  had  much  to  relate  about 
his  foreign  experiences. 

Fanny  Bernard  joined  her  sister  soon  after  this  time, 
and  JuHa's  wedded  happiness  became  the  subject  of  a 
grandiloquent  poetical  effusion  from  her  ready  pen.  In 
this  quaint  production  Jove  is  brought  upon  the  scene. 
After  commenting  on  certain  scandals  in  high  life  with 
an  amount  of  indignation  scarcely  reasonable,  if  his  own 
conduct  be  taken  into  account,  he  sends  two  sylphs  to 
ascertain  if  the  menage  at  Wendover  vicarage  is  really  as 
harmonious  as  it  appears  to  be.  These  airy  visitants  are 
taken  for  benighted  travellers,  made  welcome,  and  hospitably 
entertained,  the  evening  winding  up  somewhat  incongruously 


•THE  EVEELASTING  HABIT'  27 

with  family  prayers  ;  and  the  next  day  they  are  able  to 
carry  a  most  favourable  report  to  Jove. 

Fanny's  spirits  seem  to  have  risen  in  this  congenial 
atmosphere ;  it  must  have  been  in  the  early  part  of  1780 
that  she  wrote  '  The  Lamentations  of  the  Everlasting 
Habit.'  This  habit  was,  or  rather  had  been,  the  gorgeous 
pearl-coloured  garment,  trimmed  with  gold  lace,  and  lined 
with  costly  fur,  which  many  years  before  had  caused  a 
memorable  sensation  in  Lincoln  Minster,  when  Mrs.  Terry 
— not  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Hastings,  as  Fanny  erroneously 
supposed — in  the  bloom  of  youth  and  beauty  had  disturbed 
the  devotions  of  the  worshippers.^  It  must  apparently  have 
descended  to  Mrs.  Hastings,  who  left  it  by  will  to  Jane 
Bernard — according  to  Fanny — and  this  is  probably  correct. 
Jane,  after  wearing  it  for  some  time  in  its  original  state, 
took  off  the  gold  and  fur,  and  had  the  cloth  dyed  a  dark 
blue.  In  course  of  years  she  seems  to  have  tired  of  this 
too  durable  vestment,  and  passed  it  on  to  Fanny,  when  the 
latter  was  about  twelve;  and  now  Fanny,  having  worn  it 
ten  years,  had  caused  it  to  be  dyed  a  dark  brown,  and 
proceeded  to  make  it  up  once  more  with  her  own  hands,  as 
a  hack  habit.  She  writes  :  '  It  was  cloth  of  such  fabric, 
that  it  seemed  neither  threadbare  nor  thin  after  sixty  years' 
wear.' 

As  the  young  seamstress  plied  her  needle,  she  pondered 
over  the  possible  feelings  of  the  old  garment,  until  her 
thoughts  found  utterance  in  a  poem  from  which  I  give 
some  extracts. 

O'er  a  half-finished  button-hole  she  hung 
While  in  harmonious  numbers  thus  she  sung. 

Having  informed  the  habit  that  it  is  in  future  to  be  only 
a  hack  : 

The  offended  garb,  convulsed  in  every  thread. 

Thrice  sighed,  thrice  gaped  its  seams,  while  thus  it  said, 

After  enumerating  its  former  glories  : 

When  pious  Inet  filled  the  chanter's  chair  ; 
'  See  vol.  i.  of  this  Family  History,  chapter  viii.,  p.  188. 


28  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

the  habit  continues  : 

When  I  engaged  his  powerful  prying  eyes 

He  sent  the  verger  to  express  surprize, 

That  thus  famed  Hastings  should  attract  each  eye 

From  Heavenly  things  to  such  frail  vanity. 

Then,  contrasting  with  this  proud  remembrance  its 
present  state  : 

Is  this  the  conduct  to  old  servants  used  ? 
A  button  grudged,  a  skein  of  silk  refused. 
In  all  your  wardrobe  to  bring  up  the  rear. 
And  only  in  bad  roads  and  rain  appear  ! 
Shame  on  such  conduct,  my  complaints  attend, 
Nor  in  the  years  of  age  neglect  a  friend ; 
Let  me  enjoy  my  long-sought,  wished  repose 
Snug  in  a  trunk  among  thy  cast-off  clothes, 
Or  grant  me  all  my  former  rank  and  power, 
And  let  me  deck  thee  in  thy  gayest  hour  ! 

The  angry  maid,  spurning  the  rebel  prayer, 
Stuck  in  her  needle,  and  refused  to  hear. 

In  one  of  the  French  letters  to  Scrope,  Julia  mentions 
a  projected  excursion  to  Winchendon,  which  was  about 
eleven  or  twelve  miles  distant  from  Wendover,  and  hopes  that 
he  will  arrange  to  meet  them  there ;  if  he  wishes  to  bring 
*  Monsieur  Le  Eoi,'  he  is  welcome  to  do  so.  Fanny  adds 
a  postscript  desiring  that  Scrope  will  on  no  account  bring 
this  gentleman,  whose  name  in  plain  English  was  Mr.  King  ; 
if  he  does,  she  cannot  go.  Apparently,  however,  Scrope 
did  bring  his  friend,  and  Fanny  was  induced  to  join  the 
party ;  for  it  must  have  been  on  this  occasion  that — accord- 
ing to  tradition — an  offer  was  made  at  Winchendon  to  one 
of  my  grand-aunts,  and  accepted,  in  a  bowser  which  long 
bore  the  name  of  the  *  Courting  Bower '  in  honour  of  the 
event. 

About  this  time,  but  whether  before  or  after  the  declar- 
ation I  know  not,  Fanny  wrote  a  poem  :  '  On  a  young 
gentleman  taken  out  of  a  cottage  and  patronised  by 
Mr.   K ,'    which   poem  was  of  course  a  panegyric  on 


THE  KING  FAMILY  29 

Mr.  King,  who  had  rescued  this  youth  from  the  mortifica- 
tions and  deprivations  incident  to  unrecognised  talent.  His 
name  was  George  Anderson ;  he  became  an  accountant  to 
the  East  India  Board,  and  maintained  through  life  a  repu- 
tation for  superior  intellect  and  irreproachable  conduct ; 
but  his  career  must  have  been  somewhat  prematurely 
brought  to  a  close,  since  he  died  several  years  before 
Mr.  King,  whose  life  was  not  remarkable  for  duration.  In 
the  words  of  an  obituary  notice  :  ^  '  An  interesting  account  of 
his  (Mr.  King's) '  fostering  kindness  to  that  eminent  young 
man,  and  of  the  distinguished  talents  of  his  protege,  may  be 
found  in  a  work  published  a  few  years  ago  under  the  title  of 
'  Necrology.' 

The  Kev.  Eichard  King,  Fanny's  accepted  suitor,  was  a 
Fellow  of  New  College,  Oxford ;  ^  he  belonged  to  a  family 
which  claimed  descent  from  the  ancient  monarchs  of  Devon. 
To  this  lineage  Kobert  King,  first  Bishop  of  Oxford ;  John 
King,  Bishop  of  London ;  and  Henry  King,  the  poet  Bishop 
of  Chichester,  belonged.  At  one  time  the  family  possessed 
land  in  the  parishes  of  Worminghall  and  Shabbington, 
Bucks,  in  both  of  which  it  had  built  almshouses  ;  but  I 
doubt  whether  it  had  retained  any  of  this  property  down  to 
the  days  of  the  Bernard  courtship.  As  to  the  place  in 
which  Fanny  made  her  suitor's  acquaintance,  it  was  pro- 
bably either  Oxford  or  Wendover ;  and  Mr.  Smith  is  more 
likely  to  have  been  responsible  than  Scrope,  because  he  was 
evidently  a  more  intimate  friend  of  Eichard  King. 

Mr.  King  was  vicar  of  Steeple  Morden  in  Cambridge- 
shire, but  his  benefice  did  not  afford  sufficient  emolument 
to  justify  marriage,  and,  as  neither  he  nor  Fanny  Bernard 
were  endowed  with  large  private  means,  the  young  lady's 
brothers   considered  her  engagement  imprudent.     Thomas, 

'  The  Gentleman's  Magazine,  vol.  Ixxx.  part  ii.,  Dec.  1810,  '  Obituary  Notice 
of  the  Eev.  Bichard  King.' 

2  This  account  of  the  King  family  was  communicated  by  the  late  Miss 
CoUinson.  It  may  also  be  found  in  Lipscomb,  Hist.  Bucks.  I  was  informed 
through  Miss  Collinson  that  a  notice  of  a  Miss  Alice  King,  an  author,  had 
appeared  in  a  newspaper,  stating  her  descent  from  the  first  Bishop  of  Oxford 
and  also  from  John  of  Gaunt. 


30  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

who  still  had  the  burden  of  his  father's  unsettled  affairs  to 
sustain,  strongly  deprecated  any  alliance  tending  to  increase 
the  family  difficulties,  and  apparently  Scrope  soon  saw 
matters  in  the  same  light.  It  would  seem  also  that 
Mr.  King's  offhand  manner  caused  a  further  amount  of 
friction,  while  his  views  on  questions  of  the  day  did  not 
always  harmonise  with  the  Bernard  ideas. 

The  engaged  couple,  however,  adhered  to  their  determina- 
tion. At  one  time  Mr.  King  was  looking  forward  to  the 
possibility  of  becoming  vicar  of  Whitchurch,  near  Aylesbury ; 
but  he  had  apparently  hampered  himself  by  some  promise, 
which,  being  strictly  construed  by  the  recipient,  so  diminished 
the  income,  that  when  offered  the  living  by  his  college  he 
felt  compelled  to  decline  it.  Nether  Winchendon  was  then 
thought  of  for  a  moment,  and  Fanny  would  have  rejoiced  in 
the  return  to  her  old  haunts,  and  must  almost  inevitably  have 
made  the  deserted  Manor  House  her  home  during  a  portion 
of  the  year ;  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  Mr.  King's  views  of 
life  would  have  rendered  him  equally  contented  there,  and  the 
stipend  was  so  insignificant  as  to  be  scarcely  worth  taking 
into  consideration,  even  if  the  parish  could  be  held  together 
with  Steeple  Morden,  according  to  the  fashion  of  the  time. 
So  the  idea  was  dropped.  Then  a  chaplaincy  was  suggested 
as  a  means  of  tiding  over  the  difficulty  ;  but  this  plan  also 
fell  through. 

Meanwhile  Fanny  paid  a  visit  to  Lincoln,  or  was  per- 
haps driven  there  by  her  anxious  relatives,  who  thus  hoped 
to  keep  her  away  from  dangerous  company ;  a  letter  ^ 
from  Mrs.  Edmunds  to  Scrope,  who  had  left  Worsborough 
shortly  before,  evidently  belongs  to  this  period ;  it  is  dated 
'  November  18.' 

Y/e  have  been  perpetually  on  the  ramble  since  you  left  us, 
and  are  but  just  sat  down  composedly  at  home  ;  our  visit  to 
Lincoln  at  last  took  place,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  to  see  your 
sister  well.  But  poor  Mr.  White  was  confined  to  his  room  all  the 
time  we  stayed,  except  two  days,  and  I  find  he  continues  still  in 
the  same  place. 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


FANNY  BEENAED  31 

Mr.  White,  as  other  letters  show,  suffered  at  times  from 
gout,  which  is  no  doubt  the  ailment  noted  in  this  letter. 

We  stayed  one  Assembly,  your  sister  being  Queen  ;  but  there 
were  but  a  very  thin  room,  tho'  esteemed  a  good  Assembly. 
Mr.  Edmunds  danced  with  a  Miss  Tayloi',  who  really  is  a  fine 
young  woman.  Don't  be  too  much  amazed  !  when  I  tell  you  that 
Fanny  returned  with  us  to  Worsbrough  for  the  winter,  where  she 
now  is  to  the  Surprize  of  every  Body  that  we  left,  and  those  we 
came  too  [to]  ;  nay  they  can  hardly  think  it  is  herself.  Mrs. 
White  thought  that  it  was  Better  for  her  to  be  with  her  in  the 
Summer,  and  she  was  not  very  reluctant  to  comply.  We  stayed  a 
few  days  at  Ferbeck  and  a  few  at  Norton,  saw  Lord  Scarbrough's 
sweet  place  and  passed  our  time  very  agreably  with  our  friends. 
Fanny  came  from  Norton  last  night  after  paying  a  week's  visit ; 
they  set  off  for  town  to-morrow  morning  for  the  winter. 

Then  follows  a  budget  of  local  news — marriages,  births, 
misfortunes,  &c. ;  after  which  Mrs.  Edmunds  adds  :  '  We 
are  going  to  lead  a  very  quiet  domestick  life  this  winter ;  I 
want  only  a  little  concert  to  enliven  our  evening  hours.' 
But  after  this  declaration  she  reverts  to  the  subject  of  a 
visit  just  made  to  a  lovely  spot,  '  everything  in  the  highest 
perfection,'  including  a  new  church  on  the  top  of  a  hill 
built  by  the  last  owner — neither  he  nor  the  actual  owner 
are  named — and  also  an  orangery,  which  must  have  been 
something  uncommon.  She  adds  indeed  :  '  My  little  girls 
are  at  work  by  me,'  and  there  are  various  allusions  to  her 
children  in  other  letters,  showing  that  pleasure  did  not 
exclude  them  from  her  thoughts. 

Apparently  Fanny  Bernard  did  not  leave  the  north  until 
the  autumn  of  1781.  Scrope  says,  in  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Edmunds  :  '  We  have  got  Fanny  home  again  at  last,  and 
think  that  on  the  whole  she  does  credit  to  your  Yorkshire 
air ;  she  played  off  all  her  Doncaster  airs  at  our  race 
with  very  great  success ' — that  is,  in  Aylesbury.  But 
in  one  respect  the  sojourn  in  the  north  was  a  failure ; 
Fanny  was  resolute  in  maintaining  her  engagement  to  Mr. 
King. 

I  have  few  particulars  of  Thomas  Bernard's  existence 


32  THE  BERNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

during  the  years  immediately  following  his  father's  death. 
He  dined  once,  but  apparently  once  only,  with  Governor 
Hutchinson,  on  January  14,  1780.^  '  Strahan,  Maseres, 
Mauduit,  Galloway,  Livius,  and  T.  Bernard '  formed  the 
party.  Strahan  was  the  King's  printer,  Maseres  was 
Attorney-General  of  Canada  and  afterwards  cursitor-baron 
of  the  Exchequer ;  the  other  guests  may  be  called  old 
acquaintances — they  are  mentioned  in  the  second  volume  of 
this  history.  Billy  Hutchinson,  the  Governor's  son,  was 
then  in  a  rapid  consumption.  He  died  in  the  following 
month,  and  the  Governor  survived  only  till  April.  Thomas 
Bernard  must  also  have  gone  through  the  terrible  experience 
of  the  Gordon  riots  this  year,  but  he  achieved  his  call  to  the 
Bar,  and  was  soon  in  good  practice  as  a  conveyancer.  It 
would  be  interesting  to  know  what  further  intercourse  he 
kept  up  with  the  loyalists  of  America,  but,  except  in  the  case 
of  Sir  William  Pepperell,  I  have  no  materials  to  quote  from; 
the  ranks  of  the  exiles  were  indeed  every  year  thinned  by 
death  and  dispersion. 

Early  in  1782,  Thomas  -  formed  a  matrimonial  engage- 
ment with  Margaret,  daughter  of  Patrick  Adair,  a  London 
merchant,  and  niece  of  Serjeant  James  Adair,  whose  pro- 
fessional relations  with  Thomas  were  probably  the  means 
of  introducing  the  young  couple  to  each  other.  The  father 
of  Patrick  and  James  Adair  had  been  an  army  agent,  and 
one  at  least  of  his  sons  appears  to  have  continued  the 
business  ^ ;  but  they  came  of  an  old  lineage,  according  to  the 
Serjeant's  biographer,  who  says  : 

This  family,  being  of  the  Geraldines,  emigrated  from  Ireland, 
circa  1300 ;  acquired  Portpatrick,  which  they  subsequently  sold 
to  the  Montgomeries,  but  remained  seized  of  large  possessions 
in  Galloway  till  near  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  They 
had  previously  acquired  considerable  property  in  Antrim,  to  which 
they  eventually   betook  themselves.     Sir  Robert   Shafto  Adair, 

'  Diary  and  Letters  of  Governor  Hutchinson,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  vii. 
^  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Bernard,  Bart.,  by  Rev.  James  Baker.     Lipscomb, 
Hist,  of  Bucks,  vol.  i.,  '  Nether  Winchendon.' 

^  This  I  gather  from  a  list  in  an  Almanack  of  the  time. 


PEOSPECT  OF  THOMAS  BEENAKD'S  MAEEIAGE     33 

of  Ballymena,  Antrim,  and  Huxton  Hall,  Suffolk,  is  the  head  of 
the  family.^ 

A  letter  from  Jane  White  to  her  brother  Scrope  depicts 
the  excitement  caused  by  the  prospect  of  Thomas's 
marriage  : 

Lincoln,  29  April  1782. 

Dear  Scrope, — Amongst  the  numerous  congratulations  bandied 
about  on  this  joyful  occasion,  I  must  not  forget  my  dear  brother 
at  Oxford,  who  I  know  takes  a  large  share  in  the  felicity  of  the 
Templar,  but  I  am  not  without  apprehension  that  this  letter  will 
not  find  you  at  Ch.  Ch.,  which  may  for  some  little  time  delay  the 
enclosed  proceeding  by  the  newsman  to  Wendover.  I  conclude 
the  wedding  will  be  next  week,  and  am  much  pleased  that  Brother 
Smith  is  chosen  to  perform  the  ceremony.  I  imagine  you  will 
not  be  there  at  that  time,  as  I  suppose  it  will  be  a  point  of  delicasy 
with  my  brother  not  to  have  more  than  two  of  his  own  family 
present,  in  order  to  show  the  greater  respect  to  hers.  Indeed 
I  think  she  must  be  already  half-frighted  at  hearing  of  brothers 
and  sisters  without  end.  I  wish  in  the  midst  of  our  American 
Brother  [sic],  for  I  think  his  situation  at  present  must  be  disagree- 
able, and  the  new  ministry  have  given  a  turn  in  his  disfavour,  but 
if  a  peace  should  be  accomplished  in  the  course  of  this  summer 
it  would  fully  compensate. 

Your  favourite  printroom  was  in  high  glory  last  Thursday, 
being  as  full  as  it  could  possibly  hold.  A  commerce-table  in  the 
middle  of  sixteen;  a  I'^y  quadrille-table  in  one  corner,  and  the 
harpsichord  very  well  engaged  in  the  other.  In  order  to  expunge 
all  engagements  we  had  a  great  route ;  70  invited  and  towards  60 
came ;  we  had  3  whist  tables  and  8  quadrille. 

After  some  news  about  tv^^o  charming  young  ladies  who 
had  recently  been  in  Lincoln,  and  whom  Scrope  might  meet 
in  London,  followed  by  the  expression  of  a  wish  that  the 
writer  could  entice  Julia  into  the  bracing  air  of  Lincoln — 
Jane  continues : 

If  you  was  but  in  Orders,  perhaps  Brother  Smith  could  come 
too,  but  I  doubt  as  it  is  there  would  be  some  difficulty  in  getting 

'  Woolrych,  Lives  of  Eminent  Serjeants-at-Law,  vol.  ii.,  '  James  Adair.' 
The  biographer  erroneously  calls  Margaret  Adair  the  Serjeant's  daughter. 
Her  father's  name  was  certainly  Patrick,  and  he  was  a  merchant.  Serjeant 
Adair  had  one  daughter  only,  married  to  Admiral  Sir  John  Colpoys. 

VOL.  III.  D 


34  THE  BBRNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

a  proper  person  to  attend  his  living.  You  will  hear  how  my 
cause  is  likely  to  go.  The  children  are  very  well,  but  if  you  don't 
come  to  see  them  soon,  they  will  almost  forget  Uncle  Scrope,  of 
whom  they  seem  to  have  but  a  faint  remembrance.  Dr.  Sibthorpe 
has  been  a  good  deal  here,  and  talks  much  of  your  botanical 
abilities,  as  does  the  Subdean,  with  whom  you  are  a  great 
favourite. 

If  this  letter  was  written  soon  after  Mrs.  White  became 
aware  of  her  second  brother's  engagement,  the  marriage 
must  have  been  somewhat  hurried ;  and  no  doubt  by  reason 
of  Mr.  Adair's  state  of  health  he  probably  wished  to  see  his 
daughter  married  before  he  died.  This  was  the  more  easily 
arranged,  that  a  numerous  attendance  was  not  in  those  days 
usual,  and  far  less  preparation  was  therefore  required,  not- 
withstanding that  some  formalities  were  observed  which 
have  since  been  dropped.  Thomas  Bernard  and  Margaret 
Adair  were  married  on  May  11,  1782,  and  in  a  letter  written 
on  June  10,  the  bridegroom  says  to  Scrope  :  *  We  are  all  well 
at  present,  except  in  respect  of  the  anxiety  and  melancholy 
we  have  suffered  from  Mr.  Adair's  death,  who  was  released 
from  his  sufferings  last  Friday.'  Mr.  Adair  left  apparently 
two  daughters  only,  Mrs.  Bernard,  and  another  who  never 
married — they  were  motherless. 

It  appears  that  Scrope  Bernard's  poetical  talents  had 
been  called  into  exercise  on  this  important  occasion  of  his 
brother's  marriage.  In  a  letter  of  May  20,  when  Mr.  Adair 
must  have  been  still  alive,  Thomas  wrote : 

My  dear  Brother, — You  will  think  me  very  ungrateful  in  not 
having  taken  a  more  early  notice  of  your  charming  Poem.  I  have 
shown  it  to  Margaret,  and  she  is  extremely  pleased  with  it.  We 
think  the  most  beautiful  passages  are  the  3rd  stanza,  the  simile 
of  the  vestal  in  the  6th,  and  the  whole  passage  (and  that  is  our 
great  favourite)  which  refers  to  music. 

I  have  shown  it  to  nobody  but  her  and  Emily,  partly  because 
there  are  passages  in  it  which  mark  haste,  and  some  repetitions, 
which  I  think  you  would  alter.  The  passage  on  music  is  so 
pleasing  to  me,  and  comes  so  home  to  my  dear  Margaret's 
'  Harmony  of  Disposition,'  that  I  wish  it  to  conclude  there,  and 
a  few  of  the  thoughts,  though  not  the  ruling  idea  of  the  2  last 


FANNY  BEENAED  35 

stanzas,  thrown  into  other  parts  in  order  to  give  variety.  Such 
is  '  the  severity  of  my  criticism.'  Mrs.  B.  finds  no  fault  at  all, 
so  that  you  must  say  with  the  Critic  : — '  Well !  the  women  are 
the  best  judges  after  all.'  However,  a  proof  of  its  merit  is  that 
it  is  commended  and  admired  (spite  of  poetical  envy)  by  a  brother 
author,  and  he  all  the  while  continuing 

J^  ^^  M  oH°j/->        Your  affect.  Brother 
^X'^'XO/^  T.  B. 

The  Emily  mentioned  in  this  letter  was  no  doubt 
Thomas's  sister,  vt^ho  had  probably  come  up  for  the  v^edding 
and  remained  v^^ith  her  brother  and  sister-in-lav7.  Eanny  also 
had  come  to  town,  probably  with  Julia  and  her  husband ; 
she  addressed  a  letter  from  Soho  Square,  in  May,  to  her 
youngest  brother.  The  independent  style  of  this  epistle, 
the  defensive,  or  even  antagonistic,  attitude  she  had  felt 
bound  to  assume  with  regard  to  her  own  family,  were  con- 
sequences of  her  attachment  to  Mr.  King.  She  was  of 
course  staying  with  friends — in  all  likelihood  still  with 
the  Smiths ;  but  speaks  of  going  about  on  her  own  account 
in  a  manner  scarcely  usual  at  that  epoch ;  and  the  letter 
further  reveals  the  secret  that  Scrope  Bernard  was  then 
passing  through  the  ordeal  of  '  first  love,'  or  what  his  sister 
supposed  to  be  such,  and  that  Fanny  was  most  anxious  to 
be  of  use  to  him,  not  only  from  sympathy,  but  probably  also 
because  she  hoped  thus  to  enlist  his  feelings  in  favour  of  her 
own.  views.     She  writes  : 

Your  letter  met  me  here  last  night  on  my  arrival,  too  late  to 
answer  it  by  that  post,  and  indeed  I  delayed  answering  it  from 
a  hope  that  I  should  have  been  able  to  have  said  something 
positive  from  the  regions  of  St.  James's,  for  though  I  am  come  to 
town  with  a  resolution  to  see  no  one,  I  meant  to  have  paid  a  visit 
there  this  morning,  if  I  possibly  could,  to  have  learnt  the  time  of 
their  stay  in  town,  their  peregrinations  for  the  summer,  &c. ;  but 
it  is  a  very  rainy  day,  and  the  horses  cannot  go  out  after  their  two 
days'  journey,  so  I  must  delay  it  till  to-morrow,  when  I  mean  if 
possible  to  go,  and  if  I  see  any  reason  for  your  coming  to  town 
immediately  I  will  write  again,  but  on  the  whole,  if  your  not 
coming  now  is  a  great  object  to  you,  it  certainly  is  at  this  moment 
— before  I  have  been — too  uncertain  a  cause  to  sacrifice  much  in. 
I  am,  however,  much  interested  in  it,  and  if  friendship  for  the 

D  2 


36  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Sister  could  inspire  love  for  the  Brother,  I  will  leave  no  stone 
unturned  to  recommend  myself  to  her. 

The  young  lady  to  whom  allusion  is  here  made  was 
evidently  Scrope's  Yorkshire  acquaintance ;  I  do  not  know 
whether  he  came  to  London,  nor  indeed  whether  the 
energetic  Fanny  was  able  to  give  him  any  ground  for  hope. 
The  rest  of  her  letter  relates  to  her  own  affairs,  and  is  most 
resolute  in  tone.     She  writes  : 

With  respect  to  the  last  subject  of  your  letter,  it  is  become 
a  very  painful  one  to  me,  and  as  I  think  I  am  most  competent 
to  judging  [sic]  on  the  subject,  it  being  now  a  matter  of  mere 
inclination,  I  wish  as  little  as  possible  to  talk  about  it  to  others, 
but  yet  it  would  be  painful  and  a  hard  thing  upon  me  to  conclude 
the  whole  of  this,  till  lately  unpleasant  affair,  by  having  myself 
and  my  future  Husband  slighted  by  Brothers,  and  by  no  one  else, 
but  in  that  case  I  shall  consider  myself  as  between  two  evils  and 
chuse  the  least. 

The  remainder  of  the  letter  is  in  the  same  strain,  and 
Fanny  Bernard  was  so  far  a  champion  of  the  rights  of 
women  as  to  declare  :  '  It  must  rest  solely  within  myself  to 
guide  my  own  conduct.'  She  complains  of  Thomas's  cold, 
legal  way  of  looking  at  the  subject,  and  vindicates  Mr.  King. 
Admitting  that  he  might  be  somewhat  regardless  of  etiquette, 
and  too  easily  duped  by  '  unsuspected  artifice ' — which  is,  of 
course,  an  allusion  to  his  promise  concerning  Whitchurch — 
she  winds  up  with  '  in  heart  and  disposition  I  know  not  his 
equal.'     As  to  her  future  residence  : 

With  respect  to  Whitchurch,  if  the  income  is  repaired  that  is 
no  fair  release  to  me,  for  he  knows,  you  and  most  people  know, 
that  Whitchurch  itself  was  no  object — for  I  hated  the  house,  the 
situation,  and  the  neighbourhood,  and  never  meant  to  live  there ; 
you  know  it,  for  I  understand  you  was  the  first  who  suggested  the 
idea  of  living  at  Winchendon — a  scheme  infinitely  more  agreeable 
to  me. 

The  conclusion  is  calmer,  but  quite  as  determined  : 

I  don't  thoroughly  understand  you  in  your  hope  against 
positiveness  on  my  side.  I  am  now  of  an  age  to  have  a  conse- 
quence and  a  conduct  of  my  own ;  so  if  my  own  mature  reason 


MAEEIAGE  OF  FANNY  BEENAED       37 

and  judgement  directs  me  to  any  object  I  shall  be  steady  in  my 
pursuit  of  it — steadiness  and  consistency  of  conduct  is  what 
I  have  hitherto  wanted,  but  what,  at  my  age,  and  in  such  a  cause, 
I  ought  to  want  no  longer. 

Whatever  happens  on  yours  or  my  Brother's  side,  I  shall  not 
forget  that  you  have  both  been  warmly  actuated  by  your  interest 
for  my  welfare,  tho'  possibly  mistaken  in  the  pursuit — and  if 
I  can,  consistent  with  my  own  ideas,  make  you  both  happy, 
I  shall  be  very  happy  myself — at  all  events  I  shall  ever  feel 
myself 

Your  very  affectionate  Sister 

F.  E.  B. 

As  to  further  details  I  am  but  very  imperfectly  informed. 
It  is  certain  that  when  Thomas  Bernard  wrote  to  Scrope  on 
June  10  he  believed  that  he  had  induced  Fanny  to  give  up 
Mr.  King,  indeed  she  had  desired  him  to  write  to  that  effect 
and  to  express  her  wish  that  no  further  communication 
should  take  place  except  through  her  brother.  But  this 
was  evidently  an  arrangement  prompted  by  some  necessity 
of  the  moment,  and  something  must  ere  long  have  happened 
to  release  Fanny  from  its  restrictions — in  her  own  estima- 
tion— since  she  was  certainly  married  to  Eichard  King 
in  August.  The  event  took  place,  I  believe,  in  London,  and 
an  uncle — not  then  born — subsequently  asserted  that  she  went 
from  Thomas  Bernard's  house  but  without  his  knowledge. 
Thomas  and  Scrope  appear  indeed  to  have  been  both  out  of 
town  in  that  month ;  whether  Thomas  left  her  free  to  take 
the  decisive  step,  which  he  could  not  legally  prevent,  merely 
refusing  the  sanction  of  his  presence,  I  do  not  know ;  nor 
who  acted  as  chaperon  or  gave  her  away — possibly  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Smith  came  up  for  the  purpose. 

Fanny  was  then  five-and-twenty,  and  had  therefore  some 
reason  for  announcing  that  she  was  competent  to  judge  for 
herself ;  and  it  will  be  seen  in  these  volumes  that  she  was 
justified  by  the  result.  None  of  the  evils  anticipated  by  her 
friends  befell  her — her  relatives  became  thoroughly  reconciled 
to  her  husband,  and  the  marriage  proved  one  of  more  than 
average  happiness. 


THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 


CHAPTEK  III 


SCROPE   BERNARD  S   INTRODUCTION   TO   POLITICAL   LIFE 

Scrope  Bernard's  Interest  in  Politics— His  Project  of  taking  up  a  Tutorship — 
William  Grenville's  offer  of  Assistance— Scrope  Bernard  accepts  a  Tutor- 
ship— A  Sudden  Change  in  his  Prospects — He  gives  up  his  Medical  Studies 
and  becomes  Private  Secretary  to  Earl  Temple  in  Ireland— His  First  Visit 
to  Ireland — The  State  of  Parties  in  Ireland — The  Coalition  Ministry — 
Earl  Temple  Resigns  the  Vice-Royalty  of  Ireland — Letter  from  Lady 
Roche— The  Irish  Volunteers— The  Earl  of  Hillsborough— Earl  Temple's 
Vice-Royalty. 

It  must  be  assumed,  from  the  tone  of  the  following  letter 
from  William  Grenville,  that  Scrope  Bernard  early  took 
a  strong  interest  in  politics,  perhaps,  indeed,  to  some  extent 
for  the  sake  of  his  friend.     The  letter  is  dated  '  March  25, 

1782.'^ 

My  dear  Bernard, — As  I  know  the  impatience  you  must  feel 
at  the  present  moment,  I  send  you  the  following  list,  on  which 
you  may  depend.  It  was  settled  only  a  few  hours  ago,  so  that 
you  will  have  possibly  the  first  news  of  it  at  least  as  early  as 
anyone. 

Cabinet. 

The  Chancellor  to  stay  if  he  thinks  fit ;  if  not,  to  be  suc- 
ceeded by  Dunning. 


1st  Lord  of  the  Treasury 
1  Ld.  of  ye  Admiralty . 
Commander-in-Chief   . 
Secretary  of  State 

Do. 
President  of  the  Council 
Privy  Seal   . 
Chanc.  of  the  Exchequer 
Master  of  the  Ordnance 


Ld.  Eockingham 
Adml.  Keppel 
General  Conway 
Ld.  Shelburne 
Ch.  Fox 
Lord  Camden 
Duke  of  Grafton 
Lord  John  Cavendish 
Duke  of  Eichmond 


'  The  letters  in  this  chapter  are  in  the  Collection  at  Nether  Winchendon, 
when  nothing  is  said  to  the  contrary. 


A  TUTOESHIP  39 

This  last  is  not  a  Cabinet  oflSce,  but  the  Duke  takes  it  to  make 
the  other  arrangements  easy,  and  is  to  be  called  to  the  Cabinet. 

Lord  Howe  has  the  Channel  Fleet — Barrington  is  talked  of 
for  the  W.  Indies — Barre  is  Secretary  at  War — Burke  and 
Townshend  Paymaster  of  ye  Army  and  Treasurer  of  ye  Navy, 
on  a  reduced  scale  of  profits. 

I  am  vastly  sorry  to  hear  that  you  do  not  think  of  coming  to 
town  this  Easter  as  I  shall  not  stir  from  hence.  Could  you 
contrive  to  spend  a  day  or  two  here  ? 

Ever  most  sincerely  and  afftely  yours 

W.  W.  G. 

It  is  just  come  into  my  head  that  I  don't  know  where  to  direct 
to  you.  I  believe  the  safest  place  is  Oxford,  but  there  my  news 
loses  its  freshness  which  is  all  its  merit.  I  send  it,  however, 
to  show  that  I  wished  to  have  satisfied  your  curiosity  tho'  I  fear 
I  have  not  done  it. 

The  nearness  of  Easter  may  have  suggested  this  doubt ; 
otherwise  Scrope's  address  was  certainly  Oxford  in  the 
early  part  of  this  year.  He  was  continuing  his  medical 
studies  ;  but  was  apparently  becoming  uneasy  at  the  length 
of  time  which  must  elapse  before  he  could  earn  any  money, 
while  his  unavoidable  expenses  during  this  preparatory 
interval  were,  and  would  continue  to  be,  considerable.  It 
was  probably  in  this  year  that  his  brother  Thomas  wrote 
him  a  scrap  of  a  note  in  Latin,  interspersed  for  greater 
security  with  many  blanks — which  were  of  course  quite 
intelligible  to  the  recipient — in  which  he  delicately  offered 
pecuniary  assistance,  on  the  ground  that  Scrope's  idea  of 
earning  a  little  money  by  a  short  tutorship — although  less 
objectionable  than  another  project,  which  is  not  explained, 
might  lead  to  failure — in  his  intended  profession  no  doubt. 
An  invitation  from  Lord  Bristol,  in  April,  to  undertake 
the  tuition  of  Lord  Sandys's  nephew,  was  evidently  the 
occasion  of  Thomas  Bernard's  letter.  This  scheme  was 
not  carried  out ;  but  Scrope  declined  his  brother's  offer, 
promising,  it  may  be  supposed,  to  apply  to  him  whenever 
he  felt  a  real  need  of  help,  since  he  did  avail  himself  of 
Thomas's  kindness  at  a  later  period. 

It  appears  that  Mr.  Grenville  had,  in  a  letter  I  do  not 


40  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

possess,  made  Scrope  an  offer  of  assistance  couched  in  the 
most  generous  terms,  and  that  Scrope  had  partially  accepted. 
The  date  of  a  second  epistle,  with  the  address,  except  the 
words  *  Lincoln's  Inn,'  has  disappeared  with  the  seal,  but  it 
is  approximately  fixed  by  the  contents  of  the  letter,  and  the 
presumption  that  Scrope  received  it  before  his  brother's 
proposal.     "William  Grenville  writes  : 

As  the  main  object  and  intention  of  my  proposal  was  no  other 
than  the  enabling  you  with  ease  and  satisfaction  of  mind  to  pur- 
sue the  road  into  which  you  have  entered,  and  which  will  I  hope 
in  your  instance  lead  you  so  much  beyond  Parson's  situation,  to 
which  you  refer  as  the  ultimate  end  of  your  labours,  and  as  I  had 
originally  some  difficulty  with  myself  how  to  make  it  in  a  manner 
most  agreeable  to  your  feelings,  I  certainly  can  have  no  objection 
whatever  to  acquiesce  in  any  modification  of  it  which  may  unite 
those  two  objects.  You  must  allow  me,  however,  to  entreat  that 
you  will  not  be  over  hasty  nor  over  scrupulous  in  putting  an  end 
to  it.  That  however  is  a  future  consideration.  On  the  present 
arrangement  I  beg  you  to  believe  that  you  put  me  to  no  kind  of 
inconvenience,  and  that  even  if  you  did,  I  could  by  no  other 
means  employ  the  matter  in  question  more  agreeably  to  my 
feelings  than  by  being  of  service  to  you,  nor  more  agreeably  to 
my  conscience  than  by  going  to  my  country  instead  of  a  parson 
buried  in  obscurity,  and  a  tutor  whose  abilities  would  be  choked 
up  and  overgrown  by  a  college  life,  a  man  useful  to  himself, 
his  friends,  and  to  mankind. 

I  am  very  glad  that  you  yourself  have  mentioned  the  scheme 
which  you  propose  for  your  two  next  winters.  It  was  the  very  place 
which  I  should  have  wished  to  have  suggested  to  you.  I  can  by  no 
means  allow  that  the  failure  of  your  views  at  Ch.  Church  is  of  such 
consequence  as  to  put  an  end  to  your  other  hopes.  Without  that 
advantage  you  set  out  on  a  level  with  other  people,  with  it  you 
have  much  the  start  of  them.  As  to  Bagot's  offer,  tho'  you  do 
not  mention  what  it  is,  I  should  hope  you  could  no  longer  have 
any  difficulty  on  the  subject.  The  only  one  which  remains  with 
me,  is  how  you  can  manage  to  observe  the  secrecy  which  I 
absolutely  require  of  you,  and  to  reconcile  the  world  and  your 
friends  to  the  abandoning  your  present  advantages.  As  to  the 
first  you  may  very  well  say  that  you  have  found  your  present 
avocations  incompatible  with  your  professional  studies,  and  con- 
sequently with  all  your  views  in  life.  To  the  latter  you  must 
make  such  apologies  as  you  can  best  invent,  but  remember  that 


A  TUTOESHIP  41 

you  are  by  no  means  at  liberty  to  communicate  the  true  reason  to 
any  person  nor  in  any  degree.  One  thing  more  I  would  mention 
is  that  whatever  your  feelings  might  induce  you  to  do  hereafter  in 
case  of  our  both  living,  if  I  should  die  before  you  are  in  a  situation 
to  comply  with  those  feelings,  you  must  consider  what  has  passed 
between  us  as  done  away,  and  keep  it  as  a  tacit  bequest  of  which 
no  trace  whatever  will  be  found  among  my  papers.  I  am  not 
quite  fixed  either  about  my  going  abroad  or  my  degree.  There 
are  difficulties  attending  both. 

It  is  clear  that  Scrope  was  unwilling  to  accept  help  from 
his  friend,  unless  arrangements  were  made  guaranteeing 
its  repayment.  The  allusions  to  Oxford  matters  in  this 
letter  I  am  unable  to  explain  ;  but  before  Mr.  Grenville  had 
dispatched  it  he  received  from  Scrope  intelligence  of  the 
offer  of  a  tutorship  to  Lord  Sandys' s  nephew,  and  he  opened 
his  letter  again  to  inform  his  friend  that  he  had  been 
consulted  by  Lord  Temple  on  this  very  subject.  The 
tutor  was  to  be  '  a  Ch.  Church  man  and  an  Etonian.'  Some- 
what reluctantly  he  had  been  persuaded  to  incur  the 
responsibility  of  mentioning  some  of  his  own  friends. 

The  names  were — 1st  Harwood,  supposing  that  an  Eton 
man  was  absolutely  necessary ;  if  not,  Sawkins,  and  Bernard, 
supposing  that  he  would  accept  the  charge.  But  I  made  no 
difficulty  of  saying  that  I  wished  the  choice  to  fall  upon  the 
former  of  the  two.  This  of  covu'se  will  have  no  influence  when 
compared  with  Bagot's  recommendation.  But  I  mention  it  be- 
cause it  is  more  proper  that  you  should  know  it  from  me  than 
from  anyone  else.  I  am  sure  you  will  give  me  credit  for  the  true 
reason,  which  is  my  utter  abhorrence  and  aversion  to  your  under- 
taking such  a  charge.  It  would  be  very  useless  for  me  to  repeat 
the  reasons  I  have  so  often  urged,  or  to  appeal  to  your  own 
experience.  I  would  only  ask  you  what  possible  advantage — 
supposing  the  lad  good  for  anything,  which  you  cannot  know — 
supposing  your  temper  suited  to  his,  which  you  can  still  less 
know — supposing  the  uncle  grateful  to  you,  which  you  can  least  of 
all  know — what  possible  advantage  can  you  derive  from  the  utmost 
success  of  such  a  project,  equal  to  the  blessings  of  an  honest, 
independent  affluence  ?  As  for  your  argument  about  study  &c., 
if  any  attention  is  required  to  any  object,  you  cannot  as  an 
honest  man    give   it;    if    any   attainment  is   necessary,   beyond 


42  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

what  you  have,  you  cannot  as  an  honest  man  acquire  it ;  and  if 
neither  is  the  case  why  do  not  you  practise  now  ? 

Scrope  declined  this  tutorship,  but  almost  immediately 
after  this  decision  he  must  have  undertaken  the  tuition 
of  a  son  of  Dr.  Buller,  of  Alresford,  Hants ;  and  I  find 
no  intimation  that  either  Thomas  Bernard  or  William 
Grenville  objected  to  this  engagement;  apparently  it  was 
only  for  the  Long  Vacation.  When  the  time  drew  near, 
Scrope  was  invited  by  the  father  of  his  pupil,  in  a  highly 
eulogistic  epistle,  to  spend  the  whole  period  of  tuition  at 
his  house  ;  and  at  this  house  he  appears  to  have  been  when 
a  sudden  change  occurred  in  his  prospects  which  changed 
the  whole  current  of  his  life. 

The  reader  of  the  foregoing  letters  can  hardly  doubt 
that  William  Grenville  had  set  his  heart  upon  seeing  his 
friend  a  distinguished  man;  and,  while  urging  him  to 
persevere  in  his  chosen  profession,  the  idea  was  perhaps 
often  present  to  his  mind  that,  if  it  were  possible  to  start 
Scrope  Bernard  in  the  political  line,  it  might  better  suit 
his  varied  talents,  and  eventually  place  him  in  a  more 
exalted  position  than  medicine  ever  could.  It  is  indeed  not 
unlikely  that  Scrope's  constant  intercourse  with  Grenville 
had  led,  perhaps  unconsciously,  to  his  imbibing  ambitious 
dreams.  Although  I  have  no  record  of  the  fact,  he  may 
very  possibly  have  been  already  an  occasional  guest  at 
Stowe,  the  mansion  of  Earl  Temple  ;  and  here  he  would  be 
introduced  to  society,  English  and  foreign,  likely  to  in- 
dispose him  for  the  drudgery  of  professional  work. 

Of  the  foreign  guests  I  know  nothing  save  in  one  case — 
the  Comte  du  Koure  wrote  to  Scrope  in  this  year  regretting 
that  the  invitation,  sent  him  through  Scrope,  to  visit 
Oxford  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  an  honorary  degree, 
had  reached  him  too  late  in  consequence  of  being  wrongly 
directed.  I  conclude  that  this  nobleman  was  a  friend  of 
Lord  Temple,  and  a  person  of  some  importance  also,  since 
he  was  thus  complimented  by  the  university. 

William  Pitt,  second  son  of  the  great  Earl  of  Chatham, 
and  of  the   first   Lord   Temple's   sister,  Hester   Grenville, 


THE  COALITION  MINISTEY  43 

was  then  very  young,  but  was  already  on  the  high  road 
to  power  and  fame.  The  Lord  Wellesley  of  Oxford  days, 
who  had  become  Earl  of  Mornington  by  the  death  of  his 
father,  was  another  youth  destined  to  achieve  celebrity, 
and  there  were  probably  others  starting  in  life  with  numerous 
advantages,  whose  companionship  must  have  been  gratifying 
but  also  disturbing. 

The  Marquess  of  Kockingham  died  on  July  1.  On  the 
12th,  Lord  Mornington  wrote  to  William  Grenville,  from 
Dangan  Castle : ' 

We  are  all  thrown  into  the  utmost  consternation  by  the 
apparent  confusion  in  the  British  Cabinet ;  at  this  time  instability 
of  counsels  will  be  absolute  destruction.  W.  Pitt,  Secretary  of 
State  !  and  Lord  Shelburne  Premier  !  Surely  the  first  cannot  be 
qualified  for  such  an  office,  and  the  last  is,  in  my  opinion,  little 
to  be  depended  upon.  He  certainly  has  not  the  confidence  of  the 
people. 

Among  the  many  changes  consequent  on  the  formation 
of  this  coalition  ministry.  Earl  Temple  was  appointed  Lord 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland.  WilHam  Wyndham  Grenville 
became  his  brother's  public  secretary;  and,  in  answer  to 
Scrope  Bernard's  congratulations,  wrote — without  any  date 
beyond  the  day  of  the  week  : 

My  dear  Bernard, — Your  intelligence  is  true,  though  rather 
premature,  as  it  was  not  till  yesterday  evening  after  much  serious 
deliberation  that  I  accepted  the  situation  in  which  I  now  stand. 
How  it  will  turn  out  for  me  God  knows.  I  have  at  least  the  satis- 
faction of  thinking  that  it  cannot  but  prove  advantageous  to  you, 
as  I  have  a  commission  to  desire  that  you  will  come  up  to  town 
immediately  so  as  to  be  with  me  at  Lincoln's  Inn  on  Friday 
morning  as  early  as  you  can — before  ten,  if  it  can  be  done  by 
travelling  all  night,  if  necessary. 
Believe  me  ever, 
most  afftely  yrs., 

W.  W.  G. 

Pray  don't  be  later  Scrope  Bernard,  Esqre 

if  you  can  help  it,  Rev.  Dr.  Buller's 

Wednesday  night.  Alresford  Hants. 

•  Tlie  Manuscripts  of  J.  B.  Fortescue,  Esg.,  preserved  at  Droiymore  (His- 
torical Manuscripts  Commission),  vol.  i.,  p.  162. 


44  THE  BERNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Lord  Temple  proposed  to  take  Scrope  Bernard  with  him 
to  Ireland  as  private  secretary.  Against  this  tempting  offer 
Scrope  was  not  proof.  He  gave  up  the  tutorship  of  young 
Buller,  and,  what  was  more  serious,  he  gave  up  his  medical 
studies. 

The  following  letter  from  a  friend,  afterwards  Dr.  Austin, 
who  succeeded  him  in  the  tutorship,  explains  itself : 

Oxford,  August  7,  1782. 

Dear  Bernard, — I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  instructions 
respecting  Mr.  B.,  from  which  I  perfectly  understand  the  path  I 
have  to  follow.  It  is  lucky  for  Mr.  B.  that  you  have  undertaken 
the  correction  of  his  poetical  exercises,  as  I  had  never  paid  the 
least  attention  to  the  very  arduous  task  of  making  myself  a  poet, 
and  did  not  even  know  that  poetical  exercises  were  regularly  called 
for  by  any  college  in  the  University. 

Though  I  have  some  fear  from  your  late  appointment  that  you 
will  be  drawn  from  a  profession  to  which  I  am  obliged  for  intro- 
ducing me  to  your  acquaintance,  yet  I  cannot  but  congratulate 
you  upon  your  preferment,  which  I  daresay  you  would  not  have 
accepted  of  unless  it  afforded  you  some  compensation  for  the 
sacrifice  you  have  made.  I  am  happy  to  find,  however,  that  you 
have  not  yet  absolutely  forsaken  us,  and  that  you  have  still  a  wish 
to  preserve  a  name  in  the  Medical  Society,  which  I  am  sure  would 
be  very  sorry  to  part  with  you.  Whether  you  persevere  in  this 
line  or  find  it  more  eligible  to  adopt  some  other — for  I  take  it  for 
granted  you  will  pursue  some  profession — as  you  justly  observe 
that  politics  are  precarious  matters  to  depend  upon,  you  will 
always  have  my  best  wishes. 

Should  you  continue  with  Lord  Temple  for  a  year  or  two,  you 
will  enter  upon  physic  as  early  as  I  did ;  and  will  I  doubt  not 
return  to  it  with  some  valuable  connections.  I  shall  be  happy  to 
see  you  on  your  way  to  Ireland,  and  am 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

Wm.  Austin. 

Flattering  as  was  Lord  Temple's  selection  of  Scrope 
Bernard,  I  am  by  no  means  certain  that  this  new  career 
was  not  the  '  objectionable '  plan  of  life  against  which  his 
brother  Thomas  had  written.  Thomas  had  himself  been 
thoroughly  sickened  of  politics,  and  he  had  gained  sufficient 
experience  to  perceive  that  Scrope  ran  some  risk  of  being 


A  SEEIES  OF  CONGEATULATIONS  45 

stranded  in  life  altogether.  If,  however,  this  was  the  case, 
he  showed  no  resentment  at  the  failure  of  his  advice.  Other 
friends  were  ready  with  congratulations.     Dr.  Drury  wrote  : 

My  dear  Friend, — I  sincerely  rejoice  at  your  late  appointment 
and  flatter  myself  it  will  prove  as  beneficial  to  you  as  it  is  honor- 
able. Your  ability  and  known  Industry  leave  me  no  Koom  to 
doubt  but  that  the  attachment  you  have  now  formed  will  be 
lasting,  and  attended  with  the  best  of  consequences  ;  pray  let  me 
hear  from  you.  I  promise  you  my  pen  shall  never  fail  to  thank 
you  for  j^our  attention,  or  to  assure  you  with  how  much  sincerity 
and  affection,  I  am  at  all  times  your  Friend  and  Servt 

J.  Drury . 
Aug.  2nd  1782  Harrow, 

Shute  Barrington,  Bishop  of  Llandaff,  wrote  from 
'Mongewell,  Oxon,'  most  kindly,  though  with  episcopal 
solemnity  : 

When  the  die  is  cast,  to  calculate  chances  is  but  lost  time  and 
thought  misspent. 

Nothing  can  be  more  flattering  and  honorable  to  you  than  the 
friendship  of  Mr.  Wm.  Grenville,  or  the  appointment  of  Lord 
Temple's  to  so  confidential  a  situation.  You  carry  with  you  into 
the  new  scene,  active  talents,  much  industry,  and  I  am  persuaded, 
much  attachment  to  your  Patron.  That  they  may  be  rewarded  as 
they  deserve  is  my  earnest  wish.  My  goodwill  and  good  opinion 
will  always  accompany  you,  as  I  cannot  entertain  a  doubt  that 
they  will  always  be  merited. 

Accept  my  thanks  for  your  kind  congratulations. 

This  last  sentence  evidently  refers  to  the  Bishop's 
impending  translation  to  the  see  of  Salisbury.' 

There  is  one  more  letter  of  this  time  in  my  collection 
which  deserves  notice.  It  is  from  Cyril  Jackson,  who  in  the 
following  year  became  Dean  of  Christ  Church.^  This  letter 
does  not  contain  congratulations  on  Scrope's  appointment, 
for  these  had  probably  been  expressed  at  an  earlier  moment ; 
but  refers  to  a  present  made  by  Lord  Temple  to  Christ 
Church,  without  any  further  description.     The  writer  thanks 

'  Beatson,  Political  Index,  vol.  i., '  Archbishops  and  Bishops  '  (Edition  of 
1788). 

-  A  History  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  &c.,  printed  for  H.  Ackerman. 


46  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Scrope  for  forwarding  Lord  Temple's  letter,  and  states  that 
he  has  written  to  him  and  to  Mr.  Grenville  in  return.  He 
continues : 

I  can  very  truly  assure  you  as  indeed  I  have  said  to  himself, 
that  I  consider  it  as  the  highest  compliment  that  has  been  paid  to 
Xtch  on  the  present  occasion — I  have  a  very  real  pleasure  in  it. 
There  is  a  liberality  and  a  rightness  of  mind  in  his  thinking  of  it  at 
all,  &  it  is  done  in  the  most  handsome  way.  I  am  very  sure  that 
both  the  Chapter  and  the  Society  at  large  will  view  it  in  the  same 
light. 

I  am  really  sorry  to  miss  you.      It  is  not,   however,  quite 
impossible  that  I  may  catch  you  for  one  day.     You  may  assure 
yrself  that  I  will  take  care  yr  rooms  shall  always  be  ready  for  you. 
Believe  me  with  great  truth 
Dear  Sir 
Yr  very  faithful 
&  affectionate  servt 

Cyr  Jackson. 

Stamford,  Sept.  12,  1782. 

Scrope  Bernard  must  have  started  for  Ireland  very  soon 
after  the  receipt  of  this  letter.  And  he  was  not  the  only 
member  of  the  family  connection  who  accompanied  Lord 
Temple  to  Ireland.  The  Rev.  Joseph  Smith  was  a  member 
of  the  suite,  apparently  as  one  of  the  Lord-Lieutenant's 
chaplains.  He  had  been  sufficiently  long  curate  of  Wad- 
desdon — a  parish  in  which  the  Grenvilles  had  property,  and 
which  adjoined  where  their  ancestral  home  was  situated — to 
have  won  the  Earl's  goodwill,  and  spoke  of  him  in  after 
years  as  having  been  a  kind  friend.  The  journey  to  Ireland 
must  have  taken  place  before  the  end  of  September ;  in  the 
course  of  October,  Eichard  and  Fanny,  soon  after  their 
marriage,  took  charge  of  Wendover,  then  temporarily  bereft 
of  its  pastor.  Julia  took  the  opportunity  of  paying  a  visit 
to  her  sister,  Jane  White,  at  Lincoln,  accompanied  by  Emily, 
who  had  been  her  companion  of  late. 

There  are  very  few  memorials  of  Scrope's  first  visit  to 
Ireland  in  my  possession.  The  only  allusions  to  its  com- 
mencement are  contained  in  a  letter  from  his  lively  cousin 
Mrs.  Edmunds,  dated  '  7th  Oct.,  1782,'  and  are  as  follows  : 


THE  GOVEENMENT  OF  IRELAND  47 

1  have  the  pleasure  of  your  letter  this  day,  and  you  see  I  take 
the  first  moment  to  reply,  and  send  you  my  congratulations  on 
your  safe  arrival  and  [the]  pleasure  you  enjoy  at  the  Castle  ;  you 
would  almost  fancy  yourself  in  Fairyland,  that  you  was  become  a 
Sovereign  of  the  first  magnitude  when  you  made  so  magnificent 
an  entry. 

Of  this  entry  I  have  no  further  account.  The  writer  adds, 
with  an  allusion  to  the  convivial  habits  of  the  day  :  *  But 
you  see  every  situation  has  its  inconveniences ;  we  at  our 
little  villa  can  sit  down  to  our  sober  meal  without  danger  of 
excess,  whilst  you  must  retreat  to  avoid  it.' 

In  Lecky's  *  History  of  Ireland  in  the  Eighteenth 
Century,*^  the  recent  changes  in  the  mode  of  governing 
Ireland,  which  had  culminated  in  what  the  historian  terms 
'the  Constitution  of  1782,'  may  be  read  at  some  length. 
The  compiler  of  the  Buckingham  Memoirs  ^  more  briefly 
states  that : 

Lord  Temple  entered  upon  the  government  of  Ireland  at  a 
crisis  of  serious  agitation.  A  short  time  before,  under  the  Duke 
of  Portland's  administration  [Lord  Temple's  predecessor  as  Lord 
Lieutenant],  a  Bill  had  passed  the  Imperial  Parliament,  recogniz- 
ing in  full  and  in  the  most  expUcit  manner,  the  sole  and  exclusive 
right  of  the  ParUament  of  Ireland  to  make  laws  for  Ireland  .  .  . 
The  Bill  had  given  complete  satisfaction  to  the  popular  leaders  .  .  . 
But  the  factious  and  jealous  spirit  of  the  Irish  was  subsequently 
disturbed  by  indications  on  the  part  of  the  EngUsh  Legislature,  of 
a  disposition  to  depart  in  some  particulars  from  this  settlement. 

'Things  were  never  more  unsettled  than  they  are  at 
present,'  Mv.  Perry  writes  to  IVIr.  Grattan,  in  October,  1782 ; 
'  some  of  the  ]Ministry  here  are  at  open  enmity  with  each 
other,  and  everybody  seems  to  distrust  the  head  ' — that  is, 
Lord  Shelburne. 

From  the  'Buckingham  IMemoirs '  it  appears  that  Mr. 

William  Grenville  was  sent  back  to  London  to  communicate 

with  the  Government  confidentially  on  the  part  of  his  brother 

the  Lord  Lieutenant.     About  the  same  time,  in  November, 

'  Leoky,  History  of  Ireland  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  (Edition  1902),  vol. 
chap,  v.,  p.  334. 

2  Memoirs  of  the  Court  and  Cabinets  of  George  III.,  vol.  i.,  1782. 


48  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

apparently,  Mr.  Grenville  encountered  anxiety  of  a  different 
sort  as  to  the  fate  of  his  possessions  at  Lincoln's  Inn.  Mr. 
Wickham,  who  must  have  written  to  Scrope  Bernard  on  the 
subject  of  a  fire,  says,  in  a  second  letter  dated  '  Cottingley, 
December  1782  ' :  ^ 

I  was  made  very  happy  this  morning,  after  no  small  appre- 
hension, by  a  letter  from  Bierton,  informing  me  that  all  Grenville's 
books,  which  were  removed  on  account  of  the  late  fire  at  Lincoln's 
Inn,  were  lodged  in  his  chambers,  and  had  received  no  injury 
whatever — they  will  all  be  replaced  immediately.  I  thought  it 
necessary  to  give  you  the  information  immediately,  to  relieve 
Grenville  from  any  apprehension  he  might  have  been  under  on 
hearing  the  account  of  the  fire,  in  case  no  other  person  had  written 
to  him  on  the  subject.  I  should  hope,  however,  that  some  [one] 
of  his  friends  has  been  beforehand  with  me  in  the  communication 
of  his  narrow  escape. 

Your  brother,  I  fear,  must  have  been  under  much  greater 
apprehensions.  I  hope  he  has  not  suffered  in  the  hurry  and  con- 
fusion of  removing.  Probably  you  will  hear  particulars  from  him, 
at  present  I  am  as  ignorant  of  everything  as  you  can  be — excepting 
only  that  we  may  both  congratulate  each  other  on  a  very  immi- 
nent escape. 

The  writer  goes  on  to  say  that  Grenville  had  arrived  in 
town  a  few  days  before  he  left,  but  that  he  did  not  venture 
to  trespass  on  his  time.  By  the  tenor  of  the  letter  it  is  clear 
he  cannot  have  been  aware  that  Mr.  Grenville  was  still 
there,  and  must  therefore  have  been  well  informed  already 
of  the  calamity  at  Lincoln's  Inn.  There  are  some  allusions 
towards  the  close  to  friends  : 

I  heard  last  week  from  Oxford  that  Milner's  voice,  I  am  sorry 
to  say,  was  just  as  I  left  it.  G.  Markham  going  to  town  in  great 
spirits — his  brother  Jack  is  arrived  from  the  W.  Indies,  after  being 
in  no  small  danger  from  the  terrible  storm  which  proved  so  fatal 
to  our  fleet. 

Mention  is  made  in  the  '  Memoirs  '  of  a  '  network  of  small 
difficulties '  in  which  Mr.  William  Grenville  was  involved 
during  his  mission  to  London  '  by  the  want  of  unity  in  the 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


THE   STATE  OF  PAETIES  IN  lEELAND  49 

Cabinet,  especially  between  Mr.  Townshend  and  Lord 
Shelburne  on  the  Irish  question.'  Lord  Temple,  according 
to  those  '  Memoirs,'  had  always  been  in  favour  of  keeping 
strictly  to  the  compact  with  Ireland ;  and,  in  consequence 
of  these  complications,  his  brother  was  detained  the  whole 
winter  in  England. 

In  the  collection  of  letters  preserved  at  Dropmore,  the 
home  of  William  Grenville's  later  years,  Scrope  Bernard's 
presence  in  Ireland  is  first  made  known  through  a  long 
letter  from  Lord  Temple  to  Mr.  Grenville,  dated  *  December 
1st,'  ^  and  descriptive  of  the  state  of  parties  in  Ireland, 
which  is  noted  as  being  '  in  Mr.  Bernard's  handwriting, 
except  the  last  paragraph.'  In  January,  1783,  there  are 
various  allusions  to  him  in  the  Lord  Lieutenant's  correspond- 
ence with  his  brother,  as,  for  instance :  '  The  slip  of  in- 
formation you  enclosed  imder  cover  to  Bernard,  dated  the 
24th  (which  is  the  last  date  from  you),  makes,  no  alteration 
in  my  ideas  ' ;  and  '  The  death  of  the  Chancellor's  fat  Hewitt 
and  another  arrangement  enables  me  to  give  Bernard  400^. 
per  annum ;  this  therefore  is  off  my  mind ;  and  if  I  could 
provide  for  you,  the  brother  of  my  affection,  my  task  is  done 
to  my  content.' 

At  length,  after  a  few  more  weeks  of  uneasiness  and 
constraint,  a  decided  ministerial  crisis  in  England  de- 
termined Lord  Temple  to  resign  the  Viceroyalty.  He 
writes  to  Mr.  Grenville,  on  '  March  20th  ' :  -^ 

1  have  thought  it  fair  to  apprize  some  few  individuals  of  this 
event,  and  therefore  it  cannot  remain  a  secret ;  and  if  it  is  known 
to  Mr.  Fox,  it  will  not  long  be  a  secret  here,  as  Sheridan  has 
spoken  to  Bernard  about  my  letter  to  the  Duke  of  Portland,  and 
has  offered  him  ten  to  one  that  I  stay.  So  much  for  dehcacy,  and 
therefore  it  need  no  longer  be  a  mystery. 

Fox  was  one  of  the  ministry  which  had  gone  out  in  the 

previous  year,  and  he  appeared  very  soon  after  the  date  of 

this  letter  in  the  list  of  a  new  ministry,  under  the  Duke  of 

'  The  Manuscripts  of  J.  B.  Fortescue,  Esg[.,  jyreserved  at  Dropmore,  vol.  i., 
pp.  165-8. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  202. 

VOL.  III.  E 


50  THE   BEENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Portland,  which  obtained  the  name  of  'the  "Coalition" 
Ministry,  from  the  remarkable  union  of  Lord  North  with 
Mr.  Fox.' 

On  March  23,  Scrope  Bernard  writes,  at  Lord  Temple's 
desire  but  in  his  own  name,  to  William  Grenville  from 
*  Phoenix  Lodge  ' :  ^ 

I  do  not  pretend  to  describe  my  feelings  upon  the  receipt  of 
your  most  kind  letter  of  the  12th  instant.  .  .  .  But  I  must  break 
off  from  this  subject  to  obey  your  brother's  commands  by  writing 
you  a  detail  of  what  occurs  to  me  as  most  striking  in  the  situation 
of  things  here.  The  addresses  go  on  with  tolerable  spirit ;  nine 
already  presented,  and  others  voted  but  not  yet  arrived  at  the 
capital.  A  very  warm  and  affectionate  one  from  the  county  of 
Galway,  presented  this  day,  seems  to  curse  the  consequences  of  the 
coalition,  when  it  concludes  with  this  sentence  :  We  cannot  with- 
out  anxiety  hear  that  some  change  is  meditated  in  his  Majesty's 
ministry  in  England,  only  hecaiise  we  fear  it  may  lead  to  the 
departure  of  your  Excellency,  luhich,  luhenever  it  may  ha2:)pen,  we 
7)mst  feel  with  regret,  and  meet  with  reluctance.  This  regret  upon 
the  apprehension  of  the  event  is,  I  assure  you,  so  general  that, 
exclusive  of  the  addresses,  it  resounds  from  every  quarter,  and 
notwithstanding  there  are  necessarily  a  few  Ponsonbyites  and 
others,  who  do  not  feel  it,  yet  on  account  of  the  general  disposition 
of  the  people,  there  is  not  one  of  them  who  dares  avow  their  un- 
friendly sentiments. 

Then  follow  sundry  details  respecting  the  machinations 
of  Lord  Temple's  opponents,  and  the  dismay  of  another 
political  set  who  had  reason  to  dread  the  Duke  of  Portland 
as  Prime  Minister,  and  the  appointment  of  one  of  his  friends 
as  Viceroy  ;  these  persons,  however  they  might  previously 
have  demeaned  themselves  towards  the  Lord  Lieutenant, 
were  now  earnest  in  desiring  him  to  remain.  Mr.  Bernard 
continues : 

As  for  the  general  mass  of  the  people,  abstracted  from  party, 
their  addresses  will  fully  show  their  sentiments,  from  which,  not- 
withstanding the  almost  extravagant  warmth  of  some  of  them,  not 
a  single  man,  however  from  passions  unfriendly  disposed,  dare 
express  his  dissent  or  disapprobation.     The  numbers  that  flocked 

'  The  Manuscripts  of  J.  B.  Fortescue,  Esq.,  preserved  at  Dropviore,  vol.  i., 
p.  203. 


EESIGNATION  OP  LOED  TEMPLE  51 

to  vote  the  address  from  Galway  were  so  great  that  they  could 
not  assemble  at  their  usual  place,  but  were  obliged  to  meet  in  the 
church,  as  at  the  famous  Belfast  meeting.  I  feel  an  anxious 
suspense  to  see  what  effects  will  first  show  themselves  upon  your 
brother's  resolution  first  getting  abroad.  At  present  all  is  mere 
surmise,  and  the  very  household  continue  to  amuse  themselves 
with  speculating  whether  they  are  to  lose  their  warm  berths  in  the 
Castle.  We  shall  have  quitted  this  place  at  the  very  pinnacle  of 
our  glory,  and  shall  leave  a  great  many  friends  jealous  of  our 
honour  and  regardful  of  our  memory ;  and  who  will  not  patiently 
suffer  any  slur  to  be  thrown  on  the  splendour  of  these  six  months 
of  your  brother's  government,  which  I  am  confident,  are  not  to  be 
paralleled. 

The  letter  is  continued,  apparently,  on  the  same  paper, 
by  Lord  Temple,  who  says :  '  Bernard  has  been  v^riting  this 
while  I  have  copied  mine  to  the  King.  I  send  it  open,  and 
you  have  the  former  envelope  in  which  you  may  put  it,  as 
I  write  at  the  park,  where  I  have  not  my  wafer  seal.'  He 
then  goes  on  to  discuss  politics. 

In  this  letter  to  the  King,  the  Earl  tendered  his  resigna- 
tion of  the  Viceroyalty,  and  from  that  time  forward  he 
occupied  himself  more  or  less  with  the  arrangements  con- 
sequent on  this  step.  In  a  letter  of  April  6  ^  he  adverts  to 
the  condition  of  his  friends  and  dependents : 

The  total  and  absolute  failure  of  Mr.  Tunnadine,  Master  in 
Chancery  and  Commissioner  of  Appeals,  makes  it  necessary  to 
dismiss  him.  These  offices  provide  for  Doyle  and  Coppenger,  and 
give  me  a  satisfaction  which  I  cannot  express.  All  other  con- 
siderations are  indeed  trifling,  but  I  own  I  feel  them  strongly  for 
some  of  my  unfortunate  household,  out  of  which  number,  how- 
ever, Sir  Scrope  Bernard  and  Dame  Eleanor  his  wife  are  happily 
excepted. 

Scrope  Bernard  was  not  then  a  baronet,  nor  a  knight, 
nor  was  he  married.  But  it  is  curious  that  both  the  title 
and  the  wife  are  mentioned  in  a  document — little  more 
indeed  than  a  scrap  of  paper — signed  '  Mornington,  K.P.,' 
and  addressed  '  S''    Scrope   Bernard,  Bart.,  Castle,  Dublin. 

'  Manuscripts  of  J.  B.  Fortescue,  Esg.,  vol.  i.,  p.  209. 


52  THE  BEKNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

To  the  care  of  Dame  Eleanor  Bernard.'  ^  It  begins  *  Lord 
Apsley  desires  to  acquaint  S''  Scrope  Bernard,  Bart.,  that 
his  Majesty  has  been  pleased  to  sign  a  patent  of  the  dignity 
of  a  Baronet  of  Nova  Scotia,'  for  him  with  remainder  to  his 
children  by  '  Eleanor  his  now  wife — the  consequence  of  his 
faithful  services  as  Examinator  of  the  Hearth  money  in 
Ireland.'  The  missive  is  dated  '  Secretary's  Office,  White- 
hall, Ap.  1,  1783,'  a  significant  day.  There  was  no  doubt 
some  joke  involved,  but  it  cannot  be  fathomed  so  long  after 
the  event  as  the  present  time ;  '  Dame  Eleanor  '  remains  a 
mystery,  and  was  probably  a  mythical  personage.  She  is 
not  mentioned  again.  Scrope  had  written  to  Mrs.  Edmunds 
in  unflattering  terms  about  the  ladies  of  Dublin,  perhaps 
because  his  mind  was  engrossed  by  memories  of  the  York- 
shire lady  which  his  cousin  seems  to  have  carefully  kept 
alive  as  long  as  possible.  Lord  Mornington,  the  ostensible 
perpetrator  of  the  joke,  was  then  in  Dublin. 

Scrope  Bernard  had  known  very  early  in  March  that  the 
retiring  Viceroy  intended  to  retain  him  as  his  private  secre- 
tary after  his  arrival  in  England.  This  disposed  of  all  idea  that 
he  might,  as  suggested  by  Mr.  Austin,  return  to  his  medical 
studies,  for  which  indeed  he  was  probably  becoming  every 
day  more  unfit,  and  William  Grenville  had  already  written  to 
express  his  complete  satisfaction  in  the  following  letter :  ^ 

Pall  Mall,  March  12th,  1783. 
My  dear  Bernard, — I  am  very  sure  that  you  know  too  well  the 
interest  which  I  take  in  what  concerns  you,  and  the  sincere  satis- 
faction of  my  mind  from  your  letter  of  the  5th  (which  I  have  this 
instant  received)  to  make  it  necessary  for  me  to  expatiate  further 
upon  that  subject.  I  can  truly  say  that  I  am  by  it  relieved  from 
what  has  been  a  burden  upon  my  mind  ever  since  I  have  foreseen 
an  event  which  is  now  almost  certain  (you  will  understand  to 
what  I  allude).  It  was  a  most  sensible  mortification  to  me  to 
think  that  I  had  contributed  to  take  you  from  a  line  of  life  in 
which  you  must  have  succeeded,  and  to  have  thrown  you  into  one 
so  different,  without  your  receiving  any  adequate  compensation 
for  what  you  have  sacrificed. 

As  it  is  I  own  I  am  satisfied  for  the  present.     You  may  depend 

'  MS.  at  Nether  Winchendon.  '  Ibid. 


LADY  EOCHE  53 

upon  it  that  the  present  situation  of  things  will  not  last.  Proba- 
bly their  change  may  again  place  you  in  a  situation  in  which  my 
brother  or  myself  may  derive  advantage  from  that  industry,  those 
abilities,  and  above  all  that  integrity  and  character  which  I  was 
sure  (and  experience  has  proved  it  in  the  instance  of  my  brother) 
wanted  only  to  be  known  to  be  as  much  the  subject  of  admiration 
and  affection  in  others  as  in 

Your  most  sincere  and  affte  friend 

W.  W.  G. 

There  was  some  difficulty  in  filling  the  office  of  Lord 
Lieutenant,  several  persons  refused ;  but  eventually  Lord 
Northington  v^as  appointed.  Lord  Temple  remained  until 
after  the  King's  birthday,  June  4,  sorely  against  his  wish, 
because  his  successor  was  not  ready  to  undertake  the  duties 
of  his  post,  and  it  was  considered  inexpedient  to  leave  the 
country  vdthout  a  representative  of  royalty.^ 

I  possess  a  manuscript  letter  addressed  to  Scrope 
Bernard  by  the  lively  Lady  Eoche,  wife  of  Sir  Boyle  Roche, 
described  by  Lecky  as  *  a  member  of  Parliament  who  was 
well  known  for  his  buffoonery,  but  who  was  also  a  promi- 
nent and  a  shrewd  debater,  closely  connected  with  the 
Government  and  chamberlain  at  the  Castle.'  This  letter  is 
too  characteristically  Irish  to  be  omitted.  It  is  dated 
'  Limerick,  April  ye  18,  1783.' 

I  had  yesterday  an  opportunity  of  seeing  all  the  volunteers  of 
Limerick,  who  made  a  most  martial  appearance,  when  they 
attended  the  funeral  of  a  brother  volunteer,  a  dyer  in  the  town ; 
the  procession  was  closed  by  a  corps  of  cavalry  commanded  by 
the  Speaker's  son,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  I  could  recognize 
amongst  them  some  honest  traders  of  my  acquaintance,  and  some 
good  hack  horses  which  I  know,  through  the  splendour  of  their 
dress  and  arms,  and  the  richness  of  their  furniture.  I  could  not 
help  fancying  that  the  volunteers  were  not  sorry  for  the  death  of 
their  brother,  which  had  enabled  them  to  display  such  military 


On  Monday  our  Assizes  are  to  begin  ;  I  know  not  who  is  to  be 

'  Lecky,  History  of  Ireland  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  (Edition  1892), 
vol.  ii.,  chap.  5,  p.  350 ;  Memoirs  of  the  Court  and  Cabinets  of  George  III., 
vol.  i.  1783. 

2  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


54  THE  BEENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

hanged,  but  the  ladies  are  making  great  preparations  for  dressing 
and  dancing,  and  the  gentlemen  ought  to  be  sharpening  their 
pistols,  as  balls  in  these  parts  are  commonly  followed  by  duels. 

The  objectionable  practice  of  organising  assize  balls  at 
which  the  gentry  of  the  neighbourhood  danced,  flirted,  and 
feasted,  while  the  wretched  prisoners,  many  of  them  con- 
demned for  slight  offences,  were  awaiting  the  hour  of  execu- 
tion, was  probably  as  common  in  England  as  in  Ireland ; 
but  duels  were  much  less  frequent. 

With  regard  to  the  Irish  Volunteers,  their  position  had 
just  at  this  time  become  one  of  great  importance,  and  some 
persons  looked  on  it  with  alarm.  Originally  organised  as  a 
temporary  expedient  through  dread  of  foreign  invasion,  they 
held  their  ground  after  the  necessity  had  ceased.'  '  Peace 
had  been  signed,  but  there  was  no  prospect  of  a  dissolution 
of  the  volunteer  body.  The  last  reviews  had  been  the  most 
splendid  hitherto  celebrated,  and  the  institution  had  become 
a  recognised  national  militia,  discharging  many  important 
police  functions,  and  bringing  the  Protestant  gentry  and 
yeomanry  into  constant  connection  with  each  other ' ;  indeed, 
the  force  threw  itself '  into  the  reform  agitation,  and  '  the 
relations  between  the  Castle  and  Charlemont '  ^ — a  leader  in 
the  volunteer  movement — '  became  very  cold.' 

The  mention  of  another  and  more  important  letter,  from 
a  family  point  of  view,  as  well  as  from  the  fact  of  its  writer 
being  a  prominent  statesman  only  a  few  years  before,  has 
been  reserved  to  conclude  this  Chapter.  This  was  the  Earl 
of  Hillsborough,  so  often  mentioned  in  Vol.  II.  of  this 
History.  On  September  8,  1782,  Lord  Barrington  had 
written  to  his  young  cousin  Scrope  Bernard  from  Hills- 
borough congratulations  on  his  appointment  as  secretary 
to  Lord  Temple,  accompanied  by  best  wishes  for  his  success 
in  his  new  career,  by  favourable  prognostics  and  encomiums  ; 
he  continued :  '  I  have  passed  a  very  agreeable  month  with 

'  Lecky,  History  of  Ireland  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  (Edition  1892), 
vol.  ii.  chap.  5,  p.  351-2. 

^  Lord  Charlemont  commanded  the  Ulster,  and  at  one  time  also  the 
Leinster,  Volunteers. 


THE  EARL  OF  HILLSBOEOUGH  55 

my  old  friend  Lord  Hillsborough,  who,  as  you  know,  was 
a  most  sincere  and  useful  friend  to  your  Father.  I  wish 
my  time  would  have  allowed  me  to  have  paid  my  respects 
to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  and  embraced  you.'  Scrope 
Bernard  can  hardly  have  left  England  when  this  letter 
reached  Dublin,  and  probably,  by  the  wording  of  it,  he 
did  not  meet  Lord  Barrington,  who  may  have  crossed  the 
channel,  while  Lord  Hillsborough  perhaps  sent  some 
intimation  that  it  would  give  him  pleasure  to  hear  from 
a  son  of  Sir  Francis  Bernard.  A  letter  from  Scrope  seems 
to  have  led  to  the  following  reply  from  his  father's  old  ally 
dated,  *  Hillsborough,  21st  of  December ' : 

Sir, — Upon  my  return  to  this  place  after  a  tour  of  visits  which 
I  have  been  making  in  this  county,  I  found  upon  my  table  a  most 
obliging  letter  from  you  dated  the  6th  inst.,  for  which  I  take  leave 
to  return  you  my  best  thanks.  I  am  much  obliged  to  my  friend 
Lord  Barrington  for  making  me  acquainted  with  you,  and  lament 
that  my  leaving  Dublin  so  soon  prevented  that  acquaintance  from 
becoming  personal,  but  I  shall  hope  for  some  other  opportunity 
either  of  meeting  you  in  London,  or  when  I  return  to  Dublin,  or 
if  curiosity  or  business  should  lead  you  into  this  part  of  the 
country  I  should  be  happy  to  see  you  at  this  place.  You  do  me 
the  honour  to  take  notice  of  the  connection  I  had  with  your 
excellent  and  worthy  Father  ;  I  assure  you,  Sir,  I  entertained  the 
highest  esteem  for  him  as  a  gentleman  very  meritorious  in  the 
service  of  his  King  and  country,  and  shall  be  very  glad  to  show 
every  mark  of  respect  and  regard  in  my  person  to  any  of  his 
Family.  These  sentiments  make  it  particularly  agreeable  to  me 
to  have  this  opportunity  of  assuring  you  that  I  am 

Sir,  your  most  obedient  Humble 
Servant 

Hillsborough. 
Scrope  Bernard,  Esqr. 
Castle,  Dublin. 

The  tone  of  this  letter  is  so  cordial  that  it  seems  not 
unlikely  the  young  secretary  may  have  found  it  possible  to 
make  the  acquaintance  of  a  minister  of  whom  he  must 
have  heard  much  in  his  boyhood.  But  I  have  no  record 
of  the  fact. 

Lord  Temple  quitted  Ireland  on  June  5,  1783;  and  it 


56  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

may  be  assumed  that  Scrope  Bernard  accompanied  him, 
and  also  his  brother-in-law  the  Vicar  of  Wendover.  The 
viceroyalty  of  their  chief  had  been  so  short  that  it  afforded 
little  opportunity  for  memorable  deeds.  The  creation  of 
the  Order  of  St.  Patrick  must  have  been  its  most  showy  act, 
and  Scrope  had  doubtless  been  a  witness  of  the  ceremonial 
attending  it,  but  of  this  there  is  no  record  in  his  letters. 
Lecky  states  also  that  Lord  Temple  '  succeeded  in  detecting 
and  punishing  several  instances  of  great  peculation  in 
administration,'  and  that  *  he  announced  to  Lord  Charlemont 
his  firm  intention  of  reducing  **  that  impolitic  and  uncon- 
stitutional influence  which  has  been  the  bane  and  ruin  of 
both  countries."  '  This  determination  he  had  of  course  no 
time  to  put  into  execution. 


SCROPE  BERNAED'S  ROMANCE  57 


CHAPTEK  IV 

EXCURSIONS  AND  RETURN  TO  NETHER  WINCHENDON 

Serope  Bernard's  Romance— Crazes  of  the  Time — Mrs.  Siddons— Scrope 
Bernard's  Plans— The  Hon.  George  Fulke  Lyttelton— Scrope  Bernard's 
Visits  to  France— His  Interest  in  Poor  Law— Marriage  of  Amelia  Bernard — 
Rumours  of  Scrope  Bernard's  approaching  Marriage — His  Anxiety  to  become 
Possessor  of  Nether  Winchendon — Mr.  and  Mrs.  King — Life  in  a  Country 
Parish — Scrope  Bernard  becomes  Lord  of  Nether  Winchendon  Manor — 
He  is  Offered  and  Accepts  the  Secretaryship  to  a  Commission  of  Inquiry 
into  Public  Offices, 

Scrope  Bernard's  friends  were  not  backward  in  supplying 
him  with  news  on  topics  likely  to  interest  him  while  he 
was  under  the  disadvantage  of  being  separated  by  the  sea 
from  his  old  haunts. 

Mrs,  Edmunds,  always  a  sympathetic  relative,  did  not 
forget  her  cousin's  attraction  towards  the  lady  mentioned 
by  his  sister  Fanny  some  months  previously,  whose  home 
was  apparently  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Worsborough. 
She  writes,  in  the  letter  already  quoted,  soon  after  Scrope's 
arrival  in  Dublin  ^ : 

I  know  that  any  intelligence  from  this  quarter  will  be 
acceptable ;  first  then  the  St.  James  Street  Party.  I  spent 
a  very  agreeable  day  at  her  own  house  in  this  neighbourhood 
lately  ;  she  looks  very  well  and  enquired  how  long  you  continued 
in  Ireland  of  my  daughter  who  sat  next  her  at  table.  They  have 
been  at  Wakefield  and  Doncaster  races,  and  are  to  be  at  the 
Mayor's  feast  this  next  week.     I  hear  of  no  overtures  at  present. 

Alas  !  in  a  later  letter  Mrs.  Edmunds  says  : 

Only  returned  on  Saturday  from  Heath  and  Nowland  Park 
Lady  Georgina  enquired  after  you ;  we  spent  a  day  and  evening 

'  This  and  the  two  following  extracts  are  from  MS.  Letters  at  Nether 
Winchendon. 


58  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

there  very  agreeably,  for  our  visit  was  to  the  old  lady.  We  left 
that  part  on  the  day  of  the  ball,  in  honour  of  the  Queen's  birth ; 
it  had  no  charms  to  detain  us  ;  you  would  have  felt  yourself 
differently  affected  ;  a  certain  lady  was  to  make  her  appearance ; 
report  speaks  of  an  alliance  I  don't  wish  to  take  place,  how  true, 
time  will  discover,  to  a  young  man  of  very  moderate  parts,  but 
ample  fortune. 

Two  rich  mountains  of  Peru, 

Eush  to  wealthy  Marriage  too. 
And  make  a  world  of  love. 

I  have  learnt  long  since  not  to  wonder  at  what  I  see  and  hear, 
we  have  so  many  unaccountable  events  that  all  astonishment 
ceases !  You  will,  I  hope,  find  some  worthy  kindred  mind  that 
will  make  disappointment  sit  easy. 

But  there  is  a  further  allusion  to  this  subject  in  a  third 
letter  : 

I  am  informed  the  news  I  sent  you  in  my  last  is  not  True, 
the  young  Lady  begged  it  might  be  contradicted  from  herself, 
so  you  see  while  there  is  Life  there  is  Hope.  She  is  at  present 
in  a  poor  state  of  health  from  Ague  and  Fever. 

This  is  the  last  mention  of  the  affair  I  can  find,  and 
whatever  may  have  been  the  reason,  it  is  evident  that  it 
came  to  nothing  about  this  time.  So  ended  Scrope 
Bernard's  romance,  if  it  was  one. 

Two  other  letters  from  Oxford  friends  are  interesting, 
as  touching  on  crazes  of  the  time.  The  first  is  especially 
notable  as  a  craze.  Mr.  Godschall,  Scrope's  eccentric 
friend,  had  been  captivated  by  the  feats  of  an  alchemist, 
apparently  at  Oxford,  and  so,  it  would  seem,  had  many  other 
persons.  Scrope,  indeed,  took  an  interest  in  the  reports 
which  reached  him,  by  reason  of  his  love  for  chemistry. 
Mr.  Godschall  writes  from  '  Weston  House  '  : 

You  enquire  concerning  Dr.  Price  and  his  experiments.  I  was 
present  at  one  of  them ;  and  will  relate  what  I  saw  there,  and 
then  leave  you  to  judge  for  yourself.  Ths  doctor  mixed  borax, 
charcoal,  and  quicksilver  in  a  crucible ;  he  then  put  in  some  of 
his  gold-making  powder,  and  after  the  crucible  had  remained  in 
the  fire  for  a  certain  time,  he  broke  it,  and  produced  several  bits 
'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon, 


MRS.   SIDDONS  59 

of  yellow  metal,  which  being  carried  to  the  refiner,  were  proved 
to  be  pure  gold  ;  if  it  is  objected  that  gold  is  an  ingredient  in  the 
powder  (I  suppose  that  granted),  by  one  grain  of  the  powder  are 
produced  five  or  six  grains  of  gold.  The  process  for  making  silver 
is  less  complicate.  A  quantity  of  quicksilver  is  mixed  with  a 
white  powder,  by  which  it  is  converted  into  a  paste ;  the  gross 
particles  are  then  blown  off  by  fire,  and  there  remains  a  round 
ball  of  silver,  which  was  also  proved  to  be  such. 

Dr.  Price  evidently  had  a  run ;  but  it  appears  from 
a  subsequent  letter  that  his  reputation  had  not  been  well 
maintained.  The  following  account  relates  to  the  early 
days  of  a  career  of  more  enduring  renown.  The  writer 
was  Mr.  Frankland,  formerly  of  Christ  Church,  who  was 
then  a  Fellow  of  All  Souls  : 

Old  Bond  Street, 

January  2nd  1783. 

My  dear  Bernard, —  .  .  .  All  the  world  is  wild  here  after 
Mrs.  Siddons,  the  new  actress.  She  is  I  understand  all  in  all ; 
she  has  the  sweetest  voice,  most  accurate  pronunciation,  and  the 
most  dignified  action  that  ever  graced  the  stage.  In  short  you 
may  say  of  her  without  flattery  what  Horace  {lohom  ive  both 
I  hnoio  particularly  admire)  said  of  Augustus  with  a  great  deal 
of  truth,  '  Nihil  oriturum  alias,  nihil  ortum  tale  fatenttcr.'  This  is 
all  very  fine,  vague,  and  poetical,  and  can  give  you  no  possible 
determinate  idea.  I  assure  you  if  I  had  seen  her  myself  I  would 
not  have  given  you  so  undiscriminating,  unphilosophical  a 
description. 

I  endeavoured  last  night  to  mob  it  into  the  pit  as  the  boxes 
were  all  taken.  I  was  at  Drury  Lane  half  an  hour  before  the 
doors  open,  but  it  was  too  late  as  I  found  by  experience,  for  the 
passages  leading  to  the  pit  contained  people  enough  to  fill  it, 
so  that  after  being  squeezed  and  sweated  for  an  hour  I  was  forced 
to  return.  A  night  or  two  ago  the  fine  Mr.  Hampden  was  in  the 
same  situation,  though  he  did  not  make  so  disgraceful  a  retreat. 
He  and  his  friend,  who  was  going  to  the  East  Indies,  tried  the 
boxes,  were  repulsed,  descended  to  the  pit  door,  could  not  get  in, 
went  up  to  the  two  shilling  gallery,  ditto.  The  one  shilling  gallery 
was  now  their  only  resource,  to  which  they  at  length  forced  their  way, 
and  thrusting  their  heads  in  at  the  door  hollowed  out  [sic] — '  Is 
there  any  honest  fellow  in  the  front  row,  who  will  take  five  shillings 
for  his  place  V  'I  will.  Sir,  I  will.  Sir,'  resounded  on  all  sides, 
and  two  men  presently  came  out  from  the  centre  division,  and 


60  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

having  received  half  a  guinea  between  them,  probably  went  to  the 
next  ale-house  and  got  drunk,  while  our  two  heroes  entered  their 
seats  in  triumph,  having  found  that  money  has  the  same  effect 
in  Britain  as  Philip  of  Macedon  found  it  had  in  Greece.^ 

After  this  account  it  may  be  assumed  that  Scrope,  on 
his  return  to  London,  took  an  early  opportunity  of  attending 
a  performance  at  Drury  Lane,  but  he  has  not  left  his 
impressions  on  record ;  they  must  have  been  favourable, 
however,  as  he  was  a  frequenter  of  those  theatres  at  which 
the  Kembles  acted  for  many  years. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  in  England,  he  formed  plans  for 
utilising  the  interval  of  leisure  afforded  him  by  circumstances. 
The  following  letter^  to  Thomas  Bernard  partly  explains 
itself : 

Cross  Inn,  Oxford,  Aug.  17,  1783. 
My  dear  Brother, — Your  letter,  though  calculated  as  well  as 
mine,  met  with  little  better  success.  After  searching  for  me  in 
vain  at  Christchurch,  it  reached  me  at  Stowe,  which  place  I  did 
not  leave  till  this  very  day,  near  a  fortnight  after  the  time  I  had 
fixed  in  my  letter  to  you.  I  have  a  train  of  plans  for  the  rest  of 
the  Vacation,  with  the  precise  dates  fixed  to  each,  and  a  firm 
intention  on  my  part  to  adhere  to  them,  though  Heaven  only 
knows  whether  I  shall ;  and  yet  my  ideas  of  the  usefulness  of 
punctuality  are  as  strong  as  any  person's.  On  Monday  the  25th 
I  return  to  Stowe,  where  I  am  to  meet  my  friend  Mr.  Lyttelton, 
who  takes  me  with  him  on  the  27th  to  Hagley,  where  I  am  to 
spend  a  few  days  which  I  limit  to  three,  This  brings  me  to  the 
30th  of  August.  I  then  set  out  to  prosecute  my  plan,  which  Lord 
Temple  not  only  consents  to,  but  has  spontaneously  revived  and 
recommended,  of  my  going  abroad.  His  advice  coincided  very 
much  with  my  inclination  not  to  go  immediately  to  Paris,  but 
to  take  up  my  residence  in  some  provincial  town,  of  which  he 
thinks  Lille  is  as  good  as  any.  I  will  therefore  trouble  you  to 
recollect  your  knowledge  of  that  place,  and  to  think  of  some  house 
for  lodging  and  dieting  myself,  or  to  put  me  in  the  way  of  finding 
one.  The  time  for  my  stay  is  limited  to  six  weeks  at  the  utmost. 
You  best  know  what  sum  of  money  will  be  sufficient  to  carry  me 
through  that,  allowing  for  a  few  days'  excursion  before  my  return, 
and  if  you  still  think  you  can  for  the  present  spare  me  such  a  sum, 
will  be  kind  enough  to  assist  me  at  least  as  far  as  the  state  of  my 
'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon.  -  Ibid. 


THE  HON.  GEOEGE  FULKE  LYTTELTON    61 

purse  requires  it.  You  will  wonder  perhaps,  as  I  am  to  go,  why 
I  do  not  set  off  immediately,  but  I  have  engaged  myself  strongly 
to  Mr.  Lyttelton,  and  at  the  same  time  am  so  much  bent  on  seeing 
Hagley  and  the  family  in  so  advantageous  a  manner,  that  I  cannot 
break  into  this  part  of  my  plans,  and  after  all — the  remainder  of 
the  Vacation  will  allow  me  ample  time  for  the  purpose  of  launching 
me  into  the  French  language. 

Part  of  my  plan  is  not  to  take  a  servant,  but  to  trust  to  Lisle 
for  suiting  myself,  which  I  think  you  will  approve  of.  I  am  happy 
in  hearing  of  our  Brother  ;  if  there  are  any  particulars  respecting 
him,  you  will  inform  me  when  I  pass  through  town. 

This  is  Cross  pen,  ink,  and  paper,  and  therefore  no  wonder  if 
it  does  not  please  you,  or  makes  me  write  ill. 

Yrs  affectly  S.  B. 
Addressed : 

Thomas  Bernard  Esqre, 
Lincolns  Inn, 
London. 

What  the  news  was  about  Sir  John  Bernard,  and 
whether  it  had  arrived  from  him  or  some  one  else,  does 
not  transpire ;  but  there  was  nothing  cheerful  to  tell  about 
this  sojourn  in  America,  as  will  appear  when  Sir  John's 
experiences  are  related. 

Scrope's  friend,  the  Hon.  George  Fulke  Lyttelton,  was 
the  eldest  son  of  Lord  Westcote,  afterwards  Lord  Lyttelton.^ 
Although  he  writes  in  one  of  his  letters  of  their  having 
read  together,  Scrope  probably  took  the  lead  on  these 
occasions,  since  he  was  five  years  older  than  Mr.  Lyttelton. 
This  youth  was  related  to  Lord  Temple  and  William 
Grenville,  but  only  as  second  cousin,  and  I  know  not 
whether  the  Bernard  intimacy  commenced  in  Oxford  or  at 
Stowe.  Lord  Westcote  was  married  to  a  second  wife,  by 
whom  he  had  a  young  family ;  the  second  of  the  two  sons 
by  his  first  marriage  had  been  killed  in  battle  in  1781, 
leaving  George  somewhat  lonely,  and  inclined  to  melancholy  ; 
a  studious  youth,  he  appears  to  have  shrunk  from  pleasure, 
so  called,  and  to  have  been  indifferent  to  general  society. 
For  many  years   he   corresponded    with   Scrope,   but  his 

•  See  Debrett,  Burke,  and  other  Peerages,  '  Lyttelton,  Baron,  now  Cobham, 
Viscount.' 


62  THE  BEENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

most  interesting  letters  belong  to  a  later  period.  That 
Scrope  should  desire  to  visit  Hagley  was  natural,  not  only 
for  the  sake  of  its  own  attractions  and  those  of  the  family 
then  residing  there,  but  also  because  the  reputation  of 
the  first  Lord  Lyttelton,  elder  brother  of  Lord  Westcote, 
had  made  it  classic  ground.  It  was  believed  to  have  been 
the  scene  of  wedded  happiness,  as  intense  as  it  was  short- 
lived, which  Lord  Lyttelton  had  commemorated  in  his 
then  famous  monody  on  the  death  of  his  wife.^  The 
reckless  career  of  his  son,  the  second  lord,  and  the  legend 
attaching  to  his  end,  had  given  the  family  a  celebrity  of 
another  sort. 

I  have  no  record  of  Scrope's  impressions  of  Hagley, 
nor  of  the  results  of  his  Lille  visit.  Why  Lille  should 
have  been  chosen  for  the  study  of  French  is  a  puzzle. 
Thomas  Bernard,  it  appears,  had  already  been  there,  with 
what  object  is  not  stated ;  but  I  am  disposed  to  think 
that  the  choice  of  that  town  in  both  cases  may  be  attributed 
to  Lord  Temple's  influence.  It  is  noted  in  a  subsequent 
letter  that  Lady  Temple  had  a  relative,  the  Hon.  Mrs. 
Storer,  daughter  of  Lord  Carysfort,  at  Lille,  and  that 
Scrope  Bernard  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  family  named 
Descouelle,  well-known  to  that  lady;  it  seems  probable 
that  by  the  recommendation  of  Mrs.  Storer,  transmitted 
originally  through  Lord  Temple,  he  boarded  with  that 
family. 

In  the  August  of  the  following  year  a  correspondent 
who  signs  '  C.  Macartney,'  and  who  was  evidently  George 
Lyttelton's  maternal  aunt,  thanked  Scrope  for  his  kindness 
to  the  young  man  during  a  recent  illness  at  Bichmond. 
The   lady   says :    *  Accept  my  best  thanks    for   the  favour 

'  Lucy  Fortescue ;  Lord  Lyttelton's  Dialogties  of  the  Dead,  were  also  much 
read,  and  he  wrote  other  books.  '  By  the  death  of  his  father  [in  1751]  he 
inherited  a  baronet's  title  with  a  large  estate,  which,  though  perhaps  he  did 
not  augment,  he  was  careful  to  adorn  by  a  house  of  great  elegance  and  expence, 
and  by  much  attention  to  the  decoration  of  his  jmrk.'  Johnson  (Dr.  Samuel), 
Lives  of  the  Most  Eminent  English  Poets,  vol.  ii.,  '  Lyttelton.'  The  pedigree 
may  be  found  in  Debrett  and  Burke's  Peerages,  since  1889,  under  the  heading 
of  '  Cobham,  Viscount.' 


MONTEEUIL-SUE-MEE  63 

you  did  me  in  coming  to  the  relief  of  yom-  poor  sick  friend, 
for  the  comfort  you  gave  him,  and  for  having  relieved  many 
a  sad  and  gloomy  hour  of  distress  for  me  by  your  attentions 
and  your  cheerful  and  agreeable  conversation,'  and  continues 
her  letter  in  the  same  tone  of  praise. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  1784,  Scrope  made 
another  attempt  to  master  the  French  language  ;  he  vs^ent 
for  his  holiday  to  Montreuil-sur-Mer,  on  the  route  from 
Boulogne  to  Paris.  Murray  describes  it  in  recent  times  as 
'an  uninteresting  country  town,  on  a  hill  crowned  by  a 
citadel.'  ^  It  owed  its  origin  to  a  monastery,  of  which 
some  vestiges  remained,  and  at  that  time  there  was  also 
an  old  Chartreuse,  since  destroyed  and  rebuilt,  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  town.  '  The  fortifications  were 
partly  constructed  by  Vauban  on  older  foundations.'  And 
the  same  account  adds :  *  It  is  now  principally  known  to 
Englishmen  as  the  spot  in  which  Sterne  laid  one  of  the 
scenes  in  the  "  Sentimental  Journey. " '  When  Scrope 
Bernard  visited  the  locality  it  contained  evidently  some 
English  residents  ;  he  went,  perhaps,  because  he  had  friends 
there,  but  probably  did  not  remain  for  the  whole  of  his 
vacation.  It  must  have  been  "  during  this  excursion  that 
he  went  on  to  Paris,  and,  as  I  have  heard  my  father  say, 
attended  the  court  of  Louis  XVL,  where  he  beheld  Marie 
Antoinette  in  her  glory.  This  experience  made  a  lasting 
impression,  partly  no  doubt  by  reason  of  those  subsequent 
events  which  imparted  a  tragic  interest  to  the  recollection 
of  scenes  dazzhng  by  their  beauty  and  splendour.  Mr. 
Bernard  must  have  often  spoken  on  the  subject  to  his 
children. 

I  have  no  notes  of  this  visit,  but  a  letter  from  Scrope's 
friend,  H.  G.  Quin,  written  at  Geneva,  in  the  spring  of  the 
following  year,  probably  conveys  the  ordinary  impressions 
of  a  travelling  Englishman  at  that  period.     He  says  : 

A  letter  from  Paris  would  1  imagine  have  been  little  else  than 
an  echo  of  the  Ideas  which  that  City  had  impressed  on  your  own 

'  Mnrray,  Handbook  for  France,  vol.  i.,  1886 


64  THE  BEENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

mind,  I  therefore  wave  the  subject,  observing  only  that  the  actual 
appearance  of  things  there  wonderfully  corresponds  with  the 
Nature  of  the  Government ;  in  fact  they  are  an  Epitome  of  it ; 
everything  connected  with  the  King  is  great,  superb,  costly,  mag- 
nificent, and  colossal,  whilst  the  very  reverse  of  this  is  the  Condi- 
tion of  the  People.  I  do  not  suppose  there  is  another  city  in  the 
World  in  which  the  contrast  between  the  mean  and  the  magnificent 
is  more  strongly  marked.  Paris  seems  to  be  a  heterogeneous 
mixture  of  Marble,  Dirt,  Gold,  Filth,  Splendor,  Poverty,  spacious 
Gardens,  blind  Alleys,  Palaces  &  Hovels.  As  to  the  King,  a  man 
need  only  walk  through  the  streets  to  be  convinced  of  the  nature 
and  extent  of  his  Authority,  from  the  frequency  and  magnitude  of 
the  different  Hotels  du  Boi,  he  will  conceive  him  to  be  a  very 
Argos  and  Briareus. 

No  hint  is  given  that  Mr.  Quin  had  any  suspicion  of  the 
changes  that  were  coming.  I  do  not  know  whether  Scrope 
felt  doubtful,  but  probably  not,  since  an  older  friend  to 
whom  he  wrote  for  information  as  to  the  provision  made 
for  the  poor  in  France,  and  who  was  resident  in  the  country, 
does  not  appear  to  have  harboured  any  misgivings.  This 
was  Mr.  Kobert  Browne,  who  had  married  the  widow  of 
General  the  Hon.  John  Barrington,  next  brother  of  the 
Viscount  then  living.  It  was  probably  his  presence  at 
Montreuil  which  had  attracted  Scrope  thither,  partly  if  not 
wholly.  As  to  the  young  man's  interest  in  Poor  Law 
questions,  it  is  evident  that  he  cherished  the  wish  to 
become  a  country  gentleman  and  magistrate,  and  in  time 
a  member  of  Parliament.  But  he  may  also  have  asked 
them  for  the  sake  of  his  brother  Thomas,  who  was  then 
preparing  the  ground  for  his  future  philanthropic  career. 
Perhaps  the  brothers  often  conversed  on  this  and  kindred 
topics. 

It  will  be  observed  that  Mr.  Browne's  letter  hardly 
depicts  the  condition  of  the  lower  classes  about  Montreuil 
as  steeped  in  the  wretchedness  so  generally  ascribed  to  the 
whole  of  France.  Besides  the  curious  lack  of  apprehension 
for  the  future  which  it  shows  within  a  very  few  years  of  the 
great  catastrophe,  this  letter  is  noticeable  by  reason  of 
the  light  it  throws  on  the  difficulties  and  deprivations  of 


CONDITION  OF  THE  POOE  IN  FEANCE  65 

the  English  colony  at  Montreuil/  barely  thirty  miles  from 
Boulogne : 

Montreuil,  Deer.  6,  1784. 
I  sit  down,  my  dear  Bernard,  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
your  pacquet,  with  the  money  &c.  I  sent  your  letter  and  gazettes 
to  Williams  who  I  have  not  seen  for  a  few  days,  but  I  suppose  to- 
morrow or  next  day  shall  have  that  pleasure.  As  to  your  question 
about  the  Poor  Laws,  I  shall  inform  myself  as  soon  as  possible ; 
all  I  know  at  present  is  that  at  Montreuil  there  are  none ;  but 
a  voluntary  subscription  monthly  provides  the  Indigent  with 
bread  and  a  small  sum  of  money  ;  the  collectors  are  some  of  the 
first  and  most  respectable  characters  here,  who  gave  a  certain 
quantity  of  bread  and  money  weekly  to  the  Eectors  of  the  6 
parishes  with  directions  to  distribute  it  to  such  persons  as  are  on 
the  poor  list  in  their  respective  parishes  ;  but  as  the  subscriptions 
were  voluntary  they  frequently  failed,  and  the  Bureau  was  obliged 
to  be  shut  in  the  month  of  March  last,  when  the  Poor  were  in  the 
most  deplorable  condition.  I  spoke  to  several  of  the  Collectors 
and  recommended  them  to  go  to  every  house  in  Montreuil  and  beg 
the  Noblesse  and  the  Bourgeois  respectively  to  write  their  names 
on  a  list  with  the  sum  they  would  engage  to  subscribe  monthly  for 
a  year,  which  I  find  they  have  done,  and  the  poor  are  now  toler- 
ably comfortable  at  a  time  when  bread  is  so  extraordinarily  dear ; 
but  whether  this  will  continue  another  year  I  cannot  answer  for. 

There  was  one  great  abuse  in  the  first  Institution,  which  I  hope 
they  have  reformed  ;  when  a  family  gave  liberally,  they  recom- 
mended people  to  be  put  on  the  list  who,  very  often,  were  not 
proper  objects  of  charity,  which  was  one  principal,  or  at  least  first 
ostensible  reason  for  the  failure  of  the  monthly  contributions,  as 
people  cried  out  at  the  abuse  of  the  charity,  &c. 

Some  years  ago,  Government  opened  Hospitals  or  Asylums  in 
the  principal  towns  of  France,  where  they  obliged  all  the  vagrant 
poor  to  reside ;  but  this  was  at  the  expense  of  the  King,  or  the 
Princes  of  the  Blood  in  their  different  appanages.  At  first  the 
officers  appointed  to  take  up  the  vagrants  kept  a  strict  hand,  but 
when  those  places  were  full  and  they  found  there  were  still 
many  left,  they  relaxed  ;  and  lately  I  am  informed  they  let  the 
poor  beg  in  the  different  parts  of  France  without  molestation, 
however,  I  will  this  week  make  inquiries  about  this  affair,  and  will 

'  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Montreuil  in  which  Mr.  Browne  resided 
and  which  Scrope  Bernard  visited  was  Montreuil-sur-Mer,  though  not  so 
distinguished  in  my  MS.  letters ;  the  other  Montreuils  in  France  are  mere 
villages. 

VOL.  III.  F 


66  'THE  BERNABDS  OF  ABINGTON 

write  to  you  as  soon  as  I  hear  anything  satisfactory.  The  Abbayes 
are  not  obliged  to  give  any  specific  charity,  but  are  supposed  to 
assist  the  poor  of  their  cantons ;  you  know  there  are  Nuns  who 
take  a  vow  to  educate  children  gratis,  but  they  live  themselves  on 
charity.  There  are  also  poorhouses  for  the  reception  of  Foundlings 
in  every  town  almost,  where  the  children  are  kept  till  they  are 
four  or  five  years  old  and  then  sent  to  Paris,  which  saves  the  lives 
of  many  infants,  as  formerly  they  sent  young  creatures  of  a  week 
or  a  month  old,  and  one  half  died  before  they  reached  the  capital. 

The  rest  of  the  letter  refers  to  other  topics,  personal  and 
public — '  Will  you  forgive  me  if  I  beg  you  to  send  me 
a  North  Wiltshire  cheese  of  about  20  or  30  lbs.  weight, 
two  more  guinea  bottles  of  the  same  medicine  for  my  friend 
&  to  send  them  by  the  Paris  Diligence.'  And  the  writer 
then  goes  into  other  particulars,  such  as  the  disposal  of  an 
unnecessary  watch  ;  the  repair  of  an  old  violoncello — for 
these  negotiations  a  friend  in  London  was  exceedingly  useful. 

After  which  the  writer  continues  : 

Many  thanks  for  the  newspapers ;  they  are  a  great  comfort  to 
us ;  pray  are  you  determined  to  keep  an  exact  neutrality  in  case 
of  a  war?  I  find  by  the  papers  your  Ministry  strengthens  daily 
— does  Lord  Carmarthen  come  Ambassador  here  ?  and  does  Lord 
Shelburne  take  Mr.  Pitt's  place  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury  ? 
Some  officers  have  orders  to  join  the  15th  January,  and  to  have 
two  horses  to  camp,  but  many  people  think  there  will  be  no  war. 

Adieu,  Mrs.  B  and  Louisa  desire  many  kind  compts,  and 
believe  me  to  be  Dr  Sir 

Your  sincere  and 

Aff  Humble  Servant 

R.  Bkowne. 

On  his  return  journey  Scrope  had  the  vexation  of  losing 
a  trunk,  probably  of  some  value  in  itself  and  also  for  the 
property  it  contained ;  and  this  had  led  to  a  correspondence 
with  a  Monsieur  Degros,  apparently  a  wine  merchant,  in 
whose  house  he  had  perhaps  lodged.  I  doubt  if  the  trunk 
was  ever  recovered  ;  nevertheless,  Mr.  Browne  hoped  that 
the  sojourn  in  Montreuil  had  been  sufficiently  agreeable 
to  induce  a  second  visit,  in  spite  of  this  contretemps.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  next  year  he  wrote  to  announce  the 


CONDITION  OF  THE  POOE  IN  FBANCE  67 

results   of  his  inquiries  on  the  old  subject.     The  letter^  is 
dated  '  Jany  20, 1785  '  : 

I  have  done  everything  possible  to  find  out  if  there  existed 
any  Poor  Laws  in  this  country,  and  have  never  been  able  to 
succeed.  I  am  informed  they  attempted  to  tax  the  Estates  in  Artois 
for  that  purpose  &  oblige  any  Village  to  support  their  own  poor, 
but  they  were  obliged  to  desist ;  I  consulted  several  persons  on 
the  subject  of  our  system ;  they  admire  the  idea  exceedingly  but 
are  of  opinion  that  it  [is]  very  difficult  to  put  into  execution 
without  great  abuses  arising,  &  a  general  remark  is  that  wher- 
ever in  France  there  is  an  ample  provision  for  the  Poor,  there  are 
a  greater  number  of  the  Poor  than  in  the  other  parts  ;  about  Mon- 
treuil,  where  there  are  spacious  Commons,  the  Villagers  are  poorest, 
as  they  content  themselves  with  a  Cow  or  two  which  cost  them 
little  or  nothing,  &  tho'  there  is  work  for  twice  the  number  of 
inhabitants  they  will  not  trouble  themselves  to  gain  a  shilling, 
whereas  in  those  places  where  they  have  no  advantages  you  never 
meet  any  poor  but  those  who  have  really  bodily  infirmities  ;  this  is 
a  proof  to  me  that  our  own  poor  are  too  well  taken  care  of,  as  per- 
haps there  is  not  a  country  in  the  world  where  there  are  so  many  of 
that  class,  &  I  should  imagine  the  Poor  Laws  are  one  cause,  as 
every  one  I  have  ever  talked  to  says,  that  no  one  should  be  admitted 
on  the  parish  list  but  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  Farmers,  as 
they  are  the  best  Judges  whether  their  neighbours  are  really  Poor 
or  only  lazy,  as  it  is  I  beheve  a  self-evident  proposition  that  in 
so  commercial  a  country  as  England  there  should  be  no  poor  but 
the  Aged  &  Infirm,  as  certainly  it  is  not  too  populous. 

Mr.  Browne  then  proceeds  to  expound  his  views  as  to 
the  right  way  of  administering  relief ;  which,  with  more 
or  less  modification,  no  doubt  were  shared  by  many  other 
persons. 

I  believe  that  another  abuse  is  that,  once  a  family  is  put  on 
the  list  from  sickness,  they  continue  after  tho'  the  cause  is 
done  away,  which  is  abominable ;  they  do  not  seem  to  agree 
whether  Poor  Houses  are  a  prudent  scheme,  as  the  Poor  with  a 
weekly  allowance  would  live  as  comfortable  and  I  believe  much 
happier  than  they  do  at  present,  as  I  fear  the  officers  and  directors 
of  such  houses  enrich  themselves  too  often  ! 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 

F  2 


68  THE  BEKNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

'  They,'  which  word  means  of  course  Mr.  Browne's  in- 
formants, 

are  all  of  opinion  that  voluntary  contributions  in  every  parish 
under  the  direction  of  the  Parson  &  the  principal  Inhabitants 
would  be  infinitely  preferable  to  a  tax  imposed  by  Government, 
as  in  the  former  case  everyone  would  be  interested  to  prevent 
improper  persons  from  being  on  the  list,  &  at  the  end  of  the 
months,  those  who  were  there  for  mere  local  reasons  (when  they 
should  no  longer  exist)  would  be  struck  off  by  those  people  who 
would  be  most  in  the  situation  to  judge  of  these  matters. 

This  is  everything  that  strikes  me  on  that  subject ;  if  there  is 
any  objections  and  you  would  let  me  know  them,  I  will  inform 
myself  about  them  and  let  you  know  what  I  have  heard. 

I  hope  you  do  not  forget  my  favourite  Tax  on  Travellers  into 
this  country  &  I  confess  I  could  wish  to  see  an  Absentee  Tax  not 
only  on  Estates  but  on  Interest  in  the  Funds,  money  lent  on 
Mortgages  &c.  I  know  Englishmen  would  cry  out,  as  an  attack  on 
liberty,  but  between  you  &  me  that  is  all  nonsense  &  we  should 
all  contribute  to  assist  government ;  we  for  instance  spend  £400 
a  year  here  &  Hve  as  well  as  on  7  or  8  in  England,  &  pay  no  kind 
of  Taxes.  I  should  certainly  not  murmur  to  be  obliged  to  pay  2 
or  3  per  cent  as  I  know  my  friends  in  England  pay  5  times  as 
much,  &  I  hope  every  Englishman  has  the  same  way  of  reasoning. 

The  amazing  number  of  Horses  &  Hounds  sent  over  here 
would  certainly  bear  a  tolerable  tax,  as  a  french  nobleman  who 
pays  50  guineas  for  a  horse  &  12  guineas  for  2  dogs  would  not  feel 
two  guineas  more  on  the  former  &  half  a  guinea  on  the  latter. 

In  a  postscript  the  writer  adds  : 

You  have  no  conception  of  the  rage  for  English  Dogs  &  Horses 
— at  present. 

This  letter  is  not  entirely  composed  of  such  grave  topics ; 
it  returns  thanks  for  a  '  handsome  pocket  book,'  which  had 
been  much  admired,  and  which  was  a  present  from  Scrope 
Bernard,  brought  over  by  '  Mr.  Littleton ' — probably  it 
should  be  '  Lyttelton  ' — Scrope's  friend.  He  was  only 
passing  through  Montreuil  on  his  way  to  Paris,  and  could 
not  be  persuaded  to  alight,  though  pressed  to  partake  of 
Mrs.  Browne's  soupe.  English  cheeses  were  evidently  in 
great   request :    a  Cheshire   cheese   is   desired   for   Mr.  Le 


ME.  WILLIAMS  69 

Gaucher  and  a  small  Gloucester  for  Mr.  Browne  himself,  and 
there  are  various  details  about  such  matters,  including  the 
medicine  bottles. 

In  March,  Mr.  Browne  wrote  again,  and  as  he  himself 
intimates,  this  correspondence  was  greatly  encouraged,  to 
his  satisfaction,  by  the  fact  of  their  having  a  topic  in 
common,  which  necessitated  frequent  communication.  The 
letters  contain  allusions  more  or  less  lengthy  to  Mr.  WiUiams. 
This  young  man  was  the  only  son  of  Sir  David  mentioned  in 
a  previous  volume  as  the  husband  of  Eebecca  Eowland. 
He  had  recently  come  of  age,  and  was  visiting  France  with 
the  object  of  learning  French  thoroughly,  and  perhaps  of 
being  introduced  to  good  French  society.  This  at  least 
must  have  been  the  view  his  friends  took,  and  his  mother 
had  written  to  Scrope  Bernard,^  begging  him  to  watch  over 
her  son,  as  she  considered  him  peculiarly  exposed  to  tempt- 
ation. When  Scrope  returned  to  England,  Mr.  Browne 
evidently  succeeded  to  the  office  of  mentor,  and  did  not 
spare  himself  trouble  in  the  cause.  With  reference  to 
Mr.  Williams,  he  wrote  :  ^ 

Montreuil  is  really  not  a  place  for  a  young  man  to  learn  French 
at  unless  he  has  as  much  constancy  as  your  honor  or  Capt.  Young, 
&  that  he  will  not  absolutely  live  entirely  with  the  English,  which 
is  difficult  as  there  are  no  public  amusements,  and  you  know  how 
shy  the  French  are. 

I  hope  this  will  not  discourage  you  from  coming  over  this 
summer  as  you  are  known  &  esteemed  by  the  French  society, 
and  therefore  are  sure  of  turning  everything  to  your  advantage. 
I  need  not  assure  you  how  sincerely  happy  we  shall  be  to  see  you 
and  to  offer  you  our  humble  fare.  Mrs.  B.  desires  to  say  every- 
thing kind  to  you  on  this  occasion  and  will  not  give  you  her 
blessing  unless  you  come  to  see  her  &  him  who  is  sincerely 

Dr  Sir 

Your  faithful  friend 

EoB.  Beowne. 

Notwithstanding  this  pressing  invitation,  it  is  not  likely 
that  Scrope  Bernard  visited  Montreuil  in  1785.  He  must 
have  been  engaged  with  other  projects.     For  some  time  he 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon.  2  j^j^^ 


70  THE  BEENAKDS  OF  ABINGTON 

had  been  the  only  unmarried  member  of  his  family— ex- 
cepting the  brother  who  was  battling  against  adverse  fate 
in  America.  In  1783,  the  year  of  Scrope's  return  from 
Ireland,  his  sister  Amelia  had  married  Captain  Benjamin 
Baker,  of  the  5th  Foot  Eegiment,  who  appears  to  have 
been  quartered  at  Stamford,  within  reach  of  Lincoln.  Of 
his  family  I  only  know  what  I  have  heard,  that  he  was 
descended  from  the  Baker  of  the  siege  of  Derry.  Amelia 
Bernard  was  at  this  time  in  her  29th  or  30th  year;  her 
husband  must  have  been  some  years  older,  since  he  had  a 
son  by  a  former  marriage,  a  lieutenant  in  1790,  For  the 
advancement  of  that  son  Scrope  Bernard  afterwards  exerted 
himself,  as  appears  by  family  letters  on  the  subject.  But 
the  marriage  had  not  been  a  topic  of  congratulations  to 
Amelia's  brothers — it  was  another  impecunious  aUiance  ;  but 
Amelia  was  of  age,  and  apparently  as  determined  in  her 
way  as  Fanny.  Though  perhaps  less  aggressive,  she  was,  as  I 
have  heard,  firm  in  the  belief  that  Providence  would  assist 
her  and  her  children.  It  is  curious  that  this  quiet  daughter 
of  the  family  should  have  become  the  wife  of  a  warrior,  her 
livelier  sisters  respectively  having  married  two  clergymen 
and  a  barrister. 

Already  towards  the  end  of  1783 — that  is,  soon  after 
the  return  from  Ireland — rumours  had  begun  to  be  rife  in 
Buckinghamshire  to  the  effect  that  Scrope  Bernard  was 
about  to  marry  a  lady  of  fortune  and  reside  at  Nether 
Winchendon.^  These  floating  reports  were  not  always  pre- 
sented in  the  same  form ;  for  some  reason,  now  forgotten, 
Halton  was  sometimes  named  as  the  intended  residence. 
It  is  also  probable  that  the  lady's  name  varied  in  the 
different  versions.  In  one  of  Scrope's  letters  to  his  sister 
Julia  he  chides  her  for  bantering  him  on  the  subject,  and 
disclaims  the  idea  ;  whereupon  she  had  to  apologise,  assuring 
him  that  she  had  heard  the  news  confidently  announced 
by  a  person  she  had  every  reason  to  believe  well  informed. 
Her  intelligence  indeed  was  not  altogether  ill-founded,  but 
it  must  have  been  premature,  and  possibly  there  was  some 

^  Information  contained  in  MS.  Letters  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


SCROPE  BERNARD'S  PLANS  71 

confusion  as  to  the  person,  since  Scrope  endorsed  her  letter 
'  Congratulations  on  a  mistake.' 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  real  state  of  the  case  at 
that  particular  moment  it  is  clear  that  Scrope  was  full  of 
plans  during  this  j^ear  (1784)  of  comparative  leisure ;  he 
harboured  the  idea  of  entering  Parliament,  as  appears  by 
two  letters  written  for  him  by  Mr.  Eobert  Thornton  in 
April  from  'King's  Arms  Yard.'  They  were  addressed  to 
Mr.  Terry  and  Mr.  Kennard  of  Hull,^  soliciting  their  votes 
and  interest  on  behalf  of  Scrope  as  a  candidate  for  the 
representation  of  the  city  of  Lincoln,  where  a  vacancy  had 
occurred  through  the  death  of  Lord  Scarbrough.  The 
Nettleham  property,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  still  in  the 
family,  and  the  sons  of  Sir  Francis  Bernard  were  freemen  of 
Lincoln.  I  have  no  means  of  knowing  whether  a  contest 
ensued,  but  I  think  it  probable  that  Scrope  never  went  to 
the  poll,  from  a  conviction  that  he  had  no  chance  in  that 
locality.  Had  Mr.  Bernard  become  member  it  is  likely 
that  he  would  have  resided  part  of  the  year  in  his  father's 
old  home,  notwithstanding  the  counter  attractions  in  Bucks. 
The  result  perhaps  saved  the  old  Manor  House  at  Nether 
Winchendon  from  subsiding  into  a  farm  house,  which  has 
been  the  fate  of  many  venerable  homes  of  our  English 
gentry ;  for  it  was  to  this  forsaken  place  that  the  young 
man  now  turned  his  thoughts,  with  all  the  eagerness  which 
habitually  characterised  his  movements. 

The  house  and  land  had  been  left  by  Sir  Francis  Bernard 
amongst  his  children,  with  instructions  that  it  should  be 
sold.  Scrope  now  aspired  to  become  its  possessor.  For 
this  purpose  he  must  have  been  compelled  to  enter  into  a 
long  correspondence  with  other  members  of  the  family, 
especially  Mr.  White  and  Thomas  Bernard,  the  executors  ; 
but  I  do  not  possess  many  of  their  letters.  In  one  Thomas 
alludes  to  the  plan  with  disapproval,  as  an  undertaking  which 
would  'hamper'  his  brother,  though,  on  finding  Scrope 
resolute,  he  did  his  utmost  to  make  it  work  smoothly.  In 
truth  the  house  appears  to  have  required  a  large  expenditure 

■  MS.  Letters  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


72  THE  BEKNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

to  render  it  a  desirable  residence,  and  this  outlay,  in  addition 
to  the  purchase  money,  was  scarcely  within  Scrope's  means. 
Possibly  Charles  White,  whose  wife  had  an  affection  for  the 
place,  may  have  been  more  accommodating  than  Thomas 
Bernard.  Eichard  King,  some  of  whose  letters  remain, 
certainly  was;  and  it  may  be  inferred  from  the  cor- 
respondence that  he  was  a  good  man  of  business. 

Mr.  King's  affairs  were  prosperous,  since  he  had  been 
presented  by  New  College  to  the  Kectory  of  Worthen  in 
Shropshire,  a  parish  '  twelve  miles  W.S.W.  of  Shrewsbury '  ^ 
according  to  the  '  Gazetteer,'  and  continued  to  hold  Steeple 
Morden  in  Cambridgeshire  also,  an  arrangement  then  con- 
sidered perfectly  correct,  except,  perhaps,  by  a  few  persons  of 
extremely  strict  views.  In  this  case  indeed  the  arrangement 
worked  fairly  well  for  some  years;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  King 
would  seem  by  the  dates  of  their  letters  to  have  divided 
their  time  between  the  two  parishes,  allowing  for  occasional 
holidays  besides;  they  perhaps  gave  the  larger  share  to 
Worthen,  as  the  more  important  and  populous  parish,  and 
also  because  it  provided  a  better  house  for  its  incumbent 
than  Steeple  Morden.  Mr.  King  writes  to  Scrope  in  glow- 
ing terms  of  his  new  residence  :  ^ 

I  shall  be  very  happy  when  you  shall  be  able  to  make  it 
convenient  to  be  a  personal  judge  of  our  habitation,  country,  and 
neighbourhood ;  I  think  I  told  you  in  my  last  that  the  country 
was  the  finest  I  ever  saw — the  neighbourhood  also,  what  we  have 
hitherto  seen,  is  very  agreeable  and  respectable.  Our  habitation 
is  large  and  commodious  though  irregular  ;  we  have  three  good 
parlours,  one  as  good  a  room  as  I  should  wish  to  see  in  any  house 
— and  when  I  have  finished  some  intended  improvements,  the 
house  will  be  fit  for  any  private  gentleman. 

The  population  of  Worthen  is  given  in  the  'Parliamentary 
Gazetteer '  as  1,602  in  1801 ;  Steeple  Morden  had  fewer  than 
500  inhabitants.  In  both  parishes  Mr.  King  appears  to 
have  kept  a  curate.  Judging  from  the  customs  of  the  age 
it  might  be  supposed  that  these  assistants  undertook  other 
duty  also,  but   certain   passages  in  the   family  letters  tell 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon.  -  Ibid. 


LIFE  IN  A  COUNTEY  PARISH  73 

against  this  assumption.  The  prospect  of  retaining  the 
Winchendon  home  in  the  family  rejoiced  Fanny  King,  and 
her  husband  was  evidently  thus  influenced  to  smooth  the 
way  for  Scrope.  The  minute  business  details  of  the  trans- 
action it  is  unnecessary  to  quote  ;  but  in  the  course  of  the 
correspondence  an  illustration  occurs  of  the  difficulties  and 
privations  then  attendant  on  life  in  a  country  parish,  which 
should  make  all  but  the  most  devoted  of  the  present  clergy 
pause  ere  they  condemn  absentees  and  pluralists  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Mr.  King  writes,'  on  '  October  11, 
1784  ' : 

I  fear  my  last  letter  in  answer  to  yours  sent  by  the  coach 
never  came  to  you,  as  you  do  not  mention  the  receipt  of  it  in 
yours  from  London  dated  Oct.  2,  and  I  expect  it  would  have  been 
in  London  by  the  30th  of  Sept.,  and  I  regretted  much  that  your 
letter  which  you  intended  should  come  to  me  with  great  dispatch 
by  the  coach,  did  not  come  to  me  till  some  days  later  than  I  should 
have  received  it  by  the  post,  but  I  immediately  sat  down  to  answer 
without  a  moment's  delay,  and  sent  it  off  by  a  person  who  was 
going  immediately  to  Ludlow,  who  promised  not  to  neglect  putting 
it  in  the  post  the  moment  he  came  there ;  but  I  fear  he  was  either 
careless  or  unfortunately  lost  the  letter,  as  it  does  not  appear  by 
your  last  that  you  have  received  it.  I  have  often  reflected  of  how 
great  importance  is  the  regularity  of  the  post,  for  it  sometimes, 
if  neglected,  may  be  the  occasion  of  great  uneasiness  and  vexation, 
and  in  some  matters  the  cause  of  real  distress.  The  only  un- 
pleasant part  of  our  situation  at  Worthen  is  that  we  have  com- 
munication with  the  post  only  once  a  week  (Saturdays)  both  to 
receive  and  send  letters,  though  some  few  years  ago  the  post  used 
to  go  by  the  door  on  its  way  to  Shrewsbury.  I  wish  to  God  it 
could  be  brought  back  again  into  the  old  channel,  for  I  cannot 
find  out  any  good  reason  why  it  was  ever  altered. 

In  spite  of  delays  and  mistakes,  however,  the  affair  was 
carried  to  a  successful  conclusion,  and  Scrope  attained  his 
wish ;  he  became  lord  of  Nether  Winchendon  Manor.  It  is 
tolerably  certain  that  his  anxiety  to  come  out  as  a  country 
gentleman  must  have  been  connected  with  matrimonial 
projects,  as  will  appear  by  the  result ;  but  it  is  also  certain 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


74  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

that  Scrope  Bernard  had  imbibed  a  taste  for  antiquarian 
lore  of  the  mediaeval  type,  which  was  uncommon  at  that 
period,  and  that  the  Winchendon  idea  owed  much  of  its 
charm  to  this  taste. 

Some  particulars  of  Scrope's  courtship  will  be  mentioned 
in  the  next  chapter.  In  the  meantime  his  dreams  were 
probably  somewhat  rudely  interrupted  by  the  following 
letter  ^  from  William  Grenville,  flattering  as  it  might  be  in 
some  respects.     It  was  dated  *  Whitehall,  23rd  of  December.' 

My  dear  Bernard, — Pitt  has  just  been  with  me  to  desire  that 
I  would  mention  to  you  the  following  idea.  You  remember  that 
during  the  Coalition  Government  he  proposed  a  bill,  and  carried 
it  through  the  House  of  Commons  for  obliging  the  Commissioners 
of  Accounts  to  enter  upon  an  inquiry  into  the  establishments, 
business,  and  emoluments  of  the  several  Public  Offices,  in  order 
to  judge  what  reform  could  be  made  in  them.  The  bill  was  thrown 
out,  but  he  feels  himself  bound  not  to  drop  the  idea,  although  he 
thinks  it  inexpedient  now  to  put  it  into  the  hands  of  the  Com- 
missioners of  Accounts.  He  has  therefore  ordered  a  Commission 
to  be  made  to  three  persons,  who  are  the  two  Comptrollers  of 
Army  Accounts  and  Mr.  Baring,  a  considerable  merchant,  who 
are  to  execute  this  business.  What  he  wishes  to  know  is  whether 
you  would  like  to  take  the  Secretaryship  to  this  Commission. 
He  imagines  the  business  will  employ  about  six  months  (I  think 
more),  and  he  states  that  such  an  investigation  could  not  fail  of 
giving  you  an  insight  into  the  nature,  constitution,  and  practice 
of  all  the  offices  of  Government,  besides  bringing  your  name 
forward  as  a  person  employed  or  to  be  employed. 

It  is  not  his  intention  to  give  any  salaries  in  the  first  instance, 
either  to  the  Commissioners  or  to  the  Secretary,  but  that  they 
should  be  paid  (as  the  Commissioners  of  Accounts  and  their 
Secretary  are)  by  vote  of  Parliament  when  the  business  shall  be 
done. 

While  this  lasts  it  will  be  an  office  of  extreme  labour.  It  is 
left  entirely  to  your  option  whether  you  choose  to  undertake  it 
or  not,  but  it  is  material  that  he  should  have  your  answer  soon. 
I  have  not  written  to  my  Brother  on  the  subject ;  the  event  which 
would  render  it  impossible  for  you  to  accept  this  offer  is,  I  think, 
not  likely  to  happen.  But  you  will  certainly  be  understood  to  be 
at  liberty  to  cross  the  Channel,  should  that  happen.     I   should 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


A  DISTASTEFUL  POST  75 

think  you  would  do  well  to  ride  over  to  Stowe,  and  to  let  me  have 
your  answer  from  thence. 

I  have  written  so  far  without  giving  you  any  opinion  upon  it ; 
but  on  reflection  I  think  you  have  a  right  to  my  advice,  provided 
you  will  accept  it  merely  as  advice,  subject  to  your  own  opinion. 

In  that  light  only  I  state  my  own  sentiments  to  be  in  favour 
of  your  accepting  the  offer,  both  on  account  of  the  thing  itself, 
from  the  insight  it  will  give  you  into  the  business  &c.  of  office, 
and  from  the  advantage  of  accustoming  Pitt  to  have  recourse 
to  you  on  similar  occasions,  and  to  look  upon  you  as  a  man  whom 
he  may  employ  with  credit  and  advantage  to  himself.  Molleson, 
who  was  Secretary  to  the  Commissioners  of  Accounts,  and  is  now 
a  Comptroller  of  Army  Accounts,  got  that  appointment  solely  on 
that  ground — it  being  thought  a  creditable  thing  to  appoint  to 
that  office,  in  these  days  of  reform,  a  man  trained  in  that  sort  of 
school. 

Ever  most  afftely  yours 

W.  W.  G. 

From  a  letter  ^  of  the  Eev.  Eichard  King  it  would  seem 
that  the  office  was  accepted  by  Scrope  with  reluctance ;  he 
probably  yielded  to  the  advice  of  many  friends.  Scrope 
could  achieve  much  in  his  own  way,  in  this,  which  was  his 
idle  year ;  besides  his  work  as  the  Marquess's  Secretary  he 
had  been  to  France,  studied  the  language  of  the  country, 
and  since  obtained  information  about  its  provision  for  the 
poor,  a  subject  which  he  probably  talked  over  with  Thomas 
—the  two  brothers  comparing  the  English  system  with  the 
French  voluntary  methods — and  he  had  purchased  Nether 
Winchendon.  But  such  work  as  he  was  now  asked  to 
undertake  was  hardly  of  a  kind  likely  to  interest  him,  and  it 
was  to  be  unremitting  for  six  months  or  more — how  much 
longer  it  was  perhaps  difficult  to  say,  nor  did  there  seem 
any  certainty  of  adequate  compensation.  Possibly  the 
likelihood  of  his  courtship  or  honeymoon  being  interfered 
with  by  this  troublesome  Commission  strengthened  his 
determination  to  win  the  lady  of  whom  he  had  been  think- 
ing, and  precipitated  the  declaration ;  it  also  gave  him,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  opportunity  of  coming  forward  as  a  man 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


76  THE  BEENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

of  more  importance,  selected  by  William  Pitt  for  a  task  of 
some  magnitude.  Fortunately  the  Commission,  as  might 
perhaps  have  been  expected,  took  some  time  to  organise,  so 
that  Mr.  Bernard's  services  as  Secretary  were  not  required 
till  late  in  the  following  year  (1785)  leaving  the  interval  free 
for  courtship,  marriage,  and  visiting. 


SCEOPE  BEENAED'S  COUETSHIP  77 


CHAPTER   V 

BEIDAL   VISITS   TO   LINCOLN   AND   NETHER   WINCHENDON 

The  Morlands  of  Woolwich — Sir  Samuel  Morland — Scrope  Bernard's  Engage- 
ment— Samuel  Gillam—  The  Marquess  of  Buckingham's  Testimony  to  Scrope 
Bernard's  Character— Scrope's  Marriage  with  Harriet  Morland — They  Visit 
Worcester  and  Lincoln— The  '  Stuff  and  Colour  Ball  '—They  Visit  Nether 
Winchendon — The  State  of  the  Manor  House — Friendship  with  the  Lees  of 
Hartwell — Scrope  Bernard's  Last  Appearance  as  a  Public  Speaker  in  Oxford 
— His  Work  as  Secretary  to  the  Commission — Birth  of  his  Eldest  Son, 
'  William — The  Nether  Winchendon  Estate — The  Knollys  Family — Portraits 
at  Nether  Winchendon — Mrs.  Beresford's  Burial. 

The  lady  to  whom  Scrope  Bernard  paid  his  addresses  was 
Harriet,  only  child  of  William  Morland,  banker.  The  firm 
was  then  known  as  Kansom  and  Morland,  but  the  actual 
partners  were,  I  believe,  the  seventh  Lord  Kinnaird,  who 
had  married  Mr.  Eansom's  daughter,  and  Mr.  Morland. 

Mr.  Morland  was  the  grandson  of  another  William 
Morland,  styled  a  '  master  shipwright '  of  Woolwich,  who 
would  now,  I  suppose,  be  called  a  shipbuilder ;  ^  he  was 
chosen  by  the  body  of  '  master  shipwrights  '  to  present  an 
address  to  William  III.  on  the  occasion  of  a  royal  visit  to 
Woolwich.  His  wife  was  Alice  Leving,  daughter  of  John 
Leving,  another  master  shipwright,  and  described  in  an 
epitaph  in  the  Old  Church  at  Woolwich  as  son  of  '  Eichard 
Lewing  of  Bridgen  in  the  parish  of  Bexley,  Kent,  Esqre, 
and  also  of  this  parish.'  ^     I  have  some  difficulty  about  the 

^  Some  of  this  information  concerning  the  Morlands  I  heard  from  my 
father  Sir  Thomas  Tyringham  Bernard.  A  licence  from  the  Heralds'  College, 
authorising  Scrope  Bernard,  as  he  then  was,  to  quarter  the  Tyringham  arms,  also 
exemplifies  the  Morland  bearings,  and  describes  the  second  William  as  grand- 
son of  William  and  Alice,  but  does  not  name  his  father. 

-  The  entries  of  the  Morland  and  Leving  burials  are  at  Winchendon,  on  a 
scrap  of  paper,  showing  the  position  of  their  tombs,  which  must  have  been 
marked  by  slabs  on  the  pavement. 


78  THE  BEENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

name  of  the  son  of  this  couple  who  became  the  father  of 
the  second  William  Morland.  They  had  a  son  John,  whose 
portrait  in  a  red  coat,  with  a  dog  by  his  side,  is  at  Nether 
Winchendon ;  he  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  and  three 
sons  of  his  are  buried  at  Woolwich  in  the  church  of  St. 
Mary  Magdalen,  the  old  church  but  then  rebuilt ;  it  is  not 
likely  that  he  had  any  more  children,  and  1  do  not  know 
the  name  of  any  other  son.  I  have  some  reason,  however, 
to  think  that  the  second  WiUiam's  mother  was  Elizabeth 
Pratt. 

I  have  lately  obtained  the  following  information  about 
the  Morland  graves  from  Mr.  William  Norman  of  Plum- 
stead  :  '  The  old  church  stood  much  nearer  to  the  river-side 
than  the  present  one,  which  was  erected  in  1733,  about 
which  time  the  old  one  was  rased  to  the  ground,  and  the 
space  utilised  for  burials.  In  1893-4  the  whole  church- 
yard was  laid  out  as  a  public  garden,  and  most  of  the  old 
stones  and  tombs  removed — among  them  the  Morlands' 
tomb,  the  inscription  upon  which  had  at  that  time  become 
illegible.' 

In  that  same  year  an  old  clerk,  John  Walker  Moore, 
whose  father  and  grandfather  had  been  clerks  of  the  church 
before  him,  gave  Mr.  Norman  the  information  that  'the 
Morlands'  tomb  formerly  bore  an  inscription  to  the  effect 
that  the  vault  which  it  covered  was  under  the  chancel  of 
the  old  church.' 

There  seems  to  have  been  a  tradition  that  those 
Morlands  were  related  to  Sir  Samuel  Morland,  son  of  an 
incumbent  of  Sulham,  Berks,  the  great  engineer  and  scien- 
tific inventor,  who  had  been  Cromwell's  ambassador  to  the 
Duke  of  Savoy,  sent  specially  to  intercede  for  the  persecuted 
Vaudois.  A  possible  link  between  Sir  Samuel  and  the 
Woolwich  Morlands  may  be  found  in  the  person  of  '  Joseph 
Morland,  M.D.,  F.K.S.,'  who,  in  1713,  published  a  book 
entitled  '  Disquisitions  on  the  Force  of  the  Heart,'  illus- 
trated by  a  number  of  diagrams.  The  book  is  at  Nether 
Winchendon,  and  the  name  *  William  Morland  '  is  written 
on  the  title  page.     By  the  date  Joseph  might  have  been  a 


HARRIET  MORLAND  79 

brother  of  the  first  William,  and  he  was  clearly  a  protege 
of  Sir  Samuel  and  admitted  to  his  friendship.  He  was  the 
editor  of  the  great  man's  posthumous  work  on  *  Hydro- 
statics,' and  states  in  the  preface  that  Sir  Samuel  left  him 
all  his  mathematical  papers.^ 

Mary  Ann,  the  wife  of  the  second  William  Morland, 
was  daughter  of  Austen  Mills,  a  merchant  residing  at 
Greenwich  ;  he  was  twenty-two  and  she  seventeen  when 
they  were  married  at  the  church  of  St.  Benet  Finck,  London, 
1762.  He  was  brought  up  to  the  surgical  profession, 
whether  by  transmission  from  Dr.  Joseph,  I  do  not  know  ; 
but  he  must  have  left  it  somewhat  early,  for  he  was  well 
established  as  a  banker  when  his  daughter  became  engaged 
to  Scrope  Bernard,  and  he  was  then  only  forty-five.  At  a 
later  period,  from  1786  to  1796,  he  represented  the  borough 
of  Taunton,  Somerset,  in  Parliament.  His  portrait  by 
Northcote,  though  it  presents  him  as  a  fine  man,  is  too 
commercial  in  its  character  to  do  him  full  justice  ;  he  was  a 
man  of  refined  mind.  His  younger  grand-daughter,  when  re- 
cording his  death,  wrote,  with  pardonable  pride  :  '  He  had 
travelled  in  France,  Italy,  and  Germany,  and  was  reckoned 
one  of  the  most  accomplished  gentlemen  of  his  time.'  In 
the  course  of  his  wanderings  he  had  acquired  a  small  but 
choice  collection  of  pictures,  and  various  articles  then  rare 
and  valued  as  curios  and  works  of  art. 

Mrs.  Morland  was  a  bright,  lively  woman,  as  her  letters 
show  ;  she  was  not  apparently  what  would  now  be  called 
intellectual,  and  as  her  husband  objected  to  her  burdening 
herself  with  the  management  of  her  house,  she  must  have 

'  Dr.  Joseph  Morland's  own  book  is  entitled  '  Disquisitions  Concerning  tJie 
Force  of  the  Heart,  the  Dimensions  of  the  Coats  of  the  Arteries,  and  the  Circu- 
lation of  the  Blood,  by  Joseph  Morland,  M.D.  and  F.R.S.  Printed  for  John 
Lawrence  at  the  Angel  in  the  Poultry,  1713.'  It  was  sixteen  years  earlier  that 
he  had  sent  Sir  Samuel  Morland's  last  work  to  the  same  publisher.  This  is 
called  :  '  Hydrostatics  or  Instruciimis  Concerning  Water  Works,  collected  out  of 
the  Papers  of  Sir  Samuel  Morland,  containing  the  Method  he  made  use  of  in 
the  Curious  Art.  London :  Printed  for  John  Lawrence  at  the  Angel  in  the 
Poultry,  over  against  the  Compter,  1697.'  Sketches  of  Sir  Samuel  Morland's 
career  will  be  found  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  the  Biographie 
Universelle,  and  many  other  works. 


80  THE  BEENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

led  a  leisurely  life  ;  but  she  was  a  genial  hostess  and  tender 
mother,  and  in  due  time  a  devoted  grandmother,  and  looked 
up  admiringly  to  the  husband  who  was  supreme  over  all 
his  surroundings,  receiving  in  return  unremitting  attention 
from  him.  Her  daughter  Harriet  inherited  her  amiable 
disposition,  but  perhaps  with  less  Hghtheartedness. 

Mrs.  Mills,  the  mother  of  Mrs.  Morland,  came  in  her 
widowhood  to  hve  in  Mr.  Morland's  house,  and  was  an 
honoured  member  of  the  family.  She  had  several  children, 
and  was  grandmother  of  Charles  Mills,  the  historian  of  the 
Crusades,  Chivalry,  and  '  Muhamedanism.'  Her  maiden 
name  was  Gillam,  a  Kochester  family ;  and  a  brother  of 
hers  became  for  a  moment  noted  in  the  history  of  England. 
Samuel  Gillam  was  a  London  magistrate  at  the  period  of 
the  Wilkes  Riots,  about  the  time  when  Governor  Bernard's 
troubles  were  beginning  in  America,  1765.  It  was  Mr. 
Gillam  who,  seeing  that  the  reading  of  the  Eiot  Act  had 
but  inflamed  the  passions  of  the  mob,  that  the  magistrates 
were  hooted  and  pelted,  and  the  soldiers  assailed  with 
stones  and  brickbats,  gave  the  order  to  fire — the  first  result 
being  that  five  or  six  persons  were  killed,  and  fifteen 
wounded.^ 

It  is  always  a  distressing  alternative  to  resort  to  such 
measures,  but  in  this  case  there  is  little  doubt  that  the 
resolution  of  the  magistrates,  and  of  Mr.  Gillam  in  parti- 
cular, saved  many  lives.  *  Happily,'  writes  Mr.  Jesse,  '  the 
terrible  chastisement  which  had  been  inflicted  in  St.  George's 
Fields  had  the  effect,  for  a  time,  of  restoring  peace  to  the 
metropolis.'  Only  the  day  before  this  event  King  George  III. 
had  written  to  Lord  Weymouth,  Secretary  of  State  :  '  I  can- 
not conclude  without  strongly  recommending  the  justices,  if 

'  Jesse,  Memoirs  of  tlie  Life  and  Reign  of  George  III.,  vol.  i.,  chap.  xx.  A 
most  unfortunate  occurrence  had  exasperated  the  mob.  The  soldiers,  it  is  said, 
in  pursuing  a  ringleader,  bayonetted  a  young  man  who  was  an  innocent 
spectator,  mistaking  him  for  the  culprit.  This  catastrophe  goaded  the  rioters 
to  frenzy,  and  Mr.  Gillam's  order,  which  was  subsequent,  prevented  a  general 
massacre  of  the  troops,  and  perhaps  the  general  wreck  of  London.  Mr.  Jesse 
has  in  this  account  spelt  the  magistrate's  name  erroneously  '  Gillman,'  but 
on  another  page  it  is  correctly  given  as  '  Gillam.' 


SCEOPE  BERNAKD'S  MAREIAGE  81 

they  call  the  troops  to  their  assistance,  should  show  that 
vigour  which  alone  makes  them  respected,'  And  in  other 
letters  he  had  used  still  stronger  language  ;  Mr.  Gillam,  how- 
ever, was  put  on  his  trial  for  murder,  but  acquitted,  and  lived 
many  years  longer,  apparently  in  peace  and  honour.^ 

Scrope  Bernard's  courtship  of  Harriet  Morland  must 
have  been  well  advanced  when  the  Marquess  of  Buckingham 
wrote  the  following  letter,^  advocating  his  suit,  to  her  father  : 

Wotton,  April  13,  1785. 
Sir, — Although  I  have  not  the  honour  of  being  personally 
known  to  you,  yet  the  affectionate  interest  which  I  take  in  what- 
ever concerns  Mr.  Bernard  will  I  hope  apologize  for  this  liberty. 
He  has  detailed  to  me  the  conversation  which  you  was  so  good  as 
to  hold  with  him,  &  I  owe  it  to  him  to  bear  that  testimony  to 
his  character  and  conduct,  which  the  most  intimate  knowledge 
enables  me  to  give,  &  in  giving  it  I  feel  that  I  discharge  a  debt  of 
gratitude  to  him.  I  will  not  presume  to  add  anything  further 
upon  a  subject,  which  I  could  not  venture  to  mention  to  you,  but 
for  the  confidence  which  he  puts  in  me,  &  for  the  affection  which 
I  bear  him ;  if  however  he  should  be  fortunate  enough  to  be  the 
object  of  Miss  Morland's  choice  &  of  your  approbation,  I  will 
answer  for  him  that  he  will  discharge  to  her  &  to  you  the  duties 
of  his  new  situation  with  that  attention  to  his  character  &  conduct, 
which  has  so  warmly  recommended  him  to  his  friends. 

May  I  hope  for  your  excuses  for  this  trouble ;  I  owed  it  in 
favour  of  one  whom  I  sincerely  love  &  esteem,  I  will  therefore 
only  detain  you  to  assure  you  of  the  regard  with  which, 

I  have  the  honour  to  be 
Sir, 

Your  obedient  humble  servt 
Nugent  Buckingham. 

It  is  almost  superfluous  to  state  that  such  a  recom- 
mendation was  not  thrown  away,  and  that  Scrope  Bernard 
became  the  accepted  suitor  of  Harriet  Morland.  They 
were  married,  from  Mr.  Morland's  house  in  Upper  Grosvenor 

'  The  King  wrote  to  Lord  Weymouth  on  July  8  :  '  Though  averse  in  general 
to  signing  a  respite  previous  to  conviction,  I  think  it  my  duty  in  the  most  public 
manner  to  show  my  countenance  to  those  who  with  spirit  resist  the  daring  spirit 
that  has  of  late  been  instilled  into  the  populace.'  Mr.  Gillam  was  tried  and 
acquitted  July  11. 

2  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 
VOL.  III.  G 


82  THE  BERNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Street,  at  St.  George's,  Hanover  Square,  on  July  26,  1785 ; 
the  officiating  clergyman  was  Dr.  Price.  My  father  used 
to  say  that  a  portrait  by  Hoppner,  now  at  Winchendon, 
represented  his  mother  in  her  wedding-dress,  but  he  may 
have  drawn  upon  his  imagination.  There  is  a  church  in 
the  background,  but  it  is  a  country  church  amongst  fields 
and  trees. ^  There  is  also  a  blue  sash  to  the  white  dress 
and  a  blue  ribbon  to  the  white  '  Gainsborough  '  hat.  It  is 
an  especially  pleasing  picture. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scrope  Bernard  appear  to  have  gone 
first  to  Worcester;  at  least  it  was  to  Worcester  that  a 
business  letter  was  addressed.  Whether  they  visited  Hagley 
is  not  stated.  Wedding  tours  could  then  hardly  be  said  to 
exist;  the  newly  married  pair  often  remained  some  time 
with  the  bride's  parents  ;  and  then  perhaps  visited  relations, 
or  went  to  their  own  home.  In  this  case  I  know  incidentally 
of  the  letter  to  Worcester ;  and  that  they  were  in  Lincoln  at 
an  early  date  after  their  departure  from  thence.  A  family 
gathering  took  place  at  the  house  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  White. 
The  other  members  of  the  family  there  assembled  were 
apparently  Fanny  and  Julia  with  their  respective  husbands. 
These  made  up  the  *  party  of  four  brothers  and  sisters,' 
mentioned  in  a  letter  from  Scrope  to  Mrs.  Morland.  Emily 
and  Captain  Baker  must  have  been  in  Ireland,  and  Thomas 
Bernard  was  evidently  not  there,  nor  his  wife,  since 
allusion  is  made  to  them  as  absent  members  resident  in 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.  Another  allusion  to  friends  in  South- 
ampton Row,  I  cannot  verify ;  it  perhaps  refers  to  some  of 
the  Mills  family,  Mrs.  Morland's  relatives. 

The  letter  is  dated  *  Lincoln,  August  10,  1785,'  and  after 
some  preliminary  messages,  and  an  announcement  of  the 
completed  purchase  of  a  house  in  Bolton  Street,  Mayfair, 
from  Mr.  Pulteney  ;  it  continues  :  ^ 

We  arrived  here  to  a  minute  of  the  time  appointed  on  Saturday 
last,  and  we  had  not  been  in  Mr.  White's  house  many  minutes 

'  These  particulars  are  partly  derived  from  my  father,  partly  from  the 
diary  of  an  aunt,  &c. 

''  The  Letters  in  this  Chapter  are  in  MS.  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


SCEOPE  BEENAED'S  WEDDING  TOUE  83 

before  our  arrival  was  discovered,  and  the  Minster  bells  struck 
up,  to  the  great  danger  of  the  steeple,  which  is  out  of  repair,  inso- 
much that  the  Dean  sent  the  ringers  word  after  half  an  hour's 
ringing,  that  they  had  done  enough  for  a  compliment,  and  that  he 
was  sure  the  new-comers  would  be  sorry  to  occasion  any  harm  to 
the  Cathedral.  At  dinner  the  City  Musick  waited  upon  us  and 
played  their  whole  store  of  airs  and  marches,  &c.  There  was  an 
Assembly  in  the  evening  which  we  were  told  was  more  fully  attended 
than  usual,  in  expectation  of  our  party  making  our  appearance  there; 
but  the  ladies  were  too  late  and  too  tired  to  get  themselves  dressed, 
so  that  we  contented  ourselves  with  a  domestic  party  of  four 
Brothers  and  Sisters,  which  is  a  larger  family  set  than  has  met 
together  this  many,  many  years.  At  our  meals  as  well  as  upon 
the  road  we  have  never  forgot  Upper  Grosvenor  Street,  and  as 
frequent  repetition  brings  on  abbreviation,  we  soon  began  to  toast 
that,  with  Southampton  Eow,  and  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  under  the 
appellation  of  '  the  Eow,  the  Street,  and  the  Fields,'  and  within 
these  few  days  have  reduced  it  to  '  Eow,  Street,  Fields,'  which  the 
little  children  in  their  eagerness  to  emulate  us  in  drinking  toasts, 
have  converted  into  '  Eoasted  Fields.' 

On  Sunday  morning  we  went  to  the  City  Church,  below  Hill, 
and  took  our  places  among  the  Aldermen  and  Aldresses,  which  is 
the  title  given  here  (not  ludicrously)  to  their  ladies.  In  the  after- 
noon we  went  to  the  Minster,  where  Dr.  Gordon,  the  Chanter, 
was  so  good  as  [to]  interest  himself  that  we  might  have  a  good 
anthem.  That  evening  we  spent  en  famille,  excepting  only  a 
short  walk  upon  the  Minster  Green,  which  is  the  Mall  of  this 
place. 

On  Monday  Mr,  White  had  a  select  Lincoln  party  to  dinner, 
with  cards  in  the  evening — Harriot  and  I  at  the  commerce  table ; 
and  yesterday  the  Dean  favoured  us  with  a  grand  dinner,  to  which 
we  sat  down  nineteen  in  number,  were  very  sociable,  and  had  a 
pleasant  drawing-room  party  afterwards.  Harriot  seems  to  take 
very  well  to  the  good  people  of  Lincoln,  and  I  am  sure  they  do  to 
her.  In  a  little  time  she  would  be  quite  at  home  here  ;  but  upon 
so  short  an  acquaintance  with  them,  it  is  perfectly  natural  that  she 
should  be  willing  to  return  to  Upper  Grosvenor  Street  for  the 
present,  and  come  some  other  time  to  improve  her  acquaintance 
with  the  card  parties  of  this  place.  She  is  gone  out  this  morning  to 
see  the  Assembly  Eooms,  and  call  at  one  or  two  places  ;  she  would 
have  staid  at  home  to  write,  but  that  I  told  her  my  letter  would  be 
sufficient,  and  that  she  might  write  another  to-morrow,  which  may 
accordingly  be  expected  .  .  , 

s  % 


84  THE  BEENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

We  propose  being  in  town  on  Sunday  or  Monday,  but  her 
letter  to-morrow  will  inform  you.  I  beg  my  affectionate  and 
dutiful  remembrances  to  Mrs.  Morland  and  Mrs.  Mills,  and  my 
best  respects  and  thanks  to  Lord  and  Lady  Kinnaird,  if  you  are 
still  with  them.  The  whole  Brotherhood  here  have  desired  me  to 
present  their  united  love  and  compts  to  you  and  family. 

A  letter  from  the  Rev.  R.  G.  Bowyer,  of  Willoughby, 
followed  Scrope  Bernard  to  town,  having  missed  him  at 
Lincoln,  and  is  a  good  specimen  of  the  ceremonious  style 
of  the  day.  It  refers  to  the  '  Stuff  and  Colour  Ball,'  which 
was  instituted  in  that  very  year  for  the  promotion  of 
Lincolnshire  manufactures  : 

Willoughby,  August  16,  1785. 

Dear  Sir, — Much  flattered  as  I  am  by  the  honour  of  your  very 
obliging  letter,  I  think  myself  unfortunate  that  my  distance  from 
Lincoln  and  the  shortness  of  your  stay  in  our  county  deprives 
me  of  the  still  greater  pleasure  which  you  give  me  reason  to  think 
you  intended  me.  Permit  me.  Sir,  to  hope  that  some  future 
opportunity  will  be  more  favourable  to  me  and  that  I  may  look 
upon  your  letter  as  some  kind  of  earnest  for  a  share  of  the  next 
visit  you  will  pay  these  parts. 

Mrs.  White,  whose  approbation  has  been  a  great  encourage- 
ment to  my  endeavours  for  the  employment  of  the  poor,  has  pro- 
bably given  you  some  account  of  the  success  of  our  plans,  which 
is  really  satisfactory  for  the  time. 

Mrs.  Bowyer  and  I  are  not  without  hopes  that  we  may  be 
honoured  with  Mrs.  White's  company  at  Willoughby  Parsonage  in 
November,  if  she  still  holds  to  the  kind  intention  Miss  Fellowes 
told  us  she  entertained  of  honouring  with  her  presence  the  little 
festivity  we  have  announced  for  the  seventeenth  of  this  month,  in 
behalf  of  our  infant  manufacture,  by  an  advertisement  which 
perhaps  you  have  seen.  The  ground  of  this  our  hope  is  that  the 
company  then  expected  will  be  too  numerous  for  the  accommoda- 
tions of  the  town  of  Alford,  which  is  within  half  an  hour's  drive 
of  our  house. 

Allow  me  to  express  my  regret  that  so  necessary  a  step  as  the 
revision  and  amendment  of  the  Poor  Laws  should  be  for  the 
present  laid  aside,  and  to  indulge  a  hope  that  your  abilities  will 
yet  be  efficaciously  exalted  in  a  cause  to  which  your  inclination 
seems  to  point  so  strongly,  that  I  shall  make  no  apology  for  the 
freedom  I  mean  to  take  from  time  to  time  of  communicating  to 
you  anything  that  may  seem  to  me  worthy  of  your  notice  on  this 


THE  'STUFF  AND  COLOUK  BALL'  85 

subject,  desiring  only  that  such  communications  may  lay  by  you, 
till  your  leisure  permits  you  to  peruse  them,  and  though  the 
transactions  of  this  obscure  little  corner  are  not  important  enough 
to  claim  much  of  your  attention,  yet  I  shall  so  far  avail  myself  of 
the  partiality  you  was  pleased  to  profess  for  the  first  account  of 
them,  as  to  transmit  to  you,  as  soon  as  it  is  published,  an  appen- 
dix I  am  now  preparing. 

I  have  the  honour  to  present  my  respectful  compliments  to 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  White,  and  to  remain  most  faithfully 
Your  obliged  and 

obedient  humble  servant 

E.  G.  BOWYEK. 

The  announcement  of  an  intended  ball  having  called 
attention  to  the  subject  of  the  woollen  industry,  it  was 
resolved  to  found  a  manufactory  for  the  employment  of  the 
poor,  and  efforts  were  made  to  induce  persons  connected 
with  the  county  to  assist  the  scheme  by  taking  shares. 
Mrs.  White  appears  to  have  thrown  herself  energetically  into 
this  project.     She  writes  ^  from  Lincoln,  '  Nov.  8,  1785  '  : 

Dear  Brother, — I  received  a  message  from  you  in  Captain 
Baker's  letter  which  I  understood,  I  flatter  myself,  right,  &  thank 
you  for  your  acquiescence  in  case  I  should  wish  it. — I  forget 
whether  my  answ^,  that  we  would  wait  a  quarter  of  a  year  &  I 
would  then  let  you  know  how  we  went  on,  ever  was  committed  to 
paper  or  sent  to  you,  &  I  am  ashamed  to  say  that  only  on  your 
slight  permission,  I  have  since  ventured  to  set  down  your  name 
&  even  given  Lowrie  leave  to  draw  on  you  at  a  month's  date  for 

£30 Since  which  I  have  paid  £20  on  the  same  acct  to  make 

up  yr  50.  I  hope  it  will  not  at  the  present  be  particularly  dis- 
agreeable to  you,  &  conclude  you  will  wish  me  to  take  the  first 
opportunity  of  selling  it  again.  This  is  the  time  for  the  Manu- 
factory's having  a  large  stock  in  hand,  both  of  goods  &  Wool, 
but  if  you  permit  us  to  retain  your  name  a  quarter  of  a  year  I 
shall  hope  to  give  you  by  that  time  a  good  account  of  the  money 
again. 

The  writer  observes  satirically  : 

As  it  is  professedly  begun  for  the  good  of  the  Poor,  several 
People  we  are  acquainted  with  are  waiting  to  see  if  anything  is  to 
be  gained  by  it,  &  will  then  be  very  ready  to  enter. 
'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


86  THE  BEENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

She  then  continues : 

It  goes  on  exceedingly  well  and  with  a  quiet  steadiness  that 
does  it  honour,  &  will  during  this  winter  have  the  effect  of  intro- 
ducing the  Parish  Spinning  Schools  in  the  manner  recommended 
by  Mr.  Bowyer,  so  earnestly  desired  by  us  all,  &  they  will  be  in- 
dependent of  the  Factory  &  almost  in  opposition  to  it,  which  is 
for  particular  reasons  still  more  desirable,  as  nothing  can  hurt  it 
but  too  great  a  load  of  poor,  which  lay  heavy  on  the  fund  last 
winter,  but  is  now  removed  without  detriment  to  them,  &  the  City 
Jersey  School  taken  up  to  assist  in  the  great  work  of  making  the 
poor  industrious  &  comfortable. 

She  then  mentions  that  '  S*"  John  Nelthorpe  will  have 
two  shares,  and  perhaps  another  gentleman  or  too  of 
[position  ?]  in  the  county  who  have  behaved  handsomely 
with  regard  [?]  to  the  public  Warehouse  plan,  which  the 
Dean  wishes  to  see  carried  into  execution.'  The  festive 
part  is  not  forgotten.  Jane  White  says  that  she  is  '  going 
in  a  few  days  to  the  Ball  ...  &  shall  be  busy  now  in 
preparing  the  dress,  which  is  an  Uniform  &  very  pretty. 
Mr.  White  is  recovering  from  the  gout  but  will  not  venture 
to  go,  &  I  am  to  accompany  another  Lady  &  be  at  Mrs. 
Bowyer's  house  which  will  make  it  very  agreeable.'  She 
ends  :  '  I  believe  Sister  Scrope  will  think  me  a  little  crazy, 
but  desire  she  will  suspend  her  judgement  a  while  till  the 
event  of  these  things  justify  ye  eager  attention.' 

By  way  of  resuming  the  history  of  this  movement 
I  anticipate  the  course  of  time.  Jane  White  wrote  to 
Scrope  Bernard  in  the  following  year,  1786,  enclosing  25Z. 
and  promising  another  remittance  as  soon  as  she  received 
it.  She  adds  '  if  you  please  to  give  my  Sister  Scrope  the 
odd  5s.  to  lay  out  in  a  new  song  for  me,  when  she  meets 
with  a  pretty  one  in  English  or  Italian,'  intimating  that 
all  claims  would  thus  be  satisfied.  'Mr.  Bowyer's  ball 
went  off  very  agreeably  this  year  &  we  had  a  great  meeting 
the  week  after  at  Lincoln,'  adding  with  a  thought  of 
Buckinghamshire:  'Will  this  French  Treaty  hurt  our 
friends  the  Lacemakers  ?     I  hope  not.' 


A   SCHOOL  OF  INDUSTRY  87 

Mr.  Bowyer  afterwards  wrote  a  paper  for  a  publication 
edited  by  Thomas  Bernard,  entitled :  ^  '  A  School  of  Industry 
for  Sixty  Girls.'  This  was  one  of  the  institutions  founded 
by  the  will  of  Lord  Crewe,  Bishop  of  Durham,^  but 
organised  by  trustees.  Whether  Mr.  Bowyer  had  studied 
this  scheme  before  he  came  forward  in  the  Lincolnshire 
plans  of  improvement,  or  whether  he  helped  in  the 
Bamburgh  organisations  a  few  years  later,  I  am  not  able  to 
state. 

Bishop  Barrington  wrote  to  Scrope  Bernard,  in  1788  : 
The  first  specimen  Mr.  Bowyer  gave  of  his  talents  in  that  line 
which  he  has  pursued  with  so  much  credit  to  himself  and  so  much 
utility  to  his  neighbours,  will  make  me  read  his  second  with  equal 
eagerness  and  pleasure.  I  beg  that  you  will  thank  him  in  my 
name,  and  request  that  he  will  never  come  to  London  without 
calling  upon  me. 

Bishop  Barrington  was  translated  from  Salisbury  to 
Durham  in  1791,  and  Bamburgh  Castle  was  in  that  diocese  ; 
but  whether  Mr.  Bowyer  became  incumbent  by  his  appoint- 
ment I  cannot  say. 

The  Lincolnshire  scheme  probably  succumbed  to  the 
introduction  of  steam.  A  recent  guide  writes  of  it,  in 
somewhat  depreciatory  terms  :  ^ 

This  ball  was  originally  estabUshed  at  Alford  in  1785,  with  the 
view  of  encouraging  the  Lincolnshire  manufactory  of  woollen 
stuff,  and  was  removed  to  Lincoln,  where  it  has  been  since 
regularly  held,  in  1789.  It  owes  its  origin  to  the  Society  of  Industry, 
for  the  Southern  Division  of  the  parts  of  Lindsey,  who,  August  5, 
1785,  issued  cards  for  an  assembly  at  the  Windmill  Inn,  Alford, 
at  which  free  admission  was  given  to  all  ladies  appearing  in 
gowns  and  petticoats  of  woollen  stuff  spun  and  woven  in  Lincoln- 
shire, and  gentlemen  appearing  without  any  cotton  or  silk  in  their 
dress  except  stockings.  The  manufacture  having  been  taken  up  in 
high  circles,  it  became  fashionable  for  ladies  to  spin  the  yarn  for 
their  own  dresses.  Those  who  did  so  were  distinguished  at  the 
ball  by  white  ribbons ;  their  less  industrious  sisters  wearing  blue. 
One  of  the  ladies  of  rank  of  the  county  was  each  year  chosen  as 

'  Beports  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  tlie  Poor,  vol  i. 

-  Translated  from  Oxford  in  1674. 

'  Williamson's  Guide  to  Lincoln. 


88  THE  BEENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

patroness.  A  colour — that  chosen  at  the  first  Alford  ball  was  orange 
—was  declared  by  her  at  the  commencement  of  the  year,  in  which 
all  ladies  were  to  appear,  thus  ensuring  the  wearing  of  new  dresses 
on  the  occasion.  Lady  Banks,  the  wife  of  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  was 
patroness  of  the  first  ball  held  at  Lincoln. 

Notwithstanding  the  '  laudable  zeal  shown  by  the  county 
ladies  in  support  of  their  infant  manufactory'  at  the  outset, 
woollen  stuff  proved  to  be  too  heavy  a  garb  to  be  tolerated  in  a 
ballroom  ;  and,  in  1803,  a  compromise  was  made,  by  which 
ladies  were  admitted  free  '  on  taking  6  yards  of  stuff  of  the  first 
quaUty  or  ten  of  the  plain,'  while  those  '  who  had  not  less  than  4 
yards  could  have  tickets  5s.  each,  gentlemen  10s.  6d.  as  usual.' 
But  the  manufacture  proved  a  complete  failure,  and  died  out  in 
spite  of  this  adventitious  aid,  and  almost  the  only  memorial  of  its 
existence  is  the  title  of  the '  Lincoln  Stuff  Ball,'  and  the  traditionary 
rule — still  nominally  enforced — of  the  choice  of  a  colour  for  the 
ladies'  costume. 

Not  later,  I  believe,  than  two  or  three  years  ago,  I  noticed 
a  paragraph  in  the  *  Times '  vouching  for  the  continuance 
of  the  same  ball,  which  must,  however,  have  lost  much  of 
its  pristine  interest. 

From  the  wording  of  Scrope's  letter  to  Mr.  Morland, 
written  at  Lincoln,  it  is  evident  that  he  intended  to  travel 
with  his  wife  direct  to  London,  and  the  plan  was  apparently 
carried  into  effect,  since  the  young  couple  took  possession 
of  the  house  in  Bolton  Street  about  this  time.  In  the 
autumn  they  went  to  Nether  Winchendon.  No  record  is 
left  of  their  welcome  to  the  deserted  homestead  ;  but  it 
may  be  assumed  that  the  bells  of  the  village  church  rang 
merrily,  though  not  sonorously  like  the  peal  of  Lincoln 
Minster,  and  that  the  villagers  were  treated  to  some 
festivities  in  honour  of  the  occasion. 

It  is  said,  however,  that  the  bride,  accustomed  as  she 
was  to  town  life,  and  knowing  little  of  the  country  beyond 
the  civilised  neighbourhood  of  Lee,  was  discouraged  by  the 
forsaken  appearance  of  the  place.  The  Manor  House  had 
indeed  all  but  sunk  into  a  farm-house;  Richard  Plater, 
who  held  the  land  in  its  immediate  proximity,  was  living  in 
the  house  as  caretaker  ;  another  tenant,  Gurney,  had  been 


NETHEE  WINCHENDON  MANOR  HOUSE    89 

allowed  to  occupy  a  far  end  of  the  building.  By  this 
means  it  had  been  kept  more  or  less  aired,  but  at  the 
expense  of  its  refinement ;  and  it  must  have  been  difficult 
to  make  the  reserved  portion  of  the  home  comfortable, 
according  to  London  ideas,  without  a  thorough  renovation. 
In  an  age  when  the  prevailing  taste  in  architecture,  gardening, 
and  all  their  accompaniments,  was  quite  anti-mediaeval, 
the  venerable  aspect  of  the  place  afforded  no  compensation 
for  its  shortcomings ;  at  least,  so  its  new  mistress  is  said 
to  have  thought.  Possibly,  also,  the  sights  and  sounds— 
the  rats  making  their  rounds  all  through  the  night ;  the 
hooting  and  screeching  of  the  owls,  and  the  dashing  of 
the  bats  against  the  windows,  ready  to  enter  at  the  first 
opportunity — may  have  affected  her  nerves  ;  for  during  this 
first  residence  she  contracted  a  feverish  indisposition.  Mr. 
Morland  wrote  in  distracted  terms  to  Scrope,  praying  for 
full  information ;  but  no  serious  consequences  ensued,  and 
ere  long  Harriet  Bernard  was  restored  in  good  health  to 
the  society  of  her  devoted  parents. 

One  pleasant  reminiscence  of  this  visit  apparently  is  a 
note  from  Hartwell,  written  according  to  the  fashion  of  the 
day,  in  the  third  person,  but  most  friendly.  It  evidently 
refers  to  the  difficulties  of  locomotion  in  Bucks ;  perhaps 
the  Bernards  had  no  suitable  vehicle,  but  it  is  also  possible 
that  they  could  not  make  use  of  any  on  the  cross  road 
between  Winchendon  and  Dinton,  which  was  their  way  to 
Hartwell — at  least  at  certain  seasons.  I  have  heard  that 
Mrs.  Scrope  Bernard  had  to  ride  pillion  for  some  years  after 
she  made  acquaintance  with  Winchendon,  and  of  course 
with  a  manservant  when  her  husband  was  not  there.  The 
note  is  as  follows  : 

Sir  Wm.  and  Lady  Eliz.  Lee  return  compts  to  Mr.  &  Mrs.  S. 
Bernard,  and  beg  that  they  will  give  no  attention  to  formalities ; 
they  will  be  glad  to  see  them  in  any  dress  and  in  any  manner  or 
on  any  day  most  agreeable  to  them,  and  hope  shd  it  be  agreeable 
to  them  to  accept  of  their  carriage  they  will  be  so  good  as  to  send 
order  for  it  at  what  Hour  may  be  convenient  to  them. 

Hartwell,  Sept.  10th. 


90  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Various  kind  notes  were  written  from  the  same  quarter — 
in  successive  years  it  would  seem — showing  that  the  old 
feeling  of  friendship  was  kept  up.  The  intercourse  with 
the  Lees  of  Hartwell  had  never  been  dropped  by  Scrope  ; 
he  had  even  acted  as  tutor  to  young  William  Lee  for  a 
short  time,  residing  in  his  father's  house  but  refusing  all 
remuneration.  This  youth  was  a  subject  of  much  anxiety 
to  his  father,  and  probably  to  his  mother  also,  and  Scrope 
had  not  been  able  to  continue  the  tutorship  so  long  as 
Sir  William  would  have  wished ;  his  pupil  had  written  to 
him  afterwards  from  Oxford  consulting  him  about  his 
studies,  in  an  affectionate  tone,  but  somewhat  free  and  easy, 
considering  the  difference  in  their  ages. 

During  the  autumn  of  this  year,  in  which  Scrope  Bernard 
had  entered  upon  a  new  phase  of  life,  he  received  a  letter 
from  France,  apparently  the  last  on  William  Grenville's  side 
of  their  college  or  bachelor  correspondence.  Mr.  Grenville 
did  not  marry  for  some  years,  but  he  soon  became  immersed 
in  political  business,  and  the  careless  freedom  of  early  times 
was  succeeded  by  the  tone  of  a  man  who  had  commenced  the 
struggle  of  life  in  right  earnest.     The  letter  is  here  given  : 

A  Nancy  en  Lorraine. 
Ce  20"^  Oct-  1785. 
Longos 

Cantando  memini  puerum  me  condere  soles. ^ 

Nunc  oblita  mihi  tot  carmina,  or  you  should  not  have  received 
a  letter  in  English  prose  to  follow  the  clouds  of  Epitaphs,  Epigrams 
and  Odes  which  used  to  be  the  production  of  our  evenings  at  an 
EngHsh  Inn.  You  must  attribute  this  entirely  to  my  stupidity  and 
by  no  means  must  imagine  that  Nancy  of  Lorraine  is  less  adapted 
to  poetical  images  than  Marazion  or  Penzanza's  hold.  If  there 
were  in  me  any  veteris  vestigia  flamma  they  must  have  been 
called  out  by  our  journey  of  this  day,  through  a  valley  watered 
by  the  Moselle,  and  enclosed  by  the  most  beautiful  hills, 
crowned  with  woods  which  have  just  received  the  first  tints  of 
autumn,  while  the  sides  are  covered  with  vineyards.     The  vintage 

'  The  writer  has  not  quoted  this  passage  quite  accurately.    It  runs  : 
'  Saepe  ego  longos 
Cantando  puerum  memini  me  condere  soles  ; 
Nunc  oblita  mihi  tot  carmina.' 


A  PEETTY  SCENE  91 

is  but  just  begun  here,  and  forms  the  prettiest  moving  picture  that 
can  be  imagined ;  the  whole  villages,  men,  women,  and  children, 
gathering  the  grapes  and  bringing  them  in  baskets  to  the  houses 
where  they  are  pressed.  I  am  astonished  that  this  scene  has  not 
furnished  more  images  to  the  Eoman  poets ;  perhaps  it  was  too 
familiar  to  them,  tho'  the  same  thing  might  be  said  of  our  harvest 
which  has  however  been  a  constant  topic. 

It  will,  I  am  sure,  not  be  indifferent  to  you  to  know  that  you 
made  a  considerable  part  of  our  conversation  in  the  course  of  our 
journey,  and  that  I  took  up  my  pen  principally,  to  express  to  you 
what  I  have  not  yet  done  since  your  going  to  Chateau  Bernard, 
our  sincere  wishes  for  every  sort  of  happiness  that  can  befall 
you. 

If  I  calculate  right  this  letter  will  reach  you  in  the  midst  of 
your  Oxford  glories.  I  would  by  no  means  interrupt  the  con- 
sideration of  so  important  a  personage  as  S'  Thomas  Bodley,  and 
therefore  give  you  no  direction  for  writing  to  me,  for  which  indeed 
another  reason  may  be  assigned,  which  is  that  till  we  get  to 
Paris  we  shall  never  be  stationary  above  two  days  in  any  one 
place,  having  found  that  time  amply  sufficient  for  acquiring  a  full 
and  perfect  knowledge  of  the  manners,  customs,  language,  laws, 
manufactures  and  commerce  of  the  different  cities  of  Europe. 
I  remember  a  French  President  in  London  who  had  allotted  a 
week  for  a  journey  which  he  had  undertaken  to  England  for  the 
sake  of  acquiring  information  on  these  points,  and  we  were  told  at 
Brussels  of  a  man  there  who,  having  infinitely  more  capacity  for 
gaining  knowledge  in  a  short  space  of  time,  had  returned  there, 
after  sleeping  one  night  in  London,  coeffe  d  I'Angloise.  It  is  true 
this  coeffure  did  not  require  much  application  or  labour,  as  it 
consisted  in  untying  his  queue  and  letting  his  hairs  hang  about 
his  ears.  So  that  you  may  justly  expect  to  see  me  return  ac- 
complished in  mniii  scibili  atque  acquisibili  in  France,  Switzerland, 
or  Flanders. 

After  telling  Scrope  that  the  travellers  had  not  yet  passed 
through  Montreuil,  but  intended  to  do  so  on  their  way  home, 
and  expected  to  find  his  friends  tenderly  remembered, 
Grenville  alludes  to  friends  who  were  apparently  travelling 
in  England.  The  '  King  '  mentioned  in  the  following  para- 
graph was  not  Scrope's  brother-in-law,  nor  apparently  re- 
lated to  him ;  his  father  was  Dean  of  Raphoe.  The  Moss 
alluded  to  was  probably  son  of  the  Bishop  of  Bath   and 


92  THE  BBRNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Wells,  and  must  have  taken  Holy  Orders  soon  after  this 
tour. 

If  you  see  Moss  pray  tell  him  that  he  must  live  in  daily  expecta- 
tion of  a  new  Episcopo-pastoral.  I  had  one  letter  from  King  during 
this  tour.  But  it  reached  me  in  the  midst  of  East  India  dispatches. 
I  beg  you  will  collect  from  Moss  a  just  and  complete  account  of 
all  their  calamities.  How  often,  while  he  was  reading,  King  fell 
asleep  (as  well  he  might)  and  the  horse  turned  aside  to  graze  in 
the  bottom  of  the  neighbouring  ditch.  How  often  the  buggy 
broke  down 

'  And  laid  the  Bishop's  mitred  head  in  dust.' 

How  often  they  were  splashed  by  stage  coachmen,  and  how  often 
run  over  by  Phaeton,  with  a  long  list  of  other  misfortunes.  Our 
journey  has  been  uncommonly  prosperous,  and  les  Milords  Anglais 
have  come  off  with  flying  colours. 

I  have  left  no  directions  for  any  mortal  to  write  to  me. 
If  anything  very  remarkable  happens,  of  which  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  that  I  should  be  immediately  informed,  you  will  write 
to  me  d  la  Poste  Bestante  d  Paris,  by  which  means  I  may  pro- 
bably get  your  letter  by  the  beginning  of  December.  You  will 
however  write  with  a  due  regard  to  the  Inspector  General  of 
Foreign  Letters. 

Believe  me  ever  most  afftely  yours 

W.  W.  G. 

The  *  Oxford  glories '  to  which  Mr.  Grenville  alludes  in 
this  letter,  as  connected  with  the  memory  of  Sir  Thomas 
Bodley,  I  cannot  further  explain  ;  George  Barrington,  a  son 
of  the  General/  and  eventually  fifth  Viscount  Barrington, 
has,  however,  alluded  to  this  occasion  evidently  in  the 
following  paragraph : 

I  went  to  Oxford  yesterday  to  vote  for  the  Camden  Professor- 
ship, and  calling  upon  the  Dean  I  took  an  opportunity  of  mention- 
ing your  speech.  He  said  it  did  you  great  credit  on  the  whole 
but  he  lamented  you  had  not  come  to  Oxford  a  day  or  two  earlier 
and  shown  it  to  him,  that  he  might  amend  the  exceptionable  parts 
where  you  had  now  and  then  offended  against  a  regimen  of 
grammar  which  only  marked  your  desuetude  of  writing  Latin. 

'  See  vol.  i.,  chapter  x.,  pp.  215, 216,  for  some  account  of  the  Barrington  or 
Shute  pedigree ;  it  may  also  be  found  in  Burke  and  Debrett's  Peerages. 


A  NEW  PHASE  OP  LIFE  93 

This  was  probably  Scrope's  last  appearance  as  a  public 
speaker  in  Oxford.  He  was  there  again  the  following 
summer,  but  I  do  not  know  for  what  reason ;  and  he  never 
entirely  lost  his  connection  with  the  University ;  but  in  this 
respect,  as  in  many  others,  he  had  entered  upon  a  different 
phase  of  life.  On  his  return  to  London  in  this  year  of  his 
marriage  it  would  seem  that  the  work  offered  him  by  Pitt 
commenced  in  right  earnest,  that  it  was  continuous  and 
severe,  and  that  Scrope  when  he  found  that  there  was  no 
probability  of  its  coming  to  an  end  at  the  expiration  of  six 
months,  as  at  first  suggested,  began  to  have  thoughts  of 
flinging  it  up.  This  I  gather  from  a  letter  sent  by  a  friend 
whose  name  I  cannot  give,  because  I  am  unable  to  identify 
the  handwriting,  and  the  second  portion  of  the  letter  con- 
taining the  signature  is  not  to  be  found;  but  there  is 
enough  on  the  first  sheet  to  show  that  the  writer  was  one 
who  thought  he  had  a  claim  to  address  Mr.  Bernard  in  a 
paternal  or  semi-paternal  tone,  and  remonstrate  seriously 
against  his  project  of  relinquishing  a  post  that  might  lead  to 
further  advantages,  before  he  had  given  it  a  fair  trial.  He 
comments  on  the  desponding  strain  in  which  Scrope  had 
written  to  him,  as  unintelligible  from  one  so  fortunately 
placed  and,  as  he  supposes,  happily  married.  Thereupon  he 
enters  into  a  dissertation  on  the  evil  results  of  marrying 
without  affection — a  folly  which  he  believes  Scrope  incapable 
of  committing.  He  then  alludes  to  the  expected  birth  of  a 
first  child,  and  thus  fixes  approximately  the  date  of  the  letter. 

No  doubt  the  simple  explanation  of  this  dolorous  mood, 
into  which  Mr.  Bernard  appears  to  have  fallen,  was  the 
protracted  drudgery  of  his  occupation  as  secretary  to  the 
Commission.  All  through  life  the  routine  of  office  work 
was  most  distasteful  to  his  nervous,  excitable  nature — 
unluckily— for  he  was  constantly  being  driven  into  it  by 
circumstances. 

William,  the  eldest  son  of  Scrope  and  Harriet  Bernard, 
was  born  on  July  17,  1786,^  at  Mr.  Morland's  house  in 
Upper  Grosvenor  Street,   and   it  may  be  hoped   that  this 

•  Debrett  and  Burke,  Baronetages,  '  Bernard  Morland.' 


94  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

event  had  some  effect  in  raising  his  father's  spirits  and 
inducing  him  to  take  a  more  hopeful  view  of  life.  This 
precious  child  was  apparently  sent  to  his  grandparents  at 
Lee  while  his  parents  were  settling  down  at  Winchendon  in 
August,  and  then  went  to  stay  with  his  uncle  Thomas  and 
aunt  Margaret  in  London  who  had  no  children  of  their  own. 
This  appears  from  a  letter  written  by  Thomas  to  Scrope  in 
that  month. 

My  little  nephew  arrived  in  Town  yesterday,  and  is  I  hope  in  a 
fair  way  of  being  a  great  and  good  man.  I  need  not  tell  you  that 
any  attention  we  can  pay  you  and  yours,  is  ever  contributed  with 
the  utmost  pleasure. 

The  child  was  probably  sent  on  to  the  country ;  but  in 
the  same  letter  Thomas  Bernard  continues  : 

"We  were  obliged  to  defer  our  Winchendon  visit  for  many 
reasons ;  one,  that  I  thought  that  under  present  circumstances  it 
would  make  an  unpleasant  hurry  to  Margaret,  and  prevent  her 
giving  a  few  hours  to  her  Aunt  and  Sister  this  week.  We  do  not 
OQ  to  Wilton  Park  till  the  afternoon,  and  I  am  obliged  to  return 
to  town  on  Tuesday  morning.  Could  you  conveniently  fix 
Saturday  for  the  Kings,  and  let  us  come  to  you  on  Friday  which 
we  will  make  a  point  of  doing  ?  I  mention  that  time,  because  it 
is  the  only  time  that  I  am  sure  of  commanding.  Mrs.  Stainforth 
comes  to  us  on  Saturday.  If  that  suits  you  we  shall  sleep  at 
Wilton  Park  on  Thursday,  breakfast  at  Wendover,  and  get  early 
to  you  at  Winchendon. 

Wilton  Park,  near  Beaconsfield,  was  the  seat  of  Josias 
Du  Pre,  Esq.,^  a  late  Governor  of  Madras.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
King  were  staying  with  the  Smiths  at  Wendover  Vicarage, 
whence  Mr.  King  wrote  to  Scrope  in  anticipation  of  their 
visit :  '  Fanny  in  particular  promises  herself  no  small 
gratification.'  She  had  perhaps  never  seen  her  childhood's 
home  since  the  day  when  '  Monsieur  Le  Eoi '  declared  his 
love  in  a  bower. 

That  the  accommodation  at  Nether  Winchendon  Manor 
House  was  not  extensive  is  clear  from  this  correspondence, 
since  the  Kings   could   not  be  received  the   same  day  as 

'  Burke,  A  Dictionary  of  the  Landed  Gentry  :  'Du  Pr6  of  Wilton  Park,' 


HILLSBOEOUGH  95 

Thomas  and  Margaret  Bernard ;  yet  there  is  no  mention  of 
the  Whites  attempting  the  long  journey  from  Lincoln, 
while  Amelia  and  Captain  Baker  must  have  been  still  in 
Ireland,  whence  the  Kings  had  but  recently  returned ;  neither 
is  any  other  guest  mentioned.  Possibly  Scrope  had  already 
begun  his  work  of  renovation,  which  became  a  hobby,  and 
had  workmen  in  part  of  the  house. 

The  only  long  letter  ^  I  possess  written  by  Amelia  is 
dated  from  Carrick-on- Shannon,  and  was  written  on  July  25 
in  this  year,  just  after  she  had  received  the  news  of 
William  Bernard's  birth.  After  congratulations,  and  thanks 
for  a  present  to  her  son  Frank — evidently  of  a  silver  knife 
and  fork  in  case — she  continues  : 

Tom  seems  to  thrive  best  in  his  native  country,  is  grown  very 
stout.  Frank  tho'  very  well  at  present  has  not  been  quite  so  well 
since  we  left  England,  but  is  what  is  called  a  fine  Boy :  for  my- 
self I  am  pretty  well  &  so  much  pleased  with  some  parts  of 
Ireland.  I  do  not  know  whether  we  shall  not  settle  in  Belfast 
and  the  country  about  it  is  very  enticing ;  the  town  well  governed 
and  the  inhabitants  uncommonly  well  behaved  and  civil  to 
strangers. 

Hillsborough  belonging  to  that  Earl  is  a  most  charming  place. 
Mrs.  King  &  self  &  our  Husbands  spent  two  days  there  on  our 
way  to  this  place ;  it  is  a  few  miles  out  of  the  way  and  after  the 
Gentlemen  had  seen  the  men  settled  in  quarters  they  walked  on 
to  meet  us ;  the  town  consists  of  his  own  house,  a  very  good  Inn 
&  a  few  small  houses,  a  very  handsome  church,  the  whole 
surrounded  by  beautiful  woods  with  pretty  walk ;  the  Inn  is  kept 
by  an  EngUsh woman,  the  servants  &  furniture  all  English  brought 
over  at  the  Earl's  expense ;  in  short  it  has  all  the  luxuries  of 
an  Inn  with  the  quiet  &  comforts  of  a  private  house.  We  saw 
many  other  pretty  places  on  the  road,  but  the  Inns  were  miserably 
bad. 

This  is  a  tolerable  place,  but  at  first  we  were  much  at  a  loss  & 
but  for  the  better  sort  of  people  we  should  not  get  on,  &  what 
we  cannot  get  for  money  we  do  for  love  ;  every  one  milks  his 
own  cow,  kills  his  mutton,  &  grows  his  garden  stuff  &e  &c,  & 
if  I  do  but  send  for  anything  I  happen  to  want,  they  seem  to 
think  it  a  favour  I  do  them ;  the  mistress  of  the  Inn  made  a 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


96  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

serious  complaint  that  I  did  not  send  for  anything,  so  to  pacify 
her  I  was  obliged  to  send  next  day  for  a  rosting  [sic]  Pig  she  had 
promised  me ;  not  a  day  but  presents  of  Pease,  Beans,  new 
Pottaties  &c.  come  in ;  we  live  cheap  and  comfortably  &  the  place 
is  very  healthy — The  Eegt.  is  in  four  differ*  quarters.  Baker 
commands  two  Companies  here.  Grenard  is  head  quar^^  I 
wish  to  know  where  we  shall  be  sent  next ;  country  qrs.  are 
generally  more  agreeable  than  Dublin,  I  have  filled  the  Barrack 
yard  with  chickens  for  which  I  gave  4*^  &  5''  a  couple  &  that 
was  too  much,  a  couple  of  young  Turkies  for  8''  &  hen  & 
12  eggs  for  5*^^  ...  I  call  this  my  retirement  &  expect  in  the 
course  of  two  or  three  years  to  come  amongst  you  all  &  cut  a 
dash,  but  must  now  cut  some  fine  Trout  6  of  which  cost  1^ 
weighing  between  4  &  five  Pounds  altogether.  Adieu,  dear 
brother  let  me  hear  from  you  soon.  .  .  . 

In  this  year,  also,  Scrope  Bernard  extended  his  views 
beyond  the  homestead,  and  endeavoured  to  reduce  the 
Nether  Winchendon  estate  to  some  kind  of  order.  He  was 
in  correspondence  with  the  Eev.  Charles  Cave,  owner  of  the 
'  Hill  Farm '  portion  of  the  Tyringham  estate ;  and  an 
appointment  was  made  in  order  that  they  might  examine 
the  contents  of  an  old  chest.  This  arrangement  may  have 
brought  Mr.  Cave  to  Nether  Winchendon,  but  after  the 
relatives  had  departed.  No  practical  result,  however,  came 
of  their  interviews  at  this  time ;  Mr.  Cave  declined  to  part 
with  any  of  his  Nether  Winchendon  property,  one  portion 
of  which  lay  so  near  the  Manor  House  as  to^  interfere  with 
the  convenience  and  pleasure  of  its  owner.  Three  years 
later,  in  1789,  something  was  achieved.  Mr,  Bernard  was 
able  to    purchase   *a  messuage    and    two    closes.'      This 

*  messuage '  was  probably  a  house  rather  above  the  size  of 
an  ordinary  labourer's  cottage,  which  may  possibly  have 
been  the  village  inn  at  the  time,  and  was  called  the  Bear 
Inn  during  Scrope  Bernard's  ownership,  which  name  it  still 
retains ;  it  stood  near  a  gate  leading  from  the  village  to  the 

*  Hill  Farm,'  and  a  small  field  near  by  was  probably  one  of 
those  transferred  at  the  same  time. 

Another  matter  which  the  new  Lord  of  the  Manor  had 
much  at  heart  was  to  buy  that  moiety  of    the  advowson 


THE  PUECHASE  OF  AN  ADVOWSON  97 

which  had  gone  to  the  Cave  family  at  the  same  time  as  the 
land,  and  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Andrew,  the  actual  holder  of  the 
perpetual  curacy,  for  information  upon  the  subject  of  his 
clerical  income  derived  from  Nether  Winchendon.  The 
doctor,  who,  it  need  hardly  be  stated,  was  not  a  constant 
resident  in  that  parish — (Mr.  Newborough  was  apparently 
his  assistant  curate) — wrote  ^  from  Ashford  as  follows  : 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  your  letter  last  post,  and  am  puzzled 
how  to  set  any  value  at  all  upon  a  living,  the  fixed  income  of 
which  is  not  sufficient  (and  hereafter  will  be  less  so)  to  pay  any 
gentleman  that  shall  serve — I  pay  Mr.  Newborough  20^  p.  ann., 
the  fixed  income  is  about  19£,  so  that  what  is  strictly  purchase- 
able  is  1£  minus.  I  presume  it  would  be  frivolous  to  suppose  you 
would  take  into  your  consideration  the  trifling  and  precarious 
contributions  of  4  or  5  farmers,  none  of  whom  subscribe  more 
than  15s.  a  year — Lady  Knollys,  indeed,  subscribes  5  guineas  ;  but 
'tis  possible  that  good  lady  may  die  some  time  or  other,  and  we  may 
not  perhaps  after  her  decease,  be  blessed  with  a  successor  so  well 
disposed.  My  particular  acquaintance  with  the  late  Mr.  Knollys, 
and  my  laying  hold  of  the  Mollia  Tempora  fandi,  was  the  foundation 
and  rise  of  that  beautiful  subscription.  I  always  considered  it  as 
a  lucky  hit,  and  it  must  be  allowed  to  stand  very  ticklish  in  future. 
In  short  I  look  upon  the  subscriptions  (amounting,  after  deducting 
the  Tithe  Feast  and  subscription  to  the  widow  and  orphans,  to 
about  8^)  to  be  what  the  algebraists  call  an  evanescent  quantity. 
Besides,  I  take  it,  the  subscribers  would  disdain  to  be  sold  and 
would  fly  off  at  a  tangent,  were  the  subject  ever  so  gently  touched 
upon. 

This  last  phrase  is  obscure,  but  it  probably  refers  to 
Mr.  Bernard's  project  of  buying  the  moiety  of  the  advowson, 
which  transaction,  according  to  Dr.  Andrew,  the  subscribers 
were  Hkely  to  resent,  as  a  sale  of  their  souls,  or  at  least  as 
an  indignity  of  some  sort.  It  is  curious  to  find  such  sensi- 
tiveness in  these  Bucks  farmers  about  a  practice  so  fully 
permitted,  if  not  even  encouraged,  at  that  time  in  the  Church 
of  England  as  by  law  estabHshed.  The  reverend  gentleman 
further  observed  that,  as  he  had  been  appointed  by  Mr. 
Cave,  the  next  presentation  would  fall  to  Mr.  Bernard  or 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 
VOL.  Ill,  H 


98  THE  BERNABDS  OF  ABINGTON 

his  heirs,  and  it  was  therefore  scarcely  worth  his  while  to 
purchase. 

The  transaction  was  not  effected  at  this  time.  Dr. 
Andrew  died  in  1790,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  William 
Lloyd.  Before  these  events,  however,  the  living  had  re- 
ceived 200^.  from  Queen  Anne's  Bounty.  The  191.  per 
annum  reckoned  by  Dr.  Andrew  as  the  only  settled  income 
of  the  incumbent  was  partly  derived  from  a  tithe  rent 
charge  of  101. 13s. ^  paid  by  Scrope  and  by  Sir  Francis  before 
him  with  the  proceeds  of  former  grants  in  the  Tyringham 
time.  Of  tithes  the  Bernards  never  received  any  ;  their 
privileges  as  lay  rectors  have  always  consisted  solely  in 
the  obligation  to  keep  the  chancel  in  repair.  Scrope 
Bernard,  however,  had  resolved  to  become  sole  patron,  and 
he  achieved  his  object  in  1804.  Successive  attempts  to 
improve  the  living  at  last  raised  it  to  the  magnificent 
income  of  801.  per  annum. 

The  Mr.  Knollys  ^  who  had  been  on  terms  of  friendship 
with  Dr.  Andrew  was  probably  Francis  Knollys,  at  one 
time  M.P.  for  Oxford,  who  died  in  June  1754,  not  quite  three 
months  after  his  nephew,  the  last  Sir  Francis,  had  been 
created  a  baronet.  The  title  died  with  that  Sir  Francis  in 
1772.  Lady  Knollys,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  Kobert 
Kendall,  later  of  Kempson,  co.  Bedford,  still  occasionally 
resided  at  Winchendon  ;  one  business  letter  ^  from  her  to 
Scrope  Bernard,  preserved  at  the  Manor  House,  is  however, 
presumptive  evidence  that  she  had  ceased  to  occupy  the 
house  some  years  later.  It  is  dated :  '  Soho  Square  feb''^ 
ye  26,  1789,'  and  is  written  in  a  fine  bold  round  hand  : 

Lady  Knollys's  Compts  to  Mr.  Bernard  is  very  happy  to  ac- 
commodate him  with  the  ground  he  desires  to  have  ;  when  he  goes 
to  "Winchendon  her  tenant  will  settle  the  business  with  him.  She 
will  sign  the  lease  when  ready,  desires  the  rent  may  be  paid  to 
her  tenant  as  she  does  not  chuse  to  alter  the  account,  is  sorry 
she  could  not  acquaint  Mr.  Bernard  before,  but  did  not  hear  from 
Mrs.  Quartermain  till  yesterday. 

'  See  Lipscomb,  Hist,  of  Bucks,  vol.  i.,  '  Nether  Winchendon.' 

'  Ibid.,  '  Pedigree  of  Knollys.' 

*  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


PICTURES  AT  NETHER  WINCHENDON  99 

With  this  letter  the  history  of  the  Knollyses  of  Nether 
Winchendon  ends ;  at  least  I  have  no  means  of  tracing  it 
further.     Lipscomb  states  briefly  : 

The  remains  of  the  mansion  of  the  Knollyses,  with  certain 
lands  here,  after  the  death  of  the  last  Lady  KnoUys,  passed  to  the 
family  of  Longmire,  and  from  them  to  the  Rev.  John  King 
Martyn,  Rector  of  Pertenhall,  co.  Beds,  and  are  now  the  property 
of  his  son  the  Rev.  Thomas  Martyn,  the  present  Rector  of  Perten- 
hall. 

Since  Lipscomb's  time  the  house  and  land  have  been 
sold  more  than  once,  and  the  land  has  been  divided ;  the 
house,  which  has  been  chiefly  inhabited  by  its  owners,  I 
have  recently  purchased. 

For  some  years  Scrope  Bernard,  who  visited  Winchendon 
whenever  his  other  avocations  permitted,  was  in  occasional 
correspondence  on  family  matters  with  his  sister  Jane 
White ;  in  the  course  of  which  time  several  pictures,  in 
the  custody  of  Mrs.  White  at  Lincoln,  were  transferred  to 
her  brother  at  Nether  Winchendon.  She  enumerates  * 
'  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Terry  and  Miss  Winlowe.'  These  pictures 
were  probably  Mrs.  White's  property,  left  her  by  her 
father's  cousin  Jane  Hastings,  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Terry,  whom  I  suppose  to  have  been  one  of  her  god- 
mothers. There  is  also  mention  of  a  miniature  of  Mrs. 
Beresford's  father,  *  which  is  so  strong  a  Likeness  and  so  good 
a  Painting  that  I  hope  you  will  think  it  worth  accepting  as 
Mrs.  Beresford  valued  it  so  much.'  The  miniature  really, 
I  believe,  represented  Francis  Tyringham,  Mrs.  Beresford's 
grandfather.  He  died  before  her  birth,  and  her  father  died 
so  soon  after  that  she  can  scarcely  have  remembered  him ; 
nevertheless  it  was  probably  Mrs.  White  who  made  the 
mistake,  as  Mrs.  Beresford  would  have  inherited  a  tradition. 
I  find  no  mention  of  any  other  Tyringham  portrait ;  the 
rest  of  the  family  paintings  had  probably  hung  undisturbed 
on  the  walls  of  the  Manor  House  through  all  its  vicissitudes. 

Another  portion  of  the  correspondence  referred  to  the 

'  This  letter  and  the  rest  of  the  correspondence  are  in  MS.  at  Nether 
Winchendon. 

h2 


100  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

dates  of  Mrs.  Beresford's  birth  and  marriage.  The  first  was 
easily  ascertained  ^ ;  of  the  second  I  am  not  so  sure.  A  third 
point  concerned  her  burial.  Jane  White  wrote  soon  after 
her  stay  at  Winchendon  to  Scrope,  then  in  Ireland  : 

I  don't  know  whether  the  enclosed  will  [be]  of  any  use  to  you 
in  Ireland,  but  you  will  have  the  option  of  forwarding  them  to  any 
person  that  is  employed  for  you  in  these  things. 

What  was  the  nature  of  these  documents — for  such  they 
evidently  were — does  not  appear ;  but  the  writer  continues  : 

It  has  led  to  a  discovery  that  my  Father's  sudden  seizure, 
just  after  Mrs.  Beresford's  interment,  prevented  his  paying  that 
respect  to  her  memory  he  wished,  for  I  believe  there  is  not  even  a 
Tombstone.  If  you  wish  me  to  make  any  further  enquiry,  I  will 
go  over  to  Leadenham  &  examine  if  the  report  is  a  mistaken  one. 
Having  gone  there  in  person  with  great  sorrow  to  attend  her 
funeral,  I  should  be  sorry  to  find  it  quite  true. 

When  I  visited  Leadenham  there  was  certainly  no 
appearance  of  a  tombstone  or  tablet ;  the  sole  mention  I 
could  find  of  Mrs.  Beresford  was  in  the  epitaph  to  her  son. 
Nor  has  any  monument  been  erected  to  her  especially 
at  Nether  Winchendon,  though  she  is  to  a  certain  extent 
commemorated  on  a  tablet,  which  includes  her  father,  John 
Tyringham  and  Sir  Francis  and  Lady  Bernard  in  its 
inscription,  and  which  was  of  course  placed  there  by 
Scrope.  This  and  the  words  underneath  the  clock  to  some 
extent  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  last  Tyringham. 

'  From  the  register  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


THE  VICEKOYALTY  OF  IKELAND  101 


CHAPTEE  VI 

THE    SECOND   VICEKOYALTY   OF   lEELAND 

Scrope  Bernard  appointed  Usher  of  the  Black  Eod  and  Private  Secretary  to 
the  Marquess  of  Buckingham — Death  of  his  Son  Thomas — His  intention  to 
contest  Aylesbury — His  post  of  Private  Secretary — Debates  in  the  House — 
William  Grenville  and  the  appointment  of  Master  of  the  EoUs  in  Ireland — 
Lord  Nugent — Scrope  Bernard's  departure  for  England — The  Trial  of  Warren 
Hastings — Disagreement  between  the  Marquess  of  Buckingham  and  the 
King — The  King's  illness — Thomas  Grenville — Birth  of  Margaret  Bernard — 
The  Opposition  to  the  Viceroy. 

In  1787,  two  years  after  Scrope  Bernard  and  his  bride  had 
made  a  prolonged  stay  at  Winchendon,  and  the  year  after 
the  first  family  gathering  had  taken  place^ — William  Pitt 
being  still  Prime  Minister — the  Viceroyalty  of  Ireland 
became  vacant  by  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Rutland,  and 
the  Marquess  of  Buckingham,  the  former  Earl  Temple, 
attained  the  goal  of  his  hopes.  On  November  2  Scrope 
Bernard  wrote  ^  to  Mr.  Morland,  who  was  then  at  Bath : 

I  have  just  time  to  write  a  line  by  this  post  to  inform  you 
and  Mrs.  Morland  that  Lord  Buckingham  has  this  day  been 
declared  in  Council  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  ;  and  that  he  has 
nominated  me  Usher  of  the  Black  Eod  and  Private  Secretary,  which 
office,  with  the  approbation  of  my  friends,  I  propose  to  accept.  I 
imagine  we  shall  set  off  by  about  the  end  of  this  month,  but  can- 
not yet  be  certain.  In  the  meantime  I  shall  have  a  great  deal  to 
do  in  making  family  and  other  arrangements ;  in  which  I  shall 
want  Mrs.  Morland's  and  your  assistance.  I  should  propose  the 
nursery  to  be  stationary  in  this  country  for  the  present ;  but  of  this 
and  other  subjects  I  shall  write  more  particularly  when  at  leisure. 

Another  son  had  been  born  to  Scrope  and  Harriet 
Bernard  on  October  15,  and  was  named  Thomas,  having,  no 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


102  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

doubt,  his  good  uncle  for  a  godfather.  "Whether  the  agita- 
tion into  which  his  mother  was  thrown  both  before  and 
after  his  birth  by  the  changes  in  the  family  prospects,  or 
some  less  obvious  cause,  affected  her  nurseling,  I  do  not 
know;  but  he  died  on  December  13,  the  only  child  his 
parents  lost  in  infancy. 

Scrope  Bernard  had  apparently  left  England  before  his 
son's  death.  His  second  period  of  office  as  a  viceroy's 
private  secretary  was,  it  will  be  seen,  if  somewhat  longer 
than  the  first,  so  disturbed  and  broken  up  by  absences  from 
Ireland  as  to  be  by  no  means  a  satisfactory  record ;  possibly 
it  would  not  have  been  more  satisfactory  had  it  been  further 
protracted.  The  accounts  of  the  Marquess's  viceroyalty  in 
the  volumes  compiled  from  the  family  archives  read  of 
course  differently  from  those  written  by  an  independent 
historian.  Mr.  Lecky  ushers  it  in  with  the  following 
remarks  ^ :  .: 

His  short  viceroyalty  in  1783  had  given  him  some  Irish 
experience,  and  it  was  thought  that  the  fact  that  his  wife  was  a 
Catholic  might  give  him  some  popularity.  With  considerable  busi- 
ness talents,  however,  the  new  Lord  Lieutenant  was  one  of  those 
men  who  in  all  the  relations  of  life  seldom  fail  to  create  friction 
and  irritation.  Great  haughtiness,  both  of  character  and  manner ; 
extreme  jealousy  and  proneness  to  take  offence,  had  always 
characterized  him;  and  before  he  had  been  many  months  in 
Ireland  we  find  him  threatening  his  resignation,  bitterly  offended 
with  the  King,  angiy  and  discontented  with  the  Ministers  in 
England,  and  very  unpopular  in  Dublin. 

In  the  '  Memoirs  '  '^  the  account  is  of  course  more  favour- 
able : 

On  the  1st  of  January  1788,  Lord  Buckingham  transmitted 
to  the  Ministry  a  copy  of  the  speech  he  proposed  for  the  opening 
of  the  Irish  Parliament  on  the  17th.  He  threw  himself  at  once 
into  the  labours  of  his  Government,  which,  judging  from  the 
multitude  of  topics  that  pressed  upon  his  time,  and  the  consci- 
entious consideration  he  bestowed  upon  them,  were  onerous  and 

'  Lecky,  History  of  Ireland  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  (Edition  1892), 
vol.  ii.  chap,  v.,  p.  463. 

■'  Memoirs  of  tlie  Cowt  and  Cabinets  of  George  III.,  vol.  i. 


LOUD  BUCKINGHAM'S  EECEPTlON  103 

absorbing.  The  correspondence  of  this  period  is  very  volumin- 
ous, and  embraces  in  detail  an  infinite  variety  of  subjects.  The 
universal  reliance  which  was  placed  in  his  justice  and  toleration, 
drew  upon  him  petitions  and  complaints  from  all  manner  of  people. 

I  leave  the  reader,  after  perusing  these  accounts,  to  form 
his  own  opinion,  as  far  as  may  be,  from  the  glimpses 
afforded  in  this  chapter  of  the  second  Grenville  viceroyalty. 
To  gain  a  just  estimate  of  the  Marquess  it  is  of  course 
necessary  to  compare  him  with  other  leading  men  of  the 
time,  for  it  is  only  by  such  comparisons  that  he  can  be 
fairly  judged  either  in  his  public  or  private  character. 

The  first  letter  addressed  by  Scrope  Bernard  after  his 
arrival  in  Ireland  to  William  Grenville  is  lengthy,  but  it 
relates  so  much  of  his  own  personal  movements — they 
cannot  be  called  adventures — that,  although  it  has  already 
been  printed,^  I  give  it  in  full : 

1787,  December  27,  Dublin  Castle, — I  have  not  written  to  you 
sooner,  because  I  knew  that  you  would  be  as  well  informed  of 
Lord  Buckingham's  landing  and  reception  here  by  the  Gazette 
and  newspapers,  if  not  better,  than  I  could  describe  it  to  you. 
But  as  we  have  now  been  here  for  above  ten  days,  it  is  time  I 
should  commence  my  correspondence. 

There  seems  very  little  prospect  of  any  diflficulty  in  the 
approaching  sessions  here;  no  opposition  is  as  yet  announced. 
The  principal  leading  interests  in  opposition  have  mostly  declared 
their  favourable  dispositions,  and  wishes  to  support ;  and  nothing 
is  to  be  feared  but  from  their  jealousy  of  the  comparative  atten- 
tions shown  to  one  another,  which  must  end  in  producing  an 
Opposition  sooner  or  later,  as  the  market  is  overstocked.  Lord 
Charlemont  put  himself  forward  to  be  one  of  the  two  noblemen 
sent  to  conduct  the  Lord  Lieutenant  up  the  Castle  stairs  to  the 
Council  Chamber,  and  sat  next  him  yesterday  at  the  Lord  Mayor's 
dinner,  where  there  was  a  very  pleasant  party,  and  your  brother 
was  in  high  spirits,  and  gave  the  greatest  pleasure  to  those  around 
him.  Chief  Justice  Carleton,  who  sat  next  me,  observing  Lord 
Charlemont's  assiduities,  whispered  that  he  wondered  how  long 
this  would  last.  I  think  it,  however,  possible  that  an  old  man 
like  him  may  be  tired  of  volunteering  and  opposition,  and  may  be 

'  TJie  Manuscripts  of  J.  B.  Fortesctie,  Esg^.,  vol.  i.,  p.  293. 


104  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

glad  to  seize  a  moment  when  he  may  think  he  can  support,  with 
safety  to  his  popularity.  Fitz-Herbert  seems  a  man  of  very  pleas- 
ing and  taking  manners,  and  to  judge  very  prudently  and  dis- 
creetly in  the  instances  which  have  been  yet  seen  and,  what  gives 
me  the  most  satisfaction,  does  not  manifest  the  least  jealousy 
of  your  brother's  monopoly  of  the  business.  Cuffe  lays  unremit- 
ting siege  to  him,  but  I  trust  will  be  repulsed,  though  I  know  not 
how  it  happens,  but  he  seems  to  be  a  man  much  considered  here, 
and  of  political  weight.  With  respect  to  myself,  I  go  on  very 
pleasantly  in  my  own  quiet  way,  more  sought  than  seeking,  which 
is  the  only  plan  for  a  private  secretary.  Lord  Buckingham  means 
to  give  me  one  of  the  vacant  houses  in  the  Phoenix  Park,  not  far 
from  the  Lord  Lieutenant's  lodge,  which  will  be  very  convenient 
for  my  wife  when  she  comes  over,  as  I  should  not  have  had  room 
or  conveniences  for  her  at  the  Castle.  As  far  as  I  can  see,  the 
household  is  likely  to  be  very  well  managed  under  Griffith's  and 
my  joint  government.  I  really  am  satisfied  Griffith  is  as  fit  a 
man  as  could  have  been  found.  Young  was  expected  before  this, 
and  it  was  wondered  why  he  did  not  arrive,  when  the  observation 
was  (not  mine)  that  without  doubt  he  would  contrive  to  arrive 
accidentally  at  the  Head  at  the  same  time  with  Lady  Buckingham, 
and  make  himself  her  Excellency's  squire  in  the  yacht  to  Dublin. 
I  was  offered  a  bet  of  this,  but  would  not  take  it,  as  I  am  satisfied 
it  is  his  plan,  and  it  accounts  for  his  delay.  I  hope  you  will 
find  questions  enough  for  him,  which  will  require  his  attendance 
when  the  business  of  your  sessions  is  resumed,  at  the  end  of 
January. 

The  next  paragraph  evidently  refers  to  Scrope's  intention 
of  standing  for  Aylesbury  at  the  next  election  : 

I  forgot  when  I  took  leave  of  you  to  state  what  passed  at  the 

interview  which  it  was  agreed  I  should  seek  with  Lord  

previous  to  my  departure.  He  held  the  same  explicit  language 
that  he  had  used  to  your  brother,  declared  that  he  should  not  put  up 
anybody  himself  and  would  give  me  no  impediment ;  adding  that 
he  had  no  doubt  I  should  succeed,  if  I  did  not  mind  creating  so 
many  troublesome  neighbours.  I  am  however  more  fortified  by 
the  deep  clays  and  ruts  than  his  lordship  ;  and  if  it  should  come 
to  that,  I  am  not  so  tied  down  but  I  should  always  have  my 
remedy.  Accordingly  as  I  passed  through  Aylesbury  finding 
Chaplain  in  all  the  rest  of  the  secret,  I  told  him  this  remaining 
part,  and  how  he  was  to  proceed  in  case  of  a  vacancy.  I  called 
on  Sir  William  Lee  as  I  went  on,  who,  to  my  surprise,  reminded 


SCEOPE  BEENAED'S  EMOLUMENTS  105 

me  that  I  was  to  have  written  to  him  when  I  was  last  in  Ireland, 
but  I  had  forgot  it ;  and  asked  me  whether  he  might  expect  an 
occasional  letter  from  me  this  time ;  which  pleasure  I  certainly 
shall  not  deny  him ;  and  Lord  Harcourt's  picture  at  the  Mansion 
House  suggested  itself  to  me  yesterday  as  a  topic  for  opening  the 
correspondence. 

Something  passed  in  a  conversation  when  your  brother  was  with 
you  at  Whitehall  at  which  I  was  hurt,  and  which  I  think  it  neces- 
sary for  my  credit  that  I  should  explain.  When  you  were  talking 
of  the  Lord  Lieutenant's  emoluments  commencing,  in  the  present 
instance,  from  the  day  of  his  declaration  in  Council,  you  added  that, 
what  was  a  better  thing,  his  private  secretary's  emoluments  also 
commenced  from  the  same  date.  Now  as  my  present  emoluments 
(those  of  Usher  of  the  Black  Eod)  are  a  sessional  grant,  I  thought 
you  could  mean  nothing  else  by  that  expression  but  the  emolu- 
ments of  private  secretary,  which  I  declared  from  the  first  moment 
of  my  being  appointed  Black  Eod  I  would  not  accept ;  and  it 
would  be  highly  to  my  discredit  if,  with  an  office  of  that  degree 
of  profit,  I  could  have  thought  of  taking  any  salary  as  private 
secretary,  which,  being  an  allowance  out  of  the  pocket  of  the  Lord 
Lieutenant,  could  not  with  any  propriety  be  taken  where  there  is 
such  ample  compensation  from  another  office.  I  did  not  make 
this  observation  at  that  moment,  lest  your  brother  should  have 
thought  me  ostentatious  of  what  was  no  matter  of  ostentation.  But 
I  own  I  was  uneasy,  lest  by  what  you  said  at  the  time,  that  I  was 
the  only  officer  whose  profits  were  not  affected  by  the  early  com- 
mencement of  Lord  Buckingham's  government,  you  should  have 
thought  me  a  pluralist  in  so  improper  an  instance  ;  though  perhaps 
in  some  instances,  where  the  public  were  sure  to  be  at  the  expence 
whether  I  accepted  it  or  not,  I  may  have  shown  myself  not 
averse  to  pluralities. 

I  must  conclude  this  letter  here.  I  have  so  full  a  confidence 
that  none  of  these  letters,  particularly  to  friends  of  Government, 
are  pried  into  at  the  Post  Office,  that  I  have  written  without 
reserve  on  all  subjects ;  and  beg  a  hint  if  you  think  I  do  wrong 
in  using  this  freedom.  I  little  thought  that  it  would  ever  fall  to 
my  lot  to  have  the  honour  of  franking  a  letter  to  you,  but  it  is  an 
instance  of  what  odd  things  happen.  If  you  would  prefer  to  have 
my  letters  sent  under  cover  to  Anderson,  I  will  beg  an  intimation 
to  that  effect.  The  objection  would  be  the  delay  in  the  receipt  of 
my  communications,  particularly  if  he  should  be  out  of  the  way, 
or  accidentally  in  the  country  .  .  .  but  of  that  you  will  be  to 
judge. 


106  THE  BERNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Long  as  this  letter  is,  the  writer  added  a  lengthy  post- 
script : 

I  was  delighted  to  find  by  one  of  your  letters  that  you  intended 
paying  some  attention  to  Lyttelton.  I  have  taken  the  greatest 
pains  on  that  subject,  and  have  been  continually  afraid  lest  he 
should  be  lost  for  want  of  common  attention.  He  is  very  many 
degrees  above  his  father  in  point  of  political  weight,  character, 
and  abilities.  If  there  were  nothing  else  in  his  favour  but  his 
name  of  Lyttelton,  I  should  be  sorry  not  to  see  it  reunited  to  those 
of  Pitt  and  Grenville  in  political  life ;  but  when,  in  addition  to 
this  circumstance,  he  is  a  young  man  of  uncommon  value,  I  should 
have  been  grieved  to  have  seen  him  enlisted  under  any  other 
banners.  I  meant  before  I  left  town  to  have  told  you  where  he 
lived,  and  to  have  requested  you  to  call  upon  him,  but  it  escaped 
me.  He  is  very  shy,  and  feels  any  inattention  shown  to  his 
father  as  much  as  if  it  was  to  himself.  Upon  my  making  an 
appointment,  at  Lord  Wescote's  desire,  for  his  lordship  to  call  on 
Lord  Buckingham  the  Friday  before  he  left  town.  Lord  Bucking- 
ham would  hardly  at  first  consent  to  receive  him,  but  did  at  last ; 
and  I  understand  expressions  of  civility  passed  between  them. 
You  however  will  have  ample  opportunities  of  placing  all  this  on 
a  better  footing  in  the  course  of  the  winter.  In  case  Mrs.  C. 
Macartney  dies,  which  is  daily  expected,  Lyttelton  will  come  to 
Ireland  to  settle  his  affairs ;  and  in  that  case  I  shall  see  him  often 
at  the  Castle,  and  have  opportunities  of  putting  him  in  Lord 
Buckingham's  way.  In  such  a  situation  I  think  nothing  could 
prevent  him  from  becoming  intimate  with,  and  attached  to  your 
brother. 

In  my  letters  (in  case  you  approve  of  my  writing  on  at  this 
rate)  you  will  find  many  expressions  of  self-importance,  which 
arise  out  of  the  nature  of  the  subject,  and  which  I  must  beg  you 
to  excuse,  whenever  they  occur.  I  stated  your  wishes  for  WiUiam 
Bisset,  when  the  list  of  chaplains  was  made  out,  and  he  is 
appointed  7th  Chaplain. 

Apparently  Mr.  Grenville  approved  of  Scrope's  com- 
munications, for  the  letters  are  continued,  although  they 
were  not  so  diffuse  as  the  first,  or  are  perhaps  curtailed  by 
the  transcriber.     On  January  17  Mr.  Bernard  wrote: 

After  having  gone  through  my  duty  in  the  House  of  Lords  to- 
day, I  attended  the  debates  of  the  House  of  Commons.  Your 
brother  has  written  to  you,  and  will  have  informed  you  of  Mr. 


THE  DUKE  OP  RUTLAND'S  ADMINISTEATION     107 

Parsons'  motion  respecting  the  Duke  of  Rutland's  administration, 
which  missed  fire.  Indeed  the  feelings  of  the  House  were  strongly 
against  him,  and  seemed  to  join  in  the  sentiment  of  de  mortuis  nil 
nisi  bonum.  The  Attorney-General,  in  answering  Parsons,  asked 
him  whether  he  would  persist  in  putting  his  absurdities  to  the 
vote.  After  the  House  adjourned,  Parsons  went  off  in  a  great 
hurry,  and  it  was  said  that  he  meant  to  challenge  Fitzgibbon,  and 
that  they  would  fight  before  morning.  But  I  take  this  to  be  mere 
talk,  and  that  it  could  not  be  meant  seriously  even  by  those  who 
suggested  it.  Nothing  has  been  said  of  it  since.  Lord  Delvin 
spoke  very  well,  was  very  collected,  clear,  and  distinct.  Packen- 
ham,  who  seconded,  spoke  but  one  short  sentence  to  your  brother's 
disappointment,  who  expected  him  to  discuss  foreign  politics  and 
abuse  the  French.  I  have  not  time  to  state  further  particulars, 
and  therefore  conclude. 

On  February  14,  Mr.  Bernard  writes,'  as  before  from 
'  Dublin  Castle  ' : 

Grattan's  long  expected  motion  respecting  a  commutation  for 
tythes  comes  on  this  evening  in  the  House  of  Commons,  when 
there  is  expected  to  be  a  late  sitting.  If  I  get  home  time  enough, 
before  the  post  goes  out,  I  will  let  you  know  the  issue  of  the 
debate ;  and  the  numbers,  if  there  should  be  any  division. 

The  rest  of  the  letter  is  occupied,  for  the  most  part,  with 
strictures  on  a  Mr.  Young,  who  was  '  at  times,  in  my  own 
confession,  very  entertaining,'  and  therefore  generally  liked ; 
but  presumptuous  in  his  familiar  mode  of  designating  persons 
of  rank  and  importance,  and  his  habit  of  glorifying  his  own 
family  and  himself.     Of  this  habit  Scrope  says  : 

It  sometimes  makes  my  blood  boil  to  hear  the  pitch  of  extrava- 
gance and  absurdity  to  which  he  carries  this  kind  of  conversation. 
....  My  emotions,  however,  on  the  occasion  proceed  from  a 
cause  peculiar  to  myself.  I  was  not  aware  that  I  should  have 
been  put  to  this  scene  of  trial.  It  has  left  me  in  a  feverish  state 
of  mind,  which  two  days  since  has  hardly  diminished.  It  will, 
however,  pass  off  in  a  short  time,  I  trust.  It  is  hardly  fair  to 
trouble  you  with  all  this,  but  it  is  a  relief  to  me,  and  you  will 
excuse  me. 

This  over-sensitiveness  seems  to  point  to  some  personal 

'  The  Manuscripts  of  J.  B.  Fortesctie,  Esq.,  vol.  i.,  p.  303. 


108  THE  BEENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

reason  for  dislike,  but  no  hint  of  such  is  given  ;  and  it  may 
have  been  only  the  effect  of  political  agitation  and  anxious 
work  upon  a  nervous  temperament. 

The  next  day  Mr.  Bernard  vi^rites  ^  to  correct  a  mistake  he 
had  made  in  the  numbers  of  a  division,  notes  some  parlia- 
mentary facts,  and  continues : 

I  have  settled  the  point  of  attendance  with  the  Lord  Chancellor, 
who  says  I  may  as  well  humour  Sir  H.  Cavendish  by  attending 
the  delivery  of  all  money  bills,  but  I  need  attend  on  no  other 
occasion.  Some  of  the  members  told  me  that,  if  what  Sir  H. 
Cavendish  said  had  appeared  to  make  the  smallest  impression  on 
the  House,  they  would  have  risen  to  say  a  word  on  my  part ;  but 
as  it  passed  off  without  further  observation,  they  thought  it  wiser 
to  let  it  drop. 

Grattan's  motion  about  tithes  did  not  come  on  till 
February  24 ;  on  this  occasion  he  made  '  a  wonderfully  able 
and  animated  speech,  which  lasted  three  hours.'  The 
Attorney-General  and  Mr.  Parsons  opposed,  Curran  sup- 
ported the  measure,  which  was  lost  by  a  large  majority. 
This  letter  concludes  with :  *  Sir  H.  Cavendish,  very  ill- 
naturedly,  took  notice  of  my  not  coming  up  with  the  Bills 
from  the  House  of  Lords,  which  has  always  latterly  been 
done  by  the  deputy  usher.  Not  a  person  followed  him  in 
the  observation.' 

On  February  29,  Mr.  Bernard  wrote  ^  an  account  of  '  Mr. 
Forbes's  motion  for  limiting  the  amount  of  pensions '  and 
*  his  second  motion  for  an  address  to  his  Majesty  on  the 
subject  of  pensions,'  both  of  which  were  lost,  in  spite  of 
Curran's  eloquence.  After  some  notice  of  the  discussions, 
Scrope  continues : 

You  see  we  keep  up  somewhat  above  the  proportion  I  men- 
tioned of  5  to  2,  There  have  been  some  curious  debates  about 
lowering  the  interest  of  money,  in  which  Government  were  neuter, 
though  brought  forward  by  Sir  John  Parnell.  NeutraHty  on  any 
question  produces  relaxation  of  disciphne,  and  Mr.  Fitz  Herbert 
is  a  little  too  much  inclined  to  slacken  the  reins,  but  all  the  rest 

'  r/ie  Manuscripts  of  J.  B.  Fortescue,  Esq.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  303,  304. 
'  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  306,  307. 


THE  MASTEE  OF  THE  KOLLS  IN  IRELAND      109 

of  us  are  so  much  for  a  tight  hand,  that  I  trust  we  shall  open  and 
go  through  with  the  next  campaign  very  well  in  that  respect. 
There  is  no  other  question  of  any  consequence  in  this.  .  .  .  The 
last  messenger  went  off  before  I  was  aware  of  it,  else  I  should 
have  sent  your  seal. 

There  are  no  letters  by  Scrope  Bernard  in  the  Fortescue 
Collection  for  some  weeks  after  the  one  just  quoted.  In 
the  interim  occurred  a  negotiation  for  obtaining  William 
Grenville's  appointment  as  Master  of  the  Kolls  in  Ireland. 
The  subject  bears  on  this  volume  by  reason  of  the  great 
friendship  between  Mr.  Grenville  and  Mr.  Bernard ;  and  the 
slur  which  in  some  persons'  estimation  this  negotiation 
threw  upon  Mr.  Grenville's  reputation.  Mr.  Lecky  writes  ^ 
on  this  subject : 

I  have  mentioned  the  anxiety  of  all  parties  in  Ireland  to 
bring  back  to  the  country  the  great  offices  which  were  held  by 
absentees.  Eutland,  shortly  before  his  death,  had  tried  to  induce 
Pitt  to  make  an  arrangement  for  the  restoration  of  the  Vice 
Treasurers  to  Ireland.  It  would,  he  said,  be  '  an  object  of  great 
utiHty  to  his  Majesty's  Irish  Government,  both  as  a  measure 
calculated  to  fasten  on  popularity,  and  at  the  same  time  as  uniting 
the  more  solid  advantage  of  crediting  new  objects  for  ambition  of 
the  first  men  and  the  most  extensive  connections  in  this  country.' 
Pitt  was  unable  or  unwilling  to  consent,  but  shortly  after  the 
appointment  of  Buckingham,  the  death  of  Eigby  made  it  possible 
to  bring  back  the  important  office  of  Master  of  the  Eolls.  The 
office,  however,  was  coveted  by  William  Grenville,  the  brother 
of  the  Lord  Lieutenant,  who  was  now  President  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  in  England.  His  letters  on  the  subject  are  curious,  and  far 
from  edifying.  He  found  that  part  of  the  revenue  which  Eigby 
had  received  was  derived  from  an  illegal  sale  of  places.  He 
doubted  whether  the  office  could  be  legally  granted  for  life,  and 
whether  the  performance  of  certain  duties  might  not  be  required, 
and  for  these  and  some  other  reasons  he  at  last  determined  to 
relinquish  it  to  the  Duke  of  Leinster,  but  asked  and  obtained  for 
himself  the  best  Irish  reversion — that  of  the  office  of  Chief 
Eemembrancer,  which  was  held  by  Lord  Clanbrassil.  An  appoint- 
ment so  flagrantly  improper  completely  discredited  Buckingham 

'  Lecky,  History  of  Ireland  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  (Edition  1892), 
vol.  ii.,  chap,  v.,  p.  464. 


110  THE  BERNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

at  the  outset  of  his  administration,  and  it  was  well  fitted  to 
exasperate  equally  both  the  most  selfish  and  the  most  disinterested 
of  Irish  politicians.  The  unpopularity  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant  was, 
however,  chiefly  personal,  and  confined  to  a  small  court  or  political 
circle.     The  country  continued  perfectly  quiet. 

And  the  historian  enumerates  several  signs  of  contentment 
and  prosperity.  But  the  letters  of  William  Grenville  un- 
doubtedly afford  a  sad  instance  of  a  frank  and  generous  nature 
warped  by  the  exigencies  of  a  political  career.  In  his  mind  at 
this  time  the  idea  of  office  appears  to  be  wholly  unconnected 
with  any  recognition  of  consequent  duties.  Even  more 
might  indeed  be  said.  The  compiler  of  the  'Memoirs,' 
however,  sees  nothing  amiss  in  the  incessant  schemes  of 
promotion  which  formed  a  great  part  of  the  correspondence 
between  the  Marquess  and  William  Grenville.  He  says  of 
Mr.  Grenville :  ^  '  The  letter  in  which  he  unfolds  all  these 
plans  to  his  brother  is  affecting  in  its  appeal  to  those  feelings 
of  implicit  trust  and  attachment  which  existed  so  warmly 
between  these  distinguished  men.' 

It  must  also  be  admitted  that  Scrope  Bernard  showed  no 
dislike  to  these  manoeuvres  ;  he  was  perhaps  not  in  a  position 
to  do  so,  and  his  warm  attachment  to  William  Grenville  led 
him  to  rejoice  in  anything  that  rejoiced  his  friend.  But  he 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  mixed  up  in  any  intrigues. 
His  next  letter — or  the  next  in  the  collection — is  dated  from 
the  house  in  the  Phoenix  Park,  indicating  that  his  wife  had 
joined  him  in  the  interim. 

On  May  19,  he  dates  a  letter  ^  from  *  Phoenix  Park '  : 

I  do  not  know  whether  you  will  have  taken  any  notice  of  my 
silence  for  this  last  month  or  two  ;  or,  if  you  have,  whether  you  will 
have  put  any  unfavourable  construction  upon  it ;  but  it  has  been 
owing  to  my  expectation,  for  many  weeks  past,  of  coming  over  to 
England,  and  consequently  having  reserved  my  observations  on 
what  was  going  on  here  to  the  time  of  seeing  you.  As  it  would 
be  a  convenience  to  me  to  spend  a  few  weeks  in  Buckinghamshire, 
I  had  proposed  to  your  brother  to  be  there  while  the  militia  were 

'  Memoirs  of  the  Court  and  Cabinets  of  Oeorge  III.,  vol.  i. 
*  The  Manuscripts  of  J.  B.  Fortescue,  Esq.,  vol.  i.,  p.  329. 


lEISH  APFAIES  111 

out,  which  he  had  intended  should  be  in  the  month  of  May,  and 
as  there  is  little  necessary  business  here  in  my  line  at  present,  he 
had  not  disapproved  of  my  plan.  Prom  some  omission,  how- 
ever, in  forms  and  notices,  the  militia  cannot  now  be  out  till  the 
autumn ;  and  while  this  point  has  been  under  consideration,  I 
have  remained  in  uncertainty  respecting  the  time  of  my  coming 
over.  I  still  think  of  crossing  the  water  soon,  though  without  the 
pretext  above  mentioned ;  but  not  being  now  tied  to  any  particular 
time,  I  may  be  led  to  continue  here  longer  than  I  imagine ;  and, 
accordingly  break  the  interval  by  writing  a  few  lines  to  say,  that 
though  so  long  silent,  I  am  still  in  the  land  of  the  living,  and  that 
in  a  Uttle  time  you  may  see  me,  or  perhaps  may  not  see  me,  for 
having  fixed  no  day  it  does  not  become  me  to  speak  very  posi- 
tively. 

The  matter  of  the  Eolls  has  remained  so  much  in  uncertainty, 
that  I  did  not  follow  up  my  short  congratulations  with  others 
more  diffuse,  and  suited  to  the  occasion  and  my  feeUngs  upon  it, 
as  had  been  my  intention.  From  what,  however.  Lord  Bucking- 
ham has  hinted  to  me,  I  shall  soon  have  matter  of  ample  and  more 
permanent  congratulation  to  you  in  this  kingdom ;  and  in  the 
course  of  time,  be  able  to  wish  you  joy  of  the  improvement  of 
your  situation  on  your  side  of  the  water. 

Mr.  Fitz  Herbert,  who  left  us  about  a  fortnight  ago,  will  have 
informed  you  of  the  state  of  things  here.  We  are  very  quiet,  but 
are  told  by  all  the  Uttle  men  that  the  great  men  hate  us,  and  are 
threatened  with  much  opposition  next  winter ;  which  we  shall 
have,  but  it  cannot  be  to  a  degree  which  will  be  material,  or 
which  has  not  been  foreseen  from  the  first.  The  leading 
Government  men  are,  I  am  told,  offended  with  his  Excellency  for 
not  forming  personal  intimacies  with  them  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand 
this  circumstance  pleases  the  jealous  feelings  of  those  who  are  in 
opposition,  or  in  a  state  of  indecision  between  both ;  at  the  same 
time  that  it  accords  with  his  own  inclination  and  judgement.  Mr. 
Longfield  who  has  persisted  in  supporting  us,  though  your  brother 
would  give  him  no  encouragement,  has  shown  us  a  proof  of  his 
kind  dispositions  by  producing  your  silver  box  with  the  freedom  of 
Cork,  which  had  been  so  long  missing ;  a  circumstance  which  may 
have  appeared  to  you  rather  suspicious ;  but,  when  I  tell  you  the 
reasons,  you  must  own  yourself  not  only  satisfied,  but  very  much 
flattered,  for  he  said  that  you  was  so  little  in  Dublin  when  Secretary, 
that  they  had  not  a  proper  opportunity  of  presenting  it ;  and,  since 
that  time,  they  have  not  known  where  to  send  it  to  you.  I  have 
had  it  many  weeks  in  my  possession,  and  shall  not  fail  to  bring  it 


112  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

with  me  to  England,  as  I  know  it  will  be  a  valuable  acquisition  to 
your  shaving  apparatus. 

Lord  Nugent  arrived  here  in  good  health  on  Friday  last,  and 
rather  opportunely  for  the  family  in  one  respect,  it  having  been 
somewhat  melancholy  since  Tompkins's  death,  which  your  brother 
and  Lady  Buckingham  took  much  to  heart.  They  have  of  late 
been  a  good  deal  out  on  parties,  and,  by  way  of  a  little  change, 
they  purpose  living  for  the  next  month  or  two  at  a  house 
belonging  to  Mr.  Lees  at  the  Black  Eock,  which  they  have 
taken  for  that  purpose ;  where  they  will  have  the  advantage  of 
being  near  Lord  Nugent's  house  called  Clare  Hall,  which  he 
built  about  twenty  years  ago ;  and  at  which  he  will  now  reside. 
Lady  Buckingham  has  had  a  swelled  face  for  a  day  or  two  past, 
and  your  little  niece  is  just  recovering  from  the  smallpox.  In 
other  respects  the  family  are  all  very  well. 

In  this  case  of  the  young  Lady  Mary,  the  smallpox 
must  be  understood  to  be  the  kind  produced  by  inoculation, 
then  the  best  known  means  of  minimising  the  risks  of  that 
scourge.  To  which  of  many  political  mysteries  the  Marquess 
alludes  in  a  letter  of  the  following  day.  May  20,  I  cannot 
say.     He  writes  '  : 

I  had  talked  with  Bernard  upon  a  certain  speculation  long 
before  it  was  even  probable,  so  that  I  am  sure  that  the  very  little 
which  I  have  been  able  to  say  to  him  has  given  him  certain  sus- 
picions. He  will,  however,  be  in  London  for  a  month,  in  about 
ten  days,  having  made  up  his  mind  to  attend  our  militia  meeting 
which  we  expected  in  June. 

Mr.  Bernard's  departure  for  England  must  have  taken 
place  about  the  time  specified  ;  I  have  no  particulars  of  the 
event,  but  it  must  have  been  on  this  occasion  that  his  wife 
also  left  Ireland.  Her  sojourn  there  must  have  been  in 
some  respects  a  pleasant  time,  from  the  varied  society,  the 
occasional  festivities,  and  the  constant  kindness  of  the  Lord 
Lieutenant  and  the  Marchioness,  who  was  a  lady  of  a  bright 
and  lively  disposition.  Among  the  guests  at  the  Castle,  as 
I  have  been  told,  was  Lord  Mornington's  brother,  Arthur 
Wesley — so  the  name  was  then  written— and  Lady  Bucking- 

'  The  Manuscripts  of  J.  B.  Fortescue,  Esq.,  vol.  i.,  p.  330. 


THE  TEIAL  OF  WAREEN  HASTINGS  113 

ham  is  said  on  one  occasion,  when  he  was  late  for  breakfast, 
to  have  gone  with  the  ladies  then  staying  with  her  to  call 
him.  This  is  not  unlikely,  as  such  practical  jokes  were  at 
that  time  not  uncommon.'  It  is,  however,  quite  likely 
that  considerations  of  health  induced  Mrs.  Bernard  to  give 
up  the  comparatively  brilliant  life  of  the  Viceregal  court  for 
a  quiet  sojourn  amongst  her  friends  in  England. 

A  question  arose  about  a  picture  which  Scrope  Bernard 
had  ordered  to  be  sent  to  Winchendon  from  Dublin.  The 
agents  at  Chester  sent  to  know  if  the  picture  was  by  an 
Irish  or  English  artist ;  if  by  the  former,  it  was  liable  to 
duty.  The  sequel  does  not  appear  ;  but  there  is  very  little 
doubt  that  the  portrait  is  of  Scrope  in  his  picturesque  dress 
as  Usher  of  the  Black  Kod — a  full  length  portrait  in  pastel 
or  crayon,  though  much  smaller  than  life-size,  and  it  may 
be  assumed  that  it  is  by  an  Irish  artist. 

The  first  intimation  of  Scrope  Bernard's  presence  in 
London  I  have  found  in  a  letter  dated  '  Bolton  Street, 
June  10,  1788 ' ;  it  is  on  the  subject  of  the  trial  of  Warren 
Hastings,  late  Governor-General  of  India,  '  for  high  crimes 
and  misdemeanours  '  alleged  to  have  been  committed  by  him 
in  that  capacity.  The  trial  had  begun  on  February  13,  and 
had  been  brilliantly  opened  by  Sheridan's  speech  for  the 
prosecution.  This  effort  had  perhaps  exhausted  the  orator 
for  a  time,  since  the  third  day  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
remarkable.  The  compiler  of  the  *  Buckingham  Memoirs '  ^ 
remarks  on  Mr.  Bernard's  letter,  that  '  the  point,  naturally 
enough,  which  made  the  deepest  impression  on  him  was  the 
exhibition  in  evidence  of  the  private  letters  that  passed 
between  Mr.  Hastings  and  his  Secretary.'  He  writes  to 
Lord  Buckingham : 

My  Lord, — I  have  been  this  morning  at  the  trial ;  it  was 
Sheridan's  third  day.  It  was  near  one  o'clock  before  he  began. 
There  was  nothing  very  striking  or  brilliant  in  his  oratory ;  he 
continued  for  about  an  hour  and  a  quarter,  and  then  retired.     Mr. 

'  This  story  I  heard  from  my  stepmother ;  it  was  probably  transmitted  to 
her  through  some  Buckinghamshire  relative. 

-  Memoirs  of  the  Court  and  Cabinets  of  George  III. 

VOL.    III.  I 


114  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Adam  assisted  him  in  the  reading  parts,  and  continued  reading  after 
he  retired.   Presently  he  made  a  lame  apology  for  him,  saying  that 

he  had  a  very  trifling without  specifying  what,  whether  illness, 

agitation,  or  want  of  due  preparation.  Mr.  Fox  soon  afterwards 
made  a  more  complete  apology  for  him,  and  the  Court  adjourned  ; 
but  till  what  time  I  have  not  heard. 

I  was  gratified  with  the  sight  as  an  object  of  curiosity,  but  not 
as  affording  either  pleasure  or  entertainment.  It  would  seem 
preposterous  to  me,  if,  upon  any  charge  against  the  Government 
of  Ireland,  the  Lord  Lieutenant's,  or  his  secretary's  private  and 
separate  letters  were  to  be  subjected  in  a  Court  of  Justice  to  the 
acrimonious,  malevolent  and  palpably  strained  comments  that  forty 
of  the  ablest  men  of  an  opposite  party  could  put  upon  them,  par- 
ticularly without  having  an  equal  number  of  persons  of  a  similar 
description  in  point  of  talents  and  political  weight  to  defend  them. 
And  yet  this  seems  to  be  the  case  in  the  instance  of  the  present 
tribunal ;  for  the  letters  read  and  commented  upon  to-day  were 
chiefly  of  the  above  description :  the  letters  absolutely  official  were 
very  Uttle  dwelt  upon. 

Your  Excellency's  most  faithful  and  affectionate  servant, 

S.  Bernard. 

Possibly  Mr.  Bernard's  criticism  was  hypercritical, 
as  regarded  Sheridan's  management  of  the  case.  Lord 
Bulkeley  wrote  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  on  the  14th,^ 
'  Sheridan  finished  his  summing-up  yesterday  on  the  Begum 
charge,  and  has  certainly  throughout  displayed  the  greatest 
and  most  artful  abilities.'  Whether  Scrope  had  any  further 
opportunity  of  attending  the  trial  I  do  not  know ;  but  it  is 
not  improbable,  since  it  lasted  till  April  23,  1795.^ 

Apparently  Mr.  Bernard  left  London  very  early  in  July, 
for  Mr.  Grenville,  dating  from  'Whitehall,  July  1,'  says  to 
his  brother  :  ^  '  I  shall  write  to  you  again  to-morrow  and  it 
is  not  impossible  that  you  may  receive  that  letter  before 
this,  as  I  think  I  shall  avail  myself  of  Bernard's  offer  to  be 
the  carrier  of  it ' — a  sentence  which  implies  that  the  private 
traveller  could  reach  Ireland  more  quickly  than  the  mail. 
On  July  5,  the  Marquess  writes  from  Black  Kock :  * 

'   Memoirs  of  the  Court  and  Cabinets  of  George  III.,  vol.  i. 

*  Haydn,  Dictionary  of  Dates,  '  Hastings'  Trial.' 

-'  Memoirs  of  the  Court  and  Cabinets  of  George  III.,  vol.  i. 

*  The  Manuscripts  of  J.  B.  Fortescue,  Esq.,  vol.  i.,  p.  342. 


LOED  BUCKINGHAM  AND  THE  KING  115 

I  have  only  time  to  say,  in  three  words,  that  I  received  yester- 
day yours  of  the  1st,  referring  me  to  another  which  I  was  to  have 
through  the  hands  of  Bernard.  The  mail  of  the  2nd  is  just  come 
in  and  brings  no  letter  from  you,  but  as  no  mail  leaves  Dublin  to- 
morrow, I  was  unwiUing  to  leave  you  unanswered  for  three  days, 
though  I  can  say  nothing  decisive,  till  I  see  the  sort  of  solution 
which  you  propose. 

The  Marquess  was  at  this  time  in  a  restless,  irritable 
state,  probably  intensified  by  the  dangerous  illness  of  his 
only  son,  which,  however,  ended  in  a  complete  recovery. 
But  his  mind  was  especially  disturbed  by  an  insult  which  he 
considered  that  he  had  received  from  George  III.  : ' 

The  King's  personal  interference  in  appointments  and  pro- 
motions had  produced,  on  several  occasions,  remonstrances  and 
complaints  from  Lord  Buckingham,  and  the  judicious  zeal  of  Mr. 
Grenville  was  in  constant  requisition  to  prevent  an  open  rupture 
between  the  Lord  Lieutenant  and  the  Government.  Calm  and 
enduring  as  he  was,  Mr.  Grenville  frankly  stated  to  his  brother 
that,  although  he  could  never  tire  of  the  employment  of  serving 
him,  his  patience  was  almost  exhausted  by  finding  that  one  case 
was  no  sooner  settled  or  compromised  (for  it  generally  ended  in 
that  way)  than  a  fresh  one  came  upon  the  tapis.  At  length  the 
tenacity  of  the  King  on  these  points  wounded  Lord  Buckingham 
so  keenly,  that  it  very  nearly  led  to  the  most  serious  consequences. 
Lord  Buckingham  wished  to  appoint  his  nephew.  Colonel  Nugent, 
to  a  vacant  lieutenant-colonelcy  within  his  own  patronage,  and 
through  some  friendly  channel  notified  or  expressed  his  desire  to 
do  so  ;  but  the  King  without  communicating  his  intentions  or 
waiting  to  go  through  the  ordinary  oflScial  forms,  which  usually 
founded  such  appointments  on  the  recommendation  of  the  Lord 
Lieutenant,  appointed  another  person  to  the  vacancy — Colonel 
G Wynne.  Lord  Buckingham  felt  the  slight  so  acutely  that  he 
threatened  to  resign  ... 

From  this  step  he  was  strongly  dissuaded  by  his  brother 
and  also  by  Mr.  Pitt ;  and  the  affair,  like  others,  ended  in 
a  compromise  ;  but  it  rankled  in  the  Lord  Lieutenant's  mind, 
although  thrown  into  comparative  oblivion  before  the  end  of 
the  same  year,  by  the  King's  terrible  illness,  which  had 
been  coming  on  apparently  for  weeks  before  it  was  definitely 

'  Memoirs  of  the  Court  and  Cabiiiets  of  George  III.,  vol.  i. 


116  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

announced.  This  calamity,  which  dismayed  the  British 
Islands,  was  in  some  respects  most  acutely  felt  by  loyalists 
in  Ireland  on  account  of  the  complications  brought  about  by 
its  possession  of  a  Parliament  distinct  from  England  and 
Scotland,  and  of  various  Acts  differentiating  it  from  the 
other  two  countries.  The  chronic  irritations  of  Ireland,  and 
the  critical  state  of  foreign  affairs  which  might  not  impro- 
bably lead  to  an  attempt  at  enlisting  Ireland  against 
England  rendered  the  situation  of  Lord  Lieutenant  unusually 
arduous.  The  Marquess  also  had  domestic  anxieties— 
his  father-in-law.  Lord  Nugent,  died  that  autumn,  and  left,  of 
course,  succession  business  to  be  gone  through ;  and  the 
expectation  of  a  third  child  troubled  the  Marquess,  who  was 
doubtful  whether  it  would  be  best  for  his  wife  to  go  to 
England  for  the  birth,  in  which  case  he  would  accompany 
her,  or  to  remain  in  Ireland.  The  latter  opinion  prevailed,^ 
and  her  son  George  was  born  in  Ireland  on  the  31st  of  the 
following  December.- 

Under  these  circumstances  Scrope  Bernard  probably  had 
a  troublesome  time  as  the  Marquess's  secretary,  but  there  is 
hardly  any  notice  to  be  found  of  the  work  achieved.  On 
October  18,  Lord  Buckingham  writes  to  William  Gren- 
ville  : 

As  to  my  own  affairs,  on  which  head  you  complain  so  much  of 
my  neglect,  I  do  not  really  recollect  any  point  which  I  had  left 
unanswered,  either  through  my  letters  or  through  Bernard,  except 
that  of  my  bond  to  you  for  the  lOOOZ.  advanced  to  Tom. 

Mr.  Thomas  Grenville  was  the  second  brother  of  the 
family — between  the  Marquess  and  William ;  he  had  often 
differed  in  opinion  with  them  both,  especially  with  the 
Marquess,  whose  views  he  withstood  not  unfrequently  when 
they  did  not  coincide  with  his  own. 

It  would  seem  that  Scrope  Bernard  had  been  sent  to 
London  on  the  Lord  Lieutenant's  business  that  autumn,  since 

'  The  Lord  Lieutenant  states,  in  his  letter  of  December  1,  that  his  wife 
had  declared  to  remain  in  Ireland. 

"  Debrett,  Burke,  and  other  Peerages. 


LOED  BUCKINGHAM'S  NAVY  ACCOUNTS         117 

the   great  man  writes  ^   to  William  Grenville,  under  date 
*  December  1,  Dublin  Castle ' : 

Bernard  has  heard  from  me  on  the  subject  of  my  navy 
accounts,  which  hang  heavy  on  my  mind ;  and  on  the  subject  of 
a  purchase  which  I  am  negotiating  for  W.  Fremantle. 

Close  on  that  letter,  which  is  twice  adorned  with  cipher 
figures,  like  other  letters  written  during  this  crisis,  follows 
another,  which  states  that : 

Bernard  wrote  me  the  enclosed  letter,  very  unexpectedly,  by 
which  I  see  that  he  is  probably  at  Holyhead.  I  shall  write  to 
him  by  this  messenger  to  re-dispatch  him  to  London,  for  he  may 
be  of  great  use  to  me  by  writing,  when  you  are  too  much  engaged 
in  the  House  for  that  purpose ;  and  you  must  be  sensible  that 
every  communication  must  be  most  interesting.  I  enclose  his 
letter  that  you  may  see  how  cruelly  I  have  been  used  by  Eose's 
carelessness  on  the  subject  of  my  navy  accounts.^ 

And  then  follow  some  lines  of  lamentation  and  exhorta- 
tion to  exertion. 

It  seems,  indeed,  that  Mr.  Bernard  went  on  to  Dublin, 
which  apparently  the  Lord  Lieutenant  did  not  expect ;  but 
perhaps  he  had  almost  been  persuaded  that  his  Secretary 
would  be  best  by  his  side,  since  he  writes  to  his  brother  on 
December  13 : 

Your  letter  of  the  9th  was  put  into  my  hands  an  hour  after 
Bernard  left  me.  I  wished  very  much  to  have  kept  him,  partly 
indeed  because  I  may  want  him  for  the  same  reasons  as  those  which 
induce  you  to  wish  him  in  England ;  but  I  feel  that  he  can  be  so 
much  more  useful  with  you  that  I  have  acquiesced.  He  will 
state  to  you  a  great  deal  of  general  observation  which  I  have 
detailed  to  him  upon  my  situation,  and  the  state  of  this  kingdom, 
and  much  of  what  I  have  entrusted  to  him  is  an  answer  to  your 
proposition  in  your  last  letter.  It  is  fitting  upon  every  considera- 
tion, that  you  should  know  that  I  cannot  think  of  making  myself 
responsible  in  the  slightest  degree,  for  any  one  thing  which  the 
Parhament  of  this  kingdom  may  do  if  I  should  meet  them  after 
my  friends  are  dismissed  in  England. 

'  The  Manuscripts  of  J.  B.  Fortescue,  Esq.  (Letter  of  December  1,  1788), 
p.  377. 

2  Ibid.  (Letter  of  December  2,  1788),  p.  379. 


118  THE  BERNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Towards  the  end  of  this  letter,  which  is  a  long  one,  the 
writer  adds,  after  expounding  his  views  as  to  restrictions  in 
case  of  a  Regency  : 

On  this  point  I  have  explained  myself  with  Bernard,  and  must 
refer  you  to  him,  and  he  will  tell  you  why  I  am  so  little  sanguine 
in  my  expectations  from  the  virtue  of  our  Parliament.  I  must 
again  repeat  that  Pitt  or  Fox  are  equally  uninteresting,  and  that 
no  testimony  will  be  given  by  them  except  to  the  Minister  actually 
in  ofiBce. 

On  the  18th  the  Marquess  writes  again  ^  : 

Your  letters  of  Sunday  and  Monday  have  arrived  this  morning 
by  the  same  mail ;  the  north  wind  having  detained  them  at 
Holyhead,  while  the  north-east  winds  kept  Bernard  in  Dublin 
exactly  a  week  beyond  the  time  which  was  fixed  for  his  departure. 
I  mention  this,  as  I  would  wish  you  to  believe  that  I  would  not 
have  detained  him  where  he  can  be  of  so  little  use  compared  to 
the  services  which  you  can  entrust  to  him  in  England.  His 
mystery  was  a  desire  to  save  a  year's  absentee  tax  and  to  avoid 
his  wife's  lying-in  ;  and  for  these  ridiculous  reasons  he  had  left 
London,  proposing  not  to  return. 

The  absentee  tax  was  certainly  a  serious  matter  to  a  man 
of  small  income,  which,  perhaps,  the  Marquess  did  not 
realise.  The  second  reason  could  hardly  have  approved 
itself  to  him,  seeing  that  he  had  determined  to  remain  with 
his  own  wife  even  if  he  had  to  cross  the  channel  on  purpose. 
However,  Mr.  Bernard  was  at  last  compelled  to  encounter 
another  comfortless  Journey  by  sea  and  land,  in  a  very  bad 
season  ;  only  a  few  days  before.  Lady  Fortescue,  the  Lord 
Lieutenant's  sister,  and  her  husband,  had  been  compelled  to 
put  back  to  Kingstown,  after  an  eight  hours'  attempt  to 
cross,  and  to  wait  for  a  favourable  opportunity.  I  have, 
indeed,  no  records  in  letters  of  this  stay  in  England ;  but 
only  the  negative  evidence  of  no  Dublin  letters  being  quoted 
before  February  1789. 

His  daughter  Margaret  was  born  on  December  21,  1788, 
apparently  in  South  Park  Street,  because  the  Bolton  Street 
house  had  been  let. 

The  first  letter  in  the  Fortescue  collection,  of  the  following 

'  The  Manuscripts  of  J.  B.  Fortesciie,  Esq.,  p.  387. 


IRISH  POLITICS  119 

year,  from  Scrope  Bernard  to  William  Grenville,  is  dated : 
'  1789,  February  6,  Dublin  Castle.'  In  it  allusion  is  made 
to  a  previous  letter  which  is  not  in  the  printed  collection  ; 
neither  is  the  whole  of  this  letter,  nor  of  the  succeeding  one. 
The  extracts  given,  are  here  quoted :  ^ 

I  was  obliged  to  close  my  letter  of  yesterday  before  I  had 
finished  what  I  had  to  say,  else  I  meant  to  have  added  that,  not- 
withstanding the  appearance  of  temper  and  coolness  in  the  Houses 
yesterday,  the  opposite  party  seemed  very  confident  of  their 
strength  and  sanguine  in  their  expectations  of  success.  My  hopes 
are  that  the  first  question  or  two  may  be  such  as  to  induce  some 
of  the  great  interests  to  divide  with  us ;  and  a  division  or  two  in 
our  favour  in  the  outset  would  soften  the  effects  of  a  contrary 
event  upon  the  main  question  ;  and  would  deter  the  party  from 
afterwards  attempting  any  question  of  violence  towards  Lord 
Buckingham,  which  has  at  times  been  whispered.  Yet  after  all, 
what  I  am  most  anxious  about  is,  that  people  in  England  should 
know  how  it  is  that  the  same  majority  does  not  follow  Lord 
Buckingham's  government  here  that  has  followed  Mr.  Pitt's  in 
England  ;  and  that  this  is  owing  to  the  disposition  of  the  great 
men  and  placemen  here,  always  to  follow  the  English  party  in 
power,  be  it  what  it  may,  so  as  to  secm-e  to  themselves  the 
patronage  of  the  country  and  a  continuance  in  their  offices.  I  am 
told,  that  the  Speech  is  very  generally  approved  of,  as  saying  just 
as  much  as  it  should,  and  no  more.  Some  persons  thought  that 
theh  particular  hobby  horses  whatever  they  might  be  (Charter 
Schools,  Linen  Board)  ought  to  have  been  mentioned,  but  should 
have  known  that  this  could  not  have  been  with  propriety.  It  is 
thought  that  there  will  be  long  debates  in  both  Houses  to-day, 
and  that  there  will  be  divisions  in  each.  I  own  I  wish  there  may 
so  long  as  the  questions  are  of  the  nature  I  have  above  alluded 
to.  No  packet  is  at  present  on  this  side  of  the  water,  but  one 
may  come  in  before  evening  ;  and  in  that  case  the  Mail  will  go  at 
an  early  hour,  7  o'clock  ;  so  that  you  may  probably  hear  no  account 
of  to-day's  business  by  this  post. 

The  sequel  of  the  story  was  told  by  Scrope  to  his  friend 
Grenville  the  very  next  day  :  ^ 

The  hopes  which  I  expressed  to  you  in  my  letter  of  yesterday 
of  a  preliminary  division  in  our  favour  are,  by  the  event  of  last 

'  The  Manuscripts  of  J.  B.  Fortescue,  Esq.,  p.  408. 

^  '  1789,  February  7,  Dublin  Castle.'     (From  the  same  Collection). 


120  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

night,  entirely  vanished  ;  as,  on  a  question  respecting  the  day  of 
taking  the  physicians'  reports  into  consideration,  we  were  beat  by 
a  majority  of  54,  the  numbers  being  128  to  74.  We  had  much 
the  gi-eater  share  of  the  independent  members  with  us,  and  were 
beat  solely  by  the  combination  of  the  Shannon,  Ponsonby,  Loftus, 
and  Leinster  interests  against  us,  which  interests  are  guided  by 
the  Prince's  party  in  England.  I  wish  this  matter  may  be  fairly 
represented  on  your  side  of  the  water,  and  may  not  reflect  any 
discredit  on  your  brother's  conduct  in  the  eyes  of  people  there. 
Some  people  spoke  with  great  violence,  particularly  Sir  J. 
Blaquiere,  who  dehvered  a  studied  invective  with  the  greatest 
possible  bitterness,  being  incensed  by  pique  and  disappointment. 
But  he  was  very  well  answered  by  many  of  your  brother's  friends, 
particularly  Toler,  Fitz-Gibbon,  Parnell,  Coote,  Hewitt,  and  Mark 
Beresford,  as  you  will  see  in  the  'Freeman's  Journal.'  The 
Addresses  came  up  to-day  ;  a  respectable  but  not  a  very  full 
attendance.  Our  situation  begins  to  grow  very  unpleasant,  but 
we  consider  ourselves  as  suffering  for  the  common  cause. 

I  am  told  that  in  the  House  to-day,  the  triumphant  party 
would  not  permit  any  public  business  to  be  brought  forward  ;  and 
they  talked  of  adjourning  till  Wednesday,  when  the  Committee 
sit  on  the  state  of  the  nation. 

I  have  been  told  that  some  people  were  against  us  on  this 
question  (being  averse  to  delay)  who  will  be  with  us  on  the  main 
question  of  the  limitations ;  but  I  do  not  know  how  to  credit  such 
language. 


EECOVERY  OF  THE  KING  121 


CHAPTER   VII 

SCROPE    BERNARD'S   POLITICAL   CAREER 

Recovery  of  the  King — Scrope  Bernard's  Election  as  Member  for  Aylesbury — 
Friction  between  the  Marquess  of  Buckingham  and  the  King — The  Thanks- 
giving for  the  King's  Recovery— Scrope  Bernard  appointed  Under-Secretary 
of  State  for  the  Home  Department — The  Marquess  of  Buckingham  resigns 
the  Viceroyalty — Election  Riots  at  Aylesbury — Scrope  Bernard's  Degree  of 
Doctor  of  Civil  Law— British  Slaves  in  Algeria — The  Family  Name  of  the 
Duke  of  Wellington — Colonial  Questions  of  the  Day— Ministerial  Changes. 

The  country  was  now  more  pleasantly  excited  by  the 
gradual  recovery  of  the  King,  of  which  the  Lord  Chancellor's 
visits  to  Kew,  mentioned  in  the  last  quoted  letter  of  Mr. 
Grenville,  were  a  consequence.  It  came  opportunely  to 
the  rescue  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant,  as  will  appear  by  Scrope 
Bernard's  description  of  the  situation  in  a  letter  ^  to  William 
Grenville.  The  same  letter  contains  his  simple  and  natural 
account  of  his  own  sensations  during  a  time  of  suspense.  It 
is  dated  February  21,  1789  : 

I  scarce  ever  spent  a  day  that  was  so  uncomfortable  in  the 
preceding  part  of  it,  and  so  pleasurable  in  the  close  of  it  as 
yesterday.  My  anxiety  on  the  subject  of  the  Aylesbury  election 
was  at  its  height,  and  added  to  late  sittings  up  for  some  nights 
past  either  at  the  House  of  Commons  or  writing  despatches,  had 
produced  the  most  unpleasant  effect  upon  my  nerves,  which  was 
not  mitigated  by  the  croakings  of  everybody  about  me  respecting 
the  consequences  to  be  expected  in  the  two  Houses  that  evening, 
from  Lord  Buckingham's  having  refused  to  transmit  their  Address. 

This  Address  requested  the  Prince  of  Wales  whose 
'  virtues '  it  stated  '  have  been  so  matured  as  to  enable '  his 
'  Eoyal  Highness  to  discharge  the  duties  of  an  important  trust,' 
to  take  upon  him  '  the  government  of  this  realm.  .  .  .  under 

'  The  Manuscripts  of  J.  B..Fcyrtescue,  Esq^.,  vol.  i.,  p.  416. 


122  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

the  style  and  title  of  Prince  Kegent  of  Ireland,'  during  the 
continuance  of  the  King's  illness.  The  Lord  Lieutenant 
explained  to  Lord  Sydney,  Home  Secretary,  the  reasons  of 
his  conduct.^  *  I  bless  God,'  writes  Mr.  Grenville,  to  his 
brother,  'it  is  yet  some  time  before  these  matured  and 
ripened  virtties  will  be  visited  upon  us  in  the  form  of  a 
Government.'  Such  an  event  seemed,  however,  but  too  pro- 
bable at  one  moment.  Mr.  Bernard  continues,  referring  to  the 
Marquess's  refusal : 

No  one  of  his  Cabinet  here  would  have  thought  of  suggesting 
to  him  that  step ;  and  of  those  to  whom  he  mentioned  it,  only  the 
Chancellor  and  the  Attorney-General  were  hearty  in  it.  And  when 
he  talked  of  it  to  me,  I  was  only  restrained  from  murmuring  at  it 
by  knowing  that  it  was  an  object  to  English  party,  and  that  you 
had  advised  and  pressed  it.  When  Lord  Buckingham  deUvered 
his  answer  on  Thursday  last,  great  chagrin  manifested  itself  on 
the  countenances  of  those  who  had  acted  with  Mr.  Grattan  ;  and 
if  a  succession  of  English  news  respecting  the  King  had  not 
damped  their  spirits,  I  believe  this  chagrin  would  have  shown 
itself  in  the  most  unpleasant  and  violent  manner.  Your  brother 
delivered  his  answer  with  dignity,  and  great  appearance  of  temper, 
and  will  have  acquired  immortal  honour  by  his  firmness  through- 
out this  business,  in  which  he  has  met  with  every  discouragement 
from  people  here,  and  has  I  believe  only  been  supported  by  the 
decided  opinion  contained  in  your  letter ;  excepting  indeed  that  the 
Attorney-General  has  on  this,  as  on  every  other  occasion,  stood 
by  him  in  a  very  decided  and  honourable  manner.  The  good  news, 
however,  which  arrived  from  England,  and  the  dislike  which  the 
House  seem  to  have  to  any  personal  attack  upon  him,  prevented 
their  going  the  lengths  that  were  talked  of  last  night.  And  as  on 
every  question  which  they  tried  they  lost  ground  in  proportion  as 
it  was  directed  more  against  him,  I  should  think  that  they  would 
venture  to  go  no  further,  and  would  not  take  up  the  subject  of 
your  reversion,  and  that  of  the  arrangements  in  the  revenue, 
which  Grattan  had  shown  an  intention  of  bringing  forward,  by 
moving  for  papers  respecting  them.  The  same  ground  will  be 
gone  over  in  the  Lords,  but  I  apprehend  they  will  be  very  tame 
upon  it,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Cashell  and  others  mean  to  shirk  it. 

Thus  all  their  threats  came  to  little  or  nothing.  And  as  for 
their  resolutions,  though  the  last  is  strongly  worded,   nobody 

'  Memoirs  of  tJie  Court  and  Cabinets  of  OeOrge  III.,  vol.  ii. 


SCROPE  BERNARD  ENTERS  PARLIAMENT      123 

regards  it,  or  lays  any  stress  upon  it ;  and,  as  a  consolation,  it  has 
been  a  means  (with  the  help  of  the  good  news)  of  making  a 
difference  in  the  divisions  of  above  20  members.  In  addition  to 
my  satisfaction  on  this  head,  I  had  the  pleasure  in  the  evening  to 
receive  your  letter,  with  one  from  Aylesbury,  announcing  the 
favourable  event  of  that  election,  with  which  I  am  extremely 
gratified.  Lord  Buckingham  says  that  my  setting  off  immediately 
is  out  of  the  question,  I  must  therefore  defer  it  for  a  week  or  two. 
I  think  however  that  I  ought  to  behave  in  the  handsomest  manner, 
both  in  regard  to  personal  attendance  and  expense  to  the  Borough 
as  well  with  a  view  to  my  next  election,  as  for  the  general  benefit 
of  the  party  in  that  quarter. 

A  fortnight  had  just  elapsed  from  the  date  of  the  pre- 
ceding letter,  when,  on  March  9,  the  Marquess  of  Bucking- 
ham wrote  ^  to  his  brother  : 

Bernard  will  leave  me  on  Tuesday  next,  and  by  him  you  will 
be  more  informed  of  my  ideas  and  wishes  than  you  can  from 
volumes  of  correspondence. 

And  three  days  later  Mr.  Bernard  himself  wrote  ^  to 
Mr.  Grenville : 

1789  March  12  Dublin  Castle. 
Though  I  have  not  written  to  you  myself  for  some  time,  you 
have  seen  such  frequent  accounts  in  my  handwriting  of  what  is 
going  on  here,  that  I  have  thought  it  unnecessary  to  intrude  upon 
you  with  letters  from  myself  particularly  as  nothing  occurred  to 
me  to  mention  beyond  what  either  your  brother's  letters  or  the 
newspapers  would  detail  to  you.  We  all  remain  in  good  spirits, 
being  confident  that  our  adversaries  can  do  us  no  mischief ;  for 
although  we  may  be  beat  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  most 
popular  questions,  yet  we  feel  strong  enough  there  to  carry  through 
any  material  business,  and  prevent  personal  attacks,  as  we  showed 
you  on  the  night  on  which  Mr.  Grattan  moved  his  resolution 
against  your  reversion. 

Besides  the  Pension  Bill,  there  remains  another  question, 
videlicet,  the  Repeal  of  the  Police,  upon  which  we  are  likely  to  be 
beat  in  the  House  of  Commons.  But  one  half  of  the  Opposition 
would  not  vote  as  they  do  on  these  measures  if  they  were  not  sure 
that  they  would  be  thrown  out  in  the  House  of  Lords,  in  which 

'  The  Manuscripts  of  J.  B.  Fortescue,  Esq.,  vol.  i.,  p.  427. 
-  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  432. 


124  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

House  we  shall  have  a  majority  of  about  ten  or  a  dozen,  and 
perhaps  more,  if  the  Irish  Ambassadors  do  not  bring  over  some 
fresh  proxies  with  them  from  England,  for  which  I  hear  they  have 
been  canvassing,  though  I  am  not  aware  of  any  Peers  that  have 
taken  their  seats,  who  have  not  already  been  applied  to,  by  one 
party  or  the  other. 

William  Fremantle  returned  about  ten  days  ago,  and  I  should 
have  set  off  before  this,  but  I  could  not  be  spared  immediately ; 
and  I  have  had  a  good  many  concerns  of  my  own  to  attend  to 
previous  to  my  taking  leave  of  this  country,  to  which  it  is  probable 
I  may  not  return  again.  I  have  fixed  to  sail  next  week,  probably 
on  Wednesday  the  18th  and  shall  come  to  town  immediately  to 
take  my  seat,  and  then  go  down  to  pay  my  compliments  to  my 
electors. 

The  Morning  Herald  says  that  the  Castle  is  surrounded  loith 
guards  to  'protect  the  Marquis  from  the  fury  of  the  populace. 

There  are  no  other  guards  than  the  usual  sentries,  and  your 
brother  drives  out  in  his  coach  continually  without  any  other 
attendants  than  an  aide-du-camp  and  two  footmen. 

The  Public  Advertiser  says  that  he  shuts  himself  up  from  the 
world.  The  fact  is  that  he  sees  all  sorts  of  people  from  eleven 
o'clock  till  five  every  day  ;  and  has  either  had  company  to  dinner, 
or  dined  out,  almost  every  day  for  some  day[s]  past. 

When  Scrope  Bernard  penned  this  letter,  expressing  his 
belief  that  he  should  never  revisit  Ireland,  he  must  have 
been  aware  that  the  Marquess  v^^as  not  likely  to  remain 
Lord  Lieutenant  for  many  months.  The  King's  recovery, 
however  favourable  to  the  prospects  of  the  party,  had  one 
serious  disadvantage ;  it  revived  the  friction  on  the  subject 
of  appointments,  especially  in  the  Nugent  case.  Lord 
Buckingham  became  chronically  irate  with  George  III.,  and 
ere  long  with  Lord  Sydney  as  the  King's  agent.  He  com- 
plains, on  April  3,  to  his  brother,  that  Lord  Sydney :  ^ 

is  quoted  for  having  said  that  the  persons  interested  in  the 
question  of  the  promotions  recommended  me  in  June  last  might  be 
at  ease,  for  that  he  had  stopped  my  jobs.  This  agrees  with  Nepean's 
strange  speech  to  Bernard,  recommending  me  to  send  over  another 
list  omitting  them  all.  Now  I  have  neither  temper  nor  spirits  for 
such  a  battle,  and  therefore  I  have  determined  never  to  send  over 

'  T}ie  Manuscripts  of  J.  B.  Fortescue,  Esq.,  p.  442. 


THANKSGIVING  FOR  THE  KING'S  RECOVERY     125 

another  list  till  those  of  May  and  June  are  returned  to  me,  and  if 
this  is  not  done  I  shall  insist  on  being  relieved  immediately,  and 
shall  leave  to  the  v^hole  world  the  full  right  of  deciding  on  the 
conduct  tovs^ards  me  from  the  King,  and  from  his  Lordship,  and 
this  too  at  the  time  when  the  whole  army  of  Great  Britain  cries 
shame  on  the  two  most  iniquitous  jobs  of  Major  Burrard  and 
Captain  Lenox ;  to  which  this  of  Major  Taylor,  junior  to  almost 
every  English  cavalry  major,  and  junior  to  three  Irish  cavalry 
majors,  is  a  proper  counterpart,  even  if  the  name  of  Colonel  Nugent 
was  out  of  the  question. 

Scrope  Bernard  was  perhaps  glad  to  be  out  of  all  this ; 
he  certainly  vs^ent  to  England  this  time  in  improved  spirits. 
Even  if  his  chief's  Viceroyalty  was  to  be  cut  short,  with  per- 
haps untoward  results  to  himself,  his  name  was  now  before 
the  public  as  member  of  Parliament  for  Aylesbury.  No 
doubt  he  accomplished  all  that  he  had  intended — took  his 
seat,  and  met  the  borough  electors  ;  but  the  first  news  I 
have  of  him  relates  to  the  Thanksgiving  for  the  King's 
recovery.  Lord  Temple,  mentioned  in  the  letter,  was  the 
Marquess's  eldest  son,  a  boy  of  twelve,  who  must  have 
accompanied  the  Marchioness  to  England  some  time  before.^ 

London,  April  23rd  1789,  Two  o'clock,  p.m. 

My  Lord, — The  ceremony  of  this  day  has  been  gone  through 
exceedingly  well.  The  procession  from  the  House  of  Commons 
began  at  eight  o'clock,  and  the  King  reached  St.  Paul's  between 
eleven  and  twelve.  The  arrangement  of  the  cathedral,  particu- 
larly the  dome,  presented  a  beautiful  sight.  The  King  seems 
much  reduced  by  his  late  illness — was  remarkably  composed 
during  the  service,  and  attentive  to  the  music.  His  Majesty,  as 
well  as  the  Queen,  seemed  much  affected  with  the  solemnity  of 
their  first  entrance,  as  were  many  of  the  persons  present.  Lady 
Uxbridge  was  near  fainting  away. 

As  the  King  went  out  of  the  church,  he  seemed  to  be  in  good 
spirits,  and  talked  much  to  the  persons  about  him ;  but  he  stared 
and  laughed  less  than  ever  I  knew  him  on  a  public  occasion.  He 
returned  to  the  Queen's  House  between  three  and  four  o'clock. 
Mr.  Pox  and  most  of  his  party  were  there.  He  and  Colonel 
Pitzpatrick  were  stationed  in  front  of  the  altar,  and  directly 
opposite  the   King   being   the   part  of   the   cathedral  for   Privy 

>  Memoirs  of  tlie  Court  and  Cabinets  of  George  III.,  vol.  ii. 


126  THE  BEENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

Councillors  and  Peers'  sons.  Mr.  Pitt  sat  near  them,  but  not  in 
the  first  ranks.  I  saw  Lord  Temple  in  a  very  good  place,  in  that 
part  of  the  church.  I  did  not  see  Mr.  Burke  there,  and  therefore 
suppose  he  continues  ill.  The  trial  was  deferred  yesterday  on 
account  of  his  illness,  which  people  say  was  occasioned  by  his 
working  himself  into  too  great  a  passion  the  day  before. 
I  have  the  honour  to  be  ever,  my  Lord, 

Your  Excellency's  most  faithful  and  affectionate  servant, 

S.   Beenard. 

•  The  trial '  in  this  letter  means,  of  course,  the  protracted 
ordeal  through  which  Warren  Hastings  had  to  pass.  It  was 
then  only  in  its  second  year. 

In  the  ensuing  month  of  May,  William  Grenville  was 
appointed  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Department. 
True  to  his  early  friendship,  he  offered  Scrope  Bernard  the 
post  of  Under-Secretary  of  State.  It  was  accepted,  but,  as 
will  be  seen,  rather  as  a  matter  of  necessity  than  of  satis- 
faction ;  and  what  is  more  singular,  Scrope's  father-in-law, 
Mr.  Morland,  seems  also  to  have  disliked  the  prospect. 
The  following  letter  endeavours  to  make  the  transaction 
clear,  by  smoothing  some  complications  which  had  evidently 
resulted  from  the  delivery  of  a  former  letter  by  a  servant, 

Fludyer  Street.     Sunday  Evening 
7th  June.' 

My  dear  Sir, — I  find  that  Mrs.  M.  and  you  have  been  so 
good  as  to  call  on  me  this  morning,  and  am  sorry  I  was  not  at 
home,  particularly  as  I  wished  to  say  a  word  to  you  in  conse- 
quence of  yours  of  Friday,  which  was  perfectly  intelUgible,  but  it 
seems  by  the  purport  of  it,  that  I  am  the  person,  who  have  written 
unintelligibly. 

I  meant  to  explain  to  you  that,  in  order  to  set  myself  right 
with  the  world  after  my  late  expenses  and  enable  Harriet  and 
myself  to  settle  quietly  on  this  side  of  the  water,  I  intended  taking 
a  permanent  ofiice  here,  superior  in  emolument,  but  less  pleasant 
in  point  of  labour  and  confinement  in  London,  in  lieu  of  the  tem- 
porary office  held  in  Ireland  on  much  easier  and  more  comfortable 
terms. 

In  doing  this  I  thought  I  consulted  the  interests  of  one  part 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon, 


SCEOPE  BEENAED'S  NEW  OFFICE  127 

of  the  family,  and  the  wishes  of  another  part,  more  than  my  own 
personal  gratification.  But  you  tell  me  on  this  occasion  that  it 
will  be  consulting  my  own  comfort  to  take  the  office  in  London — 
I  can  only  say  that  I  had  originally  determined  never  to  take  an 
office,  which  would  confine  me  so  much  to  London  as  the  Under- 
Secretaryship  of  State.  And  when  it  was  once  before  proposed 
as  an  arrangement  for  me  (before  those  reasons  operated  which 
have  occasioned  my  present  determination)  I  said  that  I  did  not 
wish  it  for  the  reason  I  have  mentioned — a  reason  which  now  gives 
way  to  the  considerations  above  alluded  to,  as,  however  little  I 
might  like  the  office,  I  should  not  get  one  of  equal  emolument  and 
advantage  if  this  opportunity  was  suffered  to  pass  by. 

I  thought  these  circumstances  so  obvious,  and  so  decisive, 
that  I  wrote  rather  to  communicate  my  intention,  than  to  consult 
upon  it,  and,  before  I  got  your  letter,  I  had  accepted — If,  however, 
you  really  are  perfectly  indifferent  on  the  subject,  and  Harriet  can 
be  prevailed  on  to  be  the  same,  it  will  make  a  material  change  in 
my  sentiments  and  conduct. 

I  should  have  waited  on  you  to  dinner  agreeably  to  your 
obliging  invitation ;  but,  exclusive  of  other  business,  that  of 
Mr.  Grenville's  re-election  detains  me  at  home.  In  the  meantime 
I  wished  not  to  delay  making  myself  understood  as  I  seem  not  to 
have  done  it  before.  Or  perhaps,  from  the  hurry  you  mention 
yourself  to  have  been  in  at  that  moment,  it  might  happen  that  the 
interruption  of  intermediate  business  prevented  your  perfect  re- 
collecting the  letter  at  the  time  you  wrote  the  answer. — Mark  had 
no  instructions  to  wait  for  an  answer,  and  there  was  no  occasion 
for  his  pressing  you  to  write  one  at  such  a  moment.  I  am,  my 
dear  Sir,  very  faithfully, 

and  affectly  yours 

S.  Bernard. 

Love  and  remembrances 
to  William  and  the  ladies. 

'  William  '  was  no  doubt  the  son  of  Scrope  and  Harriet 
Bernard,  who  seems  from  an  early  age  to  have  been  almost 
appropriated  by  his  grandparents.  This  letter  reveals  the 
fact  that  the  period  of  attendance  on  the  Viceregal  Court 
and  the  missions  undertaken  on  its  behalf,  had  not  proved 
a  financial  success,  and  it  must  be  supposed  that  Mr. 
Morland  admitted  the  force  of  his  son-in-law's  reasoning, 
since  Scrope  Bernard  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office. 


128  THE  BBENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Possibly  his  father-in-law  had  not  reaUsed  how  near  the 
Marquess  of  Buckingham's  Viceroyalty  was  to  its  end.^ 
The  Lord  Lieutenant,  who  had  become  really  ill  from  the 
vexations  of  his  exalted  position,  spent  the  summer  in 
England  by  the  King's  permission  ;  and,  after  being  enabled 
to  make  an  elaborate  settlement  of  claims  advanced  by  his 
friends  and  followers  to  peerages,  posts,  and  pensions — with 
which  he  was  fairly  well  satisfied — he  resigned  the  Vice- 
royalty  towards  the  end  of  the  year. 

While  Scrope  Bernard  had  been  making  up  his  mind  to 
accept  a  position  for  which  he  felt  no  vocation,  he  had  been 
involved  in  some  unpleasantness  with  respect  to  his  other 
piece  of  promotion,  the  representation  of  Aylesbury.  With- 
in three  months  from  the  election  the  neighbourhood  had 
been  disturbed  by  lawless  proceedings  ;  the  popular  excite- 
ment being  stimulated  by  the  prospect  of  a  General  Election 
in  the  following  year.-  '  On  the  16th  of  May  a  large  con- 
course of  electors  went  to  meet  Colonel  Lake  on  the  Aston 
Clinton  road,'  writes  Mr.  Gibbs.  '  On  their  return  they 
came  into  collision  wdth  a  party  of  Bernard's  supporters, 
and  Bernard's  men  are  reported  to  have  behaved  very 
badly.'  Further  particulars  are,  however,  noted  in  a  letter  ^  of 
the  Eev.  Joseph  Smith  to  his  brother-in-law,  Scrope  Bernard  : 

The  Meeting  at  Aylesbury  on  Monday  had  some  serious  con- 
sequences. The  4  returning  officers  with  a  few  friends  met  at 
Ivatts'  to  have  their  share  of  conviviality.  A  riot  somehow 
ensued.  .  .  .  About  148  went  en  cavalier  to  meet  Lake  and  accom- 
pany him  in.  He  was  attended  by  Little  Barker  and  his  brother 
Warwick  Lake,  and  afterward  joined  by  Ld  Geo.  Cavendish, 
I  understand  that  about  a  third  of  the  Number  were  not  voters. 
—Sellers,  the  Chimney  Sweeper,  in  his  full  Professional  Hue, 
mounted  on  a  white  horse — with  Moll  Smith  behind  him — graced 
the  Colonel's  Cavalcade  and  Entrc[e].  Upon  the  whole  I  know 
not  whether  the  Col  has  not  lost  as  much  interest  as  he  has  gain'd 
Renown  by  the  Event  of  the  Day.' 

'  Memoirs  of  the  Court  and  Cabinets  of  George  III. 

■  Gibbs  (Robert),  History  of  Aylesbury,  Chapter  xxv.  '  Parliamentary  Re- 
presentation (resumed).' 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


AYLESBUKY  ELECTION  EIOTS  129 

It  must  have  been  this  demonstration  which  exasperated 
the  Bernardites,  and  led  to  violence.  Mr.  Gibbs  continues  : 
'  So  great  was  the  disturbance  that  Edward  Terry  was 
called  upon  to  read  the  Eiot  Act,  and  it  is  recorded  that  he 
got  a  black  eye  for  his  pains.  The  riot  led  to  a  prosecu- 
tion. .  .  .'  Which  prosecution,  it  may  be  briefly  stated,  came 
to  nothing.  The  accused  persons  were  brought  before  the 
Eev.  Joseph  Smith  ;  he  granted  warrants  against  four  men 
who  had  '  insulted  and  assaulted '  the  constables  in  the 
execution  of  their  duty;  but  after  going  through  certain 
formalities,  such  as  appearing  at  Quarter  Sessions,  &c.,  they 
escaped  scot  free  :  even  Budd,  who  had  given  the  black  eye, 
was  acquitted. 

The  historian  of  the  town  next  expatiates  on  the 
'  benevolences  ' — so  called — which  both  parties  dispensed  to 
their  supporters  from  time  to  time  ;  in  these  practices,  how- 
ever, they  kept  within  the  bounds  then  traced  by  custom, 
and  were  considered  blameless.  The  conclusion  was  rather 
tame  ;  Mr.  Wrighton,  the  former  colleague  of  Sir  Thomas 
Halifax,  retired  ;  consequently  Lake  and  Bernard  were  both 
elected  without  further  contest  in  1790.^ 

On  June  7  in  that  same  year,  1790,  Scrope  Bernard 
became  the  father  of  another  son,  who  received  the  ancestral 
name  of  Francis.^  In  connection  with  this  event  it  may  be 
noted  that  Lord  Valentia  writes,  on  June  25,  to  Mr.  Bernard  : 
'  Lady  V.  will  wait  upon  Mrs.  B.  on  Sunday  morning  if 
agreeable,  to  drink  caudle.'  ^ 

Amongst  all  his  calls  in  various  directions,  it  would  seem 
that  Scrope  clung  even  at  this  time  to  the  idea  of  pro- 
fessional life.  During  his  visit  to  England,  in  the  autumn 
of  1788,  he  had  taken  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Civil  Law  at 
Oxford.  Out  of  this  occurrence  a  controversy  arose  on  the 
question  of  precedence  between  Scrope  Bernard  and  another 
Doctor,  Maurice  Swabey,  which  forms  the  subject  of  the 
following  letters : 

'  The  letters  on   this   subject  are  all  among   the  MSS.  at  Nether  Win- 
chendon. 

2  Debrett,  Burke,  Lipscomb.  '  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchenclon* 

VOL.    III.  K 


130  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Oxford  October  25  1789 
Sii.^_I  have  no  other  idea  than,  that  as  being  superior  in 
every  sense  in  the  University  you  must  take  your  rank  before  D>- 
Swabey  and  D""  Coote.  There  is,  if  you  recollect,  no  admission 
to  Eegency,  and  I  think  with  you  that,  as  you  all  commence 
Regents  at  the  Act  whether  you  were  admitted  on  this  or  that  day, 
procedure  will  not  be  at  all  affected  by  it.  It  will  be  however  neces- 
sary that  you  have  a  certificate  of  the  day  of  your  admission  to 
the  Degree,  which  I  will  transmit  to  you  if  required,  and  in  what 

form  you  please. 

I  am  Sir, 

Yr  faithful  &  obed^  hbi'^  Serv*. 

S.    FORSTER.^ 

Dr.  Swabey  was  apparently  not  disposed  to  let  the 
matter  drop,  and  Dr.  Bernard  gave  him  the  following  letter 
for  the  Dean  of  Christ  Church  : 

Whitehall  29th  Oct  1789 
Dear  Sir, — I  am  to  be  admitted  an  advocate  at  Doctor's  Com- 
mons on  Tuesday  next  at  the  same  time  with  D'-^  Swabey  & 
Coote,  and  there  is  a  doubt  whether  Dr  Swabey  or  myself  rank 
as  Senior  in  the  University,  as  according  to  such  seniority  will  be 
the  order  of  our  admission  on  this  occasion. 

I  am  of  longer  standing  &  took  my  degree  first,  but  D'' 
Swabey  was  presented  on  the  first  day  of  October  and  took  out 
his  Eegency  in  person,  when  I  was  admitted  (as  I  am  told)  by  a 
Dispensation  passed  after  he  was  presented  ;  and  I  did  not  attend 
myself  till  two  days  afterwards — I  imagined  that  the  admission  to 
Regency  was  a  matter  of  course,  &  did  not  affect  our  i-ank  in  the 
University.  He  understands  that  the  respective  rank  of  Doctor 
depends  entirely  on  the  time  of  their  presentation  to  the  Vice 
Chancellor — What  therefore  we  wish  to  ascertain  is  which  of  us 
ranks  first  in  the  University,  and  in  what  order  our  names  appear 
there  as  Regent  Doctors  of  Law,  if  we  are  entered  as  such.  And 
I  hope  you  will  excuse  my  requesting  you  to  take  the  trouble  of 
ascertaining  this  point  with  the  Vice-Chancellor  on  my  part. 

We  both  rank  before  D''  Coote,  as  being  Grand  Compounders. 
I  am 

Dear  Sir, 
Your  very  faithful 
&  obedt  serve 
S.  Bernard. 

Dr.  Forster  was  Registrar  of  the  University  of  Oxford. 


A  WEIGHTY  CONTEOVEESY  131 

This  letter  is  marked  '  (Not  delivered).'  It  was  returned 
by  Dr.  Swabey  in  a  letter  dated  '  Commons,  31st  Oct''  1789,' 
and  addressed  *  Dr.  Bernard,'  in  which  he  explained  his 
reason  for  so  doing  : 

Finding  on  my  arrival  yesterday  in  Oxford,  from  the  informa- 
tion of  a  friend,  that  the  question  had  been  already  put  to  the 
Vice-Chancellor,  in  consequence  of  your  application  to  Dr  Forster, 
in  whose  sentiments  He  had  coincided,  and  that  custom  is  said  to 
have  sanctioned  a  different  opinion  from  that  which  I  had  been 
led  to  entertain  on  the  subject,  I  did  not  think  it  necessary  further 
to  stir  in  a  matter,  I  dare  to  say,  not  settled  with^  sufficient  con- 
sideration ;  and  I  shall  be  happy  to  acquiesce  on  Tuesday  in  your 
right  of  seniority.  .  .  .' 

So  ended  this  weighty  controversy.  The  certificate 
transmitted  to  Scrope  was  expressed  as  follows  : 

It  appears  by  the  Eegister  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  which 
is  in  my  custody,  that  Scrope  Bernard  of  Christ  Church  was 
regularly  admitted  to  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  Civil  Law  on  the 
twentieth  Day  of  November,  in  the  Year  of  our  Lord  1788  ;  Which 
said  Degree  of  Doctor  in  Civil  Law  was  not  conferred  on  him  by 
Grace  or  Favour. 

Samuel  Foestee,  Bcq\ 

Oxford  Nov.  20  1788. 

Tied  up  with  the  foregoing  letters  is  a  most  respectful 
and  apologetic  epistle  from  '  Wm.  Child,  Kobe-maker, 
(Nephew  and  Successor  to  the  late  Mr.  Mark  Child)  No.  78 
Coi-ner  of  Bishop's  Court,  Chancery  Lane,'  requesting  the 
honour  of  supplying  Mr.  Bernard  with  '  Doctor  of  Laws' 
Eobes.'     It  is  addressed  :  *  The  Worsh^  Dr  Barnard.' 

There  is  another  record  of  this  episode  still  extant.  In 
the  gallery  at  Nether  Winchendon  now  hangs  an  oval  wooden 
shield  painted  with  the  arms  of  Bernard  quartering  Tyring- 
ham  and  Winlow,  with  an  ornamental  border— partly  of 
oak  leaves  ;  and  beneath,  the  inscription — '  Scrope  Bernard 
LLD,  Nov  3'd  1789.' 

It  was  in  this  same  year  that  Mr.  or  Dr.  Bernard,  after 
some  correspondence  with  the  Heralds'  College,^  succeeded 

'  These  statements  are  found  in  the  correspondence  and  other  papers  on  the 
subject,  and  the  arms  are  blazoned  on  a  parchment,  as  also  those  of  Mcrland 


132  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

in  having  his  arms  and  pedigree  registered ;  the  arms  being 
differentiated  by  order  of  the  college — the  bear  was  to  be 
represented  with  a  collar  as  well  as  a  muzzle.  He  further 
obtained  the  Heralds'  licence  to  quarter  the  arms  of 
Tyringham  as  well  as  Winlow. 

And  now  came  the  trial — how  far  the  new  Under- 
Secretary  would  learn  to  take  an  interest  in  the  duties  of  his 
office,  and  look  upon  the  career  thus  opened  to  him  as  his 
appointed  vocation  in  life.  If  there  was  some  chance  that 
he  might  become  reconciled  to  it  as  a  road  to  eminence,  there 
was  perhaps  more  likelihood  that  he  would  in  time  become 
extremely  weary  of  its  drudgery. 

The  early  days  of  Scrope  Bernard's  Under- Secretaryship 
were  marked  by  dilEficulties  respecting  a  troublesome  claimant. 
Mr.  Evan  Nepean,  who  appears  to  have  been  Mr.  Grenville's 
Private  Secretary,  writes  from  Bath — where  he  was  probably 
enjoying  a  holiday — on  November  10,  1789  :  ^ 

Dear  Bernard, — Mr.  Murray  has  never  been  watched  by  the 
people  employed  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  State. 
The  object  he  has  in  view  is  that  of  getting  a  Pension,  which  he 
has  tried  a  variety  of  methods  to  obtain.  He  represents  that  he  is 
a  natural  son  of  the  late  Prince  of  Wales  by  one  of  the  Atholl 
Family  ;  (who  never  existed).  That  his  mother  had  a  pension  on 
the  Irish  EstabHshment  of  £140  per  ann.,  and  that  in  the  early  part 
of  his  life  100£  or  200£  per  ann.  had  been  allowed  for  his  Education 
and  Maintenance,  which  allowance  has  been  discontinued  about  20 
years. — I  made  a  particular  enquiry  into  these  matters,  and  found 
that  the  accoUnt[s]  he  gave  of  his  mother  and  of  himself  were 
entirely  without  foundation,  and  that  he  is  nothing  more  or  [sic] 
less  than  an  impostor.  He  has  I  understand  frequently  obtained 
money  from  the  King,  has  had  some  from  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and 
I  believe  he  has  also  had  supplies  from  the  Treasury. 

Why,  when  so  many  persons  were  hanged  for  almost 
nothing,  this  objectionable  man  could  not  have  been  arrested 
long  before,  it  is  difficult  to  understand ;  but  this  does  not 

setting  forth  the  permission  of  Garter  King  at  Arms,  witii  his  own  shield  dis- 
played and  elaborate  seals  attached. 
'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


A  TEOUBLESOME  CLAIMANT  133 

seem  to  have  been  thought  of,  the  first  idea  was  simply  to 
guard,  by  elaborate  precautions,  against  the  risk  of  his 
injuring,  or  even  alarming,  the  King,  his  alleged  half-brother, 
since  the  writer  continues  : 

It  does  not  appear  to  me  that  any  danger  is  to  be  apprehended 
from  him,  but  I  would  nevertheless  advise  his  being  watched  and 
prevented  from  visiting  St  James— that  can  be  done  by  sending 
Clarke,  who  knows  his  person,  and  Macmanusor  Townsendto  the 
door  where  the  King  enters  from  the  Park  whenever  His  Majesty 
comes  to  Town.  They  should  be  directed  to  keep  him  off,  if  he 
should  attempt  to  get  near  His  Majesty,  and  while  the  Lev6e 
continues  Clarke  should  be  stationed  at  the  bottom  of  the  stairs  to 
prevent  his  going  up.  Neither  Macmanus  or  [sic\  Townsend  will 
be  suspected  as  they  are  frequently  there,  looking  out  after  the 
Pick  Pockets  who  infest  the  Palace  at  these  times.  The 
Equerries  will  take  care  of  him,  if  he  appears  on  the  Terrace  at 
Windsor, 

I  settled  with  Mr.  Grenville  before  I  left  Town  to  employ  a 
trusty  man  constantly  at  Windsor,  and  I  thought  that  I  should 
have  been  able  to  have  got  a  proper  person  for  that  duty,  but  I 
found  upon  talking  to  him  (Catmeer)  [?]  that  he  was  obliged  to  be 
twice  or  thrice  a  week  in  town  to  attend  to  his  duty.  I  then  had 
an  idea  of  employing  a  man  whose  name  is  Barker,  but  I  could 
not  find  his  address. 

Until  we  can  meet  with  a  suitable  person.  It  may  not  perhaps 
be  amiss  that  Clarke  should  be  at  Windsor  when  the  King  is  there, 
and  that  Macmanus  or  Townsend,  after  Murray's  person  has  been 
ascertained,  should  be  stationed  at  St  James  when  the  King  comes 
to  town,  and  be  directed  to  take  Murray  into  Custody,  if  he  should 
be  in  the  smallest  degree  troublesome 

Yours  faithfully 

Evan  Nepean. 

The  sequel  of  Mr.  Murray's  story  I  do  not  know. 

Many  of  the  memoranda  of  this  time  are  of  a  monotonous 
description — the  mere  routine  of  office  indeed  ;  but  they 
illustrate  the  life  of  Scrope  Bernard  at  this  period,  and  a 
sample  of  them  is  therefore  given. ^ 

Desire  Fawkenor  to  summon  the  Council  for  Tuesday  at 
2  o'clock.     We  need  only  send  the  letters  to  the  Lord  Chancellor 

'  From  MSS.  at  Nether  Wincbeudon. 


134  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

— D  of  Leeds,  Ld  Chatham,  Lord  Kenyon,  Ld  Westmorland,  & 
Pitt — He  should  however  know  whether  the  D.  of  Leeds  will  be 
in  town,  as,  if  not,  somebody  else  must  attend. 

Let  Millbanke  know  that  he  will  be  wanted  at  that  time,  and 
that  I  should  wish  to  see  him  at  my  office  on  Tuesday  at  eleven. 

I  enclose  a  draft  to  the  Lds  Justices,  wh.  you  will  send  me 
for  signature  early  to-morrow. 

Send  the  inclosed  to  the  Ld  Chancellor— He  will  be  either  in 
town  or  at  Knight's  Hill. 

It  is  not  an  interesting  occupation  to  wade  through  shoals 
of  letters  begging  for  introductions,  compensations,  posts 
and  promotions,  and  many  other  things,  down  to  free  trans- 
mission of  parcels  beyond  the  seas — a  favour  which  peers 
and  peeresses  did  not  disdain  to  ask  ;  and  I  do  not  profess  to 
have  performed  the  task  thoroughly.  A  large  proportion  of 
missives  received  by  Scrope  Bernard  as  Under-Secretary  are 
of  this  description.  There  are,  however,  some  letters  and 
other  documents  in  the  collection  relating  to  matters  of  wider 
interest,  such  as  the  exportation  of  provisions  from  Ireland — 
or,  rather,  the  prevention  of  any  such  heinous  act ;  the  arrival 
of  ships,  and  their  condition,  &c.  &c. 

That  the  treatment  of  convicts  and  the  arrangements  for 
their  transportation  when  respited  from  capital  punishment 
should  occupy  considerable  space  is,  perhaps,  not  surprising  ; 
but  there  must  be  many  persons  who  are  not  aware  that 
British  subjects  were — a  little  more  than  a  hundred  years 
ago — exposed  to  the  perils  of  Mohammedan  slavery  in  Algeria. 
I  have  found  a  letter  ^  from  a  British  Consul,  touching  the 
redemption  of  a  slave,  which  tells  its  own  tale,  and  is  here 
given  at  length  to  illustrate  the  insecurity  of  navigation  at 
that  period : 

Copy  Algiers  24th  Feby  1790, 

(Private) 

Sir, — I  had  the  Honour  on  the  9th  Instant  to  be  favored  wuth 
your  Letter  of  the  25th  November  last,  with  this  inclosed  Copy  of 
a  Letter  and  Attestation,  signifying  to  me  Mr.  Secretary  Grenville's 
Wishes  respecting  Charles  Colvill  a  Slave  in  Algiers.     I  have  the 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


A  BRITISH  SLAVE  IN  ALGERIA  135 

greatest  Pleasure  and  Satisfaction,  in  acquainting  you,  for  Mr. 
Grenville's  Information,  that  strictly  following  the  Line  of  Office 
he  has  prescribed  me,  I  have  this  Day,  in  Consequence  of  some 
private  Commission  I  had  lately  vt^ith  the  Regency,  prevailed  upon 
them  to  use  their  Influence  w^ith  the  Dey  to  release  Charles 
Colvill  upon  moderate  Terms,  and  through  them,  have  released  him 
from  Slavery  for  the  low  Sum  of  £'330  . .  8  . . — no  Slave  taken  by 
Sea,  has  for  the  last  three  Years  been  released  under  the  Sum  of 
between  5  &,  £600.  I  paid  the  Ransom  Money  immediately,  and 
took  Colvill  Home  with  me,  where  he  will  remain  until  his  Friends 
pay  the  ^330  .  .  8  . . — to  Mess""^  Drummonds  &  Co  Bankers  at 
Chairring  Cross,  who  have  my  Authority  to  receive  it,  as  I  have 
not  the  Pleasure  of  being  acquainted  with  either  of  the 
Gentlemen  mentioned  in  the  Copy  of  the  Letter  you  inclosed  me. 

I  have,  from  authentic  Documents  produced,  every  Reason  to 
believe  that  Charles  Colvill  was  shipwrecked,  and  that  his  entering 
into  the  American  Service,  was  owing  to  his  Distresses  at  the 
Time,  and  not  meeting  with  a  British  Vessel  that  wanted  Men  in 
Philadelphia ;  during  his  Captivity  no  man  could  have  acted  with 
more  Credit  to  his  Country.  I  have  great  Pleasure  in  having 
executed  Mr.  Secretary  Grenville's  Wishes  so  expeditiously,  and 
shall  esteem  myself  highly  honored  when  he  is  pleased  to  command 
either  my  public  or  private  Services. 

I  am  &c 

Charles  Logie. 

Scrope  Bernard  Esqre 

One  incident  in  the  official  correspondence,  which  has 
acquired  value  by  the  subsequent  course  of  history,  is  the 
difficulty  about  the  first  commission  of  Mr.  "Wesley — that  is, 
of  the  future  Duke  of  Wellington.  The  two  following  letters  ^ 
confirm  the  fact  that,  although  the  second  title  of  the  Earl 
of  Mornington  was  Viscount  Wellesley,  the  family  name 
was  then  Wesley — a  fact  since  carefully  suppressed  in  the 
Peerage. 

Dear  Sir, — I  have  spoken  to  Major  Hobart  with  regard  to  the 
Ensigncy  designed  for  Mr.  Wesley;  and  we  have  enquired 
respecting  it  &  fear  some  mistake.  I  recollect  his  speaking  to 
me  on  the  subject,  and  I  think  that  he  was  recommended  to  S''  G. 
Yonge  to  have  the  Ensigncy  in  the  9th  which  was  to  be  opened 
by  the  Promotion  of  Lt.  Beresford  to  a  Company  in  the  27th.     I 

'  MS.  Letters  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


136  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

cannot  find  that  the  succession  to  Beresford  is  filled  ;  nor  have 
I  the  EecoUection  or  Copy  of  a  Letter  on  the  subject.  Will  you 
be  so  good  as  to  have  Enquiry  made  at  the  War  Office  &  we  will 
search  further  here 

Yours  most  faithfully 

E.  CooKE 
Dublin  Castle.  6  Aug.  1790 

This  letter  is  addressed  to  Mr.  Bernard. 

The  second  runs : 

Dear  Bernard,— Many  thanks  for  your  kind  attention  to  my 
letter  respecting  Lieut  Walsh  :— A  letter  is  sent  this  evening  to 
Messrs.  Freemantle  &c.,  with  regard  to  Wesley's  Commission 

Ever  yours 

most  sincerely 

E.  Cooke. 

Dublin  27  Oct.  1790 

In  one  of  his  undated  sheets  of  memoranda,  Mr.  Grenville 
writes:  'Kemember  to  give  me  Cooke's  letters  and  the 
Comms  to  carry  to  the  King.'  It  is  stated,  in  Debrett's 
'  Peerage,'  ^  that  the  Duke  of  Wellington  *  first  entered  upon 
active  service  in  1794,  when,  with  the  rank  of  Lieut. -Col. 
in  the  army,  he  commanded  a  brigade  in  the  unsuccessful 
expedition  to  Holland  under  the  Duke  of  York.'  His 
promotion  was  therefore  rapid,  and  he  had  risen  to  the 
Lieutenant-colonelcy  without  risk  to  life  or  limb. 

Some  of  the  colonial  questions  of  that  day  were  of  con- 
siderable public  interest,  but  they  are  topics  of  allusion 
rather  than  discussion  in  the  correspondence  I  possess. 
The  dispute  with  Spain  about  *  the  Nootka  Sound  '  '^  trade, 
and  settlement  *  in  Vancouver's  Island,  though  trivial  in 
itself,  involved  wide  issues.  The  Quebec  question  culminated 
in  the  Quebec  Government  Act  of  1791,  which  established 
representative  government  in  Canada.'  ^  This  last  subject  is 
not  only  noticed  in  several  letters  from  Grenville  to  Bernard, 
but  was  also  the  occasion  of  Mr.  Bernard  receiving  three 

'  Debrett,  Peerage  of  the  United  Kingdom,  vol.  i. '  Wellington  (Duke  of).' 
^  Lecky,  Hist,  of  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  iv.,  chap,  xvii, 
*  Ibid. 


THE  QUEBEC  QUESTION  137 

letters  '  from  Sir  William  Scott,  afterwards  Lord  Stowell, 
which  are  here  given.  The  first  is  remarkable  for  com- 
mencing in  the  third,  and  concluding  in  the  first  person  ;  the 
second  for  its  abrupt  termination. 

Sir  William  Scott  presents  his  compliments  to  Mr.  Scrope 
Bernard,  and  will  be  much  obliged  to  him  for  a  copy  of  the 
Instructions  to  Lord  Dorchester,  dated  August  1768,  referred  to 
in  official  letter  of  Lord  Grenville  respecting  the  lands  belonging 
to  the  Ecclesiastics  at  Quebec,  as  neither  the  Attorney  nor  myself 
have  it. 

I  have  written  upon  the  Honduras  Case,  and  what  I  have 
written  is  now  with  the  Attorney,  for  his  consideration  of  the 
subject. 

I  am  dear  Sir 

Yours  very  truly 
Thursday  W.   ScOTT. 

The  second  letter  is  altogether  without  a  date,  but  is 
endorsed  by  Mr.  Bernard—'  E.  29th  Novr  1790.' 

Dear  Sir, — I  forgot  to  mention  to  you  when  I  first  saw  j'ou, 
that  we  have  looked  into  the  business  of  the  Monastery  of  S*^ 
Sulpice  in  Canada,  and  are  perfectly  disposed  to  report  in  behalf 
of  the  Crown,  upon  any  Eeference  however  general  that  Lord 
Grenville  may  think  proper  to  send  us. 

The  third  letter  is  dated  at  the  end  of  the  letter. 

Commons  Deer  1st  1790. 
Dear  Sir, — The  Attorney  sent  to  me  a  Eeport  from  the  Crown 
Officers  at  Quebec,  which  he  said  Mr.  Grenville  had  desired  us  to 
look  over,  in  order  that  we  might  consider  what  opinion  we  were 
likely  to  form  upon  the  same  Subject ;  and  particularly  for  the 
purpose  of  pointing  oiit  what  should  be  the  Nature  and  Terms  of 
the  Beference  to  be  sent  to  us ;  And  we  agreed ;  And  we  agreed 
upon  Conversation  that  any  general  Eeference  to  us  upon  the 
Eight  of  the  Crown  would  be  sufficient,  as  we  were  clear  in  the 
affirmative.  That  is  all  that  I  know  of  the  Matter  excepting  that 
He  is  positive  no  Eeference  has  been  sent  to  Him. 

The  Mode  therefore  of  sending  it,  if  any  should  be  thought 
necessary,  is  for  Lord  Grenville's  own  Determination. 

I  am  dear  Sir 

Yours  very  faithfully 

Wm.  Scott. 

'  MS.  Letters  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


138  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Another  letter  of  interest  is  from  the  restless  and  unfor- 
tunate Theobald  Wolfe  Tone,  then  about  twenty-seven  years 
of  age.^  Born  in  Dublin,  after  leaving  Trinity  College  he 
had  come  to  London  to  study  for  the  Bar,  but  threw  up  his 
profession  to  take  up  politics — that  is,  to  agitate  for  the  repeal 
of  the  Penal  Laws ;  though  himself  a  member  of  the 
Established  Church,  he  felt  deeply  the  degraded  position  of 
his  Eoman  Catholic  fellow-countrymen.  At  this  time,  how- 
ever, he  had  not  avowed  himself  an  enemy  of  England,  but 
v/as  striving  to  induce  the  Government  to  carry  out  certain 
plans  to  which  this  letter  -  refers.  It  is,  of  course,  addressed  to 
Mr.  Grenville,  but  passed  through  Scrope  Bernard's  hands. 

Sir, — A  very  short  time  since  I  took  the  liberty  to  ti'ansmit  a 
plan  for  military  establishment  at  the  Sandwich  Isles  to  the  Duke 
of  Eichmond,  to  whom  I  am  utterly  unknown.  His  Grace  with  a 
condescension  utterly  unexpected  by  me,  answered  my  letter  im- 
mediately and  informed  me  that  I  should  have  addressed  myself 
to  you.  My  ignorance  of  the  etiquette  of  office  must  excuse  my 
mistake  which  however  his  Grace  has  been  so  kind  as  in  some 
degree  to  rectify,  by  offering  to  lay  the  plan  before  you,  which,  in 
a  letter  by  this  post,  I  have  requested  him  to  do. 

You  will  perceive,  Sir,  that  it  is  but  a  sketch.  The  number  of 
men,  the  times  of  service,  in  short  the  whole  arrangement  is  but 
for  an  example  and  may  be  altered  at  your  pleasure  ;  but  I  hope 
and  trust  that  you  will  find  the  general  scope  of  the  design  worthy 
of  your  attention.  I  have  thought  of  it  so  long  and  with  un- 
ceasing ardor  for  its  execution  that  I  should  doubt  my  own  judge- 
ment, were  it  not  in  a  degree  corroborated  by  the  manner  in  which 
the  Duke  of  Eichmond  has  received  my  proposal. 

If  you  should  think  the  plan  worthy  of  your  notice,  I  shall  be 
proud  of  your  permission  to  go  more  into  detail,  either  by  letter 
or  personally.  If  you  should  think  it  fit  for  adoption,  I  trust  I 
shall  be  allowed  my  utmost  and  most  earnest  wish,  permission  to 
devote  myself  wholly  to  its  execution. 

It  is  a  proof  that  I  am,  myself  at  least,  satisfied  of  its  merit 
when  I  stake  my  whole  future  success  in  life,  as  I  wo  aid  my  life 
itself,  on  the  event. 

The  Duke  of  Eichmond's  condescension  to  me  emboldens  me 

'  Memoirs  of  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone,  written  by  Himself.    Edited  by  his  son 
Wm.  Th.  Wolfe  Tone.     Biographie  UniverseUe,  '  Tone  (Theobald  Wolfe).' 
^  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


WOLFE  TONE  139 

to  hope  that  my  present  application  to  you  will  not  pass  without 
your  notice.     I  therefore  take  the  liberty  to  subjoin  my  address 
I  am  Sir,  with  great  respect 

Your  most  obedient  humble  servant 

Theobald  Wolfe  Tone. 
Oct.  1st  1790 
No.  5  Great  Longford  Street,  Dublin. 

This  letter  is  endorsed  '  answered  S  B — If  any  steps  are 
taken  respecting  his  Plan,  he  will  hear  further  on  the 
subject.'  I  have  not  found  any  statements  of  the  purpose 
or  details  of  this  plan.  But  in  the  following  year,  a  letter 
from  the  author  was  intercepted  ^ — declaring  his '  unalterable 
opinion '  to  be  against  the  evil  influence  of  England,  and  in 
favour  of  separation — which  must  have  effectually  put  a  stop 
to  all  chance  of  its  adoption.  The  unquiet  career  of  Wolfe 
Tone  came  to  a  close  in  1798.  He  was  captured  in  the 
Hoche,^  a  French  vessel  sent  to  invade  Ireland — being  then  an 
Adjutant-General  in  the  French  service — and  committed 
suicide  to  avoid  the  ignominy  of  the  gallows. 

In  1792,  the  Home  Secretary,  who  had  been  elevated  to 
the  Peerage  as  Lord  Grenville,  was  transferred  to  the 
Foreign  Office,  and  the  Eight  Hon.  Henry  Dundas,  who  was 
President  of  the  Indian  Board,  became  Home  Secretary. 
From  sundry  notes,  written  by  Lord  Grenville  at  this  time, 
it  is  evident  that  Scrope  Bernard  ran  the  risk  of  being  left 
out  altogether,  which  his  friend  was  anxious  to  prevent.  In 
the  result  he  remained  at  the  Home  Office  with  the  new 
Secretary. 

Of  the  short  period  during  which  Mr.  Dundas  held  the 
Secretaryship  I  have  few  records.^  Occasionally  he  writes 
from  Wimbledon  to  make  appointments  with  the  Under- 
Secretary,  or  to  express  his  intention  of  not  coming  to  town 
unless  it  is  absolutely  necessary.  On  this  subject  Mr.  John 
King,  who  was  also  in  the  Home  Office,  writes  : 

There  is  no  reason  in  the  world  why  you  shd  come  before  the 

'  Lecky,  Hist,  of  Ireland  iv  tlie  Eighteenth  Century  (Edition  1902),  vol.  v., 
chap.  xi.  -  Ibid. 

^  The  following  references  are  all  from  MS.  Letters  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


140  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

time  you  propose.  Mr.  D.  is  gone  to  Wimbledon,  &  does  not 
return  before  tuesday.— By  the  by  this  going  to  Wimbledon,  & 
doing  business  at  his  own  House  in  Somerset  Place  is  playing  the 
old  soldier  with  us. 

The  communication,  formally  worded,  decides  that  the 
Under-Secretary  is  not  justified  in  complying  with  'the 
requisition  made  by  Colonel  Low^ther,  of  the  Whitehaven 
correspondence.'  At  another  time  Mr.  Bernard  is  directed 
to  '  summon  a  cabinet  to  meet  to-morrow  at  i  past  two 
o'clock.'  Then  there  are  letters  from  and  to  him  about 
hopes  and  grievances,  from  various  quarters,  as  in  Grenville's 
time.  The  letter,  endorsed  by  Mr.  Bernard  March  23, 1792, 
is  from  the  Solicitor-General  '  J.  Scott,'  afterwards  Lord 
Chancellor,  and  Earl  of  Eldon,  stating  that  it  is  impossible 
for  him  to  leave  the  House  of  Lords  ;  it  continues  :  '  If  you 
can  slip  down  here  you  will  find  me  at  the  Bar ;  if  the 
subject  of  Mr.  Dundas's  Letter  can  be  so  communicated.' 
There  is  a  postscript  '  perhaps  the  Attorney  General  will, 
who  I  understand  is  to  be  with  Mr.  D.' 

In  September  1791  the  Duke  of  York  married  the  Princess 
Frederica  of  Prussia.  The  following  note  relates  to  the 
Duchess's  formal  reception  of  the  Ministry  and  the  Eoyal 
Households — the  word  '  famille  '  signifying  household.  It  is 
endorsed  '  Copy  of  a  note  from  General  Bude  '  to  General 
Grenville. 

Le  Due  d'York  m'envoye  pour  vous  prier  d'informer  les 
Ministres  de  sa  Majeste  que  la  Duchesse  les  recevra  en  particulier 
demain  a  St.  James. — lis  doivent  lui  etre  present6s  d'abord  apres 
la  Famille  du  Eoi  et  avant  celle  de  la  Eeine — autant  qu'on  pent 
fixer  le  moment  ce  sera  a  1  heure  et  demie. 

Lundy  a  Midy. 

On  receiving  this  Mr.  Dundas  wrote  to  his  Under-Secre- 
tary from  Wimbledon  the  same  evening  : 

Dear  Bernard, — I  have  just  received  the  enclosed.  I  am  at  a 
loss  to  know  whether  it  is  a  copy  sent  to  me  for  my  own  informa- 
tion, or  sent  to  me  by  Lord  Grenville,  as  more  properly  belonging 
to  my  Department,  that  I  may  inform  the  rest  of  his  Majesty's 
Ministers.     The  subject  is  in  truth  one  which  belongs  to  neither 


HENEY  DUNDAS  141 

of  our  Departments,  but  the  intimation  ought  to  have  come  to 
each  of  us  from  the  proper  officer  of  the  Duke  or  Duchess  of 
York's  Household.  That  is  however  of  no  moment,  and  care 
must  be  taken  that  the  information  at  any  rate  is  conveyed. 

You'll  therefore  take  care  to  enquire  at  Lord  Grenville[s]  office 
how  the  fact  is.  If  a  copy  of  the  enclosed  has  been  sent  to  all  the 
Ministers  as  well  as  to  me,  you  have  no  occasion  to  take  further 
trouble  about  it,  but  if  it  is  meant  that  I  am  to  give  the  Intimation, 
take  care  that  it  is  accurately  done. 

Yours 

H.  D. 

Eventually,  as  appears  in  a  communication  from  Mr. 
Aust,  who  was  probably  Lord  Grenville's  Under-Secretary, 
that  gentleman  was  desired  by  his  Chief  to  forward  the 
important  notice  to  all  members  of  the  Cabinet. 

The  straggling,  unformed  handwriting  of  Mr.  Dundas 
presents  a  strong  contrast  to  the  neat,  almost  feminine  calli- 
graphy of  Lord  Grenville,  of  his  brother,  the  Marquess  of 
Buckingham,  and  of  several  other  more  or  less  distinguished 
correspondents  of  the  Under-Secretary.  Some,  indeed, 
wrote  more  clerk-like,  others — as,  for  instance.  Sir  William 
Scott — bolder  hands  than  the  Grenville  brothers ;  but  scarcely 
any  even  approximate  to  the  Dundas  scrawl. 

In  1792,  Mr.  Dundas  resigned  his  secretaryship,  with 
the  expressed  intention  of  devoting  himself  entirely  to  his 
duties  as  President  of  the  Indian  Board.  Whether  Mr. 
Bernard  was  compelled  to  retire,  or  left,  in  disgust  at  the 
continual  changes,  a  post  he  had  reluctantly  accepted,  I  do 
not  know.  His  friendship  for  Lord  Grenville  had  doubtless 
lightened  the  burden  of  uncongenial  work  at  first,  but  the 
last  months  of  office  were  not  thus  cheered.  Mr.  Dundas 
could  never  of  course  have  been  to  him  the  same  as  his  former 
chief,  though  his  letters  are  civil  and  pleasant,  when  not 
hampered  by  formalities ;  but  it  is  known  that  he,  like  his 
great  leader  Pitt,  had  a  weakness  for  strong  potations,  without 
the  extenuating  circumstances  which  might  be  urged  in  Pitt's 
case. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  reasons,  Scrope  Bernard 
now  retired  from  public  life,  except  so  far  as  his  county  and 


142  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Parliamentary  position  kept  him  in  touch  with  the  questions 
of  the  day,  in  which  it  is  evident  that  his  interest  continued 
to  the  last.  His  friend  John  King  remained  in  the  official 
groove,  and  was  for  some  years  Under-Secretary.'  He 
married  the  sister  of  another  friend,  Charles  Moss,  who 
became  Bishop  of  Oxford  in  1807.^ 

'  Burke,  A  Dictionary  of  the  Landed  Gentry,  '  King,  of  Cbadshunt,'  and 
'  King,  of  Preston  Candover.' 

Abbey,  The  English  Church  and  its  Bishoi^s,  1700-1800,  vol.  ii.    Haydn, 
Book  of  Dignities. 


THE  FRENCH  EEVOLUTION  143 


CHAPTEB   VIII 

INCIDENTS   OF   A   STORMY   TIME 

The  French  Revolution — News  from  Paris — Birth  of  Thomas  Tyringham 
Bernard — The  Manors  of  Great  and  Little  Kimble — Trespasses  of  Villagers — 
Purchases  of  Land  by  Scrope  Bernard— Chequers — Emigration  from  France 
— The  Descoeiilles — War  with  France — Petitions  for  Peace — Death  of  the 
Second  Viscount  Barrington — Birth  of  Richard  Scrope  Bernard  and  Mary 
Ann  Bernard — Scrope  Bernard  re-elected  for  Aylesbury — He  becomes  a 
Partner  in  Ransom  and  Morland's  Bank. 

Scrope  Bernard's  period  of  office  as  Under-Secretary  coin- 
cided with  the  first  startling  manifestations  of  a  momentous 
Revolution,  which  convulsed  France,  and  shook  Europe  to 
its  centre.  England  was  of  course  not  free  from  peril ;  she 
had  her  own  discontented  and  dangerous  classes,  who  were 
more  to  be  feared  than  a  foreign  enemy ;  and  even  some  of 
her  ablest  men  hailed  the  outbreak  of  the  French  struggle  as 
the  commencement  of  a  better  era;  but  the  extremes  to 
which  it  was  carried,  the  fearful  excesses  which  marked  its 
progress,  eventually  checked  the  outburst  of  this  feeling,  and 
even  caused  a  strong  re- action. 

The  quiet  Hfe  of  an  English  family  like  the  Bernards 
was  but  little  affected  by  the  strong  movement  in  France  ; 
there  were  no  near  relatives  in  the  army  or  navy. 

In  this  chapter,  however,  while  relating  the  story  of  my 
grandfather's  private  life,  I  have  noted  such  indications  of 
the  crisis  as  can  be  found  in  the  papers  at  Nether 
Winchendon.  They  are,  of  course,  fragmentary;  but  a 
more  extended  view  belongs  only  to  general  history  and 
biographies  of  men  conspicuous  in  the  great  contest. 

A  letter  ^  signed  'CM.'  (Charles  Moss)  and  dated  '  Spa, 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Wincheudon. 


144  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

August  28,'  seems  to  belong  to  the  year  1790.     It  relates  the 
impression  received  in  an  outward  journey  : 

At  Dover  the  packet  did  not  sail  for  Ostend  for  above  three 
days  after  our  arrival,  &,  as  we  met  with  an  acquaintance  who  had 
just  passed  thro'  France  without  difficulty,  we  took  our  course  for 
Calais — &  I  am  glad  we  did  so,  because  it  gave  us  an  opportunity 
of  seeing  to  what  a  pitch  of  absurdity  the  people  were  arrived. — 
The  waiters,  nay  the  very  postilions  &  the  labourers  talk  politics, 
of  dethroning  the  monarch,  of  his  violability  or  inviolability  &c 
with  as  much  importance,  and  as  much  appearance  of  the  object 
being  within  their  power,  as  you  wd  talk  of  sending  your  son  to 
school,  &  selling  your  estate. 

Two  letters  from  another  correspondent  belong  to  the 
spring  of  1791,  when  England  was  apparently  waking  to  the 
consciousness  of  the  tragic  aspect  which  the  great  French 
drama  had  assumed.  Scrope  Bernard  then  had  a  friend  in 
Paris,  who  does  not  sign  his  name,  probably  by  way  of  pre- 
caution. I  am  unable  to  identify  the  writer,  although  it  is 
quite  possible  that  there  may  be  other  letters  from  him, 
not  on  the  subject  of  France,  in  the  collection  at  Nether 
Winchendon.  His  two  Parisian  letters  contain  nothing  very 
striking,  but  the  experience  of  an  intelligent  observer  in  the 
midst  of  such  exciting  scenes  cannot  be  altogether  devoid  of 
interest. 

Hotel  d'Angleterre 
Eue  de  F.  St.  Thomas '  24  April 
1791. 
Dear  Bernard, — I  obey  my  promise  in  writing  to  you,  though 
I  am  unable   to  give  you  any  particular   news ;    the  difiiculties 
attending  a  first  visit  to  Paris  have  so  much  occupied  my  time, 
that  it  has  left  me  no  opportunity  of  gaining  information. 

I  had  no  idea,  until  I  became  a  witness,  of  the  general  infatua- 
tion of  the  French  people  respecting  the  Eevolution ;  every  peasant 
and  every  woman  and  child  from  Calais  to  this  place  wears  the 
cockade,  and  the  people  here  abandon  every  other  consideration 
but  that  which  relates  to  the  situation  of  public  affairs ;  the  com- 
monest of  the  rabble  collect  in  small  bodies  in  the  street  to  consult 

'  This  evidently  means  '  Eue  des  Filles  St.  Thomas.'  The  date  of  this 
letter,  which  is  not  very  distinct,  looks  like  '1790,'  but,  even  if  it  was  so  written, 
the  date  must  have  been  a  mere  slip  of  the  pen ;  it  was  evidently  written  just 
before  the  letter  immediately  following,  and  the  events  are  those  of  1791.  It  is 
one  of  the  MS.  Letters  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


NEWS  FROM  PARIS  145 

on  state  affairs,  and  on  every  pillar  and  in  every  street  there  are 
stuck  up  inflammatory  publications  which  they  are  continually 
reading.  From  what  I  perceive  I  do  really  think  that  Europe 
united  could  hardly  effect  a  counter-revolution  ;  they  tell  me  that 
in  the  southern  parts  of  France  the  public  are  still  more  violently 
attached  to  their  new  system, 

I  this  day  was  in  the  Hall  where  the  National  Assembly  meet, 
but  unfortunately  they  were  not  speaking  ;  there  is  a  gallery,  at 
each  end  and  on  the  sides,  for  the  public,  and  the  benches  below 
are  arranged  all  round  for  the  Deputies,  &c. ;  in  the  midst  of  one  of 
the  sides  is  the  President's  seat,  elevated,  and  before  him  a  table 
for  the  clerks,  upon  which  is  placed  the  bust  of  Mirabeau. — There 
has  been  a  considerable  ferment,  which  is  not  yet  subsided,  upon 
the  subject  of  the  King's  permission  to  leave  Paris.  The  Assembly 
have  allowed  him  this  liberty,  which  the  people  dislike,  and  Mon- 
sieur de  la  Fayette,  displeased  with  their  conduct  in  objecting  to 
this  favour  towards  the  King,  has  resigned  the  command  of  the 
National  Troops,  who  were  all  yesterday  and  to-day  attending 
him,  in  order  to  persuade  him  to  resume  it,  but  as  yet  they  have 
been  unsuccessful.  This  morning  the  drums  were  beating  in  parts 
of  the  town  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  National  Troops  at  five  o'clock, 
to  take  an  oath  to  conform  themselves  to  the  laws, — which  they 
will  do  without  understanding  them,  and  which  will  not  quiet  the 
disturbance,  for  everything  is  actuated  by  prejudice  and  by  passion. 

In  looking  at  the  remains  of  the  Bastille,  a  Frenchman  told 
me,  with  the  highest  exultation  (which  certainly  is  natural  on 
such  an  event)  that  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  enter  that  horrid 
prison ;  it  is  wonderful  how  totally  they  have  demolished  it,  there 
is  hardly  a  stone  left,  and  the  workmen  who  are  employed  will 
very  soon  have  removed  the  remaining  few. 

I  will  write  to  you  again  before  I  leave  Paris ;  it  is  uncertain 
how  long  I  stay,  or  which  way  I  shall  return,  therefore  I  would 
not  have  you  write  to  me  unless  you  have  any  commands,  which 
you  may  send  me  in  a  letter  directed  to  Mr  Perigaux,  which  in  all 
events  will  be  sent  after  me. 

You  will  know  my  hand  and  therefore  I  need  not  add  my 
name  in  assuring  you  that  I  am  most  sincerely  yours 

This  anonymous  correspondent  wrote  ^  again  four  days 

later : 

Paris  28th  April  1791 
My  dear  Bernard, — Since  my  last  nothing  new  has  occurred. 
The  National  Guard  have  prevailed  on  Monsr  de  la  Fayette  to 
'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 
VOL.   III.  L 


146  THE  BERNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

resume  his  command,  but  without  accepting  the  system  which  he 
had  pointed  out  for  their  future  conduct ;  however  he  has  re- 
primanded the  Company  of  Grenadiers  who  behaved  so  improperly 
towards  the  King  and  Queen,  though  it  was  his  intention  (if 
practicable)  to  have  cashiered  them,  but  he  did  not  think  proper 
to  put  this  latter  intention  into  execution. 

I  was  yesterday  at  the  National  Assembly,  and  I  was  never 
witness  to  such  a  scene  of  turbulence  and  violent  contention ; 
several  speaking  at  the  same  time,  and  each  endeavouring  to  be 
heard  in  spite  of  the  President's  bell,  which  was  continually  ring- 
ing, to  keep  order,  without  effect ;  whenever  a  few  sentences  could 
be  heard,  they  were  received  either  with  the  clapping  of  hands  or 
the  groans  of  the  members ;  in  short  I  had  no  belief  of  such  want 
of  order  until  I  beheld  it. 

There  has  been  a  riot  respecting  the  departure  of  a  regiment 
from  Versailles,  but  disturbances  are  so  frequent,  that  they  pass 
without  consideration  or  noise ;  I  understand  however  that  it  is 
settled. 

I  am  considerably  amused  at  Paris  with  the  spe[ctacles  ?  ]  [part 
of  the  word  was  evidently  torn  off  in  breaking  the  seal]  and  variety 
of  sights,  but  the  people,  having  mistaken  liberty  for  licence,  render 
it  necessary  to  be  very  discreet  and  prudent  in  one's  behaviour, 
and  often  when  I  wish  to  laugh,  I  am  obliged  to  refrain  from  fear- 
You  can  have  no  idea  of  the  want  of  subordination,  of  the  total  abo- 
lition of  all  order,  it  is  liberty  to  the  fullest  extent,  and  whilst  such 
liberty  prevails  this  kingdom  can  never  profit  by  its  Revolution. 

Very  truly  yours 

I  am  unable  to  pronounce  with  certainty  as  to  the  letters 
of  which  the  signature  is  composed,  or  the  name  it  is  in- 
tended to  suggest.  The  writer  must  have  been  a  person  of 
strong  nerves  if  he  could  keep  up  an  inclination  to  laugh 
amidst  his  perilous  and  distressful  surroundings.  But  I 
doubt  whether  he  fully  realised  the  approaching  horrors  of 
the  great  crash. 

The  King  and  Queen,  with  their  children  and  Madame 
Elisabeth,  weary  of  a  scarcely  disguised  captivity,  attempted 
flight  in  the  following  June,  but  were  recaptured  at  Varennes. 
Scrope's  previous  correspondent  had  probably  left  Paris 
before  that  time,  but  Mr.  Morland  appears  to  have  been 
there,  and,  since  he  was  a  man  of  observation  and  knowledge 
of  the  world,  it   is   to  be  regretted  that  no  letter  of  his, 


DOMESTIC  TEIFLES  147 

describing  the  situation,  is  extant.  Possibly  he  may  have  con- 
sidered it  prudent  to  reserve  the  narrative  of  his  experiences 
till  his  return.  The  only  allusion  I  can  find  to  this  visit  is 
in  a  letter  ^  from  Mrs.  Scrope  Bernard  to  her  husband,  dated 
'  Winchendon  Bower,  July  2nd,'  a  heading  which  may  mean 
either  that  she  was  writing  in  the  '  Courting  Bower,'  or  that 
she  gave  the  old  house  a  pet  name  to  show  how  entirely  she 
had  overcome  her  original  prejudice  against  it. 

I  was  wishing  to  hear  from  my  Mother,  in  order  that  I  might 
learn  a  little  of  what  is  become  of  my  Father  at  Paris, — and  am 
much  surprised  to  hear  from  you  that  he  and  Paris  are  in  a  quiet 
state.  I  was  afraid  he  was  in  a  dangerous  situation,  being  among 
the  French. 

I  imagine  it  will  be  a  very  long  while  now  (if  ever)  before 
their  troubles  are  over.  I  pity  degraded  Monarchy  exceedingly. — 
I  have  lent  the  newspapers,  with  the  affecting  account,  to  my  neigh- 
bours to  read. 

The  rest  of  the  letter,  with  its  allusions  to  home  life, 
forms  a  contrast  to  the  beginning.  Willy's  birthday — '  next 
Thursday  ' — had  begun  to  be  a  subject  of  consideration  ;  he 
was  apparently  in  town  with  his  father,  and  the  writer  ex- 
presses her  satisfaction  that '  Greatgrandmamma ' — Mrs.  Mills 
— had  taken  tea  with  them.  '  Madge,'  or  Margaret,  was  of 
sufficient  age  to  send  '  her  duty  '  to  her  father,  and  had  some 
'  pretty  curls  '  to  show  him  when  he  came  to  the  country. 
Sundry  other  matters  of  domestic  interest  fill  up  the  sheet  of 
paper.  Harriet  Bernard  considered  that  the  opera  box— her 
husband  either  had  one  of  his  own  or,  more  probably,  shared  it 
with  his  brother — should  be  lent  a  second  time  to  a  young 
lady,  Miss  Hamilton,  who  had  sung  at  their  concerts.  Then 
follow  some  items  of  country  news — the  safe  arrival  of  a 
mare,  *  but  without  a  saddle,'  the  low  state  of  the  ale,  and 
the  desirableness  of  unpacking  and  tasting  *  the  new  cyder,' 
the  whole  finishing  up  with  an  important  postscript :  '  We 
have  got  all  our  hay  in.' 

On  the  15th  day  of  the  following  September  another  son 
was  born  to  Scrope  and  Harriet  Bernard,  in  Bolton  Street. 

»  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 

L  2 


148  THE  BERNARDS  OP  ABINGTON 

He  was  baptized  in  London  by  the  name  of  Thomas  Tyring- 
ham,  his  uncle  Thomas,  and,  I  believe,  also  his  aunt  Mar- 
garet, standing  sponsors  on  the  occasion.  His  father  wrote 
on  this  occasion  to  the  perpetual  curate  of  Nether  "Winchen- 
don,  desiring  that  the  child's  birth  and  baptism  might  be 
entered  in  the  register  of  that  parish,  which  was  accordingly 
done.^  This  circumstance,  and  the  double  Christian  name, 
which  was  at  that  time  uncommon,  suggest  that  he  may 
even  then  have  entertained  the  idea  of  making  the  boy  his 
successor  at  Winchendon.  His  eldest  son  William  had 
been  virtually  adopted  by  Mr.  Morland,  and  was  recognised 
heir,  after  Mrs.  Bernard,  to  the  bulk  of  his  property.  More- 
over, earlier  in  the  year  1791,  Scrope  had  been  buying  land 
which  he  may  have  intended  for  Francis,  his  second  sur- 
viving son.  In  March,  William  Bridges  Ledwell,  '  together 
with  his  Mother  .  .  .  and  others,  conveyed  all  their  interest 
and  title  to  the  estate  and  Manor  of  Little  Kimble,  to 
Scrope  Bernard,  Esq.'  ^ 

It  was  probably  about  the  same  time  that  Mr.  Bernard 
bought  the  adjoining  '  Manor  of  Great  Kimble,'  with  '  the 
Manors  of  Marshal  and  Fennel's  Grove,  comprising  the 
hamlets  of  Marsh  and  Kimblewick,'  of  '  the  Eight  Hon, 
George  John,  Earl  Spencer,  K.G.'  ^  The  new  possessions 
were  situated  about  twelve  or  thirteen  miles  from  Nether 
Winchendon  by  road,  and  formed  a  more  important  estate. 

These  purchases,  while  they  gave  fresh  scope  to  Mr. 
Bernard's  energies,  did  not  diminish  his  interest  in  Nether 
Winchendon,  for  it  was  also  about  this  time  that  he  must 
have  built  the  stone  bridge  near  his  house,  for  which  pur- 
pose, as  I  have  heard,  he  diverted  a  small  portion  of  the 
channel  of  the  river  Thame  in  order  to  render  the  situation 
and  appearance  of  the  new  bridge  more  suitable  and 
picturesque.  It  would  seem  to  have  been  in  consequence  of 
the  facilities  afforded  by  this  change  that,  in  the  following 
year,  one  '  W.  Bray '     complained  of  a  path  made  by  the 

'  MS.  Letter  and  entry  in  Eegister  of  Nether  Winchendon. 
*  Lipscomb,  Hist,  of  Bucks,  vol.  ii.,  '  Little  Kimble.' 
^  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  ♦  Great  Kimble.' 


VILLAGE  LAWLESSNESS  149 

villagers  through  his  tenant's  land  in  Cuddington  parish, 
which  was  divided  by  the  river  from  Nether  Winchendon. 
Possibly  Mr.  Bray  may  have  been  lessee  of  the  Dean  and 
Chapter  of  Rochester,  who  long  held  certain  fields  incon- 
veniently wedged  into  other  people's  property.  He  suggested 
that  Mr.  Bernard  should  stop  the  trespass  '  by  putting  a 
roller  with  iron  spikes  on  the  top  of  the  gate  and  guarding 
the  sides.'  ^  But  I  have  no  evidence  that  this  was  ever  done. 
In  the  matter  of  making  new  paths  wherever  it  suits 
their  convenience,  regardless  of  other  folk's  rights,  the 
present  inhabitants  of  that  country  are  not  very  much  behind 
their  forefathers.  Scrope  Bernard  had  to  suffer,  like  his 
neighbours,  from  their  lawlessness.  Eichard  Plater,  a 
Winchendon  man  belonging  to  a  family  of  small  farmers,  who 
became  his  factotum  about  the  land,  wrote,^  early  in  1791 : 

I  have  given  it  out  in  the  town  amung  the  poor  that  you  was 
greatly  a  frunted  at  there  caring  your  postes  and  Eails  a  way,  but  am 
a  fraid  it  will  not  make  very  little  difference,  for  they  have  cared 
the  greatest  part  of  the  post  and  rails  in  Mr  Bainton's  cloas  a  way. 

Plater  wrote  a  good  hand,  but  his  composition  was  not 
perfect  and  his  spelling  most  peculiar.  A  large  number  of 
his  letters  have  been  preserved. 

A  further  illustration  of  the  aggressiveness  of  the  sur- 
rounding population,  is  to  be  found  in  a  letter  from  Dr. 
Littlehales,  Perpetual  Curate  of  Brill  and  Boarstall— written 
from  the  old  gatehouse  known  as  Boarstall  Tower,  the  only 
remnant  of  a  mansion  pulled  down  some  years  previously — 
to  Mr.  Bernard  in  London,  enclosing  the  following 
statement : 

'The  Information  and  Complaint  of  Elizabeth  Jessop 

of  the  parish  of  Lower  Winchendon  in  the  County  of 
Bucks  J  Bucks  widow  taken  upon  oath  before  me  J.  L. 
to  wit      \  Littlehales    Doctor   of   Laws   one   of  his    Majesty's 

Justices  of  the  Peace  for  the  said  County  the  13th  day 

of  June  1792 

Who  says  that  she  lives  in  the  same  parish  together  with 
Ehzabeth  Blake,  another  widow  of  the  parish,  and  that  frequently 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 

-  MS.  Letters  and  other  papers  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


150  THE  BEKNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

they  have  been  disturbed  in  their  Beds  all  hours  of  the  night  by 
William  Goff  and  Eichard  Smith  Labourers  belonging  to  the  said 
parish  by  knocking  at  the  door  and  breaking  the  viz.  door  down — 
and  particularly  on  Wednesday  last  the  Sixth  Instant  about 
Twelve  o'clock  at!  Night  as  they  were  in  their  beds— they  were 
disturbed  by  a  most  violent  knocking  at  the  door — and  upon  the 
Deponent  calling  out  '  who  is  there '  one  of  the  two  men  above 
mentioned  ansv/ered  '  Come  down,'  when  this  Deponent  said  Go 
about  your  business  or  else  I  will  fetch  the  Constable  to  you.  But 
they  still  kept  beating  at  the  door,  and  upon  this,  Deponent  & 
the  said  Elizabeth  coming  down  to  go  to  the  Constable,  Mr. 
Gurney,  and  calling  out  to  him,  Mr.  Gurney  came  to  the  window 
and  told  her  he  had  no  business  unless  she  brought  a  warrant ; 
upon  which  she  went  towards  her  own  door  again. — Eichard 
Smith  struck  her  a  blow  in  the  face  with  his  fist — and  smasht  a 
wooden  Bottle  full  of  Beer  about  the  said  Elizabeth  Blake's 
head. 

The  Mark  of 
+ 
before  me  Elizabeth  Jessop 

J.  L.  Littlehales 

The  result  of  the  magisterial  inquiry  does  not  appear. 
It  may  seem  surprising  that  Scrope  Bernard  should  not 
have  had  enough  of  such  petty  annoyances  at  Winchendon, 
and  should  have  cared  to  involve  himself  with  more  land. 
But  at  the  time  of  this  outbreak  he  had  not  only  become 
the  lord  of  the  Kimble  manors,  but  had  also  taken  a  lease  of 
a  mansion  in  the  adjoining  parish  of  Ellesborough.  There 
v^as  no  gentleman's  house  on  his  nev\^  property — a  manor- 
house  and  another  old  residence  had  been  almost  demolished 
in  the  course  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  mansion  taken 
by  Mr.  Bernard  was  called  Chequers,^  and  was  to  be  let 
during  the  minority  of  its  owner  Sir  John  Eussell.  Mr. 
Bernard's  reasons  for  occupying  the  house  are  stated  in  a 
letter,^  written  from  Salisbury  to  a  Mr.  Powlett,  two  years 
later,  when  he  was  already  thinking  of  sub-letting  the 
place : 

When  your  letter  arrived  I  was  absent  on  the  duty  of  escorting 

'  It  is  now  generally  called  Chequers  Court,  but  was   then  known  as 
Chequers,  Checkers,  or  Chakers,'  &c. 
*  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon  (Rough  Draft). 


T^HIi  CHEQUiiES  161 

some  French  pvisoners  to  Warminster ;  else,  I  should  have 
answered  it  by  return  of  post.  .  .  .  The  house  in  question 
(Checkers  near  Missenden  and  Wendover)  is  not  my  property, 
and  I  am  the  more  particular  in  letting  it  on  that  account.  My 
own  house  in  Bucks  (Winchendon)  being  situated  at  a  less  con- 
venient distance  from  London,  I  lett  it  to  another  person,  and 
have  taken  this  of  Sir  John  Eussell's  Executors  upon  a  lease 
during  his  minority.  .  .  .  There  is  some  account  of  the  House  and 
Pictures  in  the  2nd  Vol.  of  the  Memoirs  of  Cromwell's  family 
under  the  head  of  Eussell. 

If  I  may  trust  to  the  statement  of  my  uncle  Frank,  or 
Francis,  who  was  under  two  years  of  age  when  my  father 
took  Chequers,  Winchendon  was  let  to  a  man  who  wished  to 
start  a  paper-mill  there.  This  was  a  hobby  of  the  day, 
intended  to  develop  the  resources  of  the  country ;  but  it 
was  very  soon  stigmatised  as  an  injury  to  the  poor,  on 
account  of  the  number  of  corn-mills  it  suppressed — probably 
the  hobby  was  over-ridden.  At  Winchendon,  as  I  have 
heard,  it  did  not  succeed,  and  the  paper-mill  soon  gave  up 
business,  which  must  have  had  the  accompanying  result  of 
throwing  the  manor  house  at  Nether  Winchendon  once 
more  on  Mr.  Bernard's  hands.  During  the  period  of  the 
paper-mill  enterprise,  I  imagine  that  the  old  corn-mill  in  the 
Grove  ^  v^as  demolished ;  as  I  learned  from  an  old  inhabi- 
tant, both  existed  for  some  time  together  and  gave  employ- 
ment jointly  to  the  parishioners.  In  all  likelihood  the  corn- 
mill  was  out  of  repair  and  paying  badly  when  the  idea  of  a 
rival  was  started  ;  and,  when  that  project  failed,  the  new 
building  became  the  village  corn-mill.  It  stands  at  the 
end  of  the  Grove  nearest  the  manor  house. 

Scrope  Bernard's  new  residence  at  Chequers  was  natur- 
ally a  subject  of  much  curiosity  amongst  his  relatives.  The 
mansion  at  that  time  still  preserved  its  Tudor  appearance, 
but  has  since  been  much  modernised.  It  was  situated  in 
the  romantic  region  of  the  Chilterns,  and  Velvet  Lawn,  the 
well-known  resort  for  picnic  parties,  is  on  the  estate  within 
a  short  distance  of   the  house.     Lipscomb  describes  ^  this 

'  See  vol.  i.,  ch.  vii.,  of  this  Family  History. 
*  Lipscomb,  Hist.  Bucks,  vol.  ii.,  '  Ellesborough.' 


152  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

mansion  as  '  situated  in  a  little  valley  S.S.E.  of  the  parish 
church,  and  surrounded  by  irregular  eminences,  clothed  to 
their  summits  with  beech  trees,  interspersed  with  box,  larch, 
and  holly,  in  a  very  picturesque  manner.'  Like  many  old 
houses  it  was  not  so  placed  as  to  command  a  distant  view, 
as  it  easily  might  have  been.  The  most  marked  feature  of 
the  interior  was  a  gallery  seventy-five  feet  long,  with 
mullioned  windows;  and  it  contained  many  portraits  and 
other  memorials  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  his  family,  and  connec- 
tions, brought  there  by  the  Eussells.  Altogether  the  excite- 
ment in  the  Bernard  family  was  fully  justified. 

Thomas  Bernard  wrote  ^  in  1792,  expressing  his  fears 
that  business  might  prevent  him  from  paying  it  a  visit  : 
'  unless  we  were  to  run  to  you  with  posthorses,  take  an  early 
dinner,  and  return  the  same  day.'  Jane  White  writes  also 
from  London,  thanking  Scrope  for  his  offer  to  meet  her  and 
her  daughter  Amelia  at  Chalfont : 

We  will  be  there  on  Wednesday  before  one  o'clock,  (no  very 
extraordinary  accident  preventing,)  and  in  case  you  should  find 
your  whiskey  horse  lame,  or  anything  should  hinder  your  meeting 
us,  we  will  come  quietly  on  to  tea.  Shall  be  exceedingly  glad  to 
spend  two  or  three  quiet  days  with  dear  Sis,  and  get  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  our  pretty  cousins. 

A  '  whiskey  '  was  then  a  favourite  kind  of  carriage.  The 
letter  concludes : 

If  you  have  an  opportunity  of  acquainting  the  good  folks  at 
Wendover  that  I  bring  down  Julia's  commission  I  shall  be  obliged 
to  you. 

The  Kings  appear  to  have  been  staying  at  Wendover 
about  the  same  time ;  and  Mr.  King  writes  his  regrets  at 
being  prevented  by  a  severe  cold  from  accompanying  Fanny 
in  her  walks  to  Chequers.  Then — after  expressing  his  dis- 
appointment at  missing  Mr.  Bernard  in  town — he  adds  : 

I  was  also  not  a  little  mortified  in  not  having  the  opportunity 

'  The  family  letters  here  quoted  are  all  in  BIS.  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


A   LANDOWNEK'S  ANNOYANCES  153 

to  hear  your  grcand  debate  '  on  the  Eeform,  when  I  find  Mr.  Pitt 
spoke  as  never  man  spoke  before  in  that  house. 

The  people  of  the  Chiltern  district  were  not  an  ideal 
race,  and  Mr.  Bernard  encountered  on  his  Kimble  property 
annoyances  of  the  same  description  as  in  the  Thame  valley. 
The  following  epistle  illustrates  this  statement  : 

Sir,  I  made  bold  to  trouble  you  with  afuo  lines  to  let  you  no 
[sic]  that  I  &  my  Servant  man  have  catched  John  Delitield  your 
Hous  keeper  furiting  in  my  warren  with  Several  nets  at  Cooms  : 
it  was  within  the  bounds  of  ragelton's  halloway.  I  asked  him 
what  business  he  had  furiting  there  ;  he  told  me  he  wanted  some 
Eabbits  and  would  have  some  Let  them  be  whose  the  would,  he 
was  very  impertint  indeed  to  me  &  said  it  was  not  my  warren. 

I  thot  it  best  to  Let  your  Hon""  no  of  it  that  I  might  have  your 
advice  in  it  before  I  purseed  any  further  it  was  yesterday  the 
26  of  Dec^  he  was  there  great  part  of  the  day. 

S""  I  am  your  Ho'"  Humble  St 

Josh  Wakd. 
Kimble  Warren— Wendover— Bucks 
27  Dr  1792. 

As  to  the  rights  of  the  parties  in  this  controversy  I  am 
unable  to  form  an  opinion.  Occurrences  of  this  description, 
no  doubt,  took  place  on  both  estates  year  by  year;  but  the 
details  already  given  may  suffice. 

How  far  the  anarchy  in  France,  combined  with  the 
gradual  rise  in  price  of  many  necessary  articles,  especially 
bread,  in  this  country,  had  disposed  the  minds  of  the  lower 
classes  to  lawlessness,  I  cannot  say  ;  but  there  was  much 
alarm  in  England,  and  a  royal  proclamation  had  been  issued 
on  May  21,  1792,  requiring  all  magistrates  and  civil  officers 
to  exert  themselves,  '  for  the  Suppression  of  divers  wicked 
and  seditious  Writings,  published  and  industriously  dispersed 
with  a  view  to  excite  Discontents,  Tumults,  and  Disorders, 
in  this  Eealm.'  But,  whatever  may  have  been  the  momen- 
tary effect  of  this  proclamation,  the  treasonable  practices 
were  very  soon  resumed,  and  a  printed  admonition  was  sent 

'  For  particulars  of  this  debate,  see  Belsham,  Memoirs  of  tlie  Reign  oj 
George  III.,  vol.  iv.,  book  xxiv.  (Sixth  Edition). 


154  THE  BBENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

by  the  Home  Secretary,  dated  November  4,  addressed 
apparently  to  all  the  Lords  Lieutenant  of  counties.  The 
copy  sent  to  the  Marquess  of  Buckingham  ^  informs  him  of : 
His  Majesty's  directions  that  it  should  be  given  in  charge  to 
the  Grand  Jury,  at  the  next  ensuing  General  Quarter  Sessions 
of  the  Peace  for  the  County  of  Buckingham,  diligently  to 
enquire  and  true  Presentment  to  make  of  all  such  wicked  and 
seditious  writings  so  published  and  industriously  spread  as  afore- 
said within  the  said  County,  as  shall  be  given  to  them  in  charge, 
or  shall  otherwise  come  to  their  Knowledge;  in  order  that  the 
Authors,  Printers,  PubHshers  and  Distributors  of  all  such  wicked 
and  seditious  writings  as  aforesaid,  may  be  severally  dealt  with 
according  to  Law. 

This  severe  injunction  the  Marquess  of  Buckingham 
qualified  v/ith  a  few  gracious  words;  perhaps  he  really 
thought  it  inapplicable  to  his  county.  In  any  case  he 
addressed  the  magistrates  as  follows  : 

Stowe,  November  26th  1792 
Sir, — I  have  the  Honor  of  sending  you  a  Copy  of  a  Letter  which 
I  have  received  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  notifying  to  me  the 
King's  Commands,  respecting  the  charge  to  be  given  by  the 
Magistrates  at  the  ensuing  Quarter  Sessions  for  this  County  to 
the  Grand  Jury.  And  I  am  happy  at  the  same  time  to  express, 
from  a  long  and  intimate  knowledge  of  the  Magistracy,  and  of  the 
Inhabitants  at  large  of  this  respectable  County,  my  fullest  persua- 
sion that  no  District  in  the  King's  dominions  stands  less  in  need 
of  this  Proof  of  his  Majesty's  paternal  sohcitude  for  the  Security 
and  Happiness  of  his  People,  exciting  us  to  the  faithful  Discharge 
of  our  judicial  Duties,  and  to  every  exertion  for  the  support  of 
our  happy  Constitution 

I  am 
Your  very  faithful 

and  obedient  Servant 

Nugent  Buckingham 
By  order  of  the  Gustos  Eotulorum 
Acton  Chaplin 

Clerk  of  the  Peace. 

The  stream  of  emigration  from  France  bad  begun  in 
1791 ;  the  refugees  at  that  period  consisted  chiefly  of  the 
noblesse,   but  as  time  went  on    many  persons   of  less  pre- 

'  All  the  documents  referred  to  in  the  test  are  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


EMIGEATION  FKOM  FEANCE  155 

tension  were  thankful  to  escape.  In  1792  Lille  was  besieged 
by  the  Austrians,  armed  against  the  French  Republic.  This 
war  appears  to  have  driven  to  England  a  family,  named 
Descoeiille,  who  had  been  intimate  with  Scrope  Bernard 
when  he  stayed  at  Lille,  and  who  seem  to  have  now  quartered 
themselves  on  the  Bernards.  In  virtue  of  their  acquaintance 
with  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Storer,  no  doubt,  they  were  received  by 
the  Marquess  and  Marchioness  of  Buckingham,  and  possibly 
they  may  have  been  persons  of  some  importance  in  their 
own  neighbourhood,  but  their  letters  are  not  calculated  to 
impress  the  reader  with  an  idea  of  high  culture. 

In  a  letter  from  Wivenhoe,  written  in  March  1794, 
Madame  Descoeiille  reminds  Scrope  Bernard  of  an  offer  he 
had  made  them  of  Winchendon  for  a  few  weeks,  and  asks  if 
they  may  now  go  there,  because  Wivenhoe  is  full  of  visitors 
to  the  baths,  and  all  lodgings  still  vacant,  very  dear — or,  if 
it  is  possible,  they  would  prefer  to  stay  in  the  Bernard's 
London  house,  supposing  it  to  be  empty,  as  more  convenient 
for  lodging-hunting.  Probably  they  did  not  visit  Win- 
chendon, which  was  let,  but  were  invited  to  the  London 
house,  though  it  was  not  empty,  since  Mrs.  Scrope  Bernard 
writes  to  her  mother,  after  mentioning  that  a  harper  had 
been  to  her  house  to  hear  '  Madge '  play,  with  a  view  to  de- 
ciding whether  she  should  take  lessons  : 

The  Descoeiille  family  hanging  on  us  is  not  a  pleasant  affair 
when  things  are  so  dear— washing,  meat,  &  etceteras — to  people 
that  have  a  family  of  their  own ;  and  they,  poor  creatures,  can't 
pay  for  anything  themselves. 

The  Descoeiilles  professed  an  intention  of  returning  to 
Lille,  where  their  property  was  situated,  when  both  armies 
should  have  left  the  neighbourhood,  and  no  doubt  they  meant 
what  they  said,  but  they  were  hindered  by  the  course  of 
events,  and  remained  in  England  many  years — not,  it  may 
be  hoped,  in  the  same  helpless  condition. 

It  was  natural  that  great  difference  of  opinion  should 
exist  in  England  as  to  the  expediency  of  going  to  war  with 
France — that  is,  with  any  of  the  Governments  of  the  Eevolu- 


156  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

tion.  But,  *  the  English  Ministers,'  says  Lecky,  '  still 
carried  their  desire  to  be  neutral  in  French  affairs  to  the 
verge,  if  not  beyond  the  verge,  of  inhumanity,'  until,  in 
February,  1793,  immediately  after  the  execution  of  King 
Louis  XVI.,  the  Republic  declared  war  on  England.  If  this 
was  to  be  the  final  result,  it  does  seem  a  pity  that  the 
English  did  not  arm  in  time  to  prevent  the  first  series  of 
atrocities,  and  when  armed  did  not  act  with  sufficient  skill 
and  vigour  to  check  a  continuance  of  massacre.  Some 
illustration  of  this  campaign,  under  the  Duke  of  York,  and 
of  the  beauties  of  war,  is  found  in  a  letter  forwarded  by 
Jane  White  to  her  brother  Scrope.     She  writes  : 

A  tenant  of  Mrs.  Whetham's  has  received  a  letter  from  his  son 
in  the  2nd  Dragoons ;  it  is  penned  with  such  simplicity  and  spirit 
that  I  send  you  a  copy  of  it.  You  may  take  an  extract  for  the 
news,  if  you  like  it,  leaving  out  the  name.  Miss  Crawford  was 
here  this  morning  (with  Lady  Lincoln) — her  brother  is  in  the 
same  Eeg^  and  she  was  much  pleased  with  it.  The  letter  is  as 
follows : 

Ghent  Jan.  19tli  '94. 

Honoured  Father  and  Mother, — This  comes  with  my  very 
kind  love  to  you  and  hopes  you  and  Brother  and  Sister  is  well,  as 
this  leaves  me.  I  bless  God  for  it.  We  are  in  winter  quarters  at 
present,  and  we  shall  remain  here  until  we  take  our  quarters  in 
the  field.  We  have  30,000  French  lies  within  15  miles  of  us  now, 
they  be  under  Hedges  or  any  where  they  can  get ;  they  are  almost 
starved  to  Death.  We  have  25,000  of  the  Turks  to  join  us  on  the 
1st  of  Feby.  I  should  have  wrote  before  but  we  have  not  been 
settled  long.  All  the  Summer  after  retreating  from  Dunkirk,  we 
was  marching  about,  but  will  be  at  Dunkirk  again  betimes  at 
Spring  and  give  them  a  proper  dressing,  and  Lyle  too  we  will 
have,  for  we  have  got  a  fine  army  for  them,  and  we  are  the  Boys 
thats  not  affraid  to  face  them  though  they  send  their  Cannon  Balls 
ever  so  hot.  We  gave  them  several  good  dressings  before  we  left 
Camp.  We  went  within  two  miles  of  Lyle  and  cut  280  all  to 
pieces,  we  did  not  leave  one  to  tell  tales,  that's  bravo.  We  lost  3 
men  that  day  all  shot  through  the  head  ;  2  died  instantly,  the  other 
came  to  the  Hospital  and  died  there  in  3  days.  I  have  a  great 
deal  of  news  what  has  happened  this  autumn,  but  I  cannot  have 
time   to  send  any  now.     We  have  got   as  good  meat  as  any  in 


THE  BEAUTIES  OF  WAR  157 

England  and  cheap  3'-^-  pr  pound ;  and  all  kinds  of  garden  stuff 
very  reasonable.  The  best  Beer  is  no  better  than  good  English 
small  Beer ;  Gin  we  have  got  plenty,  and  very  cheap.  Please  to 
let  me  have  an  answer  as  soon  as  possible,  and  direct  to  me  2nd 
Dragn.  Gds.  with  the  Duke  of  York's  army  Ghent  French 
Flanders. 

I  am  your  Son 
W.  P. 
N.B.     This  is  far  more  plentiful  place  than  England. 

From  the  tone  of  Mrs.  White's  letters  it  would  seem  that 
she  and  Scrope  Bernard  were  both  in  favour  of  keeping  up 
the  contest,  a  point  still  warmly  debated.  In  the  same 
letter  she  writes  : 

Mr.  Grey  has  made  a  foolish  piece  of  work  at  Nottingham, 
&  we  have  just  got  a  copy  of  a  letter  he  directed  as  I  understand 
to  be  written  to  his  Party  there,  &  then,  by  a  mistake  of  the  Xtian 
name  in  his  Frank,  it  was  sent  to  a  person  of  sentiments  totally 
different,  &  they  had  it  printed  in  a  Handbill  &  circulated  about 
the  Town  ;  the  chief  purport  of  it  to  desire  they  will  get  petitions 
against  the  war  signed  as  quickly  as  possible,  &  that  further 
instructions  should  be  sent  next  post ;  it  is  understood  here  that 
he  wants  to  provoke  Ministry  to  arrest  him.  Lady  Lincoln  was 
so  anxious  to  show  it  Lord  L.  that  I  could  not  ask  to  keep  it,  but 
her  LadyP  will  return  it  on  Saturday. 

I  scarcely  need  tell  you  Mr.  White  and  My  young  folks  are 
very  well ;  I  should  hardly  be  so  bad  a  wife  as  to  be  here  if  they 
were  not. 

This  letter  was  written  from  Mrs.  Whetham's 
'beautiful  place'  at  Kirklington,  while  on  the  way,  from 
Lincoln  to  London.  The  lady  of  the  house  apparently 
required  the  presence  of  some  friend  owing  to  her  weak 
state  of  health,  for  Mrs.  White  had  previously  written  : 

I  am  going  home  on  Tuesday  next,  on  which  day  I  hope 
Mrs.  Manners  Sutton  will  meet  me  at  Newark  and  return  here  in 
Mrs.  Whetham's  coach.     Mrs.  Whetham  has  been  extremely  ill. 

In  another  letter  it  appears  that  this  lady  required  a 
house  in  town  for  three  months,  '  somewhere  towards  Pic- 
cadilly, Berkley  Square,  Grosvenor  Square,  or  Hanover  Sq.' 

In  due  time  Mrs.  White  forwarded  the  erring  document 


158  THE  BEENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

to  her  brother.     Her  letter  is  dated  '  Kirklington  Febj'  '94.' 
She  writes : 

The  paper  I  mentioned  to  you  as  printed  at  Nottingham  is 
returned  to  night  &  I  send  you  a  copy  of   it.     I  believe  Sir  E. 

Sutton  has  sent  one  to  the  Speaker  of  H.  of  C or  some  friends. 

I  don't  know  any  one  who  has  seen  the  original  letter.     The  docu- 
ment as  made  pubhc  at  Nottingham  was  headed 

'  Here  is 

Nottingham  all  on  an  Uproar — or 

a  change  in  the  postmen — being  a  general  mistake 

for  the  good  of  the  country 

Copy  of  a  Letter  sent  to  Citizens  S y  W g  &  W m 

dx. — of  Nottingham 
Citizens 

Charles  G y  Esq  M  P  requested  me  to  inform  you — 

That  he  could  wish  all  societies  or  as  many  Towns  as  coidcl 
he  got,  to  petition  again  for  Peace.  But  not  to  petition  the  King 
(except  you  petition  the  Commons  at  the  same  time)  for  petitions 
to  the  King  would  only  be  lodged  in  the  Secretary  of  State's  office, 
&  the  Ministry  would  advise  the  King  to  return  no  answer !  ! 

P.S.— On  Monday  between  1000  &  1400  of  the  London 
corresponding  Society  met  at  the  Globe  Tavern  ;  they  passed  very 
spirited  Eesolutions,  which  you  will  receive  to-morrow. 

Note,  500  dined  at  the  above  Tavern 
I  am,  Citizens,  a  Friend  to  Freedom 
No  9  Piccadilly  JoHN  Har SON  ' 

On  February  1,  1793,  in  the  midst  of  the  agitation  conse- 
quent on  King  Louis's  violent  death,  died  William  Wildman, 
second  Viscount  Barrington,  whose  name  has  been  often  men- 
tioned in  these  pages.  He  had  been  a  kind  friend  to  Sir 
Francis  Bernard  and  his  family,  and  in  his  private  capacity 
apparently  continued  such  to  the  last.  His  political  influence 
had  no  doubt  waned,  since  he  had  lived  many  years  out  of 
office.^  Of  his  public  reputation  it  is  unnecessary  to  speak  ; 
his  untiring  devotion  to  the  Crown,  under  all  circumstances, 
led  to  much  animadversion.  Lecky,  however,  gives  him  full 
credit  for  purity  of  motive. 

With  the  nephew  who  succeeded  him  as  third  Viscount, 

'  According  to  Burke,  Peerage,  &c.,  he  had  been  out  of  oflfice  ever  since  1778. 


FRIENDSHIP  WITH  THE   BARRINGTONS        159 

the  eldest  son  of  his  deceased  brother,  General  John  Barring- 
ton — with  the  General's  two  younger  sons,  who  became  suc- 
cessively fourth  and  fifth  Viscounts,  and  with  their  sister,  Mrs. 
Tristram,  afterwards  Mrs.  Cooke,  the  'Louisa'  of  Mr. 
Browne's  letters — the  Bernard  family  continued  on  terms  of 
social  intimacy  for  many  years  longer ;  but  the  passing  away  of 
that  generation  and  the  course  of  events  at  last  broke  the  tie. 

In  1793,  Scrope  Bernard's  fifth  son,  Kichard  Scrope,  was 
born  ;  and  on  February  11,  1797,  his  second  daughter,  Mary 
Ann.  Unfortunately  Mrs.  Bernard  never  recovered  her  health 
after  the  birth  of  this  child  ;  she  continued  to  watch  over  her 
family,  and  to  entertain  her  friends,  but  always  with  more 
or  less  effort. 

Another  General  Election  took  place  in  1796.  There  was 
no  contest  at  Aylesbury,  where  Scrope  Bernard  and  Colonel 
Lake  were  re-elected. 

During  these  years  Scrope  Bernard  evidently  practised  to 
a  certain  extent  as  an  advocate,  but,  owing  to  the  fact  of  his 
having  started  late,  I  do  not  think  that  he  ever  had  a  large 
business.  The  author  of  an  *  Obituary  Notice ' — who  was 
perhaps  a  relation — suggests  that  he  entered  this  profession 
in  order  to  qualify  for  the  post  of  Judge  of  the  Episcopal 
Court  of  Durham.  Bishop  Barrington,  however,  was  not 
translated  to  that  See  until  1792,  three  years  later  than 
Mr.  Bernard's  call.  He  did  eventually  obtain  the  office,  but  I 
am  uncertain  how  soon  after  that  date.  He  retained  his 
chambers  in  Doctors'  Commons  until  1800,  at  least,  as 
appears  by  a  boyish  letter  from  his  eldest  son,  Wilham,  asking 
leave  to  go  and  see  him  there.  Eventually  his  calling  in  life 
was  settled  by  the  offer  of  a  partnership  in  Eansom  and 
Morland's  bank.^ 

During  this  period,  his  elder  brother  Thomas  was  com- 
mencing his  course  of  philanthropic  labours  ;  but  before 
proceeding  to  relate  any  details  of  his  work,  it  seems 
desirable  to  state  the  few  particulars  known  respecting  the 
unfortunate  head  of  the  family.  Sir  John  Bernard. 

'  The  style  of  the  Firm  in  1788  was  '  Eansom,  Morland  &Hammersley,'  as 
appears  by  a  letter  so  signed. 


160  THE  BERNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 


CHAPTER   IX 

SIR   JOHN   BERNARD 

Sir  John  Bernard's  Prospects— The   First  Massachusetts  Act  of  Confiscation 

Proscriptions  in  New  York— Poverty  of  Sir  John  Bernard— The  American 

Loyahsts— Ministerial  Changes— Sir  John  Bernard's  Claims  upon  the 
Government— Sabine's  unsympathetic  Account  of  Sir  John's  Life— Contrast 
between  his  Situation  and  that  of  Thomas  and  Scrope  Bernard— Sir  John's 
Return  to  England— The  alleged  Restoration  to  him  of  Mount  Desert  Island 
—Efforts  of  the  Family  to  dissuade  him  from  Returning  to  America— His 
Visit  to  France— He  is  appointed  to  an  Office  in  Barbados— He  receives  tardy 
Compensation  for  Losses  in  America— His  Life  in  Dominica— His  Death. 

Sir  John  Bernard's  history  is  a  melancholy  record  of  a  Hfe 
with  a  bright  dawn,  gradually  darkening  until,  after  the 
midday  storms,  it  set  in  persistent  gloom.  In  his  youth 
welcomed  and  courted  as  the  Governor's  son  he  had  every 
prospect  of  becoming — as  a  large  landowner  and  successful 
merchant — one  of  the  most  important  persons  in  the 
Province  of  Massachusetts.  A  few  years  saw  him  beggared 
and  outlawed. 

It  has  been  stated  that  Sir  Francis,  notwithstanding 
his  experience  of  American  character,  did  not  believe  the 
revolutionary  governments  to  be  capable  of  carrying  into 
execution  acts  of  arbitrary  confiscation  ;  and  even  if  John's 
apprehensions  were  roused,  he,  as  well  as  the  Governor's 
other  children,  may  have  refrained  from  urging  his  own 
view  of  the  situation  on  a  father  who  was  evidently 
sinking,  since  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  any  member  of  the 
family,  or  of  all  the  members  collectively,  to  avert  the  blow. 

The  first  Massachusetts  Act  of  Confiscation,^  was  pub- 
lished in  the  *  London  Evening,'  of  July  18,  1779,  and  no 
doubt  in  other  papers.     How  long  previously  John  Bernard 

'  Hutchinson,  Diary  and  Letters,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  vi. 


LOYALISTS  IN   MASSACHUSETTS  161 

had  known  of  its  promulgation  in  America  depends  on  his 
abode  at  the  time,  whether  in  Boston  or  the  neighbour- 
hood, or  far  away,  in  or  near  Mount  Desert ;  but  it  must 
have  been  soon  followed  by  the  news  of  his  father's  death, 
which  made  him  a  baronet,  but  completed  his  ruin,  because 
Sir  Francis,  supposing  that  he  had  provided  for  his  eldest 
son  as  amply  as  his  means  allowed,  by  bequeathing  to  him 
the  greater  part  of  his  American  property,  had  left  him  very 
little  besides.  The  war,  indeed,  still  dragged  on,  and  upon 
its  issue  depended  the  ultimate  result  of  the  American  Acts  ; 
for  this  reason,  apparently.  Sir  John  resolved  on  returning,  to 
hold  his  own,  if  possible,  in  the  face  of  all  obstacles. 

In  Massachusetts  (writes  Sabine)  ^  a  person  suspected  of 
enmity  to  the  Whig  cause  could  be  arrested  under  a  magistrate's 
warrant  and  banished,  unless  he  would  swear  fealty  to  the  friends 
of  liberty,  and  the  Selectmen  of  towns  could  prefer  charges  of 
political  treachery  in  town  meeting,  and  the  individual  thus 
accused,  if  convicted  by  a  jury,  could  be  sent  into  the  enemy's 
jurisdiction.  Massachusetts  also  designated  by  name,  and  gene- 
rally by  occupation  and  residence,  three  hundred  and  eight  of  her 
people,  of  whom  seventeen  had  been  inhabitants  of  Maine,  who 
had  fled  from  their  homes,  and  denounced  against  any  one  of 
them  who  should  return,  apprehension,  imprisonment  and  trans- 
portation to  a  place  possessed  by  the  British,  and  for  a  second 
voluntary  return,  without  leave,  death  without  benefit  of  clergy. 
By  another  law,  the  property  of  twenty-nine  persons,  who  were 
denominated  '  notorious  conspirators,'  was  confiscated.  Of  these, 
fifteen  had  been  appointed  '  mandamus  councillors,'  two  had  been 
governors,  one  lieutenant-governor,  one  treasurer,  one  attorney- 
general,  one  chief  justice,  and  four  commissioners  of  the  customs. 

The  county  committees  received  power  to  pass  sentences 
of  imprisonment  and  banishment  on  suspected  persons. 

It  has  been  mentioned  that  Governor  Sir  Francis 
Bernard  possessed  30,000  acres  in  the  Province  of  New 
York.^     There   measures   of   proscription   and   confiscation 

'  Sabine,   The  American  Loyalists ;  Prelimiimry  Bemarks  or  Historical 
Essay,  p.  78. 

*  See  vol.  i.  of  this  Work,  chap,  xiv.,  p.  316, 

VOL.   III.  M 


162  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

soon  followed.     Governor  Hutchinson  writes,  on  February  6, 
1780 :  ^ 

A  newspaper  from  New  York  of  Dec  15*^*  contains  an  Act  of 
the  new  State,  confiscating  the  estates  of  a  great  number  of 
persons  beginning  with  Lord  Dunmore,  their  former  Governor, 
Tryon,  their  last  Governor ;  and  goes  on  with  Watts,  and  four  or 
five  more  of  the  Council,  and  a  great  number  of  others  ;  and  con- 
cludes with  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  and  banishes  them  all  upon  pain 
of  death. 

It  is  probable  that  news  of  this  further  deprivation — for 
it  is  almost  certain  that  the  Bernard  estates  would  be  among 
the  first  annexed — reached  Sir  John  before  he  left  England. 
Sabine  states  ^  that '  the  effects  of  fifty-nine  persons,  of  whom 
three  were  women,  and  their  rights  of  remainder  and  rever- 
sion,were  to  pass  by  confiscation,  from  them,  to  the  "people." ' 
The  loss  was  lessened,  perhaps,  in  the  Bernard  case,  by  the 
fact  that  Sir  Francis  had  not  begun  to  settle  these  lands. ^ 
In  New  York  the  liberty  of  suspected  persons  was  at  the 
mercy  of  the  '  County  Committees.'  In  most  of  the  other 
states  analogous  regulations  were  made. 

Mr.  Hutchinson  ^  wrote  on  this  subject : 

I  have  read  the  histories  of  most  of  the  civil  dissentions  of 
which  we,  in  the  present  age  of  the  world,  have  any  knowledge  ; 
but  I  have  not  met  with  an  instance  equally  arbitraiy,  revengeful 
and  severe,  with  the  Acts  of  the  new  State  of  Mass  Bay. 

Mr.  Jay,  a  distinguished  adherent  of  the  new  Govern- 
ments, who  a  little  later  was  appointed,  with  Franklin  and 
John  Adams,  one  of  the  plenipotentiaries  in  the  peace  nego- 
tiations, wrote,  in  a  letter  to  Governor  Clinton,  dated  Madrid, 
May  6,  1780  : ' 

An  English  paper  contains  what  they  call,  but  I  can  hardly 
believe  to  be,  your  Confiscation  Act.     If  truly  printed,  New  York  is 

'  Diary  and  Letters  of  Govertwr  Hutchinson,  by  Peter  Orlando  Hutchinson, 
one  of  his  great-grandsons,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  viii. 

-  Sabine,  The  American  Loyalists ;  Preliminary  Remarks,  p.  79. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  78. 

■*  Hutchinson,  Diary  and  Letters,  vol.  ii.,  extract  from  '  The  Governor  to 
J.  Putnam,  Aug.  3,  1779,  in  Letter  Book.'     Given  in  a  Note  to  chap.  v. 

=*  Note  to  Sabine's  T}ie  Ainerican  Loyalists  :  Preliminary  Remarks,  p.  98. 


THE  CONFISCATION  ACTS  163 

disgi'aced  by  injustice  too  palpable  to  admit  even  of  palliation. 
I  feel  for  the  honor  of  my  country,  and  therefore  beg  the  favor  of 
you  to  send  me  a  true  copy  of  it ;  that  if  the  other  be  false,  I  may, 
by  publishing  yours,  remove  the  prejudice  against  you  occasioned 
by  the  former. 

Contrary  to  Mr.  Jay's  belief,  the  copy  seen  by  him  was 
authentic  ;  he  never  changed  the  opinion  here  expressed  to 
Governor  Clinton.     Elsewhere  Sabine  states  that :  ' 

Mr.  Jay's  disgust  was  unconquerable,  and  he  never  would 
purchase  any  lands  that  had  been  forfeited  under  the  Confiscation 
Act  of  New  York. 

Dr.  Ryerson,  a  Canadian,  descended  from  American 
Loyalists,  and,  writing  in  the  nineteenth  century,  puts  the 
matter  in  a  strong  light :  ^ 

The  Draconian  Code  or  the  Spanish  Inquisition  can  hardly 
be  said  to  exceed  in  severity  and  intolerance  the  acts  of  the 
several  State  Legislatures  and  Committees  above  quoted,  in 
which  mere  opinions  are  declared  to  be  treason,  as  also  the 
refusal  to  renounce  a  solemn  oath  of  allegiance.  The  very  place 
of  residence,  the  non-presenting  oneself  to  be  tried  as  a  traitor, 
the  mere  suspicion  of  holding  loyaUst  opinions,  involved  the  loss 
of  liberty  and  property.  Scores  of  persons  were  made  criminals 
not  after  trial  by  a  verdict  of  a  regularly  empannelled  jury,  but  by 
name  in  Acts  or  Kesolutions  of  Legislatures  ;  and  sometimes  of 
Committees.  No  modern  civilized  country  has  presented  such  a 
spectacle  of  the  wholesale  disposal  by  name,  of  the  rights, 
liberties,  and  properties,  and  even  lives  of  citizens,  by  inquisition 
and  various  bodies,  as  was  here  presented  against  the  Loyalists 
guilty  of  no  crime  against  their  neighbours  except  holding  to  the 
opinion  of  their  forefathers,  and  the  former  opinions  of  their 
present  persecutors,  who  had  usurped  the  power  to  rob,  banish, 
and  destroy  them — who  embodied  in  themselves  at  one  and  the 
same  time,  the  functions  of  law  makers,  law  judges,  and  law 
executioners,  and  the  receivers  and  disposers,  or,  as  was  the  case, 
the  possessors  of  the  property  which  they  confiscated  against  the 
Loyalists. 

'  The  Aviei-ican  Loyalists  :  Preliminary  RemarJcs,  p.  94. 

-  Eyerson  (Dr.  Egerton),  Chief  Superintendent  of  Education  for  Upper 
Canada  from  1844  to  1876.  The  Loyalists  of  America  and  tJieir  Times,  vol.  ii., 
chap,  xxxvi.  (Toronto  and  Montreal,  1880). 


164  THE  BERNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

That  Sir  John  Bernard  should  have  escaped  persecution 
under  this  Draconian  Code  is  ahnost  impossible.  I  have, 
however,  very  little  information  concerning  his  life  at  this 
period.  His  brother  Thomas  stated,  in  words  already  quoted, 
that  he  ^  *  underwent  a  series  of  confinements  and  sufferings 
in  America,'  but  the  particulars  do  not  appear  ;  and  the 
short  biographical  article  which  Sabine  has  allotted  to  the 
Governor's  ill-fated  son  makes  no  mention  of  any  arrest  or 
even  threat  of  imprisonment ;  but  he  writes  of  course  with 
an  American  bias.     He  merely  says  of  Sir  John  :  ^ 

Soon  after  the  Revolution  he  was  in  abject  poverty,  and  the 
misfortunes  of  himself  and  his  family  seem  to  have  unsettled  his 
mind.  When,  in  1769,  Sir  Francis  was  recalled  from  the  govern- 
ment of  Massachusetts,  he  possessed  a  considerable  landed  estate 
in  Maine,  of  which  the  large  island  of  Mount  Desert,  Moose 
Island  (now  Eastport),  and  some  territory  on  the  main,  formed  a 
part.  John,  at  or  about  the  time  of  his  father's  departure  had  an 
agency  for  the  settlement  of  these  and  other  lands  ;  and  probably 
until  the  confiscation  of  his  father's  property  in  1778  was  in  com- 
fortable circumstances.  His  place  of  residence  during  the  war 
appears  to  have  been  at  Bath,  though  he  was  sometimes  at 
Machias. 

The  only  '  Bath,'  on  Massachusetts  territory,  which  I 
have  found  in  a  '  Gazetteer,'  ^  is  described  as  '  a  village  in  Lin- 
coln County,  165  miles  N.E.  from  Boston.'  '  Machias,'  which, 
according  to  Sabine,  had  been  formerly  called  '  Mechisses,' 
was  much  further  north,  now  in  Washington  County,  Maine, 
'  situated  in  a  bay  of  its  own  name.  There  are  two  consider- 
able villages  of  this  name  within  the  township,  one  at  the 
falls  of  the  east  branch  of  Machias  river,  the  other  at  the 
falls  of  the  west  branch.' 

In  Sir  John  Bernard's  time  these  villages  can  scarcely  be 
said  to  have  existed.  There  seems  to  have  been  only  a  fierce 
population  of  'loggers'  and  *  sawyers,' *  whose  habitations 

'  Life  of  Sir  Francis  Bernard.     (By  one  of  his  Sons.) 

*  Sabine,  The  American  Loyalists  :  'Bernard  ''Sir  John).'  p.  156. 
»  The  Edinburgh  Gazetteer  :  '  Bath,'  1822. 

*  Sabine,  The  American  Loyalists  :  Preliminary  Remarks.    These  '  loggers, 


SIK  JOHN  BEENAED'S  POVEETY  165 

were  no  doubt  very  straggling,  and  who  were  not  favourable 
to  English  rule.  Machias  ^  is  '  339  miles  from  Boston,  and 
300  by  water.' 

The  mansion  of  Governor  Bernard,  on  Jamaica  Pond, 
later  occupied  by  the  younger  Sir  William  Pepperell,  became 
the  quarters  of  the  Rhode  Island  Colonel  Miller  for  a  while, 
and  later  was  used  as  a  camp  hospital.' 

In  the  '  Life  of  John  Adams,  by  his  Son,'  much  stress  is 
laid  on  the  exertions  he  made  to  reach  Pownalborough,  on 
Kennebec  River,  to  plead  a  cause  in  1765.  The  biographer 
speaks  of  the  '  obstructions  of  nearly  impassable  roads, 
through  an  inhospitable  region,'  and  notes  that  his  father 
'  fell  sick  on  the  way  '  ;  he,  however,  arrived  in  time,  and  this 
cause,  won  under  difficult  circumstances,  was  the  starting- 
point  of  his  fame.  But  Pownal,  or  Pownalborough,  although 
Mr.  Adams  described  it  as  being  '  at  almost  the  extreme 
verge  of  civilisation,'  was  only  about  half  the  distance  of 
Machias  from  Boston ;  and  this  long  journey  Sir  John 
Bernard  had  to  travel  without  gaining  any  fame.  The 
roads  are  scarce  likely  to  have  improved  in  the  interval,  and 
latterly  what  population  there  was  must  have  been  more  or 
less  hostile. 

Perhaps  he  sometimes  tried  a  sea  voyage  by  way  of  im- 
provement ;  but  the  service,  judging  from  its  organisation 
on  more  frequented  routes,  must  also  have  been  tedious, 
comfortless,  and  perilous.  Whether  he  travelled  by  sea  or 
by  land  he  must  have  arrived  at  his  destination  only  to  find 
his  title  to  the  land  impugned,  and  his  right  to  remain  on  it 
denied. 

If  this  was  his  situation  during  the  continuance  of  the 
war,  it  must  have  been  much  aggravated  by  the  conclusion  of 
peace.      Great  Britain,  after  an  attempt  to  obtain  compen- 

and  '  sawyers,'  began  the  sea  warfare  with  England  soon  after  the  battle  of 
Lexington.  Armed  only  with  such  weapons  as  they  used  in  their  daily  work, 
they  seized  the  royal  schooner  '  Margranetto,'  mounting  four  guns  and  fourteen 
swivels. 

'  The  Edinburgh  Gazetteer,  '  Machias,'  1822. 

-'  Winsor,  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  vol.  iii..  '  The  Revolutionary  Period,' 
chap.  2.     Tlie  Siege  of  Boston,  by  Eev.  Edward  E.  Hale,  D.D. 


166  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

sation  for  her  own  adherents  from  the  now  '  United  States,' 
as  a  condition  of  that  peace  and  of  the  recognition  of 
American  Independence,  gave  way  upon  that  point,  as  on 
others.'  Defeated  and  humihated,  she  was  unable  to  obtain 
her  own  terms,  and  when,  on  September  3,  1783,  a  treaty- 
was  signed,  the  American  LoyaHsts  were  left  to  their  fate. 

The  part  of  the  treaty  with  England  which  excited  most  severe 
criticism  ^  (writes  Mr.  Lecky),  was  the  abandonment  of  the 
Loyalists.  These  unfortunate  men  had,  indeed,  a  claim  of  the 
very  strongest  kind  to  the  protection  of  England,  for  they  had  lost 
everything  in  her  cause.  Some  had  simply  fled  from  the  country 
before  mob  violence,  and  had  been  attainted  in  their  absence. 
Others  had  actually  taken  up  arms,  and  they  had  done  so  at  the 
express  invitation  of  the  English  Government  and  of  Enghsh 
Generals.  Their  abandonment  was  described  by  nearly  all  the 
members  of  the  Opposition  as  an  act  of  unqualified  baseness, 
which  would  leave  an  enduring  stain  on  the  English  name. 
'  What,'  said  Lord  North,  '  are  not  the  claims  of  those  who,  in 
conformity  to  their  allegiance,  their  cheerful  obedience  to  the 
voice  of  Parliament,  their  confidence  in  the  proclamation  of  our 
Generals,  invited,  under  every  assurance  of  military,  parliamentary, 
political,  and  affectionate  protection,  espoused  with  the  hazard  of 
their  lives,  and  the  forfeiture  of  their  properties,  the  cause  of 
Great  Britain  ? ' 

It  had  hitherto  nearly  always  been  the  custom  to  close  a 
struggle,  which  partook  largely  of  the  nature  of  Civil  War,  by 
a  generous  act  of  amnesty  and  restitution.  At  the  peace  of 
Miinster  a  general  act  of  indemnity  had  been  passed,  and  the 
partisans  of  the  Spanish  Sovereign  had  either  regained  their  con- 
fiscated properties,  or  had  been  indemnified  for  their  loss. 
A  similar  measure  had  been  exacted  in  favour  of  the  revolted 
Catalans  by  France  at  the  peace  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  by  Eng- 
land at  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  and  Spain  had  frankly  conceded  it. 
The  case  of  the  American  Loyalists  was  a  still  stronger  one,  and 
the  Opposition  emphatically  maintained  that  the  omission  of  aay 
effectual  provision  for  them  in  the  Treaty  of  Versailles,  '  unless 
marked  by  the  just  indignation  of  Parliament,  would  blast  for 
ever  the  honour  of  this  country.' 

'  Sabine,  The  American  Loyalists  :  Preliminary  Remarks. 
■  Lecky,  A  History  of  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  (Edition  1890), 
vol.  iv.,  chap,  xv.,  p.  264. 


SIE  JOHN  BEENAED'S  CLAIMS  167 

Fierce  debates  •  took  place  in  both  houses,  and  led  to  the 
resignation  of  Lord  Shelburne,^  the  Prime  Minister,  some 
months  before  the  peace  was  concluded.  A  coalition 
ministry  was  formed  by  Lord  North  and  Charles  James 
Fox ;  it  did  not  last  quite  to  the  end  of  the  year,  and  William 
Pitt  then  became  Premier. 

The  Government  had  already  begun  giving  assistance  to 
some  of  the  exiles  before  the  close  of  the  war,"*  believing  that 
only  temporary  assistance  would  be  required.  It  now  found 
a  crushing  number  of  these  unhappy  people  thrown  upon 
the  national  generosity,  or  rather  sense  of  honour.  How 
soon  Sir  John  Bernard's  brothers  began  to  plead  his  cause  I 
can  but  guess  from  Mrs.  White's  letter  of  April  29,  1782,' 
in  which  she  speaks  of  hopes  from  an  expected  change  of 
ministry.  From  time  to  time  his  father's  executors,  Thomas 
Bernard  and  Charles  White,  advanced  money  for  the  pur- 
pose of  pushing  forward  his  case.  But  it  appears  that  Sir 
John  had  not  only  the  dilatory  action  of  the  Commissioners 
appointed  for  the  consideration  of  loyalist  grievances  to  con- 
tend vdth  ;  his  claims  were  altogether  disallowed. 

In  the  '  Life  of  Sir  Francis  Bernard,  by  his  son  Thomas,' 
privately  printed  in  1790,  it  is  stated  that  Sir  John,  after  the 
'  series  of  confinements  and  sufferings  '  already  mentioned, 
was  *  almost  the  only  person  precluded  from  participating 
in  that  relief  which  British  justice  and  liberality  had  provided 
for  the  sufferers  by  the  American  War.'     In  a  note  he  adds  : 

I  had  intended  to  have  inserted  Sir  John  Bernard's  case  in  the 
Appendix  to  this  work — but  I  have  thought  it  better  to  wait  for 
some  minutes  of  evidence,  which  I  have  applied  for  to  the 
American  Board. 

There  is  reason  to  doubt  if  the  case  ever  appeared  in  any 
book  or  pamphlet ;   it  is  not  mentioned  in  the  lists  I  have 

'  Sabine,  TJie  American  Loyalists  :  Preliminary  Remarks. 

'■  Lecky,  A  History  of  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  (Edition  1890), 
vol.  iv.,  chap.  xv. 

^  Sabine,  TJie  American  Loyalists  :  Preliminary  Remarks. 

*  Given  in  Chapter  ii.  of  this  Volume.  The  Executors,  according  to  a 
memorandum  in  my  possession,  advanced  money  for  the  pui-pose  stated  above. 


168  THE  BEENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

seen  of  Thomas  Bernard's  writings/  and  no  copy  seems  to 
have  been  preserved  in  the  family,  but  the  motive  for  with- 
holding it  has  not  transpired.  Possibly  the  minutes  were 
never  obtained ;  and  a  hope  may  have  been  held  out  to  the 
relatives  that  their  requests  might  at  some  future  period 
obtain  attention,  while  in  the  meantime  silence  was  desirable, 
if  not  indispensable. 

The  narrative  of  Sir  John's  experiences  is  therefore  lost — 
which  is  to  be  regretted  ;  as,  in  addition  to  its  domestic  value, 
it  must  have  afforded  some  insight  into  the  life  of  the  time. 

The  family  considered  that  Sir  John  had  claims  in  re- 
spect :  (1)  Of  his  loss  of  the  post  of  naval  officer  to  the 
port  of  Boston.  (2)  Of  the  annihilation  of  his  business  as 
a  merchant.  (3)  Of  the  confiscation  of  his  land.  But  some 
pretext  was  found  for  ignoring  every  one  of  these  wrongs. 
Yet  the  qualification  for  redress  was  far  from  rigid,  as  will 
appear  from  the  following  list  of  classes,  given  by  Sabine,^ 
into  which  the  claimants  were  officially  divided : 

First  Class. — Those  who  had  rendered  services  to  Great 
Britain. 

Second  Class. — Those  who  had  borne  arms  for  Great  Britain. 

Third  Class. — Uniform  loyalists. 

Fourth  Class. — Loyal  British  subjects  resident  in  Great 
Britain. 

Fifth  Class. — Loyalists  who  had  taken  oaths  to  the  American 
States,  but  afterwards  joined  the  British. 

Sixth  Class. — Loyalists  who  had  borne  arms  for  the  American 
States,  but  afterwards  joined  the  British  navy  or  army. 

These  six  classes  were  eventually — in  consequence  of 
popular  clamour — placed  on  the  same  footing,  a  proceeding 
not  consonant  with  ordinary  ideas  of  justice.  There  were 
many  other  points  on  which  the  Commissioners'  decisions 
were  open  to  cavil.     Sir  John  Bernard's  difficulty  I  at  first 

'  There  is  a  complete  list— or  intended  to  be  complete— of  Sir  Thomas 
Bernard's  writings  at  the  end  of  the  biography  by  the  Rev.  James  Baker.  The 
case  is  not  there,  nor  is  it  in  the  catalogue  of  the  British  Museum,  I  believe  ; 
it  is  certainly  not  under  the  head  of  '  Bernard.' 

^  Sabine,  Tlu  American  Loyalists,  note  to  Preliminary  Remarks,  p.  105. 


AN  UNSYMPATHETIC  SKETCH  169 

supposed  to  be,  that  he  was  '  a  loyal  British  subject,'  and  yet 
not  '  resident  in  Great  Britain,'  and  so  did  not  come  within 
the  letter  of  any  one  of  the  definitions.  Yet  surely  he  had 
'  rendered  services  to  Great  Britain,'  as  naval  officer,  and  in 
sundry  other  ways.  Scrope  Bernard  indeed  ascribes  his 
exclusion  to  '  the  nature  of  his  losses.'  This  is  an  incidental 
mention  of  the  subject  in  a  letter  to  Scrope  ;  and  I  cannot 
attempt  to  explain  the  phrase.  In  his  *  Sketches  of  American 
Loyalists,'  ^  Sabine  has  given  short  notices  of  both  John  and 
Thomas  Bernard,  and  in  both  of  these  he  terms  Sir  John  '  a 
Whig,'  which,  in  American  parlance,  meant  a  favourer  of 
independence.  This,  also,  I  have  no  means  of  explaining ; 
certainly,  all  that  is  known  of  him  up  to  the  time  of  his 
visit  to  England,  in  1779,  is  inconsistent  with  this  epithet ; 
but  it  is  possible  that,  at  some  later  period,  when  he  found 
that  England  had  cast  him  off,  he  may  have  been  willing  to 
make  his  peace  with  the  revolutionary  government.  Such 
a  concession  would,  in  ordinary  circumstances,  have  been 
completely  overlooked,  on  repentance,  as  the  list  of  classes 
shows  ;  whether  the  case  of  a  Governor's  son  was  different 
it  is  impossible  to  say  without  further  evidence ;  but  Thomas 
Bernard  gives  no  hint  that  his  brother's  exclusion  was  attri- 
butable to  any  such  cause. 

The  very  unsympathetic  account  given  by  Sabine  of 
Sir  John's  troubled  life,  is  continued  as  follows : 

Not  long  after  the  peace  he  lived  at  Pleasant  Point  a  few  miles 
from  Eastport  in  a  small  hut  built  by  himself,  and  with  no  com- 
panion but  a  dog.  An  unbroken  wilderness  was  around  him. 
The  only  inhabitants  at  the  bead  of  the  tide -waters  of  St.  Croix 
were  a  few  workmen,  preparing  to  erect  a  saw-mill.  Eobbinston 
and  Perry  were  uninhabited.  Eastport  contained  a  single  family. 
Yet,  at  the  spot  now  occupied  by  the  remnant  of  the  tribe  of  the 
Passamaquoddys,  he  attempted  to  make  a  farm.  He  had  been 
bred  in  ease,  had  hardly  done  a  day's  work  in  his  life ;  and  yet  he 
believed  that  he  could  earn  a  competence  by  labour.  He  told 
those  who  saw  him,  that  '  other  young  men  went  into  the  woods, 

'  Sabine,  TJie  American  Loyalists,  '  Bernard,  Sir  Thomas,  Baronet  '— 
'  Bernard,  Sir  John.'  Thomas  is  placed  first,  out  of  the  regular  order,  for  some 
reason  which  does  not  appear. 


170  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

and  made  themselves  farms,  and  got  a  good  living,  and  he  saw  no 
reason  why  he  could  not.'  But  he  cut  down  a  few  trees,  became 
discouraged,  and  departed. 

His  abject  condition  in  mind  and  estate  rendered  him  an 
object  of  deep  commiseration  ;  and  his  conduct  diiring  hostilities 
having  entitled  him  to  consideration,  the  legislature  of  Massa- 
chusetts restored  to  him  one  half  of  the  island  of  Mount  Desert. 
Of  his  subsequent  history,  while  he  continued  in  the  United 
States,  but  little  is  known  to  me.  He  came  to  Maine  occasionally, 
and  was  much  about  Boston. 

Sabine,  writing  from  an  American  point  of  view,  has 
probably  exaggerated  Sir  John's  helplessness  and  want  of 
perseverance.  That  he  was  unfit  to  struggle  single-handed 
against  the  forces  of  nature  in  a  bleak  northern  latitude 
is  quite  likely  ;  but  he  had  never  been  an  idler,  and,  for 
some  years  previous  to  the  Confiscation,  he  must  have  lived 
more  or  less  the  life  of  a  settler,  though,  no  doubt,  with  men 
under  him.  His  situation,  after  that  event,  an  outcast  in 
a  howling  wilderness,  presented  a  strong  contrast  to  the 
position  of  Thomas  working  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Chambers  and 
dining  in  the  Middle  Temple  Hall,  and  to  that  of  Scrope  in 
Doctors'  Commons  and  Lord  Temple's  mansion — both  latterly 
possessing  comfortable  homes  of  their  own,  both  mixing  in 
cultivated  and  sometimes  in  brilliant  society.  But  the 
younger  brothers  were  most  anxious  to  effect  some  change 
in  the  life  of  the  unfortunate  head  of  their  family,  and 
I  gather  from  a  letter  ^  written  by  Thomas  to  Scrope,  that 
the  chief  obstacle  was  Sir  John's  own  determination.  Easily 
as  Sabine  represents  him  to  have  been  turned  from  his 
purpose,  he  did  not  return  to  England  until  1786,-  where 
he  was  really  wanted  to  assist  in  winding  up  his  father's 
affairs,  and  yielded  to  the  remonstrances  of  his  relatives,  and 
possibly  also  to  the  prospect  of  ever  increasing  severity  on 
the  part  of  the  United  States  Government,  and  especially 
of  the  Massachusetts  authorities.  John  Hancock  was  then 
Governor,  Samuel  Adams  Lieutenant-Governor,  of  that  State.^ 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 

-  This  also  appears  from  Letters  and  Memoranda  at  Nether  Winchendon. 

^  Winsor,  Mem.  Hist,  of  Boston,  vol.  ill. 


EESULTS  OF  CIVIL   WAE  171 

As  to  Sir  John's  frequent  visits  to  Boston,  I  do  not  know 
what  business  or  how  often  it  may  have  called  him  there. 
He  can  hardly  have  gone  for  pleasure. 

Military  occupation,  pestilence,  and  the  flight  of  the  Tory 
party,  had  done  their  work  (writes  Dr.  Lodge),  and  had  more 
than  decimated  the  people.  Commerce,  the  main  support  of  the 
inhabitants,  suffered  severely  in  the  war,  and  had  been  only 
partially  replaced  by  the  uncertain  successes  of  the  privateers. 
The  young  men  had  been  drawn  away  to  the  army ;  both  State 
and  Confederacy  were  practically  bankrupt ;  and  the  disorganisa- 
tion consequent  upon  seven  years  of  Civil  War  was  great  and 
disastrous.^ 

Of  Sir  John's  own  friends  scarce  one  would  be  left,  and 
strange  men  had  taken  their  places.  Mr.  Curwen  ^  probably 
understated  the  case  when  he  wrote,  in  1779  : 

Two  or  three  persons,  I  am  told,  who  had  not  money  enough 
for  shoes  for  their  feet,  are  now  riding  coaches  of  their  own  in 
Boston.  Solomon  says,  '  I  have  seen  servants  on  horseback,  and 
Princes  walking  on  foot.'  I  really  think  the  royal  preacher  was  a 
prophet,  and  pointed  at  the  events  of  our  day ;  at  least  the  present 
state  of  English  America  verifies  the  remark. 

As  to  the  restoration  of  half  the  island  of  Mount  Desert, 
no  tradition  has  been  preserved  in  the  family;  if  such 
a  restoration  ever  took  place  it  cannot  have  been  for  long ; 
the  authorities  in  Massachusetts  must  speedily  have  resumed 
possession,  and  possibly  some  fresh  persecution  accompanied 
the  resumption.  Thomas  Bernard  evidently  did  not  realise 
the  '  commiseration  '  and  '  consideration  '  which,  according 
to  Sabine,  characterised  the  behaviour  of  the  victorious 
Americans  to  his  brother,  for  he  has  spoken  of  nothing  but 
cruelty. 

From  the  time  when  the  Bernard  family  welcomed 
Sir  John,  on  his  return  to  England,  there  is  no  doubt  that 

'  Lodge  (Henry  Cabot,  Ph.  D.),  Tlie  Last  Forty  Years  of  Town  Oovern- 
ment,  1782-1822.  In  Winsor's  Mem.  Hist,  of  Boston,  vol.  iii.  The  Last 
Hundred  Years,  part  i. 

-  Cui-wen  (Samuel,  Judge  of  Admir.alty,  &c.),  Journal  and  Letters  from 
1775  to  1784,  '  Letter  to  Bev.  Isaac  Smith,  Sidmouth,'  dated  '  Exeter,  Feb.  19, 
1779.* 


172  THE   BEENAKDS  OF  ABINGTON 

its  members  made  every  effort  to  dissuade  him  from  ever 
setting  his  foot  in  America  again.  Yet  his  position  in 
England,  as  a  ruined  man,  was  distressing  and  humihating  ; 
and  the  exertions  of  his  brothers  seem  to  have  been  directed 
to  obtaining  for  him  some  official  post — they  could  only  hope 
for  a  small  one — and  this  is  some  evidence  that  the  excite- 
ment of  brain  to  which  Sabine  alludes,  must,  whatever 
its  previous  extent,  have  passed  away.  Had  it  remained 
and  amounted  to  insanity  there  would  have  been  nothing 
very  surprising  in  the  fact — it  was  no  uncommon  result  of 
the  sufferings  and  hardships  of  the  unfortunate  Loyalists  ; 
as  will  be  shown  in  the  next  chapter.  But,  though  not 
driven  absolutely  mad,  Sir  John's  nerves  were  more  or  less 
shattered  by  his  late  experiences,  and  he  remained  all  his 
life  to  some  extent  a  crushed  and  broken-down  man. 

At  this  period,  1786,  he  was  turned  forty ;  it  was  there- 
fore not  easy  to  procure  a  post  for  him  in  a  new  and  untried 
line,  nor  would  it  be  easy  for  him  to  adapt  himself  to  the 
circumstances.  It  would  seem,  however,  that  as  soon  as 
the  family  affairs  were  settled  he  went  to  France ;  the  first 
news  I  have  of  him  is  contained  in  a  letter  ^  he  wrote  to  his 
brother  Scrope,  on  August  8, 1788.  In  this  epistle  he  thanks 
both  his  brothers  for  remittances,  including  seven  magazines 
and  a  newspaper — and  proceeds  : 

I  understand  that  there  are  two  portrait  painters  here ;  one  of 
which  being  well  recommended,  I  went  in  quest  of  him,  and  was 
informed  by  his  landlady  that  he  was  absent  on  a  journey,  and 
that  she  did  not  expect  his  retm-n  in  less  than  six  weeks.  After 
twice  to-day  calling,  I  found  the  other  at  his  lodgings,  where  I 
saw  three  pieces  of  his  performance,  one  of  which  (a  pretty  good 
likeness)  I  immediately  knew.  As  you  are  very  desirous  that 
I  should  lose  no  time  in  sitting  for  my  picture,  and  send  it  by  the 
captain  of  the  vessel  who  delivered  me  your  two  packets,  it  is  with 
pleasure  I  acquaint  you  that  I  conceive  it  will  be  in  my  power 
early  to  comply  with  your  request,  and  to  which  I  shall  give  due 
attention,  thanking  you  for  your  civility  and  notice  of  me  in  pre- 
ferring to  number  my  portrait  amongst  your  collection.  I  have 
been  for  some  time  past,  (as  I  still  continue  to  be)  very  seriously 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winehendon. 


A  SOJOURN  IN  FRANCE  173 

indisposed,  oppressed  with  a  very  bad  settled  cold,  &c.,  upon 
which  account,  had  not  your  orders  forbad  any  delay,  I  should 
have  been  inclined  to  have  postponed  my  sitting,  to  have  given 
time  for  the  recovery  of  health  and  spirits,  that  my  picture  might 
have  afforded  a  better  countenance,  than  I  can  expect  it  will  at 
the  present. 

The  result,  no  doubt,  is  to  be  seen  in  a  small  oil  paint- 
ing at  Nether  Winchendon,  which  has  preserved  only  too 
faithfully  the  woebegone  appearance  produced  by  a  severe 
cold  accompanying  an  aggravating  nervous  depression.  It 
is  a  stiff  front-face  representation,  possibly  a  good  likeness 
in  some  respects,  but  certainly  verging  on  caricature. 

I  have  no  information  as  to  the  reason  of  Sir  John's 
stay  at  Dunkirk.  France  seems  hardly  a  country  he  would 
have  chosen  for  pleasure,  having  regard  to  the  part  the  Govern- 
ment and  people  had  taken  as  allies  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tionists ;  at  one  time  I  thought  he  might  have  obtained 
some  small  consulship,  or  vice-consulship ;  but  in  the  sequel 
he  appears  rather  as  a  free  man.  He  probably  economised 
by  living  out  of  England,  besides  escaping  from  a  galling 
position ;  and  as  he  seems  to  have  lingered  in  the  country  he 
may  have  possessed  some  of  his  brother  Francis's  talent  for 
languages,  and  made  friends  as  he  wandered.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  1791  he  was  still  in  France,  though  in  a  part 
very  distant  from  Dunkirk ;  and  this,  notwithstanding  the 
agitated  state  of  the  country,  which  may  perhaps  have  re- 
minded him  of  America.  I  can  bring  forward  nothing  to 
show  where  he  had  been  meanwhile. 

In  February  1791,  Mr.  William  Grenville  wrote  to  Lord 
Buckingham  : 

You  probably  know  also  that  Selwyn's  death  gives  me  the 
disposal  of  his  office  in  Barbados,  of  between  £400  and  £500  per 
annum ;  but  it  can  be  held  only  by  a  resident.  I  feel  myself 
bound,  in  the  first  instance,  to  offer  to  Nepean,  who  is  killing 
himself  by  his  labour  here,  to  give  it  to  any  proper  person  who 
will  vacate  anything  for  it  here.  If  that  fails,  you  know  I  have 
no  other  idea  of  patronage  than  that  of  consulting  your  wishes,  or 
serving  our  joint  objects.' 

'  Memoirs  of  the  Court  and  Cabinets  of  George  III.,  vol.  ii,,  1791. 


174  THE  BEENAKDS  OP  ABINGTON 

Mr.  Grenville's  first  idea  must  have  failed,  since  the  rough 
draft  of  a  letter  •  from  Scrope  Bernard  to  Governor  Parry, 
dated  Whitehall,  July  5,  1791,  shows  that  Sir  John 
Bernard  was  appointed  to  this  office,  for  which  there  may 
not  have  been  much  competition  : 

Sir, — A  Patent  having  passed  the  Great  Seal  dated  the  fourth 
of  June  last,  appointing  Sir  John  Bernard  (my  eldest  Brother) 
Eegister  in  Chancery,  &  Clerk  of  the  Crown  &  Peace  in  Barbados 
in  the  room  of  the  late  Mr.  G.  Selwyn,  I  take  the  liberty  of 
mentioning  to  your  Excellency  this  appointment,  &  of  requesting 
your  friendship  and  good  offices  towards  my  Brother  after  his 
arrival  in  the  Island.  He  is  at  present  in  the  South  of  France  ; 
&  proposes  going  immediately  to  Bordeaux,  &  embarking 
from  thence  to  the  West  Indies  without  coming  to  England. 
I  therefore  send  his  Patent  &  a  few  other  things  to  meet  him 
at  Barbados,  &  hope  you  will  excuse  my  consigning  them  to 
your  care  till  the  time  of  his  arrival,  which  will  probably  be  in  the 
course  of  August.  And  in  the  meantime  I  will  trust  to  your 
taking  such  steps  respecting  his  Office  as  may  be  proper  and  for 
his  benefit,  preparatory  to  his  arrival. 

Sir  John  having  been  a  great  sufferer  in  America,  without 
having  been  able  from  the  nature  of  his  Losses  to  obtain  any 
compensation  for  them,  his  wish  at  Barbados  will  be  to  live  in  a 
moderate  scale,  &  if  you  could  assist  him  with  your  advice 
respecting  the  proper  advantage  and  plan  of  life  at  Bridgetown 
consistent  with  propriety,  you  would  be  of  considerable  service  to 
him,  &  this  &  any  other  instance  of  your  attention  &  kindness 
would  be  thankfully  acknowledged  by 
Sir 

Your  Excellency.  .  .  . 

The  Governor's  reply  is  dated  '  Barbados,  August  29th 
1791  ' : 

Sir, — I  am  honoured  with  your  letter  together  with  Sir  John 
Bernard's,  and  take  the  earliest  opportunity  of  assuring  you  that 
nothing  shall  from  my  part  be  wanting  to  promote  his  interest, 
and  to  render  his  situation  in  this  country  as  pleasing  to  him  as 
the  nature  of  things  will  admit  of. 

The  full  amount  of  the  profits  of  his  office  I  very  fairly  stated 

'  This  letter  and  Governor  Parry's  reply  are  copied  from  MSS.  at  Nether 
Winchendon. 


A  NEW  CAREER  175 

some  time  since  to  my  friend  Nepean,  and  as  this  is  by  far  the 
cheapest  island  in  the  West  Indies,  I  think  his  expenses  need  not 
exceed  his  receipts,  provided  it  will  be  consistent  with  his  rank  in 
life  to  execute  the  office  himself.  But  this  and  every  other 
difficulty  you  may  rest  assured  I  shall  endeavour  to  remove,  and 
be  happy  upon  all  occasions  to  testify  my  readiness  to  comply 
with  your  wishes,  and  to  assure  you  of  the  esteem  with  which 
I  am, 

Sir 

Your  most  obedient  and 

most  humble  servant 
D.  Pakry. 

The  appointment  was  evidently  not  one  to  marry  on,  but 
Sir  John  had  probably  looked  upon  himself,  for  some  years, 
as  destined  to  a  single  life.  At  the  age  of  forty-six,  he  now 
commenced  a  new  career,  without  the  hope  and  spirit  of 
youth  or  the  well-balanced  tone  of  a  serene  middle-age. 
The  transit  to  his  new  home  was  tedious,  if  not  stormy, 
since  he  had  not  reached  Barbados  when  the  Governor 
wrote  to  his  brother.  There  were  disturbances  amongst  the 
'  Malottos  '  of  the  nearer  French  islands,  Guadaloupe  and 
St.  Lucia,  which,  in  the  following  October,  culminated  in 
massacres ;  but  I  do  not  know  whether  Sir  John's  arrival 
was  at  all  delayed  by  this  rebellion.  When  once  settled,  his 
life  was  probably  untroubled  by  calamities  for  some  time  ; 
his  biography  now,  indeed,  is  a  blank,  since  I  have  no  letters 
throwing  any  light  on  the  period. 

In  1799,  Sir  John  was  in  England ;  this  date  is  fixed  by 
an  entry  in  one  of  his  sister  Julia's  manuscripts.  My  father 
had  some  recollection  of  him,  derived,  no  doubt,  from  this 
visit.  It  may  have  been  at  this  time  that  he  was  transferred 
to  a  post  in  Dominica,  which  apparently  included  work  in 
St.  Vincent  and  Martinique,  and  perhaps  improved  his 
position.  Moreover,  the  persevering  efforts  of  his  brothers 
at  length  wnning  from  the  British  Government  thirty 
thousand  pounds,  as  compensation  for  the  losses  in  America,^ 
and   this    sum,    allowing   for   inevitable    deductions,   went, 

'  This  information  I  derived  from  my  uncle,  Sir  F.  Bernard-Morland,  and 
my  father. 


176  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

I  believe,  entirely  to  Sir  John,  whose  presence  in  England 
was  probably  desired  for  this  settlement. 

During  this  visit  his  second  portrait  was  in  all  likeli- 
hood painted.  It  bears  no  great  resemblance  to  the  first, 
but  is  equally  characterised  by  a  gloomy  expression.'  Good 
fortune  had  come  too  late. 

Three  letters  written  from  *  Roseau,  Dominica,'  to  Scrope 
Bernard,  throw  some  light  on  Sir  John's  history  four  or  five 
years  after  his  return  to  the  West  Indies.  They  are  chiefly 
on  business,  and  it  is  evident  that  the  writer  was  fond  of 
buying  and  selling  houses  and  land — a  very  natural  hobby  in 
one  who  had  made  the  settling  and  improving  of  a  new 
country  part  of  his  business  during  the  years  of  his  youth, 
and  had  then  been  deprived  of  all  power  to  follow  this  or 
any  other  outlet  for  his  energies.  It  may  be  assumed  that 
his  ofiQcial  work  left  him  time  for  this  recreation,  but  it  may 
have  been  pursued  somewhat  recklessly ;  and  I  am  afraid  that 
the  compensation  grant  was  frittered  away  in  unfortunate 
investments  of  this  sort. 

Sir  John's  principal  residence  appears  to  have  been  at 
Roseau,^  the  capital  of  Dominica,  but  a  small  town ;  it  was 
situated  '  on  a  point  of  land  on  the  south-west  side  of  the 
island,  which  forms  two  bays.'  Occasionally  he  seems  to 
have  visited  the  other  two  islands,  and  in  his  last  years  he 
was  evidently  once  more  involved  in  the  troubles  of  warfare, 
to  an  extent  that  was  at  least  annoying  and  was  near  leading 
to  serious  consequences.  The  French  were  endeavouring  to 
recover  Martinique,  which  had  been  wrested  from  them 
nearly  twenty  years  before.  It  would  seem  that  Sir  John 
was  suspected  of  being  in  communication  with  them, 
although  his  American  experiences  had  afforded  him  no 
reason  for  courting  their  alliance.  But  this  is  the  only 
construction  I  can  put  upon  one  of  his  letters.^  *  Lord 
S.  made  representations  to   the   English   Government,'  in 

'  Now    in    the    possession    of  Serope    Bernard's    great    grand-daughter, 
Mrs.  Walton. 

^  Kees's  Cyclapcedia, '  Eoseau — now  Charlotte  Town.' 
^  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


CONVULSIONS  OP  NATURE  177 

relation  to  some  rumour  concerning  his  conduct,  which 
appears  to  have  arisen,  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  from  his  having 
bought  a  house  and  land  in  the  island,  and  gone  to  look 
after  them  at  this  critical  time — a  result  perhaps  of  his  old 
habits  of  determined  resistance  to  circumstances  and  dis- 
regard of  danger. 

That  there  was  some  danger  appears  from. his  letter'  of 
July  0,  1803,  written  in  Dominica : 

I  am  yet  far  from  having  recovered  from  the  excessive  fatigue 
occasioned  by  a  precipitate  retreat  from  Martinique,  attended  by 
a  long  and  tempestuous  passage  on  a  crowded  vessel  across  the 
Channel  to  this  island. 

The  charge,  which  Sir  John  indignantly  denied,  was  ap- 
parently dropped,  and  he  remained  at  his  post.  On  the 
point  of  land  between  two  bays  he  had  opportunities  of  ob- 
serving those  convulsions  of  nature  which  added  to  the 
troubles  of  war.     In  a  letter  '^  of  September,  1804,  he  says  : 

The  Packet  by  which  I  forwarded  mine  of  the  28th  ulto.  to 
you,  was  drove  on  Shore  and  totally  lost  at  St.  John's,  Antigua, 
during  a  storm  of  long  continuance  ;  the  mails  on  board,  as  I  am 
informed,  were  saved,  and  therefore  it  is  probable  that  such  Letter 
will  reach  you  with  this.  Of  the  losses  sustained  during  the 
Storm  of  Persons  who  had  property  afloat  in  the  different  Bays  of 
all  the  Islands  in  these  Seas  you  will  have  better  information  from 
Newspapers  than  it  is  in  my  Power  to  give  you.  Several  Vessels 
in  this  Bay  were  saved  by  going  to  Sea  at  the  commencement  of 
the  Gale  :  all  others  remaining  in  this  Bay  wei'e  drove  on  the 
Shore  and  totally  lost,  except  one  Ship  and  one  Brig,  belonging  to 
London,  who  rode  out  the  Storm.  Every  Tree  near  the  Sea,  and 
within  reach  of  the  Spray  of  it  was  blasted ;  some  were  blown 
down  and  some  torn  up  by  the  Roots. 

The  struggle  with  France  which  cut  Dominica  off  from 
St.  Vincent,  and  other  islands  probably,  was  a  source  of 
great  inconvenience.  The  last  letter  ^  I  can  find  in  Sir  John's 
handwriting,  dated  from  Koseau,  '  Novem""  4th  1804,'  about 
two  months  after  the  previous  epistle  just  quoted,  states 
that: 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon.  -'  Ibid.  '  Ibid. 

VOL.  in.  N 


178  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

This  is  a  horrid  war  for  the  West  Indies  ;  its  effects  are 
extreme  scarcity  of  all  necessaries,  and  consequently  enormous 
prices.  Our  seas  swarm  with  French  privateers,  who  are  very 
active  and  not  unsuccessful.  .  .  .  Whilst  I  am  writing,  a  French 
Eow-boat  with  sixteen  oars  has  been  plainly  discovered  to  have 
boarded  and  taken  possession  of  a  Mail-boat  on  her  passage  from 
Antigua  to  Barbados,  and  to  have  hoisted  French  colours  over  the 
English.     All  here  is  motion  and  commotion. 

This  day  (Sunday),  which  with  you  is  a  day  of  rest,  is  here  a 
day  of  tumult,  drunkenness,  and  riot.  As  the  plantation  negroes 
have  this  day  to  themselves,  it  would  indeed  be  very  difficult,  if 
not  impossible,  to  preserve  that  order  and  decorum,  which  is 
most  devoutly  to  be  wished. 

This  unfortunate  war  had  probably  a  disastrous  effect 
on  Sir  John's  improvement  schemes.  Whether  he  was 
subject  to  any  personal  danger  in  the  ensuing  years  there 
are  no  letters  to  show.  That  he  was  grateful  for  the 
exertions  of  his  brothers  on  his  behalf  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  from  his  correspondence,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether 
he  ever  attained  to  a  cheerful  view  of  life.  Sir  John 
Bernard  died  on  August  25,  1809,  aged  sixty-three,  at 
Eoseau.^  Communication  with  the  "West  Indies  must  have 
been  very  imperfect  at  that  time,  since  the  news  did  not 
reach  England  till  the  following  January  (1810).- 

'  From  various  Family  Eeeords. 

■^  The  interval  between  the  death  and  the  reception  of  its  announcement  in 
England  is  recorded  in  the  Diary  of  Mary  Ann  Bernard-Morland. 


THE  AMERICAN  LOYALISTS  179 


CHAPTEK   X 

THE    AMERICAN   LOYALISTS 

Distressing  Cases  of  Insanity — Richard  King — The  Fate  of  General  Lyman  and 
his  Family— Fate  of  Colonel  Robinson  and  his  Family — Atrocities  in  the 
Northern  Provinces— Sufferings  of  the  Episcopal  Clergy — The  Retaliation 
exercised  by  Loyalists— The  Share  of  John  Adams  in  the  Policy  against 
the  Loyalists — Treatment  of  the  Exiles  in  England — Dr.  Peter  Oliver — 
Parson  Peters— Captain  Fenton — Peter  Van  Shaack— Action  of  the  Com- 
missioners in  England — Timothy  Ruggles — Jonathan  Sewall — Daniel 
Leonard — Samuel  Quincy — John  Adams,  Ambassador  of  the  United  States 
— John  Hancock — Samuel  Adams. 

The  narrative  of  Sir  John  Bernard's  ruined  career  seems  to 
require  as  its  accompaniment  some  mention  of  the  trials 
endured  by  the  great  body  of  American  LoyaHsts,  although 
the  subject  is  but  indirectly  connected  with  the  history  of 
the  Bernard  family.  It  must  have  been  often  in  the 
thoughts  of  its  members,  notwithstanding  that  I  possess 
only  occasional  records  of  their  continued  interest  in  the 
common  cause. 

Compared  with  some  of  this  faithful  and  persecuted 
band,  Sir  John  might  almost  be  termed  a  happy  man. 
Name  after  name  in  the  pages  of  Sabine's  book  ^  is  followed 
by  the  words,  '  Proscribed  and  banished,  suffered  much  at 
the  hands  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty.'  The  plundering  and 
burning  of  houses,  the  wounding  or  even  killing  of  their 
inmates,  seem  to  have  been  matters  of  everyday  occurrence. 

It  has  been  stated,  in  commenting  on  Sabine's  intima- 
tion that  Sir  John's  troubles  had  affected  his  head,  that  un- 
doubted insanity,  of  a  permanent  nature,  was  sometimes  the 
result  of  the  miseries  and  terrors  of  the  times.  Two  dis- 
tressing cases  of  this  kind  may  be  mentioned. 

'  Sabine,  The  American  Loyalists. 


180  THE  BEENAKDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Eichard  King  was  a  prosperous  merchant  of  Scarborough, 
Maine,  '  with  a  leaning  towards  the  Government,'  to  whom 
many  persons  had  become  indebted  beyond  their  ability  to 
pay.  In  consequence,  apparently,  of  this  circumstance  his 
troubles  began  early,  soon  after  the  attack  on  Mr. 
Hutchinson's  residence,  of  which  the  outrage  now  to  be 
related  appears  to  have  been  an  imitation  ;  and  the  story 
has  been  handed  down  by  no  less  a  person  than  John 
Adams : 

Taking  advantage  of  the  disorders  occasioned  by  the  passage 
of  the  Stamp  Act,  a  party,  disguised  as  Indians,  on  the  night  of  the 
16th  of  March,  1766,  broke  into  his  store,  and  his  dwelling-house 
also,  and  destroyed  his  books  and  papers  containing  evidence  of 
debts.  Not  content  with  this,  they  laid  waste  his  property  and 
threatened  his  life  if  he  should  venture  to  seek  any  legal  mode  of 
redress.  Many  of  the  perpetrators  were,  however,  detected  and 
brought  to  justice.' 

John  Adams  was  Counsel  for  King  in  the  suit  which 
followed;  and  he,  who  had  no  pity  for  Hutchinson,  but 
rather  rejoiced  in  the  impunity  of  his  assailants,  writes : 

The  terror  and  distress,  the  distraction  and  horror,  of  his  family, 
cannot  be  described  by  words  or  painted  on  canvas.  It  is  enough 
to  move  a  statue,  to  melt  a  heart  of  stone,  to  read  the  story.^ 

The  popular  bitterness  thus  engendered  did  not,  however 
subside,  and  in  1774  a  slight  incident  occurred  which  soon  caused 
it  once  more  to  break  out.  A  vessel  of  Mr.  King's  was  found  to 
have  delivered  a  load  of  lumber  in  Boston  by  special  license,  after 
the  port  had  been  closed,  and  the  materials  had  been  purchased 
for  the  use  of  the  troops.  On  this  occasion  forty  men  from  the 
neighbouring  town  of  Gorham  came  over  and  compelled  Mr. 
King,  in  fear  of  his  life,  to  make  a  disavowal  of  his  opinions. 
These  repeated  shocks  seem  to  have  been  too  much  for  Mr.  King's 
constitution.  He  became  distempered  in  mind,  and  died  in  the 
following  March.3 

The  story  of  another  family  is  still  more  distressing. 
General  Lyman  ^  belonged  to  Connecticut,  where  he   was 

'  John  Adams's  Letters  to  his  Wife,  Note  to  No.  9. 

*  Ibid.  No.  9.  «  Ibid. 

*  Sabine,  The  American  Loyalists,  dc. '  Lyman  (Phineas).'  An  additional 
notice,  headed  '  Lyman,'  commemorates  the  fate  of  the  General's  sons.     At 


FATE  OF  THE  LYMANS  181 

distinguished  both  as  a  lawyer  and  as  an  officer.  His  mis- 
fortunes began  with  a  voyage  he  made  to  England  to  ask  a 
grant  of  lands  for  a  company,  chiefly  military.  Through 
official  neglect  and  intrigues  he  was  detained  eleven  years ; 
and  meanwhile  his  affairs  in  America  went  to  wreck  and 
ruin.  The  grant  was  at  last  obtained  in  1774,  just  as 
the  changes  in  his  native  land  rendered  it  useless ;  he  re- 
turned to  find  his  family  in  want  and  to  encounter  political 
agitation.  General  Lyman  died  imbecile  and  his  eldest  son 
a  lunatic. 

The  widow,  her  brother  and  daughters,  made  their  way 
to  the  dearly  purchased  land  amid  perils  and  hardships 
which  continued  after  their  arrival.  They  fled  before  the 
Spaniards  in  1782,  and  one  division  of  the  party  was  im- 
prisoned by  the  Americans.  A  younger  son  of  the  General, 
who  had  been  a  brilliant  officer  in  the  British  Army,  worn 
out  by  successive  troubles,  ended  his  life  in  a  state  of 
melancholy  madness.  Three  sons  remained,  of  whom 
Sabine  records  only  that  they  lived  and  died  in  obscurity. 

Most  of  the  violent  acts  which  are  recorded  in  this 
chapter  were  perpetrated  in  the  northern  provinces,  but 
many,  no  doubt,  took  place  in  every  colony,  though  perhaps 
with  less  frequency  in  some  than  in  others.  One  instance 
may  here  be  mentioned  of  cruelty  in  the  south,  which  will 
suffice,  as  this  history  is  concerned  chiefly  with  Massachu- 
setts. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Joseph  Kobinson,^  from  Virginia, 
resident  in  South  Carolina,  was  marked  as  a  Loyalist  and  a 
price  was  set  on  his  head  ;  his  house  was  fired  by  rebels,  after 
his  escape,  but  while  his  wife  and  children  were  still  there. 
The  lady  had  but  just  time  to  drag  her  little  girls  out  of  the 
flames  ;  she  placed  one  child  before  her  on  horseback ;  a 
negro,  her  sole  attendant,  carried  the  other  in  like  manner  ; 
and  they  travelled   thus   several   hundred   miles   across   a 

the  end  of  the  war  the  property  was  confiscated  and  the  family,  shipwrecked 
on  the  way  to  Jamaica,  lost  everything,  and  barely  escaped  drowning. 

'  Ryerson,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  xli.  Letter  from  Hon.  R.  Hodgson,  a  grandson  of 
Colonel  Robinson,  Chief  Justice  of  Prince  Edward's  Island. 


182  THE  BEENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

disturbed  country,  till  she  joined  her  husband  in  East 
Florida,  where  their  troubles,  though  much  mitigated,  were 
probably  by  no  means  over. 

It  certainly  seems,  however,  as  if  the  northern  provinces 
were  specially  notorious  for  atrocities.  A  horrible  story 
is  told  of  General  Putnam  forcing  two  boys  to  hang  a  man 
named  Jones,  of  Eidgefield,  Connecticut,  on  a  charge  of 
carrying  provisions  to  British  soldiers,  although  he  denied 
this  charge  to  the  last.^  The  boys  executed  their  dreadful 
task  with  sobs  and  tears,  while  the  General  *  compelled  them 
at  the  sword's  point  to  obey  his  orders.' 

The  cases  of  the  two  Dunbars  of  Halifax,  Massachusetts, 
which  actually  occurred  before  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
are  instances  of  refined  cruelty  without  palliation. 

Daniel  Dunbar,^ 

of  Halifax,  Massachusetts,  was  an  officer  in  the  militia,  and  in 
1774  a  mob  demanded  of  him  the  surrender  of  the  colours  of  his 
company.  He  refused  ;  when  the  multitude  broke  into  his  house, 
took  him  out,  forced  him  to  get  upon  a  rail,  where  he  was  held, 
and  tossed  up  and  down  until  he  was  exhausted.  He  was  then 
dragged  and  beaten,  and  gave  up  the  standard  to  save  his  life. 

Jesse  Dunbar  ■' 

bought  some  fat  cattle  of  a  Mandamus  Councillor  in  1774,  and 
drove  them  to  Plymouth  for  sale.  The  Whigs  soon  learned  with 
whom  Dunbar  had  presumed  to  deal,  and  after  he  had  slaughtered, 
skinned,  and  bung  up  one  of  the  beasts,  commenced  punishing 
him  for  the  offence.  That  punishment  was  cruel  in  the  extreme. 
His  tormentors,  it  appears,  put  the  dead  ox  in  a  cart,  and  fixed 
Dunbar  in  his  belly,  carted  him  four  miles,  and  required  him  to 
pay  one  dollar  for  the  ride.  He  then  was  deUvered  over  to  a 
Kingston  mob,  who  carted  him  four  other  miles  and  exacted 
another  dollar.  A  Duxbury  mob  then  took  him,  and,  after  beating 
him  in  the  face  with  the  creature's  tripe,  and  endeavouring  to 
cover  his  person  with  it,  carried  him  to  Councillor  Thomas's 
house,  and  compelled  him  to  pay  a  further  sum  of  money. 
Flinging  his  beef  into  the  road,  they  now  left  him  to  recover  and 
return  as  he  could. 

'  Sabine,  Tlie  American  Loyalists,  '  Jones,  of  Ridgefield,  Connecticut.' 
^  Ibid.,  '  Dunbar,  Daniel.' 
^  Ibid.,  '  Dunbar,  Jesse.' 


DESCENDANTS  OF  THE  PILGRIM   FATHERS     183 

Such  were  the  noble  descendants  of  the  Pilgrim  i^'athers 
—  or,  if  not  their  descendants,  the  men  who  were  brought 
up  amid  their  traditions  and  educated  in  their  principles ! 

The  subsequent  history  of  Jesse  Dunbar  is  not  given. 
Daniel  recovered  his  injuries  sufficiently  to  reach  the  British 
lines,  and  accompanied  the  Koyal  forces  to  Halifax,  Nova 
Scotia,  in  1776.  These  outrages,  it  should  be  remembered, 
are  chronicled  by  a  writer  who  sympathises  with  the 
insurgents,  though  not  with  all  their  deeds.  He  records 
some  cases  of  cruelties  committed  by  the  Loyalists  and  the 
British,  but  chiefly  by  leaders  of  armed  forces,  and,  for 
the  most  part,  measures  of  retaliation. 

The  Episcopal  clergy,  whose  position  can  never  have 
been  very  comfortable  in  the  northern  provinces,  fared 
badly  during  the  war.  Many  escaped  to  England,  and  many 
could  not  escape.  Dr.  Seabury,^  a  prominent  and  representa- 
tive man,  has  left  some  account  of  their  troubles  in  a  letter 
to  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  written 
from  Westchester,  province  of  New  York,  in  1775.  '  Dr. 
Cooper  and  Dr.  Chandler  have  been  obliged  to  quit  their 
community,  and  sailed  for  England  last  week.'  ^  Dr.  Myles 
Cooper,  president  of  King's  College,  the  first-named  clergy- 
man, was  saved  from  the  violence  of  the  mob  only  by  the 
presence  of  mind  and  ready  wit  of  a  collegian  named 
Hamilton,  who  harangued  the  assailants  while  he  escaped. 
Dr.  Seabury  had  since  been  concealed  in  the  Wilkins 
mansion  on  Castle  Hill  Neck,  Westchester,  with  Cooper, 
Chandler  and  Isaac  Wilkins.  They  were  secreted  in  or 
about  a  chimney,  and  supplied  with  food  through  a  trapdoor 
in  the  floor.     Dr.  Seabury  continues  : 

I  have  been  obliged  to  retire  a  few  days  from  the  threatened 
vengeance  of  the  New  Englanders  who  lately  broke  into  this 
Province.  But  I  hope  I  shall  be  able  to  keep  my  station.  The 
charge  against  the  clergy  is  a  very  extraordinary  one — that  they 

'  See  vol.  ii.  of  this  Family  History,  chap,  xxiv.,  pp.  181,  182. 

-  Beardsley  (E.  Edwards),  D.D.,  LL.D.,  rector  of  St.  Thomas's  Church, 
New  Haven,  Conn.,  The  Life  of  Samuel  Seabury,  D.D.,  First  Bislwp  of  Con- 
necticut, and  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  tlie  United  States  of  America. 


184  THE   BEENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

have,  in  conjunction  with  the  Society  and  the  British  Ministry, 
laid  a  plan  for  enslaving  America. 

Beardsley,  the  Doctor's  biographer,  proceeds  to  state 
that 

The  fears  which  Seabury  had  expressed  in  his  letter  to  the 
Secretary  were  soon  realised.  He  had  been  serving,  as  best  he 
could,  his  two  diminished  congregations,  and  working  in  another 
way  to  obtain  a  partial  support  for  his  family,  when  an  armed 
force  from  Connecticut  invaded  the  territory  of  New  York,  seized 
him  at  his  schoolroom,  and  carried  him  to  New  Haven.  The 
particulars  of  his  arrest,  and  the  recital  of  his  wrongs  and  of  the 
cruelties  inflicted  upon  him,  were  well  stated  in  a  petition  to  the 
General  Assembly,  asking  for  relief  from  '  the  heavy  hand  of 
oppression  and  tyranny.' 

Dr.  Seabury  obtained  his  release,  and  lived  on  at  West- 
chester, in  considerable  discomfort,  until  another  invasion, 
after  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  drove  him  to  seek 
refuge  with  the  King's  troops  in  Long  Island.  When  they 
left  he  retreated  to  l^ew  York,  then  in  British  occupation 
and  in  a  country  v^hich  was  ravaged  by  both  armies.  From 
thence  he  wrote  to  the  Society  various  particulars  of  the 
unfortunate  clergy. 

His  biographer  states  that  he  noted  the  death  of  Mr. 
Avery,  missionary  at  Eye,  but  does  not  give  any  particulars, 
beyond  the  assertion  that 

He  detailed  the  sad  circumstances  as  he  had  received  them, 
and  placed  the  cause  of  his  death,  whether  justly  or  not  is  uncertain, 
among  the  barbarities  of  civil  war. 

Then  follows  another  sad  case. 

In  the  same  letter  he  reported  the  death  of  another 
missionary,  the  Kev.  Luke  Badcock,  who  for  six  years  had 
been  stationed  at  the  manor  of  Philipsburg  (now  Yonkers), 
and,  like  himself,  was  a  sincere  and  active  Loyalist.  From 
his  allegiance  to  the  King  sprang  the  calamities  which 
hurried  him  to  the  grave. 

The  latter  end  of  October  (wrote  Seabury)  he  was  seized  by  the 
rebels  at  his  house,  and  carried  off  to  the  Provincial  Congress  at 
Fishkill.     His  papers  and  sermons  were  also  seized  and  examined, 


TREATMENT   (3F  WOMEN   AND   CHILDREN        185 

hut,  as  nothing  appeared  on  which  they  could  ground  any  i)re- 
tence  for  detaining  him,  he  was  asked  whether  he  supposed  himself 
bound  by  his  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  King  ;  upon  his  answering 
in  the  affirmative,  he  was  deemed  an  enemy  to  the  liberties  of 
America,  and  ordered  to  be  kept  in  custody.  About  the  middle  of 
February  he  was  taken  sick,  and,  as  his  confinement  had  produced 
no  change  in  his  sentiments,  he  was  dismissed  with  a  written 
order  to  remove,  within  ten  days,  within  the  lines  of  the  King's 
army,  being  adjudged  a  person  too  dangerous  to  be  permitted  to 
continue  where  his  influence  might  be  exerted  in  favour  of  a 
legal  government.  He  got  home  with  difficulty,  in  a  raging  fever, 
and  delirious.  In  this  state  he  continued  about  a  week  (the 
greatest  part  of  the  time  delirious),  and  then  died,  extremely 
regretted.  Indeed  I  know  not  a  more  excellent  man,  and  I  fear 
his  loss,  particularly  in  that  mission,  will  scarcely  be  made  up. 

Over  one  portion  of  Dr.  Seabury's  statements  his 
biographer  has  drawn  a  veil : 

His  description  of  the  treatment  of  women  and  children  is  too 
painful  to  be  repeated.  This  treatment  must  be  ascribed  to  that 
spirit  of  lawlessness  which,  unhappily,  in  times  of  great  excitement 
and  disorder,  is  somewhat  beyond  the  control  of  magistrates  and 
military  commanders.  New  York  was  their  place  of  refuge,  where 
they  found  protection,  if  not  support.  'Many  famihes  of  my 
parishioners,  said  he,  are  now  in  this  town,  who  used  to  live 
decently,  suffering  for  common  necessaries.  I  daily  meet  them,  and 
it  is  melancholy  to  observe  the  dejection  strongly  marked  on  their 
faces,  which  seem  to  implore  that  assistance  which  I  am  unable  to 
give.     To  pity  and  to  pray  for  them  is  all  I  can  do.' 

As  regards  the  clergy,  one  more  extract  from  the  same 
biography  is  here  given,  which  sums  up  the  case  : 

The  Eev.  Thomas  Barton,  a  missionary'  of  the  Society  in 
Delaware,  was  forced  to  surrender  his  loyalty  or  find  protection 
within  the  British  lines ;  and  in  a  letter  to  the  Secretary,  dated 
New  York,  January  8th,  1779,  he  said  :  •— '  The  clergy  of  America, 
the  missionaries  in  particular,  have  suffered  beyond  example,  and, 
indeed,  beyond  the  records  of  any  history,  in  this  day  of  trial. 
Most  of  them  have  lost  their  all,  many  of  them  are  now  in  a  state 
of  melancholy  pilgrimage  and  poverty ;  and  some  of  them  have 

'  Histcn-ical  Collectimis,  Delaware,  p.  131,  quoted  in  the  Life  of  Bishop 
Seabury. 


186  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

lately  (from  grief  and  despondency,  it  is  said),  paid  the  last  debt 
of  nature.  .  .  .  We  may  exclaim,  Quis  ftoror,  0  cives  !  What  have 
we  done  to  deserve  this  treatment  from  our  former  friends  and 
fellow-citizens?  We  have  not  intermeddled  with  any  matters 
inconsistent  with  our  callings  and  functions.  We  have  studied  to 
be  quiet,  and  to  give  no  offence  to  the  present  rulers.  We  have 
obeyed  the  laws  and  government  now  in  being,  as  far  as  our 
consciences  and  prior  obUgations  would  permit.  We  know  no 
crime  that  can  be  alleged  against  us,  except  an  honest  avowal  of 
our  principles  can  be  deemed  such,  and  for  these  we  have  suffered 
a  persecution  as  cruel  as  the  bed  of  Procrustes.' 

With  regard  to  the  cruelties  practised  on  the  general 
body  of  the  Loyalists,  none  has  spoken  more  forcibly  than 
Sabine,  himself  a  patriotic  American  ;  he  exclaims  : 

Did  the  cause  of  America  and  of  human  freedom  gain 
strength  by  the  deeds  of  the  five  hundred  who  mobbed  Sheriff 
Tyng,  or  by  the  speed  of  the  one  hundred  and  sixty  on  horseback 
who  pursued  Commissioner  Hallowell  ?  Were  the  shouts  of  an 
excited  multitude,  and  the  crash  of  broken  glass  and  demolished 
furniture,  fit  requiems  for  the  dying  Eopes  ?  Were  Whig  interests 
promoted  because  one  thousand  men  shut  up  the  Courts  of  Law 
in  Berkshire,  and  five  thousand  did  the  same  in  Worcester,  and 
mobs  drove  away  the  judges  at  Springfield,  Taunton,  and 
Plymouth  ?  because  in  one  place  a  judge  was  stopped,  insulted, 
and  threatened  ;  in  another  the  whole  Bench  were  hissed  and 
hooted,  and  in  a  third  were  required  to  do  penance,  hat  in  hand,  in  a 
procession  of  attornies  and  sheriffs  ?  Did  the  driving  of  Ingersoll 
from  his  estate,  of  Edson  from  his  house,  and  the  assault  upon  the 
home  of  Gilbert,  and  the  shivering  of  Sewall's  windows,  serve  to 
wean  them,  or  their  friends  and  connexions,  from  their  royal 
master  ?  Did  Euggles,  when  subsequent  events  threw  his  country- 
men into  his  power,  forget  that  the  creatures  which  grazed  his 
pastures  had  been  painted,  shorn,  maimed  and  poisoned  ;  that  he 
had  been  pursued  on  the  highway  by  day  and  night ;  that  his 
dwelling  had  been  broken  open,  and  he  and  his  family  had  been 
driven  from  it  ?  What  Tory  turned  Whig  because  Saltonstall  was 
mobbed,  and  Oliver  plundered,  and  Leonard  shot  at  in  his  own 
house  ?  Was  the  kingly  arm  actually  weakened  or  strengthened 
for  harm,  because  thousands  surrounded  the  mansions  of  high 
functionaries,  and  forced  them  into  resignation — or  because  sheriffs 
were  told  that  they  would  perform  their  duties  at  the  hazard  of 
their  lives  ?     Which  party  gained  by  waylaying  and  insulting  at 


BITTER  PERSECUTION  187 

every  corner  the  '  Rescinders,'  the  '  Protesters,'  and  the  '  Ad- 
dressers '  ?  Which  by  the  burning  of  the  mills  of  Putnam  ? 
Had  widows  and  orphans  no  additional  griefs,  because  the  Probate 
Courts  were  closed  by  the  multitude,  and  their  officers  were  driven 
under  cover  of  British  guns?  Did  it  serve  a  good  end  to  en- 
deavour to  hinder  Tories  from  getting  tenants  or  to  prevent 
persons  who  owed  them  from  paying  honest  debts  ? 

On  whose  cheek  should  have  been  the  blush  of  shame,  when 
the  habitation  of  the  aged  and  feeble  Foster  was  sacked  and  he 
had  no  shelter  but  the  woods  ? — when  Williams,  as  infirm  as  he, 
was  seized  at  night,  dragged  away  for  miles,  and  smoked  in  a 
room  with  fastened  doors  and  a  closed  chimney-top  ?  What 
father,  who  doubted,  wavered,  and  doubted  still,  whether  to  join 
or  fly,  determined  to  abide  the  issue  in  the  land  of  his  birth, 
because  foul  words  were  spoken  to  his  daughters,  or  because  they 
were  pelted  when  riding,  or  moving  in  the  innocent  dance  ?  Is 
there  cause  for  wonder  that  some  who  still  live  should  yet  say,  of 
their  own  and  their  fathers'  treatment,  that '  persecution  made  half 
the  King's  friends  '  ?  The  good  men  of  the  period  mourned  these 
and  similar  proceedings,  and  they  may  be  lamented  now.' 

From  Mr.  Sabine's  conclusions  I  venture  to  differ.  The 
patriotic  persecution  did  not,  of  course,  advance  '  the  cause 
of  human  freedom,'  but  it  was,  I  must  believe,  a  great 
success  from  the  American  point  of  view.  If  it  made 
Loyalists,  it  crushed  them  also,  old  and  new  alike.  Numbers 
of  persons  whose  convictions  and  feelings  were,  and  always 
had  been,  in  favour  of  allegiance  to  England,  were  driven 
by  terror,  often  as  the  only  way  of  saving  their  children's 
lives  and  their  own;  to  acknowledge  the  new  Government. 
Some,  no  doubt,  took  refuge  in  England  or  Nova  Scotia 
who  might  in  other  circumstances  have  settled  down  quietly 
as  citizens  of  the  United  States  ;  but  America  probably  does 
not  to  this  day  regret  their  loss,  although  a  voice  may  here 
and  there  be  raised  speaking  a  kindlier  feeling. 

As  to  the  amount  of  retaliation  exercised  by  Loyalists, 
it  must  have  been  in  the  early  stages  of  the  struggle  very 
slight.  Few  were  in  a  position  to  assert  themselves.  General 
Euggles  was  an  exceptional  man,  who  weathered  the  storm 

'  Sabine,  The  Aviericafi  Loyalists :  Preliminary  Remarks,  en-  Historical 
Essay,  pp.  76-7. 


188  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

and  became  Attorney-General  of  Nova  Scotia,  no  very 
brilliant  post  in  those  days,  however ;  but  what  he  did,  or 
had  the  power  of  doing,  cannot  have  had  any  appreciable 
effect  on  the  other  party.  And  the  same  may  be  said  of  the 
acts  of  any  other  Loyalist  who  attained  office  in  the  recently 
settled  colony  of  Nova  Scotia,  or  elsewhere.  Before  quitting 
this  subject  it  may  be  observed  that  some  of  the  instances 
of  persecution  to  which  Sabine  alludes  acquire  fresh  force 
when  the  details  are  given.  Eopes,  for  instance,  was  lying 
in  the  agonies  of  small-pox  when  his  house  was  wrecked  ;  ^ 
he  died  the  next  day. 

The  same  author  asserts  that  'the  good  men  of  the 
period  '  mourned  the  proscription  of  the  LoyaHsts  ;  but  one 
whom  the  United  States  reckon  amongst  their  *  good  men,' 
and  also  amongst  their  greatest  men,  was  a  chief  persecutor.^ 
*  Perhaps  no  one  did  as  much  to  promote  the  cruel  policy 
against  the  Loyalists  as  Mr.  John  Adams,  who  was  the 
ruling  spirit  in  all  the  proceedings  of  Boston  for  years,' 
writes  Dr.  Kyerson ;  and  he  quotes  from  a  letter  written 
by  John  Adams,  when  Ambassador  from  the  American 
Congress  to  Holland,  addressed  to  Thomas  Gushing,  then 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  Massachusetts,  in  which  he  adverts 
to  the  Loyalists  as  '  thorns  indeed  to  us  on  both  sides  of  the 
water,'  and  continues  :  '  but  I  think  their  career  might  have 
been  stopt  on  your  side  if  the  executive  officers  had  not  been 
too  timid  on  a  point  which  I  strenuously  recommended  at 
the  first,  namely,  to  fine,  imprison,  and  hang,  all  inimical 
to  the  cause,  without  favour  or  affection.' 

John  Adams  did  not  stand  alone  in  advising  strong 
measures.  Of  Josiah  Quincy  Hosmer  says :  '  In  unwise 
fervour  he  could  counsel  assassination  as  a  proper  expedient. 
Warren,  too,*  he  adds,  '  could  rush  into  extremes  of  rashness 
and  ferocity, wishing  that  he  might  wade  to  the  knees  in  blood.'^ 

'  Ward  (G.  A.),  Biographical  Notices  of  many  American  Loyalists,  dc, 
'  Judge  Eopes.' 

^  Ryerson  (Dr.  Egerton),  The  Loyalists  of  America  and  their  Times,  vol.  ii., 
chap,  xxxvi. 

^  Hosmer,  Sanvuel  Adams,  chap.  xxi. :  '  Character  and  Service  of  Samuel 
Adams.' 


ENGLAND'S  TREATMENT  OF  LOYALISTS        189 

Even  the  American  idol,  Washington,  was  scarcely  more 
moderate ;  exulting  over  the  hardships  of  the  Boston  refugees, 
he  wrote  deliberately  : 

One  or  two  have  done  what  a  great  number  ought  to  have  done 
long  ago— committed  suicide.  By  all  accounts  there  never  existed 
a  more  miserable  set  of  beings  than  these  wretched  creatures  now 
are.  .  .  .  They  were  at  their  wits'  end,  and,  conscious  of  their 
black  ingratitude,  they  chose  to  commit  themselves,  in  the  manner 
I  have  above  described,  to  the  mercy  of  the  waves  at  a  tempestuous 
season  rather  than  meet  their  oifended  countrymen.' 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  lot  of  the  exiles  was  in 
most  cases  a  hard  one.  Severed  from  old  friends  and  old 
surroundings,  in  some  cases  from  near  relatives,  they  escaped 
the  dangers  of  the  sea  only  to  meet  with  scant  welcome 
in  the  land  to  which  they  had  fled  for  refuge.  It  might 
have  been  expected  that  in  old  England  her  unfortunate 
children  would  have  found  sympathy  and  support ;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  they  appear  to  have  been  disliked,  as  reminding 
the  inhabitants  of  defeat  and  adding  to  the  burdens  of  the 
people,  and  therefore  by  no  means  entitled  to  assistance,  but 
rather  the  contrary. 

Governor  Wentworth,-  of  New  Hampshire,  having  by 
degrees  lost  his  popularity,  had  been  driven  to  seek  safety 
in  his  fort  at  Portsmouth,  and  from  thence  fled  to  Boston, 
where  Gage  then  governed,  and  finally  to  England.  He 
wTote  in  May  1783,  from  Hammersmith,  to  Captain  Cochran 
of  Portsmouth : 

As  to  your  coming  here,  or  any  other  LoyaUst  that  can  get 
clams  and  potatoes  in  America,  they  most  certainly  would  regret 
making  bad  worse.  It  would  be  needless  for  me  to  enter  into 
reasons ;  the  fact  is  so,  and  you  will  do  well  to  avoid  it.^ 

In  the  following  year  Dr.  Peter  Oliver,  who  was  labouring 
at  the  thankless  task  of  starting  afresh  as  a  physician  in 
a  strange  land,  complains  of  the  conduct  of  a  landlord  or 
lodging-house  keeper,  adding : 

'  Sabine,  The  American  Loyalists  :   Preliminary  Remarks,  p.  14. 
*  See  vol.  ii.  of  this  Family  History,  chap,  xxiv.,  pp.  193,  194. 
^  Sabine,  The  American  Loyalists, '  Cochran,  Captain  John,'  of  Portsmouth, 
New  Hampshire. 


190  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

We  are  obliged  to  put  up  with  every  insult  from  this  ungrateful 
people,  the  English,  without  any  redress.  If  this  nation  does  not 
make  the  refugees  compensation  for  the  losses  they  have  sustained, 
so  far  as  it  is  in  their  power,  a  curse  will  befall  them  sooner  or 
later.' 

The  English  Government  was  at  this  time  supposed  to 
be  doing  something  for  the  Loyalists,  but  Dr.  Peter  Oliver, 
son  of  Chief  Justice  Oliver,  writing  in  the  same  year,  pro- 
bably expressed  the  feelings  of  many  sufferers  who  had 
petitioned,  and  attended  again  and  again — all  in  vain. 

I  stayed  in  London  above  three  weeks,  and  returned,  heartsick 
of  it,  without  effecting  my  business  with  the  Commissioners  of  the 
American  Department.^ 

Jonathan  Sewall,  the  '  Philanthropes '  of  former  days, 
who  had  been  Attorney-General,  under  Sir  Francis  Bernard 
from  1767,  wrote  to  Curwen  : 

The  situation  of  American  Loyalists,  I  confess,  is  enough  to  have 
provoked  Job's  wife,  if  not  Job  himself ;  but  still  we  must  be  men, 
philosophers,  and  Christians,  and  bearing  up  with  patience, 
resignation,  and  fortitude,  against  unavoidable  sufferings  is  our 
duty  in  each  of  these  characters.^ 

Curwen  himself  exclaims  that  '  the  gratitude  of  Courts 
ought  to  be  reckoned  among  the  nonentities  of  Lord 
Rochester's  list.' 

In  the  course  of  his  stay  in  England  he  met  with  many 
pitiable  cases.     Early  in  December  1775,  he  vnrites  : 

Thence  to  Heralds'  Office,  where  Parson  Peters,  with  his 
friend  Mr.  Pinderson,  lodges-;  the  latter  has  lately  arrived  from 
Boston,  having  escaped  by  rowing  himself  in  a  cock-boat  eighteen 
miles  into  the  sound  from  his  native  place,  Norwich,  Connecticut ; 
and  being  taken  up  by  a  vessel  and  put  on  board  the  Rose 
man-of-war,  Capt.  Wallace,  and  conveyed  to  Boston.'* 

These  events  happened  in  1775,  and  General  Gage  had 

'  Hutchinson  (Governor),  Diary  and  Letters,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  ix. 

^  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  ix. 

'  Curwen,  Journal  and  Letters,  chap,  x.,  dated  Bristol,  Dec.  18,  1778. 

^  Ibid.,  chap.  i. 


PAESON  CLARKE  191 

taken  military  command  of  the  town  when  Mr.  Pinderson 
returned.     Curwen  continues  : 

It  seems  he  was  harshly  dealt  with  by  the  Sons  of  Liberty  ; 
being  obliged  to  make  two  confessions  to  save  his  life ;  notwith- 
standing which,  he  was  hunted,  pm-sued,  and  threatened,  and 
narrowly  escaped  death  (or  the  Simsbury  Mines,  to  which  he  was 
finally  adjudged,  and  he  thinks  with  the  loss  of  his  eyes),  which 
would  have  been  his  fate,  but  for  his  seasonable  and  providential 
retreat. 

Sabine  mentions  that  '  Many  Loyalists  were  confined 
in  private  houses,  some  were  sent  to  jails,  and  others  to 
Simsbury  Mines.'  ' 

On  another  occasion  (February  13,  1781),  Mr.  Curwen 
was  visited  by  '  Parson  Peters,'  who  was  really  a  man  of 
some  note,  and  was  admitted  to  preach  at  Lincoln's  Inn 
Chapel,  and  a 

Parson  Clarke,-  late  a  townsman ;  from  a  cold  taken  on  board  a 
prison  ship  in  Boston  harbour,  to  which  he  was  consigned  by  the 
patriots  in  punishment  of  Toryism,  he  has  lost  his  voice,  and  is 
scarce  able  to  articulate.  This,  added  to  his  deafness  renders  him 
a  lonely,  pitiable  object ;  he  has  received  twenty  pounds  per 
annum  from  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel— Govern- 
ment declining  to  give  him  a  settled  stipend,  though  it  has  once 
and  again  presented  him  with  a  scanty  gratuity. 

About  a  year  and  seven  months  later  (July  16,  1782)  the 
same  writer  records  the  partial  recovery  of  '  young  Parson 
Clarke,'  who  could  '  speak  articulately,  and  with  some  degree 
of  clearness.'  ^  He  stated  that  he  had  recovered  the  power  of 
speech  suddenly,  on  the  seventh  anniversary  after  losing 
it.  In  spite  of  depressing  circumstances  his  nerves  had 
recovered  their  tone,  no  doubt.  In  London  he  was  at  least 
free,  and  could  meet  friends. 

In  some  instances,  comparatively  few,  no  doubt,  the  mis- 
fortunes of  Loyahsts  were  directly  traceable  to  the  action  of 
the  British  army,  but  were  not  for  that  reason  more  speedily 
alleviated  by  the  Government.     This  appears  in  the  case  of 

'  Sabine,  American  Loyalists,  '  Note  to  Preliminary  Eemarks,  p.  84. 
-'  Curwen,  Journal  and  Letters,  1781,  chap.  xv. 
'  Ibid.,  chap.  xvi. 


192  THE  BBENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Captain  Fenton/  who  from  Dublin  petitioned  Earl  Temple, 
then  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  in  1783.  He  was  probably 
not  a  native  of  America,  but  the  same  Captain  Fenton  who 
is  mentioned  by  Sabine^  as  having  a  commission  in  the 
British  army,  although  settled  in  New  Hampshire,  where  he 
held  several  appointments.  When  the  troubles  came  he 
expressed  his  views  too  openly,  and  was  attacked  by  a  mob, 
who  pursued  him  to  the  Governor's  house  '  with  a  field  piece, 
which  they  threatened  to  discharge  unless  he  was  delivered  up. 
Fenton  surrendered.'  Apparently  he  lingered  some  time  in 
Boston,  where  he  was  tried  and  imprisoned,  finally  being 
allowed  to  escape  and  go  to  England. 

The  appeal  to  Earl  Temple  states  that  the  Petitioner 
had  '  lost  a  large  property  in  House  and  Lands  in  America, 
over  and  above  May  Place  on  Bunker's  Hill,  which  was 
burned  by  order  of  General  Gage,  and  a  Fort  built  thereon 
for  his  Majesty's  service,  to  the  utter  ruin  of  said  place.  .  .  . 
having  also  his  employment  taken  from  him.'  A  copy  of 
this  Memorial  is  amongst  Scrope  Bernard's  papers  ;  he  was 
no  doubt  commissioned  by  Lord  Temple  to  bring  the  matter 
before  Lord  Shelbume,  then  Prime  Minister,^  though  it 
appears  from  Mr.  Bernard's  letter  to '  John  Morris,  Esq.,'  that 
Captain  Fenton  'not  long  since  was  dismissed  by  Lord 
Shelburne  from  the  government  of  Fort  WiUiam  in  New 
Hampshire,'  and  therefore  had  little  chance  of  favourable 
consideration.  The  reason  of  his  dismissal  is  not  stated,  but 
too  much  zeal  in  the  Boyal  cause  is  not  unlikely  to  have 
been  a  ground  of  offence  to  Shelburne.  In  his  Memorial 
the  Captain  prayed  to  be  appointed  Consul-General  to  the 
United  States,  then  just  recognised  by  Great  Britain ;  but 
whether  he  obtained  that  post,  or  any  other,  I  know  not. 
Lord  Shelburne  decided  that  the  matter  did  not  belong  to 
his  department,  and  must  be  referred  to  Lord  Sydney  ;  and 
so,  in  that  time  of  excitement  and  changes  of  Ministry,  it 
may  have  gone  on  ad  infinitum. 

'  This  Memorial  is  amongst  the  MSS.  at  Nether  Winchendon. 

-  Sabine,  The  American  Loyalists, '  Fenton,  John.' 

•'  Beatson,  Political  Index,  1788,  vol.  i.     Haydn,  Dictionary  of  Dates. 


REFUGEES  IN  NOVA  SCOTIA  193 

Many  Loyalists,  as  already  noted,  fled  to  Nova  Scotia, 
where  their  fortunes  were  various.  Some  were  sent  to 
colonise  the  wildernesses  of  Upper  Canada  and  New  Bruns- 
wick, where  they  encountered  terrible  difficulties,  and  were 
neglected  by  the  British  Government,  which  had  enticed  or 
driven  them  thither.'  The  enterprise  proved  fatal  to  a 
certain  number.  Even  those  who  remained  in  Halifax,  a 
recently  settled  town,  must  have  had  a  hard  time,  for  some 
years  at  least,  if  not  for  life.  The  following  letter,'^  dated 
*  Strand,  London,  1791,'  and  addressed  to  Scrope  Bernard  as 
Under-Secretary  of  State,  relates  to  the  painful  case  of  a 
refugee  in  Nova  Scotia  : 

Sir, — A  Petition  to  the  Lords  of  the  Treasury  was  transmitted 
to  me  by  Mr.  James  Stewart,  son  of  the  late  Mr.  Anthony  Stewart 
of  Halifax,  who  died  of  a  palsy,  leaving  five  infant  children  totally 
unprotected  and  unprovided  for,  their  Father  having  lost  his  all  in 
Maryland,  in  consequence  of  his  attachment  to  Government  during 
the  War — and  the  pension  of  150£  p.  annum  given  him  in 
consequence  of  these  losses,  now  ceasing  with  his.  Mr.  James 
Stewart,  the  Petitioner,  being  at  an  age  to  take  care  of  himself, 
claims  nothing — but  he  is  married  &  has  a  Family  who  [sic]  he 
can  hardly  maintain — much  more  support  his  Brother  and  Sister. 
He  informs  me  that  Mr.  Strange,  Chief  Justice  at  Halifax,  has 
written  to  you  upon  the  case — and  therefore  in  case  you  have  the 
means  or  the  desire  to  promote  the  prayer  of  the  Petition,  which 
is  for  a  part  of  the  Pension  to  be  continued  to  the  children  of 
Mr.  Stewart,  I  take  the  liberty  to  inform  you  I  have  transmitted 
the  petition  to  Mr.  Bose  but  it  would  be  very  presuming  and  use- 
less for  a  Humble  Individual  as  I  am  to  solicit  for  such  a  favour 
being  granted. 

I  am 
Sir 
Your  most  obedient 

&  most  humble  Servant 
Thomas   Coutts. 

I  do  not  know  the  result  of  this  application. 
In  some  instances  the  refugees  in  England  were  driven 
by  desperation  to  make  their  peace  with  the  revolutionary 

'  See  Ryerson,  The  Loyalists  of  America,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  xli.  especially. 

*  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 

VOL.    III.  O 


194  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Government  and  return  to  America  after  the  conclusion  of 
the  war.  The  sad  case  of  Mr.  Van  Shaack  has  been  epi- 
tomised by  Sabine  from  the  unfortunate  gentleman's  own 
narrative. 

In  1778  his  sick  wife  desired  leave  from  the  Governor 
to  enter  her  native  city  of  New  York,  then  held  by  the 
British,  but  beleaguered,  in  the  hope  of  being  cared  for 
during  her  illness ;  this  boon  was  refused,  and  she  then 
applied  to  Lafayette  to  implore  the  services  of  a  skilful 
British  surgeon.  Dr.  Hayes,  then  his  prisoner.  This  request 
the  General  at  the  instigation  of  the  Committee  of  Safety, 
refused ;  she  sank  under  the  effects  of  her  disease  and  its 
aggravations,  dying  with  words  of  forgiveness  on  her  lips. 
Her  loss  was  the  first  of  a  series  of  misfortunes.  Within 
eight  years  the  widower  lost  his  father  and  six  children, 
from  causes  largely  due  to  the  war  and  its  consequences ; 
he  was,  moreover,  destitute  and  an  outlaw,  had  lost  the  sight 
of  one  eye,  and  was  in  dread  of  total  blindness.' 

'  Of  overt  acts  against  this  country '  (writes  Sabine) 
'  Van  Schaack  had  committed  none  :  his  sole  offences  were 
his  opinions.  That  he  was  a  pure  and  noble  man  there  is 
sufficient  proof.'  Unable  to  make  a  home  in  any  other 
country,  Mr.  Van  Schaack  eventually  made  his  way  back  to 
the  States.  Sabine  asserts  that  he  was  received  with  honours 
and  became  eminent  in  the  law  after  his  return.  If  so,  he 
was  a  man  of  marvellous  vigour  and  nerve.  He  died  in  out- 
ward seeming  a  dutiful  son  of  the  Eepublic,  but  he  must  have 
been  more,  or  less,  than  human  if  he  could  really  love  it 
and  rejoice  in  its  success. 

Such  cases  of  return  were,  however,  the  less  frequent 
that  they  were  generally  discouraged. 

At  the  peace  (says  Sabine)  justice  and  good  policy  both 
required  a  general  amnesty,  and  the  revocation  of  the  acts  of 
disability  and  banishment,  so  that  only  those  who  had  been  guilty 
of  flagrant  crimes  should  be  excluded  from  becoming  citizens. 
Instead  of  this,  however,  the  State  Legislatures  generally  continued 
in  a  course  of  hostile  action,  and  treated  the  conscientious  and 

'  Sabine,  The  American  Loyalists,  '  Van  Schaack,  Peter,  Esq.' 


LOYALISTS'  CLAIMS  195 

pure,  and  the  unprincipled   and   corrupt,  with   the   same  indis- 
crimination as  they  had  done  during  the  struggle.^ 

He  specially  characterises  New  York,  Massachusetts  and 
Virginia  as  '  neither  merciful  nor  just.' 

That  the  Mother  Country  did  admit  a  certain  amount  of 
responsibility  for  the  welfare  of  the  American  Loyalists  has 
been  shown  in  the  previous  chapter,  and  some  work  was  done. 

On  the  5th  of  April  1788,  the  Commissioners  in  England  had 
heard  and  determined  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty  claims 
(besides  those  withdrawn)  and  had  liquidated  the  same  at 
£1,887,548.  Perhaps  no  greater  despatch  was  possible,  but  the 
delay  caused  great  complaint.  The  King,  his  Ministers,  and 
Parliament  were  addressed  and  petitioned,  either  on  the  general 
course  pursued  by  the  Commissioners,  or  on  some  subject  connected 
with  the  Loyalist  Claims.  Letters  and  communications  appeared 
in  the  newspapers,  and  the  public  attention  was  again  awakened 
by  the  publication  of  essays  and  tracts,  which  renewed  the  state- 
ments made  in  1783  of  the  losses,  services,  and  sacrifices  of  the 
claimants."^  Two  years  previously  (1786)  the  agents  of  the 
Loyalists  had  invoked  Parliament  to  hasten  the  final  action  upon 
the  claims  of  their  constituents,  in  a  petition  drawn  up  with  care 
and  ability.  '  It  is  impossible  to  describe,  (are  words  which  occur 
in  this  document)  the  poignant  distress  under  which  many  of  these 
persons  now  labour,  and  which  must  daily  increase  should  the 
justice  of  Parliament  be  delayed,  until  all  the  claims  are  liqui- 
dated and  reported.  .  .  .  ten  years  have  elapsed  since  many  of 
them  have  been  deprived  of  their  fortunes,  and  with  their  helpless 
families  reduced  from  independent  aifluence  to  poverty  and  want ; 
some  of  them  now  languishing  in  British  gaols,  others  indebted  to 
their  creditors,  who  have  lent  them  money  barely  to  support  their 
existence ;  and  who,  unless  speedily  relieved,  must  sink  more  than 
the  value  of  their  claims  when  received,  and  be  in  a  worse  condi- 
tion than  if  they  had  never  made  them ;  others  have  already  sunk 
under  the  pressure  and  severity  of  their  misfortunes. 

Sabine  insinuates  that  this  picture  may  be  overcharged, 
but  he  quotes  the  statement  of  Galloway,^  '  a  distinguished 

'  Sabine,  The  American  Loyalists :  Preliminary  Remarks,  pp.  86,  87. 

2  Ibid.  pp.  107-8. 

^  Galloway's  tract  was  entitled:  The  Claims  of  the  American  Loyalists 
Renewed  and  Maintained  upon  Incontrovertible  Principles  of  Lata  and  Justice. 
Galloway  is  mentioned  in  vol.  ii.  p.  324  of  this  Family  History. 

02 


196  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Loyalist  of  Pennsylvania,'  made  in  1788,  which  is  quite  as 
strong : 

It  is  well  known  (says  the  writer)  that  this  delay  of  justice  has 
produced  the  most  melancholy  and  shocking  events.  A  number 
of  the  sufferers  have  been  driven  by  it  into  insanity  and  become 
their  own  destroyers,  leaving  behind  them  their  helpless  widows 
and  orphans  to  subsist  upon  the  cold  charity  of  strangers.  Others 
have  been  sent  to  cultivate  a  wilderness  for  their  subsistence, 
without  having  the  means,  and  compelled  through  want  to  throw 
themselves  on  the  mercy  of  the  American  States,  and  the  charity 
of  their  former  friends,  to  support  the  life  which  might  have  been 
made  comfortable  by  the  money  long  since  due  by  the  British 
Government ;  and  many  others,  with  their  families,  are  barely  sub- 
sisting upon  a  temporary  allowance  from  Government,  a  mere 
pittance  when  compared  with  the  sum  due  to  them. 

Many  victims  were  not  included  in  the  first  measures  of 
compensation.  '  Mr.  Pitt '  (says  Sabine)  '  had  introduced 
and  carried  through  in  1785  a  Bill  for  the  distribution  of 
£150,000  among  the  claimants ' ;  but,  he  adds,  '  that  sum, 
it  was  held,  was  to  be  applied  to  a  distinct  class,  to  those  who 
had  lost  "  property,"  and  neither  to  those  who  had  lost  "  life- 
estate  "  in  property,  nor  to  those  who  had  lost  "  income."  '  ^ 

How  many  subsequent  Bills  were  passed  I  know  not ; 
but  I  have  in  my  possession  a  pamphlet  entitled  *  The 
Case  of  the  Uncompensated  American  Loyalists  ' — these 
being  fifty-five  persons — '  whose  claims  (arising  on  debts 
owing  them  in  America,  previous  to  the  Kevolutionary  War, 
and  lost  during  that  period  by  allegiance  to  his  Majesty), 
were  established  under  the  Commission  appointed  by 
the  Act  of  the  43  Geo.  III.,  but  who  from  particular  cir- 
cumstances have  not  obtained  the  benefit  of  the  Act  of 
the  23  Geo.  III.,  chap.  80.'  ^  There  is  no  date  on  the 
title-page,  but  the  documents  are  brought  down  to  1816. 
Many  claimants  are  represented  by  executors,  &c.  '  John 
Lane '  appears  '  for  Paxton  Commissioner  and  Governor 
Hutchinson.' 


'  Sabine,  Tlie  American  Loyalists  :  Preliminary  Remarks,  p.  109. 
^  Ibid.  pp.  86-87. 


TIMOTHY  BUGGLES  197 

Mr.  P.  0.  Hutchinson  ^  doubtless  alludes  to  this  effort  at 
obtaining  justice  when  he  says  : 

Such  were  the  delays  that  even  so  late  as  1821,  thirty-eight 
years  after  the  war  had  ended,  and  forty-three  years  after  the 
passing  of  the  Confiscation  Act,  the  subject  was  again  mooted  in 
Parliament. 

He  does  not  state  the  result.  The  Eev.  John  Inglis, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Nova  Scotia,  alludes  to  the  subject 
in  a  letter^  of  the  following  year  (1822), addressed  to  Scrope 
Bernard,  then  Sir  Scrope  Bernard-Morland.  What  was  the 
end,  or  whether  there  ever  was  one,  I  know  not. 

Although  the  fate  of  the  exiled  Loyalists  was  in  all  cases 
probably  a  hard  one,  it  is  not  denied  that  in  some  cases  they 
partially  regained  their  position,  though  always  as  the  result 
of  a  severe  struggle.  These  successes  must  be  attributed 
to  exceptional  mental  and  physical  vigour,  and  perhaps  also 
to  the  assistance  of  influential  friends. 

Foremost  among  the  Loyahsts  of  Massachusetts,  after 
as  well  as  before  the  final  outbreak,  was  *  stalwart  Timothy 
Kuggles.'  ^  In  1774,  when  his  home  was  rendered  uninhabit- 
able by  the  ill-treatment  of  his  cattle  and  attacks  upon  his 
house  by  night,  he  took  refuge  in  Boston,  where  he  formed  an 
association  of  Loyalists  for  mutual  defence.  When  the 
British  army  evacuated  the  town,  he  accompanied  it  to 
Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  but  left  a  little  later  for  Long  and 
Staten  Islands,  New  York,  where  he  organised  a  force  of 
three  hundred  loyal  militia. 

'  After  many  vicissitudes  incident  to  his  position  in  so 
troubled  times,'  writes  Sabine,  '  he  established  his  residence 
in  Nova  Scotia.  Of  the  beautiful  site  of  Digby,  in  that 
colony,  he  was  a  proprietor  and  a  settler.'  The  development 
of  this  property  was  apparently  a  principal  occupation  of 
his  later  life.     '  He  died  in  1798,  aged  eighty-seven  years.' 

Jonathan  Sewall,'*  who,  under  the   signature  of  '  Phil- 

'  Hutchinson,  Diary  and  Letters,  vol.  ii.  chap.  ix. 

-  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winehendon. 

^  Sabine,  Tlte  American  Loyalists,  '  Buggies  (Timothy).' 

■•  Ibid.,  '  Sewall,  Jonathan.' 


198  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

anthropos,'  had  defended  Governor  Bernard  in  the  news- 
papers, and  became  Attorney-General  in  1767  and  Judge 
of  Admiralty  for  Nova  Scotia  in  1768,  was  also  a  refugee  in 
Boston  after  his  '  elegant  house  at  Cambridge,'  as  it  is 
called  by  Sabine,  was  injured  by  the  mob.  He  was  one 
of  the  proscribed,  and  went  on  to  England;  after  some 
years  of  weary  waiting  he  emigrated  to  New  Brunswick, 
and  was  appointed  a  Judge  of  Admiralty  in  that  partially 
reclaimed  wilderness.  It  was  a  poor  post  for  one  of  the 
rising  men  of  Massachusetts.  His  wife  was  a  Quincy,  sister 
of  John  Hancock's  wife  ;  and  he  was  also  the  bosom  friend 
of  John  Adams,  whose  regard  survived  the  separation  brought 
about  by  politics.  Sewall  lived  to  see  both  these  men  in 
high  places  ;  Adams,  indeed,  had  nearly  attained  the  highest, 
when  Sewall,  who  had  sacrificed  a  brilliant  career  for 
conscience'  sake,  died  in  1796.  His  son  Jonathan  was  more 
fortunate  ;  he  became  Chief  Justice  of  Canada. 

Sewall,  ^  when  Attorney-General,  was  concerned  in  a 
transaction  which  ought  to  have  won  him  lasting  honour 
in  the  land  of  his  birth ;  but  he  was  a  Loyalist. 

He  commenced  the  suit  in  May,  1769,  in  favour  of  a  negro 
against  his  master  for  his  freedom,  by  James  Richard  Lechmere, 
of  Cambridge.  The  late  Chief  Justice  Dana  was  counsel  for  the 
defendant.  The  suit  terminated  the  following  year  in  favour  of 
the  negro ;  and  I  believe  it  was  the  first  case  where  the  grand 
question  was  settled,  abolishing  slavery  in  that  State.  The  case 
of  the  negro  Somerset,  which  Blackstone  commends  so  highly, 
and  which  has  been  matter  of  self-gratulation  in  England,  was  not 
settled  till  1772,  two  years  after  the  decision  in  favour  of  James. 

Daniel  Leonard,^  another  barrister,  is  known  chiefly  in 
connection  with  Governor  Hutchinson,  whom  he  defended 
in  a  pamphlet  as  *  Massachusettensis,'  but  he  appears  to 
have  been  a  political  writer  for  some  time  previous  to  Sir 
Francis  Bernard's  departure;  in  any  case  he  was  a  Loyal 
representative  for  some  years.  Leonard  ran  the  usual 
course :  bullets  were  fired  into  his  house,  he  went  to  Boston 

'  Curwen,  Biographical  Notices  (by  Ward?),  •  Hon.  Jon.  Sewall.' 
*  Sabine,  The  American  Loyalists,  '  Leonard,  Daniel.' 


SAD  STOEIES  199 

then  to  Halifax,  and  to  England,  and  was  finally  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Bermudas,^  a  cluster  of  four  hundred  rocky- 
islands  in  the  Atlantic,  whose  population  in  1822  was  little 
over  ten  thousand,  nearly  half  blacks. 

Samuel  Quincy,^  the  successor  of  Jonathan  Sewall  as 
Solicitor-General,  who  visited  Sir  Francis  Bernard  in  Ayles- 
bury, may  be  said  to  have  given  up  more  than  other  exiles. 
His  family  had  one  and  all  embraced  the  cause  of  the 
revolution,  and  on  leaving  America  he  bade,  unconsciously, 
a  last  adieu  to  all  his  family  save  his  wife.  She  appears  to 
have  joined  him  later,  probably  when  he  obtained  the 
modest  appointment  of  '  Comptroller  of  the  Customs  '  at 
the  port  of  Perham,  in  Antigua.  Here  she  died ;  he  married 
again,  but  died  on  a  voyage  to  England  to  recruit  his  health, 
within  sight  of  land.  His  widow  re-embarked,  only  to  die 
on  the  return  journey. 

Many  other  sad  stories  might  be  told  ;  and  I  do  not 
forget  that  there  were  Loyalists  who  did  not  leave  the 
States,  in  some  cases  could  not,  but  lived  on  in  a  constrained 
position,  objects  of  suspicion  and  dislike  to  their  neighbours 
and  the  authorities,  and  liable  at  least  to  petty  persecutions, 
sometimes  to  more  stringent  measures  of  repression.  But 
they  lost  their  connection  with  England,  and  necessarily 
became  by  degrees  identified  with  their  surroundings.  If 
not  effected  at  once,  a  generation  or  two  must  have  seen  the 
change. 

That  the  leaders  of  the  successful  party — the  insurgents 
— throve  on  revolution  is  almost  a  foregone  conclusion. 
James  Otis  ^  is  the  most  marked  exception.  Weighted  by 
incipient  brain  disease,  and  uncongenially  married  to  a  lady 
of  Loyalist  opinions,  whose  views  influenced  their  children, 
his  mind  gave  way  altogether  after  a  quarrel  with  Eobinson, 
the  Commissioner  of  Customs ;  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
days  under  care  in  a  farmhouse,  at  the  door  of  which  he  was 

'  The  Edinhurgh  Gazetteer,  1822,  '  Bermudas  or  Somers'  Islands.' 
^  Sabine,  The  Ainerican  Loyalists,  '  Quincy,  Samuel.'     Curwen,  or  Ward, 
Biographical  Notices,  '  Samuel  Quincy.' 
Tudor,  Life  of  Otis. 


200  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

killed,  some  years  later,  by  a  flash  of  lightning.  Hawley, 
whose  tendency  to  depression  has  been  noticed,  retired  early 
from  the  strife  and  led  the  life  of  a  private  gentleman. 
Warren  died  young. 

John  Adams  ^  stands  forth  pre-eminent  as  having  attained 
the  highest  possible  position  in  the  United  States.  His 
early  career  in  his  native  land,  his  missions  to  France  and 
Holland,  have  been  the  subject  of  some  pages  in  these 
volumes.  After  the  peace  he  became  ambassador  of  the 
United  States  to  England,  and  was  received  by  George  III., 
reluctantly,  indeed,  but  with  magnanimity.  Unhappily, 
many  Loyalists  were  then,  perhaps,  perishing  from  want. 
The  wrath  of  John's  wife,  Abigail,  the  daughter  of  William 
Smith,  Congregational  minister  of  Weymouth,  United  States, 
was,  however,  excited  by  the  coldness  of  Queen  Charlotte's 
manner.^  Her  first  reception  was  civil,  though,  perhaps, 
scarcely  cordial ;  but  on  subsequent  occasions — whether  the 
Queen's  anxiety  about  public  affairs  and  her  husband's  health 
or  the  self-assertion  of  Mrs.  Adams  was  the  immediate  cause — 
the  ambassadress  considered  that  she  had  not  received  the 
measure  of  courtesy  due  to  her  exalted  position,  and  she  did 
not  forget  this  omission.  At  a  much  later  period,  when  the 
French  Kevolution  seemed  to  have  shaken  the  Throne  of 
England,  she  wrote  to  her  daughter  : 

Humiliation  for  Charlotte  is  no  sorrow  for  me.  She  richly 
deserves  her  full  portion  for  the  contempt  and  scorn  which  she 
took  pains  to  discover.^ 

John  Adams  was  distinguished  as  a  political  writer,  an 
orator,  and  a  statesman ;  he  became  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States  under  Washington,  and  his  successor  as 
President.  In  his  decHning  years  he  was  harassed  by 
opposition,  which  led  to  his  retirement  from  public  life,  and 
he  was  not  exempt  from  domestic  bereavements ;  but  on 
the  whole  his  life  was  singularly  fortunate.     He  survived 

'  Life  of  John  Adams.     See  also  various  American  histories. 

^  'Memoir  of  Mrs.  Adams,'  by  Charles  Francis  Adams,  prefixed  to  the 
Collection  called  Familiar  Letters  of  John  Adams  a')id  his  Wife,  Abigail 
Adams,  during  tlie  Revolution. 

^  Memoir  prefixed  to  Familiar  Letters. 


JOHN  HANCOCK  201 

to  see  a  son  his  successor  in  the  Presidency,  and  died  in  his 
native  land  of  Massachusetts  in  high  honour.  Like  Hancock, 
he  loved  display  as  well  as  superiority ;  in  age  as  in  youth 
he  was  an  aristocratic  partisan  of  popular  rights. 

John  Hancock's  career  up  to  the  time  of  Sir  Francis 
Bernard's  departure  has  been  sketched  in  the  previous 
volumes  of  this  History.  Together  with  Samuel  Adams,  he 
escaped  from  Boston  to  Philadelphia  in  order  to  avoid  arrest 
by  General  Gage's  order,  joined  Washington,  John  Adams, 
and  others,  and  became  first  revolutionary  Governor  of 
Massachusetts  in  1780.  In  1773,  while  Governor  Hutchinson 
was  still  in  Boston,  Hancock  was  elected  Treasurer  of 
Harvard  College.  The  result  is  told  by  the  revolutionary 
historian  of  Harvard,  Josiah  Quincy,  and  curtly  summed  up 
by  Birkbeck  Hill : 

George  III.  was  down,  but  Governor  Hancock  was  up.  In  an 
evil  day  for  the  University  that  favourite  of  the  people  had  been 
appointed  Treasurer.  He  would  neither  discharge  the  duties  of 
his  office  nor  resign  his  post.  The  Corporation,  after  patiently 
waiting  two  or  three  years,  appointed  his  successor.  ...  To  con- 
ciliate the  great  man,  they  asked  for  his  portrait,  to  place  beside 
that  of  his  uncle,  who  had  been  a  benefactor.  He  neither  sent 
his  portrait  nor  settled  his  accounts.  ...  So  powerful  was  his 
position  that  the  Corporation  did  not  dare  to  bring  him  before  a 
court  of  law.  They  could  scarcely  have  been  worse  off  had  they 
had  to  deal  with  George  III.  himself.  It  was  not  till  full  eleven 
years  after  their  first  demand  that  he  condescended  to  state  the 
amount  of  the  balance  still  owing  by  him  to  the  College.  On 
being  pressed  for  payment  he  would  do  nothing  more  than  give  a 
bond  and  security.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  distress  of  the  Pro- 
fessors was  laid  before  him.  Their  salaries  were  unpaid,  but 
neither  interest  nor  principal  could  be  got  out  of  the  great  man. 
He  died  in  1793,  leaving  ample  means,  but  the  debt  still  owing. 
It  was  not  till  eight  years  later  that  his  heirs  discharged  it. 

Ward  charges  Mr.  Hancock  with  similar  conduct  towards 
Mr.  Harrison  Gray,^  Treasurer  or  Eeceiver-General  of 
Massachusetts,  to  whom  he  owed  '  a  large  sum  for  borrowed 
money,  no  part  of  which  would  he  pay  in  his  lifetime,  and 

'  Ward,  Biographical  Notices,  '  Harrison  Gray.' 


202  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

of  which  a  small  part  only  was  received  from  his  executors,' 
and  he  contrasts  this  callous  conduct  with  Mr.  Gray's  high 
sense  of  honour.  That  gentleman,  when  he  departed  into 
exile,  left  the  books  and  files  in  his  office  in  exemplary  order, 
although  they  might  have  proved  valuable  against  his  own 
actual  losses  and  the  impending  confiscation.  He  calls 
Mr.  Gray  '  the  model  of  a  faithful  Treasurer,'  and  both  Ward 
and  Sabine  describe  him  as  a  model  man  in  all  respects. 

Hancock's  money  was  spent  on  '  grand  living,'  and  his 
hand  was  open  *  to  every  object  coinciding  with  his  views 
or  his  interest ;  ...  it  suited  both  his  interest  and  his  policy 
to  postpone  debts  and  gratify  friends.' 

Hosmer  records  his  brilliant  entertainments  to  the  French 
officers  in  Boston.  Thirty  or  forty  dined  with  him  each 
day,  whom  he  dazzled  with  his  liveries  and  plate.  At  Concert 
Hall,  too,  he  gave  them  a  great  ball,  and  stimulated  other 
Whigs  to  similar  hospitalities. 

Probably  the  restless  Samuel  Adams,  the  wirepuller 
of  all  agitations  in  Massachusetts,  was,  of  all  the  revolutionists 
in  that  State,  the  least  satisfied  with  his  success.  It  must 
have  been  undoubtedly  galling  to  behold  his  '  puppets,'  as 
they  had  been  called,  in  several  cases  exalted  over  his  head. 
He  continued  throughout  the  course  of  the  revolution  to  be 
the  life  and  soul  of  political  intrigues,  but,  as  might  have 
been  expected  from  his  antecedents,  he  was  too  much  of 
a  revolutionist  to  be  in  his  right  element  when  organising 
a  constitution,  and  had  to  give  way  to  the  colleagues  from 
whom  he  differed.  For  many  years  he  was  a  member  of 
Congress,  but  eventually  lost  his  seat  when  opposed  by  a 
young  and  popular  orator. 

'  The  would-be  Cromwell  of  America,'  as  he  is  called  in 
the  pamphlet  of  a  refugee  American  printer,  and  perhaps 
justly,  he  saw  men  whom  he  had  introduced  to  pubHc  life, 
and,  as  he  probably  believed,  moulded  to  his  ideas,  rising 
above  him.  The  brilliant  fortunes  of  John  Adams  could 
scarcely  fail  to  affect  him  with  a  sense  of  undeserved  in- 
feriority. He  became  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
in  succession   to   his   former   tool,    Thomas   Gushing,  and 


SAMUEL  ADAMS  203 

under  John  Hancock,  once  styled  his  'dupe.'  In 
Hutchinson's  time  he  had  been  at  variance  with  Hancock, 
and  they  were  again  while  in  office  at  variance  for  some 
years ;  but  a  reconciliation  was  eventually  brought  about, 
and  on  Hancock's  death  in  1793  Adams,  at  the  age  of 
seventy,  was  elected  Governor,^ 

It  was  a  grand  position  for  the  former  maltster  and  tax- 
collector,  but  can  hardly  have  satisfied  all  his  longings. 
The  revolution,  moreover,  had  brought  about  some  changes 
which  he  had  not  contemplated,  and  certainly  not  desired  : 
religious  toleration  was  making  rapid  advances,  and  re- 
creations distasteful  to  Puritans  were  recognised.  Samuel 
Adams  resigned  his  government  after  three  years  :  it  had 
probably  come  too  late  and  developed  too  many  uncongenial 
elements  to  be  enjoyed ;  he  lived  five  years  more  in  retire- 
ment. The  great  grief  of  his  later  life  had  been  the  death 
of  his  only  son,  who  is  said  to  have  succumbed  to  his 
exertions  and  hardships  as  a  surgeon  during  the  war.  By 
his  wife  and  daughter  he  was  carefully  tended,  and  he  sur- 
vived to  be  eighty-one,  dying — it  may  be  said  to  his  credit — 
a  comparatively  poor  man,  in  1802. 

'  Memoir  of  J.  Quincy  Adams,  by  C.  F.  Adams,  vol,  i.    Note  to  p.  38. 


204  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 


CHAPTER   XI 

THOMAS   BERNAED,    TREASURER   OF   THE   FOUNDLING 
HOSPITAL 

Cordial  Relations  between  Thomas  and  Scrope  Bernard — Retiring  Disposition  of 
Thomas  and  Margaret  Bernard — Their  Circle  of  Friends—'  The  Clapham 
Sect' — Thomas  Bernard  purchases  a  House  at  Iver — Serjeant  Adair — 
Thomas  Bernard  retires  from  Practice  at  the  Bar — His  Disposition  towards 
Philanthropic  Efforts— Neglect  of  Officers  charged  with  the  care  of  the  Poor— 
Addison's  Denunciation  of  the  Prevalence  of  Infanticide— The  Founding  of 
the  Foundling  Hospital — Infant  Mortality  in  the  Hospital— The  Trade  in 
Carrying  Children — Indiscriminate  Admission  to  the  Hospital  stopped — 
Suppression  of  the  Branch  Establishments — Jonas  Hanway  promotes  an 
Inquiry  into  the  Condition  of  Children  in  the  Workhouses — Thomas 
Bernard's  Connection  with  the  Hospital — He  Supports  the  Suggested 
Admission  of  Exposed  and  Necessitous  Children  of  Soldiers  and  Sailors — 
He  is  elected  Treasurer — His  Administration  of  the  Hospital— The  Mothers 
of  the  Foundlings. 

For  thirteen  years  after  his  marriage  Thomas  Bernard  was 
a  diligent  worker  in  the  profession  he  had  chosen.  There 
is  not  much  to  be  related  about  this  portion  of  his  life.  Some 
few  allusions  have  already  been  made  in  previous  chapters, 
in  connection  chiefly  with  his  brother  Scrope's  career ;  what 
little  remains  to  be  said  will  find  a  place  here. 

The  intercourse  between  the  two  brothers  was  always 
cordial,  and  Thomas  was  of  use  to  Scrope  in  many  small 
matters  of  business,  especially  while  Scrope  was  in  Ireland. 
One  of  the  arrangements  to  which  several  of  Thomas's 
letters  refer  was  the  insertion  of  certain  paragraphs  in  news- 
papers, apparently  to  forward  the  views  of  the  Lord 
Lieutenant.^ 

It  is  possible  that  Thomas  and  Margaret  Bernard  re- 
mained with  her  father  after  the  marriage;  but  whatever 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


TEOUBLES  OF  IRISH  PROPEETY  205 

was  the  reason,  they  were  domiciled  in  Soho  Square  for 
a  year.  He  writes  ^  on  January  8,  1783  :  '  We  get  into  our 
new  house  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields — South  Side — in  the  be- 
ginning of  April,  but  not  on  the  first  of  April.'  Some  years 
later,  apparently,  a  letter  is  dated  from  Great  Kussell  Street ; 
but  it  was  probably  a  temporary  residence  only,  since  they 
seem  to  have  made  Bloomsbury  Place  -  their  next  abode. 
Mrs.  Bernard's  sister,  Miss  Adair,  is  mentioned  a  little  later 
as  living  in  Lansdown  Place.^ 

Margaret  Bernard  apparently  had  property  in  Ireland  ; 
it  must  be  hers  that  is  referred  to  in  several  letters,  but, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  Thomas  writes  of  it  as 
his.  It  was  not  long  before  he  experienced  the  trouble  and 
vexation  attendant  on  Irish  property.  In  the  letter  of 
January  8,  1783,  he  continues,  with  reference  to  an  attack 
on  the  property  : 

As  to  the  Proclamation,  if  it  is  little  or  no  expense,  I  shall  be 
glad  of  it ;  by  little  expense  I  mean  not  above  4  or  5  £.  That 
Estate  gives  me  a  good  deal  of  Trouble,  and  would,  I  think,  be 
better  for  a  resident  Irishman  than  for  me.  Nothing  but  Mr. 
Smith's  being  so  good  as  to  take  the  Care  of  it  has  reconciled  me 
to  keeping  it,  &  now,  if  a  tolerable  offer  was  made  me,  I  would  sell 
it  and  willingly  leave  the  greater  part  of  the  Purchase  Money  in 
the  Purchaser's  hands. 

The  Proclamation  came  out,  disclosing  the  fact  that 
his  house  had  been  violently  attacked ;  apparently  as  part 
of  an  organised  system  of  annoyance  and  intimidation.  The 
original  document  has  been  mislaid,  but  a  letter^  from 
'  Rich.  W.  Talbot,'  asking  Scrope  Bernard  to  apply  to  his 
brother  '  for  his  interest  in  the  County  of  DubUn  upon  the 
approaching  election,'  dated  February  5,  1790,  may  almost 
be  said  to  determine  the  locality  of  the  property  within 
certain  limits. 

Thomas  and  Margaret  Bernard  probably  moved  little  in 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 
^  Life  of  Sir  Thovias  Bernard,  by  the  Eev.  James  Baker. 
'  Miss  Adair's  address  appears  in  a  list  of  subscribers  to  the  Society  for 
Bettering  tlie  Condition  of  the  Poor. 
*  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


206  THE  BERNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

general  society ;  he  had  his  profession,  and  she  appears  to 
have  been  of  a  retiring  disposition  ;  but  they  had  a  wide  circle 
of  friends.  In  early  days,  it  would  seem,  he  wrote  to 
Scrope  : 

This  is  written  at  the  close  of  a  business  evening,  &  not  the 
more  legible  or  intelligible  for  that.  Mrs.  B.  is  gone  a  routing, 
she  is  very  well.  I  am  returning  home  expecting  to  meet  her  at 
supper.' 

At  all  times,  however,  the  old  intercourse  with  relatives 
was  kept  up  ;  not  only  did  Mr.  and  Mrs.  "White  visit  Thomas 
from  Lincoln,  but  Mrs.  Edmunds  also;  and  he  speaks  of 
going  to  Norton  with  young  Shore,  who  had  succeeded  his 
mother  in  1781,  and  expecting  to  meet  Bishop  Barrington's 
wife  there ;  he  is  glad  '  our  Bishop  has  arrived  safe  ' — appa- 
rently in  Ireland,  for  the  letter  is  addressed  to  Scrope  in 
Dublin. 

On  another  occasion  he — perhaps  his  wife  also — dined  in 
Cavendish  Square  with  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury  (Shute 
Barrington),  Mrs.  Barrington— probably  the  Bishop's  wife — 
and  Mr.  Price,-  a  nephew. 

The  name  of  Pownall  is  more  than  once  mentioned  in 
letters,  and  refers  apparently  to  the  Under-Secretary  of 
State,  the  friend  of  Sir  Francis  Bernard.  Of  the  American 
refugees,  Sir  WilHam  Pepperell  is  the  only  one  who  can  be 
traced.  He  remained  in  London,  and  his  name  appears  in 
a  list  of  subscribers  to  a  society  ^  which  owed  its  origin  to 
Thomas  Bernard,  so  late  as  1805. 

But  Thomas  Bernard's  marriage  apparently  introduced 
him  to  a  circle  which  must  have  strongly  influenced  his 
after-life.  His  wife's  uncle,  James  Adair,  the  King's  Ser- 
jeant, was  a  man  of  some  importance,  and  having  only 
one  child  of  his  own,  a  daughter,  who  married  Admiral  Sir 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon.  It  is  dated  'Jan.  21,'  and  probably 
refers  to  1783.  The  following  extracts  are  also  from  MS.  letters  at  Nether 
Winchendon,  but  without  the  date  of  any  year. 

-  The  son  of  a  sister  of  the  second  Viscount  and  the  Bishop.  See  Debrett 
and  Burke, '  Barrington,  Viscount.' 

*  Reports  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  vol.  ii. 
List  of  Subscribers. 


THE   '  CLAPHAM   SECT  '  207 

John  Colpoys,  K.B.,  he  bestowed  much  affection  on  his 
brother's  daughters.^  The  Serjeant  loved  politics ;  he  was 
a  warm  friend  and  admirer  of  Fox.  Already  in  1769  he  had 
come  forward  at  a  meeting  of  Middlesex  freeholders  ;  '  to  in- 
struct Wilkes  and  Glyn,  their  representatives  ;  he  moved  the 
resolution  concerning  the  tumult  in  St.  George's  Fields,  the 
riot  at  Brentford,  and  the  commission  of  the  Peace.'  Suc- 
cessively member  of  Parliament  for  Cockermouth  and  for 
Higham  Ferrers,  he  was  of  course  opposed  to  the  war  with 
America,  and  disapproved  of  Lord  North,  but  his  general 
views  appear  to  have  been  somewhat  modified  by  time. 

There  was,  indeed,  a  liberal  set,  of  a  different  type  from 
the  followers  of  Wilkes,  with  which  the  Serjeant  had  become 
intimately  connected.  On  February  17  he  spoke  in  favour 
of  the  abolition  within  a  limited  time  of  the  slave  trade. 
'  Politics  '  (wrote  Wilberforce)  '  are  said  to  harden  the  heart 
and  pervert  the  understanding.  In  this  instance  it  seems 
not.  Sergeant  Adair's  speech  I  like  the  best  of  all,  compre- 
hensive, strong,  clear.'  And  a  little  later  they  were  working 
together  for  the  redress  of  Quaker  grievances,  and  Wilber- 
force notes  :  ^  '  March  25— Got  Adair  to  put  off"  his  motion,' 
being  himself  too  unwell  to  attend.  He  was  in  the  House 
of  Commons  the  following  day,  when  the  Serjeant's  Bill  was 
brought  forward,  and  was  partially  successful. 

Long  before  these  entries  were  penned  in  the  Diary  of 
William  Wilberforce,  Thomas  Bernard  had  probably  been 
introduced  to  him  by  Serjeant  Adair,  and  through  him  to  the 
society  of  those  friends  whom  the  Eev.  Sydney  Smith  had 
jocosely  described  as  '  the  Clapham  Sect,'  and  whose  social 
life  Sir  James  Stephen,  the  nephew  of  Wilberforce,  has  made 
known.^ 

From  Sir  James's  own  account  it  would  seem  that  this 
'  Sect '  or  '  Coterie,'  was  pre-eminently  remarkable,  but  in 


'  Woolrych,  Lives  of  Eminent  Serjeants,  vol.  ii. 

^  The  Life  of  William  Wilberforce,  by  his  Sons,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  xii.  (Second 
Edition). 

'  Essays  in  Ecclesiastical  Biography,  by  Sir  James  Stephen,  K.C.B.,  '  The 
Clapham  Sect.' 


208  THE  BBENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

a  good  sense,  for  what  has  since  been  called  '  making  the 
best  of  both  worlds,'  It  consisted  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  of 
men  prosperous  alike  in  their  pecmiiary  and  domestic  affairs 
— singularly  fortunate  in  their  exemption  from  most  of  the 
sorrows  of  life,  indeed — and  in  some  cases  in  the  public 
reputation  which  they  achieved.  William  Wilberforce  and 
his  connection,  Henry  Thornton,  owned  adjoining  properties 
and  pleasant  residences  at  Clapham.  They  had  some  con- 
genial neighbours  and  many  visitors  from  London  and 
more  distant  localities,  but,  while  thoroughly  enjoying  the 
blessings  of  their  own  lot,  they  strove  in  many  ways  to 
brighten  the  lives  of  those  less  happily  placed. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Thomas  Bernard  was  ever  one  of 
the  inner  circle,  although  he  must  have  been  on  cordial 
terms  with  many  of  its  members.  Two  of  them — besides 
Wilberforce — took  part  in  subsequent  philanthropic  schemes 
suggested  by  him  ;  these  two  were  the  Kev.  Thomas  Gis- 
borne,^  of  Yoxall  Lodge,  Staffordshire,  a  thoughtful  writer 
and  exemplary  pastor,  but  one  of  the  most  retiring  of  the 
band ;  and  Sir  John  Shore,^  afterwards  Lord  Teignmouth, 
who  had  been  Governor-General  of  India.  Other  names 
appear  in  letters  and  other  illustrative  documents  occasion- 
ally, showing  the  many  ties  which  drew  Mr.  Bernard  to 
these  pious  and  agreeable  gentlemen,  while  at  the  same  time 
his  own  life  remained  distinct. 

During  this  period  he  bought  a  house  with  grounds  at 
Iver,  near  the  southern  extremity  of  Buckinghamshire,  and 
also  '  the  Eectory  and  Kectory  Manor,'  ^  besides  certain 
tithes.  Here  he  apparently  spent  a  portion  of  his  vacations. 
The  Bar  was  not  then  so  exacting  a  profession,  in  point  of 
attendance,  as  it  has  been  since,  and  there  were  many  in- 
tervals of  relaxation. 

In  and  about  Iver  there  were  several  gentlemen's  seats, 
and  Thomas  Bernard  there  formed  some  lasting  friendships. 

'  Author  of  An  Inqtiiry  into  the  Duties  of  Men,  &c.,  and  A  Familiar 
Survey  of  the  Christian  Religion,  dc. 

-  Created  an  Irish  Baron  in  1797,  sec  Debrett  and  other  Peerages.  He  was 
President  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society. 

'  Lipscomb,  Hist.  Bucks.,  voL  iv.,  '  Iver.' 


STONE'S    TEIAL  209 

He  writes  to  his  brother  Scrope,  September  23,  1788,  from 
Lincoln's  Inn  : 

I  received  yours  just  as  I  was  leaving  Iver  this  morning.  If 
the  weather  continues  fair  I  hope  to  see  you  and  your  Company 
on  Saturday  next.  Mrs.  Du  Pre,  her  son,  three  of  her  Daughters, 
&  Mr.  Bateson  Harvey  (who  has  purchased  Langley  and  takes 
possession  next  Monday),  will  be  of  the  Party. 

I  wish  to  show  my  Clients  the  magnificence  of  Stowe,  our  Lord 
Lieuten's  Residence.  We  lye  at  Aylesbury  on  fryday,  &  proceed 
to  Stowe  time  enough  to  order  dinner  &  take  a  previous  peep  on 
Saturday.  Will  you  send  a  hint  to  the  Inn  at  Stowe  to  be  ready 
to  receive  us,  &  a  few  Lines  of  Advice  to  meet  us  at  the  George  at 
Aylesbury  ?  ^ 

Mr.  (aftervi^ards  Sir  Kobert)  Bateson  Harvey  continued 
on  intimate  terms  with  Thomas  Bernard  during  the  rest  of 
his  life.  Another  gentleman  of  the  neighbourhood,  Mr.  Sul- 
livan, of  Kichings  Park,  Iver,^  was  a  fellow-worker  in 
schemes  of  reform.  As  a  guest  the  name  of  Stephen  occurs 
twice  in  letters,^  and  that  gentleman  was  probably  the 
brother-in-law  of  Wilberforce. 

In  1796,  the  year  in  which  Serjeant  Adair  is  mentioned  ^ 
by  the  biographers  of  Wilberforce,  he  appears  to  have  been 
especially  prominent,  he  was  counsel  for  a  Mr.  Stone,  who  was 
accused  of  high  treason — that  is,  of  having  given  traitorous 
information,  when  in  Ireland,  as  to  the  state  of  England 
to  a  clergyman  named  Jackson,  who  was  an  emissary  of  the 
French  Government  and  had  since  poisoned  himself  in 
prison. 

It  appeared  in  the  course  of  the  trial  that  Stone  had  dis- 
couraged the  idea  of  invasion  ;  and  after  deliberating  three 
hours,  the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  *  Not  Guilty,'  which 
was  received  in  court  with  loud  applause,  echoed  by  the 
Hall.     One  unlucky  gentleman  was   caught  in  the  act  of 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 

"^  The  names  of  these  two  gentlemen  will  frequently  appear  again  in  con- 
nection with  Poor-Law  reform  and  the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of 
the  Poor. 

^  MS.  Letters  at  Nether  Winchendon  from  Thomas  to  Scrope  Bernard. 

*  Woolrych,  Lives  of  Eminent  Serjeants,  vol.  ii. 

VOL.   III.  P 


210  THE  BBENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

shouting  and  made  an  example  of ;  he  was  fined  £20,  and,  his 
cheque  being  refused,  taken  into  custody.  The  Serjeant's 
speech,  which  was  much  admired,  is  given  at  length  in  the 
*  State  Trials.' 

Serjeant  Adair  had  declined  to  be  classed  as  an  unreason- 
ing partisan  of  Mr.  Fox,  and  when  the  latter  proclaimed  his 
unquaHfied  admiration  of  the  French  Eevolution,  notwith- 
standing its  excesses,  he  withdrew  from  the  Whig  Club,  but 
did  not  renounce  all  friendship  with  his  late  leader, 
Eadical  as  some  persons  may  have  considered  him,  he  really 
fell  a  victim  to  his  loyalty,  or  perhaps  his  patriotism,  by 
joining  the  volunteers  raised  in  London  and  the  neighbour- 
hood to  repel  the  threatened  invasion,  at  an  age  when  he 
was  no  longer  fit  for  such  work.  On  July  21,  1798,  after 
returning  with  his  corps  from  a  shooting-practice,  and  while 
walking  by  Lincoln's  Inn,  he  was  seized  with  paralysis,  and 
being  carried  to  his  house  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  died 
there  in  a  few  hours. 

Woolrych  adds  that  '  he  was  buried  in  Bunhill  Fields, 
on  the  27th,  by  his  father  and  mother.' 

Before  this  event  took  place  Thomas  Bernard  had 
retired  from  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  commenced 
to  devote  his  time  to  other  objects.  His  biographer  says 
little  about  the  step  ;  merely  that  by  *  marriage  and  by  as- 
siduous attention  to  his  profession  for  fifteen  years  he  ac- 
quired such  a  competence  as  satisfied  his  desires,  and  led 
him  to  withdraw  himself  from  the  law  and  look  out  for 
some  useful  occupation  of  his  future  life.'  ^  And  from  that 
period  it  was  devoted  to  ameliorating  the  lot  of  his  less 
favoured  brethren  and  sisters.  He  had  a  wife  like-minded 
with  himself,  and  they  were  childless  ;  the  accumulation  of 
money  was  therefore  no  object ;  although,  indeed,  Thomas 
extended  an  almost  paternal  care  over  his  nephews  and  nieces, 
and  especially  over  the  children  of  his  deceased  sister,  Amelia 
Baker."     Margaret  Bernard,   who  had  no  young  relatives 

'  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Bernard. 

2  These  assertions  are  verified  by  numerous  passages  in  letters  and  other 
papers  at  Nether  Winohendon. 


THE    FOUNDLING   HOSPITAL  211 

so  near,  as  her  only  sister  never  married,  seconded  all  his 
efforts,  and  they  were  much  beloved  by  the  rising  generation. 

Probably  Mr.  Bernard  had  always  had  a  disposition  to 
philanthropic  efforts,  which  had  been  intensified  by  com- 
panionship with  a  wife  who  is  said  to  have  been  a  worker 
among  the  poor,  and  also  by  his  introduction  to  the  circle  at 
Clapham.  He  would  seem  to  have  begun  by  some  attempts 
to  improve  the  domestic  habits  of  the  lower  classes.  He  also 
took  an  active  part  on  the  Committee  of  the  Foundling 
Hospital,  its  nearness  to  his  residence  in  Bloomsbury  Place 
allowing  him  to  attend  even  while  he  was  in  full  work  at  the 
Bar ;  and  his  election  to  the  office  of  Treasurer,  or  Eesident 
Governor  of  the  Hospital,  in  May,  1795,^  apparently  decided 
the  next  move ;  he  must  have  ceased  to  practise  in  the 
course  of  that  year. 

At  this  period  France  and  several  other  European 
countries  possessed  institutions  for  the  rescue  and  support 
of  deserted  and  destitute  children. ^  If  nothing  of  the  sort 
had  been  established  in  England,  it  was — as  we  are  told — 
because  this  work  of  mercy  was  included  in  the  functions 
of  the  Poor  Law  passed  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  But  it 
had  been  scandalously  ignored,  probably  from  the  very 
beginning.  Perhaps  matters  had  grown  worse  by  degrees ; 
I  only  know  that  early  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne  public 
indignation  was  aroused.^  *  The  officers  whom  the  laws  had 
charged  with  the  care  of  the  poor  had  been  so  negligent 
that  some  infants  had  been  suffered  to  perish  with  cold  and 
hunger  in  the  streets,  without  any  attempt  for  their  relief.' 

The  movement,  headed  by  certain  benevolent  merchants, 
to  raise  subscriptions  for  building  an  asylum  met  with 
opposition  on  the  ground  '  that  it  might  seem  to  encourage 
vice,  by  making  too  easy  a  provision  for  illegitimate  children,^ 
and  it  was  dropped  for  a  while;  but  several  persons  left 
legacies   for  the  hospital — whenever  it  should  be  founded. 

'  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Bernard. 

2  An  Account  of  the  Foundling  Hospital,  by  Thomas  Bernard. 
^  Pugh,  Bemarkable  Occurrences  in  the  Life  of  Jonas  Hanway. 
*  Ibid. 


212  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

In  1713  Addison  called  attention  to  the  subject  in  the 
'  Guardian,'  denouncing  the  prevalence  of  infanticide  ;  and 
ten  years  later  Thomas  Coram,  master  of  a  vessel  trading  to 
the  American  coast,  and  a  man  of  remarkable  benevolence 
and  still  more  remarkable  disinterestedness,  came  forward  as 
the  champion  of  the  cause,  in  which  he  enlisted  the  sym- 
pathies of  twenty-one  ladies  of  rank  as  well  as  of  sundry 
noblemen  and  gentlemen. 

In  the  Ladies'  Memorial  it  is  stated  that  : 

No  expedient  has  yet  been  found  out  for  preventing  the  fre- 
quent murders  of  poor  miserable  infants  at  their  birth,  or  for 
suppressing  the  inhuman  custom  of  exposing  new-born  infants,  or 
the  putting  out  such  unhappy  foundlings  to  wicked  and  barbarous 
nurses,  who,  undertaking  to  bring  them  up  for  a  trifling  sum 
of  money,  do  often  suffer  them  to  starve  for  want  of  due  susten- 
ance or  care ;  or,  if  permitted  to  live,  either  turn  them  into  the 
streets  to  beg  or  steal,  or  hire  them  out  to  loose  persons,  by  whom 
they  are  trained  up  in  that  infamous  way  of  living ;  and  sometimes 
are  blinded,  or  maimed  and  distorted  in  their  limbs,  in  order  to  move 
pity  and  compassion,  and  thereby  become  fitter  instruments  of  gain 
to  those  vile  merciless  wretches. 

Captain  Coram  himself  stated  that  he  had  been  a  witness 
*  to  the  shocking  spectacle  of  innocent  children  who  had 
been  murdered  and  thrown  upon  dunghills.'  His  petition 
for  a  charter,  sent  to  the  King  with  the  two  memorials  from 
the  Ladies  and  from  the  Noblemen  and  Gentlemen,  was 
successful,  and  the  good  work  was  commenced  in  1737. 
After  a  modest  beginning  in  Hatton  Garden,  an  estate  was 
purchased  from  the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  on  which  the  present 
palatial  building  was  erected,  the  architect  being  Theodore 
Jacobson.^ 

And  now  some  of  the  eccentricities  of  English  charity 
came  into  full  play.  Several  of  the  most  eminent  painters 
and  sculptors  of  the  day  volunteered  to  adorn  the  principal 
rooms  of  the  new  institution  with  more  or  less  appropriate 
works  of  art ;  the  most  inappropriate  of  all  being,  perhaps, 

'  Brownlow  (J.),  Memoranda,  or  Chronicles  of  the  Foundling  Hospital,  in- 
eluding  Meinoirs  of  Captain  Coram,  dc. 


A  FASHIONABLE  LOUNGE  213 

Hogarth's  '  March  to  Finchley,'  unless  the  spectacle  of  vice 
in  many  phases  was  intended  to  act  as  a  deterrent.  Perhaps, 
as  the  picture  was  placed  in  the  committee-room,  it  was 
supposed  to  be  out  of  the  way  of  the  children.  Hogarth 
was  really  interested  in  the  new  foundation,  as  many  of  his 
acts  prove.  Handel  organised  an  entertainment  of  vocal  and 
instrumental  music  from  his  own  works,  some  of  it  composed 
for  the  occasion,  which  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales 
attended  ;  and  for  several  years  he  superintended  an  annual 
performance  of  his '  Messiah  '  for  the  benefit  of  the  institution. 
The  King  (George  II.)  contributed  ^2,000  to  the  chapel  and 
igl,000  for  the  services  of  a  preacher,  of  whose  sermons  the 
children  probably  understood  not  a  single  word,  except  when 
he  may  have  alluded  to  their  desolate  condition. 

It  is  scarcely  surprising  to  learn  that  with  all  these 
attractions  the  Hospital  soon  became  a  fashionable  morning 
lounge ;  a  quaint  print  of  the  time  ^  represents  a  parade  of 
beaux  and  belles  in  the  enclosure  on  the  south  side  of  the 
edifice.  The  artists  not  only  gave  some  of  the  Vv'orks,  but 
they  also  held  exhibitions  in  the  Hospital — an  arrangement 
no  doubt  suggested  by  convenience,  there  being  then  no 
rooms  elsewhere  suitable  for  the  purpose.  They  also  held 
their  annual  dinner  there,  and  that  festival  and  the  governors' 
anniversary  dinner  must  have  been  lively  gatherings.  But 
all  the  gay  doings  and  the  munificent  patronage  did  not 
remove  the  difficulties  inherent  in  the  administration  of  the 
new  establishment. 

Although  the  theoretical  completeness  of  the  English 
Poor  Law  had  been  held  not  to  preclude  the  necessity  for  a 
Foundling  Hospital,  the  somewhat  illogical  belief  prevailed 
that  it  ought  to  modify  the  new  arrangements,  and,  conse- 
quently, the  foreign  system  of  receiving  the  children  in  a 
'  turning-box '  was  not  adopted  ;  yet  numbers  of  children 
were  brought  to  the  Hospital,  and  several  branch  establish- 
ments were  opened  in  the  country,  '  with  large  rolls  of  county 
governors  and  county  committees,'  amongst  which  may  be 
noted  one  in  Aylesbury. 

'  In  Brownlow's  Meinoratida. 


214  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

But  in  1756  the  London  committee  was  already  short  of 
money,  while  its  success  in  other  respects  was  not  brilliant, 
since  at  the  close  of  1757  it  was  found  that  2,311  infants 
out  of  5,618  received  had  died.  There  were  probably  many 
causes  for  this  mortality,  but  it  appears  to  have  been  attri- 
buted partly  to  want  of  funds ;  and  having  regard  to  the 
fact  that  institutions  of  a  similar  character  abroad  received 
assistance  from  the  State,  the  committee  applied  to 
Parliament  for  a  grant,  as  indispensable  to  the  maintenance  of 
their  foundation.  The  grant  was  promised,  but  on  condition 
that  all  children  left  at  the  gate  were  to  be  admitted  indis- 
criminately. And  the  publication  of  this  new  rule  was  the 
signal  for  a  rush  to  the  Hospital,  many  of  the  children 
brought  there  being  in  the  last  stage  of  disease  or  inanition, 
sent,  it  would  seem,  to  save  the  expense  of  burial ;  and  there 
were  instances  in  which  they  did  not  live  to  be  carried  into 
the  wards,  and  the  numbers  were  so  overwhelming  as  to 
threaten  ruin  to  the  whole  scheme  of  the  foundation, 
especially  as  the  announcement  of  the  Parliamentary  grant 
checked  the  flow  of  private  charity. 

The  new  rule  of  unrestricted  admission  opened  the  door 
to  another  evil — a  trade  in  carrying  children. 

A  man  on  horseback,  going  to  London  with  luggage  in  two 
panniers,  was  overtaken  at  Highgate,  and  being  asked  what  he 
had  in  his  panniers,  answered,  '  I  have  two  children  in  each ;  I 
brought  them  from  Yorkshire  for  the  Foundling  Hospital,  and 
used  to  have  eight  guineas  a  trip  ;  but  lately  another  man  has  set 
up  against  me,  which  has  lowered  my  price. ^ 

This  was  not  the  worst  phase  of  the  traffic. 

At  Monmouth,  a  person  was  tried  for  the  murder  of  his  child, 
which  was  found  drowned  with  a  stone  about  its  neck  !  when  the 
prisoner  proved  that  he  delivered  it  to  a  travelling  tinker,  who 
received  a  guinea  from  him  to  carry  it  to  the  Hospital.  Nay,  it 
was  publicly  asserted  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  one  man 
who  had  the  charge  of  five  infants  in  baskets,  happened  in  his 
journey  to  get  intoxicated,  and  lay  all  night  asleep  on  a  common ; 
and  in  the  morning  he  found  three  of  the  five  children  he  had  in 

'  Brownlow,  Chronicles  of  the  Foundliiig  Hospital. 


JONAS    HANWAY  215 

charge  actually  dead.  Also,  that  of  eight  infants  brought  out 
of  the  country  at  one  time  in  a  waggon,  seven  died  before  it  reached 
London,  the  surviving  child  owing  its  life  to  the  solicitude  of  its 
mother,  who,  rather  than  commit  it  alone  to  the  carrier,  followed 
the  waggon  on  foot,  occasionally  affording  her  infant  the  nourish- 
ment it  required.^ 

It  may  be  added  that  such  children  as  did  reach  the 
Hospital  alive,  were  frequently  stripped  of  every  particle  of 
clothing  ;  thereby  not  only  were  their  lives  imperilled,  but 
all  clue  was  lost  to  their  origin  ;  whereas  the  governors,  at 
the  first  outset  of  the  institution,  had  expressly  desired  that 
persons  leaving  children  there  should  also  leave  some  token 
by  which  they  might,  if  desired,  be  afterwards  identified. 
Some  of  these  deposits  and  the  clothes  of  sundry  infants 
showed  them  to  be  children  of  at  least  one  parent  in  good 
circumstances. 

In  the  course  of  the  fourth  year  of  its  operation  the 
House  of  Commons  passed  a  resolution  annulling  the  order 
for  indiscriminate  admission — none  too  soon  ;  also,  however, 
withdrawing  the  Government  grant. 

About  the  same  time  an  inquiry  into  the  management 
of  the  country  branches  established  by  the  committee  of 
the  Hospital  showed  that  it  had  been  often  victimised  in 
another  manner,  the  parish  officers  and  their  allies  having, 
for  reasons  of  their  own,  sent  children  to  the  Houses  who 
were  neither  deserted  nor  destitute,  and  this  discovery 
led  to  the  suppression  of  these  branch  estabhshments. 

The  institution  now  certainly  stood  in  need  of  some  good 
friend  willing  to  go  thoroughly  into  the  consideration  of  its 
difficulties,  and  to  reflect  on  the  best  means  of  overcoming 
them ;  and  such  a  one  was  found  in  Jonas  Hanway,^  who 
in  1758  was  already  a  governor.  His  father  was  '  an  officer 
in  the  naval  line,  and  for  some  years  storekeeper  to  the 
dockyard  at  Portsmouth,'  who  had  died  prematurely  from 
the  effects  of  an  accident,  leaving  his  children  to  be  reared 
by  their  energetic  mother.     Jonas  became  a  merchant  and 

'  Brownlow,  Chronicles  of  the  Fo^mdling  Hospital. 
-  Pugh,  Some  Passages  in  the  Life  of  Jonas  Hamvay. 


216  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

travelled  much ;  as  superintendent  of  the  Caspian  trade  he 
went  through  multifarious  experiences  and  adventures  in 
Persia ;  then,  finding  himself  in  middle  age  a  bachelor  with 
a  good  fortune,  he  determined  to  spend  some  of  his  time 
and  money  in  helping  his  fellow-creatures. 

Mr.  Hanway  soon  formed  a  strong  opinion  against 
indiscriminate  admission,  especially  as  there  was  in  England 
no  provision  for  making  the  Foundling  boys  serviceable  as 
soldiers  or  sailors,  and  apparently  no  effectual  supervision, 
as  in  France,  over  any  of  the  children  after  their  departure 
from  the  Hospital.  The  chances  of  reclaiming  infants  thus 
admitted,  weighted  as  fchey  mostly  were  by  hereditary  ten- 
dencies to  degradation,  were  therefore  minimised ;  and  it 
was  found,  on  inquiry,  that  those  who  had  already  left,  the 
institution  had  in  most  cases  rejoined  the  ranks  of  the 
vicious  and  criminal  population. 

An  idea  which  struck  Mr.  Hanway  while  investigating 
this  perplexed  subject  was,  that  the  provisions  of  the  Poor 
Law  ought  no  longer  to  be  ignored,  but  that  the  workhouses 
and  the  Hospital  might  work  together,  perhaps  in  different 
departments,  for  a  common  object ;  and  this  led  to  an  inquiry 
into  the  condition  of  children  in  workhouses.  The  following 
statements  form  a  portion  of  the  report :  ^ 

During  the  year  1765,  in  the  workhouse  of  St.  Clement  Danes, 
one  nurse,  Mary  Poole,  had  twenty-three  children  committed  to 
her  care,  and  on  the  25th  of  January,  1766,  eighteen  were  dead, 
two  had  been  discharged,  and  three  only  remained  alive. 

Of  seventy-eight  children  received  into  the  workhouse  of  the 
united  parishes  of  St.  Andrew  and  St.  George,  Holborn,  in  the 
year  1765,  sixty-four  were  dead  before  1766. 

Of  forty-eight  received  into  the  workhouse  of  St.  Luke, 
Middlesex,  1764,  for  nurture, — died  within  the  year,  thirty-seven. 

Of  nineteen  received  into  the  workhouse  of  St.  George, 
Middlesex,  in  1765— died  before  1766,  sixteen. 

In  some  other  parishes  not  one  child  was  living  of  all  that 
were  received  in  the  course  of  twelve  months. 

Mr.  Hanway  took  especial  pains  to  verify  these  state- 

'  Pugh,  Some  Passages  in  the  Life  of  Jonas  Hamoay. 


POOE    LAW    CHILDEEN  217 

ments,  and  he  extended  his  inquiries  into  the  country,  where 
things  were  not  nearly  so  bad,  although  there  was  plenty 
of  carelessness.  The  anecdote  here  given  refers  apparently 
to  London  : 

He  observed  that  a  certain  overseer  refused  to  allow  the 
mother  of  a  new-born  infant  more  than  one  shilling  and  sixpence 
a  week  for  nm'sing  it,  and  remarked  to  him  that  this  pittance  was 
less  than  he  gave  to  strange  nm^ses.  '  Yes,'  said  the  conscientious 
ofl&cer,  '  but  you  don't  consider  that  this  woman  will  take  care  of 
her  own  child,  and  it  may  be  on  our  hands  a  long  time,  whereas 
we  shall,  perhaps,  hear  no  more  of  the  others.' 

Mr.  Hanway  and  his  colleagues  in  the  investigation  now 
formed  the  idea  of  receiving  children  from  the  unhealthy 
London  workhouses  into  the  Hospital  with  parish  payment  ; 
but  the  Poor-Law  authorities  having,  in  consequence  of  the 
revelations  just  noticed,  resolved  to  put  the  pauper  children 
out  to  nurse  in  the  country,  this  plan  was  dropped.  And 
the  final  result  of  the  committee's  deliberation  was  to  restrict 
admissions  at  the  Foundling  Hospital  to  the  first  children 
of  girls  who  up  to  the  time  of  their  seduction  had  borne  a 
good  character.  Great  attempts  were  now  made  at  economy ; 
which  was,  indeed,  rendered  necessary  by  the  withdrawal  of 
State  aid.  During  the  few  years  that  such  aid  was  extended 
it  had  averaged  £33,530  per  annum  ;  and  the  committee  does 
not  appear  to  have  shown  much  skill  in  reducing  its 
expenditure,  although  the  change  in  the  system  produced 
such  a  diminution  in  the  number  of  applications  as  to  assist 
its  efforts  materially,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  this  result 
exposed  the  institution  to  the  reproach  of  comparative 
uselessness.  That  it  had  departed  to  some  extent  from  the 
original  intention  of  its  founders  and  benefactors  is  evident, 
and  the  uncertainty  of  its  aims  cannot  have  tended  to  an 
advance  in  public  favour. 

Thomas  Bernard's  connection  with  the  Hospital  must 
have  commenced  soon  after  his  call  to  the  Bar ;  he  was  one 
of  the  fifty  governors,  or  members  of  the  managing  committee, 
in  1785,  and  must  have  been  acquainted  with  Jonas  Hanway, 


218  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

who  lived  till  the  following  year.  It  is  not  unHkely  that  he 
may  have  heard  of  Thomas  Coram  in  Massachusetts ;  the 
good  Captain  had  spent  some  years  of  his  life  there,  where 
he  was  a  great  benefactor,  and  the  memory  of  his  good 
works  must  have  survived  until  Governor  Bernard's  ad- 
ministration ;  also,  it  may  have  formed  a  link  in  the  chain 
of  events  which  turned  his  attention  to  the  Hospital. 

The  institution  was  still  in  pecuniary  difficulties,  and 
about  this  time  took  into  consideration  a  project  of  meeting 
expenses  by  letting  some  of  its  land  on  building  leases. 
This  idea  had  been  previously  mooted ;  but  the  scheme  had 
been  strongly  opposed,  on  the  pretext  that  the  children,  if 
surrounded  by  buildings,  would  be  deprived  of  air  and 
exercise  ;  though,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  founders  had  been 
originally  compelled  to  buy  much  more  land  than  they 
intended  in  order  to  secure  a  site.  This  outcry  had  effectually 
hindered  any  arrangement  from  being  carried  out.  Mr. 
Bernard  now  proposed  that  twenty  acres  should  be  secured 
to  the  institution,  the  remaining  thirty-six  being  let  for 
building,  on  conditions  which  ensured  a  due  regard  for  health, 
and  even  for  appearance.  Some  difficulties  raised  by  neigh- 
bouring owners  and  occupiers  had  to  be  adjusted,  and 
eventually  Brunswick  and  Mecklenburgh  Squares  rose  on 
either  side  of  the  Hospital,  with  several  wide  streets  about 
them,  according  to  Mr.  Bernard's  plans.  The  rest  of  the 
governors  and  other  persons  interested  in  the  institution 
were  so  well  satisfied  with  this  result  that  the  whole 
committee  of  management  determined  to  bestow  the  name 
of  the  governor  who  had  brought  this  matter  to  a  happy 
conclusion  on  one  of  the  new  streets,  and  it  is  called  Bernard 
Street  to  this  day. 

These  facts  are  related  by  the  Kev.  James  Baker.*  Mr. 
Bernard  himself  gave  particulars  of  an  alteration  in  the 
internal  arrangements  of  the  Hospital  effected  under  his 
management  in  an  account  which  he  published  of  its 
history.  This  is  cautiously  worded,  as  it  might  otherwise 
have  affected  the  reputations  of  certain  persons  who  were 

'  Life  0/  Sir  Thomas  Bernard,  by  Rev.  James  Baker. 


THE    FOUNDLING    INFIEMAEY  219 

his  fellow- workers.  It  appears  that  the  governors  as  a  body, 
and  perhaps  none  more  so  than  those  who  deprecated  the 
effects  of  building  on  the  children's  health,  had  been  most 
negligent  as  to  the  accommodation  and  care  of  the  sick. 

The  infirmary  of  the  Hospital  had,  by  a  resolution  of 
June  1753,  been  directed  to  be  placed  in  the  western  wing,  at  the 
south  end  of  the  upper  floor.^ 

Apparently  there  had  been  objections  raised  to  this 
position,  but  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been  bettered. 

By  subsequent  resolutions  different  situations  were  appointed 
for  it ;  and  as  is  usual  where  there  are  various  measures  and 
various  directions,  without  any  fixed  or  particular  attention  to  the 
subject,  it  had  at  length  sunk  into  a  low,  damp,  confined  building 
near  the  Hospital  gate,  incapable  of  separate  accommodation  for 
the  sexes,  and  bidding  defiance  to  medical  skill  to  restore  the 
inhabitants  to  the  free  air  and  healthy  apartments  of  the  Hospital. 
Hopeless  labour  is  generally  void  of  exertion.  In  the  present 
instance  the  unfavourable  situation  of  the  infirmary  seems  to  have 
produced  an  extraordinary  effect  of  inattention  and  want  of 
cleanliness  in  those  who  had  the  care  of  it,  and  this  and  the  other 
evils  attending  the  scite  [sic]  of  the  Infirmary  being  increased  by 
two  epidemical  disorders  in  December,  1789,  the  Quarterly  Court 
referred  the  whole  to  the  investigation  of  the  General  Committee ; 
the  result  of  which  was  a  systematic  regulation  as  to  the  cleanli- 
ness, management,  and  diet  of  the  children,  which  has  been  since 
very  well  observed  :  the  establishment  of  a  regular  visitation  of  the 
Hospital  and  the  restoration  of  the  infirmary  to  its  original 
scite  [sic],  a  change  which  has  operated  as  a  charm  on  the  sick- 
list  of  the  Hospital,  and  reduced  it  to  half  its  former  average. 

Apparently  the  institution  was  at  this  time  by  no  means 
flourishing  ;  there  was  perhaps  a  dread  of  the  new  regula- 
tions, by  which  the  mothers  had  to  appear  with  their  infants, 
and  to  state  their  case.  In  January,  1794,  a  court  was  sum- 
moned to  consider  the  propriety  of  making  all  the  '  exposed 
and  necessitous  children  of  soldiers  and  seaman  who  are, 
have  been,  or  shall  be,  employed  in  the  service  of  their 
country  during  the  present  war  eligible  to  the  Foundling 
Hospital.'      Mr.  Bernard  was  a  strong   supporter  of  this 

'  Account  of  the  Foundling  Hospital,  by  Thomas  Bernard. 


220  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

proposition,  because  he  considered  that  these  children  had 
exceptional  claims  on  the  public,  and  that  their  case  might 
be  reasonably  construed  as  coming  within  the  scope  of  the 
work  for  which  the  institution  had  been  originally  founded ; 
moreover,  there  was  apparently  no  other  charity  prepared  to 
receive  them,  except,  perhaps,  in  very  small  numbers.  He 
was  sorry  that  only  a  qualified  resolution  was  passed, 
declaring  the  children  admissible  up  to  the  age  of  five,  so 
far  as  the  funds  would  allow,  'consistent  with  a  proper 
degree  of  attention  to  the  other  deserving  objects  of  the 
charity.'  And  he  quotes  Adam  Smith  on  the  topic  of 
soldiers'  marriages,  that 

So  far  from  recruiting  their  regiment,  they  have  never  been 
able  to  supply  it  with  drums  and  fifes  from  all  the  soldiers' 
children  that  were  born  in  it.  A  greater  number  of  fine  children, 
however,  is  seldom  seen  anywhere  than  about  a  barrack  of  soldiers. 
Very  few  of  them  it  seems  arrive  at  the  age  of  thirteen  or  fourteen. 

After  enumerating  the  dangers,  moral  and  physical,  to 
which  a  soldier's  child  is  exposed,  even  when  the  parents  are 
living,  Mr.  Bernard  continues  : 

But  for  the  child  whose  father,  or  perhaps  both  his  parents, 
have  perished  in  the  field,  his  settlement  or  connections  distant  or 
unknown,  where  can  the  poor  orphan  look  for  preservation  and 
instruction  but  to  some  national  establishment  like  the  Foundling 
Hospital  ?  If  this  is  not  an  exposed  and  deserted  child,  entitled 
by  its  own  distress  and  its  father's  services  to  the  peculiar  protec- 
tion of  its  country,  it  should  seem  that  no  such  case  can  exist. 

A  letter  from  Thomas  Bernard  to  his  brother, 
written  in  1792,  evinces  a  desire  to  ease  off  the  work 
of  his  profession  ;  in  1795,  as  already  stated,  he  resolved  to 
give  it  up  altogether,  and  during  the  year,  carried  this  deter- 
mination into  effect.  His  election  to  the  Treasurership  of 
the  Foundling  Hospital  ^  in  the  May  of  that  year  gave 
him  the  opportunity  of  carrying  out  his  views  of  improve- 
ment in  the  internal  administration  of  the  institution. 
It  has  been  shown  that  the   architectural   and   decorative 

'  Life  of  Sir  Tliomas  Bernard,  by  Rev.  James  Baker. 


A    NEW    PEOJECT  221 

arrangements  had  not  been  carried  out  originally  on  an  ascetic 
or  even  a  simple  scale;  the  Treasurer  was  therefore  pro- 
vided with  a  residence  at  one  extremity  of  the  Hospital 
buildings,  containing  large  and  comfortable  rooms.  In  these 
Thomas  and  Margaret  Bernard  made  their  abode  for  eleven 
years,  allowing  for  holidays  and  unavoidable  absences,  and 
devoted  a  considerable  portion  of  their  time  to  the  superin- 
tendence of  the  establishment. 

Mr.  Bernard's  biographer  says  that 

He  began  by  adopting  Count  Rumford's  plans  as  to  food  and 
fuel,  and  fitted  up  the  kitchen  and  fireplaces  of  the  Hospital  on 
the  Count's  principles,  and  with  his  personal  assistance,  a 
similarity  of  pursuits  having  produced  great  intimacy  between 
them,  which  continued  many  years.  This  new  project  succeeded, 
reducing  the  consumption  of  coals  in  the  kitchen  from  thirty-five 
chaldrons  a  year  to  ten,  saving  the  labour  of  one  of  the  two 
cooks,  rendering  the  labour  of  the  remaining  one  more  easy,  and 
dressing  the  food  better  than  before. 

Changes  were  also  made  in  the  diet  of  the  children. 
When  the  institution  was  founded,  the  enormous  allowance 
of  one  pound  of  butcher's  meat  a  day  for  each  child  was 
given.  This  had  since  been  apparently  modified,  so  far  that 
suet  puddings,  made  with  an  admixture  of  flour,  were  sub- 
stituted for  meat  on  two  days  in  the  week.  Mr.  Bernard 
altered  this  to  rice  and  treacle  ;  in  both  cases  milk  was  used, 
but  less  in  the  rice  pudding ;  and  the  rice  went  further  than 
the  suet  and  flour — the  last  having  been  a  serious  item  in  a 
time  of  scarcity. 

Moreover,  the  difference  was  found  beneficial  to  the 
children,  whose  constitutions  were  wholly  unprepared  for 
a  heavy  diet.  The  meals  were  carefully  superintended. 
Day  by  day,  as  I  have  heard  my  father  state,  Mr.  Bernard 
took  his  place  punctually  at  the  head  of  the  boys'  table, 
Mrs.  Bernard,  in  like  manner,  presiding  in  another  room  over 
the  girls  during  the  one  o'clock  dinner ;  thus  ensuring  not 
only  that  the  food  should  be  properly  served,  but  also  that 
the  children  should  be  trained  in  good  habits. 

In  less  than  a  year  after  his  appointment  Mr.  Bernard 


222  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

wrote  the  '  Account  of  the  Foundling  Hospital,'  from  which 
extracts  have  been  made.  A  second  edition  was  printed  in 
1799,  with  a  supplement ;  it  was  dedicated  to  the  gover- 
nors, or  rather  to  those  who  had  co-operated  in  reforms 
and  improvements,  '  by  their  affectionate  friend  and  faithful 
servant,  Thos.  Bernard,'  and  contained  seventy-three  small 
octavo  pages,  besides  the  preface,  &c.  In  the  supplement 
he  wrote  : 

There  was  a  period  when  the  proportionate  mortality  in  the 
Hospital  had  been  very  considerable,  and  the  children  were 
neither  healthy  in  constitution  nor  promising  in  aspect ;  but  that 
period  is,  I  trust,  entirely  passed  by.  I  question  whether  any 
public  establishment,  or  even  if  private  families,  can  show  better 
effects  of  care  and  attention  in  this  respect  than  what  is  exhibited 
in  the  FoundUng  Hospital. 

The  children  were  generally  admitted  at  about  the  age 
of  six  weeks,  and  forthwith  baptised  ;  wet  nurses  were  pro- 
cured from  the  country  to  meet  them,  and  they  were  sent 
in  charge  of  these  women  to  their  homes,  where  they 
remained  about  four  years,  under  the  eye  of  an  inspector,  and 
Hable  to  surprise  visits  from  friends  of  the  institution. 

At  the  age  of  four  years  [continues  Mr.  Bernard]  the 
children  are  returned  to  the  Hospital.  They  are  then  (if  not 
sooner)  inoculated  and  placed  in  the  school,  when  they  are 
gradually  accustomed  to  regular  and  early  habits  of  order  and 
attention  ;  the  lesser  children  being  occasionally  let  out  to  play 
during  the  school-hours.  They  rise  at  six  o'clock  in  the  summer 
and  at  dayhght  in  winter ;  part  of  them  being  employed  before 
breakfast  in  dressing  the  httle  children,  in  cleaning  about  the 
house,  and  the  boys  in  working  a  forcing  pump  which  supphes  all 
the  wards  and  every  part  of  the  Hospital  abundantly  with  water. 
At  half -past  seven  they  breakfast,  and  at  half  after  eight  go  into 
school,  where  they  continue,  the  boys  till  twelve,  the  girls  a  little 
later.  At  one  o'clock  they  dine,  and  return  to  school  at  two,  and 
stay  till  four  in  the  summer  and  in  winter  till  dusk ;  except  on 
Saturday,  when  they  have  a  half-holiday.  They  are  also  in- 
structed in  singing  the  Foundling  hymns  and  anthems,  and  in 
their  Catechism,  and  are  occasionally  employed  in  and  about  the 
house  during  play-hours.  At  six  in  the  evening  they  sup,  and  at 
eight  go  to  bed. 


THE  MOTHEES  OF  FOUNDLINGS  223 

It  appears  from  other  paragraphs  that  the  girls  learned 
needlework,  house  work,  laundry-work  and  cooking ;  the 
boys  were  instructed  in  several  trades,  and  also  attended  to 
the  garden,  and  kept  the  large  courtyard  clean.  In  an 
article  written  by  Mrs.  Bernard  for  a  series  of  reports^ 
instituted  by  her  husband,  it  is  incidentally  stated  that  a 
lending  library  was  formed  for  the  use  of  the  Foundling 
children.  The  greatest  care  was  exercised  in  the  selection 
of  places  for  the  young  inmates  when  old  enough  to  leave 
the  Hospital.  This  was  made  a  special  point,  in  consequence 
of  former  negligence  having  led  to  deplorable  results.  The 
children  were  apprenticed,  and  frequently  visited  during 
their  term  of  service,  the  girls  by  the  matron,  the  boys  by 
the  schoolmaster,  and  very  few  disappointed  expectation. 

In  resuming  the  subject,  Mr.  Bernard  attributes  the 
amelioration  of  the  Foundling  children 

To  the  removal  of  an  ill-placed  infirmary  to  its  present  airy 
and  healthy  situation ;  to  an  increased  cleanliness  in  the  children 
and  in  the  house ;  and  to  some  improvement  in  their  diet,  and 
(which  I  conceive  to  be  very  important  to  children)  a  more 
unrestrained  liberty  during  their  hours  of  play  and  recreation. 

He  adds  : 

I  repeat  with  a  confirmed  and  most  satisfactory  experience 
what  I  have  stated  in  the  former  instance,  that '  an  happier,  a  more 
healthy  or  a  more  innocent  collection  of  beings  does  not  exist  in 
the  world  than  is  to  be  found  within  the  walls  of  the  Foundling 
Hospital.' 

One  word  must  be  said,  in  conclusion,  concerning  the 
mothers  of  the  foundlings.  The  eighteenth  century  was 
a  time  when  society,  always  hard  upon  women,  was,  in 
England,  especially  severe  on  the  victims  of  seduction, 
while  continuing  very  lenient,  and  even  gracious,  to  the 
seducer.  In  this  state  of  things  Captain  Coram  thought  he 
had  discovered  the  main  cause  of  infanticide  :  ^ 

He  found  that  it  arose  out  of  a  morbid  morality  then  possess- 
ing the  public  mind,  by  which  an  unhappy  female,  who  fell  a 

'  Reports  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Conditimi  of  the  Poor. 

*  Brownlow  (John),  Meynoranda,  or  Chronicles  of  the  Foundling  Hospital. 


224  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

victim  to  the  seductions  and  false  promises  of  designing  men,  was 
left  to  hopeless  contumely,  and  irretrievable  disgrace.  Neither 
she  nor  the  offspring  of  her  guilt  appear  to  have  been  admitted 
within  the  pale  of  human  compassion  ;  her  first  false  step  was 
her  final  doom,  without  even  the  chance,  however  desirous,  of 
returning  to  the  road  of  rectitude.  All  the  consideration  which 
was  given  to  her  condition,  was  the  enactment  of  laws  to  bring 
her  to  punishment,  after  she  had  been  driven  to  the  commission 
of  the  worst  of  crimes :  for  the  error  of  a  day,  she  was  punished 
with  the  infamy  of  years  ;  and  although  her  departure  from  the 
path  of  virtue,  so  far  from  being  the  consequence  of  a  previous 
vicious  disposition,  might  have  been  brought  about  by  an  awful 
scheme  of  treachery,  she  was  branded  for  ever  as  a  woman 
habitually  lewd. 

In  other  words,  he  believed  that  despair,  sometimes 
amounting  almost  to  insanity,  led  to  many  of  the  cases  of 
infanticide,  though  not  of  course  to  all. 

The  system  of  admission  without  any  attempt  at  inquiry 
had,  however,  been  abandoned  before  Thomas  Bernard  became 
connected  with  the  institution,  and  the  new  arrangements 
required  those  mothers  who  sought  entrance  for  their  chil- 
dren to  attend  in  person,  and  submit  to  the  interrogatories  of 
the  governors — a  plan  which  seemed  doubtful  as  a  check  to 
infanticide,  since  it  involved  the  exposure  of  their  shame, 
and,  before  a  tribunal  of  men,  must — even  if  it  so  far  suc- 
ceeded— have  a  tendency  to  harden  these  unfortunate 
women. 

Mr.  Bernard's  endeavour  was,  evidently,  to  soften  this 
rule.     He  wrote  ^  some  years  later  : 

The  preserving  and  educating  of  so  many  children,  which, 
without  the  Foundling  Hospital,  would  have  been  lost  to  that 
society  of  which  they  are  calculated  to  become  useful  members,  is 
certainly  a  great  and  public  benefit.  The  adoption  of  a  helpless 
unprotected  infant,  the  watching  over  its  progress  to  maturity,  and 
the  fitting  it  to  be  useful  to  itself  and  others  here,  and  to  attain 
eternal  happiness  hereafter,  these  are  no  common  or  ordinary  acts 
of  beneficence  ;  but  their  value  and  their  importance  are  lost, 
when  compared  with  the  benefits  which  (without  any  prejudice 

'  Reports  of  tlie  Society  for  Bettering  tJie  Condition  of  the  Poor,  vol.  iv. 
No.  4  of  the  Appendix.     Note  to  p.  38. 


MAEGAEET  BEENAED'S  DISPOSITION  225 

to  the  original  objects  of  the  charity)  the  mothers  derive  from  this 
Institution,  as  it  is  at  present  conducted.  The  preserving  the 
mere  vital  functions  of  an  infant  cannot  be  put  in  competition 
with  saving  from  vice,  misery  and  infamy,  a  young  woman,  in  the 
bloom  of  life,  whose  crime  may  have  been  a  single  and  solitary 
act  of  indiscretion.  Many  extraordinary  cases  of  repentance,  fol- 
lowed by  restoration  to  peace,  comfort,  and  reputation,  have  come 
within  the  knowledge  of  the  writer  of  this  note.  Some  cases  have 
occurred,  within  his  own  observation,  of  wives  happily  placed,  the 
mothers  of  thriving  families,  who,  but  for  the  saving  aid  of  this 
Institution,  might  have  become  the  most  noxious  and  abandoned 
prostitutes.  Very  rare  are  the  instances,  none  has  come  within 
notice,  of  a  woman  relieved  by  the  Foundling  Hospital,  and  not 
thereby  preserved  from  a  course  of  prostitution. 

In  this  work  of  mercy  I  have  no  doubt  that  Margaret 
Bernard  was  a  most  efficient  worker — very  privately  no 
doubt — for  the  opinion  of  the  age  must  have  been  against 
a  lady's  name  being  divulged  in  connection  with  such  a 
mission  ;  and,  moreover,  such  efforts  are  best  made  privately, 
when  it  is  possible.  But  the  veneration  which  my  father 
always  entertained  for  this  aunt — who  was,  I  believe,  also 
his  godmother;  the  affectionate  feeling  with  which  he 
selected  the  New  Testament  she  had  given  him  in  his  boy- 
hood, to  read  in  his  old  age,  seldom  opening  it  without 
making  some  reference  to  her  virtues — is  to  me  evidence  of 
her  holy  and  beneficent  life  ;  although  his  mention  of  her 
attendance  on  the  Foundling  children  is  the  only  fact  I  can 
call  to  memory.  This  view  is,  indeed,  corroborated  by  Julia 
Smith's  allusions  to  her  sister-in-law's  self-denying  and 
charitable  disposition. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  admitted  that  the  London 
Foundling  Hospital,  though  no  doubt  an  efficient  school,  is 
not  really  what  its  name  implies.  The  workhouses  are,  as 
they  were  originally  intended  to  be,  the  real  Foundling 
Hospitals,  since  it  is  to  them  that  waifs  and  strays  are 
carried,  and  are  received  as  a  matter  of  course.  Many  recent 
institutions  are  indeed  more  easy  of  access  than  the  founda- 
tion of  Thomas  Coram.  What  different  steps  ought  to  have 
been  taken  it  is  not  easy  to  say.     The  turning-box  system  of 

VOL.   III.  Q 


226  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

indiscriminate  admission  has,  I  believe,  been  abolished  in 
France  and  some  other  continental  countries,  and  other  modes 
of  combating  the  evil  have  been  adopted.  But  infanticide  is 
not  extinct  anyvi^here ;  and  I  do  not  know  that  the  problem, 
how  to  reconcile  the  claims  of  humanity  vidth  the  duty  of 
repressing  vice,  has — as  yet — been  satisfactorily  solved  any- 
where. 


COUNT  EUMFORD'S  GEATES  227 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE  SOCIETY  FOR  BETTERING    THE    CONDITION  OF    THE    POOR 

Count  Rumford's  Grates— The  Establishment  of  a  Rumford  Eating-house  on 
the  Foundling  Estate — Thomas  Bernard's  Projects — The  General  Object  of 
the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Poor— Thomas  Bernard 
requested  to  Arrange  the  Publication  of  Extracts  from  the  Communica- 
tions Received — The  first  General  Committee  of  the  Society — The  Reports 
of  the  Society — Thomas  Bernard's  Views  as  to  the  Wants  of  Agricultural 
Labourers — The  Parish  Windmill  on  Barham  Downs— Thomas  Bernard  is 
instrumental  in  Forming  a  School  for  the  Indigent  BHnd  in  London — 
Houses  of  Recovery  for  Fever  Patients — Lord  Winchelsea's  Experiments 
with  Small  Holdings. 

Thomas  Bernard's  active  mind  could  not  long  rest  content 
with  the  limited  sphere  of  activity  presented  by  the  Found- 
ling Hospital.  He  was  accustomed  to  a  busy  life,  and  the 
nature  of  his  new  occupations  left  him  many  intervals  of 
freedom.  His  first  idea  was  apparently  to  diffuse  the  bene- 
fits of  Count  Rumford's  grates  amongst  the  charitable 
institutions  of  London,  and  eventually  of  the  whole  country. 
And  he  began  with  the  Marylebone  Workhouse,  either 
because  it  was  one  of  the  largest,  or  by  reason  of  some  con- 
necting link  not  now  discoverable.^ 

At  one  of  the  meetings  of  the  Proclamation  Society,  on  the 
20th  of  April  1796,  Mr.  Bernard  produced  a  proposal,  to  be 
offered  to  the  Select  Committee  of  Marylebone  Parish,  for  intro- 
ducing into  their  workhouse,  under  Count  Eumford's  inspection, 
all  his  improvements,  the  Society,  as  the  proposers,  undertaking  to 
defray  all  the  expenses  incidental  to  the  alterations,  and  to  give 
the  parish  the  full  benefit.  For  this  object  a  subscription  of  one 
hundred  pounds  each  from  Mr.  Bernard,  the  Bishop  of  Durham, 
Mr.  Eliot,  Mr.  Wilberforce,  and  some  others,  was  raised  to  com- 
mence operations  ;  but  this  proposal  was  not  acceded  to. 

'  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Bernard. 


228  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

In  the  meantime,  however,  he  (Mr.  Bernard)  had  succeeded  in 
two  other  attempts  to  disseminate  these  plans  of  economy — the 
one  by  the  estabUshmenb  of  a  Eumford  Eating  House  on  the 
Foundling  estate ;  an  account  of  which  he  afterwards  published 
in  the  Eeports  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the 
Poor  ^  in  the  name  of  the  person  who  had  undertaken  the  manage- 
ment of  it ;  the  other  by  introducing  them  under  his  own  im- 
mediate inspection,  on  a  considerable  scale,  near  Eippon  [sic]  in 
Yorkshire. 

It  must  have  been  about  this  time,  or  very  little  later, 
that  the  Governors  of  Christ's  Hospital  applied  to  Mr. 
Bernard  ^  for  assistance  in  introducing  the  Kumford  arrange- 
ments.    This  he  willingly  undertook  : 

at  the  same  time  asking  that  they  would  either  appoint  a  Select 
Committee  to  direct  the  management  of  the  new  kitchen,  or  put  it 
entirely  under  his  directions.  He  was  told  that  their  officers  were 
persons  of  such  respectable  character,  as  not  to  require  any 
interference  of  that  kind ;  and  upon  inquiry,  it  was  found  that  the 
cook  had  the  perquisite  of  the  dripping,  and  her  husband  (who 
had  some  appointment  about  the  house)  the  perquisite  of  the 
cinders  ;  and  that  these  two  persons  were  to  have  the  direction  of 
the  new  experiment.  As  a  considerable  saving  was  to  be  made  in 
these  two  articles,  it  might  be  supposed  that  there  was  little  pro- 
spect of  success  beyond  the  period  of  the  personal  attendance  of 
the  cook  from  the  Foundling  Hospital — and  so  it  happened  :  the 
new  kitchen  spoiled  and  wasted  the  meat,  and  increased  the  con- 
sumption of  coals. 

During  the  course  of  these  experiences,  Mr.  Bernard,^  who 
had  already  the  sympathy  of  three  influential  friends,  was 
evidently  revolving  the  possibility  of  enlisting  public  feeling 
in  favour  of  his  projects. 

The  partial  success  of  these  his  new  occupations  encouraged 
further  exertion,  and  suggested  to  him  the  advantages  to  be 
derived  from  the  formation  of  a  Society  of  Benevolent  Individuals 
who  should  unite  their  labours  for  promoting  and  disseminating  all 
improvements  and  proceedings  relative  to  the  poor,  and  thus  by 

•  Reports  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  vol.  i., 
No.  28.  'Extract  from  an  Account  of  a  London  Soup-shop.'  By  William 
Hillyer. 

*  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Bernard.  ^  Ibid. 


A   SOCIETY   FOR  THE  POOR  229 

drawing  to  a  centx'e  every  information  of  this  nature  which  could 
be  collected  from  various  quarters,  might  render  their  operations 
more  pubhc  and  more  extensive  than  could  be  done  by  private 
individuals. 

In  the  beginning  of  November,  1796,  after  several  previous 
conferences  with  the  Bishop  of  Durham  on  the  subject,  he  pro- 
duced an  outline  of  his  plan  for  the  formation  of  a  '  Society  for 
Bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Poor.'  No  objection  was  made 
except  impracticability  ;  at  the  same  time  he  was  requested  to 
prepare  a  circular  letter  on  the  subject,  which  might  tend  to  show 
how  far  the  objection  was  surmountable.  For  this  purpose  he 
prepared  the  following,  which  was  an  address  to  a  few  friends, 
who,  it  was  conceived,  would  interest  themselves  in  the  measure  : 

'  December  17,  1796 

'  Sir, — The  purport  of  this  letter  is  to  propose  the  formation  of 
a  "  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  and  Increasing  the 
Comforts  of  the  Poor ;  "  an  establishment  which  we  trust,  may  be 
the  means  of  adding  much  to  the  general  mass  of  national 
happiness.  In  other  liberal  pursuits  the  joint  labours  of  intelli- 
gent and  active  men  have  never  failed  to  produce  considerable 
effects.  Models,  inventions,  and  experiments  have  been  improved 
and  applied  to  purposes  of  great  importance.  The  same  degree 
of  success  may  reasonably  be  expected  from  a  Society,  formed  for 
the  improvement  of  the  most  beneficial  of  all  sciences,  the 
promotion  of  the  welfare  of  our  fellow-creatures. 

'  Its  object  would  be  everything  that  concerns  the  happiness  of 
the  poor,  everything  by  which  their  comforts  can  be  increased. 
To  remove  the  difficulties  attending  parochial  relief,  and  the  dis- 
couragement of  industry  and  economy  by  the  present  mode  of 
distributing  it ;  to  correct  the  abuses  of  workhouses,  and  to  assist 
the  poor  in  placing  out  their  children  in  the  world  ;  in  this,  and  in 
the  improvement  of  their  habitations  and  gardens ;  in  assistance 
and  information  as  to  the  use  of  fuel,  so  as  to  give  them  more 
benefit  from  it ;  and  in  adding  to  and  meliorating  their  means  of 
subsistence,  by  public  kitchens  and  by  other  means — much  may 
be  done  by  the  union  of  liberal  and  benevolent  minds — much  by 
the  circulatiug  of  information,  and  by  personal  assistance  and 
influence. 

'  It  must  afford  a  strong  additional  inducement  to  efforts  of  this 
nature  to  consider,  that  in  proportion  as  we  can  multiply  domestic 
comforts,  in  the  same  degree  we  may  hope  to  promote  the  cause 
of  morality  and  virtue.     For  a  very  gratifying  illustration  of  this. 


230  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

as  well  as  for  the  most  important  improvements  in  fuel,  food,  and 
in  the  mode  of  assisting  the  poor,  the  world  is  indebted  to  the 
philanthropy  and  abilities  of  Count  Eumford. 

'  It  is  not  however  merely  the  increase  of  the  comforts  and 
morals  of  the  poor,  great  as  that  benefit  would  be,  that  may  be 
effected  by  the  proposed  establishment ;  its  improvements  and 
experiments  will  be  more  or  less  applicable  to  farms,  manu- 
factories, private  families  and  to  every  situation  of  life.  But, 
supposing  it  otherwise,  were  its  object  confined  to  the  poor  only  ; 
yet  to  add  to  the  plenty  of  a  nation,  by  encouraging  its  means, 
and  to  strengthen  by  increase  of  happiness  the  attachment  which 
every  true  Englishman  feels  to  his  country  and  its  invaluable 
constitution,  must  be  deemed  at  any  time  objects  of  no  trifling 
consideration. 

'  If  you  should  so  far  concur  with  us,  as  to  give  a  general 
approbation  of  the  plan,  we  shall  hope  to  be  honoured  by  your 
attendance  at  Mr.  Wilberforce's,  Old  Palace  Yard,  on  Wednesday 
the  21st  instant,  at  a  quarter  before  two  o'clock  ;  in  order  to  con- 
sider of  the  formation  of  the  Society,  and  of  the  outline  of  the 
necessary  regulations.' 

This  letter  was  approved  and  signed  by  himself,  Mr.  Wilber- 
force,  and  Mr.  Ehot — the  Bishop  of  Durham  being  absent  in  the 
country ;  and  a  meeting  was  accordingly  held  on  the  day  proposed. 
Mr.  Bernard  then  gave  some  explanation  as  to  the  proposed 
objects  and  plan  of  the  Society  ;  a  unanimous  resolution  was 
adopted  for  its  establishment ;  and  a  Committee  was  appointed 
to  prepare  a  draft  of  Eegulations  for  the  Consideration  of  the 
Society. 

His  Majesty,  being  informed  of   the  plan  and  object  of  the 
Society,  was  graciously  pleased  to  declare  himself  the  Patron  of  it. 
At  a  subsequent  Meeting  the  following  Eesolution,  declaratory 
of  their  Plans  was  passed  : 

'  Eesolved,  that  the  general  object  of  the  Society  be  to  collect 
information  respecting  the  circumstances  and  situation  of  the 
poor,  and  the  most  effectual  means  of  meliorating  their  condition  ; 
in  order  that  any  comforts  and  advantages  which  the  poor  do  now 
actually  enjoy  in  any  part  of  England  may  eventually  be  extended 
to  every  part  of  it,  with  as  much  improvement  and  additional 
benefit  as  may  be  to  the  poor  ;  and  with  a  tendency  gradually  to 
diminish  parochial  expenses.  For  the  attainment  of  these  ends, 
it  appears  to  the  Society,  that  the  circulation  of  useful  and 
practical  information,  derived  from  experience,  and  stated  briefly 
and  plainly,  so  as  to  be  generally  read  and  understood,  may  be  of 


A   SOCIETY   FOE  THE  POOR  231 

very  great  national  and  individual  benefit,  and  may  induce  and 
enable  all  well-disposed  persons  to  unite  in  the  promotion  of  an 
object  so  important  to  the  happiness  and  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity at  large,  and  particularly  of  that  valuable  branch  of  it,  the 
labouring  poor.' 

In  order  that  the  papers  might  be  made  interesting,  and  all  the 
necessary  information  comprised  in  as  small  a  compass  as  was 
consistent  with  the  objects  of  the  Society,  it  was  resolved  rather 
to  make  extracts  from  the  communications  which  should  be 
received,  than  to  publish  the  whole ;  the  present  plan  was  there- 
fore adopted,  and  Mr.  Bernard  was  requested  to  arrange  and 
superintend  the  pubHcation,  and  the  first  number  came  out  in 
May  1797. 

When  the  first  volume  of  these  collected  extracts  w^as 
published,  in  1798,  the  General  Committee  ^  was  headed  as 
follows  : 

'  President 
The  Lord  Bishop  of  Durham 

Vice-Presidents 

William  Morton  Pitt,  Esq.,  M.P. 

Thomas  Bernard,  Esq. 

Rich.  Joseph  Sulivan,  Esq.^ 

The  Earl  of  Winchelsea.' 

Then  followed  a  list  of  thirty-four  members,  many  of  them 
distinguished  in  various  ways — all  indeed,  probably,  men  of 

'  Some  perplexity  has  arisen  from  the  variations  in  different  editions  of  the 
Keports.  I  possess  two  volumes  of  what  appears  to  be  the  first  edition, 
published  respectively  in  1798  and  1800  ;  from  which  the  above-given  list  of 
Vice-Presidents  is  taken.  From  the  London  Library  I  have  had  the  use  of 
the  same  two  volumes— the  fifth  edition,  1811.  In  these  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bernard 
are  called  Sir  Thomas  and  Lady  Bernard,  which  they  were  in  1811,  but  not 
in  1798  or  1800.  The  King  is  announced  as  Patron,  the  Bishop  of  Durham  as 
President ;  but  the  Vice-Presidents  are  Lord  Dynevor,  Sir  Thomas  Bernard, 
Bart.,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Glasse,  and  John  Hinckley,  Esq.  I  cannot  explain  this 
discrepancy,  but  it  cannot  represent  the  original  list.  The  names  of  the 
Committee  also  vary.  The  Committee  did,  no  doubt,  vary  from  time  to  time, 
but  I  do  not  see  how  there  could  be  moi*e  than  one  original  list.  Vols.  iii.  and  iv., 
obtained  from  the  London  Library,  appear  to  be  first  editions  ;  Vol.  v.  might 
be  second,  as  the  Preface  is  dated  1805,  but  it  was  not  published  till  1808. 

-  Afterwards  Sir  Eichard  Joseph  Sulivan,  M.P.  See  vol.  of  Keports  (iii.) 
dated  1805. 


232  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

some  mark  in  their  day.  The  Bishop  of  Durham  was  Shuts 
Barrington,  who  had  been  translated  from  Salisbury  in  1791. 
The  name  of  Wilberforce  appears  as  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee ;  he  sent  one  paper,  which  was  pubHshed  in  the  first 
volume  of  Eeports/  and  devoted  such  time  and  attention  as 
he  could  spare  from  his  own  special  objects  to  the  work  of 
the  Society. 

Another  gentleman  is  mentioned  as  having  co-operated 
with  Mr,  Bernard,  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  and  Mr.  Wilber- 
force, in  launching  the  Society  ;  and  also,  shortly  before,  in 
the  attempted  reforms  at  the  Marylebone  Workhouse.  This 
was  the  Hon.  Edward  James  Eliot,^  eldest  son  of  the  first 
Lord  Eliot  of  St.  Germans,  Cornwall,  and  brother-in-law  of 
William  Pitt,  the  Prime  Minister.  He  never  recovered  from 
the  shock  of  his  wife's  death,  and  himself  died  so  soon  after 
the  formation  of  the  Society  that  his  name  is  not  found  in 
the  list  of  members  ;  but  he  is  mentioned  in  a  note,  evi- 
dently by  Thomas  Bernard,  with  regret,  affection,  and  even 
admiration. 3 

There  were  in  course  of  time  changes  in  the  Committee, 
and  also  among  the  Vice-Presidents — who  never  indeed  ex- 
ceeded the  number  of  four — 'Mr.  Bernard  being  always  one. 
Lord  Teignmouth,  John  Sulivan,  Esq.,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Glasse, 
the  Duke  of  Somerset,  Dr.  Gartshore,  Lord  Dynevor,  John 
Hinckley,  Esq.,  were,  at  various  stages,  his  colleagues. 

To  describe  all  the  ground  covered  by  the  Society's  pub- 
lications would  be  difficult  and  tedious ;  some  idea  of  the 
whole  will  be  formed  from  the  chapters  in  these  volumes 
which  treat  of  the  Society's  work.  Its  reports  extended 
over  nearly  eleven  years,  from  February  17,  1797,  to  Octo- 
ber 19, 1807,  and  are  one  hundred  and  forty-two  in  number.^ 

'  Extract  from  Oxley's  Account  of\the  Poor  and  Strangers'  Friend  Society, 
at  Hull,  by  William  Wilberforce,  Esq.  The  '  Observations  '  following  the 
'  Extract '  are  probably  by  Wilberforce. 

-  Note  to  vol.  i.  Appendix  No.  V.  of  the  Society's  Reports.  For  Mr.  Eliot's 
parentage  and  office,  see  Debrett,  Burke,  and  other  Peerages, '  Earl  St.  Germans 
and  Baron  Eliot.' 

'  These  names  are  in  the  list  of  Vice-Presidents  in  the  various  volunit-s  of 
Reports. 

*  These  figures  have  been  ascertained  from  the  volumes  of  Reports. 


THE   SOCIETY'S  OBJECTS  233 

The  Appendices  to  the  five  volumes,  eighty-eight  in  all,  were 
in  many  cases  amplifications  of  the  subject  treated  in  the 
Eeports.^  Mr.  Bernard  wrote — ostensibly — forty  Keports, 
and  two  of  the  appended  papers  ;  but  is  known  to  have  been 
responsible  for  many  more,  and  also  for  the  Prefaces  to  all 
the  volumes,  which  gradually  developed  into  careful  and 
suggestive  essays. 

In  one  of  the  appended  papers  in  the  first  volume  ^  I  find 
some  attempt  at  classification  ;  and  the  list  there  given  is 
consequently  quoted  here  : 

The  following  are  selected  as  the  subjects  of  information  upon 
which  the  Society  is  desirous  of  obtaining  and  circulating 
information. 

Parish  Belief — how  it  may  be  directed  for  the  benefit  of  the 
poor. 

Friendly  Societies — their  good  effects  and  how  they  may  be 
best  encouraged. 

Parish  Workhouses — the  amendment  of  them. 

Cottages — the  increasing  the  comfort  and  neatness  of  them. 

Cottage-gardens — and  the  means  of  enabling  the  cottager  to 
keep  a  cow,  or  of  supplying  him  with  milk. 

Parish  Mills  for  corn  ;  and  Parish  Ovens. 

Village  Shops,  for  better  supplying  the  Poor  with  the  necessaries 
of  fife. 

Village  kitchens,  and  Soup  Shops. 

Cottage  Fire-places  and  Chimnies — the  improvement  of  them. 

Fuel — how  the  poor  may  be  better  supplied  with  it. 

Apprentices  to  Manufacturers,  and  all  Parish  Apprentices. 

County  Jails — the  means  and  effects  of  reforming  them. 

Beggars — the  least  exceptionable  modes  of  assisting  them. 

Public  rooms  for  the  resort  of  the  industrious  Poor  in  cold 
weather. 

The  greater  number  of  these  headings,  it  will  be  observed, 
refer  especially  to  the  country  poor,  whose  condition  at  that 
period  Mr.  Bernard  evidently  considered  one  of  great  hard- 

'  Mr.  Baker  states  that  he  wrote  most  of  the  Eeports ;  in  some  cases  this 
may  mean  suggested  and  revised.  See  '  List  of  the  Principal  Works  of  the  late 
Sir  Thomas  Bernard,  Bart.,'  at  the  end  of  the  '  Life,'  by  Kev.  James  Baker. 

-  No.  V.  in  the  Appendix  to  Vol.  I.  of  the  Society's  Keports  entitled: 
'  Account  of  the  Society,  its  object,  subject  of  inquiry,  regulations,  &c.' 


234  THE  BEKNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

ship.  Other  details  affecting  their  comfort  were  subsequently 
discussed  in  the  Eeports  ;  and  many  subjects  were  introduced 
relating  to  towns,  or  to  both  town  and  country — such  as 
hospitals  and  asylums  for  various  descriptions  of  suffering 
and  privation,  schools,  church  accommodation,  &c. 

Some  of  these  will  be  noticed  in  subsequent  chapters. 
This  chapter  and  the  next  contain  an  exposition  of  Mr. 
Bernard's  views  with  regard  to  the  agricultural  labourer's 
wants.  His  ideas,  and  those  of  his  fellow  workers,  refer  to 
a  state  of  things  which  has,  in  great  measure,  passed  away, 
but  which  may  be  advantageously  studied  as  historj^  even 
when  it  cannot  be  otherwise  utilised.  Some  improvements 
urged  by  the  Society  have  long  since  been  carried  into  effect 
— often  by  its  agency  ;  others  have  been  brought  about  by  the 
changes  in  public  opinion ;  but  even  in  these  cases  the 
Society — that  is,  the  men  who  composed  it  and  brought  the 
power  of  united  action  to  bear  upon  the  evils  of  the  day — 
constituted  an  important  factor. 

The  first  paper  which  Mr.  Bernard  contributed  to  the 
Reports  was  on  the  '  A.dministration  of  Parochial  Relief  at 
Iver ' ;  and  will  be  noticed  in  the  next  chapter  on  account  of 
its  connection  with  Buckinghamshire.  It  was  immediately 
followed  by  an  account  of  '  A  Parish  Windmill  on  Barham 
Downs,  in  the  county  of  Kent,' '  which  begins  in  the  following 
terms  : 

In  January  1796,  a  parish  Windmill  was  erected  by  subscrip- 
tion on  Barham  Downs,  very  near  the  village  of  Barham.  The 
subscribers  were  eight  in  number ;  the  subscriptions  £40  each. 
The  whole  cost  of  the  mill  (which  began  to  work  on  the  5th  of 
April  1796,  and  contains  two  pair  of  stones,  one  for  wheat  and  one 
for  other  corn)  was  £336  ;  the  expense  of  the  scales  and  utensils 
of  different  kinds  was  £17  ;  the  whole  together  amounting  to  £353, 
being  £33  more  than  the  original  sum  subscribed.  The  surplus 
of  expense  was  discharged  out  of  the  extra  profits  of  the  mill  that 
were  received  between  the  5th  of  April  1796  and  the  1st  of  January 
1797. 

'  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  a  Parish  Windmill  on  Barham  Downs,  in  the 
County  of  Kent,'  by  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.  Bepwts  of  the  Society  for  Bettering 
the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  vol.  i.,  No.  VIII. 


EXACTIONS  OF  MILLERS  235 

This  enterprise  was  suggested  by  the  exactions  of 
the  millers,  as  a  class,  which  especially  affected  their 
customers  among  the  poor — and  there  seem  to  have  been 
many  of  this  description ;  their  average  '  toll '  on  grinding 
Mr.  Bernard  reckons  ^  at  a  fourteenth. 

During  the  late  scarcity,  corn  was  in  some  parts  of  England, 
at  one  time,  as  high  as  a  guinea  a  bushel ;  the  toll  on  which 
would  be  one  shilling  and  sixpence ;  but  when  it  is  recollected 
that  the  miller's  toll  is  always  taken  from  the  best  of  the  meal  and 
from  the  finer  flour  that  is  in  the  centre  of  the  hopper,  the  value 
of  that  toll  cannot  be  less  than  two  shillings  and  sixpence  a  bushel. 
If,  in  addition  to  these  circumstances,  we  advert  to  the  fact,  that, 
during  the  scarcity  of  wheat,  some  millers  purchased  at  half  price 
foreign  and  damaged  corn,  which  they  mixed  with  English  wheat, 
we  shall  have  reason  to  believe  that  five  shillings  a  bushel  on 
grinding  wheat  is  not  more  than  may  have  been  made,  in  some 
instances,  during  that  period  of  scarcity. 

The  actual  price  of  grinding  was  ordinarily  sixpence  a 
bushel,  with  a  deduction  of  one  pound  for  waste;  at  the 
Barham  Mill  the  charge  was  fourpence,  with  a  deduction  of 
half  a  pound  only.  Persons  could,  if  they  pleased,  have 
their  corn  ground  before  their  eyes — a  bushel  taking  only 
ten  minutes ;  this  regulation  attracted  many  customers. 
Whole  meal  was  sold  on  one  day  in  the  week  for  ready 
money  to  the  poor  of  Barham  and  the  four  adjoining 
parishes  ;  the  person  who  was  employed  to  buy  the  corn, 
and  was  responsible  for  its  quality,  being  in  attendance  on 
behalf  of  the  subscribers.  The  rate  was  fixed  by  the  average 
price  of  wheat  on  the  preceding  Saturday  at  Canterbury, 
with  the  addition  of  a  fixed  charge  for  grinding,  and  was 
generally  about  a  shilling  per  bushel  lower  than  at  the 
neighbouring  mills ;  the  result  being  that  the  millers  had 
reduced  their  prices,  and  sold  their  flour  '  much  nearer  to 
the  price  of  wheat  than  they  did  formerly.' 

The  subscribers  had  determined  that  all  profits,  after 
recouping  themselves,  should  be  appropriated  in  some  way 

'  Note  to  the  foregoing  Account.  The  next  quotation  is  taken  from 
another  Note. 


236  THE  BEENARDS  OP  ABINGTON 

to  the  benefit  of  the  Barham  poor  ;  on  this  agreement  Mr. 
Bernard  remarks  ^  : 

I  hope  the  proprietors  will  excuse  my  expressing  a  hope  that 
this  surplus  may  be  applied  in  giving  aid  and  encouragement  to 
those  labourers,  whose  industry  and  economy  have  enabled  them 
to  do  without  parochial  relief ;  by  furnishing  the  annual  premium 
of  a  cow,  a  pig,  or  the  fitting  up  of  a  cottage,  as  the  means  of 
enabhng  them  to  thrive,  and  of  raising  them  above  the  condition 
of  applying  for  relief  under  the  Poor's  rate. 

The  prime  mover  in  the  establishment  of  Barham  Mill 
appears  to  have  been  a  Mr.  Oxenden,  who  was  well  sup- 
ported. When  the  report  was  published,  a  Parish  Mill  had 
just  been  erected  at  Chislehurst,  in  Kent,  by  the  subscriptions 
of  ten  ladies  and  gentlemen  ;  it  was  built  on  a  site  granted 
by  the  lord  of  the  manor,  consisting  of  two  acres  for  mill, 
house,  garden,  and  paddock  ;  and  the  construction  of  the 
mill  was  superintended  by  the  Rector.  This  clergyman,  the 
Rev.  Francis  Wollaston,  afterwards  contributed  a  paper  on 
Chislehurst  Mill  to  the  Society's  Reports. 

It  was  not  only  in  respect  of  mills  that  the  poor  found 
themselves  at  a  disadvantage.  The  paper,-  on  '  A  Village 
Shop  at  Mongewell,  in  the  county  of  Oxford,'  contributed 
by  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  which  is  the  second  Report  in 
the  first  volume,  describes  an  attempt  at  saving  them  from 
the  high  prices  charged  by  small  shopkeepers — themselves 
frequently  at  the  mercy  of  larger  and  richer  tradesmen— by 
placing  many  articles,  but  chiefly  groceries,  within  easy 
reach : 

A  quantity  of  such  articles  of  consumption  as  they  use,  as 
bacon,  cheese,  candles,  soap,  and  salt,  was  procured  from  the 
wholesale  dealers,  to  be  sold  at  prime  cost  and  for  ready  money. 
They  were  restricted  in  their  purchases  to  the  supposed  weekly 
demand  of  their  families.  The  bacon  and  cheese,  being  purchased 
in  Gloucestershire,  had  the  charge  of  carriage.     Most  other  situa- 

'  Note  on  Memorandum  appended  to  the  Report,  No.  VIII.,  vol.  i. 

-  Reports  of  tlie  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  vol.  i.. 
No.  11.  Extract  from  an 'Account  of  a  Village  Shop,  at  Mongewell,  in  the 
County  of  Oxford,'  by  the  Bishop  of  Durham. 


EFFORTS  FOR  THE  POOR  237 

tions  would  be  nearer  to  an  advantageous  market.  This  plan  was 
adopted  under  the  apparent  inconvenience  of  not  having  a  more 
pioper  person  to  sell  the  several  commodities,  than  an  infirm  old 
man,  unable  to  read  or  write.  He  received  the  articles  that  were 
wanted  for  the  week ;  and  it  has  appeared  by  his  receipts  at  the 
close  of  it,  that  he  has  been  correct.  Since  the  commencement  to 
the  present  time,  there  has  been  no  reason  to  regret  his  want 
of  scholarship  :  a  proof  how  very  easy  it  must  be  to  procure  in 
every  village  a  person  equal  to  the  task.  As  he  has  parish  pay, 
and  his  house  rent  is  discharged,  he  is  perfectly  contented  with 
his  salary  of  one  shillicg  per  week,  having  also  the  common 
benefit  of  the  shop. 

The  Bishop  then  goes  into  minute  details  as  to  the 
working  of  the  scheme,  which  had  been  started  in  1794,  and 
supplied  three  small  parishes  besides  Mongewell.  He  also 
deals  with  the  question  of  the  possible  injury  to  small  shop- 
keepers, suggesting  that  the  more  deserving  among  them 
might  be  employed  in  these  shops,  and  that  the  steady 
and  permanent  character  of  the  business  would  compensate 
for  the  loss  of  their  previous  profits,  which  were  generally 
precarious. 

Two  papers  were  contributed  in  this  volume  by  Mr. 
Bernard,  which  may  be  mentioned  here,  leaving  the  efforts 
on  a  larger  scale  for  other  chapters.  One  relates  to  the 
soup  shop  at  Birmingham,^  where  a  bread  and  meat  soup 
was  prepared  '  on  Count  Eumford's  principle,  so  far  varied 
in  the  cookery  as  to  be  adapted  to  an  English  taste  ' ;  the 
bones  were  utilized  by  means  of  a  digester,  which  effectually 
dissolved  them,  and  the  meat  seems  to  have  been  cooked  with 
some  skill.  The  other  describes  a  *  Parish  Dinner  for  Poor 
children  at  Epping,'  ^  in  Essex.  There  was  a  school  of 
industry  in  the  parish  for  the  employment  of  children,  and 
'  an  ordinary  was,  on  the  recommendation  of  Mr.  Conyers, 
opened  in  October  last,'  that  is,  in  1797, '  and  a  general  dinner 
has  been  provided  on  week  days  for  any  children  of  that 

'  Reports  of  the  Society  B.C.P.,  vol.  i.,  No.  xxx.  Extract  from  '  An  Account 
of  the  Manner  in  which  the  Poor  have  lately  been  supplied  with  bread  and 
meat  soup  at  Birmingham,'  by  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq. 

-  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  No.  xxxiii.  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  a  Parish  Dinner  for 
poor  children  at  Epping,'  by  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq. 


238  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

place  whose  parents  desire  it.'  The  charge  was  sixpence  a 
week,  and  the  dietary  resembled  that  in  use  at  the  Foundling 
Hospital.  It  was  provided  by  the  mistress  of  the  workhouse, 
in  a  room  adjoining  that  building,  used  at  other  times  as  a 
spinning  school.  The  table  was  nicely  laid,  grace  was  said 
regularly,  and  the  children  trained  in  good  habits  and 
manners.  In  some  cases,  but  apparently  not  in  all,  the 
prosperous  neighbours  paid  for  the  children. 

The  situation  of  Epping,  a  large  market-town,  with  a  sur- 
rounding forest  the  scene  and  object  of  petty  thefts,  and  a  public 
road  through  it,  was  not  very  favourable  to  the  industry  and 
regular  habits  of  the  poor,  nor  was  their  usual  dinner  of  a  hunch 
of  bread,  part  to  be  swallowed  with  a  little  water  as  they  went 
along  (the  other  part  being  most  frequently  thrown  away), 
conducive  either  to  their  health,  or  to  habits  of  economy.  It  is 
therefore  a  most  pleasing  circumstance  to  state  that  within  one 
month  after  this  dinner  had  been  regularly  provided  at  Epping, 
the  appearance  and  manners  of  the  poor  children  there  were 
totally  altered. 

In  case  of  illness  the  dinner  could  be  sent  for.  It  was 
also  the  workhouse  dinner,  and  the  overseers  sometimes 
allowed  it  to  the  very  poor  in  lieu  of  relief  in  money. 

The  housing  of  the  rural  poor  was  a  favourite  topic  with 
Mr.  Bernard  and  his  friends,  and  the  possibility  of  sur- 
rounding their  dwellings  with  more  aids  than  were  then 
known — unless  in  very  exceptional  cases— to  comfort  and 
sustenance.  An  extract  from  Mr.  Kent's  book,  '  Hints  to 
Gentlemen  of  Landed  Property,'  ^  is  given  in  an  Appendix  to 
the  first  volume  of  the  Society's  Keports,  advocating  the 
*  three  acres  and  cow  '  which  have  since  become  such  a 
prominent  subject,  and  it  was  followed  up. 

Mr.  Bernard  carefully  inspected  the  working  of  Lord 
Winchelsea's  experiments,  which  had  already  formed  the 
subject   of  a  short  paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  and 

'  Reports  of  the  Society  B.C.P.  vol.  i.,  Appendix  No.  III.  '  Observations  on 
the  larger  sort  of  cottages,  and  the  mode  of  erecting  them.'  Extracted  from 
'  Hints  to  Gentlemen  of  Landed  Property,'  by  Nathaniel  Kent,  Esq.  Published 
in  1775. 


LORD  WINCHELSEA'S  EXPEEIMENTS  239 

described    at     some    length    the    result    of    his     observa- 
tions :  ^ 

A  late  visit  into  Eutlandshire  has  given  me  an  opportunity 
of  acquiring  more  minute  and  correct  information  respecting  the 
circumstances  and  situation  of  the  cottagers  keeping  cows,  in  the 
four  parishes  of  Hambledon,  Egleton,  Greetham,  and  Burley  on 
the  Hill.  I  give  the  result  of  my  inquiries,  and  I  give  it  with  more 
precision  and  detail  than  I  otherwise  should,  as  1  am  very  desirous 
of  enabling  landowners  to  ascertain  whether,  in  their  own 
peculiar  instances,  it  will  not  answer  for  them  to  follow  the 
example  of  what  has  been  done  in  that  neighbourhood.  At  the 
same  time  I  beg  leave  to  anticipate  the  observation,  that  in  arable 
countries  where  there  is  a  scarcity  of  grass  land,  and  in  those 
districts  where,  from  vicinage  or  a  peculiar  market,  grass  land 
bears  a  rent  above  its  intrinsic  value,  it  may  not  be  practicable  to 
supply  cottagers  with  pasture  for  a  cow,  without  some  sacrifice 
on  the  part  of  the  landlord. 

The  writer  then  describes  the  position  of  the  eighty 
cottagers  who  keep  cows,  varying  from  one  to  five  in  number  ; 
how  about  a  third  part  have  their  lands  in  severalty ;  the 
rest  have  the  use  of  a  cow  pasture  in  common  with  others. 

Most  of  them  possessing  a  small  homestead,  adjoining  to  their 
cottage ;  every  one  of  them  having  a  good  garden,  and  keeping 
one  pig  at  least,  if  not  more.  Without  any  exception  they  pay 
for  theu-  land  the  same  rent  as  a  farmer  would.  .  .  .  The  cottagers 
who  keep  cows  are  almost  all  of  them  labourers  in  husbandry  ; 
there  are  however  among  them,  some  widows  and  daughters  of 
deceased  labourers,  and  some  men  who  work  as  country  carpenters, 
or  in  similar  trades.  I  can  add  that  of  all  the  rents  of  the  estate 
none  are  more  punctually  paid,  than  those  for  the  cottagers'  land. 
The  steward  informs  me  that  there  has  never  been  an  instance  of 
an  arrear  or  of  a  delay  in  payment,  even  for  a  few  days. 

But  these  small  holders  were  provided  with  well-kept 
cottages — '  and  yet  pay  no  more  rent,  than  the  ruinous  and 
miserable  hovels  in  England  generally  do  '  ;  which  no 
doubt  greatly  helped  them  on  their  way.  Mr.  Bernard 
narrates  how  this  system  of  farming  was  started,  assuring 

'  Extract  from  '  A  Further  Account  of  the  Advantages  of  Cottagers  keeping 
Cows,'  by  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.     Repcyrts,  vol.  ii.,  No.  LX. 


240  THE  BEKNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

his  readers  that  its  results  on  the  character  of  the  fortunate 
cow-keepers  and  their  families  was  most  beneficial.  He 
says: 

As  a  proof  of  the  effects  of  this  system  in  promoting  industry 
and  frugality,  I  give  the  history  of  one  of  them,  Christopher  Love, 
of  Hambledon,  who  is  now  seventy-five  years  of  age,  and  has  for 
fifty-three  years  back  kept  three  cows  ;  and  nevertheless  has  gone 
regularly  every  summer,  for  fifty  years  past  to  harvest  work  in 
Cambridgeshire  :  because  he  is  in  more  request  there,  and  receives 
better  wages,  than  he  would  at  home.  He  has  bred  up  a  family 
of  nine  children  in  great  comfort,  and  is  now  well  and  in  good 
health  himself,  and  has  been  in  Cambridgeshire  this  preceding 
harvest,  but  thinks  he  shall  go  no  more,  as  the  family  for  whom 
he  went  to  work  are  all  dead  or  removed. 

I  saw  one  instance  among  them  of  a  man  who  was  bringing  up 
and  supporting  nine  children,  all  healthy,  well-fed,  clean,  and 
neatly  dressed.  A  little  child  under  four  years  of  age  was  asked 
if  she  could  spin  ?  '  No,  she  was  too  little,  but  she  could  knit.' — 
'  Her  sister  (said  the  mother,  pointing  to  another  girl,  between 
five  and  six  years  of  age),  spins  very  well ;  she  got  a  prize  for 
spinning  this  year,  and  brought  home  a  pi-emium  of  the  value  of 
six  shillings  in  clothing. ' 

Mr.  Bernard  then  points  out  the  valuable  training 
afforded  by  these  small  holdings  : 

The  education  of  their  children  to  husbandry,  to  the  manage- 
ment of  cattle  and  of  a  dairy,  and  of  every  occupation  that  can 
tit  them  for  the  service  of  a  farmer,  is  a  very  important  advantage 
of  this  system :  and  if  there  were  no  other  benefit  to  be  derived 
fi-om  it,  but  that  of  adapting,  and  habitually  preparing,  the  rising 
veneration  for  the  most  useful  and  necessary  employment  in  the 
island  ; — this  alone  would  produce  an  abundant  compensation  for 
any  effort,  or  attention,  that  has  been,  or  may  be,  directed  to  the 
subject.  They  are  not  only  stout,  healthy,  clean,  well  clothed,  and 
educated  in  regular  and  principled  habits  of  life,  but  they  are  used 
to  almost  every  part  of  their  business  from  the  earliest  period  of 
life,  every  inhabitant  of  the  cottage  being,  from  infancy,  so 
interested  in  their  cow,  their  pig,  their  sheep,  and  their  garden, 
as  to  imbibe,  at  a  very  early  age  all  the  material  information  in 
those  subjects. 

It  need  hardly  be  said  that  the  long  and  compulsory 
schooling  of  the  present  era  would  stand  considerably  in 


BEITTON  ABBOT  241 

the  way  of  this  farm  training,  and  that  consequently  the 
pleasant  picture  could  scarcely  be  reahsed  under  existing 
circumstances.  But  in  Thomas  Bernard's  day  it  might 
be  a  reality.  He  had  illustrated  his  views  by  the  true  story 
of  Britton  Abbot,  the  occupier  of  a  '  beautiful  little  cottage 
situated  two  miles  from  Tadcaster,  on  the  left  hand  side  of 
the  road  to  York,  with  a  rood  of  land  well  planted  with  fruit 
trees,  vegetables,  &c.,  and  displaying  three  bee-hives.'  After 
making  the  acquaintance  of  this  notable  man,  Mr.  Bernard, 
in  1797,  published  his  biography,  with  observations,  in  the 
form  of  a  pamphlet ;  and  it  was  republished,  when  nearly 
out  of  print,  at  the  request  of  the  Society,  as  an  Appendix  to 
the  second  volume  of  Keports,  where  it  affords  an  interesting 
narrative  of  a  labourer's  strugghng  life  brought  to  a  success- 
ful issue.  His  prospects  had  been  once  well-nigh  wrecked 
by  an  enclosure  at  Poppleton,  which  drove  him,  with  six 
children  and  a  seventh  expected,  from  the  house  and  land 
he  had  occupied  for  nine  years ;  only  through  the  con- 
sideration of  '  Squire  Fairfax '  did  he  obtain  the  rood  of  land 
on  which  he  built  his  new  house,  and  laid  out  and  enclosed 
his  garden.  Whether  there  were  many  like  him  I  cannot  tell. 
In  a  paper  ^  contributed  to  the  Society's  Reports  by 
Thomas  Thompson,  Esq.,  the  provision  made  by  Lord 
Carrington  on  his  estate  at  Humberston,  in  Lincolnshire, 
'for  cottagers  keeping  cows,'  is  briefly  described.  Other 
instances  of  the  same  provision  were  no  doubt  to  be  found 
in  various  parts  of  the  kingdom  ;  but  it  is  hardly  necessary 
to  remark  that  the  experiments  of  Lord  Winchelsea  and 
Lord  Carrington  were  both  carried  on  under  specially 
favourable  circumstances — those  noblemen  having  sufficient 
means  to  incur  risk  without  inconvenience,  and  ample  space 
to  carry  out  the  plan  with  comfort  to  all  parties ;  but  that 
such  schemes  could  not  be  urged  upon  persons  of  moderate 
incomes  and  small  estates,  without  a  probability  of  disaster 
to  the  landlord,  and  perhaps  eventually  to  the  tenant. 

'  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  a  Provision  for  Cottagers  keeping  Cows  at 
Humberston  in  the  County  of  Lincoln,'  by  Thomas  Thompson,  Esq.  Reports 
of  the  Society  B.C.P.,  vol.  ii.,  No.  LIII. 

VOL.   III.  R 


242  THE  BEENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

One  advantage,  indeed,  existed  for  such  arrangements 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  a  httle  later,  which  has  been 
to  a  great  extent  lost.  Large  tracts  of  waste  land  were  then 
far  more  frequently  to  be  met  with  than  now.  '  Five 
unsightly,  unprofitable  acres  of  waste  ground  would  afford 
habitation  and  comfort  to  twenty  such  families  as  Britton 
Abbot's,'  remarks  Mr.  Bernard  ;  and  he  was  a  party  to  the 
scheme  of  enclosure  at  Iver  in  Bucks,  where  it  was  intended 
to  form  cow-pastures  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor.  But 
processes  of  enclosure,  whether  well  or  ill-intended  or 
designed,  have  been  continued  until  in  many  neighbour- 
hoods there  is  no  waste  land  available.  At  the  same  time, 
however,  some  such  homesteads  as  Britton  Abbot's  have 
arisen  and  bettered  the  condition  of  the  villages,  and  the 
system  of  allotments  leaves  no  ground  to  complain  of  want 
of  land,  or  of  the  produce  of  land. 

'  In  June  1798,'  writes  Mr.  Baker,^  '  the  first  volume  of 
the  "  Eeports  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition 
of  the  Poor "  was  completed,  and  a  cheap  edition  was 
published  for  more  general  circulation.'  The  soup-house, 
begun  at  Iver  and  on  the  Foundling  Estate,  had  been 
established  in  several  parts  of  the  metropoHs,  and  in 
Birmingham  and  other  places,  as  a  temporary  remedy — (of 
course  such  establishments  should  never  be  permanent)— for 
the  scarcity  which  then  existed. 

'  The  Publications  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the 
Condition  of  the  Poor  '  soon  began  to  operate.  A  society  on 
the  same  principles  was  established  at  Cork,  in  March,  1799  ; 
and  one  in  the  City  of  Dublin  in  the  following  month.  They 
were  both  conducted  with  considerable  energy  and  effect, 
and  were  followed,  in  January,  1801,  by  an  establishment 
of  the  same  kind  at  Edinburgh.  In  the  meantime  the 
society  at  Winston,  in  the  county  of  Durham,  for  the  aged, 
had  been  formed  in  May,  1798,  and  a  similar  society  at 
Wendover  in  July,  1799  ;  and,  in  the  same  year,  the  Clapham 
Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  and  several 
others. 

'  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Bernard,  by  the  Eev.  James  Baker. 


THE  DUBLIN   FOUNDLING   HOSPITAL         243 

The  results  of  Mr.  Bernard's  management  at  the 
Foundling  Hospital  in  London  also  had  roused  the  attention 
of  some  eminent  persons  in  Dublin  to  the  condition  of  a 
similar  institution  in  the  Irish  capital ;  and  not  without 
cause,  for  it  was  worse  than  that  of  the  one  in  London. 

In  the  beginning  of  1798  [writes  the  E,ev.  James  Baker]/  Mr. 
Bernard  was  applied  to  by  Mr.  Pelhani  (now  Earl  of  Chichester) 
respecting  the  Foundling  Hospital  in  Dublin,  where  great  inatten- 
tion and  a  great  mortality  had  taken  place.  Of  twelve  thousand 
six  hundred  and  forty  one  children  received  in  six  years,  ending 
the  24th  of  June,  1794,  as  many  as  nine  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  four  had  died  ;  two  ihousand  six  hundred  and  ninety  two  were 
unaccounted  for,  and  only  one  hundred  and  forty  five  were  to  be 
traced. 

In  the  Infirmary  the  mortality  had  been  still  more  shocking. 
Of  five  thousand  two  hundred  and  sixteen  children  sent  into  the 
Infirmary  in  those  six  years,  three  individuals  only  came  out  of 
the  walls  ahve. 

These  facts  were  ascertained  on  the  oath  of  the  culprits  them- 
selves ;  and  were  occasioned  partly  by  gross  negligence,  and 
partly  by  the  radical  defect  of  the  system  of  a  general  admission 
of  this  nature  ;  which  has  a  direct  and  uncontroulable  tendency 
to  encourage  the  vice,  and  increase  the  mortality  of  our  species. 

In  the  endeavours  of  the  Governors  to  reform  these  evils,  Mr. 
Bernard  supplied  them  with  all  the  information  which  his 
experience  could  afford  ;  especially  by  drawing  up  a  statement  as 
to  the  reception  and  management  of  the  children  in  the  establish- 
ment which  he  superintended. 

At  this  moment,  however,  Thomas  Bernard's  mind  seems 
to  have  been  especially  occupied  with  the  subject  of  the 
agricultural  labourer.  He  frequently  recurs  to  it,  and  the 
following  passages  are  from  his  observations  on  the  pro- 
ceedings of  an  Agricultural  Society  in  Sussex  :  - 

If  we  would  preserve  those  blessings  which  Providence  has 
bestowed  on  this  favoured  island,  it  is  necessary  that  the  higher 
classes  of  society  should  be  immediately  atvakened  to  the  duty  of 

'  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Beryiard,  by  the  Rev.  James  Baker. 

■■^  Reports  of  the  Society  B.C.P.,  vol.  ii.,  No.  LI.  Observations  on  'An 
Extract  from  an  Account  of  the  Eewards  given  by  the  Sussex  Agricultural 
Society  to  the  industrious  and  deserving  Poor,'  by  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq. 


244  THE  BEENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

assisting  by  every  exertion  in  their  power,  the  prevalence  of 
industry,  prudence,  morality,  and  religion  among  the  great  mass 
of  our  fellow-subjects.  To  this  desired  effect,  disinterested  kind- 
ness, and  well  directed  encouragement  are  indispensable  requisites. 
Without  them,  words  and  actions  are  but  empty  professions  ;  and 
the  poor  and  uneducated  cottager  will  never  profitably  receive 
that  instruction,  which  is  not  enforced  by  the  example  of  the 
teacher. 

It  is  the  misfortune  of  this  country,  and  it  has  been  the 
calamity,  and  it  may  prove  the  destruction  of  Ireland,  that  the 
different  classes  of  society  have  not  a  sufficient  bond  and  con- 
nection of  intercourse  ;  that  they  want  that  frequent  communica- 
tion of  kindness  and  benefit  and  that  reciprocal  good  will  and 
esteem,  which  (except  only  in  the  case  of  the  worst  of  beings)  must 
always  result  from  rational  creatures  possessing  the  means  of 
knowing  and  appreciating  each  others'  good  qualities  and  utility. 
When  that  does  not  take  place,  the  unfortunate  consequence  is, 
that  neither  of  the  parties  does  justice  to  the  other.  The  rich  do 
not  sufficiently  estimate  the  virtues  of  the  poor ;  nor  are  the  latter 
aware  of  the  real  and  affectionate  interest  which  many  of  the 
higher  classes  in  England  feel  for  their  concerns. 

But  this  is  not  all,  the  rich  become  less  useful,  because  they 
undervalue  their  own  influence  and  power  of  doing  good  ;  and  the 
poor  are  often  degraded  in  their  own  opinion,  and  debased  in 
character,  by  the  persuasion  that  they  neither  possess,  nor  are 
entitled  to,  the  esteem  and  commendation  of  the  other  ranks  in  life. 

And  in  the  prefatory  introduction  '  to  the  same  volume 
the  writer  touches  at  some  length  on  the  topic  : 

The  question  whether  the  rich  support  the  poor,  or  the  poor 
the  rich,  has  been  frequently  agitated  by  those  who  are  not  aware, 
that  while  each  does  his  duty  in  his  station,  each  is  reciprocally  a 
support  and  blessing  to  the  other.  All  are  parts  of  one  harmonious 
whole  ;  every  part  contributing  to  the  general  mass  of  happiness,  if 
man  would  but  endeavour  to  repay  his  debt  of  gratitude  to  his 
Creator ;  and  by  a  willing  habit  of  usefulness,  to  promote  the 
happiness  of  himself  and  his  fellow  creatures.  In  this  way  the 
higher  classes  of  society  may,  by  superiority  of  power  and  educa- 
tion, do  more  service  to  the  other  parts  of  the  community  than  what 
they  receive ;  the  welfare  of  the  poor  being  then,  in  truth,  more 
promoted  by  the  gradations  of  wealth  and  rank,  than  it  ever  could 

'  Reports  of  tJie  Society  B.C.P.,  Prefatory  Introduction  to  the  Second 
Volume  dated  Nov.  2,  1798.  This  volume  was  not  published  till  1880.  It 
contains  the  Reports  of  1798  and  1799. 


A   PLEA   FOE  THE  POOR  245 

have  been  by  a  perfect  equality  of  condition  ;  even  if  that  equality 
had  not  been  in  its  nature  chimerical  and  impracticable  ;  or  (if 
practicable)  had  not  been  hostile  and  fatal  to  the  industry  and 
energy  of  mankind.  Eank,  power,  wealth,  influence,  constitute 
no  exemption  from  activity  or  attention  to  duty  ;  but  lay  a  weight 
of  real  accumulated  responsibility  on  the  possessor.  If  the  poor 
are  idle  and  vicious,  they  are  reduced  to  subsist  on  the  benevolence 
of  the  rich ;  and  if  the  rich  (I  except  those  to  whom  health  and 
ability,  and  not  will  is  wanting)  are  selfish,  indolent,  and  neglectful 
of  the  conditions  on  which  they  hold  superiority  of  rank  and 
fortune,  they  sink  into  a  situation  worse  than  that  of  being 
gratuitously  maintained  by  the  poor.  They  become  paupers  of  an 
elevated  and  distinguished  class  ;  in  no  way  personally  contributing 
to  the  general  stock,  but  subsisting  upon  the  labour  of  the 
industrious  cottager ;  and  whenever  Providence  thinks  fit  to 
remove  such  a  character,  whether  in  high  or  in  low  life,  whether 
rich  or  poor,  the  community  is  relieved  from  an  useless  burden. 

These  remarks  are  followed  up  by  an  earnest  exhortation  : 

If  there  should  be  among  my  readers,  any  one  whose  views  are 
directed  to  himself  only,  I  could  easily  satisfy  him,  that  his  means 
of  self-indulgence  would  be  increased,  his  repose  would  be  more 
tranquil,  his  waking  hours  less  languid,  his  estate  improved,  its 
advantages  augmented,  and  the  enjoyment  permanently  secured, 
by  his  activity  in  the  melioration  of  the  condition,  the  morals,  the 
religion,  and  the  attachment,  of  a  numerous  and  very  useful  part 
of  his  fellow-subjects. — To  the  patriot,  who  wishes  to  deserve  well 
of  his  country,  I  could  prove  that,  from  the  increase  of  the 
resources  and  virtues  of  the  poor,  the  kingdom  would  derive  pro- 
sperity— the  different  classes  of  society,  union — and  the  constitu- 
tion, stability. — To  the  rich  who  liave  leisure,  and  have  unsuccess- 
fully attempted  to  fill  up  their  time  with  other  objects,  I  could 
offer  a  permanent  source  of  amusement ;  that  of  encouraging  the 
virtues  and  industry  of  the  poor,  with  whom  by  property,  residence, 
or  occupation,  they  are  connected  ; — that  of  adorning  the  skirts  of 
their  parks  and  paddocks,  of  their  farms  and  commons,  with 
picturesque  and  habitable  cottages,  and  fruitful  gardens ;  so  as  to 
increase  every  Englishman's  affection  for  an  island  replete  with 
beauty  and  happiness  ; — that  of  assisting  the  poor  in  the  means  of 
life,  and  in  placing  out  their  children  in  the  world,  so  as  to  attach 
them  by  an  indissoluble  tie,  and  by  a  common  interest,  to  their 
country,  not  only  as  the  sanctuary  of  liberty,  but  as  an  asylum, 
where  happiness  and  domestic  comforts  are  diffused,  with  a  liberal 
and  equal  hand,  through  every  class  of  society. 


246  THE  BEENARDS   OF  ABINGTON 


CHAPTEE   XIII 

THE    society's   WORK   IN   BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

Thomas  Bernard's  House  at  Tver — Papers  Contributed  to  the  Society's  Reports 
by  Members  of  His  Family — His  Interest  in  the  Working  of  the  Poor 
Laws — His  First  Contribution  to  the  Society's  Reports — His  Decided 
Opinion  in  Favour  of  Boarding-out  Workhouse  Children— The  Village 
Soup  Shop  at  Iver — The  Provision  of  Fuel  for  the  Poor  of  Lower  Win- 
chendon — Resistance  to  the  Introduction  of  Proper  Chimneys  into  Cot- 
tages— The  Society  at  Wendover  for  Encouraging  Prudence  and  Industry — 
The  Progress  of  Vaccination  for  Small-pox — Mrs.  Parker  Sedding's  Interest 
in  the  Poor  in  the  Workhouse — Her  Work  as  an  Overseer. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  Thomas  Bernard's  house  at 
Iver,  Bucks,  in  which  he  probably  spent  the  greater  part 
of  his  vacations  for  some  years,  and  where  he  no  doubt 
matured,  if  he  did  not  form,  some  of  his  opinions  on  the 
state  of  the  country  poor. 

'  Iver,'  says  Lipscomb,  the  county  historian,  *  is  a  parish 
of  large  extent,  and  contains  about  2,462  acres,  comprising 
large  tracts  of  heath  and  waste  land.'  It  was  probably  the 
sight  of  so  much  ground — unprofitable  from  more  than  one 
point  of  view — that  led  to  his  suggestions  for  turning  such 
land  to  good  account. 

Besides  the  papers  contributed  by  Mr.  Bernard  to  the 
Society's  Reports,  three  bear  the  name  of  his  wife,  Margaret 
Bernard,  one  of  his  brother,  Scrope  Bernard,  and  two  of 
their  brother-in-law,  Joseph  Smith  ;  in  these,  of  course,  Julia 
Smith  may  have  had  a  share.  Jane  White,  the  eldest  sister 
of  the  family,  contributed  part  of  a  Eeport ;  Fanny  King 
furnished  the  subject  of  one  of  Mrs.  Bernard's  contributions, 
and  it  will  be  seen  that  some  years  later  a  Ladies'  Branch 
of  the  Society  owed  much  to  her  pen  as  well  as  to  her 
powers  of  organisation. 


THE   POOR   LAWS  247 

Other  persons,  less  nearly  related,  also  helped — from  the 
Bishop  of  Durham,  who  contributed  several  papers  beginning 
with  the  second  number  ever  published,'  of  which  the  village 
shop  at  Mongewell,  Oxon,  formed  the  subject — to  Mrs. 
Shore,  of  Norton  Hall,  Derbyshire,  whose  paper  '^  is  entitled  : 
'  An  account  of  the  manner  and  expense  of  making  stewed 
ox  head  for  the  poor.'  A  large  proportion  of  members  of 
the  society  and  subscribers  consisted  of  Mr.  Bernard's 
relations,  connections,  and  personal  friends. 

Since  Thomas  Bernard  had  a  house  at  Iver  in  Bucking- 
hamshire, Scrope  Bernard  possessed  the  Manor  House  of 
Nether  Winchendon,  and  Julia  Smith  inhabited  the  vicarage 
at  Wendover  in  the  same  county,  several  of  the  papers  in 
the  Society's  Reports  relate,  as  might  be  expected,  to  work 
done  in  that  county — though  not  in  all  cases  by  the  family. 
These  will  form  the  subject  of  the  present  chapter. 

In  a  letter  to  his  brother  Scrope,  Thomas  expresses 
regrets  for  not  having  attended  a  meeting  at  which  the 
Marquess  of  Buckingham  was  to  preside,  and  returned 
thanks  for  the  compliment  paid  him  by  the  Marquess  in 
making  him  a  Deputy  Lieutenant  for  Bucks.  The  reason 
for  not  attending  is  characteristic;  he  was  previously 
engaged  to  a  parish  meeting  on  the  reform  of  Iver  Work- 
house. 

The  biographer  of  Thomas  Bernard  observes,  after 
speaking  of  his  exertions  to  form  the  Society  : 

While  Mr.  Bernard  was  thus  employed  in  disseminating 
throughout  the  kingdom  useful  information  on  the  works  of 
charity,  he  spared  not  his  personal  exertions  in  similar  occupa- 
tions. As  Chairman  of  the  Petty  Sessions  for  the  Hundred  of 
Stoke,  in  Buckinghamshire,  he  was  watching  over  the  execution 
of  the  Poor  Laws  vnth  vigilance  and  discretion.     With  this  object 

'  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  a  Village  Shop  at  Mongewell,  in  the  county 
of  Oxford,'  by  the  Bishop  of  Durham.  Reports  of  the  Society  B.C.P.,  vol.  i., 
No.  11.  The  first  of  the  Eeports,  the  one  which  preceded  the  Bishop's,  was  :  '  An 
Account  of  a  Friendly  Society  at  Castle  Eden  in  the  county  of  Durham,'  by 
Eowland  Burdon,  Esq. 

2  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  the  manner  and  expence  of  making  stewed 
ox's  head  for  the  Poor,'  by  Mrs.  Shore,  of  Norton  Hall,  Derbyshire. 


248  THE  BEKNAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

he  printed  and  distributed  a  '  Charge  to  the  Overseers  of  the  Poor ' 
of  that  district,^  in  which  he  laid  down  the  principles  of  their 
duty,  and  gave  much  useful  advice  in  the  execution  of  their  office. 
In  his  own  immediate  neighbourhood  he  was  engaged,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Mr.  Sullivan,  in  improving  the  internal  discipline, 
decency,  and  cleanliness  of  Iver  Workhouse,  as  well  as  its  ex- 
ternal appearance.  He  found  in  it  fifty-three  persons ;  of  whom 
thirteen  were  above  the  age  of  fifty,  three  helpless  men  and 
women  under  that  age,  and  eleven  children,  too  young  to  be 
placed  out  in  the  world.  Fifteen  of  the  remaining  twenty-six 
were  placed  out  in  service  or  otherwise,  in  the  course  of  a  month, 
and  the  other  eleven  were  only  kept  till  places  could  be  found  for 
them.  In  this  instance  (he  remarks)  it  is  to  be  observed  that 
twenty- six  of  these  fifty-three  persons  would  have  been  better  out 
of  the  workhouse  ;  but  the  house  had  been  formed,  and  on  that 
account  it  had  not  been  the  man's  interest  to  put  them  out,  as 
that  would  have  occasioned  some  immediate  expense,  and  it  might 
probably  have  been  the  cause  of  his  allowance  from  the  parish 
being  reduced  at  the  end  of  the  year,  or  of  his  losing  his  contract 
by  the  competition  of  a  lower  offer. 

Mr.  Bernard's  first  contribution  to  the  Society's  Eeports 
is  on  '  the  mode  adopted  as  to  parochial  relief  in  the  hundred 
of  Stoke.'  From  this  paper  his  biographer  derived  the 
information  in  the  last  part  of  the  paragraph  just  quoted ; 
but  a  further  extract  ^  will  explain  his  views  more  fully : 

In  December  1795,  when  the  applications  of  the  poor  for  relief 
were  necessarily  increased,  on  account  of  the  high  price  of  bread, 
it  appeared  to  the  magistrates  of  the  hundred  of  Stoke,  that  a 
regular  book  by  way  of  register  of  the  cases  relieved  in  that 
district,  might  be  put  to  considerable  use,  and  might  tend  to  put 
the  relief  given  to  the  poor,  on  a  more  regular  system. 

With  that  view  a  folio  book  was  prepared  with  four  columns ; 
the  first  containing  the  name  of  the  pauper  and  his  parish,  and 
whether  he  (or  any  other  person)  was  sworn  to  the  circumstances 
of  his  case,  or  whether  those  circumstances  were  admitted  by  the 
overseer,  on  his  personal  knowledge  ;  in  the  second  column  his 
own  account  of  the  condition  of  his  family  and  of  the  amount  of 

'  The  Charge  is  given  in  Appendix  No.  IV.  to  vol.  i.  of  Bepcrrts. 
*  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  the  Mode  adopted  as  to  Parochial  Belief  in 
the  Hundred  of  Btoke,  Bucks.'     Reports,  vol.  i.,  No.  VII. 


PAEISH   RELIEF  249 

their  earnings  ;   in  the  third,  the  relief  asked  ;  and  in  the  fourth 
the  oi'der  or  agreement  respecting  it. 

The  heads  of  the  four  cohimns  occupy  the  long  side  of  a  foho 
page. 

A  specimen  is  then  given  of  the  form  of  the  book  and 
mode  of  entry.  Omitting  some  further  details,  I  insert  the 
notice  which,  in  March,  1796,  the  magistrates  sent  round  to 
the  different  parishes  in  their  hundred : 

'  Hundred  of  Stoke. 

'  In  order  to  encourage  industry  and  economy,  and  to  explain 
their  general  plan  of  granting  relief  for  the  poor,  the  magistrates 
give  notice,  that  particular  attention  is  paid  by  them  to  the  number 
of  children  of  any  age  to  requii'e  relief ;  and  to  the  degree  of  in- 
dustry of  the  person  applying,  and  of  every  part  of  his  or  her  family  ; 
and  that,  for  this  purpose,  a  book  is  kept  by  them,  in  which  these 
circumstances,  and  any  other,  entitling  the  party  to  relief,  are 
entered  before  any  order  is  made. 

'  The  magistrates,  having  hitherto  granted  relief,  at  home,  to 
persons  applying  on  account  of  children  under  seven  years  of  age, 
have  it  now  in  their  power,  under  the  provisions  of  an  Act  lately 
passed,  to  extend  that  relief  to  industrious  and  sober  persons,  who 
have  in  part,  though  not  entirely,  the  means  of  comfort  and  sub- 
sistence in  their  own  dwellings  :  they  therefore  declare  that,  in  all 
cases,  where  any  parish  workhouse  is  farmed  out,  they  shall  con- 
sider that  circumstance  as  an  additional  reason  for  giving  (as  far 
as  the  law  authorizes)  relief,  at  hovie,  to  the  industrious  and  well- 
disposed  poor  of  that  parish  ;  it  appearing  that  the  forming  of  a 
parish  workliouse  sets  the  interest  of  the  party  in  opposition  to 
his  duty,  and  prevents  the  rehef,  that  the  poor  are  by  law  entitled 
to,  and  which  they  would  otherwise  receive. 

'  They  also  recommend  to  the  parishes  not  to  lessen  at  all  (or  at 
least  in  a  very  small  degree)  the  relief  to  the  labouring  poor,  on 
account  of  any  allowance  the  party  may  receive  from  any  friendly 
society  ;  or  on  account  of  any  little  portion  of  property  which  his 
industry  or  economy  may  have  treasured  up  against  an  evil  day ; 
such  a  conduct  tending  to  discourage  frugality,  and  increase  the 
parish  burthens.' 

This  notice  was  signed  by  Sir  Charles  Palmer,  Mr.  SulUvan, 
Sir  Eobert  Harvey,  Mr.  Penn,  Sir  William  Johnston,  and  myself, 
acting  magistrates  for  the  hundred  of  Stoke. 

Sir  Eobert  Harvey  was  the  gentleman  called  in  a  previous 


250  THE  BERNARDS  OF  ABTNGTON 

chapter  Mr.  Bateson-Harvey.  Mr.  Sullivan,  of  Kichings 
Park,  Iver,  was  probably  an  elder  brother  of  the  Mr.  Sulivan  ^ 
who  was  a  Vice-President  of  the  Society  ;  but  he.  Sir  Robert 
Harvey,  and  Mr.  Penn,  were  members  of  the  General 
Committee. 

The  report  concludes,  according  to  the  custom  observed 
in  the  Society's  Eeports,  with  some  '  Observations '  ;  these 
may  be  termed  amplifications  of  the  previous  topics.  The 
same  description  applies  to  the  forcible  '  Charge  to  the 
Overseers,'  ^  which  occupies  ten  pages  of  an  Appendix  to  the 
'  Eeports,'  headed : 

' HUNDKBD    OF    StOKE 

Bucks, 

to  wit  : 

'  To Overseer  of  the  Poor  for  the  Parish  of in  the  said 

County.' 

And  begins  : 

'  Sir, — The  oflfice,  to  which  you  are  this  day  appointed,  is  of  no 
small  importance  ;  inasmuch  as  the  welfare  of  a  considerable  part 
of  our  fellow-subjects  depends  upon  the  due  execution  of  it.  It  is 
your  duty,  Sir,  to  be  the  Guardian  and  Protector  of  the  Poor ; — 
and,  as  such,  to  provide  employment  for  those  who  can  work,  and 
relief  and  support  for  those  who  canyiot ;  to  place  the  young  in  a 
way  of  obtaining  an  honest  livelihood  by  their  industry,  and  to 
enable  the  aged  to  close  their  labours  and  their  life  in  comfort.' 

Mr.  Bernard  held  a  decided  opinion  in  favour  of  boarding 
out  the  workhouse  children,  which,  however,  scarcely  touches 
the  controversy  of  the  present  day  on  that  subject,  because 
the  conditions  were  so  different.  There  were  then  no  work- 
house or  district  schools,  no  provision  apparently  of  any 
kind  for  discipline  and  education,  and  the  children  simply 
ran  loose  in  the  workhouse,  worrying  the  old  people,  and, 

'  Their  names  are  generally  spelt  differently ;  but  '  Sullivan '  is  the  only 
spelling  in  Lipscomb,  who  gives  a  pedigree,  and  in  Bui-ke's  Baronetage.  Here 
the  two  gentlemen  seem  to  be  identified  as  brothers.  John  became  a  Privy 
Councillor,  Eichard  Joseph  a  baronet.  One  portion  of  the  family  called  itself 
O'Sullivan. 

^  Reports,  vol.  i.,  Appendix  No.  IV. 


'FAEMING'  WOEKHOUSES  261 

it  may  be  assumed,  picking  up  many  undesirable  notions  and 
practices. 

The  paragraph  immediately  preceding  the  recommenda- 
tion to  board  out  all  children,  touches  on  the  practice  of 
'  farming '  workhouses  ;  and  shows  the  extremes  to  which 
this  doubtful  practice  was  carried.  After  noting  some  of  its 
bad  tendencies,  Mr.  Bernard  continues  : 

Where,  indeed,  a  principal  landowner,  or  land  occupier,  of  a 
parish  can  be  induced  to  contract  for  the  parish  workhouse,  he 
has  an  interest  in  the  permanent  improvement  of  its  condition,  and 
in  the  diminution  of  the  distresses  of  the  poor  ;  but  where  a 
vagrant  speculating  contractor  visits  your  parish,  with  a  view  of 
making  his  incidental  profit  by  farming  your  workhouse,  we  trust 
you  will  consider  the  Christian  principle  of  doing  as  you  would 
be  done  by ;  and  that  you  will  not  confide  the  poor  whose  guardian 
and  protector  it  is  your  duty  to  be,  to  one,  into  whose  hands  you 
would  not  trust  an  acre  of  your  land,  or  any  portion  of  your  own 
property. 

The  report  on  the  '  Village  Soup  Shop  at  Tver  '  '  was 
written  by  Mrs.  Bernard,  and  begins  as  follows : 

In  October  1796,  a  village  soup  shop  was  set  up  at  Iver  in  the 
county  of  Buckingham.  The  most  proper  person  that  occurred 
for  the  purpose,  was  the  wife  of  Eichard  Learner,  an  industrious 
man,  who  had  lost  a  leg  by  an  accident  in  the  course  of  his  labour  ; 
and  who,  notwithstanding  that  disadvantage,  had  brought  up  a 
large  family  decently  and  creditably,  without  parochial  relief — 
She  was  an  industrious  and  notable  woman,  and  had  lived  in  a 
family  as  a  kitchen  maid.  She  attended  by  desire,  several  times, 
to  see  the  soup  made,  which  she  afterwards  took  home  for  the  use 
of  her  own  family.  She  was  then  informed  that  if  she  could 
make  the  same  kind  of  soup  twice  a  week  during  the  winter,  it 
would  be  a  benefit  to  her  poor  neighbours,  and  a  considerable  ad- 
vantage to  herself :  that  she  should  be  furnished  with  the  receipt, 
and  the  necessary  utensils  and  materials  to  set  up  her  shop ; 
which  consisted  of  a  tin  pot  that  contained  four  gallons,  and  a 
bushel  of  split  pease,  and  that  we  would  purchase  of  her  tickets, 
or  give  orders  for  soup,  for  her  poor  neighbours,  at  threepence  a 
quart,  besides  recommending  to  others  to  purchase  of  her  similar 

'  Extracts  from  '  An  Account  of  a  Village  Soup  Shop  at  Iver,  in  the  County 
of  Bucks,'  vol.  i.  of  Reports,  No.  18. 


252  THE  BEKNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

tickets  for  other  poor  persons,  whom  they  wished  to  be  of 
use  to. 

The  advantages  which  this  proposal  held  out  to  her  were  these ; 
that  the  soup  which  she  sold  for  threepence  a  quart,  she  could 
make  for  half  that  money ;  that,  therefore,  if  she  could  get  by  the 
tickets,  and  by  chance  customers,  a  sale  of  only  eight  gallons  a 
week  (which  was  about  her  average)  her  profit,  with  very  little 
interruption  to  her  other  work,  would  be  not  much  less  than  four 
shillings  a  week  ;  besides  the  comfort,  of  which  she  seemed  fully 
to  feel  the  benefit,  but  which  it  was  much  easier  for  her  to  enjoy 
than  to  describe,  of  being  in  the  midst  of  a  cook  shop. 

What  happened  in  the  present  case,  is  what  will  hardly  fail  to 
happen  in  similar  cases  :  there  were  few  poor  families  in  the 
parish,  but  what,  placed  on  some  list  or  other,  received  a  good 
meal,  to  take  home  twice  or  oftener  each  week  to  their  houses. 

The  soup  was  strictly  vegetarian,  consisting  of  split 
peas,  and  potatoes  previously  boiled  and  mashed,  with  a 
seasoning  of  herbs,  salt,  pepper,  and  onion ;  the  whole 
boiled  in  water  very  slowly.  This  recipe  had  been  used  in 
the  soup  kitchen  originally  established  on  the  Foundling 
estate,  and  afterwards  moved  to  Fulwood's  Eents,  Gray's 
Inn.  In  the  concluding  observations,  a  strict  supervision  of 
the  cook  is  enjoined,  as  everything  depended  on  her  choice 
of  materials  and  mode  of  treating  them.  It  is  also  stated 
that  the  plan  was  imitated  in  the  parish  of  Langley,  ad- 
joining Iver,  where  Sir  Eobert  Harvey  resided. 

The  paper,  contributed  by  Scrope  Bernard,  on  *  A 
Provision  of  Fuel  made  for  the  Poor  of  Lower  Winchendon,' ' 
is  specially  interesting  from  a  family  point  of  view,  because 
it  relates  to  a  parish  where  a  descendant  of  his  still  has  a 
home,  and  affords  opportunity  for  comparing  the  Winchen- 
don of  that  day  with  the  Winchendon  of  the  present 
advanced  age.     It  begins  : 

There  having  been  several  prosecutions  at  the  Aylesbm^y 
Quarter  Sessions,  for  stealing  fuel  last  winter,  I  was  led  to  make 
some  particular  inquiries,  respecting  the  means  which  the 
poor  at  Lower  Winchendon  had  of  providing  fuel.     I  found  that 

'  Extract  of  '  An  Account  of  a  Provision  of  Fuel  made  for  the  Poor  of  Lower 
Winchendon,'  by  Scrope  Bernard,  Esq.     Reports,  vol.  ii.,  No.  LXVII. 


THE   POOR  OF  WINCHBNDON  253 

there  was  no  fuel  to  be  sold  within  several  miles  of  the  place,  and 
that,  amid  the  distress  occasioned  by  the  long  frost,  a  party  of 
cottagers  had  joined  in  hiring  a  person  to  fetch  a  load  of  pitcoal 
from  Oxford,  for  their  supply.  In  order  to  encourage  this 
disposition  to  acquire  fuel  in  an  honest  manner,  and  to  induce  the 
poor  to  burn  coal  instead  of  wood,  in  a  country  very  bare  of  the 
latter  article,  a  present  was  made  to  all  this  party  (eight  famihes  in 
number)  of  as  much  more  coal  as  they  had  purchased,  and  the  car- 
riage of  the  like  quantity  was  further  allowed  them  free  of  expense. 
Having  no  grates,  they  had  employed  the  village  blacksmith  to 
tack  together  a  few  iron  bars  by  an  iron  rim  at  each  end,  which 
when  raised  above  the  hearths  by  loose  bricks,  had  enabled  them 
to  keep  up  a  good  fire.  I  went  to  see  one  of  those  grates ;  it  was 
a  foot  square,  quite  flat,  and  had  been  made  out  of  an  old  scythe 
by  the  blacksmith  at  the  expense  of  one  shilling.  In  this  manner 
some  of  the  poorest  families  in  the  village  got  through  the  last 
hard  winter. 

This  article,  indeed,  carries  the  mind  back  to  the  days  of 
the  Tyringhams  as  well  as  forv^^ard  to  the  present  time.  If 
the  tradition  of  Mrs.  Mary  Tyringham's  letter  be  accepted, 
in  which  she  suggested  that  the  thick  woods  of  Nether 
Winchendon  would  hide  the  existence  of  the  Manor-house, 
and  probably  of  the  village  also,  from  an  invading  army, 
a  great  change  must  have  taken  place  in  the  course  of  little 
more  than  fifty  years.  That  it  had  not  very  long  affected 
the  parish,  at  least  to  a  serious  extent,  is  probable,  from  the 
fact  that  the  habits  of  the  people  were  as  yet  so  little  adapted 
to  the  new  state  of  things.  Mr.  Scrope  Bernard  continues 
his  narrative  of  his  attempt  to  help  the  villagers  by  saying  : 

But  they  complained  of  the  want  of  faggots  to  light  their  fires, 
which  were  not  to  be  obtained  by  honest  means.  To  remedy  this, 
against  the  next  winter,  I  had  three  waggon  loads  of  the  small 
faggots  called  kindlers,  made  up  from  a  fall  of  beechwood,  in  the 
Chiltern  country,  ten  miles  off,  and  brought  to  Winchendon  in  the 
summer  season.  And  as,  in  September,  from  the  state  of  the 
harvest,  it  was  foreseen  that  it  would  be  a  trying  winter  for  the 
poor,  a  vestry  was  called  and  it  was  proposed,  as  one  mode  of 
relief,  that  they  should  allow  the  poor  the  carriage  of  a  limited 
portion  of  coal ;  which  was  then  sold  at  1^  4^^  the  hundred,  at  the 
Oxford  Wharf.     At  the  same  time  they  were  informed  that  eleven 


254  THE   BEENAEDS   OF  ABINGTON 

hundred  faggots  were  provided  out  of  ihe  Chiltern  woods,  as  kindlers, 
to  assist  such  a  plan,  which  it  was  intended  to  sell  much  under  the 
real  value,  at  a  penny  a  piece. 

Scrope  Bernard  then  narrates  the  distribution  of  the 
coal  '  with  three  kindlers  to  every  hundredweight,  by  a 
person  residing  in  the  centre  of  the  parish.'  Twenty-nine 
families  out  of  thirty-five  came  to  buy,  bringing  ready  money  ; 
one  person,  probably  the  head  of  a  family,  was  a  man  '  who 
had  been  lately  imprisoned  by  his  master  for  stealing  wood 
from  his  hedges.'  One  hundred  and  ten  persons  were  thus 
relieved  '  at  an  expense  to  the  parish,  aided  by  voluntary 
charity,  of  about  three  guineas  per  month,  being  the  charge 
for  carriage  distribution,  and  occasional  excess  of  price.' 
The  six  families  who  did  not  buy  were  '  prevented  by  some 
particular  circumstances  which  rendered  the  supply  un- 
necessary,' 

In  the  '  Observations  '  following  his  article,  Mr.  Bernard 
notes  that  a  charity  of  the  same  kind  had  been  started  the 
previous  winter  at  Whitchurch,  in  Bucks,  but  entirely  on 
voluntary  lines  ;  and,  that  '  one  or  two  of  the  most  opulent ' 
parishioners  had  refused  to  contribute.  He  proposes  that,  if 
possible,  such  schemes  should  always  be  adopted  as  the  act 
of  the  parish,  allowing  the  sum  thus  assured  to  be  supple- 
mented by  private  charity,  as  at  Nether  Winchendon. 

As  frequently  happens  the  persons  to  be  benefited  by  in- 
novations which  they  refused  to  consider  as  improvements 
had  obstructed  Scrope  Bernard's  previous  endeavours  at 
reform.     He  continues  : 

I  have  often  wished  to  bring  coal  into  general  use  at 
Winchendon  ;  the  poor  however  being  jealous  of  any  new  schemes, 
under  the  impression  that  they  are  more  calculated  for  the  benefit 
of  others,  than  of  themselves,  and  the  farmer  not  being  veiy  fond 
of  new  expenses,  I  had  judged  the  attempt  to  be  vain.  But  the 
circumstances  above  recited,  having  led  boih  parties  to  make  a 
trial,  I  believe  that  the  one  finds  a  great  addition  of  comfort,  and 
the  other  no  great  increase  of  expense. 

The  attempt  to  introduce  proper  chimnies  into  cottages  in  this 
neighbourhood,  instead  of  the  present  spacious  and  airy  ones  with 
seats  in  the  corner,  has  met  with  constant  resistance,  nor  is  it  to  be 


THE   FAMILIAK  INGLE-NOOK  255 

expected  that  any  impression  will  be  made  on  the  poor  inhabitants 
till  they  have  had  full  opportunity  of  ascertaining,  by  observation 
and  experience,  the  comforts  and  advantages  of  chimnies  on  a 
different  construction.  In  the  hope  of  effecting  which  change  in 
their  opinions,  two  cottage  chimnies,  on  Count  Rumford's 
principles,  are  now  building  in  this  village. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  sympathise  v^ith  the  cottager  who 
was  required,  by  alterations  in  the  general  mode  of  living, 
to  give  up  his  old  familiar  ingle-nook,  and  the  chimney 
corner  of  ancient  times  died  hard.  Some  specimens  re- 
mained in  my  youth,  and  even  after  it ;  but,  so  far  as  I  know, 
close  kitchen-ranges  are  now  almost  universal. 

Scrope  Bernard's  '  Observations  ' '  conclude  with  a  survey 
of  the  question  in  its  moral  aspect : 

If  we  wish  effectually  to  prevent  the  poor  from  stealing  wood, 
and  from  similar  acts  of  theft,  it  should  be  our  first  aim  to  put  it 
perfectly  in  their  power  to  obtain  on  fair  terms  the  articles  necessary 
to  their  existence.  When  the  means  of  life  and  the  acquisition  of 
food  and  fuel  are  beyond  the  attainment  of  the  mdustrious  Isbhourer, 
the  inducement  to  guilt,  and  to  invading  the  store  of  his  neighbour, 
becomes  so  powerful  as  to  put  the  virtue  and  integrity  of  the  poor 
man  to  a  very  severe  trial. — Persons  enjoying  the  superior 
advantages  of  education,  with  minds  formed  to  habits  of  honour 
and  virtue,  may  feel  confident  in  their  own  powers  of  forbearance, 
even  under  such  circumstances  ;  but  it  will  not  follow  that  it  is 
either  wise,  or  just,  to  expose  the  cottager  to  so  great  a  temptation. 
"Where  the  option  is  not  given  them  of  acquiring  in  an  honest 
manner,  and  in  exchange  for  the  produce  of  their  labour,  the 
indispensable  necessaries  of  existence  (and  such  is  fuel  in  this 
northern  climate),  however  we  may  condemn  any  crime  which  may 
follow,  we  have  no  great  reason  to  be  surprised  at  such  a  result ; 
nor  perhaps  ought  we  to  consider  ourselves  as  entirely  exempt 
from  a  share  in  the  guilt. 

The  following  '  Account  of  a  Society  at  Wendover,  for 
encouraging  Prudence  and  Industry,'  by  the  Kev.  Joseph 
Smith,  tells  its  own  tale.  The  two  previous  Societies 
mentioned  therein  had  been  formed  in  the  diocese  of 
Durham — the  first  at  the  Bishop's  suggestion,  the  second 

'  The  date  of  these  '  Observations  '  was  February  1,  1800. 


256  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

under  his  immediate  auspices,  near  his  own  palace  ;  and 
they  had  been  noticed  in  one  of  the  Society's  Ke- 
ports  :  ^ 

Upon  perusing  the  account  of  the  benevolent  and  excellent 
establishment  of  Sunday  societies  ^  for  the  aged  poor  at  Winston  and 
Bishop's  Auckland,  I  considered  it  as  incumbent  on  me,  at  least  to 
endeavour  to  form  something  of  a  similar  nature  in  my  own  parish  of 
Wendover  ;  but  at  that  time  of  the  year  (the  latter  end  of  autumn) 
I  found  it  impossible  to  do  anything  effectual  and  useful  for  that 
purpose  in  a  country  parish.  I  therefore  deferred  it  till  a  more 
favourable  season.  Early  in  the  spring,  having  first  secured  the  co- 
operation and  assistance  of  two  very  worthy  and  charitable  families 
in  the  parish,  I  visited  the  cottagers,  and  pointed  out  to  them, 
in  as  strong  terms  as  I  could,  the  benefit  and  comfort  which  they 
would  derive  from  such  a  society  ;  but  I  found,  in  my  own  parish, 
an  insurmountable  objection  to  a  meeting  of  elderly  persons,  at 
each  other's  houses,  on  a  Sunday  evening;  an  objection  arising 
from  a  circumstance,  that  the  labourers  are  scarcely  any  of 
them  resident  within  the  town,  but  are  dispersed  in  their  habita- 
tions in  all  directions,  over  a  very  extensive  parish,  containing  a 
square  of  about  five  miles.  From  the  different  parts  of  such  a 
district  it  would  be  hardly  practicable  for  the  aged  and  infirm  to 
attend  alternately  at  each  other's  dwellings  ;  and  there  seemed  to 
be  objections  to  any  common  room,  in  a  central  situation,  being 
applied  for  that  purpose  ;  or  indeed  that  any  fixed  place  of  meeting, 
"except  the  church,  should  regularly  be  used,  for  reading  or 
expounding  the  Scriptures. 

The  last  sentence  evidently  refers  to  the  state  of  the  law 
respecting  conventicles,  which  forbade  more  than  twenty 
persons,  not  belonging  to  the  house,  to  meet  for  worship  in 
an  uncertified  place. ^  The  relinquishment  of  the  Sunday 
gatherings  involved  the  loss  of  a  pleasant  as  well  as  edifying 
social  meeting.  It  was  part  of  the  Winston  arrangement, 
apparently  with  the  hearty  concurrence  of  the  old  people, 

•  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  a  Sunday  Friendly  Society  for  the  Aged 
Poor,  at  Winston,'  by  the  Kev.  Thomas  Burgess.  Reports,  vol.  ii..  No.  XL VII. 
In  the  '  Observations,'  the  Bishop's  Auckland  Society  is  mentioned.  /.r;  ri.. 

"^  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  a  Society  at  Wendover,  for  Encouraging 
Prudence  and  Industry,'  by  the  Kev.  Joseph  Smith.     Reports,  vol.  ii..  No.  LIX. 

3  See  Arnold  (T.  J.),  Summary  of  the  Duties  of  a  Justice  of  tlie  Peace  out 
of  Sessions—'  Dissenters.' 


A   CHEAP   SUNDAY  DINNER  257 

that  they  should  be  regular  at  public  worship  ;  '  they  make 
a  point  of  attending  church  on  Sundays,  when  not  prevented 
by  sickness,  infirmity,  or  some  unavoidable  impediment,  and 
also  on  other  days,  whenever  they  have  opportunity.' 
Possibly  the  Wendover  members  may  have  been  fairly 
regular  also,  allowing  for  distances ;  but  as  they  rejected  the 
idea  of  meeting  afterwards,  they  apparently  did  not  reap  the 
benefit  of  another  portion  of  the  scheme : 

There  is  a  cheap  but  comfoi-table  Sunday  dinner  provided, 
gratis,  for  all  who  attend  church.  It  is  prepared  from  one  of  the 
receipts  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Society's  Reports,  the  expence  of 
it  not  exceeding  three  halfpence  a  head.  They  dine  at  the  house 
of  one  of  the  members,  which  from  its  situation  is  most  convenient 
for  the  infirm  members.  The  dinner  is  dressed  at  the  Rectory, 
and  sent  on  the  Saturday  evening  to  the  house  where  they  dine. 

The  subsequent  meeting  is  called  an  evening  meeting, 
but  the  labourer's  evenings  then  began  and  closed  early,  and 
Mr.  Smith  does  not  mention  the  dinner ;  it  probably  failed 
with  the  other  arrangement,  of  which  he  writes  : 

I  therefore  very  reluctantly  gave  up,  for  the  present,  the  attempt 
to  engage  the  old  people  to  meet  systematically  on  the  Sunday 
evening  at  each  other's  houses,  for  their  mutual  comfort  and 
religious  improvement ;  and  I  have  confined  my  endeavours  at  the 
commencement,  to  inducing,  in  all  my  poorer  neighbours,  a  habit  of 
saving  some  part  of  their  earnings,  during  the  period  of  the  year 
when  they  could  best  spare  it,  against  a  time  when  they  would 
most  want  it.  To  the  poor,  therefore,  both  male  and  female,  and 
of  all  ages,  I  proposed  that  part  of  the  plan  only  ;  as  the  means  of 
laying  up,  from  the  excess  of  the  most  productive  part  of  the  year, 
that  which  might  procure  them  comfort  and  relief  at  the  season 
the  least  productive,  and  the  most  expensive  ;  and  in  order  to 
make  it  generally  known,  I  employed  the  schoolboys  at  the  writing- 
school  in  the  parish  to  copy  out  the  following  proposals  for  a 
weekly  contribution  of  money  during  the  summer  months,  to  be 
repaid  them  with  a  considerable  increase,  the  addition  of  one  third 
at  least,  at  the  end  of  the  year. 

The  scheme  was  called  a  '  Friendly  Society  for  the  en- 
couragement of  the  prudent  and  industrious  labourers  of  the 
parish  of  Wendover ' !    '  T.  Lovell,  Esq.,  F.  P.  Bingham,  Esq., 

VOL.    III.  s 


258  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

and  the  Kev.  Joseph  Smith,  Vicar,'  arranged  to  receive  the 
contributions  of  the  labourers  every  Sunday  morning  at  their 
own  houses  as  the  people  went  to  church  ;  the  text,  1  Cor. 
xvi.  2,  was  quoted  as  an  encouragement  to  this  practice  :— 
*  Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week  let  every  one  of  you  lay  by 
him  in  store,  as  God  hath  prospered  him.'  The  three 
gentlemen  engaged  to  add,  at  Christmas,  a  third  to  the  sum 
contributed  by  the  poor,  if  the  payments  were  kept  up  till 
then,  in  some  special  cases  more  ;  and  the  bounty  was  not 
to  form  any  hindrance  to  parish  relief.  Donations  from 
parishioners  in  easy  circumstances  to  the  fund  were  invited. 
About  sixty  labourers  at  once  brought  their  contributions 
from  sixpence  to  a  shilling,  although  twopence  would  have 
entitled  them  to  the  benefit  of  the  association  ;  the  boys 
who  received  a  trifle  for  copying  the  announcement  were 
eager  in  making  it  known. 

Such  schemes  of  course  seem  commonplace  now,  but 
were  then  no  doubt  new,  and  received  as  inestimable  boons. 

In  April  1801  the  Vicar  of  Wendover  contributed  a  paper 
to  the  third  volume  of  the  Society's  Eeports  ^  on  '  the  mode 
of  parochial  relief  at,  and  near,  Wendover '  ;  the  gist  of 
which  is  that  in  that  locality 

the  calculation  of  the  relief  of  the  poor  has  been  made  on  the 
presumed  and  supposed  earnings  of  the  labourer,  and  not  on  the 
actual  amount  of  what  he  does  actually  acquire  by  industry  and 
exertion. 

The  writer  continues : 

As  the  principle  on  which  this  has  been  gi-ounded  is  the  same 
as  that  adopted  by  the  farmers  at  Whelford,  I  should  not  have 
made  it  the  subject  of  a  communication,  except  to  notice  two  or 
three    variations,   which    may   perhaps,   not   be   undeserving   of 

attention. 

Whelford  is  in  Gloucestershire,  and  the  Keport  in  which 
it  is  mentioned  was  communicated  by  the  Earl  of  Winchel- 

'  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  the  Mode  of  Parochial  Relief  at,  and  near 
Wendover,'  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Smith. 


VACCINATION  269 

sea ;  '  but  he  gives  the  credit  of  the  scheme  altogether  to  the 
vestry — that  is,  the  farmers— of  Whelford.  Both  this  and 
the  Wendover  scheme  are  on  the  hnes  laid  dov^^n  by  Thomas 
Bernard  in  his  address  to  the  Overseers  for  the  Hundred  of 
Stoke — namely,  that  the  industry  of  the  poor  should  not 
be  turned  against  them  by  being  made  a  bar  to  parochial 
relief. 

These  are  the  only  records  I  can  find  of  the  work  carried 
on  by  the  Bernard  connection  in  Bucks  ;  there  are  other 
entries  in  the  Keports  which  refer  to  the  county,  and  would 
probably  never  have  been  publicly  known  but  for  the 
existence  of  the  Society.  One  of  these  refers  to  the  subject 
of  vaccination,  which  was  then  making  its  way,  not  without 
opposition,  but  surely,  as  the  best  means  discovered  for  the 
prevention  of  small-pox.  It  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Bernard 
was  a  friend  of  Jenner,  and  an  active  supporter  of  his  dis- 
covery, which  is  mentioned  at  length,  and  strongly  recom- 
mended, in  the  fifth  volume  of  the  '  Keports.'  ^ 

The  paper  contributed  by  the  Eev.  J,  T.  A.  Eeed,^  who 
practised  vaccination  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Buckingham, 
is,  perhaps,  more  nearly  connected  with  the  Society's  work 
than  at  first  appears,  as  it  was  probably  through  that  Society 
that  he  learned,  if  not  the  existence  of  the  new  discovery,  at 
least  of  its  value.     It  begins  : 

In  March  1800,  having  previously  informed  myself  of  the 
safety  and  efficacy  of  the  cow-pock,  I  began  to  inoculate  my  two 
parishes,  Leckhampstead  and  Akeley,  near  Buckingham.  I  was 
induced  to  do  this  at  that  particular  time,  because  the  Grand 
Junction  Canal  was  in  its  progress  in  my  immediate  neighbour- 
hood ;  and,  like  every  other  great  work  employing  vast  bodies  of 
men  from  distant  quarters,  would  probably  introduce  the  small- 
pox.    It  was  my  wish  that  the  labourers  of  these  parishes  should 

'  Reports  of  the  Society  B.C.P.,  vol.  iii..  No.  LXXX.  Extract  from  '  An 
Acconnt  of  what  has  been  done  for  the  relief  of  the  Poor  at  Whelford,'  by  the 
Earl  of  Winchelsea. 

-  See  Appendix  xxv.  of  vol.  v.,  containing  the  Reports  of  eminent  Physicians 
and  Surgeons. 

^  Reports  of  tlie  Society  B.C.P.,  vol.  v.,  No.  CXXXVIII.  Extract  from  'An 
Account  of  Vaccine  Inoculation  in  the  Neighbourhood  of  Buckingham,'  by  the 
Eev.  J.  T.  A.  Reed. 


260  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

have  the  benefit  of  the  high  wages  given  on  such  occasions,  with- 
out being  exposed  to  the  danger  of  that  dreadful  pestilence. 

Having  been  in  the  habit  of  administering  medicines  to  the 
poor,  my  offer  to  inoculate  them  was  very  generally  accepted  ;  and 
especially,  as  most  of  these  people  are  employed  in  milking.  The 
common  answer  of  such  persons  to  my  proposals  was,  '  we  all 
know  that  nobody  ever  died  of  the  Cow-pock,  and  we  all  know 
that  nobody  ever  had  the  Small-pox  after  it ;  but  what  an  odd 
thing  it  is,  that  anybody  should  think  of  inoculating  with  it.' 

Mr.  Reed  originally  intended  to  vaccinate  in  his  own 
parishes  also,  but  he  was  induced  to  extend  his  operations  to 
the  vicinity  of  Towcester,  in  Northamptonshire,  where  those 
who  had  been  vaccinated  by  him  were  enabled  to  attend 
with  impunity  on  small-pox  patients,  and,  when  the  great 
fair  at  Towcester  was  expected  on  old  May-day,  one  thousand 
persons  were  thankful  to  be  thus  safeguarded  by  him.  In 
1804  the  small-pox  was  raging  among  the  people  employed 
at  the  Grand  Junction  Canal,  and  570  persons  were  vac- 
cinated ;  in  the  following  year  270  in  Potterspury  only.  He 
speaks  with  satisfaction  of  his  success  in  all  his  cases, 
amounting  to  upwards  of  4,700,  in  a  period  of  six  years. 

There  were  many  amateur  vaccinators  at  this  time,  per- 
haps partially  instructed,  no  regular  medical  organisation 
existing  as  yet  for  the  purpose,  but  inoculation  with  the 
small-pox  itself  was  still  carried  on.  I  have  not  any- 
where read  that  the  amateurs  did  any  harm,  beyond  some- 
times inspiring  misplaced  confidence  when  they  had  not 
thoroughly  performed  the  operation.  Mr.  Reed,  it  is  pro- 
bable, like  many  clergymen,  had  received  some  medical 
training,  and  went  to  his  work  advisedly. 

The  last  good  work  connected  with  Bucks  that  will  be 
mentioned  owed  decided  encouragement  to  Mr.  Bernard,  if 
even  he  was  not  the  instigator  of  the  enterprise  ;  the  paper  ^ 
bears  the  name  of  George  Brooks,  Esq.  : 

Mrs.  Parker  Sedding  of  Stoke  Fogies  [sic],  Bucks,  widow,  rents  a 
farm  of  upwards  of  400Z.  a  year.     Seeing  that  the  state  of  the  poor, 

'  Reports  of  the  Society  B.C.P.,  vol.  v.,  No.  CXXIX.  Extract  from  'An 
Account  of  a  Female  Overseer  of  the  Parish  of  Stoke,'  by  George  Brooks,  Esq. 


A   FEMALE  OVERSEER  261 

especially  in  the  workhouse,  was  in  an  ill  condition,  she  consented 
to  undertake  the  troublesome  office  of  overseer ;  and  is  now,  with 
the  commendation  of  the  justices,  serving  her  third  year  in  that 
office. 

The  interior  of  the  workhouse  was  irregular  and  dirty,  and  the 
poor  inhabitants  of  it  filthy  and  idle  ;  and,  as  its  distance  from 
her  own  dwelling  prevented  her  going  to  inspect  the  orderly 
and  cleanly  regulations  she  would  establish,  with  that  frequency 
which  their  necessity  required,  she  voluntarily  left  the  comforts  of 
her  own  house,  and  lived  one  whole  month  in  the  workhouse. 
She  employed  the  poor  to  clean  the  house  throughout,  and 
compelled  them  to  observe  cleanliness  in  their  own  persons,  to 
fumigate  the  clothes  and  bedding  in  the  oven,  to  mend  the  ragged 
garments  capable  of  being  mended,  and  to  make  what  new  ones 
were  necessary ;  and,  having  taken  proper  measures  that  the 
poor  should  have  sufficient  and  sound  clothing  and  bedding, 
wholesome  food,  instruction  and  employment,  she  left  them  in  a 
state  of  order,  cleanliness,  and  comfort,  under  the  charge  of  a 
careful  man  and  his  wife,  whom  she  had  engaged  to  superintend 
the  workhouse  under  her  direction.  This  couple  perform  the 
offices  of  schoolmaster  and  mistress  to  the  children,  read  the 
prayers  daily  with  all  the  poor,  and  on  Sundays  read  to  them  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  They  also  instruct  the  poor  in  spinning.  Being 
unable  to  prevail  upon  the  vestry  to  establish  a  parochial  manu- 
factory in  the  workhouse,  on  a  scale  adapted  to  their  numbers, 
Mrs.  Sedding  has  done  it  at  her  own  charge,  and  has  introduced 
a  little  manufactory  of  worsted.  The  poor  have  a  portion  of  their 
earnings.  One  little  boy  in  petticoats  at  the  spinning  wheel, 
earned  twopence  a  day,  and  had  it  all  for  himself  ;  and  as  he  knew 
he  was  to  be  put  into  boys'  clothes  when  he  had  earned  them,  he 
was  working  very  diligently  indeed  to  obtain  them.  A  little  girl 
eight  years  old  earned  threepence  a  day  for  herself. 

Exclusively  of  these  interior  improvements,  it  should  not  be 
omitted  to  be  sta.ted,  that,  when  Mrs.  Sedding  was  named  overseer 
she  found  the  poor  were  farmed.  She  took  the  care  of  them  into 
her  own  hands,  made  them  more  comfortable,  paid  off  the  arrears  of 
debt  owing  by  the  parish,  and,  notwithstanding  this  incumbrance, 
she  has  reduced  the  poor's  rates.  Mrs.  Sedding  is  universally 
allowed  to  be  one  of  the  best  farmers,  as  well  as  best  neighbours  ; 
she  is  a  most  active  woman,  and  is  continually  doing  good  among 
the  poor. 

I  would  submit  to  consideration,  whether  this  valuable 
Female  Overseer,  in  her  sphere,  is  not  forwarding  the  views  of  the 


262  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Society,  and  whether  it  would  not  help  to  promote  their  human 
object  if  the  example  of  such  an  overseer  of  the  poor  were  so 
noticed  and  recorded  by  the  Society,  that  it  might  be  generally 
held  out  to  the  imitation  of  other  overseers,  where  any  excitement 
may  be  wanting  to  put  the  condition  of  a  workhouse  into  better 
order  especially  in  some  of  the  country  parishes. 

The  writer  continues  this  topic  in  the  '  Observations,' 
adding  : 

The  late  Earl  of  Eosslyn,  who  lived  in  the  parish,  and  took 
an  active  part  in  the  interest  of  the  poor,  was  so  much  satisfied 
with  Mrs.  Sedding's  conduct  in  her  office,  as  to  request  her  to 
continue  it  another  year,  and  she  accordingly  has  served  a  third 
year.  Many  of  the  circumstances  above  stated  are  well  known  to 
others  as  well  as  to  myself.  At  my  request  David  Pike  Watts,  Esq., 
personally  visited  the  workhouse  at  Stoke,  and  viewed  the  state  of 
things  there,  since  the  salutary  regulations  introduced  under  the 
direction  and  through  the  indefatigable  exertion  of  Mrs.  Sedding. 

The  Eeverend  Arthur  Bold,  the  Vicar  of  Stoke  Pogies  is  a 
frequent  observer  of  these  proceedings  in  the  parochial  workhouse, 
warmly  commends  the  zeal  and  perseverance  with  which  they 
have  been  carried  into  effect,  and  would,  I  make  no  doubt,  be 
ready  to  allow  any  references  to  be  made  to  him  respecting 
them. 

The  date  of  this  communication  is  '  3rd  February,  1806  ' ; 
there  is  a  note  to  the  paper  signed  '  B,'  and  dated  the  follow- 
ing February  15,  which  is,  of  course,  by  Mr.  Bernard,  to  the 
following  effect : 

I  have  great  pleasure  in  being  able  to  add  to  Mr.  Brooks's,  my 
own  testimony  of  Mrs.  Sedding's  merit  as  an  exemplary  overseer. 
In  attending  as  a  magistrate  at  Salthill,  I  have  been  a  witness  of 
Mrs.  Sedding's  conduct  in  the  execution  of  her  office,  and  of  the 
success  which  has  attended  it,  and  I  have  taken  an  opportunity  of 
recommending  her  knowledge  of  her  duty,  her  care  of  the  poor 
and  her  attention  to  the  true  interests  of  her  parish,  as  objects  of 
imitation  to  the  other  overseers  of  that  district.  In  consequence  of 
Mr.  Brooks's  account,  and  of  the  corroborative  testimony  of  Mr. 
Watts  and  myself,  the  Committee  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the 
Condition  of  the  Poor,  at  their  monthly  meeting,  last  week,  came 
to  a  resolution  ;  '  That  George  Brooks,  Esq.,  be  requested  to  convey 
to  Mrs.  Sedding,  the  Thanks  of  the  Committee,  for  her  great  Exer- 


A  FEMALE  OVERSEER  263 

tions  for  the  benefit  and  improvement  of  that  Parish,  and  that  a 
copy  of  the  Reports  of  the  Society  be  presented  to  Mrs.  Sedding  as 
a  testimonial  of  the  sense  which  the  Members  of  the  Committee 
entertain  of  her  conduct.' 

Why,  then,  had  Mrs.  Sedding  no  successors  in  office  of 
her  own  sex  ?  Were  there  no  women  in  the  neighbourhood 
like-minded  with  herself  ?     Or  were  they  discouraged  by  the 


264  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 


CHAPTEK   XIV 

LONDON    CHAEITIES   AND   THE   ROYAL   INSTITUTION 

Institutions  for  the  Blind— The  Asylum  for  the  Blind  at  Liverpool— The  School 
for  the  Indigent  Blind — Houses  of  Recovery  for  Fever  Patients — Prevalence 
of  Malignant  Fever  in  London — Opening  of  a  House  of  Recovery  in  Gray's 
Inn  Lane— Erection  of  the  Cancer  Institution — Count  Rumford's  Career — 
The  Acquaintanceship  between  Thomas  Bernard  and  Count  Rumford — Their 
Plan  for  founding  the  Royal  Institution — The  Committee  appointed  to 
consider  the  Plan — The  Objects  of  the  Institution — Its  Constitution  — Count 
Rumford's  and  Thomas  Bernard's  Scheme  with  regard  to  Bridewell — 
Thomas  Bernard's  Interest  in  the  Casual  Mendicant  Poor — '  Martin's  Act.' 

London  was  undoubtedly  a  very  different  city  at  the  close 
of  the  eighteenth  century  from  the  London  we  are  now 
acquainted  with  ;  the  population  I  find  estimated,  in  1801/ 
at  900,000  only,  but  even  this  was  a  sufficient  number  to 
include  a  formidable  amount  of  vice,  poverty,  and  misery  of 
all  descriptions.  And  little  had  been  done  to  combat  any 
form  of  evil. 

Here,  then,  the  Society,  from  its  first  commencement 
found  an  ample  field  for  work,  and  some  of  the  consequent 
reforms  are  noted  in  this  chapter. 

It  must  appear  singular,  for  instance,  that  so  little  had 
been  done  for  the  blind.  A  few  blind  children  had  been  taught 
music  at  the  Foundling  hospital,  but  there  seems  to  have  been 
no  systematic  attempt  before  this  time  at  enabling  the  blind 
to  gain  their  own  living.  It  was  in  the  provincial  commercial 
town  of  Liverpool,  then  rising  into  note,  but  far  below  the 
capital  in  wealth  and  population,  that  Mr.  Bernard  found  an 
institution  for  this  purpose,  which  he  made  known  for  the 
imitation  of  other  towns,  but  especially  of  London. 

This  was  the  Asylum  or  School  of  Instruction  for  the 

'   The  Edinburgh  Gazetteer  (Edition  of  1822). 


INSTITUTIONS  FOR  THE   BLIND  265 

Blind,  established  in  1790/  which  aimed,  not  at  separating  the 
scholars  from  their  families,  but  at  affording  them  good  in- 
dustrial teaching  in  comfortable  rooms  during  eight  hours  of 
the  day  ;  scholars  from  a  distance  were  provided  with  lodgings 
in  the  town.  They  received  from  eighteenpence  to  five 
shillings  weekly — the  supposed  value  of  their  work — though, 
for  some  time,  it  was,  of  course,  worth  nothing  ;  their  friends 
or  the  parish  were  expected  to  contribute  a  part  of  this. 

'  Upon  my  visiting  the  Asylum  to-day — (3rd  of  August  1798) 
[writes  Mr.  Bernard] — I  found  43  blind  persons  at  work  ;  16  of 
whom  were  females  and  27  males.'  The  principal  employment 
of  the  women  seems  to  have  been  spinning  yarn  for  window  cords, 
sail  cloth,  and  linen  cloth.  The  men  made  baskets,  lobby  cloths, 
doormats,  whips,-  and  clock  and  window  cords. 

Special  advantages  were  given  to  scholars  who  showed 
musical  talent.  They  might  be  admitted  at  the  age  of 
eight  instead  of  twelve  or  fourteen,  and  if  partially  in- 
structed before  admission  might  enter  after  the  prescribed 
age  of  forty-five.  As  a  rule  pupils  remained  about  four  or 
five  years  only.  There  were  few  failures  ;  of  certain  scholars 
who  might  be  so  considered,  Mr.  Bernard  remarks  leniently : 

There  are  ten  who  have  been  strolling  fiddlers,  and  have  since 
learnt  a  trade  in  the  School  ;  but  who  have  nevertheless  resumed 
their  former  occupation — and  who  can  wonder  at  their  recurring 
to  an  art,  which  habit  and  want  of  sight  must  have  made  pleasant, 
and  almost  necessary  to  them ;  when  he  considers  how  great  is 
the  blank  in  the  mind  of  a  blind  person,  and  how  much  of  that 
may  be  filled  up  by  their  own  music,  though  sometimes  with  less 
delight  to  their  hearers  than  to  themselves  ?  [And  he  adds]  :  They 
have,  however,  the  benefit  of  having  learnt  a  trade,  whereby  in 
future  they  may  add  to  their  other  means  of  support.^ 

The  idea  was  taken  up  by  a  IVTr.  Houlston,  in  London, 
with  the  result  that  a  meeting  was  held  on  January  8,  1800, 

'  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  the  Asylum  (or  School  of  Instruction)  for 
the  Blind  at  Liverpool,'  by  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.  Reports  of  the  Society 
B.C.P.,  vol.  ii.,  No.  XLIV. 

^  Whips  were  soon  afterwards  discontinued.     It  is  not  stated  why. 

^  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  the  House  of  Recovery  established  by  the 
Board  of  Health  at  Manchester,'  by  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.  (dated  Nov.  1797)- 
It  is  probable  that  he  had  not  then  visited  the  Institution. 


266  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

and  '  The  School  for  the  Indigent  Bhnd  '  formed,  of  which 
the  Bishop  of  Durham  was  chosen  President.  By  a  paper 
which  the  Bishop  contributed  to  the  Society's  '  Reports  '  it 
appears  that  the  Institution  began  on  a  small  scale  in  '  part 
of  the  buildings  formerly  known  by  the  name  of  the  Dog  and 
Duck,  in  St.  George's  Fields,  and  once  applied  to  very  dissimi- 
lar purposes.'  '  For  the  earlier  arrangements  and  conduct  of 
this  establishment '  (writes  Mr.  Baker),  'Mr.  Bernard  took 
an  active  part ;  and  after  he  had  withdrawn  his  personal 
attention  to  it,  continued  to  express  much  pleasure  in  observ- 
ing the  degree  of  zeal  and  exertion  with  which  it  was  con- 
ducted.' He  indeed  revisited  the  Liverpool  Asylum  in  1806, 
and  wrote  another  paper  on  the  progress  and  success  of  its 
work.' 

An  undertaking  of  perhaps  greater  magnitude  was  the 
providing  houses  of  recovery  for  fever  patients,  on  the  plan 
of  one  at  Manchester  which  Mr.  Bernard  visited  August  2, 
1798,  the  day  before  he  went  over  the  Blind  Asylum  at 
Liverpool.  He  sent  a  paper  to  the  Society's  first  volume  of 
'  Reports  '  on  this  subject,  and  obtained  a  hearing  for  the 
scheme  in  the  metropolis.  A  House  of  Recovery  did  not 
signify,  as  might  be  supposed,  a  convalescent  home,  but  a 
refuge  to  which  persons  could  be  removed  whose  circum- 
stances rendered  recovery  in  their  homes  apparently  hope- 
less. In  London  there  were  persons  in  many  quarters 
huddled  together  in  one  small  room  night  and  day,  sick  or 
well,  and  sometimes  dead  and  living.  This  had  been  the 
case  in  Manchester,  but  the  House  of  Recovery  had  made 
such  a  marked  difference  in  the  health  of  the  locality,  that 
its  benefit  had  since  been  extended  to  places  outside  the 
town.  Thus  London  had  to  take  from  a  remote  county  the 
first  idea  of  checking  the  inroads  of  disease  by  isolation. 
Dr.  Haygarth,  who  had  made  notes  for  thirty  years  on  the 
subject,  and  had  established  district  fever  wards  in  Chester 
Hospital,^  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  first  physicians,  if 

'  Extract  from  '  A  Further  Account  of  the  House  of  Recovery  at  Manchester,' 
by  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.  (dated  June  7,  1799). 

-  '  Notes  and  Additional  Observations  collected  by  a  Member  of  the  Com- 
mittee.'    Appendix  to  the  Reports  of  the  Society  B.C.P..  vol.  ii..  No.  XIV. 


CHECKING  DISEASE  267 

not  the  first,  to  realise  the  necessity  of  the  case.  Dr.  Fer- 
riar  took  the  lead  at  Manchester  when  the  house  was 
established  in  1796. 

In  London,  Dr.  Murray,  one  of  the  physicians  to  the 
Carey  Street  Dispensary,  a  neighbourhood  which  had 
suffered  severely  from  the  scourge,  at  the  request  of  the 
Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  published 
his  *  "Remarks  on  the  Situation  of  the  Poor  in  the  MetropoHs, 
as  contributing  to  the  Progress  of  Contagious  Diseases,  with 
a  Plan  for  the  Institution  of  Houses  of  Eecovery,  for  Persons 
infected  by  Fever.'  ^ 

But  the  terrible  scarcity,  which  appears  to  have  exer- 
cised an  influence  over  every  phase  of  life,  retarded  the  active 
measures  in  contemplation  until  May  1,  1801,  when  the 
Committee  called  a  meeting,  which  was  well  attended  by 
persons  of  various  classes.  The  Duke  of  Somerset,  the  Earl 
of  Pomfret,  the  Bishop  of  London,  were  present ;  and  at  the 
request  of  the  meeting  the  Bishop  of  Durham  took  the  chair. 
Resolutions  were  adopted,  on  the  motion  of  Lord  Sheffield : 

That  it  appears  to  this  meeting  by  a  certificate  from  the  physicians 
of  the  hospitals  and  dispensaries  in  London,  that  the  contagious 
malignant  fever  has  been  for  some  time  past,  and  now  is,  preva- 
lent in  the  metropolis :  and  that  it  has  been  occasioned  by  indi- 
vidual infection,  which,  with  proper  care,  might  have  been  im- 
mediately checked — or  has  been  produced,  or  renewed,  by  the 
dwellings  of  the  poor  not  having  been  properly  cleansed  and 
purified  from  contagion,  after  the  fever  has  been  prevalent  in 
them  : — that  it  also  appears  that  this  evil  (the  injury  and  danger 
of  which  extend  to  every  part  of  the  metropolis)  might  be  pre- 
vented, by  cleansing  and  purifying  the  clothes,  furniture,  and 
apartments,  of  persons  attacked  by  this  disease,  and  by  removing 
them  from  situations  where,  if  they  remain,  the  infection  of  others 
is  inevitable ; — and  that  a  subscription  be  immediately  set  on  foot, 
for  the  purpose  of  forming  an  Institution  for  checking  the  progress 

'  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  the  Institution  to  Prevent  the  Progress  of 
the  Contagious  Fever  in  the  Metropolis.'  Reportsof  the  Society  B.C. P.,  vol.  iii. 
No.  XCII.  {Note.—  This  Paper  was  originally  prepared  for  the  Bepmis,  by 
Thomas  Bernard,  Esq. ;  but  its  insertion  has  been  deferred  on  account  of  its 
having  been  printed  separately,  and  distributed  by  the  desire  of  the  Committee 
of  the  Fever  Institution.     It  is  of  considerable  length.) 


268  THE   BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

of  the  contagious  malignant  fever  in  the  metropoHs,  and  for  remov- 
ing the  causes  of  infection  from  the  dwellings  of  the  Poor,  upon  a 
plan  similar  to  that  which  has  been  adopted  with  great  success 
and  effect  at  Manchester. 

It  appears  that,  in  1750,  some  agitation  had  been  caused  by 
the  prevalence  of  fever,  and  sundry  measures  had  been  taken 
which  checked  its  progress  for  a  while,  until  the  increased 
difficulty  of  procuring  food  had  so  reduced  the  vitality  of  the 
poorer  classes  as  to  facilitate  a  fresh  outbreak.  Of  course  dis- 
tressing cases  were  reported,  such  as  the  increased  publicity 
of  later  years  has  rendered  familiar  to  most  persons.  A 
husband  and  wife  in  Lumley's  Rents,  near  Chancery  Lane, 
were  without  attendance,  in  a  room  of  which  the  windows 
would  not  open  ;  the  wife's  sister  took  the  children  to  her 
home,  and  ran  in  occasionally  '  to  set  a  little  whey  by  their 
bedside,'  but  dared  not  remain  lest  she  should  carry  the 
infection  back  with  her — which  she  actually  did.  This 
woman  was  advised  that  the  man  could  be  received  at  a 
certain  hospital  without  notice,  as  in  cases  of  accident ;  he 
was  taken  there  and  rejected,  reaching  his  room  again  only 
after  three  hours  spent  in  a  hackney  coach.  For  another 
case,  in  Clarence  Passage,  St.  Pancras,  the  parish  officers 
refused  to  afford  any  help,  except  for  passing  the  sick 
persons  to  their  own  parish,  a  hundred  miles  from  London.' 

Many  patients  no  doubt  owed  their  illness  to  carelessness, 
induced  partly  by  extreme  poverty,  in  sleeping  on  infected 
bedding,  and  to  such  ignorance  as  keeping  door  and  window 
closed  in  a  room  without  a  fireplace,  the  room  being  nine 
feet  square,  and  inhabited  by  six  persons. 

These  cases,  and  others  quite  as  perilous,  the  Committee 
did  its  best  to  alleviate ;  but  in  spite  of  the  titled  and 
wealthy  persons  who  were  supposed  to  take  an  interest  in 
the  matter,  the  most  that  could  be  achieved  in  the  direction 
of  permanent  improvement  was  the  opening  of  one  small 
House  of  Recovery  in  Gray's  Inn  Lane.     To  obviate  the  use 

'  The  information  here  given  is  chiefly  from :  '  Three  Eeports  of  the  Sub- 
Committee  appointed  by  the  Fever  Institution,  &c.,'  vol.  iii.  of  the  Reports  of 
the  Society  B.C.P.    Appendix  No.  III. 


FEVER   PATIENTS  269 

of  hackney  coaches — the  precursors  of  cabs — a  litter  was 
invented,  composed  of  sacking  and  oil-cloth,  supported  on 
poles,  something  like  those  of  a  sedan-chair ;  '  it  could  be 
carried  by  two  men,  or  even  women.  It  is  on  record  that 
the  sight  of  this  unusual  conveyance  on  one  occasion 
collected  a  crowd  which  refused  to  let  the  patient  depart. 
But  as  she  became  worse  she  was,  at  her  own  request,  even- 
tually conveyed  by  permission  of  the  mob  to  the  Institution, 
and  recovered.  The  prevalent  fever  was  pronounced  by 
Dr.  Haygarth  and  other  physicians  to  be  in  nearly  all  cases 
a  form  of  typhus,  by  whatever  name  it  was  called.  It  was 
to  a  great  extent  checked  by  the  removal  of  the  patients, 
followed  by  a  vigorous  use  of  lime-wash  in  all  infected 
dwellings. 

The  Parliamentary  Grant  (says  Mr.  Baker)  "^  of  three  thousand 
pounds  voted  to  this  Institution  in  1804,  aided  by  a  gift  of  five 
hundred  pounds  from  the  Society  for  the  Poor,  and  additional  sub- 
scriptions of  one  hundred  and  two  hundred  pounds  each,  from  some 
of  its  original  supporters,  was  applied  in  1813  to  the  purchase  and 
fitting  up  of  the  westernmost  of  the  two  buildings  erected  for  the 
Small  Pox  Hospitals,  situate  in  an  airy  part  of  Pancras  Road,  and 
admirably  calculated  in  all  respects,  with  arcades  and  space  for 
the  convalescents  to  take  air  and  exercise  ;  and  so  separated  and 
secluded  from  other  habitations,  as  not  to  leave  ground  for  the 
least  alarm  of  infection  to  the  most  timid  mind. 

This  building  contains  sixty-four  beds,  and  received  within 
its  walls  between  the  1st  of  March  and  21st  of  November,  1817, 
no  less  than  four  hundred  and  seventy  patients  afiiicted  with  con- 
tagious fever. 

It  is  needless  to  add  that  Pancras  Koad  must  have  been 
a  very  different  locality  in  those  days  from  what  it  now 
is.  The  possibility  of  appropriating  a  building  intended  for 
smallpox  patients  indicates  a  diminution  of  the  number  of 
cases  of  that  disease,  probably  brought  about  by  the  more 
frequent  practice  of  vaccination. 

In  all  these  arrangements  (continues  Mr.  Baker),  from  the 
first  formation  of  the   Institution   to   its   present   establishment, 

'  The  conveyance  used  in  Manchester  was  a  sedan-chair  of  a  special  make. 
*  I/i/e  o/  Sir  Thomas  Bernard. 


270  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Mr.  Bernard  principally  contributed  to  its  success,  both  by  the  un- 
wearied attention  which  he  paid  as  a  Member  of  the  Committee, 
and  the  many  efforts  he  made  by  numerous  publications  on  its 
behalf  to  draw  the  public  mind  to  the  due  consideration  of  a 
measure  so  important  to  the  health  of  this  vast  metropolis. 

Of  Mr.  Bernard's  interest  in  the  Cancer  Institution  I 
cannot  write  at  any  length,  as  his  biographer  gives  scarcely 
any  details  of  the  movement.  It  arose  on  the  failure  of 
another  institution,  but  in  what  manner  is  not  explained. 
There  was  no  connection  between  the  two  in  their  objects. 

It  has  been  stated  that  Mr.  Bernard  wrote  an  account  of 
the  London  Foundling  Hospital  which  was  sent  to  Dublin 
to  assist  in  the  scheme  of  reformation  started  for  the 
Foundling  Hospital  there.  In  this  report  he  again  alludes 
to  the  benefits  reaped  by  the  mothers  of  those  children  who 
had  been  admitted  to  the  London  institution,  in  the  following 
words  :  ^ 

It  should  not  be  unnoticed  that  there  occur  every  year  in- 
stances of  penitent  mothers,  who,  benefiting  by  the  concealment 
of  their  shame,  have  become  industrious,  respectable,  and  prosper- 
ous in  life.  Some  have  been  afterwards  enabled  to  many  decently 
and  comfortably,  and  in  some  cases  to  the  very  person  who  was 
the  original  cause  of  their  misfortune.  Of  these  several  have 
come  to  the  Hospital  to  reclaim  their  children,  which  are  delivered 
to  them,  if  they  can  satisfactorily  prove  their  ability  to  maintain 
them. 

There  seems  little  doubt,  from  the  interest  which  he  con- 
stantly showed  in  the  rescue  of  women  as  well  as  children, 
that  Thomas  Bernard  must  have  been  a  prime  mover  in 
another  attempt  at  furthering  the  cause,  in  which  he 
certainly  took  a  part,  as  mentioned  by  his  biographer  :  - 

In  June  1799,  the  Committee  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the 
Condition  of  the  Poor  had  established  an  Infant  Asylum  which 
had  two  objects,  the  preservation  of  a  peculiar  class  of  infants,  and 
the  supply  of  wet  nurses  for  the  children  of  some  of  the  other 
classes.  The  irreconcilable  enmity  and  jealousy  however  of  the 
nurses  and  female  attendants,  soon  broke  up  the  new  establish - 

'  Reports  of  tlie  Society  B.C. P. 

-  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Bernard,  by  the  Rev.  James  Baker. 


THE   CANCER  INSTITUTION  271 

ment,  and  on  its  ruins  was  erected  in  June   1801,  the  Cancer 
Institution. 

So  far  as  can  be  gathered  from  this  concise  statement, 
the  Asylmn  must  have  been  intended  for  illegitimate 
children  who  for  various  reasons  were  ineligible  to  the 
Foundling  Hospital,  or  had  failed  to  gain  admission  there. 
It  was  so  far  on  a  different  principle,  that  the  mothers  were 
not  entirely  separated  from  their  children,  and  there  may 
have  been  divergencies  in  the  system.  But  the  institution 
lasted  so  short  a  time  that  there  is  no  account  of  it  in  the 
Society's  '  Reports.'  It  apparently  failed  through  the  lack  of 
devoted  women  to  undertake  the  task  of  superintendence 
and  reformation  as  a  labour  of  love,  not  merely  as  a  means 
of  living. 

Some  of  the  life  governors — that  is,  the  principal  donors 
to  the  Asylum — apparently  resolved  to  transfer  their  gifts  to 
a  new  charity  rather  than  take  them  back  ;  and  there  were 
no  doubt  discussions  as  to  the  most  pressing  calls  for 
benevolent  exertion,  which  resulted  in  a  much  needed  insti- 
tution. 

In  June  1801,  there  was  formed  in  London  an  institution  for 
investigating  the  nature  and  cure  of  cancer ; '  a  disease  to  which 
the  rich  as  well  as  the  poor  are  liable ;  but  which  seems  to  bear 
more  hardly  on  the  latter,  as  wanting  that  alleviation  of  pain,  and 
that  degree  of  attention  and  assistance,  which  an  evil  so  hopeless 
and  so  aggravated  must  require. 

A  meeting  was  called  by  Dr.  Denman,  and  resulted  in 
the  formation  of  a  committee  of  superintendence,  consisting  of 
twenty-one  gentlemen,  and  of  a  medical  committee  composed 
of  fourteen  eminent  physicians  and  surgeons.  Dr.  Denman 
being  secretary,  and  the  person  to  whom  all  communications 
should  be  addressed.  The  visitation  of  patients  at  their  own 
homes  was  to  be  speedily  begun;  and,  when  the  funds 
allowed,  a  house  was  to  be  hired  for  the  reception  of  indigent 

'  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  the  Institution  for  Investigating  the  Nature 
and  Cure  of  Cancer,'  by  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.  Rejiorts  of  tlie  Society  B.C.P., 
vol.  iii.,  No.  XCIX. 


272  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

sufferers,  who  were  to  be  admitted  free  for  some  weeks,  and 
then  in  some  special  cases  to  remain  on  at  a  small  charge. 

A  register  was  to  be  kept  of  all  cases,  and  a  list  of  queries 
sent  round  to  all  corresponding  members,  on  the  nature, 
symptoms,  and  treatment  of  cancer.  The  queries  were  pre- 
pared under  the  direction  of  the  Medical  Committee,  and 
inserted  in  the  '  Account,'  published  by  the  Society,  as  a 
long  note.  Thomas  Bernard  wrote  or  compiled  the 
'  Account '  and  the  '  Observations  '  which  followed  it.  And 
thus  a  systematic  attempt,  probably  the  first,  was  made  at 
investigating  the  nature  of  the  disease,  which  is  still  a  subject 
of  inquiry  and  research. 

I  now  come  to  a  more  cheerful  topic,  the  foundation  of 
the  Koyal  Institution,  in  which  the  biographers  of  Count 
Kumford  and  Mr.  Bernard  seem  each  to  claim  the  greater 
share  for  their  respective  heroes.  It  does  not  appear,  however, 
to  be  denied  that  it  was  a  subject  much  discussed  between 
them,  and  also  that  the  details  were  left  chiefly  in  the  Count's 
hands  by  reason  of  his  scientific  knowledge  and  varied 
experience.  To  elucidate  this  view,  a  sketch  is  here  given  of 
his  previous  life  of  adventure — an  extraordinary  record,  even 
in  that  disturbed  epoch. 

The  name  of  Count  Kumford  has  been  mentioned  more 
than  once  as  the  friend  and  fellow-labourer  of  Thomas 
Bernard,  and  the  originator  of  valuable  improvements.  But 
the  talents  of  this  remarkable  man  extended  far  beyond  the 
production  of  model  grates  and  ranges,  and  his  biography 
is  one  of  the  most  curious  episodes  of  his  time. 

Count  Kumford  '  was  originally  plain  Benjamin  Thomp- 
son, the  scion — it  is  said — of  an  old  family,  sprung  from  one 
of  'Winthrop's  company,'  who  was  located  at  Charleston, 
near  Boston,  in  1630.  The  boy  was  born,  in  March  1753,  at 
a  large  farmhouse  in  North  Woburn,  Massachusetts.     His 

'  Memoir  of  Sir  Benjamin  Tlvompson,  Count  Rumford  ;  with  Notices  of  his 
Daughter,  by  George  E.  Ellis.  (Published,  in  connection  with  an  Edition  of 
Eumford's  complete  Works,  by  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
Boston,  1871.)  T]i.e  Royal  Institution,  its  Founder,  a-nd  its  first  Professors, 
by  Dr.  Bence  Jones.     Longmans,  Green  &  Co. 


COUNT    RUMFOKD'S    CAREER  273 

father  died  the  following  year,  and  his  mother,  by  birth 
Ruth  Simonds,  the  daughter  of  a  distinguished  officer,  took 
for  her  second  husband  one  Josiah  Price,  and  moved  to 
another  house  in  the  same  parish.  It  has  been  said  that 
this  step-father  was  a  tyrant,  but  the  charge  is  not  proved. 
Benjamin  was,  no  doubt,  a  difficult  boy  to  manage,  and  his 
genius  for  science  sometimes  stood  in  the  way  of  more 
homely  occupations. 

While  apprenticed  to  a  merchant  in  Salem,  he  formed 
an  intimacy  with  Thomas  Barnard,  son  of  the  minister  who 
had  taught  Governor  Hutchinson,  and  who  was  then  himself 
a  teacher.  From  this  friend  he  learned  '  algebra,  geometry, 
astronomy,  and  even  the  higher  mathematics,'  so  that  before 
the  age  of  fifteen  he  was  able  to  calculate  an  eclipse. 

Having  received  the  best  education  which  circumstances 
admitted,  Benjamin  tried  various  ways  of  earning  his 
living — mercantile,  medical,  &c. — till,  in  1772,  while  resid- 
ing at  Concord,  a  town  of  New  Hampshire,  which  had  once 
formed  part  of  Massachusetts,  the  well-to-do  widow  of 
Colonel  Rolfe,  daughter  of  Timothy  Walker,  an  influential 
minister,  selected  him — according  to  his  own  account — for 
her  second  husband.  He  was  then  nineteen  and  she  thirty- 
three.  This  marriage  introduced  him  to  Governor  Went- 
worth,  the  popular  representative  of  royalty,'  extolled  only 
a  few  years  previously  by  the  Nationalists  as  a  noble  contrast 
to  Governor  Bernard.^  But  his  popularity  was  already  on 
the  wane,  and  Wentworth  hastened  its  decline  by  appointing 
Benjamin  Thompson  major  in  the  second  New  Hampshire 
company,  over  the  heads  of  officers  with  superior  claims. 

The  discovery  that  the  Governor  was,  at  the  request  of 
General  Gage,  secretly  providing  workmen  to  assist  in  the 
construction  of  barracks  at  Boston,  finished  his  reign  as  the 
people's  hero,  and  Thompson,  his  supposed  favourite,  was 
involved  in  this  reverse,  and  even,  without  any  apparent 
fault  of  his  own,  in  a  persecution  which  eventually  drove 
him  to  seek  service  in  the  British  army. 

'  See  vol.  i.  of  this  Family  History,  ch.  xv. 
■^  See  vol.  ii.  of  this  Family  History,  ch.  xxiv. 
VOL.    III.  T 


274  THE  BERNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

In  1776  he  was  sent  on  a  mission  to  England,  and  retained 
by  Lord  George  Germaine,  then  Secretary  of  State  ;  in  1780 
he  held  for  a  short  time  the  appointment  of  Under-Secretary 
of  State  for  the  Northern  Department.  In  little  more  than 
a  year  after,  Lord  George  retired,  and  became  a  peer  as 
Viscount  Sackville;  meanwhile  Thompson  had  obtained 
a  commission  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  the  British  army 
and  returned  to  America.  His  conduct  was  in  some  respects 
distinguished,  but  he  has  been  accused  of  acts  of  cruelty 
while  in  command  at  Long  Island,  from  which  charges  his 
biographer  defends  him  on  the  ground  that  he  was  not 
worse  than  others.  Mr.  Ellis  also  suggests  that  the  allega- 
tions against  him  may  have  owed  their  origin  to  the  jealousy, 
evoked  by  his  extraordinary  good  fortune  at  various  periods 
of  his  life,  from  less  successful  competitors. 

At  the  peace  of  1783,  Thompson's  regiment  was  dis- 
banded ;  he  returned  to  England  on  half-pay,  with  the  rank 
of  full  colonel,  and  received,  it  is  said,  large  compensation 
as  a  loyaHst.  In  a  short  time  he  obtained  the  King's 
permission  to  travel,  and  crossed  the  Channel  with  some 
idea  of  serving  in  the  Austrian  army  as  a  volunteer  against 
the  Turks. 

One  of  his  fellow-travellers  was  Henry  Laurens,  who 
had  been  president  of  an  American  Congress,  and  had  just 
been  released  from  the  Tower  of  London.  Another  was 
Gibbon,  the  historian,  who  left  a  comical  account  of  Thomp- 
son's stately  departure  from  the  British  shore. ^  How  far 
the  three  journeyed  together  I  do  not  know ;  but  Thompson 
made  his  way  direct  to  Strasburg,  and,  appearing  at  a 
military  parade  in  his  English  uniform,  mounted  on  one  of 
the  three  fine  horses  he  had  brought  with  him  from  England, 
he  attracted  the  notice  of  Maximilian,  Duke  of  Deuxponts 
or  Zweibriicken,  then  a  field  marshal  in  the  service  of 
France,  and  was  introduced  to  officers  who  had  served  on 
the  revolutionary  side  in  America.  He  was  next  received 
with  distinguished  honours  at  Munich  and  at  Vienna,  where 

'  In  a  letter  to  Lord  Sheffield,  quoted  by  Ellis,  Memoir  of  Sir  Benjamin 
Thompson,  p.  153,  also  by  Dr.  Bence  Jones,  The  Royal  Institution,  ch.  i. 


COUNT    EUMFOED'S    CAREER  275 

he  remained  long  enough  to  hear  that  the  Turkish  war  had 
been  given  up  ;  consequently  he  went  no  further,  but 
returned  to  Munich  once  more,  only  to  move  by  slow  stages 
to  England. 

Charles  Theodore,  Elector  of  Bavaria,  was  uncle  to  the 
Duke  of  Deuxponts,  and,  like  his  nephew,  succumbed  to  the 
unaccountable  fascination  exercised  by  the  young  American 
on  nearly  all  persons  who  were  brought  within  the  range 
of  his  influence.  At  this  time  Thompson  was  already 
remarkable  for  his  practical  scientific  knowledge.  Gibbon 
describes  him  ^  as  '  Mr.  Secretary,  Colonel,  Admiral, 
Philosopher  Thompson ' ;  and  the  Elector  appears  to  have 
decided  that  he  was  the  man  to  superintend  the  regeneration 
of  his  electorate.  Thompson  therefore  visited  England  only 
to  obtain  the  permission  of  his  own  sovereign,  and  George  III. 
not  only  granted  his  request,  but,  in  February  1774,  con- 
ferred on  him  the  honour  of  knighthood.  He  then  entered 
the  service  of  the  Elector  of  Bavaria,  retaining  his  half-pay 
as  an  English  officer. 

Thenceforth  the  career  of  the  gifted  adventurer  reads 
more  like  a  romance  or  a  fairy  tale  than  ever,  as  the  following 
passages  from  his  biography  ^  will  show  : 

On  the  arrival  of  Sir  Benjamin,  the  Elector  appointed  him 
Colonel  of  a  regiment  of  Cavalry,  and  general  Aide-de-Camp, 
in  order  that  he  might  be  in  immediate  contact  with  himself.  A 
palatial  edifice  was  furnished  for  his  residence  in  Munich,  shared 
between  himself  and  the  Russian  Ambassador,  with  a  military 
staff  and  a  proper  corps  of  servants.  Sir  Benjamin  especially 
prided  himself  upon  the  blood  horses  which  he  had  brought  with 
him  from  England.  His  fine  appearance  when  mounted  on 
parade  is  frequently  noticed.  His  imposing  figure,  his  manly  and 
handsome  countenance,  his  dignity  of  bearing,  and  his  courteous 
manners,  not  only  to  the  great,  but  equally  to  subordinates  and 
inferiors,  made  him  exceedingly  popular.  This  finished  courtier 
and  favoured  child  of  fortune — favoured  both  by  native  gifts  and 
by  opportunities — needed  no  transformation  within  or  without  to 
adapt  himself  to  circumstances.  .  .  . 

'  In  the  letter  to  Lord  Sheffield,  quoted  by  Mr.  Ellis  and  Dr.  Bence  Jones. 
*  Ellis,  Memoir  of  Sir  Benjamin  Thompson,  p.  162. 

T  2 


276  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Sir  Benjamin  very  rapidly  acquired  a  mastery  of  the  German 
and  French  languages.  Like  a  true  practical  philosopher,  also, 
he  gave  the  whole  force  of  his  inquisitive  and  comprehensive  mind 
to  the  preliminary  work  of  informing  himself  generally,  and  in 
minute  particulars,  about  everything  that  concerned  the  dominions 
of  the  Elector.  The  relations  of  the  electorate  to  other  powers, 
within  and  outside  of  the  Empire;  its  population  and  their 
employments  ;  its  resources  and  the  means  of  their  development ; 
the  abuses  and  evils  which  admitted  of  remedies,  and  the  method 
of  applying  them — all  found  in  him  as  curious  and  intelligent  an 
investigator  as  could  have  been  chosen  among  the  select  few  most 
concerned  to  examine  them.  .  .  . 

It  may  be  as  well  to  mention  here  the  titular,  military,  civil,  and 
academic  honours  which  so  rapidly  and  lavishly  were  bestowed 
upon  Sir  Benjamin  while  residing  in  Bavaria.  By  request  of 
the  Elector,  the  King  of  Poland,  in  1786,  conferred  on  him  the 
Order  of  Saint  Stanislaus,  the  statutes  of  Bavaria  not  then  al- 
lowing of  his  receiving  any  Bavarian  orders.  In  a  journey  to 
Prussia  in  1787,  he  was  made  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Berlin. 
He  was  also  admitted  to  the  Academies  of  Science  at  Munich  and 
Mannheim.  In  1788,  the  Elector  made  him  Major-General  of 
Cavalry  and  Privy  Councillor  of  State.  He  was  also  put  at  the 
head  of  the  War  Department,  with  powers  and  directions  from 
the  Elector  to  carry  into  effect  the  schemes  which  he  had  been 
maturing  for  the  reform  of  the  army  and  the  removal  of  mendicity. 
In  the  interval  between  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Joseph  and  the 
coronation  of  Leopold  II.,  the  Elector  profited  by  the  right  going 
with  his  functions,  as  Vicar  of  the  Empire,  to  raise  Sir  Benjamin 
in  1791  to  the  dignity  of  a  Count  of  the  Holy  Eoman  Empire,  with 
the  Order  of  the  White  Eagle. 

Sir  Benjamin  chose  to  be  designated  Count  of  Kumford, 
the  name  of  his  home  at  Concord,  during  the  period  when  it 
belonged  to  Massachusetts.  On  this  subject  his  biographer 
remarks : 

That  he  should  have  selected  as  his  title  marking  this  distinction 
the  former  name  of  the  New  England  village  in  which  he  had  first 
enjoyed  the  favours  of  fortune,  shows  that  he  was  not  alienated 
in  heart  from  his  native  land,  and  that  he  gladly  associated  the 
memory  of  it  with  his  own  personal  advancement. 

But  he  had  never  seen  the  wife  who  had  given  him  the 


COUNT    BUMFOED'S    CAEEEE  277 

first  step  to  fortune  since  1775,  nor  their  daughter ;  while, 
in  Munich,  he  led  a  decidedly  irregular  life. 

In  1793,  Count  Kumford's  health  failed  in  consequence 
of  his  exertions — one  would  fain  hope  that  the  news  of  his 
wife's  death  in  the  previous  year  may  have  had  some  effect 
also ;  and  he  was  allowed  to  travel  for  a  twelvemonth.  He 
returned  to  Munich  only  partially  restored,  and,  in  179/5, 
obtained  leave  to  visit  England,  after  an  absence  of  eleven 
years.     Mr.  EUis  writes  : 

The  principal  object  of  his  visit  was,  as  has  been  said,  that  he 
might  publish  his  essays.  But  he  had  another  leading  end  in  view. 
He  had  many  warm  friends  and  admirers  as  well  as  scientific 
correspondents  in  England,  with  whom  he  had  kept  up  constant 
intercourse,  communicating  his  experiments,  as  we  have  seen,  to 
the  Eoyal  Society, — his  membership  of  which  always  enlisted  his 
pride  and  obligation  of  constant  service. • 

At  what  period  Benjamin  Thompson  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Thomas  Bernard  I  am  uncertain.  That  they  ever 
met  in  Massachusetts  is  improbable  ;  and  there  is  nothing 
to  show  that  during  his  first  sojourn  in  England  he  ever  saw 
Sir  Francis  Bernard.  To  Governor  Hutchinson  he  was 
evidently  unknown,  or  he  would  have  been  mentioned  in 
the  '  Diary.'  The  date  of  his  first  interview  with  Thomas 
Bernard  may  with  some  plausibility  be  assigned  to  1783, 
when  Thompson  was  again  in  England,  seeking  compensation 
as  a  loyalist,  while  Bernard  was  engaged  in  a  similar  effort 
on  behalf  of  his  brother  John. 

Thompson  was,  indeed,  accused  by  his  enemies  of  obtain- 
ing for  himself  most  inordinate  compensation — no  less  than 
30,000Z. ;  but  Mr.  Elhs  observes  that  this  is  unlikely,  since 
the  English  Government  was  by  no  means  profuse  in  its 
grants,  and  in  June,  1783,  shortly  before  his  arrival,  had 
divided  50,000^.  amongst  nearly  seven  hundred  loyalists. 
Moreover,  Thompson  had  no  claim  to  a  large  sum,  because  he 
had  very  little  of  his  own  when  he  left  his  home  at  Concord, 
and  his  wife's  property  does  not  appear  to  have  been  touched 

'  Ellis,  Memoir  of  Sir  Benjamin  Thompsmi,  p.  201. 


278  THE  BEENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

by  the  revolutionary  government.  Nevertheless,  it  is  difficult 
to  understand  how  he  was  enabled  to  travel  with  three  horses 
and  attendants,  unless  his  own  slender  means  had  been 
largely  supplemented  from  some  quarter. 

It  may  be  assumed,  however,  that  Thomas  Bernard  saw 
nothing  unallowable  in  the  conduct  of  Thompson,  or  Kum- 
ford,  as  he  must  henceforward  be  called — since  he  was  on 
intimate  terms  with  him  in  1795.  It  would  be  pleasant  to 
think  that  he  and  Mrs.  Bernard  may  have  influenced  Eumford 
to  send  for  his  daughter  Sarah  from  America,  which  he  did 
in  the  course  of  1795.^ 

Count  Eumford  met  with  a  singular  misfortune  on  his 
arrival  in  England.  A  trunk,  containing  all  his  private 
papers,  and  his  notes  and  observations  on  philosophical 
subjects,  was  removed  from  his  post-chaise  in  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard,  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  ;  he  never  recovered 
the  contents,  which  were  probably  stolen  by  some  one  envious 
of  his  luck.  This  was  a  heavy  blow  ;  but  in  other  respects 
his  visit  was  prosperous.  In  Ireland,  where  he  was  invited 
to  effect  sundry  improvements,  he  was  received  with  honours. 
It  was  during  this  stay  in  the  British  Islands  that  the 
alterations,  already  mentioned  in  Chapter  XI.,  were  effected 
at  the  Foundling  Hospital ;  and  in  all  likelihood  the  idea  of 
the  Eoyal  Institution  was  at  the  same  time  discussed  between 
the  Count  and  Mr.  Bernard. 

On  this  subject  the  Count's  biographer  ^  states  : 

While  he  was  himself  one  of  the  most  zealous  and  laborious 
Fellows  of  the  Eoyal  Society,  he  saw  that  without  trespassing  at 
all  upon  the  range,  wide  as  it  was,  that  was  recognized  by  his 
associates,  there  was  room  for  an  Institution  whose  aims  should  be 
more  practical  and  popular,  coming  into  direct  contact  with  the 
agricultural,  the  mechanical,  and  the  domestic  life  of  the  people. 

And  this  theme  was  expanded  by  him  in  a  pamphlet,^ 

'  Ellis,  Memoir  of  Sir  Benjamin  Thompson,  p.  204.  She  left  America  in 
January,  1796. 

2  Ibid.,  ch.  vii.,  p.  379. 

*  '  Proposals  for  forming  by  Subscription,  in  the  Metropolis  of  the  British 
Empire,  a  Public  Institution  for  diffusing  the  Knowledge  and  facilitating  the 
General  Introduction  of  useful  Mechanical  Inventions  and  Improvements,  and 


THE    ROYAL    INSTITUTION  279 

tVio    introduction    to   which    contains    the    followinj^   pas- 
sage :  • 

'  In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1796,  I  gave  a  faint  sketch  of  this 
plan  in  my  second  Essay  ;  but  being  under  tlie  necessity  of  return- 
ing soon  to  Germany,  I  had  not  leisure  to  pursue  it  farther  at  that 
time  ;  and  I  was  obliged  to  content  myself  with  having  merely 
thrown  out  a  loose  idea,  as  it  were  by  accident,  which  I  thought  might 
possibly  attract  attention.  After  my  return  to  Munich,  I  opened 
myself  more  fully  on  the  subject  in  my  correspondence  with  my 
friends  in  this  country  [England],  and  particularly  in  my  letters  to 
Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.,  who,  as  is  well  known,  is  one  of  the 
founders  and  most  active  members  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the 
Condition  and  Increasing  the  Comforts  of  the  Poor.' 

The  Count  subjoins,  in  a  note,  three  letters  of  his  to  Mr. 
Bernard,  dated  at  Munich,  28th  April  1797,  13th  May  1798,  and 
8th  June  1798.  The  first  of  these  letters  returns  the  writer's 
grateful  acknowledgments  for  the  honour  done  him  by  his  election 
as  a  member  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the 
Poor.  It  closes  with  a  characteristic  suggestion  that  visible 
examples,  '  by  models,'  will  advance  its  objects  better  than  will 
anything  that  can  be  said  or  written.  The  third  letter  emphasises 
a  well-pointed  hint  that,  indolent,  selfish,  and  luxurious  persons 
'  must  either  be  allured  or  shamed  into  action,'  and  that  it  is 
very  desirable  'to  make  benevolence  fashionable.'  Thev5a:iter  also 
expresses  his  interest  in  his  correspondent's  '  plan  with  regard  to 
Bridewell.  A  well  arranged  House  of  Industry  is  much  wanted 
in  London.'  He  closes  by  asking  Mr.  Bernard  '  to  read  once 
more  the  Proposals  pubhshed  in  my  second  Essay.  I  really 
think  that  a  pubUc  establishment  like  that  described  might  easily 
be  formed  in  London,  and  that  it  would  produce  infinite  good. 
I  will  come  to  London  to  assist  you  in  its  execution  whenever  you 
will  in  good  earnest  undertake  it.' 

Eeturning  to  England  in  September  1798,  the  Count  says  he 
found  Mr.  Bernard  very  solicitous  for  an  attempt  for  the 
immediate  execution  of  the  plan.  '  After  several  consultations 
that  were  held  in  Mr.  Bernard's  apartments  in  the  Foundling 
Hospital,  and  at  the  house  of  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Durham,  at 
which  several  gentlemen  assisted  who  are  well  known  as  zealous 
promoters  of  useful  improvements,  it  was  agreed  that  Mr.  Bernard 

for  teaching  by  courses  of  Philosophical  Lectui-es  and  Experiments  the  Applica- 
tion of  Science  to  the  Common  Purposes  of  Life.' 

'  Ellis,  Mevioir  of  Sir  Benjamin  Thompscm,  p.  383. 


280  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

should  report  to  the  Committee  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the 
Condition  of  the  Poor  the  general  result  of  these  consultations, 
and  the  unanimous  desire  of  the  gentlemen  who  assisted  at  them 
that  means  might  be  devised  for  making  an  attempt  to  carry  the 
scheme  proposed  into  execution. 

For  convenience  sake  the  organisation  of  the  Society  had 
been  utilised,  and  a  committee  of  eight  members  formed  to 
consider  the  new^  plan  ;  but  it  was  agreed  that  so  interesting 
and  important  a  scheme  ought  not  to  be  made  '  "  an  appendix 
to  any  other  existing  establishment,"  and,  therefore,  that  it 
ought  to  stand  alone  on  its  own  proper  basis.'  ^ 

The  Committee  consisted  of  '  the  Earl  of  Winchelsea, 
Mr.  Wilberforce,  the  Kev.  Dr.  Glasse,  Mr.  Sullivan,  Mr. 
Eichard  Sulivan,  Mr.  Colquhoun,  Mr.  Parry,  and  Mr. 
Bernard.'  It  met  on  January  31,  1799,  and  thoroughly 
discussed  the  elaborate  statement  prepared  by  the  Count. 
On  the  following  day  it  held  another  meeting — the 
Bishop  of  Durham  being  in  the  chair— reported  what 
had  taken  place  at  the  conference,  and  pronounced  a  full 
approval  of  the  scheme.  A  circular  soliciting  subscriptions 
was  drawn  up,  and  the  recipients  were  requested  to  address 
their  replies — '  To  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.,  at  the  Foundling.'  ^ 

It  had  been  originally  proposed  '  that  subscribers  of 
fifty  guineas  each  should  be  the  perpetual  proprietors  of  the 
Institution,  and  be  entitled  to  perpetual  transferable  tickets 
for  lectures  and  for  admission  to  the  apartments  of  the 
Institution.' 

As  soon  as  thirty  such  subscribers  were  obtained,  the 
question  of  organisation  was  to  be  settled  with  them.  Be- 
fore, however,  any  meeting  of  this  description  could  be  called, 
fifty-eight  promises  of  fifty  guinea  subscriptions  were 
received  from  most  desirable  persons,  and  it  was  then  re- 
solved to  apply  at  once  for  a  charter.  Scrope  Bernard,  it 
may  be  mentioned,  was  one  of  these  original  subscribers. 

The  objects  of  the  Institution  were  stated  as  '  The  speedy 

'  Ellis,  Memoir  of  Sir  Benjamin  TJiompson,  p.  385.     See  also  Dr.  Bence 
Jones,  The  Royal  Institution,  its  Founder  and  its  First  Professor;  eh.  iii. 
-  Life  of  Sir  Thovias  Bernard. 


A    ROYAL    CHARTEK  281 

aud  general  diffusion  of  the  knowledge  of  all  new  and  useful 
improvements,  in  whatever  quarter  of  the  world  they  may 
originate ;  and  teaching  the  application  of  scientific  dis- 
coveries to  the  improvement  of  arts  and  manufactures  in 
this  country,  and  to  the  increase  of  domestic  comfort  and 
convenience.'  It  was  intended  to  fill  spacious  show-rooms 
with  models  of  mechanical  inventions  and  to  fit  up  a 
lecture-room  with  a  laboratory  and  all  the  requisites  for 
scientific  experiments.  On  March  7,  the  proprietors — or  sub- 
scribers of  fifty  guineas— met  in  the  house  of  Sir  Joseph 
Banks,  President  of  the  Koyal  Society,  who  took  the 
chair,  and  it  was  decided  to  apply  to  the  King  for  a  charter, 
which  Count  Kumford  and  Mr.  Bernard  were  requested 
to  draw  up. 

Mr.  Baker  speaks  of  his  uncle  Thomas  Bernard  as  the 
sole  framer  of  the  charter,  and  such  he  must  have  been  in 
its  legal  aspect.  It  passed  the  royal  seals  on  January  30, 
1800.  The  constitution  of  the  Society  is  described  by 
,  Mr.  Ellis  as  follows  : 

The  King  appears  as  Patron  ;  the  oflficers  of  the  Institution 
were  appointed  by  him  at  its  formation, — the  Earl  of  Winchelsea 
and  Nottingham  being  President,  the  Earls  of  Morton  and 
Egremont  and  Sir  Joseph  Banks  Vice-Presidents ;  the  Earls  of 
Bessborough,  Egremont,  and  Morton,  being  respectively  the  first- 
named  on  each  of  the  three  classes  of  Managers, — on  the  first  of 
which,  to  serve  for  three  years,  is  Count  Rumford.  The  Duke  of 
Bridgewater,  Viscount  Palmerston,  and  Earl  Spencer,  lead  each 
of  the  three  classes  of  Visitors.  The  whole  list  proves  with  what 
a  power  of  patronage,  as  well  as  with  what  popularity  and 
enthusiasm,  the  enterprise  was  initiated.  Dr.  Thomas  Garnett 
was  made  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  and  Chemistry,  and 
Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.,  Treasurer.  A  Home  and  Foreign 
Secretary,  Legal  Council,  a  Solicitor,  and  a  Clerk,  complete  the  list. 

The  Institution  was  located  in  Albemarle  Street,^ 
Piccadilly,  and  some  portion  of  its  early  history  will  be  told 
in  another  chapter. 

'  '  The  Managers  have  since  purchased  a  large  and  roomy  house,  the  late 
Mr.  Mellish's,  in  Albemarle  Street.'  Reports  of  the  Society  B.C.P.,  by  Thomas 
Bernard,  Esq.,  vol.  ii.,  No.  LV.,  note. 


282  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

In  the  meantime,  something  must  be  said  of  another 
scheme,  in  which  Count  Rumford  and  Thomas  Bernard  were 
fellow-workers.  It  has  been  stated  that  the  Count  expressed 
in  a  letter  his  interest  in  Mr.  Bernard's  plan  with  regard  to 
Bridewell ;  '  that  is,  no  doubt,  to  a  mode  of  compelling 
able-bodied  beggars  to  work.'  ^  It  was  a  subject  on  which 
he  could  bring  his  own  experience  to  bear ;  since  he  had 
himself  conferred  a  signal  benefit  on  Bavaria  by  his  repression 
of  mendicity,  which — owing  to  the  carelessness  of  former 
Sovereigns,  and  the  disorganised  state  of  Bavaria  during  the 
crisis  of  the  French  Revolution — had  assumed  formidable 
proportions,  and  was  associated  with  robbery  and  violence, 
to  the  grave  detriment  of  all  peaceable  and  industrious 
subjects.  Under  Count  Rumford's  management  the  hordes 
which  infested  Bavaria  were  surrounded  and  seized  by  the 
military  in  Munich — acting  in  concert  with  the  civil 
authorities — and  compelled  to  labour  in  an  establishment 
called  the  Mihtary  Workhouse,  fitted  up  in  a  disused 
manufactory  ;  they  were  at  the  same  time  provided  with  all 
reasonable  comforts ;  and  every  precaution  was  taken  to 
discriminate  between  the  depraved  and  the  victims  of  cir- 
cumstance. 

This  plan  approximated  to  the  mode  of  procedure  adopted 
in  Paris  by  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  during  the  previous  century. 
Whether  Count  Rumford  had  ever  heard  of  that  reform,  I 
cannot  say,  but  the  resemblance  is  striking.^  St.  Vincent, 
indeed,  vdshed  to  act  by  persuasion,  not  compulsion,  .in 
opposition  to  the  opinion  of  the  ladies  who  worked  with  him  ; 
but  the  King  decided  that  under  such  a  system  the  evil 
would  never  disappear,  and  declared  begging  prohibited 
from  the  day  when  the  General  Hospital  should  be  opened. 
This  royal  proclamation  at  once  thinned  the  ranks  of  the 
mendicants  ;  and  the  remaining  beggars  were  in  most  cases 

'  '  Bridewell,  in  our  customs  denotes  a  workhouse,  partly  for  the  correc- 
tion of  vagrants  and  disorderly  persons,  and  partly  for  the  employment  of  the 
parish  poor.'  .  .  .  'Bridewell  near  Fleet  Street,  is  a  foundation  of  a  mixt 
and  singular  nature,  partaking  of  the  hospital,  the  prison,  and  the  work- 
house.' Rees's  Cyclopcedia,  1819. 

-  Bedford,  Life  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  eh.  xxiii. 


THE    TREATMENT    OF    MENDICANTS  283 

willing  to  avail  themselves  of  the  refuge  provided  for  them, 
in  which  they  were  to  be  trained  to  industry. 

The  beggars  of  London  may  not  have  been  altogether 
as  mischievous  and  degraded  as  those  which  infested  con- 
tinental towns  demoralised  by  the  scourge  of  war  ;  but  their 
existence  was  a  disgrace  to  the  community,  and,  except  in 
cases  of  unavoidable  misfortune,  to  themselves.  A  paper 
on  this  evil  was  written  by  Mr.  Bernard  for  the  Society's 
'  Reports,'  ^  recapitulating  some  of  the  evidence  collected  by 
Matthew  Martin,  Esq.,  Secretary  to  the  Society,  and  one 
of  a  committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  this  matter,  with 
remarks  on  its  tendency. 

In  order  to  inform  himself  on  this  subject  (writes  Mr.  Bernard), 
Mr.  Martin  has  from  the  beginning  of  the  year  distributed 
tickets  in  London  to  appoint  such  of  the  beggars  there  as  seemed 
to  merit  and  wish  inquiry  into  their  circumstances  to  come  to  him 
for  that  purpose.  Of  this  as  many  as  120  have  attended  in 
consequence — 21  men  and  99  women. 

Of  the  men,  the  greater  part  were  maimed,  or  disabled  by  age 
or  sickness ;  and  only  two  of  them  belonged  to  any  place  of  legal 
settlement  in  London. 

Of  the  women  there  were  48  widows  ;  seven  of  them  the  widows 
of  soldiers  ;  only  one  of  them  of  a  seaman.  About  a  third  of  these 
consisted  of  aged  women  ;  some  were  crippled  and  some  disti'essed 
for  want  of  work  ;  many  of  them  embarrassed  by  ignorance  of  the 
mode  of  obtaining  parochial  assistance,  or  by  the  fear  of  applying 
for  it. 

Of  the  wives  in  most  cases,  the  difficulty  was  the  want  of  work, 
or  the  incapacity  of  doing  it  on  account  of  a  child  in  arms.  There 
were  cases  of  very  great  distress.  Above  half  of  them  had  two  or 
more  children,  who  were  some  of  them  infants,  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  residue  of  an  helpless  age,  too  young  for  work. 

With  regard  to  the  settlements  of  the  women,  24  referred  him 
to  parishes  in  London  and  Westminster ;  33  to  parishes  in 
different  parts  of  England  ;  22  belonged  to  Scotland  and  Ireland, 
and  the  remaining  20  said  they  could  not  give,  or  at  least  declined 
giving  him  any  account  of  their  place  of  settlement. 

By  application,  in  most  cases,  to  their  parishes,  and  in  some  to 

'  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  an  attempt  to  ascertain  the  circumstances 
of  the  beggars  of  London,  with  observations  on  the  best  mode  of  relieving  them,' 
by  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.     Reports  of  the  Society  B.C.P.,  vol.  i.,  No.  XXII. 


284  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

their  friends,  he  was  enabled  to  obtain  effectual  relief  for  several 
of  them ;  for  others  he  is  now  using  his  endeavours.  To  all  of 
them,  the  gift  of  a  little  food,  and  the  hearing  of  their  melancholy 
story,  afforded  some  comfort. 

Mr.  Bernard  added  some  observations  to  Mr.  Martin's 
'  Report,'  from  vi^hich  it  appears  that  some  beggars  had 
become  such  through  the  carelessness  or  neglect  of  London 
parish  officers,  v^^ho  had  not  afforded  them  the  assistance 
to  vi^hich  they  vi^ere  entitled ;  others  had  been  driven  from 
comitry  parishes,  likewise  by  the  parochial  authorities,  who 
wished  to  be  quit  of  their  poor,  and  plied  them  alternately 
with  menaces  and  promises  till  the  end  was  accomplished. 

As  regarded  the  remainder,  Mr.  Baker  says,^  epitomising 
his  uncle's  observations  : 

Mr.  Bernard  proposed  that  a  police  office  should  be  established 
solely  for  the  case  of  the  casual  mendicant  poor  in  the  metropolis, 
which  should  enforce  the  existing  laws,  and  compel  parishes  to 
watch  over  and  provide  for  their  own  poor ;  and  that  inspectors 
should  attend  the  streets,  and  bring  all  common  beggars  before  the 
Board,  whose  duty  should  be  to  compel  labour,  or  require  sub- 
sistence, according  to  the  circumstances  of  the  parochial  case. 

And,  in  January  1799,  shortly  after  the  publication  of 
the  Eeport,  the  committee  waited  on  the  Duke  of  Portland, 
Secretary  of  State,  and  obtained  from  him  a  promise  of 
government  assistance.  The  evil  had  been  long  and 
painfully  obvious  to  the  British  public,  and  the  prospect 
of  relief  was  hailed  with  satisfaction.  But  the  Government 
took  a  view  of  the  measures  to  be  adopted  which  proved 
fatal  to  reform. 

"When,  however  (continues  Mr.  Baker),  it  was  agreed  to  take 
only  voluntary  examinations  of  mendicants,  without  any  com- 
pulsory process,  and  without  enforcing  a  penalty  on  false  oaths 
and  declarations,  Mr.  Bernard  despaired  of  the  object  being 
attained,  and  withdrew  from  any  concern  in  the  measure. 

Like  others  of  his  benevolent  efforts,^  indeed,  which 
appeared  at   the  time  to  fail,  the  seed  then  sown  bore  fruit 

'  Life  of  Sir  TJiomas  Bernard. 

-  Haydn,  Dictionary  of  Dates  (Tenth  Edition),  '  Mendicity  Society.' 


STREET    BEGGARS  286 

in  after  years.  It  would  seem,  indeed,  that  the  agitation  for 
reform  in  this  matter  was  continued,  and  Mr.  Martin  was 
the  recognised  leader  of  this  movement.  Some  startling 
disclosures  were  made  before  the  Committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons  ^  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  and 
weighing  the  evidence — most  of  which  had,  however,  been 
known  or  surmised  by  the  band  of  philanthropists  to  which 
Mr.  Martin  belonged. 

The  practice  of  '  farming  '  the  poor — that  is,  the  paupers 
— to  persons  who  made  a  profit  out  of  then-  earnings,  and  in 
whose  power  they  were  virtually  placed,  was  almost  universal 
in  London.  There  was,  of  course,  some  variety  in  these 
estabhshments.  Overcrowding,  underfeeding,  insanitary 
conditions  generally,  were  evils  often  alleviated  by  lax  dis- 
cipline, and  the  inmates,  if  so  incHned,  figured  as  street 
beggars.  As  to  these  street  beggars,  they  included  every 
description  of  impostor — the  blind  and  the  lame,  or  maimed, 
the  man  with  fits,  women  with  twins,  children  brought  up 
to  lying  and  forced  to  get  their  living  by  the  same  vile 
means  as  their  parents  or  employers. 

The  large  earnings  and  sumptuous  living  of  the  cleverest 
of  these  people  is  frequently  adverted  to,  the  woeful  tales 
of  distress,  related  both  viva  voce  and  also  in  affecting  letters  ; 
the  success  of  '  the  Laudable  Institution '  for  supplying 
the  poor  with  good  meat  and  vegetables  at  a  low  price, 
whose  inventor  is  supposed  to  have  pocketed  at  least  500^. 
a  year — are  all  related  in  the  evidence,  and  were  probably 
revelations  to  a  large  portion  of  the  public. 

But  there  was  much  difficulty  in  getting  the  authorities 
to  stir  in  this  matter.  The  majority  of  magistrates  had  been 
accustomed  to  take  it  easily,  and  the  Legislature  seemed 
inclined  to  do  the  same.  It  was  not  until  1819,  the  year 
after   Thomas   Bernard's  death,  that  an  Act   was   passed, 

'  The  Quarterly  Review  (October  1815),  Art.  VI.  '  Minutes  of  the  Evidence 
taken  before  the  Committee  appointed  by  the  House  of  Commons  to  inquire 
into  the  State  of  Mendicity  and  Vagrancy  in  the  Metropolis  and  its  neighbour- 
hood.' (Ordered  to  be  printed  July  11,  1815.)  The  Edinburgh  Review  also 
had  an  article  on  this  subject,  to  much  the  same  elfect,  but  more  discursive 
and  general  than  the  one  in  the  Quarterly. 


286  THE  BEENAKDS  OF  ABINGTON 

commonly  known  as  'Martin's  Act,'  which  dealt  a  severe 
blow  at  *  Mendicity.'  The  evil  is  not,  indeed,  annihilated, 
notwithstanding  the  continuous  efforts  made  to  deal  with 
it ;  but,  considering  the  vast  increase  in  the  population,  we 
may  perhaps  be  thankful  that  it  is  no  worse. 


FANNY    KING  287 


CHAPTER   XV 

PAROCHIAL   WORK   AND    HOLIDAY   EXCURSIONS 

Fanny  King's  Interest  in  the  Children  of  her  Parish— The  Establishment  of 
Sunday  Schools  by  Robert  Raikes — Membership  of  the  S.  P.  C.  K. — 
Mrs.  Trimmer's  Work— Mrs.  King's  Parochial  Lending  Libraries— Her 
Love  of  Nursing— Mr.  King  a  Candidate  for  the  Wardenship  of  New  Col- 
lege— Mrs.  King's  Letters — A  Visit  to  Alveston — Mrs.  King's  Acquaintance 
with  Hannah  More — Hannah  More  and  the  People  of  Cheddar — Report  of 
Thomas  and  Margaret  Bernard  on  the  Mendip  Schools — Attack  of  Mr.  Bere 
upon  Hannah  and  Martha  More — A  Charitable  Effort  in  Bath — Thomas 
Bernard  sells  his  House  at  Iver. 

The  life  of  Fanny  King,  as  wife  of  a  country  clergyman,  did 
not  afford  the  same  opportunities  for  philanthropy  on  a  large 
scale  as  the  position  of  her  brother  Thomas  in  London,  en- 
joying the  acquaintance,  and  in  some  cases  the  intimacy,  of 
many  distinguished  persons  ;  but  in  her  narrower  sphere  she 
was  earnest  and  diligent  in  the  use  of  the  talents  committed 
to  her  charge.  The  writer  of  a  short  '  Memoir '  ^  of  Mrs. 
King  states,  with  reference  to  her  work  at  Steeple  Morden 
and  Worthen,  that : 

In  addition  to  unremitting  attention  to  her  children,  she  was 
exemplarily  useful  in  those  parishes,  by  administering  to  the  wants 
of  the  poor  with  activity  and  energy,  and  particularly  by  originat- 
ing the  establishment  of  schools  for  their  children. 

The  elementary  week-day  schools  of  the  age,  few  and  far 
between  in  country  districts,  when  not  the  gift  of  some 
munificent  squire  or  lady,  were  generally  held  in  some 
cottage,  and  were  in  most  cases  the  private  enterprise  of 
the  good  woman  at  their  head,  often  indeed  assisted  and 

'  '  Memoir  of  the  Author,'  prefixed  to  Female  Scripture  Clmracters  ;  (pro- 
bably by  the  Rev.  John  Collinson). 


288  THE  BEKNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

encouraged  by  ladies.  There  girls  learned  reading  and  sew- 
ing, with  the  addition  of  lace-making  and  other  local  indus- 
tries in  certain  neighbourhoods ;  and  these  local  industries 
occupied  a  large  portion  of  the  school  hours.  Little  boys 
often  attended  these  schools  till  they  went  to  work.  In 
1784/  Robert  Raikes  opened  a  Sunday-school  at  Gloucester, 
and  thus  inaugurated  a  great  popular  movement,  which 
became,  like  many  more  innovations,  or  revivals,  the  subject 
of  much  controversy.  Something  of  the  kind  had  been 
known  in  France,^  and  apparently  in  other  European 
countries,  for  about  two  centuries,  and  even  in  England  he 
evidently  had  predecessors ;  but  it  was  reserved  to  him  to 
attract  the  public  attention  by  his  labours,  and  to  make 
England  a  country  where  systematic  religious  instruction 
was  recognised.  The  new  system  was  a  subject  of  much 
eulogy  on  the  part  of  his  supporters,  and  of  depreciation  by 
his  opponents.  For  this  controversy  Raikes,  who  appears 
to  have  been  a  single-minded  man,  was  in  no  way  re- 
sponsible— he  was  not  a  hunter  after  fame. 

In  connection  with  the  subject  of  Sunday-schools,  there 
is  evidence  in  the  family  papers  how  solemn  an  affair  it  then 
was  to  be  received  into  membership  by  the  highly  orthodox 
and  loyal  S.P.C.K. 

Mr.  King  virites,^  to  Scrope  Bernard,  from  Worthen,  ap- 
parently in  1786  : 

I  will  beg  the  favour  of  you  to  give  the  enclosed  to  Smith,  who 
I  expect  will  be  in  town  very  soon,  and  desire  him  to  deliver  it  to 
the  Society  of  which  I  am  desirous  to  become  a  member,  as  I  have 
established  Sunday  Schools  in  this  parish  and  wish  to  distribute 
among  the  children  the  useful  books  that  are  published  by  the 
above  Society. 

'  This  is  the  date  in  A  Summary  of  the  History  of  tlie  English  Church, 
by  the  Eev.  Johnson  Gant ;  and  suggested  in  Rees's  Cyclopedia.  Mr.  Raikes 
had  previously  tried  the  plan  of  Sunday  teaching  in  his  own  parish  of  Painswick. 
The  Sunday-school  Society  was  founded  in  1785. 

-  Sunday  Classes  for  religious  instruction  appear  to  have  been  one  of  the 
features  of  the  Religious  Revival  of  the  seventeenth  century  in  France ;  as  also 
of  the  Ursuline  Congregation,  founded  by  St.  Angela  Merici,  in  Northern  Italy, 
during  the  sixteenth  century. 

^  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


MES.  KING'S  INTEEEST  IN  SCHOOLS  289 

The  certificate  enclosed,  which  is  a  printed  form — only 
the  names  and  descriptions  of  the  three  clergymen  being 
filled  up  by  hand — runs  as  follows  : 

We,  the  underwritten  do  recommend  the  Eev^.  Eichard  King 

M.A.  Eector  of  Worthen  in  the  county  of  Salop,  to  be  a Member 

of  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge — and  do  verily 
believe  that  he  is  well  affected  to  his  Majesty  King  George  and 
his  Government,  and  to  the  Church  of  England  as  by  law 
established,  of  sober  and  religious  Life  and  Conversation,  and  of 
an  humble,  peaceable,  and  charitable  Disposition. 

Ed.  Blakeway,  Minister  of  St.  Marys  Salop. 

Thomas  Stedman,  Minister  of  St.  Chad's  Salop. 

The  fact  of  Mrs.  King's  interest  in  schools,  continued 
from  the  time  when  she  represented  the  heroine  of  '  The 
Kector's  Memorandum  Book,'  ^  as  educating  the  children  of 
her  village,  is  corroborated  by  passages  in  her  latest  work, 
'  Female  Scripture  Characters,'  written  about  thirty  years 
later,  in  which  she  displays  considerable  acquaintance  with 
the  efforts  of  Mrs.  Trimmer  in  that  direction,  and  with  the 
working  of  the  Barrington  Training  School,  as  recorded  by 
her  brother  Thomas.  In  this  book  '^  she  exhorts  women  to 
follow  the  example  of  their  Saviour  as  '  an  Instructor  of  the 
ignorant  and  a  Teacher  of  babes,'  continuing  : 

Let  us  consider  ourselves,  as  we  really  are.  His  chosen  disciples ; 
and  imagine  that  we  hear  (as  we  do  in  the  Gospel)  the  question 
put  to  St.  Peter,  '  Lovest  thou  Me  ? '  Should  we  not,  with  pious 
ardour  and  holy  affection,  reply  with  him,  'Yea,  Lord;  Thou 
knowest  that  I  love  Thee.'  Let  us  then  observe  the  proof  required 
of  that  love  '  Feed  My  lambs.' — If  our  hearts  answer  sincerely  to 
this  tender  and  impressive  question,  we  shall  feel  ourselves 
anxious  to  give  the  proof  by  collecting  the  little  lambs  of  His 
flock,  in  order  to  lead  them  to  the  fold  of  Christ  and  to  train  them 
in  His  holy  laws. 

Of  Mrs.  Trimmer  the  author  states  that,  while  bringing 
up  her  twelve  children  admirably,  and  discharging  all  the 

'  See  vol.  ii.,  ch.  xxx.,  p.  323,  of  this  Family  History, 
^  Female  Scriphire  Characters,  '  Dorcas.' 
VOL.    III.  U 


290  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

domestic  occupations  rendered  necessary  by  a  limited 
income, 

she  managed  to  create  so  much  time  to  devote  to  the  benefit  of 
others,  that  the  town  and  neighbourhood  of  Brentford,  previously 
a  sink  of  vice  and  corruption,  became,  under  her  instruction, 
christianized,  orderly,  moral,  and  taught  in  a  v^ay  '  able  to  make 
them  wise  unto  salvation.'  ^ 

Another  writer,  Mrs.  Papendiek,^  who  was  personally 
acquainted  with  Mrs.  Trimmer,  says  : 

Morning  visits  in  this  exemplary  family  could  not  be  admitted, 
for  Mrs.  Trimmer  was  occupied  in  writing  her  excellent  works  on 
education,  while  the  eldest  daughter  acting  as  bookkeeper  was  in 
the  accounting  room,  and  the  second  daughter,  Sarah,  was 
instructing  her  younger  brothers  and  sisters  in  the  schoolroom. 

Mrs.  Trimmer,  being  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Kirby,  Clerk  of 
the  Works  at  Kew,  as  well  as  President  of  the  '  Society  of 
Artists  '  of  Great  Britain — from  which  sprang  the  Koyal 
Academy — enjoyed  the  advantage  of  interesting  royalty 
itself  in  her  schemes  : 

Mrs.  Trimmer's  movement  in  establishing  Sunday  Schools  in 
many  parts  of  England  came  to  pass  during  this  year  (1786 — 
says  Mrs.  Papendiek),  and  her  Majesty  hearing  of  it,  and  being 
much  struck  with  the  excellence  and  advisability  of  such  a  plan, 
desired  that  the  same  might  be  instituted  at  "Windsor.  .  .  .  Her 
Majesty  had  several  interviews  with  Mrs.  Trimmer,  and  being 
much  impressed  with  that  lady's  clear  understanding  and  sound 
judgement,  requested  her  to  write  a  work  on  education,  which  she 
did,  and  it  has  ever  since  been  considered  an  authority  on  the 
question. 

I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain  whether  Mrs.  King  was 
known  to  this  invaluable  woman,  but,  in  '  Female  Scripture 
Characters,'  she  mentioned  Mrs.  Trimmer  and  Miss  Hannah 
More  as  two  women  especially  worthy  of  admiration  ;  and 
Hannah  More  she  certainly  knew.  The  '  Memoir,'  entitled 
'  Some  Account  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Mrs.  Trimmer,' 

'  Sovie  Account  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Mrs.  Trhmner,  with  Original 
Letters,  Meditations  and  Prayers. 

*  Papendiek  (Mrs.),  Court  and  Private  Life  in  time  of  Queen  Charlotte. 


PAEOCHIAL  LENDING  LIBRAEIES  291 

is  too  sketchy  and  fragmentary  to  throw  light  upon  the 
subject ;  but  it  estabhshes  the  fact  that  the  Brentford  schools 
were  opened  in  June  1786.  Mr.  King's  letter  to  Scrope 
Bernard  about  the  S.P.C.K.  was  apparently  written  a  few 
weeks  later ;  and  a  little  later  still— August  27 — Mrs.  Trim- 
mer mentions  in  her  Journal  a  Mrs.  K.,  but  not  in  connection 
with  schools  : 

I  had  yesterday  great  pleasure  in  receiving  from  Mrs.  Denward 
a  considerable  donation  for  the  relief  of  the  sick  and  aged.  After 
that  I  attended  Mrs.  K.  to  Mary  Pearce's  and  other  poor  houses. 
The  pleasure  I  received  from  these  circumstances  fatigued  my 
sph-its,  but  I  would  not  but  have  felt  the  sensations  which  so 
fatigued  me  for  any  consideration. 

It  is  obviously  not  unlikely  that  Fanny  King  had  taken 
an  opportunity  of  visiting  Brentford  to  examine  the  work- 
ing of  the  schools,  and  other  charities. 

Of  Mrs.  King's  parochial  lending  libraries  a  more  par- 
ticular account  can  be  given,  because  her  sister-in-law, 
Mrs.  Bernard,  contributed  a  paper  ^  on  the  subject  to  the 
*  Eeports  '  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the 
Poor,  commencing : 

At  Steeple  Morden,  in  the  county  of  Cambridge,  the  poor  have 
been  furnished  with  a  circulating  library  of  short  tracts  of  a 
religious  and  moral  nature.  The  idea  had  been  originally 
suggested  by  a  similar  plan,  useful  in  its  way,  but  not  so  peculiarly 
required,  which  has  been  adopted  for  the  benefit  of  the  children 
at  the  Foundling.  The  collection  at  Steeple  Morden  consists  of 
the  Cheap  Eepository  Tracts,  and  some  few  others  of  a  similar 
kind,  and  has  already,  even  at  the  beginning,  proved  of  consider- 
able benefit  to  the  parish.  On  Sunday  afternoon  when  the 
business  of  the  Sunday-school  is  over,  Mrs.  King,  the  lady  who 
has  founded  the  library,  reads  one  of  the  tracts  to  the  children, 
and  to  such  of  the  parents  as  choose  to  attend.  It  is  then  made  the 
subject  of  conversation,  and  a  few  copies  of  the  tract  are  lent  to 
the  different  children,  who  read  it  over  again  in  the  evening  with 
their  parents  and  neighbours,  and  by  these  means  spend  their 
Sunday  evening  well  and  with  useful  amusement.     Copies  of  the 

'  Extract  of  '  An  Account  of  a  Parish  Library  for  the  Poor,'  by  Mrs. 
Bernard.  Beports  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Conditimi  of  the  Poor, 
vol.  iii.,  No.  LXXXII. 

V  2 


292  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

same  tract  are  afterwards  lent  out  for  the  week ;  and  generally  go 
round  the  parish.  On  the  Sunday  following  they  are  brought 
back,  when  they  receive  others,  which  have  been  first  read  over  to 
them  in  the  same  manner.  Fifty-two  tracts  furnish  the  year's 
reading,  and  ten  or  twelve  copies  of  each  are  sufficient  for  a 
moderate  sized  parish.  It  is  very  gratifying  to  contemplate  the 
pleasure,  the  amusement,  and  other  more  material  effects  which 
are  produced  in  this  parish  by  a  measure  perfectly  simple  and  easy 
in  itself,  and  executed  at  a  trifling  expense.  It  answers  in  one 
respect,  the  end  of  the  Sunday  Friendly  Societies  at  Winston  and 
Auckland,  and  with  more  general  extension  to  the  different  ages 
in  the  parish. 

Mrs.  Bernard  states  that  this  plan  has  been  tried  by 
Mrs.  King  in  two  other  parishes,  and  that  it  has  everyv^^here 
proved  efficacious  in  keeping  the  poor  from  the  ale-house. 
It  may  be  assumed  that  Worthen  was  one  of  these  two 
parishes  ;  the  second  can  only  be  the  subject  of  conjecture.  At 
one  time  Mr.  King  was  drawn  by  circumstances  to  spend  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  year  at  his  brother's  house  at 
Alveston,  near  Bristol ;  and  it  is  quite  likely  that  having 
provided  his  own  parishes  with  curates  for  a  settled  period, 
he  may  have  undertaken  the  temporary  charge  of  Alveston 
parish,  and  thus  afforded  his  wife  an  opportunity  of  intro- 
ducing her  favourite  scheme.  The  '  Cheap  Repository 
Tracts '  which  she  distributed  were  the  composition  of 
Hannah  More,  and  consisted,  to  a  great  extent,  of  narratives 
and  ballads  which,  in  that  age,  might  be  considered  lively  as 
well  as  pious. 

The  failing  health  from  which  both  her  parents  had 
suffered  for  several  years  probably  impressed  the  subject  of 
nursing  on  the  mind  of  Fanny  King,  and  she  never  forgot 
her  early  love  for  this  occupation — first  studied,  perhaps,  at 
Winchendon  under  Mrs.  Beresford — which  the  case  of  her 
own  children  must  have  presented  to  her  in  a  new  aspect. 
Her  remarks  on  the  subject,  in  '  Female  Scripture  Characters,' 
show  that  she  had  some  practical  knowledge  of  its  details, 
and  of  the  disadvantages  under  which  the  poor  laboured  in 
time  of  sickness.     She  writes  :  ^ 

'  Female  Scripture  Characters,  '  Dorcas.' 


NURSING  THE  SICK  293 

Most  of  us  have  experienced,  in  some  degree,  that  greatest  of 
human  calamities,  loss  of  health,  and  those  who  have,  have  found  it 
the  loss  of  everything,  for  with  health  all  calamities  may  he 
surmounted,  without  it  no  blessing  can  be  enjoyed.  If  to  those 
who  are  surrounded  by  '  all  the  appliances  and  means  to  boot ' 
which  affluence  furnishes  to  lessen  this  evil,  it  is  so  heavy  a 
calamity,  what  must  it  be  to  the  poor  cottager  on  his  pallet  of 
straw,  without  the  common  comforts  of  life  ?  Riches,  indeed  can- 
not be  enjoyed  under  the  pressure  of  affliction,  but  poverty  makes 
a  bitter  addition  to  its  sufferings.  Oh  !  let  the  happy  female, 
distinguished  by  the  invaluable  blessing  of  health,  evince  her 
gratitude  to  the  Great  Giver  of  all  good  by  dispensing  aid  and 
comfort  to  all  sufferers  under  this  inevitable  evil ;  let  her  study 
nursing  the  sick  as  a  science,  assured  that  the  skill  of  the  nurse  is 
more  beneficial  than  that  of  the  physician.  The  tenderness,  the 
sympathy,  the  quietness  of  her  attention,  her  knowledge  in 
preparing  the  various  little  articles  of  nourishment,  and  her 
judgement  in  producing  them  at  proper  times,  in  small  quantities, 
and  in  a  palatable  state,  have  been  found  inestimable  comforts  to 
those  who  have  languished  under  the  affliction  of  sickness.  She 
should  learn  to  perform  common  operations,  to  administer  every 
kind  of  remedy,  and  raise  herself  above  any  delicacy  of  feeling,  or 
nervous  weakness,  that  can  impede  her  usefulness. 

These  remarks  are  applicable  to  the  general  nursing  of  the  sick  in 
all  ranks  ;  but  to  the  sick  poor  her  duties  will  be  still  more  extensive. 
Besides  administering  to  their  bodily  and  temporal  ease,  she  should 
pour  into  their  hearts  the  comfort  of  God's  Holy  Word  ;  she 
should  hold  out  to  them  the  blessings  and  comforts  that  await  the 
patient  sufferer,  and  read  and  explain  to  them  the  many  passages 
in  the  Scriptures,  particularly  the  Psalms,  which  mark  the  value 
of  the  poor  in  the  sight  of  Heaven.  She  should  tell  them  that  our 
Blessed  Lord  dignified  a  state  of  poverty  by  His  voluntary  choice  ; 
that  the  poor  were  the  particular  objects  of  His  favour  and 
attention  ;  and  that  all  His  doctrines  and  precepts  tended  to  their 
comfort  and  instruction. 


Other  passages  follow  in  amplification  of  the  same 
theme,  but  those  already  quoted  suffice  to  exemplify 
Mrs.  King's  treatment  of  this  topic.  One  observation  here 
suggests  itself :  namely,  that  her  plans  involved  the  further 
task  of  training  some  persons  of  a  class  or  classes  above  the 
very  poor  to  aid  in  their  development,  whether  in  the  school 


294  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

or  the  sick-room.  To  a  certain  extent  this  would  have  been 
the  case  even  had  she  lived  always  in  one  place  ;  but  when 
moving  from  one  parish  to  another,  or  quitting  them  both 
for  a  holiday,  sometimes  of  long  duration,  Mrs.  King  must 
have  left  her  work  of  every  sort  in  abeyance,  either  in  Worthen 
or  Steeple  Morden,  or  both,  unless  she  had  assistants  to 
carry  on  the  work  on  the  lines  laid  down  by  her.  And  the 
following  paragraph  alludes,  it  would  seem,  to  some  organi- 
sation of  this  kind  : 

In  towns  and  populous  villages  much  benefit  has  arisen  to  the 
poor  from  ladies  forming  themselves  into  societies,  either  for  the 
general  good  of  the  poor,  or  for  some  particular  object.  Besides 
the  union  of  the  many  mites  they  may  collect  amongst  themselves, 
here  is  a  union  of  hearts,  heads,  talents,  time,  and  exertion ;  and 
many  agents  are  enlisted  in  the  cause,  who  would  otherwise  for 
want  of  activity,  thought,  or  example,  have  been  simply  idle  and 


In  Worthen  there  were  probably  some  women  of  educa- 
tion and  more  or  less  leisure,  while  even  in  Steeple  Morden 
there  may  have  been  farmers'  daughters  able  and  willing 
to  assist  Mrs.  King  and  her  deputy — who  would,  of  course, 
be  the  curate's  wife,  when  he  had  one— in  their  labours  for 
the  good  of  the  parish. 

In  1794  the  quiet  routine  of  country  life  must  have  been 
ruffled,  though  perhaps  not  seriously,  by  passing  excitement. 
Mr.  King  was  induced  by  friends  to  become  a  candidate  for 
the  headship  of  his  College,  somewhat  against  his  better 
judgment,  since  he  was  aware  that  his  long  absence  from 
Oxford,  and  the  distance  of  his  actual  residence,  placed  him 
at  a  disadvantage,  as  compared  with  his  rivals,  who  were 
certain  of  strong  support  on  the  spot.  Mr.  Gauntlett  was 
the  successful  competitor.  As  Warden  of  New  College 
Mr.  King  would  undoubtedly  have  been  in  a  more  congenial 
sphere  than  as  Eector  of  a  country  parish,  but  he  philo- 
sophically remarks  ^  on  his  defeat  : 

I  have  now  the  pleasure  to  reflect  that  though  I  have  not 

'  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


DEATH  OF  EMILY  BAKER  296 

succeeded  in  the  late  object  of  my  wishes,  I  am  not  lessened  in 
the  esteem  of  the  Society  for  whom  I  have  ever  entertained  the 
highest  regard,  and — what  is  better — I  am  surrounded  and  in 
possession  of  every  comfort  that  any  reasonable  man  can  wish  for 
or  enjoy. 

A  greater  affliction  had  been  the  death  of  Amelia,  or 
Emily,  Baker,  which  took  place  in  1791,^  and  which  evoked 
her  sister's  active  sympathy  for  the  last  born  sickly  child — • 
William — who  was  for  some  time  under  Fanny  King's 
fostering  care  ;  ^  but  she  could  not  save  his  life ;  he  died  in  1793. 

From  a  letter,  dated  '  Alveston,  Oct.  3'"'^,'  ^  and  which, 
from  its  allusion  to  '  Admiral  Nelson's  glorious  victory,'  was 
probably  written  in  1798,  the  year  in  which  the  battle  of 
the  Nile  was  fought,  it  appears  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  King 
were  established  there  for  the  time ;  in  all  likelihood  Mr. 
King  had  charge  of  the  parish ;  but  he  must  have  lived  in 
a  large  house — probably  his  brother's — since  his  wife  then 
had  under  her  care  several  young  girls  besides  her  own  three 
daughters.^  Some  of  these  were  daughters  of  Lady  Ingilby, 
afterwards  Lady  Ingilby  Amcoats,  and  even  her  son  was 
for  a  time  in  charge  of  the  Kings.  Whether  the  parents 
were  abroad,  or  the  neighbourhood  of  Bristol  offered  special 
advantages  for  education,  I  cannot  tell. 

Another  young  lady  frequently  mentioned  in  the  hvely 
letters  of  the  Misses  King,  dated  from  Alveston,  was  Miss 
Bichardson,^  afterwards  the  first  wife  of  Sir  Lancelot 
Shadwell,  Vice-Chancellor  of  England. 

In  the  letter  already  mentioned  Fanny  King  tells  her 
brother  Scrope  that : 

The  book  is  safely  arrived  for  which  I  am  much  obliged  to  you 
and  a  most  valuable  book  it  is ;  I  shall  study  nothing  else  for 

'  By  some,  the  date  of  the  death  of  Amelia  is  given  as  1795  ;  but  I  believe 
that  the  date  I  have  given  is  correct. 

2  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon.  =*  Ibid. 

*  I  was  told  by  a  relative  that  Mrs.  King  was  their  guardian ;  but  both  the 
parents  were  certainly  living  at  this  time. 

*  This  information  is  from  MSS.  lent  by  the  Collinson  family,  and  from 
facts  stated  by  its  members  in  conversation. 


296  THE  BEBNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

months  to  come,  and  I  hope  to  make  considerable  use  of  it  in  this 
neighbourhood.  I  have  ah-eady  done  something  and  shall  be  very 
busy  this  winter. 

The  paragraph  evidently  refers  to  some  study  she  had 
taken  up,  and  but  for  the  allusion  to  the  winter  it  might 
be  supposed  that  the  subject  was  botany,  which  was  her 
favourite  recreation  at  this  period ;  but  as  winter  was  not 
a  good  time  for  that  pursuit,  it  may  have  been  some  branch 
of  parochial  work — probably  schools.     Mrs.  King  continues  : 

I  thank  you  for  your  enquiries ;  my  husband  and  my  children 
are  always  well,  at  all  times  and  in  every  place,  and  I  think  I 
have  much  less  of  the  rheumatism  here  than  I  had  at  Worthin ;  it 
is  a  very  delightful  situation,  and  an  excellent  house,  and  I  have 
every  comfort  about  me,  more  frequent  intercourse  with  our  friends 
and  many  advantages  in  the  education  of  my  large  family  of  girls, 
now  increased  to  eight.  The  old  lady,  Mr.  King's  mother,  has 
been  with  us  some  weeks,  in  her  89th  year  and  in  perfect  health. 

I  am  rejoiced  poor  old  Winchendon  is  restored  to  its  honours 
and  glories ;  I  still  dearly  love  the  place  and  lamented  its 
desertion. 

Mr.  King's  mother,  Priscilla  Moon  by  birth,  was  a 
Quakeress  of  Bristol,  related  to  several  leading  Quaker 
families. 

The  Alveston  visit  was  evidently  renewed,  perhaps  every 
autumn  and  winter,  for  some  years  ;  and  there  seems  to  have 
been  generally  a  merry  party  of  young  girls  in  the  house.  • 
One  of  their  amusements  was  writing  a  magazine  of  their 
own  composition  ;  it  was,  however,  a  laborious  business,  and 
not  apparently  carried  on  very  long. 

It  is,  of  course,  probable  that  the  Kings  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  paying  visits  to  Bristol,  and  perhaps  to  Alveston, 
ever  since  their  marriage,  though  not  of  such  long  duration, 
since  Mr.  King's  nearest  relations  were  domiciled  there. 
Indeed,  Mr.  King,  in  an  earlier  letter  to  Scrope  Bernard,^ 
alludes  to  a  visit  which  his  wife  had  paid  without  him  to 
Bristol  and  Gloucestershire.     Her  acquaintance  with  Hannah 

'  MS.  Notes  in  a  book  lent  by  Mrs.  Bernard  Collinson. 
-  MS.  Letter  at  Nether  Winchendon. 


HANNAH  MORE  297 

More  is  most  likely  to  have  dated  from  the  period  of  the 
first  long  sojourn  at  Alveston,  although  it  is  just  possible 
that  they  may  have  met  previously  in  London,  or  at  Monge- 
well,  in  Oxfordshire,  the  private  residence  of  Bishop  Barring- 
ton,  where  Hannah  More  was  a  welcome  guest.  But  even 
if  such  was  the  case,  the  acquaintance  was  renewed  in  the 
West  of  England. 

The  father  of  Hannah  More^  was  said  to  come  of  an 
impoverished  gentleman's  family ;  he  had  been  Master  of 
a  Free  School,  at  Fish  Ponds,  near  Bristol ;  and  Hannah  was 
the  fourth  of  five  sisters,  every  one  of  whom  must  have 
been  a  woman  of  energy  and  talent.  For  many  years  the 
three  elder  sisters  kept  a  ladies'  school,  in  Bristol,  which 
they  had  started  when  the  eldest  was  only  in  her  twentieth 
year,  and  effectually  raised  the  standard  of  female  education 
in  their  neighbourhood.  Hannah,  who  was  handsome  and 
brilliant,  was  early  wooed  by  a  man  much  older  than  herself, 
and  sold  her  share  in  the  school.  When  the  engagement 
was  finally  broken  off,  through  irresolution  on  his  part,  and 
the  determination  of  her  sisters  that  she  should  not  be  trifled 
with,  he  insisted  on  settling  an  annuity  on  her.  Thus  placed 
in  easy  circumstances  she  was  soon  attracted  to  London, 
where  she  entered  much  into  society,  without,  however, 
losing  the  pious  feelings  common  to  the  whole  family.  Ere 
long  she  attained  celebrity  by  her  writings.  Martha,  or 
Patty,  who,  being  fourteen  years  her  junior,  was  like  a 
daughter  to  all  the  elder  sisters,  frequently  accompanied  her 
on  her  visits  to  the  metropolis,  and  learned  to  look  up  to 
her  with  devoted  admiration. 

As  time  went  on,  increased  seriousness  of  thought  led 
Hannah  gradually  to  retire  from  London  gaiebies  to  her  old 
home.  The  elder  sisters  had  saved  enough  money  to  retire, 
and  the  five  ladies  lived  together  in  great  harmony,  spending 
the  winters  in  Bath,  and  the  summers  chiefly  at  Hannah's 
pretty  cottage  on  Cowslip  Green  in  the  Vale  of  Mendip. 
In  1789,  William  Wilberforce,  who  was  staying  with  Miss 

'  Thompson,  Life  of  Mrs.  Hannah  More ;  Roberts  (William),  Memoirs  of 
the  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Mrs.  Hannah  More. 


298  THE  BERNAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

More  in  this  retreat,  drove  to  Cheddar  Cliffs ;  he  was  so 
shocked  by  the  abject  misery  and  lawless  savagery  of  the 
people,  that  he  exclaimed  :  '  Miss  Hannah  More,  something 
must  be  done  for  Cheddar.'  And  presently  added  :  '  If  you 
will  be  at  the  trouble,  I  will  be  at  the  expense.'  This 
promise  he  kept  by  forwarding  a  large  annual  contribution 
for  the  purpose.  Mr,  Henry  Thornton  also  came  forward 
to  help,  and  other  friends  and  well-wishers  in  their  degree. 
Hannah  More  wrote  to  Wilberforce  : 

I  was  told  we  should  meet  with  great  opposition  if  I  did  not 
try  to  propitiate  the  chief  despot  of  the  village,  who  is  very  rich, 
and  very  bi-utal ;  so  I  ventured  into  the  den  of  this  monster  in  a 
country  as  savage  as  himself,  near  Bridgewater.  He  begged  I 
would  not  think  of  bringing  any  religion  into  the  country  ;  it  was 
the  worst  thing  in  the  world  for  the  poor,  for  it  made  them  lazy 
and  useless.  In  vain  did  I  represent  to  him  that  they  would  be 
more  industrious  as  they  were  better  principled ;  and  that,  for 
my  own  part,  I  had  no  selfish  views  in  what  I  was  doing.  He 
gave  me  to  understand  that  he  knew  the  world  too  well  to  believe 
either  the  one  or  the  other. ^ 

Hannah  More  was  staying  at  the  George  Hotel,  Cheddar, 
with  her  sister  Martha,  when  she  wrote  this  letter ;  they 
remained  there  to  pay  eleven  other  visits  to  farmers.  She 
continues  : 

Patty,  who  is  with  me,  says  she  has  good  hope  that  the  hearts 
of  some  of  these  rich  poor  \vretches  may  be  touched ;  they  are  as 
ignorant  as  the  beasts  that  perish,  intoxicated  every  day  before 
dinner,  and  plunged  in  such  vices  as  make  me  begin  to  think 
London  a  virtuous  place. 

...  I  asked  the  farmers  if  they  had  no  resident  curate.  They 
told  me  they  had  a  right  to  insist  on  one,  which  right  they  con- 
fessed they  had  never  ventured  to  exercise,  for  fear  their  tithes 
shotdd  be  raised.  The  glebe  house  is  good  for  my  purpose  [that 
is  for  a  school].  The  incumbent  is  a  Mr.  E who  has  some- 
thing to  do,  but  I  cannot  find  out  what,  in  the  University  of 

'  Moidip  Annals,  or  Narrative  of  tJie  Charitable  Labours  of  Hannah  atid 
Martha  More  in  their  Neighbourhood,  being  the  '  Journal  of  Martha  More,' 
edited,  with  additional  matter,  by  Arthur  Roberts,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Woodrising, 
Norfolk,  &c.  Memoirs,  dc,  of  Mrs.  Hannah  More,  by  WiUiam  Roberts,  Esq., 
vol.  ii.,  chap.  v. 


DEPEAVED  PAEISHES  299 

Oxford,  where  he  resides.  The  curate  lives  at  Wells,  twelve  miles 
distant.  They  have  only  service  once  a  week,  and  there  is  scarcely 
an  instance  of  a  poor  person  being  visited  or  prayed  with.' 

Mrs.  M.  reports  of  the  incumbent  of  a  neighbouring  parish, 
that  he  was  intoxicated  about  six  times  a  week,  and  was  very 
frequently  prevented  from  preaching  by  black  eyes,  caused  by 
fighting.  She  tells  her  correspondent  in  another  letter :  '  We  saw 
but  one  Bible  in  all  the  parish,  and  that  was  used  to  prop  a  flower- 
pot.' 

The  following  year  some  progress  v^^as  made  :  ' 

We  were  not  long  in  discovering  a  sufficient  number  of  wretched 
ignorant  parishes  [writes  Martha  More].  Among  the  most  de- 
praved and  -svretched  were  Shipham  and  Rowberrow,  two  mining 
villages,  at  the  top  of  Mendip ;  the  people  savage  and  depraved, 
almost  even  beyond  Cheddar,  brutal  in  their  natures  and  ferocious 
in  their  manners.  They  began  by  suspecting  we  should  make  our 
fortunes  by  selling  their  children  as  slaves.  No  constable  would 
venture  to  arrest  a  Shipham  man,  lest  he  should  be  concealed  in 
one  of  their  pits,  and  never  heard  of  more ;  no  uncommon  case. 

In  Nailsea,  after  establishing  a  school  chiefly  attended 
by '  inferior  farmers' '  and  colliers'  children,  the  sisters  visited^ 
*  the  glass-house  people,  and  entered  nineteen  houses  in  a 
row  (little  hovels),  containing  in  all  near  two  hundred 
people,'  and  Martha  describes  their  condition  : 

The  wages  high,  the  eating  and  drinking  luxurious — the  body 
scarcely  covered,  but  fed  with  dainties  of  a  shameful  description. 
The  high  buildings  of  the  glass-houses  ranged  before  the  doors  of 
these  cottages — the  great  furnaces  roaring — the  swearing,  eating, 
and  drinking  of  these  half-dressed,  black-looking  beings,  gave  it  a 
most  infernal  and  horrible  appearance.  .  .  .  We  had  a  gentleman 
with  us,  who  being  rather  personally  fearful,  left  us  to  pursue  our 
own  devices,  which  we  did  by  entering  and  haranguing  every 
separate  family.  We  were  in  our  usual  luck  respecting  personal 
civility,  which  we  received  even  from  the  worst  of  these  creatures, 
some  welcoming  us  to  '  Botany  Bay,'  *  others  to  '  Little  Hell '  as 
they  themselves  shockingly  called  it. 

'  Mendip  Annals,  '  A  Journal  of  the  Mendip  Schools  from  the  year  1789  to 
the  close  of  1791.'  '  Ibid. 

3  Mendip  Annals,  'Continuation  of  the  School  Journal,  beginning  the 
year  1792,' 

*  This  was  the  name  of  the  great  settlement  for  convicts  in  Australia ;  the 


300  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

No  wonder  that  Hannah  expressed  her  astonishment  ^ 
that  England  should  be  sendmg  missionaries  to  the  colonies, 
while  its  own  villages  were  perishing  for  lack  of  instruction. 
Neither  Hannah  nor  Martha  More  was  a  strong  woman ; 
both  suffered  from  distressing  pains  in  the  head  and  face, 
and  their  previous  life  had  not  been  good  training  for 
evangelising  a  scattered  population  of  white  pagans,  in  a 
country  almost  destitute  of  roads  ;  yet  they  kept  up  the 
work  for  many  years,  only  retiring  to  Bath,  of  necessity,  for 
the  worst  of  the  winter. 

Ten  years  after  the  beginning  of  the  work,  Thomas  and 
Margaret  Bernard  made  some  stay  in  Bath,  towards  the 
close  of  1799.  There  it  may  be  assumed  that  they  visited 
the  Misses  More,  the  five  sisters  being  all  probably  together 
in  the  house  in  Pulteney  Street,  and  obtained  from  them 
the  materials  for  the  first  part  of  a  Keport  which  shows  the 
development  of  the  good  work  begun  in  1789.  The  account, 
dated  December,  1799,  was  communicated  to  the  Society 
for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Poor  ;  it  commences  : 

The  Mendip  Schools  ^  are  situate  in  the  part  of  Somersetshire 
between  Wells,  Bristol,  and  the  channel  which  divides  Wales 
from  England.  They  extend  over  twelve  parishes,  which  are 
dispersed  throughout  a  district  of  country  about  twenty-five  miles 
in  diameter.  They  are  intended  not  merely  for  the  education  of 
youth,  but  for  the  instruction  and  reformation  of  mature  life,  and 
for  the  improvement  and  consolation  of  the  aged — and,  according 
to  the  circumstances  of  each  parish,  are  opened  daily,  or  twice  or 
thrice  a  week,  or  on  Sundays  only.  The  early  part  of  the  Sabbath 
is  devoted  to  the  instruction  of  the  young,  who  afterwards  proceed 
to  church  in  a  body,  to  attend  divine  service.  Towards  the  close 
of  the  day  the  room  is  frequented  by  others  ;  chiefly  by  the  aged, 
who  come  to  take  the  benefit  of  the  evening  readings  and  dis- 
course ;  and  attend  with  great  pleasure  and  eagerness  to  derive 
from  religious  information  and  society  that   soUd  relief,  which 

fact  is  here  stated  as  it  is  so  long  since  the  arrangement  was  altered  that  it 
may  be  unknown  to  some  English  persons  born  after  that  time. 

'  To  her  friend  Mrs.  Kennicott,  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Correspoyidetice  of 
Mrs.  Hanimh  More,  by  William  Roberts,  Esq.,  vol.  ii.,  Part  III. 

2  Extracts  from  '  An  Account  of  the  Mendip  Schools,'  by  Thomas  Bernard, 
Esq.     Reports  of  tlie  Society  B.C.P.,  vol.  ii..  No.  LXIV. 


THE  'MENDIP  ANNALS'  301 

alone  can  give  comfort  to  declining  life,  and  smooth  the  path  to 
the  grave.  Their  stay  in  the  school  is  for  half  an  hour,  an  hour, 
or  more,  as  their  convenience  or  inclination  directs.  The  number 
of  those  who  frequent  the  schools,  including  children  and  parents 
is  about  three  thousand.  .  .  .  The  anniversary  meeting  of  these 
societies  and  schools  is,  generally,  early  in  July.  Of  that  held  on 
the  eighth  day  of  last  August,  I  am  able  to  give  a  correct  account 
from  the  relation  of  my  sister  Mrs.  White,  who  was  one  of  the 
ladies  then  present. 

Mrs.  White  had  probably  accompanied  Mr.  and  Mrs.  King 
to  Bristol  and  Alveston  ;  her  narrative  is  written  throughout 
in  the  plural  number,  implying  that  she  was  with  friends. 
It  so  happens  that  the  '  Mendip  Annals,'  or  '  Journal  of 
Miss  Martha  More,'  which  is  the  fullest  account  of  the 
sisters'  work,  does  not  contain  any  report  of  this  meeting. 
Jane  White's  notice  is  therefore  a  contribution  to  the  history 
of  the  movement.     It  is  here  subjoined :  ^ 

The  day  begins  with  a  breakfast  at  Miss  H.  More's  house  at 
Cowslip  Green,  which  is  attended  by  the  neighbouring  families. 
From  thence  they  adjourn  to  Shipham,  one  of  their  school-houses, 
which  was  decorated  by  the  hands  of  the  children  with  wreaths 
and  chaplets  of  natural  flowers ;  every  room,  and  the  outside  of 
the  cottage,  being  white-washed,  and  made  a  pattern  of  rural 
neatness.  The  company  was  invited  to  partake  of  a  collation 
above  stairs,  while  the  better  sort  of  poor  were  collecting  together 
below,  to  walk  to  the  Church  in  a  procession  which  was  composed 
first  of  the  school  children  of  this  and  the  adjoining  parish,  in 
number  about  120,  with  their  school-mistresses,  after  them  the 
clergyman  who  was  to  preach,  the  vicar  of  the  parish,  and  some 
of  the  neighbouring  clergy,  tvv'o  and  two.  Then  followed  Miss 
Martha  More,  one  of  the  patronesses,  and  her  sister  Mrs.  More,  of 
Bath,  and  the  ladies  who  were  members  of  the  society ;  followed 
by  the  poor  who  were  members,  and  then  the  ladies  and  gentle- 
men, who  were  introduced  by  members. 

After  divine  service  we  had  a  discourse,  exhorting  the  audience 
to  fulfil  all  the  duties  of  Christianity,  in  every  rank  and  condition 
of  society,  and  to  set  the  example  of  a  virtuous  and  religious  life. 
The  company  then   returned   to  the  school,  where  the  children 

'  Continuation  of  the  '  Account  of  the  Mendip  Schools.'  Reports  of  the 
Society  B.C. P.,  vol.  ii.,  Ixiv. 


302  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

were  called  over ;  each  being  noticed  in  turn,  and  receiving  the 
present  of  a  plumb-cake,  with  a  particular  commendation  of  every 
one  who  had  been  distinguished  for  good  behaviour.  The  children 
were  then  dismissed  ;  and  the  poor,  and  some  of  the  lesser  farmers' 
wives  and  daughters,  sat  down  to  their  entertainment  of  tea  and 
cakes.  The  ladies  assisted  to  make  the  tea,  and  butter  the  cakes ; 
and  in  the  course  of  an  hour,  in  three  rooms,  about  a  hundred 
were  served  with  great  attention  and  satisfaction.  The  yearly 
account  of  the  Society  was  then  examined  by  Miss  Martha  More, 
with  the  assistance  of  the  Vicar,  and  his  wife  ;  all  the  particulars 
were  minutely  explained  to  the  members,  and  the  balance  in  hand, 
amounting  to  rather  better  than  £50,  was  produced,  as  their  fund 
for  sickness  or  misfortune.  It  was  stated  that  £50  more  had, 
with  consent,  been  lent  the  preceding  year  on  Government 
security,  which  the  poor  expressed  a  wish  might  be  continued. 

After  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  present  had  tendered  their 
benefactions  to  the  Society,  and  some  members  had  been  admitted 
whose  character  and  conduct  had  previously  been  inquired  into, 
and  others  entered,  and  their  names  referred  for  inquiry,  the 
patronesses'  wedding-present  with  some  profitable  advice  was 
given  to  a  young  woman  who  had  been  married  since  the  last 
meeting. 

Miss  Martha  More  then  addressed  herself  to  her  poorer  friends 
with  much  energy  and  effect — to  mothers  on  good  order  in  their 
families,  on  decency  of  conduct  and  the  efificacy  of  example ;  to 
young  wives,  on  industry,  attention,  neatness,  gentleness  of  man- 
ners, and  good  temper ;  to  young  women  preparing  for  or  going 
into  service,  on  obedience,  simplicity  of  dress,  and  mutual  kind- 
ness and  affection  to  each  other.  She  concluded  with  an  animated 
detail  of  the  happy  effects  of  a  truly  Christian  spirit ;  as  supply- 
ing comfort  during  life  and  at  the  hour  of  death,  and  affording  the 
hope  of  eternal  happiness  hereafter.  The  poor  then  departed  to 
their  homes,  having  expressed  their  gratitude  for  the  comforts  they 
had  derived  from  the  institution  during  the  late  severe  winter,  and 
having  poured  forth  their  earnest  wishes  and  prayers  for  the 
health  of  their  absent  patroness,  Miss  Hannah  More,  who  by 
severe  illness  was  prevented  attending  this  anniversary  meeting, 
which  she  had  originally  founded. 

Lady  Olivia  Bernard  Sparrow,  of  Brampton  Park,^  who 
was  a  friend  of  the  sisters,  said  of  the  younger  lady  : 

'  Introduction  to  Mendip  Annals,  by  the  Editor,  Mr.  Arthur  Eoberts,  M.A., 
Eector  of  Woodrising.     Lady  Olivia  Bernard  Sparrow  has  been  mentioned  in 


A  PEEIOD  OF  SUFFERING  303 

Miss  Martha  More  was  a  most  estimable  person,  but  whose 
admiration  and  love  for  her  sister  caused  her  to  keep  herself,  as 
much  as  she  could,  out  of  observation,  so  that,  in  fact,  little  is 
known  of  her. 

She  certainly  threvi^  herself  into  their  mission  work  at 
least  as  thoroughly  as  Hannah,  and  her  '  Journal '  gives  a 
clear  account  of  its  progress. 

Very  soon  after  the  period  of  this  festival  just  described 
the  sisters  were  exposed  to  a  virulent  attack  from  Mr.  Bere, 
the  curate  of  Blagdon,^  in  which  parish  Cowslip  Green  was 
situated.  They  had  not  at  first  undertaken  any  work  there, 
as  it  was  some  distance  from  the  wild  district  on  which 
Mr.  Wilberforce  had  taken  compassion,  and  Mr.  Bere  was 
supposed  to  be  caring  for  it ;  the  rector  was,  of  course,  an 
absentee.  It  was  at  the  urgent  request  of  the  curate, 
supported  by  the  churchwardens  and  overseers,  that,  at 
much  inconvenience  to  themselves,  they  opened  a  school 
in  Blagdon  parish.  Early  in  1800,  when  this  school  had 
worked  much  good  and  was  flourishing,  Mr.  Bere — from 
what  motive,  except  jealousy,  it  is  hard  to  see,  although  the 
schoolmaster's  want  of  judgment  furnished  a  pretext — accused 
them,  Hannah  as  the  leader  especially,  of  teaching  Methodism 
and  Calvinism,  and,  moreover,  principles  of  infidelity,  im- 
morality, and  disloyalty,  supposed  to  be  derived  from  France. 
Of  course  many  partisans  of  the  old  state  of  things  in  that 
and  other  parishes  joined  in  the  outcry.  The  sisters 
demeaned  themselves  bravely  :  Martha  perhaps  bore  the 
brunt  of  the  battle  physically,  for  Hannah  was  for  some 
months  prostrate  with  ague.  They  had,  no  doubt,  many 
friends,  and  the  Bishop  and  Eector  did  them  justice ;  but,  as 
usual,  the  defence  was  not  as  energetic  as  the  attack,  and  the 
sisters  went  through  a  long  period  of  suffering,  without, 
however,  giving  up  their  work. 

Either  during  this  or  a  subsequent   visit  to  Bath,  Mr. 

vol.  i.,  chap,  iv.,  p.  94,  of  this  Family  History.     Mr.  Roberts  dedicated   the 
Mendip  Annals  to  her  as  one  who  had  appreciated  the  sisters. 

'  Roberts  (William),  Memoirs,  £c.,  of  Mrs.  Hannah  More.  (Second  Edition), 
vol.  iii.,  chap.  xi.  In  those  days  the  title  Mrs.  was  given  to  unmarried  as  well 
as  to  married  ladies. 


304  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Bernard  probably  discovered  the  existence  of  some  schools 
at  Weston,  near  Bath,  founded  recently  by  a  Mrs.  Hocker, 
where  children,  apparently  girls  only,  were  taken  from  two 
years  old  to  twelve,  received  elementary  religious  instruction, 
and  were  taught  to  sing  in  church.  The  very  young  children 
were  placed  singly  under  the  care  of  an  elder  child,  super- 
vised of  course  by  the  Mistress  ;  as  they  advanced  in  age 
they  were  taught  to  read,  and  to  work  sufficiently  well  to 
mend  and  make  for  themselves  and  for  their  poor  neighbours. 
When  arrived  at  a  certain  point  they  were  allowed  to  take 
orders  for  paying  work. 

The  relatives  of  these  children,  and  many  other  persons, 
were  attracted  to  church  by  the  sight  of  the  whole  school, 
excepting,  perhaps,  some  babes,  accompanying  its  foundress 
to  church,  and  the  consequent  introduction  of  psalmody  ; 
indeed  the  attendance  increased  so  much  that  the  rector 
was  induced  to  give  another  service,  and  a  marked  change 
for  the  better  took  place  in  the  whole  character  of  the 
parish. 

These  schools  were  only  so  far  connected  with  the  Society 
for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Poor  that  an  account 
of  them,  written  by  a  Miss  Masters,  appeared  in  the  third 
volume  of  the  '  Reports,'  which  probably  means  that  they 
were  visited  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bernard.  Another  charitable 
effort  in  Bath  was,  however,  the  subject  of  a  paper,^  by 
Margaret  Bernard  herself,  dated  '6th  Dec,  1799,'  be- 
ginning : 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1796,  a  Eepository  was  opened  at 
Bath  by  several  ladies,  for  the  reception  of  works  of  industry  and 
ingenuity,  to  be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor.  It  is  supported 
by  subscription,  and  is  conducted  by  a  committee  of  ladies  chosen 
from  among  the  subscribers  ;  of  whom  one  attends  the  sale  every 
day  from  twelve  to  three,  and  three  or  four  meet  on  Saturday,  to 
look  over  the  books,  and  to  pay  the  poor  people.  During  the  two 
first  years  articles  were  sold  for  the  benefit  of  200  poor  persons, 
and  the  receipts  amounted  to  £1133  lis.  4(Z.  The  last  year's 
receipt  was  £700. 

'  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  the  Bath  Repository  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Poor,'  by  Mrs.  Bernard.    Reports  of  the  Society  B.C.P.,  vol.  ii.,  No.  LXV. 


THE  BATH  RBPOSITOEY  305 

There  are  at  present  sixty-three  poor  women,  who  regularly 
bring  their  work,  and  come  every  Saturday  to  be  paid  for  such 
part  as  is  sold ;  many  of  them  are  widows  with  large  families,  and 
some  very  infirm,  particularly  one  poor  woman  who  employs  her- 
self in  making  stay-laces,  and  is  paralytic  ;  so  much  so,  as  to  be 
unable  even  to  lift  her  head  from  the  pillow.  Her  work  is  re- 
markably neat  and  well  done,  and  she  not  only  earns  some 
addition  to  her  means  of  subsistence,  but  relieves  herself  from 
the  weariness  of  many  painful  hours. 

The  children  of  the  School  of  Industry  sent  their  work 
thither,  and  also  ladies,  who  wished  to  work  for  the  benefit 
of  particular  poor  persons ;  the  names  of  the  intended 
recipients  were  ticketed  on  the  work,  and  they  were  required 
to  come  in  person  for  the  money.  Another  thoughtful 
arrangement  was  that  visitors  who  did  not  intend  to  buy 
were  requested  to  put  sixpence  into  a  charity  box, '  to  prevent 
the  inconvenience  that  might  arise  from  idle  visits  of 
curiosity.' 

Although  Mrs.  Bernard  states  that  there  was  one  charity 
of  the  same  kind  in  London,  it  appears  that  such  schemes 
were  by  no  means  common,  and  were,  therefore,  worth 
writing  about.  She  remarks  ^  on  the  advantage  not  only 
to  the  needy  recipients,  but  also  to  the  rich  by  giving  them 
an  unselfish  occupation,  '  and  making  the  amusements  of 
the  idle  and  the  young  contributory  to  charity  and  bene- 
volence.' 

Especially  does  Mrs.  Bernard  dilate  on  the  advantage 
to  the  visitors  of  very  tender  years  : 

Amid  the  pleasures  and  dissipation  of  Bath,  it  must  be  no 
small  satisfaction  to  those  parents  whose  health  obliges  their 
families  to  be  occasionally  resident  there,  that  a  place  of  amuse- 
ment of  this  kind  should  be  opened  for  their  children,  and  that  it 
should  be  powerfully  recommended  by  fashion ;  a  place,  where 
they  may  at  an  early  age,  be  instructed  to  employ  the  means, 
and  enjoy  the  gratification,  of  being  useful  to  the  poor,  and  of 
soothing  and  relieving  their  distresses.  For  it  must  occur  to  them, 
before  it  can  be  suggested,  that  habits  of  this  kind,  when  at  an 

'  '  Observations '  appended  to  the  '  Account  of  the  Bath  Eepository,'  by 
Mrs.  Bernard. 

VOL.   III.  X 


306  THE  BERNARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

early  and  teachable  age  they  are  acquired  and  enjoyed,  will  remain 
through  life  a  blessing  and  an  ornament  to  the  possessor. 

But  the  most  important  result  of  this  visit  to  Bath  was 
the  determination  formed  by  Mr.  Bernard  to  publish  the 
good  work  achieved  by  the  Eev.  Mr.  Daubeny,  in  obtaining 
the  funds,  superintending  the  arrangements,  and  officiating, 
together  with  the  Eev.  Mr.  Leigh,  in  a  chapel  of  the  Church 
of  England,  to  which  the  poor  were  admitted  free,  and  invited 
to  attend. 

This  phenomenon,  for  such  in  the  usual  acceptation  of 
the  term  it  then  was,  was  felt  by  Thomas  to  be  the  first 
step  towards  filling  a  want  he  had  long  deplored,  and  as  an 
example  calling  for  imitation.  And  the  sequel  to  his  resolve 
that  a  movement  in  the  same  direction  should  be  inaugurated 
in  London  will  be  told  in  the  next  chapter. 

In  the  following  year,  1800,  Thomas  Bernard  sold  his 
house  at  Iver  to  Mr.  John  Sullivan.  It  may  be  conjectured 
that,  as  his  time  and  attention  became  increasingly  devoted 
to  philanthropic  schemes,  he  found  the  country  house  an 
encumbrance.  From  that  time  he  made  more  excursions  to 
various  parts  of  England — whether  for  business  or  pleasure 
— generally  it  would  seem  with  a  view  to  some  benevolent 
project ;  sometimes,  perhaps,  as  aids  to  health,  which  had 
been  probably  one  reason  for  his  visits  to  Bath. 

I  have  heard  an  aunt  say  that  Mr.  Bernard's  wife 
regretted  this  change  :  she  was  not  strong,  and  thought  that 
the  new  plan  involved  more  mental  and  bodily  fatigue  ;  but 
she  acquiesced  loyally  in  his  wishes,  whether  they  obliged 
her  to  make  a  prolonged  stay  in  London,  or  a  long  journey 
— sometimes  to  an  untried  locality. 


ME.  DAUBENY'S  CHAPEL  307 


CHAPTEK  XVI 

THE   FEEE    CHAPEL   IN   ST.   GILES'S 

Mr.  Daubeny's  Chapel  at  Bath— The  First  Mention  of  West  Street  Chapel, 
St.  Giles's — It  becomes  John  Wesley's  West  End  Mission  Station — The 
Chapel  in] Thomas  Bernard's  hands— The  Galleries  of  the  Chapel  let  to 
Tradesmen  in  Order  to  Defray  Expenses— Thomas  Bernard's  Account  of 
the  Progress  of  the  Chapel— The  Eeligious  Destitution  of  the  Day— Neglect 
by  the  Church  of  the  Poor— Thomas  Bernard's  Scheme  for  the  Establish- 
ment of  Free  Chapels  for  the  Poor— Proposed  Free  Chapel  in  Douglas, 
Isle  of  Man — Offshoots  from  the  West  Street  Chapel —Public-houses 
Patronised  by  Beggars  in  St.  Giles's— The  Weakness  of  English  Schemes 
of  Improvement— West  Street  Chapel  passes  out  of  the  hands  of  Thomas 
Bernard's  Trustees— The  later  History  of  the  Chapel— The  Kev.  R.  W. 
Dibdin. 

Mr.  Bernard  appears  to  have  lost  no  time  in  writing  an 
account  ^  of  Mr.  Daubeny's  chapel  at  Bath  for  the  '  Keports  ' 
of  his  Society ;  it  is  dated  November  29,  1799,  and  the 
subject  is  introduced  as  follows  : 

The  free  church,  in  the  parish  of  Walcot,  at  Bath,  was  opened 
in  November,  1798,  for  the  general  and  indiscriminate  accommoda- 
tion of  the  poor.  The  idea  was  originally  suggested  by  the  Eev. 
Mr.  Daubeny,  in  a  sermon  delivered  at  St.  Margaret's  chapel,  at 
Bath,  in  April  1792 ;  and  afterwards,  with  the  concurrence  and 
approbation  of  the  Eev.  Mr.  Sibley,  the  Eector  of  the  parish,  pub- 
lished with  an  address  to  the  inhabitants. 

In  this  discourse,  Mr.  Daubeny,  after  enlarging  upon  the  great 
characteristic  of  the  Christian  religion  that  '  the  Poor  have  the 
Gospel  preached  to  them,'  and  upon  the  expected  benefits  of  the 
Sunday  Schools  then  estabhshed  at  Bath,  proceeded  to  ask  '  where 
are  the  children  of  that  place  when  discharged  from  the  Sunday 
Schools  at  a  time  of  Hfe  the  most  dangerous, — where  are  they  to 
gain  that  instruction  which  is  calculated  to  bring  to  perfection  the 

'  Extract  from  'An  Account  of  the  Free  Church  at  Bath,'  by  Thomas 
Bernard,  Esq.    Reports,  vol.  ii.,  No.  LXIII, 

x3 


308  THE  BERNABDS  OF  ABINGTON 

education  which  they  have  received?  If  in  conformity  to  the 
ideas  with  which  they  have  been  brought  up  they  come  to  places 
of  worship  belonging  to  the  EstabHshment,  they  find,  alas !  the 
doors  for  the  most  part,  shut  against  them.' 

He  then  goes  on  to  observe  that  this  is  in  some  degree  to 
exclude  them  from  the  Estabhshed  Church,  instead  of  inviting,  and 
providing  places  of  worship  for  them  ;  without  which  (he  adds) 
'  we  cannot  be  surprised  that  they  should  no  longer  continue 
members  of  a  church,  which,  in  a  manner,  excommunicates  them. 
In  which  case  their  infidelity  and  consequent  immorality,  will  not 
so  much  lay  at  their  own  doors,  as  at  the  doors  of  those  who 
ought,  in  charity,  to  have  taken  their  case  into  consideration,  and 
to  have  provided  means  for  their  instruction.' 

The  poor  of  Walcot  had  actually  been  wronged  by  a 
measure  which  should  have  been  beneficial  in  its  effects : 
namely,  the  enlargement  and  alleged  improvement  of  their 
parish  church ;  this  had  led  to  an  extension  of  the  system 
of  '  farming  '  the  pews  in  order  to  defray  the  interest  on  the 
expenditure.  There  were,  indeed,  four  proprietary  chapels 
besides  in  the  parish,  but  in  these  the  seats  were  let  at  very 
high  prices.  Mr.  Bernard  adds  :  '  I  do  not  mean  to  suggest 
that  no  accommodation  is  left  for  the  poor.  In  Laura  Chapel, 
at  Bath,  I  observed  one  hundred  seats  reserved  for  the  poor, 
in  the  back  of  the  south  gallery ;  and  forty  for  charity  children. '  ^ 
There  is  sufficient  evidence  that  this  state  of  things  was 
usual  throughout  England,  wherever  it  was  possible  to 
make  money  by  pew  rents. 

Thomas  Bernard  did  not  content  himself  with  giving  cur- 
rency to  Mr.  Daubeny's  appeal,  and  chronicling  its  results — 
which  had  been  most  satisfactory ;  while  the  paper  containing 
the  particulars  of  the  enterprise  was  passing  through  the 
press,  he  had  obtained  the  lease  of  a  building  suitable  for  his 
purpose,  which  was  the  opening  of  a  free  chapel  in  London, 
and  was  able  to  state  the  fact  in  a  note  to  the  second  volume 
of  the  '  Eeports,'  dated  January  29,  1800.^ 

'  Note  to  the  '  Account  of  the  Free  Chapel  in  Bath.' 

^  Note  to  the  '  Observations  '  following  the  '  Account  of  the  Free  Chapel  in 
Bath.'  Mr.  Bernard  received  the  news  of  the  engagement  while  the  '  Account ' 
or  '  Report '  was  in  the  printers'  hands. 


WOEKS  OF  MEKCY  309 

While  Mr.  Bernard  was  engaged  in  the  negotiation  for 
this  building,  and  in  the  business  of  fitting  it  for  the  services 
of  the  Church  of  England,  he  was  also  helping  forward  other 
works  of  mercy,  mentioned  elsewhere — the  foundation  of  the 
Blind  School ;  the  formation  of  the  Cancer  Institution  ;  the 
efforts  to  obtain  a  suitable  building  for  a  Fever  Institution, 
especially  ;  and  was  beginning  a  new  crusade  on  behalf  of  the 
unhappy  children  employed  as  chimney-sweeps.  Indeed,  this 
appears  to  have  been  about  the  busiest  period  of  his  philan- 
thropic career.  During  this  winter — 1800-1 — moreover,  the 
scarcity  and  consequent  dearness  of  provisions  reached  a  point 
which  seriously  affected  the  well-being  of  the  people  ;  and  the 
Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Poor  was  busy 
with  experiments  and  instruction  as  to  the  best  means  of 
meeting  the  emergency.  So  early  as  November,  1800,^ 
Thomas  Bernard  was  examined  before  a  Committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  especially  as  to  the  advantages  he  had 
found  in  using  rice  instead  of  flour  at  the  Foundling  Hospital 
and  elsewhere ;  and  the  Committee  embodied  the  details  of 
his  evidence  in  its  Keport.  Bread,  in  1800,  was  Is.  5^d.  the 
quartern  loaf  of  41bs.  5^  ozs.,  and  for  some  weeks  it  rose  to 
Is.  lO^d.  To  remedy  the  effects  of  the  high  price  of  meat 
it  was  proposed  to  secure  for  the  metropolis  a  supply  of 
salted  or  corned  fish.  The  Society  elected  a  committee,  which, 
by  the  agency  of  Mr.  Patrick  Colquhoun,  entered  into  exten- 
sive correspondence  with  Edinburgh  on  this  subject. 

On  the  29th  of  November  the  first  cargo  arrived  containing 
390,000  herrings.  They  were  immediately  announced  for  sale, 
which  commenced  on  the  3rd  of  December,  and  proceeded  with  as 
much  rapidity  as  could  have  been  wished.  In  the  meantime, 
measures  were  taken  for  continuing  the  supply,  at  the  price  then 
fixed,  of  3s.  4:d.  per  hundred.- 

A  little  later  an  effort  was  made  to  utilise  the  Cornish 
fisheries,  which  had  been  much  neglected,  and  Mr.  Henry 

'  Life  of  Sir  Tlwmas  Bernard,  by  the  Bev.  James  Baker. 

2  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  the  Measures  taken  during  the  late  Scarcity, 
for  supplying  the  Poor  with  corned  Herrings  and  other  cheap  Fish,'  by  Thomas 
Bernard,  Esq.    Reports  of  tlie  Society  B.C.P.,  vol.  iii.,  No.  XCV. 


310  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Boase,  who  was  a  Cornishman,  wrote  a  paper  ^  on  the 
subject  for  the  Society's  'Reports.'  Herrings  formed  the 
staple  of  the  fish  supply ;  but  after  a  while  pilchards,  cod, 
and  even  several  other  kinds  of  fish  were  sent  to  London. 
Fresh  sea  fish  was  then  impossible  at  any  considerable 
distance  inland,  except  as  an  occasional  luxury  for  the  rich 
man's  table. 

The  chapel  obtained  by  Mr.  Bernard  ^  for  the  use  of  the 
poor  was  situated  in  West  Street,  St.  Giles's,  one  of  the 
streets  which  converged  in  a  centre  called  the  Seven  Dials. 
"West  Street  Chapel  is  first  mentioned  in  1700,^  when  it  was 
held  by  a  French  Protestant  congregation,  which  had  moved 
there  from  another  locality.  Soon  after  that  period  the 
neighbourhood  appears  to  have  become  more  thickly 
populated,  and,  being  much  neglected,  obtained  a  bad  pre- 
eminence in  reputation  amongst  London  parishes.  This 
misfortune  was  no  doubt  originally  due  to  various  changes 
in  the  metropolis,  such  as  are  still  constantly  in  operation ; 
and  it  probably  owed  to  this  otherwise  undesirable  distinction 
the  honour  of  being  chosen  by  John  Wesley  as  one  of  the 
scenes  of  his  ministry.  He  moved  into  the  chapel  when  it 
was  vacated  by  the  French  congregation,  and  it  became  his 
West  End  mission  station. 

Wesley  still  professed  to  be  an  attached  son  of  the  Eng- 
lish Church,  and  his  friend  Fletcher,  who  preached  his  first 
sermon  in  West  Street  Chapel,  lived  and  died  Vicar  of 
Madeley,  Salop.  Yet  the  proceedings  were  altogether 
irregular,  and  unsanctioned  by  ecclesiastical  authority  ;  they 
were,  to  most  intents  and  purposes,  dissenting  services, 
founding  their  best  excuse  on  the  teiiible  indifference  of  both 
Church  and  State  to  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  masses. 

The  chapel  was  simply  a  large  room,  with  galleries  on  the 
two  sides,   entirely   devoid   of   architecture   and  ornament. 

'  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  the  Fisheries  in  the  West  of  England,'  by 
Henry  Boase,  Esq.    Beports  of  the  Society  B.C. P.,  vol.  iii.,  Appendix  xii. 

-  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Bernard,  by  Rev.  James  Baker. 

'  The  History  of  West  Street  Episco2ml  Chapel,  by  Eev.  R.  W.  Dibdin,  M.A. 
(Nisbet  &  Co..  1862.) 


ST.   GILES'S  FREE  CHURCH  311 

Adjoining  it  was  a  house,  apparently  built  for  the  officiating 
minister,  and  in  an  upper  room  of  this  house  were  three 
windows  looking  into  the  chapel  directly  over  the  com- 
munion-table. In  Wesley's  time  many  persons,  both  lay  and 
clerical,  some  of  considerable  note,  who  wished  to  hear  him, 
occupied  this  room  during  the  services,  though  they  did  not 
wish — especially  if  clergymen — to  be  stigmatised  as  atten- 
dants on  his  ministry ;  from  this  custom  these  convenient 
apertures  received  the  name  of  the  '  Nicodemus  windows.' 

The  chapel  had  no  sooner  come  into  Mr.  Bernard's 
hands  than  he  began  to  realise  the  semi-starvation  to  which 
the  poverty-stricken  district  around  had  been  reduced  during 
the  prevailing  distress.     On  April  4,  1800,  he  wrote  :  ^ 

Some  delay  in  opening  the  Free  Church  in  St.  Giles's  has  been 
unavoidably  occasioned  by  the  increased  demand  of  the  poor  upon 
the  soup-house  of  that  district,  adjoining  to,  and  in  some  degree 
connected  with,  that  Church.  On  this  account  it  has  been  deemed 
proper  to  fit  up  the  soup  kitchen  there,  with  twice  the  accommoda- 
tion originally  intended ;  and  until  that  could  be  completed,  the 
necessary  repairs  and  preparation  of  the  Chapel  could  not  well  be 
proceeded  in.  That  part  of  the  work  is,  however,  now  completed ; 
and  the  repairs  of  the  chapel  are  proceeding  in ;  with  the  hope  of  its 
being  opened,  not  as  a  solitary  free  church  in  the  metropolis,  but  as 
one,  prior  only  in  time,  but  inferior  in  size  and  accommodation,  to 
many  free  churches,  which  the  active  and  persevering  benevolence 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  metropolis  will  establish  and  open  for  the 
benefit  of  the  poor. 

These  words  stamp  the  Free  Chapel  in  West  Street  as 
the  first  metropolitan  place  of  worship  of  its  kind  in  con- 
nection with  the  Church  of  England ;  but  the  well-to-do 
members  of  that  Church  did  not  respond  to  Mr.  Bernard's 
appeal  sufficiently  to  provide  for  its  maintenance,  much  less 
for  others  of  the  sort.  They  apparently  looked  either  with 
indifference  or  dislike  on  the  strange  idea  of  preaching  the 
Gospel  to  the  poor,  and  affording  them  Christian  privileges 

>  In  a  note  to  a  portion  of  the  Appendix  to  the  second  volume  of  the 
Reports  of  the  Society  B.C.P.,  No.  XIV.,  entitled  '  Notes  and  Additional  Obser- 
vations,' collected  by  a  Member  of  the  Committee. 


312  THE   BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

in  the  capital  of  Christian  England,  and  under  the  shelter  of 
buildings  belonging  to  the  so-called  National  Church.  It 
was  found  necessary,  as  at  Bath,  to  let  the  galleries  to 
tradesmen  in  the  neighbourhood,  by  way  of  paying  the 
expenses  of  the  whole  ;  the  body  of  the  chapel  was  reserved 
for  those  who  did  not  pay,  and,  as  the  entire  number  of 
sittings  was  over  one  thousand,  they  probably  obtained  about 
seven  hundred. 

Mr.  Bernard's  biographer  writes  ^  concerning  this  chapel : 

It  was  fitted  up  by  him  at  the  expense  of  nearly  one  thousand 
pounds,  the  whole  of  the  body  being  free  for  the  poor,  and  was 
opened  on  the  25th  of  May,  by  an  excellent  and  impressive  dis- 
course by  the  late  Bishop  Porteous,  who  then  presided  over  the 
diocese  of  London.  The  chapel  had  been  originally  intended  to 
be  consecrated,  but  the  objection  of  its  being  only  leasehold  for 
years,  together  with  the  Bishop's  opinion  that  consecration  was 
not  essential  in  this  more  than  in  many  cases  of  chapels  in  the 
metropolis,  prevented  its  taking  place.  A  formal  licence  was  also 
deemed  by  the  Bishop  of  London  to  be  unnecessary,  he  and  the 
Eector  of  the  parish  having  expressed  their  approbation  by  preach- 
ing in  the  chapel ;  at  the  same  time  the  appointment  of  the 
minister  and  the  attendants  was  left  with  Mr.  Bernard.  In  other 
undertakings  of  this  nature  he  had  received  liberal  pecuniary 
assistance  from  others ;  to  this  the  contributions  were  incon- 
siderable. In  addition  to  the  original  expense  of  fitting  up,  he 
engaged  to  pay,  during  the  continuance  of  the  twenty-one  years' 
lease,  the  further  annual  sum  of  fifty  guineas,  which  with  the 
rents  of  the  pews  in  the  galleries  defrayed  all  the  expenses. 

Thomas  Bernard  wrote  his  own  account  ^  of  the  com- 
mencement and  progress  of  the  chapel  in  the  'Eeports  '  of  his 
Society  as  follows  : 

On  Sunday  the  25th  of  May,  1800,  a  free  chapel  was  opened  in 
West  Street,  near  the  Seven  Dials,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Poor. 
Those  who  have  witnessed  the  pathos  and  energy  with  which  the 
Bishop  of  London  delivers  and  enforces  the  divine  truths  and 
ordinances  of  the  Gospel,  may  conceive  how  powerful  and  impres- 

'  Lije  of  Sir  Thomas  Bernard,  by  Rev.  James  Baker. 

^  Extract  from '  An  Account  of  the  Free  Chapel,  in  West  Street,  St.  Giles's,' 
by  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.    Beports  of  tJie  Society  B.C.P.,  vol.  iii.,  No.  LXXVIII. 


ST.  GILES'S  FEEE  CHUKCH  313 

sive  his  discourse  must  have  been  on  this  occasion  ;  addressed  as 
it  was  to  the  feehngs,  and  understandings  of  his  audience,  and 
received  by  them  with  silent  and  unfeigned  satisfaction. 

The  chapel  was  extremely  crowded  ;  not  merely  by  the  poor, 
but  by  many  of  the  other  classes  of  life.  The  singing  was 
peculiarly  striking  and  affecting  ;  all  the  persons  who  were  present, 
standing  up,  and  uniting  earnestly  and  zealously  in  this  delightful 
act  of  devotion.  In  the  afternoon  the  Rev.  Dr.  Glasse  preached, 
with  much  effect  upon  his  audience  ;  if  fixed  and  gratified  atten- 
tion can  be  admitted  as  evidence  of  the  impression  of  the  preacher. 
On  the  succeeding  Sunday  the  sacrament  was  administered  at  the 
Chapel ;  and  fifty  persons,  chiefly  the  aged  poor,  received  the 
Communion  with  decency  and  devotion. 

It  appears  that  the  Eector  of  St.  Giles's  was  also  Bishop 
of  Chichester.  The  chapel  was  placed  under  the  direction  of 
the  Bishop  of  London,  the  Eector,  and  eight  principal  sub- 
scribers. The  Methodist  Society,  which  was  leaving  six 
months  before  its  time,  behaved  with  great  friendliness  and 
liberality.  For  nearly  a  year,  Mr.  Vevers  was  the  officiating 
clergyman,  but  from  Lady-day  1801,  Mr.  Gurney  was 
engaged,  apparently  with  the  idea  that  he  was  a  very  fit 
person  for  this  difficult  post. 

It  had  been  conceived  (writes  Mr.  Bernard),  that  it  would  be 
better,  and  more  conducive  to  the  permanency  of  the  institution, 
that  the  poor  should  gradually  find  their  way  into  the  chapel  ; 
rather  than  by  any  special  means  to  press  their  premature 
attendance.  No  hope  was  entertained  that  their  habits  would  be 
suddenly  and  entirely  changed ;  and  that  those,  who  from  infancy 
had  passed  the  Lord's  Day  in  sloth  and  brutal  indulgence,  should 
be  at  once  amended ;  and  be  prepared  regularly  to  attend  vdth 
cleanliness  and  decency,  in  a  place  of  divine  worship.  A  complete 
and  permanent  reform  was  not  to  be  immediately  expected  ;  and 
a  temporary  conformity,  a  mere  yielding  for  the  time  to  pressing 
instances,  compelling  them  to  come  in,  did  not  promise  any  stable 
improvement. 

Everything  appears  to  have  been  done  to  make  the 
chapel  attractive,  according  to  the  ideas  of  the  times,  and  so 
far  as  circumstances  permitted ;  an  organ  was  provided,  an 
organist   engaged,  and   printed   copies   of   the   psalms  and 


314  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

hymns  placed  in  the  free  seats  ;  there  was  also  some  atten- 
tion paid  to  the  comfort  of  the  seat-holders  in  the  galleries, 
on  whom  the  support  of  the  chapel  mainly  depended,  and 
room  was  made  there  for  a  few  additional  sittings.  Mr. 
Gm:ney,  who  undertook  the  charge  of  the  district,  was 
evidently  considered  an  eloquent  preacher,  since  many  of  the 
inhabitants  of  St.  Giles's  had  desired  to  see  him  appointed 
to  the  lectureship  of  the  parish  church,  and  such  lecturers 
were  ordinarily  chosen  on  account  of  their  powers  of  attract- 
ing a  congregation.  He  was  content  to  accept  the  pew  rents 
and  the  additional  501.  provided  by  Mr.  Bernard  as  his 
stipend.  The  salary  of  the  organist  and  other  church 
expenses  must  have  been  defrayed  by  the  very  moderate 
contributions  of  the  public. 

The  '  Observations  '  appended  to  Mr.  Bernard's  paper  on 
the  chapel,  according  to  the  custom  adopted  in  the  Society's 
*  Keports,'  are  of  unusual  length,  and  contain  some  curious 
particulars  of  the  religious  destitution  of  the  day  :  ^ 

Whoever  takes  a  view  of  the  parochial  districts  of  the  western 
end  of  our  metropolis,  will  find  that  in  the  four  parishes  of 
Marybone,  St.  James's,  St.  Giles's,  and  St.  George's  Hanover 
Square,  with  a  population  of  some  hundred  thousand  inhabitants, 
there  are  only  four  churches  for  the  reception  of  those,  who  are 
desirous  of  attending  divine  worship,  according  to  the  rites  of  the 
Church  of  England.  Three  of  these  are  of  a  moderate  size ;  but 
the  other,  that  of  Marybone,  hardly  fit  for  the  chapel  of  some  petty 
insulated  hamlet.  In  these  four  parishes,  the  utmost  exertions  of 
the  parochial  clergy,  combined  with  the  greatest  talents,  must  be 
utterly  inadequate  to  the  religious  duties  of  their  respective  dis- 
tricts. 

The  writer  then  recurs  to  the  vexed  subject  of  accommo- 
dation ;  those  who  did  not  pay  being  relegated  to  '  standing- 
room  in  the  aisles,  and  sometimes  an  occasional  neglected 
bench ' ;  and  continues  : 

It  is  of  very  little  or  no  consequence,  that  in  these  four  parishes, 
there  are  many  private  chapels.     These  chapels  are  let  at  rack- 

'  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  the  Free  Chapel  in  West  Street,  St.  Giles's,' 
by  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.  ('  Observations '  appended  to  the  Account).  Reports 
of  the  Society  B.C.P.,  vol.  iii.,  No.  LXXVIII. 


RELIGIOUS  DESTITUTION  315 

rent,  to  some  speculating  undertaker  :  the  pews,  and  every  part  of 
them,  being  laid  out  and  disposed  (as  other  private  property 
generally  is)  so  as  to  produce  the  greatest  possible  income  loith  the 
least  outgoings  ;  and  the  free  admission  of  the  poor  being  directly 
opposite  to  the  principle,  on  which  they  are  built  and  opened  ;  and 
perfectly  incompatible  with  the  great  object  of  making  a  very  largo 
revenue,  by  the  admission  of  very  genteel  company. 

He  notes  that 

many  of  the  better  and  more  serious  of  the  labouring  poor  are 
driven  and  compelled  to  take  refuge  in  the  different  places  of 
worship,  which  the  more  accommodating  spirit  of  other  sects  pro- 
vides for  their  religious  duties.  But  this  is  not  all :  the  greater 
number  of  these  neglected  Christians  preserve  their  orthodoxy,  by 
never  attoiding  any  church  at  all ;  and  in  a  country  justly  boasting 
of  the  purity  of  its  religious  doctrines, — extremely  fortunate  in  the 
possession  of  a  learned  and  pious  clergy, — and  consecrating  very 
ample  funds  to  the  support  of  a  most  respectable  church  establish- 
ment—two thirds  of  the  lower  order  of  people  in  the  metropolis, 
live  as  utterly  ignorant  of  the  doctrines  and  duties  of  Christianity, 
and  are  as  errant  and  unconverted  pagans,  as  if  they  had  existed 
in  the  wildest  part  of  Africa. 

Mr.  Bernard,  though  fully  admitting  the  obligation  of 
carrying  the  Gospel  to  other  lands,  remarks  how  curious  an 
enigma  it  will  appear  to  future  ages  that  England,  while 
sending  missions  to  distant  and  unknown  countries,  should 
utterly  neglect  its  own  metropolis.  In  the  present  day  we 
do  not  look  back  on  the  transition  years  of  the  eighteenth 
and  nineteenth  centuries  as  particularly  distinguished  by 
zeal  for  foreign  missions,  but  such  they  apparently  were  by 
comparison,  since  the  Church  totally  ignored  the  duty  of 
providing  for  its  people  at  home,  where  the  increase  of 
population  demanded  an  increase  of  exertion,  or  where  any 
change  of  circumstances  rendered  fresh  measures  urgent. 

In  his  animadversions  on  the  shortcomings  of  the 
National  Church,  he  alludes  to  '  the  awful  series  of  events 
which  is  now  desolating,  and  we  may  hope  at  the  same  time 
reforming,  the  Christian  world ' — namely,  the  great  Eevolu- 
tion  in  France,  and  the  consequent  misfortunes  in  which 
other  countries  had  been  involved.     He  continued,  in  a  more 


316  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

animated  strain  than  was  usual  to  him— his  feelings  having 
been  stirred  from  their  depths  by  this  topic  : 

It  is  written  in  the  recent  History  of  Europe,  it  is  inscribed  in 
the  summary  of  the  preceding  ten  years,  that  there  is  no  protection 
against  the  calamities  which  are  now  laying  waste  our  quarter  of 
the  globe,  except  that  purity  of  faith  and  integrity  of  life,  which 
are  to  be  derived  from  the  vivifying  influence  of  religion,  extend- 
ing, like  the  solar  ray,  to  every  class  of  our  fellow  subjects,  and 
operating  in  the  moral  amendment  of  the  great  mass  of  the 
people. 

And  after  some  further  remarks,  he  adds  : 

With  these  sentiments,  and  with  this  conviction  on  my  mind, 
I  venture  to  submit  to  those,  from  whom  only  such  a  measure  can 
properly  originate,  the  expediency  of  providing  some  remedy  for 
this  national  evil. — What  I  have  to  suggest  may  be  considered  as 
a  mission  for  the  instruction  and  conversion  of  our  neglected  felloio 
creatures^  the  Pagan  Inhabitants  in  the  Centre  of  London. 

Mr.  Bernard's  suggestion  was  the  formation  of  a  society 
for  the  foundation  and  establishment  of  free  chapels  for  the 
poor  in  populous  towns,  *  subject,  as  all  other  chapels  and 
churches  of  the  Estabhshed  Church  must  be,  to  episcopal 
control  and  government.'  The  principal  subscribers  were  to 
be  governors  of  the  Society.  'Whenever  such  a  Society 
shall  be  formed,'  he  adds,  '  and  the  directing  power  placed  in 
unexceptionable  hands,  I  will  venture  to  hope  that  some 
addition  to  its  funds  may  be  afforded  by  government.' 

Mr.  Baker  is  silent  as  to  the  results  of  this  appeal ;  it 
clearly  met  with  little  or  no  response.  The  West  Street 
chapel  struggled  on  amidst  difficulties,  and  apparently 
without  successors.  Some  years  later,  in  1812,  Thomas 
Bernard  was  engaged  in  furthering  a  similar  enterprise  at 
Brighton,  which,  however,  had  a  very  troubled  career ;  but, 
in  1814,  his  heart  was  at  length  rejoiced  by  the  receipt  of  a 
letter  ^  from  the  Isle  of  Man  stating  that : 

In  the  principal  town  of  Douglas,  which  contains  about  seven 
thousand  inhabitants,  there  is  no  accommodation  for  the  poor  in 

'  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Bernard,  by  the  Ecv.  James  Baker. 


GOOD  WOEK  317 

the  churches  belonging  to  the  establishment.  It  is  now  in  con- 
templation to  erect  a  Free  Chapel  on  the  plan  of  that  in  London, 
West  Street,  Seven  Dials,  and  his  Grace  the  Duke  of  Athol, 
Governor-in-Chief,  highly  approves  of  the  plan. 

It  is  hardly  possible,  therefore,  that  the  bishops  can  have 
thrown  their  influence  into  the  movement ;  most  of  them 
probably  looked  with  suspicion  on  such  innovations,  while 
some  of  the  beneficed  clergy  dreaded  the  diminution  of  their 
rights  and  incomes.  Such  were  the  ideas  of  the  age,  indeed, 
that  Mr.  Bernard  was  fortunate  in  not  being  opposed  in 
West  Street  by  the  Bishop  and  Kector,  whose  work  he  was 
doing  for  them.  As  to  the  laity,  it  is  not  surprising  that  in 
such  circumstances  they,  also,  should  have  been  generally 
indifferent,  when  not  hostile  to  the  effort. 

The  little  chapel  of  the  Seven  Dials  had  a  subsequent 
history  of  some  interest.  It  went  through  years  of  bare 
toleration  doing  good  work  in  a  very  unostentatious  manner. 
For  some  time  the  majority  of  the  poor  inhabitants  of  the 
district  could  scarcely  be  brought  to  understand  that  they 
were  no  longer  to  be  repelled  from  church,  but  were  invited 
and  even  expected  to  attend  rehgious  services.  The  idea 
was  too  startling  to  be  quickly  realised. 

The  habitual  neglect  of  Divine  Service  and  of  all  observance  of 
the  Sabbath  [writes  Mr.  Baker  •]  was  so  inveterated  in  the 
minds  of  the  poor  of  that  neighbourhood,  that  after  the  first 
effects  of  curiosity  were  over,  the  chapel  was  for  some  months 
very  thinly  attended.  Perseverance  however,  and  the  assiduity 
and  talent  of  Mr.  Gurney  who  devoted  himself  to  the  duty  with 
extraordinary  zeal,  produced  a  numerous  and  regular  congregation 
of  the  poor.  The  Holy  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  is  fully 
attended,  and  a  weekly  evening  Lecture  established,  and  con- 
stantly frequented  by  the  neighbourhood. 

In  a  note  the  same  writer  adds : 

The  number  of  attendants  has  been  from  one  hundred  and 
eighty  to  two  hundred  persons,  and  the  collections  among  persons 
so  necessitous   have   amounted   to    three   or   four  pounds   on   a 

'  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Bernard. 


318  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Sunday.  At  the  first  Confirmation  the  Bishop  of  London  held 
after  the  opening  of  the  Chapel,  one  hundred  and  fifty  young 
persons  went  in  a  body  from  the  Chapel  to  be  confirmed. 

The  soup-kitchen,  established  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
chapel  house,  may  be  supposed  to  have  had  some  influence 
in  attracting  persons  to  the  services ;  but  if  so,  it  was  within 
fair  bounds;  no  pious  bribery  was  attempted.  The  soup 
was,  indeed,  as  the  scarcity  increased,  supplemented  by  salt 
or  corned  fish,  pork,  potatoes,  bread,  and  savoury  rice.  As 
the  scarcity  increased  and  lengthened,  these  provisions  were 
not  given  away,  but  sold  at  a  low  price,  and  to  all  comers ; 
but  the  applicants  chiefly  belonged  to  St.  Giles  and  the  ad- 
joining parish  of  St.  Ann's,  Soho.  There  was  also  a  charity 
for  coals,  which  were  stored  under  the  chapel — this  being  a 
customary  arrangement  in  proprietary  places  of  worship — 
though,  perhaps,  wine  and  spirits  were  the  more  usual 
commodities.  But  it  is  probable  that  the  provisions  were 
partly  discontinued  after  the  times  began  to  mend.  Sir 
Frederick  Morton  Eden,^  who  wrote  a  full  account  of  this 
institution  for  the  Society's  *  Keports,'  was  against  leading 
the  poor  to  rely  on  such  aid  too  exclusively. 

The  success  of  the  chapel  [says  Mr.  Baker  2]  was  followed  by 
the  formation  of  a  school,  originally  containing  only  about  two 
hundred  children.  It  was  however  progressively  increased  to  four 
hundred,  consisting  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  boys  in  the  chapel, 
and  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  girls  in  the  house  adjoining.^  The 
parents  pay  ninepence  a  month  for  each  child  ;  and  the  payments 
are  very  punctually  made,  and  are  adequate  to  a  considerable  part 
of  the  expense  of  these  schools,  which  have  continued  to  benefit 
and  improve  that  part  of  the  metropolis  for  above  fourteen  years. 

»  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  the  Soup  House  in  West  Street,  St.  Giles's,' 
by  Sir  Frederick  Morton  Eden,  Bart. 

*  Life  of  Sir  Thatnas  Bernard. 

'  See  also,  for  earlier  statistics  and  other  particulars,  extract  from  '  An 
Account  of  the  Free  Chapel  Schools  in  West  Street,  Seven  Dials,'  by  John 
Dougan,  Esq.,  Reports  of  tJie  Society  B.C.P.,  vol.  iv..  No.  C.  The  total  expense 
of  the  day  and  Sunday-schools,  was  283L  10s.  per  annum.  Of  this  90Z.  was 
expended  in  clothing  for  ninety  children  nominated  by  subscribers  of  one 
guinea  or  benefactors  of  ten  guineas  each.  The  parents  of  the  scholars  contri- 
buted 13s.  a  year  for  each  child,  amounting  to  156L,  when  this  account  was 
written. 


PUBLIC  HOUSES  IN  ST.  GILES'S  319 

The  chapel  produced  in  1803  another  beneficial  establishment — 
'  A  Society  of  the  Poor  for  the  Belief  of  their  poor  Neighbours  in 
Distress,'  its  objects  being  to  visit,  ascertain  the  circumstances  and 
character,  and,  as  far  as  may  be,  relieve  the  distresses  of  any  poor 
persons  in  that  neighbourhood,  v^^ho  are  suffering  in  silence  and 
obscurity.  In  the  course  of  a  week  from  its  first  proposal  by  Mr. 
Gurney  from  the  pulpit,  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  of  his  con- 
gregation subscribed  to  the  annual  amount  of  one  hundred  and 
tv^enty-eight  pounds ;  and  what  makes  it  singular  is  that  these 
poor  persons  subscribe  without  any  preferable  claim  on  the  funds, 
except  what  may  arise  from  superior  character  or  more  urgent 
distress.^ 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  how  a  population  which  could 
undertake  a  work  of  this  kind  could  be  either  very  wretched 
or  very  depraved.  Only  from  the  article  in  the  '  Quarterly 
Eeview  '  on  Mendicity,^  vn:itten  some  years  later,  have  I 
been  able  to  glean  any  particulars  throwing  light  on  the 
darker  shades  of  its  social  life.  It  deals  with  some  Minutes 
of  a  Committee,  printed  in  1815,  by  order  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  Some  passages  relate  to  two  houses  in  Church 
Lane,  very  near  West  Street. 

Joseph  Butterworth,  Esq.,  one  of  the  Committee,  and  an  active 
member  of  the  '  Strangers'  Friend  Society  '  says  : 

'  There  are  two  public-houses  in  Church  Lane  St.  Giles's  whose 
chief  support  depends  on  beggars ;  one  called  the  Beggar's  Opera, 
which  is  the  Eose  and  Crown  public-house,  and  the  other  the 
Ptobin  Hood.  The  number  that  frequent  those  houses,  at  various 
times,  are  computed  to  be  between  two  and  three  hundred.  I  have 
been  credibly  informed  that  they  are  divided  into  companies,  and 
each  company  is  subdivided  into  what  are  called  walks,  and  each 
company  has  its  particular  walk :  if  this  walk  be  considered 
beneficial,  the  whole  company  take  it  by  turns,  each  person  keep- 
ing it  from  half  an  bom-  to  three  or  four  hours.     Their  receipts, 

'  Mr.  Baker's  notice  is  chiefly  taken  from  the  extract  of  '  An  Account  of  a 
Society  in  West  Street  for  the  Belief  of  their  Poor  Neighbours  in  Distress,'  by 
Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.     Reports  of  the  Society  B.C. P.,  vol.  iv.,  No.  CIV. 

^  The  Quarterly  Review,  October  1815,  vol.  xiv.,  Art.  vi.  Minutes  of  the 
Evidence  taken  before  the  Committee  appointed  by  the  House  of  Commons  to 
inquire  into  the  State  of  Mendicity  and  Vagrancy  in  the  Metropolis  and  its 
Neighbourhood,  ordered  to  be  printed  July  11th,  1815. 


320  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

at  a  moderate  calculation,  cannot  be  less  than  from  three  to  five 
shillings  a  day  each  person.  .  .  .  ' 

Mr.  WilHam  Dorrell,  inspector  of  the  pavement  of  St.  Giles's, 
has  been  on  an  evening,  out  of  curiosity,  at  the  Rose  and  Crown, 
kept  by  a  man  of  the  name  of  Sheen,  and  the  Robin  Hood,  in 
Church  Lane,  by  a  man  whose  name  is  Pearl.  '  I  have  seen  them,' 
he  says,  '  some  years  back,  at  a  time  when  the  knives  and  forks, 
the  snuffers,  the  pokers,  tongs,  and  so  on,  were  chained  to  the 
place,  take  fowls  and  such  things  for  supper.'  He  also  says  that 
there  were  two  cellars  between  Plumtree  Street  and  Dyot  Street 
where  they  used  to  dress  sausages  for  their  supper,  and  where  the 
things  were  chained  to  the  table  to  prevent  their  being  stolen. 

Mr.  Sampson  Stevenson,  overseer  of  the  parish  of  St.  Giles's, 
gives  a  similar  account  of  another  house,  called  the  Fountain,  in 
King  Street,  Seven  Dials,  where  the  beggars  assemble,  not  only  at 
night,  but  in  a  morning  before  they  start  upon  their  daily  occupa- 
tions. He  has  gone  into  the  bar  to  see  their  manner  of  going  on  : 
they  set  out  in  a  morning  some  with  knapsacks  on  their  back ; 
some  with  none.  The  former  take  anything  they  can  collect,  old 
clothes  and  old  shoes,  which  they  bring  to  a  place  near  Monmouth 
Street,  where  '  they  translate  old  shoes  into  new  ones  ;  they  make 
sometimes  three  or  four  shillings  a  day  by  old  shoes  only  ' ;  and 
'  their  mode  of  exciting  charity  for  shoes  is  invariably  to  go  bare- 
footed, and  scarify  their  feet  and  heels  with  something  or  another 
to  cause  the  blood  to  flow.'  He  says  they  are  the  worst  of 
characters,  get  violently  drunk,  quarrel  and  fight,  calling  for  gin, 
rum,  beer,  and  whatever  they  like  ;  ham,  beef,  and  so  on  ;  broken 
victuals  none  of  them  will  touch. 

'There  are  houses  where  there  are  forty  or  fifty  of  them,  like  a 
gaol ;  the  porter  stands  at  the  door  and  takes  the  money.  For 
threepence  they  have  clean  straw,  or  something  like  it ;  for  those 
who  pay  fourpence  there  is  something  more  decent ;  for  sixpence 
they  have  a  bed.  They  are  all  locked  in  for  the  night,  lest  they 
should  take  the  property.  In  the  morning  there  is  a  general 
muster  below.' 

It  appears  that  in  the  parish  of  St.  Giles  there  are  numbers  of 
these  houses ;  the  persons  who  frequent  them  have  no  habitations, 
but  live  entirely  by  begging,  or  something  worse. 

This  evidence  was  given  before  a  Committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  whose  business  was  'to  inquire  into 
the  State  of  Mendicity  and  Vagrancy  in  the  Metropolis,' 
omitting  other  forms  of  vice  and  crime ;  the  record  would 


AN  INSTEUCTIVE  LESSON  IN  ADMINISTRATION     321 

probably  be  quite  as  black  in  each  case  had  other  phases 
been  set  forth.  As  the  money  raised  in  the  parish  for  the 
relief  of  distress  was  distributed  by  persons  well  acquainted 
with  the  locality,  it  may  be  concluded  that  it  was  given  to 
the  deserving  poor  only,  for  whom  these  successful  vaga- 
bonds must  have  been  a  sore  trial  of  faith. 

The  great  weakness  in  every  English  scheme  of  improve- 
ment is  want  of  continuity.  It  seems  impossible  to  ensure 
an  organisation  for  carrying  on  philanthropic  works  after 
the  first  promoters  and  benefactors  have  passed  away  from 
the  scene.  The  history  of  the  West  Street  Chapel  has  been 
vioritten,  and  forms  an  instructive  lesson  in  the  administration 
of  Anglican  Church  affairs. 

It  appears  from  the  '  Quarterly  Eeview  '  that  Mr.  Gurney, 
who  gave  evidence  before  the  Committee,  was  then  rector 
of  St.  Clement  Danes,  as  well  as  minister  of  West  Street 
Chapel.  Pecuniary  reasons  may  have  rendered  this  arrange- 
ment inevitable,  but  it  must  have  diminished  his  usefulness 
in  St.  Giles's.  Within  three  years  from  that  time  Sir 
Thomas  Bernard,  as  he  then  was,  died — the  original  lease 
of  the  chapel  had  but  another  three  years  to  run ;  but  it 
seems  evident  that  Sir  Thomas  must  have  obtained  some 
extension  of  the  term,  since  Mr.  Gurney  remained  five  years 
longer  at  his  post.  The  annual  sum  allowed  by  Sir  Thomas 
was,  therefore,  in  all  likelihood,  secured  to  the  officiating 
clergyman  for  that  period.  If  the  statement  of  Mr.  Samuel 
Cole,  of  98  Great  Russell  Street,  may  be  received  as  accurate, 
the  visible  results  of  the  chapel  teaching  had  much  diminished 
in  the  meantime ;  and  Mr.  Cole  having  been  converted  by 
Mr.  Gurney,  was  not  likely  to  exaggerate  deficiencies  which 
might  tell  against  him. 

In  the  course  of  his  twenty-five  years  of  labour  about  the 
Seven  Dials  Mr.  Gurney  must  have  grown  sensibly  older, 
and  less  able  to  manage  large  numbers  of  persons,  while  the 
population  amongst  which  he  toiled  was  not  of  a  sort  to 
make  allowance  for  the  shortcomings  of  declining  age. 
Indeed,  it  may  be  conjectured  that  a  decided  change  for  the 
worse  had  taken  place  in  the  character  of  the  inhabitants — 

VOL.  m.  y 


322  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

that  a  recent  additional  influx  of  lawless  and  abandoned 
settlers  had  proved  too  much  for  the  clergyman,  and  had 
fixed  upon  St.  Giles's/  and  especially  upon  the  Seven  Dials, 
the  reputation  of  being  the  worst  quarter  of  London.  This 
influx  of  reprobates  had,  no  doubt,  led  to  an  exodus  of  some 
of  the  more  respectable  residents,  such  as  the  tradesmen  who 
had  occupied  the  galleries,  and  the  quieter  portion  of  the 
poor;  added  to  which  changes,  the  death  of  Sir  Thomas 
Bernard  must  have  been  preceded  and  followed  by  the  loss 
of  some  of  his  contemporaries,  who  had  been  friends  and 
fellow-workers,  and  thus  the  needful  support  was  withdrawn 
from  the  chapel — moral  as  well  as  pecuniary.  Of  the  Bishop 
and  Eector  at  this  crisis  nothing  is  said. 

Mr.  Gurney  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Ellaby,  who  appears 
to  have  taken  the  chapel  on  his  own  responsibility,  so  that 
it  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  Sir  Thomas  Bernard's  trustees. 
Mr.  Cole  writes  : 

At  that  time  there  were  only  ten  communicants.  A  committee 
was  then  formed  for  repairing  and  altering  the  chapel ;  the  cooking 
apparatus  for  making  soup  was  taken  away,  and  the  centre  of  the 
chapel  fitted  up  with  pews.  A  benevolent  society  was  formed  for 
visiting  the  sick  and  poor. 

But  the  pewing  of  the  chapel  must  have  meant  that 
pew-rents  were  exacted ;  so  that  it  became  an  ordinary  *  pro- 
prietary chapel,'  though  not  of  the  most  fashionable  type. 
The  historical  '  Nicodemus  windows  '  were  blocked  up  at 
this  time. 

It  is  not  surprising  to  find  that  the  enterprise  ended  in 
disappointment ;  but  it  is  perhaps  remarkable  that  Mr.  Ellaby 
should  have  speedily  found  an  opportunity  of  disposing  of 
the  chapel  to  a  new  bidder,  and,  as  may  be  assumed,  on 
satisfactory  terms  to  himself.  His  widow,  who  seems  to 
have  jotted  down  some  reminiscences  as  a  contribution  to 
the  history  of  the  chapel,  writes  :  ^ 

'  The  stigma  which  attached  to  the  parish  is  exemplified  in  Douglas 
Jerrold's  story — with  a  purpose — entitled  St.  Giles  and  St.  Janies,  in  which, 
about  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  St.  Giles  figures  as  the  type  of 
degradation,  St.  Janies  of  exaltation. 

2  In  The  History  of  West  Street  Episcopal  Chapel,  by  Rev.  R.  W.  Dibdin,  M.A. 


A  DWINDLING  CONGEEGATION  323 

As  far  as  I  can  recollect  my  late  dear  husband  commenced  his 
ministry  at  West  Street  in  1826,  and  closed  it  in  1830  or  1831, 
when  it  was  taken  by  the  Irish  Society.  We  lived  in  the  chapel- 
house  for  three  years.  It  was  not  a  very  desirable  locality  in 
which  to  train  up  a  young  family,  but  we  were  mercifully  kept  in 
health  and  quietness  during  our  continuance  there,  with  but  little 
occasional  annoyance  from  the  turbulent  spirits  by  whom  we 
were  surrounded,  who  knew  nothing  of  the  privilege  of  reverencing 
the  sanctuary  or  keeping  the  Sabbath  holy. 

Daring  the  years  in  which  the  Irish  Society  held  the 
chapel  it  was  the  scene  of  fierce  denunciations  of  Popery  ;  but 
even  these  did  not  ensure  success,  apparently,  for  the  Society 
soon  parted  with  the  building,  which  was  taken  by  the  Eev. 
James  Endell  Tyler,  rector  of  St.  Giles's,  in  1836.  He 
probably  worked  it  partly  by  means  of  his  curates  ;  but  he 
also  procured  the  services  of  eminent  popular  preachers. 
Still  the  results  fell  far  short  of  expectation,  and  when  in 
1841  or  1842  the  Eev.  E.  W.  Dibdin  wished  for  a  lease  of  the 
chapel  under  the  Eector,  the  congregation  numbered  but 
twenty-five  persons,  all  but  one  of  whom  were,  however, 
communicants. 

The  Eector,  who  appears  to  have  spoken  very  frankly  to 
Mr.  Dibdin,  expressed  surprise  at  his  own  failure  to 
evangelise  the  district,  after  the  trouble  he  had  given  him- 
self with  that  view.  He  stated  that  he  had  opened  the 
chapel  with  twelve  judges  as  worshippers  at  the  service  ; 
thereupon  Mr.  Dibdin  observed  that  judges  were  the  last 
persons  in  the  world  Mr.  Tyler  should  have  invited  to  St. 
Giles's  if  he  wished  the  inhabitants  to  frequent  his  chapel. 
The  further  conversation  is  instructive  : 

'  You  are  not  risking  much  money,  I  hope  ?  '  I  told  him  that  I 
had  not  much  to  risk,  and  that  it  was  not  a  speculation.  He  said, 
'  I  am  glad  that  you  are  not  risking  money,  for  you  would 
certainly  lose  it.  I  have  long  looked  upon  that  part  of  my  parish 
as  hopeless.  Bring  me  your  chapel  book,  and  I  will  write  in  it 
to  authorise  you  to  dispense  the  sacramental  alms  as  you  think 
fit ;  but  it  will  not  be  much,  1  fear.'  He  little  thought  that  the 
communicants  would  in  a  few  years  become  nearly  ten  times  as 
numerous  as  they  were  at  his  parish  church. 

Y    2 


324  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

From  this  narrative  it  may  be  inferred  that  Mr.  Dibdin 
was  a  man  of  great  energy  and  devotion,  who  was  satisfied 
with  the  results  of  his  ministry,  and  had  reason  to  be  so  ;  he 
held  strong  views  on  some  points — was  especially  hostile  to 
Popery,  and  a  firm  believer  in  demoniacal  possession,  in 
which  belief  he  was  probably  confirmed  by  observations 
made  during  his  residence  in  St.  Giles's.  One  of  his  ex- 
periences was  the  loss  of  his  plate,  which  was  stolen  ;  it 
was,  however,  replaced  by  '  friends  and  well-wishers.' 

Mr.  Dibdin's  account  of  the  chapel  is  dated  1862 ;  at 
that  period  the  building  had  again  been  put  up  to  auction. 
Apparently  the  Rector  had  previously  leased  it  to  St.  Clement 
Danes,  since  the  vestry  clerk  of  that  parish  was  to  receive 
applications.  The  house  and  '  extensive  cellarage  '  had  been 
let  separately ;  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  cellarage  was 
now  used  for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  such  accommodation. 

I  am  indebted  to  the  present  '  Missioner,'  the  Rev.  A.  C. 
Holthouse,  for  a  continuation  of  the  narrative,  in  a  letter 
dated  '  December  6,  1892  ' : 

Mr.  Dibdin  died  about  five  years  ago.  He  conducted  service 
here  and  preached  right  up  to  the  end.  On  his  death  the  building 
was  put  up  for  auction.  Owing  to  the  energy  of  his  sons  and  of 
Canon  Nisbet,  who  collected  the  money,  it  was  bought  for  the 
'  Seven  Dials  Mission ' — one  of  the  Diocesan  Home  Missions. 

The  Mission  before  that  only  had  a  room-church  (rented)  in 
Short's  Gardens.  Now  it  is  in  permanent  quarters  here,  although 
we  keep  on  the  mission-room  in  Short's  Gardens. 

After  that,  '  West  Street  Episcopal  Chapel '  had  been  cleaned 
and  somewhat  renovated  ;  we  took  possession  four  years  ago  last 
Easter. 

Some  further  changes  have  of  course  taken  place  since 
that  time.  For  two  years  and  a  half,  ending  in  April  1903, 
the  Rev.  Ernest  Schofield  replaced  the  Rev.  A.  C.  Holthouse, 
who  has  since  taken  up  the  work  again.  In  1901  an  order 
of  the  London  County  Council  led  to  the  demolition  of  the 
old  Mission  House.  It  has  been  replaced  by  one  of  more 
imposing  appearance,  and  the  Short's  Gardens  Mission  has 
been  incorporated  in  the  West  Street  Mission. 


THE  'SEVEN  DIALS'  325 

Much  as  the  neighbourhood  has  altered  of  late  years, 
many  of  the  houses  having  given  place  to  warehouses,  while 
printing  works  are  carried  on  in  close  proximity  to  the 
chapel,  there  is  still  a  sufficient  amount  of  poverty  and  vice 
in  the  district  to  call  forth  the  strenuous  work  of  the  clergy. 
Even  now  it  includes  a  region  styled  '  The  Street  of  the 
Forty  Thieves.'  The  '  Seven  Dials  '  are  gone ;  they  dis- 
appeared from  the  locality  early  in  the  last  century.  '  The 
old  Seven  Dials  Pillar,'  writes  Mr.  Holthouse,  *  is  on  the 
Green  at  Weybridge,  where  it  tells  of  the  virtues  of  a 
Duchess  of  York.  The  head  has  been  chopped  off  and  lies 
at  a  little  distance ;  its  new  head  proudly  wears  a  coronet ! '  ^ 

'  Letter  to  the  Author,  dated  June  8,  1904. 


326  THE  BEENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 


CHAPTER  XVII 

chimney-sweepers'  apprentices 

The  Origin  of  Climbing  Chimneys— The  Sale  of  a  Child  to  a  Master  Sweep- 
Appeal  in  the  '  Gentleman's  Magazine  '  on  behalf  of  Climbing  Boys— The 
Interest  taken  by  Jonas  Hanway  and  Thomas  Bernai-d  in  Climbing  Boys — 
The  Neediness  of  Master  Sweepers — The  Act  of  1788— Thomas  Bernard's 
Efforts  to  abolish  the  System  of  Employing  Boys — David  Porter's  Scheme 
on  behalf  of  Climbing  Boys — Thomas  Bernard  promotes  a  Movement  for 
the  Invention  of  a  Sweeping  Machine — Meeting  at  the  Mansion  House  on 
behalf  of  Climbing  Boys — Some  of  the  Horrors  of  Chimney  Sweeping — 
Sydney  Smith's  Article  on  the  Subject  in  the  '  Edinburgh  Review ' — Acts  of 
Parliament  dealing  with  the  Subject— Final  Triumph  of  the  Earl  of  Shaftes- 
bury—The  Act  of  1875. 

The  generation  which  in  its  own  childhood  remembers  the 
cry  of  '  Sweep  !  '  in  the  streets,  and  has  seen  boys  commence 
the  ascent  of  chimneys,  and  watched  them  with  eager 
interest  emerge  partially  from  the  chimney  top,  flourishing 
the  brush  in  token  that  the  work  had  been  thoroughly  done, 
is  fast  passing  away,  and  there  remains  only  a  tradition  of 
the  boys'  miseries.  The  interest  of  the  last  years  of  that 
protracted  struggle,  which  ended  in  the  total  abolition  of  the 
practice,  is,  moreover,  concentrated  on  Lord  Shaftesbury 
as  the  hero  of  the  fight,  to  the  oblivion  of  those  previous 
workers  who  had  to  some  extent  prepared  the  way. 

One  who  had  himself  passed  through  the  ordeal  of 
apprenticeship  to  a  master  sweep  has  written  :  ' 

Who  first  discovered  the  art  of  climbing  internally,  or  at  what 
period  it  was  introduced,  is,  I  believe,  not  known.  I  rather  conceive 
it  to  be  a  modern  invention,  having  found  no  mention  of  chimney 

'  Porter,  Consideratio^is  an  tlie  Present  State  of  Chimney  Stoeepers,  London, 
1802.  The  author  is  evidently  the  same  Mr.  Porter  who  is  quoted  by  Thomas 
Bernard  in  the  Reports  of  tlie  Society  B.C. P. 


CLIMBING  CHIMNEY  SWEEPS  327 

sweeping  or  chimney  sweepers,  before  Shakespeare,  who,  in  reflect- 
ing on  the  brevity  of  human  life,  and  the  certainty  of  death,  says  : 

Golden  lads  and  girls  all  must 
Like  chimney  sweepers,  turn  to  dust. 

But  even  here  though  it  is  fair  to  conclude  there  were  some 
who  made  a  business  of  sweeping  chimneys,  it  is  not  clear  by 
what  method  they  swept  them.  Some  old  men  of  the  trade  say 
that  the  first  climbing  chimney  sweeper  was  an  intimate  of  Henry 
Jenkins,  so  memorable  for  longevity.  Though  climbing  chimneys 
may  not  be  an  ancient  discovery,  it  is  not  so  modern  that  we  can 
trace  its  original ;  but,  from  its  nature,  it  was  probably  the  desperate 
expedient  of  a  criminal,  or  the  last  resource  of  some  poor  negro  to 
prolong  a  miserable  life. — I  know  from  experience  that  no 
employment  is  more  laborious  than  climbing  chimneys. 

Thomas  Bernard  ^  believed  that  the  practice  of  bringing 
up  boys  to  this  occupation  dated  from  about  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  Before  that  time,  indeed,  chimneys 
wove  sufficiently  wide  to  admit  of  easy  sweeping  ;  if  human 
beings  did  ascend  them,  they  were  probably  men,  and  the 
risk  and  hardship  would  be  much  less.  The  fashion  of 
narrow  chimneys  was  in  all  likelihood  connected  with  the 
gradual  substitution  of  coal  for  wood  as  fuel. 

'  The  employment  of  boys,'  adds  Mr.  Bernard,  'is  peculiar 
to  England,'  and  surely  this  is  a  subject  for  humiliation. 
No  doubt  there  were  always  benevolent  persons  who  pro- 
tested against  the  practice  ;  but  the  nation  generally  seems 
to  have  adopted  it  with  very  few  qualms  of  conscience,  even 
though  the  chimneys  continued  to  become  narrower.  That 
harshness  must  have  been  used  even  by  the  best  disposed 
masters  to  drive  children  of  six — or  even  eight — the  age 
fixed  by  the  Act  of  28  George  III.— up  those  steep,  dark 
passages,  is  obvious.  But  the  majority  of  the  masters  were 
ruffians  ;  the  children  were  forced  up  the  chimneys  ^  '  by 
cruel  blows,  by  pricking  the  soles  of  their  feet,  or  by  applying 

'  Extract  from  '  An  Account  of  a  Cliimney  Sweeper's  Boy,  with  Observations 
on  a  Proposal  for  the  Belief  of  Chimney  Sweepers,'  by  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq., 
Reports  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  tlie  Poor,  vol.  i.,  No.  XIX. 

*  Hodder  (Edwin),  The  Life  and  Work  of  tlie  seventh  Earl  of  Shaftesbury, 
K.G.,  ch.  viii. 


328  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

wisps  of  lighted  straw ' ;  their  lives  were  at  all  times  ren- 
dered deplorable  by  privation  and  suffering ;  many  sank 
under  their  cruel  tasks ;  others  lived  crippled  and  diseased. 

A  large  number  of  the  victims  were  probably  obtained 
from  abandoned  or  starving  parents  in  the  lower  ranks.^ 
There  is  a  case  given  in  a  pamphlet  on  this  topic  of  a  fine 
boy  of  five,  the  son  of  a  working  plumber  named  Miller — 
not  apparently  in  want — who  was  sold  by  his  father  to  a 
master  sweep,  in  the  absence  of  his  mother  from  town.  On 
her  return  the  poor  woman  became  almost  frantic ;  with 
difficulty  she  traced  her  child  to  a  vile  den,  only  to  discover 
that  the  sweep  had  bought  him  of  his  father  for  three 
guineas,  which  she  could  not  replace. 

Happily,  a  humane  solicitor  took  her  case  in  hand  ;  the 
sweep,  Henry  Doe  of  Marylebone,  was  summoned,  and  fined 
by  the  magistrate  sitting  at  Bow  Street  51.,  while  the  child 
was  restored  to  its  mother.  This  result,  however,  would 
not  have  been  achieved  had  not  the  boy  been  under  the  age 
prescribed  by  the  Act  just  mentioned.  Chimney-sweeping 
was  considered  a  trade  like  any  other,  and  the  masters 
openly  advertised  for  '  Small  boys  for  narrow  flues,' 

In  the  February  of  the  year  in  which  the  Act  was  passed, 
while  the  matter  was  being  agitated,  there  appeared  in  the 

*  Gentleman's   Magazine  '  ^  a  notice  of  a  pamphlet   called 

*  An  Appeal  to  the  Humane  on  behalf  of  the  most  deplor- 
able Class  of  Society,  the  Climbing  Boys  employed  by  the 
Chimney-sweepers,'  by  J.  P.  Andrews ;  the  writer  was  a 
brother  of  Sir  Joseph  Andrews,  and  the  following  extract 
is  given : 

When  we  order  our  chimneys  to  be  swept  we  little  recollect 
that  we  often  order  a  fellow-creature  to  be  consigned  to  death  or, 
what  is  worse,  to  a  life  rendered  wretched  by  deformity,  imbecillity, 
and  disease.  Surely  if  the  management  of  our  plantations  and 
our  chimneys  would  allow  us,  it  were  to  be  wished  that  we  should 
have  nothing   to  do  with  black  in  either  case.     We   are   now 

'  Report  of  Society  for  Superseding  the  Necessity  of  Climbiiig  Boys. 

■  '  T]ie  Gentleman's  Magazine  and  Historical  Chronicle,  vol.  Iviii.,  for 
the  year  MDCCLXXXVIII.,  Part  the  First,  by  Sylvanus  Urban,  Gent.' 
(February  number). 


CLIMBING  CHIMNEY  SWEEPS  329 

thinking  of  the  poor  Africans ;  let  us  also  think  a  little  of  those 
English  men,  those  English  children,  who  only  resemble  the 
Africans  in  colour ;  because  in  point  of  wretchedness,  they  are 
indisputably,  a  much  more  poor,  and  more  pitiable  race  of  beings. 
Many  of  them,  gentle  readers,  have  as  yet  committed  no  greater 
crime  than  that  of  being  the  natural  children  perhaps,  of  some 
relation  of  yours,  or  even  of  you,  or  you,  or  you.  It  is  a  fact  also 
that  they  do  not  often  commit  crimes ;  for  who  remembers  a 
chimney  sweeper's  coming  to  be  hanged  (which  calculation  would 
tell  us  might  sometimes  happen)  ? — unless,  indeed,  hy  his  oiun 
hands,  at  the  hazard  of  all  that  is  dear  in  the  next  world,  in  order 
to  avoid  all  that  is  dreadful  in  this. 

The  story  of  the  boy  who,  after  climbing  chimneys  in  a 
nobleman's  mansion,  lay  dovv^n  to  rest,  and  fell  asleep  on 
a  sumptuous  bed,  and  v^as  not  only  forgiven,  but  rescued 
and  educated  by  the  nobleman,  because  he  felt  sure  that  a 
boy  who  could  venture,  in  spite  of  his  degradation,  to  lie  on 
such  a  bed  must  have  good  blood  in  his  veins,  is,  or  was, 
well  known.  As  it  does  not  appear  that  the  boy  was 
claimed  by  guardians  or  kinsfolk,  he  must  have  been  either 
a  gentleman's  illegitimate  child  or  an  orphan  with  hard- 
hearted relations.  But  if  some  of  the  reports  current  in  the 
eighteenth,  and  early  in  the  nineteenth,  century  may  be 
believed,  legitimate  children  were  sometimes  kidnapped  from 
happy  homes  to  be  sold  to  master  sweeps.  I  had  in  my 
childhood  a  book  called  'Timothy  Thoughtless,'  handed 
down,  I  believe,  from  a  previous  generation,  in  which  the 
son  of  genteel  parents  having,  as  far  as  I  remember,  played 
truant,  goes  through  a  series  of  sad  adventures,  and  becomes 
a  climbing  boy ;  he  is  discovered,  long  after,  by  his  discon- 
solate father  and  mother,  who  had  in  vain  endeavoured  to 
trace  him  previously,  crying  *  Sweep  ! '  in  a  street,  begrimed 
like  his  fellows,  and  laden  with  his  tools  and  bag  of  soot. 

It  has  been  stated  that  Mr.  Jonas  Hanway  had  taken  up 
the  cause  of  the  climbing  boys ;  ^  he  was  largely  instru- 
mental in  obtaining  the  Act  already  mentioned,  which  was 
passed  two  years  after  his  death— in  1788.     That  Thomas 

'  See  chapter  xi.  of  this  volume. 


330  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Bernard  may  have  learned  to  take  an  interest  in  the  subject 
through  his  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Hanway  at  the  Found- 
ling Hospital  is  probable.  There  was  a  thread  of  connection 
between  the  foundlings  and  the  chimney-sweepers'  appren- 
tices, since  many  of  the  boys  rescued  by  the  Hospital  might, 
but  for  its  intervention,  have  been  in  the  position  of  the 
poor  slaves  who  now  swept  the  chimneys  of  their  comfort- 
able rooms,  and  Mr.  Bernard  had  evidently  collected  and 
stored  information  as  to  their  condition,  which  he  com- 
menced to  utilise  so  soon  as  he  had  formed  the  Society  for 
Bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Poor.  Some  painful  facts 
had  recently  been  brought  before  Parliament,  and  he  no 
doubt  considered  it  useless,  and  even  unadvisable,  to  com- 
mence a  recapitulation  of  similar  statements.  Most  of  the 
report  he  wrote  for  the  Society's  first  volume  was  derived 
from  the  testimony  of  David  Porter,  a  master  sweep,  whom 
he  enlisted  as  an  ally  in  the  crusade,  and  is  of  a  more 
encouraging  nature,  though  it  begins  with  the  narrative  of  a 
breach  of  the  law,  induced  by  hardship  :  ^ 

In  December  1791  Charles  Eichmond,  a  little  boy,  the 
apprentice  of  a  chimney  sweeper  in  High  Street,  Marylebone,  was 
convicted  at  the  Old  Bailey  of  a  felony  in  the  adjoining  house  of 
the  Eev.  Mr.  Buckley. 

The  circumstances  were  as  follows  : 

On  the  preceding  Sunday  he  had  run  away  from  his  master. 
He  was  brought  home  on  Tuesday,  and  (his  master  and  mistress 
having  occasion  to  go  out)  was  left  locked  up  by  himself.  On 
their  return  that  evening  the  doors  and  windows  were  all  fast ; 
but  the  boy  had  escaped.  On  Thursday  the  master  and  mistress 
(on  their  returning  home  that  day  to  dinner,  and  unlocking  the 
door  of  the  house)  perceived  the  boy  in  the  room,  with  a  bundle 
of  woman's  clothes,  which  he  said  he  had  found  in  a  cockloft,  and 
had  brought  home  for  his  mistress.  Some  circumstances  leading 
to  detection,  the  boy  was  apprehended,  and  tried  at  the  Old 
Bailey  ;  upon  his  trial  it  appeared  that  he  had  climbed  up  his 
master's  chimney,  and  down  Mr.  Buckley's,  where  he  had  stolen 
the  clothes.     The  boy's  account  was  that '  he  took  the  clothes  to 

'  Extract  from  'An  Account  of  a  Chimney  Sweeper's  Boy,  with  Observations 
and  a  Proposal  for  the  Relief  of  Chimney  Sweepers,'  by  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq., 
Rei^orts  of  tlie  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  vol.  i.,  No.  XIX. 


MASTEE  CHIMNEY  SWEEPEES  331 

prevent  his  being  beat ;  that  when  he  was  unemployed,  he  was  sent 
to  beg  in  the  streets,  and  that  on  one  Sunday  he  had  begged  eight 
shillings,  which  his  master  took  from  him  ;  another  time  he  brought 
home  a  new  pair  of  shoes  that  some  charitable  person  had  given 
him ;  they  were  taken  off  his  feet,  and  pawned  for  a  few  pence.' 
The  boy  was  convicted  ;  but  he  was  thought  more  an  object  of  pity 
than  of  justice,  and  on  the  application  of  Sheriff  Anderson  was 
taken  under  the  protection  of  the  Philanthropic  Society. 

This  was  a  satisfactory  result,  so  far  as  the  individual 
boy  was  concerned,  although,  from  another  point  of  view,  it 
might  be  called  a  reward  for  theft ;  but  it  did  not  alter  the 
system.  Mr.  Andrews  was  probably  justified  in  saying  that 
the  unfortunate  apprentices  did  not  often  commit  crimes ; 
some  petty  offences,  hardly  to  be  called  crimes,  are  no  doubt 
on  record,  but  fewer  than  might  have  been  expected. 

It  appears  that  the  masters  were  in  most  cases  needy 
men.     Mr.  Bernard  writes  :  ^ 

Of  about  two  hundred  master  chimney  sweepers  in  London  there 
are  not  above  twenty  who  can  make  a  decent  livelihood  by  it  .  .  . 
in  most  instances  the  master  is  only  a  lodger,  having  one  room  for 
himself  his  wife  and  children,  and  another,  generally  a  cellar  with- 
out a  fireplace  for  his  soot  and  his  apprentices;  without  any 
means  of  providing  for  their  comfort,  health  or  cleanliness ;  and 
without  any  other  bed  than  the  soot  bags,  which  they  have  been 
using  in  the  course  of  their  day's  work. 

It  was  an  aggravation  of  the  unfortunate  climbing-boy's 
lot  that  as  he  grew  up  he  became  useless. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen,  a  period  of  some  additional  enjoyment 
to  the  generality  of  mankind,  he  feels  that  the  increase  of  stature 
has  unfitted  him  for  the  only  thing  he  has  been  taught ;  if  he 
then  endeavours  to  become  a  journeyman  chimney-sweeper,  (and 
there  are  many  candidates  for  one  vacancy),  his  wages,  were  he  to 
succeed  in  obtaining  a  service,  are  from  £3  to  £6  a  year ;  and  on 
that  miserable  pittance,  if  he  should  attain  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years  without  having  done  anything  to  incur  the  penalty  of  the 
law,  and  should  rise  (as  it  is  called)  in  the  world,  and  become  a 

'  Observations  appended  to  the  '  Account  of  a  Chimney  Sweeper's  Boy,'  by 
Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.  Reports  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of 
the  Poor,  vol.  i.,  No.  XIX. 


332  THE  BEENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

master  chimney  sweeper,  he  then  finds  that  in  London,  there  are 
many  more  persons  in  the  trade  than  can  obtain  employment. 

The  Act  of  1788  (28  Geo.  III.)  appears  to  have  been 
mainly  procured  by  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Hanway  and  those 
he  had  rallied  round  him ;  ^  but  it  did  not  represent  the 
wishes  of  its  promoters.  The  original  Bill  had  passed  the 
House  of  Commons, '  but,  unfortunately,  the  most  important 
and  efficient  clauses  were  omitted  in  the  House  of  Lords  ' ; 
and  the  *  Address,'  from  which  I  quote,  states  that  *  as  it 
now  stands  '  it  *  is  altogether  inadequate  to  the  object  which 
it  professes  to  effect.'  Its  provisoes,  moreover,  appear  to 
have  been  disregarded  with  impunity  from  the  first  by  a 
large  majority  of  masters.  In  order  to  show  what  might  be 
done,  even  under  the  actual  state  of  the  law,  and  without 
injury — indeed,  with  eventual  profit  to  the  master — Thomas 
Bernard  gave  an  account  of  Porter's  treatment  of  his  boys, 
introducing  it  with  a  panegyric  as  follows  :  ^ 

I  have  these  facts  from  a  very  intelligent  and  valuable  man, 
Mr.  David  Porter,  a  master  chimney  sweeper  in  Welbeck  Street. 
An  extraordinary  energy  of  mind  and  body  and  the  protection  of 
Providence,  for  which  he  feels  a  deep  and  religious  gratitude, 
have  preserved  him  through  many  hardships  and  dangers  to  be 
the  instrument,  as  I  trust,  of  much  good  to  these  unfortunate 
creatures.  Having  undergone  the  sufferings  common  to  a  chimney 
sweeper's  boy,  he  has  described  them  with  a  warmth  and  feeling, 
that  do  honour  to  his  heart.  .  .  .  From  the  age  of  eighteen  Mr. 
Porter  has  lost  very  few  opportunities  of  improving  either  his  mind 
or  his  fortune.  He  has  shown  a  very  favourable  specimen  of  his 
literary  abilities,  in  what  he  has  written  on  the  subject,  and  he 
has  brought  up  and  maintained  his  family,  and  has  improved  his 
fortune,  with  credit  and  character.  His  boys  are  kindly  treated 
and  well  kept ;  and  (tho'  they  make  the  usual  sooty  appearance 
on  week  days)  are  cleansed  and  made  neat  on  Saturday  night,  or 
early  on  Sunday  morning  ;  and  regularly  attend  divine  service  at 

'  In  the  year  before  his  death  Mr.  Hanway  laid  the  case  before  the  public 
in  his  Sentimental  History  of  Stoeepers  in  London  and  Westminster  (1785). 
(See  Hodder's  Life  of  the  seventh  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  ch.  viii.) 

-  Observations  appended  to  the  '  Account  of  a  Chimney  Sweeper's  Boy,'  by 
Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.  Reports  of  tlie  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of 
the  Poor,  vol.  i.,  No.  XIX. 


A  GOOD  MASTEE  SWEEPEB  333 

church  on  Sunday.  He  does  not  permit  his  boys  to  be  employed, 
or  sent  out  on  any  common  work,  on  the  Lord's  Day.  I  lately 
made  him  an  unexpected  visit  in  order  to  see  them  at  their 
Sunday  dinner ;  he  had  just  refused  to  send  two  of  them  to  the 
house  of  a  nobleman,  one  of  his  best  customers,  to  do  something 
to  the  kitchen  chimney.  I  had  very  great  pleasure  in  seeing  his 
journeymen  and  boys  sitting  down  to  a  good  meal  of  boiled 
mutton  and  rice  pudding,  served  up  with  every  circumstance  of 
cleanliness  and  comfort.  Their  behaviour  was  decent,  orderly, 
and  cheerful.  In  proof  of  the  good  effects  of  his  attention  to 
them,  I  have  to  add  that  in  thirty-two  years  he  has  lost  only  two 
apprentices  by  death ;  and  as  to  the  dreadful  disease  called  the 
chimney-sweeper's  cancer,  a  disorder  so  common  and  so  fatal  to 
the  climbing  boys  (and  which  appears  to  be  caused  by  the 
acrimonious  quality  of  soot,  and  by  an  obstructed  perspiration  in 
consequence  of  the  children  being  so  seldom  washed  and  cleaned 
of  the  soot,  and  too  thinly  clad  to  resist  the  cold)  his  apprentices 
have  never  had  any  symptoms  of  it. 

This,  however,  is  an  extraordinary  and  unprecedented  history ; 
but  it  affords  valuable  information,  as  it  shows  what  may  be 
done  for  the  benefit  of  these  poor  creatures.  Of  their  present  con- 
dition it  is  not  exaggeration  to  say,  that  there  is  no  other  species 
of  slavery  existing  in  the  world  more  derogatory  to  the  rights  of 
human  nature.  .  .  . 

The  system  of  employing  boys  could  not,  indeed,  be 
abolished  offhand ;  it  has  been  seen  that  there  was  opposi- 
tion in  high  quarters  even  to  its  alleviation.  Mr.  Bernard, 
however,  made  another  attempt  in  that  direction,  profiting  by 
the  practical  experience  of  the  good  *  Master  Sweeper.'  He 
continues  : 

What  Mr.  Porter  recommends,  is  that  a  Society  or  Corporation 
be  formed,  for  the  protection  of  Climbing  Boys  during  the  period  of 
their  apprenticeship,  and  for  putting  them  out  to  other  trades  at 
sixteen  years  of  age  when  that  period  expires  ; — that  their  beds, 
clothing,  and  domestic  accommodation,  shall  be  put  under  a  regular 
system  of  inspection,  and  from  time  to  time,  be  reported  to  the 
Society ; — that  the  children  shall  be  cleaned,  and  have  a  change 
of  dress,  so  as,  on  Sunday,  regularly  to  attend  Church ;  and  that 
they  shall  have,  on  that  day,  a  comfortable  dinner  provided  for 
them,  at  the  Society's  expense,  in  a  Sunday  school ;  thereby 
securing  to  them  a  periodical  return  of  cleanliness  and  civiHsation 


334  THE  BEENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

every  week  ; — that  no  boy  shall  ever  be  allowed  to  cry  the  streets 
of  London,  a  practice  that  has  been  the  cause  of  the  greatest 
part  of  the  hardships  that  the  Climbing  Boys  undergo,  and 
which  is  no  more  necessary  in  this,  than  in  any  other  trade  in 
London  ; — and  lastly,  that  apprentice  fees  be  given  with  such  of 
the  lads  as  shall  attain  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  prefer  a  trade,  and 
to  those  who  shall  choose  to  continue  as  journeymen  in  the  trade, 
or  shall  enter  into  the  sea  service,  a  similar  fee,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  in  order  to  assist  them  in  setting  up  in  business. 

Such  are  the  outlines  of  a  plan,  which,  if  the  subject  is 
favourably  received,  may  be  soon  ready  to  be  submitted  to  the 
consideration  of  the  public. 

This  report  is  dated  '  4th  December  1797.'  In  May  1799 
Bishop  Barrington  contributed  another  paper  on  the  subject 
to  the  '  Eeports  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of 
the  Poor,'  ^  by  which  it  appears  that  Porter  had  published  a 
scheme  for  the  formation  of  a  Friendly  Society  of  Master 
Chimney  Sweepers,  whose  members  should  pledge  themselves 
to  adopt  the  suggestions  mentioned  by  Mr.  Bernard  for  the 
improvement  of  their  apprentices'  condition,  *  and  to  apply 
to  the  magistrates  in  those  cases  where  the  Act  of  Parliament 
remains  unexecuted.'  Nothing  further  had  as  yet  been 
accomplished  in  London  ;  but  the  Bishop  was  able  to  state 
that  climbing  boys  had  been  admitted  into  the  School  of 
Kingston-upon-Thames,  and  that  a  benevolent  lady  had 
furnished  each  of  these  Kingston  boys  with  a  suit  of  clothes, 
a  palliasse,  a  pair  of  blankets,  and  a  washing-tub.  He  also 
announced  that  an  enlarged  account  of  David  Porter's 
scheme  would  shortly  be  published. 

This  scheme  appears  to  have  been  cast  in  its  final  shape 
by  Mr.  Bernard  after  consultation  with  the  Bishop  and  other 
friends.  The  Duchess  of  Gloucester  became  patroness  ;  Mrs. 
Montague,  the  accomplished  lady  who  had  already  signalised 
herself  by  feasting  all  the  climbing  boys  in  London  every 
first     of     May,    vice-patroness;     the    Bishop    of    Durham 

'  Reports  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Pom:  Extract 
from  '  An  Account  of  a  Provision  for  Chimney  Sweepers'  Boys  at  Kingston- 
upon-Thames,  with  Observations,'  by  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  vol.  ii.,  No.  L. 


A  FAILUEE  335 

President  for  the  ensuing  year.     A  note  at  the  end  of  the 
Articles  of  Agreement  ^  states  that : 

These  articles  have  been  signed  by  eighteen  of  the  principal 
masters  in  the  trade,  and  fifty-six  chimney-sweepers'  boys  have 
been  thereby  placed  under  the  cara  and  protection  of  the  Society. 
The  Articles  are  left  for  signatures  at  No  7  Welbeck  Street,  and 
little  doubt  can  be  entertained,  but  that  they  will  be  speedily 
signed  by  every  respectable  Master  Chimney  Sweeper,  whose 
conduct  will  bear  inspection  and  inquiry.  The  Committee  sits 
every  first  Wednesday  in  the  month,  at  three  o'clock, 
29th  May,  1800. 

Mr.  Bernard's  biographer  considers  that  this  scheme 
proved  a  failure.  The  respectable  chimney-sweepers  had 
signed  the  articles,  but  they  were  few  in  number ;  those  who 
were  not  respectable  did  not  sign,  but  continued  to  ill- 
treat  their  apprentices,  and  they  formed  a  large  majority. 
The  sole  chance  of  influencing  them  lay  in  persuading 
householders  to  employ  the  signing  chimney-sweepers 
in  preference  to  others,  and  in  procuring  convictions  for 
flagrant  instances  of  the  violation  of  the  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment. *  The  public  mind,  however,'  as  Mr.  Baker  puts  it, 
*  was  not  then  ready  for  the  consideration  of  the  state  of 
these  destitute  children,'  and  so  the  first  suggestion  met  with 
little  or  no  response.  As  to  the  second,  it  was  so  difficult  for 
friendless  boys  to  proceed  against  their  employers,  even  with 
the  help  of  the  Society,  and  to  establish  their  grievances,  in 
the  adverse  condition  of  public  opinion,  that  all  hope  of 
effectual  remedy  from  such  proceedings  appeared  to  have 
been  abandoned  as  fallacious. 

Thus  Mr.  Baker  concludes  the  subject,  as  if  it  had  ended 
in  despair,  which,  indeed  would  not  have  been  surprising. 
But  it  was  not  like  Thomas  Bernard  to  abandon  a  cause 
into  which  he  had  once  thrown  his  energies ;  and  there  can 

'  See  '  Copy  of  an  Agreement  of  the  19th  of  March,  1800,  between  several 
Master  Chimney  Sweepers  within  the  Liberties  of  Westminster  and  the 
Holborn  Division  of  the  County  of  Middlesex,  for  forming  a  Friendly  Society 
for  the  Protection  and  Instruction  of  their  Apprentices.'  Appendix  XI.  to 
vol.  ii.  of  the  Reports  of  the  Society  B.C. P. 


336  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  he  was  a  promoter  of  the  move- 
ment, dating  from  this  very  time,  for  the  invention  of  a 
sweeping  machine. 

In  this  movement  lay  the  gist  of  the  whole  question.  It 
had  become  clear  that  little  hope  could  be  entertained  for 
the  young  victims,  except  by  rendering  them  unnecessary  , 
and  that  a  machine  was  the  most  feasible  means  of  thus 
revolutionising  the  system.  Whose  was  the  original  idea,  I 
know  not ;  like  other  inventions,  it  had  probably  occupied 
many  minds  before  anything  was  done ;  but  the  first  mention 
I  have  met  with  is  the  following  :  ^ 

In  the  year  1802  a  number  of  public-spirited  and  wealthy 
persons  associated  for  this  purpose,  and  offered  considerable 
premiums  to  those  who  might  invent  and  bring  into  practice 
a  method  of  cleansing  chimneys  by  mechanical  means  that  should 
supersede  the  necessity  of  Climbing  Boys.  Feeling  themselves, 
perhaps,  inadequate  to  the  task  of  carrying  their  laudable 
intentions  into  full  execution,  they  applied  to  the  Society  for  the 
Encouragement  of  Arts,  Manufactures,  &c  in  the  Adelphi,  request- 
ing them  to  engage  in  it,  and  to  offer  premiums  on  the  subject. 

Five  curious  inventions  were  produced,  and  the  gold 
medal  was  gained  by  Mr.  George  Smart,  '  the  patentee  of  a 
method  of  making  hollow  masts  for  ships.'  His  machine 
was  at  once  brought  into  use  in  some  houses,  and  was  found 
to  answer  everywhere  except  when  a  deflection  in  the  flue 
rendered  ascent  impossible.  In  1803  two  patents  were  taken 
out,  one  by  Mr.  Bell  of  Hampstead,  the  other  by  Mr.  Davis 
of  Bloomsbury,  for  machines  to  be  worked  from  above. 
Another  method,  apparently  not  modern,  was  practised  at 
Edinburgh  and  other  Northern  places,  which  consisted  in  two 
persons,  one  below  and  one  above,  dragging  up  and  down  a 
cord  to  which  was  attached  a  holly  bough. 

From  a  pamphlet  published  in  1816  ^  I  gather  that  the 

'  Eees  (Abraham),  The  CyclopcBdia,  or  Universal  Dictionary,  vol.  vii., 
'  Chimney ' ;  Longman,  Hurst,  Kees,  Orme  &  Brown,  1819. 

-  A  Short  Account  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Superseding  the 
Necessity  of  Climbing  Boys,  <&c.,  dc.  London :  Printed  by  C.  Baldwin,  New 
Bridge  Street.  It  was  sold  for  the  Society  by  Baldwin,  Cradock,  &  Jay, 
—  Hatchard,  —  and  Colburn  (1816). 


AN  INFLUENTIAL  MEETING  337 

association  which  took  up  this  question  called  itself  the 
'  Society  for  Superseding  the  Necessity  of  Climbing  Boys, 
by  encouraging  a  new  Method  of  Sweeping  Chimneys,  and 
for  Improving  the  Condition  of  Children  and  others  employed 
by  Chimney  Sweepers.'  Its  establishment  as  a  society  dated 
from  February  4,  1803,  and  as  the  Bishop  of  Durham  was 
president,  and  William  Wilberfofce,  Henry  Thornton,  and 
other  persons  connected  with  Thomas  Bernard's  charitable 
labours  were  vice-presidents,  his  influence  may  be  clearly 
traced  in  its  formation,  although  his  name  does  not  appear.^ 
It  would  seem,  from  the  article  quoted  above,  that  Smart's 
machine  was  the  favourite ;  but  it  required  various  improve- 
ments to  adapt  it  to  the  varieties  of  chimneys,  and  these  had 
been  carried  out  by  1815  to  an  extent  which  rendered  it 
suitable  for  general  use.  A  plan  of  dropping  a  weight  and 
brush  downwards,  borrowed,  perhaps,  from  one  or  both  of  the 
other  patented  machines,  and  resembling  the  simple  Scottish 
arrangement,  was  substituted  in  chimneys  which  could  not 
be  swept  mechanically  from  below. 

Meanwhile,  attempts  were  made  in  1804,  1807,  1808, 
and  1809  to  induce  Parliament  to  grant  further  protection 
to  the  little  chimney  sweepers.  Yet  matters  remained  much 
as  before  when  an  influential  meeting  was  held  at  the 
Mansion  House  on  June  12,  1816,  on  behalf  of  the  cause. 

The  pamphlet  already  quoted  was  published  soon  after ; 
it  notes  that  several  local  societies  had  formed  themselves 
with  the  view  of  forwarding  the  same  object ;  and  especially 
that  the  inhabitants  of  Walthamstow  and  Leyton  had  passed 
a  resolution  at  a  public  meeting  against  the  employment  of 
climbing  boys.  It  might  be  supposed  that  the  horrors  set 
forth  courageously  in  this  pamphlet  would  have  been  suffi- 
cient to  enlist  all  England  on  the  same  side. 

Case  I.  is  as  follows  : 

A  few  years  ago,  a  chimney  belonging  to  the  House  of  Messrs. 
Coutts  &  Co.,  Bankers,  Strand,  being  on  fire,  a  boy  was  sent  up  to 
extinguish  it.    He  climbed  up  part  of  the  way,  but  was  not  able 

'  It  does  not  appear  in  the  pamphlet  of  1816.  Whether  it  may  in  some 
other  publication  of  the  Society  I  cannot  tell. 

VOL.  III.  Z 


338  THE  BEENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

to  proceed  farther,  on  account  of  the  fire.  This  was  in  a  sloping 
part  of  the  flue,  where,  having  thrust  some  of  the  burning  soot 
behind  him,  he  might  literally  be  said  to  be  between  two  fires  ;  in 
order  to  save  his  life  it  became  necessary  to  make  a  hole  in  the 
wall  from  the  inside,  and  he  was  fortunately  taken  out  alive. 

Case  II. : 

About  the  beginning  of  the  year  1806  a  boy  was  sent  up  a 
chimney  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Creed,  Navy  Agent,  No.  23,  Hans 
Place,  Knightsbridge.  Being  unable  to  extricate  himself,  he 
remained  there  about  half-an-hour,  while  a  person  went  to 
fetch  assistance.  A  hole  was  made  through  the  brickwork,  and 
the  boy  at  length  released.  It  appeared  that  in  consequence  of 
the  unusual  construction  of  the  flue  in  one  part  a  vast  quantity  of 
soot  had  accumulated  there,  into  which  the  boy  had  plunged,  and 
was  not  able,  probably  from  partial  suifocation,  to  get  back  again. 
So  dangerous  w^as  the  sweeping  of  this  chimney  considered,  that 
James  Dunn,  Chimney  Sweeper,  No.  46  Hans  Town,  refused  to 
let  his  apprentice  ascend  the  flue. 

In  Case  VI. : 

A  boy  employed  to  sweep  a  chimney  in  Marsh  Street, 
Walthamstow,  in  the  house  of  a  carpenter  named  Jeffery,  stuck 
fast  in  the  flue.  Mr.  Jeffery  heard  his  cries  and  sent  for  help  ;  the 
chimney-pot  and  several  rows  of  bricks  having  been  removed,  he 
was  brought  out  alive,  but  only  just  alive.  His  master  was 
sent  for,  and  he  arrived  soon  after  the  boy  had  been  released. 
He  abused  him  for  the  accident,  and  after  striking  him,  sent  him 
with  a  bag  of  soot  to  sweep  another  chimney.  The  child  appeared 
so  very  weak  when  taken  out  that  he  could  scarcely  stand,  and 
yet  this  wretched  being,  who  had  been  up  since  three  o'clock,  had 
before  been  sent  by  his  master  to  Wanstead,  which,  with  his  walk 
to  Marsh  Street,  made  about  five  miles. 

I  now  come  to  cases  v^^hich  terminated  fatally,  either  on 
the  spot  or  soon  after  removal.  Whether  the  child  whose 
misfortune  has  just  been  narrated  lived  long  may  be 
doubted. 

Case  V. : 

In  the  course  of  improvements  made  some  years  since  by  the 
Bank  of  England  in  Lothbury,  a  chimney  belonging  to  a  Mr. 
Mildrum,  a  baker,  was  taken  down  ;  but  before  he  began  to  bake, 


THE  HOEEOKS  OF  CHIMNEY  SWEEPING      339 

in  order  to  see  that  the  rest  of  the  flue  was  clear,  a  boy  was  sent 
up,  and  after  remaining  some  time,  and  not  answering  to  the  call 
of  his  master,  another  boy  was  ordered  to  descend  from  the  top  of 
the  flue  and  to  meet  him  halfway.  But  this  being  found  impractic- 
able, they  opened  the  brickwork  in  the  lower  part  of  the  flue,  and 
found  the  first-mentioned  boy  dead.  In  the  meantime,  the  boy 
in  the  upper  part  of  the  flue  called  out  for  relief,  saying  he  was 
completely  jammed  in  the  rubbish,  and  was  unable  to  extricate 
himself.  Upon  this  a  bricklayer  was  employed  with  the  utmost 
expedition,  but  he  succeeded  only  in  obtaining  a  lifeless  body. 
The  bodies  were  sent  to  St.  Margaret's  Church,  Lothbury,  and  a 
coroner's  inquest  which  sat  upon  them,  returned  the  verdict — 
'  Accidental  death  '  ! 

In  Case  VIII. : 

a  boy  lost  his  life  in  Orchard  Street  through  descending  into  a 
wrong  flue,  after  he  had  swept  up  to  the  top  ;  faint  and  giddy, 
perhaps,  even  when  he  had  only  begun  his  work,  he  probably 
became  every  moment  more  exhausted,  and  attempting  to  hurry 
away  from  his  place  of  torture  the  first  possible  moment,  was 
fatally  bewildered  in  the  complicated  structure ;  his  mistake 
brought  him  too  near  a  lighted  fire.  The  verdict  '  Accidentally 
suffocated  ' !  In  this  instance,  also,  another  boy  was  exposed  to 
danger  by  being  sent  up  to  find  the  first,  but  survived. 

Case  IX.  is  the  story  of 

a  boy  of  twelve,  at  Wakefield,  in  Yorkshire,  who  was  cruelly 
burned  while  in  the  right  chimney,  because  the  fire  in  the  neigh- 
bouring chimney  of  John  Byron,  which  communicated  by  a  flue, 
had  not  been  thoroughly  extinguished.  He  died  after  four  days' 
suffering.  '  N.B.  The  said  Byron  and  his  wife  were  capitally 
indicted,  and  tried  at  the  York  Assizes  for  the  alleged  murder,  but 
were  acquitted.' 

Perhaps  the  most  distressing  narrative  of  all  is  the  next 
Case,  X. : 

On  Monday  morning  the  29th  of  March,  1813,  a  chimney 
sweeper  of  the  name  of  Griggs,  attended  to  sweep  a  small  chimney 
in  the  brewhouse  of  Messrs.  Calvert  &  Co.  in  Upper  Thames 
Street ;  he  was  accompanied  by  one  of  his  boys,  a  lad  of  about 
eight  years  of  age,  of  the  name  of  Thomas  Pitt.  The  fire  had  been 
lighted  as  early  as  two  o'clock  the  same  morning,  and  was  burning 

z  2 


340  THE  BERNAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

on  the  arrival  of  Griggs  and  his  little  boy  at  eight ;  the  fire-place 
was  small,  and  an  iron  pipe  projected  from  the  grate  some  little 
distance  into  the  flue ;  this  the  master  was  acquainted  with 
(having  swept  the  chimneys  in  the  brewhouse  for  some  years,)  and 
therefore  had  a  tile  or  two  taken  from  the  roof,  in  order  that  the 
boy  might  descend  the  chimney.  He  had  no  sooner  extinguished 
the  fire  than  he  suffered  the  lad  to  go  down,  and  the  consequence 
as  might  be  expected,  was  his  almost  immediate  death,  in  a  state 
no  doubt  of  inexpressible  agony.  The  flue  was  of  the  narrowest  de- 
scription, and  must  have  retained  heat  sufficient  to  have  prevented 
the  child's  return  to  the  top,  even  supposing  he  had  not  approached 
the  pipe  belonging  to  the  gi-ate,  which  must  have  been  nearly  red 
hot;  this  however,  was  not  clearly  ascertained  on  the  Inquest,  though 
the  appearance  of  the  body  would  induce  an  opinion  that  he  had 
been  unavoidably  pressed  against  the  pipe.  Soon  after  his  descent, 
the  master,  who  remained  on  the  top,  was  apprehensive  that  some- 
thing had  happened,  and  therefore  desired  him  to  come  up,  the 
answer  of  the  boy  was,  '  I  cannot  come  up.  Master,  I  must  die 
here.'  An  alarm  was  given  in  the  brewhouse  immediately,  that 
he  had  stuck  in  the  chimney  ;  and  a  bricklayer  who  was  at  work 
near  the  spot,  attended,  and  after  knocking  down  part  of  the  brick- 
work of  the  chimney,  first  above  the  fireplace,  made  a  hole 
suJBficiently  large  to  draw  him  through.  A  surgeon  attended,  but 
all  attempts  to  restore  life  were  ineffectual. 

On  inspecting  the  body,  various  burns  appeared;  the  fleshy 
part  of  the  legs,  and  a  great  part  of  the  feet,  more  particularly, 
were  injured ;  those  parts  too  by  which  Climbing  Boys  most 
effectually  ascend  or  descend  chimneys,  viz.,  the  elbows  and 
knees,  seemed  burnt  to  the  bone,  from  which  it  must  be  evident 
that  the  unhappy  sufferer  made  some  attempt  to  return  as  soon  as 
the  horrors  of  his  situation  became  apparent. 

His  death,  from  this  account,  cannot  have  been  *  almost 
immediate,'  as  stated  near  the  beginning  of  the  report.  A 
jury  sat  for  two  days,  and  returned  a  most  elaborate  verdict ; 
but,  strange  to  say,  containing  no  word  even  of  censure  on 
the  master.     It  runs  as  follows  : 

That  the  master  was  employed  to  clean  a  certain  chimney  at 
the  brewhouse  of  Messrs.  Calvert  &  Co.  situate,  &c.  and  that  he 
set  the  deceased,  an  infant  of  about  eight  years,  to  clean  the  said 
chimney  for  him.  That  deceased  accordingly  got  into  and  de- 
scended the  said  chimney  for  the  purpose  of  cleaning  the  same, 


THE  HOEEORS  OF  CHIMNEY  SWEEPING      341 

and  that  by  the  straitness  and  narrowness  of  the  chimney,  and  by 
the  heat  thereof,  a  fire  having  just  been  in  the  grate  thereof,  the 
deceased  was  burned  and  hurt  on  divers  parts  of  his  body ;  and 
also  by  the  foulness  and  unwholesomeness  of  the  air  in  the  said 
chimney,  the  deceased  was  suffocated ;  of  which  said  burning, 
hurts,  and  suffocation,  the  deceased  then  and  there  died ;  and  so 
the  jurors  upon  their  oath  say,  that  he  died  in  the  manner  afore- 
said, and  by  misfortune  came  to  his  death. 

The  cause  of  death  was  sometimes  varied,  as  in  Case  IV. : 

A  boy  named  Sharpless,  in  the  employ  of  M""^-  Whitfield,  Little 
Shire  Lane,  Temple  Bar,  fell  from  the  upper  part  of  a  chimney  in 
July,  or  August,  1804,  in  Devereux  Court.  The  chimney-pot  fall- 
ing, or  upper  part  of  the  chimney  giving  way,  occasioned  this 
accident.  The  boy  had  several  bones  fractured,  and  being  carried 
to  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  died  there  in  a  short  time. 

It  was  probably  in  consequence  of  the  attempts  made  by  a 
child,  about  six,  to  escape  '  the  horrors  of  chimney-sweeping,' 
which  enraged  his  master  and  mistress,  who  beat  him  to 
death,  that  they  were  tried  for  murder,  though  acquitted ; 
the  husband,  however,  *  was  detained  to  take  his  trial  as  for 
a  misdemeanour,'  and  sentenced  to  two  years'  imprisonment. 
In  another  case,  where  the  guilt  was  scarcely  less,  the 
master  escaped  scot-free,  as  will  be  seen. 

On  Friday  Morning,  February  12,  1808,  a  cHmbing  Apprentice 
to  Holland,  in  East  Street,  Lambeth,  was  sent  at  three  in  the 
morning  to  sweep  some  chimneys  at  Norwood.  The  snow  was  so 
deep,  and  the  cold  so  extreme,  that  a  watchman  used  the  remark- 
able expression  '  That  he  would  not  have  sent  even  a  dog  out.' 
The  boy,  having  swept  two  chimneys,  was  returning  home  in  com- 
pany with  another  boy,  but  at  length  found  the  cold  so  excessive, 
that  he  could  go  no  further.  After  some  little  time,  he  was  taken 
to  the  Half  Moon  public-house  at  Dulwich,  and  died  in  the  course 
of  an  hour.  It  was  supposed  that  by  proper  care  his  life  might 
have  been  preserved.  The  master-sweep  was  brought  to  the 
Union  Hall  Southwark,  by  Mr.  Bowes  the  Magistrate.  Upon 
examining  him,  his  principal  fault  appeared  to  be  sending  the  boy 
out  so  early,  and  he  was  dismissed.  A  Coroner's  Inquest  was 
held  upon  the  body,  and  a  verdict  was  returned — '  Died  from  the 
Inclemency  of  the  Weather.' 


342  THE  BEKNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

The  clothing  of  this  boy,  as  of  most  of  his  fellow-slaves, 
would  no  doubt  be  '  a  bundle  of  rags,  half  stitched  together, 
and  half  torn  to  pieces,'  his  food,  if  supplied  by  his  master, 
scanty  and  unwholesome ;  but  in  many  cases  the  boys 
depended  for  sustenance  entirely  on  the  charity  of  the  persons 
whose  chimneys  they  swept,  and  were  necessarily  driven 
to  begging,  and  even  to  thieving,  when  this  resource 
failed. 

Mr.  Wright,  the  doctor  who  notes  these  deficiencies  in 
food  and  clothing,  also  remarks  on  *  the  stunted  growth,'  and 
'  the  deformity  of  the  spine,  legs,  arms,  &c.,  of  chimney- 
sweepers ' ;  their  '  sore  eyes  and  eyelids,'  and  further '  liability 
to  sores  which  were  generally  a  long  time  in  healing ' ;  to 
burns,  as  a  necessary  consequence  of  their  employment,  to 
cancer,  cough  and  asthma,  which  often  terminated  their 
miserable  lives  prematurely.^ 

From  this  description  it  is  evident  that  the  survivors 
must  as  a  rule  have  recruited  the  ranks  of  the  pauper  and 
criminal  population.  Yet  it  appears  that  when  the  Society 
had  promoted  '  a  Bill  in  Parliament  to  supply  deficiencies 
in  the  existing  one,'  which  passed  the  Commons,  it  was 
rejected  by  the  Lords. 

To  this  Bill  Mr.  Hodder  alludes  when  he  says :  ^  '  The 
subject  was  referred  in  1817  to  a  Select  Committee,  and  the 
printed  report  is  a  record  of  sickening  horrors.'  Some  of 
these  horrors  were  narrated  by  the  Eev.  Sydney  Smith  in 
the  *  Edinburgh  Keview.'  ^  The  writer  was  certainly  in  some 
matters  a  fellow- worker  with  Thomas  Bernard — at  his  first 
arrival  in  London  he  might  almost  be  styled  a  protegS — and 
there  is  every  probability  that  on  the  failure  of  the  measure 
on  which  the  friends  of  the  poor  little  sweeps  had  founded 

'  These  particulars  are  found  in  a  letter  from  '  Eichard  Wright,'  dated  from 
'  389  Rotherhithe,  July  16,  1816,'  and  apparently  addressed  to  the  '  Society  for 
Superseding  the  Necessity  of  Climbing  Boys,'  in  whose  '  Short  Account '  it  is 
included.  Mr.  Wright  is  described  in  this  pamphlet  as  '  a  very  able  medical 
practitioner.' 

"  Hodder,  The  Life  and  Work  of  the  seventh  Earl  of  SJmftesbury,  K.Q. 

'  EdiniMrgr/i  i?erie«;,  No.  LXIV.,  October  1819  :  'An  Account  of  the  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Society  for  Superseding  the  Necessity  of  Climbing  Boys.' 


THE  HOEEOES  OF  CHIMNEY  SWEEPING      343 

their  hopes,  Sir  Thomas,  as  he  then  was,  urged  this  young 
adherent  to  employ  his  powerful  pen  in  the  cause. 

The  horrors  detailed  in  the  article  then  written  equal 
or  surpass  anything  that  has  been  previously  noted  in  these 
pages.  It  appears  that  children  had  sometimes  been  sent 
up  chimneys  at  five  years  of  age ;  that  some  of  the  children 
employed  were  girls  ;  that  some  of  the  master-sweeps,  being 
nightmen,  their  smallest  apprentices  were  often  employed, 
when  chimney  work  was  slack — that  is,  of  course,  during  the 
summer — in  other  loathsome  and  deleterious  work;  that 
they  were  mercilessly  beaten  if  they  showed  any  fear,  and 
that  their  sores  were  not  dressed,  but  rubbed  with  brine  to 
stop  the  bleeding.  There  is  a  heart-rending  account  of 
a  boy  who  was  burned  to  death,  slowly,  in  an  Edinburgh 
chimney,  amid  the  threats  and  blasphemies  of  his  master. 
Twice  the  writer  expatiates  on  the  elegances  and  luxuries 
of  a  fashionable  dinner-party,  and  then  turns  to  its  dark 
side  : 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  who  knows  that  the  kitchen-chimney 
caught  fire  half  an  hour  before  dinner,  and  that  a  poor  little 
wretch,  of  six  or  seven  years  old,  was  sent  up  in  the  midst  of 
flames,  to  put  it  out  ? 

Yet,  after  these  and  other  shocking  details,  the  Kev. 
Sydney  Smith  concludes  : 

We  should  have  been  very  glad  to  have  seconded  the  views  of  the 
Climbing  Society,  and  to  have  pleaded  for  the  complete  abolition 
of  Climbing  Boys,  if  we  could  conscientiously  have  done  so.  But 
such  a  measure,  we  are  convinced  by  the  evidence,  could  not  be 
carried  into  execution  without  great  injury  to  property,  and  great 
increased  risk  of  fire.  The  Lords  have  investigated  the  matter 
with  the  greatest  patience,  humanity,  and  good  sense,  and  they  do 
not  venture,  in  their  Eeport,  to  recommend  to  the  House  the 
abolition  of  Climbing  Boys. 

It  may  be  observed  that  the  Bill  had  been  thrown  out 
in  1817  ;  the  article  did  not  appear  till  1819,  and  between 
those  two  dates  Sir  Thomas  Bernard  died — 1818.  Had  he 
lived  to  talk  it  over  exhaustively  with  the  writer,  during  the 


344  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

process  of  composition,  it  would  perhaps  not  have  been 
marred  by  so  lame  a  conclusion. 

A  few  words  are  still  necessary  as  to  the  continuation 
of  the  struggle.  In  1834,  an  Act  was  actually  passed 
containing  some  important  ameliorations;  in  1840,  when 
Lord  Ashley  (afterwards  Earl  of  Shaftesbury)  ^  took  up  the 
cause,  another  Act  followed,  by  which  all  who  should  compel 
or  knowingly  allow  any  person  under  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years  to  ascend  a  chimney  or  flue  were  punishable  by  a  fine. 
The  wording  of  the  Act  and  the  feeling  of  the  country 
against  it,  led,  however,  to  continual  evasion. 

Some  few  years  after  that  time,  I  can  remember  the 
annoyance  of  my  father,  who  was  then  a  magistrate,  at 
finding  that  a  boy  had  been  sent  up  his  kitchen  chimney  at 
Nether  Winchendon.  This  fact  he  discovered  through  his 
habit  of  early  rising  ;  his  servants  saw  no  harm  at  all  in  the 
practice.  I  may  state  also  that  even  later  I  was  amazed 
by  finding  that  a  very  sweet  and  kind-hearted  lady,  the 
daughter  of  a  conscientious  clergyman,  could  not  see  any 
objection  to  making  use  of  boys,  and  the  inconsistency  of 
thus  employing  them — in  a  charitable  institution  for  children 
even — did  not  strike  her. 

It  is  true  that  in  both  these  cases  the  chimneys  were 
shorter  and  wider  than  most  of  the  chimneys  in  towns  ;  but 
the  same  principle  was  involved.  The  argument,  however, 
was  in  these  and  other  cases  that  machines  were  of  little 
or  no  use— could  not,  in  fact,  be  got  up  some  chimneys. 

And  this  mention  of  machines  shows  the  connecting  link 
between  the  efforts  of  Thomas  Bernard  and  his  coadjutors, 
and  the  final  triumph  of  Lord  Shaftesbury — member,  as  he 
was  for  many  years,  first  of  the  House  of  Commons,  then 
of  the  House  of  Peers,  A  gifted  speaker,  beginning  his 
contest  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  continuing  it  to  old  age, 
he  could  never  have  won  it  at  all  so  far  as  it  is  possible  to 
judge,  had  not  one  or  more  of  the  machines  invented  in  the 
very  beginning  of  the  century  been  brought  to  something 

'  Hodder,  Life  of  tlie  seventh  Earl  of  SMftesbury,  chap.  viii. 


THE  EAEL  OF  SHAFTESBUEY  345 

like  perfection.  So  early  as  1840  ^  *  Every  Fire  Insurance 
Company  in  London,  except  one,  had  adopted  machines  for 
sweeping  chimneys,  and  recommended  their  adoption  to 
others,'  and  they  were  extensively  used  in  London  before 
other  parts  of  England  would  reform  their  ways.  Three 
Bills  to  amend  the  previous  mistakes  failed,  and  the  Commons 
were  as  inimical  as  the  Lords.  An  Act,  however,  passed 
in  1864,  making  the  master  who  made  use  of  climbing  boys 
punishable  with  imprisonment  and  hard  labour. 

Even  this  somehow  failed  to  annihilate  the  evil.  In  1872 
Lord  Shaftesbury  brought  the  matter  forward  once  more. 
Cases  were  stated  of  three  boys  recently  killed  in  flues ;  and, 
in  1875,  an  Act  passed,  which  is  supposed  to  have  rolled 
away  this  reproach  from  England — certainly  none  too  soon. 

'  Hodder,  Life  of  tlie  seventh  Earl  of  Shaftestncry,  chap.  viii. 


346  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 


CHAPTEK   XVIII 

CHILDREN    IN   COTTON   MILLS 

Invention  of  the  Fly-shuttle  and  the  '  Spinning  Jenny  '—The  Inventions  of 
Richard  Arkwright  and  Samuel  Crompton,  and  Dr.  Cartwright  and  Robert 
Millar— The  Creation  of  a  Demand  for  Child  Labour— The  Use  of  Parish 
^  Apprentices— Edwin  Hodder's  description  of  the  Employment  of  Children  in 
Mills— Public  Protest  against  the  Employment  of  Children — Thomas  Ber- 
nard attacks  the  System— David  Dale's  Mills— Thomas  Bernard's  Strictures 
upon  the  System  in  Force— Regulations  suggested  by  him — Strength  of  the 
Mill-owning  Interest — Sir  Robert  Peel  introduces  a  Bill  for  the  Amelioration 
of  the  Children's  Condition —The  Opposition  to  the  Bill — The  Second  Bill. 

I  HAVE  in  this  chapter  to  notice  another  foul  blot  on  the 
civilisation  and  Christianity  of  England — a  blot  which  stands 
out  in  hideous  relief  all  the  more  prominently  in  that  it 
defaces  the  annals  of  a  nation  which  prides  itself  particularly 
on  its  domestic  life.  Strange,  indeed,  is  the  fact  that  this 
country,  which  glories  especially  in  its  rehgion  and  virtue, 
has  been  so  remarkable  for  utter  heartlessness  in  its  treatment 
of  children. 

The  extraordinary  development  of  manufactures,  through 
the  use  of  machinery  in  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  led  to  a  rapidly  increasing  demand  for  hands  to 
work  the  machinery.  How  was  the  difficulty  of  finding 
apprentices  to  be  met  ?  According  to  a  French  historian, 
Pitt,  the  Prime  Minister,  said:  'Take  the  children.'  I 
do  not  know,  however,  that  the  onus  can  be  laid  in  any 
special  manner  on  the  Premier ;  but  the  Legislature  as  a 
body  was  certainly  guilty,  and  the  whole  nation,  in  its 
measure  and  degree,  since  it  condoned  and  connived  at  the 
sacrifice  of  these  innocents  to  Mammon,  and  clung  with 
marvellous  tenacity  to  the  system  of  immolation.     As  to  the 


THE  SPINNING-JENNY  347 

guilt  of  those  persons  who  were  directly  concerned  in  the 
traffic  it  is  superfluous  to  speak. 

Up  to  the  year  1738  the  English  hand-loom  weaver  [writes 
Mr.  Hodder  ^]  was  in  no  better  case,  as  regarded  his  implements, 
than  the  '  rude,  unlettered  Indian  ' ;  but  in  1738,  John  Kay,  of 
Bury,  substituted  the  fly-shuttle  for  the  hand-shuttle,  by  which 
the  production  of  the  hand-loom  was  trebled.  Other  improve- 
ments followed ;  and  in  1767,  Mr.  James  Hargreaves,  a  hand- 
loom  weaver  of  Blackburn,  patented  his  '  spinning-jenny.'  So 
great  was  the  saving  of  labour  effected  by  this  machine  that  the 
spinners  were  up  in  arms ;  they  broke  into  his  house,  and  de- 
stroyed the  machine.  When,  however,  the  advantages  became 
apparent,  fresh  machines  were  brought  into  use,  but  these  in  like 
manner  were  destroyed,  and  Hargreaves  quitted  Lancashire  in 
disgust,  and  settled  in  Nottingham,  where  he  erected  a  mill. 

Following  close  upon  the  inventions  of  Hargreaves,  came  those 
of  Eichard  Arkwright  and  Samuel  Crompton,  by  whose  genius  the 
production  of  yarn  had  increased  three  hundred-fold  ;  and  to  these 
again  succeeded  the  inventions  of  Dr.  Cartwright,  a  clergyman  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  of  Mr.  Eobert  Millar,  a  caUco-printer 
of  Glasgow,  so  that  towards  the  end  of  last  century  the  condition 
of  the  cotton  manufacturing  population  was  completely  changed. 
Instead  of  working  in  their  homes  they  were  obUged  to  work  in 
mills ;  and  instead  of  being  comparatively  their  own  masters, 
working  when  they  would,  they  were  under  masters  who  made 
them  work  for  what  wages  they  chose  to  give,  and  during  what 
hours  they  chose  to  dictate. 

Remonstrance  was  in  vain ;  water  could  now  be  employed  to 
do  the  harder  part  of  the  work  formerly  done  by  the  men,  who,  if 
they  were  refractory,  could  be  sent  adrift ;  and  machinery  was 
invented  which  children  could  manage  with  almost  as  much  suc- 
cess as  adults. 

In  this  way  a  demand  for  child-labour  was  created,  and  the 
supply  was  not  deficient.  But  it  was  effected  in  a  manner  which 
scarcely  seems  credible  to  the  humanity  of  to-day ;  large  bodies  of 
children  were  drafted  from  the  workhouses  of  London,  Edinburgh, 
and  other  great  cities,  and  placed  in  the  mills  as  '  apprentices,' 
where,  at  the  discretion  of  sordid  overseers,  they  were  worked  un- 
mercifully, and  treated  with  such  brutahty  that  the  recital  is  too 
sickening  for  narration. 

'  Hodder  (Edwin),  The  Life  and  Work  of  the  seventh  Earl  of  Shaftesbury, 
chap.  iii.  (Popular  Edition), 


348  THE  BEENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

It  appears  that  the  lightness  of  the  labour  was  put 
forward  at  first  as  an  excuse,  or  even  sufficient  reason,  for  the 
employment  of  children.  The  author  of  a  'Life  of  Sir 
Robert  Peel,'  ^  being  naturally  anxious  to  place  the  system 
in  the  best  point  of  view,  observes  that : 

The  real  tendency  of  improvements  in  machinery  is,  to  substitute 
the  hght  toil  of  feeding  the  engines,  and  superintending  their 
work,  for  mere  exertions  of  physical  strength ;  hence  women  and 
children  can  be  employed  in  cotton  mills  without  having  their 
strength  overtasked,  because  the  chief  requisites  of  their  occupa- 
tion are  regularity,  vigilance,  and  attention.  But  a  uniformity  of 
work,  however  light,  would,  when  too  long  continued,  produce  an 
injurious  effect  on  the  physical  and  mental  constitution,  particu- 
larly in  childhood. 

After  this  bland  statement,  it  is  instructive  to  find  the 
details  of  this  trade  in  children  set  forth  without  disguise, 
as  in  the  following  passage  : 

Under  the  operation  of  the  Factories'  Apprentice  System 
parish  apprentices  were  sent  without  remorse  or  inquiry  from  the 
workhouses  in  England,  and  the  public  charities  of  Scotland,  to 
be  '  used  up '  as  the  *  cheapest  raw  material  in  the  market.'  This 
inhuman  conduct  was  systematically  practised — the  mill-owners 
communicated  with  the  overseer  of  the  poor,  and  when  the  de- 
mand and  supply  had  been  arranged  to  the  satisfaction  of  both 
the  contracting  parties,  a  day  was  fixed  for  the  examination  of 
'  the  little  children '  to  be  inspected  by  the  millowner,  or  his  agent, 
previous  to  which  the  authorities  of  the  workhouse  had  filled  the 
minds  of  the  wards  with  the  notion  that,  by  entering  the  mills, 
they  would  become  ladies  and  gentlemen.  On  the  day  appointed, 
the  children  were  drawn  up  to  be  inspected  and  selected  ;  those 
chosen  were  then  conveyed  by  coach,  by  waggon,  or  boat,  to  their 
destination,  and,  as  a  rule,  from  that  moment  were  lost  to  their 
friends  and  relatives.  It  sometimes  happened  that  traffickers 
contracted  with  the  overseers,  removing  their  juvenile  victims  to 
Manchester,  or  other  towns.  On  their  arrival,  if  not  previously 
assigned,  they  were  deposited  sometimes  in  dark  cellars,  where 
the  merchant  dealing  in  them  brought  his  customers  ;  the  mill- 
owners,  by  the  light  of  lanterns,  being  enabled  to  examine  the 
children.    Their  limbs  and  stature  having  undergone  the  necessary 

'  Life  of  Robert  Peel  (published  anonymously,  1842). 


THE  FIEST  SIE  EOBBET  PEEL  349 

scrutiny,  the  bargain  was  struck,  and  those  poor  '  innocents '  were 
conveyed  to  the  mills. 

The  general  treatment  of  those  apprentices  depended  entirely 
on  the  will  of  their  masters ;  in  very  many  instances  their  labour 
was  limited  only  by  exhaustion,  after  many  modes  of  torture  had 
been  unavaihngly  applied  to  force  continued  action;  their  food 
was  stinted,  coarse,  and  unwholesome  ;  in  '  brisk  times  '  their  beds 
(such  as  they  were)  were  never  cool,  the  mills  were  worked  night 
and  day,  and  as  soon  as  one  set  of  children  rose  for  labour  the 
other  set  retired  for  rest.  Discrimination  of  sexes  was  not  re- 
garded ;  vice,  disease,  and  death,  luxuriated  in  those  receptacles  of 
human  woe.  We  dare  not  trust  ourselves  to  write  all  we  know 
on  this  subject,  much  less  all  we  feel,  the  cases  stated  hereafter 
are  representative  of  the  system.  The  moral  nature  of  the  traffic 
between  parish  authorities  and  the  buyers  of  pauper  children  may 
be  judged  from  the  fact  that  in  some  cases  one  idiot  was  accepted 
with  twenty  sane  children.  A  question  arises — What  was  the 
fate  of  these  idiots  ? — that  secret  has  not  been  revealed.  (Pp.  16-17). 

Space  will  not  allow  me  to  give  the  detailed  accounts 
of  the  cases  of  hardship  to  which  allusion  is  made  in  the 
last  extract,  and  it  is  the  less  necessary  since  students  of 
Lord  Shaftesbury's  life  cannot  fail  to  have  a  fairly  clear  idea 
of  this  iniquitous  system.  At  this  time  Lord  Shaftesbury 
was  not  yet  born.^  The  first  Sir  Eobert  Peel,  who,  when 
awakened  to  the  conviction  of  the  means  by  which  his  great 
fortune  had  been  made,  did  his  best  to  repair  the  mischief, 
expressed  his  remorse  for  having,  night  after  night,  year  after 
year,  gone  comfortably  to  sleep  while  the  children  in  his 
employ  were  toiling  till  daybreak  and  later. 

To  return  to  the  pamphlet  already  quoted.  The  writer 
adds: 

Little  children  have  been  worked  for  sixteen  hours  and  upwards ; 
with  few  and  trifling  intermissions,  day  and  night  have  been  de- 
voted to  almost  constant  labour  ;  a  portion  of  the  Sabbath  has 
been  for  these  helpless  ones  appropriated  to  toil.  In  stench,  in 
heated  rooms,  amid  the  constant  whirling  of  a  thousand  wheels 
have  little  fingers  and  little  feet  been  kept  in  ceaseless  action, 
forced  into  unnatural  activity  by  blows  from  the  heavy  hands  and 

'  He  was  born  in  1801,  when  the  system  had  been  many  years  in  operation. 


350  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

feet  of  the  merciless  overlooker,  and  the  infliction  of  bodily  pain 
by  instruments  invented  by  the  sharpened  ingenuity  of  insatiable 
selfishness.  Tens  of  thousands  of '  the  little  children '  in  those  mills 
have  been  destroyed  because  of  their  owners'  lust  of  gold. 

Mr.  Hodder's  description  is,  perhaps,  even  more  forcible  ; 
but  I  have  only  space  for  a  portion.  In  process  of  time  he 
states  that : 

A  horrible  traffic  had  sprung  up  ;  child-jobbers  scoured  the 
country  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  children  to  sell  them  again 
into  the  bondage  of  factory  slaves.  The  waste  of  human  life  in 
the  manufactories  to  which  the  children  were  consigned  was  simply 
frightful.  Day  and  night  the  machinery  was  kept  going  ;  one 
gang  of  children  working  it  by  day,  and  another  by  night,  while, 
in  times  of  pressure,  the  same  children  were  kept  working  day  and 
night  by  remorseless  task- masters 

Stage  by  stage  they  sank  into  the  profoundest  depths  of 
wretchedness.  In  weariness  they  often  fell  upon  the  machinery, 
and  almost  every  factory  child  was  more  or  less  injured  through 
hunger,  neglect,  over-fatigue,  and  poisonous  air ;  they  died  in 
terrible  numbers,  swept  off  by  contagious  fevers. 

There  was  no  redress  of  any  kind.  The  isolation  of  the  mills 
aided  the  cruelties  practised  in  them.  The  children  could  not 
escape,  as  rewards  were  offered  for  their  capture  and  were  eagerly 
sought ;  they  could  not  complain  when  the  visiting  magistrate 
came,  for  they  were  in  abject  fear  of  their  task-masters,  and, 
moreover  on  those  days  the  house  was  swept  and  garnished  for 
the  anticipated  visit,  and  appearances  would  have  given  the  lie  to 
complaints  ;  if  they  perished  in  the  machinery,  it  was  a  rare  thing 
for  a  coroner's  inquest  to  be  held,  and  rarer  still  for  it  to  issue  in 
anything  but  a  commonplace  verdict.  And  when  the  time  came 
that  their  indentures  expired,  after  years  of  toil,  averaging  fourteen 
hours  a  day,  with  their  bodies  scarred  with  the  wounds  inflicted 
by  the  overlookers — with  their  minds  dwarfed  and  vacant,  with 
their  constitutions  in  many  instances,  hopelessly  injured  ;  in  pro- 
found ignorance  that  there  was  even  the  semblance  of  law  for 
their  protection — these  unfortunate  apprentices,  arrived  at  man- 
hood, found  that  they  had  never  been  taught  the  trade  they  should 
have  learned,  and  that  they  had  no  resource  but  to  enter  again 
upon  the  hateful  life  from  which  they  were  legally  freed.  Should 
it  happen  that  they  had  become  crippled  or  diseased  during  their 
apprenticeship,  their  wages  were  fixed  at  the  lowest  possible  sum, 
and  their  future  was  a  long  lingering  death. 


A  BITTEE  HEEITAGE  351 

And  thus  a  bitter  heritage  was  left  to  succeeding  genera- 
tions— a  population,  physically,  mentally,  and  morally  de- 
graded, and  imbued  with  traditions  and  memories  of  their 
own  and  their  parents'  wrongs.  Strange  that  King  George, 
the  kind-hearted  monarch,  whose  virtues  are  popularly  sup- 
posed to  have  redeemed  the  evil  deeds  of  his  race,  and  who 
was  not  too  constitutional  to  oppose  his  ministers  and  his 
people  vigorously  when  his  own  wishes  were  concerned,  had 
no  thought  for  these  infantine  victims — nor  his  '  good  Queen 
Charlotte '  either !  After  reading  about  the  horrors  of 
George  III.'s  time,  it  is  impossible  to  wonder  at  the  bar- 
barities of  previous  ages. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  facts  were  not  known. 
Mr.  Hodder  says  : 

As  early  as  1796  voices  were  raised  in  protest  against  the  cruel 
wrongs  inflicted  on  these  poor  children,  who  were  continually 
being  sent  down  to  Lancashire  by  barge-loads  by  the  London 
workhouses ;  but  in  the  excitement  of  the  stirring  events  that 
were  then  occurring  at  home  and  abroad,  those  voices  were  un- 
heeded. Meantime  the  condition  of  these  unfortunate  children 
was  growing  from  bad  to  worse,  until  at  last  the  cruelty  of  the 
system  under  which  they  were  held  was  hardly  paralleled  by  the 
abominations  of  negro-slavery. 

It  appears,  indeed,  that  voices  were  raised  in  protest  earlier 
than  1796.  In  a  book  containing  a  general  review  of  the 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  the  upper  classes,  of  which 
the  third  edition  was  published  in  1795,  Mr.  Thomas 
Gisborne  '  called  attention  to  the  abuses  in  cotton  mills. 
He  says  : 

The  ready  communication  of  contagion  to  numbers  crowded 
together,  the  accession  of  virulence  from  putrid  effluvia,  and  the 
injury  done  to  young  persons,  through  confinement  and  too  long 
continued  labour  are  evils  which  we  have  lately  heard  ascribed  to 
cotton  mills  by  persons  of  the  first  medical  authority  assembled  to 
investigate  the  subject. 

'  Gisborne  (Thomas,  M.A.),  An  Enquiry  into  the  Duties  of  Men  in  the 
Higher  and  Middle  Classes  of  Society  in  Great  Britain,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  xiii. :  '  On 
the  Duties  of  Persons  engaged  in  Trade  and  Business,'  Third  Edition,  1795. 


352  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

It  appears  that  in  consequence  of  an  outbreak  of  putrid 
fever  at  the  EadcHffe  Cotton  Mills,  the  magistrates  of  the 
county  of  Lancaster  had  requested  Dr.  Percival  and  other 
Manchester  physicians  to  draw  up  a  Eeport,  from  which 
the  preceding  details  were  taken  by  Mr.  Gisborne,  who 
continues : 

To  these  must  be  added  an  evil,  which  still  brands  with 
disgrace  the  practice  of  some  cotton-mills, — the  custom  of  oblig- 
ing a  part  of  the  children  employed  to  work  all  night ;  a  practice 
which  must  greatly  contribute  towards  rendering  them  feeble, 
diseased,  and  unfit  for  other  labour,  when  they  are  dismissed  ^ 
a  more  advanced  period  of  youth  from  the  manufactory. 

Important  recommendations  had  been  set  forth  in  the 
Keport  for  the  better  management  of  mills,  but  neither 
magistrates  nor  physicians  appear  to  have  had  any  hold  on 
the  mill-owner.  Voices  were  uplifted  elsewhere,  and  pens 
set  in  motion  in  the  cause  of  humanity,  but  with  little 
result.  Mr.  Bernard  had  resolved  to  attack  this  iniquitous 
system,  of  which  he  may  have  learned  some  minuter  par- 
ticulars from  Mr.  Gisborne,  who  had  contributed  papers  on 
kindred  subjects  to  the  Society's  *  Keports.'  ^  But  Mr.  Bernard 
began  cautiously,  as  was  his  wont,  avoiding  reflections  on 
individuals.  In  the  case  of  climbing  boys,  he  had  brought 
forward  Mr.  Porter's  regulation  of  his  house  as  an  example 
of  what  might  be  accomplished  by  a  just  and  benevolent 
master ;  and  he  now  set  before  mill-owners  the  organisation 
of  Mr.  Dale's  estabhshment  as  a  model  for  imitation. 

A  letter  written  by  the  Kev.  Sydney  Smith,^  apparently 
to  a  Mrs.  Beach,  in  1798,  nearly  two  years  before  Mr. 
Bernard  took  up  the  subject  in  the  'Keports,'  shows  that 
he  had  been  a  visitor  to  Mr.  Dale's  mills.  Possibly  Mr. 
Bernard  may  have  suggested  his  paying  this  call  while  in 
the  neighbourhood,  or  it  may  have  been  Mr.  Smith  who 

'  I  assume  his  identity  with  the  Eev.  Thomas  Gisborne,  who  wrote  on 
Supplying  the  Poor  with  Milk  ' ;  '  The  Duke  of  Bridgewater's  Colliers,'  and 
The  Situation  of  the  Mining  Poor,'  in  the  Society's  Reports. 

-  Memoirs  of  the  Eev.  Sydney  Smith,  by  his  Daughter,  Lady  Holland) 
vol.  i.,  chap.  ii. 


DAVID  DALE'S  MILLS  353 

first  mentioned  these  mills  in  terms  of  praise  to  his  friend. 
On  these  points  I  have  no  information ;  but  I  give  his 
account  of  this  visit,  as  preceding,  in  order  of  time,  Mr. 
Bernard's  fuller  description  : 

Nothing  struck  me  more  than  the  Courtland  Crags,  near 
Lanark.  A  small  river  has  worked  its  passage,  of  ten  or  twelve 
feet  in  breadth,  through  rocks  that  tower  three  hundred  feet  above 
it  on  each  side  ;  the  passage  is  half  a  mile  long.  Consider  what  a 
scene  this  must  be  !  Near  Lanark  is  settled  Mr.  David  Dale ;  he 
alone  employs  in  cotton  works  seventeen  hundred  souls.  He  is  a 
very  religious  and  benevolent  man,  and  is  remarkably  attentive  to 
the  morals,  as  well  as  to  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  the  manu- 
facturing children.  They  are  admirably  instructed  and  brought 
up,  with  an  attention  to  cleanliness  that  is  truly  delightful.  He 
very  often  gives  them  a  dance.  The  evening  we  were  there,  after 
the  hours  of  work,  there  was  a  general  country  dance,  of  about 
two  hundred  couples.  We  knew  nothing  of  it  till  the  following 
morning,  or  of  course  should  not  bave  missed  so  pleasing  a 
spectacle.  I  love  to  see  the  beauties  of  nature  ;  but  I  love  better 
to  see  the  hand  of  active  piety  stretch  forth  to  such  young  orphans 
as  these  the  innocent  pleasures  of  life,  the  benefit  of  instruction 
and  the  blessings  of  religion.  It  is  dreadful  to  observe  in  Man- 
chester and  Birmingham  how  manufacturers  brutahze  mankind, — 
how  small  the  interval  between  a  loeaver  and  a  beast ! — What 
does  his  country  not  owe  to  a  man  who  has  promoted  industry 
without  propagating  vice,  who  has  enlarged  the  boundaries  of 
commerce  and  strengthened  the  ties  of  moral  obligation. 

Mr.  Bernard's  paper,  dated  '  February  24th,  1800,'  which 
appeared  in  the  '  Eeports  '  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the 
Condition  of  the  Poor,  goes  more  thoroughly  into  the  subject, 
and  is  here  transcribed  in  full  :  ^ 

The  Cotton  Mills  at  New  Lanark  in  Scotland,  are  situated  in  a 
beautiful  and  romantic  amphitheatre,  near  the  high  road  between 
CarUsle  and  Glasgow.     The  rapid  stream  of  the  Clyde  supplies 

'  Extract  from  'An  Account  of  Mr.  Dale's  Cotton  Mills  at  New  Lanark  in  Scot- 
land,' by  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.,  Reports  of  the  Society  B.C. P.,  vol.  ii.,  No.  LXIX. 
In  vol.  iv.  of  the  Reports,  No.  CII.,  the  subject  is  followed  up  by  a  paper 
called  '  Extract  from  an  Account  of  the  Cotton  Mills  at  Rothsay  in  the  Isle  of 
Bute,  by  Mr.  Carr,  of  Leeds.'  He  is  able  to  state  that  Messrs.  Bannatine  and 
Buchanan  of  Glasgow,  who  furnished  him  with  particulars,  and  other  mill- 
VOL.   III.  A  A 


354  THE  BERNAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

that  abundance  of  water  which  is  the  powerful  operator  of  the 
machinery.  For  the  purpose  of  conveying  and  directing  its  power, 
a  subterraneous  aqueduct  is  cut  for  many  hundred  yards  through 
the  soHd  rock.  The  first  mill,  in  length  154  feet,  was  originally 
erected  in  1785,  and,  having  been  burnt  down,  was  rebuilt  in  1789. 
The  second  is  exactly  of  the  same  dimensions ;  the  third  is  130 
feet  and  the  fourth  156  feet  in  length. 

The  two  first  mills  contain  12,000  spindles  for  spinning  water- 
twist;  the  other  two  are  occupied  by  jennies  for  spinning  mule 
yarn.  The  village  of  New  Lanark  owes  its  existence  to  the 
erection  of  these  mills.  It  consists  of  neat  substantial  houses ; 
forming  two  streets  about  half  a  mile  in  length,  and  broad, 
regular,  and  clean.  Near  the  centre  of  the  village  are  the  mills, 
and  opposite  to  them  a  neat  mansion,  the  occasional  residence  of 
Mr.  Dale,  the  proprietor,  and  of  his  principal  manager.  The 
village  consisting  chiefly  of  Highlanders  from  the  counties  of 
Argyle,  Caithness,  and  Inverness,  contains  about  1,500  inhabi- 
tants ;  of  whom  all  who  are  capable  of  work  are  employed  in  and 
about  the  mills. 

Of  these  there  are  300  children  who  are  entirely  fed,  clothed, 
and  educated  by  Mr.  Dale.  The  others  lodge  with  their  parents, 
in  the  village,  and  have  a  weekly  allowance  for  their  work. 

The  healthy  and  pleasurable  appearance  of  these  children  has 
frequently  attracted  the  attention  of  the  traveller.  Peculiar  regu- 
lations, adopted  by  Mr.  Dale  for  the  preservation  of  the  health  and 
morals  of  those  under  his  protection,  have  made  this  striking 
difference  between  his  manufactory  and  many  other  similar  under- 
takings in  this  kingdom  ;  so  that  while  some  other  mills  must  be 
regarded  as  seminaries  of  vice,  and  sources  of  disease,  those  at 
Lanark  are  so  peculiarly  exempt  from  these  objections,  that  out 
of  near  3,000  children  employed  in  these  mills  during  a  period  of 
12  years,  from  1785  to  1797,  only  fourteen  have  died,  and  not  one 
has  been  the  object  of  judicial  punishment. 

In  order  to  supply  that  first  necessary  of  life,  pure  and  fresh 
air,  the  windows  of  the  manufactory  are  frequently  opened  ;  and 
in  summer  there  are  air-holes  left  under  every  other  window. 
Cleanhness  is  another  great  object  of  attention.  The  children 
wash  themselves  before  they  go  to  work,  and  also  after  it  before 

owners,  declared  themselves  satisfied  with  the  Act  just  passed,  '  the  abridgement 
of  labour  is  fully  compensated  by  the  continued  good  health  of  the  children.' 
(Note  to  '  Observations.' — Some,  I  fear  many,  owners,  wished  it  repealed,  on  the 
ground  that  they  could  not  make  profits  unless  the  children  worked  night  and 
day.)     In  the  Eeports  Lanark  is  spelt  '  Lanerk.' 


DAVID  DALE'S  MILLS  355 

they  appear  in  the  schools.  The  floor  and  the  machinery  are 
washed  once  a  week  with  hot  water ;  and  the  ceilings  and  walls 
twice  a  year,  with  unslacked  lime.  The  children  who  reside  in 
the  house,  and  who  have  their  maintenance  in  lieu  of  wages,  are 
lodged  in  six  large  airy  apartments.  The  boys  and  girls  are  kept 
distinctly  apart,  not  only  in  the  hours  of  rest  and  refreshment,  but 
during  the  time  of  occupation.  They  sleep  on  cast-iron  bedsteads, 
the  bed-tick  filled  with  straw,  which  is  changed  regularly  every 
month.  The  bedrooms  are  swept,  and  the  windows  thrown  open 
every  morning,  and  kept  open  all  the  day.  Many  of  the  children 
have  contrived  to  provide  themselves  with  boxes  with  locks,  in 
which  they  keep  their  books  and  their  little  property.  Their 
upper  clothing  in  summer  is  cotton  which  is  washed  once  a  fort- 
night. In  winter  the  boys  are  dressed  in  woollen  ;  and,  as  well  as 
the  girls,  have  dress  suits  for  Sundays. 

For  dinner  they  have  seven  ounces  each  of  fresh  beef  with 
barley-broth,  or  alternately  five  ounces  of  cheese ;  and  a  plentiful 
allowance  of  potatoes,  or  barley  bread.  This  part  of  the  table 
diet  is  seldom  varied ;  except  in  winter  by  a  dinner  of  fresh 
herrings  as  a  change.  Their  breakfast  and  supper  consist  of 
oatmeal  porridge,  with  the  addition  of  milk  in  summer,  and, 
during  the  winter,  with  a  sauce  made  of  molasses  and  beer. 

Seven  o'clock  is  the  hour  for  supper ;  soon  after  which  {for 
that  'pernicious  practice,  called  night-ioork  is  entirely  excluded  from 
these  mills)  the  schools  commence,  and  continue  till  nine  o'clock. 
Mr.  Dale  has  engaged  three  regular  masters,  who  instruct  the 
lesser  children  during  the  day.  In  the  evening  they  are  assisted 
by  seven  others,  one  of  whom  teaches  writing.  There  is  likewise 
a  woman  to  teach  the  girls  sewing,  and  another  person  who 
occasionally  gives  lessons  in  church  music.  The  masters  preside 
over  the  boys'  dinner-table.  On  Sundays  they  conduct  them  to 
the  place  of  divine  worship ;  and,  in  the  evening  of  Sunday, 
attend  to  assist  and  improve  them,  by  religious  and  moral 
information. 

In  the  year  1791,  a  vessel  carrying  emigrants  to  America,  from 
the  isle  of  Skye,  was  driven  by  stress  of  weather  into  Greenock, 
and  about  200  persons  were  put  on  shore  in  a  very  destitute 
situation.  Mr.  Dale  offered  them  all  immediate  employment ; 
which  the  greater  part  accepted.  Soon  after  he  notified  to  the 
people  of  the  Highlands  and  Hebrides  the  degree  of  encourage- 
ment which  he  would  give  to  families  at  the  cotton  mills,  and 
undertook  to  provide  houses  for  200  families.  These  were  finished 
in   1793  ;   in  consequence   of   which   a   considerable   number   of 


356  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

Highlanders  have  taken  up  their  residence  at  New  Lanark. 
Several  families  also,  who  were  last  year  driven  from  Ireland, 
have  found  immediate  employment  here. 

I  am  uncertain  whether  Mr.  Bernard  had  himself  visited 
Mr.  Dale's  cotton  mills ;  he  acknowledges  having  derived 
the  details  of  his  account  from  '  Mr.  Professor  Garnett,  of 
the  Eoyal  Institution.'  But,  in  any  case,  by  thus  placing 
before  the  public  a  sample  of  a  well-organised  Children's 
Department,  he  drew  attention  to  the  right  mode  of  managing 
such  departments,  and  avoided  the  necessity  of  setting  forth, 
the  shortcomings  of  other  mill-owners  so  pointedly  as  to 
cause  irritation.  The  description  also  served  as  a  text  for 
his  *  Observations  '  appended  to  the  Keport,  in  which,  with- 
out naming  any  individual,  he  speaks  of  the  system  generally 
in  force  with  considerable  severity  : 

Observations 

Amid  the  numerous  variety  of  Cotton  Mills,  that  have  been 
erected  in  this  kingdom,  I  sincerely  wish  it  were  in  my  power  to 
shew  many  examples,  like  those  of  Mr.  Dale's  mills  at  Lanark. 
Some  few  of  these  manufactories  have  been  distinguished  for 
attention  to  health  and  cleanliness,  and  many  of  them  for  very 
curious  mechanism,  and  ingenious  inventions,  by  which  the 
operations  are  produced  and  facilitated ;  but  I  have  not  had  the 
good  fortune  to  find  in  any  (tho'  I  doubt  not  it  may  exist  in  some 
instances)  that  proper  degree  of  attention,  which  ought  to  be  paid 
to  the  morals  and  instruction  of  the  children.  Where  boys  and 
girls  are  indiscriminately  employed  at  all  hours,  not  only  of  the 
day  but  of  the  night,  and  are  mingled  together  without  any  ad- 
vantage of  education,  without  benefit  of  religious  instruction  or 
moral  principle,  and  without  any  friend  to  advise  or  protect  them, 
can  we  be  astonished  at  their  plunging  at  a  very  early  age,  and 
almost  during  childhood,  in  every  wretched  and  disgusting  species 
of  debauchery  ?  Can  we  be  surprised  that  our  numerous  and 
crowded  manufactories  should  be  the  nurseries  of  thieves  and 
prostitutes,  sent  out  at  an  early  age  to  their  own  ruin,  and  to  the 
annoyance  of  the  kingdom,  and  of  every  individual  of  which  it  is 
composed  ? 

Such,  however,  is  the  present  spirit  and  speculation  of  this 
country,  that  wherever  the  demon  of  gain  raises  his  banner,  talents 


CHILDEEN  IN   COTTON  MILLS  357 

and  exertion  are  sure  to  follow  it.  Cotton  Mills  are  as  yet  but  in 
their  infancy.  Whilst  great  profits  and  immense  fortunes  are  to 
be  made  by  them,  we  know  they  must  rapidly  increase ;  and  it  is 
too  obvious  that,  without  public  attention,  they  must  be  destruc- 
tive of  the  moral  and  religious  principles  of  the  great  mass  of  the 
people.  The  effect  of  this  species  of  abridgement  of  labour  is  so 
great,  that  100  persons  in  a  Cotton  Mill  will  do  more  spinning, 
and  that  of  ten  times  the  fineness,  and  of  a  superior  quality  to 
what  can  be  produced  by  3,000  of  the  very  best  spinners  by  hand. 
In  consequence  of  this,  Cotton  Mills  have  almost  entirely  deprived 
the  cottager's  wife  and  children  of  these  means  of  domestic  in- 
dustry. The  profit  of  spinning  by  hand  is  so  reduced,  that  whole 
districts  of  cottagers'  families  have  been  obhged  to  give  it  up,  and 
apply  for  relief  to  the  parish. 

Our  national  and  individual  increase  of  wealth,  from  the 
manufactures  of  cotton,  has  been  attended  with  so  much  injury  to 
the  health  and  morals  of  the  poor,  and  is  so  utterly  destructive  of 
that  which  constitutes  the  essential  and  fundamental  virtue  of  the 
female  character,  that,  if  I  am  not  permitted  to  suggest  a  doubt, 
whether  it  would  not  have  been  better  for  us  that  Cotton  Mills 
had  never  been  erected  in  this  island,  I  may  at  least  express  an 
anxious  wish,  that  such  regulations  may  be  adopted  and  enforced, 
as  shall  diminish,  if  not  entirely  remove,  the  injurious  and  per- 
nicious effects  which  must  otherwise  attend  them. 

With  this  view,  I  will  lay  before  the  reader  an  outline  of 
some  regulations,  which  impelled  by  zeal,  but  very  little  presum- 
ing in  personal  knowledge  of  the  subject,  I  venture  to  submit  to 
the  consideration  of  the  public ;  meaning  to  apply  my  observa- 
tions not  merely  to  Cotton  Mills,  but  to  all  other  manufactories 
under  similar  circumstances  :  and  particularly  to  those  in  which 
children  are  engaged  as  apprentices. 

In  the  first  place,  I  conceive  that  some  general  and  public 
attention  ought  to  be  paid  to  the  moral  and  religious  improvement 
of  so  numerous  a  class  of  our  fellow-subjects  ;  and  that  the  most 
essential  parts  of  their  education  ought  not  entirely  to  depend  on 
the  caprice,  or  disposition,  of  their  respective  masters  ;  especially 
as  many  of  them  have  been  apprenticed  by  lots  from  distant 
counties,  and  have  been  deserted  by  those,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
have  protected  them.  In  addition  to  this,  something  should  be 
done  for  the  benefit  of  these  children,  to  instruct  and  prepare 
them  to  support  themselves  in  life,  without  thievery  or  prostitu- 
tion, when  the  period  of  their  apprenticeship  expires  at  the  age 
of  16. 


358  THE  BEENARDS  OF  ABINGTON 

It  seems  to  me  to  be  also  expedient,  that  the  age  and  condi- 
tions of  apprenticeship  be  regulated ;  that  the  hours  of  work  be 
limited,  and  night-work  (so  destructive  to  health  and  morals) 
entirely  excluded  ;  that  a  total  separation  take  place  between  the 
boys  and  the  girls  ;  that  the  works  be  liable  to  the  periodical 
inspection  of  the  magistrates,  who  should  have  power  to  order  the 
regular  white-washing  and  cleaning,  and  the  warming  and  venti- 
lating of  the  workrooms ;  and  who  should  receive  quarterly  or 
monthly  reports  from  each  manufactory,  of  the  number,  the 
health,  and  the  respective  ages,  of  all  the  apprentices  and  other 
persons  employed  there. 

Such  are  the  regulations,  which,  upon  a  cursory  view  of  the 
subject,  appear  to  be  proper,  and  to  have  a  tendency  to  meliorate 
the  condition,  and  to  preserve  the  morals,  of  these  unfortunate  and 
neglected  children.  Other  correctives  and  remedies  may  probably 
occur  to  those  who  possess  more  practical  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject. At  present  I  have  only  to  add  that,  as  far  as  my  inquiries 
have  extended,  I  have  reason  to  be  satisfied,  that  almost  all  the 
owners  of  Cotton  Mills  will  concur  in  thinking  that  the  preceding, 
or  some  similar  regulations  ought  to  be  enforced  by  the  legislature, 
for  the  protection  of  the  children  employed  in  those  Mills.  In 
order  therefore  that  something  practicable  and  effectual  may  be 
done,  without  injury  to  the  interest  of  the  manufacturers,  I  would 
suggest  that  the  outline  of  any  regulations  proposed  to  be 
adopted,  should  be  first  communicated  to  them,  so  that  they 
might  state  any  objections,  or  amendments  ;  and  after  a  proper 
attention  shall  have  been  paid  to  their  observations,  I  venture 
boldly  to  express  my  confidence,  that  the  measures  will  have  the 
support  of  every  one,  who  desires  to  promote  the  welfare  and 
happiness  of  his  fellow-creatures,  and  the  essential  interests  of 
virtue,  morality  and  religion  in  this  favoured  country.' 

The  question  now  seems  simple  enough ;  but  the  mill- 
owning  interest  was  then  terribly  strong,  its  social  and  poli- 
tical influence  great,  and  it  found  backers  in  persons  of  all 
classes  who  profited  by  the  iniquitous  system  in  vogue. 
Fortunately  for  the  cause  of  the  children,  Sir  Eobert  Peel, 
the  great  mill-owner,  and  first  baronet,  came  forward  to  help 
them.  In  this  case  there  was  no  existing  Act  of  Parliament 
bearing  on  the  subject,  and  without  one  nothing  could  be 

'  TAfe  of  Sir  Thomas  Bernard,  by  Bev.  James  Baker.  (See  also  account  of 
this  time  in  Dr.  W.  Cooke  Taylor's  Life  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  vol.  i.) 


A  GENEROUS  DONATION  359 

hoped  for  ;  it  was  Sir  Eobert  Peel  who  undertook  to  introduce 
a  Bill  for  the  amelioration  of  the  children's  condition.  The 
framing  of  this  Bill  was  entrusted  to  a  committee,  chiefly 
consisting  of  members  of  the  Society  for  Bettering  the 
Condition  of  the  Poor,  and  Sir  Robert  frequently  attended 
their  meetings  to  watch  over  its  progress.  An  anecdote 
related  by  Mr.  Baker  evidently  refers  to  this  period.  He 
writes : 

The  exclusive  and  disinterested  attention  which  Mr.  Bernard 
paid  to  all  objects  of  public  charity,  was  by  this  time  very 
generally  known,  and  had  induced  the  co-operation  of  many  dis- 
tinguished individuals  in  his  works  of  benevolence.  One  instance 
which  occurred  about  this  time  made  a  considerable  impression  on 
his  mind.  Sir  Eobert  Peel,  who  had  very  large  concerns  in  Cotton 
Mills,  called  on  him  one  morning,  and,  after  a  general  conversation 
on  the  different  philanthropic  objects  they  had  in  view,  said,  on 
leaving  the  room,  that  he  had  to  request  that  he  would  dispose  of 
something  for  him  in  any  way  he  approved.  After  he  had  gone, 
Mr.  Bernard  opened  it,  and  found  to  his  surprise,  a  bank  note  for 
a  thousand  pounds.  He  wrote  to  Sir  Eobert,  informing  him  that 
he  could  not  undertake  the  disposal  of  so  large  a  sum,  and  on  his 
objecting  to  take  it  again,  proposed  that  it  should  be  a  donation 
from  him  to  the  Society  for  the  Poor,  This  Sir  Eobert  approved, 
and  it  was  appropriated  as  a  fund  for  the  melioration  of  the  con- 
dition of  the  Children  in  Cotton  Mills. 

The  rumour  of  the  forthcoming  Bill  excited  much  angry 
feeling,  which  eventually  led  to  modifications  in  its  clauses. 
To  preserve  a  chance  of  gaining  anything,  it  was  necessary 
to  give  up  something.  The  following  letter  from  Mr. 
Wilberforce,'  addressed  '  Thomas  Bernard,  Esq.,  Foundling 
Hospital,'  though  not  fully  dated,  was  evidently  written  at 
this  period  : 

Palace  Yard,  Wednesday  morning. 

My  dear  Sir,— I  so  much  respect  the  judgement  of  the  Com- 
mittee, and  I  think  so  much  weight  is  due  to  the  considerations 
suggested  by  Sir  Eobert  Peel,  and  even  to  his  feelings,  (when  our 
success  in  the  excellent  measure  in  contemplation  will  be  in 
so   great  a  degree   owing  to  his  benevolent  and  pubHc- spirited 

'  Life  of  William  Wilberforce,  by  his  Sons,  vol.  iii.,  p.  44. 


360  THE  BBENAEDS  OP  ABINGTON 

exertions)  that  I  will  not  press  any  ideas  of  my  own,  as  to  the  exten- 
sion of  the  plan  to  any  others  than  apprentices,  contrary  to  what 
may  be  the  general  opinion  which  the  gentlemen  of  the  Committee 
may  form  on  full  consideration.  I  cannot,  however,  but  earnestly 
recommend  it  to  them,  to  consider  of  some  way  of  securing  to  the 
children  some  religious  instruction  more  effectually  than  by  the 
plan  as  it  at  present  stands ;  and  I  trust  that  this  subject,  on 
which,  it  must  be  confessed,  there  are  difficulties,  will  be  under- 
stood to  be  reserved  for  further  consideration. 

It  has  happened  somewhat  remarkably,  that,  whilst  we  have 
been  engaged  on  this  subject,  I  have  received  a  letter  from  a  poor 
but  honest  and  hardworking  couple,  whose  child  was  barbarously 
torn  from  them,  and  sent  down  to  a  distant  Cotton  Mill.  I  have 
since  conversed  with  these  people,  and  seldom  have  heard  a 
more  artless,  affecting  tale  than  they  related.  The  letter  they 
wrote  me  I  send,  as  perhaps  the  gentlemen  present  may  like  to 
hear  it.  I  am  very  sorry  to  be  prevented  by  a  House  of  Commons' 
Committee  from  attending  you  as  I  had  wished  this  morning. 
But  I  am  persuaded  I  shall  not  be  wanted.  I  beg  you  however 
to  explain  the  cause  of  my  non-appearance. 

I  remain,  my  dear  Sir 

Yours  very  sincerely 

W.  WiLBERFORCE. 

On  April  7,  1802,  Wilberforce  notes  in  his  *  Diary  ' :  'Sir 
Robert  Peel's  Bill — motion  well  received  for  morals  of 
apprentices  &c.  in  cotton  factories.' 

The  opposition  to  the  Bill  [writes  Mr.  Baker]  was  composed  of 
a  coalition  of  two  classes ;  those  who  thought  that  too  little  was 
proposed,  and  those  who  thought,  or  rather  felt,  that  any  inter- 
ference with  the  excessive  profits  of  the  manufacturer  was 
improper.  The  bill,  however,  was  passed,  not  with  the  expecta- 
tion of  its  affording  a  complete  remedy,  where  interest  was  so 
actively  engaged;  but  with  this  degree  of  satisfaction,  that  it 
must,  in  any  event,  produce  some  improvement  in  the  happiness 
and  moral  character  of  the  children. 

As  far  as  it  went  the  legislation  was  good  [says  Mr.  Hodder '], 
it  enjoined  proper  clothing,  feeding,  and  instruction,  the  limitation 
of  the  hours  to  twelve,  exclusive  of  meals  ;  the  aljohtion  of  night- 
work,  and  the  appointment  of  visitors  to  inspect  the  factories. 

'  Hodder  (Edwin),  TJie  Life  and  Work  of  the  seventh  Earl  of  Shaftesbury, 
chap.  iii. 


THE  APPEENTICE  SYSTEM  361 

It  was,  no  doubt,  by  reason  of  the  onus  being  thus  thrown 
on  the  mill-owners  that  Sir  Eobert  Peel's  donation  of  1,000^. 
was  not  applied  for  the  benefit  of  the  factory  children.  This 
must  be  the  explanation  of  a  sentence  in  Mr.  Baker's  book, 
which  does  not  at  first  seem  very  clear  : 

That  object  not  holding  out  sufficient  demand  for  it,  it  has  been 
since  applied  towards  the  promotion  of  education  in  different 
parts  of  the  kingdom. 

With  this  sentence  Mr.  Baker  closes  his  account  of  the 
movement  on  behalf  of  factory  children,  as  if  his  uncle's 
interest  in  it  had  suddenly  terminated.  But  I  have  no 
doubt  that  in  this  instance,  as  in  the  case  of  the  climbing 
boys,  he  continued  to  labour  for  the  cause,  although  it  was 
ostensibly  in  other  hands.  It  was  his  friend  Sir  Kobert 
Peel  who  moved  the  next  Bill  on  the  subject,  thirteen  years 
after  the  first. 

It  appears  from  the  letter  of  Wilberforce,  lately  quoted, 
that  the  promoters  of  the  Bill  had,  at  Sir  Kobert  Peel's 
desire,  confined  its  provisions  to  apprentices.  This  may 
have  been  necessary  in  order  to  pass  the  Bill,  but  it  was  a 
serious,  almost  fatal,  defect ;  for  numbers  of  the  children 
working  in  factories  at  that  time  were  not  apprentices. 
After  relating  the  horrors  of  the  original  system,  Mr.  Hodder 
continues : 

Where  such  abominations  were  tolerated,  the  case  of  the  other 
children  and  young  persons,  not  apprentices,  could  not  be  other- 
wise than  almost  as  bad,  and  in  point  of  fact,  there  grew  up  as  we 
shall  see,  consequent  upon  the  rapid  increase  of  trade,  a  system  of 
iniquity  even  greater  than  that  we  have  described,  when,  instead 
of  churchwardens  and  overseers  of  parishes  apprenticing  the 
orphans  and  destitute  of  their  parishes,  parents  voluntarily  placed 
their  children  in  the  factories  to  do  the  same  kind  of  work,  during 
the  same  oppressive  hours,  and  under  many  of  the  same  heartless 
conditions.  When  the  mill-owners  found  that  these  children  were 
still  left  entirely  at  their  mercy,  the  consequences  were  such  as 
might  have  been  expected. 

The  effect  of  the  new  Act  was  to  do  away  gradually  with 
the  Apprentice  System. 


362  THE  BEENAEDS  OF  ABINGTON 

At  first  the  mills 

had  been  placed  where  there  was  plenty  of  water  to  drive  the 
machinery  ;  and  as  this  was  often  in  thinly  populated  districts, 
the  employment  of  apprentices  became  a  necessity.  When  how- 
ever the  steam  engine  was  invented,  mills  could  be  planted 
anywhere  ;  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  were  planted  in  densely 
populated  neighbourhoods,  in  order  that  the  children  of  the 
inhabitants  might  be  employed  instead  of  the  apprentices,  and  so 
relieve  the  masters  of  the  trouble  of  providing  food,  clothing,  and 
education. 

When  Sir  Kobert  Peel  brought  in  his  second  Bill,  in  1815, 
he  stated  that : 

Although  ten  times  the  number  of  children  were  employed, 
compared  with  the  period  when  the  Apprentice  Bill  had  passed, 
none  of  them  were  bound  by  articles,  or  anything  in  the  shape  of 
a  permanent  contract. 

The  inspectors  appointed  under  the  previous  Act  '  had 
been  very  remiss  in  the  performance  of  their  duty.  Night 
work  still  continued.'     Sir  Kobert  Peel  said  that : 

It  was  his  intention,  if  possible  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of 
such  a  misfortune  as  had  recently  taken  place ;  he  alluded  to  the 
fourteen  poor  children  who  were  recently  burnt  in  the  night  in  a 
cotton  factory.  He  knew  that  the  iniquitous  practice  of  working 
children  at  a  time  when  their  masters  were  in  bed,  too  often  took 
place.  He  was  ashamed  to  own  that  he  had  himself  been 
concerned  where  that  proceeding  had  been  suffered  ;  but  he  hoped 
the  House  would  interfere,  and  prevent  it  for  the  future. 

Mr.  Peel,  the  future  minister,  supported  his  father  in  a 
speech  describing  :  '  The  heated  atmosphere  in  which  fine 
spinning  was  conducted,  the  large  number  of  children 
engaged  (amounting  in  Manchester  alone  to  nearly  twelve 
thousand)  and  the  little  interest  that  masters  in  towns  had 
to  protect  the  health  of  their  operatives,  as  they  could  easily 
supply  the  place  of  those  who  were  sickly,  or  worn  out.' 
When  Sir  Eobert  stated,  as  he  did,  that  '  the  loss  of  life  had 
of  late  been  exceedingly  small,  not  exceeding  one  per  cent, 
per  annum  ;  a  loss  falling  short  of  the  average  loss  sustained 


NIGHT  WOEK  363 

in  every  other  class  of  manufacturing  industry  .  .  .  '  he 
compared  the  cotton  mills  evidently  with  woollen  and  silk 
mills,  and  establishments  of  various  sorts  standing  in  much 
need  of  protection,  but  for  which  none  had  as  yet  been 
asked,  because  the  warriors  of  the  cause  knew  that  it  would 
ruin  everything  to  attempt  much,  and  also  no  doubt  because 
there  was  no  other  great  owner  like  Sir  Robert  to  take  the 
matter  up. 


END   OF   THE   THIRD   VOLUME 


pkikti:d  by 

SPOTTISWOODB  AND  CO.  LTD.,    NEW-STKEET  SQDAKE 
LONDON